Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
These are the beers that I wish I could taste for the first time.
Stillwater, the gypsy brewer will be packaging in four-packs their new beer, Classique (Post-Prohibition Style Lager) , in six-pack cans by July.
I just love that more and more lagers are coming onto the market. Since, we get some Stillwater here in LA, maybe we will find some cans come July.
Two new beers are on the way from Almanac…
Farmer’s Reserve No. 3
Ale aged in wine barrels with strawberries and nectarines
“Our third entry in our barrel-aged Farmer’s Reserve series is an ode to summer. When summer comes to California’s farmer’s markets, the stands explode with mountains of stone fruit and strawberries. We selected the sweetest coastal strawberries from Swanton Berry Farm and high summer Crimson Baby nectarines from Blossom Bluff Farms to make this tart, wild ale as a celebration of our California summer. Aged for 12 months in used white wine barrels with a blend of wild belgian yeasts and bacteria, this tart and bright wild ale has a huge aroma and tart finish.”
Farmer’s Reserve No. 4
Ale aged in wine barrels with cara cara oranges, meyer lemons and buddha’s hand citrons
“This tart, citrus-infused wild ale is the story of a farm. In 1921, Shotaro Hamada founded Hamada Farms in the San Joaquin Valley. Today, his grandson Cliff manages 235 acres of bountiful land. Brewed with a tantalizing blend of Hamada’s winter citrus—tart Cara Cara Oranges, sweet Meyer Lemons and fragrant Buddha’s Hand Citrons—this refreshing ale is aged in used wine barrels for over a year.”
I just love the concept of beer with Farmer’s Market fruit and of the two new Reserve beers, I would try the #4 first because I firmly believe that citrus and beer work really well together.
I am constantly surprised at the collaborations that happen in the craft beer world but this one even took me aback. I wonder if the San Diego Comic-Con will have a beer with Ballast Point or Societe?
“The Caped Brewsader is a Belgian Witbier (wheat beer) brewed with an ancient citron plant fruit called Buddha’s Hand. This tropical fruit is segmented into finger-like sections, resembling the hand of Buddha. The result is a slightly hazy, crisp and refreshing ale that has a subtle citrus flavor perfect for summer enjoyment. Approximately 40 pounds of Buddha’s Hand was added to the 100-barrel batch of beer.
“Our Comic Con friends wanted a well-crafted, summer drinking beer, and they wanted to get a little crazy with it,” recalls Breckenridge Brewery brewer John Jordan. “The idea of adding fruit surfaced. This is where the light bulb immediately sparked with me. I had started developing a recipe some years back using this crazy looking citrus fruit – it looks like something right out of a sci-fi movie! It was a perfect fit!”
On the day of the brew, the Denver Comic Con team came to Breckenridge Brewery to assist with the brew. They were able to mill in malt, cut up, prepare and add the fresh Buddha’s Hand and hops.
The beer’s name, “The Caped Brewsader,” was selected from more than 300 entries in a Denver Comic Con online naming contest. More than 15,000 voters helped select the beer’s winning identity.”
Normally, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse would raise dread in me but if it comes from Double Mountain Brewery in Hood River it means four great beers.
Double Mountain Red War
“Strong Belgian-style Red Ale. A big yet very approachable beer. Lots of fruity complexity (banana, cherry, apricot), without a lot of the smoky phenols and higher alcohol notes of many Belgian ale strains. The fermentation finished dry, but with residual sweetness from a blend of light and dark crystal malts.”
Double Mountain White Rider of Conquest
“Strong Belgian-style Blonde Ale – A big, golden-hued flavor bomb with heady alcohol and silky mouthfeel. Abundantly estery yeast notes underpinned by enticing hoppiness.”
Double Mountain Black Famine
“Belgian-style Quad. The third in the Four “Horsemen of the Apocalypse series, Famine brings you closer to the dark side. Black and chocolate malts were used sparingly so as to not get in the way of the wonderful dark fruit esters characteristic to the Ardennes yeast strain. The nose gives you toffee, dark fruit, and raisin, while a creamy vanilla rounds out the middle. Fruit and ripe banana flavors hang on the tongue, finishing bright.”
Double Mountain Pale Death
No description from the website but I would love to have a sampler tray of this group.
A Big American ESB ringing in at 6.4% sounds like a good way to ring in XXV years in the beer biz. Congratulations to Goose Island for the achievement!
I am an Avery fan with a bit of a caveat, their IPA’s leave me a little cold. Maybe I expect too much but they just don’t have the zing of their saisons and especially their Rumpkin and barrel aged beers. That being said, I will not be missing this anniversary IPA….
“This year marks our 20th time around the sun brewing craft beers we love to drink. Each May, we release a special recipe in honor of our anniversary, and this year we present to you Twenty XX India Pale Ale.
A beautiful dosing of Amarillo hops gives a citrus punch to this aromatic double IPA, while the Simcoe® hops provide intense dankness. What else would you expect from us, a bunch of severely hop obsessed brewers, to celebrate such a glorious occasion?”
Port Brewing’s Anniversary Ale has reached the 7 year mark. And I bet that each year it gets hoppier! This year the recipe is brewed with Columbus, Amarillo and Simcoe and then to add more kick, dry-hopped with Columbus, Amarillo and Citra hops.
According to folks at Port, “Anniversary Ale has pleasant tones of citrus and pine, a screaming hops presence and just enough malt character to add a hint of sweetness. Port Brewing’s Anniversary Ale comes in at 10% ABV”
Anniversary 7 will be available at the brewery and through distribution in draft and 22oz bottles.
Here is the latest info from Goose Island….
I love the cheesy music and what must have been a painful position atop barrels from which to ask questions but even better was the answers. Grapefruit? Sounds good to me.
Black Isle Brewery in Scotland got a lot of press for their Cold Turkey Breakfast beer. A whopping 2.8% ABV monster. Apparently some folks are not used to brash marketing. Wait, BrewDog has been doing it as well!
All sarcasm aside, certain beers by dint of name or marketing catch on with the Social Media hordes. But hopefully, this will bring more attention to the other ORGANIC beers that Black Isle brews. If it gets more people to buy the Pollinator Honey/heather beer or their pale ale then it is a job well done.
And for the record, I would sample the Cold Turkey. Sounds refreshing for a hot day in L.A.
During L.A. Beer Week, you can find beer flavored ice cream or check out beer floats but Salt & Straw in Portland has created a 6 pack of “flavors feature beers from Breakside Brewery, Gigantic Brewing Company, Hair of the Dog Brewing Company, Logsdon Organic Farmhouse Ales, The Commons Brewery and Widmer Brothers Brewing.”
This part of the press release got me excited, “Instead of just using beer as a flavoring agent, head ice cream maker Tyler Malek collaborated with each brewer on techniques and ingredients to create each ice cream’s unique flavor profile.”
They will become available on June 1st and can be purchased through September for nationwide shipping and at Portland area scoop shops throughout the month of June.
Which of these would you buy? My first choice is below…..
Six pack of Oregon Craft Beer Ice Creams:
Cherry Adam from the Wood – Alan Sprints of Hair of the Dog Brewing has been experimenting with a barrel aging process since 1994. Barrel aging beers for up to eight years mellows out the flavors and transforms beers to create something completely new. Finding inspiration in Hair of the Dog’s “Cherry Adam of the Wood”, Salt & Straw created a dark malty, cherry ice cream and cold steeped it in a bourbon barrel from Hair of the Dog Brewery. This is the first truly barrel-aged ice cream ever churned; it’s only fitting to have Alan Sprints at our sides for this project.
Hopped Farmhouse Ale – Based off of Commons Brewery’s “Myrtle Farmhouse Ale,” Commons has brewed a tart sour mash to show off Meridian hops. Salt & Straw uses three different methods to steep the Meridian hops in order to capture the bright aromas of peach and refreshing bitterness of grapefruit that only this variety of hops can provide in this ice cream.
Bretta Fermented Pears and Fudge – David Logsdon at Logsdon Farmhouse Ales has a lifetime of experience creating and procuring yeast strains. Using his famous Bretta yeast strain and inspiration from their “Cocoa Bretta Ale”, Salt & Straw along with Logsdon Ales has carefully fermented both Pear Juice and a malted fudge syrup to make a Bretta Pear ice cream with ribbons of Bretta Malted Fudge. The fermentation brings out a variety of flavors as well as bringing out an entirely new dimension of flavors that marry the pear and chocolate flavors beautifully.
Passion fruit Berliner Weisse Marmalade in Coconut Water Sorbet – Breakside Brewery is constantly pushing the limits with both flavor combinations and their different brewing techniques. Using Breakside’s “Passion fruit Berliner Weisse,” we have worked together to create a tart, lactic acid-rich, passion fruit sweetened, marmalade. Salt & Straw churned out a coconut water sorbet in order to create a subtly sweet palate to show off this one-of-a-kind marmalade.
Smoked Hefeweizen – The brewers at Widmer Brothers Brewing know how to make a Hefeweizen. To recreate that sweet malty flavor of wheat ale, we’re working closely with Ben Dobler, the head brewer for Widmer. Salt & Straw takes a spin on their world famous Hefeweizen by smoking wheat malts and steeping them into the cream to create a Smoked Hefeweizen ice cream. The sweetness of wheat malts is the first to pop out in this ice cream; meanwhile, the subtle smokiness lingers on the palate making for the perfect beer ice cream for summer.
IPA Upside Down Cake – Gigantic Brewing Company’s Imperial IPA is laced with pineapple, citrus and piney hop profiles along with a rich maltiness. Salt & Straw captured these flavors in ice cream by using hop-back techniques to pull out the sweet and spicy hop flavors. To punch thru the tropical fruit notes, they baked off a Pineapple Upside Down Cake that is infused with Ho leaf and candied tangerine zest.
Bretta Fudge is my choice followed by the IPA Upside Down cake.