Even though school has started back up, are you still planning a trip to float the river? If so we have custom mixed 6 packs of cans that come with a free koozie! See a sample here, and come on in to check out the current lineup, as the beers in these packs will change weekly.
If you’re free on Saturday, September 5th, mark your calendars for a very unique & cool event happening East Austin. Co-Lab Projects is having their annual Art of the Brew event and it’s open to the public. It’s a very interesting collaboration event with local artists and brewers. They pair an artist up with a brewery to make a unique piece of art and a unique beer. It’s a suggested donation of $20 at the door. There’s also music all day and food trucks. We hope to see you there!
Sahara’s blog post #7: Craft Beer Cocktails! Making beer cocktails is a fun & creative way to add new elements to some of your favorite beers.
Also, Sahara’s next post next month will feature beer recipes, and we’re taking your suggestions! Send your favorite beer (food) recipes to Sahara@whichcraftbeerstore.com and she’ll pick her favorite 6, with each of the 6 winners getting a free key chain!
Free In-Store Tastings 6-8pm
Thursday, August 27th – TONIGHT!
Jody Hunt from Sierra Nevada will be here sampling out Kellerweiss, Oktoberfest and Hoptimum. We’ll also be opening a single bottle of the new Ovila Barrel Aged Abbey Dubbel (details below). We’ll also have available for sale 3 bottles each of Barrel Aged Bigfoot and Barrel Aged Narwhal, first come first serve starting at 6pm, limit 1 per person.
Friday, August 28th
Kelly Meyer, owner and founder of New Braunfels Brewing Company, will be in the house pouring free samples of their new Bauernhaus series of Farmhouse ales. These beers are extensions of their year-round wheat beers, which get bottle conditioned with NBBC’s house sour yeast strain for a slight funky & mildly tart taste. We’ll be tasting the Blondine (hefeweizen), Uber (Weizenbock) and Schwartz (Dunkelweizen).
Tuesday, September 1st
New Ranger Creek Siobhan will be having her first tasting here while we sample out the whole current lineup – Strawberry Milk Stout, Red Headed Stranger, Purple Rhine Prickly Pear Berliner Weisse and Small Batch #10 – a Cardamom Tripel. We’ll also be cellar releasing 6 bottles of each of Small Batches 7, 8 and 9, limit 1 of each per person, first come first serve.
Wednesday, September 2nd
Seguin Brewing just launched their Oktoberfest so Brian Wallace will be in the house as we’ll be featuring that in the free tasting along with Lake Breeze, Freedom Fiesta and 9 Pin Kolsch.
Thursday, September 3rd
Help launch Freetail Brewing in Austin! Megan will be pouring free samples of the whole Freetail lineup in addition to free samples of a couple hard-to-find Freetail brews as well! None for sale but taste them for free.
New Beers This Week
Back in stock: Uinta Oak Jacked Imperial Pumpkin, Lone Pint Yellow Rose (arriving Friday).
We’re excited to say we’ll be getting a new batch of Lakewood that will be available late Friday or first thing Saturday morning! We’ll be getting Punkel & Temptress.
Martin House Salty Lady Gose* — One of Martin House Brewery’s most popular beers, the Salty Lady is a gose with a touch of citrus and coriander for a refreshing slightly tart finish. 5% ABV/Fort Worth, TX/Ratebeer 95/Availability: plenty/*Arriving Friday
Dogfish 120 Minute IPA – Dogfish’s semi-annual hop beast release is out again; this batch was bottled at the end of July. Being an IPA, you can obviously drink this as fresh as possible, though some people like to age this IPA like you would a barley wine. Very limited & will go fast. Milton, DE/Ratebeer 99/Availability: very limited
We’re excited to be one of the first retailers in Austin to help launch Freetail Brewing of San Antonio. Austin drinkers have been asking for over a year now when Freetail would finally make it up this way and that day is finally here. The first 4 beers listed below are in 6 pack cans while the Witicus is a bomber. We’re doing custom 4 pack cans… try one of each of the new canned releases for only $7 + tax.
Freetail Rye Wit – Untraditional Belgian-inspired beer brewed with raw wheat and 15% malted rye; seasoned with coriander and orange peel.. Delicately spicy, but assertive enough to take on the richest of flavors. 4.4% ABV/San Antonio, TX/Beer Advocate 88/Availability: plenty
Freetail Bat Outta Helles – Traditional Helles-style lager—Munich’s initial answer to Bohemian Pils—very pale, with significant sweet malt flavor and drying hop finish. 4.2% ABV/San Antonio, TX/Beer Advocate 86/Availability: plenty
Freetail Original Amber – Freetail’s first ever release back in 2008, this is an easy drinking and well balanced amber ale. Brewed with Pils, Munich, Vienna and Caramunich malts hand in hand with European and American hops. 6.3% ABV/San Antonio, TX/Availability: plenty
Freetail Soul Doubt IPA – Pils, pale and caramel provide a light & pale body for the late hop additions of Amarillo and Cascade. Citrus, orchard fruit and wildflower aroma and flavor. 6.8% ABV/ San Antonio, TX/Availability: plenty
Freetail Witicus Double Rye Wit – Brewed with pils malt, malted rye and raw wheat this big, Ameri-Belgo-style ale is a far cry from its little brother. Bursting with fruit esters of pear, pineapple and citrus from our favorite yeast strain. 8.2% ABV/San Antonio, TX/Ratebeer 92/Availability: plenty
Jolly Pumpkin Forgotten Tales – This oak aged sour saison is a collaboration with Celina Tio, chef/owner of JULIAN and The Belfry in Kansas City. Brewed with mango and tamarind and a touch of rye. Well balanced, slightly fruity and spicy. A complex but still easy drinking brew. 5.7% ABV/Dexter, MI/Ratebeer 99/Availability: decent
Stone Thunderstruck IPA – Stone’s 19th anniversary double IPA owes its considerable oomph to a quartet of Australian hops—Topaz and Galaxy, plus newcomers Ella and Vic Secret. Also Fairview malt was shipped in from Australia just for this brew. The beer’s striking tropical fruit, citrus and peach hop flavors and slightly resinous and aromatically dank earthiness are sure to electrify your senses. 8.7% ABV/Escondido, CA/Ratebeer 98/Availability: limited
Goose Island Madame Rose – Madame Rose is a crimson colored Belgian style brown ale fermented with wild yeast and aged on cherries in wine barrels. Layers of malty complexity, sour cherry, spice and wood notes make Madame Rose an ideal beer for Bordeaux enthusiasts and beer drinkers fond of Belgian Kriek and Flanders Brown Ales. This batch was bottled over a year ago in March 2014! 6.7% ABV/Chicago, IL/Ratebeer 99/Availability: limited
Nebraska Hop Anomaly – Chardonnay Barrel aged version. This is a fascinating, big, bold Belgian-style Tripel hopped in very high amounts to concentrate citrus, grapefruit and floral aromatics in the nose. The addition of Chardonnay barrel aging adds further dimension and oak tannins to an already wonderfully complex ale – bringing to mind tropical fruits and peach. 10.8% ABV/Papillion, NE/Ratebeer 99/Availability: limited
More Oktoberfest beers! New releases from Real Ale, Seguin, Goliad & Ballast Point.
Prairie Rugby* – Prairie’s latest release is a pale ale brewed with Summit & Chinook hops. It’s a medium-bodied ale with notes of biscuit that nicely compliment the piney resin notes the hops add. 5.4% ABV/Tulsa, OK/Beer Advocate 87/Availability: decent/*Arriving Friday
Ballast Point Pumpkin Down* – The caramel and toffee maltiness of Ballast Point’s Piper Down Scottish ale is the perfect backdrop for a boatload of roasted pumpkin. Just before bottling, a subtle amount of spice is added to complement, but not overwhelm, the earthy flavor. 5.8% ABV/San Diego, CA/Beer Advocate 87/Availability: limited/*Arriving Friday
2014 Epic Imperial Pumpkin Porter* – This beer explodes with aromas of sweet spices giving way to chocolate and roasted malt. Flavors are reminiscent of fresh-cut pumpkin and chocolate and complimented by hints of clove, fresh Madagascar vanilla beans, nutmeg and allspice. This version has been cellared since last fall, so some of the sweetness has faded making it a rich & delicate pumpkin ale. 8% ABV/Salt Lake City, UT/Ratebeer 96/Availability: decent/*Arriving Friday
Hops & Grain Greenhouse #28 – Back again! Bravo, Centennial & Equinox take center stage this time around.
Free Weekend Tastings, 6-8pm
Friday
New Braunfels Brewing founder & owner Kelly Meyer in the house! See details above.
Saturday
Stone Thunderstruck IPA
Martin House Salty Lady Gose
Prairie Rugby
Wasatch Black O’Lantern Pumpkin Stout