Beer News

Middleton Brewing Opens Its Doors

Over the weekend, and new brewery joined the beer ranks in Texas, Middleton Brewing.  Founded by Dennis Middleton in Wimberly, Texas, Middleton is the result of 20 years of home brewing.

Launch beers include West Coast IPA , Belgian Saison, Belgian Golden, Belgian Triple, Abbey Style Continue Reading →

SweetWater’s Clean Water Commitment Doesn’t Stop In Georgia

SweetWater Brewing’s record breaking $93,000 in fund raising to the Upper river keeper program was amazing.  Don’t expect SweetWater to stop there.  The brewery is new a presenting sponsor for Charleston’s Pub Crawl in Charleston, South Carolina.

Continue Reading →

WVU Speaks About College Football Beer Sales

Universities around the U.S. are considering beer sales inside college football games.   The potential for revenue enough to bring tears to an athletic director’s eyes.  West Virginia University held a press conference recently about the fall sales Continue Reading →

Posted in Beer News, Saint Arnold Brewing

Saint Arnold Divine Reserve ’11 Promoted

Saint Arnold Brewing recently mentioned that it has secured enough simcoe hops to make Divine Reserve ’11 year round in 2012.

Divine Reserve ’11 is an imperial IPA that was released in March of this year and quickly sold out.  It was limited to draft & 4,700 cases.  The beer will renamed with it’s new promotion.

The color is deep amber with a light, creamy head. The nose starts off with a touch of citrus but then turns decidedly into peaches. The taste starts off with creamy malt resulting from the pale 2 row and caramel malts and Saint Arnold yeast. The hop bitter starts low then builds to a crescendo, but always maintains a balance even in its big finish. The hop flavor continues to be peaches, an interesting manifestation of the Columbus, Simcoe and Centennial hops. This is the first Divine Reserve that we have filtered. This decision was made to make the hop flavors brighter, plus it would have been a bottling nightmare with all the hop bits in it. This beer is best enjoyed at 45° or even a little warmer. Though the recipe and style indicate this beer to be enjoyed fresh, we expect this beer to develop interestingly over the years.

8.9% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Beer News

Middleton Brewing Opens Its Doors

Over the weekend, and new brewery joined the beer ranks in Texas, Middleton Brewing.  Founded by Dennis Middleton in Wimberly, Texas, Middleton is the result of 20 years of home brewing.

Launch beers include West Coast IPA , Belgian Saison, Belgian Golden, Belgian Triple, Abbey Style Dubbel, Belgian Pale Ale, American Pale Ale ,American Red Ale.

In addition to the brewery, there is a home brew shop on site for those aspiring brewers.  There will be home brew classes held at the brewery starting in September.

Check out more about Middleton on their website & on Facebook

Middleton Brewing
9595 Ranch Road 12, Suite 4
Wimberley, TX 78676

 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Beer News

Twisted X Makes Jalapeño Pilsner, Tequila Black Lager

Twisted X Brewing is based in Austin, Texas.  Brand new to the brewing scene, the brewery is crammed into a mere 1,200 square foot space.  Jim Sampson & Shane Bordeau founded the brewery and still have full time jobs, brewing on nights and weekends.  The idea behind Twisted X is to bring the Mexican flair & culture to craft brewing.

The beer lineup includes the Twisted X (lager), Fuego (jalapeño pilsner), Cerveza de los Muertos (a Vienna lager), Señor Viejo (a tequila barrel-aged schwarzbier) and Chupahopra (a hoppy India Pale Ale).

Everything right now is draft only first released on May 5th.  Cans are expected by the end of the year, alongside a larger location (in 2012) and wider distribution within the state of Texas.  [Community Impact, TexMexBeer]

 

 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Beer News

SweetWater’s Clean Water Commitment Doesn’t Stop In Georgia

SweetWater Brewing’s record breaking $93,000 in fund raising to the Upper river keeper program was amazing.  Don’t expect SweetWater to stop there.  The brewery is new a presenting sponsor for Charleston’s Pub Crawl in Charleston, South Carolina.

 2011 is the inaugural year for the pub crawl.  After seeing what SweetWater continually accomplishes with the Georgia based program, the crawl sponsors reached out to the brewery.

While celebrating Charleston’s right to clean water by raising awareness and money for The Charleston Waterkeeper, Participants of The Charleston Pub Crawl will receive steep discounts and samples of SweetWater Brewing Company beers such as SweetWater 420, Blue and IPA at more than 30 bars and restaurants, in historic downtown Charleston. To ensure responsible drinking, the restaurants will also be  “selling” their clean, Charleston tap water for a one dollar donation, with 100% of those proceeds going to The Charleston Waterkeeper. 

Tickets will be available at http://chaspubcrawl.eventbrite.com starting Monday August 22 at 9am.  Participants can save 40% on their tickets on the launch date by using promo code: CHSWaterkeeper. Follow the pub crawl on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/chspubcrawl and Facebook http://www.facebook.com/CHSPubCrawl

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Beer News

New Glarus Has Black IPA, Chocolate Abbey, Laughing Fox On Deck

New Glarus Brewing (New Glarus, WI) steps into the black IPA ring with a hoppy black release this month.  Black Top was brewed the end of July, and will be released by the end of August.

Black Top is the first of its kind by New Glarus, featuring an all American hop lineup – including Citra, Chinook, and Amarillo.  Those hops don’t come cheap either, making Black Top one of the most expensive to brew.

Expect this beer to pour a hop forward jet black glass brimming with aromatic bitterness. Brewmaster Dan skillfully weaves molasses and chocolate malt undertones with a soaring rush of clean citrus and pine hop notes, to deliver a drinkable Black IPA. Savor Black Top, like Wisconsin’s miles of licorice ribbons of ink that meander through armies of corn and bovine mowed fields. Enjoy the journey on a road less traveled. 

The beer  hits the 6% mark, available in 12oz/6pks

Don’t stop getting thirsty there.  New Glarus has a few more brews on the way.

Adding to the Thumbprint Series (with Apple Ale & Cran-bic) is Chocolate Abbey Ale, arriving around 9/9

Laughing Fox – A spicy Kristal weizen. 12oz 6 pks. Arriving 9/5

Also, a recent collaboration by 2 craft companies led by women – New Glarus and Weyermann has seen great success. The Beer is “Two Women” Classic Country Lager

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Beer News

WVU Speaks About College Football Beer Sales

Universities around the U.S. are considering beer sales inside college football games.   The potential for revenue enough to bring tears to an athletic director’s eyes.  West Virginia University held a press conference recently about the fall sales of beer at WVU games.   The concession company Sodexo has paired with 3 breweries Miller Coors, Anheuser-Busch, Morgantown Brewing Company.  Prices of the beer will be between $7-$9 a beer a pint and sold until until 7.5 mins left in 3rd quarter.  No glass.  No beer will be sold in or around the student section, or in the stands themselves.  Extra security will be in place to prevent incidents, and response to potential incidents.  Extra training for the Sodexo employees will be required to serve in the stadium.

In earlier stories, WVU expects beer sales to exceed $1 million a season. [CharlestonDailyMail]

 

 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Beer News

Stone Ties Future Quingenti Releases To Book Purchases

Stone Brewing is already working on new ways to give it’s loyal drinkers at a shot to buy the next bourbon barrel release (s).  Just so you know, they are

  • 2010 Old Guardian Barley Wine Aged in Bourbon Barrels
  • 2010 Old Guardian Belgo Barley Wine Aged in Bourbon Barrels
  • 2010 Old Guardian Belgo Barley Wine Aged in Wine Barrels
For these releases, be prepared to pre-order Stone’s new book Liquid Lore, Epic Recipes, and Unabashed Arrogance.  If you pre-order the book at Stone’s 15th Anniversary Celebration, you get the opportunity to buy the above beers.
  • Pre-order as many copies of the book as you like from the Warwick’sbooth (they’re an awesome independent bookstore based in La Jolla.)
  • Each pre-order allows you to buy one bottle from the above mentioned list (as supplies last, some are significantly more limited than others)
  • Starting on September 26th, you’ll have until September 30th, 2012 to come to the Stone Brewing Co. in Escondido and purchase your bottle

Quantities of these releases will be MUCH higher than yesterdays Stone/Maui/Schmidt release.   4,776 of the 2010 Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine Aged in Bourbon Barrels, and 550 of the two Belgo renditions.   Stone plans on the same deal for the book purchase at it’s release at GABF this year.  Another release event turned opportunity to buy will happen on September 26th.  [StoneBlog]

by Reid Ramsay