Face it, hard seltzer is here to stay. We almost dismissed it as an odd summer trend a few years ago, and now the seltzer industry is valued over $4 billion dollars. Alpha Water is one of the newest boozy Continue Reading →
While 2020 was basically a stopped-up toilet in a dirty truck stop for everyone, Atlanta-based Wild Heaven Beer and Bulleit Bourbon gave us something tasty to help us cope with the mess. It was the boozy goodness we needed to Continue Reading →
Portland, Oregon-based Ecliptic Brewing is opening a second location in nearby Southeast Portland this summer.
Ecliptic is calling the new space the “The Moon Room,” taking over Base Camp Brewing’s space that closed earlier this year.
“We’ve been talking about opening another location for a long time now, so we’re really stoked about this opportunity. There’s a lot of work ahead to make it happen, but the team is excited for growth,” says John Harris, Ecliptic owner, and brewmaster.
“The Moon Room” will be more than a taproom – it will be a full brewery and production facility, complete with a custom Ecliptic food truck and full bar. Expect the new facility to have an emphasis on lager production.
Ecliptic Brewing’s “Moon Room” is located at 930 SE Oak Street, Portland.
New Realm Brewing’s new Alpha Water is a fresh take on hard seltzer
Face it, hard seltzer is here to stay. We almost dismissed it as an odd summer trend a few years ago, and now the seltzer industry is valued over $4 billion dollars. Alpha Water is one of the newest boozy water brands hitting the market and it’s worth checking out.
Atlanta-based New Realm Brewing opened in early 2018 with a state record-breaking 20,000 barrel annual capacity. That same year, New Realm purchased Green Flash Brewing’s Virginia Beach location, renovating as New Realm Virginia Beach early that fall. Within the first year, the brewery was operating at near capacity across the board.
Taking tanks away from beer to make anything else would have seemed like a bad business move, but you can’t ignore hard seltzer anymore.
“I didn’t know what the heck I was doing,” Mitch Steele, brewmaster & co-founder says, mid-chuckle.
That’s pretty much the response we’d expect from Mitch. His brewing has had such an impact on craft brewing in America and the last thing we thought we’d be asking him about is fermenting fruity dextrose water. The man literally wrote the book on brewing IPA.
New Realm Brewing’s foray into hard seltzer wasn’t just done because it’s a hot new trend.
“Demand for something that wasn’t beer was in high demand in the restaurant, but Georgia law prevented us from selling anything else but what we make,” Mitch says. Ultimately that means you have to make a cider or a seltzer.
So how do you switch gears from IPAs and pilsners to hard seltzers? Well, when Google didn’t help, Steele asked around. “One of our suppliers had an employee that worked in hard beverages in Wisconsin for years,” he tells us. “After a 2+ hour phone conversation with him, I had enough direction to get started.”
From there, it was test batch after test batch, trying to get the yeast right and the flavoring on point. Plus, figuring out what flavors to run with. All in all, New Realm tested over 15 different hard seltzer flavors. The most popular, which was the first chosen to be packaged, is Acai & Blueberry, along with Citrus Punch, Cucumber and Lime, and Black Cherry.
Lemon Hopburst, while loved by the brewers- apparently failed to impress amongst taproom attendees.
Unlike some seltzers, these flavors are quite memorable. The cucumber doesn’t walk a fine line with tasting like pickles, the blueberry aroma is fresh and bright, and the Citrus Punch over ice is simply a win. Honestly, that flavor could and should be in its own 12-pack.
Hard seltzers were a weird notion from the start, but as we have come to find out, are here to stay. Just like IPAs, hard the seltzer world is becoming the “wild west” of flavors.
Alpha Water gets it right.
Oh yeah, we took it to Vegas too. PICS: Beer Street Journal
Schlafly Hoptic Visions IPA Pack sees 2nd release with new beers
St. Louis, Missouri-based Schlafly Brewing is releasing Hoptic Visions, a variety pack featuring four different India pale ale styles.
This is the second release of the mixed pack, which includes three new Schlafly creations:
India Pale Ale (5.0% ABV): Schlafly’s sessionable IPA is a classic hop-forward, golden-hazed beer that features notes of citrus and tropical flavors.
Hazy Grapefruit IPA (5.0% ABV): This juicy IPA adds pounds of real fruit for an added complexity. Schlafly amplifies the grapefruit with complementing Cascade and Simcoe hops.
Low Cal IPA (ABV 4.0%): Clocking in at 110 calories, the new Low Cal IPA sways to the lighter side but is still packed with juicy hop flavor.
West Coast IPA(6.0% ABV): A throwback IPA that sparked the love of hops, Schlafly’s West Coast IPA packs a bitter citrus and pine punch.
The Low Cal IPA is Schlafly’s first foray into the lower-calorie IPA category, while the Hazy Grapefruit IPA is brand new for 2021.
The Schlafly Hoptic Visions IPA Pack is available at all brewery locations, across their distribution footprint for $17.99.
Wild Heaven & Bulleit Bourbon partner again in 2021
While 2020 was basically a stopped-up toilet in a dirty truck stop for everyone, Atlanta-based Wild Heaven Beer and Bulleit Bourbon gave us something tasty to help us cope with the mess. It was the boozy goodness we needed to round out a weird year.
Since the beginning, Bulleit was stingy with their empty bourbon barrels, sending most, if not all, overseas to be repurposed for whisky. Craft brewers never had the chance to age their beers in Bulleit. All that’s changed now.
Building off of the success of two 2020 releases – 437 Miles South Imperial Stout, and 95 Shilling Scotch Ale will be two new Bulleit barrel-aged releases released by Wild Heaven this year. Brewmaster and co-owner Eric Johnson is going Belgian-style for these next two creations.
This month Johnson, along with brewer Josh Franks created the Belgian-style tripel, started aging in in wet 10-year Bulleit Bourbon barrels yesterday. “It came out a touch higher in ABV than I expected – 10.75% going into the barrels. So it will most likely be 11-11.25% coming out. But it already is pretty great,” says Franks.
Expect a Labor Day release for the first beer.
The second collaboration will arrive by Christmas, a quadrupel aged a blend of Bulleit Rye and Bulleit Bourbon barrels.
Both beers will be available in limited quantities in 16-ounces cans.
