Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
It is fascinating to see how American brewers are influencing old school Europe.
Case in point…..
The brewery says this about their new offering, “We send our approach for the Svea IPA. As your growing thirst is leaning towards more bitter levels, we have carefully selected a set of noble hops, for you to enjoy on every suitable occasion.”
Now even a venerated brewery like Struise is upping the hop ante.
Check out the ERB website HERE
I got a growler of this for the Super Bowl. Perfect for parties!
We are now a quarter way through the 12 Days of Bruery Christmas with Three French Hens
Even though Sierra Nevada did not choose my award winning short film for the Beer Camp contest. I will continue to both drink and pimp out their beers and projects because I believe in the beer they make even though their taste in humor is obviously skewed. (My poor acting had nothing to do with not making the top 20 of course.)
So here is the slightly abridged (juicy bits) from the latest Sierra Nevada press release.
“For nearly 1000 years, monks have been brewing ales behind monastery walls. Their closely guarded traditions and techniques produced styles of beer unlike anything else in the world. These unique Trappist-style Abbey ales are known for their uncompromising quality and compelling flavor. In 2011, Sierra Nevada and the Trappist-Cistercian Abbey of New Clairvaux are working to bring this centuries-old tradition to America with Ovila—the nation’s only authentic Trappist-style Abbey Ale.
This series of three Belgian -style Abbey ales is made in accordance with the centuries-old tradition of the monks. Each beer will be only be available for a limited time and will rotate through the seasons. The first beer in the series, scheduled for release in March, will be a Belgian-style Dubbel brewed with authentic Trappist yeast. The second beer in the series, scheduled for release in July, will be a Saison, the traditional Belgian-style farmhouse ale made in honor of the Monk’s dedication to labor in the fields surrounding their abbey. The third will be released in time for the holidays. It will be a Trappist-style Quadrupel rich with dark fruit flavors and the unique wine-like characters of these strong Abbey ales.
Proceeds from this project will benefit the monks of the Abbey of New Clairvaux in their efforts to rebuild an architectural marvel—a 12th century, early-gothic Cistercian chapter house—on their grounds in Vina, California a few miles north of Sierra Nevada’s home in Chico. The medieval chapterhouse—Santa Maria de Ovila—was begun in 1190, near the village of Trillo, Spain.
Cistercian monks lived, prayed, and worked there for nearly 800 years. In 1931, California newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst purchased the abbey and shipped it to Northern California. Hearst’s plans were never realized, and the stones fell into disrepair. In 1994, the Trappist-Cistercian monks of the Abbey of New Clairvaux, gained possession of the ruins, and began the painstaking stone-by-stone reconstruction of the historic abbey.
Located in Vina, California, the Abbey of New Clairvaux is a Cistercian Abbey of Strict Observance (Trappist). The abbey was founded in 1955 on 590 acres of Leland Stanford’s famed Vina Ranch. The monks follow the Rule of St. Benedict—Ora est Labora (Prayer and Work) and spend their days in prayer, meditation, and tending to the labor of the working farm located at the abbey.”
No this isn’t a freeway in Los Angeles. This is a bayou beer.
From Bayou Teche Brewing comes the first bottled batch of LA-31 Biere Pale . Lazy Magnolia is bottling their product because they have no bottling line yet, but that hasn’t stopeed Bayou Teche.
LA-31 is an American version of a Belgian Pale Ale. A late hop addition an American yeast strains give LA-31 a mellow bitterness and intense hop flavor over a continental malt base.
Two other brews are due from their tiny hand-crafted brewery, a dark beer called LA-31 Biere Noire, and a wheat known as Duck Blind Cherry Wood Roasted Wheat Biere. They will only be in kegs for now.
Only my third beer from Florida ever! One from Cigar City and two from the Belgian Saint Somewhere.
Let me confess two things. One, I much prefer lambics to sour beer. Two, I still have not had a Faro, especially the one from Boon that sounds damn good. I guess that I need to get off the porters one night and IPA’s the next and get a bottle of the Faro.
1 beer down and 49 to go! The journey is underway. I received this bottle of Local # 2 about the same time as I got my 33 Beers rating book and I decided that each time I review a beer from a new state this year I would include a pdf of the rating and my notes.
This was a really nice beer but it didn’t blow my socks off. I was hoping for more orange and spices in it and to me it was a little thin. The alcohol catches up to you and I had a nice glow by the time the Rose Bowl was into the 4th quarter but it didn’t wow me like Local # 1 did. Now that may be because I had # 1 at the brewery in Brooklyn.