Notes from the Panel Archives - Page 13 of 25 - Craft Beer Blog from The Beer of the Month Club

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

DIY Craft Beer Advent Calendar

December 3, 2015 by Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club

The holidays are packed with traditions. Things like Christmas trees, carols, cookie baking, and frantic, last minute shopping keep us busy throughout the season, but it’s the little traditions that make it so enjoyable. Customary gifts, like advent calendars, are classic holiday mainstays that plenty of parents give to their kids. What’s not to love about getting a surprise piece of candy every day for 24 days? Count us in. But, what about those who want a little more in their advent calendar? Well, The Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club™ has got the perfect solution: a Craft Beer Advent Calendar.

Yes, you read that right: an entire advent calendar full of sweet, delicious craft beer. The Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club™ has noted the rising popularity of these great gifts, and we’ve decided that it’s time to ensure everyone knows how to make one for the beer enthusiasts in their life. When you give someone a Craft Beer Advent Calendar packed with tasty microbrews, you aren’t just giving them a gift – you’re giving them 24 days of great beers. Santa’s got nothing on you.

How to Build a Craft Beer Advent Calendar

Building a Craft Beer Advent Calendar isn’t as easy as grabbing a random box in your house, throwing in your extra/unwanted beer, and putting some wrapping paper over the top. You need the right materials, some spare time, and a little bit of craftiness (or at least those “cut stuff up and glue things together” skills you hopefully mastered in kindergarten).

Start by deciding which design you want to use. There are three common options: square, rectangular, or triangular. You can find plenty of DIY beer advent calendar instructions all over the web, but making a Craft Beer Advent Calendar doesn’t require a Master’s in structural engineering. The Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club™ has got you covered with the basics.

Materials for a square or rectangular Craft Beer Advent Calendar:

• A box or a case of beer
• Cardboard dividers
• Glue
• Scissors
• Wrapping paper
• A marker
•
For the square and rectangular options, you can easily use a moving box or a used case of beer, specifically the kind with built-in cardboard dividers – any case of bottled beer should have these. You can choose to lay the box on its side, or keep it flat on its bottom. Simply place your beers into the box, make sure they’re held in place with the dividers, and cover the top with festive wrapping paper. Mark the locations of each beer using the numbers 1-24, and you’re set. Feel free to pat yourself on the back and enjoy a celebration beer (NOT one of the beers from the calendar). If you want, you can add a 25th slot for a little extra something something. More on that below.

Materials for a triangular Craft Beer Advent Calendar:

• Poster/shipping tubes
• Glue
• Scissors
• Wrapping paper
• A marker
• Stickers (optional)

Now, for those with a craftier side, the triangular option offers a little extra fun. You’ll need to buy some long shipping tubes capable of fitting bottles or cans, and then cut these up into 24 even sections. Glue them together however you want, though we suggest making it triangular, as it’ll look a little like a Christmas tree. You could even put a star on top if you’re feeling festive – we won’t judge you.

After gluing the tubes together, fill the tubes with tasty beers, cover the front with a little wrapping paper, and mark the tube openings with the numbers 1-24. You now have a triangular Craft Beer Advent Calendar to give to your best beer buddy. He’s gonna love it.

An important side note that must be mentioned: don’t be lame and fill your Beer Advent Calendar with a case of the same macrobeer. Be creative with the beer you choose by selecting unique beers from all 7 continents. Well, 6 of the 7, at least. We don’t think anyone is brewing in Antarctica (even though that’s an awesome idea). You could be extra festive and fill it with nothing but unique holiday beers!

Keep in mind that a Craft Beer Advent Calendar isn’t confined to Christmas time. Arbor Day, Flag Day, Bring Your Daughter to Work day, it doesn’t matter – you can make the 24 days leading up to any holiday special (and tasty) with your Craft Beer Advent Calendar.

Improving Your Beer Advent Calendar

So, how do you improve on something as awesome as a Beer Advent Calendar? It’s simple, really: you spread that cheer throughout the year.

A traditional advent calendar features 24 slots representing the 24 days leading up to Christmas, but who says that you have to follow tradition? Add a 25th slot, and give your friend a gift that keeps on giving: a membership to The Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club. After all, who doesn’t want amazing craft beers from around the country (and the world) delivered to their door once a month throughout the year? No one, that’s who.

For the widest selection of beers, choose between our U.S. Microbrewed Beer Club, our International Beer Club, or get the best of both worlds with our U.S. and International Variety Beer Club. But, if you’ve got a beer lover who spends their time and energy hunting down the rarest, most obscure beers, we’ll suggest The Rare Beer Club™, our only club that features the world’s best hand-selected rare beers.

Now, go out there, build your own Craft Beer Advent Calendar, and make some lucky beer lover’s Christmas the best one they’ve had. And remember: if you really want to make sure they have the best Beer Year of their lives, give them a membership to the The Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club. Santa always likes those who are nice.

Beer and Hot Sauce in My Christmas Stocking?
Oh hell yeah…

November 24, 2015 by Kris Calef

So I’m always looking for some cool smaller gifts to drop in holiday stockings and to give our mailman, the Arrowhead water delivery dude, our gardener, and most of my neighbors (there are one or two that remain on the “No Gift For You!” list). Normally this time of year, I’m heavily focused on promoting what we sell as you might expect. We’re a pretty good last-minute beer gift and it’s a big time of year for us. But today I want to tell you about a buddy of mine, John Kessler, who launched Infinity Sauces a little over a year ago.

Now I dig me some hot sauce, but wouldn’t call myself a heavy user. Typically a small bottle lasts me half a year or longer. I wanted to support John’s new venture last year so I bought an assortment of 18 bottles, intending on giving away 17 of ‘em. That’s not quite what happened. I ended up keeping 6. He focuses more on flavor than the heat in his line and his Chipotle and Double Chipotle sauces are nothing short of amazing. Literally, every single person that I’ve shared them with has asked me how they can get more. He’s got quite a few ass-kickers as well made with ghost chilies for those more partial to the heat, but want killer flavor with it. His most recent seasonal release, The Hatch-Qautch, was recently quoted as being the Pliny the Elder of hot sauces based on quality, demand, and availability. His next seasonal is a variation of his Chipotle that will more than likely be made with Left Coast’s Voodoo Stout, a big, roasted, 8.5% American Stout. And he’s going to be exploring barrel aged sauces next year. You could say that I’m excited for him…and for me as I can’t wait to get my mitts on a sauce that’s been aged in an old bourbon barrel used to age an imperial stout (or whatever he ends up doing!).

His stuff is already a bargain, but John was cool enough to give me a coupon to share with our members. Use coupon code: “monthlyclubs” at checkout and you’ll get 20% off your order. He’ll keep the coupon live until Dec 31st. You can find him at www.infinitysauces.com. I wouldn’t pimp his stuff if it weren’t really, really good. You’ll dig it.

Prost!
Kris

Good Gourd Almighty Indeed…
Thank you Cigar City!

October 17, 2015 by Kris Calef

A little less than 2 years ago, I flew out to Tampa to meet Cigar City’s brewmaster, Wayne Wambles, and owner, Joey Redner, to discuss a beer they were creating exclusively for The Rare Beer ClubÂ® to commemorate our company’s 20 year anniversary. What a couple of cool cats. They were both very generous with their time (and their beer) and Wayne hooked me up with a bottle of Rum Barrel aged Good Gourd Almighty as I was heading out the door. I didn’t really realize what he’d given me at the time, but figured if this was the one bottle that he wanted me to take back with me, it was going to be pretty amazing.

So I was digging through my beer fridge Saturday night, not really knowing what the hell I was looking for when Good Gourd jumped out at me and said, “It’s time, Kris. It’s time.” It took little to convince me that the voice in my head was right and I cracked it open. So a bit of background on this one via the brewery’s description: An Imperial Pumpkin Ale brewed with copious amounts of pumpkin with Ceylon cinnamon, Jamaican all-spice, Zanzibar cloves and nutmeg added, and then aged in rum barrels.

I have to say, I dig me a pumpkin beer from time to time as long as it’s not some kind of pumpkin pie extract deal. It’s got to be done right and Wayne knocked it out of the park with this seasonal sweet nectar. This one hits you with spiced rum right up front, in the middle and on the finish, integrating those notes beautifully with the pumpkin, nutmeg, cloves and allspice. There’s a bit of vanilla from the barrels, mouthfeel is big and chewy. In short, I coveted every sip. Either they didn’t print the ABV on the label or I simply forgot it as I was quite comfortably numb and feeling a bit like a gourd myself after I polished it off. Had to be 10% or better, but was surprisingly accessible given how big and complex it was.

Thank you Wayne. You made my October. Now I have to figure out how the hell to get another bottle.

Prost!
Kris

El Monstruo Lupúlo – 1 Year Later

September 5, 2015 by Brett Olson

To celebrate our company’s 20^th Anniversary last year, Cigar City was kind enough to brew us a one-off exclusive for release in our July 2014 Rare Beer Club shipment: El Monstruo Lupúlo, an imperial IPA monster crafted with eight different hops – including a few experimental varieties – and aged on Spanish cedar and spruce.

A hop bomb like that is meant to be enjoyed fresh, while the hops are undegraded and still bursting out at full tilt. And we certainly enjoyed plenty fresh bottles. But we also hid some away to revisit later, to watch how the beer would hold up and evolve in bottle over time.

This week we decided to crack one open, more than a year after storing it away in a cool, dark cellar (otherwise known as our server room). How did it hold up?

Pretty darn well, actually. It was immediately apparent that some of sharper higher-octave hop notes had subsided somewhat, which we expected. But make no mistake, this brew is still a big, bad, hoppy monster. The citrusy core of orange and grapefruit was still front and center in a big way, along with light hints of evergreen from the spruce and Chinook additions. There was a berry-like hint in there as well, bolstered by a softly floral overtone and a mild vanilla-esque quality. Bitterness was still very big.

The malts seem at least as prominent as we remember them, perhaps even moreso now that the topmost edge of the hop profile has subdued a little. Lots of toasty, toffee-like notes offer plenty of structure, all touched by woody hints.

So, despite being over a year old, El Monstruo Lupúlo has held up really nicely and still displays a wonderfully complex hop profile in tandem with those woody additions that augment them just as well as we remember. We’ll have to crack another one open at the 2-year mark to see exactly what long-term aging will do to it, but we’re confident it’ll still be delicious.

Cheers!
Brett

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).