24 January, 2013

Sam Adams Shows Some Lager Love, Rocky Gets Revenge on the Bitter Woman, and Vintage Fires Up the Lagering Tank

Samuel Adams may be a macro craft brewery but they brew some tasty beers. I've had a smattering of their limited release brews recently (Tasman Red, Norse Legend, Cinder Bock) and they were excellent. SA aren't afraid to let their barley pops sit in the cold for several weeks. Plus they are not afraid to tweak the stalwart lager. Coming to bottles soon (if not in stores already) are a blueberry flavored lager as well as an IPA - India Pale Lager.





As far as I know, these are new to the SA line-up and join other lager variations like the Winter Lager which is akin to a wit and Alpine Spring which they bill as a Helles-spring bock-Kellerbier hybrid kind of thing.

Closer to home, Tyranena reports that Rocky's Revenge, a bourbon barrel aged brown ale, has over taken Bitter Woman IPA as their best seller.

Basically since its debut over ten years ago, the Bitter Woman IPA has been, by far, our best selling beer. When giving a tour, many have heard me proclaim the Bitter Woman to be nearly 30% of our production... Well, somewhere in 2012, our dear old lady was shoved aside by a serpentine lake monster.... Mostly attributed to its growing popularity in Chicago, Minneapolis and Indiana markets, production of Rocky's Revenge has now officially surpassed Bitter Woman IPA to become our most produced and best-selling brand.

Even closer to home Vintage Brewing have announced a new beer on their Facebook page:

NEW BEER ALERT! It's mighty rare when our brewers commit the fermenting tank space to making true lagers...so it's with special pride we debut our 2013 "Snowflake" beer project: RYE BOCK! Full-bodied and richly malty, with just a shade of spicy rye character, and now on tap!

All of my bitching about lagers to Scott has finally paid off. I wonder if he had some rye left over from this year's batch of Tippy Toboggan.

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