In the News Archives - Page 7 of 14 - Craft Beer Blog from The Beer of the Month Club

Rare Beer Club – Upright Brewing Beer Naming Contest Finalists

April 15, 2016 by Kris Calef

Once again, we’re giving you an opportunity to vote for something where you might actually like one or more of the candidates…Upright Brewing Company’s hoppy, brett spiked Belgian IPA which will be made exclusively for members of The Rare Beer Club!

We thought that perhaps, just maybe, your creative juices where tapped out after the 1200+ submissions we received in our last beer naming contest, but alas, you did not let us down and we received another solid response. Thank you for that.

It’s always a challenge to whittle down a sizable list of great beer names to just three finalists, but Alex, his team and I spent a couple hours laboring over our favorites and now you and your friends get to pick the winner!

Cast your vote here and make sure to do it before the contest ends a week from today on 4-22-16 at 10 am Pacific.

Prost!
Kris

Celebrating Sunday with one of the World’s Best Gueuzes… Cantillon does not disappoint

April 11, 2016 by Kris Calef

I’m getting better at doing nothing. This last Sunday, I did just that for a glorious 3 hours. Just listened to some Cajun music in the sun while enjoying what many consider to be one of, if not the best, lambics the world has to offer, Cantillon’s Classic Gueuze 100% Lambic. This one’s a rare bird to be sure which I’m fairly confident contributed to the whole experience. Only about 50 cases enter the US each year and we were able to score a few from one of our favorite importers, Shelton Brothers.

It was pretty hazy with a golden, tangerine hue. Very tart and funky. I enjoyed it even more once it warmed up. The oak was there with hints of barrel contributions (vanilla/tannins). In the end, I dug it very much and decided to selfishly set aside a few more bottles for later as Ken suggests in our tasting notes.

I think I’m going to work on doing nothing more often.

Prost!
Kris

Another Chance to Name a Rare Beer Club Exclusive Beer crafted by Upright Brewing

March 31, 2016 by Kris Calef

So we just closed out our last beer naming contest with Jolly Pumpkin and we know your brain is tired from the effort that went into coming up with so many killer names, but we need your help again! We had so much fun allowing our members and the beer community at large to name several of last year’s Rare Beer Club® exclusives that we’ve decided to ramp up our game this year and have no less than three beer naming contests in the queue this year. And since the beers we’re naming will be featured in July, August and September, we’re going to be running back to back contests for the next two months. All in all, you’ll have 3 chances to name one of our up and coming beers and win a 6-month, 2-bottle membership to The Rare Beer Club. How cool is that?

This time we’re working with Upright Brewing up in Portland, OR. I’m a big fan of Alex’s work. I want to say they launched in 2009, about 3 years before we featured them for the first time, and I’ve been rattling his cage ever since to work with us again. He’s a busy cat. Straight up, one of the biggest challenges we face is planning far out enough to be able to feature the world’s best breweries. Makes sense if you think about it. They make the best beer. Everyone wants it. Supply and demand baby. Supply and demand. Anyway, we finally have liftoff Houston and it’s gonna be worth the wait.

Alex makes some of the best saisons in the country so we’re thinking it’s best to let him run wild with that and have some fun with hops and brett! Here’s what he had to say about the project, “The more I think about it, I keep going back to a hoppy saison for an August feature. We have Five, which is kind of a pale ale crossed with European hopping and a somewhat clean “French-style” fermentation, but I’m thinking something way different, more like a Belgian IPA with some brettanomyces added at bottling, so it will start clean but get slightly earthy and a bit more tart over time.”

You know the drill by now, but just the same, here are the vital bits that you need to know about the contest:

You can submit up to three names by 2 pm PDT on Thursday, April 14^th. Three finalists will be announced on Friday, April 15^th 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, April 22^nd. If your beer name is used, we’ll hook you up with a 6-month, 2-bottle membership to The Rare Beer Club.

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

Alex’s only request on the name is to keep it short so that it works with his current label design…Like real short, preferably 10 characters or less so you’re gonna have to really get creative this time. Have fun!

Prost!
Kris

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

It’s Time to Name Rosie’s Beer

March 23, 2016 by Kris Calef

Primaries, shmimaries. Finally, an opportunity to vote for a beer name to celebrate a really cool candidate (cat) that everyone loved!

We got a truly amazing, heartfelt response to The Rare Beer Club® beer naming contest for our upcoming exclusive beer from Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales. I personally reviewed over 1200 submissions and have to tell you, I welled up more than once as so many were very sweet and really captured the essence honoring my good friend and companion Rosie, my 19 year old Maine Coon that died a few months back. Thank you all so much for making this such a fun project.

It was really hard to distill it down to my top ten and then even further to our top 3 picks for you all to vote on, but the time has arrived and now you and your friends will ultimately pick the winner!

Cast your vote here and make sure to do it before the contest ends on 3-29-16 at 10 am Pacific.

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

Adelbert’s Brewery, The Rare Beer Club® and Pints for Prostates Partner to Reach Men Through the Universal Language of Beer

September 1, 2015 by Kris Calef

Charlotte, N.C. – Adelbert’s Brewery of Austin, Texas, and The Rare Beer Club®, which ships unique craft beers nationwide, are teaming up to benefit the Pints for Prostates campaign.

Adelbert’s is releasing specially labeled bottles of Scratchin’ Hippo to create awareness and support the mission of Pints for Prostates, which uses the universal language of beer to reach men with an important health message. This award winning Bière de Garde will feature a limited edition label with the Pints for Prostates logo exclusively available through The Rare Beer Club.

Scratchin’ Hippo is a 6.9 percent alcohol by volume traditional, rustic artisanal French-style farmhouse ale. Its complex malt-driven flavor elicits notes of toasted caramel, roasted malts and cocoa, complimented by a mild sweetness.

“Scratchin’ Hippo is one of our most popular and unique beers. It is named for a massive hippo in Kenya that decided one night to scratch itself by rubbing up against the house where my brother Del, the namesake of the brewery, was living. He thought it was an earthquake,” said Scott Hovey, Founder and Brewmaster of Adelbert’s Brewery. “We are happy to partner with Pints for Prostates and the Rare Beer of the Month Club on this project to help raise awareness about prostate cancer.”

The limited edition label features the Pints for Prostates logo, which includes the blue ribbon to remind people of the ongoing search for a cure to prostate cancer, a leading cause of death among American men. A donation for every 750 milliliter bottle of Adelbert’s Scratchin’ Hippo sold through The Rare Beer Club will be made to Pints for Prostates.

“The annual release of a special beer through The Rare Beer of the Month Club helps us to connect with guys and urge them to take charge of their health by getting screened for prostate cancer,” said Rick Lyke, a prostate cancer survivor who founded Pints for Prostates after successful prostate cancer surgery in April 2008. “We are extremely grateful to Adelbert’s and The Rare Beer of the Month Club for helping us to achieve our mission.”

“This is the sixth year The Rare Beer Club® has partnered with Pints for Prostates on this project and we’re always pleased to do so as it’s a great cause and our members really look forward to a unique beer each year. Adelbert’s is a great craft brewery that we’ve only worked with one other time in 20 years, so we’re really excited to be working with them again,” said President Kris Calef. “Together with the brewery, we’ll donate $1.00 for every bottle sold and include a Pints for Prostates information card in each shipment to remind our members to get tested. A little education and early detection goes a long way to save lives.”

To get the specially labeled version of Scratchin’ Hippo join The Rare Beer Club online or call 800-625-8238 and be sure to start your membership in September. .

According to the National Cancer Institute, prostate cancer will claim the lives of nearly 30,000 men in the U.S. during 2015. Prostates cancer is 33 percent more common in men than breast cancer is in women, yet few men know they should get a prostate health screening at age 40. The release is part of the Pints for Prostates Oktoberfest for a Cure observance that is taking place from August through October.

About Adelbert’s Brewing

Based in Austin, Texas, Adelbert’s Brewery is committed to brewing Belgian-style, bottle-conditioned ales for people to seek, savor, and share with others. Adelbert’s uses Bohemian old-world floor malted barley, low alpha Noble Czech hops, fresh yeast propagated at the brewery, and a multi-temperature decoction mash technique. The brewery believes quality beers require quality ingredients and a painstaking attention to detail throughout the brewing process. Learn more at www.adelbertsbeer.com.

About The Rare Beer Club®

The Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club™ offers four different options for consumers. From the very inception of our original domestic beer of the month club in 1994, we’ve focused on consistently providing three primary product characteristics: Quality, Variety & Freshness. And in that spirit, we now offer you four outstanding beer club options, each dedicated to those same principles. Our owner’s favorite club features the finest the world of beer has to offer in limited-release, celebratory, artisanal beers from some of Michael Jackson’s favorite breweries. Two different selections are presented each month in 750 ml bottles, often cork finished, and some individually tissue wrapped. Members experience bold U.S. and imported interpretations of Farmhouse Ales, Russian Imperial Stouts, Barley Wines, Belgian Abbey Ales, varied Imperial, Extreme, Strong Ale and Grand Cru offerings, oak-aged ales imparting bourbon and vanilla notes, and much more. Many selections are pushing the envelope of creativity, are not yet distributed in the U.S., and brewed such that they can be cellared and aged.

About Pints for Prostates

Pints for Prostates reaches men through the universal language of beer to encourage them to take charge of their health. The group was founded by prostate cancer survivor and beer writer Rick Lyke in 2008. The grassroots effort raises awareness among men about the importance of regular men’s health screenings by making appearances at beer festivals, social networking and pro bono advertising. According to the National Cancer Institute, approximately 233,000 new prostate cancer cases are diagnosed annually in the U.S. More information is available at www.pintsforprostates.org. Pints for Prostates also has a presence on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@pints4prostates).