Drake’s Updates- Exxpedition, EXP IPAs, Jolly Rodger, J. Rodgerator, Abominably Jolly, Reunion Barleywine & GABF 2013
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MyBeer Buzz
From Drakes:
Our fall seasonal Exxpedition Imperial Red just hit the shelves and taps at Drake’s Barrel House, and it’s certainly tasting mighty fine with a smooth, warming caress of caramel maltiness brightened by aromas and flavors of piney, citric American hops. It will escort your craft beer lovin’ heart right into the best season of the year (that’s right- we chose favorites).
Start your quest for Drake’s Exxpedition by haulin’ yourself down to Drake’s Barrel House soon, or look for it on tap at your favorite local. Bay Area people, there will be some bottles found out on beer shelves in the Bay too. However you swing it, we suggest you get your hands on some Exxpedition soon. Seriously guys, it’s a trip. Cheers.
EXP IPAs – X-2 Batch Heading to LA
Alright, Los Angeles, we are continuing our hop focused one off series with a new batch heading your way come mid-October. Our first batch flew out the door up here in the San Francisco Bay Area with its lighter body, pale color, and amped up hop profile. We have tweaked the set of EXP hops for batch number two, and sending it down to SoCal, as well as Drake’s Barrel House, for your tasting pleasure and review. Look for it on tap this month, and tell us what you think of our latest experiment. Cheers.
Jolly Rodger – J. Rodgerator & Abominably Jolly
While Jolly Rodger’s been around a long time, it’s also new pretty much every year. It originated as an English-style barleywine, then was later a brown ale, an Imperial Red, and last year made it (almost) full-circle as an American Barleywine. Many years (and many people with some form of the name "Roger") later, we’re going real dark with what will be an 11.5% Imperial American Black Ale (slash Black IPA slash Cascadian Dark Ale).
Also of note, even a pirate’s bound to make a friend or two in 23 years, so this year, Jolly Rodger will be accompanied by some one-off partners J. Rodgerator Doppelbock and Abominably Jolly Imperial White IPA.
The J. Rodgerator will be a bold, malt driven doppelbock- a style originating from the Paulaner monks of Munich seeking a beer big enough to stand in as "liquid bread" during their Lenten fast, and now serving you in CA as a warming, strong, malt accented lager to get you through the holidays. We thank you to note our own take on the traditional "-ator" suffix in the name. Eat your heart out, Salvator.
Abominably Jolly will be the snowman to Jolly Rodger’s Dread Pirate- an Imperial White IPA. This Jolly juxtaposition will utilize an intense amount of wheat in the grist for a cloudy appearance, slight graininess, and light citric character that will pair well with the intense dosing of tropical New Zealand and American hops in the kettle and dry hop.
(Side note: it amuses us when you folks try to say "Denogginizer" after having drank a couple of them, and we thought these names would be just as fun.)
All three come out on Saturday, November 2nd at the Drake’s Barrel House. Jolly Rodger will be on tap, on cask, and in bottles, and his shipmates will be on draft and on cask (Abominably Jolly). Info on bottle limits, growler fills, keg availability, etc will be available on the blog as the date arises.
Jolly Rodger will also have a few friends of the human kind on hand, in the form of the East Bay’s own Shark Alley Hobos, who’ll be gracing us with lively sea shanties, and as always on Saturdays, you can expect some delicious nosh from local food trucks including our regular pals from Fivetenburger.
GABF is Upon Us
We think SFBW is a pretty big deal, but even us Bay Area natives might just have to give the grandaddy-of-them-all crown to the Brewer’s Association’s annual throwdown, the Great American Beer Festival, happening October 10-12 in Denver.
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Look for us and our sister brewery Triple Rockin Denver on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday pouring beer, shaking hands, geeking out, and maybe… just maybe… hitting the floor of the silent disco (yes, we’ll take pictures).
The beers we’ll be lugging up the Rockies for the festival will be 1500 Dry-Hopped Pale, Aroma Coma IPA, Denogginizer Imperial IPA, Black Robusto Porter, and Two Candles Chardonnay Barrel-Aged Sour. Those five along with another 4 beers (Amber, Hella Fresh Pale Ale, IPA, and Drakonic) will hit the judging floors. With any luck, we hope to come back with a few more of those shiny medals up there.
Reunion Barleywine
Speaking of GABF, we’ll be making an appearance at the Denver Rare Beer Tasting, with a small preview of arguably our rarest release yet, our Reunion Barleywine.
Two years ago, we managed to get the old band back together for a brew session with six former Drake’s brewers, who came back to make a collaboration barleywine. We took that one-of-a-kind barleywine, lovingly transferred it into some equally rare Samuel Adams Utopias® barrels, and let it do its thing. After keeping close tabs on it for two years, it is just about ready for release.
Now don’t worry, Californians… we wouldn’t leave our oldest supporters and neighbors in the cold with a brew like this. While there will be a small amount previewed in Denver, the rest we’ll be releasing in bottles on December 7th at Drake’s Barrel House. Stay tuned for more information in the next couple of months to get your chance to grab thefirst bottle of Drake’s barrel-aged beer ever to leave the brewery.
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