Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
One of the new terms craft beer terms of 2010 is Nano-Brewery. And Baranof Island, fits that bill in my mind.
Here is their main list:
Silver Bay IPA
Lord Baranov’s Dark Ale
Baranof Brown Ale
Halibut Point Hefeweizen
Redoubt Red Ale
Peril Strait Pale Ale
They are based in Sitka and they brew with a 1 3/4 barrel system and handcraft their beer in 45 gallon batches. They sell growlers to go too!
File this under, might work. Two distinct flavors that may fight each other to a standstill. The coffee is called Guji Natural and is roasted by a by Koppi of Sweden. The hops in the other corner are Tomahawk. And it was brewed at Mikkeller’s default brewery De Proef.
Brewdog has something that will put high ABV to shame as a pursuit. It is beer as art according to the separate (from the main) website.
“Abstrakt is a new type of beer brand, we will only ever brew and release a beer once
Abstrakt will release a very small number of limited edition batches per year
More art than beer, Abstrakt will brew directional, boundary pushing beers: blurring distinctions and transcending categories
All Abstrakt beers are bottle-conditioned, individually numbered and known only by their release code, e.g. AB:01″
They have released and sold out of three beers already with more on the way.
VANILLA BEAN INFUSED BELGIAN QUAD 10.2%
TRIPLE DRY HOPPED IMPERIAL RED ALE 18%
IMPERIAL ALE AGED OVER 2 YEARS IN WHISKY CASKS WITH RASPBERRIES AND STRAWBERRIES 10.5%
The 03 sounds delicious. Which one would you shell out 10 or more pounds for?
Taking the Hopworks bike one step further is the WOODY!
Here is what the Deschutes people have to say about this new toy…“Who is this guy? Woody, the good-times-on-wheels mobile bar, is a giant wooden beer barrel featuring multiple delicious Deschutes Brewery beers, a stereo, and a disco ball. He is a natural gathering spot at any event for all thirsty individuals (and any misplaced members of your party). Woody’s lounge atmosphere, complete with bar tables, is as inviting as an undiscovered oasis in the California desert. So stop by for a tasty beer and create your own public house.”
I would love to take a year and just visit brewery grand openings. Maybe somebody out there will pay me to do that.
In the meantime, how about organic and Ohio in the form of the recently opened Rockmill Brewery.
Along with a cool logo the brewers at Rockmill will be creating a witbier, saison, dubbel and tripel. Enjoy Ohio!
Just when you think every ingredient under the sun has been used in craft beer along comes “Matzahbrau” from Ambacht Brewing of Hillsboro, Oregon.
Using Matzah (Matzo), a cracker-like unleavened bread made of white plain flour and water. Two pounds of Matzah is used in a 20 pound grain bill for this brew.
Then the beer is bottle conditioned with honey. So this might be a sticky sweet little bomb of a beer. Can’t wait to try it.
Holiday seasonals seem to be showing up left and right. Though I give this one a pass because of the name.
Love the Rankin-Bass.
Here are the specs: “This mythological beer emerges from the depths of our brewery every winter. Made with Cascade, Centennial and Simcoe hops and six organic malts, “A-Bomb” has a complex floral, spicy and citrus hoppiness backed up by just the right amount of malt sweetness. 7.3% ABV.”
File this under smart moves, Hopworks Urban Brewery. Already the organic beer leader in Portland, and the leader in beer and bikes is in the process of opening a “nano brewery” that they will open to home brewers. The 30 gallon capacity systesm will be available for home-brew clubs six times during the year and solo home brewers for all of the other free dates. Applicants will be encouraged to use all Organic base malts in their recipes and in exchange will be able to brew at Hopworks, make use of their mill and just be around and absorb the vibe and knowledge that Hopworks already has.
Drakes Brewing from San Leandro first did a re-design of their core beers which are really good. Then the first bomber special, Denogginizer rolled into stores.
Now, we get the 2nd in the 22oz series! An imperial red. Even though, I am fast tiring of the “imperial”ization of beers as the only creative outlet, I will give this new Drake’s offering a go.
Here’s another funny beer style for you to try to pronounce
ZOIGLBIER
Say it five times fast…
“Tzoy-gel-beer” (“oy” as in “boy” and “gel” as in the last syllable of “bagel”)
It is harder to drink it than to say it. Here is the dictionary description… “Zoiglbier is a fresher more sparkly form of a Kellerbier but brewed from more highly kilned malt, which gives the beer a slightly darker, deep amber, color. It is also less hop-accented. Its alcohol content by volume is usually below 5%. The name Zoiglbier stems from “Zoigl,” the Franconian vernacular for “sign.” In Franconian home brewing, a Zoigl was a six-pointed blue-white star, shaped from two triangles similar to a Star of David. The star was made from wooden slats. In the center was a cutout of a beer mug or a pine branch. In the feudal system of the 13th and 14th centuries, every Bavarian home- and landowner in the region north of the River Danube also automatically owned the right to brew beer, and these medieval burghers and farmers used to hang the Zoigl in front of their doors wheneverthey had homebrew ready to drink. The Zoigl was in invitation to their neighbors to come over and have a few. These early burgher-brewers often also made their Zoiglbier in communal brew houses…a natural precursor to the brew’s communal consumption under the Zoigl.
One triangle of the Zoigl symbolized the three “elements” involved in brewing: fire, water and air; the other symbolized the three “ingredients” used in brewing: malt, hops and water. The function of yeast had not yet been discovered in the Middle Ages. Rather yeast was considered a byproduct of fermentation, known as “stuff” (“Zeug” in German) to be discarded.
Nowadays, Zoiglbier is brewed exclusively with noble hops from the Hallertau region of Bavaria (slightly north of the Danube). Like Kellerbier, Zoiglbier is unfiltered, unpasteurized, uncapped (“ungespundet”), and low in carbonation; but unlike Kellerbier, it is aged for only of few weeks, before it is served. It tends to have a shorter shelflife than Kellerbier and is generally not sold outside Bavaria. Several breweries nowadays package their Zoiglbier in bottles and kegs, in which case the beer tends to be slightly carbonated.”