American Wild Ales

Anderson Valley Horse Tongue (a funky sour)

Anderson Valley Horse Tongue is a new sour joining the California brewery’s lineup this month.

In case you somehow missed it, Anderson Valley has been killing it lately with their various iterations of gose in the lineup.

Don’t let the name throw Continue Reading →

Orpheus Brewing Minotaur hits distribution

Orpheus Brewing Minotaur, the Atlanta, Georgia brewery’s whiskey barrel-aged sour, debuts today in the taproom.

As summer wound down, the brewery released Coffee Minotaur, a whiskey barrel-aged edition of the same sour, brewed with coffee. Orpheus Brewing Minotaur is aged for Continue Reading →

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

Anderson Valley Horse Tongue (a funky sour)

Anderson Valley Horse Tongue is a new sour joining the California brewery’s lineup this month.

In case you somehow missed it, Anderson Valley has been killing it lately with their various iterations of gose in the lineup.

Don’t let the name throw you off. No horse got its tongue in this beer. A barrel of experimental wheat beer went funky, in the most delicious way. So the brewers captured the blend of Pediococcus Damnosus, Lactobacillus,  and Brettanomyces and started the process over intentionally this time.

The base beer is a wheat ale fermented with a Belgian yeast, the the harvest “funk” culture. After six months in stainless steel tanks, the beer was transferred to wine barrels to aged a bit more. The result is a session beer full of sour and funk.

The barn hand opened the door and panicked. One of our shire horses had reached over the stall, pulled a bung from its barrel, and was licking the beer inside. Fearing he’d be blamed, he replaced the bung and told no one. Months later, our brewers found their experimental wheat ale had turned sour and little funky, but it was delicious! Eventually, the barn hand confessed his secret but we all had a good laugh… And thus, the legend of our Horse Tongue was born.

Anderson Valley Horse Tongue is a 22 ounce bottle and draft release.

Style: American Wild Ale (Wine Barrel Aged)
Availability: 22oz Bottles, Draft. Dec-Jan.
Debut: December, 2016

5.4% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Hi Wire Brewing, New Releases

Hi-Wire Wild Rye IPA launches with new Sour & Wild program

Hi-Wire Wild Rye IPA launches with the Asheville, North Carolina based brewery’s new Sour and Wild program this weekend. Additionally they will be launching Hi-Wire Sour Blonde Ale  at the same bottle release event. A year ago, Hi-Wire brewing began transitioning their South Slope Specialty Brewery into a exclusively sour and wild program. Wild Rye IPA is one of the first two sour beers to hit the shelves since the transition.

The Wild Rye IPA is a lively, tropical India Pale Ale blending rye spice, dank mango, and pine notes from American hops, with the rustic character of house brett. Aged for 6 months before being bottle conditioned, this wild ale has a medium body that finishes with a soft bitterness and lasting notes of tropical fruit & funk.

Wild Rye IPA will be available at the brewery’s bottle release event during the official launch of their Sour and Wild Ale program at the South Slope Specialty location on November 19th. Following the bottle release event, Sour Blonde Ale and Wild Rye IPA will hit shelves within Hi-Wire Brewing’s 4 state distribution on November 21st.

Style: American Wild Ale
Availability: Bottles
Release: November 2016

6.75%

Additional Note: The brewery also offers a VIP membership called the RingMaster’s club that allows access to limited and special release bottles, along with many other perks. For more info check out the club here.

 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in New Releases, Hi Wire Brewing

Hi-Wire Sour Blonde Ale kicks off new Sour & Wild program

Hi-Wire Sour Blonde Ale kicks off the Asheville, North Carolina based brewery’s new Sour and Wild program. Additionally they will be launching Hi-Wire Wild Rye IPA  at the same bottle release event. A year ago, Hi-Wire brewing began transitioning their South Slope Specialty Brewery into a exclusively sour and wild program. Sour Blonde Ale is one of the first two sour beers to hit the shelves since the transition.

Hi-Wire Sour Blonde Ale ages in American oak red wine barrels to get its oak and subtle berry aromas.

It displays aromas of citrus rind and hay from brettanomyces with faint berry, pineapple, and oak. This classic American-style sour exhibits notes of bright acidic stone and tropical fruit, subtle brett funk with a clean, dry finish.

Sour Blonde Ale will be available at the brewery’s bottle release during the official launch of their Sour and Wild Ale program at the South Slope Specialty location on November 19th. Following the bottle release event, Sour Blonde Ale and Wild Rye IPA will hit shelves within Hi-Wire Brewing’s 4 state distribution on November 21st.

Style: American Wild Ale
Availability: Bottles
Release: November 2016

7.65% ABV

Additional Note: The brewery also offers a VIP membership called the RingMaster’s club that allows access to limited and special release bottles, along with many other perks. For more info check out the club here.

 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Wicked Weed Brewing Co, Jester King Brewery

Wicked Weed Red Atrial, a Jester King collaboration sells out

Wicked Weed Red Atrial sounds like a legendary collaboration. It’s took about an hour to sell out.

Jester King Atrial Rubicite is one of the brewery’s most sought after fruited sour ales. Jester King adds Washington raspberries to the oak matured sour beer, and allowed to re-ferment to boast dryness.

Wicked Weed Red Angel is a red sour ale – the red coming from 1.5 pounds of raspberries per gallon. Easily one of the best in the series.

Wicked Weed Red Atrial is a 50/50 blend of Red Angel and Atrial Rubicite, taken a step further. Each brewery independently aged their base beer on 5 pounds per gallon of raspberries, then combined the two beers onto 4 pounds per gallon of fresh raspberries to re-ferment in puncheons for an additional two months.

Blenders and cellarmen from Wicked Weed and Jester King were tasting their most prestigious raspberry sour ales side by side, and the inevitable idea of a blend quickly emerged. Red Angel was combined in a snifter with Atrial Rubicite and the stunned silence of each taster confirm that this is a beer to bring to the people. This combination is more than the sum of its beautiful parts. Experience raspberry sour alchemy in Red Atrial.

Wicked Weed Red Atrial was a 500 milliliter bottle release, available at the Funkatorium in Asheville on November 26th.

Style: American Sour/Wild Ale (w/ Raspberries. Oak Aged)
Availability: 500ml Bottles

Debut: 11/26/16

6.4% ABV

 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Carolina Bauernhaus Ales, New Releases

Carolina Bauernhaus Keowee aka “Place of the Mulberries”

Carolina Bauernhaus Keowee is up next for the Anderson, South Carolina based brewery. Named for the Cherokee word for ‘Place of the Mulberries’.

Co-founders Keston Helfrich and David Thornton have have been working on “Keowee” for a while now. According to Thornton, the release delay has been due to the availability of the star of this beer, the mulberry. Beer Street Journal tried this beer with the team back in February. The mulberries really give this beer a unique flavor.

The base beer is the brewery’s 18 Mile Red Ale, aged on locally foraged mulberries (Which indeed was a task). 18 Mile ages for seven months Tempranillo and Cabernet wine barrels, and one extra month on the berries.

We barrel fermented our 18 Mile Red sour ale in Tempranillo and Cabernet wine barrels using our house ale yeast natively collected by SouthYeast Labs, a blend of multiple Brettanomyces strains, and a strain of native Lactobacillus. After letting the beer age for over seven months we blended the beer with fresh locally foraged mulberries and aged for another month. The resulting beer has a bright acidity paired with juicy berry notes balanced by an oaky barrel character.

Carolina Bauernhaus Keowee will be available on Saturday, November 12th in the taproom.

Style: American Wild Ale (w/ Mulberries. Wine Barrel Aged. Tempranillo. Cabernet.)
Availability: 750ml Bottles.
Debut: 11/12/16

7.2% ABV

carolina-bauernhaus-keowee-preview

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in The Commons Brewery, Seasonal Return

Commons Brewery Flemish Kiss returns from hiatus

After a long hiatus, The Commons Brewery Flemish Kiss is available once again.

This release is the first bottled batch from the Portland, Oregon based brewery’s 60 barrel foudre, aged a full 10 months. The base beer is fermented with an ale yeast, before being introduced to the wild yeast, Brettanomyces Bruxellensis.

The result is a floral, earthy pale ale with notes of cherry and a light acidity.

The Commons Brewery Flemish Kiss took home a silver medal at the 2012 Great American Beer Festival. Bottles go on sale the brewery on Friday, November 4th, at 12 noon.

Style: American Wild Ale
Availability: 750ml Bottles
Latest Return: 11/4/16

?? ABV

Image: The Commons Brewery 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Orpheus Brewing, New Releases

Orpheus Brewing Minotaur hits distribution

Orpheus Brewing Minotaur, the Atlanta, Georgia brewery’s whiskey barrel-aged sour, debuts today in the taproom.

As summer wound down, the brewery released Coffee Minotaur, a whiskey barrel-aged edition of the same sour, brewed with coffee. Orpheus Brewing Minotaur is aged for 6 months in Heaven Hill 10 Year and Jack Daniels Single Barrels.

Orpheus Brewing Minotaur is a 22 ounce bottle release, now in limited distribution in November, 2016.

Style: American Wild/Sour Ale (Barrel Aged. Whiskey.)
Availability: 22oz Bottles. Limited.
Debut: 10/20/16 (Taproom)
Distribution: November, 2016

?? ABV

Pic: Beer Street Journal 

by Reid Ramsay