Simply because February is a brief month doesn’t imply we drank much less beers. In truth, we had a lot unimaginable beer in February that we’re itemizing out eleven of the most effective we drank.
**cough cough** An ode to all of the beers we drank this month:
Novel Strand made Ninja Sh!t, a crisp, clear, kissed-by-darkness schwarzbier.
Whereas Allagash and Crowns & Hops teamed up for a brand new collab beer.
We time traveled to Tokyo for a Chilly IPA in Japan.
Whereas sipping on Baltic porter transported us to new-found lands.
We discovered nowhere else like Elsewhere on this European pilsner.
And located Rupee Beer, essentially the most excellent lager to pair with dinner.
General, the beer we drank in February took us on a visit world wide.
So sit again, calm down, crack one open, and luxuriate in studying these phrases…
11 Prime Beers We Drank in February 2023
Ninja Sh!t – Novel Strand Brewing Firm
Denver, CO
Schwarzbier – Certainly one of our “14 Finest Breweries of 2022,” Novel Strand simply approaches beer in another way. Thanks partially to the good mind of Tamir Danon, an Israeli native with a graduate diploma in biochemistry and biophysics and a hops behavior that retains him up at evening.
Alongside along with his life companion Chantel Columna and third enterprise companion Ayana Coker, this trio are the strands of DNA that tie Novel Strand collectively.
And whereas Danon goals all day and evening about hops, Novel Strand unapologetically additionally focuses on lagers as a lot because the hoppy stuff.
As an example, Ninja Sh!t, a schwarzbier brewed in honor of their canine, Shoku.
All German malt and Hallertau Custom hops get a dose of German lager yeast earlier than napping low and sluggish for eight-plus weeks.
Right here’s what Novel Strand has to say about this black lager: “Tastes like: crisp, clear lager with the softest, sneakiest kiss of darkness. Elegant smoothness.”
Sufficient mentioned.
To delve deeper into Columna, Coker, and Danon’s devilishly dextrous minds, we’ve got a whole piece on the brewery popping out on Monday Mar. sixth. Keep tuned!
Cur-8 – Crowns & Hops x Allagash Brewing Firm
Inglewood, CA, x Portland, ME
Pilsner – To have a good time Black Historical past Month in February, Crowns & Hops Co-Founders Beny Ashburn and Teo Hunter teamed up with Allagash Founder Rob Tod to brew Cur-8.
A mashup of Allagash’s well-known Curieux and Crowns & Hops 8 Trill Pils, Cur-8 combines the crispness of a pilsner with the oakiness (together with bourbon and vanilla notes) of a Belgian tripel.
Past this intriguing mixing of kinds, Cur-8 will even donate proceeds from gross sales of the beer to Crowns & Hops’ 8 Trill Initiative, a improvement fund devoted to producing alternatives for Black-owned craft beer manufacturers.
Rupee – Rupee Beer
Boston, MA
Pale Lager – Hen tikka masala, vindaloo, butter hen, naan. What’s the greatest beer to pair with these Indian dishes?
Van and Sumit Sharma got down to reply that query once they began the now-award-winning Rupee Beer fourteen months in the past.
A beer constructed because the “international beer for curry,” Rupee is on a mission to be the smoothest, lightest, crispest, greatest beer to pair with not solely Indian dishes, however meals from world wide.
Mission completed.
Aphex Wing – Inkhorn Brewing x Two Fingers
Tokyo, Japan
IPA – On a current journey to Japan, I had an opportunity to go to this tiny 15-seat pub referred to as Two Fingers within the Ikebukuro neighborhood of Tokyo.
Earlier than beginning this impeccable craft beer bar, Australian Stefan Lovell and his Japanese companion Naoko Sumiya (collectively often known as Stef and Nao) ran the beer geek Instagram account @sekainobeer.
Now the double act retains 9 faucets flowing with “principally what we need to drink,” Lovell informed us after we visited.
Which means pale ales, saisons, porters, stouts, sours, and extra from breweries world wide and from these which are native.
Similar to Inkhorn Brewing, “considered one of our favourite new Japanese breweries, if we’re actually trustworthy,” says Lovell.
Two Fingers had simply celebrated its fourth anniversary after we visited, so we had the chance to do that collab with Inkhorn referred to as Aphex Wing.
Though Lovell described Aphex Wing as a West Coast IPA, he additionally informed me that they used a beer yeast fermented at hotter temperatures.
Alongside the traces of a Chilly IPA, Aphex Wing tasted scrumptious.
Leveraging Galaxy hops (after all, as a result of Lovell is from Australia) grown within the entrance of Two Fingers, this IPA arrived clear however drank extra like a hazy—tremendous juicy, recent, not too bitter, with notes of passionfruit, guava, pineapple, and mango.
The clear, dry end from the lager yeast helped us down that half-pour faster than we thought.
Thinking about the place else we drank wonderful craft beer in Tokyo? 👇👇👇
Proletarian – Elsewhere Brewing
Atlanta, GA
Pilsner – California, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Canada, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, England, Scotland, Eire. To say that Elsewhere Brewing Co-Founders Sara and Sam Kazmer have been across the block could also be a little bit of an understatement.
For a brewery constructed on bringing the beer kinds of the world inside their taproom, Elsewhere Brewing has some critical pedigree.
All en path to crafting a one-of-a-kind taproom brewing beautiful beers which have turned our heads for the final two years.
Such because the best-selling European pilsner Proletarian.
“It’s the working man’s beer,” says Sara.
And extra importantly, for each Sam and Sara, Proletarian is the beer they’re most pleased with.
Most likely as a result of this contemporary pilsner represents the core of Elsewhere: taking one specific model, continuously brewing it, and tweaking it till they assume they’ve the right recipe.
Then tweaking it some extra.
Sam loves this beer due to the best way it’s developed over time. “Initially we needed it to be like a Narragansett or Coors Banquet,” says Sam. “However because it developed, it began to grow to be extra like a traditional German helles sporting American blue-collar garments.”
And it’s nonetheless creating, getting higher over time because the recipe continues to evolve.
Which is why the brewery’s pilsner as soon as once more takes a prolific model and tilts it simply barely into the twenty-first century.
This isn’t a centuries-old recipe they’re defending over time. As a substitute, Proletarian is a beer with a contemporary mentality.
Kazimierz – Rockwell Beer Co.
St. Louis, MO
Baltic Porter – This gold-medal-winning Baltic porter spends months hibernating in Rockwell Beer Co.’s American white oak lager foeder.
Time and wooden add layers of darkish chocolate, cocoa, smoked espresso, and toffee to a really underrepresented model of porter.
Are you asking your self: What the heck is a Baltic porter anyway?
Effectively, attempt Rockwell’s Kazimierz as a result of it’s among the best.
After which learn our whole piece on what we predict is the ‘black sheep’ of the porter household. 👇👇👇
Smoke On the Wind – Yorocco Beer
Kamakura, Japan
Farmhouse Ale – Craft beer in Japan hasn’t fairly exploded as a lot as right here within the States. However a sluggish, regular development has seen breweries like Yorocco make headways within the nation.
Out of all of the Tokyo craft beer bars I visited throughout my journey to Japan earlier this month, one title stored popping up—Yorocco.
Which is humorous as a result of based on Two Fingers Co-Founder Lovell, Yorocco’s proprietor/brewer Kichise Akio could be very specific about the place he serves his beer.
Largely as a result of this Kamakura, Japan, brewery focuses totally on lagers and saisons. The latter model Akio believes will be arduous to understand except you recognize what you’re consuming. “He doesn’t need to have his beer at locations the place prospects order it, don’t prefer it, and go away with a foul impression,” says Lovell. “He likes to present to native locations.”
Like Pigalle, a tiny five-seat, six-tap Japanese pub hidden in an alleyway within the Sangenjaya neighborhood of Tokyo.
That’s the place my spouse and I discovered Smoke On the Wind, a saison made with house-smoked malt.
Gentle smokiness from the malt gave this saison a drier end with sweeter notes of banana and bubblegum complementing extra tart tastes of cranberry and lemon.
This can be a beer you sip and respect, that reveals itself extra the extra you sit with it. So I can perceive why Akio decides to be picky in regards to the institutions that serve his beer.
It simply so occurs that we frequented lots of them! See the place else we drank and ate throughout seventy-two hours in Tokyo.
Chilly Pizza – Hop Butcher For The World
Chicago, IL
Chilly IPA – We noticed one of many newer traits within the hop-forward IPA class—Chilly IPAs—completely explode in 2022.
And we’re seeing this model proceed to develop into 2023.
For instance, Hop Butcher For The World not too long ago rebrewed their model referred to as Chilly Pizza.
This Chicago-based brewery first brewed this beer after touring to Portland, OR, for hop choice in September 2019. Touching down within the Pacific Northwest set on discovering the right hops to brew an Italian pilsner, the brewery left impressed by a brand new model they tried—Chilly IPA.
Canned once more on the finish of January, Chilly Pizza showcases Citra and Vic Secret hops for dank grapefruit and zesty, spritzy citrus hues.
That is the beer you may attain for on the finish of the evening or (dare we are saying it) the subsequent morning, Chilly Pizza is simply that beguiling.
Stash IPA – Independence Brewing
Austin, TX
American IPA – Certainly one of Austin’s greatest breweries, Independence Brewing Co. can also be considered one of Austin’s OG breweries.
When Amy Cartwright opened Independence Brewing Co. in Austin in 2004, she was solely considered one of three manufacturing breweries within the Texas metropolis. And he or she was actually the one woman-owned one.
Quick ahead eighteen years and Independence Brewing is now the eighth largest brewery in your entire state and Cartwright has grow to be a pillar of the craft beer group.
At Independence Brewing you’re going to seek out traditional kinds meticulously crafted. As an example, the Austin Amber, an amber ale that turned one of many brewery’s signature choices, serving as a gateway beer for the native craft scene.
Or Stash IPA, Independence’s first stab at an IPA in 2011 that really closely contributed to the expansion of the brewery over the past ten-plus years.
As a result of with every model of Stash IPA, Independence began to make a reputation for itself and for Texas beer. “That bought us on the map as a result of we needed to push ourselves to seek out another hops as a result of we couldn’t get what was on the market,” says Cartwright. “At the moment there wasn’t as a lot respect for Texas brewers amongst beer followers and geeks, so for us, Stash was the primary beer that bought us road cred.”
Whereas Stash began with Cascade hops (earlier than Cascade hops had been big), the beer now will get a bevy of hops—Citra, Cascade, Centennial, Columbus, Amarillo, Simcoe.
Nowadays, consuming a beer like Stash IPA is like consuming in just a little piece of Austin beer historical past.
Norm’s IPA and Bonnie’s Raggedy Ass Imperial IPA – Griffin Claw Brewing Firm
Birmingham, MI
American IPA – The beer different beers would drink if they may drink beer. That’s the philosophy behind the beers at Griffin Claw.
And all of it begins with the anchors—Norm’s Raggedy Ass IPA and Bonnie’s Raggedy Ass Imperial IPA, which received gold and silver respectively on the World Beer Cup in 2010.
Named after the founders of Large Rock Chophouse, Norm’s Raggedy Ass IPA and Bonnie’s Raggedy Ass Imperial IPA put the brewery on the map.
Norm’s is a single IPA brewed with a who’s who of traditional Pacific Northwest hops together with Centennial, Cascade, Columbus, and Simcoe. Whereas Bonnie’s ratchets issues up a notch to a 9.5% ABV imperial IPA with Centennial, Columbus, Cascade, and Bravo.
Guinness Draught – Guinness
Dublin, Eire
Irish Dry Stout – I drank the most effective Guinness I’ve ever had this previous month at Bar Martha in Tokyo, Japan.
What made it so nice?
First, the bar itself.
Bar Martha is sort of presumably the most effective bar I’ve ever been to. Why? Effectively, you may learn all about it right here.
For the fast and soiled, Bar Martha is a listening bar, a spot that performs vinyl dwell.
Second, the care the workers confirmed the beer and the impact it had on these round me.
Positive, virtually everybody within the joint took benefit of the tons of of various spirit bottles on show. However you had two decisions of beer as properly—Yebisu, a premium lager from Sapporo, and Guinness.
And every the bartender poured completely. The latter actually a spectacle to behold.
Because the bartender tapped my Irish dry stout, tilting the glass about midway at 45 levels from the branded nitro faucet earlier than setting it to cascade brazenly on the bar, a pair walked in.
He will need to have been an enormous shot as a result of a transparent bottle of shiny gold liquid magically appeared at his seat earlier than their coats even got here off.
Because the couple settled in, the bartender completed pouring my Guinness, pulling the deal with straight down this time until the beer foamed over, frothing like a bubble bathtub.
As quickly as he set the glass down in entrance of me…the older man 4 seats over ordered one, then light Mr. Hulk subsequent to me requested for one too.
It was maybe the best second of my beer-loving life: to see two macho males, who could have by no means even touched a Guinness of their lives, observe my lead.
Lastly, the beer tasted chic. A velvety, frothy head gave solution to a crisp, clear, dry stout stuffed with wealthy darkish chocolate with tinges of espresso.
All mixed? The most effective Guinness I’ve ever had in my life.
