Capt Keith's Beer Blog

A few notes from the brewery to debunk any myths about this fantastic winter-time IPA & it’s recipe:

We decided to put “Fresh Hop Ale” on the label this year to help clarify what Celebration is for consumers who may not have had the opportunity to try it before. Celebration  ale is, and always has been, an American IPA brewed with the first, fresh hops of the growing season (i.e. fresh hop ale.) The beer has been in production since 1981, and in its current form (recipe) since 1983. It was one of the first legitimate IPAs brewed in the “American” style and has never contained any spices; only hops, water, malt and yeast.  Despite nearly 30 years of (roughly) the same recipe, we get lots of complaints each year from people who are expecting a spiced holiday “Winter warmer” style of beer. And oddly, we also get lots of emails from people telling us how delicious the spices we used tasted…specifically nutmeg and cinnamon. As I’ve said, this has never been the case. No spices are or were used in the beer. We chose to highlight Fresh Hop Ale to clue people in on the real nature of the beer so folks know what they’re getting into.

We use a blend of Cascade, Centennial and Chinook hops to create an interesting citrus, pine and (kind of) spiced flavor, but all of the higher tones in the beer come from hops and yeast esters. The beer does change from year to year, but that is only because it relies so heavily on hop flavors, and hops can vary wildly from year to year and even from field to field.

Our Harvest Ale was really the beer that launched the wet hopped ale trend. Although some breweries use terms interchangeably, we take pride in noting the differences between wet-hops, fresh-hops and standard hops. Wet-hops being the green, un-dried hops fresh from the fields within 24 hours of picking, (used in Northern hemisphere Harvest and Estate Homegrown Ale) and Fresh Hops being fast tracked…picked, dried and shipped within 7 days of the fields. (Celebration Ale and Southern Hemisphere Harvest with hops from New Zealand.) The hops in Celebration, specifically with the first batches, can be very different than the hops used in later brews. We do our best to blend batches into a consistent flavor but as with any craft product there are definitely variation from batch to batch and from year to year. That said the recipe remains constant.

So, I hope that helps. Same beer, same recipe, same hop varieties, different vintage.

Tap Night or Rare Beer Night begins Thursday – October 8th at 7 PM at the Flying Saucer in Charlotte.

Each week we will release a rare, very limited, hard-to-find beer at 7 pm. For the very first release, Erik has chosen a cask of Foothills Double IPA aged in Pappy Van Winkle barrels. These are 23 year old Kentucky Bourbon barrels. This will be an interesting release and you’ll have a chance to get your chalice next Thursday. Beerknurds unite!

So, I am at the Lake Saucer yesterday during lunch. I see a couple at the bar and I ask how they are and what brings them to the Saucer. They’d never been to a FS, but saw our website and while scanning the beer list – came across the Green Flash IPA on tap. They drove to the Saucer for that one beer they found on the menu.

I love that stuff.

It made me laugh a little though… We were only able to snag 2 kegs due to the high demand of the product. It has been on tap for 16 days and we still have 1.25 kegs left. In most markets, this beer would have lasted only a day or so.

While we have some very savvy beer enthusiasts in the new market, we are working hard to convert the others. From what I can tell so far, Garland and Rockwall enjoy good beer and good times. Give us some time and they’ll all be drinking the good juice.

Keith,

After getting a real education my taste preferences have really centered on the IPA’s and ESB’s. It was disappointing when Bridgeport (6+ months ago) and now Avery IPA left your menu. I was also disappointed to hear Widmer teamed up with the Bud guys but really love their IPA. I compared the Widmer IPA side by side to Avery IPA and couldn’t tell the difference. The Stone IPA and 471 are favorites but more IPA selection would be great.

Reply: Our new menu is coming out soon. I had plans to limit the number of IPA’s since we have so many: We have Avery Cask IPA, which is VERY tasty, Dogfish 90, Breckenridge 471 IPA which will be moving to ESB soon, Live Oak Liberation, Red Hook Ballard Bitter, St Arnold Elissa and Stone. We may pick up Hop Wallup by Victory Brewing company, I hear they misshipped a palate to our distributor.

I disagree with your comparison of Avery to Widmer – Avery is far better in my humble opinion. Widmer’s teaming up with the bud guys is purely for proper distribution.