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Hoppin’ Frog Brewery is putting another twist on its award-winning B.O.R.I.S. the Crusher Oatmeal-Imperial Stout.

Two years ago, the Akron brewery created B.O.R.I.S. Royale by aging the beer in Canadian whiskey barrels. Now, Hoppin’ Frog has created B.O.R.I.S. Bairille Aois by aging the beer in Irish whiskey barrels.

The Irish whiskey barrels impart more whiskey character and provide a more buttery and crisper edge to the beer than aging in Kentucky bourbon barrels, owner and brewer Fred Karm said.

The limited release beer will be available in 22-ounce bottles exclusively at the brewery, 1688 E. Waterloo Road. Hoppin’ Frog will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday for retail sales.

Karm — who declined to identify the brand of whiskey — said he expects B.O.R.I.S. Bairille Aois to be the biggest Hoppin’ Frog special release yet. Two food trucks, Wholly Frijoles and the Orange Truk, will be there Friday to help celebrate.

Bairille Aois, which is Celtic for barrel aged, will sell for $14.99 a bottle and there is a two-case limit per person.

Regular B.O.R.I.S. has won two gold medals at the Great American Beer Festival.

Speaking of Hoppin’ Frog, the tasting room and restaurant are getting closer to opening. Karm said he expects it to open “around July 1” — and B.O.R.I.S. Bairille Aois will be available on draft there.

“We’re really going to kick it out,” he said about the restaurant and tasting room.

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Ross Whitsett, 33, downing a Sixpoint IPA while he got a haircut at Blind Barber in Manhattan. The salon wants to expand to Williamsburg, but the local community board opposes it.

A trendy liquor-serving barber shop from Manhattan is buzzing ahead with its plan to open an outpost on a quiet Williamsburg block — even though the neighborhood’s community board rejected its bid for a liquor license this week.

Blind Barber owner Jeff Laub, 29, said he was unconcerned about the Community Board 1 vote Tuesday night or the utpouring of opposition as he takes his case to the State Liquor Authority, which has ultimate power of booze permits
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In case you hadn’t realized it, there’s a whole lot of brewing going on in Southern California. Don’t believe it? Read the New Yorker. The magazine has put together a slick interactive map that illustrates the dramatic growth of the craft beer industry.

Based on new data from the Brewers Assn., the map highlights which states have the most craft breweries, which produce the most craft beer and where the biggest and newest breweries are located.

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Written by Dee Gross for crazycow252.blogspot.com/

My husband, the mad scientist…

Diving head-first into the world of craft brewing..

 

The long awaited brewing return has finally come, and husband came back with a bang.  He chose to make his triumphant return with a grand experiment. You may recall, in So…A Change in Plans 
this new creation is a combination of a Black Belgian Ale and a Tripel. It could very well be his greatest brew yet.

I will spare you the pain and torment of the cleaning, scrubbing, and scouring that goes into the preparation.  No time for that, let’s skip straight to the good parts.

Continue reading “Brewing Up Black Gold”

As of March, the United States was home to two thousand three hundred and sixty craft breweries, the relatively small, artisanship-oriented producers best known for India pale ales, porters, and other decidedly non-Budweiser-esque beers. These beverages have become so popular that craft beer now represents thirty per cent of Costco’s beer sales, and this past August the White House Press Secretary Jay Carney was asked whether Obama would be releasing the recipe for his honey ale. He responded, joking, “I’m not aware of any plans at this time to… divulge the secret recipes.” (The formula became public several days later.)

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What started as a trickle has become a torrent.

In 2002, the number of small breweries canning beer stood at one. Now, according to the Web site www.craftcans.com, that number has swelled to 290.

Lost Rhino Brewing in Ashburn rushed out 12-ounce cans of two of its beers — Rhino Chasers Pils and Face Plant IPA — in time for Memorial Day cookouts. Heavy Seas Beer in Baltimore plans this week to ship two canned brands: Loose Cannon, its American-style IPA, and Davy Jones Lager, an amber lager in the Anchor Steam mold. Devil’s Backbone Brewing in Lexington was prepping for a second canning run of its Striped Bass Pale Ale this month. And DC Brau has doubled the number of canned offerings, with Penn Quarter Porter, On the Wings of Armageddon (a super-hoppy imperial IPA) and summer seasonal El Hefe Speaks (a Bavarian-style wheat beer) joining its three pale ales.

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Courtesy http://beervanaomaha.blogspot.com

6. The Flavor Finder

This guy could be also be named “The Bullshitter.” His ability to identify flavors – many of which were not intentionally added to the brew – borders on paranormal. He’ll sniff at the settling head of an IPA and make verbal note of the subtle wafts of “raspberry, turmeric, and waffle batter.” He’ll take a sip and, swirling his tongue around his mouth, ask if you noticed the way the hops created “a dirty, rusty flavor” but “in a good way” then point out how the finish is like “molten cashews, cooked over a fire of pine needles and Brazilian rosewood.” The dude will claim to taste things humans can’t physically taste, like passion and eccentricity. If he is really tasting all of this stuff, there might be something really, really wrong with his tongue. Or maybe he’s about to have a stroke. No one knows.

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This weekend I opened a couple of really good bottles of beer at a party.

I offered to share with some of the other guests, despite not knowing them very well. One of the guys ended up talking to me about beer for over an hour and I was very happy to have shared a special saison with him.

At the same party, another guest poured a healthy serving of the AleSmith Anvil, tasted it, made a face, and grabbed a Limearita instead.

When it came to that particular individual, I really wished I could take my offer (and my beer) back.

With that, here are some guidelines for sharing the good stuff.

3 Kinds of People You Should Share Great Beer With

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All the IBUs. Half the ABV. Welcome to the India session ale (ISA). Emerging styles always generate some controversy as to their proper nomenclature. (Maybe it’s an Amero-Anglo-style bitter?) Whatever these nimbler hop bombs are, the result is a flavorful beer that won’t knock you on your keister the way a pint too many of the big IPAs or bigger Double IPAs might.

Stone Brewing brewmaster Mitch Steele, who literally wrote the book on the IPA style, IPA:Brewing Techniques, Recipes and the Evolution of India Pale Ale, loves this new direction.

“[Session IPAs are] kettle hopped (for bitterness up front) and dry hopped (for flavor and aroma after the boil) using similar quantities and varieties as a standard American IPA,” said Steele. “The brewers challenge here is twofold: first is achieving a good flavor balance in a beer that is so low in alcohol that there isn’t much else to balance the hop character with, and second, ensuring that the dry hop character doesn’t become overly vegetal, due to the lower alcohol content of the beer.”

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Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project has struck up a partnership with a specialty importer in New York City that will allow the Denver brewery to sell its beers there while Crooked Stave will distribute some rare and unique beers in the Denver area.

The distributor, Brooklyn’s 12 Percent Imports, is focused on bringing a handful of boutique Belgian beers into the United States, but it also handles distribution in New York City for a limited number of small or unusual U.S. breweries.

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