It’s that March Madness time of year so we decided to have a little fun with the idea of a bracket competition with our first ever WhichCraft Madness tournament! Read all the details here; fill out a bracket and vote on our social media channels over the next few weeks. Vote for your favorite readily available Texas beer!
Sahara’s latest blog post is all about Regional Beers of Germany and can be read here. Her curated 6 pack is now available for sale through the month of March.
Free In-Store Tastings
Saturday, March 21st 1-3pm
We are honored to host Jerome Rebetez, the founder & head brewer of BFM Brewery in Switzerland, on Saturday 3/21 from 1-3pm. We’ll be having a free tasting of the BFM beers and you’ll get a chance to talk with Jerome and have him sign any bottles you buy. BFM is known for innovative and small batch artisan ales, some of which are barrel aged and quite sour. Your tastebuds will thank you for visiting!
Tuesday, March 24th
Circle Brewing from right here in town is packaging their latest small batch release in 4 packs (arriving next Tuesday), a bourbon barrel-aged version of the popular Envy amber ale. We’ll be tasting it for free as well as the standard version of Envy and Blur hefeweizen.
Wednesday, March 25th
South Austin tasting released another canned beer recently, the Crossroads coffee stout. We’ll be tasting that one for free in addition to their other 4 beers as well. Each 4 or 6 pack comes with a free guitar pick!
Thursday, March 26th
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!
New Beers This Week
Back in stock: New Belgium Cocoa Mole, Odell Loose Leaf, Smuttynose Durty, Odell Runoff Red.
Boulevard Stout X Coffee* – The first in a new “Stout X” series, this Imperial Stout is put into a sanitized stainless tank that has been fitted with bags of coarsely ground coffee beans. At this point, the beer is at 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Infusing the coffee at this temperature is similar to the cold toddy method of brewing coffee. The resulting beer is a marriage of huge, round, chocolate and caramel notes from the base beer, with smooth layers of sweet citrus and floral flavors and aromas from the coffee. 11% ABV/Kansas City, MO/Ratebeer 99/Availability: plenty/*Arriving Friday
Boulevard Spring Belle* – Spring Belle is composed of a fairly traditional saison malt bill of two-row base pale malt and a touch of malted wheat. Magnum and Simcoe hops are utilized for bittering while late hopping with Calypso and Lemondrop lends bright, pear/citrus notes to the beer. During whirlpooling, the brewers infused the wort with just over 70 pounds of a blend of rose petals, chamomile and elderflower. 6.2% ABV/Kansas City, MO/Beer Advocate 85/Availability: limited/*Arriving Friday
Boulevard The Calling IPA* – The Calling is Boulevard’s attempt to create an IPA with a juicy, tropical fruit aroma that leaps from the glass. A simple malt base composed solely of two row base malt serves as a platform for giant, punchy hop flavor and aroma provided by a blend of Simcoe, Bravo, Topaz, Cascade, Mosaic, Equinox, Galaxy, and Amarillo hops. The Calling also receives an addition of lemon peel during the last five minutes of the boil to add an extra citrusy punch. 8.5% ABV/Kansas City, MO/Ratebeer 97/Availability: plenty/*Arriving Friday
Southern Tier Where the Helles Summer* – Where the Helles Summer? is a classic German style lager. These beers originated in the 19th century as a response to Pilsener beers from Czech brewers. Helles is German for “bright.” This is a clean & bready “beer drinker’s beer” balanced with austere noble hop varieties. It’s malt-forward and forward thinking to the warmer days just ahead. 4.6% ABV/Lakewood, NY/Beer Advocate 86/Availability: limited/*Arriving Friday
Lagunitas Olde GnarlyWine – Lagunitas’ big 10.6% ABV barleywine comes out once a year and usually flies off the shelves. It’s both malty and hoppy and packs a punch. 10.6% ABV/Petaluma, CA/Ratebeer 99/Availability: limited
Green Flash Mosaic Session IPA – The latest in the Hop Odyssey series from Green Flash brings a low ABV session IPA packed with mosaic hops. Comes in 6 packs & singles. 4.5% ABV/San Diego, CA/Ratebeer 94/Availability: plenty
Stone Cali-Belgique (now in 6 packs!) – Stone carefully selected a Belgian yeast strain that illuminates a fascinating new aspect of the beer that is otherwise quite simply Stone IPA. The result is both completely new and different, while still being recognizable as a Stone Brew – and Stone IPA in particular. Think of it as an otherwise identical twin to Stone IPA that was raised in a Belgian culture. 6.9% ABV/Escondido, CA/Ratebeer 98/Availability: limited
Argus Ciderkin – We’re excited to see local cidery Argus put out 6 packs of a couple of more approachable cider products. Ciderkin delivers a straightforward apple palate, yet finishes dry and tannic. Traditional Ciderkin is made from reconstituted apple pomace that is pressed and fermented wild to produce a low ABV—dry cider style. Expounding on that tradition, we have employed a yeast blend that finishes dry, yet still preserves a prominent stone fruit nose and apple palate. 4.5% ABV/Austin, TX/Availability: plenty
Argus Ginger Perry Cider – Ginger Perry is Argus’s first unpasteurized fermentation utilizing only the pear. Distinctly dry as characteristic of the Argus portfolio, development of this product placed the upmost importance on delivering a balance of ginger, stone fruit, and citrus flavors without palate fatigue after just one. Residual sugar is present, but don’t expect anything too sweet. 4.5% ABV/Austin, TX
Buffalo Bayou Chai Porter – Brewed with anise and made to taste like chai, the spices play well with the roasted malts of the porter base recipe. 7% ABV/Houston, TX/No ratings
Grapevine Saison de Festivals – With overwhelming tones of grapefruit, this saison is crisp, dry and beautifully simple. No clove here. The beer begins with an intense citrus aroma leading to a slightly peppery finish. The perfect balance between tart and sweet. 7% ABV/Grapevine, TX/Beer Advocate 85
Left Hand Good Juju – This one is basically a pale ale brewed from a relative low gravity, with some of the hops which would normally be used in the beer replaced by freshly ground ginger root. The beer is light in body, lower in alcohol, has a distinct ginger aroma, and has a very crisp finish. It was initially brewed as a refreshing alternative to the plethora of wheat beers which are popular in the summertime. 4.5% ABV/Longmont, CO/Availability: plenty
Victory Summer Love – The golden/blonde ale has a vibrant and refreshing pale color derived from its lean and refreshing malt body. And the initially floral aroma of hops segues into a well integrated, refreshing hop dryness of European heritage. 5.5% ABV/Downington, PA/Ratebeer 89/Availability: decent
Weekend Tastings, 6-8pm
Friday
Stone Delicious IPA
Community Inspiration
Grapevine Saison de Festivals
Abita Macchiato Espresso Milk Stout
Saturday
Green Flash Mosaic Session IPA
Prairie Hop dry hopped saison
Abita Mardi Gras Bock (only $8 per 6 pack!)
One more random thing we’ll open up!