Topic Archives: Basil

Posted in Hi Wire Brewing, Don't Miss This

Three different barrels & a little crazy: Hi-Wire Sour Pumpkin Ale

Hi-Wire Sour Pumpkin Ale

Hi-Wire Sour Pumpkin Ale is all over the flavor map. That’s a good thing. There’s a lot going on in this beer.

As fall creeps in, Asheville, North Carolina based Hi-Wire Brewing has released Sour Pumpkin Ale. Put the pumpkin spiced latte down because things are about to get a little weird.

After spending time wandering around local Rayburn Farm, Hi-Wire was struck with the idea of sourcing a beer from a single farm source. Sure, this is a pumpkin ale so you’re probably thinking something with pumpkins, cinnamon, and cloves. Make it taste like pie and ship it, right? Wrong.

Let’s talk pre-barrel. The base beer spent time in stainless steel tanks, with roasted delicata pumpkins, cinnamon basil, and blue ginger. Blue ginger is a Hawaiian variety known for its superior flavor. Cinnamon basil is also called Mexican spice basil. Methyl cinnamate found in the cultivar gives off flavors of the cinnamon spice when the leaves are crushed.

If this beer is already sounding unique, Hi-Wire isn’t done yet. After three months in stainless steel, the beer was split into rum, whiskey, and red wine barrels for six months, then blended back again. There’s nothing “basic” about this creation.

At this point, it is downright impossible to use something as simple as “pie” to describe Hi-Wire Sour Pumpkin Ale. It just doesn’t fit. Sour Pumpkin is aggressively sour as you dive in, melding into a light wash of ginger and cinnamon. As the beer warms, the blend of barrels are fighting for palate domination. Honestly, we think the rum won. This is no simple wild ale, with typical flavors. Everything about this beer is unpredictable in the best of ways. Speaking in the spirit of Hi-Wire’s hometown of Asheville, “Keep Fall Weird.”

Hi-Wire Sour Pumpkin Ale is a limited,  375-milliliter bottle release. Not for the faint of heart (or palate).

Style: American Wild/Sour Alehttps://beerstreetjournal.com/tag/american-wild-ales/ (w/ Pumpkin. Blue Ginger. Cinnamon Basil. Barrel Aged. Whiskey. Red Wine. Rum.)
Availability: 375ml Bottles
Debut: 9/2/17

8.6% ABV

PIC: Beer Street Journal

Posted in Wicked Weed Brewing Co, Beer News, Don't Miss This

Wicked Weed Coolcumber bottles debut for the first time

Wicked Weed Coolcumber

Wicked Weed Coolcumber, a draft offering in the past, is now available in bottles as of today.

The beer is exactly as it sounds, a golden ale brewed with cucumber. Take our word for it – it really does smell and taste like cucumber. (Plus basil and juniper berries of course.)  Face it, the South is hot. This beer is like air conditioning in a glass.

Summer in Carolina is a time when days grow long, life slows down, and friends draw near. Gardens burst with brisk basil and fresh cucumbers, fireflies illuminate the night sky, and warm days leave us lounging late, our glasses brimming with golden nectar. Summer in the South is best served cool.

Wicked Weed Coolcumber is a 12 ounce bottle offering.

Style: Golden Ale (w/ Cucumber, Basil, Juniper Berries.)
Availability: 12oz Bottles, Draft.
Release: 7/11/16

5.5% ABV

Posted in New Belgium, New Releases

New Belgium Botanical Imperial IPA joins Hop Kitchen Series

New Belgium Botanical Imperial IPA

New Belgium Botanical Imperial IPA is the latest entry in the brewery’s ongoing Hop Kitchen Series.

This draft only beer is an IPA brewed with Cascade, Sterling, Willamette hops, and a variety of garden grown botanicals, including basil, sage and juniper.

Then we intensified the citrusy, herbal and spicy hop flavors with a blast of essential oils from backyard botanicals basil, sage and juniper to create the freshest IPA around. A touch of dark caramel malt adds a nice cushiony bed to the sip before the beer transitions into a warming, dry finish. Taste the bounty of Botanical Imperial IPA.

New Belgium Botanical Imperial IPA is a draft only offering, in limited quantities across the brewery’s distribution network.

Style: IPA (w/ Sage, Juniper, Basil)
Hops: Brave, Cascade, Sterling, Willamette
Malts: Pale, Caramel-120

Availability: Draft Only
Release: March, 2016

8.5% ABV, 85 IBUs

Posted in Seasonal Return, Upslope Brewing Company

Upslope Thai Style White IPA Makes Seasonal Appearance

Upslope White Thai

Upslope Thai Style White IPA is available once again. Six packs of of this tropical citrus beer is shipping to the brewery’s entire distribution area.

“What started as a collaboration with Denver’s Euclid Hall Bar and Kitchen has evolved into a tap room favorite. When deciding on our next Limited Release style, the answer was easy,” said Upslope Founder, Matt Cutter. “Uncommon ingredients like Thai basil, ginger, lemongrass and coriander combine to give our Thai IPA its unique, but well balanced, signature flavor.”

Upslope Thai Style White IPA is brewed with  a Belgian wit yeast, plus a blend of seven different Asian-inspired spices.

Style: White IPA (w/ Ginger, Lemongrass, Thai BasilCoriander)
Hops: Columbus, Cascade, Australian Galaxy
Malts: Pilsner, White Wheat

Availability: 12oz Cans, Draft. New six packs
Distribution: CO, TX, WY, AZ, NM, MT
Return: June, 2015

6.5% ABV

Posted in Blue Moon Brewing, Coming Soon

Blue Moon Tongue Thai-Ed

Blue Moon Tongue Thai-Ed

Tongue Thai-Ed is an Blue Moon experimental release to be seen at 2012’s Great American Beer Fest. No doubt a wheat based beer brewed with lemongrass and basil.  No wide release currently planned.

Style: Wheat Ale (brewed w/ lemongrass & basil)
Availability: Draft only. Limited

8% ABV

 Read more: Blue Moon Brewing