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!
20 for Avery
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?”
7 Times as Hoppy
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.
A Goose Island Update
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.
Cold Turkey
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.
Ice Cream + Beer + Portland =
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.
Lord of Darkness
One of my favorite series with nary a clinker in the bunch is the Brewer’s Share series from Full Sail Brewing.
“Brewed by Brewer Gavin Lord, celebrates that in darkness you can find light. Gavin’s beer is a Cascadian Dark Ale.”
As good as the beer is the best part is the charity aspect to it, “With each Brewer’s Share series beer, Full Sail picks a local charity to receive a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the beer. Gavin has chosen to support the Groundwork Portland so every keg of Gavin’s beer benefits this organization. Groundwork Portland is the primary non-profit in the Portland metro area focused on brownfields redevelopment and conversion of such land into greenspace, parks, community gardens, and multi-purpose sites.”
An (Extra) Sour Fantome
There are quite a few English, German and Belgian beers that I need to re-acquaint myself with. I recently had Omer blonde ale and was reminded how great it was. Fantome is another brand that I should sample more of and this new sour offering is now on my watch list.
Organic Hop Cuvee
Bison Organic Beer has a tough road to navigate now that hops have to be organic as well to be able to label a beer as organic so it is good to see them tackle it head on with….
“The 2013 Hop Cuvée recipe includes Citra® and Simcoe, two new and exciting organic hop varietals not previously available as certified organic, as well the classic Centennial hop. This year’s hops were grown by Carpenter Ranches, Perrault Farms and Roy Farms—three family-owned farms in Yakima Valley, WA.”
Bois
Here is a peak at the pretty label for the latest anniversary beer from The Bruery. “Bois” is French for “Wood.” Each year the names of the anniversary ales correspond with traditional wedding anniversary gifts as translated in the French language. Though I don’t recall getting anything wooden on my fifth.
These are big blended beers that utilize the Solera method where each beer is partially comprised of a blend of past anniversary beers. So you will taste Fruet and Coton and Papier in Bois.