Here’s a look at Boulevard’s 2017 release schedule with a few new brews that will be making their way to our shelves. A kolsch will join the year-round lineup while a new imperial stout and imperial pilsner will make it’s way to the Smokestack Series. Two new beers have been added in the sour series and a milk stout is added to the seasonal rotation. The Limited Releases will have 7 new beers so stay tuned on their releases. Here’s the full schedule:
Tag: iowa beer baron
Big Grove Releasing Business Time Double IPA 11/30 @5 p.m. + Citra Triad Release Announcement
Big Grove Brewery will be releasing a new double IPA tomorrow, Nov. 30th, at 5:00 p.m. To go along with that, they will also be bringing back their Citra Triad and will be releasing those three beers December 21st at the brewery and then hitting the market the 22nd and 23rd. Stay tuned for more on the Triad release and here’s more information on Business Time Double IPA:
Business Time
Double IPA
7.8% ABVI know what you’re trying to say, you’re trying to say it’s time for business. It’s business time. Ooh!
Our all New Zealand hopped Double IPA is rich with guava and passionfruit aroma. It starts off with a light caramel sweetness, spicy hints of black pepper, finishing with an assertive bitterness.
You know how I know? Because it’s Wednesday.Dry Hop: Green Bullet & Wakatu
BGB uses a variety of local honey from around the area including Ron Puettmann & Tony Pagliai that have hives near Solon.
Business Time you say?
Bell’s Brewery 2017 Release Calendar
Here’s Bell’s 2017 release calendar. They will be giving Mars: The Bringer of War double IPA its second-go round. Check out the calendar below for more releases. Cheers!
Prairie Christmas Bomb Hitting Stores Soon
Expect to see Prairie Christmas Bomb hitting our shelves in the next week or so as the beer has been released for distro. Here’s more on this brew:
Fall is bleeding out into chilly nights, and we’re at that time when the seasons start to shift and the spice hits the fan. Cuddle up into that ugly seasonal sweater, grab your best glass, and get ready to welcome Prairie Christmas Bomb! back into your life. Christmas Bomb! is our signature stout spiced with cinnamon. It has become a tradition here at Prairie Artisan Ales to produce this seasonal treat. This is our third brew, and as always we’re bringing you a brand new label.
Christmas Bomb! will bring you great comfort and joy in this dark and roasty brew. You’ll find the coffee, ancho chilies, vanilla, and cacao nibs you know and love, but they brought a friend this time. The addition of cinnamon warms this brew evoking the seasonal spirit of spice and cheer.
Prairie Christmas Bomb! is a seasonal favorite that can be found in 12oz bottles and 1/2 and 1/6 Kegs. Shipping started this week and will finish up next week, so get ready start seeing it in stores soon.
Cheers!
Also the brewery will be releasing a barrel-aged version of xmas Bomb in a brewery only release on December 3rd. If you know of anyone in the Oklahoma City area. Here’s more on this release:
Brewery Release: Barrel Aged Christmas Bomb
If there’s one thing we really enjoy doing over here at Prairie Artisan Ales, it’s putting delicious stouts in delicious barrels and spreading barrel aged cheer to all our faithful friends. This year, to ring in the holiday spirit just a little more, we’ve decided to have our next brewery only release on Saturday December, 3rd. Making this day extra special, we’ve also decided to release two limited barrel aged beers. That’s right, two. First, is our beloved imperial stout, Noir, aged in sherry barrels from our friends at Rocky Mountain Barrel Company. Appropriately named Sherry Barrel Noir. There’s only 850 bottles of this delightful, boozy fare. Next, we decided to take our famous seasonal Christmas Bomb! and age it in whiskey barrels because nothing says Christmas like cinnamon, vanilla, chocolate, Spaceship Earth coffee, ancho chiles, and WHISKEY. There will be roughly 2800 bottles of this seasonal delight but we know it won’t last long.
A few details to highlight the day of the release:– This will be held at our production facility located at 120 S West 8th St. Krebs, OK. 74554– Bottle release hours: 10am – sold outDraft hours: 10am – sold out– Sherry Barrel Noir, 12oz bottles – $12 each, 6 bottle limit.– BA Christmas Bomb!, 12oz bottles – $12 each, 6 bottle limit.– First come, first serve.– Specialty draft and growlers TBD.– Only newly purchased and the 16oz growlers from our previous released will be filled.– Cash and credit accepted.
Drink This! Lion Bridge Brewing Gobble Wobble
Thanksgiving Day is right around the corner and with these cooling temps, fall is definitely in the air and winter is right around the corner here in Iowa. What better way to get in the holiday spirit than hitting up your local and gold medal winning brewery and enjoy their latest barrel-aged creation!
Lion Bridge Brewery introduced the world to Gobble Wobble last weekend and I was lucky enough to hit up the brewery and taste not only Gobble Wobble but their Smores Gobble Wobble which was on cask. In fact, I wish I had a pint to sip on right now. Even if you missed out on the cask of Smores Gobble Wobble, you still have some time left to get down there and try Gobble Wobble which is a brown ale aged in Wild Turkey barrels. It might not last much longer folks, and after some weekend shopping with your significant other in Cedar Rapids, the perfect warmer would be a nice glass of barrel-aged deliciousness from Lion Bridge!
You definitely get a nose full of barrel with this brew. Malty sweetness really mellows the barrel but you still get some great nuttiness from the brown ale as well. Perfect balance, and not to sound too much like a holiday homer, but this would pair perfectly with Thanksgiving dinner or grab a some sausages at the Sausage Foundry and have a fall grilling party while sipping on some Lion Bridge Gobble Wobble to warm you up. It’s limited folks, get there and grab a glass because you must drink this! Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving!
Mt. Vernon Rd. Hy-Vee in CR Releasing Lion Bridge Brewing Maple Disaster Bottles: 11/22/16
Mt. Vernon Road Hy-Vee in Cedar Rapids will be releasing Lion Bridge Brewing Maple Disaster bottles starting at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday November 22nd. This brew has been aged on Cedar Ridge bourbon barrels. There is a 1 bottle limit on from 5-6 and any bottles left will be up for sale. The bottles will be 750 ml flip tops.
Lion Bridge will be on hand to sample some brews. Cedar Ridge will be here to sample the bourbon that was in the barrels used to make this Maple Disaster. That bourbon will also be for sale so you can get bourbon and beer that were created in the same barrels.
Drink This!: Summit Dark Infusion Coffee Milk Stout
‘Tis the season for stouts! Don’t let the unusually warm weather deter you from sipping on a nice, thick, frothy, stout and once you get a taste of this beauty from Summit you could picture yourself drinking this year round!
Part of Summit’s Unchained Series, Dark Infusion hits on everything I’m looking for in a milk stout: jet black pour, big frothy head, and the smell of coffee and chocolate dominates the nose. The mouthfeel has what some stouts have been lacking for me and that is the creaminess.Roasted coffee flavor with almost a hint of sweet caramel and smoke round out this wonderfully tasty, milk stout. Here’s more on this beer from Summit:
For his inaugural Unchained Series beer, Summit brewer Pete Stacy created the brewery’s first-ever coffee beer. Dark Infusión: A Coffee Milk Stout is a roasty, sweet stout made complex and smooth with the addition of cold brew coffee. The malts also provide notes of nuttiness and wood. A boil kettle addition of lactose results in a velvety, creamy mouthfeel. After fermentation the beer is infused with coffee in collaboration with Saint Paul’s Blackeye Roasting Company. Pete selected the custom blend of Brazilian and Colombian varieties specifically to contribute an intense coffee bean aroma and complement the roastiness of the malts. Look for Dark Infusión on shelves in 16-ounce cans and on draught. Learn more about the inspiration for and process of crafting Dark Infusion at Pete’s blog post.
If you want a wonderfully balanced, full flavored, creamy stout, then this beer is a must. If you’re not a stout fan and want to give an excellent one a try then this is the one you need. I’m not sure how long this will be around folks, go out and buy this, drink this!
Surly Abrasive Returning to Shelves this Week
It seems like forever ago since we saw Abrasive on the shelves but this week it should be making its long awaited return. Surly Abrasive should be hitting the shelves in Iowa as early as tomorrow! Here’s more on this brew:
Hazy gold in color, this Oatmeal Double IPA has aggressive aromas of candied grapefruit/tangerine and tropical fruit. Malted oats greatly enhance the body and the high level of bitterness is balanced by this sweetness. Citra hops are used for aroma & flavor additions and for dry-hopping, while Warrior hops are used primarily for bitterness.
OG 19.5 Plato
Color 5 SRM
Hops: Citra, Warrior
Yeast: English Ale
Malt: 2-row, Golden Naked Oats
ABV: 9%
Plate Magazine Names Big Grove Chef, Ben Smart, “Chef to Watch in 2016”
A terrific honor bestowed upon Big Grove Brewery Head Chef Ben Smart as Plate Magazine has named him to the “Chefs to Watch in 2016” list. To make it on the national culinary scene while being based in small town Solon, IA shows the talent and skill that Chef Smart has.
To be able to make the 10 minute drive from my home in Mt. Vernon to Solon and visit Big Grove and to try Chef Smart’s dishes is a treat. For him to be able to hit the national stage of the culinary world can only be a good thing for other chefs and restaurants in the state of Iowa. I love the quote that Chef Smart gave about the reason for coming back to Iowa:
“I want to create a sustainable life for myself, take the morals I learned growing up on the farm and apply them to where I work,” he says. “I definitely like to develop relationships with local farmers; you can’t cook great food without great ingredients. Doug and I have learned a lot about how people eat in New York, Chicago and Napa, and the focus on local and seasonal ingredients. That was underutilized in Iowa. It was one of those moments in life where you roll the dice and go for it.”
For most of us, Big Grove Brewery isn’t a hidden treasure any more, unless you haven’t visited, which shame on you. It’s a weekend dinner with family, it’s after church lunch, it’s a place to grab a few beers and appetizers with some buddies and watch the game, but for others outside of Iowa, this accomplishment will be bring more national notoriety and those folks on the outside of Iowa will find that great things can happen in small places. Cheers to Chef Ben and Big Grove, amazing!!
To read the full article click here.
Harvest Dinner @ Kroul Farms Featuring Big Grove and Pullman…..AMAZING!!
What a great way to end a weekend! Kroul Farms right outside of Mount Vernon hosted a wonderful dinner featuring chefs Benjamin Smart of Big Grove and Sepher Sadrzadeh of Pullman Bar and Diner. One word can sum up the evening: AMAZING! I couldn’t have been more impressed with the food and service and also the setting of this terrific meal.
Special thanks to the Kroul family being gracious enough to host the event and the time and work put in the by the chefs, Cory Kent and staff. If you’ve never attended a Beer Dinner make sure you put it on the top of your list. Worth every damn penny plus more! Eagerly anticipating the next time these culinary geniuses can come together and put on another masterpiece. Onto the meal!
*1st course: Marinated and Charred Local Vegetables – with this dish I wasn’t sure when I read anchovy but I’ve learned to not let that word frighten you off as that wonderful little dish adds some amazing salty/briney flavor. The sauce and the added “everything bagel” rye salt was amazing with the perfectly good vegetables. Roasted beets, potatoes, and peppers and the sweetness from the honey paired perfectly with the Big Grove West Main Wheat!
*2nd course: Potato and Onion Confit Galette – what is a galette? I didn’t know what is was either. Just think of a savory pie stuffed with Milton white cheddar, sliced potato and topped with a carrot romesco. Add a side salad with sherry vinaigrette and paired with a Big Grove Arms Race Pale Ale, this was a dish I would keep on eating if they would have kept putting it in front of me. Delicious!
*3rd course: Roasted Squash with Lamb Merguez sausage – lamb from Pavelka Point and made in house by Chef Benjamin Smart served in a roasted squash. The pickled flavor from the kale and the spice of the sausage was rounded out perfectly by a housemade persian cheese, which is a yogurt textured feta. Paired with a white wine, which I’m not going to pretend I know anything about wine, the spice of the sausage with the mix of the sweet acorn squash was delicious.
*4th course: Grilled Local Mushrooms – gnocchi, mushrooms, and brussel sprouts? YES PLEASE! Add some brown butter crumbles to go with the pillowy, amazingly delicious, gnocchi and the nuttiness of the mushrooms paired with a white wine. My first chicken of the woods mushroom experience, and I’ll be clamoring for more!
*5th course: Kroul Farms Beef – being able to eat beef that had been raised 100 yards from your table was a great experience and defines “farm to table” dining. The beef was perfectly cook and the salty beef ju paired perfectly with the red wine that was served.
*6th course: Apple Strudel – Wilson’s Orchard Apples are showcased in this strudel that is glazed with a Cedar Ridge whiskey caramel sauce and smoked cinnamon ice cream. Dessert isn’t usually my favorite course but this was absolutely amazing. This dessert is what you think of when you think Fall.
**An amazing night that I hope can be re-created sooner rather than later. I implore you to get a ticket the next time there is an opportunity to attend a beer dinner. Kudos to Chef Smart and Chef Sadrzadeh for creating this amazing meal. Easy for me to say but, LET’S DO IT AGAIN!
