Posted in New Beers, Pipeworks Brewing

Pipeworks Brewing Reliquary

by Reid Ramsay June 15, 2013

Posted in AleSmith Brewing, Seasonal Return

Grab a AleSmith YuleSmith This Fourth

Available right now in AleSmith’s tasting room, Summer YuleSmith Holiday Ale iswaiting with orange, grapefruit, and tangerine hop notes and pine undertones. YuleSmith Holiday Ale is brewed twice a year with winter’s version being an Imperial Red Ale and its summer counterpart being an Imperial IPA. Available in bottles, growlers, and tasters but only for a limited time, expect to see Summer YuleSmith on shelves near you soon.

Style: Imperial IPA
Availability: 22oz bottles, Draft
Arrival: June 2013

9.5% ABV

by Reid Ramsay June 11, 2013

Posted in Monday Night Brewing, Videos

Beer Street Journal Video: Monday Night Intros Big IPA in Big Bottles

Monday Night Brewing (Atlanta, GA) is happy to announce that their Blind Pirate IPA is available in 22oz bottles starting today. This is the first beer they’ve put in 22oz bottles and expect to launch more in the near future.

A pirate without the use of his eyes is a bitter man indeed. And this Blind Pirate’s bitterness is only matched by his boldness. He doesn’t care if qou enjoy the citrusy, spicy combination of hops on your tongue, the faint herbal notes in your nose, or the exquisite balance of caramel malts looting your senses. The Blind Pirate is a bold, bitter ale not for the weak in spirit. Just don’t ask him if you can borrow his sight glass. He gets offended.

Style: Imperial IPA
Availability: Draft , 22oz bombers
Arrival: Now Available

8.2% ABV

by Reid Ramsay June 4, 2013

Posted in Crux Fermentation Project, New Beers

Crux Fermentation Project Insider India Pale Ale

by Reid Ramsay May 31, 2013

Posted in Coming Soon, Stone Brewing Co.

Stone’s 17th Anniversary Release Is…

For Stone Brewing Co’s (Escondido, CA) 17th Anniversary, they went German. Meaning the above IPA coming this August is chock full of German hops. In true Stone form, and pushing the boundaries, Stone cites economist Joseph Schumpeter’s theory in making this IPA -“Creative Destruction.” Steve Wagner explains below.

Life is never dull at Stone, but the last year has been one of the most eventful yet. We threw open the doors to Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Liberty Station, our second decidedly eclectic brewery restaurant installed in historic former U.S. Navy buildings (which includes an original mess hall). We outfitted that venue with a 10-barrel brewhouse, 40 taps serving Stone and guest beers, a huge outdoor garden area, and 650-plus seats. Hey, “small” is for other people. Well, I suppose we do have our own version of “small” in our brand-new-as-of-August craft beer-centric bar and eatery in Terminal 2 of San Diego International Airport,although it’s on the large size as airport restaurants go. At any rate, plan your trip accordingly. And we doubled the size and production capacity of our brewery, built the new Stone Packaging Hall and, oh yeah, found out we’re now the tenth largest craft brewing company in the country. We can hardly believe we fit that all into one paragraph, much less twelve months. Through all that growth, like hop bites rooted in fertile soil (see what we did there?), we kept our feet securely planted on terra firma, remembering that it’s all about the beer–we’d be nothing without it. And so, as we prepare to celebrate seventeen years of straining the seams of the ale envelope, we again focus squarely on beer via our annual anniversary offering, while at the same time laying to waste much of our West Coast methodology as well as what the world–thanks much in part to our family of beers–has come to know about IPAs.

Inspired by new experimental German hops, our brewing team is celebrating our 17te Jahrestag by taking palates on a tour of Deutschland by way of Southern California. In doing so, they used a grain bill comprised exclusively of pilsner malts and German hops (Herkules, Hersbrucker, Magnum, Merkur, Opal, Smaragd, Strisselspalt). Dry-hopping with Sterling, a U.S. hop with Saaz parentage, lends a bit of familiarity, but be forewarned, this is a unique beer that takes the IPA –a style we’ve already pushed far beyond its limits over the years–to uncharted new territory. It’s not that dissimilar to Stone, really. Joseph Schumpeter (the economist who popularized “creative destruction”) chose economics; we chose beer. Our creative destruction has been aimed squarely at the previously-held-dear conventions of what beer can and should be. Stone 17th Anniversary Gotterdammerung IPA is the latest in a long line of innovations, but nowhere near the last. Not by a long shot.

Style: Imperial IPA
Hops: Herkules, Hersbrucker, Magnum, Merkur, Opal, Smaragd, Strisselspalt, Sterling (Dry hop)

Availability: 22oz bombers, Draft
Arrival: August, 2013

9.5% ABV

by Reid Ramsay May 31, 2013

Posted in Backlash Beer Company

Backlash Beer Launches New Uprising! Series

Backlash Beer Company out of Boston has announced the launch of their new Uprising! Series. This new IPA series will feature hard to find hop varieties such as Simcoe, Centennial, Mosaic, Galaxy, and Amarillo. Back in March they released Salute, their first 2x IPA featuring Citra and Simcoe hops. In an attempt to replicate the hop intensity of Salute, the first beer in the Uprising! Series will be Catalyst, featuring Amarillo hops. Expect to find a more grapefruit-forward flavor in this beer than its predecessor.

Style: 2x IPA
Availability: 22oz bottles, Draft
Arrival: Coming Soon

8.5% ABV

by Reid Ramsay May 30, 2013

Posted in Foothills Brewing, New Releases, Wicked Weed Brewing Co

Foothills & Wicked Weed Create “Batch 69”

Wicked Weed Brewing (Asheville, NC) and Foothills Brewing (Winston-Salem) have teamed up to create a collaboration dubbed Batch 69. The beer is Wicked Weed’s first collaboration with another brewery. Wicked Weed founder Walt Dickinson was contemplating brewing something special to brew for Asheville Beer Week (May 25^th-June 1^st). An admiration for the established and creative Foothills Brewing prompted a phone call to T.L. Adkisson, Foothills’ head brewer.

The two breweries combined Wicked Weed’s Freak Double IPA and Foothills Sexual Chocolate to make Batch 69.

As Dickinson puts it, “It’s ideally going to be a drier beer, but with a lot of chocolate complexity, with a nice, bright, citrus finish on it.” Adds Adkisson, “the beer’s designed to have a chocolate profile, but tilt heavily toward an orange, almost tangerine flavor.”

The name? Dirty? No. Purely coincidental. It was the 69th batch of beer brewed at Wicked Weed. Batch 69 uses Guatemalan organic cacao nibs were hand-roasted by French Broad Chocolate in Asheville especially for this beer.

Style: Imperial Stout (w/ Cocoa Nibs. Blended w/ Imperial IPA)
Hops: Simcoe, Citra, Amarillo
Availability: Draft only, Asheville Beer Week, 2013.

?? ABV

by Reid Ramsay May 28, 2013

Beer Headlines

Brewery Closures, Headlines, Rogue Brewing, Rogue Spirits

Imperial IPA