Tallgrass Brewing Announces Explorer Series Starting in September

August 10, 20151 Comment

Very excited to share this news and look forward to trying each of these four beers. The following comes from Tallgrass Brewing’s Facebook page:

We’ve given you teasers, now here’s the full scoop. Next month the Explorer Series, a new line of specialty beers from Tallgrass, will officially launch with the release of Bourbon Barrel Buffalo Sweat. More on the first four beers below and many more to come in 2016! ‪#‎tallgrassbrewing‬‪#‎craftbeer‬ ‪#‎explorerseries‬

Each brand in the Explorer Series will be packaged in 4-packs of 12 oz. cans. A mix pack box containing one of each of the Explorer Series beers will be available November-December.

*Bourbon Barrel Buffalo Sweat: Tallgrass’ award-winning oatmeal cream stout, aged in bourbon barrels to create a rich, complex, medium-bodied beer with chocolate-espresso flavor and aroma with an oak barrel backbone. Available Sept-Dec.

*Big RICC: Russian Imperial Stout with coffee and chocolate. Bold coffee flavor and aroma with strong chocolate notes. Full-bodied and great for sipping. Winner of silver medal in coffee beer at 2014 U.S. Open Beer Championships. Available Oct-Feb.

*Wooden Rooster: The Rooster returns after an appearance earlier this year! Tallgrass’ Belgian-style Tripel ale, Velvet Rooster — the first-ever Tripel in a can — aged in rye whiskey barrels. It has a candy-like sweetness and slight spice, with vanilla, oak and rye whiskey prominent in aroma and flavor. Available October.

*Bourbon Barrel Vanilla Bean Buffalo Sweat with Cinnamon: Tallgrass’ highly popular winter seasonal, Vanilla Bean Buffalo Sweat, aged in bourbon barrels with cinnamon added during fermentation. Cinnamon is prominent in aroma and flavor along with vanilla, chocolate and espresso, with warm bourbon undertones. Available Nov-Dec.

Coming to Shelves: Stone, Lagunitas, August Schell, new Boulevard Collab

August 6, 20153 Comments

Some releases that will be hitting our market in the coming months…(to go along with Oktoberfest and Pumpkin Beers 🙂 have me pretty excited. The August Schell Noble Star Collection has been a huge success and I’m really looking forward to this next release. As for some local news, Big Grove Brewery will be holding their 2 year Anniversary party on August 29th. Below is their lineup for this can’t miss event:

Saturday, August 29 – The Anniversary Tailgate. Show up at 11am with your tailgating kit and spend the day with BGB. We’re serving up a hog roast, walk-chalking, and whatever else feels right. Don’t give that spot up, because live music from The Dawn starts at 6pm. It’s how we do it.

Here’s what we have for ANNIVERSARY BEER RELEASES:

Anniversary 2015 with JBC Coffee Roasters (DIPA with Harfusa Ethiopia organic coffee)

Batch 400 Collaboration with Third Base Brewery (super top secret, but it’s going to be super cool)

Richard the Whale (Heaven Hill bbl aged RIS)

Richard the Whale Sumatra with JBC Coffee Roasters (organic coffee variant)

Richard the Whale Super Secret Stout (wouldn’t you like to know?)

Oud Bruin (fermented for one year in Shorts Whiskey bbl with black chokeberries, name TBD)

Golden Brett Ale (fermented for 14 months in Opus One bbl, name TBD)

Onto some other news:

Stone Brewing – will be releasing another brew in the Stochasticity series titled Your Father Smelt of Elderberries. It’s going to be an amber ale with eldberberries added and come in at 8.8% and like all other Stochasticity releases be available in 22 oz bottles. Here’s more on this brew from Stone:

Stochasticity Project beers bravely explore lesser-trod territory. Imagine if you will emerging from the furthest depths of the dark, misty forest of time holding a chalice (perhaps one of catholically divine caliber) filled with an ale style dating back to medieval England. We find ourselves carried by the gait of hooves (which oddly sound like someone is clacking together two empty coconut halves) and happen upon a caste siege. Insults are being hurled from the walls above from …Frenchmen? Time to run away (after one last whack at the mighty stone castle walls with a broadsword) to discuss strategy just beyond the reach of catapulted bovines. Beer brewed with elderberries is freely shared. What strategies come from this? Trojan Rabbit! A brilliant ruse they’re sure to…catapult. Word to the wise, Sir Bedivere. Don’t strategize whilst drinking elderberry beer or the constables may show up at the end of your flick.

Lagunitas Brewing – according to mybeerbuzz.blogspot.com will be releasing a double alt called Doppel Sticky and will be part of their One-Hitter Series. This beer will be available in 12 oz bottles and come in 8.5%. No word on the drop date quite yet.

August Schell Brewing – two new beers coming out in the popular Noble

Star Collection. The first is called Apparent Horizon and is a Rye Berlin-style wheat ale that will come in the 25.36 oz bottles. The 2nd release is called Orbital Drift and is a berlin-style wheat ale. Release details have yet to be determined so stay tuned for more.

Boulevard Brewing and Cigar City – Boulevard has released details on its Collaboration #5. This beer will be brewed with Cigar City brewing and will be a tropical pale ale and will be part of the smokestack series coming in at 7.3% but it will be available in 12 oz bottle 4 packs instead of the 750mL. Release date is tentatively schedule for September of this year so be on the look out for this one. The hop bill sounds very promising. Here’s more from Boulevard on this brew:

Combining CCB’s expertise with tropical fruit flavors and Boulevard’s love of pale ales, Collaboration No. 5 – Tropical Pale Ale begins with a base of soft pilsner malt layered with Maris Otter, Munich and caramel malts. Huge late hopping with a blend of Mosaic, Citra, Lemondrop and Azacca lends bright flavors of mango, pear, blueberry and citrus to a pale ale featuring slightly toasted biscuit and caramel/toffee notes. Infused with freshly sliced grapefruit at the conclusion of the boil, our tropical pale ale is briefly aged on passion fruit and grapefruit at the end of fermentation resulting in a refreshing acidity and tropical fruit flavor and aroma. At 7.3 ABV and 55 IBUs, Collaboration No. 5 – Tropical Pale Ale finishes slightly tart with bright citrus character from dry-hopping with Lemondrop, Azacca andPacific Jade hops.

Exile Brewing Day at Reds Alehouse this Saturday 8/8/15! Beatnik Sour Cask w/Blueberries

August 5, 2015Leave a comment

The following email was received from Reds Alehouse:

You’ve probably seen Exile making the leap from Des Moines to Eastern IA the past few months. But what you haven’t seen is what’s going to be sitting on top of our bar this SATURDAY AUGUST 8TH. For the first time, Reds

and Exile would like to present:

Beatnik Sour Cask w/ Blueberries!

Along with this funky, fresh, and delish cask pouring right in front of your face with the help of our old friend gravity, we’ll also be serving up Daytrotter Pale Ale and a special pre-release of Exile Chill Clinton, a double hemp amber ale.

Beers on at 11am followed by a 3:00 tapping of Blueberry Beatnik

Northside Oktoberfest set for October 3, 2015 in Downtown Iowa City

July 29, 20151 Comment

The 20th year of the Iowa City Brewfest is coming upon us fast! Downtown Iowa City is the place to be on October 3 as the 20th annual Northside Oktoberfest will take place. Here’s more on this terrific beer and food festival for the coordinators:

The Northside Oktoberfest benefiting Iowa City area non-profits showcases the Bohemian nature of the Northside Marketplace with great craft beers, neighborhood food, beer games, Iowa football and much more! Join us on Saturday, October 3rd as we take over the streets of the Northside, just blocks north of downtown Iowa City to celebrate the 20th year of the Iowa City Brewfes – See more at: http://downtowniowacity.com/pages/events/northside-oktoberfest.php#sthash.65ZPGLlq.dpuf

General admission tickets are $35 and Brewmaster tickets are $50. Brewmaster tickets get you access to over 500 beers, exclusive access to REAL ALE contest samples and voting, 20th anniversary glass and t-shirt. Here is a sample of some of the breweries that will be in attendance:

Northside Oktoberfest will feature over 50 breweries, here are just a few:

Big Grove Brewery
Millstream Brewing Company
Merchant du Vin -Specialty Beer Importer since 1978
New American Brewing Co
Bell’s Brewery, Inc.
Cedar Ridge Distillery
Founders Brewing Co.
August Schell Brewing Company
Central Waters Brewing Company
Confluence Brewing Company
515 Brewing Company
Kalona Brewery
Buck Creek Companies
Peace Tree Brewing Company
Lakefront Brewery
Zipline Brewing Co.
Founders Brewing Co.
Boulder Beer Company
Sutliff Cider
Boulevard
Boone Valley Brewing
New American Brewing Co

– See more at: http://downtowniowacity.com/pages/events/northside-oktoberfest.php#sthash.65ZPGLlq.dpuf

Todd the Axe Man Update

July 24, 20151 Comment

Received the following email from Surly detailing the Todd the Axe Man release. Very excited for this beer to be available in cans! Cheers!

Next week Surly Brewing will be launching a new canned beer – Todd The Axe Man, a west coast-style IPA, http://surlybrewing.com/beer/todd-the-axe-man/

Todd The Axe Man was originally a collaboration brew with Amager Brgyhus in Denmark. Surly’s director of brewing operations Todd Haug visited the brewery in 2014 and brought them the Golden Promise malt Surly uses for several of its other beers, from the UK. Along with Citra and Mosaic hops, they brewed Todd The Axe Man, named by Amager in honor of Todd’s other career as a metal guitarist.

Todd The Axe Man became a firm favorite at the Surly Beer Hall in Minneapolis, so much so that Surly decided to can it. Cans of the new beer will be available across Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Chicago starting next week.

Artwork can be found here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57697105/Surly%20Brewing/Todd%20The%20Axe%20Man.zip

Surly will be celebrating the launch of Todd The Axe Man on Monday July 27 at Pat’s Tap in Minneapolis from 3pm, http://surlybrewing.com/events/todd-the-axe-man-can-release-party-at-pats-tap/

Restaurant Review: Mosley’s Barbecue and Provisions; Iowa City, IA

July 18, 2015Leave a comment

A building that once held the bar responsible for many drunken college nights has now been transformed into a modern, inviting, illuminating barbecue joint. As soon as I walked towards the Vine the smell hit me in the face. No, not the smell of stale piss and vomit that one could get a whiff on a weekend, but the wonderful smell of smoked meats. Walking into Mosley’s, takes you back a bit to the Fitzpatricks days and the Old Capitol days but now we are greeted by families, couples, and friends sitting around happily shoveling wonderful BBQ into their faces. The bar looked immaculate
and the glistening taps get your attention right away. Definitely a kid friendly joint which is plus for us, my kids love que and now we have another place to take them. But, oh, that smell! QUE THE SKYNRD!

Mosley’s is brought to you by Matt Swift and Corey Kent, both of whom have had big success in the area with Pullman Diner, Big Grove, Blackstone, 30hop, and of course Red’s Alehouse. Knowing the background of these two and their success it’s hard not to have extremely high expectations for a place, but man o man, they deliver!

Salivating as we get to our table I told my wife to do the ordering as I was up for anything on the menu. 1/2 slab of ribs and the Mosley sandwich which is a pulled pork butt with coleslaw, vinegar and their gold standard bbq sauce. Add a side of coleslaw, mac salad, and house made pickle slices, and wash it all down with a Big Grove Arms Race Pale Ale, we are set! Now the gold standard sauce is a carolina mustard sauce and it was my first experience having such a sauce. It went perfectly with the pulled pork! It was slightly sweet but not overly, great tang from the mustard and it paired well with the coleslaw. AWESOME SANDWICH! The ribs were terrific! Not mushy, completely off the bone. They hold to the bone just enough but once you sink your teeth in, they are tender with a little spice from their vinegar pepper sauce. The coleslaw was delicious and had a bit of sweetness to it. I missed out on the smoked sausage as they were out at that time but that is an item I plan on devouring the next time I visit. Our server was fast, friendly, and knowledgeable and the experience as a whole gets two thumbs up.

This was opening night at Mosley’s and my wife and I are already craving another trip back. The scary thing is that this place will keep getting better and better too which is going to make many BBQ fanatics in this area very happy indeed! Will be back sooner than later……hopefully this weekend again! Cheers!

Toppling Goliath Signs with Johnson Brothers

July 17, 2015July 17, 20151 Comment

Statewide distribution throughout Iowa will start happening as Toppling Goliath Brewery out of Decorah, IA has signed a distribution deal with Johnson Brothers. Including statewide distro for Iowa TG will begin entering the Minnesota market as well.

Johnson Brothers continues to make a splash by getting TG to sign. They’ve gotten Surly, and Great Divide, and many more beers into the Iowa market with more rumored to be on the way.

So, if you area in Iowa hasn’t been able to get TG, that shouldn’t be a problem any more. King Sue and Naughty 90 up for grabs today, hope you get a chance to land a few bottles!

Stone’s 19th Anniversary Beer Set: Thunderstruck IPA to be released in August

July 16, 2015July 16, 20151 Comment

mybeerbuzz.blogspot.com and thethefullpint.com are reporting that Stone’s 19th Anniversary beer coming in August will be called Thunderstruck IPA and will be using all things Austrailian. Hops and malt will be strictly Australian, hops will be galaxy, topaz, ella, and vic secret. Malt will be fairview. August 10th looks to be the rumored release date and it will be available in 22 oz bombers and come in at 9%.

Coming to Shelves: Black Butte XXVII, NB Farmhouse, Next Stone Enjoy By Date, Bells 30th Ann. Imp. Stout

July 14, 20151 Comment

Quite a few tidbits so far this week and some big hitting beers that we will be seeing coming between now and the fall months. A new BBQ joint opening up in the old Old Capital Brew Works site called Mosleys. It’s coming from the owners of Reds/Big Grove/30hop/Pullman so you know it’s going to be legit. Hope to have more info soon after I talk to one of the owners. Onto the news for the week:

*Deschutes Black Butte XXVII – a beer I look forward to every year since their arrival in Iowa has been Deschutes’ Black Butte Porter. A different spin on this imperial porter has it being brewed with rose water, cocoa nibs, pomegranate molasses. Here’s more from Deschutes:

Our 27th Anniversary Imperial Porter was brewed with Theo’s cocoa nibs, pomegranate molasses and select spices, blended with apricot puree, and then aged in bourbon barrels. The result is a truly exquisite ale with bold chocolate character, inspired flavors of fruit, and just a pinch of spice. The perfect way for us to celebrate our golden birthday with you!

Malt: Pale, Wheat, Midnight Wheat, Chocolate, Crystal
Hops: Millennium, Cascade, US Tettnang
Other: Theo Chocolate Cocoa Nibs, Apricot Puree, Pomegranate Molasses
Barrel-Aging: 6 Months in Bourbon (50%)

*New Belgium Long Table Farmhouse Ale – a new beer to the breweries 12 oz releases is a Saison that checks in at 6.2% ABV and will be a seasonal release. More from the brewery:

An ode to the communal Saison, LONG TABLE Farmhouse Ale brings together the juicy flavors of Belgian yeast and Nelson Sauvin hops with the spicy and toasty notes of Munch and Rye grains. Grab a seat!

*Stone Enjoy By 10.31.15 – the latest release on this wonderfully popular beer will start brewing, as of this post in 72 days, 10 hours, and 1 minute. It will be hitting Iowa in both 12 oz and bombers. Here’s more from Stone:

This exquisite liquid patchwork of more than a dozen hops is a devastatingly fresh double IPA. Freshness is a key component of many beers – especially big, hoppy IPAs – but we’ve taken it further, a lot further, with this one. We brewed this IPA specifically NOT to last. We’ve gone to extensive lengths to ensure you get your hands on this beer within an extraordinarily short window, and we’ve sent a very clear message in the name of the beer itself that there is no better time than right NOW to enjoy this IPA!

*Bells 30th Anniversary Ale – 30 years for beers and what better way to celebrate than to pay homage to their Expedition Stout. The 30th Anniversary will be dark fruit filled, roast, and chocolate. A great beer to age due to the dark malt. It will check in at 11% and be available in 6 packs, not sure if sold as singles or not.

Funkwerks Beer Tasting Today (7/14) at Oakland Rd Hy-Vee 4-5:30

July 14, 20151 Comment

Received the following info from Oakland Road Hy-Vee. Sounds like a great opportunity to sample some great Funkwerks beers AND meet the brewery owner! Sorry for the short notice, check it out!

Hello Everybody,

We have a last minute beer tasting to tell you about, stop in tomorrow from 4:00 – 5:30 and sample Funkwerks Beer and visit with the owner of the Brewery. We will offer a 10 % discount on the beer while the sampling is going, as an extra bonus the owner is going to Parlor City after he is done here and if you take your receipt from here down there, they will take half off your first pint of Funkwerks.

Cheers!