THS 34: Able Ebenezer Brewing Co.

Cask & Vine’s What’s On Tap: Zach Rand of Able Ebenezer Brewing Co.!

A brewery is a business, and a business needs a business manager. For Able Ebenezer, Zach is that guy. As Managing Director, he pays the bills, handles the taxes, contemplates the legal matters, as well as maintains the behind-the-scenes systems and tools that keep Able Ebenezer running. You won’t find many people more passionate about running a fine-tuned machine or the power of entrepreneurship than Zach.

Able Ebenezer Brewing Co: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Youtube | LinkedIn | Google Plus

Bert’s Better Beers’ Draft Pick of the Week:

1. Smuttynose & Stone Brewing collaboration Cluster’s Last Stand

Just over a year ago, Smuttynose collaborated with Stone Brewing Co. to brew a beer called Cluster’s Last Stand. Inspired by Mitch Steele’s comprehensive book on India Pale Ale, this recreation of the original Ballantine IPA recipe was brewed for research purposes and so we could put to use a beer name we’d been sitting on for over five years. Luckily, Mitch, Greg Koch and Steve Wagner; the Stone brain trust, were on board for a 30 barrel batch.

Not very many folks got to drink Cluster’s Last Stand, but a lot of people sure wanted to. Our email inbox and social media channels were full of messages from people far and wide who wanted to get this old school hoppiness in their beer glasses. We were certainly game to brew more Cluster’s, but we simply didn’t have the capacity at Heritage Ave. Now that we’re up and running in our new home at Towle Farm, we called Team Stone for their second thumbs and we began taking pre-orders.

After doing some math, we scheduled 7 batches in order to make the 540 barrels of beer we needed. That’s the equivalent of almost 100,000 22oz bottles in this limited edition re-brew. We will be splitting the batch into both 22-ounce bottles and kegs, so you can enjoy a pint at your favorite bar or restaurant, as well as in the comfort of your own home. Bottles will first release at our Towle Farm Smerch store for $9 each, with wholesaler orders rolling out shortly after.

Cluster’s Last Stand Stats

8.8% abv 62 IBU
Malts: North American 2-Row, Flaked Maize, Munich 10L, C-60
Hops: Bittering- Cluster, Flavor- Brewer’s Gold and East Kent Golding, Dry Hop-Bullion
Yeast: American ale yeast
Production: 540 barrels packaged in 22 ounce bottles, 5.2 gallon kegs and 15.5 gallon kegs.

Distribution: CA, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, Germany, IL, IN, Italy, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, Puerto Rico, RI, SC, South Korea, TN, United Kingdom, VA, VT, WI

Listen to hear our reviews!

Kettle to Keg’s In the Kettle:

Ale vs. Lager

Ain’t We Got Style:

Flavored Stouts

Ale Communications:

Here’s How A Six-Pack Of Craft Beer Ends Up Costing $12

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: There’s never been a better time to be a beer drinker in America. The skillful innovation of American craft brewers over the past decade has pushed beer in delicious new directions. It wouldn’t be hard to argue that the craft beer renaissance is the most exciting development in the country’s culinary world right now.

But this explosion in quality comes at a price. Literally. With few exceptions, prices for good craft beer are far higher than for mainstream macrobrews from brewing conglomerates such as MillerCoors and Anheuser-Busch. A six-pack of beer from breweries like Dogfish Head, Ballast Point or Cigar City almost always costs more than $10 — and routinely exceeds the $15 mark. You could easily get a 12-pack of Bud Light for that much. READ MORE

Don’t let its name fool you, Smuttynose beer will taste just fine

The newest craft brew to find its way to Houston arrived last week from New England with a name you might stumble on.

But founder/owner Peter Egelston is confident Texans will take a liking to Smuttynose Brewing Co., same as beer drinkers have since he launched the company in 1994.

Smuttynose – named for an island off the coast of its home state of New Hampshire – launched locally with three beers: top-selling Finestkind IPA, the relatively new Vunderbar Pilsner and Robust Porter.

Egelston said he was pleasantly surprised that his Texas wholesaler, Ben E. Keith Co., insisted on the porter over the brown ale, which ranks behind only the India pale ale in sales. READ MORE

 How the South Does Craft Beer

“What is Southern beer?” Sean Lilly Wilson wondered aloud when we broached the subject with him. The founder of Fullsteam Brewery in Durham, North Carolina, Wilson and a growing number of Southern craft beer makers believe the answer has to do with local ingredients.

The native persimmon is one of them. “When they’re ripe and at their full flavor peak, they [taste] like apricot-meets-pumpkin with a natural allspice-cinnamon component that’s very earthy,” Wilson said, distinguishing them from the more common Asian variety. Previous generations of North Carolinians planted persimmon trees along their farms’ borders as wind breakers, and the bright orange, ping pong ball–sized fruit those trees produced have since been prized for making persimmon pudding. “It’s such a Southern thing,” Wilson said of the dish. Today, locals donate or sell their fruits to Fullsteam for use in the brewery’s Belgian-inspired Persimmon Harvest Ale, a smooth, spicy brew that Wilson describes as “your classic winter fireplace beer.” READ MORE

Jukebox: “Ella Song Master” from Schism by Otto Kinzel

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