New Brew News – November 28, 2016

Our Thoughts: In beer brewing, balance is extremely important. Too much emphasis on one ingredient will most often result in an unbalanced beer and an unhappy beer drinker. This new beer from Mark Twain is an example of how certain ingredients will balance each other out. The sweetness of the apricots will balance out the heat from the habanero and the wheat provides a nice malty base. Look for this in 22 ounce bottles.

Our Thoughts: Now that Thanksgiving is over and cold weather is upon us, bigger, stronger, more full bodied beers are perfect to take the sting out of Old Man Winter. This new Wee Heavy from Bur Oak fits the bill quite nicely. Wee Heavy's (or Scotch Ales) tend to be dominated by smooth malty sweetness with hints of dark fruit and very light, if any, hop flavors. Take a few cans of this to your next holiday party and enjoy it with friends and family.

Our Thoughts: It seems like pilsners have a bad reputation in the craft beer world. Long associated with industrialized macro-brews, they don't seem to get any respect for the subtle yet flavorful beers that they are. However, in the past few years, we've seen a resurgence of this style. Brewers have started to embrace it and add their own take. This new Imperial Pilsner from Boulevard marries the best of classic, Old World beer making with New World attitude.  Imperial Pilsners tend to look like standard pilsners, but have a more pronounced malty sweetness and an internse bitterness. In short, a pilsner turned up to "11." Look for this starting in March of 2017.

Our Thoughts: To be 100% honest, this one kind of surprised us. While it's well known that Crane can pretty much ace any beer style they try, they typically stick to the traditional, rustic ales like lambics and saisons and are very well known for their gose and Weiss beers.  This coffee porter seems to come out of left field. The burnt, roasty flavors of a coffee porter seem to be the antithesis of the funky, earthy, spicy flavors of their usual offerings. Regardless, wherever the inspiration for this beer comes from, we'll be in line to grab a bottle and enjoy the goodness.