Breweries

Posted in The Bruery, Don't Miss This

The Bruery Black Tuesday will be available in cans for the 1st time this month

Easily one of the recognized barrel-aged imperial stouts in the industry turns 10 this month – The Bruery Black Tuesday. When quantities of this beast of a beer allow, the general public has a chance to take purchase it on one single day a year. That day? October 29th.

The Bruery calls this stout “The Beer from Hell.” If you ask a brewer, they will say because it’s a difficult beer to make. If you ask a drinker, they will say it’s huge, boozy, and extremely bold. Regardless of why, on thing is certain – Black Tuesday Imperial Stout is in a class by itself.

Black Tuesday is aged over a year in bourbon barrels, just waiting to fully envelop palates with flavor and crush skulls with it’s nearly 20% alcohol by volume. Bold doesn’t even begin to describe this beer. The brewery’s descriptors of dark chocolate, vanilla, caramel, and oak are spot on – we’d like to include chewy, smoky, sweet, and dare we say – elegant. Sip slowly or it will wreck your week. Sharing is encouraged.

New for 2019 are Black Tuesday in 16-ounce cans. You may have noticed The Bruery slowly turning some of their imperial and pastry stouts over to aluminum, not long after lauching their India pale ale brewing subset, Offshoot Beer Company.

Now, the release details: 

  • Tuesday, October 29th, 2019 – 10 AM PST/1 PM EST
  • Online: www.thebruery.com
  • $30 per 750ml, $18 per 16oz Can
  • Shipping within California, Pickup in Orange County CA, & Washington D.C. until 12/31/19

Bruery Reserve Members typically have multiple options to purchase Black Tuesday and variants of this imperial stout throughout the year. This is the only time it is offered ot the general public.

Style: Imperial Stout (Barrel Aged. Bourbon.)
Availability: 750 ml bottles, 16oz Cans
Debut (Cans): 10/29/19

19.4% ABV 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Victory Brewing Company, Headlines

Victory Brewing to open downtown Philadelphia brewery in 2020

Since 1996, Victory Brewing Company has called Philly-adjacent Downington, Pennsylvania home. Since then, the brewery has expanded to Parkesburg and Kennett Square. Coming in late-2020, Victory will finally have an address in downtown Philadelphia.

A 14,000 square foot state-of-the-art brewery and taproom is being constructed in Center City Philadelphia’s Logan Square area. The location will house a production brewery with a Prospero Brewing System, a scratch kitchen, three separate bars, street-level outdoor seating as well as a rooftop patio.

“We’ve been patiently looking for the perfect downtown Philadelphia location for years. This property, and its iconic address, 1776 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, presents the perfect venue for us to expose both Philly residents and visitors to innovative, quality craft beer while expanding the audience for the entire craft beer industry.” – Victory co-founder Bill Covaleski

Architecture firm Gerner Kronick + Valcarcel has been tapped for the build.

Victory Brewing Company expects the new location on Benjamin Franklin Parkway to be completed by the end of 2020. The cost of the new build was not disclosed.

Below is the Google Maps Street View of the site of Victory’s Philadelphia build. (As of September 2018.)

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Boulder Beer Company, Headlines

Boulder Beer pulls back national distro, laying off staff

Boulder Beer Company is pulling back national distribution, and downsizing operations.

For nearly 30 years, Boulder Beer has been brewing beer in their home in Boulder, Colorado. Citing an “explosive number of brewery openings” and “crowded shelves,” Boulder will focus solely on providing their brewpub at Wilderness Place with beer.

Brewery owner Gina Day made a statement about the move on Boulder’s Facebook page:

Times have changed and change is hard, but I’m ready to put the ‘fun’ back in beer. Our friends will still be able to enjoy our beers in the brewpub, and by brewing in small batches, have a wider variety of options on the ever-rotating specialty taps.  We’re celebrating our milestone 40th Anniversary this year and look forward to furthering our legacy in Boulder and the industry.

The brewery further states the brewery fans will be able to try Boulder’s beers in small batches at the brewpub that is open seven days a week, with even more styles and creations in the future.

Boulder Beer currently produces 16,000 barrels (496,000 gallons) of beer annually and distributes to 34 states. Unfortunately, up to 21 employees will be eliminated as a result of the downsize.

The brewery declined to further comment.

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Scofflaw Brewing Co., Coming Soon

Scofflaw Brewing drops 6 Barrel-Aged releases on Black Friday

Atlanta’s Scofflaw Brewing is hosting a massive Barrel-Aged Absentium release on Black Friday.

Absentium is as much a beer as it is a serious of big, rich imperial stouts by Scofflaw. The series started with Bourbon Barrel Absentium, and has since grown to include various barrels and additions. Often times the brewery doesn’t even announce an Absentium release until day of, or often times not at all- just simply stocking the brewery’s to-go fridge.

This Black Friday, the brewery is dropping six different Absentium creations to kick off the Christmas season.

Starting at 8pm on Nomember 29th, brewery attendees can purchase

Cognac Barrel Aged Absentium Stout, Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Absentium Stout, Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Vanilla Absentium Stout, Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Coffee Absentium Stout, Bourbon Barrel Aged Hazelnut Absentium Stout and Rum Barrel Aged Coconut Absentium Stout.

6-packs of the releases and individual bottles will be available.

Image: Scofflaw Brewing

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Stone Brewing Co., Arrogant Consortia, Headlines, New Releases

Stone Brewing’s collaborates with Jägermeister; ships to select markets

Arrogant Bastard Jägermeister Ale is headed out to select markets now, a Germany brewed special release for the U.S.

A staple in nearly every bar in America – Jägermeister. The herbal liquor is made with 56 different herbs and takes more than a year to produce. Jäger’s headquarters is in Wolfenbuttel, Germany, nearby Stone’s Berlin brewery that they sold this year. The last collaboration from Stone Berlin is debuting this month- Arrogant Bastard Jagermeister Ale.

The base beer is Arrogant Bastard Ale, an American strong ale that is the flagship beer of Stone’s Arrogant Consortia, the cocky brewing subset of Stone Brewing. According to Lizzie Younkin, public relations manager for the brewery, the beer was brewed after the sale by Stone’s brewers that were hired by Brewdog as they took over the Bern facility. A few senior brewers from Stone’s Escondido brewery also traveled to Berlin to oversee the final pieces of this collaboration.

Jagermeister Arrogant Bastard Ale is brewed with similar spices as the digestif counterpart according to Stone. While the brewery hasn’t disclosed which spices, some of the most notable in Jager are anise, poppy seeds, citrus peels, juniper berries, licorice, and ginseng.

Neither beverage has now, or ever contained deer blood. Sorry internet theorists.

Jagermeister Arrogant Bastard Ale is headed to select markets across the U.S. in October, including California, Colorado, D.C., Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennesee, and Washington.

Style: American Strong Ale (w/ Various spices.)
Availability: 750ml Bottles, Corked & Caged.  Limited Release.
Debut: October 2019

8.5% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Weyerbacher, Don't Miss This

White Castle will soon sell their own branded house beer

The next time Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, they might be able to snag a pint of White Castle Beer as well. The famous burger chain is teaming up with Weyerbacher Brewing on the new burger paired beer.

According to Weyerbacher, early pilot batches were a Kolsch, leading us to believe the launch beer will resemble the same style.

The yet-to-be-named beer is slated to be on tap at White Castle’s nearly 400 restaurants in 13-states, as well as in package at grocery stores where White Castle frozen products are sold. Additionally, states that have frozen White Castle at retail will sell the beer, bringing full distribution area to exceed the 13 states where their restaurants are found.

A spokesperson for White Castle said a timeline for the White Castle beer release has not been set. Distribution of the burger beer will be handled by Weyerbacher Brewing’s distributors.

A few other major restaurant chains have gone into the branded beer business. Last fall, IHOP brewed a very limited release beer with Keegan Ales, brewed with their famed pancake batter. I

In December, Taco Bell announced that Big City Bell, a pilsner brewed with Anheuser-Busch’s Blue Point Brewing, would be available at their New York City’s new Cantina locations.

Most recently, Hershey’s Chocolate partnered with America’s oldest brewery, Yuengling, to create Yuengling Hershey’s Chocolate Porter hitting select taps in October.

More to follow…

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Wild Leap Brew Co., New Releases

All Chinook hops: Wild Leap Alpha Abstraction Vol 9

Wild Leap Alpha Abstraction Vol 9 joins the ongoing imperial IPA series in October.

The Alpha Abstraction Series is designed to highlight a specific hop varietal. This edition is built on Michigan grown Chinook hops. While this particular hop is known to be big on pine flavors with hints of pineapple, this particular crop is the reverse- pineapple first, with hints of pine.

“With Michigan Chinook, we are finding that those flavors have almost flipped, and we are getting a much sweeter result with a strong pineapple essence.” – Chris Elliott, Head Brewer

Wild Leap Alpha Abstraction Vol 9 is available in 12-ounce cans and draft for a limited time.

Style: Imperial IPA
Availability: 12oz Cans, Draft.
Debut: October 2019

8% ABV

by Reid Ramsay