Can you believe next month is our one year anniversary already?? This year has been absolutely fantastic and it has been incredible getting to know so many of you, our loyal customers. We’re celebrating by throwing a birthday blowout party and YOU’RE invited! We’ve partnered with Hops & Grain to throw an anniversary party and tickets are only $15! See details and buy tickets here.
Have you seen or heard about the superb Untapped Festival happening here in Austin on Saturday 4/18? It’s a perfect marriage of craft beer and music, boasting a truly excellent music selection in addition, of course, to the crazy awesome slate of beers. The full beer list has yet to be released, but we DO know that there will be 277 total beers, 68 IPA or Imperial IPA and 25+ barrel aged beers. Tickets are very reasonably priced & available here.
Free In-Store Tastings 6-8pm
Thursday, March 26th – Right Now!
Jordan from Left Hand Brewing will be in the house sampling out the newest release Good Juju, a ginger beer in 6 packs (more info below). We’ll also be tasting milk stout & sawtooth nitro in addition to the oak aged version of Wake Up Dead imperial stout!
Tuesday, March 31st
We invite Erik Jensen from Grapevine Brewing back into the store to sample out their new spring release the Saison de Festivals. It’s a grassy, dry and slightly funky saison that is now available in bombers. We’ll sample the other Grapevine beers too, cuz why not?!
Thursday, April 2nd
Artisanal Imports is the US importer for some excellent and very well known Belgian beers, and we’re incredibly lucky to have their US headquarters right here in south Austin! Chad Pilbeam will grace our tasting bar focusing on the import portfolio from St. Feuillien. Not only do they make well balanced Belgian beers but they also starting putting a dry hopped version of their saison into 4 packs cans! Talk about a fantastic summer pool sipper. Taste the whole lineup for free.
New Beers This Week
Back in stock: Green Flash Soul Style IPA, Anderson Valley Hop Ottin IPA, Community Mosaic IPA (bottled only a week ago!), Bockor Vanderghintse Oud Bruin, Infamous Double Tap, Firestone Wookey Jack, Abita Bourbon Street Imperial Stout, Adelbert’s Vintage Nun (arriving Friday), Lagunitas Gnarlywine, Hops & Grain Greenhouse Batch 17 (arriving Friday!).
Prairie Limo Tint* – Limo Tint is a silky smooth milk stout aged on chocolate. This beer is creamy with a touch of sweetness. We took the raw cacao that we use for Bomb! to add big complexity to this smaller beer. Limo Tint packs big notes of chocolate, carmel and oats, and is layered with a nice creaminess from the lactose. All these flavors combine to make the perfect milk stout. 5.65% ABV/Krebs, OK/Beer Advocate 81/Availability: plenty but will go quickly/*Arriving Friday
Unibroue Blanche de Chambly – A traditional Belgian-style witbier from Unibroue in Quebec, this one has a subtle bouquet of spice, citrus notes, aromas of yeast breads, coriander, and cloves. 5% ABV/Chambly, Quebec/Beer Advocate 87/Availability: decent
Real Ale Sisyphus Barley Wine 2015 – It is uncharacteristically smooth for this style of beer, as it is created with five different kinds of hops. It also displays a rich malt character, and the healthy portion of hops gives it a distinctive dry and balanced finish. 11.5% ABV/Blanco, TX/Ratebeer 95/Availability: plenty
Stone Enjoy By 4-20-15 IPA – This iconic Stone series is back with their aptly named Enjoy By 4/20/15. “Devastatingly dank” is what they call it. Big, hoppy, drink fresh! Bombers and 6 packs available. 9.4% ABV/Escondido, CA/Ratebeer 100/Availability: plenty (though more bombers than 6 packs)
Rahr & Sons Iron Joe Barrel Aged Coffee Scotch Ale – Rahr takes their Iron Thistle scotch ale as a base beer and ages it in American oak barrels. They then add freshly roasted Avoca noir coffee for a nice coffee bite. 4 packs and singles. 8% ABV/Fort Worth, TX/No ratings/Availability: plenty
Austin Beerworks Heavy Machinery Double IPA – This monster of an IPA is loaded with Simcoe, Citra, and Ahtanum hops, giving it huge citrus and pine aromas that pack as much punch as Sam Elliott’s mustache. The beer is light amber in color, and features a strong caramel and Vienna malt backbone to complement those intense hops. 10% ABV/Austin, TX/ Ratebeer 97/Availability: plenty but goes fast
Urban Family Rustic Road Farmhouse Ale – Brand new to Texas, Urban Family is a farmhouse brewery in Seattle who just started sending their beers to us. The Rustic Road is a farmhouse ale brewed with a bit of rye malt to lend a spicy graininess to the final brew. 6.5% ABV/Seattle, WA/No ratings/Availability: limited
Urban Family Citron Noir Dark Farmhouse Ale – The Citron is a dark farmhouse ale brewed with black lemons. You get toasted bread and chocolate notes with tart black lemons on the finish. 6.8% ABV/Seattle, WA/No ratings/Availability: limited
Circle Devil’s Envy Bourbon Barrel Amber – Local boys Circle Brewing are venturing into the barrel aging game with their first release in the Inner Circle series (pretty sure that’s not the inner circle they meant). They took their Envy amber ale and aged it in Jack Daniels barrels to lend a nice oaky caramel & vanilla quality. 4 packs and singles. 4.8% ABV/Austin, TX/No ratings/Availability: plenty
Abita Strawberry Harvest Lager (bottles) – This is Abita’s most sought after annual release. It’s a lager brewed with pilsner and wheat malts and Vanguard hops. Real Louisiana strawberry juice is added after filtration resulting in a crisp lager with a sweet strawberry flavor, aroma and haze. 4.2% ABV/Abita Springs, LA/Availability: plenty
Alvinne Undressed Sour – Undressed is on the very tart end of the sour spectrum. If you like mouth puckering tartness, or anything in the oud bruin category, you’ll love this one. 6.9% ABV/Moen, Belgium/Beer Advocate 85/Availability: limited
Dogfish Head Aprihop Apricot IPA – A strong IPA brewed with real apricots and finished with whole leaf Willamette and Cascade hops. 7% ABV/Milton, DE/Ratebeer 93/Availability: decent
Real Ale Commissar Russian Imperial Stout – One of the fortunate byproducts of Real Ale’s recent rebranding of the whole lineup is the release of three year-round bombers. The first release is the Commissar Russian Imperial Stout, a 9.8% ABV roasty & toasty beast. 9.8% ABV/Blanco, TX/No ratings yet/Availability: plenty
No Label Boomstick Double Black Rye Coffee IPA – That’s certainly a mouthful! The beer is definitely the same. An aggressively hopped black rye IPA but with coffee added, there is plenty of flavor bursting from this one. 7.46% ABV/Katy, TX/No ratings/Availability: limited
Adelbert’s Oaked Tripel* – This is exactly what it sounds like, an oaked version of the Tripel B. Aged for several weeks with oak spirals, this ale blends a distinct sweet oak character and hints of vanilla with the spicy notes of Tripel B for a beautifully balanced ale. 9.3% ABV/Austin, TX/Beer Advocate 88/Availability: decent
Naughty Brewing She Hung the Moon* – Belgian candy sugar and Mexican piloncillo sugar cones dry the body, sweet pecan smoke adds a bold smoke, laced with the tart note of hibiscus. A dark, dry, tart and smoky beer that would pair well with anything you would put on a grill. 8.4% ABV/San Antonio, TX/No ratings/Availability: decent
Baird Dark Sky Imperial Stout – Baird Brewing from Japan has a couple of new releases that just hit today. The first is an unfiltered and bottle conditioned imperial stout that has already had a bit of time in the bottle. The aroma is gorgeously complex (dry hopping with American Centenniel & Amarillo hops) and the flavor is a stunning smorgasbord (chocolate, toffee, herbs, coffee, licorice, etc.). 10% ABV/Numazu, Japan/Ratebeer 97/Availability: decent
Baird Jubilation Ale – A hearty ale with a rich malty base and soothing alcoholic warmth, Jubilation Ale is made luxuriant by deft additions of two wonderful ingredients: fully ripened candied figs and cinnamon twigs culled from a Japanese Nikki tree. A sublimely balanced interplay between sweet and spice reminiscent of the yin-yang duality of life results. 6.5% ABV/Numazu, Japan/Ratebeer 83/Availability: decent
Weekend Tastings, 6-8pm
Friday
Austin Beerworks Heavy Machinery Double IPA
Real Ale Commissar Russian Imperial Stout
Argus Ginger Perry
Unibroue Blanche de Chambly
Saturday
Stone Enjoy By
Argus Ciderkin
Founders Black Rye
Abita Strawberry Harvest Lager