The bottle label for Dogfish Head 75 Minute IPA has been released.

75 Minute IPA is a blend of their 60 Minute and 90 Minute IPAs. Dogfish normally only makes this beer for their brewpub in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware or for special events and festivals, so it’s nice to see them bottling it for more people to enjoy.

The label states that this bottled version will be bottle conditioned with maple syrup. To bottle condition a beer means that instead of force carbonating it after fermentation, additional sugar is added at bottling time resulting in an additional fermentation period inside the bottle. The benefits of carbonating beer this way is that it gives the beer a smoother carbonation but it also makes it ideal for aging, since there is still living yeast inside the bottle changing the beer over time. Since maple syrup is being used, this beer will have some additional complexities and flavor due to the longer sugar chains, called polysaccharides, that normal ale yeast cannot consume.

No release date has been set yet for this beer since Dogfish Head have not even made an official press release. The label art looks rather festive so here’s to hoping for a December release!

Scotland’s Brewdog, is the outsider of the European breweries. Whereas most of Europe sticks to traditional, balanced beers, Brewdog makes beers that are far from subtle. Brewdog is often recognized for making the beers with the highest amounts of alcohol (some dispute whether they count as beers since a cold distillation process is used). Not only is their End Of History beer 55% alcohol, it is packaged in stuffed roadkill.

More recently, they’ve even produced a beer that they fermented in the bottom of the ocean (yes really).

Something else Brewdog has done that I wish more American craft breweries would be open to, is sold company stock. Equity For Punks is a program allowing consumers to purchase company stock directly from Brewdog, allowing fans to help grow the company. While many attribute the idea of going public as selling out, Brewdog has managed to do this while still holding onto their punk attitude and giving their fans a sense of ownership and pride in the company. Considering the beers that Brewdog makes, and the online videos they produce, very few people would see this as a company that has sold out.
The most fascinating aspect of all of this, is that it works. Through the Equity For Punks program, Brewdog has managed to raise £1.5 million from their fans. THAT’S ~$2.4 MILLION U.S DOLLARS! Combine this with their 200% growth this year and they have now secured funding to begin building a new £6.5 million low carbon brewery, along with 5 more bars across the U.K in 2012. Seriously, what’s more punk then raising that much money without a bank?
Incentives for buying shares include a lifetime discount, exclusive options for purchasing limited edition beers, participating in brewing an annual beer just for shareholders and voting on future company decisions.

More info on Equity For Punks can be found here.

Best to disregard this press release. It’s unlikely that you possess the sophistication to fathom the overwhelming gravitas of the potation it discusses. Thus, stop reading now. Hit delete and retire outside with your fizzy yellow beer. But if, by some infinitesimally minute chance, you are one of the Worthy craft beer cognoscenti and you’ve somehow surmised that you’re prepared for today’s release of Double Bastard Ale, then do proceed. With caution.

Link to full press release on Double Bastard: http://tinyurl.com/6hys9zw

Dogfish Head is one of my favorite breweries. I’ve yet to have a beer of theirs that I didn’t like. I often recommend their beers to those who are new to craft beer. Dogfish’s beer tends to be much more “approachable” than most of my other favorite beers.
That said, I’m torn as to whether or not I am interested in their new music related beer: Faithfull Ale. It’s not that it doesn’t sound good, a Belgian golden ale with black currants sounds amazing, actually. However, I’ve been a longtime hater of Pearl Jam. I blame growing up in the Pacific northwest and being force fed grunge music as why it’s never interested me.
If Pearl Jam is your thing, and you would like to continue celebrating their 20 years of… whatever, check out the below link to see details of it’s release.

http://tinyurl.com/3lr2r2t

This past summer Dogfish Head made its first gluten-free beer, Tweason’Ale. The beer was a huge success in its Rehoboth Beach Brewpub so Dogfish is planning on releasing four-packs of the bottled beer.
Like nearly every gluten-free beer, Tweason’Ale uses sorghum as its base. To keep the beer from tasting as bland as most gluten-free beers though, the beer also includes buckwheat honey and fresh strawberries.
I know what you are thinking, strawberry, honey beer sounds terrible. Like the sugary malt beverages made by Bacardi or something similar. Having tasted this beer at GABF, I can tell you that it isn’t what it sounds like.
First of all, natural sugars, like honey and fruit, are highly fermentable, leaving very little residual sugar. Despite having over a pound of strawberries per gallon, the beer is not bright red. It is a pale orange color, like most other beers. The taste is very refreshing, with a light, fruity finish. As I mentioned before, it is not a sugary, sweet beer. It is however very light bodied, with a slight tanginess from the fermented fruit.
With how much fruit is in this beer, I can’t imagine that this is an easy beer to make a lot of so it is very likely to be difficult to find this December. No announcement has been made as to which markets this will be distributed to.
For more info, and some moving pictures of the creation process, see Dogfish Head’s website: http://www.dogfish.com/tweasonale

Left Hand is a Colorado brewery that I have heard of various times. Previously, I had never tasted anything of theirs since they don’t distribute to Nevada. The one beer that I have consistently heard of is their Milk Stout.

What is a milk stout? It is a stout with lactose added. Lactose is a sugar that comes from milk. Lactose is not fermentable, meaning any lactose that is added when brewing will not get converted into alcohol and instead remains in the final beer adding more body and residual sweetness. Left Hand assures it’s customers that “milk sugar in your stout, is like cream in your coffee.”

This past Friday, Left Hand had a press event, that was prefaced by mysterious magazine ads, announcing the release of Milk Stout Nitro in bottles. They are the first craft brewer to bottle a beer using nitrogen gas. What this all means: Beer is normally carbonated using carbon dioxide (CO2) as this is a byproduct of fermentation. However, many brewers will force carbonate their beers with a blend of CO2 and nitrogen gas (N2) (typically just called “nitro”) because it gives the beer a smoother softer carbonation than just pure CO2. This is typically only done with stouts or porters as this primarily complements these styles. While nitro stouts feel and taste better than CO2, the problem is that N2 gas does not mix in the beer as easily. Special nitro taps are installed in bars that have the proper pressure to hold the gas in the beer. However, nitro beers cannot be used in growler fills because the gas dissipates too quickly, the beer must be served fresh. Which means bottling nitro beers was not possible for a long time. Guinness, the most famous beer served on nitro, developed what’s called a widget that contains N2 gas and is inserted into the bottles at bottling time. Once the bottle is opened and poured into a glass, the widget forces N2 gas into the beer allowing nitro beers to be enjoyed at home. Young’s Double Chocolate Stout is another common beer that is bottled with nitro widgets.

Back to Left Hand: Milk Stout was always available on nitro tap but the bottled version used CO2. In planning to bottle Milk Stout using nitro, Left Hand did not want to use a widget. They spent over two years and hundreds of thousands of dollars developing a way to bottle nitro beer without a widget. They are choosing to keep the secret to themselves rather than risk patenting the process and it becoming public knowledge. The result is amazing. I tasted this beer at GABF and was very impressed. I would happily drink this over any other stout, yes even Guinness. There is no “milky” taste, only a very balanced, smooth stout that is neither too bitter and roasted or too sweet. It’s perfect. Life was much easier having never tasted this beer, I didn’t know what I was missing. I am now forever longing for the day that this beer becomes available in Las Vegas.

*Photo credit: Left Hand Brewing Company