05/01/2013                                                                                                    
April showers bring May flowers... and great beer. 

Wow this year is flying by. We have gone through so many great beers so far and I still get overly excited for the next one. Do you ever go through beer style phases? I'm talking like a month or two of absolute cant-get-enough of sour ales, seeking out that Berliner Weiss you've had your eye at every bar you can find.  Then you get right back into your imperial porter and imperial stout kick, and then the following month you start to experiment with all sorts of mind-blowing hops that overpower the rest of your palate.

There's also the phase of the sessionable beers, which are sometimes ideal, because you can enjoy a great beer while still maintaining a lower alcohol content.

Or, your beer phase may be that you can go back and forth between styles so you can have a bit of everything!

What's great about craft beer is that there are so many styles to choose from. You can taste a wide range of flavors in every unique beer style while still falling back on your old-time favorite. Whatever taste profile you crave, there's a beer for that.

Cheers, 

  

Brown Specialty Team

UPCOMING EVENTS

05-02-13, 6:00 PM, ORLANDO 

May 2nd is Orlando Museum of Art's featured First Thursday event from 6-9pm (free for OMA members, $10 for non-members). The theme this month is: Boiler Plate Ball: Steampunk Steps Out. Artists provide an alternative view to their work, whether it is steampunk, dieselpunk or clockpunk, showing their insight, wit and humor. Featured local art, local food, wine, and four Shipyard Brewing beer draughts. ...> 

 

05-04-13, 1:00 PM, GAINESVILLE 

Your Hogtown Craft Beer Festival ticket entitles you to sample beers from various local, regional, and national breweries. Plus, this year, food pairings are included in the ticket price! At the 2013 Hogtown Craft Beer Festival you can enjoy great beer and food, and learn more about the amazing diversity of beer produced at the local and regional level! Meet the brewery reps at each table! Featured breweries: Green Room, Engine 15, Cigar City, Nectar Ales, Highland...  ...>  

 

 

American Craft Beer Week: Big Week, Small Breweries. 
To find out the craft beer events in your area during American Craft Beer Week, check our facebook pages at the links below for an up-to-date schedule of events.

 

NEW AND RETURNING PRODUCTSBeerfinder
VISIT OUR BEERFINDER TO FIND THESE PRODUCTS  
Red Brick Black-Eye IPA

Black-Eye Rye, the 6th release from Red Brick's Brick Mason series, is an American-Style India Black Ale brewed with rye. Inspired by one of our favorite beer styles, it is black in color without the heavy chocolate or roasted characteristics that are present in most dark ales. We feature Cascade, Chinook and Citra hops for citrus and piney flavors and aromas. This beer carries a hoppy punch, like a Double IPA with a healthy addition of rye for added complexity. 8.0% ABV  

Three Palms Serendipity Sour Ale

This berliner weiss sour ale is slightly puckering throughout the taste with a pleasant sour nose and finish. 5.43% ABV

Lazy Magnolia Black and Gold
Black and Gold pays a tribute to the University of Central Florida. The recipe is Lazy Magnolia's Southern Golden Honey Ale. Brewed with locally produced honey, this light-bodied brew was designed specifically for the City of Hattiesburg, MS. This refreshing beer is noted by its smooth character and gentle, sweet honey finish. 6.0% ABV
Narragansett Private Stock Imperial Bohemian Pilsner
This is Narragansett's first unfiltered offering. The Imperial Bohemian Pilsner delivers light bitterness in the front followed by a full bodied malt flavor, complimented by fruity and spicy, earth toned noble hops.  It's craft brewed in small batches at Buzzards Bay Brewery in Westport, MA under the supervision of award-winning brewmaster Sean Larkin from Trinity Brewhouse and Revival Brewing in Providence. Limited release. 8.6% ABV
Shipyard Melonhead
Crisp Wheat Ale with delightful aromatics and brewed with watermelon. 4.4% ABV
Ommegang Fleur de Houblon

Nothing is more evocative of summer than the beautiful aroma of flowers, and the favored flowers of brewers are hops. Our brand new summer ale, Fleur de Houblon (Hop Flowers), is brewed to bring the many elements of summer into a refreshing and easy-to-drink Belgian-style ale. Fleur de Houblon is a rich gold color with distinct floral hops in the aroma that follow through in the taste. Whole-cone Bravo hops are used to impart their earthy, fruity, and floral aromas and flavors. The body and flavor are clean and dry, with pleasing complexity and spicy notes from both primary and secondary fermentation with our unique Ommegang house yeast. 6.8% ABV 

B. Nektar Necromangocon

Many years ago, a mysterious book was discovered by a group of friends in a Ferndale, MI basement. A translation of its contents revealed the recipe for an ancient beverage using mango juice, honey, and black pepper. What they didn't realize was that creating the beverage had dire consequences. Stricken by fear after its completion, the friends tried to contain the terrifying forces into this very bottle. Once opened, however, no one can say for sure if it can be conquered. Defend your soul or join us... 6.0% ABV. 

Ruckus Hedonism Red Ale
This wickedly tasty red ale is brewed with a combination of seven specialty malts and west coast hops. The result is a rich, ruby-red color, lacy collar and an orgy of hop aroma and flavor. Hedonism Ale pairs excellently with steaks, burgers and other hearty meat dishes. 5.7% ABV
Look out for new and returning favorites like and Highland Little Hump Spring Ale and Peak Organic Summer Session.  *Coming soon: Shipyard Summer Ale in cans.
*Check with your Brown sales representative for availability or products not available in certain areas 
BEER NEWS
How Beer Gave Us Civilization 
By: Jeffrey P. Kahn

HUMAN beings are social animals. But just as important, we are socially constrained as well.

 

We can probably thank the latter trait for keeping our fledgling species alive at the dawn of man. Five core social instincts, I have argued, gave structure and strength to our primeval herds. They kept us safely codependent with our fellow clan members, assigned us a rank in the pecking order, made sure we all did our chores, discouraged us from offending others, and removed us from this social coil when we became a drag on shared resources.

 

Thus could our ancient forebears cooperate, prosper, multiply - and pass along their DNA to later generations.

 

But then, these same lifesaving social instincts didn't readily lend themselves to exploration, artistic expression, romance, inventiveness and experimentation - the other human drives that make for a vibrant civilization.

 

To free up those, we needed something that would suppress the rigid social codes that kept our clans safe and alive. We needed something that, on occasion, would let us break free from our biological herd imperative - or at least let us suppress our angst when we did.

 

We needed beer.

 

For full article
Bringing old brews back from the dead 
By: Justin Grant, Times Correspondent
  

If one of the more prominent trends in craft brewing proves to have some staying power, then the future of beer lies in its past.  

 

Last month, the Brewer's Association, the pre-eminent organization of American craft brewers, released its 2013 beer style guidelines, an industry-standard guide used to define, categorize and judge the seemingly endless varieties of beer. This year, two new beers were added, bringing the total number of unique styles recognized by the association from 140 to 142.  

 

You might assume that these new styles are modern creations, the result of myriad tweaks and hybridizations developed within the craft-brewing scene. You'd be pretty far off. The two new styles - Adambier, a pre-Reinheitsgebot strong ale originating from Dortmund; and Gratzer, an 18th century Polish beer made from smoked wheat malt - are archaic styles brought back from the brink of extinction primarily by homebrewers and small American breweries.

 

For full article 

Any Beer You Want, Florida Trends to Local Brews
By: Doug Fairall

 

Drinking beer in this state a decade ago was a bland affair. Crates of beer-like water shipped in from the flat grainy states of the Midwest dominated shelves and beer coozies alike.

 

Slowly that has changed, first at a snail's pace, now in waves. The beer scene in South Florida is no longer saturated with the "yellow stuff"; instead, we are seeing a revival of the old ways, making something of quality that we're proud of; the ways of our ancestors. That's a good thing.

 

History has a way of explaining how things came to be, if you go looking.

 

 For full article
VOLUME 18
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Central Florida
In This Issue:
Upcoming Events
Bringing old brews back from the dead
Any Beer You Want, Florida Trends to Local Brews
Hungarian Sausage Stew with Red Ale
________________________
 Featured Cocktail:

Naughty Girl Scout

Ingredients:

- 5 oz Left Hand Brewing Milk Stout
- 1 oz Van Gogh Chocolate Vodka
- 1/2 oz peppermint schnapps
- 2 oz coffee
 
Directions:

Make sure all ingredients are cold. Mix the vodka, peppermint schanpps, and coffee and pour over a couple  ice cubes only. Pour the milk stout down the center of the glass. 
 
____________________
Featured Recipe
Hungarian Sausage Stew with Red Ale
By: Nick Balla

Yield:
6 servings
Level:
Medium

This recipe for lecs� (LEH-tcho), a traditional sausage, tomato and bell pepper stew from Hungary, is made with beer for a deep, rich flavor.

 

Ingredients:

 

- 8 ounces skinless slab bacon, sliced 1/4 inch thick and cut into 1/4-inch strips

- 1 large Vidalia onion, thinly sliced

- 3 large yellow bell peppers, thinly sliced

- 3 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced

- 12 ounces spicy Hungarian sausage (kolb�sz) or chorizo, thickly sliced

- 1 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper

- 1 tablespoon sweet paprika

- 1 3/4 pounds plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped

- 1 cup red ale (ex. Nectar Ales Red Nectar, Tampa Bay Brew Bus Rollin' Dirty, or Cigar City Tocobaga, 

- 1 bay leaf

- Kosher salt

- Freshly ground pepper

- Grilled sourdough bread, for serving

 

 Directions:

 

In a large enameled cast-iron casserole or Dutch oven, cook the bacon strips over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Add the onion and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until very lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in the bell peppers and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned, about 5 minutes longer.

 

Stir in the sausage slices, crushed red pepper and paprika and cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook until beginning to break down, about 5 minutes. Add the beer and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Cover partially and cook over low heat until the vegetables are very tender and the sauce is slightly reduced, about 15 minutes.

 

Season the stew with salt and pepper and serve with grilled bread.  

 

____________________  

 

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