Wine Aged

Fonta Flora Carolina Custard Releases June 13th

Fonta Flora Carolina Custard joins the Morganton, North Carolina’s Appalachian Wild Ale Series on June 13th. The date corresponds with the State of Origin Craft Beer Festival taking place on the Morgantown Courthouse Square.

Fonta Flora Carolina Custard is a white Continue Reading →

Boulevard Love Child #5 Hits Shelves

Boulevard’s Love Child Series features the most tart, sour, and funky flavors in the brewery’s arsenal. This year, we are lucky enough to get two of these coveted Love Child releases.

Boulevard Love Child #5 is a blend of whiskey and wine barrel aged Continue Reading →

Almanac Farmer’s Reserve Strawberry Released

Almanac Farmer’s Reserve Strawberry is the latest release in the brewery’s Farm to Barrel Series. Each release features local fruit, picked at peak season to nuance the Almanac’s very barrel aged ales.

Almanac Farmer’s Reserve Strawberry is a blond sour ale Continue Reading →

Posted in Allagash Brewing, New Releases

Allagash Invisible Orange Is So Metal [RELEASED]

Allagash Invisible Orange releases May 30th, in the brewery’s tap room in Portland, Maine.

The base beer is a Belgian-style porter, aged in French oak wine barrels for 18 months. Blood orange juice was added just prior to packaging.

Invisible Orange is a subtly-fruited Belgian Style porter aged in French oak wine barrels for 18 months. The resulting beer is dark brown in color with chocolate and roasted notes throughout the flavor and aroma. Notes of blood orange are present in the aroma and the beer finishes with a gentle acidity.

It was brewed with a blend of 2-Row, Coffee and Chocolate malts with blood orange pulp and zest added in the brewhouse. After fermenting with a Belgian Abbey yeast, it was transferred into barrels and underwent an aging period in barrels with Lactobacillus and Pediococcus. Before packaging, a small amount of fresh blood orange juice was added.

As for the name, it’s so metal. Particularly death metal, when the fans or singers hold their hand in a claw-like position, like they are holding an invisible orange.

Allagash Invisible Orange is available in 12.7oz bottles.

Style: American Wild Ale (w/ Blood Orange. Wine Barrel Aged.)
Availability: 12.7oz Bottles, Corked & Caged.
Release: 5/30/15

9% ABV

As of June 1st, bottles were still available in the tap room. 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Coming Soon, Fonta Flora Brewery

Fonta Flora Carolina Custard Releases June 13th

Fonta Flora Carolina Custard joins the Morganton, North Carolina’s Appalachian Wild Ale Series on June 13th. The date corresponds with the State of Origin Craft Beer Festival taking place on the Morgantown Courthouse Square.

Fonta Flora Carolina Custard is a white wine barrel aged wild ale featuring paw paw fruit, a fleshy, tropical fruit, indigenous to North America. Custard is fermented with a blend of Brettanoymces and Lactobacillus.

Available in 750ml bottles.

Style: American Wild Ale (w/ Paw Paw Fruit. Wine Barrel Aged.)
Availability: 750ml Bottles
Release: 6/13/15

5.9% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Don't Miss This

Boulevard Love Child #5 Hits Shelves

Boulevard’s Love Child Series features the most tart, sour, and funky flavors in the brewery’s arsenal. This year, we are lucky enough to get two of these coveted Love Child releases.

Boulevard Love Child #5 is a blend of whiskey and wine barrel aged ale, stainless steel fermented ale, fermented with Lactobacillus (sour bacteria) and Brettanomyces yeast. As #5 hits shelves, there is something important to note. By using spirits barrels, Boulevard’s idea is not to give Love Child a strong wine/bourbon character. As brewer Jeremy Danner tells Beer Street Journal, they use the barrels as a habitat for acid producing bacteria and wild yeast to funk up the beer.

It’s a little bit lower ABV than past releases and we also wanted to create a blend that focused a little more on soft lactic acidity versus sharper acetic notes. I’d place the sourness in between Love Child #3 and Love Child #4. – Jeremy Danner

Boulevard Love Child #5 is available in 750ml bottles, corked & caged.

Style: American Wild Ale (Barrel Aged. Whiskey. Wine Barrels)
Arrival: April, 2015

?? ABV

Read more: Boulevard Smokestack Series

Image via Redstone Liquors

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in New Releases, The Commons Brewery

The Commons Brewery Maybelle Farmhouse Ale Arrives April 11th

Portland, OR – The Commons Brewery will be releasing it’s first bottles at their brand new tasting room and brewery in Southeast Portland. Maybelle, farmhouse ale aged in white wine barrels with Brettanomyces, will be released as part of the Beetje Series on Saturday, April 11th, 12:00pm.

Brewed in August 2013 and initially fermented with our house farmhouse ale strain, Maybelle then spent 14 months in Adelsheim Vineyard white wine barrels with Brewing Science Institute Brettanomyces Bruxellensis variant Drei. The resulting beer is dry, with a soft acidity and complex brettanomyces aromatics. The flavors in this beer will continue to develop with cellar time.

Maybelle  will be available in 750ml capped bottles for $10 per bottle and will be available on draft in limited quantities the weekend of the release. The beautiful label art was once again created by Adam Burke, brother of Head Brewer Sean Burke.  More information about Adam Burke’s art can be found at:  http://www.nightjarillustration.com.

The Beetje Series is a celebration of The Commons Brewery’s nano roots. First brewed in 2010 on a one-barrel system in Mike Wright’s garage, these small batch beers pay homage to the rustic brewery that continues to inspire us.

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

Yazoo’s Embrace The Funk Tri-Bottle Release 4/2

On Thursday April 2nd, Yazoo Brewing’s Embrace the Funk division will release three wild/sour offerings. Among those is the second release of Deux Rouges.

Deux Rouges (Batch 2) – Brewed in late 2013 this Flanders Red style evolved for over a year with wild yeasts and souring bacteria in Merlot wine barrels.  This marriage of funky red beer and red wine creates a wonderful array of dark fruits, oak, vanilla and tartness. This is the base beer used in our Great American Beer Festival award winning “Cherry Deux Rouges”.  Limit 4 bottles per person $20 each (750ml).

Delicieux –  Historically the Belgian Pale Ale style was a “session” or “everyday” beer for the areas around Antwerp, Belgium.   Our version of this Pale Ale is fermented with a classic Belgian yeast and two Brettanomyces strains from the Senne Valley in Belgium. Upfront subtle maltiness and spicy/peppery aromas from a generous Styrian Golding dry hop addition, lead to a hoppy dry delicate funky finish. Delicious! This ever-changing beer will age well. No limit on bottles (12oz) at $4 per bottle.

Funky Blue Persuasion – This is a 100% wine barrel fermented golden sour ale that aged with souring bacterias and wild yeasts. Then we added over 2 pounds of Blueberries per gallon along with a fresh dose of funky Brettanomyces for a secondary fermentation.  Right now this deep dark blue colored ale is bursting with a pleasing balance of blueberry, lemon citrusy sourness and funky Brett character. Make sure you don’t drink this one too cold, the character will come alive as it warms. With age the fruit will fade and the beer will increase in sour/funkiness. This is a single barrel batch, so we have to put a limit of 1 bottle per person at $25 each (750ml).

All three bottles will be available in the tap room in Nashville, Tennessee starting at 4 pm on Thursday, April 2nd.

On May 3rd, 2015, the brewery will hold another Embrace the Funk Sour Festival.

Image via Yazoo Brewing

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Almanac Beer Co., New Releases

Almanac Farmer’s Reserve Strawberry Released

Almanac Farmer’s Reserve Strawberry is the latest release in the brewery’s Farm to Barrel Series. Each release features local fruit, picked at peak season to nuance the Almanac’s very barrel aged ales.

Almanac Farmer’s Reserve Strawberry is a blond sour ale that features coastal Seascape Strawberries grown at Dirty Girl Farms in California’s Santa Cruz Mountains.

These delicious juicy berries are swept by cool evening ocean breezes and drenched in warm daytime sun before being hand-picked and added to this tart and refreshing ale. Enjoy paired with classic charcuterie and summer salads.

Almanac Farmer’s Reserve Strawberry is available in 375ml bottles.

Style: American Wild Ale (w/ Strawberries. Barrel Aged. Wine Aged.)
Availability: 375ml bottles
Release: March, 2015

7% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Coming Soon, Steel String Brewery

Steel String Pretty Polly American Wild Ale, Mid-March

Steel String Pretty Polly American Wild Ale is one of two sour beers that kick off a new sour series by the brewery.

In mid-March, two different offerings will join the series. Steel String Pretty Polly, and Dry-Hopped Pretty Polly. The above is the less hopped edition of the the barrel aged sour/wild ale.

Polly is kettle soured, then blended in wine barrels with another ale that has been fermented 100% with Brettanomyces yeast.

Pretty Polly draws its name from Appalachian murder ballads, often named after the victim or perpetrator. Pretty Polly is about a man named Willy who is courting Pretty Polly. He takes her out into the country on a date and admits that he is so in love with her that he has to kill so she can’t leave him. Each release in the series will feature different names and elements of the songs.

Steel String Pretty Polly arrives in Mid-March at the brewery, and through North Carolina by the end of the month.

Style: American Wild/Sour Ale (Barrel Aged. Wine Aged)
Availability: 500 ml bottles
Release: Mid-March, 2015

7% ABV

by Reid Ramsay