Brew Community

Shipyard Brewing announced today the launch of Pugsley’s Signature Series line, and the first two products in the line, a Barley Wine Style Ale and an Imperial Porter. The new beers will be available in November, in 22 oz. bottles and on draft.

Pugsley’s Signature Series is named after Shipyard’s master brewer, Alan Pugsley. Pugsley is from Hampshire, England where he worked with Peter Austin at the Ringwood Brewery, before moving to the U.S. in 1986.

Barley Wine Style Ale is a big beer made with six different malts (Pale Ale, Crystal, Caramunich, Wheat, Chocolate and Roasted Barley) and balanced with a very full hop charge of Summit, Challenger and Fuggles hops. It is a deep reddish brown color with a complex fruity nose, a very full body, and an interesting balance between grains and hops which ends with a pleasing dry taste. To fully enjoy all the flavors, this ale is best drunk at 55 degrees Fahrenheit. 8.5% alcohol by volume.

Imperial Porter is a full bodied, very dark, malty beer with a good roasted character coming from the Crystal, Chocolate and Black Patent Malts used in the mash. Warrior, English Fuggles, and East Kent Goldings Hops balance the malts with a good hop bite. The beer has an OG of 1.070, rounding out after fermentation with just a slight residual sweetness and cutting dry at the finish. 7.1% alcohol by volume.

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Shipyard Brewing announced today the launch of Pugsley’s Signature Series line, and the first two products in the line, a Barley Wine Style Ale and an Imperial Porter. The new beers will be available in November, in 22 oz. bottles and on draft.

Pugsley’s Signature Series is named after Shipyard’s master brewer, Alan Pugsley. Pugsley is from Hampshire, England where he worked with Peter Austin at the Ringwood Brewery, before moving to the U.S. in 1986.

Barley Wine Style Ale is a big beer made with six different malts (Pale Ale, Crystal, Caramunich, Wheat, Chocolate and Roasted Barley) and balanced with a very full hop charge of Summit, Challenger and Fuggles hops. It is a deep reddish brown color with a complex fruity nose, a very full body, and an interesting balance between grains and hops which ends with a pleasing dry taste. To fully enjoy all the flavors, this ale is best drunk at 55 degrees Fahrenheit. 8.5% alcohol by volume.

Imperial Porter is a full bodied, very dark, malty beer with a good roasted character coming from the Crystal, Chocolate and Black Patent Malts used in the mash. Warrior, English Fuggles, and East Kent Goldings Hops balance the malts with a good hop bite. The beer has an OG of 1.070, rounding out after fermentation with just a slight residual sweetness and cutting dry at the finish. 7.1% alcohol by volume.

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This weekend in London, Tripel Karmeliet was named the “World’s Best Ale” at the World Beer Awards.

Tripel Karmeliet is a historical “3 grain” beer, using barley, wheat and oats, and is refermented in the bottle. The recipe originated in a Carmelite monastery in 1679. Today it is brewed according to the same recipe at the Bosteels Brewery in Belgium.

The were also three other big awards. Primator Exkluziv was named World’s Best Lager, Kaltenberg Konig Ludwig Weissbier was declared the World’s Best Wheat Beer, and our own Rogue Shakespeare Stout was named World’s Best Stout/Porter.

The rest of the awards are available at the World Beer Awards website.

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Did this as a toucan, 1 x Coopers Lager
and 1 x Homee Brand Draught. Did a 20min
boil of 10g Fuggles and 10g at flameout
for aroma. Fermented with Nottingham
yeast at 18C for 2 weeks, primed with
dextrose. After 2 weeks in the bottle it
was undrinkable! At 6 weeks passable, at
12 weeks a very decent beer, something
akin to a Bitter. All malt is the way to
go, it would have been too thin with 1kg
dextrose.
– Rating:4/5

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Twenty years ago Charlie Otto began making beer in Wyoming’s first modern brewery, a 210 square foot cabin in Jackson Hole. Since then, Grand Teton Brewing Company has grown into its present 11,000 square foot facility in Victor, Idaho, winning dozens of major awards and bringing innovations like the reusable glass growler to the brewing world.

To commemorate that twenty-year history, Grand Teton’s brewers have chosen four of their year-round beers—three current, one historical—to strengthen and enhance. XX Bitch Creek Double ESB is the final release in our 2008 XX series.

Bitch Creek ESB was first brewed in 2003, and perfectly balances big malt sweetness and robust hop flavor for a full-bodied mahogany ale. It has quickly become our best-selling beer, as well as our most-critically acclaimed, having won medals–including two golds— at four out the past five Great American Beer Festivals.

XX Bitch Creek Double ESB is all that and more. We took the Bitch Creek recipe and doubled everything: double the malt, double the hops, twice the flavor. This is a huge beer at 7.5% alcohol by volume, which should be paired with only the most flavorful of foods. Try it with the best steaks, game meats and hearty stews, or with a nice cave-aged Gouda.

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The award-winning brewpub chain, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant, announced today their eighth location, and their first in New Jersey. In May 2009, they’ll open a new brewpub in Maple Shade, New Jersey. The address will be 124 East Kings Highway.

“We hope that beer and food lovers in New Jersey will enjoy our house-brewed beers and delicious cuisine as much as our fans in Pennsylvania and Delaware,” says Iron Hill founding partner Kevin Finn. Along with co-owners Kevin Davies and Mark Edelson, Finn has continuously sought out thriving suburban locations for their award-winning concept, beginning in Newark, DE in 1995.The Maple Shade location is made even more special by the fact that all three owners hail from New Jersey.

The executive chef and head brewer have not yet been named, but will no doubt continue Iron Hill’s tradition of culinary and brewing excellence. The new location will accommodate 280 guests and serve Iron Hill’s menu of new American favorites including their signature Brewski Burger, with mushrooms, bacon and a choice of American, sharp cheddar, Swiss, provolone or muenster cheeses; Fish and Chips, North Atlantic Pollack battered in their own Vienna lager and served with French fries, cole slaw and malt vinegar; Black Pepper Crusted Ahi Tuna with a salad of lentils, spinach, grape tomatoes and shallots and a port wine vinaigrette; and Pan Roasted Chicken Breast with smashed Yukon gold potatoes, crispy friend onion rings, asparagus and thyme pan jus. Iron Hill will be open for lunch and dinner, seven days a week.

Iron Hill Maple Shade will also offer an impressive selection of their house-brewed beers, including: Vienna Red Lager, an Austrian lager with bread-y malt aroma and a clean, crisp finish; Pig Iron Porter, dark, flavorful and chocolate-y with good balance and a slight bitterness; Raspberry Wheat, a filtered American wheat beer with a touch of natural raspberry flavor; and Ironbound Ale, a celebration of American ales made from the nation’s finest hops varieties such as Cascade, Crystal, Centennial and Chinook.

Plans are also afoot for Iron Hill to add six additional brewpubs by 2011.

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Senator Barack Obama holds a commanding lead over Senator John McCain – 10,238 votes (55 percent) to 8,411 votes (45 percent), as of October 21 — in The Flying Saucer Draught Emporium’s 2008 Presidential Election Poll.

The Texas-based restaurant chain kicked off its poll in early September, and polling lasts until election night, Tuesday, Nov. 4. Customers can “vote” for their favorite candidate by purchasing special pint glasses for $5. Votes are tallied and updated at the end of each day, and customers can vote as many times as they like.

“People often discuss politics over a beer, so what better way to get in the spirit of the election than to combine the two – and get to vote for your candidate as many times as you like!” said Shannon Wynne, owner of The Flying Saucer. “Senator Obama leads overall and in the majority of our markets, but Senator McCain does lead in a few. The Flying Saucer is present in several battleground states, so it’s pretty interesting when you look at the breakdown of votes.”

The Flying Saucer is hosting the 2008 poll at all of its 13 locations in six states, which include Dallas, Austin, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio, Texas; Kansas City, Mo.; Little Rock, Ark.; Cordova, Memphis and Nashville, Tenn.; Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C.; and Columbia, S.C. Polling data for each location is listed, and appears to updated daily, along with a running total.

The Flying Saucer’s first poll, held in 2004, accurately predicted that incumbent president George W. Bush would defeat Senator John Kerry. For up-to-date poll results on this year’s polling, visit Flying Saucer’s website.

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Those of you who receive the Realbeer.com Newsletter, RBPMail, may have noticed a link problem in the following ad:

NEWS ALERT! MUST JOIN BEER SOCIAL NETWORK View BEER member profiles, photos, videos, blog posts, forums, events, contest & more! See What all the BUZZ is about.

The correct link to the Kegerator Social Network is http://kegerator-social-network.micromatic.com.

And congratulations to Ryan Bevers, the Grand Prize winner in Micromatic’s Kegerator Beauty Contest!

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According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, MillerCoors announced today that they will discontinue their clear malternative Zima, Arguably one of the first alcopops made in the U.S. when it debuted in 1994, Zima has managed to stay around longer than many of its competitors, including being remade with new flavors such as Zima Citrus, Zima Pineapple Citrus and Zima Tangerine.

If you’re feeling nostalgic for just one last sip of the lemony malt-based beverage, the final shipments to distributors will likely be in December, meaning Zima should still be found on store shelves through the beginning of next spring.

“This decision is necessary to reduce complexity when it comes to our brand portfolio, allowing for more focused activity at retail on consumer-preferred brands, especially Sparks,” Andy England, chief marketing officer, wrote in a memo released Monday by MillerCoors, a joint venture formed by merging Miller Brewing Co. and Coors Brewing Co.

According to BrandWeek, alcopop sales have been down lately, presumably due in part to their being targeted by neo-prohibitionist groups in many states.

Overall, the progressive adult beverage category is off 6.6%. Case sales of the Smirnoff Ice brand family are down 11%, while Mike’s Hard Lemonade brands are up 1% and Anheuser-Busch’s Bacardi Silver brands are up 10.4%.

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Half Moon Bay Brewing, on the coast of California near Pacifica, has come up with a unique way to decide the election. Their beer line, named Maverick’s, has taken their popular Harbor Light Ale, which their website describes as “a light colored beer brewed with European malt and hops, lager-like flavors and a light, clean aftertaste,” and created two tap handles and labels for the beer.

Though the beer is the same, they’ve labeled one beer for Barack Obama and another for John McCain. At the bar, the tap handle on the left features Obama and the tap handle on the right has McCain. Half Moon Bay’s alection is then tracking sales of both the draft varieties and also 22 oz. bottles, which likewise feature two different labels for each of the candidates. Bottles can be found at the brewpub and also at select bay area retailers (and can be purchased online, but only in California).

So far, Obama has outsold McCain 5,048 to 1,336 and an ongoing tally is available online. As the Half Moon Bay alection puts it, vote early and often.

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