Phineas X. Jones' work for Three Floyds Evilpower Pils
(Munster, IN) – Quick update on this beer…
Last week, I posted this mystery photo relating to a “Chicago area brewery,” from artist, Phineas X. Jones. Is it for merchandise? Is it a beer label? We didn’t know what it was at the time.
“It’s for Evilpower Pils brewed with 3Floyds & Lair of the Minotaur”
Beyond that, there isn’t much info but Lair of the Minotaur will be playing at Dark Lord Day. Perhaps we will see this released at the event or around that time.
Video below may or may not be a bit graphic and contains some nudity. Cheers!
[Disclaimer: Beernews.org is a leader in craft beer news and is the original source of this article. If you would like to check out more, please visit the original site. Thanks!]
This past summer, Goose Island Beer Co. collaborated with chef and author, Rick Bayless, on a beer to compliment the cuisine at Bayless’ Chicago-based restaurant, Frontera. Hop Cast got the scoop on how the beer came to be and what menu items inspired it (see video below or larger). Just speculating (nothing official) but I would guess that these 22 oz. bottles will be an exclusive offering at Frontera and perhaps the Goose Island brewpubs.
The Chicagoist summarizes the brew well enough: “Marisol is a Belgian golden ale, spiced with tangerine zest, coriander and ugli fruit. That last ingredient’s the doozy. Ugli fruit, a bastard hybrid of Seville orange, grapefruit and tangerine, is indeed ugly.”
[Disclaimer: Beernews.org is a leader in craft beer news and is the original source of this article. If you would like to check out more, please visit the original site. Thanks!]
(Indianapolis, IN) – Dave Colt and Clay Robinson knew that there was demand in Indianapolis for Fresh•Local•Beer, they just didn’t know how much.
When the brewer/owners of Sun King Brewing Co. took possession of a used 15-barrel JV Northwest brewhouse in winter of 2009, Colt and Robinson believed that it would be five years before they hit full brewing capacity. One year and 5,000-plus barrels of beer later, the five-year business plan was in tatters and the brewery was scrambling to keep up with demand. So the decision was made to tear out the brewhouse and invest in a new 30-barrel system as well as additional fermenters and bright tanks (where beer is stored before sale).
The added brewing capacity will allow Sun King to better service metropolitan Indianapolis and expand its footprint to include the Bloomington area, where Sun King will be available on tap and in cans in April 2011.
“Bloomington has been supporting craft beer for a long time and we knew we couldn’t enter that market half way,” said Robinson. “It took us a year and a half to get to the point where we could distribute in Bloomington without neglecting our existing accounts in Indianapolis.”
Fittingly, the tanks where that Bloomington-bound beer will be fermented and stored were purchased from Bloomington-based Poynter Sheet Metal.
“Our community has supported us and when Poynter approached us about making tanks we thought it would be a great way to help a Hoosier company compete with manufacturers around the world,” said Robinson.
About Sun King Brewing Co.: Founded in 2009 by two award-winning commercial brewers, a mechanical engineer, and a veteran of the food distribution business, Sun King Brewing Co. won Indianapolis’ heart in 2010 with its lineup of stellar house beers (Sun Light Cream Ale, Wee Mac Scottish Ale, Bitter Druid ESB, and Osiris Pale Ale) and artfully crafted seasonal and specialty Lagers, Pilsners, Porters, Stouts, American IPAs, Belgian Wits, American Wheat beers. Less than two years after rolling the first full keg out the door, Sun King has grown into the third-largest beer brewer in the state of Indiana. The company’s commitment to handcrafted seasonal and specialty beers has been rewarded with multiple medals at the Indiana Brewers Cup, Great American Beer Festival®, and World Beer Cup® competitions.
[Disclaimer: Beernews.org is a leader in craft beer news and is the original source of this article. If you would like to check out more, please visit the original site. Thanks!]
Chicago brewers return from Belgian apprenticeship, use Kickstarter.com to open local boutique brewery
(Chicago, IL) – After spending the early winter apprenticing in Belgium, brewers Gerrit Lewis and Beejay Oslon have returned to Chicago to open their unique vision of a craft brewery, Pipeworks Brewing Company.
Even smaller than a micro-brewery, Pipeworks plans to open a nano-brewery on the North Side, focusing on producing bold beers, using uncommon ingredients, in limited releases. To raise the initial startup funds, the pair has turned to a new form of capital raising known as “crowd-funding”, using the website Kickstarter.com.
In January of 2009, the founders of Pipeworks travelled to Oostvleteren, Belgium, to apprentice with the famed De Struise Brewers. In 2008, The De Struise Brewers were named the #1 brewery in the world by the popular beer review website ratebeer.com. During their apprenticeship, the Pipeworks boys collaborated with De Struise on a few beers, including Pipedream, an homage to Chicago and their journey.
Pipeworks future facility will include a tiny three barrel brewhouse and may produce as little as 200 barrels in its inaugural year. The smaller system affords them the flexibility and control to produce a constantly changing lineup of beers ranging from traditional to the extreme. Pipeworks aims to offer new beers nearly every week. Whether you’re looking for a classically brewed Belgian Wit, a hefty 13% ABV Imperial Stout, or their unique take on an IPA brewed with Szechuan peppercorns, Pipeworks hopes to please a variety of palates. The brewery itself will feature a bottle shop where customers can walk-in to purchase the newest Pipeworks beer or fill a growler with draft-only releases.
To help fund the brewery, Gerrit and Beejay have taken their project to the masses on the “crowd-funding” website of Kickstarter.com. Crowd-funding is a relatively new concept that allows the general public to show their support by pooling money together in efforts to back innovative and creative ideas. In exchange for a pledge on Kickstarter.com, the backer receives a reward from the project creator if the project is funded successfully. In Pipeworks case, they are offering backer rewards ranging from bottle openers, tasting glasses and T-shirts, to having your likeness on a beer label, creating your own beer with the boys, and even a trip to Belgium. They are also giving away a $500 homebrew setup to one lucky winner from their facebook page.
Earlier this year, friends, family, and perfect strangers banded together on Kickstarter.com and raised $44,000 for Erik Meyer’s project, Mystery Brewing Company. Pipeworks is hoping to raise $30,000 by midnight on January 1st 2011. In the three weeks that the project has been live on Kickstarter.com, Pipeworks has amassed over $7,500 in donations and has seen their facebook.com page quadruple in patronage to over 3000 fans. If the funding goal isn’t reached by the deadline, none of the money is collected from backers, and Pipeworks walks away empty-handed.
[Disclaimer: Beernews.org is a leader in craft beer news and is the original source of this article. If you would like to check out more, please visit the original site. Thanks!]
(Chicago, IL) – Goose Island Christmas Ale will not be made this year.
A source confirms that the beer will be skipped over due to “capacity issues.” The news first surfaced yesterday with a posted on Beer Advocate:
“It sounds as if this is the case. I talked to an inside source today and he said that Goose Island won’t be brewing their Christmas Ale this year, which has been in 22oz. bombers. The reason? He said that Goose Island is expanding their sales market so much right now that they’re having trouble keeping up with the demand of their staples such as 312 and just don’t have the space.”
There’s no word on the beer actually being retired as the thread title suggests though. It will likely return once the brewery has a better handle on its growth.
In other news, as of last Friday, Goose Island has packaged one million case equivalents and is expected to have shipped that case sometime this week. Narragansett ran quite the promo on its one millionth case when it hit the mark this past spring but it’s not as big of a deal for some other brewers apparently.
[Disclaimer: Beernews.org is a leader in craft beer news and is the original source of this article. If you would like to check out more, please visit the original site. Thanks!]
(Chicago, IL) – Goose Island Beer Co. is discontinuing its Nut Brown Ale and Oatmeal Stout.
It is not everyday that a brewery announces the end to 40% of its core year-round lineup. Goose Island 312, Honker’s Ale, India Pale Ale, Nut Brown Ale and Oatmeal Stout were once the brewery’s stalwarts, each having seen three (some four) decades, but the industry is shifting toward higher alcohol, Belgian-styles, etc. and away from session beers. Brown Ales in particular have taken the plunge. Both of these are easily considered to be widely accessible benchmark beers for their styles and they both rate at or above the 90th percentile for those styles at RateBeer.
Here is the explanation from the brewery via Facebook:
“It is with some sadness and regret that we note the passing into history of two of Goose Island’s oldest styles of ale: Nut Brown (formerly Hex Nut Brown) and Oatmeal Stout. These classic English styles were born in the brewpub at 1800 Clybourn and later bottled and distributed from the Fulton Street brewery. Both beers received critical acclaim and continue to win awards at the highest level.
But in the competition for fermentation capacity, tap handles, and shelf space, Nut Brown and Oatmeal Stout have been disadvantaged by the increasing popularity of hoppy, wheat, sour, and barrel aged beer styles. We are grateful for the few loyal aficionados who have enjoyed our old friends until the end. To you, we can offer only assurance that the Goose Island brewpubs will continue to brew regular batches of both beers and offer them by the pint and by the growler to enjoy at home.
The very last batches of Nut Brown Ale and Oatmeal Stout are in stores now: good to the last drop.”
[Disclaimer: Beernews.org is a leader in craft beer news and is the original source of this article. If you would like to check out more, please visit the original site. Thanks!]
(Chicago, IL) – I’ve handpicked ~30 of the best tweets from this morning’s Craft Brewers Conference Keynote and introductory talks. These are mostly statistics though I’ve added a couple other things. Twitter unfortunately only allows you to view the most recent 20 “favorited” items (it’s a Twitter feature) so I had to create two widgets to show them all. They are listed in reverse chronological order starting from the bottom of the second widget. Enjoy!
[Disclaimer: Beernews.org is a leader in craft beer news and is the original source of this article. If you would like to check out more, please visit the original site. Thanks!]
(Munster, IN) – Three Floyds Brewing got two new label approved for bottles.
Three Floyds Arctic Panzer Wolf is an Imperial IPA that debuted on tap early last fall at some different spots. Now it will be available in 22 oz. bombers for the first time. The artwork is based on the Death to False Prophets mural on the wall at the brewery (happens to be where they are doing some barrel-aging).
Beer description: “A dry and stupendously hopped medium bodied Imperial IPA brewed with Canadian two-row malt, dextrose sugar and lots of American hops. Arctic Panzer Wolf has superior aromas of marmalade, white wine, pine and apricot all mixed with an intense American hop bitterness.”
And then there’s Three Floyds Blackheart IPA which will be featuring a new label soon. This beer has been previously released by the brewery in 22 oz. bottles.
No release date for these have been announced yet.
[Disclaimer: Beernews.org is a leader in craft beer news and is the original source of this article. If you would like to check out more, please visit the original site. Thanks!]
