According to a couple of the beerbaron’s sources it is 99% positive that Founders Brewing will be on shelves in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City locations starting March 19th. Great news for beer lovers! Add this date to your calendars and stock up!
Unfamiliar with Founders’ products: Let’s take a look at some of their year-round brews:

*Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale – 8.5% abv – Founders website description: “So good it’s almost wrong. Dark ruby in color and brewed with seven varieties of imported malts. Complex in finish, with hints of smoke and peat, paired with a malty richness and a right hook of hop power to give it the bad attitude that a beer named Dirty Bastard has to live up to. Ain’t for the wee lads.”

*Centennial IPA – 7.2% – Description from Founders: “Get ready to bask in the glory of the frothy head’s floral bouquet. Relish the citrus accents from the abundance of dry hopping. This one’s sweet, yet balanced. Malty undertones shake hands with the hop character for a finish that never turns too bitter.”

*Red’s Rye PA – 6.6% – “Serious hop bitterness, along with an unyielding grapefruit bouquet from the Amarillo dry hop, balances the malty richness of four varieties of imported Belgian caramel malts. Pours a spectacular crimson with a creamy tan head. A generous addition of rye malt accentuates a spicy, crisp finish.”

*Pale Ale – 5.4% – “A testament to Cascade hops in a bottle, this medium-bodied pale ale has a refreshing citrus flavor and a distinctive floral hop aroma due to the aggressive addition of hops during fermentation. You’ll notice a slight malty sweetness with a balanced hop finish. Perfect to enjoy anytime, anywhere.”

*Porter – Pours silky black with a creamy tan head. The nose is sweet with strong chocolate and caramel malt presence. No absence of hops gives Founders’ robust porter the full flavor you deserve and expect. Cozy like velvet. It’s a lover, not a fighter.

Check out  http://www.foundersbrewing.com for more of their seasonals and info about the brewery.

Found this article on yahoo.com. Esquire released an article about the best canned beers to drink right now. After looking over the article I can easily agree on some and disagree on others.  Here’s the link:  http://shopping.yahoo.com/articles/yshoppingarticles/805/best-canned-beers-to-drink-now/

The LIST:
Dale’s Pale Ale– I absolutely agree with this pick. Might be the best canned beer in America. If you get a chance to get your hands on this, you must!

Porkslap Pale Ale– I have never had this beer, but I love the brewery name: Butternuts. Makes me smile everytime.

Brooklyn Lager– Haven’t had this out of a can but I have had it in the bottle. A solid pick.

Fat Tire Amber– Hefty price for canned beer, and not nearly as good as out of the bottle. Too expensive for my tastes, my advice: Move on to something else.

Surly Cynicale– I’ve had many Surly beers and they have all been great, haven’t had Cynic yet but if it is anything like their other products; it’s a must try.

Anderson Valley Boont Bomber– Haven’t had this one yet but I’ve heard good things about Anderson Valley’s products.

Pabst Blue Ribbon– On the list because it’s cheap; there’s a lot of cheap shit out there, not sure I would put this on the list just because of the price. This list is missing quite a few good canned beers and they wasted time on this.

Simpler Times Lager– Can be purchased at Trader Joe’s for $3 a sixer and I’ve heard it is pretty solid. Actually, a lot of cheap beer and wine is available and Joe’s and has been said to be very good.

What’s missing? Some 21st Amendment ales should be on the list as well as more from Surly. Once Sierra Nevada Pale and Torpedo go to cans that will surely be a must buy. Also, Moose Drool definitely needs a spot on this list; one of the best brown ales around.

What are your thoughts? Is there something missing?

Talking with my source who gave me last weeks information about a few new breweries starting to distribute products to Eastern Iowa, he mentioned two more breweries today. I had heard rumblings about Stone Brewing hitting the area from numerous social media outlets, it isn’t confirmed yet, but it sounds very promising. The 2nd is Green Flash Brewing out of California. Both are NOT confirmed but are heavily rumored to be making their way to Eastern Iowa beer shelves by this spring/summer. If you know anything about this, please drop me a line.
Here is a link to each site, the 2nd link under each brewery is the link to their beer list.

GREEN FLASH
http://www.greenflashbrew.com/our-company.php
BEER LIST: http://www.greenflashbrew.com/our-beers.php

STONE BREWING
http://www.stonebrew.com/home.asp
BEER LIST: http://www.stonebrew.com/beers/

Last night I visited the Hy-Vee in Marion and came across a couple of new beers that I haven’t seen on the shelves. The first one to catch my eye was Hinterland (http://www.hinterlandbeer.com/index.htm) Luna Coffee Stout. Really unique look to the bottles as they come in pints and also 4 packs. Here is the description:
“Opaque, black, coffee-like character. Infused
with nitrogen. Very creamy, extremely clean
and refreshing. 5.8% ABV.
Available in:
1/2 and 1/6 barrels
6-4 1 pint btl pack NR ”
Let me know if you try it and what your thoughts were. I picked up a four pick and have yet to delve in.
The next beer comes from good ol’ Boston Beer Company; Sam Adams. This brewery continues to impress with its beers. Here’s the product description of the Whitewater IPA.
“Sam Adams Whitewater IPA. A wheat ale brewed with apricots & spices.
This hazy brew combines the crisp character of a white ale with the intense pine and citrus flavors of an India Pale Ale. We took the unique combination to a new level with the sublet addition of apricots, which provide a slight sweetness to balance the bitterness of the hops. Cheers!”

If you try any of these beers or see something new to Eastern Iowa please drop me a line and let me know. Drink well!

3 news beers to report on this week hitting the shelves, thanks to Joe at John’s Grocery for the information. I haven’t had any of these yet and can really only speak on my past experience with Bigfoot Barleywine, which is a spectacular brew. We have from Samuel Adams Griffin’s Bow, which is an oak-aged Barleywine and Tasman Red, which is a Red IPA.
From Sierra Nevada we have the yearly release on Bigfoot Barleywine. Here is the product info for each:

Griffin’s Bow Oak-Aged Barleywine – “Small Batch Series: From the aroma and notes of sweet honeysuckle, pineapple, and grapefruit, to richer hints of burnt sugar, and toffee, this intriguing brew is full of complex flavors. The distinct character of toasted oak adds depth and contrasts the light fruit sweetness.”

Tasman Red– “This wily red IPA gets its character from the Tasmanian hops that are full of grapefruit, pine and earthy notes creating a bold flavor that threads throughout the taste. The hops are balanced by a core of roasted malts that give this brew body and richness with hints of toffee.”

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine– “Gold Medal Winner, Great American Beer Festival (Ales: Brown, Bitter and Pale 1987, Barleywine 1988,1992,1995). Sierra Nevada Bigfoot is an award winning example of the English Barley Wine style. It boasts a dense, fruity bouquet; an extremely rich, intense, bittersweet palate; and a deep, reddish-brown color. This ale is superbly balanced between an almost overpowering maltiness and a wonderfully bittersweet hoppiness. “

Gonna try something different and try to post new releases to the Eastern Iowa area; not sure if I will be able to keep it updated so any help would be great.

The first beer we will talk about is New Belgium Dig Pale Ale. I had this at Brrrr Fest but I must say, it was after about 14,240 other beers I had there so I cannot fairly or accurately describe this one. However, here is the company’s product description:
“Unearth your bottle-opener because this Pale Ale is something you can Dig. Sorachi Ace hops provides a fresh Spring zing with incredible lemon aroma. Nelson Sauvin is next in line with bursts of passion fruit, mango and peach. American favorites, Cascade and Centennial round out this crisp, clean Pale Ale. Dig in!”

The second beer is a beer I’ve had on tap at Red’s Alehouse in North Liberty and instantly took a liking to it; I hope it will be as good out of the bottle. Sierra Nevada always has strong products and this one is no exception: combining a great balance of the rye flavor with the hoppiness of an IPA. Here is the commercial description.

“Ruthless IPA is brewed with this rustic grain for refined flavors – combining the peppery spice of rye and the bright citrusy flavors of whole-cone hops to create a complex ale for the tumultuous transition to Spring. ”

*Like I said above, this could be difficult for me to keep up with but please help out and drop me a line if you find something new to the Eastern Iowa area. Both of the beers have been spotted in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids, and Ruthless Rye is even available in my small grocery store, Gary’s, in Mount Vernon. If you try these, let me know what you thought!

Drink up!