New to Shelves this Week: Off Color, Stone RIS, Peace Tree

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off colorSome brews and breweries hitting shelves and tap lines this week have quite a few people excited. I was lucky enough to be at the Sanctuary in downtown Iowa City last Tuesday and got to try Off Color Brewings Dino’smores! An imperial stout that really gives you the marshmallow/graham cracker/chocolate that I was hoping to taste.  Really, really enjoyed it. It would be the perfect accompaniment to a nice fall evening! I know Off Color has Dino’smores on certain taplines (Reds Alehouse,Sanctuary) but I’m not sure who else has it. Scurry and Troublesome from Off Color are available as well but I can’t tell you exactly who has them, I would contact your liquor store. Here’s more on those 3 Off Color beers, if you see more from them or know who else has their bottles/taps, drop me a line. Thanks!

Off Color Dino’smores: 
Ratebeer: 94/100
Beeradvocate: 91/100
Style: Imperial Stout
From the brewery:
Imperial Marshmallow Stout brewed with graham crackers, cocoa nibs, & vanilla beans

Off Color Scurry:
Ratebeer: 84/100
Beeradvocate: 84/100
Style: Altbier
From the brewery:
Honey beer with molasses and oats 
Don’t let the color scare you. This surprisingly dry beer retains all the aroma and nuance of honey (from bees) and molasses (not from bees) creating the perception of sweetness through cool, controlled fermentation. Because we’re sweet enough dammit. 

Off Color Troublesome:
Ratebeer: 87/100
Beeradvocate: 87/100
Style: Gose
From the brewery:
Most brewers spend a lot of time and effort keeping lactobacillus out of their breweries; it was the first thing we brought in (it still has to stay in the corner though). We blend together two different beers to make Troublesome. The first is a somewhat uninteresting wheat beer and the second is an overly acidic & funky beer fermented solely with lactobacillus. We blend the two beers together with coriander and salt at the tail end of fermentation to create a mild, lemony tartness and a fuller sensation of mouthfeel. And yes, it’s hard to make.

no coastAlso coming this week is Stone Russian Imperial Stout and Peace Tree No Coast. I haven’t had either of these beers yet so I’m really excited to give them a try. The Stone RIS and Peace Tree beers should be available for purchase tomorrow, not sure on when/if we will see them on tap. Here’s more on these two beers.


Stone Russian Imperial Stout:
Ratebeer: 100/100
Beeradvocate: 97/100
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
From the brewery:
“There’s no question that Stone Imperial Stout is revered among enthusiasts,” states Stone CEO Greg Koch. “I know, because I’m one of ’em and I can hardly wait for it to come out each year!” Some may think that a late Spring release for a special brew of this sort is an odd time for it to come out onto the market. Koch justifies this with the rationalization “What better than a warm time of year to come out with a brew that tastes great as it warms up!” That’s because “ice cold” is certainly not the appropriate way to serve the beer. Nearly without exception, the darker, richer and more alcoholic a brew is, the warmer the serving temperature should be. The Stone Imperial Stout label describes the brew as being “intensely aromatic (notes of anise, black currants, coffee, roastiness and alcohol) and heavy on the palate…expect this mysterious brew to pour like used motor oil and taste even heavier! Serve at 55 degrees.”

New Beers added to New Belgium Lips of Faith, Hop Kitchen Series

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gruitNew Belgium is added two new beers to their lineup. The first beer is going to be part of their Lips of Faith Series. Gruit Ale will be coming soon, here’s more on this brew, thanks to beerpulse.com:

Gruit Ale is the latest Lips of Faith release and uses an ancient brewing style of incorporating herb mixtures into beer. This ale is brewed with pale and Munich malts, along with wheat and oats. Other ingredients include Bog Myrtle, Horehound, Yarrow, Wormwood and Elderflower, making for an herbal, almost mint-like and floral bouquet with a bittered root taste. The flavor is bold, with the botanicals playing a big role. Gruit is 6.6% ABV.

A new beer to their Hop Kitchen series is a RyePA. Both beers are available in 22 oz bombers until May. Here’s more on RyePA:

With the groundbreaking of the Asheville, N.C. facility just a few short months away, New Belgium Brewing is celebrating the second Mothership coming to life by teaming up with Asheville’s own artisan maltster, Riverbend Malt House. The two collaborated on New Belgium’s latest Hop Kitchen release, RyePA. The India Pale Ale, which is brewed with Carolina RyeTM and malted by Riverbend, boasts a bold blend of Simcoe, Galaxy, Cascade, and Mosaic hops, giving it some spicy notes and aromas.

“Some may wonder about basing a Hop Kitchen beer on a malt, but this malt plays up hop flavors and aromas so well, it’s like a mash made in heaven…or Asheville, which isn’t too shabby,” said Matty “Smooth” Gilliland, brewing process analyst with New Belgium Brewing. “The team at Riverbend is an inspiring group and they rallied together to ramp up their production to help make this collaboration possible.”

RyePA comes in at 75 IBUs and 7.5% ABV. To read more about the backstory behind RyePA visit – http://www.newbelgium.com/Community/Blog/14-02-24/Matty-Smooth-on-RyePA.aspx.

Des Moines Friends, this is happening! Surly @ El Bait Shop!

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surlySaw the following information on Surly’s facebook page! Hopefully a sign of things to come! Looks like a must-attend event if you are in the Des Moines area. Hopefully I can make it!

We’re road tripping to Iowa and we’re bringing beer! On April 3rd, 4-8 pm, we’ll be hanging out and pouring beers at el Bait Shop in Des Moines. We’ll be bringing: Furious, Hell, Cynic, Bender, Cacao Bender, Smoke, Blakkr, Mild, Darkness & Pentagram. BUT we’re NOT distributing broadly to Iowa (yet), just sharing beers for the night with our neighbors to the south. We’ll add more details and a FB event soon.

More Distro news! Southern Tier Anyone??

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southern tierThe hits just keep coming for Eastern Iowa! Coming off of news and rumors that Oskar Blues and Left Hand Brewing will soon be adding their beers to our shelves, I just received word from a very reliable source that Southern Tier Brewing will be entering our market in July. Here’s the link to the beer lineup from Southern Tier: http://www.stbcbeer.com/our-beers/ 

Here’s more about the brewery itself: https://www.stbcbeer.com/about-southern-tier-brewing-company/southern-tier-brewery/

Peace Tree Brewing Release Updates

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no coastFollowing information comes from http://www.beerpulse.com:

The first new beer to make it to 6-pack form will be our No Coast IPA!

No Coast is the American counterpart to our Hop Wrangler 3 Belgo-style IPA. A variety of pale malts are used to give this beer a nice golden color and let the Amarillo, Citra and Simcoe hops shine through with big piney and citrus notes. It clocks in around 100 IBUs.

No Coast has been brewed and will be making its first appearance in bottles later this month.

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The next seasonal brew to appear in 22oz bombers will be Indecision Dark IPA!

Our beer naming sessions find us scouring the dark recesses of our minds for the one perfect title. After a year’s worth of planning and hundreds of possible names for our Dark IPA, we had yet to reach a consensus. What’s in a name? More importantly, “what’s in the beer?” The answer to that is complex dark malts and an abundance of hops. It’s a bold brew with deep flavor and character. We’ll let it speak for itself.

Indecision is 8% ABV and over 100 IBUs.

Indecision has also been brewed and should be making its way into bottles in the near future, as well!

 

 

Oskar Blues Heading to Iowa?

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oskar bluesJust received the following picture from a friend on twitter. If you read carefully the bottom of the first paragraph that is posted you will see the following, “Oskar Blues will also add distribution in Missouri, West Virginia and IOWA in 2014.”

oskar

Some great news here if it holds up, let’s hope it does, especially since we got the big N-O from Odell for distribution. Here is a quick list of beers available from Oskar Blues:

YEAR ROUND BREW
*Dales Pale Ale
*Mama’s Little Yella Pils
*Old Chub – Scottish Strong Ale
*Deviant Dales –  IPA
*G’Night – imperial red
*Gubna- Imperial IPA
*Ten Fidy – Imperial Stout

Beer Review #115: Boulder Beer Shake Chocolate Porter

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shakeWhat makes being beer drinker great is getting to try all the fantastic styles that are out there. I’ve spent a lot of my beer drinking time (and money) going after some of the big barrel-aged beers, imperials, and doubles that sometimes it feels great to just sit back and revisit some of the styles that have been around for while. With the eruption of craft beer on the market I love when breweries revisit and tweek or shake-up (no pun intended) classical styles. Boulder Brewing (www.boulderbeer.com) has done just that by taking what was their original porter and putting a little spin on it.

This chocolate porter can play into any part of your day. A nice breakfast brew with your coffee and pancakes, a nice midday brew with a bowl of soup, a nice supper of a ribeye and potatoes, or even better, perfect with that brownie and vanilla ice cream. A dark black pour with chocolate and caramel sweetness, this brew incorporates chocolate wheat into the mix. If you’ve had Young’s Double Chocolate Stout or Sam Smiths Organic Chocolate Stout then you will really enjoy this brew. Here’s more from the brewery:

 Our twist on the traditional american porter, Shake chocolate porter is black in color with rich, dark chocolate aromatics and flavors and subtle coffee-like notes. This unique brew blends five different grains, including Chocolate Wheat, that along with cacao nibs create a devilishly delicious chocolate finish with a velvety mouth feel.

 When you open up a rich, chocolatey brew like this you usually aren’t able to have 2-3, but with this one, you can easily put down a few and feel pretty good about yourself. No forced drinking with this one. I’m not too familiar with Boulders’ offerings but I know they really connect with this brew.

REVIEW

STYLE: Porter

ABV: 5.9%

PURCHASED AT: Johncy’s, North Liberty, IA

POUR: Deep black pour with a medium tan head.

AROMA: Chocolate and coffee dominate.

TASTE: Chocolate really shines through from the cocoa nibs.

Ratebeer.com rating: 97

Beeradvocate rating: 88

Overall: B

My recommendation: Really great for a dessert beer, but also works well on its own.

Cold Beer and Hot Dogs

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blackstoneThere has to be something to get everyone through this awful winter we are having. Whether it’s looking forward to March Madness, cutting the grass, baseball season, or anything to get outside for a while and enjoy some rays, most of us are getting burnt out on these temps. Luckily, Blackstone restaurant in Iowa City comes up with a nice little concept that got me to think spring and also let me enjoy some new terrific Iowa brewed beers.

photo (5)A good hot dog to pair with a terrific beer or two is tough to beat. Blackstone put a couple gourmet hot dogs on their menu this past Thursday night to go along with some Iowa brewed beer and they hit a home run with it. The majority of the excitement was centered around Toppling Goliath releasing their King Sue. For those who don’t know King Sue is double citra IPA.

I decided to go with the “Hop Dog”, which was an all-beef dog, photo (6)caramelized onions, cheddar cheese, hop mustard, and house made pickled jalapeños and wasn’t disappointed. Terrific dog, and the recommended beer pairing was King Sue, times two of those for me and we are having a great evening.

photo (7) Kids were enjoying their meals, wife enjoying hers, King Sue was flowing great but I really had my eye on the Confluence Milk Man stout which was on nitro. Decided to go with it, and was glad I did. This is one of the best stouts I’ve had in a while and nitro makes it all the better.

I love these events, food and beer pairings, thinking outside the box a bit and Blackstone does a great job of this. This was a busy beer week in corridor, the Big Grove/Confluence collab was released, Reds Alehouse getting Central Waters, and this event at Blackstone. With two kids I have to pick and choose, although I wish I would have made it to all three.

 

These events are a welcome site and it’s exciting seeing people gather for good food and craft beer!