Beer News

Finally, A 120 Minute Batch

Dogfish Head Brewing sent out a cryptic tweet (well not so cryptic) about what they were bottling today.   If you’ve seen these bottles then you already (above) then you know what’s up.

Those of you that watched the Continue Reading →

Bells 750ml Bottles Launch June 27th

Bell’s Brewing released details regarding their new 750ml program today.  The bombers launch on June 27th exclusively at Eccentric Cafe in Kalamazoo, MI starting with Wedding Ale.  Per Bells:

Bell’s Brewery is excited to announce the debut of our Continue Reading →

DETAILS: Bruery & Dogfish Collaboration

UPDATE: Here are the details this collaboration.  The beer will benefit Japan.  Per Benjamin Weiss, Sales & Marketing at The Bruery:

What happens when you combine two brewers with a love for experimentation on a single beer recipe?

We’ll soon find Continue Reading →

Firestone Walker Heads For The Rockies

DISTRIBUTION DELAYED 6/22:

Firestone Walker regrets to announce that our shipment of beer to Colorado has been delayed.

We had originally planned on having the first truck out to that market leave this week but due to issues with our Continue Reading →

8th Trappist Brewery Opening Soon

The world will soon indulge in beers from the 8th Trappist brewery.  Mont des Cats will being selling the newest offerings June 16th.

Mont des Cats will be based in France, with initial production in Belgium.   Chimay, a Trappist brewery themselves Continue Reading →

Posted in Beer News, Dogfish Head, Seasonal Return

Finally, A 120 Minute Batch

Dogfish Head Brewing sent out a cryptic tweet (well not so cryptic) about what they were bottling today.   If you’ve seen these bottles then you already (above) then you know what’s up.

Those of you that watched the 6 5 episodes of Brew Masters, you saw the hard breaking news that a very expensive batch of 120 had to be poured down the drain.  If my beer  memory serves me correctly, the batch right after that didn’t pass flavor muster either.

As we learned today, another batch of the coveted imperial IPA is headed for shelves.  Dogfish has this to say about this years batch:

[quote]
So we took our time tweaking the recipe, lots of time. We brewed multiple test batches at our R&D brewery inside our Rehoboth Beach brewpub. We put at least two of those batches on tap. We took a lot more time than many of you wanted us to take. We’ve answered thousands of emails, Facebook and tweets about the 120 Minute IPA over the last year and half. Months ago, we stopped guessing when we’d re-release the beer and just started replying with “we don’t know, but we’re working hard on it.”

We have been working hard on it. Pretty much every team in the brewery is excited to have the beer coming off the line today. There was a collective sigh of relief and a lot of excitement as Chad handed off the first bottle to come though the line. Thanks to all my co-workers at Dogfish Head who played their part in this re-release – you all rock
[/quote]

While this beer is usually brewed in 400 barrel batches, this edition was brewed in a much smaller batch. To the tune of 100 barrels. Expect it in the following states:

These are the states that WILL be getting limited 120 Minute IPA:

DE, MA, ME, CT, NY, WA, OR, AZ, NV, FL, NJ, VA, MD, KY, MI, IL, PA, Washington DC.

Sadly, no Georgia. (Stupid 14% ABV limit)

120 Minute is an imperial IPA that clocks in at 18% ABV.

Availability: Occasional brew, sold by the 12oz bottle. $10-12 retail

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Beer News, Cigar City Brewing, Coming Soon

Cigar City Presents Transmogrify Series

Cigar City Brewing (Tampa, FL) is bring you a new series.  Instead of just taking a few brewing moments to experiment – CC is taking their current beers & changing them into something different & unique.  Don’t take my word for it, he’s what Cigar City has to say about it.

Today, Cigar City is proud to present: the Transmogrify Series! We all have a little kid in us that likes to experiment and form unique creations, like taking existing things and turning them into something different. That’s what the Transmogrify Series is all about. We’re going to take some of our beers and change things up with them to turn them into something totally unique, such as use a completely different yeast strain or drastically alter the hop bill. Stay tuned for updates, as we will be serving a couple very soon in the tasting room!

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Beer News, Bell's Brewing

Bells 750ml Bottles Launch June 27th

Bell’s Brewing released details regarding their new 750ml program today.  The bombers launch on June 27th exclusively at Eccentric Cafe in Kalamazoo, MI starting with Wedding Ale.  Per Bells:

Bell’s Brewery is excited to announce the debut of our Eccentric Cafe 750 ml bottle program beginning this summer. As we do not fill growlers at our pub, we want to make our pub only beers available for customers to take home and we feel that offering these brands in the 750 ml format is a great way to do this! These bottles will only be sold at the General Store in downtown Kalamazoo and will not be available for distribution as packaging runs will be small, making outside sales fairly impractical.  Over the next few months, we plan on bottling a wide variety of our pub only beers including Wedding Ale, Raspberry Ale, Mead, Sparkling Ale, and Wild One (just to start). Other brands will follow suit as they are brewed and labels are created. There will not be a set release schedule for when 750s will hit the General Store, however the program will kick off on Monday, June 27th with bottles of Wedding Ale. There also may be limits as to how many bottles can be purchased depending on the brand. We are looking forward to making these specialty beers available to leave the Eccentric Cafe in bottle for the very first time! Cheers!


by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Beer News, Brewery Expansions, New Belgium

New Belgium Builds Offices, Living Spaces

New Belgium Brewing (Ft, Collins, CO) is expanding.  New plans have been submitted to the city to develop a 5 acre piece of land that New Belgium owns.  The new build will include a 16,500 square foot space across 2 buildings for offices, meeting rooms, and living spaces.  The living spaces dubbed “casitas” will be for “Beer Rangers” and other brewery employees that visit Ft. Collins.  There are around 100 people that currently travel the states in the name of New Belgium.

This expansion has no impact on New Belgium’s brewing capacity.  This is an opportunity to spread out a little bit, have more meeting rooms, and event space.  NB still has 10 more acres of undeveloped land in their possession. <Coloradoan>

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Beer News, Coming Soon, Dogfish Head, The Bruery

DETAILS: Bruery & Dogfish Collaboration

UPDATE: Here are the details this collaboration.  The beer will benefit Japan.  Per Benjamin Weiss, Sales & Marketing at The Bruery:

What happens when you combine two brewers with a love for experimentation on a single beer recipe?

We’ll soon find out as Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Brewery is flying out to California this week to work with Patrick Rue and his team at The Bruery on a collaborative beer.

Both Dogfish Head and The Bruery are infamous for their use of experimental ingredients, often inspired by flavors found in exotic cuisine, and this collaboration beer will be no different.  Brewed with the intention of raising money for victims of the recent earthquake in Japan, the flavors of the small Asian, island nation famed for their umami rich cuisine will be featured in this new beer.

Made with ingredients such as nori, chili peppers, sesame seeds and kumquats and then fermented with a sake yeast, the yet to be named collaborative beer will certainly be something that furthers each brewery’s style-bending reputation and hopefully raises quite a bit of money to help out our fellow beer lovers in Japan by donating a portion of the proceeds from every bottle sale.

Availability: 750ml bottles. Limited basis.  The Bruery’s distribution areas.

 

Earlier Post

Per the Bruery Reserve Society email I got over the weekend:

[quote]“If you haven’t figured it out from the subtle hints we’ve dropped recently on Facebook, we are excited to announce that we will be brewing a beer in collaboration with Dogfish Head and we plan on brewing it next week at The Bruery!”[/quote]

Reading back over the posts from The Bruery’s Facebook page they have been hinting at this for a while.  Especially in a post: “Thinking about brewing something off-centered.”   The beer is being brewed this week.  The collaborating breweries have picked a style, but haven’t divulged a name for it.  It was also mentioned that there is no name or label for the beer.

Availability: Unknown

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Beer News, Distribution Expansion, Firestone Walker Brewing

Firestone Walker Heads For The Rockies

DISTRIBUTION DELAYED 6/22:

Firestone Walker regrets to announce that our shipment of beer to Colorado has been delayed.

We had originally planned on having the first truck out to that market leave this week but due to issues with our license to sell beer we will delay our Colorado release until later next month. We will then launch the entire state including Denver.

 

Just got this press release. Firestone Walker, based in Paso Robles, California just recently expanded to Pennsylvania and now heads to Colorado.  Doesn’t look like it will be in the whole state, but beer hot bed areas like Ft. Collins and Colorado Springs.

Full Press Release

Paso Robles, Calif — Firestone Walker, reigning World Beer Cup Champion and two-time Great American Beer Festival Champion, is proud to announce that it will be taking its full line of beers to the great state of Colorado.

Firestone Walker will bring all of its bottled offerings to Colorado including its Pale Series, which consists of, Double Barrel Ale an English-style pale, Union Jack an IPA and Pale 31 a California-style pale ale.

Beer drinkers in the Ft. Collins and Colorado Springs area will have access to Firestone beers on draft and in bottles as early as late June. Denver fans are scheduled to see the beers in July sometime.

Firestone Walker has long had its sights on Colorado according to David Walker, co-Proprietor of Firestone Walker.

“We are looking forward to spending some time in the mountains in a great beer state and home to some of the best Craft Brewers in America,” Walker said, “and we feel privileged to be a part of that scene.”

This expansion reflects the increased production in beer that the brewery has been able to achieve recently.

“Sending our beer to Colorado is a big deal for our brew team,” Firestone brewmaster Matt Brynildson said. “ We have a lot of brewing industry friends in the mountain state and there is a lot of incredible beer produced there along with a good deal of honorable beer stewardship being practiced. Colorado is the home of the Brewers Association, the National Homebrewer’s Association and the GABF. It is an epicenter for the craft movement, so it is a real honor to finally be able to have Firestone Walker beer in this great
beer state.”

Colorado will also receive the Proprietor’s Reserve series, which has also been released in markets throughout the country, with great success. The Proprietor’s Reserve series includes many limited release offerings and some of the most coveted of the Firestone Walker brews.

Double Jack, imperial IPA, and Walker’s Reserve, Robust Porter, will be available year-round in 22oz bottles and on draft. Parabola, Abacus and the Anniversary Ale are all very limited one time releases throughout the year. They also come in 22oz bottles and on draft.

There will also be two other seasonal offerings that will be in 12oz bottles (six-packs and cases) and on draft. Solace, an unfiltered wheat beer will be offered in the spring and summer while Velvet Merlin, a partially bourbon barrel-aged oatmeal stout, will be offered in the fall and winter.

Established in 1996 on California’s Central Coast, Firestone Walker a regional brewery committed to making the world’s best pale ales, Firestone Walker remains the only American brewery to ferment beer in a union of oak barrels. Firestone Walker Brewing Company was named “Mid-Size Brewing Company of The Year” at the 2007 and 2003 Great American Beer Festivals and “Champion Brewery” for the category of Mid-Size Brewing Company at the 2010, 2006 and 2004 World Beer Cups.

Featured Image Credit: Beer&Nosh

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Beer News, Stift Engelszell, Westvleteren

8th Trappist Brewery Opening Soon

The world will soon indulge in beers from the 8th Trappist brewery.  Mont des Cats will being selling the newest offerings June 16th.

Mont des Cats will be based in France, with initial production in Belgium.   Chimay, a Trappist brewery themselves helped Mont des Cats create a new recipe & will be assist the friars there as the brewery comes online.

In order to be a Trappist brewery, the beer must be brewed by or under the control of Trappist monks with some of the profits going to good causes.

The existing Trappist breweries are Chimay, Rochefort, Westvleteren, Achel, Orval, Westmalle,  & Konigshoeven <FlandersNews>

by Reid Ramsay