The Herkimer Pub and Brewery is set an April 3rd release date for their Toripuru Triple Bock, their strongest ever, weighing in at 23% ABV. Brewer Mike Willaford created this monstrous bock with the help of Japanese Sake yeast to create what the Herkimer describes as “sweet dark fruit and rich cocoa tones that swirl into a warming sweet bite at the end.”
The beer gets tapped at noon and it won’t last long. Mark your calendars.
Yes, two new beers from Summit Brewing Company in St. Paul… and that doesn’t even include Unchained No. 9! First up, look for Summit Summer Ale, said to be a Kolsch-inspired beer, but not a remake of the Kolsh that was the first in the Unchained series. Expect that beer in April.
ABV. and IBU not ready yet. Art & other details to come.
• A balanced, highly drinkable session beer for casual and serious beer lovers alike
• Clean, mellow bitterness balanced by slightly bready, toasted malt qualities
• An inspired summer ale with elegant fruit and ?oral aroma
• Released in late April
Next up, look for Summit Saga IPA in the latter part of May. Saga is a West-coast style IPA said to be inspired by Summit’s 25th Anniversary beer. It’ll be a year-round offering available in six & twelve packs. This confirms what some of you have probably been hearing since the Silver Anniversary’s release. Hops? Yup. It’ll feature Rakau hops from New Zeland along with Citra, Centennial and Amarillo. Rakau is new to me, though it’s said to fall in the same ballpark as Amarillo & Summit hops.
Once again, no ABV or IBUs yet.
• Pronounced hop ?avor and aromas of Kiwi, Passionfruit, Apricot and Gooseberry
• Clean, assertive bitterness with balancing Pale malt characteristics
• Named after the Norse Goddess of poetry, who was the God Odin’s drinking companion. Also, it was quite a saga to pick a name!
A little change of pace from the Finnegans crew. The group is set to launch a new beer, Finnegans Blonde Ale in March as a summer seasonal. Summit brewer Damian McConn devised the recipe with a little guidance from Finnegans CEO, Jacquie Berglund.
Specs:
FINNEGANS Blonde Ale is a limited release and is available in 6-packs, 1/6 barrels and 1/2 barrels.
FINNEGANS Blonde Ale is available in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and South Dakota.
TASTE: Light-Bodied ale, slight floral/fruity aroma, crisp clean finish
INGREDIENTS: Made from 4 pure ingredients: water, yeast, hops and malted barley
ALCOHOL: 4.6% by Volume
BITTERNESS: 22
The Nomad World Pub is holding a “West Coast vs. Gold Coast Smackdown tonight with flights of Deschutes and Goose Island going head to head win a knock-out, drag-down deathmatch inside of the steel cage! FRIDAY, FRIDAY, FRIDAY! Hop Henge, Red Chair, Black Butte & the Abyss square off against Naughty Goose, Pere Jacques, Fleur & Sophie.
Flights of four are $10 & things get underway at 6pm. Music to follow. Expect our friends from MNBeerActivists.com to be present as well as they moved their “Mid Week Beer Geek” to Friday in order to take part in the smackdown.
Jason Alvey, owner of St. Louis Park’s Four Firkins is once-again behind some interesting Minnesota beer legislation. Regular readers and beer nerds might recall last year’s attempt to pass a bill that would allow a liquor store to sell merchandise featuring the store’s logo. The legislation received opposition from the Minnesota Grocers Association and ultimately didn’t pass. Although liquor stores in Minnesota can only sell 13 prescribed types of products, apparently the Grocers Association felt that t-shirts would be a “slippery slope.” Slippery? Silly? You tell me.
In any case, with help from Representative Steve Simon (SLP), the bill is returning this year. I spoke with Jason today got the impression that both he and Simon feel the bill will pass, though they’ll still need as much support as possible.
…but wait there’s more! Alvey and Simon also plan to introduce an “Education Bill” for liquor stores as well. This bill would allow all Minnesota liquor stores to hold one class per month and charge a fee per head to in order to pay special guest speakers. Currently this is illegal – as the law now stands, all off-sale tasting events must be free of charge. Alvey’s intention would be to pull in guest speakers from around the country and have attendees pay for the speakers’ time, not the beer.
Both of these pieces of legislation will need your support. We’ll keep you posted as things progress!