Beer is powerful. It inspires and shapes new realities. Think about it: A brewer crafts a beer — brings a barrel of sudsy joy into the world — and shares it with family, friends and patrons. Good times are shared. That cycle repeats. There’s eventually an anniversary for the first time that beer was brewed, and a local artist crafts a new label to commemorate the occasion. The art is super cool. So cool, a civic leader buys an original piece by this artist they otherwise wouldn’t have known. The painting is beloved and stays in that family for generations upon generations.
Then one day, visiting earth for the first time, the leader of a robot alien civilization sees this painting on a wall in Earth’s Capitol Building, just as it is about to wipe out humanity in order to expand its chain of intergalactic mini malls. Inexplicably, it weeps and ends the mission. A monument is constructed in the city center of Xeta85 in honor of this moment when the Zorbot code was modified to prioritize love and art over war and domination. Pretty cool. Thanks, beer. Here are some beers to shape your realities this week and all of the weeks to come.
Sun King named Grand National Champion at U.S. Open Beer Championship
Indianapolis’ Sun King Brewery was just named Grand National Champion in the U.S. Open Beer Championship that attracted more than 7,000 entries from around the world including more than 130 different styles of beer. Sun King won three gold medals for Pachanga (in the category of international-style pilsner lager), Cherry Busey (Belgian-style fruit beer) and Midnight Choir (wild beer) and three silver medals for Shadow Proof (in the category of Russian/British imperial stout), Bourbon Barrel Shadow Proof (barrel-aged stout) and Touched By an Angel (brandy barrel-aged). The U.S. Open Beer Championships judges more beer styles than any other competition in the world.
Enjoy this RyePA while Fifty West Brewing, a ton more Cincinnati breweries punch each other
Fifty West Brewing Company is hosting the 4th Annual Punch Out this Saturday in which Cincinnati’s bravest brewery employees go head to head in boxing. Participants will be entered from Rhinegeist Brewery, MadTree Brewing Company, Fibonacci Brewing Company, West Sixth Brewing, Platform, Samuel Adams, Moerlein, Fretboard, Sonder, Warped Wing, Little Miami Brewing Company, and Fifty West Brewing Company.
Fifty West has partnered with Cincinnati Bell to live stream the action-packed matches in over twenty bars across the city. Participating bars will exclusively feature three variations of Fifty West’s cult favorite beer, Punch You in the EyePA including Mango Milkshake, Brut and returning champion, Pineapple. Live polling of the fan’s favorite flavor will commence on Fifty West’s Instagram the day of the event. The winner will be packaged in a limited run of 16oz cans and released prior to next year’s fight. 2018’s champion Pineapple Punch You In The EyePA is currently available in 16oz 4-packs at select craft beer locations throughout Greater Cincinnati.
Punch You in the EyePA is available year-round in 12-ounce can 4-packs throughout Greater Cincinnati retail establishments including Kroger stores.
It’s important to remember that this event is all in good fun, and that the main goal is to create an experience and a craft beer community unlike any other in the country. Fifty West stresses that the safety of all participants is critical to the continued success of the event, which is why fighters teamed up with professional boxers to provide six weeks of training.
“Punch Out from its infancy originated as a celebration of our craft beer community in a day of brother/sisterhood,” said Founder of Fifty West, Bobby Slattery. “We love being able to share our passion and energy with Greater Cincinnati craft beer fans as we continue to grow this event into an iconic tradition that is truly one-of-a-kind.”
Platform Beer Co. celebrates its five-year anniversary with a party at all three Ohio Taprooms.
Cleveland-based Platform Beer Co. hosted a party at each of its three locations (Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati), to celebrate the brand’s 5th anniversary on July 4 and, of course, each location celebrated with its own special brew.
Platform collaborated with Butcher and the Brewer (Cleveland), Land Grant (Columbus), and Streetside Brewery (Cincinnati), for the occasion. These beers are aptly titled Two One Six, Six One Four, and Five One Three. Two One Six is a traditional West Coast IPA with Simcoe Cryo and Centennial. Grapefruit peel and pine abound in this clean IPA. Six One Four is a New England style brut IPA that is a franken-combination that works in the best of ways. Loads of Saphir and Triple Pearl hops lend soft notes of Pinot Grigio and orange creamsicle to this refreshing IPA. The final beer, Five One Six, is a New England style IPA brewed exclusively with Callista hops that lend a refreshing balance of dankness to this fruit heavy smooth IPA. Each city will have its collaboration brew on tap and will be selling mix packs during the 5th-anniversary party.
Lompoc hosting an awesomely named salute to red ales
Lompoc Brewing will present Night of the Living Red, a tasting event running July 19 and July 20 at Sidebar, its barrel tasting room, which will offer a taster tray of six of Lompoc’s favorite red ales for $15. The lineup includes the award-winning Proletariat Red, along with Red Runner, The Baron, 2018 Red Ryeder, 2017 Franc’ly Brewdolph, and 2009 Bourbon Barrel Aged Dagda. Each beer may also be ordered individually.
Headlining the beer list is Proletariat Red, a Lompoc flagship ale and a silver medal winner at the 2015 Great American Beer Festival. Proletariat Red is deep chestnut in color, and features toasted malt with biscuit undertones leading to caramelized pear and cinnamon. It strikes a good balance between malt and hops (6.2% ABV). But guests will get to try a few cool collaborations too:
A collaboration with Mark Buscher, Red Runner is a dry hopped Red Ale that’s crimson in color with a slight bitterness and a malty backbone. It features notes of citrus, pine, and spice (6% ABV). The Baron is a Red Ale with a slight bitterness followed by a spicy and floral character with some fruity notes (5.5% ABV). A collaboration with Nomcraft Brewing of Aridagawa, Japan, Red Ryeder is an India Red Ale that’s crimson in color with a citrus and spice profile (6.7% ABV).
Oskar Blues showcases Zappa hops in latest Steep Coast Mountain IPA Series
Oskar Blues Brewery continues the Steep Coast Mountain IPA Series with Steep Coast Zappa Double IPA. The series spotlights one hop varietal at a time, focusing on cutting-edge hops added in hefty heaps (nearly six pounds of hops per barrel) to each given brew. Steep Coast Zappa DIPA (8.0% ABV) will be available on draft and in 4-packs of 16 oz. cans in Oskar Blues Taprooms in Longmont and Boulder, CO, and in select markets starting mid-July.
Zappa hops belong to the subspecies Neomexicanus – a group of distinctly American hops native to the dry mountainous region of New Mexico. Steep Coast Zappa DIPA celebrates non-conformity, loudly expressing the lemon and white pepper flavors of these boisterous hops. Frankly, Zappa IPA is as complex and provocative as its musical namesake. Two other varietals of Neomexicanus – Medusa and Sabro – are used in small amounts to support Zappa’s wild, boisterous character.
So what makes Steep Coast Zappa DIPA a “Mountain” style IPA? “It’s a blending of the distinctive styles of West and East Coast IPAs,” said Tim Matthews, Head of Brewing Operations for Oskar Blues. “It doesn’t have the pallet-wrecker bitterness of an old school West Coast IPA, nor the fluffy bitterness of the New England – it’s definitely somewhere in-between. We targeted the hop load of a New England but the palatability of the West Coast style.”
Ska Brewing celebrates 10 years of Modus Hoperandi with cool new artwork
Ska Brewing, home to Colorado’s OG IPA in a can, is celebrating 10 years of its Modus Hoperandi recipe with custom label artwork, specialty merchandise, and a summer full of Modus events and specials. Bring on the Summer of Modus.
A nod to its punny name, Modus Hoperandi was the first of many India Pale Ales that helped establish Ska as a skilled IPA house, and one of the country’s original canned IPAs when it debuted in 2009. To-date, this beer is one of Ska and Colorado’s most award-winning, with recognitions in seven national and another seven international beer award programs— including the Stockholm Beer and Whiskey Festival and the European Beer Star. Modus will go down as the first canned IPA available in Sweden, and a convert beer for many a macro fizzy lager drinker in Colorado and beyond. Earlier this year, USA Today called Modus one of America’s most delicious beers.
Modus Hoperandi is a beer that the Ska team has put the most effort into developing, says Ska Brewing co-founder and CEO Dave Thibodeau. It was a rigorous process that included blind tasting every Colorado IPA they could get their hands on. “We knew that we wanted pine, and citrus, and Ska staff palates lead us toward Modus’ bold flavor and 6.8 percent ABV,” he adds.
Ska is celebrating the 10th anniversary of this groundbreaking IPA in a can with a limited Modus Hoperandi and Modus Mandarina 12-pack (six of each IPA) and custom cans, with deals and events all summer long.
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Let Chris Crowell know that Trump is still his president!