Stone Vertical Epic Ale

As with any good epic, herein lies the promise of larger-than-life experiences, heroics and twists & turns as the adventure unfolds. These bottle-conditioned ales are specifically designed to be aged until sometime after December 12th, 2012. Provided you can wait that long. At that time, enjoy them in a "vertical" tasting. Each one unique to it's year of release. Each with its own "twist & turn" in the plotline. Each one released one year, one month and one day from the previous year's edition. To remind you, the remaining dates are:

09.09.09

10.10.10

11.11.11

12.12.12

Buffalo Bill's Brewery - Orange Blossom Cream Ale

Seasonal Ale Made with Honey, Orange Peel, and Natural Flavor, with Orange Flower Extract Added

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot 2009

alcohol content 9.6% by volume	bittering hops Chinook
beginning gravity 23.0 Plato	finishing hops Cascade & Centennial
ending gravity 6.0 Plato	dry hopping Cascade, Centennial & Chinook
bitterness units 90	malts Two-row Pale & English Caramel
yeast Top-fermenting Ale Yeast

Check it out here:

http://www.sierranevada.com/beers/bigfoot.html

What's On Tap? (Lexington & Indianapolis)

WHAT’S ON TAP?

Mellow Mushroom in Lexington, in addition to having excellent food, had over twenty beers on tap. I tried the following:

Schafly (St Louis) Winter ESB
Anderson Valley (California) Oatmeal Stout
“Dark Horse” Black & Tan: Guinness mixed with Kentucky Ale



On the way back from Kentucky at Centre Circle Mall in down town Indianapolis:
Counted at least three breweries here: Ram, Rock Bottom, and Aklatraz
Stopped at Ram, and addition to their usual offerings they had the following seasonals:
Kolsch, Java Stout, “Nutcracker” Hazelnut Porter, and “Steam Stack!”

BEERS OF THE WEEK

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BEERS OF THE WEEK: (From Your Host, Dan VK!)

Found the following at Ladd's this week:

Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale

alcohol content 6.8% by volume	bittering hops Chinook
beginning gravity 16.0 Plato	finishing hops Cascade & Centennial
ending gravity 4.0 Plato	dry hopping Cascade & Centennial
bitterness units 62	malts Two-row Pale & English Caramel
yeast Top-fermenting Ale Yeast

The long, cold nights of winter are a little brighter with Celebration^® Ale. Wonderfully robust and rich, Celebration^® Ale is dry-hopped for a lively, intense aroma. Brewed especially for the holidays, it is perfect for a festive gathering or for a quiet evening at home.

"…best beer ever made in America."
– Stan Sessor, San Francisco Chronicle

GOLD MEDAL WINNER
United States Beer Tasting Championship (IPA: 1994)

FIRST PLACE
Chicago Beer Society — 1996 Fall Beer Tasting

SILVER MEDAL WINNER
California State Fair (IPA: 1999)
Great American Beer Festival (IPA: 2002)

Hang Ten, Weizen Dopplebock

ABV: Approx. 10%

Hang Ten is the Heavy Seas wheat beer you've been waiting for. A classic German-style weizen bock, slightly cloudy and bursting with flavor. Hang on and surf the Heavy Seas wave! Seasonally available in July while supplies last.

Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock 2008

5.5% alchohol

This beer was $15 for a single 750 ML bottle at Ladd's. (I had to pass on this one but thought it was worth a mention!)

Description from Samuel Adams website:

Samuel Adams® partnered Felchlin, a renowned Swiss chocolatier, to develop a unique innovation, Samuel Adams® Chocolate Bock. We started with a complex selection of carefully roasted malts combined with hand-selected Noble hops from Bavaria, the world's oldest growing area. After using a centuries old brewing process, called Krausening, we slowly aged the beer on a bed of rare dark cocoa nibs from Felchlin®, a renowned Swiss chocolatier. Known for their quality these wild cocoa nibs, harvested from the rainforest of Northern Bolivia, impart complex aromas and flavors of chocolate, honey and vanilla in the beer. The resulting beer, Samuel Adams® Chocolate Bock, has a big, malty character that is combined with the subtle sweetness of chocolate, giving this brew a complex full-body taste with a velvety finish.

Tettnang-Tettnanger and Spalt hops were hand-selected from the world's oldest growing area and combined with a complex selection of malts including two-row Pale, Munich and Caramel to create a rich and satisfying brew. This dark beer has a big, malty character that is combined with the subtle sweetness of chocolate. Samuel Adams® Chocolate Bock was aged on a bed of cocoa nibs to create its unique layers of flavor. As the beer matured, the fruity, tart, earthy and chocolate aromas were released into the liquid to give the brew a complex, full -bodied taste with a velvety finish. A hint of vanilla was added to meld the symphony of flavors together.

What's On Tap

Found this on tap at the Muskegon Athletic Club (M.A.C) tonight:

Unlimited Release This is our unique version of an ancient style. A style as old as the ocean trade routes of the last centuries Great Ships. Not as old as the equator they had to cross twice enroute, nor as old as the 10,000 or so miles of Di-Hydrogen Oxide and Sodium upon which they sailed, but older than the Circulithium-4 Lentloid that binds the Lupulin Quartnate onto your taste buds. Weird. Think about it. Now stop. OK, go again, now stop. Think again, and stop. But we digress. Made with 43 different hops and 65 various malts, this redolent ale will likely float your boat, whatever planet you're on. Thanks for your trust, and as always:Think Globally, Drink Locally!! Say "LAH-GOO-KNEE-TUSS"

Brownbag Monday: Southern Hemisphere HARVEST Fresh Hop Ale

Found this 24 ouncer at Ladd's this week:

Our newest addition to our Harvest family is Southern Hemisphere Harvest. This is the first time we know of that an American brewer has put out a beer with fresh-picked hops from the southern hemisphere. The inaugural ale will debut in late April and will feature fresh Pacific Hallertau, New Zealand Motueka and New Zealand Southern Cross hops, all from New Zealand.

Like our Celebration Ale, the fresh hops in this beer are dried right after being picked then shipped immediately to Chico for brewing so that they retain their peak aromatics and flavors. To ensure the freshest hops possible, we went to the added expense of flying these hops from New Zealand to Chico so we could brew with them the week after they were picked.

Southern Hemisphere Harvest Press Release

alcohol content 6.7% by volume	yeast Ale Yeast
beginning gravity 14.7 Plato	bittering hops Pacific Halertau
ending gravity 3.9 Plato	finishing hops New Zealand Motueka & New Zealand Southern Cross
bitterness units 66	malts Pale & Caramel

WIGFBD #1: HARVEST WET HOP ALE

WHAT I GOT FOR BOSSES DAY INSTALLMENT #1

SIERRA NEVADA 12th RELEASE: HARVEST WET HOP ALE