I know that Maui Brewing has re-branded and the CoCoNut porter is in a much better designed can (IMO) and by the name of Hiwa now but I will always call it by the OG name of CoCoNut. This new beer, I will call whatever they want…
Black and Tan from Japan
In a craft beer world that with new SKUs every minute it is amazing that Sapporo hasn’t had a new beer since way back in 2004! Now they do.
Sapporo Premium Black is headed to us next month straight from their Canadian brewery. Basically the dark lager version of the pale lager you can get now. As far as mass market lagers go, it is a solid pick for the price.
Now you can get a dark roasted version with notes of chocolate and coffee and a slightly different can design.
McMenaCan’s
With the addition of their bottle shop on 23rd in NW Portland, came crowlers for McMenamin’s beers which was a big jump for a chain where most people filled the beer into mason jars. (including me on a couple of occasions). Now the crowlers have begat Ruby Ale and Hammerhead into 160z cans.
I doubt that the line-up of cans will grow exponentially past 2 or 4 at tops but now you have a few more options if you have a family member in California who is addicted to Ruby Ale and just can’t believe it isn’t available everywhere.
Both will be available to go at all of McMenamins’ 54 locations across Oregon and Washington as singles ($2.75 each) or in 4-packs ($10).
Paso Marzen
As far as choices of beers to can, Firestone Walker made a good one, in my mind, by adding their “Paso Märzen Bier” AKA Oaktoberfest to their 16oz cans. Even if it is just a seasonal.
Usually this classic Märzen style with a skosh extra West Coast hoppiness is mostly available on draft. But this is the second time this all German ingredients beer has been packaged. The last being a couple years back since it didn’t make the schedule last year.
Which means, best try it now. Who knows if it will take another sabbatical.
Nikola
Looks like a former keg only beer has hopped to cans with Tesla, a “hopped lager with a notable wheat component.”
From the Sixpoint Mad Scientists labs comes a new canned, “Electrified Wheat Lager.”
We shall see if it makes its way to us.
Lagunitas Day – 13th of Never is Next
One day, I will look up who coined the term 12th of Never.
It is so catchy that I am surprised it hasn’t been used for a beer name before 2016.
But now Lagunitas has claimed it for their very first canned beer. Something the Azusa facility will no doubt be canning. The brewery describes the beer in their usual oblique fashion as a “bitter-esque, pale-isa ale”.
Which basically means IPA. It will start showing up on shelves in July.
Hawaiian Re-Brand
Looks like the re-brand bug is more infectious than Zika. Maui Brewing is now unveiling a new look to their cans and while they are cleaner and easier to read, they seem much more generic now. Less Island and more about color coordination.
I like the band across the neck of the can and the easy to find ounces and ABV area near the bottom but instead of a generic whirly pattern, I would have kept the logos and designs of the beers already there so that people could see what they have bought before and not have to stop and think about it.
Thumbs down from this blogger.
Review – Jammer vs. Puff
Today’s taste-off is between two wildly different beer styles but by the same NY brewery, Sixpoint.
Jammer – “Bygone brewers, repping the Sixpoint star, provided the concept and our friends at Jacobsen Salt hooked us up with the key ingredient. It’s salty, it’s sour, and it’s slammin’. It’s Mad Science.”
Pours a light and clear orange. Good balance of an almost jello powder fruit with a really nice savory taste complimented by a solid sour tang. Very sharp on the palate initially but that fades off quickly.
Puff – “If you love Resin, try tasting it straight from the tanks. That’s PUFF – a hazy, unfiltered pour with an extra dose of dry hops… a new blend devised just for Puff.”
Hazy orange colo. Very dank in aroma. Some pineapple notes. A bit harsh on the tongue before a malt hop one two punch takes over. Harshness begins to grate as it warms. ABV shows up. Too much.
The Result – Jammer in a landslide.
Design Weisse
Mikkeller designs for labels and cans are distinctive. I’m not a big fan of the be-hatted person who graces many of the labels but that is a stylistic difference.
But I am onboard with the new Warhol-ian influenced look of the fruite Berliner Weisse series that they have started up. Almost has a jackpot-casino vibe as well that is cool. The made famous by non-German, very much Irish Kennedy phrasing of “I am a Berliner” is unneeded but the name tag Hallo is quite cool and fits the can well.
The next step being how the beer tastes.
In the Almanac filed under Cans
Another California brewer has entered the realm of canning….
…Almanac will be putting their Fresh Beer Series into cans with the really well designed Google Map-pish San Francisco designed labels.
I don’t think I have seen either the Pilsner or Mandarina yet but methinks a variety pack might be in the future. Or at least I hope so.