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Posted in Firestone Walker Brewing, Creature Comforts, Headlines, New Releases

Firestone Walker teams up with Creature Comforts, creates ‘Mother’s Milk’

Firestone Walker debuts a new collaboration this weekend with Athens, Georgia based Creature Comforts in Paso Robles, California.

Every beer collaboration is born out of friendship and mutual respect for one another’s brewing passions. In this case, the fermented love spans 2,000 miles. Introducing Firestone Walker / Creature Comforts Mother’s Milk.

The base beer is a milk stout that has been aging for nearly a year in rye whiskey barrels – a very intentional move. According to Eric Ponce, Firestone Walker’s barrel program manager, the sweetness of bourbon barrels would have been too cloying. “We designed the base beer with the intent of aging it in rye whiskey barrels—we thought it would be the perfect marriage. The dash of salt just makes everything pop on the palate,” he explains in a recent press release.

Mother’s Milk will be available to all attendees of this weekend’s Firestone Walker Invitational. 12-ounce bottles will be available at the brewery on June 2nd.

Style: Milk Stout (w/ Sea Salt. Lactose. Barrel Aged. Rye Whiskey.)
Hops:
Malts: Two-Row, Munich, Chocolate, Franco-Belges Kiln Coffee, Crystal 45, Oats

Availability: 12oz Bottles. Limited Release
Debut: 6/2/18

11.6% ABV

Image: Firestone Walker

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Ommegang, Headlines

Small batch sour & wild ale blends are coming to new Ommegang Blenderie project

New York State-based Brewery Ommegang is debuting a new small batch project in June known as Ommegang Blenderie.

Famously Belgian brewing influenced Ommegang has been blending beers for years. One of the most well-known beers in the brewery’s lineup (if not across all of craft beer) is Three Philosophers was first released in 2002, a blend of Ommegang’s Quadruple and Belgium based Liefman’s Kriek.

Ommegang Blenderie will take the brewery’s blending efforts a step further, into a whole new series of small batch blended releases. Two releases are planned for June – Faith & Fortitude, and Zen & Zymurgy.

Fath & Fortitude – a blend of aged sours and farmhouse-style saisons. The 6.5% ABV beer is described as having “notes of apricot, citrus, and tropical fruits mix with just a hint of barnyard funk.” Available at SAVOR in Washington D.C. and on sale at the brewery on June 16th.

Zen & Zymurgy – a mixed fermentation sour ale built on a saison base with 4 different yeast cultures, boasting “Aromas of sweet fruit, lemon and oak and tart flavors of fruit, malt, and Brettanomyces.” Available first at the Firestone Walker Invitational, on June 2nd, and on sale in August 2018.

One of Ommegang’s most recent blends is available nationally now – Saison Rose, a blend of two of the brewery’s saisons.

Expect more releases from Ommegang Blenderie in the coming months and years.

Image: Brewery Ommegang

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Elysian Brewing, Coming Soon, Headlines

Elysian teams up with epic glam rockers Def Leppard

Elysian Brewing and legendary band Def Leppard have a new musically inspired beer. Def Leppard Pale Ale debuts this summer.

The band is touring with another epic band Journey this summer, starting with Hartford, Connecticut on May 21st. Seattle, Washington is no stranger to music (or beer for that matter). In honor of Def Leppard’s Sheffield, England origin, the duo created an English-style pale ale brewed with English malts, and American-grown Pacific Northwest hops.

Def Leppard Pale is what happens when a mega British rock band collides with an American craft brewery. Both fanatics of their craft, Def Leppard and Elysian are excited to blend their worlds together, music and beer.

16-ounce cans of Elysian Def Leppard Pale Ale will be available in select tour cities starting on the band’s second stop on May 23rd in Albany, New York. The can design is a tribute to the 30th Anniversary of Def Leppard’s Hysteria album, known for epic songs like “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and “Love Bites”.

Style: Pale Ale
Hops: Cascade, Simcoe, Chinook, Magnum
Malts: 2 Row, Munich, Carahell, Acidulated

Availability: 16oz Cans, Draft
Debut: 5/23/18

6% ABV, 27 IBUs

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Headlines, New Releases

Get ready to drink like it’s the 90’s (again) Zima is returning to shelves

Last summer, MillerCoors re-released the popular 90’s clear malt beverage ‘Zima’. It was an overwhelming hit. Incidentally, the article announcing it’s return is the #1 most read article in Beer Street Journal’s 11-year history.

The beverage hit the market around 1994, and was an instant hit. We think of it like an alcoholic Crystal Pepsi. (Which, incidentally, is also back on shelves.) Fans would soak Jolly Ranchers and Skittles in the bottles for interesting fruity variations. Not that we would know. We just turned 21 yesterday.

The malt beverage was sold with the tagline “Zomething Different.” Which obviously prompted drunk folks to try to pronounce everything with a “Z” in front of it. Think of it like the “WAZZZZZZZUP” Budweiser commercials that debuted in 1999. It got a little annoying after a while.

“Last summer, Zima was the ultimate comeback kid. People were picking up a six-pack to relive their 90s memories, to stock up for theme parties, or to just see what all the fuss was about. So, when it was time to decide if we were going to bring it back, we thought ‘why wouldn’t we?” – Dilini Fernando, senior marketing manager, innovation

The brand officially died in 2008 in the United States, but it never left Japan. According to MillerCoors, the brand still does extremely well there. The Citrusy clear alcoholic beverage is only 5% alcohol by volume.

Weren’t old enough to drink Zima before it died in 2008? Summer of 2018 is your chance (again). 6 packs of the hit 90’s beverage are hitting shelves now.

Jolly Rangers not included.

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Headlines, Coming Soon

Stone will make a strong political statement with ‘I’M PEACH’ Double IPA this month

Stone Brewing will make a strong political statement this May.. Stone I’M PEACH Double IPA is coming by month’s end. 

We live in turbulent times. uThe United States is more polarized politically then it has in years. By the looks of it, Stone Brewing will be making a bold political statement in the form of a beer – Stone I’M PEACH Double IPA.

Related: 5 Rabbit Chinga tu Pelo, an Anti-Trump beer

In case you missed the not subtle note in the name – I’M PEACH aka IMPEACH. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out they are alluding to President Trump. Read the allusion in the beer’s description:

It’s what a lot of us are thinking. We want to shout I’M PEACH from the rooftops. Yet, we’re afraid of the potential alienation from select peach-hating members of our friends and family. We want to call fro and I’M PEACH, but we’re afraid that we’ll look soft. Peach soft, like some freedom hating sissy, right? Nope. Not in our world. We know peaches are for the righteous. We’ve seen the light of their sweet juicy glory and how they pair excellently with the standup character of an American IPA. It’s not just right for you, it’s right for the country. You’re proud of our beautiful nation. You support good taste. Have an I’M PEACH party and we’ll unite hops, peaches, and each other.

Not much subtlety found there.

Stone I’M PEACH Double IPA will debut in late May 2018 in 12-ounce cans and draft.

Style: Imperial IPA (w/ Peaches)
Availability: 12oz Cans, Draft.
Debut: Late May 2018

8.8% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Against the Grain, Headlines, Jack's Abby Brewing

Challenging the hoppy haze craze, the “clear IPA” is officially here

“The haze craze” has taken the beer industry by storm. The turbid, cloudy, New England IPA, powered by social media, is now being brewed coast to coast and even abroad. The Brewers Association has even added the hazy IPA as an official style.

Over the winter, Massachusetts based Jack’s Abby crossed paths with Against The Grain Brewery from Kentucky. Like damn near everyone else in the beer industry right now, the hazy IPA/New England IPA came up in conversation.

It started as a joke, and now it’s very real. Meet the “clear IPA”.

RED BRICK BREWING CREATES A “MYRTLE BEACH IPA”

Against The Grain teamed up with Springdale Beer, the experimental wing of Jack’s Abby, to create the antithesis of the hazy IPA trend – an IPA that pours nearly as clear as water. No murky glasses of beer that resemble orange juice found here. Why not, right? After all, Crystal Pepsi is a real thing.

How the brewing teams did it is still a secret. However, the result (pardon the pun) is clear. The opposite of the hazy IPA now exists in the world, and it’s called Any IPA.

Incidentally, Any IPA is the first canned collaboration for Springdale. The clear IPA is on tap now at both Against the Grain and Springdale breweries, as well as their distribution areas.

Image: Springdale Beer

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Highland Brewing, Headlines

Highland Brewing teams up with Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats

Highland Half Yuszch Pilsner debuts this month, a collaboration with the band Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats.

S.O.B. (Son of Bitch) is the song that brought Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats to national fame, selling out shows wherever they travel. This year, the band is currently touring and promoting their newest album, Tearing at the Seams with the hit single “You Worry Me”.

A few years ago, Highland Brewing teamed up with AC Entertainment and Orange Peel Events in order to bring larger music acts to play at the brewery. That move has brought Nathaniel Rateliff to play at the Asheville, North Carolina brewery this month. Highland approached the beer-loving Night Sweats about collaborating on their own craft beer, and the band was more than happy mash in.

Highland Half Yüszch is a Czech-style pilsner, named in honor of the band’s yüszch (meaning usual) tradition of downing a beer and a shot (presumably pre or post-performance). The pilsner is brewed with traditional Saaz hops and Asheville’s soft mountain water. The brewery says the result is “crisp and crushable”.

Half Yüszch will be available at the brewery on May 10th, as well as Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats soldout show at the brewery on May 11th. $1 from each beer sold will support The Marigold Project, a foundation established by Nathaniel Rateliff to address issues of economic and social justice.

Style: Pilsner
Hops: Saaz
Malts: Weyerman Pilsner

Availability: 12oz Cans, Draft
Distribution: Brewery Only

Debut: Early May 2018

4.5% ABV

Image: Beer Street Journal

by Reid Ramsay