In addition to the Stub and Herb's release, here are a few more from MNBeer:
Bell’s Oberon release parties… Monday, March 30 8-11pm, Bryant Lake Bowl. Best fake tan will some prizes. Tuesday, March 31st, Bulldog Lowertown in St. Paul 7-10 pm.Not sure if these are "official" release parties, with reps in attendance, swag, etc., but should be fun times anyhow.
According a post on beeradvocate the Oberon release will be April 1 at Stub and Herb's.
Unfortunately, it's the same night as Lost, so I'll try to make it out, but it won't be as raucous of an evening as the last two years.
From MNBeer:
Head on over to The Happy Gnome on Thursday, March 12th at 5pm. Magic Hat Brewing Company will be releasing #9 to the MN market. Enjoy!I am so there.
I had three new beers tonight, and here are the reviews...in a sentence...each:
If you were curious what form Bell's Batch 9000 would take, look no further than the above picture. Yes, you read that right: "Malt beverage brewed with molasses and brewer's licorice." I have no idea what that means in terms of end-product, and now I'm just more curious. Way to go picture; you did nothing to quell my anticipation.
If you want a back story of Bell's commemorative beers and speculation about the release date, I'd recommend taking a jaunt over to beernews.org for a nice write-up.
Leinenkugel's has always been a great stand-by, a brewery that creates a lot of different styles that are all tasty and affordable. But Leinenkugel's has always been a very Midwest brewery, with only a few styles finding themselves throughout the nation (e.g., when I was in Boston last year, the only Leinenkugel's I saw on tap was, not the standard Honey Weiss or Original, but the Sunset Wheat). Well, much to the delight of my brother, as well as other Leine-lovers across the nation, the brewery is taking steps to change this:
But the beer that got its start quenching the thirst of 19th-century lumberjacks will shed whatever's left of its regional image Monday with the national launch of a new brew, Classic Amber. The beer, a potential flagship for the Chippewa Falls, Wis, brewery, is meant to compete with the nation's bestselling craft beer, Samuel Adams.With the Classic Amber, this is the third new beer Leine's has launched within the last three months. While I didn't enjoy the Fireside Nut Brown, I thought the 1888 Bock was a refreshing, accurate take on the style, and I'm excited to try their newest, the Classic Amber. Here is the description from the brewery:
Leinenkugel's Classic Amber LagerCheck out the full description here, and look for it in stores early March.
Our signature all-malt lager is a celebration of genuine ingredients, time-honored brewing traditions and authentic craft beer flavor. With its brilliant amber color, premium blend of Pale, Caramel and Munich malts, and subtle, yet complex citric hoppiness, you simply can't go wrong with a Classic.
For all the nerds out their who like to get their beer on whilst dabbling in a little WoW, you can now drink your beer in WoW beer steins! I know! It's absolutely ridiculous!
Via Kotaku
According to a string of posts on Beeradvocate, we're getting close to Bell's newest every-1000-batches special release, the Bell's Batch 9000. According to a post by Larry Bell:
The saying goes,"give the customer what they want."The 7000 was a 12% Imperial Stout, so hardly a beer that you'd call weak, and hardly a beer that you'd think about making bold unless you were going to do something crazy. Here's hoping.
Remember 7000? Well that was kind of weak, so we are trumping up that recipe to make something bold. You want something for the cellar? You got it.
Made my way over to the Cellar's at Lexington/Larpenteur to hit up the 50% off sale (they are closing the store soon). Slim pickings, but I managed to pick up the following:
I'm really amused by evenings like this. This is the list of beers I had on Saturday night, in order:
In light of Bigfoot finally hitting the scene here, I present to you my All-time Top 5 Barleywines:
I stumbled upon an interesting article about how Sierra Nevada is trying to use old yeast to create high-grade ethanol fuel. And this isn't Sierra Nevada simply jumping on a bandwagon of any sorts; apparently, "...it has an extensive recycling program, in which less than one percent of its waste goes back into the landfill, and it has one of the largest privately owned solar installations in the country." Impressive.
No note of exactly how the process will work or the expected outcome but still a short, informative read.
Via The Orion (Chico State's student run newspaper)
Great Divide's two newest ventures--Claymore Scotch Ale and Espresso Oak Aged Yeti--are out as of February 13. I personally haven't seen them in stores in the MSP area, but as we get nearly everything else they brew, I'm hoping that they'll pop up soon.
Also, go check out their new website they launched to coincide with the fancy new labels, or if you want to read up on the newest beers.
Brother-of-a-friend Don Osborn got a nice bump on MNBeer for his photo of his Steamin' Wife Lager. Not much but a picture and a mention, but I just enjoy how connected and small-world-ish the beer scene is here in MSP.
Also: Steamin' Wife Lager. Funny name; nice photo.
Finally. It took much longer than it should have, but both Sierra Nevada's Torpedo Extra IPA and Bigfoot Barleywine have hit the Twin Cities market. I picked up a six-pack of each at Thomas Liquors.
The Torpedo is nice enough. At a modest price and 7.2% alcohol, it's an economical, tasty choice. It won't replace my IPA standards (Two Hearted, HopDevil, Titan, and more-so lately, Crooked Tree), but it's always nice to have more options year-round.
The Bigfoot is as I remember and all that I love in a barleywine: big malt, big hops, and big alcohol. I am disappointed that it hit so late in the season; but, it's snowing outside right now and that gives me justification enough to plow through a few more six-packs before it's gone until next year.
Update: despite the lack of care for the brewing process or the nomenclature, I stumbled upon this review that does a nice job of describing the flavor of the Torpedo Extra IPA.
Redhook will be releasing a new beer in April: a tripel. A tripel from Redhook? Hooray!
Here's the info off of the beeradvocate forums:
Belgian Tripel is deep golden hued with subtle hints of vanilla, clove and cinnamon. Fruity, spicy and warming with a complex but soft malt character.
Belgian Tripel Overview:
IBU: 22
Alcohol by Volume: 8.0%
Original Gravity: 19.3 plato
Shelf Life - 180 days
Availability
For a limited time only, Belgian Tripel will be available in 22oz bottles and 1/6 barrel draught, nationwide
STR Date: April 20, 2009
Probable retail price- $7.99 per 22oz bottle
I couldn't wait anymore. Nearly two weeks of our first beer bottle conditioning on top of my refrigerator, I cooled down two so I could give it a try.
Appearance: Pours deep orange, cloudy, with a nice half-finger of creamy white foam that dissipates quickly. I have to say, if nothing else, it looks beautiful.
Aroma: Orange, orange, orange. Orange and candy sugar. It's almost absurd how much it smells like candy.
Taste: More of the aroma. Not sure what happened to the coriander...but I hardly care. It's like drinking a piece of orange hard candy. And I like it.
Overall: It certainly doesn't taste exactly like other wits I've had, and it's not something I'd want to drink all the time, but I think for a first effort, we've created something fairly delicious. It's easy to drink, enjoyable to drink, and, really, it's just so much damn fun to drink something you've created. Nice work us.
Schlitz, it seems, is doing all it can to return to it's once golden state as The Beer that Made Milwaukee Famous. This past summer, Pabst (who owns Schlitz), relaunched the brand with the original 1960's formula. And now, under contract with MillerCoors, have returned the brewing and bottling back to Milwaukee. Ah nostalgia. I mean, for those who have been alive long enough to have nostalgia about this.
Read more
Hells yeah! With that label, I feel like I need no words. If you want words, go read all about it it here.
Head on over to the Muddy Pig! Starting tonight (Thursday) and going through Sunday, they will be putting on the first annual Festival of Hops.
We will have 40+ hopped up beers (pale ales and up) on tap throughout the weekend and we hope to rotate through 55 or more different beers in four days.I'll be there briefly tomorrow and again on Saturday night. Huzzah!
Consistency in brewing has to be the most difficult thing to achieve. Working with active ingredients that are affected by the slightest environmental change creates a task that seems nearly impossible. Brewers have to worry about storage temperature, storage conditions, water temperature, water quality, the consistency of the boil, when you add the ingredients, the condition of the ingredients, and on and on and on. I am amazed that brewers can continually put out beers from different batches and different brewing facilities that taste identical. This is truly a remarkable feat.
I'm drinking a Furthermore Knot Stock right now, the strange and delicious APA brewed with black pepper. The first time I drank the beer, the black pepper hung around in the background, slowly growing into a slight tinge of hot spice that lingered after the beer was gone. Never quite crescendoing into a overwhelming surge of harshness, but making itself noticeable. I love it. I love the idea of a growing beer, a changing beer, a flavor that builds upon itself to create a full dynamic experience.
Age of the beer aside, I typically know what to expect when drinking a beer that I've had before. But not so with the newest batch of Knot Stock that I cracked tonight. Full-on barrage of cracked black pepper pushing the spice and heat through the beer at first sip. And, right now, tonight, with the temperatures plummeting toward -25F, this is what I want. I want the pepper to kick in screaming, keep screaming, and never back down.
I could chalk this up to brewing inconsistencies. I could allege that Furthermore can't keep their conditions straight. I could, but this is part of what makes beer so wonderful. It is a living, active thing: constantly changing, moving, shifting. This is why I can buy the same beer over and over and still have the chance at being surprised. There's a time for something familiar, something standard; but, more often I think, there's a time for a beer to get in your face and challenge the way you perceive it and the people who make it.
I just got around to reviewing the beernews.org posts from the last few days. I found so much great news that I thought I'd provide a beer news roundup for those who don't peruse the beer websites as often as I do:
Straight from Surly's Brewer's Blog:
Ok! now that 16Grit is gone what's next?Thought Mild was great last year; thinking it'll be great this year. Also...the Three...so excited. I've loved both the One and the Two and have been waiting for the Three quite anxiously. I'm sure this won't disappoint. I mean, really...honey, dark Munich malt, white ash, 10%...sounds nothing if not fun.
Surly Mild will be released Jan 19th,look for it at your local.Expect a light bodied,low alcohol brown ale with flavors of lightly sweetened biscuits,tobacco and a dry finish.
26IBU
4%abv
Surly Three is our anniversary beer.Try it first at Winterfest!(Feb 6).Look for it DRAFT only the week of Feb 9.Brewed with 50%Honey and 50%German Dark Munich malt,fermented with a Belgian yeast strain and aged on toasted White Ash.
Lots of honey aroma intertwined with rich caramel-cracker flavors,the Ash adds a cinnamon,nutmeg and vanilla aroma and a dry finish.Smells like bourbon to me.
16IBU
10%abv
I'm back! Holidays, busy, blah blah blah sorry for no posts blah blah...here's the good news:
According to a post on Beeradvocate (that seems quite reliable), Magic Hat Brewing Company will begin distribution in MN in February. Why, you ask, should you care? Because it's awesome, that's why.
I had the chance to try both the #9 and Circus Boy when we were in Boston last May, and I thoroughly enjoyed the beers and couldn't wait until we could get some love here in Minnesota. Also, it's the only brewery I know of where you can buy both a 12-pack of branded condoms as well as a baby bib. Mixed signals, to be sure, but they still make great beer.
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