Cedar Creek debuts Special Release, preps IPA

The Cedar Creek Brewery has announced plans for a series of special releases in 2014.  First among these is their Belgian Style Dubbel, which this past October brought home a gold medal from the Great American Beer Festival.  Beginning this week, it will be available for a limited time in 4-pack boxes of 16-ounce cans.

Subsequent beers in the series will be come out quarterly.  Next in line is a chocolate coffee porter brewed with locally-sourced beans from Ennis, to be followed by a saison and an English-style barleywine.

Also in the works is a forthcoming year-round offering called Dankosaurus (6.8% ABV, 70 IBUs).  Inspired by west coast IPAs, this beer features an experimental hop currently known as "05256".  This new variety adds notes of peach, apricot, tangerine and pine, along with an herbal quality.  Look for it on tap and in cans sometime late March.

The brewery in Seven Points continues to grow in its second year, evidenced by the addition of three 30 bbl fermentation tanks in November.  They've also remodeled a portion of their space to accommodate a taproom, which is now open Friday 4-9 p.m., Saturday 12 - 9 p.m. and Sunday 12 - 6 p.m.

Pro-am beers on tap Saturday at Martin House

Brewer for a Day Justin Foley with Martin House owner Cody Martin
Image credit: Martin House Brewing

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't remember too many times a North Texas craft brewery has teamed up with a local homebrewer/consumer to produce a "pro-am" beer. Franconia has done a couple in association with the PantegoFEST Homebrew Competition, but the brews were released on a very exclusive basis. Rahr has maybe had a few as special tour tappings, and then there's the Best in Show winner from Deep Ellum's Labor of Love. The Dubya, a recipe created by the Mox Nix Brewery out of Grapevine, is expected to be released prior to next year's event.

This weekend, though, you'll have an opportunity to try two such creations. Rockwall's Justin Foley won the chance to be "Brewer for a Day" in a contest sponsored by Sportsradio 1310 The Ticket during North Texas Beer Week. He teamed up with Martin House owner Cody Martin a couple of weeks back, and the fruits of their labor are fermenting away as we speak.

You won't see this on the Budweiser tour.
Image credit: Justin Foley

Foley had the option of doing a collaborative brew or shadowing Martin for a day to learn more about the process and equipment. Martin noted that Foley was already "very knowledgeable about beer", so the decision was made to work together on the creation of two small-batch beers. Foley chose the ingredients for each brew himself, basing them on his "love of pairing craft beer with food." Martin worked up the all-grain recipes, and they proceeded to brew both beers in a single day on the brewery's pilot system.

What the...? Spent grains, hops and herbs.
Image credit: Justin Foley

Smokey D. RIPA - If you're not sure how to pronounce it, maybe this will help: it's an amalgamation of Smokey the Bear and Jack the Ripper. Say it with me now, smōk-ē dē rip-uh. It's a smoked double rye IPA which contains 15% rye malt and looks to be finishing up with and ABV of around 8.5%. Martin says the final gravity came up just short of where he'd like it to be and the smoke character isn't quite as strong as they'd hoped, but the result is still quite tasty. Best paired with, what else, Texas BBQ.

Kumite - This Asian-themed saison may have you saying "What the Phó?", but that's exactly where the inspiration for this beer came from. Martin hand-toasted fresh coconut with a blow torch, while Foley hand-chopped all the herbs and peppers. Can you say hand-crafted beer, Mr. Miller? What about you, Mr. Busch? No? Anyway, Martin's take on this one is that the "Kaffir lime [leaves], lemongrass, and coconut shine, with Thai basil, cilantro and Thai chilies rounding it out nicely."


Want to try one? You'll have to head to Fort Worth on Saturday, February 8, for the regular tour at Martin House. First pour will be at 2 p.m., but the yield on each beer is expected to be less than 20 gallons. In other words, get there early!

Craft beer bookshelf: Brewtal beers and brewing Water

Image credit:  Globe Pequot Press, Brewers Publicatoins

Up for your consideration, this round of book reviews features topics from opposite ends of the spectrum.  The first might best be described as a beer and heavy metal pairing guide. Naturally, that means virtually any beer from Jester King containing the word "metal" has warranted inclusion.  As for the other, it's the third of four planned books in the Brewers Association's Brewing Elements series.  The water book follows those covering yeast and hops, with another on malt scheduled to be out later this year.


Decibel presents the Brewtal Truth Guide to Extreme Beers
by Adem Tepedelen

On the surface, the idea of metal music magazine being the presenting sponsor of a beer book might seem a bit...well, extreme. Looking at it from author Adem Tepedelen's point of view, though, he believes that those who prefer creativity in their beer are more than likely to prefer it in their music, too. To that end, his Brewtal Truth Guide to Extreme Beers offers you "an all-excess pass to brewing's outer limits." Brews are categorized according to "how" they are extreme. It could be the name, the ingredients, how the beer is made or the design of the label. Each is judged accorded to a 5-point skull and crossbones rating system, and the question isn't about taste, it's about how challenging is the taste experience?  An "Extreme Music Pairing" accompanies each beer as well, with musical selections running the gamut from from Ozzy and Iron Maiden, to Ministry and Opeth. Breaks between beers are Q&As highlighting "Brewtal Breweries" and "Brewtal Musicians", with names like Greg Koch of Stone, Adam Avery and Brann Dailor of Mastodon lending their perspectives to the topic at hand. It's not your everyday beer book, as it takes the "tasting guide" format to a whole different level.  To the extreme, you might say.

Available in paperback at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and other retailers.

* Review copy furnished courtesy of Globe Pequot Press.

Water:  A Comprehensive Guide for Brewers
by John Palmer and Colin Kaminski

Most of us look at water and just see water. It doesn't look like much, doesn't smell like much, and other than residual flavors due to chlorine or other chemical treatments it doesn't taste like much either. For brewers, it represents the "last frontier." Water chemistry affects the beer you drink more than you realize, and it's the one component brewers can change without having to source different ingredients. This book endeavors to put the "world's knowledge of brewing water together in one place." Topics covered include source and wastewater treatment techniques, adjusting water for style, residual alkalinity and mash pH. The presentation is technical, but there are plenty of tables, graphs and worked examples to help you along the way. Still, you'll probably need to brush up on dimensional analysis and high school chemistry (a primer is included in the appendix) to get the most out of the material. I'd also recommend having Periodic Table of the Elements at the ready. Reviewing this one is easy: required reading for brewers.

Available in paperback at the Brewers Association, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and other retailers.

* Review copy furnished courtesy of Brewers Publications.

Grapevine plans new beers, packaging

Image credit:  Grapevine Craft Brewery

The Grapevine Craft Brewery has been open all of about two months, yet they are already expanding their sphere of influence and putting plans in motion to package their brews.

On February 3, Grapevine will begin supplying beer to accounts in Austin. More importantly for North Texans, though, is the planned launch of Lakefire Rye Pale Ale in cans.  Six-packs of the brewery's flagship will be available throughout the Metroplex starting in April.  When asked about canning, owner Gary Humble responded by saying, "'We're excited to get our beer in cans and out there in the places where good times are being had. That's where our beer belongs."

Grapevine is also working on a number of new styles for the coming year. Humble says the brewery "seeks to fill a need for approachable and sessionable ales...meant to invite would-be craft beer drinkers into the growing culture of local beer."  Along those lines, expect to see an English-style brown ale, seasonal saison and a Belgian IPA.  Beyond that, head brewer Caton Orell intends to dry-hop 60 barrels of Lakefire with whole leaf Chinook for release in February, and he's got a brown ale infused with raspberry and cocoa in the works for Paste Untapped Fort Worth in March.

Including those debuting next week, Grapevine has taps flowing at 60 accounts in Dallas, Waco and Austin.