Downtown Bar & Grill, located in the Cobble Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York at 160 Court Street, will be hosting a pretty spectacular tasting of Dogfish Head beers on the 27th of November, including the debut releases for 2007 of World Wide Stout, Pangaea, and Golden Era, along with seven other Dogfish Head beers on draft. The festivities will begin at 6:00 p.m.
Almost a dozen years ago, Sierra Nevada head brewer Steve Dresler was having lunch with renowned hop expert Gerard Lemmens. He had just returned from England, where he’d been helping a brewer there figure out how to use whole, unkilned hops. Gerard asked Dresler if he’d ever considered using fresh hops.
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He hadn’t, of course, but the idea marinated and a few days later he mentioned it to Ken Grossman who told him to “go for it.” The first year, Dresler made only one 100-barrel batch. In the intervening years, as demand for the beer has risen quickly, many obstacles have been overcome, such as how to ship that many hops or how to convert a recipe from regular hops (which are 8-10% water) to fresh hops (which can be as much as 80% water). Also that first year, an entire UPS truck was filled with small boxes of fresh hops bundled together with holes poked into them. Today, they’re overnighted in mesh onion sacks laid out flat in a single layer of a 18-wheel refrigerator truck. Each year, both Cascade (@2/3) and Centennial (@1/3) hops are used, but because they’re different from year to year — and because the exact quantities of each differ — the beer has to be reformulated on the fly. When it’s brewed is always a moving target because it’s contingent on when the hops are ready to be picked. Often it’s around Labor Day weekend, but you never know. Over the last eleven years, the most Harvest Ale they’ve made in a single year has been around 800-900 barrels available on draft only.
This year, however, Sierra Nevada is taking a giant leap and is planning to brew 3,000 barrels, using 16,000 pounds of fresh hops in two batches. And more exciting still, two-thirds of it will be available nationwide in 24-oz. bottles. I suspect it will sell out fast, not least of which because even though they’re making triple the usual amount, it will be sent all over the country meaning only small amounts which reach most markets. I’ve learned that the final brew was done last Thursday, September 6, and they hope to have it in the bottles as early as September 24. Keep an eye out for it, and buy it right away. But more importantly, drink it right away, too. This is the very antithesis of a beer meant to be aged. Make up your own special event to drink it. Get some fresh, locally made food and cook up a great meal. Invite your favorite people over to share it with you. This is the best way to celebrate harvest time, with the fruits of the harvest, both food and drink. |
Great Divide Brewing has been making some terrific beers for years and years, and with the recent addition of brewer Brit Antrim, I only expect them to get even better. They’ve just released a pair of new seasonal beers, Hades and Samurai that are in a slightly different direction for the brewery.
From the press release:
Hades is a Belgian-style strong golden ale (7.3% ABV) brewed with a proprietary Belgian yeast strain originally from Belgium’s Moortgat brewery. The yeast gives the beer a distinctive spicy flavor and aroma. A noticeable hop level and a medium malt character make the beer an assertive, yet extremely well-balanced and crisp ale.
Great Divide founder Brian Dunn decided that a Belgian-style strong golden would be the brewery’s next beer and set the general parameters, while Brit Antrim, brewery operations manager, developed the recipe for the beer.
“I wanted a Belgian-style beer with lots of character and flavor,” Dunn says, “but with slightly lower alcohol for drinkability reasons. You can drink a couple glasses of Hades and not end up with a helluva buzz.”
Dunn says the beer pairs up well with steamed mussels, crusty breads and virtually any artisan-style cheese. He says the beer’s spicy charm makes it a fine summer time refresher.
Hades is only the second Belgian-style beer brewed by Great Divide. The company made a Belgian-style wit back in 1999. Hades is available in all Great Divide markets in 22-ounce bottles, and on draft in limited supply.
Brewed with rice and barley malts, Samurai is an easy drinking and unique version of unfiltered ale. The addition of rice gives Samurai (5.2% ABV) a crisp, refreshing and clean taste that pairs well with fish, Asian food, and lighter styles of cheeses.
Dunn points out that Samurai is not an Asian-style beer despite its name and rice component. “Asian beers are typically tightly filtered lagers brewed with rice and barley,” Dunn says. “Samurai is very different, it’s fermented with an ale yeast and it’s unfiltered. The ale yeast gives Samurai a slightly fruity flavor and aroma.”
“I felt,” Dunn says, “that we needed an accessible, super-quaffable beer for the summer, but one that wasn’t brewed with wheat. The rice makes Samurai crisp and clean, and gives it a unique twist for a craft-brewed summer beer.”
Now available in six packs and on draft, Samurai has been a draft-only beer in the Denver market for the past 2 years. Growing interest and demand for the beer in the Denver area prompted Great Divide to release the beer as a bottled summer seasonal.
Dunn is proud to acknowledge that his company’s two new beers may come as a surprise to Great Divide fans. “We’ve become known for Yeti-sized, hoppy, assertive beers,” Dunn says. “But these beers allow us to flex a different set of our brewing muscles, and mix things up a bit for our fans.”
I’ll be in Denver at the end of the month, so hopefully I’ll get a chance to give both of these a try while I’m there.
Tomme “Moses” Arthur, Director of Brewing Operations for Port Brewing and the Lost Abbey, today announced their newest seasonal release. The new seasonal is called the Ten Commandments, a big, complex beer to mark their first anniversary.
From the press release:
While not exactly descending the mountain with two stone tables, Port Brewing / Lost Abbey’s award-winning brewmaster Tomme Arthur did make his mark on the craft beer world today with the release of Ten Commandments, a Belgian-style dark farmhouse brewed with raisins, fresh rosemary and honey. As an added twist, a secondary wild yeast was also added to the brew during bottling.
The craft brewer’s anniversary issue, Ten Commandments is a mocha-garnet-colored ale that offers a rich, rustic texture with strong notes of banana and fig, invoking the complexity and character of the artisanal beers of the southern Belgian countryside.
“I’ve always been inspired by the unpredictability and artistic style of Belgian ales like Fantôme’s Black Ghost,” said head brewer Tomme Arthur. “In creating Ten Commandments I wanted to emulate that perspective but add an unexpected touch. Using mercurial yeast like Brettanomyces in combination with raisins, herbs and honey delivers a pleasant, full-bodied profile and mélange of flavors unlike any other beer.”Ten Commandments is 9 percent alcohol by volume and ships in 750ml cork-finished bottles. Brewed in limited quantities (280 cases in 2007) and released annually during the brewery’s anniversary, it is available directly from the brewery and in Port Brewing markets May through September.
About Port Brewing / Lost Abbey
Founded in 2006, Port Brewing Company produces a line of award-winning American ales as well as the groundbreaking Lost Abbey family of Belgian-inspired beers. Craft brewed under the direction of co-founder and two-time Great American Beer Festival brewer of the year, Tomme Arthur, four beers are issued under the Lost Abbey label year-round: Avant Garde, Lost and Found, Red Barn and Judgment Day. Additionally, a number of seasonal and specialty releases including Ten Commandments, Cuvee de Tomme and the Angel’s Share, are offered at various times throughout the year. As many of these are blended and aged for up to 18 months in French Oak, Brandy and Bourbon barrels, Lost Abbey beers are universally recognized for their complexity, unique flavors, and bold, boundary-pushing styles. Port Brewing is located at 155 Mata Way, Suite 104, San Marcos, CA 92069, USA., web: www.lostabbey.com.
New Belgium’s seasonal Skinny Dip, which debuted least year, is returning this month through September as their summer seasonal. From the press release:
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The second of BridgePort’s new seasonal series will be out shortly. From the description, it sounds like it may be a good candidate for Lew Bryson’s “Session Beer Project.” We’ll know more, of course, when the samples start arriving.
BridgePort Brewing Co. is encouraging beer lovers to “Make hay while the sun shines,” an adage meaning to take advantage of any good opportunity that comes along. There’s no better truism for BridgePort’s new summer seasonal, Haymaker Extra Pale Ale: Haymaker is an ideal beer with which to take full benefit of the long summer days. Haymaker will appear on shelves and on draft the first part of May.
A refreshing extra pale ale, Haymaker features a distinct blend of four malts and three varieties of hops that create a slightly complex ale with a light body and a crisp finish. Its alcohol by volume of 5.3% complements the low bitterness — 15 bittering units — and original gravity of 12.8 degrees Plato. Bright golden in color, it can best be described as “sunshine in a glass.”
“We were looking to expand our seasonal lineup, and an extra pale ale was the ideal choice,” explained head brewmaster Karl Ockert. “We couldn’t be more pleased with the resulting color and flavor profile of the beer.”
Like the other two products in the BridgePort seasonal series, Haymaker’s packaging is a divergence from the BridgePort brand family. The beer’s label and six-pack carrier focus on a whimsical red rooster with a fiery crown standing upon a weathervane, set against the backdrop of a round sun bursting forth with rays of light. The rooster is tossing back an outline of a pint, which is filled with the golden sunlight. The blue sky and hay-colored fields evoke the warmth and imagery of summertime.
Haymaker is the second seasonal in a three part series, following BridgePort’s popular Beertown Brown. Haymaker will be available May through August, followed by Ebenezer Ale. The beer will be distributed in eight Western states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Washington.
The award-winning Pelican Pub & Brewery, along Oregon’s coast in Pacific City, is releasing two new beers, a saison and a Grand Cru. Both are now on tap at the brewpub and also available bottle-conditioned.
The first, Saison du Pelican, is described as “a spicy, herbal aroma from the special Belgian yeast and Golding hops, and a snappy, refreshing finish, Saison du Pelican combines traditional flavors with excellent drinkability.”
The second is the Grand Cru de Pelican.
Grand Cru de Pelican is the result of inspiration, creativity, and imagination. With a nod to the great brewing traditions of Belgium, we have been inspired to create this dark, sensous brew. Grand Cru de Pelican entices with a rich, complex aroma, and satisfies with deep malty and caramel flavors. Spicy, aromatic flavors provide a harmonious counterpoint to the malty foundation of this robust beer. A snappy finish and medium-light body enhance the smooth drinkability of this beer.
From the press release:
“We’ve really had fun thinking out of the box in creating these beers. They are unlike anything we have brewed before,” said Headbrewer Darron Welch.
The brewers brought in a special Belgian yeast for the production of the beers. Each beer also utilizes unique ingredients. The Saison du Pelican includes spelt, an ancient grain, adding texture and dryness to the finish. The Grand Cru de Pélican includes 115 pounds of hand caramelized sugar. It took Brewery Manager Ben Love two days to carmelize the sugar, 15 pounds at a time. The complex caramel flavors in the beer prove that all the work was well worth it.
Once the initial fermentation finished, the brewers added more sugar and then hand-bottled and corked the beers. Inside the bottle, a second fermentation occurred, adding complexity and natural carbonation in the beers.
These bottle conditioned beers are available in limited edition 750 ml bottles. The bottles will be available at the Pelican Pub & Brewery and at selected bottle shops in Oregon. Beer fans outside Oregon can have the beer shipped to them through Belmont Station or Liquid Solutions.
New Belgium Brewing will be releasing their spring seasonal, Springboard, a unique beer made with oats, Mt. Hood hops, Schisandra (an ancient Chinese herb), Gogi berries, and wormwood. Then it’s blended with a small amount of one of New Belgium’s other beers aged in wood.
According to the press release, “Springboard opens with fruity berry-like tones, has a spirited, tart threshold and ends with a dry, crisp finale. It’s partially filtered, resulting in a cloudy blonde appearance, and moderate body. Springboard was created to satisfy our desire to introduce new flavors and produce a spring seasonal that is innovative and inspiring,” said Brewmaster Peter Bouckaert. “Springboard maintains an equilibrium that keeps it balanced and easy to enjoy.”
Springboard will be available on draft and in bottles from the end of February into April.
Beginning on February 1, 21st Amendment Brewery and Magnolia Pub & Brewery, both in San Francisco, will team up again to host their fifth annual Strong Beer Month. Each brewpub will create five new and different seasonal beers — and if you haven’t figured it out yet, they’ll all be strong — that will be available at the two locations throughout February. Sample them all, and you’ll receive some sort of prize. I stopped by 21A this morning after waiting in line nearby to get an expedited passport (long story) and sampled a couple of the new brews, one of which was still aging in the brewery.
First, there was St. Martin’s Abbey Ale, a decidedly Chimay-like beer with nice chocolate notes. Second, and perhaps more interesting, was a Belgian strong ale that had been blended with a small amount (around 10 gallons per 300) of Lindemans Framboise which itself had been aged in an oak barrel. At 10% abv, the new beer’s strength is neatly masked by the lambic’s sweetness, which is evident in abundance. The thick malt presence comes through but only a hint of sourness peeks out of the sides. But the lambic sweetness and the Belgian strong combine to create something fairly unique. I’m not quite sure what yet, but more tasting is definitely in order.
Unfortunately, it will be hard to order because, so far, the beer has no name. Given the brewpub’s close proximity to [insert current corporate name here] Stadium, where the San Francisco Giants play, and the fact that the beer reminded me of a framboise on steroids, I suggested “Berry Bonds.” Despite the look brewer Shaun O’Sullivan shot me, I’m going to continue to call it that, though I’m pretty confident that will not end up being its official name. Too bad, I liked it.
The food website Chow had an article recently on holiday beers by food and music writer Heather Shouse. It’s a nice beginner’s overview of the topic with an interview with Fritz Maytag and some history of holiday beers.