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So many beers, So little time…Newbies is your essential map to the “best of the best” and the hottest new craft beers rolling out each week, and this week we’re all about the cold-weather seasonals. From Tröegs ¿Impending Descent? to Avery’s Grand Maharaja and Mephistopheles Stout, we’ve got all kinds of new releases you’re going to want to chase down.
So welcome to another edition of Newbies – your ultimate guide to great new craft beers!
Winter’s Darkness Descends (Elmsford, NY) – The Captain Lawrence Brewing Company has just unleashed a monstrous winter seasonal. The Frost Monster is their “black as a winter’s night” Imperial Stout. According to the brewery, this year’s incarnation is even more unforgiving and aggressive and (for the first time in the brewery’s history) is available in four packs – so you know what to do!
Starting From Scratch (Hershey, PA) – Our friends up at Tröegs Brewing Company have been cranking out all kinds of “brewery only” releases as part of their experimental Scratch Beer Series. They just tapped a Belgian Style Brown right before Thanksgiving and are also poised to release a Chocolate Raspberry Stout, and for the first time ever, 
a Cranberry Porter any day now. And while you’re up at their taproom filling up all your growlers, be sure to pick up some ¿Impending Descent?
Originally released as Scratch #83, this colossal Russian Imperial Stout quickly became a Tröegs Scratch Beer legend and it’s now available on draft as well as in cases and six packs through their General Store.
Mephistopheles Meets the Maharaja (Boulder, CO) – Two iconic personas are returning to the Avery Brewing Company this month. Their infamous Mephistopheles Stout makes its demonic return to their taproom appropriately on Friday the 13th and will be available on draft as well for “take home” if you dare. And if that weren’t enough, The Maharaja Imperial IPA is scheduled to make its grand entrance in mid-December and the ACB crew is unreasonably jazzed about that!
London Calling (West London, UK) – Every year since 1997, Fuller’s Head Brewer John Keeling has combined the year’s finest malts and hops with Fuller’s proprietary yeast strain to produce a small quantity of world-renowned Vintage Ale. Bottle conditioned and intended for aging, each vintage grows in complexity as time passes. Not surprisingly, these beers are not easy to come by individually, and it is even harder to build a collection of different vintages worthy of a vertical tasting – but this year, Fuller’s will offer four vintages in a single pack for the first time ever!
