CT & RI – Women’s Year of Beer Continues at Willimantic

CT & RI – Women’s Year of Beer Continues at Willimantic

Dave Wollner, head brewer of Willimantic Brewing Co., is pleased to continue their Women’s Year of Beer Series with a collaboration with Beer’d Brewing and Girls Pint Out. The beer will be brewed in mid August and tapped in September. In August, look for Say Dunkel, a dark maple wheat ale to benefit the Black Ale Project sponsored by Dave Pappas, featuring guest brewer Jeff Goodno. The Black Ale Project raises funds for US war veterans. Also look for Autobahn Alt at 5.7% featuring Tettnang hops, Address Unknown IPA at 6.6%, featuring CTZ and Cascade hops, and Six Shooter Oatmeal Oyster Stout, at 5.9% and brewed with oyster shells. Finally watch for ALS Pale Ale to return to draft lines featuring a hop blend from Loftus Ranch and clocking in at 5.6%.

Alvarium Beer Co. has just opened in New Britain. The brewery will be focused on a wide range of beers and should have four to six drafts available during visits. Kraftwerk is a 5.3% hefeweizen, Fade is a 4.1% English Porter that is malty and easily sessionable, New Britain Proper is a 5.3% brew that feature bready malt and some resin and grapefruit notes on the finish. Finally, look for Phresh NE IPA at 6.8% and featuring lots of haze and Treewalker a 7.5% DIPA.

Moving along to East Hampton, brings us to Fat Orange Cat. The brewery is continuing to pump out six or seven beers per week on their 1-bbl system for consumption at the brewery tasting room. There will continue to be cans contract brewed so that larger batches will be available at the brewery. Come to the brewery on Aug. 13 for the 1-year anniversary. Hannah Banana IPA in 4-packs of cans is on the schedule.

In East Windsor, Sean Lanning reports from Broad Brook Brewing that they will be releasing their Oktoberfest Ale to draft accounts and in 4-packs of cans across Connecticut. This is the brewery’s 5.3% interpretation of a classic German beer style that is smooth well-balanced, and very easy drinking beer. The beer uses a top cropping German ale yeast and only Continental European malt and hops. This malt forward style has deep malty and bread-like aromas with just a hint of hops. Pouring dark gold with medium copper highlights it’s drinkable art to look at in your glass. Also look for a limited release all Citra unfiltered IPA, that will be available at the brewery only and also the first lager from Broad Brook with a Munich Helles inspired brew.

Firefly Hollow Brewing in Bristol is releasing Choconaut Imperial Porter, this beer features Ecuadorian cocoa nibs and will register 8% and have 45 IBUs. Also watch for Lizard Breath IPA in cans, which will be the first major can release with an objective to be routinely available in package stores. Finally in October the brewery is throwing their 4th Anniversary party. Details to be provided soon, but beer releases, food, and take home glassware are already on the card. Keep up to date through the brewery social media pages.

In Wolcott, Shebeen Brewing has a new head brewer, Luis Vega, who has been brewing at the brewery since October 2016 and recently was promoted to the lead. Bullet Takes Flight is the first new beer under Lou’s watch. This is a hazy slightly bitter DIPA with Falconer’s Flight and Green Bullet hops. Look for the release of a new NE IPA named Alpaca Blanca that will have tons of mango flavor from Azacca hops and will register 6.5%. Finally there will be an Oktoberfest event at the brewery on Sept. 23 with several German lagers and food trucks.

Mark Sigman of Relic Brewing in Plainville is preparing some darker brews for late summer and into the fall. The Quill is a 6% American brown ale with a nutty malt backbone and some rich chocolate flavors. Also look for an Oktoberfest at 5.6% with lots of German Dark Munich malt notes. Finally, Violet Ray, a 7% Citra and Mosaic IPA will be available for the hopheads in 6-packs of cans.

Outer Light Brewing Co. in Groton has had some big news with the release of cans onto the market. The Lonesome Boatman Amber, Libation Propaganda Coffee Stout and Subduction IPA will be in 6-packs and Cloudbreak DIPA in 4-packs of 12-oz cans. All logo designs were created by Nick Gamma of Hops and Branding, a Connecticut owned company. On Sept. 30, the brewery will host an Oktoberfest party with 12 beers including several German style ales, an Altbier, Kolsch, and Rauchbier. This event will also feature live music and a food truck and admission is free. On the new beer front, Waves Not Worries is a collaborative beer with No Worries Brewing in Hamden. This is a 9% American Style Barleywine with all Australia hops and Maris Otter base malts. Juice Bomb BullS*#T IPA is a New England Style IPA with Citra, Mosaic and El Dorado hops and registers 6.1%. Finally, Excuses for Family Functions DIPA is the next edition of the Shoreline Series and showcases Idaho 7 and Ekuanot hops and registers 8.5% and has loads of IBUs.

Charter Oak Brewing has received approval for federal brewing permitting at the new facility and are in the process of dealing with state and local permitting. The Wadsworth IPA recipe has been tweaked with six hop varieties in the batch and a double dry hopping. The 1687 Brown ale recipe has added fermentables to boost the ABV to 6.2%. The brewery will now be distributing their beers statewide with the addition of Cellar Fine Wines for Eastern CT distribution.

In Bridgeport, Brewport has had a wildly successful first year, exceeding most projections for beer volumes with close to 1000 bbls sold in the first 12 months. Brewer Jeff Browning always strives to be a “beer polygamist” and offer a diverse range of beers available at the brewpub to keep a range of patrons happy with their pints. Jeff is planning some new beers to closeout the summer months with an Anniversary beer called Indian Summer Ale, an all mosaic pale ale with some biscuit malt notes and a large citrus aroma, the beer registers 5% and will be available throughout the summer. Also look for Terry Foster ESB, which is an English beer brewed with all English malt, all English hops and by an old English dude who may know something about brewing beer. The traditionally accurate beers will continue with bock, holiday ale, and a CT lager all brewed from recipes of Connecticut breweries from 1897 through 1911. The lager will be the first commercially brewed lager that Jeff has tackled in his brewing career.

In East Haven, the 12% Beer Project is working out of the Overshores brewhouse and has been kicking off some can releases at the brewery. Beer releases will feature special beers from Evil Twin, Stillwater, Omnipollo and others. Check with social media for the updated schedule of releases.

 

Rhode Island

In August, Foolproof Brewing in Pawtucket is hosting Augtoberfest, which is a two session festival featuring the release of the Augtoberfest festbier, food and entertainment. The festbier is a 6% Marzen featuring toffee and caramel malt notes. Tickets are available at different tiers from $25 through $45 depending on drink vouchers and glassware availability.

Grey Sail Brewing in Westerly has completed an expansion at the brewery. Doubling in capacity and footprint will allow the brewery to re-enter the Massachusetts market. Look for new Chalkboard series beers to be released at the brewery. The most recent one is an IPA with all Galaxy and Amarillo hops.

Newport Storm Brewing in Newport is re-releasing LocAle which is a golden colored saison. The beer is 7% with 20 IBUs and features local honey from Annie B’s Honey Farm in Cumberland. Hopped with Golding, Tettnang, and Equinox hops adds fragrant aromas of apple and pear. This beer will be available at finer draft accounts and in 4-packs of cans.

Wrapping up the Rhode Island tour with a visit to Trinity Brewpub in Providence, where brewer Tommy Tainsh is pushing out a batch of the Belgian Strawberry to the draft lines in August. This beer is 12.5% and features 300-lbs of strawberries and then is “dry-hopped” with lemon basil, chocolate mint, and pineapple sage to compliment the sweet notes of the beer. Tommy is also doing the Octoberfest early so that it is available for the RI Brewers Guild presence at the Big E. Other breweries participating in the Big E booth are Foolproof, Revival, Grey Sail and Newport Storm. Be sure to stop by for some tasty brews.