American Craft Beer The Best Craft Beer, Breweries, Bars, Brewpubs, Beer Stores, And Restaurants Serving Serious Beer.
So many beers, So little time…Newbies is your essential map to the “best of the best” and the hottest new craft beers rolling out each week. From Brewery Ommegang’s newest seasonal, Glimmerglass, to the latest from Stone and Oskar Blues – we’ve got all kinds of new releases you’re going to want to chase down.
So welcome to another edition of Newbies -Your ultimate guide to great new craft beers!
Here Comes the Gubna (Longmont, CO & Brevard, NC) — The Oskar Blues Brewery is rolling out the 4.0 version of their popular Imperial IPA and the nation’s hop occultists are going crazy. Oskar Blues’ GUBNA Imperial IPA is massive, to say the least. Weighing in at 100+ IBUs and 10% ABV, this complex and chameleonic concoction packs an undeniable wallop. Government officials are rumored to have put their people on “stand-by” as the country holds its collective breath!
The Old Guard Returns (Escondido, CA) – The Stone Brewing Company is celebrating the release of its big, malty, fiercely hopped Strong Ale. The 2014 Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine is out there now and every year, it’s a little different.”Each year, the beer’s recipe is slightly adjusted to allow us to play with different malt and hop varieties,” explains Stone Brewmaster Mitch Steele. “All in all, I aim for the same end result: a well-rounded, complex beer that’s ready to drink now or age at cellar temperatures for many years.”
Changing Saisons (Cooperstown, NY) – Brewery Ommegang has just released its newest seasonal beer. The new spring Saison, Glimmerglass, is brewed with white wheat and amped with Bravo, Styrian Golding, Columbus, and Cascade hops – with some peppercorn and orange peel thrown in for good measure. But this Saison is really about Cooperstown’s pristine Otsego Lake water. “Clean water is one of the most important ingredients in our beer and we’re very fortunate to brew in Upstate New York where there’s such an abundance of perfect water,” said Ommegang Brewmaster Phil Leinhart. “Glimmerglass is our testament to the pure lakes and springs that our region,” – and it’s available now for a limited time on draft and in 12 oz. four-packs.
Saint Paddy’s Day Classic (Newport, OR) – Few craft breweries take St. Patrick’s Day as seriously as Rogue Ales does. Many think that RogueIrish Lager is the American craft beer for St. Patrick’s Day and who are we to disagree. This true Irish Lager has won international acclaim, boasting medals from the World Beer Championships and the Australian International Beer Awards, and it’s available now on draft and in 22 oz. seriographed bottles.
April Fool’s Day Collaboration in the Works (Charlottesville, VA) – Starr Hill Brewery is all wired up to brew a collaboration beer with Athens-based brewery Terrapin Beer Company next week. The collaboration will be a Belgian-style espresso stout called GAVA Joe. Pronounced “java,” this collaboration beer is inspired by the longtime friendship between the two brewmasters, Mark Thompson and Spike Buckowski. GAVA Joe will be a medium-bodied stout weighing in around 6.9% ABV. It will be fermented with a Belgian yeast strain, and will also feature espresso from two coffee roasters local to each brewery: Shenandoah Joe Coffee Roasters of Charlottesville, and Jittery Joe’s Coffee in Athens. Just 150 barrels of GAVA Joe will be brewed, and it will be available in draft only with a release date of April 1.
