Stout

Sam Talks Black & Red

Sam, the creative leader at Dogfish Head Brewing has given the world a bit more info on the draft only Black & Red release.  It’s minty, chocolatey, fruity & unexpected.  B&R wasn’t on DFH’s 2011 release schedule. It’s a fun Continue Reading →

Jailhouse Brewing Adds Bottles

Jailhouse Brewing (Hampton, GA) is no long draft only. 22oz Bombers of brewery’s beers are hitting shelves.

The Beers:
Slammer Wheat – American Wheat, 5% ABV. An American wheat beer perfect for the “General Population,” Slammer Wheat is Continue Reading →

FREE BEER: Dundee Ales & Lagers

Tonight’s free tasting at Octane Coffee features beers from Dundee Ales & Lagers.  Dundee is based out of Rochester, NY.   Come explore this brewery absolutely free.   Here’s the lineup –

IPA – 6.3% ABV.  Columbus, Chinook, Willamette hops.  Caramel Continue Reading →

NEW LAUNCH: Mad River Brewing!

It seems like California brewers are taking Georgia by storm.   21st Amendment just arrived from San Francisco, and now Mad River Brewing from Blue Lake, California.

Mad River Brewing started the same way that a lot of craft breweries begin Continue Reading →

Cypress Street’s Beer Geek Tuesday – 3/16

A salute to St. Patrick’s Day! Nitro Stouts for all!

Here’s your lineup –

Victory Donnybrook Irish Stout – 3.7% ABV.  German Whole Flower Hops, German 2 Row Barley, Roasted Barley.  Only available on draft – for CO2  or Nitrogen.  Fantastic on Continue Reading →

Posted in Dogfish Head, New Releases

Sam Talks Black & Red

Sam, the creative leader at Dogfish Head Brewing has given the world a bit more info on the draft only Black & Red release.  It’s minty, chocolatey, fruity & unexpected.  B&R wasn’t on DFH’s 2011 release schedule. It’s a fun surprise.

Black & Red is a velvety smooth dry-minted stout with a serious fruit problem! The huge portion of heavily roasted grains brings a rich, chocolaty character which contrasts it’s sweet fruity full-body. As you tilt your glass, you’ll notice that the black color you are perceiving is actually a very deep reddish hue and the rich creamy foam has a tinge of pink to it. Black & Red starts off roasted and warming with a robust mintiness from 100 lbs of organic mint (from our friends at Washington’s Green Grocer) added to the secondary fermentation and finishes out sweet and smooth. It’s Darn-right pudding-like in it’s depth an chewiness. Best enjoyed 6 ounces at a time from a sniffer in lieu of a banana split.

Black & Red is a dessert beer. It is sweet, minty, roasty & chocolate-ty. It is meant to be sipped from a snifter for sure, but for you mixologists it’s also yummy blended with a dry roasted stout, like our like our Chicory Stout or one of those Irish nitroginated wizzbangs. We’re also getting good reports from folks enjoying the Black & Red with a scoop of vanilla ice cream plopped right into the glass!

Style: American Stout
Availability: Draft only. Limited markets

10.5% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in JailHouse Brewing, New Releases

Jailhouse Brewing Adds Bottles

Jailhouse Brewing (Hampton, GA) is no long draft only. 22oz Bombers of brewery’s beers are hitting shelves.

The Beers:
Slammer Wheat – American Wheat, 5% ABV. An American wheat beer perfect for the “General Population,” Slammer Wheat is characterized by inviting citrus aromas and delicate malt flavors that finish clean and crisp.

Malt – U.S. malted pilsen and wheat varieties.
Hops – U.S. Sterling

Mugshot IPA – American IPA, 6.7% ABV Chinook, cascade and sterling hops and a balanced blend of malt flavors that finish nice and dry. Forward hop bitterness lingers on without a overwhelming the palate.

Malt – U.S. malted 2-row barley; munich, caramel, and special roast; demerera sugar
Hops- Chinook, Cascade and Sterling

Breakout Stout – American Stout, 7.8% ABV.  Break out of your routine with our robust blend of dark roasted malts. Breakout Stout is a bold American Stout with a sturdy hop bitterness, hint of chocolate from chocolate malt and a pleasing finish. Breakout Stout compliments desserts and lends a surprising depth when paired with savory dishes.

Malts – U.S. malted 2-row barley; caramel malt; chocolate malt; roasted barley
Hops – Chinook and cascade

Availability: 22oz Bombers, Draft. Year round offerings

Looking for these? 12/8 – Available at Hop City, Greens, Tower, Macs, Ale Yeah, Mink’s Package

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Dogfish Head, Seasonal Return

SEASONAL RETURN: Dogfish Head Chicory Stout

Dogfish Head Chicory Stout is one of the first beers brewed by DFH when it was just a brewpub in 1995.  Back then Sam Calagione (founder/brewer) was brewing on a small 10 gallon system. He had to brew constantly in order to keep the beer flowing at the pub.  Well, Sam got bored one morning,  wandered into the kitchen of the pub and grabbed ingredients.

Coffee was the first things he grabbed (it was the AM) and then chicory to compliment the coffee. Chicory is found in New Orleans coffee blends.  Other ingredients include St. John’s Wort and licorice root.  To quote Sam’s tasting notes — “Putting St. John’s wort in the brew makes this beer nature’s antidepressant depressant.  Drink all you want it cancels itself out. “

Style: American Stout
Hops: Fuggle, Cascade
Malts: Pale, Roasted, Oatmeal

Taste Expectations: Touch of chocolate with coffee undertones.  Slightly smoky. Sweet, burnt brown sugar. Vanilla.

Food Pairings: Grilled chicken, BBQ, shellfish, sushi, smoked fish and yes … chocolate!

Availability: 12oz/6 pks.  Draft.  November/December seasonal.

5.2% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Dundee Brewing, Tastings

FREE BEER: Dundee Ales & Lagers

Tonight’s free tasting at Octane Coffee features beers from Dundee Ales & Lagers.  Dundee is based out of Rochester, NY.   Come explore this brewery absolutely free.   Here’s the lineup –

IPA – 6.3% ABV.  Columbus, Chinook, Willamette hops.  Caramel 60 & Crystal 70 malts.  Spicy & hoppy.

Kolsch – 5.6% ABV.  Not a lot of American brewed Kolsch on the market.  This brew has Mt Hood,Galena  and Hallertau hops with wheat malts.

Stout – 5.8% ABV.  Rich beer with chocolate and coffee flavors.  Galena hops, with big malt bill: Chocolate, Coffee, Caramel 60 & Roast Barley.

Pale Bock – 6.5% ABV.  Yeah, the name is confusing.  It’s a German Maibock.  (Spring bock.) A light version of your bock beer. Simple ingredients – Magnum, Czech Saaz hops.  Lager yeast.  Crisp and malty sweet.

I will be running this tasting starting at 5:30 pm!  See you at Octane! It’s free. Seriously. Don’t be stupid. As always, this tasting is brought to you by Hop City Craft Beer & Wine!

Octane Coffee
1009-b Marietta Street Northwest
Atlanta, GA

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Mad River Brewing, New Launches

NEW LAUNCH: Mad River Brewing!

It seems like California brewers are taking Georgia by storm.   21st Amendment just arrived from San Francisco, and now Mad River Brewing from Blue Lake, California.

Mad River Brewing started the same way that a lot of craft breweries begin – with a dream.  Granted you hear that a good bit these days but it takes someone actually making that dream a reality that brings us new beers.  Brew master Bob Smith took that dream and ran with it.  It was 1977 when Bob joined the “Humbrewers Guild” a home brewing group in California.  Trips to a home brew shop in Chico, California found Bob Smith crossing paths with owner Ken Grossman who later founded Sierra Nevada Brewing Company.  After seeing Ken’s success, Bob was determined to follow suit.

Knowing Ken Grossman proved to be most important in founding Mad River.   By 1989, Sierra Nevada had outgrown it’s current facility and equipment.  Construction had already commenced on Sierra’s new location, so Ken Grossman sold equipment to Bob Smith.  Mad River was born.  By December 1990 the first kegs of  Steelhead Pale ale were shipping.

A quick rundown of the offerings by Mad River:

Steelhead Extra Pale – Pale Ale, 5.6% ABV.  Spicy & floral. Light bitter.

Steelhead Double IPA – DIPA, 8.6% ABV.  Citrus hop flavor.  Dry hopped with Amarillo.

Steelhead Porter – 6.5% ABV.  Complex malt flavor with smoky malt in finish.  Light dryness.

Steelhead Extra Stout – 6.5% ABV.  Lots of roasted malts.  light American hop character.

John Barleycorn Barleywine – 9.5% ABV.  Nutty caramel malts.  Hints of plum, black currant, and maple.

Double Dread Imperial Red – Red Ale, 8.6% ABV.  Big malt foundation on the clear red ale.  Alcohol subtle for an imperial.

Serious Madness Black Ale – 8.6% ABV.  Black brew with silky smooth body & mouthfeel.  Complex malt character.

Mad Belgian Golden Ale – Belgian Pale, 6.5% ABV.  Crisp, dry & effervescent.  Belgian yeast blends well with honey favor.

Estimated Arrival Date: July 8, 2010.  Launch titles to be finalized during launch week.   Mad River is distributed by Savannah Distribution.

WELCOME TO GEORGIA MAD RIVER BREWING!

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Guinness, New Releases

Guinness Foreign Extra Stout Hitting Atlanta

Atlanta is a test market for this rollout by Guinness Ltd. (Dublin, Ireland.) The only other test market is New York.  Actually fairly interesting if you think about it.

Honestly, I don’t have a lot of details on Foreign Extra Stout – pulling info from a interview with Guinness president on Beer Advocate –

“Craft is a huge opportunity for us. We are the original craft beer, but we haven’t marketed ourselves that way and that’s going to change. GES [Guinness Extra Stout] has been growing for us single digits without much focus or attention other than putting it in craft sets. So there’s more opportunity there. The second piece we’re looking at doing is bringing in Guinness Foreign Extra Stout, which got an A- on BeerAdvocate.com. We are currently testing that in New York and Atlanta. We’re looking to roll that out. It has a higher ABV of 7.5 and a hoppier taste, and so it plays right into those types of craft beers.”

Availability – Arriving in Atlanta today – 5/14.   Year round brew. Atlanta is a test market for this beer.

7.5% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Now Tapping

Cypress Street’s Beer Geek Tuesday – 3/16

A salute to St. Patrick’s Day! Nitro Stouts for all!

Here’s your lineup –

Victory Donnybrook Irish Stout – 3.7% ABV.  German Whole Flower Hops, German 2 Row Barley, Roasted Barley.  Only available on draft – for CO2  or Nitrogen.  Fantastic on Nitro.

Guinness Draught – 4.2% ABV.  Dublin, Ireland’s keystone brewery.  As if I need to introduce you to this one.

In Bottle –

Murphy’s Irish Red – 5% ABV. Hails from Cork, Ireland.  Toasted grain notes w/ some mild bitter.

Paired with these beers will be Corned Beef & Cabbage ($7) , and Bangers and Mash($7).  In case you don’t know -Mashed Potatoes and Sausage.

These beers are featured alongside a great craft lineup.  All starts at 7. Sorry for the short update.  I have to get drinking myself!

by Reid Ramsay