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.
Beer news report: Jan. 17
Here’s news making the rounds in the beer world:
-According to beer industry data, Coors Light has overtaken Budweiser as the country’s second-most-shipped beer. What beer is in first place? Bud Light.
-A couple of Illinois college kids took home the World Series of Beer Pong title and a $50,000 prize recently.
-Mustang Brewing released its latest company newsletter, which includes an interesting mention of a new line of beers called the Saddle Bag Series. My guess is a line of more complex/strong craft beers. I’m working on more details.
-Ever wonder how much it costs to enjoy beer at your favorite NHL hockey game? Of course you did. Well, here’s a list that shows what each NHL team charges. Most expensive on the list? None other than my Toronto Maple Leafs. Expensive beer, expensive tickets, crappy hockey. Sounds like a winning combination!
-We’ve all heard of aging beer on oak or bourbon barrels, but how about aging it on the same wood used to wrap and box cigars? I’m not so sure about that brew.
Update on strong beer petition effort
On Friday, I promised more details on an upcoming petition drive to have strong beer and liquor introduced in the state’s grocery and convenience stores. Here’s the story, courtesy of the Tulsa World:
(Side note: The group Oklahomans for Modern Laws says they plan to spend up to $450,000 on the petition drive process. They obviously have not spent any of that money on their website — www.okmodernlaws.com.)
A group seeking to legalize wine and strong beer sales in Oklahoma’s grocery and convenience stores plans to begin the initiative petition process as soon as (this) week.
Oklahomans for Modern Laws will file its petition with the secretary of state, which starts a process that the group hopes will lead to a statewide vote on the issue in November.
Currently, state law restricts retail sales of wine and beer of more than 3.2 percent alcohol by weight to liquor stores.
Changing the law will help improve the state’s image, attract major retailers to the Oklahoma market and give consumers more choices about where they spend their money, said Brian Howe, spokesman for the group.
After the petition is filed with the secretary of state and goes through a formal publication process, opponents will have 10 days to challenge the legality of the petition’s language before the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
One key technical question is whether the group will be able to change the retail alcohol laws with only one petition and one state question, Howe said.
The group’s initial effort will attempt to do so, but opponents are likely to say it violates the state Constitution’s requirement that state questions only deal with one issue.
If the Supreme Court rules that the issue can’t be dealt with in a single petition, the group will come back with a multiquestion effort, Howe said.
If the issue clears the Supreme Court, the group will have 90 days to collect more than 155,000 Oklahoma voter signatures.
Howe said the group hopes to have petitions in the hands of professional petition-passers by spring with a goal of gathering 200,000 signatures to give the effort some cushion. After signed petitions are returned to the Secretary of State’s Office, opponents will have another opportunity to challenge the effort on the basis of an insufficient number of signatures.
The group plans to spend $300,000 to $450,000 on the petition-passing campaign and is relying on financial contributions from retailers to pay for the effort, Howe said.
J.P. Richard, president of the Retail Liquor Association of Oklahoma and owner of a Lawton liquor store, said his group is ready to fight any effort to take wine and strong beer sales away from liquor stores.
He said the state’s system for selling wine and strong beer works as it is and doesn’t need alteration.
“This industry has been here for 50 years and it’s not broken,” he said.
Richard said the petition process actually cost closer to a million dollars, and he is suspicious of the financing of the campaign.
“Who’s behind this thing?” Richard asked. “Follow the money. The money tells all.”
Mike Thornbrugh, spokes-man for QuikTrip, Oklahoma’s largest convenience store chain, said the company will have to look at the petition when it is filed to see if it can support it.
The company wants to end the state’s dual-strength beer system and get wine into the retail setting but won’t be willing to support an effort if it changes retail hours and days of operation, the right to sell refrigerated beer or rules on hiring clerks younger than 21 to match state laws that apply to liquor stores, he said.
Drive for strong beer in stores to continue
Those fighting to get strong beer and wine sold in the state’s grocery and convenience stories are not quite ready to give up. Groups in favor of such a move are expected to file a constitutional amendment petition as soon as next week. We could see a spring petition drive to acquire enough signatures to get the issue on the ballot, followed by a November 2012 vote. More details to come.
