Category: I would love to taste,,,

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

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You can’t download these beers


From a recent Lost Abbey press release, “Get ready to crank the stereo up to 12. In January 2012, The Lost Abbey will begin a year-long series of special edition beer releases inspired by classic rock anthems invoking Heaven and Hell. Each month the brewery will release one new beer, culminating in December with a complete boxed gift set of all twelve. Each “track” released will be limited to a total of 450 bottles and available exclusively in the brewery’s tasting room.”

Sounds like a great idea. Blast the tune while mashing and hopping. Fits with the sinners and saints thing they have going.

“The Box Set releases are divided into three collections of four titles each:

Re-Masters – Barrel-aged spins of The Lost Abbey mainstays
Re-Mixes – New blends created from The Lost Abbey archives
Fresh Tracks – All new beers brewed specifically for Box Set”

Very High Fidelity but a good way to keep the creative juices flowing.

“Each release will be offered in a 375ml corked, hood-and-wire format and include its own original art. Beers will represent the full gamut of The Lost Abbey’s signature stylings, including fruit and spiced beers, wood-aged brews, sours, wild, and spontaneously-fermented ales.”

This is a great part. No need to go the monster size bottle route here.

“Because of the extremely limited nature of these beers, there will be no general distribution of Box Set releases. Individual tracks, priced at $15 each, will be available exclusively in the brewery tasting room on a first come, first serve basis and will be required to be opened and consumed on premises to prevent unauthorized re-distribution. Empty bottles may be taken off premises but will include measures to prevent counterfeit re-packaging.”

OK. Seems a bit extreme. But what “measures” are they going to do to the bottles? Why bottle it at all? Just keg it and give people a label sticker and let them collect them like baseball cards. Saves you TTB trouble too and anyone who buys a bottle with that sticker on it will eventually find out they have been suckered.

“The first track, an ode to Van Halen’s 1978 anthem, “Runnin’ With The Devil”, is scheduled for release January 21, 2012. Details will be available on The Lost Abbey website in mid-January. Subsequent tracks will be released the third Saturday of each month throughout the year, culminating in the release of the full 12-bottle packaged gift set in early December.”

Do you have to drink the gift set in one sitting in the tasting room? Good choice of starting song though.

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Applestroop it!

Stillwater and Emelisse have collaborated on the cheekily named ’Holland Oats’. A beer that is created with toasted oats & applestroop.

Now applestroop is a Dutch syrup or jelly made ​​from combining apples and sugar . Apparently, it is mainly used as sandwich filling which sounds odd to me, but it also can be used as an ingredient in recipes for hot and/or cold dishes. It is certainly not the weirdest ingredient that I have seen used.

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Critical Hit

What do you get when you let Ninkasi go wild with 11 hops?

This: CRITICAL HIT BARLEY WINE “comes with a warning – It is hopped to high heaven. 11 varieties of Hops. Two-hundred and twenty pounds of them, for only 17 barrels of beer! Its high gravity nature has been mellowing for a year to warm the cheeks and soul. Critical Hit will be released for the first time in limited release 22oz bombers and draft. Available Jan, 2012 100 IBUs 11.7% abv”

And to learn about other Ninkasi beer releases head to the excellent Brewpublic site.

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Scarenbecca Kriek

Hanssens Artisanaal’s Scarenbecca Kriek is another lambic on my list to try It is created with Belgian Schaerbeek cherries. Like many of the more interesting fruits and vegetables, this type is not grown much. Maybe there will be an heirloom revival. Because this beer uses every bit of the cherry. The fruit the pit and the stem.

And if you have been good enough this year, Santa might bring this to you but at $26.00 at Vendome in Toluca Lake, you will have needed to be VERY good.

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Spiced IPA

Widmer is charging forward with more of the Rotator series. I have yet to sample O’Ryely IPA and now the Spiced IPA is getting close to release.

I have enjoyed Falconers and X-114 and even the Citra golden ale too. So I anticipate liking these two new ones as well.

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A Big Box of Bridgeport

I am a big fan of the Ninkasi boxes that come out in summer and winter with four bombers in it and now Bridgeport is entering the mixed box game with….
“For the first time in its 27-year history, BridgePort Brewing Company will release a 12-bottle variety pack featuring four of its signature brews. The Beervana Brewer’s Box, will include BridgePort IPA, Hop Czar, Kingpin and a seasonal craft selection.

“This is the first time in our 27-year history that we’ve had a group of beers that are in such high demand that they warrant a variety pack,” commented Brewmaster Jeff Edgerton. “It wasn’t until the addition of Kingpin that we finally felt ready to launch the Brewer’s Box for long-time fans to have access to the four top beers as well as the chance for new customers to try BridgePort for the first time.”

The Beervana Brewer’s Box will be distributed nationally and will feature three bottles each of:

IPA: Our award-winning IPA is brewed with a blend of five hop varieties (Cascade, Golding, Ahtanum, Crystal and Chinook) and presents a floral, citrusy aroma and full hop flavor, while downplaying the bitterness. The beer pours smooth in the glass, emitting its signature golden glow.
Hop Czar: An Imperial India Pale Ale brewed with over two pounds of whole leaf hop cones in each barrel. The Emperor of IBU’s, Hop Czar is triple hopped with four varieties (Nugget, Chinook, Centennial and Cascade) to produce an aggressively bitter, yet drinkable flavor.
Kingpin: This triple-hopped red features rye and caramel malt yielding a deep red color. Kingpin uses a rarely-grown Willamette Valley Hop varietal known as Liberty Hops from fourth generation hop farmer John Annen of Annen Bros. Farm in Silverton, Oregon.
Winter Seasonal, Dark Rain: Black Wheat and Dark Crystal Malt add dense color and mild smooth flavors to this intensely hopped Black Ale. This ale has a very drinkable, mid-level alcohol and bitterness that starts with roasted and hoppy aromatic notes and finishes with the dry hop character of the Nugget hop varietal. A Chinook, Crystal, Centennial and Cascade blend is used in our hopjack to provide full flavored background hoppiness.”

Oh, I almost forgot to add that Widmer has a similar box too. And was is better is that I can get all of them here in Los Angeles.

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Stone is a serial collaborator

Stone Brewing really picks interesting combos for their collaborations. Whether it is a big trio of Dogfish, Victory and Stone or a Japanese theme, they really explore many different breweries. And the latest duo to combine with Stone are Ninkasi (fresh off a collaboration with another Stone collaborator, 21st Amendment) and The Alchemist (the famed East Coast brewer that is on my long, long wish list of brewers to try).

Nelson Sauvin, Delta, Galaxy & Citra hops combined into More Brown than Black a brown/black ale with proceeds going to help The Alchemist dig out from flood damage caused by storms earlier this year. Maybe this will be the medium roast version of the Escondidian that was good but a little too roasty for the hops (which appears to be a trend in the Black IPA/CDA style).

Bottles should be available now and would make excellent stocking stuffers!