New Brew News – January 1, 2018

Our Thoughts: According to popular legend, the Manhattan cocktail was created at the Manhattan Club for a party thrown in 1874 by Winston Churchill’s mother. While that's probably not true, the drink has nevertheless stood the test of time to still be a staple in any good bartender's repertoire. Consisting of whiskey, sweet vermouth and bitters, the Manhattan is a deceptively simple, yet elegant cocktail. Boulevard has taken inspiration from this storied drink  to create Manhattan Cask Still Ale, an imperial stout aged in casks that were previously used to create barrel-aged Manhattan cocktails. Boulevard loves to experiment with their imperial stouts and they've had a lot of success by getting creative, so this should prove to be a palate pleaser for both the beer and cocktail lover. Look for this to be released in 750 ml bottles in the new year.

Our Thoughts: We don't know about you, but these frigid temperatures have already got us dreaming about summer, and nothing goes better with warm weather (or any type of weather, really) than a nice, juicy tropical pale ale. Luckily, Mother's has our back and will be rolling out Trop Top, a new tropical pale ale. With only 30 IBUs, look for intense hop flavors with very little bitterness and a nice balancing malt presence, giving this extreme drinkability. Mother's loves beer and brews love, so we're pretty sure we already have a crush on Trop Top. Be on the lookout for this soon.

Our Thoughts: It seems there is a hidden gem in tiny Cassville Missouri. Hungry Hollow Brewing is a small brewery with a wood fired steam brewhouse that focuses on specialty craft beers. Up until now they only packaged Three Point Five, an imperial IPA and Ozark Farmhouse, a French style saison, both available in 750 ml bottles. Now, it looks like they will be adding Onding, an imperial porter. This beer is a combination of a big American porter and a dark Belgian ale that features specialty Belgian and chocolate malts with an addition of cold brew coffee, cacao, brown sugar and maple syrup and a balancing blast of Mosaic and Citra hops. Sounds delicious to us. Look for this to be available at select retail stores in southwest Missouri, Springfield and Joplin. We highly suggest seeking this out.