Events for Week of October 11, 2010

 

Home of the Great Pumpkin Beer Fest- T minus 5 days.

 

Written by Jess R.

A low key weekend began with a Dogfish Head Punkin Ale at Whisk(e)y Bar (my new favorite, local watering hole), several Firestone Walker Union Jack IPAs, a New Belgium/Elysian Trip III and several Fresh Hop beers (it was a rough week at work, ok). Other beer highlights include Port Brewing’s Old Viscosity, an imperial stout worth a moment of silence and a couple of tall boys of Rainier. And now for your week in beer.

Monday, October 11, 2010

” I Love New York” Beer Week Begins: New York, New York

All week @ the Spring Lounge

Start spreading the news, its All New York, all week, with beer from Brooklyn, Ommegang, Captain Lawrence, Ithaca Brewing Co., Greenport Harbor, Coney Island, Sixpoint, Southern Tier, and more. Check out www.beermenus.com for details on the special events this week.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Green Flash Night: Whittier, California

7:00PM-9:00PM @ The Bottle Room

Not only will all patrons receive discounts on beer, the first 36 guests will receive a complimentary Green Flash Brewing Co. pint glass with the purchase of a regularly priced draft (minus $1 for LA Beer Week). From there, bring your pint glass in and receive a $1 off Green Flash drafts until the kegs are kicked. Green Flash flights will be available–4-4 ounce pours for $11. Expect some special Green Flash beers not available elsewhere to the public.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Avery Rumpkin Release: Boulder, Colorado

6:00PM-9:00PM @ Avery Brewing Co.

AN IMPERIAL PUMPKIN ALE AGED IN RUM BARRELS. Stop by Avery Brewing Co. (where the magic happens) and experience the release of what sounds like am amazing, seasonal brew. Imperial Pumpkin Ale brewed with pumpkin puree and a blend of five spices. Aged in extremely fresh Gosling’s Rum barrels for six months. Consume fresh and often, preferably with a pumpkin pie and/or s’mores.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Unibroue Beer Tasting: Cincinnati, Ohio

6:00PM-8:00PM @ Catskeller

Just $10.00 and you get beer from Unibroue paired with small plates. What a deal! The menu reads as follows:

Maudite: with bruchetta
La Fin Du Monde: with bacon scallops
Ephemere: with brie and apricot phylo
Don de Dieu: with smoked turkey club with feta cut in fourths
Terrible: with sharp cheddar quiche
Trois Pistoles: with rich chocolate brownies

Friday, October 15, 2010

Cleveland Beer Week Begins: Cleveland, Ohio

From the website:

The second annual CLEVELAND BEER WEEK will take place from October 15-23, 2010. A celebration of craft and import beers, CLEVELAND BEER WEEK features plenty of tastings, dinners, activities and more at more than 100 venues throughout Cuyahoga County and beyond. We hope you will join us as we celebrate the world of craft and imported brews at CLEVELAND BEER WEEK.

This beer week will not disapoint with participating breweries such as Hoppin’ Frog, Thirsty Dog, Great Lakes Brewing Co. and more. As if you weren’t excited enough, 12 breweries who participated in the largest known collaboration of its kind in the world, creating six brews. Family members have already agreed to mail us a six pack. Oh man! For more information, visit the event site.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Great Pumpkin Beer Fest: Seattle, Washington

(Saturday and Sunday) 12:00PM – the beers get tapped and the place shuts down @ Elysian Brewing Co., Capital Hill Location

I know we already did a write up about this event, but I am so damn excited, I had to mention it here- click here for details about the event from bb.com. Expect a crowd, a well-deserved crowd of people thirsty for pumpkin beers from Elysian, Russian River, Jolly Pumpkin and so many more. Sour pumpkin beers, pumpkin stouts, spiced ales and possibly beer brewed in a pumpkin. Also, get there early and you might get a sweet little taster glass (at least we did last year).

Sunday, October, 17, 2010

Farmhouse Ale Dinner: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

5:00PM-9:00PM @ The South Philadelphia Taproom

All you can eat harvest foods and beers for $50.00 (includes tax and tip). Featured beers include: Ommegang Hennepin, Sly Fox Saison Vos, Saison Dupont, St. Feuillien and more!

If you go to an event, want to talk about an event or a beer you had at an event, leave a comment or email us at beerblotter@gmail.com. Cheers!

Collaborative Brewing: A Growing Trend in the Craft Beer Industry, Part 3

Perhaps the most known in Seattle....New Belgium's & Elysian's Trip Series

Here, in the third installment of the collaborative brewing article, we present a bit of a list of some of the most notable collaboration projects of the past, present and future.

This write up would be remiss to not mention the prolific Danish brewer with no brewery, Mikkel Borg Bjergso of Mikkeller.  If brewing beer at someone else’s brewery were criteria enough to evoke the collaboration moniker, every Mikkeller beer to hit the shelves would be just that.  Even still, Mikkel has, over the years, joined forces with Stone, Brew Dog, Three Floyds, Struise, Alesmith, Nogne O, and others to make some really exciting beers.

A collaboration that us Seattleites are very familiar with is that of Elysian Brewing Co. and New Belgium Brewing Co. The ‘Trip’ series allows Elysian to brew with more volume on the New Belgium system and New Belgium to brew more experimental, small batches on the Elysian system.  Lucky for us, these beers are only available on draft in the Northwest.

The first brew was Trippel (not triple) IPA, a Belgian-inspired Indian Pale Ale.  Trip II was a unique hoppy Belgian Golden Ale spiced with lemongrass and grains of paradise.  Trip III was a sour brown ale and Trip IV, a Finnish style sahti brewed with juniper.  Beer Blotter will be on the edge of their seats in anticipation of each subsequent release.

The darlings of the Florida scene, Cigar City Brewing, just may be sending a bit of their art in Seattle’s direction when they collaborate with The Bruery in what will be the most anticipated collaboration release for yours truly.  Keep your eyes peeled in July or August of this year.

Terrapin Beer Co. of Athens, GA and Left Hand Brewing of Longmont, CO have actually decided to make a somewhat regular go at collaborating together with the ‘Midnight Project’ series.  Brew One in 2008 produced Terra-Rye’zd, a black rye lager.  Last year’s Brew Two saw Depth Charge, an espresso milk stout.  Sadly, WA is not amongst the 6 states that receive these beers, but if you are in TN, NC, SC, GA, FL or CO, we will gladly offer you our address and some packaging materials.

Left Hand Brewing and Terrapin Brewing are making their collab a regular item

Quite possibly the biggest (in terms of brewery size) collaboration yet sees Boston Beer Co. and Weihenstephan join forces.  The largest American craft brewery and the oldest brewery in the world, that’s pretty monumental!  The uncharacterized style will come at the intersection of brewing innovation and the old German purity law, the Reinheitsgebot.   According to Realbeer.com, “their yet-to-be-named beer will be released in both the United States and Germany next spring in cork-finished bottles. Effervescent and Champagne-like beer it will weigh in at more than 10 percent alcohol by volume.”

Another fairly sizeable collaborative effort came at the hands of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery and Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. These two have been quite active lately, in fact, on the collaborative front.  Life and Limb came when Sam Calagione and Ken Grossman, two monumental names in American craft brewing, decided to cook up a beer together after sharing a pint or two at the Craft Brewer’s Conference.  Their concoction ended up being a 10% strong ale brewed with maple syrup, fermented with a combination of both breweries house yeast strains and naturally carbonated with birch syrup.  Limb and Life was also created in this session, a small beer made from the second runnings of Life and Limb.

Boulevard Brewing Co. of Kansas City, MO just recently made its first mark on the collaboration scene with a very unlikely cohort, the Belgian Trappist brewery Orval.  Using an old recipe that Orval brewmaster Jean-Marie Rock had, an Imperial Pilsner was made using only one kind of malt, Saaz hops, water, and a lager yeast.  Beer Blotter has never wanted to try a pilsner so bad.  This beer is available in Seattle so look for it, we will be.

The final collaboration to be discussed in this round will be another America-meets-Belgium pairing that, well…I’m sure you can all imagine just how much that concept gets our blood pumping.  Green Flash Brewing Co. of San Diego County and Brasserie St. Feuillien of Le Roeulx, Belgium have teamed up to make Bière De L’Amitié, or “Beer of Friendship”.  Beernews.org reports that this 9.5% blonde Belgian strong ale will be released in June of 2010.  Rye and wheat malts were used, along with Amarillo hops, St. Feuillien’s yeast strain, “secret” spices, and the whole mess was dry hopped with Amarillo.  Sounds stupid good.

Any thoughts on collaborations? Know any good ones we missed? Join the conversation with a comment.