In addition to the introduction of the Blonde Doppelbock, Capital's seasonal Maibock is on store shelves now.
It has been confirmed that Furthermore's Knot Stock, an ale infused with black pepper, has been reformulated to make the pepper flavor more "distinctive". I haven't had a Knot Stock since the fall so I can't say more.
Construction continues apace on New Glarus Brewing's expansion with an estimated completion date sometime in the autumn. Until then, we can continue to enjoy brewmaster Dan Carey's fine brews. This month sees the introduction of Stone Soup, an abbey ale.
Over in Milwaukee at Lakefront, the beer of the month is their bock. Also note that Snake Chaser, an Irish stout, is also available now for St. Patty's Day.
Also in time for St. Patrick's Day, Sprecher has their Irish Style Stout. But the really interesting new from the folks in Milwaukee are these two brews:
Looking to Africa for inspiration, they've come up with Mbege Ale and Shakparo Ale. These are (very) limited releases and I've not seen them in Madison.
Mbege Ale:
Bananas are the main ingredient in mbege style beers popular in Eastern Africa. In keeping with tradition, this is brewed with real bananas and presented unfiltered. Light hints of banana remain present in the aroma and flavor of this unique offering.
Shakparo Ale:
Shakparo style beers originated West African and are brewed with sorghum. Our Shakparo is light and refreshing with hints of fruit and spice, and is presented unfiltered as is traditional with this style.
Up north in Dallas, WI is the prolific Viking Brewery. In March they roll out the Weathertop Wheat, a dark New Zealand-style wheat beer and Sylvan Springs, a Bohemian-style pilsner. No word yet on their brackets for this year.
A bit south of Dallas in Black River Falls is the Sand Creek Brewing Company. Their spring seasonal is Oderbolz Bock.
From the Falls Brewing Company comes Midnight Porter. The website indicates that it's coming soon but provides nothing further. Not sure if it's available yet or not.
A bit closer to home is Tyranena. Brewmaster Rob Larson reported that his spring seasonal, Fighting Finches Maibock was bottled last Monday and so it should be appearing on store shelves over the next couple weeks. I'm not sure when Rob's next installment of his Brewers Gone Wild! is to be available. It will be The Devil Made Me Do It!, an Imperial Oatmeal Porter brewed with coffee beans from Sumatra and Costa Rica.
Speaking of the folks at Tyranena, this coming Thursday, 8 March is the 2nd Annual Hop-Luck O' the Irish out at the brewery. Bring an Irish dish to pass (made with some Tyranena beer) and get a free pint. There will also be a St. Patty's Day-themed trivia contest. Unfortunately, The Dulcinea has a big exam on Friday so she is unable to attend. Anyone wanna be my date?
A week from today on 11 March will be the 19th Annual Blessing of the Bock in Milwaukee. Tickets are $40 at the door, $30 in advance. In addition to the beer, blues will be provided by Watermelon Slim & The Workers. Here's a list of the breweries and beers confirmed so far:
Capital Brewery, Middleton, WI - Blonde Dopplebock, Island Wheat
Leinenkugel Brewing, Chippewa Falls, WI - Sunset Wheat, Big Butt Dopplebock, Summer Shandy (new summer seasonal), Imperial IPA (test beer only on draft)
Water Street Brewery, Milwaukee, WI - Dopplebock, Belgian Ale, Irish Whiskey Stout, Raspberry Weiss
Stonefly Brewing, Milwaukee, Wi
Note the appearance of Leine's Summer Shandy, scheduled to be available this summer. "Shandy" refers to the mixture of beer and lemonade, traditionally a bitter in England, but lagers are common these days (known as a "Radler" in Germany). Here's a list of other names considered:
Leinenkugel's Barefoot Summer
Leinenkugel's Pontoon Ponder
Leinenkugel's Lakehouse Lemon
Leinenkugel's Lake Breeze
Leinenkugel's Flip Flop Lemon Drop
Leinenkugel's Dancing Sandals
Summer Shandy is, in my opinion, the best of the lot.
In closing, I'd like to mention that I recently saw both Rehorst and Death's Door vodkas at Woodman's. Rehorst is distilled in Milwaukee by the Great Lakes Distillery while Death's Door is made in Iowa, but from Wisconsin wheat grown on Washington Island. The folks at Great Lakes Distillery are soon to introduce a gin. Stay tuned.
Lastly, I'd like to note the loss of a couple folks in the brewing community. First is the passing of "The Indiana Jones of Beer", Alan D. Eames. From Slashfood:
Eames lived up to the Indiana Jones title with such exploits as traversing the Amazon in search of a legendary black brew and entering Egyptian tombs to read hieroglyphics about beer. He liked to refer to himself as a beer anthropologist. Once in South Africa, he sampled a rare dark beer said to be made by a village grandfather. When he asked to speak to the brewer his request drew guffaws. Seems the beer was made from grandfather; his cremated bones were added to the other ingredients.
Lastly, master brewer Karl Strauss died just after Christmas at the ripe old age of 94.
Karl Strauss, a German brew master who worked for Milwaukee beer giant Pabst Brewing Co. for 44 years before helping craft microbrews for his six namesake brew pubs in Southern California, has died. He was 94.
After serving as Pabst's master brewer and vice president of production, Strauss retired in 1983 and became a brew-making consultant when American microbreweries were booming.
"He was a proponent of smaller brewers, craft brewers from their very inception," said Raymond J. Klimovitz, a Wisconsin beer consultant who serves on the executive council of the Master Brewers Assn. of the Americas.
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