Talking 4 New Beers In Our Market

There are a lot of new beers hitting the area right now with the change of season, so I thought I'd take a few minutes and post a bit about 4 of them that I've recently had, from 4 different breweries. You'll notice I'm not rating them as I'm sort of against ratings. Who am I to say what something should rate? Check 'em all out for yourself and don't trust me, Ratebeer or anywhere else. If you like or dislike something, damn the "experts." Taste is subjective. But that's a whole other blog post.... so just read about the 4 new brews and then go check them out for yourself!

Tommyknocker Oaked Butt Head Bock 

From the brewery: Oaked Butt Head combines Tommyknocker's award winning Butt Head Bock with finely toasted oak. The vanilla and spice character of the oak melds with the malty caramel flavors of our doppelbock.

In my opinion: This brewery seems to have a lot more malt forward beers than hop forward and they do well with this. This one has tons of flavor from the caramel malt and the oak comes out just fine with just hints of vanilla. Rich, woody, creamy with a nice mouthfeel. I love this style and this is a quality beer overall if you're a fan of doppelbocks. Hop snobs look away.

Green Flash Ristretto Cosmic Black Lager

From the brewery: Hard to find anything on this one really, but I found a press release with this bit... "Drawing on the flavors from some of our favorite beer styles the Green Flash Geniuses have created an out of the world black lager using chocolate and roasted malts. They then added a dose of concentrated, cold pressed espresso – a brew so bold it has earned the name “Ristretto”."

In my opinion: Wow, this stuff is delicious. I love coffee and the nose of this one alone put me in heaven. Taste like an expresso almost with flavors of rich dark chocolate, bitter roasted malts and in the finish there's a bit of light smoke. A lot of these coffee style beers are porters or stouts and making this one more of a black lager really put the coffee at the front I think. Good mouthfeel but not as thick as the stouts. At 8.2% it's sneaky too. Fantastic beer and maybe my favorite thing I've had from Green Flash and that's saying a lot as I love this brewery.

 O'Fallon Zeke's Pale Ale

From the brewery: Zeke’s Pale Ale is brewed with two-row, Bonlander and Honey malt. Galaxy hops are added at the very end of the boil in a technique called burst-hopping that allows the beer to gain the hop flavor and aroma with just the right balance of bitterness. The result is a dry, crisp, light-bodied ale with a fresh hop aroma and just a hint of honey.

In my opinion: A dry, crisp, light-bodied pale ale that's real easy to drink. The Galaxy hops give it a citrusy, fruity flavor and aroma. It's actually quite a bit hoppier than I expected... think pineapple or grapefruit.This isn't a big hop bomb by any means, but a very nice brew I'll take to the pool or break out for some lawn mowing perhaps. Not high in alcohol and very sessionable. Nice.

Goose Island 312 Urban Pale Ale

From the brewery: We are from the city that invented the skyscraper. We constructed our Urban Pale Ale on a balanced malt backbone, so the citrus hop aroma and crisp flavor can stand tall.
5.4% ABV - 30 IBU 
Hops: Amarillo, Mt. Hood, Nugget
Malts: 2 Row, Crystal 60

We constructed our Urban Pale Ale on a balanced malt backbone, so the citrus hop aroma and crisp flavor can stand tall.

Recipe Information

Style: Urban Pale
Alcohol by Volume: 5.4%
International Bitterness Units: 30
Color: Marigold
Hops: Amarillo, Mt. Hood, Nugget
Malts: 2 Row, Crystal 60 - See more at: http://www.gooseisland.com/pages/312_urban_pale_ale/377.php#sthash.ViGSA4GR.dpuf

We constructed our Urban Pale Ale on a balanced malt backbone, so the citrus hop aroma and crisp flavor can stand tall.

Recipe Information

Style: Urban Pale
Alcohol by Volume: 5.4%
International Bitterness Units: 30
Color: Marigold
Hops: Amarillo, Mt. Hood, Nugget
Malts: 2 Row, Crystal 60 - See more at: http://www.gooseisland.com/pages/312_urban_pale_ale/377.php#sthash.ViGSA4GR.dpuf

We constructed our Urban Pale Ale on a balanced malt backbone, so the citrus hop aroma and crisp flavor can stand tall.

Recipe Information

Style: Urban Pale
Alcohol by Volume: 5.4%
International Bitterness Units: 30
Color: Marigold
Hops: Amarillo, Mt. Hood, Nugget
Malts: 2 Row, Crystal 60 - See more at: http://www.gooseisland.com/pages/312_urban_pale_ale/377.php#sthash.ViGSA4GR.dpuf

In my opinion: Similar to the Zeke's Pale Ale but not quite as big of a hop flavor, this is another mellow, crisp, easy-drinker beer with a very sessionable ABV of 5.4%. Nice flavor that doesn't beat-up your taste buds, has some hints of spice. In a word: pleasant. In 3 words: I'll have another.

Find 'em and drink up!

Another New Beer At Stone's Throw

According to Stone's Throw's recent Facebook post, they'll have yet another new beer on the wall this weekend! In addition, the wonderful and popular Shamus Stout will be back. Here's more:

Stone's Throw: New beer Friday! We'll be open 4-9 w/ Mickey's Irish Red & Shamus Stout added to the tap wall. Join us for happy hour until 5 & enjoy dinner w/ The Southern Gourmasian. Here's the new beer:

Mickey's Irish Red gets its deep red color from the good portion of roasted barley in the grain bill. Slightly sweet with plenty of malt and caramel flavors, Mickey's finishes slightly dry (also from the roasted grain). There is just enough bitterness from single addition of English hops to bring a bit of balance. Mickey's is an easy drinking session pint.

Shamus Stout is our take on a classic oatmeal stout. Dark color and a creamy head meet the eye. Initial taste greets your mouth with a full body and silky smoothness until the roast malts shine through. Coffee kiln malt adds a hint of coffee flavor which increases drinkability. Shamus is an easy drinking stout for the seasoned aficionado and dark-beer newbie alike.

Looking at Untappd, Shamus is their highest rated and 2nd most checked-in beer since opening (41 total... see below). I've added 4 pints to the count myself (more to come!). I've also just added Mickey's to Untappd so start checking it in already!

https://untappd.com/b/stone-s-throw-brewing-shamus-stout/422137

 

https://untappd.com/b/stone-s-throw-brewing-mickey-s-irish-red/609066

 

The Latest From Stone's Throw Brewing

Well I haven't posted anything here in a while it seems and there are several reasons for this, like being out of town and in the final weeks of training for the Little Rock Marathon. I'll do better... starting now! A big brewery announcement hopefully coming Monday finally and also next week a sit-down with the head brewer and brains of Little Rock's own Flyway Brewing, Matt Foster. Stay tuned!

But for now, I stopped by our very own Stone's Throw Brewing yesterday to try their newest release, Atomic Catsicle Pale Ale. Here's a bit more from their website:

"The winner of the Big Red Ball Homebrew pro-am contest, this is a tribute beer to one of the greatest kickball teams that ever was or will be [but never won a championship-ed.]. An aromatically complex, multi-layered, smooth drinking ale that is perfect for sipping on while you’re pitching a big red ball or just spectating. Loads of Galaxy hops give this magnificent beer a floral aroma. The taste is caramel and sweet with a flowery finish that makes this the quintessential pale ale." 

 I liked this beer when I tried at the Big Red Ball and I like their version of it was well. A very nice, flavorful and well-balanced pale ale that I'll be having much more of before it's gone, and you should too.

But that's not all the happenings there this weekend! Oh no, not by a longshot. 2 beers will be coming on today, their popular Amer Belge Belgian IPA and a new beer, Amadeus Vienna Lager, will both be joining the tap wall. Straight off their website, here's a bit more on these 2:

Amadeus Vienna Lager 

Born in Salzburg, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart spent most of his professional career in Vienna. Similarly, the original amber lager was born in Austria but is most famous for its life in Mexico via immigrants in the 1800s. A healthy dose of Vienna malt gives Amadeus a soft, elegant complexity, and Noble hops provide just enough bitterness for balance. Amadeus is refreshingly perfect for a float down the Danube or a climb up Colima alike.

Amer Belge Belgian IPA 

It's Belgian. It's American. It's Amer Belge. Translated to "bitter Belgian," this is our solution to making a great beer better! Based on our Bernoulli Pale ale, but aggressively hopped 7 times with American hops, this beer is sure to please. It's malty, its Belgian funky, its hoppy. Everything hangs in a delicate balance to delight your senses. Amer Belge is perhaps our brewmaster's favorite child.

They've also got a very cool thing going on Saturday. They'll be open Saturday 12-9 and you can raise a pint for a good cause from 12-4 as they will host a benefit for the family of pilot & police officer Jake Harrell. Very cool. $3 of every pint sold will be donated directly to the Brayden P. Harrell Scholarship Fund. Just awesome. I'll be in non-beer mode the day before the marathon but I'm going to try to stop by myself and buy a few to hand out.

And lastly, maybe you want to know more about this mysterious Atomic Catsicle? Well, this 1-hour documentary "See Ya Sunday" immerses you in the vastly popular, and often madcap world of Little Rock's kickball subculture and just might enlighten you a bit: