Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
Since this is CanFest month, my featured breweries don’t come from just one state or region but share the commonality of canning!
Southern Star got on my radar due to their Buried Hatchet stout. And due to recent expansions to brewing capacity and the canning line more canned beers will be flowing out of this Texas brewery. And that might include seasonal cans to!
from Jester King in “weird” Austin, Texas comes one of the best beer names that I have heard this year… Commercial Suicide.
It is an Oaked Dark Mild. A somewhat forgotten style with a twist.
“A true “session beer”, Commercial Suicide is an authentic English dark mild with notes of caramel, coffee and chocolate. A portion of each batch is aged in medium toast American oak barrels, lending very subtle toasted, oaky notes to the finished beer.”
This might be the first sighting of a new trend. St. Arnold started this series last year with Weed Whacker, a variant of the Fancy Lawnmower beer and in 2011 more moveavble yeasts will be made.
Here is the full list:
MOVABLE YEAST
Saint Arnold Brewing Co. pays homage to the hard-working fungi that turn sugar into alcohol with a series of familiar beers fermented with different strains of yeast. The first of these new, draft-only brews will be available at bars and restaurants across Texas next month. The brewer is making enough for approximately 20,000 12-ounce servings and expects that to last two to three weeks. A little about each beer:
• Weedwacker: A variation of Saint Arnold’s best-selling Fancy Lawnmower. All other ingredients remain the same, but the new beer will be fermented with a Bavarian hefeweizen yeast. Available Aug. 16.
• Altared Amber: The flagship beer will be made with Belgian Trappist yeast. Available mid-November.
• Bitter Belgian: Elissa IPA, also with Belgian Trappist yeast. Available mid-February.
• Brown Bitte: Brown Ale, with Alt yeast. Available mid-May.
Our southwestern swing continues with Austin’s Live Oak Brewing. They focus on authentic European style beers like….
Primus – Winter Seasonal
Our new winter seasonal, Primus (pronounced, “pre moose”), is a dark, rich German-style Weizen beer (beer made with wheat malt) fermented with a very particular strain of brewers’ yeast that gives this beer it’s unique spicy and fruity character. The unfiltered beer has the characteristic clove and banana flavors familiar to HefeWeizen drinkers but with a darker and richer roasty malt character that is typical of some German-style Bock beers. The alcohol strength will be around 8%. Available November – January
Liberation Ale – Winter Seasonal
With about 6.0% ABV, this one will surely warm the ol’ gullet during a cold central Texas winter – both days! Our India Pale Ale (IPA) is light in color and strong in hop character. Dry hopping with Cascade hops, gives this winter favorite a delicious citrus note reminiscent of a Texas Ruby Red. Yes, it’s warming but you don’t need to be huddled around the furnace to enjoy this one! IPA fans really love this ale during a beautiful Texas winter on the porch or indoors.
On Sundays in May, I will post a snapshot of a southwestern US brewery along with a suggested beer or two to try. I will give you a sneak preview of one brewery now.
North by Northwest Brewing in Austin, Texas.
Duckabish Amber
Pilsner, Caravienne, and Chocolate malts give this beer its beautiful, deep amber color. It is soft and creamy and balanced by Horizon hops.
Pyjingo Pale Ale
Brewed in the style of the great ales of the Pacific Northwest, this complex combination of Pilsner and Caravienne malts and Horizon, Cascade and Amarillo hops make it a great session beer.
Okanogan Black Ale
This rich, malty dark ale is reminiscent of the smooth ales produced by the Weltenberg Brewery in Northwestern Germany. The Pilsner, Caravienne, Munich, Chocolate, Black malts and Roasted Barley give this great dark ale a creamy, roasted malt flavor, which is perfectly balanced with Cascade hops.
On the heels of persimmon comes this new 9to me) beer from Texas.
The label reads:“(512) Double Pecan Porter is a robust porter accented by locally grown roasted pecans and subtly enhanced by aging in recently emptied oak whiskey barrels for two months. For this first-ever bottling, only one 200L barrel was bottled. Notes of chocolate, coffee and pecan marry with the subtle flavors of vanilla and whiskey to make this a wonderful winter warmer worth sharing and savoring.”
My hope is that the pecan flavors can overcome the whiskey. Some aged whiskey or bourbon beers lose some of the nuances that I prefer.
Texas is scratched off the list! I get the feeling from beer afficionados that Shiner and the Spoetzel Brewery is somewhat unloved. As is most Texas beer, unless you are in Austin. Same theory holds for music and culture. This black lager was not as good as Full Sail’s Session Black, I must say. It’s OK, just a little thin for my taste.
I don’t usually get the chance to give much beer love to Texas but here is one beer to make your Christmas Texas sized.
A rich, hearty ale perfect for the holiday season with a malty sweetness and spicy hop character. The generous use of five different malts is responsible for the full flavor and high alcohol level of this beer
Saint Arnold Christmas Ale is best consumed at 45° Fahrenheit.
Recommended pairings: Fruit cake, Christmas pudding, & squash bisque.
The Black Star in Texas has taken the owned by thing seriously.
Owned by and for themselves, not some conglomerate of breweries they are close to being up and running and I applaud them.
I also thought this tidbit from their website was interesting…”Drinkability is a term that comes up frequently when we’re talking about our future Black Star beers, and with the majority of our recipes, I’ve tried to tweak them to be more “drinkable.”
From a recipe standpoint, this usually means lower finishing gravities, slightly higher carbonation levels (although this is debatably more drinkable), use of wheat, and a balance of maltiness, hoppiness, and alcohol. I would say drinkability is made up of mouthfeel, refreshinicity (yeah, you heard me), and inebriatability.”