Tag: iowa beer baron

Reds Alehouse Presents: Toppling Goliath and Surly Takeover Info for 11/13/15

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redsA great looking list of brews will be tapped at Red’s Alehouse this Friday starting at 11:00 a.m and continues throughout the day. Here’s the info from Reds:

ANNOUNCEMENTS!!

This Friday’s beer lineup and details!

There will be NO Happy Hour on draft beers this Friday.

toppling goliath8oz and 16oz pours will surlybe offered on most beers.

Tapping at 11:00am:
Toppling Goliath Brewing Co. PseudoSue (no growlers)
TG Golden Nugget
TG Dorothy’s Lager
TG Light Speed (no growlers)
TG Smoove Opferator
Surly Brewing Company Furious
Surly Overrated
Surly Cacao Bender
Surly Todd the Axe Man (no growlers)
Surly Dumpster Fire

Tapping at 5:00pm:
TG Sosus (no growlers)
TG Zeelander (no growlers)
TG Thresher (no growlers)
Surly Brett Mikkels (no growlers)
Surly Abrasive (no growlers)
Surly Pentagram (no growlers)

Tapping at 7:30:
TG Mornin’ Delight (no growlers)
Surly Darkness (no growlers)

Details:
Starting at 5:30, tickets will go on sale for a 7oz pour of Mornin’ Delight AND Darkness. 1 ticket per person, $25/ticket, must be present and 21+ to purchase. If there is any beer left after all tickets have been collected, 7oz pours can then be purchased.

Beer Man Murph, Brewmasta Mike, and Chris Flenker from TG along with Omar, Jordan, Splinter, and Holly from Surly will be at Reds that evening. Man, that’s a whole lot of bigwigs under one roof!!

If you’re at Kinnick tailgating the next day, look for all of us! We’ll be floating around!

Official Big Grove Brewery Press Release on Citra Triad!

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big groveHere it is! Pretty pumped for these releases!

Big Grove Brewery. Thirsty Happens.™

For Immediate Release.

“A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”

December 15, 2015. On that date, my fellow Tree Chuggers, ask not what your Citra can do for you, but what you can do for your Citra.

As we review the year that is rapidly waning, we see all of the detritus from every batch of Arms Race that we’ve coaxed through our little facility. Hundreds of pounds of Citra were used, hundreds of hours were spent brewing. We’ve managed to fill some kegs, to slake some thirst, and to almost entirely fail to keep up with the amount of Pale Ale that people want.

Because we now know that we will never keep up with Arms Race, we’ve adapted to a new paradigm: “If you cannot sustain the volume, you may at least expand on the intensity.”

THE CITRA TRIAD

Arms Race Pale Ale – 6% ABV American Strong Pale Ale, hopped with Citra, Citra, and more Citra. It’s the aromatic hop bomb that you’ve all come to know and periodically drink when it’s available.

BGB-15 Minuteman – 9% ABV Double IPA. Well, we might as well use some more Citra to get the point across that there are hops in there. We’re going to build it the way we build our DIPAs: dry body, rich hops, and subtle alcohol.

Trident XII – 12% ABV Imperial IPA. How do you prevent the Cold War from going hot? Mutually Assured Desensitization.

RELEASE DATES

We will launch the Triad on December 15 at 3pm. The fallout will occur on December 19 at selected Big Grove accounts, when we simultaneously open the three silos to the broader public.

Dasvidanya,

The Brewery Staff
Big Grove Brewery

Project PAM newest addition to Founders Backstage Series

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pamThe following comes from Founders Facebook account:

We invite you to venture into the shadows of our brewers’ minds with the latest addition to our experimental Backstage Series, Project PAM. It’s a nod to our deep, abiding love for Black IPAs and maple syrup bourbon barrel-aging.

Project PAM, developed under a shroud of secrecy for years, will be available in our Taproom on November 20 and across all states we distribute to in late November. As for the origins of the name? Well, they will always remain a bit of a mystery.

Say hello to the fourteenth addition to our popular Backstage Series: Project PAM. Like all Backstage Series beers, Project PAM will be sold in 750 mL bottles. It will be available in our Taproom starting on November 20, 2015 and will be available across our distribution footprint in late November with a suggested retail price of $14.99.

Black IPAs have long been a staple in our Taproom and at our annual Black Party – a celebration of experimental, dark beers – and Project PAM combines this with our deep, abiding love for barrel-aging. It’s an invitation to venture into the shadows of our brewers’ minds and discover their mad genius. In development under a shroud of secrecy for years, Project PAM is brewed with an abundance of hops including, Chinook, Nugget, Centennial, Amarillo, El Dorado and Mosaic. It’s balanced with Crystal and Midnight Wheat malts and finally aged in maple syrup bourbon barrels to add complex oaky bourbon notes and the sweetness of maple syrup. Project PAM clocks in at 10.8% ABV.

As for the origins of Project PAM’s name, it will forever remain a bit of a mystery – but, we will share that it’s a nod to the cellar coding system used by Jason Heystek, the head of our barrel-aging program and star of the dark and brooding label that adorns its bottle.

Our Backstage Series is made up of boundary-pushing, experimental beers. We affectionately call it “the brewers’ playground,” where intent is to take the diehard Founders fan experience to a wider audience—though all of the beers are released in limited batches. Since its introduction in the summer of 2011, our Backstage Series beers have quickly become some of the most sought-after releases in the industry.

Kalona Brewing adding 4 new seasonal beers to winter lineup

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kalonaKalona Brewing will be adding 4 new beers to their winter seasonal lineup and the cans will be hitting shelves very soon. Here’s what’s coming our way:

Start Up Coffee Stout 7.6% ABV

-Dark as a moonless night with bold coffee flavor equally enjoyable at breakfast, lunch or dinner!

-Brewed with locally roasted organic coffee from Cafe Del Sol in Iowa City.

-One of the Iowa Beer Baron’s Top Iowa Beers of 2014

Available in 1/6 bbl, 1/2 bbl & 16oz 4 pack cans

 

Coconut Abbey – Belgian Style Abbey Ale 9.2% ABV

-Coconut meets a Belgian Style Tripel and combines to make a smooth refreshing taste you won’t find anywhere else.

Available in 1/6 bbl & 12oz 4 pack cans

 

Junior Barrel Aged Stout 5.6% ABV

-We took our Junior Stout and barrel aged it in barrels from our friends at Mississippi River Distilling Company in LeClaire, IA. The barrel aging mellows out the stout and adds vanilla, oak and whiskey flavors.

Available in 1/6 bbl & 12oz 4 pack cans

 

You Be You – Imperial Stout 10.2% ABV

-A dark and robust imperial stout with massively rich malt.

Available in 1/6 bbl & 12oz 4 pack cans

kalona

Surly Abrasive coming to Iowa next week?

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surlyA beer I thought that was released in January sounds like it is going to hit our shelves and taplines next week as Surly Abrasive appears destined for Iowa markets. Talk on forums and boards are saying it will be released next week as the Keg Stand in Des Moines will have a keg available on November 5th. With Ballast Point coming next week as well, this could be an expensive but great month for beer lovers! I’ll post more on Abrasive releases in Eastern Iowa when they become available! Cheers!

Red’s Alehouse Ballast Point Tapping Schedule, TG + Surly, and Bourbon County Happenings

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redsHere is the schedule for Red’s Alehouse tapping schedule for the upcoming release of Ballast Point to the Iowa market as well as Surly/TG progressive tap takeover and a special pre-Thanksgiving Bourbon County tapping. Lots of great things happening at Reds in the upcoming months:

Let me hit ya with some knowledge!!

Tuesday November 3rd:
Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits tapping. First day in Iowa to get yourself some Sculpin, Grapefruit Sculpin, Victory at Sea and more! Beer tapping time TBD

Friday November 13th:
Surly Brewing Company and Toppling Goliath Brewing Co. Pre-Tailgate Party at the Alehouse! Before the Hawks take on Minnesota on Saturday, come party with some of the best breweries these respective states have to offer. Tap lineup will be announced as we get closer to the date, but you won’t want to miss out on this! Progressive tapping starting at 11am.

Wednesday November 25th:
Pre-Thanksgiving Party with Goose Island Bourbon County. 2014 Barleywine, 2011 BoCo, 2013 BoCo, 2014 Boco, 2013 Lolita and more will be tapped at 11am and the party will go until the law states we have to take your drinks away!

BEST.BEER.MONTH.EVER.

‪#‎redsalehouse‬ ‪#‎nocrapontap‬ ‪#‎ballastpoint‬ ‪#‎bourboncounty‬‪#‎welovebeerevents‬

Tallgrass Announces 4 new beers for Explorer Series

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tallgrassTallgrass Brewing will be expanding their Explorer Series lineup by adding 4 new beers. According to thefullpint.com the new beers will hit their distro footprint January-April 2016. Here’s more from thefullpint.com:

Each brand in the Explorer Series will be available in 4-packs of 12 oz. cans and on draft in 1/2 barrel and 1/6 barrel kegs. A mix pack box containing one of each of the Explorer Series beers also will be available April-May. The new brands in the Explorer Series for the first half of 2016 include the following:
  • The Grizz: Fiercely hopped and weighing in at 9.5% ABV, The Grizz is an Imperial IPA with a bright, juicy fruit-like aroma; strong citrus hop flavors and a dry finish. Available January – March.
  • Sweet Tooth: A complex, candy-like Belgian Dark Strong Ale boasting rich malt flavors and dark fruit notes wrapped in the savory-sweet interplay of a salted caramel. ABV 9.2%. Available February – March.
  • Biere de Mars:  A rare style. Traditionally brewed by French farmers in late winter or early spring for quick consumption, the Biere de Mars is smooth, malty and dry, with a toasty, toffee-like quality. ABV 7.0%. Available March – April.
  • Raspberry Jam: A light and refreshing Berliner Weisse, with its crisp natural tartness balanced by the addition of raspberries. Sweet yet tart, with an ABV of 4.3%. Available April – July.
“This next wave of brews represents our love of experimenting with new hop combinations and enhancing big beers with unique flavor profiles,” said Tallgrass founder and CEO Jeff Gill. “It also marks our inaugural foray into mixed fermentation and highlights our passion for creating beers with interesting histories. After launching this series with several barrel-aged beers and a Russian Imperial Stout, we wanted to explore an even wider range of styles and flavors we love.”
 

More information on these upcoming releases, including detailed tasting notes and can designs, will be available in the coming months at www.tallgrassbeer.com.

Beer Review #123: Blackberry Farm Classic Saison

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blackberry farmNot as mainstream sexy as barrel-aged anything, sours, or double IPAs, but I sure do love a great Saison. With Lion Bridge having had 2 excellent saison releases and Big Grove releasing their own Saison, I’ve been spoiled recently and I know found a bottle to join my Tank 7 and Saison-Brett fix.

Knowing I was going to have a group of friends visiting this past weeekend I knew a beer tasting would be inevitable. I really wanted to find something that they would all enjoy and I know we’ve all loved tasting different Saisons in the past. So, with that thought, I headed over to Benz Beverage Depot asked the staff what they recommend and Blackberry Farm was the winner. I recently only heard of Blackberry Farm from some Twitter posts and was liking what I was reading but I didn’t know that they were distributed to Iowa, so it was definitely a pleasant surprise to see them offered at Benz as I haven’t seem them at the Hy-Vees I visit. Another fantastic offering brought to us from the folks at Abu Nawas distributing!

Ok, the tasting was terrific and this beer shined. Citrus on the nose, with earthy hop aroma. Hazy golden pour with a nice thick white head. Lemon zest and apricots dominate the flavor profile with some wheat and earthiness on the finish. With a relatively mild Iowa fall day, this beer really hit the spot and I wish I would have made some shrimp to seafood to pair with it. More on this beer from the brewery:

Saison “Classic Saison” This is a Belgian-style farmhouse ale. The aroma is dominated by fruity esters reminiscent of citrus fruits along with a moderate earthy and floral hop aroma from the use of Noble-type hops in the brewing process. Has a deep gold, hue that is often hazy, and a voluminous head on pouring as a result of the bottle-conditioning and high natural carbonation. The beer is medium-bodied and has a very refreshing effervescence which, along with a fairly low alcohol content of 6% by volume, makes this a beer to be enjoyed on a warm day by itself or with a wide range of foods, whether casual or fine dining. Complex flavors and aromas in this beer are a result of the special yeast used in fermentation combined with the additional complexity added by bottle-conditioning in large bottles for at least six weeks before being released.

I was very impressed with this beer. If you enjoy Tank 7, enjoy Lion Bridge’s Cucumber Saison or their new Sorachi Liberace Saison, Hennepin, and other offerings we can get here than this is a beer for you to try. $14.99 price tag for a 750 corked and caged bottle was well worth and a beer I will definitely revisit. Researching Blackberry Farm has given me a reason to possibly take a visit to Tennessee as they do many special releases as well. Check them out folks, keep their beers coming! 

STYLE: Saison
ABV: 6%
PURCHASED AT: Benz beverage depot
POUR: straw gold with a massive head
AROMA: lemon zest, citrus, wheat
TASTE:  lots of lemon zest, apricots, wheat/earthiness 
RATEBEER.COM RATING: 95/100
BEERADVOCATE RATING: 89/100
OVERALL: A-

My recommendation: If you’re not a Saison fan, you probably don’t want to drop $15 on a 750 ml of this. However, if you dig saisons the $15 is well-worth the price in my opinion. Every trip I make to Benz will consist of a purchase of some Blackberry Farm beer from now on.