Here is my first review of many more to come on the Single Hop line from Mikkeller.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeFP2RPRl6I]
New roads for hops
If you go to FoodGPS.com, you will see the latest musings by yours truly on the latest trends in hoppy beers. You will also probably see a new restaurant or cafe you will want to try out. I found at least three places to try in San Francisco when I drive there in November.
Gruit from Dr. Fritz Briem
The Search Party pours a non-hopped beer from Germany…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOMfiknEKtk]
Loser Pale
I love the special beers, the anniversary beers, the once and done beers. And now, a pale from Elysian. A pale as a tribute? Counter to trend, but I like it. A Pale Ale made in honor of 20 years of records from Sub Pop. Sounds like a winner to me.
Ephemere with…
..cranberries? This sounds like it won’t work but if I know the people at Unibroue. They could pull it off.
Sierra Dog Nevada Fish
from Beer Advocate…
This fall independent craft brewers Sierra Nevada and Dogfish Head, will release two collaborative beers. Limb & Life-a draft-only beer-will debut in October; with Life & Limb 24oz bottles and limited draft to follow in November.
Life & Limb is a 10% ABV strong beer that defies style characteristics-brewed with pure maple syrup from the Calagione family farm in Massachusetts and estate barley grown on the Grossman “farm” at the brewery in Chico. The beer is alive with yeast-a blend of both breweries’ house strains-bottle conditioned for added complexity and shelf life, and naturally carbonated with birch syrup fresh from Alaska; it is the first beer we know of ever to use birch syrup in the brew. If stored under good conditions, this rich, full-bodied beer should age well for years. Life & Limb will be available in 24-oz. bottles and limited draft starting this November.
Limb & Life is a companion to the big beer-an acorn off the larger tree. It is a 5% ABV small beer-a low-gravity beer made using the residual sugar as “second runnings” from the first larger brew, fortified with American hops. This is a session beer. Its big brother is a sipper. Limb & Life will be a limited draft-only product, a prelude to the bigger beer, available in select bars and restaurants this October.
Divinity from Ft. George Brewing
I have had only two of Ft. George’s beers but both were intriguing enough to return to but this link about their newest version of Divinity sounds tempting.
How do you spell Ollalaberry though?
Lip Stinger
MacTarnahan’s Lip Stinger Farmhouse Ale with peppercorn is now on shelves for the late summer and fall season. It’s the first in a series of specialty 22-ounce-only offerings form MacTarnahan’s, which plans to bottle just 3000 cases. Lip Stinger is an effervescent and rustic farmhouse ale that brewers add a cracked peppercorn blend during fermentation to introduce a spicy nose and warming mouth feel.
Stone Brewing – Sawyer's Tripel
A rare tripel from Escondido, reviewed by the Search Party……
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddXCS6pQATU]
Collaborative Evil
from Draft Magazine
On a stormy night in 2008, three brewmasters devised an evil plan to take over the world. Okay, not really, but they named the inspired beer of their collaboration, a Belgian Strong Dark Ale, Collaborative Evil.
They each brewed the base beer at their own breweries, and the rule was that each brewer had to add a unique ingredient to distinguish it from the other two. The founders, Zac Triemert of Lucky Bucket Brewing Co., Matt Van Wyk formerly of Flossmor Station Brewing Co. and now at Oakshire Brewing Co., and Todd Ashman of Fifty Fifty Brewing, hoped to enter the beers in the Great American Beer Festival. Two of the three made it.
So this year, the Collaborative Evil effort has expanded to nine breweries and the new base beer style is a Belgian Strong Pale Ale. This has presented some interesting challenges for the brewers, since they have to find nine unique ingredients instead of just three.
We wish them the best of luck in their quest for the GABF.
The new participants are: Valley Brewing Co., Sacramento Brewing Co., Fat Head’s Brewery and Saloon, Oakshire Brewing Co., Silver Peak Brewery, and Speakeasy Ales & Lagers.