Beer News

The region’s best homebrewing supplier, Keystone Homebrew, has their holiday newsletter up and also has a few limited time offerings not to be missed.

-The deadline to order the limited edition kits from Winexpert has been pushed. Time is not up, but it will be soon, so get on their site and order the most popular wine kits ever produced by Winexpert before it’s too late.

-If you’re a hard cider fan like myself, check this out:

DelVal has pressed a lot of fantastic apple and pear ciders for us this fall. The Holiday Blend will be our last offering of the season, and today is your last chance to pre-order! Don t miss out; this blend is sure to produce a complex, balanced and flavorful hard cider. If you’re a beginner, don t worry! We’ll provide you with instructions and all the guidance you’ll need.

Unfortunately, pre-orders ended already as this update was put out earlier this week, but keep your eye out for this blend once they have it in. I missed out on it myself, but here’s hoping there’s some extra.

In other beer news, Troegs has two special brews out now, just in time for the holidays… they are calling it the Splinter Series and if you read the writeups below you’ll understand why. Also, both are going for $22.95 and there is a two bottle limit per person for each style.

-Splinter Red sounds great. I’m not the biggest Mad Elf fan (also available now), but this mutation sounds exquisite.

Before filtering the final batch of 2008 Mad Elf we racked some beer into bourbon barrels for six weeks of tender loving care. After bottling, we aged the beer for approximately eight months. This allows the tart cherries to push to the front. Subtle vanilla, bourbon, charred wood, coconut and toasted nut endnotes emanate from Splinter Red.

-Splinter Gold sounds pretty solid, as well, though I am likely springing for the Red first.

The transformation of Scratch #3-2007 to Splinter Gold has been a slow rest in oak wine barrels dosed with brettanomyces. During a two-year aging period the horsey flavors of the brett combined with the Westmalle yeast used during primary fermentation to create a complex blend of flavors. Bone-dry and 12% abv, Splinter Gold is highly carbonated.

(NOTE: I still would recommend grabbing a case of Troegenator…. so good!)

Finally, two quick updates on two of my other favorite PA breweries:

-Update from Weyerbacher:

The latest in our Brewer’s Select Series is an Imperial Porter at 8.2% ABV. Bottles will be available for sale only at the brewery (we only have 60 cs) beginning Saturday December 12. Half Kegs are shipping out this week to PA markets as well as Ohio, MD, MA, and Florida. Brewers Chris and Nads have really outdone themselves on this one. Silky smooth and very nicely balanced, we’re sure a lot of you will be talking about this one for a while!

-Stoudt’s Winter Ale should be available in your local beer distributor. While I have not been able to confirm it, during this time of year they always have it on tap at the brewpub and usually even have it on cask.

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~ by thepaintedman on December 10, 2009.