Don’t Miss This

Posted in Sierra Nevada, Don't Miss This

A new Trip in the Woods: Sierra Nevada Cocoa Coconut Narwhal

Sierra Nevada Cocoa Coconut Narwhal has joined the brewery’s ‘Trip in the Woods’ Series.

Giving fans a chance to see some of Sierra Nevada’s core brands in a new light is key to the ‘Trip in the Woods’ series. The family line has already seen releases like Barrel-Aged Narwhal Imperial Stout with currants, and Ginger Bigfoot (barleywine with ginger root). It’s Narwhal Imperial Stout season once again and along with it, comes a new dessert-inspired offering.

Sierra Nevada Cocoa Coconut Narwhal is on it’s way to shelves around the U.S. and is already proving that chocolate and coconuts really take beer to the next level.

Cocoa Coconut Narwhal uses Sierra Nevada’s popular imperial stout base brewed with toasted coconut and aged in for over a year in bourbon barrels with more toasted coconut and cocoa nibs. Whether you drink it alone, or with your favorite dessert is up to you.

This very special version of our Narwhal Imperial Stout was brewed with toasted coconut and then left to mature in Kentucky Groupon barrels for nearly a year. To the barrels, we added additional coconut and cocoa nibs to create a uniquely rich and decadent stout.

Sierra Nevada Cocoa Coconut Narwhal is available in 25.4-ounce bottles for a limited time.

Style:Imperial Stout (w/ Coconut. Cocoa Nibs. Barrel Aged. Bourbon.)
Availability: 25.4oz Bottles

Debut: Late-September 2017

11.8% ABV

Ed Note it looks like this release debuted in early September. Not every market has received this yet.

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Burial Beer Co, Don't Miss This

Run the Jewels & Burial Stay G-O-L-D IPA returns again in October

Burial Stay G-O-L-D IPA inspired by the hip-hop group Run the Jewels returns again in October.

Asheville, North Carolina’s Burial Beer and Brooklyn’s Interboro Spirits & Ales teamed up earlier this year with hip-hop group Run the Jewels for a special hoppy release. Stay G-O-L-D IPA is the result.

Run the Jewels was founded in 2013 by rappers El-P and Killer Mike. Besides his hot rhymes, Killer Mike has a love of beer. A few years ago he flew to Chicago to do a special collaboration with Goose Island. (We actually visited him at his barber shop in Georgia.)

Burial Beer Stay G-O-L-D IPA is brewed with the help of Brooklyn, New York’s Interboro Spirits & Ale. Named for a track on the groups latest “Run the Jewels 3” release, Stay G-O-L-D is juicy India pale ale brewed with Citra and Mosaic hops.

Aromas of dank pineapple lemon honeydew. Tangy citrus piney flavors with clean bitter finish. – Interboro Spirits & Ales

Stay G-O-L-D IPA will be available at the brewery in Asheville, North Carolina again on October 11th at 5pm – just before Run the Jewels plays their sold out show downtown. Just like before, no distribution.

Style: IPA
Availability: 16oz Cans.
Debut: 4/7/17
Latest Release: 10/11/17

6% ABV

PIC: Beer Street Journal 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Don't Miss This

Stone Vengeful Spirit IPA (with with pineapple and oranges) goes national

One of California’s most well-known breweries may truly be embracing hazy India pale ales. At the end of the day, IPA is really what put them on the map. Stone Vengeful Spirit IPA debuts in cans nationally later this month.

An unfiltered IPA already intermittently exists in the brewery’s lineup, part of theEnjoy By IPA series. In the near future, Stone is releasing Nor’East Nod Double IPA, a hat tip to hazy, juicy “New England-style IPA”,

Now another unfiltered, juice-forward IPA is joining the brewery’s Stone’s lineup – Vengeful Spirit IPA.  This hazy IPA will be bringing the juice, in the form of pineapple and Mandarin oranges.

We’ve often been inspired to brew beers on a theme. In 2007 it was black IPAs. 2008 saw Belgian influenced IPAs, and more than once it’s been Triple IPAs. It’s been fun to dive deep, and you’ve ridden those waves right along with us. But like you, we’ve also crave new breaks to surf. Right now, it’s tropically-inspired IPA’s as represented both by this flavored ale, Stone Tangerine Express IPA and others we’ve got waiting in the wings…. With Stone Vengeful Spirit IPA we employ a bit of tropical mythology to pay homage to our ever present gargoyle. Since 1996 he’s had our back, and yours, by representing an aggressive intolerance for commoditized beer. He constantly inspires us to forge ahead with resolve-even with the omnipresent forces of forceful evil. Vengeful spirits can be awesome when they are on your side.

Stone Vengeful Spirit IPA will be available in 12-ounce cans and draft in late September 2017.

Style: IPA (w/ Pineapples, Oranges)
Availability: 12oz Cans, Draft.
Debut: Late September 2017

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Terrapin Beer Company, Don't Miss This, New Releases

The fans voted, Terrapin White Chocolate Moo Hoo hits shelves again

Terrapin White Chocolate Moo Hoo has returned to shelves for only the second time ever.

The base beer uses cocoa nibs from Nashville, Tennessee’s Olive & Sinclair, plus a healthy helping of white chocolate. The end result is a decadent, creamy, dessert beer.

White Chocolate Moo Hoo has only seen one release despite previous plans to bring it back. For the 2016 election year, Terrapin gave their fans the opportunity to vote their favorite beer from the past back into production. We’re told White Chocolate Moo Hoo won by a landslide.

White Chocolate is our favorite specialty release by Terrapin. The white chocolate addition creates a really unique, almost esoteric flavor to this creamy dessert beer.

White Chocolate Moo Hoo is available in 16.9-ounce bottles for a limited time.

Style: Milk Stout (w/ Cocoa Nibs, White Chocolate)
Availability: 16.9oz Bottles, Draft.

Arrival: 2017

6.1% ABV

PIC: Beer Street Journal

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Southern Tier Brewing, Don't Miss This, New Releases

Like pumpkin pie served with a cup of coffee. Southern Tier Cold Press Coffee Pumking debuts

Southern Tier Cold Press Coffee Pumking, a variant of one of the most well-known pumpkin beers, has started hitting shelves.

The mere mention of Pumking will typically get a strong “love it” or “hate it” reaction. Either way, it’s hard to doubt this pumpkin beer has made quite an impression on the beer scene. In addition to this coffee variant, Rum Barrel Pumking is also a part of the fall lineup.

Southern Tier Cold Press Coffee Pumking is created in a few steps. First, the brewery mashed in the grains at a higher temperature in order to leave a little residual sweetness to pair better with the coffee flavor.

Once fermentation was completed the beer was cold crashed to 32 degrees, and 150 pounds of cold pressed coffee from local roaster Stedman’s was added. Incidentally, the brewery pressed the coffee themselves.

In the end, the coffee adds nutty and cocoa flavors to Pumking’s strong pumpkin and pie crust flavors. Most folks have tried the base beer, Pumking – easily one of the boldest pumpkin beers out there. The coffee presence is strong but really strikes a balance with the pumpkin flavors, almost muting them a bit. Cold Press Pumking truly is pumpkin pie served with a cup of coffee.

Due to the infusion, this beer does have traces of caffeine.

Southern Tier Cold Press Coffee Pumking is a limited draft and 12-ounce bottle offering.

Style: Pumpkin Beer (w/ Coffee)
Availability: 12oz Bottles, Draft.
Release: September 2017

8.6% ABV

PIC: Beer Street Journal

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Hi Wire Brewing, Don't Miss This

Three different barrels & a little crazy: Hi-Wire Sour Pumpkin Ale

Hi-Wire Sour Pumpkin Ale is all over the flavor map. That’s a good thing. There’s a lot going on in this beer.

As fall creeps in, Asheville, North Carolina based Hi-Wire Brewing has released Sour Pumpkin Ale. Put the pumpkin spiced latte down because things are about to get a little weird.

After spending time wandering around local Rayburn Farm, Hi-Wire was struck with the idea of sourcing a beer from a single farm source. Sure, this is a pumpkin ale so you’re probably thinking something with pumpkins, cinnamon, and cloves. Make it taste like pie and ship it, right? Wrong.

Let’s talk pre-barrel. The base beer spent time in stainless steel tanks, with roasted delicata pumpkins, cinnamon basil, and blue ginger. Blue ginger is a Hawaiian variety known for its superior flavor. Cinnamon basil is also called Mexican spice basil. Methyl cinnamate found in the cultivar gives off flavors of the cinnamon spice when the leaves are crushed.

If this beer is already sounding unique, Hi-Wire isn’t done yet. After three months in stainless steel, the beer was split into rum, whiskey, and red wine barrels for six months, then blended back again. There’s nothing “basic” about this creation.

At this point, it is downright impossible to use something as simple as “pie” to describe Hi-Wire Sour Pumpkin Ale. It just doesn’t fit. Sour Pumpkin is aggressively sour as you dive in, melding into a light wash of ginger and cinnamon. As the beer warms, the blend of barrels are fighting for palate domination. Honestly, we think the rum won. This is no simple wild ale, with typical flavors. Everything about this beer is unpredictable in the best of ways. Speaking in the spirit of Hi-Wire’s hometown of Asheville, “Keep Fall Weird.”

Hi-Wire Sour Pumpkin Ale is a limited,  375-milliliter bottle release. Not for the faint of heart (or palate).

Style: American Wild/Sour Alehttps://beerstreetjournal.com/tag/american-wild-ales/ (w/ Pumpkin. Blue Ginger. Cinnamon Basil. Barrel Aged. Whiskey. Red Wine. Rum.)
Availability: 375ml Bottles
Debut: 9/2/17

8.6% ABV

PIC: Beer Street Journal

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in SweetWater Brewing, Don't Miss This, New Releases

Foudre aged SweetWater Cherry Pit & The Pendulum debuts in Woodlands Series

Atlanta’s SweetWater Brewing Company’s first full production foray in to American wild ales happened a few years before their new Woodlands Facility. In 2015 to be precise, with the release of a Brettanomyces yeast heavy Pit & The Pendulum. That beer, brewed with fresh peach puree from South Carolina was so well received that it was made intermittently year-round. This year, a new Pit is coming – SweetWater Cherry Pit & The Pendulum.

RELATED: Sweetwater The Woodlands (PICS)

Arising from the brewery’snew foudres is SweetWater Cherry Pit & The Pendulum, that has been sitting for over six months on a blend of Montmorency & Balaton cherries. Chris Meadows and Nick Burgoyne, brewers overseeing the Woodlands, started fermentation on Rainy Day Acid Trip (the unofficial name for the base) in stainless steel in July, 016. It was transferred to oak foudres in December, where a blend of Montmorency & Balaton cherries were added to the oak.

The result is a delicate, tart wild ale that almost glows a pinkish-red. While The Woodlands program may be young, after tasting Through the Brambles, Cambium (foudre beer) and Cherry Pit – the word maturity comes to mind. SweetWater, being the biggest craft brewery in the state, doesn’t get the beer geek cred they deserve sometimes. For the past 5+ years, the brewery has put in some serious time internally developing a wild ale program.

Ultimately when comfortable, the brewery pulled the trigger on the wooden palace that is The Woodlands. The brewing team didn’t use their fans as guinea pigs in development. They left much of the triumphs and failures behind closed doors leaving to the public some of the best sour and wild ales the southeast has to offer. This truly is a new era for SweetWater.

A golden ale soured with lactobacillus and fermented with three brettanomyces strains, then aged for 6 months in American and French oak with 3,000 pounds of Montmorency & Balaton cherries. Freshly harvested house brettanomyces was added for bottle conditioning, ensuring evolution in the cellar.

SweetWater Cherry Pit & The Pendulum is a 16.9-ounce corked & caged bottle release.

Style: American Wild Ale (w/ Cherries. Oak Aged.)
Availability: 16.9oz Bottles

Debut: 9/9/17

6.1% ABV

PIC: Beer Street Journal

by Reid Ramsay