Kris Calef, Author at Craft Beer Blog from The Beer of the Month Club

MonthlyClubs.com 20 Year Anniversary Beer locked with The Bruery

October 4, 2013 by Kris Calef

So I sent out two emails to two of my favorite breweries asking each if they’d be interested in working with us to create an exclusive commemorative beer to celebrate our 20 year company anniversary next July. I’m here to tell you that both The Bruery and Cigar City are on board! More on Cigar City later.

So Brett and I sat down with Patrick, Tyler and Jonas last friday afternoon in The Bruery’s tasting room to kick around some ideas. Work, work, work. I know. I know.

We hammered out the broad strokes. It’s going to be big, 15%+ and a blend of 2 or 3 barrel aged beers, more than likely one of which will be Bois, a Bourbon Barrel Aged Solera-Blended Old Ale that was crafted to celebrate The Bruery’s 5th anniversary. Seemed appropriate.

We kicked around ideas on how we could incorporate our 5 other clubs (wine, cigars, cheese, chocolate and flowers) into the beer. One thought was to have Smokin’ Wood be one of the beers blended. As an imperial smoked porter brewed with beachwood and cherrywood smoked malt, and aged in rye whiskey barrels, we all felt that might incorporate our cigar club nicely. We also kicked around the idea of purchasing cacao nibs from one of our featured chocoatiers, Mindo Chocolates, a true “Tree to Bar” chocolate maker whose cocoa beans are single origin organic cocoa beans from Ecuador.

Suffice to say, it’s going to be special. It’ll be offered as a Special Offer only to The Rare Beer Club™ and The Bruery Reserve Society members only in roughly a year. We’ll be sitting down with the boys to taste different barrel blends in a few months so stay tuned as this one develops.

Prost!
Kris

Two Rare Beer Club Exclusives in one Month? NoDa Brewing Company’s Tart Attack is coming your way!

October 3, 2013 by Kris Calef

This is our fourth year partnering with Pints for Prostates, a non profit organization founded by Rick Lyke that raising awareness about the disease and encouraging males to pursue regular health screenings. Each year we work with Rick and a different brewery to create a unique beer that’s available only through the club and at a rare beer tasting Rick hosts annually at The Great American Beer Festival. For this year’s beer, we managed to finagle our way onto the brew schedule of NoDa Brewing Co. in Charlotte, North Carolina, which just opened in late 2011.

NoDa is bringing to fruition one of the preceding themes of their NoDable Series: beers based on the traditional German Berliner Weisse style—one of the most refreshing drinks in existence—each with an atypical twist. Tart Attack takes the refreshing aspects of the Berliner Weisse style—lively carbonation, medium-light body, plus a core lactic tartness—and carries them on a different path than usual, with the addition of blackberries.

If you’re into sour beers, you’re going to want to try this one.

Prost!
Kris

Los Vivos y Los Muertos – An October Exclusive Jolly Pumpkin Rare Beer Club Feature

September 30, 2013 by Kris Calef

Okay, so if you’re sitting around saying to yourself, “Self, give me one good reason why I should join The Rare Beer Club™?”, I’ve got one for you. Jolly Pumpkin’s Los Vivos y Los Muertos was brewed exclusively for our members and the only way you’re gonna to get to try it is by checking out the club. There are only a handful of breweries that, when we think back over the many offerings we’ve had from them over the years, have been basically perfect. This is one of them.

We were sold at the nose. A few excerpts from our newsletter: “Even that first whiff of the aroma suggests this is more than a simple rustic saison: there are deep stone-fruit notes (of peach and plum), the vigorous citrus of a lime wedge, all mingled within an expansive Brettiness and yeast character: light tropical fruits, pepper, sourdough bread, a hint of cheese.”

You’re going to love this beer. I guarantee it. Does that sound like an ad from a men’s clothing store or The Hair Club for men?

Prost!
Kris

Odell’s Woodcut #3 worth trading for…

September 24, 2013 by Kris Calef

One of the cool things about being in the brewing industry for as long as I have been is that you build up some pretty sweet relationships over 20 years. Every now and then I send Eric “Smitty” Smith, one of the founders over at Odell Brewing Company, a case of 750s from The Rare Beer Club™ past features and he uses the same box to send me some of Odell’s tasty cellar and woodcut series beers. Been sitting on Woodcut #3 for a few years now and finally cracked it open today. Wow. A big, boozy, crimson ale with huge American oak notes playing off of sweet cara malts and crystal malts. It was worth the wait.

Prost!
Kris

Shmaltz’s Jewbelation Delivers the Goods!

September 20, 2013 by Kris Calef

I popped open this baby when I was packing to head back for my 30 yr HS reunion back in Chicago last week. Jewbelation is made with 16 malts, 16 hops and weighs in at a whopping 16%! Suffice to say, it’s an assault on your senses… in a really GOOD sort of way! Very boozy with an extremely complex flavor profile as you might expect. Definitely worth trying. I’m lucky I made it to the plane the next day.

Prost!
Kris

The Bruery’s Six Geese a Layin’ Secured for the November Rare Beer Club Shipment!

September 9, 2013 by Kris Calef

We just got word from The Bruery that they’ll be able to give us part of their annual holiday vertical 12 Days of Christmas series this year. We’re pretty excited about it as we’ve run the series for the last four years and the response has been consistently nothing short of phenomenal.

Here’s what we know about it so far. This year’s release, Six Geese a Layin’, will be a Belgian dark strong ale brewed with golden berries (aka “CapeGooseberries”). They’re using a specialized yeast strain for primary fermentation and then finishing it with their house strain so it will have a different yeast character than year’s past; somewhat spicy and a bit more of fruity ester notes. You’ll want to stock up and cellar this one boys and girls!

Prost!
Kris

My vacation just got a lot better!

July 16, 2013 by Kris Calef

I’m kicking it at our camp in Maine for a couple of weeks at a property that has been in our family since my mom was eight years old. It’s pretty cool to come back to a place that hasn’t changed since I was a toddler.

I’ve been dying to try some different beers from Founders as they’re pretty hard to come by in Southern California. I picked up a sixer of their Centennial IPA and I’m pretty impressed, solid hop profile from start to finish with plenty of caramel malt backbone and alcohol to back it up.

My daughters Audrey and Natalia turned four today, the sun is shining, the lake is warm, and the lobsters are in the fridge. Life is good!

Prost!
Kris