Imperial Stout

New Artwork: Midnight Sun Berserker

New Artwork: Midnight Sun Berserker. The imperial stout that satisfies. 2012 release date has not been announced yet.

Vicious and viscous, this menacing brewpours opaque black with a creamy maduro-colored head. Its aroma offers seductive whiskey, chewy red wine, dark fruit Continue Reading →

Southern Tier Creme Brulee 2012

You want a beer that drinks like a dessert? Look no further. Southern Tier’s Creme Brulee is back again for 2012.

“We are not the harbingers of truth as some may suggest but it may indeed be argued that our brewing Continue Reading →

Nebraska’s Sexy Betty

Remember Nebraska’s Black Betty?  She has a relative. Or at least a hot friend. Sexy Betty combines the barrel aged hotness of Black Betty, blended with 5o year old cognac barrel aged imperial stout. The blend does indeed sound sexy. Continue Reading →

Posted in The Bruery

Bruery To Release Grey Monday (Limited Black Tuesday Variant)

A special release to The Bruery’s Reserve Society members will be a Black Tuesday variant dubbed “Grey Monday.”  The beer is essentially Black Tuesday aged on hazelnuts.  Believe me, this beer will be a rare one too. There will only be enough bottles to cover sales to the 2012 Reserve Society members. No one else.  The Reserve Society email reads like this:

Your Reserve Society membership was said to come with 2 pieces of exclusive merchandise and there has been much speculation as to what that 2nd item would be.

To be honest, our original ideafor the 2nd item didn’t work out. Timing, pricing and overall quality of the item just didn’t hold up to our standards. We really wanted to find something special for our Society members and felt that putting our name on something generic wouldn’t do the trick, so we came up with a new plan that we think you will all appreciate.

Every member of the 2012 Reserve Society will receive a bottle of Grey Monday.

Grey Monday is a special version of our Black Tuesday imperial stout that has been aged on hazelnuts. Up until now, only a single, 5 gallon cask of Grey Monday has ever existed, but it was one of our favorite beers to date and it resonated similarly with those lucky few who got to try it.

We are going to do an extremely limited bottling of this beer, just for you. Each member will get a single bottle. There will be no extra beer for sale. Not to you and not to anyone else. We want this one to be extra special.

Of course, we won’t have this beer ready to pick up until October, around the time that Black Tuesday is released, but we were too excited to keep this information to ourselves.

We hope this information wets your palate and gets you excited for some of the beers coming your way during the 2nd half of the year.

Style: Imperial Stout (Hazelnuts, Barrel Aged)
Availability: 750 ml bottles. Reserve Society only
Arrival: October, 2012

Note: That’s not the official artwork. Hopefully I didn’t have to tell you that… 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Midnight Sun Brewing

New Artwork: Midnight Sun Berserker

New Artwork: Midnight Sun Berserker. The imperial stout that satisfies. 2012 release date has not been announced yet.

Vicious and viscous, this menacing brewpours opaque black with a creamy maduro-colored head. Its aroma offers seductive whiskey, chewy red wine, dark fruit and lavish tobacco. Berserker Imperial Stout invades your taste buds with in-your-face flavor. , Berserker is completely out-of-control. Give it a good fight.

Style: Imperial Stout (w/ Maple Syrup, Molasses, Barrel Aged)
Availability: 22oz bombers
Arrival: TBA

12.7% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Bell's Brewing, Coming Soon

Bell’s Eccentric Cafe Release: Bourbon Barrel Batch 9,000

Bell's Bourbon Barrel Batch 9,000

More bottles for Bell’s Brewery’s Eccentric Cafe.  The fabeled Batch 9,000 has been spending time in bourbon barrels, waiting for some 750 ml love.  The orignial batch commemorated the brewery’s 9,000th batch of beer.  It was an imperial stout with brewer’s licorice and molasses.  Bell’s retired the series after Batch 10,000 was released.

These bottles will be extremely limited.

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Seasonal Return, Southern Tier Brewing

Southern Tier Creme Brulee 2012

You want a beer that drinks like a dessert? Look no further. Southern Tier’s Creme Brulee is back again for 2012.

“We are not the harbingers of truth as some may suggest but it may indeed be argued that our brewing philosophy is tantamount to a dessert with a bellicose past. How, you may ask, would a brewery determine a likeness to hard-coated custard? Our response is simple; it’s all in the power of history, and of course, the extra finesse needed to top off a contentious treat with definition.

By comprehending the labyrinthine movement of time, one would not think it strange to trace the errant path of an ordinary object such as a cream dessert only to discover that it has been the cause of cultural disputes since the middle ages. The British founders of burnt cream and from Spain, crema catalana, both stand by their creative originality and we respect that, but it was the French Crème Brûlée, amid the strife of contention, that survived to represent our deliciously creamy brew.”

Style: Imperial Stout  (w/ Vanilla Beans)
Hops: Columbus, Horizon.
Malts: 2 Row Malt, Dark Caramel Malt
Other: Lactose Sugar

10% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Nebraska Brewing

Nebraska’s Sexy Betty

Remember Nebraska’s Black Betty?  She has a relative. Or at least a hot friend. Sexy Betty combines the barrel aged hotness of Black Betty, blended with 5o year old cognac barrel aged imperial stout. The blend does indeed sound sexy. She joins Nebraska’s Inception Series.

A sweet nose greets the adventurous in this marriage of our Black Betty Russian Imperial Stout and 50 year old French Cognac barrels.  An elegantly pleasant surprise wakes the palate which migrates from a hint of Cognac into the wonderfully lingering roasted malt character.

Style: Imperial Stout (Barrel Aged)
Availability:  750 ml bottles
Arrival: TBA

10% ABV 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Jester King Brewery, Mikkeller

Jester King & Mikkeller’s Whiskey Barrel Rodeo

Introducing a barrel aged edition of Jester King/Mikkeller’s Weasel Rodeo. Why weasel? The original beer was based off of Mikkeller’s Beer Geek Brunch, brewed with Kopi Luwak coffee. Weasel Barrel Rodeo is an oatmeal stout, brewed with chipotle peppers, Kopi Luwak coffee, then aged in whiskey barrels.

Inside the hops and staves of oaken whiskey barrels, magical things can sometimes happen. Even ancient enemies like weasels and rodeo clowns can overcome their conflicts and learn to work together as one. Feral monkeys are a different story, though.  It turns out that even in barrels, they’re really not much fun at all.  

Style: Imperial Stout (w/ coffee, chipotle peppers, Barrel Aged)
Hops:  Millenium, Saaz, Cascade, Columbus
Malts:  Mans Otter, dark crystal malt, brown malt, chocolate malt, smoked malt

Availability: 750 ml bottles
Arrival: August, 2012

10.1% ABV

Read More: Mikkeller, Jester King, Collaborations

Jester King thinks this beer could be the most expensive sold in Texas… or another, it means that the whiskey barrel aged version, which we’re calling “Whiskey Rodeo” is now going to be the most ludicrously expensive beer ever sold in the State of Texas, and this initial batch of non whiskey barrel aged Whiskey Rodeo will be a little less so. Seriously, if you’re thinking of buying a bottle of Whiskey Rodeo, start saving now. Kopi Luwak costs over $200/lb (as compared with Legendee which costs a mere $35/lb). 

 

 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in New Releases, Stillwater Artisanal Ales

Stillwater’s Barrel Aged Folklore: The Tale of Van Winkle

Enter another barrel aged offering from the Baltimore based beer maker.  Barrel Aged Folklore is currently in planning by Brian Strumke and Stillwater Artisanal Ales.

Folklore is a foreign stout with a touch of smoke.  Much like real folklore, the beer has a little history.  First brewed and known as 25 To One celebrating Stillwater’s 1st anniversary.  The recipe was tweaked, and returned in 750’s as Folklore.  So the story goes, Folklore finds its way into Pappy Van Winkle barrels creating a new piece of the story to hand down – Folklore, the tale of Van Winkle.

Style: Imperial Stout (Barrel Aged. Bourbon.)
Availability: 12.7oz bottles

8.4% ABV 

Read more: Stillwater

by Reid Ramsay