Breweries

Terrapin Morning Haze

Terrapin Morning Haze

Packed with a vast amount of juicy hops and balanced by a soft pillowy mouthfeel, our Morning Haze Imperial IPA is as pleasing as your favorite sunrise.

Style: Imperial Hazy IPA
Hops: Amarillo, Sequoia, Setiva, Zamba, Citra, Mosaic, Galaxy
Malts: 2-Row, Continue Reading →

A day drinking stout: Wild Heaven Smiling Eyes

Wild Heaven Smiling Eyes, a dry Irish stout debuts Friday at both brewery locations. 

This lower alcohol beer is brewed with black and chocolate malts, for a pronounced roasted flavor. 

A super-abridged Dry Irish Stout history.

The Irish Stout started in London over Continue Reading →

Posted in Terrapin Beer Company, New Beers

Terrapin Oktoberfest

Terrapin Oktoberfest

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Terrapin Beer Company, New Beers

Terrapin Depth Perception Imperial IPA

Terrapin Depth Perception Imperial IPA

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Wild Heaven Craft Beers, Don't Miss This

Wild Heaven Sunburst IPA is a juicy year-round addition

Wild Heaven Sunburst IPA launches this, marking just the third year-round IPA the brewery has released in 12 years. 

More than a decade ago, Wild Heaven launched with just two beers – Ode to Mercy (Imperial Brown Ale with coffee) and Invocation (Belgian Golden Strong Ale). An IPA release by the brewery was years away from being brewed, even with strong consumer demand. According to co-founder Eric Johnson at the time, “we’ll make one when I think there is a recipe good enough.” 

Finally, in 2016, Wise Blood IPA hit the lineup year-round. A year later, and 100 test batches and water chemistry adjustments, their first imperial IPA – Good Vice hit taps. Wild Heaven initially intended it to be year-round, but the brewery’s passion for that recipe faded fast. Then came Altair IPA in 2018.  Each beer was a stop on a hoppy journey to now.

Wise Blood and Altair are now ghosts.

Here at the brewery, the canning line is busy filling cans of Sunburst IPA – a new and now only year-round IPA the brewery will have for the foreseeable future. It’s aptly named. Sunburst is every bit bright and juicy as it’s billed. A big flavor departure from the brewery’s IPA predecessors, it’s looking to be one of the premier southern IPAs.

That spawned a debate with Josh Franks, head brewer at Wild Heaven. Could Southern IPA be a thing? India pale ale is undoubtedly the style juggernaut of the craft beer world. Going back about 15 years ago you’d find popularity with the English IPA. Soon to be taken over by West Coast IPA. Then a steady sequence of hoppy variants- the Belgian IPA, the Black IPA (aka the Cascadian Dark Ale), the New England IPA, and lactose heavy milkshake IPA. Should The South have its own? 

Maybe they already do. 

It’s not an official style but perhaps it should be. Think of an IPA that’s hoppy and bright. Juicy like a hazy IPA but still fairly clear, still holding on to some West Coast IPA bitterness. A subtle hybrid of two dominant styles. Creature Comforts Tropicalia and Scofflaw Basement IPA would be great examples. A (highly theoretical) southern IPA would be bright and sunny. Just like the sun-soaked, pollen heavy, 3 weeks of cold weather region they were born into. 

Wild Heaven Sunburst IPA hits retailers this week year-round in 12-ounce cans and draft.  

Style: IPA 
Hops: Citra, Talus, Galaxy, Mosaic, Cascade, Chinook, Amarillo

Availability: 12oz Cans, Draft. 
Debut: 3/24/22

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Terrapin Beer Company, New Beers

Terrapin Morning Haze

Terrapin Morning Haze

Packed with a vast amount of juicy hops and balanced by a soft pillowy mouthfeel, our Morning Haze Imperial IPA is as pleasing as your favorite sunrise.

Style: Imperial Hazy IPA
Hops: Amarillo, Sequoia, Setiva, Zamba, Citra, Mosaic, Galaxy
Malts: 2-Row, Vienna, Flaked Oats, Malted Wheat

Availability: 12oz Cans, Draft. Limited Release. 

Debut: July 2022

8.8% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Wild Heaven Craft Beers, New Beers

Wild Heaven Beyond the Stars

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Firestone Walker Brewing, Don't Miss This

Firestone Walker Invitational returns after 2 years, sold out

The Firestone Walker Invitational is a pretty epic festival, held in June each year. It sold out in 2020, and ultimately was canceled due to the growing pandemic. 

After two years, Firestone Walker is ready to host the festival once again, announcing the brewery lineup as well as a own “Ultimate Firestone Walker Experience”

A few brewery attendee highlights include  FrauGruber Craft Brewing from Germany; Brouwerij ‘t IJ from Amsterdam; Casey Brewing from Glenwood Springs, Colorado; Schönramer from Germany; Cerveza Antares from Argentina; Bale Breaker Brewing from Yakima, Washington; Cervejaria Bamberg from Brazil; Cloudwater Brew Co. from England; Urban Roots Brewing from Sacramento, California; Omnipollo from Sweden; There Does Not Exist and Liquid Gravity from San Luis Obispo, California and Great Notion Brewing from Oregon.

Ultimate Fan Experience

The brewery has announced the “Ultimate Firestone Walker Experience” sweepstakes, which is new for 2022. The winner receives two tickets to the Invitational, private tours of both the Venice and Paso Robles breweries,  three nights hotel stays and lunch and dinner at the brewery taprooms.

Fans can submit their entry via the Ultimate Firestone Walker Experience sweepstakes page, now through April 3rd.

2022 Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Fest: Attending Breweries

3 Floyds
Alvarado Street
Bagby Beer
Bale Breaker
Balter
Beachwood Brewing
Beavertown
Blackberry Farm
Boneyard
Boulevard
Brouwerij ‘t IJ
Casey Brewing
Cellarmaker
Cervecerìa Antares
Cervejaria Bamberg
Chuckanut
Cigar City
Cloudburst
Cloudwater
Creature Comforts
Crooked Stave
Faction
Firestone Walker
Firestone Walker Propagator
Fonta Flora
FrauGruber
Garage Project
Gigantic
Great Notion
Green Bench
Green Cheek
Half Acre
Highland Park
Humble Sea
Kern River
La Source
Liquid Gravity
Monkish
Odell
Ommegang
Omnipollo
Other Half
Pinthouse Brewing
Pizza Port
Private Landbrauerei Schönram
Revolution
Russian River
Sante Adairius
Side Project
Sierra Nevada
Surly
The Bruery
The Lost Abbey
The Veil
There Does Not Exist
Thornbridge
Topa Topa
Urban Roots
Wayfinder
WeldWerks

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Wild Heaven Craft Beers, New Releases

A day drinking stout: Wild Heaven Smiling Eyes

Wild Heaven Smiling Eyes, a dry Irish stout debuts Friday at both brewery locations. 

This lower alcohol beer is brewed with black and chocolate malts, for a pronounced roasted flavor. 

A super-abridged Dry Irish Stout history.

The Irish Stout started in London over 300 years ago. Then, it was called a porter, specifically a London Porter, not a stout. The base malt was a dry, acrid, low-grade brown malt that gave the beer a “smoaky tang” flavor, as described by writers at the time. The malt was placed on a metal floor and a fire was lit underneath it to roast it. The smoke would pass through it grain, and the metal would heat up and char the grain. The resulting roasts were inconsistent at best.  

The London Porter popularity spread to Ireland where for years, stayed pretty much the same until 1817. That’s when a man named Daniel Wheeler invented a malt roaster that would make bitter, dark roasts without a weird “smoaky tang” as the flavor was previously described. The malt was roasted in a metal drum, away from near direct contact to the flame. (Similar to coffee roasting.) The malts could be roasted darker and more consistently. 

Wheeler created “Black Patent” malt in his new kiln, still widely used today. Irish brewers adopted the use of Black Patent and darker malts, while English brewers continued with brown malt in the following years. The Irish Stout officially/unofficially born.

Interestingly, before stout became a beer style, “stout” was more of a beer descriptor. Stout basically meant “strong” to drinkers in British pubs in the 1700’s. 

In the instance of the Dry Irish Stout, the name is a bit contradictory – as they weren’t strong at all, most hovering around 4% alcohol by volume.

Wild Heaven’s Smiling Eyes keeps the style tradition alive ahead of Saint Patrick’s Day, minus the black patent malt, yet still dry and roasty. Available starting March 10th in 16-ounce cans and draft for a limited time.

Style: Dry Irish Stout
Availability: 16oz Cans, Draft. Limited Release
Debut: 3/11/22

4% ABV

by Reid Ramsay