Headlines

Posted in 19 Crimes Beer, Headlines

Winemaker 19 Crimes launches new beer lineup stateside

19 Crimes, the Australian winemakers with the augmented reality labels, are launching 19 Crimes Beer in the United States.

The wine debuted in the United States 6 years ago, and is now a staple in pretty much every grocery store you step foot in. According to Michelle Terry, CMO or Treasure Wine Estates, the company noticed a duality between wine drinkers and craft beer drinkers. “We know that our 19 Crimes wine lovers also highly index as consumers of craft beer. There is so much opportunity with this brand, and our retailers and customers have been asking us to expand into other alcohol beverages.” 

Three styles of 19 Crimes beers are ready with the initial launch – 19 Crimes Pilsner, 19 Crimes IPA, and 19 Crimes Lager. All three styles are brewed at Sleeping Giant Brewery in Denver, Colorado.

Each of the cans portray the familiar characters on the labels, complete with augmented reality stories through the Living Wine labels phone app. The stories on the wine and the beer are the same.

19 Crimes Beer will launch first in Ohio. Expect more states before the close of 2019.

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Boulevard Brewing, Coming Soon, Fling Craft Cocktails, Headlines

Boulevard Brewing is launching Fling, a new craft cocktails lineup in April

Boulevard Brewing Co. is releasing something completely different in April, and it’s not beer at all. Meet Fling Craft Cocktails.

For decades now, Boulevard has been brewing beer in Kansas City, Missouri. Needless to say, it’s been going quite well. However, as of late, the craft beverage industry has seen the rise of other flavored malt beverages, hard ciders, and hard seltzers. As President Jeff Krum puts it, this little brewing diversion has taken a life of its own.

“While we’ll always remain first and foremost a craft brewer, sometimes you just want something different. We have the facilities and the equipment and the talent to make all kinds of interesting and delicious beverages, and we’re excited by the opportunity to give consumers more choices, to go where they go. Plus, we’re having more fun than is probably legal.” – Jeff Krum, President, Boulevard Brewing Co.

Each ready to drink cocktail in a can features all natural ingredients, and are touted as low in carbohydrates and calories. Four cocktails will be a part of the program:

Blood Orange Vodka Soda – A combination of 360 Vodka, soda water & blood orange

Cucumber Lime Gin & Tonic – Builders Botanical Gin, tonic, and fresh lime & cucumber

Mai Tai – Lime, Orange, Almond, & spices to complement Virgin Islands Rum

Margarita – Mean Mule American Agave neutral spirit, lime, & salt. 

Fling Craft Cocktails will launch on March 28th, corresponding to the Kansas City Royals Opening Day. Regional distribution will follow in April, with national distribution to occur throughout the rest of the year.

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Carolina Bauernhaus Ales, Headlines

Carolina Bauernhaus announces second location in Greenville

Anderson, South Carolina based Carolina Bauernhaus is building a second location this year, in nearby metro area of Greenville.

Mixed used developments have become a big draw for breweries looking to build second locations. Crooked Stave chose The Exchange in Denver for their second taproom. Atlanta’s Scofflaw Brewing is building a second facility in The Works on the Westside of the city. Atlanta City Winery did the same thing in Ponce City Market. These mixed-use developments draw big crowds looking for a plethora of food, drinks and fun activities, and typically lead to an influx of apartment, condo, and hotel build nearby. The days of building production facilities in heavy industrial complexes are slowly dying.

Carolina Bauernhaus, an all-oak, wild ale brewery, winery, and cidery has selected Poe West, a 60,000 square foot mixed-use development in The West Village of Greenville for their second build. Bauernhaus has 3,000 square feet of the new space for their beer garden, outdoor and entertainment space.

The 5.8 acre $10 million dollar build breaks ground this month and is expected to open in Fall 2019.

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

Metallica launches their own beer nationally with Stone Brewing

Arrogant Consortia, Stone Brewing’s “arrogant” extension of their brewing operation, was always destined for a collaboration like this. Stone and Metallica have created a new pilsner rolling out nationally.

Musical collaborations are nothing new in the beer industry. Dogfish Head has created several musical releases with Pearl Jam, Guided By Voices, and The Flaming Lips. Dropkick Murphys teamed up with Magic Hat and Megadeth with Unibroue – that’s just the beginning of the list. Now musical hall of fame inducted Metallica has their own national release- Enter Night Pilsner.

Iron Maiden has their own successful beer and Metallica has taken notice. After launching “Blackened,” a Metallica inspired whiskey last fall, beer was an obvious next step. According to drummer Lars Ulrich, Stone Brewing’s name kept coming up while doing some research. Beer fans know how fiercely independent Stone is, and Metallica was drawn to Greg Koch and Stone for that mentality.

Metallica didn’t want to just “slap a label” on a beer, and Koch wasn’t about to do the brewer’s version of the same thing. The band dove head first together into the creation of this collaboration – Enter Night Pilsner. 

Now, a lot of folks think a metal-inspired beer should be strong, black, barrel-aged, or be brewed with goat’s blood or something “metal” like that. Most musicians want something on the lighter side of the spectrum to drink before, during, and after the show. The guitar solo on “One” wouldn’t as epic if Kirk Hammett was shit-blitzed on barleywine. A pilsner became a perfect choice (plus Ulrich is from Europe originally and knows the style well).

Enter Night Pilsner is every bit a clean, crisp European style lager with just a touch of aggressive American hops. When Stone Brewing and Metallica say this beer “transcends genres, shatters preconceptions and challenges convention,” we tend to agree. They both have done that in their perspective industries and definitely in this beer. Enter Night is not like any pilsner you’ve had before.

 Enter Night Pilsner is hitting shelves nationally in 16-ounce cans.  

Crank The Black Album and get drinking.

Style: Pilsner
Availability: 16oz Cans, Draft.
Debut (Nationally): Early 2019

5.7% ABV, 45 IBUs

PIC: Beer Street Journal

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Sierra Nevada, Headlines, Sufferfest Beer Co.

Sierra Nevada makes first-ever acquisition, Sufferfest Beer Co.

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. has made their first-ever acquisition, Sufferfest Beer Co.

Sufferfest Beer Co. is a young brewery, launched back in 2016 in San Francisco, California. Founder and CEO Caitlin Landesberg had been searching for a beer that was the perfect thirst quencher for someone with an active lifestyle. Eventually, that search led her to create her own recipes with a brewmaster and ultimately, Sufferfest Beer Co. was born.

Sufferfest beers are intentionally brewed to be low in carbohydrates, with some being extremely gluten reduced (Less than 5 parts per million.)

Sierra Nevada’s President and CEO said today – “While still in its infancy, Sufferfest is at the front of the wave of ‘functional’ alcoholic beverages. By joining with Sierra Nevada, Sufferfest will be better positioned to grow and continue to lead the way in a rapidly growing and highly competitive space.”

The intention of the acquisition is to better position Sufferfest to grow in a highly competitive space of healthy beer options, including gluten-reduced and gluten-free offerings.

The terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but the deal is for 100% of Sufferfest Beer Co.

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Brewery Expansions, Galleries, Headlines, Wild Heaven Craft Beers

Wild Heaven builds out their 2nd Atlanta location

More than 10 years ago, I got a call out of the blue from a guy called Nick Purdy who was starting a brewery in Atlanta. Always eager to try new beer, I met him at Brick Store where he handed me to un-labeled brown bottles that contained the first batches of Invocation Belgian-style Golden Ale, and Ode to Mercy, a coffee brown ale. By late 2014, the brewery broke ground on their production facility in Avondale Estates, Georgia.

It was over a decade ago and honestly felt like a badass for having bottles from a brewery that wasn’t even open yet. Production breweries opening in Atlanta were far more rare a decade ago in the Peach State.

Later that year, Purdy invited me over to show me the new construction, and it’s there I met Eric Johnson, the co-founder and creative genius behind Wild Heaven’s beers. Folks in Athens, Georgia, might know him by his first beer overture – Trappeze Pub. Within hours, in the mild Georgia cold, Eric and I were drinking beers and laying out the where the sloped floors would be cut. (Side note after the fact, that wasn’t a simple task.)

Fast forward a few years to Atlanta’s West End in 2017. Wild Heaven signs a long-term lease in the 23 acres of “warehouse row” owned by Lee & White, adjacent to the future piece of the city’s Beltline. Notably home to Monday Night’s Sour and Wild facility, The Garage.

The 21,600 square foot freestanding building is Wild Heaven’s second home, a bigger, bolder expansion for this Georgia craft brewer. The facility will feature 80 taps, multiple private event spaces, a patio overlooking the beltline, and a full-service restaurant.

Wild Heaven West End  is just feet from American Spirit Distillery’s second location, as well as Hop City’s new bottleshop and restaurant.

The expected opening date has shifted, pending approvals, but an August opening has now been confirmed.

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Firestone Walker Brewing, Headlines

Firestone Walker takes beer & wine hybrid beers to a new level with “Rosalie”

Inspired by the wine country that surrounds the brewery, Firestone Walker Rosalie debuts year-round this month. 

Paso Robles, California, the home of Firestone Walker Brewing Company is known to the rest of the world as a premier wine region. The brewery was even constructed on the Firestone family winery. If that influence isn’t enough, local winemakers are always asked to assist in creating Firestone’s annual Anniversary blend.

The path to Rosalie started in September of 2018 when Castoro Winery harvested 200 tons of wine grapes for Firestone Walker. Grape varieties included Chardonnay, Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Muscat Canelli, and Orange Muscat. Chardonnay grapes were tapped to take the flavor profile lead, but brewmaster Matt Brynildson wanted other varieties. “The Chardonnay provides these crowd-pleasing textures and flavors. But we also wanted to weave in the other grape varieties to lift the aromas and add complexity,” he says.

The goal with Firestone Walker Rosalie is to create a beer with the body of rosé wine. A cross-over creation, that blurs the line between beer and wine. The acid profile of a rosé can’t be achieved with normal yeast and malts, so the brewery used some souring techniques to achieve this.

A lightly hopped, pilsner malt heavy wort was created, and blended with pressed grape juice. By co-fermenting the wort with the grape juice, the brewery is essentially making beer and wine at the same time.

Where hops would have been added whirlpool step of the brewing process, Firestone Walker opted to use hibiscus petals. This gives Rosalie it’s pink, rosé wine style coloring, with an extra touch of citric acid which brightens up the palate beer. The result of this complicated brewing process? It would seem like one of the most cutting edge beer and wine hybrids created yet.

Look for Firestone Walker Rosalie in 12-ounce cans year-round this month. Draft will launch in April 2019.

Style: Hybrid Beer (w/ Grapes. Hibiscus.)
Availability: 12oz Cans, Draft. Year-Round.
Debut: January 2019

5% ABV

Image: Firestone Walker

by Reid Ramsay