Nearly every homebrewer dreams of going pro and bringing their favorite recipe to the main stage. Last week we heard from MadTree’s Matt Rowe about going pro, this week we’ll hear from him about how he turned his homebrew session pale ale into MadTree PSA.
Continue reading “MadTree PSA: The Little Homebrew That Could”
Victory Brewing Company is one of my favorite breweries and is, in my opinion, underrated and underhyped. Golden Monkey, Storm King, Prima Pils, they’re all amazing beers that you should seek out if you haven’t had them yet. Victory is replacing their Imperial IPA Hop Wallop – which is a very accurate name for it – with a nuclear bomb of new flavorful hops and calling it DirtWolf. Here’s their PR blurb:
Darkly heroic, Humulus Lupulus (hops) have empowered brews with bite and character since the 11th century. DirtWolf is a tribute to these untamed vines which rise from the earth with the voracity of a “wolf among sheep.” Hops have made an assertive comeback in American craft brewing. Revel in the best U.S. varieties of hops, in their natural, whole flower form, as they bring a vital, pungent reality to the soul of a wild element in our dangerously satisfying DirtWolf Double IPA.
If you haven’t heard then I’m happy to tell you that New Belgium Brewing Company will be coming to Ohio on December 16th, just over a month away. In perpetration for there roll out they kindly hooked me up with some samples. We took a taste of Accumulation last week when the first snows fell and today I’m trying their Ranger IPA. I first reviewed New Belgium’s Ranger IPA last year after bringing a bottle back from North Carolina.
Bring out the hops! This clear amber beauty bursts at the starting gate with an abundance of hops: Cascade (citrus), Chinook (floral/citrus), and Simcoe (fruity) lead off the beer, with Cascade added again for an intense dry hop flavor. Brewed with pale and dark caramel malts that harmonize the hop flavor from start to finish, Ranger is a sessionable splendor for all you hopinistas. Thank your Beer Ranger!
I had never heard of Fat Heads or their Head Hunter until a new beer-friend hooked me up with a 6-pack of random bottles. When I found out this was from Ohio and that it had won this crazy number of medals I got pretty excited. Here are some of those awards:
But I don’t buy into the hype of awards all too much. From what I’ve seen there are loads of competitions out there and if you find one specific enough you’re guaranteed a medal in it. Bottom line though is that this beer has some clout and hype behind it, time to find out what I think.
I had decided to focus on locally available beers but then an awesome new beer buddy decided to rock my world and hook me up with some tasty offerings. Firestone Walker Brewing Company is one of those legendary California breweries, but it’s still kinda climbing the ranks compared to some places like Stone or Russian River. Just looking at Rate Beer there are 22 beers from Firestone with 90+ scores. They won the World Beer Cup for mid-sized brewery in 2004, 2006, and 2010. The Union Jack has won 12 awards since 2008 ranging from bronze to gold from competitions around the world.
The last of the beers Stone sent to me. Gives me a mixture of joy and sadness. Joy because my OCD tendencies have been satiated and I can move onto all the other beers in my fridge (Green Flash here I come!). Sadness because that’s the last of my free Stone beer.
The story behind this beer is that it was originally the Stone 11th anniversary ale but everyone loved to so much they brought it back year round. This is also the newest of the Stone year-round beers.
Continue reading “Beer Review: Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale”
BrewMinds 