Many people have at least HEARD of Russian River Brewing. AND if you have heard of Russian River, you’ve heard of what is considered one of the best IPAs in the world, “Pliny The Elder”. Pliny has another Continue Reading →
Headed your way soon is 21st Amendment Brewing’s newest concoction “Bitter American”. This seasonal release intends to take an American beer style and lower the abv. Here’s a little beer geek background on this. There is a long going debate about session beers on Twitter & various beer forums. Some say the English defined it years ago at 4% or less. Some argue it’s 5% or less. (I’m not jumping into this. Those are the sides.) English bitter is actually a beer style, with an abv range of 3%-5%. Popular in England of course. Stay with me here. The American IPA is easily one of the most popular styles in the U.S, however it’s not very sessionable, as they are typically well above 6%. Bitter American seeks to change this. It’s an IPA with all the hops & flavor, with a much lower abv. (4.4%) Shawn O’Sullivan bragged recently on Twitter that Bitter American is one of best beers they have ever brewed. Check out 21A’s blog post about this release:
James Watt & the gang at Brewdog (Fraserburgh, Scotland) just released their masterplan for 2011. I figure it will be easier I breakdown and highlight some of the goodies in store craft beer drinkers next year.
Today a cask of Peak Brewing’s IPA is tapping at Taco Mac Perimeter. The 2 other casks of this IPA were gone within an hour last time. Cask taps at 6pm!
Description:
This unique India Pale Ale features our favorite hops–Simcoe®, Continue Reading →
2 releases from Mikkeller are now stateside – Koppi & 10. Both IPAs but with a very different ingredients. Let’s review:
10 – American IPA, 6.9% ABV. You have seen Mikkeller’s single hop series – 10 beers with the same IPA base, each individually hopped with a special hop. 10 is a an IPA with all 10 of those special hops in 1 bottle. Same IPA base as before, same abv 6.9%. It’s full of citrus, tropical flavors and light malts. 12 oz bottles.
Koppi – Spice Beer, 6.9% ABV. This beer will be new to many. Koppi is a coffee IPA. Intrigued? You should be. Guji Natural roasted by a coffee roaster called “Koppi” in Sweden. Add in Tomahawk hops and you have this beer. 750ml bottles.
Brewdog Brewing (Glasgow, Scotland) recently joined the craft beer in a can revolution. Their flagship beer “Punk IPA” is now in 12oz/4 pks cans.
James Watt, brewmaster of Brewdog boasted this pic on Twitter – “4 Punks are better than 1”. I tend to agree. No word on if/when these cans will hit stateside.
About Punk IPA:
Hops: Chinook, Simcoe, Ahtanum, Nelson Sauvin Malts: Marris Otter, Extra Pale Malt 5.6% ABV
45 IBUs
Many people have at least HEARD of Russian River Brewing. AND if you have heard of Russian River, you’ve heard of what is considered one of the best IPAs in the world, “Pliny The Elder”. Pliny has another family member that is even harder to come by, and perhaps even more popular than Elder – “Pliny The Younger”. Younger hits again this year – February 4, 2011.
Pliny The Younger is an imperial IPA, 11% ABV. It’s a hoppy hoppy beer.
Pliny the Younger was Pliny the Elder’s nephew, in the case of this beer, the “Younger” is a triple IPA. Pliny the Younger is hopped three times more than our standard IPA, and is dry hopped four different times.
Russian River changed the rules for 2011, to increase availability. Read RR’s statement below.
We are releasing Pliny the Younger on February 4, 2011! Due to the overwhelming turnout last year, we have made a few changes to enable more beer enthusiasts, like yourself, as well as our regular customers to enjoy some Younger! It will be available on draft in 10oz. pours at our pub from February 4th-17th. We will allocate a certain number of kegs each day in order to last the full 2 weeks. Our employees will not know how many kegs they are getting each day. And they won’t know when we might run out. In addition, there will be NO GROWLERS. The only way to get it to go is in your tummy!
Availability: Pub release in California. Rarely, seen outside of CA
Headed your way soon is 21st Amendment Brewing’s newest concoction “Bitter American”. This seasonal release intends to take an American beer style and lower the abv. Here’s a little beer geek background on this. There is a long going debate about session beers on Twitter & various beer forums. Some say the English defined it years ago at 4% or less. Some argue it’s 5% or less. (I’m not jumping into this. Those are the sides.) English bitter is actually a beer style, with an abv range of 3%-5%. Popular in England of course. Stay with me here. The American IPA is easily one of the most popular styles in the U.S, however it’s not very sessionable, as they are typically well above 6%. Bitter American seeks to change this. It’s an IPA with all the hops & flavor, with a much lower abv. (4.4%) Shawn O’Sullivan bragged recently on Twitter that Bitter American is one of best beers they have ever brewed. Check out 21A’s blog post about this release:
Our Bitter American session ale is about to hit your good beer bars and stores, coming in at 4.4% ABV, 42 IBUs, with full hoppy flavors that you would find in an India Pale Ale. We use this amazing malt, Golden Promise, from Simpson’s out of the UK that gives this beer a nice malt complexity without adding too much sweetness. This is our late winter seasonal offering from January through March a time when we are all enjoying the big beers of this season; sometimes you need a moment of clarity in the sea of strong beers.
Why a session IPA? Well a few years back after looking around at the trend where India Pale Ales were headed toward the bigger, bitterer hoppier, stronger end of the arc, we thought how cool would it be to make an IPA that you could drink a few more than an Imperial/Double or Triple IPA. The bigger beers are fun to enjoy, but they sometimes get you in trouble with your significant other, the floor below your bar stool or the morning after for that matter.
The concept of the “Session IPA” or “Nor Cal Bitter” as brewer Rodger Davis from Triple Rock has coined is something that has started to gain popularity with good beer drinkers and might be an artifact of the brewer’s world as we age (gracefully of course) and require lower alcohol beers. Those big IPAs are not going anywhere nor should they, we all need hops and lots of them, but the session ale is starting to make a come back.
As most of the craft beer tradition and practices in the United States stemmed from the UK, session ale originated across the pond as well. In England session beer is a style that is lower in alcohol, whereby you can enjoy many in a single beer drinking ‘session.’ This story is from the good folks at Beer Advocate giving some insight into where the phase “Drinking Session” may have originated:
“The Drinking Session
A British expat and buddy of ours in California once suggested that a “session” referred to one of the two allowable drinking periods in England that were imposed on shell production workers during World War I. Typically the licensed sessions were 11am-3pm and 7pm-11pm, and apparently continued up until the Liquor Licensing Act 1988 was introduced. Workers would find a beer that they could adequately quaff within these restrictive 4-hour “sessions” that were laid down by the government without getting legless and return to work or not get arrested for being drunk and disorderly. Now he could be full of shite, but we’ve found some smatterings of info to back this up and it sounds like a fine origin of the term to us.”
Now go out and get one or two or three or…I can keep going with this…
James Watt & the gang at Brewdog (Fraserburgh, Scotland) just released their masterplan for 2011. I figure it will be easier I breakdown and highlight some of the goodies in store craft beer drinkers next year.
Revealed in the masterplan are 4 single hopped releases that showcase Brewdog’s favorite hops “From the 4 corners of the Earth”. Hops include Simcoe, Nelson Sauvin, Soriachi Ace, & Brambling X hops. They will be sold in 12 oz/4 bottle mix packs dubbed – “IPA Is Dead”.
Today a cask of Peak Brewing’s IPA is tapping at Taco Mac Perimeter. The 2 other casks of this IPA were gone within an hour last time. Cask taps at 6pm!
Description: This unique India Pale Ale features our favorite hops–Simcoe®, Amarillo® and Nugget. A generous Amarillo and Simcoe dry hop provide for an assertive, hop-forward nose and front palate. We don’t use traditional bittering hops in our IPA, providing nothing but stimulating citrus and floral characteristics.
7.2% ABV, 76 ibus
Taco Mac Perimeter
1211 Ashford Crossing
Atlanta, GA 30346
(678) 336-1381
2 releases from Mikkeller are now stateside – Koppi & 10. Both IPAs but with a very different ingredients. Let’s review:
