Tag: brewery tour

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Featured Brewery # 3 – Bear Republic

Yeah, everyone knows about this Old Guard brewery but the crew from Healdsburg have some “challenge”ing beers that they have released of late that should have you taking a second (or third) look at Bear Republic Brewing.

11 DBL Brut – ” This is an 8% Double Brut IPA. Late hop additions of over 4 pounds per barrel of Citra and Galaxy hops set the pace of this beer. The juicy start of this beer ends bone dry.”

06 Smells – ” The malt character is led by the 2-row, Pilsner and wheat malt bill. The malt base is turbocharged by a citrus blast of orange and tangerine flavors. The hop aroma will trade paint with juicy flavor thanks to a late hop addition of Amarillo, Mandarina Bavaria, Citra and Cascade hops. Barbarian yeast completes this fact paced lap with it’s stone fruit esters and added hop aromatic enhancement.”

58 Uber Dank – “the fourth release of the Challenge Series. This Uber Dank IPA is aggressive in its aromatic pleasure as Simcoe, Ella, Vic Secret, Sabro and Columbus hops contribute a piney, grape fruity, tropical and diesel dank aroma.”

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Featured Brewery # 2 – Dead Bear Brewing

We head to Grayling, Michigan for our second “bear” themed beer spot. The Dead Bear Brewing Company. This member of the Michigan Brewers Guild serves up both beer and food and here is what I would order in a first taster tray…

El Simado Galaxy Session IPA – ” Nice body, low ABV, and a great hop flavor makes this ale very drinkable. Includes Simcoe, El Doarado and Galaxy hops.”

Burly Bear Dry Stout – “Roasted and dry, full bodied and smooth. Just a few words to sum up this delicious addition to our draft selection.”

Ulfhednar barleywine – “Like the warriors of old, this beer kicks ass! Contains michigan hops and local honey.”

Sugga Bear – ” Brewed with marshmellows, brown sugar, Northern Bee Michigan honey, maple syrup, and raisins.”

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Featured Brewery # 1 – Stewart’s Brewing Company

The theme for this month’s brewery tours is “Bear” and we head to Delaware, to the town of Bear to visit Stewart’s Brewing Company which has been around since 1995. Making it quite the veteran in the beer world.

And here is what I would put into an initial taster tray…

Governor’s Golden Ale – ” A golden-colored ale with a low bitterness level, a moderate hop flavor provided by Styrian Golding hops from Czechoslovakia. This beer is very approachable and serves as a great session beer. “

12 O’Clock Rye – ” Fermented with a Saison Dupont yeast blend and moderately hopped with Citra and Cascade with a subtle backend dry finish from the rye and acidulated malts.

Porchville IPA – ” Easy drinking American IPA featuring Nugget and CTZ hops providing a mild herbal and resinous aroma.”

McBride’s Strong Ale – ” A strong ale with a deep amber color that has a pronounced malt flavor and aroma complimented by a slight smooth sweetness.”

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London Brewery # 3 – Anspach & Hobday

Our last stop in June is at A&H, Anspach & Hobday. They have three beer categories on their website so let’s pick one from each for this virtual taster tray.

from the Classics

The Cream Ale – “Landing somewhere between a pale ale and a lager, The Cream Ale is brewed using Sorachi Ace hops. It’s flavour profile ranges from dill to coconut to pineapple. In fact, a throwback to Prohibition America, it’s so full of flavour, it won’t fit in the fridge.”

from the Experimentals

The Brother Sean – “Bold, rich and complex, this continental twist on our classic Stout Porter is fermented using a Belgian strain of yeast. Brewed only once a year, Brother Sean rests in the bottle for 12 months before its release. The result is well worth the wait.”

from the Collaborations

The Sacc. Trois IPA – “We used a blend of Mosaic and El Dorado in the boil, and Ekuanot and Ella in the dry hop, along with a small amount of CaraAroma malt in the grist. This recipe was designed to give us plenty of fruit from the hops, and just a touch of sweetness from the malt (Sacc. Troi is a high-attenuating yeast, so we wanted to make sure we had some body left in the beer once it was done).

As for the yeast, its certainly had an impact. The nose is full of fruit, specifically ripe fruit, very ripe fruit for that matter. Ripe mango and juicy tropical fruit dominate, along with some dank and herbal notes from the hops. The body is smooth, with light touch of bitterness to balance, and a dry finish.”

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London Brewery # 2 – Boxcar Brewing

The second English stop is at Boxcar of London. A somewhat trippy destination if their motto is any indication, ” Transporting you to a place of rainbows and hops, dreams of barley and oats, ideas about yeast and water, hallucinations of colour and light.”

Now on to the beers that I would sample first…

starting hoppy with PAL-019 BRU-1 DDH Pale then moving on to a Belgian BIG-001 Mosaic & Vanilla Tripel then to a Dark Mild, DRK-004 Dark Mild and then finishing with an IPA, IPA-005 Ekuanot IPA.

This brewery has a cool design look, very color filled outer space plus the bottles are odd shaped for my eyes. And you can get more Boxcar info from this article in Pellicle

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London Brewery # 1 – Affinity Brew Co.

Our first brewery in London to visit is called Affinity Brew Co. and one of the reasons that I selected them is this statement on their website, “We do not filter or pasteurise our beer, allowing the yeast to produce a natural carbonation within the can.”

Now lets get to what I would try first…

Breeze – “A sparkling golden Saison brewed with Lime Zest and crushed Coriander Seed.”

Social Seduction – “A big, bold, west coast I.P.A brewed with a rotating selection of U.S hops.”

Toowoomba – “A Lamington inspired, coconut and raspberry stout. Toowoomba’s complex malt bill produces a rich, dark, chocolatey Stout. It is fermented on fresh Raspberries and conditioned with toasted Coconut.”

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FWIBF Brewery # 3 – Austin Pinthouse

I’m sorta hoping that they bring the pizza to FWIBF19 too but here is a sample tray of beers from Austin’s Pinthouse Pizza…

Beluga Amber – ” Our director of brewing, like so many other brewers, started his journey into craft beer as a homebrewer over 10 years ago, and one of the first beers he ever brewed on his stove was an Extra Special Bitter inspired by some of England’s finest examples. In constructing the recipe for our Old Beluga Amber Ale he looked back on his notes from that first ESB he ever brewed, realized it probably wasn’t as great of a beer as he thought it was at the time, and worked on a recipe that blended elements of the English-Style ESB with those of an American Amber. The result is a delightfully complex, malt-forward Amber Ale filled with aromas and flavors of cherry, nuttiness, and an earthy-herbal hop profile to balance it all out.”

Sw’Elsinore – ” A craft Canadian Lager, Sw’Elsinore pairs well with the start of hockey season, Fall afternoons on the patio with a growler, and sharing a hand tossed pepperoni pie with friends at Pinthouse Pizza. Features: brewed with a mix of North American 6-row and 2-row barley along with rice to keep the body light and refreshing.”

Nitro Seal – ” Everything you read about our Gold Medal-winning Bearded Seal in the paragraph right above this one is true for this beer as well… Our Brewmaster isn’t Irish… at all, stouts are good in all weather, and jet black pints with creamy white heads are sexy… and Dry Irish Stouts on nitro taste really really good. So, we offer up a version of our Bearded Seal on Nitro as well! All the delicious flavors of roasted coffee and dark chocolate remain the same while the nitrogenation adds a smooth creamy mouthfeel to this stout.”

Fully Adrift – ” 2018 Alpha King Challenge winner, 2014 Alpha King runner up and Silver Medal at the 2015 LA International Beer Competition for the Double IPA Category! This is a dangerously drinkable combination of Dank, tropical, and resinous hops… and more hops.”

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Small Brewery # 3 – Mountains Walking

The last stop in March is at Mountains Walking in the Bozeman, Montana region. I liked what I saw from both the branding design and from the beer making ethos, “Our goal is to make beers that pretty much couldn’t come from anywhere but Bozeman. The climate, the altitude, the native yeasts—all these things make up our terroir, which will impact our beers.”

Here are my choices for what to put on a e-taster tray….

Nice Fella Italian Pilsner – German you see and Czech as well but rarely the Italian genre. If it is close to Tipo Pils then it will be good.

Here, Friend Cream Ale – I almost always add a cream ale to a taster tray if one is on tap.

Digger Beer Honey Rye – If the balance is right, this duo of ingredients could really work well.

Last Best Pineapple IPA – This is a bit of a flyer because pineapple (like coconut) can be way too sweet but if the tropical hops are up to the task it could work well.

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Eugene Brewery # 2 – Claim 52 Brewing

Our second stop in Eugene, Oregon is Claim 52 Brewing. The name “refers to the donation land claim settled by pioneer William Luckey in what is now part of South Eugene.”

Here are the beers that I would be ordering for my initial taster tray….

Starting with their Kolsch and then moving on to Willamette Wit before heady to hoppy with their Good Neighbor IPA, their Krispy Brut IPA and then off to their My Brother’s Farmhouse IPA. I would finish with their Voyager Strong Ale.

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NBA City Brewery # 3 – Bellwoods Brewery in Toronto


Our last NBA city to visit is Toronto, home of the Kawhi’s. Sorry, Raptors. Before the season began there was a lot of back and forth about making the coaching change and adding Kawhi Leonard. But so far, so good for the team that always seems close but hasn’t gotten over the hump.

The brewery for the purpose of this post is Bellwoods. They have grown to two breweries as well as bottle shops. Below are my choices for an initial taster tray before or after the Raptors play.

Jutsu – “an American pale ale made with a blend of two different yeasts. This APA is highly drinkable with low bitterness and refreshing citrus and melon notes.”

Bring Out Your Dead 2018 – “Our annual (so long as we didn’t open a production facility that year) imperial stout aged in cognac barrels has emerged from oak classy as ever, ready to impress in a glass near you.”

Goblin Sauce – “a huge imperial IPA that utilizes a simple pale malt bill while harnessing the unrivaled intensity of Lupulin Powder – a magical, concentrated hop potion that contains exponentially more alpha acids and way less vegetal matter than regular hop pellets. And we loved the first dry hop round so much that we decided to double up.”.

Grisette – “earning the esteemed title of our very first beer fermented entirely in oak (aka The Foeder Pyramid™). It’s a low ABV, refreshing sipper dry-hopped with French Strisselspalt hops (a variety that’s as fun to say as it is delicious). The beer itself is dry, with soft brett aromatics, and complementary herbal, floral, and citrus notes.”

Hoppy Table beer – From the Ossington brewpub comes a sessionable, refreshing beer brewed with wheat and pilsner malts, that we lightly dry hop with a mix of noble varieties (and a pinch of citra). Quenching, subtly fruity, and incredibly easy to make disappear.