Beer News

Hopslam 2012 Delay

Ok, forget what you know about the upcoming Bell’s Hopslam release.   It’s all changed.  Expansion & construction combined with the holiday season- Hopslam won’t make it on the time table originally published.

There will be no hard and fast dates Continue Reading →

[INFOGRAPHIC] 2011 Beer Industry

Courtest of @WSJGraphics – a quick look at the beer industry in 2011.  Overall, beer volume has declined, despite a 16.4% rise in the craft sector.  (Big beer has a big chunk, & they’re down on the year.)

Posted in Beer News, Schlafly Brewing

Local Investment Group Snags 60% Stake In Schlafly

John Lemkemeier and Wesley Jones, & Spencer Finney of St. Louis private-equity firm Sage Capital will join the board at St. Louis Brewery (makers of Schlafly) once the deal is approved.  The deal includes a host of other investors, including David Schlafly- a cousin.  The brewery mentioned via Twitter, that all the brewing staff remains the same, as will the beer of course.

The deal, which is expected to close in several months pending government approval, will transfer 60 percent ownership to the investment group.

Brewery co-founder Tom Schlafly will retain a 20 percent stake and serve as chairman of the board; other co-founder Dan Kopman will retain at least 10 percent of the company and will continue to oversee day-to-day operations as the brewery’s CEO. Eligible Schlafly employees will be able to purchase parts of the remaining 10 percent of the company.

“The agreement … meets the criteria we set back in June of 2010, when we first discussed a succession plan for ownership of the brewery,” Tom Schlafly said in a statement. “Senior and long-term employees will be able to purchase stock in the company, and I’m transferring a majority interest to local investors committed to keeping the business in St. Louis.”

St. Louis Brewery just turned 20.  Annual production is around 41,000 barrels a year.  (1,271,000 gallons of beer a year.)  [STLToday, @EvanBenn ]

Posted in Beer News

Cask: Heavy Seas Peg Leg Stout. 1/5/12, 6 pm

A cask of Heavy Seas Peg Leg Imperial Stout taps Friday.

Deep mahogany in color with aromas of roasted coffee, molasses and dark chocolate. Subtly hopped, making it astonishingly smooth and easy drinking for such a big beer. Pairs well with blue cheeses, beef and chocolate desserts.

 1/5/12 at Taco Mac Lindburgh, 6pm.  This beer really shines on cask.

Style: Imperial Stout, 6% ABV

Taco Mac Lindburgh
Main Street Northeast  Atlanta, GA 30324
(404) 574-5813


Posted in Beer News

SweetWater Revives “The Creeper” This Fall

A big day for SweetWater news.  The OG from the Dank Tank #1 “The Creeper” will be returning this fall.

Dank Tank Series #1 – The Creeper. The Dank Tank Series is a 50 barrel tank that we will be running experimental beers thru. The first run out of the dank tank is called “The Creeper” it is a Belgian trippel IPA and came in about 10% alc.

Style: Belgian Imperial IPA
Availability: 12oz bottles.  4 packs
Arrival: Fall, 2012

10% ABV

Posted in Beer News

Cask: Left Hand 400 Pound Monkey. 1/5/12, 5 pm

Left Hand Brewing’s 400 lb Monkey will make a cask appearance at Taco Mac’s new location East Roswell.  Cask taps at 5 pm.

We use hops of a different color, earthy and herbal, well-balanced by bready malt. The result? An English-style IPA that separates itself from the ubiquitous bunch. Cartloads of bitter monkeys flinging wasteful amounts of bananas into the jungle . . .we’re so done with that.

Style: English IPA
Hops: Magnum, Boadicea, Soverign
Malts:  Pale 2-Row, Crystal, Munich, Malted Wheat

 6.8% ABV

Taco Mac East Roswell – 1/5/12, 5 pm
2630 Holcomb Bridge Road
Alpharetta, GA 30022
(P) 404.801.3606

Posted in Beer News, Cool Stuff, Dogfish Head

A Week In The Life Of Dogfish’s Lead Brewer

Ben Potts is Dogfish Head Brewing’s lead brewer.  He started at the brewery in late 2011.  The Food Informants, columnists for the Huffington Post, spent a week with Ben.   Those who thing being a brewer is all glamour and banana sandwiches.   Scut work, emails, and technical work abound.  Ben walks the Informants through the brewing of Low Rider (his first beer at the put) that just debuted on tap at the brewpub, and the BeerAdvocate brew – headed for the Extreme Beer Fest in Boston this year.

1:50pm: I finish cleaning the tap line that had been soaking and rinse it thoroughly. I taste the water coming out to check and see if any flavor from the previous beer carried over. Tastes fine. I switch the Tweason’ale over to that freshly cleaned line and get ready to tap and test the Low Rider. 
2:50pm: Finally the Low Rider is run through the tap. The beer cascades beautifully as it flows from the tap into the pint glass. My first brew is a success! Nice and malty, with a subtle herbal hoppiness and incredibly silky/creamy mouth feel due to the nitrogenization. I couldn’t be more excited! A real milestone, my first Dogfish beer!

T’weasonale is a gluten free beer arriving this month. [HuffPo]

Posted in Beer News

Hopslam 2012 Delay

Ok, forget what you know about the upcoming Bell’s Hopslam release.   It’s all changed.  Expansion & construction combined with the holiday season- Hopslam won’t make it on the time table originally published.

There will be no hard and fast dates for the release of Hopslam in 2012, but rather, it will be released on a market by market basis as has been our policy in the past.  Because this brand has gotten so large for us, and given the production time to make it, this year the total time of release will stretch over a two month period, meaning that some markets will have product well ahead of other markets.  And, in fact, some retailers in a given market may receive product before other retailers.  We are well aware of the “fairness” issues involved in this process of distribution. However, I believe that this will be our best option.

There has been some rumors about not everyone receiving Hopslam this year:

All of our wholesalers will receive Hopslam this year.  When they get it depends upon the size of their order, our availability and the individual trucking schedules for each wholesaler.  Shipping is NOT based on favorability.  We will do the best we can to satisfy everyone, all we ask is patience on your part while we brew, package and ship this wonderful ale, while in the meantime try to keep up with our other production.  Currently we only have so much fermenter space for dry-hopped ales and we need to keep up our Two Hearted brewing.  We are brewing over 5000 barrels of Hopslam this year and it takes us awhile to get all that brewing and dry-hopping done.

More dates announced soon.

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Beer News

[INFOGRAPHIC] 2011 Beer Industry

WSJ Craft Beer GraphicCourtest of @WSJGraphics – a quick look at the beer industry in 2011.  Overall, beer volume has declined, despite a 16.4% rise in the craft sector.  (Big beer has a big chunk, & they’re down on the year.)