American Wild Ales

Surly Celebrates 5 with Five

Surly Brewing’s (Brooklyn Center, MN) fifth anniversary beer – “Five” will be available soon.  Each year the beer is different, and nothing short of phenomenal.  Last year I named Surly “Four” as one of the best beers I Continue Reading →

Odell Brewing Goes Wild

Odell Brewing is releasing a new wild ale during American Craft Beer Week.  The beer is Hiveranno, named for a seasoned mountain man living off the land. In the wild.  The brewers grew the yeast from wild strains found on the brewery grounds.  Hiveranno is blended in various Odell barrels.  And 100% bottle fermented.  Headed to into the “wild” May 21, 2011.  750 ml bottles, corked & caged.

Press Release

Hiveranno, The New American Wild Ale
Odell Brewing releases new brew during American Craft Beer Week

Fort Collins, CO. — On May 21, 2011, Odell Brewing will release Hiveranno, the latest in its Single Serve series of offerings. A New American Wild ale, Hiveranno blends a traditional wild ale with bright American hop aromatics and soft oak tannins.

The Bruery/Cigar City Marron Acidifie Release Details

The first collaboration between The Bruery and Cigar City Brewing is just weeks away from going public.  Marrón Acidifié is a seemingly epic beer in the making, and officially launches March 25th.

What You Need To Know:
March 25th, big launch party in San Francisco.   Reserve Society Member? You get yours on March 28th.  April 8th, The Bruery & Cigar City will do a tasting room to tasting room release/web broadcast.  (Nerdy AND alcoholic. Nice.)  The week after that, Florida & California gets their bottles.  April 18th – IL, NY, NJ, VA, MD, DC, GA get bottles.  After May 2nd, NV, AZ, CO, OR, WA, WI, OH, IN, MA, NC, SC, PA get their bottles.

Read on for the full release

Lost Abbey Duck-Duck-Gooze

Lost Abbey Duck Duck Goose.  Info via the brewery: 

In Belgian brewing there are fantastic wild ales brewed with naturally occurring yeast. These beers develop over time and are ready on their own terms. Duck Duck Gooze is our homage to Continue Reading →

Hair Of The Dog Michael

Hair Of The Dog Michael.

Michael is produced in memory of Michael Jackson, the Beer Hunter. It is made with Organic Pilsner, Vienna and Munich malts. Michael is fermented with a variety of yeasts and bacteria. It is aged in American oak Continue Reading →

Posted in New Releases, Surly Brewing

Surly Celebrates 5 with Five

Surly Brewing’s (Brooklyn Center, MN) fifth anniversary beer – “Five” will be available soon.  Each year the beer is different, and nothing short of phenomenal.  Last year I named Surly “Four” as one of the best beers I tried in 2010 for an article I co-wrote for Paste Magazine.  While last year was an espresso milk stout, Five will be a wild ale with some wine aging.  In early February, a single barrel tasting of Five made an appearance, dubbed “Pentagram.”  While Five is a blend of off all the wine barrels used for aging, Pentagram was just one barrel.

In the Surly brewhouse brewing our Anniversary beers mean one thing, forget what ya know and try something different.   In honor of FIVE glorious years we bring you a 100% Brettanomyces fermented Dark Ale Aged in red wine barrels.  Flavors of sour cherry, tobacco, oak and classic “Brett” barnyard funk balanced by Dark Munich malt chewiness.  Enjoy immediately or age at cellar temperatures for a couple of years. 100% Brettanomyces fermented Dark Ale aged in red wine barrels.

Style: American Wild Ale (wine barrel aged)
Availability: 750ml bottles, draft. One time release.
Arrival: June, 2011
7.87% ABV

Previous Editions of Anniversary beers are:
One: A “quadruple Bock
Two:  Fruit Beer, Oak Aged Stout brewed with cranberries
Three:  Black Braggot.  Brewed w/ 50% honey & 50% Munich Malt
Four:  Milk Stout w/ espresso
Bottle Artwork for Five – AestheticApparatus.com

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in New Releases, Odell Brewing

Odell Brewing Goes Wild

Odell Brewing is releasing a new wild ale during American Craft Beer Week.  The beer is Hiveranno, named for a seasoned mountain man living off the land. In the wild.  The brewers grew the yeast from wild strains found on the brewery grounds.  Hiveranno is blended in various Odell barrels.  And 100% bottle fermented.  Headed to into the “wild” May 21, 2011.  750 ml bottles, corked & caged.

Press Release

Hiveranno, The New American Wild Ale
Odell Brewing releases new brew during American Craft Beer Week

Fort Collins, CO. — On May 21, 2011, Odell Brewing will release Hiveranno, the latest in its Single Serve series of offerings. A New American Wild ale, Hiveranno blends a traditional wild ale with bright American hop aromatics and soft oak tannins.

The Hiveranno was a seasoned Mountain Man, one who had lived many years off the land pioneering new ways to survive by exploiting available resources. Like the Hiveranno, our adventurous brewers drew on their knowledge of classic wild Belgian yeasts, and they captured and propagated their very own strain of wild yeast from the brewery grounds. This proprietary wild yeast, unique to the brewery, lends a slightly tart funkiness that is enhanced by the barrel aging process.

“The beer was blended with select barrels from our wood cellar,” said Eli Kolodny, brewery QA/QC analyst.  “These barrels have a unique in-house lineage that adds a subtle melon and grapefruit rind tartness to balance out the big aroma hops in the beer. Aging the beer will bring out more oak and wild yeast characteristics, while drinking fresh will allow the hops to shine.”

Odell Brewing will celebrate the release of Hiveranno in the brewery’s Tap Room on Saturday, May 21st during American Craft Beer Week. Beginning at 4:00 p.m., guests can enjoy samples of the beer as well as live music by Constitution.

To learn more about Hiveranno, visit the brewery’s blog at http://odellbrewing.com/blog, or follow Odell Brewing on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/OdellBrewingCo.

Founded in 1989, Odell Brewing was started by Doug Odell, his wife Wynne, and his sister Corkie. Twenty-one years later, the culture of family and collaboration still thrives fostering a brewery full of beer-centric people. It is this passion for beer that inspires Odell Brewing to create quality, hand-crafted, innovative brews. In 2010 the brewery completed its fourth expansion, adding a wood-aging cellar, a 750 ml bottling line, and a 76 kilowatt photovoltaic system capable of providing 25% of the brewery’s peak energy demand. As a regional craft brewery, Odell Brewing is committed to serving the communities in which it distributes by sourcing local raw materials, and through its charitable giving program known as Odell Outreach. Odell Brewing was recently named a “Top Company of 2010” by ColoradoBiz Magazine and is an award winning brewery, nationally and internationally: 2010 North American Beer Awards — gold medal for Woodcut No. 3. 2009 BrewNZ Awards — gold for 5 Barrel Pale Ale. 2008 World Beer Cup® — gold for IPA. 2007 Great American Beer Festival® — gold medal for IPA.

 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Cigar City Brewing, New Releases, The Bruery

The Bruery/Cigar City Marron Acidifie Release Details

The first collaboration between The Bruery and Cigar City Brewing is just weeks away from going public.  Marion Acidifie is a seemingly epic beer in the making, and officially launches March 25th.

What You Need To Know:
March 25th, big launch party in San Francisco.   Reserve Society Member? You get yours on March 28th.  April 8th, The Bruery & Cigar City will do a tasting room to tasting room release/web broadcast.  (Nerdy AND alcoholic. Nice.)  The week after that, Florida & California gets their bottles.  April 18th – IL, NY, NJ, VA, MD, DC, GA get bottles.  After May 2nd, NV, AZ, CO, OR, WA, WI, OH, IN, MA, NC, SC, PA get their bottles.

Full Release

For our first collaboration beer we are lucky to partner with Cigar City Brewing out of Tampa, Florida. Geographically a country apart but following similar paths, we felt an immediate connection with Joey, Wayne and the crew. We’re both young breweries, founded and staffed by homebrewers, who use interesting ingredients and techniques to make unique, full-flavored beers. A recipe was created over pints at Falling Rock Tap House during GABF 2009 and Wayne came out to help brew it shortly after. Over a year in barrels has left this dark sour layered with notes of cranberries, tropical fruits, leather and aged balsamic vinegar, balanced by wood tannins and roasted malt. Raise a glass and toast to the success of fledlging breweries across this great nation!

The Release of Marion Acidifie will be as follows:

March 25th, 7pm
Rosamunde Sausage Grill, 2832 Mission Street, San Francisco
Grand Release with the folks from The Bruery and Cigar City Brewing in attendance.

March 28th, 12pm
Reserve Society can pick up their allocations at The Bruery Provisions

April 8th
Simultaneous release parties at The Bruery’s Tasting Room and Cigar City’s Tasting Room
(complete with web-broadcast from one to the other)
Marrón Acidifié will also be available at The Bruery Provisions beginning at 5pm

The week following April 8th the beer will be released in California & Florida

The week of April 18th it will be released in IL, NY, NJ, VA, MD, DC, GA with a release event on April 18th at Hopleaf in Chicago with The Bruery’s Jonas Nemura in attendance.

All other markets should receive the beer no later than May 2nd.
(NV, AZ, CO, OR, WA, WI, OH, IN, MA, NC, SC, PA)

 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Lost Abbey, New Beers

Lost Abbey Duck-Duck-Gooze

Lost Abbey Duck Duck Goose.  Info via the brewery: 

In Belgian brewing there are fantastic wild ales brewed with naturally occurring yeast. These beers develop over time and are ready on their own terms. Duck Duck Gooze is our homage to these effervescent and wonderfully complex sparkling beers.

A blend of young and old barrel aged beers, this has been one of our most sought after beers year after year since it’s original release in 2009.

Alas, it is released in very small quantities only once every three years, so it’s extremely difficult to come by beyond the day we release it. It does, however, turn up on our vintage list from time to time, so don’t despair.

Belgian-Style Lambic or Sour Ale

Available in 750ml bottles. 5.5% ABV

Style: American Wild Ale 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Hair Of The Dog Brewing

Hair Of The Dog Michael

Hair Of The Dog Michael.

Michael is produced in memory of Michael Jackson, the Beer Hunter. It is made with Organic Pilsner, Vienna and Munich malts. Michael is fermented with a variety of yeasts and bacteria. It is aged in American oak and Sherry casks for 30 months and released every November from the Brewery only.

Style: American Wild Ale (Barrel Aged, Sherry, Sour)
Availability: 12oz bottles, November release

6.2% ABV

by Reid Ramsay