Headlines

Chocolate heavy Westbrook 7th Anniversary on the way

Westbrook 7th Anniversary, celebrating the brewery’s 7th birthday, is coming soon. 

Celebrating birthdays is how famed Westbrook Mexican Cake got its start. It was originally brewed to celebrate a milestone, and fan demand caused to be an annual release. (Now with barrel-aged variants.)

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Posted in Westbrook Brewing Co, Coming Soon, Headlines

Chocolate heavy Westbrook 7th Anniversary on the way

Westbrook 7th Anniversary, celebrating the brewery’s 7th birthday, is coming soon. 

Celebrating birthdays is how famed Westbrook Mexican Cake got its start. It was originally brewed to celebrate a milestone, and fan demand caused to be an annual release. (Now with barrel-aged variants.)

It would seem Mount Pleasant, South Carolina based brewery loves dessert beer when it comes to anniversary releases. Westbrook 7th Anniversary is first an foremost an imperial stout that is all about chocolate. Think of it like liquid cake.

For our 7th anniversary beer, we went big on the chocolate and added a little sea salt to make it interesting. Luscious notes o liquid cocoa and a smooth salinity make this beer deliciously decadent.

Westbrook 7th Anniversary will be available in 22-ounce bottles. Each of the anniversary releases have debuted around January in the past.

Style: Imperial Stout (w/ Chocolate. Sea Salt.)
Availability: 22oz Bottles, DRaft.
Debut: TBA

10% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Anheuser-Busch, Headlines

Budweiser 1933 Repeal Reserve Amber Lager launches nationally

Budweiser 1933 Repeal Reserve Amber Lager is the latest national release by Anheuser Busch InBev. 

According to Anheuser Busch, brewery founder Adolphus Busch created 1933 Repeal Reserve Amber Lager prior to the American Prohibition in 1920. The beer never traveled far from Bud’s original home of Saint Louis before alcohol was banned.

With the anniversary of Repeal coming up on December 5th plus the holidays looming,  Anheuser Busch is launching Budweiser 1933 Repeal Reserve Amber Lager. The amber lager is lightly hopped, and caramel malt-forward. Repeal Reserve will also be packaged in vintage “stubby” 12-ounce bottles.

“We are excited to mark the upcoming holiday season and the anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition with this new brew based on a forgotten recipe. While Budweiser Repeal Reserve is a great tasting Amber Lager, it also tells the story of an important part of our history and gives reason for celebration.” – Ricardo Marques, VP of Budweiser

The official launch of Budweiser 1933 Repeal Reserve Amber Lager is slated for October 25th in New York City. Th brewery has partnered with LYFT to bring a fleet of 1930’s cars for safe rides to the launch party.

1933 Repeal Reserve is available in 12-ounce bottles and draft for a limited time.

Style: Amber Lager
Availability: 12oz Bottles, Draft.
Debut: 10/23/17

6.1% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Seasonal Return, Headlines

Surly Darkness 2017 is still everything death metal & damn delicious

Surly Darkness 2017 releases on October 21st. Here’s your sneak peek.

2006 saw the first batch of Surly Darkness. As the story goes, one-morning brewery founder Omar Ansari showed up on a weekend to get some work done to find folks standing outside. They wanted Darkness. A line for beer was weird back in 2006.

Now, 11 years later, Surly Darkness Day has become one of the “must attend” events in craft beer. Thirsty people travel from all over the country to see the darkest of metal bands and sip Russian imperial stout as the leaves change. It’s like a damn greeting card, but with strong beer and double bass kicks.

Tomorrow, this big bottle of metal is unleashed again.

As we sit barstool-deep in the Craft Beer Gold Rush, a line for an in-demand beer outside your local brewery’s door is not uncommon.  In 2006, it was fucking weird. And great.

Surly Darkness is anything but a simple Russian imperial stout. The 22-ounce bottles sport some of the darkest, most sinister labels in the industry that change every year. Seriously, if Rob Zombie had an art event at The Louvre, we think it would look like 11 years of these beer labels.

Darkness has set a high bar for the style in just over a decade. This year’s release is right on point with the flavors that have garnered such a loyal following. Each sip is wash of dark chocolate and a touch of coffee, with hints of raisins and dark fruit, finishing with a smooth boozy heat. Put the pumpkins down, this is the flavor of an upper mid-west fall. Drinking a Darkness is a basically a required merit badge for the craft beer drinker.

Surly Darkness 2017 is a limited 22-ounce bottle release at the brewery in Minnesota. The line starts at 11 AM.

Style: Russian Imperial Stout
Hops: Warrior, Simcoe, Amarillo
Malts: 2-row, Golden Promise, Aromatic, Chocolate, Black, 50/60, Special B, Roasted Barley, Oats, Brewers Crystals, DMEAvailability: 22oz Bottles, Draft.

Availability: 22oz Bottles, Draft. Limited Release.
Latest Return: 10/21/17

12% ABV 2017

PIC: Beer Street Journal

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in The Bruery, Headlines

The Bruery 10 Lords A Leaping, featuring 10 different spices

The Bruery 10 Lords a Leaping will be the 10th release in the ’12 Days of Christmas’ Series.

A decade ago, Placentia, California based The Bruery debuted the first in a line of 12 Beers brewed in honor of nearly 250-year-old “Twelve Days of Christmas” song. The first beer should be obvious – A Partridge in a Pear Tree, a Belgian strong dark brewed with spices.

Each year, the style has varied, from Two Turtle Doves to this year’s coming release – The Bruery 10 Lords a Leaping.

In lieu of 10 Lords, the brewery has 10 spices “leaping” into this seasonal release. The lineup includes coriander, orange peel, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, mace, anise, dried apples, and cloves.

Wassail is known for warmth and spices. The tenth verse of our Twelve Beers of Christmas™ saga goes leaps and bounds beyond a traditional winter warmer, drawing inspiration from the dark, spiced ales from Belgium and our love for experimental brewing in SoCal. 10 Lords-A-Leaping is a dark imperial wit ale featuring 10 different spices… which complement the spiced notes imparted from the yeast and prance upon the rich, dark-fruited character of the specialty malts.

The Bruery 10 Lords A Leaping will be a 750-milliliter release.

Style: Imperial WItbier (w/ Coriander, Orange peel, Cinnamon, Ginger. Nutmeg. Allspice. Mace. Star Anise. Dried Apples. Cloves)
Availability: 750ml Bottles
Debut: Late Fall 2017

10.5% ABV

Past Releases: 

9 Ladies Dancing – Tiramisu Inspired Strong Ale (2016)
8 Maids-A-Milking – Imperial Milk Stout (2015)
7 Swans-A-Swimming – Belgian-style quadrupel (2014)
6 Geese-A-Laying – Belgian-style Dark Ale, with cape gooseberries (2013)
5 Golden Rings – Golden Ale, with cinnamon, allspice, ginger, pineapple (2012)
4 Calling Birds – Belgian-style Dark Ale, with gingerbread spices (2011)
3 French Hens – Belgian-style Dark Ale, partial French oak aged (2010)
2 Turtles Doves – Belgian-style Dark/Porter Blend, with pecans and cocoa nibs (2009)
A Partridge in a Pear Tree – Belgian-style dark ale with candi sugar (2008)

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Headlines

The Brewers Association wants to raise $213 Billion to buy Anheuser Busch

Anheuser Busch InBev has dropped a good chunk of change buying a few of America’s craft breweries. The buyouts haven’t sat well with many of the craft beer drinkers and most definitely not with the not-for-profit advocate for craft brewers, the Brewers Association.

The biggest beef the Brewers Association has with these purchases is consumer clarity. Many buyers don’t know these breweries are owned by ABI, but still operate like they are independent.

The first step in the fight was launching the Independent Seal, to be adopted by the nation’s craft brewers to be displayed on their packaging signifying independence. They aren’t stopping at the seal. The Brewers Association is going big – $213 billion big.

Today the Brewers Association launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds totaling the market value of Anheuser Busch InBev – $213 billion dollars.

“Since 2011, Anheuser-Busch InBev has quietly acquired 10 small and independent breweries, but they won’t tell you that on their packaging,” said Andy. “Just try to name all 10 without Googling…exactly. Big Beer creates an ‘illusion of choice,’ but we are presenting them with a reality check—and hopefully, at the end of the day, with a real check too.

The initiative is called “Take Craft Back” and can be found at TakeCraftBack.com. You can pledge up to $1000 dollars towards this lofty goal on what has to be a financial bank-breaking record for this type of campaign. No, you don’t have to put your credit card down now. The Brewers Association will contact you if they ACTUALLY meet the multiple billion dollar goal.

The odds are very much against the goal ever being met, and probably even worse that Anheuser would sell even if the funds were raised.

Something to ponder. If the Brewers Association bought ABI and their subsidiaries, would they instantly just be “independent?” Satire aside, score another point for the BA’s ‘Independence Matters’ initiative.

https://youtu.be/S-a69ey71vo

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Stone Brewing Co., Abnormal Beer Co., Headlines, New Releases

Inspired by ice cream: Stone Neopolitan Dynamite debuts. Here’s who’s getting it

Ice cream inspired beer? Stone Neopolitan Dynamite, a collaboration with Abnormal Beer Co. and American Homebrew Association Rally winners Paul Bischeri and Patrick Martinez, has debuted.

RELATED: Stone to team up with punk band NOFX

2017 marks the 10th year AHA members have submitted their beers for judging which includes team members at Stone Brewing. Past winners include Ken Schmidt twice (Mint Chocolate Imperial Stout) and (Kona Coffee, Macadamia, Coconut Porter), and Jason Fields and Kevin Sheppard (Chocolate Cherry Stout). The winner brewer or brewers gets to brew the beer on a production scale, usually with a guest production brewery.

This year’s release Stone Neopolitan Dynamite is inspired by Neopolitan ice cream. The base beer is an imperial stout, brewed with strawberries, vanilla, chocolate and coffee.

You hold in your hands the most recent winner. Finding inspiration in that humble box of striped ice cream from out childhoods, Neapolitan Dynamite is an intense Imperial Stout brewed with vanilla, strawberries, an chocolate, revved up with a shot of coffee to fuel the ultimate dance contest on your palate, gosh!

Stone mentions this Rex Kwon Do of imperial stouts has it all. Nunchuck skills, computer hacking skills, AND bow hunting skills. Plus it pairs well with a liger. That’s half man, half tiger.

Stone Neopolitan Dynamite will be available in 22-ounce bottles, and draft as a limited release. Is it headed to your market? Check the distribution below.

Style: Imperial Stout (w/ Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberries. Coffee)
Availability: 22oz Bottles, Draft.
Debut: September 2017
Distribution: AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, IA, IL, IN, KS, MA, MD, MI, MO, NE, NH, NV, NY, OH, OR, PA RI, TX, VA, VT, WA, WI and Puerto Rico

8.5% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Anheuser-Busch, Headlines

Brutal day as Anheuser Busch lays off hundreds of employees in “The High End” 

Anheuser Busch made some major cuts in their “High End” today, eliminating nearly 400 jobs.

Sometime around 10 pm last evening, representatives for The High End, including High End district managers started getting calendar invites for phone conferences with Budweiser Human Resources. This morning, the ax started to drop.

In a conference call with Alex Medicis, the Vice President of Sales for AB InBev North America, (concluding just after 3:45 pm this afternoon) most of the employees working with The High End have been let go.

According to Medicis, Anheuser-Busch is rethinking the business model surrounding the High End, centering more on efficiency. Cuts were made coast to coast.

Per Mike Seabaugh, High End Sales Rep,  AB’s explanation centered around brewery acquisitions. “Basically, they’ve bought quite a few breweries and with those purchases came a bunch of employees. They don’t have room for us anymore”, he said.

The High End won’t comment on the exact number of employees, speaking on background “that less than 2% of the 18,000 employees have in North America were impacted.” According to that math, that’s around 360 employees.

It was also mentioned that after meeting with various wholesalers around the country, the general consensus is that the employees and managers for The High End were superfluous.

Beer Street Journal is told that employees that work directly for breweries purchased for Anheuser-Busch’s High End portfolio – Goose Island, 10 Barrel, Elysian, Blue Point, Wicked Weed, Four Peaks, Devil’s Backbone, Breckenridge, and Karbach, will retain their positions at the respective breweries.

Editors Note: A representative with The High End contacted Beer Street Journal about the above piece. More information has not been provided. (4:45pm)

This is a developing story. This article will be updated with more information as it becomes available. 

by Reid Ramsay