Five craft beers to know this week: For a summer lunch date in the mountains

To know every beer released in a given week is an impossible task. Many have tried, none have lived to tell the tale. This is why we at CBB humbly submit a mere five beers for all of you to know each week. Daring to know more would put us all at risk. But please, don’t let this deter you from submitting your own beers for us to know next week at
[email protected]. We like to live dangerously.

Life handed New Realm Brewing lemondrop hops, so they made Lemon Pucker

New Realm Brewing invites all beer lovers to pucker up as they introduce their second Sour Series release: Lemon Pucker. Initially debuting as a pilot batch in April of 2018, Lemon Pucker was first brewed at New Realm’s Atlanta Innovation Brewery.

“I like to call this grown up lemonade without the sugar,” said Mitch Steele Co-Founder and Brewmaster of New Realm Brewing.  “At our brewing team’s suggestion, we dry hopped with Lemondrop hops and added lemon peels post-fermentation. The result is a tart, refreshing and extremely lemony beer that became a crowd favorite at both of our taprooms.”

Lemon Pucker pairs well with porch swings, sunny skies, giant pool floats and staycations. This zesty craft creation is now available for a limited time on draft and in 12-oz 6 pack cans in both our Atlanta and Virginia Beach brewery to-go coolers, as well as our favorite retailers around Georgia and the Hampton Roads area in Virginia.

We really dig how earnest brew works is showcasing local artists in this summer wheat series

South Toledo brewery, earnest brew works, is collaborating with local artists in its “Summer Wheat/Summer Artist” Series. Earnest has partnered with local artists to create a series of taproom beer signs that represent the earnest Summer Wheat Beer series. Earnest will release four Summer Wheat Beers, each with its own local artist to design the taproom beer sign.

The signs have been purposely left blank with no title or description letting the artist be free to create their own vision. It’s made with the intent to spark conversation between local beer lovers and the EBW barkeeps.

Hibiscus Summer Wheat has been brewed first, which went on tap May 29. Local artist Natalie Lanses designed the sign that is currently hanging in the taproom. Lanses is a nationally-recognized artist who currently serves as the lead painter at Design Graphite + Build. Her most recent work includes the Promedica Museum of Natural History at the Toledo Zoo.

Lanses’s sign showcases her signature style with a combination of striking colors painted and her use of collage to reflect her impression of the Hibiscus Summer Wheat Beer, now on tap at earnest brew works’ taproom.

Other beers in the “Summer Wheat/Summer Artist” Series this summer will be:

• Raspberry Cream Summer Wheat
• Blueberry Summer Wheat with Ginger and Honey
• Peach Summer Wheat

We want to go on a Lunch Date with TALEA’s latest New England Pale Ale

Founded by Tara Hankinson and LeAnn Darland in 2018, TALEA Beer Co. is a New York-based beer company creating easy-drinking staples and rotating seasonals that are approachable for the everyday beer drinker. Its newest offering, Lunch Date Pale Ale (5.5% ABV) is a hazy, low-bitterness, New England-style Pale Ale. Layered flavors of overripe lemon and grapefruit zest, this hazy Pale Ale is refreshing and bright.

Lunch Date is brewed using a base malt and a touch of flaked oats. Minimal hops are added during the brew followed by a massive double dry hop during fermentation to enhance the citrus aromas. The addition of oats builds a smooth, medium body that adds mouthfeel and texture. Lunch Date has a hazy, nearly opaque, pale gold appearance and fragrant aroma that leaps from the glass. Hops used include: Citra, El Dorado, Amarillo, Simcoe, Eukanot

Lunch Date is your perfect escape from the grind. Inspired by LeAnn and Tara’s lunch hour brainstorming sessions, this beer is brewed to be crisp, effervescent, and palate pleasing. Pair your daily recess with this refreshing pale ale, brimming with citrus flavors.

Elevation Beer gets spacey to celebrate its 7th anniversary

Elevation Beer Co. celebrates another trip around the sun, crafting the best damn beer possible with the special release of Galactic AF Anniversary IPA and their annual tasting room celebration to mark their seventh anniversary.

Brewed as a limited release to celebrate Elevation’s 7th anniversary and coming in at 7% ABV and 75 IBUs, Galactic AF IPA uses copious amounts of Magnum, Citra, Mosaic, and Galaxy hops to impart pungent notes of passionfruit, melon, and citrus. The malt bill, consisting Two-Row, Caraform, Munich Malt, Crystal 15, and the use of rolled oats to make for smooth, silky mouthfeel that perfectly complements the slightly pungent hop varieties.

Elevation will be celebrating their 7th anniversary at the brewery on Saturday, June 8, featuring Galactic AF IPA on tap alongside a coveted list of exclusive beers, food truck specials, and an appearance from The River Arkansas on tour as they promote the release of their new album, Any Kind of Weather.

Telluride Brewing brews a distinct Kölsch as a tribute to its hometown

Telluride Brewing Co. brewmaster, Chris Fish, and president, Tommy Thacher, created a beer so perfect for the relaxed, outdoor lifestyle of the place they call home, they decided to name it after the town. They are proud to announce the addition of Telluride Mountain Beer, a traditional-style Kölsch, to their year round line up of cans and kegs.

The only issue with the name and style: the beer Fish and Thacher brewed already has a hometown. In fact, Kölsch, a clean, easy-drinking, straw-colored ale, is already named for the town of Cologne (Köln), Germany, where it originated.

Initially brewed to compete with the popular, bottom-fermented lagers of the day, Kölsch is brewed by pitching top-fermenting ale yeast at warmer temperatures then chilling the beer down to condition it, producing a hybrid that embodies the crisp complexity of an ale and refreshing drinkability of a lager.

Fish faithfully follows this process while brewing Telluride Mountain Beer, using German Magnum and Tettnanger hops to balance out the light malt body. In doing so, he recreates the distinct taste of a true-to-style Kölsch, evocative the beer’s home in the Gothic architecture and rolling fields of the German lowlands, a far cry from the mountains of Colorado.

Despite this, Fish and Thacher believe that the name and the style still work.

“Kölsch is the kind of beer we wanted to drink at the end of a long day of brewing, throw in a backpack, or crack open on a river,” remarked Fish. “It just makes sense!”

Fish, a transplant to Telluride from the Front Range, and Thacher, who moved to Colorado from New York almost twenty years ago, know that, like people, all things can find a new place in the world where they fit perfectly. They believe even a traditional Kölsch can find a new home in the mountains.

Clean, crisp and sessionable, Telluride Mountain Beer is true to the traditional style of its hometown in Germany, yet is proof that it’s not where you’re born that matters. It’s where you end up.