Drink This! Lion Bridge Silvia

In the day and age where hazy IPAs, fruited sours, and pastry stouts are the craze and dominate the release landscape of craft beer, Lion Bridge brewery in Cedar Rapids release a style of beer that my taste buds have been craving….a farmhouse ale! YES! REJOICE! As much as I love every style of beer I was ready for this one to hit my lips! Brett, barnyard funk, and wonderful hop aroma, exactly what I needed!

*STYLE – Farmhouse Ale
*ABV – 5%
*AVAILABILITY – On tap and in bottles

We hand-selected a blend of Brettanomyces and wild beer from our wood program and then dry-hopped it with Vic Secret hops and naturally carbonated kegs and bottles.

The nose is superb. Vic secret hops pair perfectly with the brett to give it that wet hay/barnyard smell that makes farmhouse ales so spectacular. First sip was exactly what I was hoping for, hops up front with the funk on the back of the tongue, wonderful dry finish and slightly tart – just right and just what I was looking for in this beer!

If you’re a funk head, love brett, and are looking to go back in time a bit in the craft world, this beer is a must try! It’s on tap now or you can stock up your cellar as it’s available in bottles too! Get out there and DRINK THIS beer!

Abu Nawas Drops: American Solera debuts in Iowa! Grimm and Prairie!

american solera.png

Huge drop of excellent brews from Grimm and Prairie will be hitting shelves this week courtesy of Abu Nawas. Along with that, the 1st Iowa drop of American Solera brewery will be debuting on the shelves. Here’s this week’s update:

AMERICAN SOLERA

  • American Solera / Prairie Collab. All Y’all  – We wanted to bring All Y’all together for a really special draft only DIPA we are brewing for you this month. All Y’all is a hazy DIPA we dry hopped with Citra and Mosaic hops that comes in at 8.5% ABV.

PRAIRIE 

  • Prairie Bomb 355ml Bottles – The Beer that started it all for Prairie. Imperial Stout aged on coffee, cacao nibs, vanilla beans and chili peppers. 13.0% ABV.
  • Prairie Hulk HandsCAN -Gose dry hopped with Falconer’s Flight and Cascade Hops. 5.4% ABV.
  • Prairie Paradise 355ml Bottles – Imperial Stout with Vanilla and Coconut. 13% ABV.
  • Prairie Birthday Bomb 2019355ml Bottles – Prairie Yearly Celebration. It Happens only once a year. Get it while you can. A New Version this year. Imperial Stout Aged on Coffee, Cacao Nibs, Vanilla Beans, Chili Peppers, Homemade Caramel Sauce and Toffee. 12% ABV. 🎂💣🎈🎉🙌
  • Prairie Barrel Aged Birthday Bomb 2019 355ml Bottles – Bourbon Barrel Aged Version of Birthday Bomb. 14.7% ABV. 🥃🎂💣🎈🎉🙌
  • Prairie Picnic CAN – A Picnic Pale Ale. 5.5% ABV
  • Prairie Standard – Light, crisp farmhouse ale dry hopped with Motueka hops, a lovely New Zealand hop with a spicy lime like flavor and aroma. 5.6% ABV.
    Prairie Draft:
    • Prairie Bomb 1/6 bbl Keg – The Beer that started it all for Prairie. Imperial Stout aged on coffee, cacao nibs, vanilla beans and chili peppers. 13.0% ABV.
    • Prairie Hulk Hands 1/6 bbl Keg –  A Restock just in time for this sweltering weather. Gose dry hopped with Falconer’s Flight and Cascade Hops. 5.4% ABV.
    • Prairie Picnic  1/6 bbl Keg  – A Picnic Pale Ale. 5.5% ABV
    • Prairie Standard 1/6 bbl Keg – Light, crisp farmhouse ale dry hopped with Motueka hops, a lovely New Zealand hop with a spicy lime like flavor and aroma. 5.6% ABV.
    • Prairie Birthday Bomb 2019  1/6 bbl Keg  – Prairie Yearly Celebration. It Happens only once a year. Get it while you can. A New Version this year. Imperial Stout Aged on Coffee, Cacao Nibs, Vanilla Beans, Chili Peppers, Homemade Caramel Sauce and Toffee. 12% ABV. 🎂💣🎈🎉🙌
    • Deconstructed Bomb. A Set of 4 different 1/6 kegs – Coffe, Chili Peppers, Cacao Nibs and Vanilla –

GRIMM

  • Grimm Gamelan Pop! 16oz CAN – Sour ale – Gamelan Pop! sour is a powerful tropical burst— Guava, Mango, and Kaffir Lime Leaves combine with Tahitian vanilla beans, milk sugar, Azacca dry hops, and our Pop! sour candy juice base. 6% ABV. 🍈🍈🍈🍈🥭🥭🥭🍃🍃🍃
  • Grimm Castling 500ml – Farmhouse Pale Ale. This beer is BELOVED in the Grimm household. It is our most traditional, simple, and perfect beer. Brewed with complexly step mashed Pilsner malt and a generous whirlpool addition of noble hops, this is pure old world elegance. We think it’s best enjoyed with a slow pour into the center of a tall glass, to raise that gorgeous rocky white head that lasts right down to the last sip. Quenching with notes of hay, pepper, candied citrus. Noble hops age very differently than new world hops; we like to savor the flavor transitions over months in the bottle. Recommended if you like De Ranke, De la Senne, Dupont, Thiriez and Blaugies. 5.5% ABV. Joe Grimm’s favorite Grimm beer! 💗💗💗
  • Grimm Full Frequency500ml – Mixed-culture berliner weisse. Laced with rhubarb and apricot, Full Frequency is the second in our new series of traditional-method raw berliner weisse! We are one of a tiny handful of breweries on the globe making berliner in the old way — brewed from step-mashed wheat-based wort that is fermented with a long, mixed culture fermentation, instead of a kettle sour. This never-boiled crusher is crisp and thirst-slaking, presenting balanced flavors of fuzzy apricot, tart rhubarb, and citrus-herbal notes from dry hopping with Mandarina Bavaria. 3% ABV.
    Grimm Draft:
    • Grimm First Anniversary 1/6 bbl Keg – Triple IPA with Cashmere, Mosaic, and Nelson Sauvin. Don’t have a description yet…will be posted on Grimm Instagram later this week. 11% ABV. ***Draft Only***
    • Grimm Afterimage 1/6 bbl Keg – Bringing back an OG. Grimm’s Flagship DIPA with El Dorado, Mosaic, and Simcoe. Juicy, juicy, juicy. Hazy orange, soft carbonation, plush fruity aromas. Immense mango, marmalade, pine, honeysuckle, and lemon flavors. Smack dab in between Lambo and Tesseract on the sweet-to-dry spectrum. Just a hint of bitterness. 8% ABV 🍊🍊🥭
    • Grimm Castling 1/6 bbl Keg – Farmhouse Pale Ale. This beer is BELOVED in the Grimm household. It is our most traditional, simple, and perfect beer. Brewed with complexly step mashed Pilsner malt and a generous whirlpool addition of noble hops, this is pure old world elegance. We think it’s best enjoyed with a slow pour into the center of a tall glass, to raise that gorgeous rocky white head that lasts right down to the last sip. Quenching with notes of hay, pepper, candied citrus. Noble hops age very differently than new world hops; we like to savor the flavor transitions over months in the bottle. Recommended if you like De Ranke, De la Senne, Dupont, Thiriez and Blaugies. 5.5% ABV. Joe Grimm’s favorite Grimm beer! 💗💗💗
    • Grimm Full Frequency 1/6 BBL Keg – Mixed-culture berliner weisse. Laced with rhubarb and apricot, Full Frequency is the second in our new series of traditional-method raw berliner weisse! We are one of a tiny handful of breweries on the globe making berliner in the old way — brewed from step-mashed wheat-based wort that is fermented with a long, mixed culture fermentation, instead of a kettle sour. This never-boiled crusher is crisp and thirst-slaking, presenting balanced flavors of fuzzy apricot, tart rhubarb, and citrus-herbal notes from dry hopping with Mandarina Bavaria. 3% ABV.

Review: Firetrucker Mole Grail

IMG_0069.JPGThanks to sLim for hooking me up with a growler of this brew. One of Firetrucker’s latest releases is going to come at the cinnamon and spice beer lovers out there. If you dig Stone’s Xocoveza then this is a beer you can get behind.

Firetrucker’s Mole Grail is an imperial stout that is brewed with cocoa, cinnamon, and ancho and pasilia peppers. Perfect for a chilly Iowa evening and coming in at 8% it can warm you up quick.

Firetrucker Molé Grail.jpg

A bit thin on the body and the chiles are extremely subtle compared to some beers of this style, so if you’re hoping for a lot of spice, probably won’t get it here but the flavor the cocoa and cinnamon is spot on. Firetrucker has a good one here. Expect to see it on tap in the next few weeks or sooner at the Tin Roost in North Liberty, Need Pizza in Cedar Rapids, and Short’s Burger and Shine in downtown Iowa City.