Wine Aged

Mother Earth “Peaches” Returns Aug 24

Mother Earth Brewing’s (Kinston, NC) Windowpanes Series is back for another round of barrel aged, fruity fun. Blackberries kicked off round two of the releases, more widely released into Mother Earth’s markets. Peaches has just been pulled from the barrels, Continue Reading →

Victory Red Thunder Returns This Month

Victory Brewing Company will be re-releasing wine barrel aged Red Thunder again this month. The brewery took Baltic Thunder and aged it in red wine barrels. We’re hoping for a wider distribution this time around.

“Flavor?

…The burnished cocoa creaminess of the Baltic-style porter Continue Reading →

Guava & Chardonnay Honor City Founder

Tampa, Florida’s rich cigar history is unlike anywhere else in the world. What you might not know, is Tampa’s guava history. That’s where the idea behind Cigar City Brewing’s Don Gavino’s Big Guava is born. Gavino came to Tampa looking Continue Reading →

Posted in Coming Soon, Headlines, Troegs Brewing

Stubborn Beer is Trying to Be Troeg’s Next Splinter

Troegs Splinter Brown

A new “color” will join Troegs Brewing Company’s (Hershey, PA) Splinter lineup. The colorful series of big beers currently has four entries- Black, Red, Gold, and Blue. The story of this brew started two years ago with a dubbel (Scratch #34) that wouldn’t re-ferment in the bottle. The never say die brewers placed this grumpy brew in wine barrels, and crossed their fingers for future plans.

Since then, the brewers have worked on using different yeasts on #34, and at one point tried to bottle it. That didn’t work out so well either. Earlier this year, the barrels of stubborn #34 were sampled again, to reveal a fantastic brett character (good flavor by the yeast.) What’s up with it now? Carbonating. Perhaps this beer will finally shape up and cooperate to it can see the big show. Public release.

Style: Dubbel (Barrel Aged, Wine Barrels. w/ Brett)
Availability: 750ml bottles, Corked & Caged
Arrival: TBA

?? ABV

 

 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Mother Earth Brewing, Seasonal Return

Mother Earth “Peaches” Returns Aug 24

Mother Earth Peaches

Mother Earth Brewing’s (Kinston, NC) Windowpanes Series is back for another round of barrel aged, fruity fun. Blackberries kicked off round two of the releases, more widely released into Mother Earth’s markets. Peaches has just been pulled from the barrels, releasing on August 24th.

Recapping, Peaches is a wheat beer with North Carolina grown peaches, aged in chardonnay.

Style: Wheat Beer (w/ Peaches, Wine Barrel Aged)

Availability: 750 ml bottles, Corked/Caged. Draft.
Arrival: August 24, 2013

8.2% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Harpoon Brewing, New Beers

Harpoon Cab-Beret

Harpoon Cab-Beret

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Seasonal Return, Victory Brewing Company

Victory Red Thunder Returns This Month

Victory Red Thunder

Victory Brewing Company will be re-releasing wine barrel aged Red Thunder again this month. The brewery took Baltic Thunder and aged it in red wine barrels. We’re hoping for a wider distribution this time around.

“Flavor?

…The burnished cocoa creaminess of the Baltic-style porter is accented by the tannic dryness of the wood to produce a rich, fruity final product.

Style: Baltic Porter (Aged in Red Wine)
Availability: 750 ml bottles, Corked & Caged

8.5% ABV

 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Coming Soon, Goose Island Brewing

Goose Island’s “Gillian” Set To Return

Goose Island Gillian

By all best estimates, 2010 was the last time the world saw Goose Island Gillian. This farmhouse ale is brewed with strawberries, white pepper, and honey, then aged in wine barrels. You might know Gillian by another name – Scully. Inspired by amuse bouche, and created to be a “harmonious blend of mouth amusement.” We’re told we should see this mouth pleaser in late 2013.

Belgian Style Farmhouse Ale with White Pepper, Strawberry, and Honey. Inspired by an amuse bouche often prepared by the wife of one of our brewers, Scully brings white pepper, strawberry, and honey to a harmonious blend of “mouth amusement”. The ingredients are added at different stages to a Saison, and fermented with a normal Belgian yeast as well as a Champagne yeast. One of our favorite brews of the past year with many levels of complexity and character.

Style: Saison (w/ Strawberries, White Pepper, Honey. Wine Barrel Aged)
Availability: 765 ml bottles
Arrival: Late 2013

9.1% ABV

 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Coming Soon, Goose Island Brewing

Goose Island’s Sour Peach Saison Hits in October

Goose Island Halia

In May, we mentioned a draft only (at the time) newbie from Goose Island (Chicago) – Halia. The Belgian-style farmhouse ale will soon be offered in bottles .

Halia is brewed with peaches and aged in wine barrels with brettanomyces yeast, and it reported to have a nice sour note to compliment the fruit and wine notes. According to Goose Island this will be released in October.

Style: Saison (w/ Peaches, Wine Barrel Aged)
Availability: 25.87 oz bottles
Arrival: October, 2013

?? ABV

 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Cigar City Brewing, Coming Soon

Guava & Chardonnay Honor City Founder

Cigar City Don Gavino's Big Guava

Tampa, Florida’s rich cigar history is unlike anywhere else in the world. What you might not know, is Tampa’s guava history. That’s where the idea behind Cigar City Brewing’s Don Gavino’s Big Guava is born. Gavino came to Tampa looking for wild guava trees. The guava? Less than expected. Big Don didn’t give up. Long story short, this man and his magnificent ‘stash is the reason Ybor City exists. In his honor, Cigar City has taken their double guava ale and aged it in Chardonnay barrels.

Most Tampa residents are familiar with Vincente Martinez Thor, who along with fellow cigar factory owner Ignacio Haya turned Tampa from a sleepy fishing village into the ‘Cigar Capital of the World” which at its peak was home to 200 cigar factories producing over 700 million cigars a year. But few of Tampa’s even long-time residents are familiar with Gavino Gutierrez, the Spanish architect, surveyor and civil engineer who first came to Tampa looking for wild guava trees. The plan was to use the supply of supposedly abundant wild fruit in a new factory making marmalade and guava paste. However, the journey was not fruitful and the guava population was much smaller than expected. Gavino did not give up on Tampa however. Convinced Tampa’s natural harbor and access to Henry B. Plant’s new rail-line would make Tampa an excellent import/export hub, Gavino set about convincing his friends Thor and Haya to move their cigar factories to Tampa. They agreed and Don Gavino set about surveying 40 acres of swamp and scrub brush northeast of Tampa for “Mr. Ybor’s City”. Vincente then named Don Gavino his architect and construction foreman and he set about developing the Master Plan for what would become Ybor City, designing the system of streets and avenues and overseeing the construction of the factory and even the housing built for the factory workers. In honor of his life’s work we could think of no better name for our Double Guava Ale than Don Gavino’s Big Guava. Cheers, Gavino! 

Style: American Strong Ale (w/ Guava, Wine Barrel Aged, Chardonnay)
Availability: 750 ml bottles
Arrival: TBA

?? ABV

by Reid Ramsay