Featured Selections Archives - Page 4 of 11 - Craft Beer Blog from The Beer of the Month Club

And we have a winner for the Jolly Pumpkin Beer Naming Contest!

March 29, 2016 by Kris Calef

The people have spoken and we do in fact have a winner! There were over 1200 name submissions so it was pretty easy to find three finalists that I really dug and I’m quite pleased with the winner. The beer will be called “Rosie del Barrio” or Rosie from the hood which was submitted by Joshua Robinson. Congratulations Joshua! Well done. It’s really quite fitting. Rosie was definitely a neighborhood cat, always wandering into my neighbors open doors and windows, making himself at home. It was not unusual for someone to find him curled up on a couch or chair when they came home from work. He even set off my neighbor’s burglar alarm once when they were on vacation. Cops showed up, pistolas drawn, only to see an orange bolt of fur booking for the door when they arrived!

I’m a big fan of Jolly Pumpkin’s label art and I can’t wait to see the artwork on the label.

If you didn’t win this time, we’ve got two more contests coming right up. In fact we’ll be launching the next one in a couple days which will feature another Rare Beer Club® exclusive, this time crafted by Upright Brewing in Portland, OR. That beer will be featured in the club in August. After we name Upright’s beer, we’re going to need your help with our annual joint project with Pints for Prostates, an organization that promotes the importance of prostate screening though the beer community. This year we’ll be working with Elevation brewing and that beer will be featured in the club in September.

Thanks so much for all your help naming Rosie del Barrio everyone!

Prost!
Kris

Who wants to name Jolly Pumpkin’s next Rare Beer Club exclusive beer?

March 4, 2016 by Kris Calef

That’s right cats and kittens, it’s been awhile, but we’re announcing the first of 3 beer naming contests we’ve got slotted this year and another chance for you to win a 6-month, 2 bottle membership to The Rare Beer Club®.

So here’s how this one got started. My 19 year old Maine Coon, Rosie, died last October. He was a real piece of work. Yeah, that’s right…HIS name was Rosie! His story is a bit like Johnny Cash’s “Boy named Sue”…you had to be tough to own that name and he was. Rosie was a huge personality in the hood, entered neighbors’ homes at will, was generally as adventurous as they come and into everything, and survived several coyote and raccoon attacks. Lived pretty much outdoors backing up to a canyon with plenty-o-predators for the majority of his life.

So I got to thinking that a cat that was that cool deserved to have a beer named after him. I’ve got a bottle of Jolly Pumpkin’s La Roja on my desk because the artwork featuring this wild, swashbuckling red pirate cat always reminded me of Rosie. Seemed a no brainer to reach out to Ron and see if he had any interest in the project. Lucky for me he’s owned cats and dogs, had owned a coon himself at one point, and could relate to the loss of a good buddy. So Ron’s in. Sweet.

The beer will be based on Jolly Pumpkin’s La Roja, an amber ale brewed in the Flanders tradition offering earthy caramel, spice, and sour fruit notes developed through naturally occurring brettanomyces and lactobacillus from barrel aging. It will be unfiltered, unpasteurized and blended from barrels ranging in age from two to ten months. Ron intends to bump the ABV slightly and modify La Roja’s recipe to make the beer’s flavor profile even more assertive and bold to match Rosie’s personality. In short, a wild red ale to celebrate a wild red cat.

“I’m in, Kris. How do I play,” you say? Here are the vitals you need to know about the contest:

You can submit up to three names by 2 pm PST on Wednesday, March 16th. Three finalists will be announced on Friday, March 18th at which time contest entrants, club members and the general public will be allowed to vote for their favorite choices. Contest winners will be announced on Friday, March 25th. If your beer name is used, we’ll hook you up with a 6-month membership to The Rare Beer Club (two bottles per month club).

To receive this RBC exclusive beer, you’ll need to be an active member of The Rare Beer Club in July of 2016 when it will be featured.

Have fun. I’m really looking forward to seeing what you all come up with this time. I’ve never been disappointed in the final beer name of any contest we’ve run in the past.

Prost!
Kris

We Missed You Jopen Koyt…
And are So Glad You’re Back!

December 22, 2015 by Kris Calef

I’ve waited a long-ass time to slot Jopen Koyt, an 8.5% Scottish Gruit produced in the Netherlands. Seven years to be exact! I first tried it when Shelton Brothers sent me a bottle to run by the panel in 2007. I hadn’t had many gruits that parted my hair at the time, so I was taken back a bit when I really, really dug this beer. We couldn’t get it done for one reason or another and the next thing you know, they were no longer bringing it into the US. Shit.

I’ve been bugging Christian at Shelton Bros. literally annually to bring it in for us as they’ve done with so many other beers, but there was some kind of issue at the brewery and it never happened. I really wanted to share the experience of finding a gruit I could get groovy with with our members, so I was like Paris Hilton’s Chihuahua; nippin’ at their heels until they finally caved. So you can thank me when you drink it as I’m sure they maybe, sort of, wouldn’t have brought it back without my “encouragement.” That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

Enough about me. What about the beer? It’s brewed with gruit, a blend of herbs including a big ole pile of sweet gale. This stuff dates back to medieval times, baby, and the ritual of how the gale was harvested was key. In fact, legend has it that, to avoid its hallucinogenic properties, sweet gale could only be picked at full moon by nude witches. I’m serious. Could I make that shit up? My only question is, are we talking about sexy witches like Sam on Bewitched, or more of the nasty, Wizard-of-Oz-green-skinned, pointy-nose type? That’s kinda key for me in my gruit fantasy.

Koyt’s got a big, herbal, piney, woody, resiny, and earthy nose. Seems like something Little John should be sloggin’ down while creeping in a bush somewhere in the forest waiting for the tax collector’s stage coach. It’s got a caramel and toffee backbone and a ripe fruitiness in the middle (I have to resist another Little John reference here…Think Robin Hood: Men in Tights). The sweetgale opens up a bit more if you allow it to warm up. An herbal bitterness finishes this well-crafted gruit, perhaps the best we’ve ever rated.

Koyt will be featured in The Rare Beer Club® in January 2016 and will be paired with an 8.5% RBC exclusive, River Horse Brewing Company’s Imperial Chocolate Porter. It’s going to be a solid way to kick off the year, trust me.

If you’re looking to impress a beer geek on your shopping list, look no further and save some money while you’re at it by using our rare craft beer club coupons.

Happy Holidays and may your gale harvest be bountiful.

Prost!
Kris

Hit Me With Some Père Noël in My Stocking This Year, Would Ya, Father Christmas?

December 15, 2015 by Kris Calef

Who doesn’t love stocking up on your favorite holiday seasonals and winter warmers as the holidays approach? I gotta say, I like it just a bit more than Christmas shopping. I guess if you buy a bottle or two for someone in your office for a white elephant exchange then, technically, it is Christmas shopping.

I don’t know about you, but I can only put down so many 10%+ strong Belgian ales in a month. It was our assumption that our members were right there with me when we decided to slot De Ranke’s Père Noël with Chernyy Medved, a 13% Russian Imperial Stout, this December.

I love everything about this beer. Love the label, with Santa lovingly embracing a tulip glass of the stuff. Love that it’s not overdone with holiday spices that often take away from the beer itself. And, of course, I love the flavor profile.

The brewery’s description, “a Christmas ale, though very different from any other Christmas ales you might know,” is both accurate and, at the same time, pretty vague. It pours like the Big Elf himself conjured it up with a massive, thick head that sticks around like the abominable snowman. It’s hazy. It’s orange. It’s making my mouth water just writing this sentence. It starts with bitter, herbal hop notes that mingle nicely with the yeast profile. There’s a bit-o-spice going on, but not too much. The emphasis is definitely on the core, the dry, bitter, malt and hop components of the beer, rather than its additions. Really, really drinkable.

You can only get your mitts on it once a year, and since less than 250 cases managed to make it to the U.S., it’s worthy of coveting to be sure. Between this one and Chernyy Medved, a 13% Russian Imperial Stout brewed with smoked wood, pine, vanilla, and cherries, our December line up is as solid as it gets and will make an impressive gift for the beer lover on your list. This is one of those thangs that you see for someone else and end up getting for yourself, so be careful!

And if you do, save some money by using our rare beer club coupons on your order.

Happy Holidaze.

Prost!
Kris

The Gift of Chernyy Medved is Sure to Warm Their Bones this December!

December 8, 2015 by Kris Calef

valiant-kelly-and-kris — Kris with Valiant Brewing’s Kelly Schoepfer

It seems like forever since I first sat down with Brian Schroepfer, one of the owners and Head Brewer at Valiant Brewing, to talk about potentially slotting his big, bad Russian Imperial Stout in The Rare Beer Club®. Since that time, we’ve all been eagerly awaiting the batch that he’s made just for us, and this week, Brian dropped off the goods. My team and I wasted no time busting open a couple of bottles after work on Friday and I have to say, it is outstanding!

It’s big. It’s viscus. It’s smoky. It’s delicious! Like the sample we rated back in August, we all found it surprisingly approachable for such a big beer. Huge mouthfeel. Big roasted notes, as you’d expect, with smoky chocolate malt flavors intermingled with vanilla and hints of cherries, all of which integrated perfectly.

Don’t take my word for it; read the Chernyy Medved tasting notes written by Ken Weaver, our newsletter writer and the editor at All About Beer Magazine. But be warned, it’s going to cost you if you do, because you won’t be able to resist giving it to the beer geek in your life… or picking up a few bottles for yourself! This one will be one of our two Rare Beer Club® featured December beers, so be sure to order by 12-20-15.

If you do order a bottle or two, be sure to save some money by using our rare craft beer club coupons on every order.

You’re going to thank me. This is a really special beer. You’ll want to toss one back now because you won’t be able to wait, and lay a couple down, as it will age nicely.

Prost!
Kris