ShopRite Wines & Spirits Micro-Brew Edition

From the Brewer – “The No. 1 thing Dogfish lovers ask for at our pub, in our brewery and on our website is a gluten-free beer. But not just any gluten-free beer — they want gluten-free with gusto.

“It seems as if lots of folks who have gluten-tolerance issues are pining for an interesting beer,” says Dogfish founder and president Sam Calagione. “While there are a few well-made examples that mirror traditional beer styles, there aren’t any off-centered offerings.”

Enter Tweason’ale.

For our first new 12-ounce 4-packs in nearly half a decade, we replaced the classic barley foundation of beer with a mild sorghum base. The hints of molasses and pit-fruit are balanced by vibrant strawberry notes and a unique complexity that comes with the addition of a malty buckwheat honey.

We believe health-conscious beer drinkers and the millions of Americans who suffer from Celiac disease can cut back on gluten while relishing the distinction and drinkability of this very special brew.”

Alcohol by volume: 6%
Format: 4 packs
Seasonality: Released 4 times a year

From the Brewer – “The Rum Cask brew has a deep red color, soft fruits and malt balanced by a lively spiciness from the rum on the palate. The finish is mellow and oaky with just a lingering hint of spice.”

Alcohol by volume: 7.4%
Format: 6 packs, 1pt 9oz Bottles
Seasonality: Year Round

Try these similar Brews!: Innis & Gunn Original Oak Aged Beer

From the Brewer – “As with any good epic, herein lies the promise of larger-than-life experiences, heroics and twists & turns as the adventure unfolds. These bottle-conditioned ales are specifically designed to be aged until sometime after December 12th, 2012. Provided you can wait that long. At that time, enjoy them in a “vertical” tasting. Each one unique to its year of release. Each with its own “twist & turn” in the plotline. Each one released one year, one month and one day from the previous year’s edition. To remind you, the remaining dates are: 12.12.12.”

Hops: Warrior, Target, Perle and Pacific Jade
Malts: Pale, Crystal, Munich, CaraBohemian and Special B
Hop Bitterness (IBU’s): 65
Original Gravity: 20.5 Plato
Alcohol by volume: 9.4%
Format: 22oz Bottles
Seasonality: Winter

These beers pre-date the popularity of hops. This variety of four ales including Elderberry Black Ale, Scotts Pine Ale, Heather Ale, and Seaweed Ale will show what beer was like way back when. This is a must for any beer historian or anybody who wants to explore the parameters of beer.

From the Brewer –

Ebulum – Elderberry Black Ale – Introduced to Scotland by Welsh Druids in the 9th Century, elderberry ale was part of the Celtic Autumn festivals where the ale was passed round the people of the village. This recipe was taken from a 16th Century record of domestic drinking in the Scottish Highlands. In medieval times elderberries were used for many natural remedies and are known to be high in fruit tannins and oils. It is a rich black ale with fruit aroma, soft texture, roasted grain and red wine flavour, with a gentle finish.

6.5% abv

Ingredients: Water, Malted Barley Bree, Hops, Elderberries, Roasted Oats and Barley.

Alba – Scots Pine Ale –  Introduced by the Vikings, spruce and pine ales were very popular in Northern Scotland until the end of the 19th Century. Alba is a “triple” style ale, brewed to a traditional Highland recipe using the sprigs of spruce and pine collected every spring. This complex rich tawny ale is best drunk at room temperature from a wine goblet.

7.5% abv

Ingredients: Water, Malted Barley Bree, Scots Pine and Spruce Sprigs.

Fraoich – Heather Ale – Brewed in Scotland since 2000 B.C. heather ale is probably the oldest style of ale still produced in the world. From an ancient Gaelic recipe for “leann fraoich” (heather ale) it has been revived and reintroduced to the Scottish culture. Into the boiling bree of malted barley, sweet gale and flowering heather are added, then after cooling slightly the hot ale is poured into a vat of fresh heather flowers where it infuses for an hour before being fermented. A light amber ale with floral peaty aroma, full malt character, a spicy herbal flavour and dry wine like finish. 

5% abv

Kelpie – Seaweed Ale – Prior to the 1850′s there were many Scottish coastal alehouses, which brewed their own ales, these ales were made from local malted barley, which was grown on fields fertilised with seaweed. This environment gave the barley a very specific flavour which we have recreated by the inclusion of fresh seaweed in the mash tun. Seaweed (bladder rack) taken fresh from the water on the Argyll coast is ‘mashed in’ with the malted and roasted barley. Kelpie is a rich chocolate ale which has an aroma of fresh sea breeze and a distinctive malty texture.

4.4% abv

Ingredients: Malted Barley Bree, Hops and Seaweed

Format: 12 oz. bottles
Seasonality: Winter

From the Brewer – “Our brewers worked for two years with the world’s oldest brewery, Germany’s Weihenstephan, to create this unique new beer style. A groundbreaking brew, made with only the four traditional ingredients: malted barley, hops, water and yeast, Infinium™ is a crisp champagne-like beer with fine bubbles and a fruity, spicy aroma. The crisp clean malt character and delicate fruit notes in this beer are complemented by a slight citrus flavor from dry hopping with Bavarian Noble hops. Bottle conditioning adds another layer of complexity and light spice notes.

Our brewers rearranged the brewing process to create this ground-breaking beer, reintroducing the mash process into the brew kettle and the fermenter. The process used to brew Infinium is patent pending, and allowed our brewers to create a beer unlike any ever brewed under the Reinheitsgebot. Infinium is dry-hopped with Bavarian Noble hops for a light citrus flavor. It’s then bottle-conditioned with a traditional Belgian yeast and fermented in the champagne-method to add another layer of flavor complexity, a bright clarity, and a fine carbonation to the beer.”

Yeast: Samuel Adams Belgian-style ale yeast
Hops: Hallertau Mittlefrueh, Spalt Spalter, Tettnang Tettnanger and Hersbrucker Noble Hops
Malts: Custom blend of two-row malted barley, malted spring white wheat, and malted oats
Hop Bitterness (IBU’s): 10.3
Original Gravity: 20.5 Plato
Alcohol by volume: 10%
Format: 750ML Bottle
Seasonality: Limited Holiday Release

First released in 1997, Fuller’s Vintage Ale is brewed in limited batches with each bottle being numbered. It can be enjoyed immediately, or Fuller’s recommends laying the beer down to enjoy when it peaks in 3 to 4 years and consume at cellar temperature. And though it’s released each year as a separate vintage, BA has been informed that the recipe is only slightly tweaked from year to year, while the ABV remains at 8.5%.

From the Brewer –

APPEARANCE
“The beer has a great depth to its color, deep amber with a slight orangey-brown note.”

AROMA
“On the aroma, spices, cloves and floral, grassy notes come through all deriving from the hops. The malt character has a rich caramel flavor. The citrus fruit of this beer is like the peel of an orange. The Vintage Ale is like an orange liqueur and these warming alcoholic notes provide syrup like sweetness to the beer.”

FLAVOUR
“Upon tasting, the beer feels full in the mouth. The fruit notes come through onto the palate with cherries and pineapples noticeable. The hop notes found on the nose appear on the palate to give a spicy element to the beer. The citrus notes are present accompanied by caramel, coffee and biscuit notes from the malts.”

AFTERTASTE
“Vintage Ale is smooth in texture and in flavor. The balance of caramel, spicy and citrus hop flavors and the mellow warming effect of the alcohol help this beer to linger on the palate long after it has been savoured.”

Alcohol by volume: 8.5%
Format: 1pt., 0.9oz. Bottles
Seasonality: Winter

From the Brewer – “A liquid winter wonderland: With the onset of winter, the brewer’s mind turns to providing warmth. For our winter seasonal, we offer a rich and complex amalgam of hops and barley that will put the feeling back in your toes and lift your spirits above the snow. OMW throws a deep and inviting hue with a thickness that clings to the glass and the warmth of an open flame. Because of its high alcohol content, Old Man is a heady brew that encourages sipping and pondering its essential richness. Drink it fresh now, or cellar a few bottles to see how this old man becomes wiser with age.”

Alcohol by volume: 7.7%
Format: 6 packs
Seasonality: Winter