Coffee

Half Acre Big Hugs 2016 releases in December

Half Acre Big Hugs Imperial Stout 2016 is coming in December. 2016 marks the 8th release of this imperial stout.

The imperial stout hails from Chicago, and so does the Dark Matter Coffee used in this well-known creation. Half Acre calls Big Hugs a thug. We call Continue Reading →

Perennial Sump will return in January, 2017

Perennial Artisan Ales Sump Coffee Stout returns again in January, 2017.

Sump is an imperial stout brewed with local coffee roaster Sump Coffee. The St. Louis, Missouri based brewery mentioned today that fans can expect the next round at the start of Continue Reading →

Chocolate & Coffee: Ballast Point Mocha Marlin debuts

Ballast Point Mocha Marlin joins the brewery’s “enhanced’ bottle lineup in the near future. That’s our way of describing the expanding line of core beers that have extra ingredients, like grapefruit, thai chili, or pineapple.

Ballast Point Mocha Marlin starts as the brewery’s year-round Continue Reading →

Posted in Ballast Point Brewing, Seasonal Return

Ballast Point Peppermint Victory at Sea returns. Year 2.

Ballast Point Peppermint Victory at Sea, a variant on the popular imperial porter is hitting shelves.

Much like the original, Ballast Point Peppermint Victory at Sea features coffee and vanilla. The twist of course, is peppermint.

This Peppermint Victory at Sea is a festive take on our popular Imperial Porter. We took our trademark robust porter brewed with Caffe Calabria coffee and vanilla and added a dose of refreshing peppermint. The trio of flavors play perfectly on your palate – the brew’s sweet roastiness balances nicely with a cool, minty finish. You might even call it a breath of fresh beer.

Ballast Point Peppermint Victory at Sea is a 22 ounce bottle offering. The flavor is much like the tried and true regular edition of Victory at Sea, with hints of peppermint throughout. For some, strong peppermint can be a turn off. Unless the 2016 edition upped the minty-ness, this beer drinks like a seasonal dessert.

Style: Imperial Porter (w/ Coffee, Vanilla, Peppermint)
Availability: 22oz bottles, Draft
Latest Release: Late November, 2016

10% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Half Acre Brewing, Headlines

Half Acre Big Hugs 2016 releases in December

Half Acre Big Hugs Imperial Stout 2016 is coming in December. 2016 marks the 8th release of this imperial stout.

The imperial stout hails from Chicago, and so does the Dark Matter Coffee used in this well-known creation. Half Acre calls Big Hugs a thug. We call it delicious.

…Big Hugs has grappled with natural order and twisted the pillars of existence. While you hang in the balance, steal time to sit steady and spill this black rumble into your center. Big Hugs Imperial Stout is liquid char scraped from the bowels of eternity, soaked with the free spirit of an adolescent feline. Heed him and rejoice.

Half Acre Big Hugs Imperial Stout 2016 will be available in 22 ounce bottles and draft at the brewery starting on December 11th, 2016.

Style: Imperial Stout (w/ Coffee)
Availability: 22oz Bombers, Draft. Limited seasonal release.
Latest Release: 12/11/16

10% ABV

Check out the artwork from previous Big Hugs releases…

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Nantahala Brewing Company, Coming Soon

Nantahala Midnight Topher, brewed with local espresso

Nantahala Midnight Topher, an espresso milk stout, will join the brewery’s lineup on Black Friday.

This specialty release uses a base stout to infuse with local Tribal Grounds Coffee espresso beans. Nantahala’s head brewer Chris White used to work as a barista. His past work with coffee beans inspired what he calls an “illicitly indulgent stout.”

The beans were introduced after primary fermentation, but before carbonation. This method gives the beer more iced coffee, roast and chocolate flavor, with less astringency, than adding coffee to the beer’s boil.

 “Some coffee beers only have mild flavors or hints of coffee but that was not what I wanted. I was aiming for a robust coffee flavor with lots of roast character and I think I succeeded. This is the kind of coffee beer that I want to drink.“ – Chris White

Nantahala Midnight Topher will be available in 22 ounce bottles, starting Friday, November, 25th.

Style: Milk Stout (w/ Coffee. Lactose.)
Availability: 22oz Bottles, Draft.

Debut: 11/25/16

6% ABV, 33 IBUS

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Perennial Artisan Ales, Coming Soon

Perennial Sump will return in January, 2017

Perennial Artisan Ales Sump Coffee Stout returns again in January, 2017.

Sump is an imperial stout brewed with local coffee roaster Sump Coffee. The St. Louis, Missouri based brewery mentioned today that fans can expect the next round at the start of the new year.

Style: Imperial Stout (w/ Coffee.)
Availability: 750ml bottles.
Next Return: January, 2017

10.5% ABV

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by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Dogfish Head, Don't Miss This

Dogfish Head Beer For Breakfast (Brewed with pork scrapple) debuts

Dogfish Head Beer for Breakfast, the brewery’s essential breakfast beer, has been released in bottles.

You’ve heard of breakfast beers before. Typically it’s a stout brewed with coffee. Perhaps oats. Maybe even a little milk sugar (lactose). Yeah, Dogfish Head could do that too, but hey- that’s not very off-centered is it? This beer needs that little something extra. Bacon? Orange Juice? Nope. Scrapple.

If you aren’t from the northeast, strap in. Let us explain scrapple. It’s breakfast meat, akin to sausage. Scrapple is pork scraps seasoned with spices and held together with corn meal. The brewery uses Rapa Scrapple. Some of the best you can get. This is just the beginning of what this stout looks like.

Dogfish Head Beer For Breakfast has a long list of ingredients. The most important meal of the day looks like this:

  • Maple syrup from the trees at Northfield Mount Hermon High School (Sam Calagione met his wife there)
  • Barley smoked over applewood
  • Roasted Chicory
  • Lactose (milk sugar)
  • Guatemalan Antigua cold press coffee
  • Scrapple from Rapa’s Scrapple.

Dogfish Head Beer for Breakfast is now available in 12 ounce bottles starting November 7th.

Style: Milk Stout (w/ Coffee, Brown Sugar, Lactose, Maple Syrup, Scrapple)
Availability: 12oz Bottles, Draft.
Debut (Bottles): November, 2016

7.4% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Ballast Point Brewing, New Releases

Chocolate & Coffee: Ballast Point Mocha Marlin debuts

Ballast Point Mocha Marlin joins the brewery’s “enhanced’ bottle lineup in the near future. That’s our way of describing the expanding line of core beers that have extra ingredients, like grapefruit, thai chili, or pineapple.

Ballast Point Mocha Marlin starts as the brewery’s year-round Black Marlin Porter, plus additions of coffee and chocolate. Dessert or breakfast beer. Your choice.

Our Black Marlin Porter is the perfect beer for a mocha mashup. The addition of the coffee and cocoa plays perfectly off the roast, chocolatey flavors of this English porter, while a hint of vanilla smooths it all out. It’s full-bodied, but not too sweet; try it for breakfast…or dessert.

Ballast Point Mocha Marlin has been available on draft in the past.

Style: Porter (w/ Coffee. Chocolate.)
Availability: 12oz Bottles, Draft.
Debut: Late-September, 2016

6% ABV

Image: Ballast Point

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in The Bruery, Don't Miss This

The Bruery 9 Ladies Dancing, inspired by tiramisu debuts

The Bruery 9 Ladies Dancing is officially the 9th edition of the brewery’s on-going 12 Beers of Christmas.

Back in 2008, the Placentia, California based brewery launched the series with Partridge in a Pear Tree, a Belgian-style strong dark ale. If you try to buy that now, you might spend nearly $1,000 dollars trying to obtain it.

The idea is not only to celebrate Christmas, but also for the beers to be cellared until the completion of the series. Don’t let that stop you from drinking any of them now, though. Life is short.

The Bruery 9 Ladies Dancing is inspired by tiramisu dessert. The base imperial milk stout is brewed with cacao nibs, vanilla and coffee.

Here’s a pick me up for the latest verse in our “Twelve Days of Christmas” series. Inspired by flavors and ingredients found in tiramisu, including ladyfingers, 9 Ladies Dancing mimics the Italian dessert by whipping together flavor combinations and layers of its own. This includes notes of vanilla, chocolate and coffee – clearly the leading ladies in this rich, dessert-like beer.

The Bruery 9 Ladies Dancing will be a 750 milliliter bottle release staring in November, 2016.

Style: Imperial Milk Stout (w/ Vanilla Beans, Cacao Nibs, Coffee.)
Availability: 750ml Bottles, Draft. One-time Release.
Debut: November, 2016

11.3% ABV

by Reid Ramsay