Beerpulse had previously announced label approval for 12 oz cans earlier this week, but it looks like New Belgium made it offiicial by posting the above photo to their Instagram feed.

I previously posted about Shift when it was first released in Las Vegas here. I mentioned in that article the benefits, and likely reasons, for having this beer being only available in a can, but I didn’t touch on the benefits or marketing reasons of it only being available in a 16 oz can. My guess, is that the new decision to make Shift also available in 12 oz cans was likely based on a different kind of demand than originally expected from the sole 16 oz cans of Shift.

In my mind, the 16 oz can was perfect. Firstly, it is much cheaper to manufacture only one version of a particular product. Second, at 5% alcohol, it is one of the lowest alcohol content beers that New Belgium makes year-round. Not only that, but is is one of the driest, crispest beers they make. Add in the fact that the increased hops compared to most lagers makes this one of the most flavorful, refreshing, craft beers available that isn’t too filling. The added 4 oz is well welcomed for this style of beer.

So what changed? My only assumption would be to make this beer available at a possibly more attractive price point. The 4 packs of Shift are usually available at around the same price as New Belgium’s year-round beers available in 6 packs. Assuming a 6 pack of 12 oz Shifts is also available at the same price point, consumers are able to purchase 8 more ounces of beer, but more importantly, the perception of 2 more beers than buying a 4 pack.

The only thing that I’m left still wondering, is whether the 16 oz cans will still be available. Given New Belgium’s size, and the variety of packaging available for their other year-round beers, I would assume it will still stick around, as the cost is probably not too substantial for them. Still, I loved the appeal of making a single beer available in only a single packaging format.

I just want to take a moment and point out how much I like Unita’s label artwork. I love the minimalistic look to them. Very few colors are used, the label is primarily two-toned between the background and the font colors. There is only a simple, single, two toned image in the center, and that’s it. It’s perfect.

And not only are the labels great, the beers are great too. Any of the below 12 oz bottles should be go-to session beers for all of you.

Uinta also has another set of beers available in cork finished 750 mL bottles, called their ‘Crooked Line’ beers. While these labels are not as clean cut and simple as the others beers, they do still have great artwork on them.

Uinta’s beers are available at the usual craft beer shops in town: Whole Foods, Khoury’s Fine Wine, and Total Wine.

Little known fact, the owner of Las Vegas’ Tenaya Creek Brewery, Tim Etter, got his start as a brewer at Uinta!

*all of the above images were taken from Uinta’s site.

Glassware is one of the most under appreciated aspects of enjoying craft beer. That truth is however, that glassware is probably one of the most important factors in whether a beer can be found enjoyable or not.

First, it is important to understand how vital aroma is to contributing to flavor perception. The human tongue is only capable of discerning five different tastes (sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami). But if these are the only tastes that we can detect, how is it that we can perceive the difference between one beer to the next? Our sense of smell, on the other hand, can detect between 4,000 and 10,000 different odor molecules! Our perception of flavor is in part determined by what our tongue tastes, but also the smells that our nasal passage detects.

If you want to truly taste a beer to the fullest, inhale through your nose as you are drinking, hold your breath as you taste it in your mouth, and breath out your nose after you swallow. By drinking beer this way, you are taking in the aroma and smell of the beer as you are drinking and after you swallow, you are allowing the aroma to travel back though your nasal passage so you can get a good sense of it’s aftertaste.

So, now that you know how important your sense of smell is, why does glassware matter? You want something that is going to allow you the best possible experience of being able to smell and take in the aroma of you beer. How well do you think you can smell your beer by drinking out of the bottle?

Aside from contributing to aroma perception, proper glassware also depends on the style of beer you are drinking. The above image is taken from craftbeer.com This link is a great resource for learning and understanding what glassware best compliments which style of beer. I highly recommend checking it out.

Red Robin, being the fine dining establishment that they are, announced this week that as part of their Oktoberfest menu, they will have an Oktoberfest ice cream shake made with Sam Adams Oktoberfest beer. Jokes aside, this is actually a really good idea, and it’s kind of surprising that more beer centric restaurants don’t already offer beer milkshakes.

Both Holsteins in the Cosmopolitan and Burger Bar in Mandalay Bay offer great burgers and alcoholic milkshakes to pair with them. But despite the great selection of beers that both these restaurants offer, those milkshakes use sugary, artificial liqueurs and syrups. Yard House does at least offer beer ice cream floats, another dessert option that doesn’t get enough attention.

Ice cream is already sweet enough as it is, so there’s no need to add more sugar. Beer offers the opportunity to add additional flavor with little additional sweetness, making for a very well balanced dessert.

I prefer to drink my beet unadulterated, but I have hosted events where I served ice cream floats made with vanilla ice cream and either Young’s Double Chocolate Stout or Lindeman’s Framboise. Both were well received. I prefer using framboise, the tartness contrast well with the ice cream. Blending chocolate stout with chocolate ice cream is also delicious. The dark, bitter roasted malts accentuate the chocolate ice cream nicely.

First, let me express my surprise in seeing the amounts of pumpkin and fall themed beers that are on the shelves already. And they’ve even been there for a couple weeks now! I can’t even buy a pumpkin at the grocery store, how the hell are there so many pumpkin beers available?

That aside, the pumpkin beers are here. Now, I don’t claim to be any sort of pumpkin beer connoisseur, but damn it, Dogfish Head’s Punkin has got to be one of the best pumpkin beers there is. At the very least, it’s got to be the best pumpkin beer available in Las Vegas.

As is the case with most pumpkin beers, Punkin is brewed with not only pumpkin, but also various spices that are traditionally used in making pumpkin pie. While this gives many pumpkin beers an artificial and exaggerated smell of pumpkin pie, Punkin is well balanced and uses real ingredients making the aroma of this beer jump out at you like a real pumpkin pie. The aroma is spicy, sweet, sugary, with a hints of clove and a graham cracker crust. This has such an amazing aroma, I recommend putting this beer in a some sort of tulip or cognac glass to best experience it.

There is a moderate hop bitterness in this beer, but it is only present in the initial taste, fading away to reveal a well balanced brown ale, sweetened with pumpkin and clove flavors. The aftertaste lingers in your mouth the way a bite of pie does, drawing you in to take another sip.

If I had some vanilla ice cream sitting around, I would have made a float out of this beer. Please go out and buy this beer while it’s available, and if you find a better pumpkin beer, let me know!

Stone has really been on an IPA kick lately. In past year, or so, they’ve released 6 new IPAs that I can think of. 15th Anniversary Escondidian Black IPA, Japanese Green Tea IPA, More Brown Than Black IPA, TBA (not labeled an IPA, but it’s a “hopppy, bitter, brown ale), Enjoy By IPA, and now 16th Anniversary IPA. This is a double IPA brewed with rye, lemon verbana, and lemon oil. Here are some of my tasting notes:

The beer has a bright crystal clear golden hue. It has a strong lemon rind smell, along with a wet grass and flowery aroma. Despite having lemon oil in the beer, the hops don’t veer too much in the citrusy direction. Instead the hops have more of a clean bitterness with more of an herbal flavor . The finish is a sweet, sugary lemon finish, with the rye spiciness balancing it out.

This definitely a different take on an IPA. Whereas Dogfish Head used Hellhound On My Ale to make a lemon IPA bursting with citrus flavors, Stone goes a different direction and instead uses the lemon flavor to accent more of a grassy, flowery, earthy IPA.

The one aspect of this beer that threw me off a bit was the mouthfeel. This beer seems to have a bit of a heavy body. In addition to this, there isn’t too much carbonation either, giving this beer an almost syrupy consistency. At 10% alcohol, it is in the high end for beer, but the mouthfeel is almost comparable to the beers that have more than 14% alcohol. This still is a great beer, and it hides it’s alcohol well, but the consistency of this beer makes it difficult to want to drink more than a small glass. I think a lighter body, and stronger carbonation would make this beer a bit more refreshing to have in the current 100+ degree weather. Once the temperatures drop, this will make a nice cold weather beer.

Prior to this writing, I had some difficulty finding where this beer was available. It didn’t seem like it was immediately available like last years 15th Anniversary beer. I grabbed the only bottle I saw at Whole Foods in Town Square. However, it has been confirmed on Facebook and Twitter that the beer can also be found at Aces and Ales and both Total Wine locations. Also, despite only seeing one bottle at Whole Foods, I can confirm that they have 13 cases left.

Mammoth Brewing Company is tucked away in the mountains of California, and sadly, does not distribute to Nevada. Thankfully, it is close by to some of the Hooked on Hops extended family! We were able to get our hands on seven of their beers and had a tasting of them all. To get to the point, these beers do not disappoint! Next time you are in California, be sure to scope out some of these!

GOLDEN TROUT PILSNER    
This is a solid pilsner! This is very refreshing, with a toasted bread aroma and a dry, cracker-like finish. There is a firm hop bitterness (as any good pilsner should have!) that gives this beer a nice, long, lingering grassy, finish.

REAL MCCOY AMBER ALE
As light and refreshing as the pilsner, but with less hop flavor, and more maltiness. This beer smells like caramel and has a maple-like finish. This is extremely refreshing and would make for the perfect session beer during the hot summer months!

PARANOIDS PALE ALE        
This beer smells incredibly like fresh oranges, with a nice orange zest-like finish! In fact, this has such a strong orange aroma and flavor, that we decided to mix orange juice in with the beer to create one of the best beermosas we have ever had! This is very citrusy, with a lightly bitter aftertaste. Also, an amazing summer beer, or breakfast beer for that matter!

DOUBLE NUT BROWN          
This beer recently won the gold medal at the 2012 World Beer Cup, and for good reason! An amazing coffee aroma greets you, along with a smooth coffee flavor in the finish. The aroma, and initial flavor, is lightly smokey with a nice smooth and chocolatey body. One of the best porters available!

BLONDIBOCK                      
Blondibock is an incredible uniquely flavored beer. This is brewed as a traditional blonde bock-style lager, but it is then aged for 3 months in bourbon barrels. The result is an extremely flavorful beer, especially for a lager. The nose is filled with bourbon and coconut, with a hint of pineapple, giving this an almost piña colada-like aroma. The flavor is also filled with coconut, in addition to a firm bourbon overtone. The overall flavor and aroma of this beer would make for an amazing candle!

DEVILS POST PALE ALE      
If there was a grapefruit beer, this would be it. Generously hopped with centennial hops, this beer has a strong grapefruit aroma, along with a firm grapefruit style bitterness that lingers long after the finish. Calling this beer a pale ale is an understatement, as this beer has the alcohol and bitterness to match any other well respected IPA on the west coast!

IPA 395                                   
Lastly, we tasted the juniper-themed IPA. The juniper is exceptionally strong in this beer, so much so that it is difficult to discern the sage that is also added to this beer. In the flavor, the juniper immediately jumps out, followed by a firm hop bitterness in the finish. A very solid, and unique, take on the IPA style.

All in all, Mammoth has some solid beers. We strongly recommend you seek these beers out the next time you are in California. The most favorited beers amongst the Hooked on Hops crew were the Blondibock and the Double Nut Brown Porter. Not sampled today, but also an exceptional beer, is their Hair of the Bear Doppelbock!

Photo Credits: Danny Szeto

This Thursday is IPA Day. A day specifically dedicated to the almighty hop! You can find out more information about IPA Day, including some awesome cooking recipes, here.

More importantly, I’ve tried to gather a list of events happening in Las Vegas in celebration of IPA Day. I’ve got 3 for you. However, they are 3 awesome options!

Aces & Ales
Starting at 5PM, all beers are $5 and growler fills are $15
Tap list:
Stone Brewing Co.
Ruination W/Simcoe Hops On CASK 7.7%~ Imperial IPA
DDH Ruination W/Amarillo Hops 7.7%~ Imperial IPA
Stone IPA 6.9% ~ American IPA
Joseph James Brewing (Local)
Habanero Hop Box 8%~ Imperial IPA
Hop Box 8%~ Imperial IPA
Ballast Point Brewing Company
Sculpin 7% ~ IPA
Double Dorado 9.6% ~ IPA
Big Eye IPA 7% ~ American IPA
Deschutes Brewery
Chain Breaker 5.6% ~ White IPA
Hop In The Dark CDA ~ 6.5% American Black Ale
Green Flash Brewing
West Coast I.P.A. ~7.3% ABV American IPA

UPDATED: Whole Foods
All three Las Vegas locations are having a 20% off sale on all IPAs

Tenaya Creek Brewery
Currently unannounced, however the brewery has confirmed that they too will be having a special event in honor of IPA Day

UPDATE: Big Dog’s Brewery
IPA and curry dinner special

If you know of any other events happening in Las Vegas, please let us know so we can spread the word!

With IPA Day coming August 2nd, I thought I’d re-share one of Goran’s recipes that uses an IPA as a base. Be sure to follow him and his blog on twitter: @cookingwthgormo
–Luis

Hello,
As we continue to embark on a journey with beer recipes, I thought about combining another favorite ingredient that I love to cook with (Bacon). In this post, we will be making a Bacon and IPA Spaghetti sauce. Many of you will wonder what the actual taste will be. I will give you a little hint: it will all depend on what kind of beer you will be using while making the sauce. Think of the beer as the foundation for the sauce. If you start with a not so good flavored beer, do not expect any miracles in the end. You have been warned. The beer I choose today is coming from the Tenaya Creek Brewery. The name of the beer is Monsoon IPA. The beer is light amber in color, full bodied and well hopped. Perfect for this recipe!

On to the cooking now!

Yield: 2 QT

Ingredients:

• 4 ea slices of Bacon
• 4 ea medium Onions, chopped
• 2 ea cloves Garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 lb Beef, ground
• 1 c Parmesan Cheese, grated
• 2 T Worcestershire sauce
• 6 oz Mushroom, sliced from a can
• 12 oz Monsoon IPA Tenaya Creek Brewery
• 6 oz Tomato Paste
• 1 t Salt
• 1/2 t Tabasco Sauce
• 1 1/3 c Tomato Puree

Preparation:

1. Fry Bacon until crisp; drain. Remove Bacon from the skillet.
2. To the Bacon fat add Onions and Garlic. Sauté until golden. Add ground Beef and Cheese. Stir often. Cook until the meat is brown.
3. Add Beer and cook for about 10 minutes.
4. Add the Tomato Paste, Salt, Tabasco, Worcestershire, Oregano and simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Add Tomato Puree, Mushrooms and Bacon.
6. Continue cooking until thickened, about 8-10 minutes.

Note:

Please keep in mind, as I have stated in my previous post, when it comes to the beer recipes, I will try to keep the recipe as straightforward and as simple as possible. You can add additional flavor to the sauce by adding Basil and Parsley to the recipe. I also recommend adding just a pinch of Sugar when making any kind of Tomato sauce. It helps fight the acidity of the tomato.

The finished product should look like this:

The one and only Aces & Ales is celebrating their 3rd anniversary, and they’ve enlisted the help of the local Joseph James Brewery to help them. Together, they’ve made a beer commemorating the 3 years that Aces & Ales has been punishing palates in Las Vegas with their intense craft beer selections.

Porters have got to be one of the best styles of beer, simply because they perfectly balance dark, bitter, roasted malts, with sweet, chocolatey goodness. Not only does this beer boast both of these elements, the barrel aging gives this beer a nice smokey aroma and flavor to complement the dark chocolate. For a beer that’s 10.8% alcohol, this is extremely drinkable.

If you are reading this, and it is still Saturday the 14th, GO TO ACES & ALES RIGHT NOW! Not only is this a very limited offering, they are giving it away for free. The keg was tapped at 3PM today, and your first round is on the house, today only or until they kill the keg, whichever happens first.

As for the bottle seen above, I got bottle 34/120. So yeah, bottles are also very limited, and will probably sell out tonight, if not already.

Congratulations Aces & Ales! Las Vegas wouldn’t be the same without you!