DuClaw Brewing Company

I must have been drunk when I came up with this idea, but here it goes. This Thursday, all day, all beers are $1! You heard (errr, read) me right. $1. A buck. A single dollar (plus the State’s cut) for any DuClaw beer. And if that wasn’t good enough, all wines are $10 off a bottle.

And if that wasn’t good enough, we are previewing TWO NEW SLIDERS that are on our new menu, coming out this May. The two sliders are a Chipotle Chicken slider with Lime Crema. Basically, we make a pretty spicy Chipotle BBQ sauce and cook finely shredded chicken in it. When then top it with a cool Lime Crema to slightly cut the heat. The second one is a mini version of our crab cake sandwich, complete with a signature dijonaise sauce. And after trying both personally, they will knock your socks off! But, they are only available this one day, until the new menu launch in May. So get’em while they’re hot!

And to recap, this Thursday ONLY:
1) $1 beers all day long
2) $10 off all wine bottles
3) Two new awesome sliders available for preview
4) I make horribly bad financial decisions when I attempt to drink a whole bottle of Colossus by myself.

See you Thursday! Cheers,
Dave

Well, the first Firkin Friday release has come and gone. And all I can say is wow! The cinnamon in the Sawtooth was quite pronounced. I personally loved it, but I am sure there are some that thought it might be a little too much. But, that is why we brew so many different types of beer! I was only able to get one pint, due to the fact that the Sawtooth firkin kicked in 41 minutes.

Speaking of 41 minutes….myself, Jim, Bo and a few other my staff (who are too insignificant to mention….just kidding. I just love to torture them) made a little wager ‘Price is Right’ style as to when the firkin of Sawtooth would kick. And who do you think nailed the time right dead perfect. That is right, yours truly! So not only did I get to drink some tasty brew, I can now start bragging about this for the next week or so (starting with this blog :) ).

And now with all the pleasantries aside, lets talk about the main event, PEPPERMINT INFUSED IMPERIAL CHOCOLATE RYE PORTER (again, the longest name of any beer we have had). Yummy. Just plain yummy…and yes that is my professional opinion. The peppermint was the first thing that hits you, but it quickly gave way to the roast espresso flavor with just the right hint of chocolate. I am not sure how long that lasted, because half way through my first glass an emergency call from home came in, and I was out the door. Ah, the life of a father who has a wild 3 year old at home.

So to recap – Beer was good, conversation with our guests were awesome, I can predict things 1000 times better than Jim, Bo’s jokes were awful (if any of you have ever hung around Bo or Jim, you know exactly what I mean) and it seems a good time was had by all. So, until next time my friends…Cheers!

This Friday at 5pm the 26th, simultaneously at all three stores, Cinnamon Vanilla Sawtooth will be tapped on Firkin by a vicious blow from a mallet. The last time I had Sawtooth in a firkin was at our Real Ale Fest last year. And let me tell you, it was delicious. So I am extremely anxious to try Sawtooth again on firkin.

For those of you who do not know, a firkin is a vessel for cask conditioned ale. What is cask conditioned ale you ask?  Well, click here for a pretty decent wikipedia write up about it. But, basically it is ale that has very little CO2 in it compared to standard beers produced today. This resulting lack of CO2 leads to a completely different flavor and mouthfeel profile. Basically, a whole new beer. A whole new, extremely tasty, amazingly awesome beer!!

We will have Firkin Friday once a month at every store.  In the past, we had it at a different store every Friday. But, now we are doing it at every store on the same day and same time.

The extra kicker on this Firkin Friday is that our Mills store will also be receiving a firkin of our Inaugural batch of the eXile Series. I blogged a while back about the series. But just to recap, our eXile series are small, experimental batches of beer, allowing us to explore our creativity a little more. Plain and simple, we want to really flex our brew muscles. The first batch is going to be an Imperial Chocolate Rye Porter, which I have had the pleasure of sampling.

What is going to be in the firkin is even more interesting. We took all small amount of the batch and infused it with peppermint, then casked it up. So we now will have the longest name beer in DuClaw history on cask that night:  Peppermint Infused Imperial Chocolate Rye Porter. The question is, will it taste like a 7.8% liquid Peppermint Patty?

When will the eXile cask go on tap? When the first one kicks. So drink people…drink like you have a mission.

I will have more details on this later, but just wanted to make a quick post. Firkin Fridays will be returning this Friday March 26th at all 3 locations!!  Each store will be receiving one firkin of Cinnamon Vanilla Sawtooth. And our Arundel Mills location will also be getting one firkin of …(drum roll please)….Peppermint Infused Imperial Chocolate Rye Porter!! Yep you heard me right, a small tasting of our first eXile release infused with peppermint in a firkin cask!!!  Dare I say an Imperial Peppermint Patty?

In the next few weeks DuClaw will be launching our eXile Series. What is the eXile Series you ask! Well it is our experimental small batch series. Like our seasonal releases, these beers will be periodically released through out the year. But eXile beers differ from our seasonals in two big ways. First, these are small batches – about half the amount or less are produced of an eXile beer compared to a seasonal. Secondly, eXile beers will be released with much less ‘fanfare’ than our seasonals – no videos, no giveaways, no logos. Just an email (and blog mention) when they are to go on tap.

These beers are experiments; not meant to be liked by all. What they allow us to do is flex our ‘brewing creativity’ muscles. For example, our first release in our eXile Series is an Imperial Chocolate Rye Porter!!! That is a mouthful, and after sampling some today…it is a mouthful.

This Impy Chocolate Rye Porter is brewed with chocolate rye malt and real chocolate giving the beer a complex, yet silky smooth character. The chocolate is not overwhelming, but superiorly layered within the beer. The Rye malt enhances the aroma and contributes a distinct roasted flavor, which adds a good bit of depth and character. The original gravity starts at 19.5 plato and ends with a final gravity of 5.7 plato, with an alcohol content of 7.7% abv.

After tasting it today, it is quite seductive. The chocolate creates a silky mouthfeel, making it quite drinkable, but it is full of flavor. Look for the beer to go on tap the beginning of April. And this beer is only the beginning…..