We missed Orpheus Brewing’s Year Six celebration. The pandemic took care of that.
The anniversaries before this virus mess, I sat down with brewery founder Jason Pellet and we chatted about the previous year of running a brewery, beer trends, greek Continue Reading →
Bell’s Brewery’s widely popular seasonal Oberon will have extra life as the weather cools down. The Michigan based brewery has been barrel-aging the wheat ale to create something much stronger than the summer sipper/ Meet Bell’s Uberon.
On our first trip to the Scott’s Addition area of Richmond, Virginia, we found lots of breweries. Our day drinking curveball, and one of the most memorable experiences actually came thanks to Elle & Will Correll, who own Buskey Cider.
Bell’s Double Two Hearted Ale makes another return to shelves in July 2021.
For years, Bell’s Two Hearted Ale overtook Russian River Pliny the Elder as #1 India Pale Ale in America, according to Zymurgy Magazine, published by the American Homebrewer’s Continue Reading →
Anderson, South Carolina will soon be home to three craft breweries. Magnetic South Brewery has started renovations.
Anderson, aka “The Electric City,” was devoid of breweries, craft or otherwise, for over 180 years. Then Carolina Bauernhaus brought sour and wild ales Continue Reading →
Left Hand Milk Box is returning with S’Mores & Double Milk Stout
Left Hand Brewing’sMilk Stout is a beer of pure beauty. One of the best milk stouts in the U.S. if you ask us.
Over the last month the Longmont, Colorado-based brewery has been slowly revealing the contents of a 2nd edition of the brewery’s 12-pack dubbed “The Milk Box.” The variety pack is a milk stout lover’s dream.
The Left Hand Milk Box is making a second appearance this fall with a new cast of characters.
As of right now, the pack will contain Smore’s Milk Stout, Mint Chocolate Milk Stout, as well as Mole Milk Stout.
What’s the 4th? We are guessing Left Hand Double Milk Stout. An imperial edition of the venerable year-round Milk Stout. This edition is a big 10.5% alcohol by volume. According to the label – “Double Down! Decadent notes of milk chocolate, roasted coffee, brown sugar, and vanilla cream.”
Like we said. It’s just a guess. Either way, Double Milk Stout is something we look forward to drinking. Soon.
Orpheus Brewing debuts 7 beers for Year 7 this weekend
We missed Orpheus Brewing’s Year Six celebration. The pandemic took care of that.
The anniversaries before this virus mess, I sat down with brewery founder Jason Pellet and we chatted about the previous year of running a brewery, beer trends, greek mythology, and music. We both play instruments so it’s easy to geek out, especially when it comes to classical music.
Maybe this year we can sit down again to do a little day drinking and do it all again. In the meantime, Orpheus Brewing celebrates their 7th year this weekend. In true Orpheus fashion they aren’t releasing just one anniversary beer. They are dropping 7 (or more.) Crazy long names intact.
Here is the full list of release we got Orpheus to divulge. Cliff notes version – look out for a barrel-aged dopplebock, barrel-aged barleywine, a few wild ales, plus some barrel-aged imperial stouts. Fall is coming. It’s time to put the seltzers down.
An 8-bottle set is available now to purchase on Oznr. We are assuming individual bottles will be available at the party day-of.
That said – here’s the release lineup. The beers are all pretty big… Each link opens in a new window.
Zephyr Punch – Native Wild Ale. 75% spontaneous beer, & 25% native culture saison. A blend with Brick Store Pub.
Just when you thought you’ve seen pumpkin everything as fall rolls around, just wait. Bud Light Pumpkin Spice Hard Seltzer hits shelves September 6th.
This hard seltzer mimics Starbucks infamous “PSL,” featuring flavors of pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. If that’s not enough, this seasonal flavor is joined by Toasted Marshmallow, Maple Pear, and previously released Apple Crisp. Each dressed in a flannel laden fall variety pack.
This summer, Bud Light debuted a Red, White, & Blue “Retro Summer” seltzer variety pack with Cherry Limeade, Blue Raspberry, and Summer Ice. All three were fairly sweet, but the Blue Raspberry was the clear winner there.
In the past few weeks we have seen some weird Frankenstein-like beverage announcements, including Hard Mtn Dew, brewed with the help of Boston Beer Company, and Flamin’ Hot Mtn Dew, a non-alcoholic, spicy, mostly likely gut slaughtering soda debuting online today.
Bud Light Pumpkin Spice Hard Seltzer and all its fall buddies are 5% alcohol by volume, 100 calories per can.
Whether or not you want to drink drink it in public is up to you.
Bell’s Uberon, a barrel-aged Oberon is come at the end of August
Bell’s Brewery’s widely popular seasonal Oberon will have extra life as the weather cools down. The Michigan based brewery has been barrel-aging the wheat ale to create something much stronger than the summer sipper/ Meet Bell’s Uberon.
The brewery describes Uberon as their “classic wheat ale with a shot of bourbon dropped into it.” Something you can store away for a winter night when you’re missing the warmer days of Oberon and summer.
Bell’s Uberon is a whopping 11.3% alcohol by volume, which is nearly double Oberon’s 5.8% ABV. Shipping in 12-ounce bottles to distributors by the end of August.
Buskey Cider finds instant success in boozy soft serve
On our first trip to the Scott’s Addition area of Richmond, Virginia, we found lots of breweries. Our day drinking curveball, and one of the most memorable experiences actually came thanks to Elle & Will Correll, who own Buskey Cider.
Buskey Cider is some of the best cider we’ve had on the east coast. We’ve had a few years of samples to decide that. Each cider is small batch, crisp, and downright inspired. During the pandemic, Will gave up his salary to cover his employees as the Covid-19 pandemic shutdown bars and breweries. It’s not directly to the rest of this story, but it’s worth saying.
As 2020 rolled around we lost touch with Buskey. Hell pretty much everyone. Then as the the temperatures threatened 100 degrees, Will reached out again with new Buskey Cider news. This time is wasn’t a traditional release, but something a little different – boozy soft serve.
Here in 2021 our alcoholic attention span is that of a chipmunk. Just look at the growth of hard seltzers, RTD cocktails, freeze pops, and whatever has yet to come. It’s not that we DON’T want to drink. We just want new ways to GET drunk. (Or safely imbibe for the lawyers out there.)
Will tells me that week by week, folks are coming back into the Buskey taproom, feeling free to do things they used to do, like it’s 2019 all over again. “I wanted something new, to engage people in a new way,” Will says. “I wanted to give folks some kind of reward. It’s been a tough year.” That’s where the Buskey Soft Serve was born.
Co-owners and husband and wife team Will and Elle invested in a Below Zero soft serve machine. The idea was making a “cider sorbet” of sorts, incorporating a few seasonal ciders in order to beat the heat. Basically, buy it and figure it out.
After the first weekend, you can safely say they figured it out. Buskey chose their seasonal Watermelon Basil for the inaugural cone. The first weekend, they sold them as fast the Below Zero machine would churn them out. Nearly 500 cones in all.
“We wanted to amplify the idea that this was ours,” Will says. “That’s why we chose the Watermelon Basil,” he adds. “It turned out better than expect, downright refreshing.”
The only downside is that the machine requires a good bit of cleaning and maintenance, plus staff training. It goes beyond cleaning glassware and faucets. Apparently there was a full-on training video to go along with the new equipment.
Each cone is about 5% alcohol by volume and non-dairy. After Watermelon Basil came Tart Cherry, and now bright pink Dragonfruit Açai. The working theory is to release new cider soft serve flavors opposite of the bi-weekly cider releases.
Will’s desire to energize people wanting to explore again is working. Buskey Cider has always been a fun break from the Scott’s Addition Beer Trail, and if the Correll’s have anything to do with it, it’s going to be one the most interesting stops along the way.
Bell’s Double Two Hearted Ale makes another return to shelves in July 2021.
For years, Bell’s Two Hearted Ale overtook Russian River Pliny the Elder as #1 India Pale Ale in America, according to Zymurgy Magazine, published by the American Homebrewer’s Association. Elder had the spot for seven years straight. Two Hearted Ale has both “classic” and “epic” statuses in our book.
In the past, you might have been lucky to come across Bell’s Double Two Hearted Aleon draft. It’s a hoppier and definitely boozier edition of its famous predecessor, to the tune of 11% alcohol by volume. If you’re a fan of Two Hearted Ale, this bigger edition really delivers.
Expect 12-ounce bottles and draft of Double Two Hearted Ale to starting hitting shelves within the week.
Style:Imperial IPA Availability: 12oz Bottles (New), Draft. Debut (Bottles): July 2019 Latest Return: July 2021
Anderson, South Carolina gains 3rd brewery with Magnetic South
Anderson, South Carolina will soon be home to three craft breweries. Magnetic South Brewery has started renovations.
Anderson, aka “The Electric City,” was devoid of breweries, craft or otherwise, for over 180 years. Then Carolina Bauernhaus brought sour and wild ales to the city in late 2015, followed by Electric City Brewing in 2020.
Later this year, Magnetic South Brewery will join Anderson’s historic downtown strip.
Anderson wasn’t the first city of choice for the brewery, which had been targeting Clemson prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Apparently last year’s COVID disruptions pushed the founders to look at Anderson, scraping their plans for Clemson’s The Astro Theater about 30 minutes away.
Paul Cain, Tanner Coombs, and Adam Willier are renovating a 10,000 square foot building that once housed a A&P grocery store, and most recently Carquest Auto Parts. The location will not only be home to a brewery, but kitchen and outdoor beer garden.
Magnetic South has already been producing beers through Thomas Creek in Greenville.
A target opening date is rumored late summer, early fall 2021.
