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These are the beers that I wish I could taste for the first time.
![Cascade Brewing Logo 7-1 [Converted]](https://beersearchparty.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/17.jpg "Cascade Brewing Logo 7-1 [Converted]")
I am a big fan of the unique beers from Cascade. And it is cool that they are having a new location to serve them from. This new one sounds way cool.
“We’re really excited about our offering for this year’s festival: Frite Galois is a light farmhouse ale aged for three months in white port barrels. It has a nice clean sourness with a crispy, lovely nose. It is really bright, and has some influence from the Noyeaux, previously aged in the same barrels.”
I don’t normally do the cut and paste for an entire press release but this is momentous for beer geeks everywhere…
Bend, Oregon (April 2010) – Deschutes Brewery and Hair of the Dog Brewing Company today announced that they are working together on an exciting new beer. These two Oregon companies have taken a completely different approach to developing their companies since their founding, and are looking forward to blending their two styles together for a new beer to be released in 2011.
“When we started talking about collaborating on a project, Alan Sprints at Hair of the Dog was the first person I thought of working with,” said Gary Fish, president of Deschutes Brewery. “We’ve known each other for a long time and partnering on a project like this was the perfect way to be able to do something original and unique together. When you have two creative companies embarking on a creative project together, something fun is bound to result.”
Sprints came over to Bend in early March to brew two of his beers at the Deschutes Brewery brewhouse. Then it was Deschutes Brewery brewmaster Larry Sidor’s turn to brew two of his own beers. These four beers (which will remain unnamed as yet) will be aged in various wood barrels and then blended together sometime in early 2011 in a ratio yet to be determined as part of the creative process. Over the next several months, Hair of the Dog and Deschutes Brewery will be meeting to sample the aging beer and contemplate the blending process.
Sprints said, “This partnership was born in an effort to express the vitality of today’s American brewing community and push the boundaries of what is commonly known as beer. Both of our companies share a pride in Oregon products and I have long admired the level of professionalism that Gary brings to the brewing industry. My idea was to do a blend of beers that we already produced, merging our products and passion for beer, hoping to create a beverage that will be deep, complex, earthy and beguiling.”
This is the first collaborative beer for each of the companies, and everyone is excited to see how the new beer will develop. Fish continued, “We have no idea how these four beers will taste blended together, but we do know that the total will be greater than the sum of its parts.”
New York has a a great beer scene and just like Los Angeles follows sets food trends that fan out across the world. So expect to see more places like Sweet Revenge NYC. They pair their cupcakes with wine & beer.
Those in the know can attest to the fact that beer and chocolate is a great pairing and beer floats though strange sounding can really work well so check out this menu and the next time you are in NYC give it a whirl.
Here are some of the menu items:
Sweet Revenge & Weihenstephaner Hefe Weiss
Peanut Butter Cake, Ganache Center, Peanut Butter Fudge Frosting
Pure & Kwak
Mexican Vanilla Cake and Mexican Vanilla Buttercream
Spice Islands Carrot & Harpoon IPA
Spiced Carrot Cake with Carrot Cream Cheese Frosting
Bird of Paradise & Palma Louca
Lime Chiffon Cake with Mango Buttercream and Fresh Lime Zest
Thanks to Joan Steuer for letting me know about Sweet Revenge.
I have had a couple beers from these fine brewers and I welcome any pilsner into the house. Anything to buck the “big” beer trend. Should make for an excellent hot summer day brew.
..if you ask me.
French for “good idea,” “Bonne Idée” is an Americanized Saison (8+%) from the “other” Hood River brewer, Double Mountain.
If you get the chance, try this at Saraveza in Portland or at the brewpub in Hood River. (Also check out their other fantastic seasonal, Molten Lava)
Beer labels are artwork in my opinion and this one from Southern Tier is even better than their Christmas Krampus…
It is for a new pale ale from the New York brewery that they dedicate to “… our farmer friends of today for cultivating the ingredients the are responsible for the beers we now enjoy. Their laborious days spent ourdoors under the hot sun earn them respect, as well as a mark of distinction: the farmer’s tan. Yes, the inevitable red and white hallmark of hard work.”
“We present Parabola, the first-ever bottling of this barrel-aged Imperial Stout. Just 1,000 cases [22 oz. bottles] were produced. This bold beer features nuances of bourbon and tobacco aroma. Rich dark chocolate flavors meld with charred oak, dark cherry and espresso finishing smooth on the palate. Parabola is best enjoyed in moderation and is a perfect addition to chocolate desserts.”
Tobacco? Charred Oak?
Now dark cherry and espresso, I can understand. But will it make me swoon like Velvet Merkin does?
Alaskan Brewing is getting into the reserve series game. Actually, they have been in it for awhile. Us mainlanders just haven’t had access until now. Getting to market is a two step process according to the brewery, “Each new recipe is first created on our 1-barrel experimental brewhouse, perfected in our 10-barrel pilot brewhouse, then put to the test through our Rough Draft series of draft-only beers distributed in Alaska,” the most popular of the rough drafts take the leap to a limited release in the Alaskan Pilot Series.
“Years of local demand through Alaskan’s Rough Draft program of draft-only releases and a Silver medal from the 2008 Great American Beer Festival made our Raspberry Wheat the perfect brew to officially launch the ‘Pilot Series’.”
Two more Pilot Series beers will debut in 2010 — a black imperial IPA in October, and a re-release of the Alaskan Barley Wine— which just won a Bronze medal at the 2010 World Beer Cup on April 10 – in late December.
In England the Ruby Porter is known as Batemans Dark Lord, but is has been re-named for the U.S. market due to a trademark conflict.
Dark Lord has a deep black color with reddish hints and is capped by rich creamy foam. The aroma features roasted grain notes with spicy-citrus hop notes. The palate is roasty with hints of coffee and licorice and an underlying fruit accent and long finish. A mere 5% alcohol by volume.
In both 2007 & 2008 it was named among “The World’s Fifty Best Beers” at the Drinks International Beer Challenge.
Both Karl Strauss and Redhook were craft pioneers who seemed to get passed by or considered too big and not micro cool.
Well now both are coming out swinging. Strauss with some good IPA bombers and Redhook with their 8-4-2 Expedition and now with this…
It is described on the label as, “Aged for months at temperatures well below freezing, Eisbock 28 is extraordinarily smooth and malt with a bittersweet complexity achieved by ice processing.”