In 2011, the Goose Island brewery was sold by its owner to AB-InBev for $38.8 million because they couldn’t meet demand for their products. Until recently, Goose Island wasn’t available in Texas at all. However, three of their beers have now been introduced in stores. The three I saw in the store the other day were Honker’s Ale (currently being served at the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival), 312 Urban Wheat, and their India Pale Ale. Production for all three beers  [ Read More ]

Here’s something new for the spring from Abita. In addition to the Mardi Gras Bock that appears in the early part of the year, Abita started releasing this year a new seasonal called Spring IPA. This brew replaces Abita’s Red Ale, and to be honest I won’t miss their Red. Abita’s description of the beer: Spring IPA (March-May) is a West Coast-style IPA with an up-front intense hop flavor and aroma. Amarillo and Centennial hops give the brew a rich  [ Read More ]

Every year Stone Brewing makes a special limited release beer for their anniversary. Some years it has been an IPA, other years it has been a different type of ale, but each year they try to do something special. This year for their 16th anniversary Stone decided to brew an IPA that featured lemon flavors. From the label: We’ve been loving creating Collaboration beers with great creative brewers from all over the world these last several years-unique beers that would  [ Read More ]

One thing Disney has been doing with its re-imagining of Disney California Adventure is stocking the park with California microbrews. One such beer found at Carthay Circle and Flo’s V8 Café is Racer 5, an IPA from Bear Republic in Sonoma County, CA. Racer 5 has a floral nose along with a little pine. Golden with hints of orange in color with a white head. A hop-forward piney taste with some malty sweetness and caramel behind it. The bitterness lingers  [ Read More ]

Torpedo is a bit of a strange name for a beer. Just by looking at the label it doesn’t make much sense since it’s the Sierra Nevada logo with Torpedo written under it. No real hints there. So why Torpedo? Here’s the description straight from the Sierra Nevada website: Our obsession with harnessing huge hop flavor led to the development of what we call the hop torpedo, a revolutionary method of dry-hopping designed, built, and debuted here at the brewery.  [ Read More ]

Happy Easter! Each year in the spring Dogfish Head releases Aprihop as its seasonal beer. After dyeing eggs with the kids last night, I sat down and enjoyed one of these. Aprihop isn’t just a beer that should be consumed in the month of April; it’s named for the apricots the beer is brewed with. Aprihop is a darker orange color with a nice white head. Some light floral and caramel scents in the nose. Apricot notes up front with  [ Read More ]

Yes, it’s time for another Samuel Adams beer that will be served at Hops and Barley during this year’s Epcot International Food and Wine Festival. Latitude 48 IPA is brewed year-round and is Sam Adams’ standard India Pale Ale. I like the idea behind this one; it’s called Latitude 48 because the three hop varieties used in this beer are from Germany, England, and America. These hops all grow around the 48th latitude of the northern hemisphere and Sam Adams  [ Read More ]

Stone, a brewery in San Diego, CA, loves to make a strong beer; they refer to the brews as “big character ales”. Sometimes, they go overboard. Stone’s IPA, however, is pretty good. It’s a one-trick pony; hops dominate the flavor throughout, giving the beer a citrus aroma and bitter taste with citrus notes. It’s also a bit dry, and the taste gets more flavorful as it warms up a bit. When a beer is ice cold, it numbs the taste  [ Read More ]

It’s almost unfair to drink this after drinking Divine Reserve #11. As Saint Arnold’s normal IPA it’s pretty good, but the comparisons to Divine Reserve #11 are inevitable. It’s much more muted than Divine Reserve #11. Heck, it’s more muted than Lagunitas IPA and Abita Jockamo IPA too. That being said, this beer is extremely smooth, especially for an IPA; this style usually attacks your tongue with hop flavors. I don’t dislike Elissa, but it’s not my favorite IPA either.  [ Read More ]

Lindsay, Jackie and Scott spent the afternoon together to enjoy a few beers; two of these were for an upcoming article, but the third was the newly-released Saint Arnold Divine Reserve #11. Every so often Saint Arnold, Houston’s local microbrewery and Texas’ oldest craft brewery, releases a single batch of a big beer under its Divine Reserve label. This particular beer is a double IPA. So who is Saint Arnold? According to the Wikipedia article, Saint Arnold was a soldier  [ Read More ]