Want to drink some free beer while watching someone homebrew in celebration of National Homebrew Day on May 2nd? Join the South Austin Homebrew Association at SoCo Homebrew for free beers from local breweries and some homebrew demos for anyone and everyone interested in homebrewing! We’ll be at SoCo Homebrew from 10am – 6pm. Bring something for the grill, bring some more beer, and if you want to brew, contact SoCo Homebrew and sign up. We’ll see you on Saturday 5/2 with beers, BBQ, and friends on SoCo. Cheers!
PLEASE NOTE: We will be CLOSED this Sunday 4/26 as we celebrate our first anniversary at Hops & Grain. Pre-purchase tickets (which guarantee you one of our first anniversary glasses) are almost sold out. You can still come to the party, you just won’t be getting a fancy anniversary glass. Stock up on beer on Saturday instead!
Sahara’s latest blog post & corresponding curated 6 pack features an insider look at what it takes to study for and pass the Certified Cicerone tasting exam. For those that don’t know, the Cicerone program is the beer equivalent of Sommelier, and the exam features a blind taste test in which the user tastes a beer and has to choose which of two styles it is. Read more here and purchase the blind 6 pack in store today!
Free In-Store Tastings 6-8pm
Thursday, April 23rd – TONIGHT!
Upslope Brewing has a brand new rep based in Austin and we’ll be breaking him in with a tasting event featuring their IPA, Brown Ale, Craft Lager and the Belgian Pale Ale.
Friday, April 24th
Happy King’s Day! This Dutch holiday is essentially a gigantic country-wide street party. We currently sell two Dutch breweries in the shop: Urthel & La Trappe. We’ll be sampling at least one of each on Friday and will have glassware and swag (some free and some free with purchase). Happy King’s day!
Thursday, April 30th
Believe it or not we’ve never had a Rogness tasting, so we decided to fix that by having Jon from the brewery into our tasting bar to pour free samples of Joie D’ete saison, Gigantophis triple IPA, Hefeweizen and Rook scotch ale. Join us!
New Beers This Week
Back in stock: Prairie Bible Belt (arriving Friday), Lone Pint Yellow Rose (arriving Friday), Ommegang Game of Thrones Three-Eyed Raven, Left Hand Good Juju, Ballast Point Habanero & Grapefruit Sculpin, Real Ale Commissar, Maui Coconut Porter.
Adelbert’s Vintage Monks – Adelbert’s keeps up the frequent specialty barrel releases with their latest in the Vintage Monks series. This one is a blend of Flyin’ Monks Belgian quad and Dancin’ Monks dubbel. It’s then aged in red wine barrels for up to 2 years which enhance the tart dark fruit flavors from the Belgian yeasty esters. 9.1% ABV/Austin, TX/No ratings yet/Availability: decent
Founders Rubaeus Raspberry Ale – Not another boring summer wheat beer or lemonade shandy—Rübæus is Founders’ way to celebrate the season’s warmest months. Optimizing the flavor of fresh raspberries added at multiple stages during fermentation, this stunning berry red masterpiece is the perfect balance of sweet and tart. 5.7% ABV/Grand Rapids, MI/Ratebeer 92/Availability: plenty
Founders Old Curmudgeon – In traditional Old Ale style Curmudgeon is brewed with an intense focus on the malt bill creating a very strong, rich, malty characteristic and a sweetness indicative of its cousin the barleywine. Exceptional balance in this beer makes it deceptively smooth and drinkable at 9.8% alcohol by volume. 9.8% ABV/Grand Rapids, MI/Ratebeer 98/Availability: very limited
Crabbie’s Cloudy Alcoholic Lemonade* – Quite the interesting name on this new release from Crabbie’s, who currently makes a very popular ginger beer. This one contains no ginger, instead it’s an alcoholic lemonade with a dry, tart finish. 4.8% ABV/Glasgow, Scotland/No ratings yet/Availability: decent/*Arriving Friday
Tieton Rambling Route Cider* – Tieton Cider Works from the Yakima Valley of Washington just released a hard apple cider in 4 pack cans. Expect pineapple aromas and mineral qualities on the nose, snappy and racy acid levels on the palate, coupled by a deep full-bodied finish. 6.9% ABV/Yakima, WA/No ratings yet/Availability: decent/*Arriving Friday
Destihl Quadrupel – Destihl is an Illinois brewery which just launched in Texas. They have a strong lineup of sour beers which will slowly be arriving in the shop as they continue to send more to TX. This quad is a strong Belgian-style Abbey Ale ‘quad’ characterized by the immense presence of alcohol and balanced flavor, bitterness and aromas, with a color that is amber/rich chestnut/garnet brown, a complex fruity aroma & flavor reminiscent of raisins & dates. 11% ABV/Normal, IL/Beer Advocate 82/Availability: limited/*Arriving Friday
Destihl Excommunie Quatre* – The Saint Dekkera series takes existing base beers from Destihl and ages them in oak barrels with sour yeast. “Dekkera” is the genus name for Brettanomyces, a sour yeast strain responsible for many sour flavors in beer. The Excommunie Quatre is basically a sour version of the Quadrupel listed above. 11% ABV/Normal, IL/No Ratings yet/Availability: limited/*Arriving Friday
Destihl Pomme* – The base beer is Bela, an imperial pilsner. It’s then aged in oak barrels with sour apples. 5.5% ABV/Normal, IL/No ratings yet/Availability: limited/*Arriving Friday
Desithl Gertrude* – Again, the base here is the imperial pilsner Bela, which is then aged with brettanomyces in oak barrels. 10.8% ABV/Normal, IL/No ratings yet/Availability: limited/*Arriving Friday
Brewdog Dogma* – Dogma is an indulgent, decadent and encapsulating scotch ale brewed with 10 different types of malt all blended together with Scottish heather honey. 7.4% ABV/Scotland/Ratebeer 95/Availability: decent/*Arriving Friday
Weekend Tastings, 6-8pm
Friday
Branchline 5 am to Midnight
La Trappe Tripel
La Trappe Quad
Urthel Hop-It
Saturday
Smuttynose Finestkind IPA
North Coast Le Merle Saison
Kostritzer Schwarzbier
No Label Ridgeback Amber