Posted in Beer News
Posted in Beer News, Headlines

Wooden Robot co-founder dies in brewery fall

Wooden-Robot-Fatality

The co-founder of Charlotte, North Carolina’s Wooden Robot Brewery died in a fall at the South End location on February 20th.

Earlier today, Charlotte, North Carolina’s Wooden Robot Brewery announced that both taprooms would be temporarily closed due to unforeseen circumstances. Later it was announced that co-founder Dan Wade died in a fall at the brewery’s South End location.

According to various news sources, the fall was reported between 2-3:30 pm EST.

Brewery co-founder Josh Patton issued a statement via Instagram:

It is with an extremely sad and heavy heart that we share this news. Due to an accident that occurred today, we lost one of our founders, co-owners, and friend, Dan.

We ask that you respect the privacy of his loved ones in this incredibly difficult time. We are all still in shock and need time to process everything, but we will do our best to keep everyone in the loop for when we open up our taprooms again.

Your thoughts and prayers for Dan’s family, his wife, and his son are much appreciated at this time.

– Josh

The South End location opened in June 2015. The NoDa location opened in 2019.

Ed Note: We at Beer Street Journal send our deepest condolences to both Dan’s family and the brewery family. We are thinking about you at this dark time.

Posted in Headlines, Truly Hard Seltzer

Truly releases Hot Wing Sauce flavored hard seltzer

Truly Hot Wing Sauce Hard Seltzer

Truly Hot Wing Sauce Hot Seltzer was released in a handful of states this week.

If you had to double-check the calendar to see what day it was, so did we. Truly Hot Wing Sauce Hard Seltzer is a thing. This looks like something a brand would post on April Fool’s Day.

Ahead of “The Big Game” Truly debuted a limited edition Hot Wing Sauce flavor, only available online and instantly selling out. Best we can figure, it’s like you dipped your hot wings in a hard seltzer.

Want to take your big game watch party to the next level without shelling out $10,000 on tickets? Truly has you covered with their weirdest, wildest, “who’s ready for some damn football” -est flavor to date: Hot Wing Sauce! This limited edition batch of hard seltzer was created to complete your game-day food spread as the football season comes to a close — get it while it’s hot (or, uhh, cold). 

Four 16-ounce cans will run you $24 if there is a re-stock, available to ship in California, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Florida.

Posted in Brewery Expansions, Great Divide, Headlines

Great Divide Brewery & Roadhouse 2nd location opens Lone Tree, Colorado in February

Great Divide Brewery & Roadhouse 1
Great Divide Brewery and Vibe Concepts will open their second Great Divide Brewing & Roadhouse in February 2024.

Great Divide Brewing & Roadhouse is slated to open in Lone Tree, Colorado in February, marking the brewery’s second “Roadhouse” concept. The first location opened just 13 miles away in Castle Rock, Colorado in May 2020.

Vibe Concepts

Vibe Concepts was founded in 1991 by John, Dan, and Mike Shipp. It is the parent company of Street Roadhouse, Roadhouse Boulder Depot, Spanky’s Road Roadhouse, and Reivers Bar and Grill, founded in 1991. Vibe also has various partnerships with Avery Brewing, Odell Brewing, Dry Dock Brewing, and Ska Brewing.

Great Divide Roadhouse – Take 2

The Lone Tree location is located on the ground floor of the Charles Schwab conference center, in an 8,200 square foot space. The design features a “massive” mahogany bar with a copper ceiling, private dining space for 75, and a four season heated patio.

Executive Chef James Doxon will lead the culinary side of the Roadhouse featuring upscale brewpub fare like burgers, pizzas, steaks and desserts.

Great Divide will not have any on-site brewing, but will have 14 tap handles, including two experimental beers brewed on the 5-Barrel system at the Castle Rock location. Additionally, the location will have more than 25 wines by the bottle, and a well-rounded cocktail menu.

Great Divide Brewery & Roadhouse Castle Rock is located at 9878 Schwab Way #240, Lone Tree Colorado 80124. Open Monday – Friday, 11 a.m. – midnight and Saturday and Sunday 9 a.m. – midnight.

Posted in New Releases, North Coast Brewing

North Coast Brewing is releasing Scrimshaw & Old Rasputin in 19.2oz

North Coast 19.2oz Cans
North Coast Scrimshaw Pilsner and Old Rasputin Imperial Stout will be available in large format cans this month.

Fort Bragg, California based North Coast Brewing is taking two of their famed beers to large format- namely Scrimshaw Pilsner and Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout.

Both are easily some of the longest running (and perhaps best) craft beers of their style in America today – especially Old Rasputin. (Should you ever have the chance to have Old Raspy on Nitro, do it. It’s life changing.

Per North Coast (still rocking since 1988), the big cans will in mid to late January 2024. Scrimshaw Pilsner clocks in at 5% ABV and Old Rasputin is a smooth 9%.

Posted in Don't Miss This, Headlines, Monday Night Brewing

Monday Night Atlanta 404 Lager hits the Peach State soon

Monday Night Atlanta 404 Lager
Monday Night Atlanta 404 Lager, a new lower alcohol by volume lager will debut soon from the Atlanta-based brewery.

Monday Night Brewing is prepping a new lager- namely Atlanta 404 Lager, for release in the near future. For context – “404” is Atlanta’s area code. (Think NYC’ s famous 212 area code.)

The lager mot only carries the “404” area code, but is purportedly is also brewed with primarily Georgia grown ingredients.

PIC ARCHIVE: MONDAY NIGHT BREWING

It is the intention of Monday Night to make Atlanta 404 Lager more than a beer. It is important to note that finally plans/details haven’t been finalized- the brewery wants to see a portion of the sales of the 404 set aside to create a “404 Fund” intended to be a financial vessel to give back to the city.

Monday Night Atlanta 404 Lager will be available year round in cans and draft. A release date has not been set.

Style: Lager
Availability: 12oz Cans, Draft. Year-Round
Debut: TBA

4.04% ABV

Posted in Don't Miss This, Pontoon Brewing

After announcing closure, Pontoon Brewing to re-open January 17th (Updated)

Pontoon Brewing will reopen their Sandy Springs, Georgia location on January 10th, 2024.

Pontoon Brewing announced the closure of both their brewery locations back in late October 2023. At the time the brewery cited payment issues with their main distributing partner, which was Bevana at the time.

In the months that followed, brewery owner Sean O’Keefe worked to find another financial solution to keep Pontoon Brewing alive. Fast forward to New Year’s Eve, and the brewery teased a return to operations – and ultimately, issuing a statement that the brewery would re-open.

It’s been quite a year for Pontoon and certainly didn’t end the way we wanted it to. After being forced to close, we thought our story was finished. Rather than call it quits, we decided to lean on our friends, family and community, to continue fighting and try to keep the brand that we have worked so hard to build! We decided to make some tough decisions and go back to our roots; our home at Sandy Springs. We are saying goodbye to our Tucker location and focusing on our original spot, more limited and selective distribution and the beers that you all have grown to love!

We are opening back up on January 17th, 2024 and heading into the new year with our own set of resolutions so that we can continue to build our community here in Sandy Springs and the surrounding Atlanta area!

Thank you for all the amazing support and love you’ve shown us and our amazing team throughout the year and during this time, and we can’t wait to see your lovely faces again very soon!

Pontoon Brewing via Instagram

The Tucker, Georgia location will close, leaving the original Sandy Springs location open, alongside limited distribution starting January 17th, 2024.

Ed Note: Article has been updated to reflect the new reopening date of 1/17/24

PICS: PONTOON BREWING’S 2ND ANNIVERSARY