There are a lot of beers released every week. It’s impossible to keep up with them all, but here are some of the most notable that were sent our way this week. Brewers, if you are annoyed your latest creation wasn’t included, you can only blame yourself. Send your beer and brewery news to [email protected] for possible inclusion. If it’s still not on the site, then OK, you can blame us.
Dogfish Head packs exclusive beer with superfoods, Swiss Army knife
A Dogfish exclusive made from a complex mix of nutrient-packed superfoods may have resulted in the healthiest beer on record. This is definitely not a claim the brewery is making, but we feel comfortable making that reckless speculation. Just check out the ingredients bill for It’s The End of the Wort As We Know It, a Belgian-style fruit ale is chock full of essential amino acids, micronutrients and vitamins. According to independent, third party lab data, Dogfish Head found that It’s The End of the Wort As We Know It contains more than eight times the amount of Vitamin B Complex than one of America’s best-selling light lagers, including over 90 percent of the daily recommended serving of folic acid.
“Myself and six other coworkers from various departments at Dogfish set out to brew the most survivalist-oriented beer Dogfish has ever made and packed it with a bunch of delicious culinary ingredients resulting in a ton of goodness in the form of essential vitamins and amino acids,” said Sam Calagione, founder and CEO of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery. “We’re also pretty pumped that a super-unique, nutrient-rich ‘survivor’ beer was born out of a brew day amongst friends originating from one of my favorite conversation starter questions — what’s your desert island beer?”
To make this off-centered ale, Dogfish blended an intensely fruity mixture of blueberries, acai and goji berries along with an assortment of ingredients including purple sweet potatoes, rose hips, chia seed, flax seed, spelt, oats and quinoa.
To keep the survivalist theme going, the special edition 750-ml bottle includes all the essential necessities needed to potentially outlast the apocalypse, such as a limited-edition Dogfish branded Swiss army knife tied to the neck of the bottle which will aid in opening your beer bottle or whittling a fishing spear to capture a conch for dinner. The bottle itself comes snuggly wrapped in a big’ol solar blanket you can use to protect your beer (we mean body) from changes in the weather. Lastly, you’ll find a length of paracord securing the blanket to the bottle which can come in handy if you need to make a tourniquet or if you accidentally drop your survival beer in quicksand and need to quickly jump in to heroically retrieve it. Safety first.
Melvin Brewing, Rhinegeist experiment with their J-hole
We are not shy about our love of Wyoming’s Melvin Brewing and Cincinnati, Ohio’s Rhinegeist. So, we obviously started an in-office Yes! chant when we saw the two were collaborating as part of Melvin’s series of limited-release projects with “only the most over-the-top small-batch breweries around the country.”
The collab brew is aptly named the Experimental J-Hole, a Red IPA clocking in at 7 percent ABV, 60 IBU.
We know you often head down the rabbit hole, and you love a good wormhole, but we now encourage you to fall down the J-Hole. The brewmance began with a mutual respect for the lupulin arts, refined in Melvin’s brew temple high in the Tetons of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Reunited at sea level, we form like Voltron to bring you this unique IPA. An avalanche of hops swarms the palate with malts soft as powder, balancing out this spectacular brew.
Overall this is a very complex Red IPA that is atypical in that there are no cloying caramel flavors to get in the way of the hops. The El Dorado hops play first chair with candied cherry notes, while the Simcoe adds bass notes of resin, pine and blood orange, and the Centennial ties everything together in a neat little bow with medium notes of citrus.
It features a high hop aroma with upfront stone fruit, candied cherry, hints of citrus (blood orange) and medium-high supporting piney and resin-y notes. There are light “dank” undertones, and the malt aroma is medium-low with a hint of bread and graininess, with low fruity esters.
Appearance is slightly hazy, light copper with ruby highlights. You’ll discover a medium persistent off-white head and medium carbonation, lending a medium-light bodied mouthfeel. With low alcohol warmth, there’s a touch of lingering astringency that does not detract from the overall qualities of the beer. It’s got a dry finish, slightly grainy and a hint of lingering bitterness, without being coarse in its medium-high hop and upfront cherry flavor.
Good People Brewing cans Snake Handler double IPA
Good People Brewing Co., the oldest and largest brewery in Alabama, will be releasing Snake Handler in cans beginning next week. Good People says Snake Handler, a double IPA at 10 percent alcohol by volume (ABV), is one of the brewery’s most requested beers. This dangerously drinkable brew is well balanced with five specialty malts working together with an aggressive hop profile featuring Columbus, Warrior, Cascade, Simcoe and Chinook.
Fresh is best when consuming this double IPA. This beer is dry hopped to add strong aromas of pine, citrus, flowers, spice, pineapple and grassiness. Due to this process, Snake Handler is best experienced as close to the canned date as possible.
“We are always excited for the revival of Snake Handler in cans,” said Jason Malone, co-owner and brewmaster at Good People Brewing. “This beer has had a special place in our lineup since the very beginning, and we love seeing people’s reactions when it comes out in cans.”
This beer is available year-round on draft, but only available for a limited time in 12-ounce can four-packs across the brewery’s distribution footprint — Alabama, Georgia, the Florida Panhandle and Tennessee. The beer should hit store shelves starting January 15.
Schlafly releases crazy new Cellar Selection brown ale
Schlafly Beer released Raspberry Chipotle Brown Ale, the first of the brewery’s 750-ml bottle Cellar Selections. The series, which began last year, gets a new look for 2018. The bottle design now showcases the research and development inside each of the inventive beers with a handwritten look and feel and a descriptive neck tag. This year’s Cellar Selections take a bolder directive with a creative collection of beers utilizing unconventional ingredients. Founding Brewer Stephen Hale explains:
“We brew and bottle all our Cellar Selections at our flagship Tap Room so the new design and line-up exemplifies how creativity thrives within that building with our brewing team — even after 26 years. These beers evoke excitement and intrigue. We want the rustic design to feel like our brewers invited you to try their secret experimental brews, which is how many of these Cellar Selections started. The larger bottle format makes the beers perfect to bring to a party and share amongst friends, and Raspberry Chipotle Brown Ale is a great way to get conversation going with intriguing ingredients in an approachable beer style.”
Raspberry Chipotle Brown Ale (5.9 percent, 24 IBUs) is brewed with fresh raspberry and jalapeño. The beer overflows with fresh fruit and a distinct, earthy pepper within a robust, malty brown ale. The generally temperate Brown Ale style enjoys prominence among the two assertive ingredients, raspberry and chipotle (smoked, dried jalapeño). Hoppiness is kept in check while the spicy, sweet and smoky flavors play off each other with graceful deference.
Kerry Campling says
Sam Weller healthy beers are a thing!