We’re Here to Help You #AvoidSXSW With New Beers and Free Tastings!

That’s right, we’re praying for rain when the world descends upon Austin for SXSW, so people will stop wanting to move here! We’re here to help you #AvoidSXSW with some great new beers and free tasting events.

Free In-Store Tastings, 6-8pm

Thursday, March 10th – TONIGHT!

Terry from Alaskan graciously agreed to do a vertical tasting of the multiple gold medal award winning Alaskan Smoked Porter. We’ll have 2008, 2013, 2014 and 2015 open. Also we’ll be tasting the newly released Jalapeño imperial IPA and Hop Turn IPA.

Friday, March 11th

We’re going to taste the Nebraska Brewing barrel aged lineup in its entirety! It includes: HopAnomaly, Black Betty, Fathead, Melange a Trois, Responsibly, Attack of the 50 Foot Brunette & Sexy Betty.

Saturday, March 12th

Nathan from Middleton Brewing in San Marcos is having their first Austin launch event and tasting here at WhichCraft, and we’ll be sampling Black Lab Porter, Bobcat Red, Garnet Amber & Third Coast IPA. Details on each below.

Thursday, March 17th

Free Avery tasting with Justin Sutherland and cellar release of some older Avery bottles! Details in next week’s newsletter, but mark your calendars now.

New Beers This Week

Back in stock:  Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout, Real Ale Café de Olla, Community Mosaic, Blue Owl Spirit Animal, Founders Azacca IPA.

We’re happy to announce Middleton Brewing from San Marcos has finally started sending some of their bottles outside of the brewery. To our knowledge we’re the only retailer in town carrying their stuff at this point. See below for details about their 4 releases and come in this Saturday evening to try them all!

Middleton Third Coast IPA – Third Coast IPA is crafted with a beautiful suite of American hops that play well with a delicious malt profile. Dry-hopping imparts a delicate aromatic experience followed by a firm hop presence throughout that lingers and reminds one of pine trees or a citrus orchard. 8.5% ABV/San Marcos, TX/No ratings yet/Availability: plenty

Middleton Garnet Amber – Garnet is a luscious, well-rounded Belgian style amber that features an aromatic mix of clean continental malt with subtle signatures of Vienna and nutty-roasted grains. European noble hops impart a spicy delicate presence and provide a warming malty finish to this drinkable beer.  7% ABV/San Marcos, TX/No ratings yet/Availability: plenty

Middleton Bobcat Red – This beer is crafted to combine an aggressive balance of seductive malts with a firm spectrum of American hops. The result is a unique, burgundy colored, full-bodied beer with subtle notes of stone fruit and a piney forest.  7% ABV/San Marcos, TX/No ratings yet/Availability: plenty

Middleton Black Lab Porter – A robust version of the classic brew that dominated the beer culture of England for nearly 100 years. Black Lab Porter is a soft, complex beer with lingering notes of sweet nuts, toffee, and chocolate. A restrained 25 bittering units highlight the array of American and Continental malts that combine to create a rounded and slightly sweet finish. 7% ABV/San Marcos, TX/No ratings yet/Availability: plenty

Austin Beerworks Heavy Machinery Double IPA – The rotating IPA series is back with the ever popular Double IPA. Magnum, Warrior, Simcoe, and Citra take center stage in this fresh & big double IPA. 10% ABV/Austin, TX/Ratebeer 98/Availability: very limited

Uinta Ready Set Gose – Uinta is entering the Gose game with their Ready Set Gose, a slightly tart and salty wheat beer. 6 pack cans for infinite crushability. 4% ABV/Salt Lake City, UT/Beer Advocate 80/Availability: plenty

Prairie Funky Gold Simcoe – The Funky Gold series continues, this time getting the dry hop treatment with Simcoe hops. Fans of this series know it’s a perfect marriage of dryness, funkiness, tartness and hops. 7.5% ABV/Tulsa, OK/Ratebeer 98/Availability: decent

Uinta Biere de Mars – I’m having a very tough time finding any info online about this new bomber from Uinta, but on the lable they are calling it a French-style spring ale aged in chardonnay barrels. Sounds pretty good!  7.2% ABV/Salt Lake City, UT/No ratings yet/Availability: decent

Nebraska Attack of the 50 Foot Brunette – A collaboration between Nebraska Brewing and New Holland from Michigan, this is an imperial nut brown ale aged in whiskey barrels. 11.7% ABV/Papillion, NE/No ratings yet/Availability: limited

St Louis Fond Tradition Kriek Lambic – This cherry bomb of a beer pours out its lightly acidulous, slightly prickly body in a purple hazy color accompanied by a frothy light pink head.  A light-red and crystal-clear delicacy, wonderfully sweet with a discreet hint of almond from the pits of the Oblacinska cherries. 6.5% ABV/Ingelmunster, Belgium/Ratebeer 94/Availability: decent

Ducato Koji il Riso – Ducato from Italy partnered with a sake-maker from Japan to use Koji in two different brews. Koji is the fermented rice used in sake making, so this is truly a unique beer. We have two different versions – one brewed with white and one with black koji. 4% ABV/Italy/Ratebeer 87/Availability: decent

Avery Uncle Jacob’s Stout – Jacob Spears, Avery’s 6th Great Grand Uncle, is credited as the first distiller to label his whiskey “Bourbon.” He built his distillery in Bourbon County, Kentucky in 1790. In his honor, we present this robust, silky smooth, full-bodied and altogether extremely American rendition of an Imperial Stout aged for 6 months in the very finest bourbon barrels. 16.9% ABV/Boulder, CO/Ratebeer 100/Availability: decent but will go fast, limit 1 per person

Sixpoint C.R.E.A.M. Coffee Cream Ale – The first new release we’ve had from Sixpoint in quite some time. This one is a coffee cream ale in their distinctive tall skinny cans. 7.2% ABV/Brooklyn, NY/Beer Advocate 88/Availability: decent

Martin House Counter Clockwise Swirl – Martin House took a silky smooth oatmeal blonde ale and added flavors usually found only in a dark beer.  There is no reason a blonde ale can’t be elevated to an alluring and enchanted treat. Cacao nibs and vanilla bean added for a bitter finish. 8.4% ABV/Fort Worth, TX/No ratings yet/Availability: plenty

Ska Modus Mandarina – Ska took their standard Modus Hoperandi and added orange peel and dry hopped it with Mandarina Bavaria hops. 6.8% ABV/Durango, CO/Beer advocate 89/Availability: plenty

Stone Americano Stout – The coffee notes in Stone Americano Stout are bold, rich and full of American swagger. For each 120-barrel batch, Stone incorporated over 250 lbs. of artisanal espresso-roast beans into the mash and added in Columbus, Chinook, Amarillo and Cascade hops to invigorate the coffee taste with a slight citrus and resin hop presence. this dark, hoppy and wonderfully aromatic espresso stout. 8.7% ABV/Escondido, CA/Ratebeer 99/Availability: limited

Stone Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout – Stone is celebrating their 20th anniversary this year by re-releasing previous favorites that have long been retired. The latest in this “Encore” series is a bitter chocolate oatmeal stout. Deep chocolate flavor with a long-lasting bitter finish. It is a rich beer but not sweet. 9.2% ABV/Escondido, CA/Ratebeer 99/Availability: limited

Founders Curmudgeon – This old ale is brewed with molasses and an insane focus on the malt bill, then oak-aged. The result is a rich, malty delight that’s deceptively smooth and drinkable. 9.8% ABV/Grand Rapids, MI/Ratebeer 98/Availability: decent

Ommegang Gnomegang – This delectable blonde ale is a co-creation of two famed farmstead breweries: Brewery Ommegang and Brasserie d’Achouffe. It employs five fine malts, two noble hops, and both of the distinctive Chouffe and Ommegang yeasts. 9.5% ABV/Cooperstown, NY/Ratebeer 97/Availability: decent

Uinta Farm Side Saison – Saison brewed with white grape must and gooseberries. 6 pack bottles. 5.6% ABV/Salt Lake City, UT/No ratings yet/Availability: decent

Stone/Dogfish/Victory Saison du Buff – This saison has been infused with a herbaceous blend of locally harvested sage, lemon thyme, rosemary and parsley and dry-hopped with Citra hops for a refreshing finish. A collaboration between Dogfish Head, Stone & Victory. This year they brewed it at Stone. 6.8% ABV/Escondido, CA/Ratebeer 96/Availability: decent

Texian Aurora* – Texian is back with the latest in their Wild Texas Series, a sour golden ale aged on apricots and oak. 6% ABV/Richmond, TX/No ratings yet/Availability: decent/*Arriving Friday

Free Weekend Tastings 6-8pm

Friday

Free Nebraska Barrel Aged Tasting! Details above.

Saturday 

Nathan from Middleton Brewing will help launch their beers in Austin! Details above.

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