Beer Events Archives - Page 9 of 9 - Craft Beer Blog from The Beer of the Month Club

20 Year Anniversary Beer Naming Contest Finalists Update

April 9, 2014 by Kris Calef

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick update on the contest. We intended to have the finalists posted and begin the voting process yesterday, but we’re waiting to hear back from one of the 3 breweries on our final name selections. Naturally, the Craft Brewer’s Conference started today so the timing is not optimal for a group of folks that are already pretty busy!

Rest assured, we’ll notify anyone that entered the contest directly via the email submitted upon entry as soon as the voting page has been updated with the finalists so you won’t miss out on the chance to vote. Hopefully we’ll hear back from the 3rd brewery today and have the finalists posted later today. Voting will take place on the same page that original submissions to the contest so feel free to check back on that page over the next couple of days just in case the email notification hits your spam filter: http://www.beermonthclub.com/beer-naming-contest-20-years

Thanks for your patience.

Cheers,
Kris

20th Anniversary Beer Naming Contest!

March 31, 2014 by Kris Calef

As part of our 20 Year Anniversary celebration this year, we’re having 3 beers brewed exclusively for our members and we thought it would be fun to let you name them. If the name you submitted is used for any of the three beers, we’ll hook you up with a 6-month membership to the club that beer will be featured in.

Contest Details

Submit your responses by noon Monday, 4-7-14 at 2 pm PST. Three finalists for each beer will be announced on Tuesday April 8th 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 Monday April 14th. If your beer name is used for the any of the 3 final labels, we’ll hook you up with a 6-month membership to the club that the beer will be featured.

So be sure to submit a name for each beer. If you’re really good, you might win more than one 6 month membership! We’d suggest you check out current beer names for each brewery to note their current voice and naming conventions. Cigar City | The Bruery | Shmaltz

Here’s what you need to know about each beer:

Brewery: Cigar City Brewing Co.
Club Featured: The Rare Beer Club — July 2014
The Beer: This one’s going to be a big (9%+ abv) American IPA inspired from Cigar City’s Humidor Series Jai Alai IPA. It’ll be aged lightly on Spanish cedar and smaller amounts of spruce using an infusion method to reduce oxidation caused from barrel aging which is not optimal for hoppy beers. It’ll contain no less than 8 different hop varieties including Pacific Jade to tie the Spanish cedar as both have a white grapefruit expression, and Chinook to accent the spruce as both have a piney character.

Brewery: The Bruery
Club Featured: The Rare Beer Club — Q3 Special Offer
The Beer: It’s going to be a big barrel aged blended beer, north of 15% abv. It’ll be comprised of three of The Bruery’s prized beers, Bois, a bourbon barrel aged old ale, Black Tuesday, a massive bourbon barrel aged Imperial Stout, and Smokin’ Wood, an imperial smoked porter, brewed with beachwood and cherrywood smoked malt, and aged in rye whiskey barrels. Cacao nibs from one of our favorite featured chocolatiers, Mindo Chocolates, will be added to one of the three beers’ barrels as its aged.

Brewery: Shmaltz Brewing Co.
Club Featured: The Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club — July 2014
The Beer: Shmaltz is one of the more inventive breweries we’ve worked with over the years and after 17 years as a contract brewer, they’ve recently built their own playland of steel and concrete. They’re creating a new IPA for us that will combine amarillo, crystal, cascade, and other classics of the Pacific NW genre with an intended juicy citrus, passionfruit, and peachy hop profile. Shmaltz in fact means “chicken fat” in Yiddish – a classic indulgent comfort food – and also an irreverent yet nostalgic sense of humor so have fun with this one! L’Chaim!

Note: The Rare Beer Club = two 750ml bottles each month.

To receive the exclusive selections featured in each club, you’ll need to be an active member of either The Rare Beer Club™ or the Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club in July of 2014. The Bruery’s exclusive beer will be made available to members of either club in Q3 2014.

Visit the form below to submit your entry:

www.beermonthclub.com/beer-naming-contest-20-years/

Cheers,
Kris Calef

Goats, Spring, and Bock Beer

March 20, 2014 by Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club

Today is special my friends. One of significance, with deep historical roots, and one that will bring some sense of relief to many I’m sure. Today is National Bock Day, and it also happens to be the 1st day of spring. Bocks come in many different styles and variations, but they were typically brewed to welcome in the spring season and bid adieu to winter.

This past winter was pretty brutal to many due to some extreme weather sweeping across most of the nation. There were even some uncommon appearances of the season in some of the southern states. Remember all those people in Atlanta caught off guard by the winter storm and forced to succumb to its fury, abandoning their cars on the freeway just to get back home? Well it’s time to put that all behind us now and welcome in this magical time of year. Flowers bloom, picnics are be planned, the birds start to sing again, bears awake from their hibernation, and Bocks are in their prime.

Bock, what a funny word. But it’s more than just a funny sounding noun, it actually has some meaning. To be exact, it’s German for “Billy Goat”. Thank goodness that has nothing to do with the listed ingredients, but more to do with old world influence. During medieval times, old German monasteries would brew a strong bock as a source of nutrition during their Lenten fasts. Others believe it was made with more of a pagan connotation, only being brewed during the sign of the Capricorn goat, hence the name “Bock”.

So whatever your cause, there’s surely a reason to be found to enjoy a nice Bock this spring. What’s yours?

Cheers!
Shelton

20 Year Anniversary Beer Planning with Cigar City

March 11, 2014 by Kris Calef

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Cigar City’s head brewer, Wayne Wambles and owner Joey Redner last month to discuss the beer they’re crafting for us to celebrate our 20 year anniversary this year. First off, what cool couple of cats to spend a couple hours out of their day with me. They’re one of the hottest breweries in the country, growing like wildfire, in the midst of a major website update and brewery expansion, and they gave me all the time I wanted, never rushing me along.

I got even more excited about the Spanish Cedar aged Imperial IPA they’re making for us after Wayne walked me through the recipe and where he was going with this beer. He promised to make me a video that we can share with you all taking you through the recipe creation process. Suffice to say, it’s gonna rock your world.

Stay tuned for a contest to name the beer where you’ll have a chance to win a 3 month membership to The Rare Beer Club.

Prost!
Kris

Kris Calef on site in Cigar City's tasting room...And taste we did. — Kris Calef on site in Cigar City’s tasting room…And taste we did.

Wayne unveiling his new canning line set to go live later this year.

National Lager Day

December 10, 2013 by Brett Olson

What are You Drinking for National Lager Day?

I think it’s fair to say that the craft beer world in the U.S. is dominated by ales. But, being that today is National Lager Day, we’re raising our glasses in celebration of craft-brewed lagers and the brewers who are dedicated to making them.

Today at lunch I celebrated National Lager Day with a Sprecher Special Amber (yes, there are perks to working for a beer club). First time I had one of their beers, I thought they were a German brewery. Between the brewery name, label design, and my impression of the beer itself, I could have sworn it was fresh off a boat from Bavaria. But no – it was from Milwaukee. Wow, if only the “macro” brewers in Milwaukee made beers like these!

We’re always excited to find a good craft lager, as they’re just not that common. Rarer still are brewers like Sprecher, whose focus is on lagers and whose beer portfolios are stacked with a multitude of different lager styles. Sprecher is an old favorite of mine for this very reason. (Keep a lookout for their beer in an upcoming Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club shipment.)

So what are YOU drinking on this National Lager Day?

Cheers,
Brett

Our Newsletter Writer, Ken Weaver, Picks up 2 Prestigious Beer Writer Awards!

October 21, 2013 by Kris Calef

We’re pretty proud of what we do over here and feel pretty confident that no other beer club spends the time, money or energy both lining up special beers for our members or putting together a quality newsletter that we feel is a big part of the overall experience. So when one of our newsletter writers, Ken Weaver, picks up two, count ’em, two awards from The North American Guild of Beer Writers, we want to brag about him a bit.

Ken’s a freelance beer writer and editor. His first book is The Northern California Craft Beer Guide, a must for anyone either living in Northern California or planning a trip. He’s a frequent contributor to All About Beer magazine and editor of RateBeer Weekly. He’s also written for publications including DRAFT, Saveur, and Wine Enthusiast.

He recently received the following awards from the NAGBW:

1. Best Brewspaper/Free Zine Writing for his article,“The Big Show: Local brewers prepare for the Great American Beer Festival”, and

2. Best Beer and Food Writing for his article, “Genesis of a Beer Dinner”

Congratulations Ken! Well done.

Prost!
Kris

Two Rare Beer Club Exclusives in one Month? NoDa Brewing Company’s Tart Attack is coming your way!

October 3, 2013 by Kris Calef

This is our fourth year partnering with Pints for Prostates, a non profit organization founded by Rick Lyke that raising awareness about the disease and encouraging males to pursue regular health screenings. Each year we work with Rick and a different brewery to create a unique beer that’s available only through the club and at a rare beer tasting Rick hosts annually at The Great American Beer Festival. For this year’s beer, we managed to finagle our way onto the brew schedule of NoDa Brewing Co. in Charlotte, North Carolina, which just opened in late 2011.

NoDa is bringing to fruition one of the preceding themes of their NoDable Series: beers based on the traditional German Berliner Weisse style—one of the most refreshing drinks in existence—each with an atypical twist. Tart Attack takes the refreshing aspects of the Berliner Weisse style—lively carbonation, medium-light body, plus a core lactic tartness—and carries them on a different path than usual, with the addition of blackberries.

If you’re into sour beers, you’re going to want to try this one.

Prost!
Kris