We worked with one of our awesome distributors to buy out the balance of the Southern Tier Warlock they had in stock. That means starting tomorrow we’ll have the pumpkin spiced imperial stout Warlock at almost 50% off! $6.50 per bottle. This coincides with our Southern Tier tasting event next Tuesday… details below.
We have gift cards available for purchase this holiday season in which we custom print the text on the back. Bonus: we print them on paddle-style bottle openers, and whomever you’re buying the gift card for gets to keep the opener! See the example above.
Free Tastings 6-8pm
Tuesday, December 16th
We invite Terry Sherman from Southern Tier Brewing in Lakewood, NY into the store to sample out the latest holiday seasonals: 2xMAS & Krampus imperial helles lager. We’ll also be sampling out their pumpkin imperial stout Warlock and offering these fantastic beers for half price! We’ve made a deal with our distributor to grab the last of the quantity of these they had. Also we’ll be releasing the winter seasonal Choklat for purchase during the tasting! This will be an awesome tasting you won’t want to miss.
Wednesday, December 17th
Believe it or not, in our first 8 months of operating, we’ve yet to have local Belgian-style brewery Adelbert’s into the store for a tasting! We’re remedying that by having Hodge from the brewery into the store to sample out the latest release Sundowner, a 12% biere brut brewed & bottle conditioned with champagne yeast. It’s a very unique style that only a handful of brewers in the US attempt. We’ll also be tasting the old standbys Tripel B and Flyin’ Monks.
Thursday, December 18th
We’re always honored to host Christine Celis in the store, and even more so this time around as she has just launched the latest in her Gypsy Collaborations beer series. She now works directly with Uncle Billy’s brewpub and partnered up with Celis Brewery’s previous head brewer Kim Clarke to put out this outstanding Dubbel Coffee Porter. We’ll also be sampling the two Uncle Billy’s beers that are in cans currently – the Humbucker Helles and Green Room IPA.
New Beers This Week
Abita Wrought Iron IPA – As we’ve been saying lately, Abita has really been stepping up their game with their newest releases. The Abita Wrought Iron IPA embodies the resilient, indestructible nature of New Orleans and is brewed with the intensity of Apollo, Equinox and Mosaic Hops. 6.9% ABV/Abita Springs, LA/Beer Advocate 89
Abita Grapefruit Harvest IPA – Abita Grapefruit Harvest is a brilliant golden IPA with a subtle zest of grapefruit flavor and aroma that enhances the strong hop character. This bright, snappy brew is made with real Louisiana Ruby-Red grapefruits, pale, pilsner and caramel malts and cascade hops. 6% ABV/Abita Springs, LA/Beer Advocate 80
Save the World Sanguis Barleywine – The latest release from Save the World is a barleywine that is a Belgian spin on the historic strong ale. Extended aging with raisins, oak, and 5 different yeasts (including Brett) results in aromas and flavors of caramel, dried dark fruits, and hints of nuts. It is full bodied and has noticeable warmth. Cellar age a few of these and your future self will thank you! 11% ABV/Marble Falls, TX/No ratings yet
Samuel Smith Yorkshire Stingo – Some of the oak casks at Samuel Smith’s date back more than a century with the individual oak staves being replaced by the Old Brewery coopers over the years. Gradually the casks soak in more & more of the character of the ale fermented in stone Yorkshire squares. Yorkshire Stingo is aged for at least a year, matured in these well-used oak casks in the brewery’s underground cellars deriving fruit, raisin, treacle toffee, Christmas pudding and slight oaky flavours, before being further naturally conditioned in bottle. English Strong Ale. 9% ABV/Tadcaster, England/Ratebeer 97
Ranger Creek Small Batch #10 Cardamom Tripel – The latest in the small batch series from Ranger Creek is a perfect pairing for holiday meals. It’s a Belgian-style tripel brewed with cardamom to give it a nice spicy pop. We’ll be tasting it in our Friday evening tasting. San Antonio, TX
Texas Keeper Gold Rush & Golden Russet – Local cidery Texas Keeper just released their newest 2 single-varietal ciders and both are subtle, fruity and semi-sweet to dry. Each uses a single type of apple, gold rush and golden russet respectively, and while each is a bit sweeter than their first release (Texas Keeper #1), both are considerably drier than most commercial ciders on the market. If you’re a fan of well-balanced ciders, give these a shot. 7.7% ABV and 8.7% ABV respectively/Austin, TX
Southern Tier 2xMAS – Brewed in the tradition of Swedish Glogg. Ale brewed with Figs, Orange peels, and spices. 2 varieties of hops and 4 types of malts. We’ll tasting 8% ABV/Lakewood, NY/Ratebeer 93
Hitachino Nipponia – Nipponia is brewed using the revived Japanese breed of Kanego Golden barley which was first developed in 1900, along with another strain of hops called Japanese-bred Sorachi Ace. Nipponia is a delightfully golden coloured beer with citrus edge and complex and lingering taste. 6.5% ABV/Ibaraki, Japan/Beer Advocate 87
Elevation False Summit – Aromas of dark fruits, vanilla, and Bourbon seep off of False Summit from a milk chocolate head. The palate hits with notes of plums, dark cherries, bourbon, oak, and vanilla with a medium body to heavy body. As the beer warms notes of caramel, oak, and dark candi sugar become more prevalent. Aged in Breckenridge Distillery Bourbon Barrels. 11.1% ABV/Poncha Springs, CO/Ratebeer 96
Elevation Arete – Arête is a blended barleywine, constructed over two separate batches that was then dry-hopped. This is 100% Centennial hops throughout, but it feels way more expansive than a single-hop beer should. There’s some dark-fruit, leathery complexity, soft brown sugar and caramel, with a soft, red-fruit alcohol notes. 12.5% ABV/Poncha Springs, CO/No ratings yet
Clown Shoes Reindeer Games – A 50/50 mix of German and American ingredients, this is a double IPA brewed with Bavarian Red X malt known for providing a reddish hue to beers. Also brewed with Chico yeast so very clean. A very interesting hybrid style. 8% ABV/Ipswich, MA/No ratings yet
Dogfish Head American Beauty – Brewed to commemorate the Grateful Dead, American Beauty is brewed with all-American malts and hops, granola and little bit of soul. It’s malty with a big hop kick, and notes of toasted almond and honey round out the flavor profile and balance out the hop bitterness. 9% ABV/Milton, DE/Ratebeer 92
New Braunfels Erdeweiss – The New Braunfels Erdeweiss is a dunkelweizen which happens to be the base beer for a few different New Braunfels’ brews, particularly in the barrel aging program. Erdeweiss finally gets to step out of the shadow of these other brews and gets its own bottle. 4.5% ABV/New Braunfels, TX/No ratings yet
Samuel Smith’s Organic Chocolate Stout – Brewed with well water, the gently roasted organic cocoa extract impart a delicious, smooth and creamy character, with inviting deep flavours and a delightful finish – this is a marriage of satisfying stout and luxurious chocolate. 5% ABV/Tadcaster, England/Ratebeer 98
Unibroue La Fin du Monde 6 Liter bottle! – Yes, you read that right! See the photo here, with Bubba added for scale. This is one of those things you didn’t know you needed until now! We got one of only about 5 in the region and it hasn’t sold yet.
Sierra Nevada Wild Hop Harvest – A few years back, Sierra caught wind of rogue hop heads in the Southwest who began collecting some of the wild hops they found while scrambling down hillsides near their home in New Mexico. These bizarre, multi-headed, native U.S. cones have a flavor like nothing we’ve tasted, and for the first time, Sierra is showcasing their unusual melon, apricot and citrus aromas and flavors in our beer. Neomexicanus is the literal wild card in the Sierra Nevada five-bottle Harvest series which features single hop, fresh hop, wet hop, and wild hop beers. 6.5% ABV/Chico, CA/No ratings yet
Unibroue Ephemere Cranberry – The second in a series of lively original recipe beers that come and go before you know it. From season to season and year to year you’ll find a different Éphémère beer. 5.5% ABV/Chambly, Canada/Ratebeer 82
Rogue XS Dead Guy 2013 – Every year Rogue releases a vintage XS Dead Guy in really cool ceramic swing top bottles. It’s technically an American Strong Ale at 9% ABV and has aroma of toasty and bready malt with a little caramel and a slight pine hop aroma. Taste is toasted malts, spicy hops, a little fruitiness and a slight caramel sweetness. 9% ABV/Newport, OR/Beer Advocate 87
5 Stones Merry Christmas – Ale handcrafted with cinnamon, vanilla beans, nutmeg, and allspice. Happy holidays! 7.9% ABV/Cibolo, TX/No ratings yet
5 Stones Norma Jeane – We’ve been so inundated with holiday seasonals and huge spicy beers it’s nice to have a little change of pace stylistically. This is a blonde ale brewed with fresh strawberries and vanilla. Delicious! 6.83% ABV/Cibolo, TX/No ratings yet
Victory Hop Ranch – This powerful brew features full, juicy hop character, while expressing notes of mango, pineapple and the pleasantly sharp, biting edges of tart citrus fruit. 9% ABV/Downington, PA/Ratebeer 99
D’Achouffe N’Ice Chouffe – The holiday seasonal from D’Achouffe in Belgium, this beer is a dark brown, fruity, lightly hoppy, sparkling, strong beer. Nice brown ale taste with some dark caramel and light molasses sweetness and some dark fruit, figs and fruit cake dried fruit . 10% ABV/Achouffe, Belgium/Ratebeer 98
Alaskan Smoked Porter 2014 & Gift Pack – The Alaskan Smoked Porter is the single most winning beer in GABF medal history. We have the 2014 verison which just came in stock to add to the 2013 we’ve had for a few weeks. We also got a limited amount of a really nice gift pack whih includes the 2008 and 2013 vintage bottles along with 2 tulip glasses.
Mikkeller To/From/Via Holiday Porter – The holiday Baltic porter from Mikkeller with convenient a To and From tag as part of the label! Makes gift giving easy. 8% ABV/Copenhage, Denmark/Beer Advocate 90
Mikkeller Red/White Christmas 1.5L – A hybrid between a Red Ale and Wit Bier, added a lot of American hops and bitter tropical orange peel. 8% ABV/Copenhagen, Denmark/Ratebeer 98
Mikkeller Santa’s Little Helper – A dark strong Belgian ale brewed with water, malt, flaked wheat, dark candy syrup, hops (northern brewer, hallertauer and styrian goldings), spices (orange peel and coriander seed) and ale yeast. 8% ABV/Copenhagen, Denmark/Ratebeer 94
To Ol Snowball Saison – It is a super sparkling crisp and dry saison that has been refermented with milk acid bacteria and dry hopped over and over to give the beer a crisp and smooth tart finish. One of the most highly sought after To Ol releases each year. 8% ABV/Copenhagen, Denmark/Ratebeer 97
To Ol Jule Maelk Super Stout – A hefty imperial milk stout that weighs in at 15% ABV. Rich aroma of sweet dark toasted malt, molasses, dark chocolate, licorice and oak. Very smokey, with fudge, chocolate, cocoa. 15% ABV/Copenhagen, Denmark/Ratebeer 96
Baird Rising Sun – Brand new to Texas! Baird Brewing from Numuzu, Japan is a husband and wife team which brews all bottle-conditioned ales. The Rising Sun is a quenching brew is crafted in the American west-coast style. It sports a beautiful soft citrus hop aroma which gives way to a round, honeyed-fruit flavor. The finish is crisp and refreshing. 5.1% ABV/Numazu, Japan/Beer Advocate 85
Baird Red Rose Amber Ale – This original amber ale is inspired by the “Steam” style of beer. Whereas a “Steam” is a lager beer fermented at an elevated ale-type temperature, Red Rose is an ale fermented at a lower lager-type temperature. 5.4% ABV/Numazu, Japan/Beer Advocate 86
Baird Angry Boy Brown Ale – A roasty & slightly bitter brown ale. Bottle conditioned and easy drinking. 6.2% ABV/Numazu, Japan/Ratebeer 90
Baird Kurofune Porter – Kurofune, which means “Black Ships,” was the word the Japanese used to describe the American gunboats that came to open Japan to western trade. Kurofone Porter is sleek and forceful, but leaves a winning bittersweet taste of chocolate and coffee on the tongue. 6% ABV/Numazu, Japan/Ratebeer 91
Baird Suruga Bay Double IPA – The first key to a great Double IPA is dryness of character despite the high original gravity. This is accomplished, foremost, through high attenuation by the yeast during fermentation. This is achieved by dry hopping Suruga Bay Imperial IPA with several varieties of pungently strong American hops. 7.5% ABV/Numazu, Japan/Ratebeer 96
Weekend Tastings, 6-8pm
Friday
Ranger Creek Small Batch #10 Cardamom Tripel
Abita Wrought Iron IPA
Save the World Sanguis Barleywine
One other random thing we’ll open up
Saturday
Victory Hop Ranch
Alaskan 2014 Smoked Porter
5 Stones Merry Christmas
One other random thing we’ll open up