Category: Guide to better beer

how to discover new beer to try

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Full Sail + Summer =

full-sail-spotless

The latest in summer IPA’s. You may know of Sunspot or Grandsun of Spot. Now you get Spotless…

From the Full Sail press release..”the newest release in their Brewmaster Reserve series, Spotless IPA. This release continues Full Sail’s summer “sun” series. Named to honor our sun that has been spotless for over a year, Spotless is a true Northwest style IPA – richly hopped with Willamette and Zeus hops. A deep golden color, bright bitterness and a definite fruity finish meld into a beer that is all set to toast the summer months. It will be available in specialty beer stores and pubs throughout the Pacific Northwest from June to August in 22oz bottles and draft. ABV: 6.5% IBU: 70″

The next beer in Full Sail’s Brewmaster Reserve line up will be Sanctuary, a Belgian Style Dubbel, to be released in August.

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Brooklyn Beer History Tour

Urban Oyster does NYC tours and they one of their choices is Beer and the History of Beer in Brooklyn!
urbanoysterwalkingtour
Check out the particulars HERE or if you just want some highlights:

A private tour of the Brooklyn Brewery, plus a taste of eight beers on tap.
A look at two remaining 19th century brewery buildings that were once part of the old Brewers Row.
Lunch with pizza and lager beer – mmm….
Stories of brewing, bottling, and even bootlegging.
A beautiful cathedral-like church that was built by the German immigrants in the neighborhood.
A stop by ABC Beverage Distributors to learn about how beer gets to customers today versus in the past.
Tastings of traditional German beer and Brooklyn beer with gourmet small plates at Huckleberry Bar.

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Notch – The session beer

The session beer has (in my humble opinion) gone from a momentary trend to a full blown backlash against high abv monsters.

Here is some information about the latest entrant into the session scrum…
Notch_Label-Blog-Size
“NOTCH, the American Session Ale. The only Session Beer Brand in the US. Every beer we brew is made to extend the good times, as every beer is below 4.5% alcohol by volume (ABV). Full flavor, long drinking, no headache.

Notch Brewing was founded by Chris Lohring, a craft beer industry veteran. Follow the Notch story on this blog, and be part of the Session Beer resurgence in the US.”

Check out more at their website

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Eugene – Beer Buying Central

EugeneOR_seal
One neighborhood in Eugene, Oregon is the beer buying equivalent of the Mall of America. The latest entrantSixteen Tons adds to an area of the Duck town with several other beer retailers, including Beer Nuts, a smaller bottle shop about a block away, and the Bier Stein, a great bottle shop that also offers beers on tap and food, about two blocks away. And then there’s the Circle K convenience store across the street.

Bet there are some happy craft beer lovers in that part of town.

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Needed! Beer from Kansas….

…and it could be the easily shipped cans from Tallgrass Brewing!
tallgrass-ipa

Here is the chain of events that led the brewery to can…
“The call was from a Tallgrass drinker in western Kansas. He had about 20 empty cases of IPA bottles and boxes stacked in his garage. I guess he really likes it. He wanted to return the boxes for us to reuse, but since he was so far away, picking them up was not an option. I asked him to recycle the glass and cardboard, but he did not have a local recycler. It would all have to go to the local landfill.”

That phone call inspired Gill to look into the viability of cans. Several months later, Gill is returning from a field trip across the country to Ball Corporation where his cans are being manufactured.

Tallgrass will soon can Tallgrass Ale, Oasis, Buffalo Sweat, Kold and IPA.

I do need to add more canned beers to my 50 from 50 challenge.

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The Bruery Provisions

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In a slight change of course, The Bruery will not be opening a cafe. Instead it will be a bottle shop and tasting bar.

Here is the info, straight from the source:
“This summer, The Bruery plans on opening The Bruery Provisions, a boutique bottle shop in Old Town Orange that specializes in craft beer as well as artisan wines, cheeses and charcuterie. The Bruery Provisions hopes to provide the ideal destination for anyone looking to learn about and purchase an assortment of specialty beers from across the United States and beyond. Not only will patrons be presented with a great selection of beers and cheeses to take home, there will also be a small tasting bar where beer and wine flights will change sporadically from week to week. Certified Cicerones (read: beer sommeliers) will staff the store and lead customers on detailed samplings, helping them understand what flavors they sense and what beers they might enjoy taking home to share. As Cicerones, the staff members are experts on pairing beers with food and cheese, so you can be sure to bring the perfect bottle to your dinner party along with a bit of insight.”

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Saboteur from Odell

What do you get when you create a brown ale then dose it with Brett yeast. You get this…
odell-saboteur-3

I like this type of experimentation. Maybe it will bring back people to simple, satisfying ales like the brown or amber.

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Epic Brewing

My tour around breweries of the southwest concludes with Epic Brewing. Not to be confused with Epic Ales of Seattle, this is a later in the year to be opened brewery in Utah.
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And they have a unique spin on their beers…
EPIC Brewing beers fall into one of three categories Classic, Elevated or Exponential.

The Classic Series are the regular line-up craft beers.
The Elevated Series are limited in quality and numbered. The recipes will change from year to year.
The Exponential Series are highly specialized beers handcrafted in very small batches. These beers will use unique ingredients.