Category: I would love to taste,,,

These are the beers that I wish I could taste for the first time.

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Bruery (Faster, Bigger) + Dogfish (Better, Bolder)

Today, I will feature two posts on beers that may very well be excellent but, to me, make me long for a simple pale ale.

“Faster, Bigger, Better, Bolder (Gradually, Quietly, Steadily) is an homage to the contrasting lifestyle views of American excess set against the more humble and traditional ways of Japan. Brewed with kumquats and our own seven spice schichimi togarashi blend along with sake yeast, this is an excessive beer brewed with tradition in mind. $1 from each bottle sale will go towards rebuilding Japanese breweries and households that were destroyed during the recent earthquake.”

I can live with kumquats. Spice is fine. I love sage in beer so it is no problem. But then combine with sake yeast. That is where I start to wonder.

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Mahrs Ungespundent lager

Looks like we are getting some good Zwickel in the U.S. for this year’s Octoberfest.

“Mahr’s Brau Ungespundet Hefetrub It pours with a big, creamy, long-lasting, head; has a golden-bronze color; a wonderfully fresh, perfumy; hop aroma; a remarkably smooth, almost oily, malty, palate; very fresh flavours; and a spritzy finish. It is beautifully balanced, but leans to the dry side. This is a delicious, appetising beer and a true taste of Germany’s fast-vanishing artisanal tradition.”

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Widmer goes to Oats


Along with the label re-design has come a flood of beers. Imperial Nelson. Citra Blonde, Falconer’s Flight and also on the way an oatmeal porter. If the trend of strong beers continues, I may have to make a special visit to their Portland gasthaus to see what is in the water.

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Quingenti Millilitre – Round 2

Well, no phone calls or e-mail from Stone Brewing. SO it appears I was not one of the lucky ones to win the first offering in the Quingenti Millilitre series. But now the second is on it’s way…..

There will be an aged Bourbon Belgo as well.

I am sure these will sell-out and probably most will be aged even further by those lucky to get one.

If you have Tuesday, September 27th off and you want to get a jump on Christmas, head on down to Escondido and buy the almost on shelves history of Stone book with the very long title. Each book you buy gives you the opportunity to buy one of these three new Quingenti’s. Plus you can get them signed by Greg Koch, Steve Wagner and Randy Clemens.

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Gratzer comeback

First I see a Gratzer on the menu at Burnside Brewing in Portland, then I hear of this bottled version from Dr. Fritz Briem…

Here is the description for us newcomers to this revived style: “Grodziskie or Gratzer is a Sour Smoked Wheat Ale that was brewed in the 1900x in East Prussian and dates back to as as the 15th century. It was named after the Polish town of Grodzisk Wielkopolski or Gratz in German. Our historic version is brewed according to the German Purity Law with air-dried barley malt and beech smoked wheat malt and hopped with Perle and Saaz. A sour mash is created using the old and forgotten technique called “Digerieren.” Finally a three month aging and maturation process creates a complex sour, smoky and heavily hopped wheat ale.”

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The Companion


There are beers to pair with record labels, Elysian with Loser fro Sub-Pop. There are beers brewed for city beer weeks. But this is the first beer made to pair with a book. But then it is Garrett Oliver the renaissance man of the beer world. Read on for more from Brooklyn Brewing….

“For the past four years, brewmaster Garrett Oliver has been working on a massive project. It’s the ultimate beer collaboration, but it’s not a beer. Published this September by Oxford University Press, it’s The Oxford Companion to Beer, the most comprehensive book on beer ever published, featuring 160 experts covering more than 1,100 subjects. It’s a momentous thing, so Garrett (Editor-in-Chief), Horst Dornbusch (Associate Editor, writer, scholar, man-about-town) and Thomas Kraus-Weyermann (writer and master maltster) hatched a plan. Together, they brewed our next Brewmaster’s Reserve beer, called The Companion.

Thomas created special new floor malts for The Companion, which is brewed in an old style called ‘wheat wine,’ a wheat-based equivalent to barley wine. The floor malts give this beer a juicy malt character of considerable depth, 55% malted wheat gives it a surprising lightness on the palate, while our house ale yeast lends a gentle fruitiness. The Oxford Companion will impart knowledge, while The Companion imparts conviviality. Maybe you really can have it all?”

I wonder how many people will read the book whilst drinking the beer?

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Look in the mirror for a fresh hop


Part of the Deschutes Bond Street Series comes this fresh hop version of Mirror Pond, “This noble, fresh hop version of our classic American Pale Ale arose from a single plot of heirloom Cascade hops, revived by our brewers from the original rootstock developed at Oregon State University, grown by Goshie Farms in Oregon.”
These may be some of the hops that I saw harvested during the beer blogger conference in August. Boy did they smell good.

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Crooked Stave

Thanks to the Beer Wench for sending the info on this pair of new beers…..

“Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project announced they will release their first two bottled beers, Pure Guava Petite Sour and Wild Wild Brett “Rouge” on Thursday August 11th.

Here’s the run down…

750 ml bottles of Pure Guava Petite Sour and Wild Wild Brett “Rouge” will make their debut at the bottle release party held at funkwerks brewery tap room in Ft. Collins CO. starting at 6PM on Thursday, August 11th. This is the first of many bottle releases from Crooked Stave as we look to roll out with plenty more barrel-aged sour, specialty release and funky Brettanomyces beers. Also available on draft for the releases will be a single keg of Crooked Stave’s Good Glory, a beer brewed exclusively for Euclid Hall Bar and Kitchen in Denver, CO. as well as Wild Wild Brett and Petite Sour.

The bottles of Pure Guava Petite Sour have been quietly conditioning since May 23rd awaiting their release. This refreshingly tart, spontaneously soured, rustic wheat beer, brewed with the addition of oats and spiced with coriander and sumac, was fermented entirely in our distinct oak foeder. Pure Guava is an unfiltered, golden wild ale with tropical fruit aromas and bright citrus flavors created by a proprietary Brettanomyces strain. This will be the only time Pure Guava is released, as each Petite Sour will change to reflect the seasons it is brewed and the mischievous minds of our brewers.

The anxiously awaited first release from the Wild Wild Brett R&D series is over! Historically considered ”wild yeast”, Brett is responsible for 100% of the fermentation in each installment of the series, which looks to play off the colors of the color wheel for ingredients to match with the different strains of Brett. This first installment of the series, dubbed “Rouge”, incorporates hawthorn berry, rose hips and whole hibiscus flowers in an unfiltered, slightly tart wild ale. Rouge pours a reddish hue delivering soft floral aromas and tropical fruit flavors with a tart earthy finish.

With only a little over 100 cases of each bottled, we expect bottles won’t last too long. Not able to make it to the release? Never fear we have made sure to save away some cases for a few of our favorite liquor stores throughout the Denver metro and Colorado front range areas.”

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Point the Way

The brewery that I can walk to in 20 minutes, Golden Road, has been making fast progress.

A name and a keg collar ready and soon the first beer will be too.

And speaking of ahead of schedule, what I consider the “backlash” articles are showing up. Just one now, and it is fairly tame but I do not like even an inkling of this sort of thing in an industry that I believe to be super collaborative.

Personally, I don’t care how or when you got involved in craft beer or how big or small your participation level is. All are welcome in my book.

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Kick

Elysian is really branching out pumpkin wise. First collaborating with Stone and The Bruery and now this…..

Here is what New Belgium has to say about it, “Harvesting the creativity of Kim Jordan of New Belgium and Dick Cantwell of Elysian produced this ruby-hued, slightly sour, pumpkin, cranberry ale. It’s a treat that does the trick.”

I have started to see Kick in bottles (Portland) and on tap (Los Angeles)