Craft Beer Blog from The Beer of the Month Club

Wekken Sour for Sour Beer Day 2015!

September 13, 2015 by Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club

On this second Sunday of September in spirit of Sour Beer day we find ourselves enjoying a Brewmaster’s Collaboration. Left Hand Brewing Co. has graced us with their Wekken Sour, a unique blend of their Wake Up Dead Imperial Stout and De Proef’s Zoetzuur.

This 8.9% ABV pours nearly black and coffee-ground like with a rich cream colored foam head that clings to your glass.

On the first whiff, you are immediately hit by the tart flavors which are then followed up with notes of figs, chocholate covered cherries, and a woody, earthy scent.

Unlike the aroma, the flavor is much more nuanced and complex. As it hits your tongue, you get a sudden rush of tang that quickly passes and is overcome by the richness of roasted malts, leading to a smoother flavor reminiscent of cacao nibs as it washes down just in time for the herbal hop notes to come through and tie everything together beautifully with a dry crisp finish.

Although this beer is perhaps not the best choice for the weather at hand, it was a solid beer that I would definitely recommend to anyone who is looking to venture into the realm of sour beers.

Salud!
David

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).

Hoping to Slot Prairie Artisan Ales in Q4

August 25, 2015 by Kris Calef

Literally the same day that I had met with the owner of Valiant Brewing company and locked down on running their 13% oaked Russian Imperial Stout, Chernyy Medved, I received and email from Chase Healey, the owner of Prairie Artisan Ales, asking what styles I was interested in running in The Rare Beer Club® in Q4. We featured Prairie Noir, an Imperial Stout Aged in Oak Whiskey Barrels, more than two years ago and after meeting Chase last October at The Festival, I was really eager to run them again. Really cool guy making outstanding beer. And Prairie Noir doesn’t have a 99 rating on RateBeer by chance. It’s world class stuff. Chase suggested we consider a tequila barrel aged version and I’ve been emailing him monthly ever since!

It’s not a done deal yet, but I’ll be doing my best to lock down something dark and delicious, more than likely something that’s spent some time on wood, for October, November or December. I kinda like the idea of running a Russian Imperial Stout from Prairie and Valiant within a 3 month span and am quite confident we wouldn’t get too many complaints from our members as that style always goes over well. That said, Okie, a 10% Imperial Brown Ale Aged in Oak Whiskey Barrels and The Beer that Saved Christmas, a 10% Old Ale Aged in Oak Barrels, both sound pretty tasty. So much beer, so little time.

Wish me luck and stay tuned!

Prost!
Kris

Valiant Brewing Company’s Chernyy Medved Coming in December!

August 18, 2015 by Kris Calef

One might think that running the country’s best beer of the month club would be a glamorous gig, sitting back quaffing high gravity malted nectar all day, rubbing elbows with some of the coolest entrepreneurs you’ll ever meet, and turning your customers on to really, really good craft beers. Truth be told, heading up the sourcing of the beers we feature is in fact the most important thing I do around here, but I don’t get to meet the men behind these beers face to face more than a dozen times a year and quite a bit takes place via email and over the phone as with most businesses these days.

So it was a sincere pleasure to sit down with one of the owners and Head Brewer of Valiant Brewing, Brian Schroepfer, last Friday, to get to know each other a bit and talk about working together. Thirty minutes into the conversation he busted out a 2014 bottle of Chernyy Medved, a 13% Russian Imperial Stout brewed with cherries, vanilla and oak and said something like, “I think this is about the right temperature to open Kris. Do you have an opener?” It was Friday afternoon about 3 pm or so and after considering it for a nanosecond, I quickly produced some fine glassware and an opener. Wow. What an amazing beer. It mattered not that this beer was brewed in tribute to the OC Brew Ho Ho Holiday Ale Festival and that the average temp last week was approaching 90 degrees. It was surprisingly approachable for such a big beer, had a big full, viscous and round mouthfeel, and poured like motor oil that hadn’t been changed in quite some time. Smokey, roasted, and chocolate malt flavors intermingled with vanilla and hints of cherries in perfect harmony. Suffice to say, I was sold instantly.

Brian waited until the end of the meeting to let me know that he was confident that they could fit us into their production schedule so that we could run it this December. Further, we may just be able to pull off a Valiant Special Offer in The Rare Beer Club in February 2016, giving members a chance to try four other gems from this rising star of a brewery that only three years in and distributed largely only in Orange County, CA. What a way to end the week. Days like that remind me how lucky I am not to be moving big iron for IBM any more.

Prost!
Kris

July 2015 Rare Beer Club® Special Offer

July 20, 2015 by Kris Calef

Today it’s our pleasure to announce another Rare Beer Club^® Special Offer! You can read a summary below or visit the special offer page for full tasting notes and access to the order form.

If you’re new to the club: welcome! One of the best things about being a member is that, in addition to our normal monthly selections, you can take advantage of our periodic special offers on additional exciting and hard-to-find beers.

We’re very excited to offer four delicious beers from Colorado’s Odell Brewing Company – specifically from their Cellar Series, which are very limited production beers usually available only from their tap room. And, like our June feature from Odell, Barrel Thief, three of the beers below have aged on wood. Cheers!

Jaunt – Incorporating the juice of Riesling grapes from the Western Slope of Colorado, Jaunt is also aged with light and medium oak staves during secondary fermentation. Additions of wheat and Pilsner malt serve to keep this smooth and crackling. 7.6% ABV.
Trellis – This very unusual strong ale is brewed with locally grown herbs and spices including cilantro, coriander, lavender, rose petals, and pineapple mint. Along with being an expressive (and wholly unique) offering, every bottle sold raises one dollar to support The Gardens on Spring Creek. 8.7% ABV.
Fernet Aged Porter – A blend of 50% porter and 50% aged porter matured in Fernet barrels via Leopold Bros. Distillery. Inspired by the framework of dark, minty liqueurs, Odell combined the core elements of minty licorice barrel notes with the base of a chocolate-malt-forward porter. 9.4% ABV.
180 Shilling – An upsized riff on the flagship beer they opened their doors with back in 1989: the also-delicious 90 Shilling. We, unabashedly, were totally into this one. An undercurrent of roast meets huge, glorious levels of caramel and dried dark fruits and sherry, with a perfect impact from the oak. 9.6% ABV.

Flexible ordering allows you to order 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 total bottles, combining any of the 4 featured beers in any way to get there so that you can easily try all four. Orders ship after our July 31 cut off date.

Order online or at 800-625-8238 Mon-Fri 7 am – 5 pm Pacific. If your Rare Beer Club^®membership was a gift, you will be contacted by one of our team members for payment information if you submit your order online.

Click the “Learn More” button for full tasting notes, and to access the order form.

If you wish to get any of these limited selections, please respond to this special offer by 12:00 PM Pacific on Friday, July 31, 2015.

Cheers!

Rare Beer Club® Featuring Two Exclusive Beers in July

July 16, 2015 by Kris Calef

LAKE FOREST, Calif. (July 14, 2015) – The Rare Beer Club®, one of the four U.S. and International monthly beer clubs offered by The Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club™, is celebrating the company’s 21 years of business by releasing two exclusive beers in its July shipment: Ursae Majoris from Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales and the Buellton Silent Partner from Telegraph Brewing Company.

“It’s a bit of work to line up two exclusives in one month, but we thought it was worth celebrating the fact that our beer clubs are celebrating their 21st birthday this year and are now, ‘of legal drinking age,’” says Kris Calef, president and founder of The Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club. “We’re always excited to be able to run an exclusive with Ron Jeffries over at Jolly Pumpkin. He consistently delivers home runs and is widely considered to be one of the best craft brewers in the U.S. His take on an Oud Bruin, as expected, is going to be a real crowd-pleaser with our members. Telegraph’s Silent Partner is worthy of the honor, a complex, yet delicate saison, perfect for warmer weather.”

Ursae Majoris, a sour brown ale brewed in the oud bruin style, was crafted by Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, a brewery that regularly partners with The Rare Beer Club for exclusive releases. Blended by Brewmaster Ron Jefferies, Ursae Majoris is a blend of three different, aged batches, which are then refermented in the bottle and allowed to mature for deeper flavor complexity. Ursae Majoris features a deep mahogany color with a thick, off-white head, a powerful fruit and oak aroma, and a sour red fruit flavor with a smooth, spiced finish sure to please any sour beer fan.

Opened in 2004, Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, a small craft brewery based in Ann Arbor, Mich., is renowned throughout the beer industry for its unique, high-quality offerings. Ursae Majoris will serve as the fourth exclusive beer that Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales has released through The Rare Beer Club. Learn more by visiting jollypumpkin.com.

Buellton Silent Partner, a bottle-conditioned saison brewed by Telegraph Brewing Company, is an exclusive craft beer created in collaboration with the band Buellton to celebrate the release of their new album, “Silent Partner.” This world-class saison offers a bright, honey-colored pour, a lemon and black pepper aroma, and a spicy, earthy flavor that complements the citrusy notes. The bottle fermenting also removes any sweetness and gives the Buellton Silent Partner a dry characteristic sure to please members of The Rare Beer Club.

Located in Santa Barbara, Calif., Telegraph Brewing Company is a small craft brewery that specializes in traditional European brewing techniques. With copper-clad brewing equipment and locally grown ingredients, brewmaster Brian Thompson works to capture the spirit of American ales and Belgian-inspired beers through his selection of craft beers. Learn more by visiting telegraphbrewing.com.

Visit buelltonmusic.com to learn more about the band Buellton.