Tag: unchained

Summit Unchained 17 – Harvest Fresh IPA

summit unchained 17, harvest fresh ipa

Considering that Unchained 16 hasn’t yet hit your pint glass, we’re probably jumping the gun here (better to jump the gun than a shark, though)… regardless, here are some details about Summit Unchained #17, “Harvest Fresh IPA” courtesy of brewer Tom Mondor. Right now the tentative release is planned for the week of October 20th. Summit describes it as “an exploration of fresh hops picked at the peak of the fall harvest and shipped directly to Summit.” Included in the mix will be fresh hop pellets from Roy Farms, pelletized fresh from the kiln floor. These pellets include Centennial, Cascade and Chinook with additions of fresh, wet Chinook hops from Michigan.

They’re shooting for a beer that weighs in around 7% ABV and 70-80 IBUs, Given all of those “C” hops, you can expect some citrus from the beer. Summit says it will have notes of pine, resin, grapefruit and citrus along with a strong malt backbone. Look for it in 12 oz. bottles, kegs and perhaps some firkins.

Summit Unchained #16 Herkulean Woods

herkuleanLook for Summit’s 16th Unchained Beer, Herkulean Woods sometime near the end of the month. This is brewer Christian Dixon’s first effort in the series and damn, it sounds interesting. There’s a video with details below, but essentially he started with a California Common, tweaked the hops a bit, added maple syrup and spruce tips to make what I can only guess will be a beer you’ll want to try. On the video, Dixon says that they plan to package around August 19th, so it’s fair to assume that you’ll see more details about availability and release events after that point.

Check it out. Incidentally, I met Christian a few years ago outside of the beer world and thought he was good people, so I’m glad to see he and his awesome sideburns are at the helm of this beer.

Specs:

Profile: Big malt backbone with a resinous, spicy hop aroma
Color: Amber
Malt: Harrington, Lacey, Caramel
Hops: Herkules, Northern Brewer, Exp. 05256 [Description form Yakima Valley Hops: Black currant, dark fruit, strong herbal notes, pine tree, mint, pungent, light grapefruit rind, “Simcoe-like,” “Summit-like,” citrus, tangerine.]
Kettle additions: Maple syrup and spruce tips
OG: 18º Plato
IBU: 65
ABV: 8.2%
Yeast: California Common Lager

Summit Unchained #15 Fest Bier Next Week

The short version? Look for Summit Brewing Co.’s 15th Unchained beer, Fest Bier starting next week with a kickoff at Black Forest Inn on Monday the 10th at 5pm. Fest Bier is the first lager of the Unchained and draws inspiration from  Brewer Nate Siats love of German beer.“This beer is modeled after a cross between an Oktoberfest bier and a Wiesn bier,” says Brewer Nate Siats. “After making more robust brews for my first two Unchained beers, I wanted to make a light, clean, crisp, refreshing beer that still had plenty of flavor and a good aroma.”

Summit Unchained Fest BierFull press release below:

Summit Unchained Batch 15: Fest Bier

Summit Unchained Fest BierAre they really on Batch 15? It really doesn’t seem all that long ago that the folks at Summit announced the first beer in the Unchained Series. In any case, here it is, the next one in full dazzling RGB tones. This round, brewer Nate Siats (Abbey Ale, Imperial Pumpkin Porter) gets a third crack at the series with the series’ first lager, Fest Bier. Summit says this beer will be feature Czech Pils malt & two varieties of Munich as well as Sladek and Saphir hops. Hop Union alludes to the notion that Czech Sladek hops are the bastard child of Northern Brewer and Saaz hops (my words, not theirs) and that these aroma hops feature a “Fruity flavor profile including hints of peach, grapefruit and passion fruit” (their words, not mine).  Saphir? Think Hallertauer. Kinda’-sorta’. Fest will be 5.5% abv springtime fest bier that should arrive in March after cold-conditioning for 8 weeks.

Summit Unchained No. 12, 100% Organic Ale

Summit 100% Organic AleYesterday Summit Brewing Company formally announced the launch of the twelfth beer in their Unchained series, 100% Organic Ale. We first brought you news of this beer at the end of December when  the label was approved. What we missed, of course is that not only is this beer to be an organic beer, it’ll be Minnesota’s first 100% certified organic beer. This beer is brewer Gabe Smoley’s first Unchained creation and it will be available in draught and bottles the week of March 5.
Though organic beers hardly saturate the market, finding one or two isn’t difficult. In fact as far as we know, Flat Earth’s Angry Planet was (to our memory) Minnesota’s first packaged organic beer. As Gabe points out, though, “Most USDA certified organic beers on the market are about 95-99.9% organic because it is extremely difficult to find ingredients like organic yeast. This beer is made with 100% organic ingredients including malts, hops and yeast. I created my own certified organic yeast strain to do this, as there are virtually no organic strains available from laboratories.”

“This has been a challenge, but we enjoy those at Summit. Our company is full of innovators and I am excited to continue that tradition,” added Smoley. “The organic segment of the brewing industry is slowly growing and building steam. My hope is that by working with organic ingredients, we’ll learn some new, sustainable approaches to brewing and promote organic ingredients as a whole to the industry.”