(512) Brewing Co celebrate the terrible twos with an exquisite double IPA.

Oh happy day.

We went out to the brewery the other day to kick the tires and sample some of Mr. Brand’s new wares.

The beer’s good. Nice and hoppy, but not over hoppy. Balanced, but definitely with a hop emphasis. It’s 9% abv, but you couldn’t tell till you stood up after drinking a few.

Here’re my notes from Nate:

• Brewed in mid July (14th, 15th, and 16th)
• About 9% abv wt 11 different editions of hops.
• Whole leaf simcoe added in cask
• Mash hopped with simcoe
• First wort hopped with nugget
• Grant hopped with simcoe
• Magnum and ahtanum also present
• Magnum and nugget most prominate
• Lower crystal portion than standard (512) IPA for more hops and less balance
• They thought about doing something different than a Belgian and were more excited about the idea of a double IPA
• Started tooling around with recipes and such in April

It’s good stuff and will have its official debut this coming Saturday at the brewery second anniversary open house from 2-5pm.

More info here.

Also, Kevin mentioned that if you plan on hitting up the brewery he’d like everyone to try and cut his neighbors some slack and park in the nearby lots. I know Bender bar and St. Lutheran’s church both have lots and are friendly to (512) visitors.

Now, to the new beer news.

Drum roll…………

After having a few 4oz samplings of the TWO and shooting the shit wt Nate, Kevin and Spencer, Nate asked us if we wanted to try something new… yes, we would.

They have a limited amount of the ONE.2 that has been aged in brandy barrels. And it’s pretty cussing delicious. The brandy leaves a mighty “impression” on the strong belgian, but it’s a robust enough beer from the start that it holds its own against the liquor. Smooth and rich, the Brandy Barrel Aged ONE.2 (the working title) will be released on tap in mid September between the TWO and the Bruin.

So there’s something to definitely look forward too.

Also, Nate confirmed that have a whiskey barrel holding some wit in it. He said this one is just an experiment, but if it goes well they may make it a release. Let’s all keep our fingers crossed.

Wow, lots of (512) Brewing news. Looking forward to the open house this weekend. Kevin said it should be running pretty smooth with hopefully limited waits and lots of shade. See our rundown of the event last year here.

[photo credit: Little Beard's iPhone]

As I already said, there were a plethora of great beer folks at the Draught House 41st party, and between awesome cask tappings we were able to spend a few minutes with Travis Poling, author of Beer Across Texas.

In Beer Across Texas, Travis, along with Paul Hightower, put together a comprehensive body of work detailing the history of brewing in Texas with an exhaustive lexicon of breweries and brew pubs. It’s a great book. Honestly, I’m very jealous he get’s to tour breweries, taste beers, and interview brewers for his day job. With several years experience in beer journalism, Travis has the chops for it, and does an excellent job.

Travis is a great guy, has good beer taste, has been a journalist for several years, and is living the dream of writing about beer. I’ve been excited about meeting Travis for a while and had a great time talking shop and beers with him. He’s got a second book in the works, and is currently doing book signings all across the state in support of the book.

Look for him at Book People in January for a special signing paired with local beer tastings. You can also pick it up at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

We we’re both sipping on Draught House’s housebrew Double IPA… yup. Get some while they still got it.

Enjoy!

(we got a new mic for this one… it’s not my favorite as I have to Kermit THE Frog News Flash style hold it up the whole time… still holding our breath for a new fancy mic sponsor/donor…)

The Draught House has been dispensing beers for 41 years. Think about how long that is.
Think about how long you’ve been legally drinking beers.
41 yrs is long. That’s serious stuff. Check out that viking in the flyer. Not joking around. He has that huge hammer for a reason.

Josh dishes out a few versions of the history of the Draught House (did it come from a travceling dancer, a sordid character, or just a guy who likes good beer?), clears up the Draught Horse confusion, talks about his brews, and mostly the 41st party.

There will be music by DJ Jubal (if you’ve gone for the free brats on Saturday he most likely served you), lots of special beers (WTF- 3 YR OLD LIVE OAK TREE HUGGER!?!), a plush (yeah I said “plush”) selection on cask (Bear Republic Hot Rod Rye$!@# and Saint Arnold Christmas!@#$%@#$), plus some food and other stuff you can read about on the flyer below. I lazily copied and pasted a list of the beers Josh sent out on an email, the descriptions are his. It’s posted below the video.

I went last year, it was great.
Plus I heard from good sources that the New Belgium Tart Lychee is one of the best things New Belgium has made in a while.

We are drinking the Publication from Russian River. It’s got a good story. It’s not served at the Draught House.

So crack open a cold one and join us over a pint,

Enjoy!

[We're in the market for a microphone sponsor... we'll have better sound next time, sorry. Also, thanks to JIB for doing the editing and filming and working so hard for only some free beer!]

[All these beers are great, but I linked to the ones I'm really excited about]

Draught-
Our own House made Double IPA,as fresh as it gets with 3 pounds per barrel of American Hops.
Stone Cali-Belgique- a Belgian IPA hybrid
Stone Sublimely Self Righteous- a Black IPA
Lagunitas Hop Stoopid- big ‘ol Imperial IPA
Dogfish Head 120- the biggest IPA of all time?
Live Oak Treehugger- the 3 year old Barley Wine that we all miss…
New Belgium Tart Lychee-3 year old, aged in oak, blended sour ale with lychee and ceylon cinnamon.

Cask-
Brooklyn Pennant- classic English Pale Ale
New Belgium Hoptoberfest- hopped up blond ale
Green Flash Hop Head Red- Red IPA?
Green Flash West Coast IPA- the pinnacle of American IPA’s
Allagash Curieux- bourbon barrel aged Triple
Saint Arnold Christmas Ale- probably my favorite SA beer. Very rich and great on cask
Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye- excellent rye IPA only made better on cask.
Real Ale Firemans #4- this beer rocks out of the firkin.