Pax Nemesis and Black Jack Stout to hit stores next week!

Pax Nemesis and Black Jack Stout to hit stores next week!
Written by Dave Benfield
April 20th, 2010

We are almost done applying labels to our Pax Nemesis and Black Jack Stout bottles. They should ship to the distributor this week and will be hitting retailers shelves next week. I am sure most of you are familiar with Black Jack, but only a few got to taste Pax at the last year’s BAM Octoberfest. So with that in mind, I am going to give you my thoughts on the beer. First lets start with some facts: 1) it is an Imperial Alt Ale, 2) it is 11% alcohol 3) it is named after the Greek goddess of divine balance. I have attached our information sheets so you can get the low-down on what an Imperial Alt is.

Now, my opinions. I have never tasted a beer that is so drinkable with an alcohol content 8% or higher. The malt flavor is mellow, not sweet or overpowering, with a slight caramel hint. The hop presence is there, but just enough and certainly not overly pronounced. It has a clean, slightly crisp overall flavor with subtle ale esters. And all in all, you will be hard pressed to find that 11% alcohol. All this provides and amazing balance to this high alcohol beer (hence the reference to the goddess). This is why we chose to use the Altbier as a base to make an imperial. We were attempting, and I think succeeded, to make a sublimely drinkable imperial ale. So, even though Nemesis is 11%, don’t expect it to be massive and in your face. But be careful, because even though this is easy to enjoy, karma will catch up (most likely the next day around 8am).

The email touting the release is not scheduled to go out until mid next week, so you blog readers have the jump. Not sure how quick it will get from the distributor to the retailers, so you might want to call them to see if they have it, or better yet tell them to get it.

Pax Nemesis Info Sheet
Black Jack Stout Info Sheet

5 Responses to “Pax Nemesis and Black Jack Stout to hit stores next week!”

Carlin
Says:

I’ve been waiting for Pax Nemesis. Can’t wait to taste it. I’m sure it’ll be epic!
April 28th, 2010 at 2:45 pm

Andy
Says:

Picked up two bottles of each today!!
May 1st, 2010 at 12:37 pm

Fletcher
Says:

This is completely unrelated, but I’ve got to ask: what’s with the change in beers for May’s release? Everyone in my monthly meet-up was really looking forward to Valkyr!

Not that Mysterium is bad, of course. Just I haven’t had Valkyr ever before (has anybody? Will anybody?).
May 2nd, 2010 at 10:23 am

Dave Benfield
Says:

@Fletcher – we changed the May release from Valkyr due to a few reasons. The launch of the eXile series and the better than expected sales of our 22oz bomber bottles has taken up a good bit of our production capacity. Our second release of the series (soon to be out) uses a yeast that we use in Mysterium. Valkyr would use a different yeast, so to ease our production burdens, we choose to push Valkyr back and replace with Mysterium. Also, it was our intention to brew Valkyr for the tap and bottles, and with our current demand for bottles, we would have not been able to do both.

Valkyr has not been tasted by anyone, but it will be out in 2011. Basically, we have to enlarge the brewery (once again) so we can continue with our bottle production, causing some slight changes to our lineup.

Cheers,
Dave
May 2nd, 2010 at 12:14 pm

dman
Says:

so, where are these 22 oz bottles available? i haven’t yet found the list of distributors. i live on the north side of the big river. thanks.
May 12th, 2010 at 1:36 pm