While supplies last, get your Real Ale Hans’ Pils fix! 6 packs of Hans’ are $5.99 and 12 packs are $11.99 until they’re gone. Yes, we realize that if you buy two 6 packs you will technically save a penny. But ya know what? That’s just the way it goes when we are essentially selling Hans at our cost, so get over it! 🙂 Not to mention, it’s easier to carry a boxed 12 pack than two 6 packs. So really what you’re doing is paying a penny for a convenient carrying box! OK I’m done. On to the good stuff…
Free In-Store Tastings
Thursday, February 18th – TONIGHT!
Kelly “the chancellor of New Braunfels” Meyer will be back at the tasting bar with free samples of his lineup of Bauernhaus slightly sour beers. All use New Braunfels Brewing Company’s base wheat beers that get an injection of the house sour yeast culture at the time of bottling. Blondine uses hefeweizen as a base, Schwartz uses dunkelweizen and Uber starts as a weizenbock. We’ll also sample the latest batch of his red wine barrel aged Weizenbock Sangre de Shiva! Just released this week.
Friday, February 19th
Talk about a unique pairing event! We partnered up with our neighbors at Audio Zeal for our first Head Can Beer Pairing event. Basically, as part of our normal Friday evening tasting, we’ll be selecting beers that will pair up with various songs that Audio Zeal owner Ragan will be playing on three different headphone systems. Beer and music, as life should be.
Saturday, February 20th – 1 to 6pm
We partnered up with IBM on the beta of a digital beer pairing system that we’ll be piloting this Saturday and collecting data. Between the hours of 1-6pm, we’ll be having a free tasting of a number of different beers and asking customers to fill out a short iPad survey. Stop by any time and help us collect some pairing data while tasting some beers!
Saturday, February 20th – 6 to 8pm
Brand new Jolly Pumpkin/North Peak Brewing rep Daniel will have his first sampling event in his new role this Saturday from 6-8pm. We’ll sample all 5 of the new North Peak beers just released this week (details below).
Thursday, February 25th
Joe Dotson from Original Sin will be back in the house sampling out his three ciders: Original (dry), Elderberry and Cherry. Get yo cider on.
Friday, February 26th
Rebekah from Cycler’s Brewing will be at the tasting bar with her two beers to sample: 55-11 Imperial Red Ale and Domestique Witbier.
New Beers This Week
Back in stock: Jester King Simple Means, New Braunfels Schwartz, Argus Perennial, Argus Tepache, Karbach Whiskey Barrel Quad, Green Flash Cosmic Ristretto, Avery Vanilla Bean Stout, Real Ale Café de Olla, Great Divide Titan IPA, Goose Island Bourbon County Stout, Prairie Barrel Aged Bomb (very limited; arriving Friday), Nebraska Hop Anomaly (Arriving Friday), Nebraska Melange a Trois (Arriving Friday).
Jolly Pumpkin/Evil Twin Innovator Man – It’s very tough to find much information about this one online, but it is definitely a collaboration between Jolly Pumpkin and Evil Twin and it is definitely a tart farmhouse ale brewed with strawberries. 6.8% ABV/Dexter, MI/No ratings yet/Availability: plenty
Boulevard Chocolate w/ Raspberries* – Boulevard paired up with a local chocolatier in Kansas City to make a raspberry-filled version of their popular Chocolate Ale. While some chocolate beers can be unbalanced and too sweet, this one gives great hints of chocolate flavor without the residual sweetness. We’re excited to try the raspberry version. 9.1% ABV/Kansas City, MO/Ratebeer 83/Availability: decent/*Arriving Friday
Boulevard Imperial Stout X w/ Coconut* – Using the base beer for Imperial Stout as a starting point, the brewers suspended just over two pounds per barrel of raw and toasted coconut flakes in porous bags in each fermentation tank. Finished, cooled beer was then transferred onto the flakes and allowed to rest for 48 hours to infuse the aroma and flavor of the coconut into the base beer. The resulting beer is a marriage of huge, round, chocolate and caramel notes from Imperial Stout, with smooth layers of sweet, toasted coconut notes. 11% ABV/Kansas City, MO/No ratings yet/Availability: plenty/*arriving Friday
Deep Ellum Cherry Chocolate Double Brown Stout – Each February Deep Ellum takes their double brown stout and adds real Red Tart & Dark Sweet Cherries at the beginning of fermentation and cacoa nibs at the end of conditioning. Rich, dark and delicious. 8% ABV/Dallas, TX/Ratebeer 88/Availability: plenty
903 Brewers Balcones Barrel Aged Sasquatch – This one took home a silver medal in the aged beer category at last year’s GABF. 903 took their Imperial Chocolate Milk Stout and aged it in Baby Blue bourbon barrels prior to bottling. 22 oz bomber format. 10.5% ABV/Sherman, TX/No ratings yet/Availability: plenty
Argus Stellar – Argus’ newest release in 750mL format is a single variety of apple called Stellar known for its green apple and pear-like qualities. Lightly sparkling, this fruit forward cider has been aged in a combination of French oak casks over the last year. 6.7% ABV/Austin, TX/No ratings yet/Availability: decent
Infamous Bugsy’s – It has been quite a while since Infamous released a new canned beer, so we’re happy they put the easy drinking Bugsy’s amber ale in 6 pack cans for the first time. 5.5% ABV/Austin, TX/No ratings yet/Availability: plenty
Ommegang Shadow Brewer – Pours jet black with a thick tan head. Roasted malt, coffee and chocolate lead – giving way to rich dark fruit notes and hints of spicy piney hops. Layers of malt, roast and chocolate cone through in the front pallet with moderate hop bitterness. The finish is thick and chewy, with oatmeal creaminess and pleasant lingering roast. 9.7% ABV/Cooperstown, NY/No ratings yet/Availability: decent
Ommegang Rosetta – A brand new year-round release from Ommegang, this is stylistically a Belgian-inspired Kriek or cherry beer. Their head brewer’s recipe called for a perfectly balanced blend of old (aged on cherries at least three years) and young Flemish brown ale (or oud bruin) with a lively and fruity kriek, or cherry beer. The result is a complex yet refreshing mahogany-brown brew that is an intriguing interplay of tartness and sweetness. 5.6% ABV/Cooperstown, NY/Ratebeer 97/Availability: decent
Adelbert’s Contemplating Waterloo – This one was hugely popular last year so we’re excited Adelbert’s is releasing another batch. I believe this was the first barrel release they did in partnership with Treaty Oak Distilling. They took their Philosophizer saison and aged it in Treaty Oak’s Waterloo Antique Gin barrels. The result is a complex array of lavender, juniper and oak from the barrel balanced with the Philosophizer to create a smooth, warming ale. 9.1% ABV/Austin, TX/No ratings yet/Availability: decent but will go fast
Independence White Rabbit – Inspired by traditional Belgian witbiers, White Rabbit is delicately spiced with coriander and orange zest creating a pleasant fruity aroma. It’s medium-bodied with a slightly fruity, refreshing tang and a clean, zesty finish. 5.9% ABV/Austin, TX/No ratings yet/Availability: plenty
Alaskan Jalapeño Imperial IPA – The American Imperial IPA is most often characterized by a gold or copper color, citrus hop character, big malt body and lingering bitterness. The addition of jalapeño peppers lends itself to furthering this intensity, while effortlessly pairing with the style’s hop profile. 8.5% ABV/Juneau, AK/Ratebeer 91/Availability: plenty
Jolly Pumpkin Madrugada Obscura – A Belgian inspired stout that is dark, rich but slightly funky, brimming of roasted malts and bitter hops. A very complex beer, dark and acidic, but also roasty and sour. 8.1% ABV/Dexter, MI/Ratebeer 95/Availability: decent
Jolly Pumpkin/Stillwater Pinchadiscos – Another in the gypsy collaboration series, Jolly Pumpkin teamed up with the Stillwater Artisanal crew this time around to brew a tart and dry saison with lime, rose and lemongrass. Aroma of botanicals, lime zest, Brettanomyces and tea. 6.5% ABV/Dexter, MI/Ratebeer 96/Availability: plenty
Uinta Stompin’ Grounds Coffee Stout – The latest beer from Uinta’s Crooked Line series, this one is a coffee stout that was made with Salt Lake City’s Publik Coffee Roasters. The base beer is a Foreign/Export stout, so the coffee will play nicely with the roasted malt base. 8.1% ABV/Salt Lake City, UT/Ratebeer 93/Availability: plenty
Knee Deep Citra Pale Ale –A single hop, west coast-style American Pale Ale with intense hop flavor and aromas. It’s a citrus bomb that has grapefruit and passion fruit aromas with citrus lime flavors. 7% ABV/Auburn, CA/Ratebeer 96/Availability: plenty
Green Flash Passion Fruit Kicker – Even though 2016 is only 6 weeks old, savvy craft enthusiasts will have already noticed a trend: fruit addition beers. Green Flash’s first seasonal release of the year uses a passion fruit tea and juice on a base Belgian witbier. It’s fruity, spicy and very easy drinking. 5.5% ABV/San Diego, CA/Ratebeer 89/Availability: decent
Jolly Pumpkin owner/founder Ron Jeffries has been operating a second brewery for quite some time, called North Peak Brewing. They technically share the same facility as Jolly Pumpkin but brew very straightforward styles – greatly contrasted with the barrel aged, funky, sour Jolly Pumpkin releases. We have plenty of their five launch beers, and we’re offering $11 mixed 5 packs so you can try all 5 new beers. They are: Diabolical IPA, Siren Amber, Vicious Wheat IPA, Wandered Session IPA and Majestic Wheat.
Real Ale Helles – Real Ale’s spring seasonal uses German pilsner malt to give subtle malt sweetness while Hallertau Tradition hops provide the enticing aroma of this classic style. A dry finish, with moderate bitterness, makes this a true session beer. 4.5% ABV/Blanco, TX/No ratings yet/Availability: plenty
Cascade Blueberry* – What better way to celebrate Jester King’s Colour Five release this weekend than a brand new blueberry barrel aged sour from Cascade?? This sour ale blends wheat & blond ales that were oak aged in barrels for 6 months, then additionally aged 4 months on fresh blueberries. Huge herbal notes of dense blueberries in the nose give way to hints of oak & a dusty floral note. Rich earthy notes of dark fruit on the palate lead to a tart finish that dries out to a base note of blueberry skins. 7.33% ABV/Portland, OR/Ratebeer 99/Availability: very limited/*arriving Friday
Cascade Cranberry* – Produced once a year, it’s barrel aged seven months with 200 pounds of cranberries, hibiscus, sweet orange peel and Thai cinnamon. Light sweet floral notes of citrus and pink candy are noticed up front. Tart, dry hints of sweet cranberries & wild strawberries on the palate give way to a pronounced dryness in the finish, with notes of cranberries & hints of vanilla and cinnamon. 7% ABV/Portland, OR/Ratebeer 96/Availability: very limited/*arriving Friday
Nebraska Fathead* – Fathead started out as a strong Scotch Ale but has morphed over time into Barleywine territory. This beer features an addition of dark brown sugar to boost the alcohol and contribute a unique caramel/molasses character. Hopped with just enough Centennial and Cascade to offset the slight sweetness of this big, warming beer. It’s then aged 6 months in fresh whisky barrels. 12.1% ABV/Papillion, NE/Ratebeer 96/Availability: decent/*arriving Friday
Maybe arriving Friday: Ballast Point Watermelon Dorado, Pineapple Sculpin and Mango Even Keel. Unfortunately we won’t know until tomorrow morning if these beers will be arriving from the distributor. Follow our Twitter profile for the latest releases.
Free Weekend Tastings
Friday 6-9pm
Free Head Can Beer Pairing! Details above.
Saturday 6-8pm
North Peak Brewing free tasting with Daniel!