Ancient people discovered they could get drunk after consuming the fermented byproduct of random things that grew out of the ground. It was a great discovery, and we’ve smartly been doing this ever since. Over the years people categorized these various beverages based on certain features or base ingredients. One of them became known as beer. And every week since then, there have been at least five beers brewed that people should know about. Here are this week’s five beers for you to know. If you have one you’d like to submit, send them on over to [email protected].
New Belgium scores a victory for hemp beer sales in Kansas
New Belgium Brewing’s Hemperor HPA, a hemp pale ale brewed with hops and hemp hearts, was once banned from Kansas even though it contains no THC or CBD. New Belgium’s application to sell The Hemperor HPA in Kansas was rejected in early 2018 by the State of Kansas Alcoholic Beverage Control, which prohibited hemp as an ingredient in any alcoholic beverage based on interpretation of existing industrial hemp laws. Upon further review this September, at New Belgium’s request, it was determined that sales of The Hemperor HPA should be allowed, citing additional research and recent changes to state law. The beer began arriving in Kansas last week.
“We’d like to think Kansans could no longer bear living life without experiencing the Hemperor’s game-changing union of hops and hemp,” said Jesse Claeys, New Belgium spokesperson. “It could also be that Kansas, like many other states in our glorious union, finally got a whiff of how versatile and sustainable of a crop industrial hemp can be, and how it could play a much bigger role in our economy.”
The restrictive regulatory process around brewing with hemp inspired New Belgium to work to raise awareness of the social, environmental and economic benefits of industrial hemp. New Belgium partnered with GCH Inc., the company founded by Willie Nelson and family to build brands inspired by his journey as an artist and advocate, in supporting the pro-industrial hemp advocacy campaign the American Hemp Campaign. One dollar from every barrel of The Hemperor HPA sold is donated to raise awareness and promote pro-hemp bills in the House and Senate.
AleSmith kicks off San Diego Beer Week with a Stone Brewing collaboration IPA
As one of the original southern California craft brewers, AleSmith Brewing Co. is pulling out all the stops for this year’s San Diego Beer Week. The 10 days of beer-centric happenings kick off with the tasting room release of Gregarious Nature IPA (7 percent ABV), a highly-anticipated brew developed with AleSmith’s friends at Stone Brewing Co. A salute to the classic San Diego-style IPA, the name is a nod to the great relationship between AleSmith Owner Peter Zien and Stone’s Co-owner Greg Koch. This tropical and hoppy IPA will be available on draft and in 12-oz can six-packs at the AleSmith tasting room Friday, Nov. 2, and then in retail accounts the week before Thanksgiving. Key team members from both breweries will be on-site to participate in the San Diego Beer Week countywide cheers at 7:30 p.m. Other events feature beer and brewing education, opportunities to taste and purchase barrel-aged beers and AleSmith’s signature three-day event, Speedway Grand Prix.
Reuben’s Brews knits a holiday gose
Reuben’s Brews, a family-owned Seattle neighborhood brewery, has started its much-anticipated 2019 Gose seasonal lineup a little early with the newly released Holiday Gose. Wrapped up in its iconic ugly holiday sweater-inspired packaging, this cranberry-orange Gose is a far cry from the season’s standard dark and brooding brews. Reuben’s Brews first released its Gose in the taproom in 2015, and it went on to win gold medals at the 2015 and 2016 Great American Beer Festivals. The first beer the brewery ever canned, the brewery’s original Gose provides the foundation for the new series, which features both Gose and Berliner Weisse styles.
“We are seeing consumers ask for lighter bodied, more refreshing beer options, like Gose,” said Adam Robbings, cofounder and brewmaster for Reuben’s Brews. “With the growing popularity of the style, and our own personal love for the beer, we were inspired to experiment a bit with taproom exclusive variations of Gose. Holiday Gose was a natural direction to take the style, and it kicks off the upcoming lineup for next year.”
1623 Brewing beers make their debut in Maryland
The first beers from 1623 Brewing, Hefeweizen and IPA, are now available in cans and on draft in Central Maryland locations through a distribution partnership with Chesapeake Beverage. 1623 Brewing is a family-owned, community-driven craft brewery that calls both Maryland and Colorado home, where owners and cousins Mike and Sandy McKelvin and Zac Rissmiller operate each home base of the brewery — 1,623 miles apart. The brewery plans to release additional beers in Maryland later this year before opening its first production brewery in Maryland’s Carroll County in 2019.
“We already must send out a great deal of thanks to the brewing community which has embraced our game plan,” said McKelvin. “Thank you to DuClaw Brewing for giving us a space to brew our beers while we build our brewhouse, and Hysteria Brewing for being such great sounding board for the obstacles we will encounter in navigating the Maryland process… The list goes on.”
Dust Bowl Brewing uses its production expansion to brew new Brut IPA
Dust Bowl Brewing Co. just released Mouthful of Miracles, the Northern California craft brewery’s first Brut IPA. The new limited release beer comes in big at 8.5 percent alcohol by volume. Mouthful of Miracles is packaged in 16-oz cans and draft. With Brut IPAs trending, the timing was welcomed by Dust Bowl Brewing Co.’s wholesaler network. Brewmaster Don Oliver took it to the imperial end of the style (8.5 percent ABV), but it still has a very dry finish and a crisp hop note with grapefruit and passion fruit up front.
“Now that we are settled into our new brewery, we are able to manage growing production of our core brands while being nimble in the specialty category,” said Founder and Owner Brett Tate. “This keeps the portfolio interesting to our distributors and consumers alike.”
Dust Bowl Brewing Co. beers may be found throughout Central and Northern California, including the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento region, parts of Southern California, Nevada and Oklahoma.
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