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XMAS Beer – Christmas with the Pelican

Here are a flurry of options from Pacific City, Oregon’s Pelican Brewery.

These Pelican brews may not last ’till Christmas and some may be draft only. If you taste them, let me know what you think.

Here are Pelican’s descriptions:

About Bad Santa:
>”You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout the Brewers at Pelican are telling you why, Bad Santa has arrived. This mysterious dark elixir is filled with complex malt flavors and aromas. Toasted malt and roast character blends seamlessly to the alluring herbal hop aroma that comes from copious amounts of Fuggle hops. Bad Santa doesn’t care if you’ve been naughty or nice, he wants this beer on your list.”

About MacPelican’s Wee Heavy Ale:
“Our version of the “Wee Heavy” Scotch Ale style is literally a batch of MacPelican’s Scottish Ale brewed with half the water and twice the boiling time to create a beer with a massive malty flavor and a deep red color. The aroma hints of rich caramel, cocoa, toffee, and tropical fruit, with a full-bodied mouth feel and a velvety sweet, slightly dry finish. A robust beer with a dangerous, drinkable smoothness.”

About Stormwatcher’s Winterfest
Stormwatcher’s Winterfest is the perfect brew to savor on a stormy Oregon Coast day. Its deep amber-red color, massive toasted malt, toffee and caramel aroma, and full-bodied malty flavor lead to a smooth, soft and warming finish. The floral aroma and flavor highlights come from Mt. Hood hops, while a toasted malt sweetness balances a mild, subtle bitterness in the finish. Its big, rich flavor makes it the ideal complement to nasty weather.

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Bookshelf – Dethroning the King

I have added this book to my Kindle for iTouch and from the looks of the reviews, I will be e-turning pages very fast.

This is the story of how InBev took over the King of Crappy Beers. And it goes over the Busch legacy and the torch passing from father to son.

UPDATE:
I am part way into the book and it is telling that the beer itself is rarely talked about. A lot about Busch 3 and 4 and their conversions to adulthood and the damn Bud frogs have made an appearance but as I have told too many people to count. AB is a selling company, not a beer company.

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XMAS BEER – Full Sail Powder Stash


Here is what the Hood River beer pioneers have to say about their winter offering…
“To celebrate the newly fallen snow and the predictions for an epic snowfall year, Full Sail Brewing will release a new beer in their Brewer’s Share line up, Powder Stash Pale, brewed by Full Sail’s Pub staff.

“It’s an easy drinking, low alcohol, nitro beer so it’ll be smooth and creamy, just like the powder on the mountain,” says Matt Bowers, Full Sail’s Tasting Room and Pub Assistant Manager. “We decided to brew this beer to contrast the strong, dark and hoppy beers typical of the season. We thought having a nice easy drinking smooth nitro beer would be a great option after a day on the snow. Brewed with pale malt for its drinkability and dry hopped with Simcoe’s for a piney citrus character, it’ll drink light, but will have lots of flavor,” added Lisa Merkin, Full Sail’s Tasting Room and Pub Manager. ABV 5% IBU 50.”

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Sunset Beer Company – Interview

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with the driving forces behind a new and new kind of craft beer addition to the Los Angeles brew scene.

John Nugent and Drew Vonah took the time to speak with me about how to create an atmosphere for beer exploration, their plans for the Echo Park space and what kind of beer they drink.

Sunset Beer Company will be a 2,000 square foot craft beer store with a few tap handles in the revitalized beer area of Echo Park.

The seed that sprouted into this new venture starts with their other establishment, the Colorado Wine Company. This Eagle Rock shop is my go-to spot for wine tasting. It is comfortable and the wines chosen are invariably challenging to my beginners wine palate.

That same welcoming feel is what is being aimed for with the new space that is still under construction. They are looking to be a comfortable place to explore the 500 beers they plan on having. It will not be a loud, male-centric cave.

What I like though is that John and Drew are coming from a background in wine as a starting point. But they both have a love of beer and seem excited that the same passion for wine exists in the beer world. They are fans of Eagle Rock Brewing (as am I) and have that “beer da vivre” that I love to see.

The plan is to open next year on a date to be named later. In the meantime, visit the wine version and imagine what a great addition the Sunset Beer Company will be to the Los Angeles beer scene.

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Sean suggests for December

When I look for winter warmers, I look to places that have some serious cold weather. The places where some warmth is needed. So my three suggestions today are from England. You will notice that these don’t need high ABV’s to warm a person up on a snowy day.

Click
December 2010 Beers
for the pdf that you can print-out and take to the craft beer store.

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P.U.B.

I keep promising myself to check beer blogs more often for new info and yet… I always seem to fall behind.

Here is an interesting homebrew shop variant from (you guessed it) Portland. The hub of H.U.B. and most new brew innovations.

Check out the homebrew shop and tap room HERE.

Thanks to the New School Blog for showcasing great stuff in Portland!

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Widmer Rotator series

Widmer has been busy!

Not only do they have the Brothers Reserve series. (Should I open the Brrrbon or not?)

Now they have the 929 series of beers and the Rotator which is what piqued my interest. Why? Because it is three unique and bold IPA’s that I never thought would make it past occasional keg apperances.

X-114 which I have not had yet.
Teaser IPA which I had at the 2009 NAOBF
Captain Shaddock’s IPA which I had at the 2010 OBF

Teaser was very good on draft. Shaddock smelled great but tasted weird if my memory serves and now X-114 is in my sights.

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XMAS BEER – Fuller’s Jack Frost

We travel to England for our next seasonal ale. And the English make some excellent warmers that don’t assault the palate.

Fuller’s makes Jack Frost which they describe as, “brewed with Crystal malt and a dash of blackberries, Jack Frost delivers a fruity, robust yet refreshing flavour that lingers long on the palate.”

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Let’s Tour – Ranger Creek Brewing

The line between spirits and craft beer has been blurry of late with Ballast Point, Anchor and Rogue creating artisan beverages on both sides. But they came to spirits after.
Today’s entry brewed both from the get-go!

Here is their take on their unique twist, “Ranger Creek is a combined brewery/distillery proudly located in San Antonio, TX. We make beer and whiskey in our “brewstillery”, and we make it by hand one batch at a time with lots of love and attention. As a combined operation, we use much of the same equipment to make both our beer and our whiskey, and we can do this because there are a lot of similarities between the two processes.”

Their current beers are:
South Texas Lager
Oatmeal Pale Ale
Mesquite Smoked Porter
and my pick to try….
La Bestia Aimable
“In 1685, the explorer La Salle claimed Texas in the name of France, landing at Matagorda Bay on a ship called the Aimable. In honor of Texas’ French and Mexican heritages, we created a complex Belgian-style ale with a name to match: La Bestia is Spanish for “The Beast,” while Aimable is French for “friendly.” This devilishly friendly dark strong ale has a rich, complex nose of deep berry and fig with cinnamon, nutmeg, and black pepper spicy notes, and a superbly drinkable body full of rich, dark fruit flavors. The use of Texas honey and a well attenuated body in the Belgian abbey tradition make this beer superbly drinkable despite its high alcohol content. La Bestia Aimable pairs well with carbonade, lamb, game and fowl, rich cheeses such as triple-crème and Gorgonzola, as well as decadent desserts like sticky toffee pudding, dark chocolate and raspberry cake, and tiramisu.”