Enter to Win the WhichCraft Madness Bracket Challenge! Also JW Lees Tasting on Saturday.

Back after popular demand – the WhichCraft Madness bracket challenge! Over the next 2 weeks you’ll have a chance to vote for your favorite readily available Texas beer. Read all the details here; fill out a bracket and vote on our social media channels over the next few weeks.

Three tastings this Saturday! We’ve been helping you all week to #AvoidSXSW with some great new beers and free tasting events and this Saturday we’ve got three free tastings lined up, so any time is a great one to visit us. The big tasting is Saturday night when we go crazy with multiple years and cask finishes of JW Lees’ Harvest ale. Details below.

Free In-Store Tastings

Friday, March 18th

Angi from Meridian Hive will be back at the tasting bar, this time pouring free mead samples of the new Fireweed (details below) as well as Broken Crown, Discovery and Rhapsody.

Saturday, March 19th – 12pm to 2pm

We haven’t yet had a Schilling Cider tasting, so we decided to change that by inviting Eric to our tasting bar to sample out the whole lineup of ciders from Seattle.

Saturday, March 19th – 6pm to 8pm

Jon Lundbom from B United Importers will be here for a very special JW Lees’ Harvest Ale tasting event. Brewed only once a year, JW Lees is essentially a British-style barleywine that ages incredibly well. We’ll be sampling vintages going all the way back to 2002 (!) as well as some cask-aged versions of various years. 10% off all JW Lees products during the tasting! We’ll also be creating handy little mixed 4 packs.

Thursday, March 24th

Come to talk to Oowee Products about how their unique leather accessories are made and sample some beers as well. Oowee employes people on the autism spectrum to make their leather goods… see details below!

Friday, March 25th

An Epic Tasting (Epic Brewing, that is) with Davis Howe. Hop Syndrome, Lil Brainless Raspberries, Escape to Colorado and Brainless on Peaches.

New Beers This Week

Back in stock: Cascade Blueberry, Austin Eastciders Hopped Cider, Ducato BrettPeat Daydream, Oskar Blues Deviant Dale’s, Adelbert’s Contemplating Waterloo, Oddwood Taming the Savage Heart.

Montucky Cold Snacks – Two Montana friends wanted a light American-style lager while also making money to give to charity. These come in 16 oz 6 packs for only $6 (!) while also giving 8% of profits away to charity. If you need some lake or river beers,  these are for you. 4% ABV/Bozeman, MT/Availability: plenty

Freigeist Geisterzug Gose – Based on a recipe dating back at least six hundred years, this is Freigeist’s quirky version of the nearly-extinct traditional sour beer of Leipzig. “Geisterzug” (“Ghost Train”) spruced gose is unusually complex, funky, and full-bodied, the perfect modern-day medieval German ale. 5.2% ABV/Stolberg, Germany/Ratebeer 85/Availability: decent

Freigeist Geisterzug Quince – Based on Freigeist’s ancient spruced Gose recipe, Geisterzug Quince features all the complexity, funkiness, and body of the of the original but gose (get it?!) one step further by adding tart & flavorful real fruit & vegetable during fermentation. 5.2% ABV/Stolberg, Germany/Ratebeer 88/Availability: decent

Freigeist Abraxxxas Pear – Inspired by the rare and nearly-extinct eastern German tart wheat beer once known as “Lichtenhainer”, Abraxxxas is sour and complex, with a balancing smoky maltiness. As freakily drinkable as it is challenging, this ale was deemed an instant classic upon it’s release in the U.S. The pear version adds, you guessed it, pear during fermentation. 6% ABV/Stolberg, Germany/No ratings yet/Availability: decent

Freigeist Abraxxxas Apple – Same exact beer as above but fermented with Apple. 6% ABV/Stolberg, Germany/No ratings yet/Availability: decent

Unity Vibrations Raspberry – Unity Vibrations from Michigan makes kombucha beer, which uses traditional beer ingredients as well as kombucha ingredients for a beer-strength ABV. They use open air fermentation and all ingredients are organic, gluten free, vegan and bottle conditioned. This particular one is refermented on raspberries. 8% ABV/Ypsilanti, MI/No ratings yet/Availability: decent

Destihl Dubbel – Destihl’s Belgian-style Dubbel pours a dark brown color and with a dense, mousse-like head. Aromas of caramel malt & rich chocolate malt alongside ripe, banana-like fruity esters that finish with malt sweetness, chocolate-like flavors and a dry finish. 7.5% ABV/Bloomington, Illinois/No ratings yet/Availability: decent

Strange Land Ebulon – Strange Land’s latest release is an elderberry-infused strong ale in bombers. Can’t find much more info online about this one. 10.9% ABV/Austin, TX/No ratings yet/Availability: plenty

Knee Deep Hop Shortage Triple IPA – The cousin of Knee Deep’s Simtra, but brewed with only Centennial and Chinook hops. Gigantic hop bomb of a triple IPA. 11.3% ABV/Auburn, CA/Ratebeer 96/Availability: plenty

Firestone Walker 805 Blonde – A light, refreshing blonde ale crafted for the California lifestyle. Subtle malt sweetness is balanced by a touch of hops,

creating a versatile beer with a clean finish. 4.7% ABV/Paso Robles, CA/Availability: decent

Goliad Doppelbock – A complex malt build and higher alcohol content combine to create a near religious experience. German Noble Hops do little to tame the strong full body developed by monks as a “liquid bread” to cleanse the soul during periods of fasting. Lagered for 12 weeks to provide a clean rich finish. 7.1% ABV/Goliad, TX/No ratings yet/Availability: plenty

Bear Republic Café Racer 15 – Café Racer 15 features aromas of bright citrus and resinous pine from the generous use of Citra, Amarillo, Cascade and Chinook hops which are complimented by a dry malt finish. The result is a high revving Double IPA that is loud and assertive, much like the rebellious street racers who inspired it. 9.75% ABV/Healdsburg, CA/Ratebeer 99/Availability: decent

Meridian Hive Fireweed – Fireweed honey comes from the Pacific Northwest. Intensely floral in its character, the aromas resemble fresh cut flowers and honeysuckle. The flavor carries notes of creme brulee and hazelnut. This is a traditional still higher-ABV mead. 13.5% ABV/Austin, TX/No ratings yet/Availability: plenty

Oskar Blues Gubna Imperial IPA – Each year Gubna is reinvented with a new hop bill. Brewed with whole-leaf Galena hops, the brewers then added Columbus and Sorachi Ace to GUBNA 5.0, which spikes the beer with spicy, blackcurrant notes and subtle citrus overtones. GUBNA is dry-hopped with prodigious amounts of El Dorado, Comet, and Chinook hops, creating a dank, dense, pineapple & lemon zest nose and unique blend of grapefruit, apricot, and herbs, while finishing clean and bitter. 10% ABV/Longmont, CO/Ratebeer 98/Availability: decent

Upslope Belgian Pale Ale – Wonderfully deceptive, this light bodied Belgian-Style Ale is full of flavor with an alcoholic kick. Trappist Ale yeast provides fruity esters that are balanced out with coriander on the finish. 7.5% ABV/Boulder, CO/Beer Advocate 84/Availability: decent

We have new leather stamped koozies and coasters that were made by Oowee Products out of North Carolina. They are hand made and hand stitched leather, and Oowee since their founding has been providing employment to members of the Autism Society of North Carolina who hand stitch each koozie. Buy one and support a great cause!

Free Weekend Tastings

Friday

Free Meridian Hive mead tasting!

Saturday 

THREE FREE TASTINGS! Details above.

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