American Craft Beer The Best Craft Beer, Breweries, Bars, Brewpubs, Beer Stores, And Restaurants Serving Serious Beer.
(Courtesy Lawson’s Finest Liquids)
2024 is ON and American craft brewers are addressing the new year with an intriguing roster of beers you’re gonna want to have around.
Shaken Not Stirred (Waitsfield, VT) – Lawson’s Finest Liquids just introduced a seasonal stout that fans of Guinness like us, are going to want to chase down, that began as a popular draft-only offering and is finally available in 16oz cans. Unbelievably creamy, yet uber-approachable Lawson’s Finest Nitro Stout is a 5.4% ABV Irish-style Dry Stout that’s been a taproom fav for years.
To package Nitro Stout, Lawson’s Finest doses the beer with liquid nitrogen directly into the can versus using a widget. Because it’s less soluble in liquid than typical CO2, nitro doesn’t dissolve in the same way, but incorporates into the beer for an extremely creamy mouthfeel and a mesmerizing cascade of tiny bubbles when poured.
(Courtesy Anderson Valley Brewing)
A Pilsner That Nails It! (Boonville, CA) – Anderson Valley Brewing, a Northern California brewery renowned for its standout ales, introduced a lager last year that’s become an ACB fav. Lagered for an almost unheard-of sixty days Anderson Valley’s modestly named The Pilsner is a flavorful and complex, 5.2% ABV German-Style Pilsner with a soft, crisp, clean, and delicious character.
“The Pilsner pilot batch was one of the most beautiful, delicious beers I have tasted in a long time,” said AVBC President Kevin McGee. “When the brewing team came up with the idea to brew a German Pilsner, my initial reaction was why do we want to do a Pilsner? They’re temperamental and difficult to brew really well, take a lot of time, and tie up a lot of equipment. But then I tasted the first batch the team made and the ‘why’ became really clear.”
(Courtesy Sierra Nevada Brewing)
Made Of Stout Stuff (Chico, CA / Mills River, NC) – Any fine barrel-aged beer starts with the quality of the beer that is being matured as well the casks they are aged in and Sierra Nevada’s barrel-aged season is the perfect example. Artfully rested in bourbon barrels for almost a year, Sierra Nevada Barrel-Aged Narwhal is an 11.9% ABV Imperial Stout with big notes of oak, vanilla, and coconut layered onto a robust dark chocolate and expresso backbone.
“Our current barrel-aging program is really focused around trying to look at what happens during that long maturation period in the wood,” said Sierra Nevada Founder Ken Grossman. “A combination of oxidation through the wood, absorption of what was previously in the barrel — if it’s a bourbon, or a Scotch, or sake or wine, whatever used it as a home ahead of us — as well as the extractives from the wood.”
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