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Craft Beer Blog from The Beer of the Month Club

A craft beer blog written by the experts of The Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club

The Festival

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The FestivalI attended perhaps the best beer festival that I’ve ever gone to last weekend…And I’ve been to several hundred over the years. The Festival, put on by an importer that we work closely with, Shelton Brothers, had an amazing line up of beers. There wasn’t one bad one in the lot and I tried as many as I could. It was more productive than most as I got to catch up with many brewers we’ve worked with over the years as well as hang out with quite a few new ones to discuss special projects for 2015. We’re going to ramp up our game in The Rare Beer Club and feature even more exclusives that we ran this year (7 all tolled). Stay tuned for further updates on the following breweries: Mystic, Oxbow, Rappi bier factory, Rooie Dop, The Rare Barrel, Siren, Moor, and Side Project, among many, many others!

I only snapped one shot of the current 27 year old co-head brewer at De Molen, John Brus. After hearing a bit about his life and work, I asked him, “You know you’re living the dream, right?”. He knew.

Prost!
Kris

The Rare Beer Club™ November 2014 Special Offer

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We’re excited to announce another special offer from The Rare Beer Club™. You can read a summary below or visit the special offer page for full tasting notes and access to the order form.

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 geared this special offer decidedly towards keeping warm through the cooler winter weather that approaches. Please note that the two Seven Sins/Zeven Zonden beers come in 500ml bottles instead of the usual 750ml that we feature in the club. Both Luxuria (“Lust”) and Gula (“Gluttony”) are Herbed Belgian Strong Dark Ales perfect for the holiday season, but they have considerably different characters. Additionally, we’re excited to bring you the very hard-to-find Green Jack Baltic Trader, which truly knocked our socks off, plus the next iteration of The Bruery’s Twelve Days of Christmas series – a delightful, true-to-style quad that’ll hold up for at least the next five years. Cheers!

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 November 18th 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.

If you wish to get any of these limited selections, please respond to this special offer by 12:00 PM Pacific on Tuesday, November 18th.

Cheers!

Kris Sig

 

 

 

Dia de Los Muertos with Los Vivos y Los Muertos

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20141101_174604Hello friends! It’s Dia de Los Muertos – Day of the Dead – a holiday in which my family and I celebrate to remember those who have departed. It may sound a bit odd to some but while sorrow definitely accompanies this sad reality of life, today we celebrate the lives of our deceased with activities they enjoyed, such as, parties, food, and of course, drink.

I can’t think of a better brew to pop open than the appropriately named, Los Vivos y Los Muertos from our friends at Jolly Pumpkin. This beauty was especially brewed for us last year and I’ve been saving this bottle just for this occasion. What are you brew are drinking today?

Salud!
David

He That Seeketh, Findeth

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I went into this looking for a tasty beer that I haven’t had before and appropriate for the season. As I made my way through the isles perusing for the one… This beauty caught my eye, and if you know me you know I had to stop as soon as I saw the word SOUR. Not only that but it was surrounded by “dry-hopped” and “grapes.” Game. Over.

I bring you, Atomic Kangarue, a collaborative creation from two of my favorite breweries, The Bruery and Smog City Brewing. I must admit it was the name that first drew me in but the description sold me on it. The name must come from the two varietals used to make this wonderfully complex beauty. Semillon from what I gathered, first arrived in Australia in the 19th century and Viognier originated in the Rhone region of France but can also be found in regions of North and South America as well as Australia and New Zealand. These, along with the Brettanomyces Trois, work together in unison to make this delicious treat.

It pours a hazy rich golden yellow that reminds me of a ripe mango or a golden SoCal sunset, with a white head that fizzes and grows to about 2 inches before dissipating and clinging on to the glass for dear life. The nose is greeted with slight tartness that is definitely present but not prominent. There are also grape skins, fruity esters similar to white wine, hints of tropical fruit like mango from the Brett Trois, and a wild funky earthiness that comes out more as it warms up. How does it taste you ask? Well, there is initial tartness, a sharp acidity and sourness that hit the tongue right away. It’s followed by notes of mango, stone fruit, and green grape, then some funk and tannins come through in the middle. The sourness is there but not over the top. It has a refreshing funky finish that’s well balanced with lingering tropical fruit notes. So much going on here, my novice palate may not capture it all.

Overall this is a delectable and complex beer. Well balanced despite everything that’s going on and deceptively easy to drink coming in at 9.8%. Be easy on this one and respect it.

Salud!
David

Seven Swans a Swimming Special Offer

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The Bruery Glass on BarrelThe good news is that The Bruery is going to give us enough of this year’s 12 Days of Christmas offering to share with our members as a special offer in November.  The bad news is that due to a brewery expansion that’s caused some challenges in yield and the fact that the beer is fermenting slower than anticipated, we won’t get enough of it to run it as one of our Rare Beer Club November featured beers.  What a bummer.

Last year the government (and TTB) shutdown nixed this project and this year, other unforeseen complications have thwarted our best intentions.

Those collecting the series, keep a close eye out for the special offer mid November.

Prost!
Kris

We’re working with Grand Teton to create still yet another Rare Beer Club™ Exclusive!

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Grand Teton Brewing Company LabelI love what I do…How cool is this?

Grand Teton calls me up and says that they want to put some of their XX Bitch Creek Double ESB in some barrels and create an RBC exclusive for us.  Initially I like the idea and ask how they feel about doing aging it in something a little more off the beaten path… I’m thinking like Rum maybe or Brandy… They dig it and started looking for sources for barrels.  Later, I toss out the idea of cranking up the ABV closer to 8 or 9% (it’s normally weighs in about 7.5%).  They like it and the brewmaster’s suggestion is to blend it with another one of their bigger special releases to get there.  So now it’s really getting cool.

We’re still working out the details, but it’s slotted for December as we wanted to give our Rare Beer Club™ members a little sumpin’ special in their stockings this year!

Prost!
Kris

Oktoberfest is going vegan in Santa Monica October 4th!

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Vegan OktoberfestCould a meatless Oktoberfest carry enough intrigue to be a successful event?

When one thinks of Oktoberfest, easy drinking German beer in tall steins and an endless bevy of Bavarian-style meat products comes to mind.  Frankfurters, Bratwursts, Blood Sausage, Schnitzel, and the list goes on!  So if I said Vegan Oktoberfest, you would probably think that sounds a bit odd, right?  Well the folks over in Santa Monica, CA don’t think it’s odd and they are throwing the world’s 1st Vegan Oktoberfest.  Almost all their beers will be vegan by default, so the real noticeable difference will be with the food.  Still focusing on German favorites like pretzels, potato pancakes, & sauerkraut, an array of food trucks will be present preparing themed menus to be paired with beers from over 20 local breweries.  And just like any successful Oktoberfest, you will still get the opportunity to enjoy live polka bands, stein-lifting contests, and beer maidens walking through the oceanfront festival grounds in authentic Bavarian garb.

To learn more about this unique festival, visit www.veganoktoberfest.com.

Cheers!
Shelton

The Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club

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