New Brewsday Tuesday

A few new beers made their way into the store yesterday.

Three Floyds Alpha Klaus - Three Floyds calls this brew their American Christmas Porter and Alpha King's festive cousin. According to their website, it is brewed with English chocolate malt, Mexican sugar, and tons of strange American hops. This one is definitely in my holiday beer queue. 6% ABV, 38 IBU

Lakefront Bridge Burner - The brewery gives a great description of this on their website, so I will leave it to them - "The Bridge Burner pours a deep, fiery amber with a rocky off-white head. The assertive aroma is dominated by dry, earthy American hops: citrus, floral and pine tree notes all make a showing. The hops dominate, lending a hefty bitterness to the palate, but are backed up by the caramel malts, which lend a substantial body without any extra sweetness. A warm alcohol burn finishes it off with a nod to its considerable 8.0 % ABV". I was able to try this beer this past summer while I was in Milwaukee and really liked it. I felt it was pretty similar to Stone Arrogant Bastard. That's not a bad thing.

Hinterland Winterland - Another new beer into the store from the brewery out of Green Bay. This Porter is brewed with Juniper Berry to help it fit in great with the holidays. I have been pretty impressed with Hinterland so far, and can't wait to give this one a shot. It sounds great.

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Meal Beer Pairings

CraftBeer.com is a fantastic and informative website. Randy Mosher contributes to the site and is about as good as it gets when it comes to all things craft beer. I came across this article while on the site and thought it was very helpful. Here are some beers we have in the store to pair with your Thanksgiving meal according to Mr. Mosher -

Beer Pairing Classics -

• Sam Adams Boston Lager
• New Belgium 1554 Black Ale

Beer for the Wine-Experienced -

• New Belgium Trippel
• Jolly Pumpkin La Roja

Beer for the Inner Beer Geek -

• North Coast Le Merle Saison
• The Bruery Autumn Maple

Just Gimme Some Hops! -

• Bell's Two-Hearted Ale
• Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye

Beer and Dessert -

Pecan Pie -

• North Coast Brother Thelonious
• Rogue Chocolate Stout

Pumpkin Pie -

• Lagunitas Brown Shugga'

Enjoy!

Giving Thanks For Dogfish Head

This last Sunday brought the very first episode in the television series Brew Masters on The Discovery Channel. In case you weren't able to catch it, it features Sam Calagione and his brewery Dogfish Head in Delaware. The series follows Calagione around as he comes up with the not so typical beer recipes and travels to find the ingredients to brew those recipes. It also goes into some of the brewing process and behind the scenes action as well. I thought it was really good and was able to get my wife to watch it with me and even with her not being much of a beer geek, she does enjoy good beer, she enjoyed it as well. If I understand correctly, each episode will show how they come up with a different beer, start to finish. The first episode focused on Bitches Brew, their tribute to Miles Davis. Brew Masters airs Sunday nights at 9:00 Central Time. http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/brew-masters/

Now to the beer. In the few days after the show, we have received some new goodies from Dogfish Head. Here they are in no particular order-

Chicory Stout - One of their seasonal beers, it is brewed with roasted chicory, organic Mexican coffee, St. John's Wort, and licorice root. Had a taste of it last night and liked it a lot. Nice and roasty with a touch of sweetness and a bit of coffee and smoke. On their website it says it pairs well with chocolate and I could definitely see that.

World Wide Stout - Let me start this beer off by saying this - 18% ABV. Yep, there is a one in front of that eight. Not a typo. This huge complex stout is a great sipper, obviously, and is definitely no stranger to aging.

Olde School Barleywine - Weighing in at 15% ABV, this bruiser is fermented with dates and figs. Hard to beat a big Barleywine on a cold winter's night. Also a great candidate for aging.

Poppa Skull - A collaboration beer brewed with the fine folks at Three Floyds Brewing in Indiana. I'll let Dogfish Head explain this one - "a deep, golden ale spiced with cardamom and fermented using a robust Belgian yeast strain. One third of the volume was then aged for 6 months in oak brandy barrels. Spice, esters, and sweet brandy dominate the aroma. A robust 10% abv is rounded by caramel and vanilla notes from the wood with a slight spiciness coming from the yeast." Two of the best breweries in the nation joining forces makes this a must try. I know I will.

http://dogfish.com/

Just a reminder, the store is open regular hours (9-9) on Thanksgiving Day and all of Thanksgiving weekend. Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

Enjoy!

Thirsty Thursday Take Two

A couple new beers in at the store and a couple new beers on tap at The Nova. Check 'em out-

At the store-

New Glarus Coffee Stout - It's here! New Glarus Brewing's last seasonal for the year made it into the store today. From the brewery's website- "Hearty and satisfying, our Coffee Stout is the ultimate full-bodied brew. Wisconsin water, roasted malts, and imported hops are the natural ingredients we use to brew this bier. Then cold pressed organic coffee from Just Coffee Co-op is infused into the brew. Expect this bier to pour a deep creamy head over an ebony rich body. Notice the powerful malt bouquet balanced by a spectrum of extravagant flavor. Served at room temperature this Wisconsin Coffee Stout is guaranteed to warm even the coldest heart." Tried this today and really liked it. Seems to have a bit more body and coffee flavor than it did last time they brewed it. Sweet coffee at first and a nice roasty bitterness on the finish. Tried it pretty much right out of the cooler, so I would recommend letting it warm a bit to really let those dark flavors shine. Great beer for this time of year.

New Belgium La Folie 2010 - Part of New Belgium's Lips of Faith series, this Sour Brown Ale ages in French Oak barrels for between one and three years before it is bottled.

Now on tap at The Nova-

Founders Breakfast Stout

New Glarus Belgian Red

Enjoy!

An Apple a Day

Apple Ale that is. New Glarus Brewing Co.'s Unplugged Apple Ale has arrived for the holidays. From the brewery's website - "Apple Ale sings with the fresh crisp taste of Wisconsin Apples. Our Brewmaster begins with a brown ale base employing Wisconsin farmed wheat and a blend of Cortland, Macintosh, and Jonathan apples. Our apple growing friends squeeze them especially for this brew. Expect this ale to pour a beautiful copper color. The frest bouquet of Apple will rise to meet you even before the glass touches your lips. So be sure to sip slowly and enjoy the fruits of a Wisconsin Harvest." The last installment of the Unplugged line for the year and possibly forever (starting next year it will be called the Thumbprint series) is a true session beer coming in at 4% ABV.

Other new beers in lately -

Capital Weizen Doppelbock - From the brewery's website - "An alluring example of the sweet, tantalizing flavors associated with a Bavarian style Wiezen that have been amplified to Doppelbock might." Just a great beer style.

Capital Eisphyre - A beefed up version of their excellent beer Autumnal Fire. Big, malty, and satisfying. A great sipper around the fire. Or "phyre" in this case.

Brau Brothers Hundred Yard Dash - The name comes from how far it is from the brewery's hopyard to their brew kettle. What does that have to do with anything, you ask? Well, because this is a fresh hop beer. The hops are picked as needed and put into the beer from first hop addition through dry-hopping.

Enjoy!

Spring Beer!

No, I'm not getting my seasons mixed up or wishing for winter to be done already. Well, maybe a little bit of the latter. What I'm actually getting at is that Leinenkugel's has re-released the Russian Imperial Stout from their Big Eddy series. The name comes from the Big Eddy spring that the brewery was built by for its water supply.

Last released in 2007, this big stout is a little out of the norm for Leinenkugel's and their specialty brews. Usually known to lean more toward the easy drinking craft beer crowd, this one is geared more toward the beer geeks. Using eleven malts and grains along with Warrior, Summit, and Glacier hops, this brew clocks in at 9.5% ABV with 50 IBUs and an OG of 28.

Not sure how long this will be around and not sure when they will make it again, if ever, so come on in and pick some up. It will definitely stand up to some aging as well.

Enjoy!