Local brewers among 2016 Best of Craft Beer winners

Six North Texas brewers are among the honorees recently announced for the 2016 Best of Craft Beer Awards.

Billed as "America's newest craft beer contest", the BJCP-sanctioned Best of Craft Beer Awards competition awarded its first medals in 2014, making this the third annual event for the Bend, Oregon-based organization. This year, 65 different styles of beer were evaluated, with gold, silver and bronze medals awarded in each category. Judging was carried out by professional judges and industry leaders, and it should be noted that some medals were not awarded in categories with limited entries.


Winners from North Texas include:

Bitters Sisters Brewery

• Silver for Busy Body Blonde Lager in the Helles or Helles Bock category.
• Bronze for Family Trip in the Belgian Tripel category.

Deep Ellum Brewing

• Silver for Wealth & Taste in the Specialty Wood-Aged category.

Grapevine Craft Brewery

• Bronze for NightWatch in the Oatmeal Stout category.

Nine Band Brewing

• Gold for Blue Lacy in the American Brown Ale category.

Rabbit Hole Brewing

• Gold for 10/6 in the English Pale or English IPA category.

Shannon Brewing

• Gold for Chocolate Stout in the Sweet Stout category.
• Silver for IPA in the English Pale or English IPA category.

Cheers and congratulations to all!

Snowmageddon, Iron Thistle returning from Rahr & Sons

Image credit: Rahr & Sons Brewing Co.

Two seasonal beers from the area's oldest craft brewery are set to return in the coming days, as Rahr & Sons readies the 2016 releases of Iron Thistle and Snowmageddon.

Of these, Snowmageddon will be the first to appear, with deliveries scheduled for the week of January 25. That beer, an imperial oatmeal stout, is an annual tribute to those who supported the brewery during its rebuilding process after a snow-induced roof collapse in 2010.

Following Snowmageddon will be Iron Thistle, which looks to hit retail and draft accounts beginning February 1. Stylistically described as a strong Scotch ale, Iron Thistle won Rahr & Sons its first-ever medal at the Great American Beer Festival, bringing home silver in 2012.

Then, last but not least, fans of Snowmageddon will soon see the arrival of that beer aged in bourbon barrels. Details are few at this point, but according to a press release this beer is expected to debut in March with limited availability.

Consumers can search for these and other Rahr & Sons products on sale in their area by using the Rahr Finder on the brewery's website. It can be found at http://rahrbrewing.com/locator.

Funkwerks to offer Nelson Sauvin year-round in 4-packs

Image credit: Funkwerks.

Becoming the latest beer to be packaged by the brewery in smaller-format 330 mL bottles, Funkwerks has announced the addition of Nelson Sauvin to its year-round lineup.

A single-hopped saison ale, Nelson Sauvin is named after the hop variety that is used in its making. It's described by Funkwerks as having the "aroma of gooseberries, honeydew melon and a hint of spiciness from the brewery's house saison yeast strain."

As for the hop itself, the Nelson Sauvin variety comes from New Zealand and is known for its distinctive white wine character. In this case, the hops work with the addition of Muscat grape juice to enhance the beer's fruit attributes, while also contributing to its crisp, dry finish.

"We've brewed Nelson a few times as an experimental [release] and it has always been very popular, particularly among our staff" says Gordon Shuck, co-founder and head brewer. Now, not only will the beer be available full-time, customers will also have the convenience of being able to purchase it in 4-packs of 330 ml bottles. Funkwerks began bottling in the smaller format last year, a decision co-founder Brad Lincoln suggests was influenced by the fact that "people tend to save larger bottles of beer for a special occasion or to share with others." With smaller bottles, he explains, people can purchase and enjoy a single beer without having to commit to something larger.

According to a press release, bottles of Nelson Sauvin should arrive in North Texas by late February.

On the first pour of Peticolas' new Pick Hammer

A pour of Peticolas Pick Hammer (© Brian Brown/Beer In Big D).

Introduced at a small-scale event called "Making a Hammerer: A Peticolas Original Series," Pick Hammer debuted last night as the newest beer in the portfolio of the family-owned Peticolas Brewing Company. Billed as a lighter gravity version of Velvet Hammer, the new offering follows Sledge Hammer in being derived from the Dallas brewery's flagship beer.

Along those lines, according to owner Michael Peticolas, Pick Hammer is made by utilizing the final wort runnings of two separate batches of Velvet Hammer. For those that aren't familiar, "runnings" refers to the wort collected after residual sugars are rinsed (or sparged) from the grain bed. Less sugar is extracted later in the process, and since yeast converts sugar into alcohol (and carbon dioxide) during fermentation, wort obtained from final runnings will result in a lower alcohol beer.

Now, in traditional terms, a beer made with final runnings might be referred to as a "small beer," but in this case I would say that Pick Hammer isn't anything of the sort. While it's lighter and not as strong when compared to Velvet Hammer (9% ABV), the new beer isn't "light" and it certainly isn't weak. Pick Hammer has plenty of body, and it's no slouch in the strength department given an ABV of just under 7% .

So, how does it compare to Velvet Hammer in terms of taste? Well, as you might expect, the two beers are similar, but different.

Like its predecessor, Pick Hammer is a dark, reddish-brown beer with elements of caramel and brown sugar. Where it differs, though, is in how the beer attains its balance. Velvet Hammer is more malt-forward, balanced by a combination of its floral hop character and the beer's alcohol bite. Pick Hammer, though, doesn't really have that boozy factor to fall back on, so it seems to rely on a slightly stronger hop presence to help keep things in line.

Other than that, though, my impression is that the two products taste a lot like the same beer. In fact, should you choose to read the commercial description for Velvet Hammer, which I actually wrote some years ago, you'll see I've purposely used a lot of the same terms up above for consistency.

From the brewery's website:

"...Velvet Hammer appears as a dark, ruby reddish-brown ale beneath a sheath of protective off-white foam. It is malt-forward with elements of caramel and the sweetness of light brown sugar, balanced nicely by a combination of floral hops and a noticeable alcohol bite. It’s a sturdy brew with a smooth character which belies both an inner strength and a slightly full body, along with a moderate bitterness to round out the taste."

As far as whether or not Pick Hammer is sessionable, Michael's wife Melissa summed it up best when she suggested "It's a session beer for us," clearly referring to some of the more potent beers the brewery is known for. That sentiment was shared by at least one patron, who when pitting Pick Hammer up against the original said, "You could probably drink a few of these before getting," you guessed it, "completely hammered."

Pick Hammer is draft-only and available for a limited time. In addition to the events listed below, look for it to show up at places where beer-to-go is an option, like Whole Foods, Lakewood Growler and Lone Star Taps & Caps.


Thursday, January 21:

Buy the beer, keep the glass (while supplies last) at....

Craft & Growler, Dallas - 6 p.m.
Dallas Beer Kitchen, Dallas - 6 p.m.
Fillmore Pub, Plano - 6 p.m.