Lion Bridge Tapping Mushroom Beers During Houby Days; May 20-22

lion bridgeLion Bridge Brewery in Cedar Rapids will once again be tapping some mushroom beers during Houby Days. Houby Days is a yearly 3 day festival celebrating the wonderful fungus!  Two “mushroom” beers will be tapped that day along with more events during this fun weekend. Here’s more from Lion Bridge’s newsletter:

Mushroom Beers for HOUBY DAYS!

Houby Days is a yearly 3-day Mushroom Festival right here in Czech Village.This year is from Friday May 20 to Sunday May 22.

Happening all day: carnival rides, street food vendors, craft market, live music, beer garden in the LB parking lot, and two mushroom beers:

Chanterelle Disaster (Mushroom Porter, 5.8%)
Celebrate the glorious mystery that is fungus. Chanterelle mushrooms contribute a unique fruit character to our world-class porter.  It’s not Houby Days without a pint of mushroom beer!

Oyster Disaster (Mushrooms Porter, 5.8%)
You may have heard of oyster stout? Well, how about oyster mushroom porter. The unique briny character of the oyster mushroom pairs perfectly with our world-class porter. Embrace the Houby!

LIVE MUSIC  on Friday evening from “The Polka Kings of Walford.”

Mt. Vernon Rd. Hy-Vee Hosting 99 Bottle Beer Club Event May 10th from 5-7

99 bottles.jpgIf you’re a member of the 99 Bottle Beer Club, Mt. Vernon Rd. Hy-Vee in Cedar Rapids is hosting a beer and food tasting event. Bryan and Nate are doing great things at this Hy-Vee and Lion Bridge will have some of their beers on tap. Here’s more on this event courtesy of Hy-Vee email:

We are less than a week away from our 99 Bottle Beer Club Members Only Event, so we just wanted to send out a little reminder. The event is Tuesday May 10th from 5pm-7pm in our Tasting Room. This is a free event for all members and we will have some members only specials on beer purchases after the event. We are featuring a couple of gems from Lion Bridge Brewing Company and our chefs will have some awesome things to nibble on throughout the night. This is a great chance to come, socialize, eat, drink and be merry!! Be sure to wear your 99 Bottle T-Shirt!! Also all next week is Cedar Rapids Beer Week. Make sure to check out all of the events we are having at our store, as well as all of the events going on around town atcrbeerweek.com!!crcb.jpg

Backpocket to Release “Murderhorn” Golden Strong in May

BackpocketThis comes from 7G and Backpocket Brewing:

Backpocket Brewing

New(ish) beer announcement: Last year we brewed a mega beer for the first time and everyone loved it. So this year we’re bringing it back. Which beer? Murderhorn, the 10.2% ABV Golden Strong Ale. It’s such a big beer that we’re going all out and bottling it too. Look for it on shelves and taps near you in May. ‪#‎muderhorn‬

Sounds tasty, looking forward to trying this one!

Lion Bridge Brewery Releasing Purple Rain Hibiscus Kolsch 4/27

purple rainWhat better way to pay respects to someone than to make a beer in their honor? Lion Bridge Brewery will be doing just that as they release Purple Rain Hibiscus Kolsch this Wednesday (4/27). Here are the specs on this fantastic looking brew:

Purple Rain! Our Super limited Hibiscus Kölsch coming out this Wednesday. We had to do something to commemorate such an amazing human. We make beer.

It’s our regular kolsch, aged in wine barrels and hit with a lot of hibiscus. Tart and delicious and purpley.

Coming Soon: Enjoy By Tangerine, Oskar Blues, Left Hand, CW Cassian Sunset, Deschutes IPA, Ballast Point

Lots of updates on beers soon to be hitting our shelves here in Eastern Iowa. Onto the goodness:

stone*Stone Brewing*Tangerine Enjoy By – been hearing about this one for quite a while now and it’s finally going to start making its way to the shelves. Tangerine IPA from Stone will be hitting shelves April 25th. It will be available in 22 oz bombers and 12 oz 6 packs. More from Stone:

After brewing this intense double IPA with more than 10 different hops and consistently delivering it faster than any bottled IPA on the planet, we decided to do something different with this Stone Enjoy By IPA—we took it to another level, again. Puréed tangerines were added to the batch to create a devastatingly fresh IPA with a tang of tangerine. The flavors yielded by this addition to the recipe meld beautifully with the bitterness of the hops. True to this series, Stone Enjoy By Tangerine IPA is brewed specifically NOT to last, and should be enjoyed within 37 days.

oskar blues*Oskar Blues* – Passion Fruit Pinner –  Oskar Blues getting into the fruity IPA mix by adding Passion Fruit Pinner to their portfolio. This beer will be available in 12 oz cans and be in at a sessionable 4.3%.

*Left Hand* – Extrovert IPA – Left Hand will be releasing extrovertan American IPA Extrovert. Not to be confused with their sessionable IPA, Introvert. This beer will become available in May along Left Hand’s distro footprint. More from Left Hand:

Meet Extrovert IPA. This April, Left Hand is launching a new American IPA, bringing together a blend of tropical, fruit-forward hops with a malty backbone. Brewed to be enjoyed with friends, Left Hand’s new IPA features a blend of hops and a pleasant, lingering bitterness with a dry finish. Extrovert IPA will join Introvert Session IPA as a year-round offering in six-pack and draft.

Crafted on Left Hand’s new 7 bbl pilot system, Extrovert is the result of over 6 months of development to brew a balanced American IPA that was the perfect complement to Introvert. “It’s a very crowded market, so we knew we needed to set ourselves apart.” states Matt Thrall, Director of Brewing, “Our approach was to develop a recipe that wasn’t just hoppy water, but to create a well-built IPA with complexity and depth.”

With a hopped up attitude brewed to stimulate serendipity, Extrovert is assertive with a big personality of 75 IBUs, yet reveals layers of complexity for the seasoned IPA fan. Extrovert IPA is dry hopped at one pound per barrel with a hop blend that plays well together, consisting of Jarrylo, Cascade, and Comet. Jarrylo is a new sea hop variety, full of nuances with subtle stone fruit notes. Cascade brings pineapple and citrus while Comet adds tropical flavors and aroma and is Extrovert & Introvert’s shared hop variety. In addition, rye and acidulated malt give the beer a dry mouthfeel and distinct bite. The lasting result is a hop melody like a basket of fruit with mouthwatering notes of pineapple, mango, and orange blossom, balanced by sweet biscuity malt. Extrovert finishes with a pleasant lingering bitterness.

 

CW Cassian Sunset.jpg*Central Waters*- Cassian Sunset – really looking forward to seeing this one on our shelves and my guess is it won’t be on the shelves very long. A highly anticipated release from Central Waters will makes its way to our shelves soon. Here’s more on this beer from Central Waters:

Happy April 18th everyone! You know what today is? Today is the day all of our Wisconsin wholesalers can begin selling our newest barrel aged four pack..Cassian Sunset. This week, start looking for this beer to hit your store shelves in limited quantities. All out of state markets will start selling this beer as they get it over the next couple of weeks, but Wisconsin starts TODAY!
An imperial stout aged for one year in used bourbon barrels with the additions of coffee, vanilla beans and cinnamon. The flavor begins with the locally roasted coffee, progresses to the richness of the vanilla beans, and ends with a hint of cinnamon.

deschutes*Deschutes* Sagefight Imperial IPA – sage and juniper berries in an IPA? Sure, let’s give it a shot. This new Imperial IPA from Deschutes will be making it’s way to shelves soon. You might scoff at the ingredients, but keep in mind, this is a 2 time GABF gold medal winner. 7.3% ABV will come in six packs. Here’s more from Deschutes:

In this corner: Citrus Hops from the Pacific Northwest … In that corner, inspired by our central Oregon high desert landscape: sage and juniper! This IPA is piney, resinous, citrusy and big. Let the flavor battle begin – you are the one who wins!

mocha*Ballast Point* Mocha Marlin – Ballast Point keeps kicking out new brews and will be adding Mocha Marlin to their lineup. This english porter with coffee, chocolate, and natural flavors will check in at 6%. Here’s more from Ballast Point:

Our Black Marlin Porter is the perfect beer for a mocha mashup. The addition of the coffee and cocoa plays perfectly off the roast, chocolatey flavors of this English porter, while a hint of vanilla smooths it all out. It’s full-bodied, but not too sweet; try it for breakfast…or dessert.

The Tappening: A Beer Event; Saturday June 11th, Port of Dubuque

As part of America’s River Festival will be “The Tappening”. A beer festival mixed in with some great live music will be taking place Saturday June 11th from noon-4 in the Port of Dubuque. There will be more than 25 breweries, live music, and food. If you are in the Dubuque area make sure you check out this event! Stay tuned for more info on breweries that will be in attendance.

tappening

Participating Breweries:

Another Road Brewing

Baraboo Brewing Co

Bent River Brewing

Big Grove

Blaum Bros. Distilling Co

Confluence Brewing

Exile Brewing

Franklin Street Brewing Co

Generations Brewing Company

Goose Island

Granite City Brewing

Jubeck Brewery

Kalona Brewing Co.

Millstream

Mississippi River Distilling Co.

Paradise Distilling

Potosi Brewery

Rockford Brewing Co.

Shock Top

Stella Artois

Third Base Brewery

Turner Alley

And the Best Pale Ale in Iowa is……

 

gold

 

big grove1st Place – Big Grove Brewery Arms Race Pale Ale

 

 

 

 

silver

2nd Place – 515 Brewing Passe 515

 

 

 

 

 

bronze

 

toppling goliath 3rd Place – Toppling Goliath Pseudo Sue 

 

 

 

Once again, congrats to the winners. Next poll will open either tonight (Monday) or tomorrow and I’m thinking it will be double/triple IPA category. Are there enough browns/porters/saisons/pils to do individual categories for those? I’ll research a bit and hopefully we can do all of those. Thanks for voting, thanks for the interaction and cheers!

Former Big Grove Brewer Bill Heinrich Presents Kickshaw Barrel Works

barrelSome big news coming locally today as former Big Grove brewer, Bill Heinrich, has announced that he is starting up Kickshaw Barrel Works and Lion Bridge Brewery will be the host brewery for Kickshaw Barrel Works which will be a migratory brewery. It sounds like Mr. Heinrich is going to be focusing on sours, so if you like brett and lacto, this is going to be right up your alley! Congrats to Bill on this exciting new venture and I can’t wait to try the results! Here’s Kickshaw Barrel Works exclusive press release:

 Kickshaw Barrel Works
And now, a note to the beer universe:
I don’t know about you, but I love the intersection of sour beer and wood. I have an affinity for the multitude of forms that beer takes at that point, from light to full; soft to sharp; still to effervescent. The Belgian classic acid ales and the American experimental sours have each shown the depth and breadth of great beers that come from barrels and have always held me in awe of what can be created from natural complexity.
So I suppose that’s the starting point: a love of microbes, wood, malt, and hops that yield a complex matrix of acids and alcohols, esters and tannins, execution and presentation that is the world of creating and consuming sour beers. It seemed like an impossible dream to do it on my own, to explore the many techniques and styles while simultaneously bringing them to the people with whom I share this community of beer.
Fortunately for me (possibly for you, too, assuming I can make anything good), Quinton and Ana McClain at LION BRIDGE BREWING COMPANY have been unbelievably gracious in their offer to make theirs the inaugural host brewery for the migratory brewer Kickshaw Barrel Works. Quinton and I have worked together multiple times over the last eight years, and his vision for collaboratively creating this project is the rational anchor for my crazy-assed ideas for barrel fermentation of sour beers.
We will celebrate the formation of this effort with a collaboration brew utilizing the strengths of both Lion Bridge and Kickshaw, as we celebrate the strengths of oak, Brettanomyces, and Lactobacillus. And then it’s off to the races, as we fill Kickshaw barrels with all the experimental microflora and use all the experimental techniques that I can come up with.
Get yourself some antacids, friends, because things are about to get weird.
Santé!
Bill Heinrich
Kickshaw Barrel Works