Don’t Miss This

Posted in Duclaw Brewing, Don't Miss This, New Releases

An espresso bean infused chocolate peanut butter porter: DuClaw Sweet Baby Java

Coffee meets chocolate meets peanut butter. DuClaw Sweet Baby Java is ready for the big time.

To date, the Maryland based brewery already has two peanut butter beers in their arsenal. The first – Sweet Baby Jesus!a, a chocolate peanut butter porter. Sweet BJ’s success opened the door for an even stronger brew peanut butter concoction,  For Pete’s Sake. Both are a dream for peanut butter lovers. This spring, look for DuClaw Sweet Baby Java.

A few years ago, brewery founder Dave Benfield was at a beer event where Sweet Baby Jesus! was run through a Randall (think of it like a French Press of sorts) filled with coffee beans. The discovery he saids – was awesome.

The roasty flavor of coffee, peanut butter, and chocolate blended perfectly. We quickly kicked a half barrel. Since then we’ve regularly paired coffee with Sweet Baby at DuClaw events.”

Since that day, the brewery has been experimenting with various methods of infusing coffee in order to bring this beer into full production. A few dozen batches later, DuClaw Sweet Baby Java was ready for the big time.

Look for Sweet Baby in 12 ounce bottles and draft through spring, 2017.

Style: Porter (w/ Coffee. Peanut Butter, Chocolate.)
Availability: 12oz Bottles, Draft. Spring Seasonal.
Debut: February, 2017

?? ABV

Image: DuClaw Brewing

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Don't Miss This

Beer Street Journal Giveaway: Win SweetWater 20th Anniversary tickets

Atlanta’s SweetWater Brewing Company turns 20 years old this month. Georgia’s largest craft brewer is throwing a party to celebrate. If you were thinking  about going, too late. Tickets are sold out.

You’re not out of luck yet. Beer Street Journal is giving away two tickets to Sunday’s event.

What you get. A pair of tickets to the party, which features the band Moe., plus  a lot of heady brews. Plus, you get a bottle of the 20th Anniversary to take home. SweetWater has a badass tap lineup planned, and there’s usually cake.

How you win. Join the raffle below. The winner will be chosen at random by joining the raffle below, which ends February 18th, at 12pm EST. Also, be a cool person and only enter if you can attend on Sunday.

Tickets will be emailed to the winner that is chosen. If the winner doesn’t claim tickets within two hours of the announcement, we chose again.

Come drink with us on Sunday, February 19th at SweetWater. We love to party.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Left Hand Brewing, Coming Soon, Don't Miss This

Left Hand A Blessing & A Curse is slated for May

Left Hand A Blessing & A Curse joins the Colorado brewery’s ‘Big ‘Mo” lineup in May.

The brewery partners hops from the northern and southern hemispheres when creating this imperial India pale ale. The finished beer boasts citrus, pine and tropical fruit.

This double IPA delivers a synthesis of hops from opposite hemispheres with an aggressive disposition of citrus, pine, and tropical fruit characteristics for a delightfully juxtaposed consequence. Count your blessings, accept the curse.

Left Hand A Blessing & A Curse is slated for a May, 2017 release.

Style: Imperial IPA
Availability: 22oz Bottles, Draft.
Debut: May, 2017

9.5% ABV

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

Easily one of the brewery’s best. Monday Night Tears of My Enemies

Monday Night Tears of My Enemies debuts this month, part of the fanciest lineup in the Atlanta brewery’s arsenal – the Black Tie Series.

The Black Tie Series is home to beers like Mom Jeans, Georgian Imperial Stout, and the well-known Bourbon Barrel Drafty Kilt. The week of Valentine’s Day, it will be home to one more -Monday Night Tears of My Enemies.

RELATED: Monday Night’s New Sour Facility [PICS]

Does a scotch barrel milk stout do it for you? This “vindictive” milk stout picks up hints of smoke from the 18 year old scotch whisky barrels, and is finished with a touch of both vanilla and locally roasted Batdorf & Bronson coffee. Despite being a fantastic beer, it almost wasn’t even brewed.

Monday Night’s head brewer Peter Kiley saw a beautiful fusion of milk stout and the Macallan 18 year barrels the brewery recently acquired. A milk stout in coffee can be quite good. Throwing that beer into those sexy, hard-to-get scotch barrels? Fan-freaking-tastic. Unfortunately, Kiley found his vision didn’t have some of the powers that be salivating like he was. These barrels don’t show up at your doorstep everyday.

Perhaps even the best idea is met with a little resistance. Kiley pressed forward, and with good reason. Tears of My Enemies is an triumph for the budding brewer. Enemies starts with a burst of coffee and chocolate, and finishes silky, with smokey hints of the sexiness that is Maccallan 18. A bottle of that scotch will set you back nearly $250 dollars. Lucky for you, this creation is less than $20. If you ask us, it’s the best barrel-aged beer Monday Night has ever released. In the end, the name is pretty fitting for Kiley. Nothing worth doing is easy. You won’t find him gloating. You can taste it in ever sip.

There is nothing more sumptuous than the misfortune of your enemies. That dark, smoky taste of revenge takes over as it hits your lips, marching upon your tongue like an army towards certain victory…

Monday Night Tears of My Enemies will be a 22 ounce bottle release, the week of Valentine’s Day 2017. We suggest you track one of these down.

Style: Imperial Milk Stout (w/ Vanilla Beans, Coffee. Barrel Aged. Scotch Whisky.)
Availability: 22oz Bottles
Debut: Week of Valentine’s Day 2017

9.3% ABV

Above: Monday Night’s head brewer Peter Kiley and his creation, Tears of My Enemies. Photo: Beer Street Journal

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Anderson Valley Brewing Company, Don't Miss This, New Releases

Anderson Valley GT Gose (aka Gin & Tonic Gose)

Anderson Valley GT Gose is headed to market, a new botanical gose.

Think of a gin & tonic cocktail when it comes to this new gose. The idea came about after a few in house discussions surrounding beer cocktails, and barrel-aged gins. The brewery used lemon peel, juniper berries, and lemongrass at the end of beer’s boil, adding botanical notes that gin boasts.

During fermentation, the brewery added cucumber, salt, and a touch of cinchona bark.

Reminiscent of a classic cocktail, our GT Gose showcases botanical flavors and aromas of lemon peel, juniper, lemongrass, and grains of paradise. With a juicy lemon-lime tartness and slightly peppery finish, we’ve given the gose style a unique spin that we’re sure you’ll enjoy.

Anderson Valley GT Gose is available in 12 ounce cans, and draft.

Style: Gose (w/ Lemon Peel, Juniper, Lemongrass, Grains of Paradise, Cucumber, Sea Salt, Cinchona Bark.)
Hops: Bravo
Malts: 2 Row, Cara-Crystal, Wheat

Availability: 12oz Cans, Draft.
Debut: February, 2017

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Don't Miss This

Atlanta’s STATS Sportsbar to become STATS Brewpub

Atlanta based sports bar ‘STATS’ is adding an in-house brewery to their downtown location this year.

STATS is located a stone’s throw from both Phillips Area, home of the Atlanta Hawks, and soon to be Atlanta Falcons new home Mercedes-Benz Stadium . The sports bar was one of the first spots in Georgia to feature pour your own beer when they opened their doors in 2007. This summer, will expand to include their own brewery.

The Coke Zero event space in the downstairs portion of the restaurant will house a 10 Barrel brewhouse. STATS is currently in the process of retrofitting the area, and hiring a head brewer.

“The brewery is something we’ve been thinking about, and with the ever growing popularity in the craft beer scene, especially in Atlanta, it seems like a great opportunity and addition to our restaurant,” said Legacy Ventures Chief Operating Officer for Restaurants Brian Bullock. “Our beer program will remain very strong, offering a little something for everyone, and now adding our own brews will make STATS even more of a dining destination.”

Patrons can expect at least six taps dedicated to STATS Brewpub offerings.  The expansion is expect to be completed in July, 2017.

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Wicked Weed Brewing Co, Don't Miss This

Perfect breakfast beer. Wicked Weed Barrel Aged French Toast Imperial Stout

Wicked Weed Barrel Aged French Toast, a bourbon barrel-aged edition of the imperial stout is now available.

Back in January, the Asheville, North Carolina based brewery release French Toast Stout in cans, limited only to the brewery. The imperial stout is brewed brewed with cinnamon, vanilla, and maple syrup, mimicking the popular breakfast food. Since then, the beer has been upgraded to bottles.

Out in the world now is Wicked Weed Barrel Aged French Toast Stout, a bourbon barrel aged edition of the hit stout. The flavor is a pleasant balance of cinnamon and vanilla, thanks to both the vanilla beans and bourbon oak. As the beer warms the French toast favors really bloom. Get this beer, and some challah and eggs and go nuts. Beer is perfect for breakfast.

Bourbon Barrel Aged French Toast Imperial Stout is a delicious testament to smoldering intensity. Prepare for the smooth vanilla, zesty cinnamon, and sweet maple syrup of the original to be epically enhanced by the finest Kentucky bourbon barrels. This sweet treat’s time in oak barrels has forged an entirely new creation. Taste this beauty after its Bourbon-barrel transformation, and give in to sweet intensity.

Wicked Weed Barrel Aged French Toast Stout is a 12.7 ounce bottle release, hitting distribution starting in late January.

Style: Imperial Stout (Cinnamon, Vanilla, Maple Syrup. Barrel Aged. Bourbon)
Availability: 12.7oz Bottles
Debut: January, 2017

10% ABV

PIC: Beer Street Journal 

by Reid Ramsay