IPA

Posted in Founders Brewing, New Releases

Founders introduces the Centennial IPA 15 pack

Every bit of this is about more bang for your buck. Founders Brewing is introducing the Centennial IPA 15 pack.

The brewery is no stranger to the 15 pack. The first of its size debuted in 2014, starting with All Day IPA. Since then, PC Pils, Mosaic Promise and Azacca IPA have joined ranks.

Founders Centennial IPA is a year-round release by the Grand Rapids, Michigan based brewery. The 7.2% India pale ale highlights the Centennial hop.

Get ready to bask in the glory of the frothy head’s floral bouquet. Relish the citrus accents from the abundance of dry hopping. This one’s sweet, yet balanced. Malty undertones shake hands with the hop character for a finish that never turns too bitter.

Founders Centennial IPA 15 packs will sell for the same price as the 12 packs. ERP $17.99. Nationally in April, 2017.

Style: IPA
Hops: Centennial
Availability: 12oz Cans, Draft.

7.2% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Stone Brewing Co., Headlines, New Releases

The next can for Stone: Ghost Hammer IPA

Stone Ghost Hammer IPA release is set for June 2017.

Hoppy mad scientists might be a better way to describe Stone Brewing. Their India pale ale arsenal is vast. Once the brewery settles on a hop combination for one beer, another combination is planned. In June, Stone Ghost Hammer IPA will rise.

Stone’s overnight crew is responsible for this one. While half the world slept, the brewers came up with this new IPA, brewed with coriander, grains of paradise, and blended with citrus. The hop bill is heavy on Belma, Centennial, and Magnum hops.

A brewhouse can never sleep, for brewing beer never slumbers. And what never sleeps must always be tended, and that charge falls to the shoulders of the Overnight Crew. Part brewer, part scientist, these mad fermentationists brave the never silent nights, often alone, to tend to what will become Stone beers. The nights are dark. The cellars are cavernous. Spooky things can happen. Sometimes scary things happen. Once, something terrifyingly good happened. Our mad fermentationists had an idea. Brewed with coriander, grains of paradise, blended with citrus and liberally hopped with Belma, Centennial and Magnum hops. A frighteningly flavorful creation indeed.

Stone Ghost Hammer IPA is slated to release in 12-ounce cans and draft in June 2017.

Style: IPA
Hops: Belma, Centennial, Magnum

Availability: 12oz Cans, Draft.
Debut: June, 2017

6.7% ABV

Image: Beer Street Journal

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Sierra Nevada, Don't Miss This, Karl Strauss Brewing, New Releases

Sierra Nevada & Karl Strauss “NXS” Red IPA debuts, California only

Late in 2015 the brewing world saw Sierra Nevada and Stone Brewing team up in a hoppy collaboration known as NXS.  The all California creation was split down the middle, with 50% of the IPA batch aged in gin barrels, and 50% in rye whiskey barrels. NXS rises once again this week, this time, with another California based brewery, Karl Strauss.

RELATED: Beer Collaborations

One thing is certain, hops definitely unite brewers. Which ones chosen, and how you brew with them is just one of the things setting you apart. Sierra Nevada and Karl Strauss collective have 65 years of craft brewing under their belt. It is the experience that will bring you what the duo calls “unabashedly hoppy”, an IPA with tropical fruit and citrus hop flavors. Sierra Nevada touts this beer as a “red IPA” and by the looks of it, the moniker fits.

Craft beer was born in California and it was here that brewers created the “west coast” style of hop forward brewing. California is a big state, and NorCal and SoCal often have different approaches to beer – yet remain united through hops.

Sierra Nevada Karl Strauss NXS will be available in 22 ounce bottles, limited to California.

Style: IPA
Availability: 22oz Bottles
Debut: Mid-March, 2017

6.5% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Modern Times Beer, Great Notion Brewing, New Releases

Modern Times Effective Dreams, a Great Notion Brewing collaboration

Modern Times Effective Dreams, a collaboration with Great Notion Brewing in Portland, Oregon, debuts this month.

This new IPA is packed with all the juicy hops you love, including Citra, Mosaic, Southern Passion, and new Experimental 9326 hops. Lovers of haze, take note.

…it’s a bewitching confluence of tropical, citrus, & stone fruit flavors and aromas that will make you extremely glad that it came in a 4-pack.

Modern Times Effective Dreams will go on sale on Brown Paper Tickets March 20th. The brewery will email a link for purchase the day of.

Style: IPA
Hops: Citra, Mosaic, Southern Passion, Experimental 9326
Yeast: London III

Availability: 16oz Cans
Debut: 3/20/17

7.2% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Wicked Weed Brewing Co, New Releases

Wicked Weed Hop Burglar, with blood orange & grapefruit

Wicked Weed Hop Burglar is back for a second year, proving the fruited IPA style is very much on fire across the industry.

This hop-forward release features blood orange, and grapefruit zest, creating a very bright, citrusy beer.

All brewers have begged, borrowed, and burgled in the name of their craft. It takes humility, stubbornness, and some sleight of hand to turn raw ingredients into liquid alchemy. Hop Burglar India Pale Ale, brewed with blood orange grapefruit zest, and liberally dry-hopped, is just such a beer, the kind of bright, citrus-forward IPA that we would do anything to keep brewing. So mind your pockets – and your hops.

Wicked Weed Hop Burglar is a 12 ounce bottle offering, and draft.

Style: IPA (w/ Blood Orange, Grapefruit.)
Availability: 12oz Bottles
Debut: Late-April, 2016
Latest Return: March, 2017

7% ABV

Image: Wicked Weed Brewing

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Bell's Brewing, New Releases

Bell’s Am I Right or Amarillo is brewed specifically for Texas

Texas will have a beer brewed just for The Lonestar State starting this week. Bell’s Am I Right or Amarillo will help the brewery launch their 31st state of distribution.

This beer marks the first time Bell’s Brewery has ever brewed a beer specifically for a market launch. As the name suggests, the India pale ale is brewed with 100% Amarillo hops.

“I have been telling people for quite some time, that if we ever head to Texas, this beer would be a part of it,” – Larry Bell, Bell’s President and Founder

The brewery has signed more than 14 distribution contracts in order to launch the Texas market. The brewery is currently filling sales positions for the state as well.

Bell’s Am I Right or Amarillo is a 12 ounce bottle and draft release.

Style: IPA
Hops: Amarillo

Availability: 12oz Bottles, Draft.
Debut: March, 2017

6% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in 21st Amendment Brewing, New Releases

More Fruit: 21st Amendment Brew Free or Die Blood Orange IPA ships

21st Amendment Brew Free or Die Blood Orange IPA. The name pretty much speaks for itself.

Fruited India pale ales are very much on fire. Consumers have voted with their dollar- they love citrusy IPAs. That’s why Brew Free or Die Blood Orange IPA, a variant of their year-round beer, is now available in cans. The San Francisco, California based brewery has been developing this recipe for more than a year.

“Blood oranges were a totally new ingredient for us, and it was a lot of fun to play around with different approaches of where to add it into the process, and how much.” The result? A tangy, thirst-quenching, IPA with distinct flavors. “We want craft beer drinkers to understand that while this is a new and totally different beer, it has a great lineage, but when you crack open that can and get that first whiff of blood orange and hops… Oh man, it’s a thing of beauty.” – Shaun O’Sullivan, Brewmaster & Co-Founder

The base recipe is built off of the brewery’s’ year-round Brew Free or Die IPA with Citra, Mosaic, and Chinook hops, at 2.5 pounds more per barrel. Plus blood orange of course.

21st Amendment Brew Free or Die Blood Orange IPA will be a 12 ounce can and draft release, starting in March, 2017.

Style: IPA (w/ Blood Orange)
Hops: Citra, Mosaic,Chinook
Availability: 12oz Cans, Draft.

Distribution: CA, OR, WA, AK, ID, MN, OH, MA, NY, IL, NJ, DC, NV, DE, MD, FL, VT, RI, PA, NH, ME, VA, GA, SC, NC.
Debut: March, 2017

7% ABV

by Reid Ramsay