New England vs. New York: Who wins the battle of beer?
You may not have heard, but there’s a football game happening this Sunday between the Patriots of New England and the Giants of New York. Of course one of the most important aspects of this game is the beer you drink while watching it.
Mrs. Beagle passed along a link comparing the might of New England’s breweries vs. those that call the Empire State home.
You can read the article right here.
Fun Super Bowl fact: The game drives the sale of more than 51 million cases of beer.
Beer news report: Jan. 30
Here’s what’s making the news in the local beer world:
-Oklahoma City’s COOP Ale Works has been selected to pour at Savor: An American Craft Beer and Food Experience. The two-day festival will be June 8-9 in Washington, D.C. Sixty breweries from around the country were selected to take part. You can learn more at this link.
-Mustang Brewing announced a Feb. 13 release date for its new line of grocery/convenience store beers, Session ’33. They also put out this video to promote the date.
-Here’s an interesting infographic about beer and the Super Bowl.
-TapWerks is hosting some Woodchuck Amber Cider giveaways on Thursday, Feb. 2, in honor of Groundhog Day. I always say, if you don’t have a groundhog, a woodchuck is the next best thing. At least, I said it just now.
-McNellie’s OKC is holding a Hoffbrau pint night today at 5 p.m. Buy the pint, keep the glass.
-McNellie’s OKC also announced a Sam Adams Beer Dinner is set for 7 p.m. Feb. 28. To reserve a spot, email jenny.price@mcnellies.com.
Beer review: Shiner Wild Hare Pale Ale
Today I will review the latest release from Spoetzl Brewery, Shiner Wild Hare Pale Ale. This American pale ale is set to be out Feb. 3, but being The Thirsty Beagle, I got a sneak peek. Let’s get to the review:
Aroma: Wild Hare hits you with bready, malty aroma, but I didn’t detect much in the way of hops, either floral or citrus.
Appearance: The beer is deep amber and a little hazy.
Taste: I found this beer to have a very defined malt character, slightly bready, but lacking any real defining hop presence. Got just the slightest bit of bitterness on the back end and didn’t detect a distinct hop flavor.
Mouthfeel: Has a light, smooth feel; good carbonation.
Overall impression: Wild Hare leans a little bit too far toward the malt side of the equation versus the hop side, for my liking. Otherwise, it has a pleasant taste and is quite drinkable. Seems to be a sessionable offering.
Thirsty Beagle score: 7.5 points (out of 10)
Choc’s Project Hop to continue tonight
The next installment in Choc’s Project Hop will be tonight at McNellie’s OKC. The festivities kick off at 6 p.m. Tonight’s offering will be 1919 dry-hopped with Columbus hops. Columbus hops are described as earthy and spicy, with subtle flavors of citrus. Seems like a nice, subtle complement to 1919.
In other, unrelated beer news…
-Mustang Brewing has set a Winter Lager pint night at McNellie’s OKC for 5 p.m. Monday, Feb. 6. First 100 people to buy a pint of Winter Lager get a new Mustang pint glass.
-Oklahoma City scored some major cred in the latest issue of Draft Magazine. Check the link to see mentions of RePUBlic, TapWerks, McNellie’s, Redbud, COOP and Battered Boar.
-Also in Draft Mag, TapWerks made the list of the magazine’s 100 best beer bars for 2012.
-And yet another tidbit from Draft Mag: They recently reviewed COOP Native Amber and Choc Signature Smoked Porter.
Shiner to break its own mold
The Spoetzl Brewery, makers of Shiner Bock and other associated beers, this week announced a new addition to its brewing lineup — a beer style the company has never made in its 103-year history. The style? An ale. Crazy, right? You’d think pretty much all craft breweries would have an ale in their portfolio, but Shiner does not. Until Feb. 3, that is, when the company will release Shiner Wild Hare Pale Ale.
“As we start the brewery’s 103rd year, our team is proud to brew this fine pale ale,” said Spoetzl brewmaster Jimmy Mauric. “Shiner Wild Hare gives our brewers the opportunity to now share a great ale with our fans.”
According to a press statement sent out by the brewery, the classic American pale ale “is made with American two-row barley, with a blend of Munich and caramel malts for rich malt flavor and clear amber color. U.S. Golding and bravo hop varieties are used in the kettle and fermenter for crisp bitterness and assertive fresh hop fruit and floral aroma. More than a pound of hops is used to produce each barrel of Shiner Wild Hare.”
Thank you for drinking a beer, and other pint nights
If you guessed this post was going to be about The Golden Girls, you’re a winner! Marshall Brewing will pay tribute to Golden Girls cast-member and general, all-around American legend Betty White turning 90 years old with a special keg of Rose Extra Pale Ale at 5 p.m. today at McNellie’s Tulsa.
Can’t make it to Tulsa tonight? You’re not out of luck in terms of pint nights. TapWerks in Bricktown is offering Great Divide for its Thursday pint night. Buy a pint of Great Divide, get a glass.
And feeling slightly jealous of its Tulsa sister (that tramp!), McNellie’s OKC has announced that for its Firkin Friday tomorrow night they will feature a new beer from Battered Boar, Blue Face Scotch Ale. The firkin will be tapped at 6 p.m.
To round out this post, I’ll also mention that RePublic is offering a special right now where you can buy a flight of German beer and get a glass or stein. Who doesn’t love drinking beer from a stein, right?
Fight ensues over fracking at brewery’s water supply
Here in Oklahoma, we know all about fracking — the process of shooting water and chemicals into the earth to extract natural gas. A popular brewery in New York state is learning about fracking as well, but not in a way they want. Brewery Ommegang says that a company’s plans to lease out land for drilling at their local water source could force them out of business. The brewery fears that if the water is contaminated by residual chemicals from the fracking process, they’d have to find a new source for the more than 1 million gallons of water they use each year. Whether or not fracking is bad for the environment is a topic that has been under much debate. You can read more about the brewery’s contentions at this link.
Mustang to start strong, specialty line
Not too long after Mustang Brewing announced they’d be starting up a 3.2 percent line of grocery and convenience store beers, the company has announced they’ll take things to the other side of the spectrum with a series of special release strong and specialty craft beers. The Saddlebag Series is the brainchild of Mustang brewmaster Gary Shellman. The beers will be packaged in larger bottles and released in limited quantities. Here’s what Gary had to say about them:
Beers in the Saddlebag Series will be one-of-a-kind specialty beers — stronger and more unique than those in our regular lineup. I have developed several special recipes — some that we have already displayed at a few of last year’s Firkin Fridays at McNellie’s, and Pro Brewer’s Night at the National Homebrewers’ Conference in San Diego.
There are many new craft beer drinkers in Oklahoma that enjoy Mustang beer. At the same time, there are many experienced craft beer drinkers that are looking for beers that push the boundaries, and the Mustang beers released in the Saddlebag Series will push those boundaries.
These beers will be brewed in small batches, packaged in larger bottles, and sold as limited-numbered releases, so once they’re gone, they won’t be available for quite some time. Craft beer drinkers can either enjoy them right away, or lay them down for additional aging to enjoy later.
Finally, Saddlebag Series beers will be brewed in our local brewing facilities, and use more local ingredients as we continue our support of the Oklahoma economy.
More to come as we get closer to the first release, which we anticipate will be around the May-June timeframe.
So there you have it. Can’t argue with more unique craft beer in Oklahoma.
Get to know COOP Ale Works
I got an email the other day from a chap at Oklahoma City public relations firm Ackerman McQueen saying the company does a weekly video magazine where they cover interesting cultural stories from around the state and region. This week’s video was on none other than COOP Ale Works. Check it out…
Hops and dogs: A bad combination
Attention homebrewers who own dogs: Did you know hops can be dangerous and even fatal when ingested by dogs? As a fledgling homebrewer and dog owner, this article caught my eye.
Essentially, you shouldn’t just leave hops laying around where your dog can get them. And that goes for unused or spent hops. There have been documented cases of golden retrievers and greyhounds having very bad reactions, notably a condition that causes a rapid and severe rise in the dog’s internal temperature.
Here is a very interesting and, I would presume expensive, account of a dog battling off the effects of ingesting spent hops.
I think it’s safe to say you should not feed your dog the remnants of that bottle of IPA you didn’t finish, either.
