Maple Syrup

Posted in Hair Of The Dog Brewing, Don't Miss This, Omnipolo

Hair of the Dog Maja, an Omnipollo collaboration debuts

Hair of the Dog Maja, a collaboration with Stockholm, Sweden’s Omnipollo, debuts today.

The base beer is a 10% alcohol by volume barleywine, with nuances of vanilla, maple and bourbon. The beer went into the barrel with vanilla beans in February of 2016. 100% bottle conditioned.

This beer is pale in color and has the aromas of peaches and pleasant memories of the past. In the mouth, pineapple mixes with marshmallow, ample and whimsy. Produced with the help and guidance of our good friends at Omnipollo to provide a truly unique drinking experience.

Hair of the Dog Maja is a 12 ounce bottle release, available the brewery in Portland, Oregon starting today.

Style: Barleywine (w/ Vanilla, Maple. Barrel Aged. Bourbon.)
Availability: 12oz Bottles
Debut: 2/11/17

10% ABV

Image: Hair of the Dog

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in The Bruery, New Releases

The Bruery Mash & French Toast, no utensils required

Expanding the “mash” series month is The Bruery Mash & French Toast. Breakfast beers are here to stay.

The Bruery’s “Mash” series is based around a barleywine ale Mash, that is nuanced with a variety of favors. Other examples include Mash & Coconut, Mash & Grind, and Mash & Vanilla.

As for The Bruery Mash & French Toast, this is your breakfast beer of choice. The barleywine has been bourbon barrel-aged, with cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg and maple syrup.

If the allure of rich, caramelized notes or maple character don’t rouse you out of bed, the wafts from our brewer’s kitchen will, summoning you with nutmeg and cinnamon spices and warm vanilla character. It’s time to roll up your sleeves and Mash & French Toast. No utensils required.

Now for the bad news. The Bruery Mash & French Toast is only available to Reserve Society members.

Style: Barleywine (w/ Vanilla Beans, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Maple Syrup. Barrel Aged. Bourbon.)
Availability: 750ml Bottles. Reserve Society Release.
Debut: January, 2017

13.4% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Don't Miss This, New Releases

Love breakfast beer? Wicked Weed French Toast Imperial Stout bottles debut

Wicked Weed French Toast Imperial Stout has transitioned from a Pub Can release, to full bottle production. Originally the first can release by the Asheville, North Carolina based brewery.

Fans of having beer for breakfast will throughly enjoy this one. Wicked Weed French Toast Imperial Stout is brewed with cinnamon, maple syrup, and vanilla beans.

The scuttle of dried leaves blowing across the sidewalk; brisk, cool days filled with invigorating mountain air; the sweet, welcoming scent of French Toast cooking in our families’ kitchen: This is winter, and French Toast Imperial Stout is the perfect accompaniment to the season. This robust, dark stout is finely complimented by zesty cinnamon, smooth vanilla, and the comforting sweetness of only the best maple syrup. Cheers to the season!

Wicked Weed French Toast Imperial Stout is available in 16.9 ounce bottles in January, 2017.

Style: Imperial Stout (Cinnamon, Vanilla, Maple Syrup)
Availability: 16.9oz Bottles
Latest Release: January, 2017

8.8% ABV

Wicked Weed French Toast cans

The original Wicked Weed French Toast Pub Can. PIC: Beer Street Journal

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Southern Tier Brewing, Don't Miss This, New Releases

Southern Tier 2X Oak’d IPA kicks off the new year

Southern Tier 2X Oak’d IPA is now hitting shelves, giving you an oaky way to start the new year.

A few years ago, the Lakewood, New York based brewery had an oaky rendition of their year-round Unearthly IPA, known as Oak Aged Unearthly. By our best estimates, that beer was retired over two years ago. Next year, the oak is coming back, with a syrupy friend.

Southern Tier 2X Oak’d IPA is is now apart of the brewery’s lineup as the new year gets underway. It too is an imperial India pale ale aged on French oak chips, featuring Centennial, Chinook, and Cascade hops, four malts, plus a new ingredient – New York maple syrup. The resulting beer full of citrus and pine up front, with a touch of maple sweetness in the finish.

…Roasted malts bring a deep amber hue that’s matched by drums of maple syrup, which are added to help boost fermentation & provide a clean, earthy component with a slight residual sweetness.

Expect Southern Tier 2X Oak’d IPA in 12 ounce bottles and draft starting in January, 2017.

Style: Imperial IPA (w/ Maple Syrup. Oak Aged.)
Availability: 12oz Bottles, Draft. Winter-Spring Seasonal.
Debut: January, 2017

8.2% ABV, 65 IBUs

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 Goose Island Brewing, Coming Soon

Goose Island Bourbon County Maple Rye Stout has been left to age

Goose Island Bourbon County Maple Rye Stout will not be a part of the brewery’s Bourbon County Series this year. The brewery will be leaving it to age in barrels longer.

The Bourbon County Series returns on Black Friday each year. In recent years the lineup has expanded with a few new variants. Among those Proprietor’s edition aged in maple syrup bourbon barrels, to be released solely in Chicago. The 2016 lineup will include Bourbon County Stout, Bourbon County Barleywine, and Bourbon County Coffee Stout.

After a few barrel pulls, the brewing team has determined Goose Island Bourbon County Maple Rye Stout won’t be ready for the light of day in 2016. The beer needs more time before considering whether to release it.

This edition features the base imperial stout, aged in both bourbon and rye whiskey barrels with maple syrup, cacao nibs, and chipotle peppers. When and if it will ever be released remains to be seen.

Style: Imperial Stout (w/ Maple Syrup, Cacao Nibs, Chipotle Chili Peppers. Barrel Aged. Rye Whiskey.)
Availability:
Debut: No Date Set

13% ABV

Ed note: Corrected the barrels used in Proprietor’s 2016 to reflect bourbon. 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Goose Island Brewing, Don't Miss This

Goose Island Bourbon County Stout Proprietor’s early? Join this lottery

Goose Island Bourbon County Stout Proprietor’s 2016 will be available to a select few a week early this year. All you have to do is win the lottery.

Next month marks the return of Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout nationally, hitting taps and shelves on while everyone shops on the infamous Black Friday. Those located in Chicago get an extra treat – Goose Island Bourbon County Stout Proprietor’s. Available in Chi-town on one day only.

Beginning October 18th and running through Tuesday, October 25th, Goose Island will run a lottery. Winners selected by the system will get two tickets for the Bourbon County Stout Proprietor’s release. Each ticket will allow the guest to purchase 1 bottle of Proprietor’s, as well as select Bourbon County vintages, as well as attend the celebration in the Barrel Warehouse. You can entry the lottery once per day.

About this year’s Goose Island Bourbon County Stout Proprietor’s.

This year’s edition will not feature scotch whisky barrels. The brewery has whisky barrels, but opted to go the traditional bourbon route for 2016. BCBS “Prop” features the imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels that previously aged maple syrup, along with chipotle peppers and cocoa nibs.

Goose Island Bourbon County Stout Proprietor’s is only available on Black Friday in Chicago.

Style: Imperial Stout (w/ Chipotle Peppers, Cocoa Nibs, Maple Syrup. Barrel Aged. Bourbon.)
Availability: 16.9oz Bottles. Limited.
Debut: Black Friday, 2016

?? ABV

by Reid Ramsay