DuClaw Brewing Company

This Wednesday begins the COLOSSUS WORLD TOUR.  We have only 12 kegs of Colossus left. They are spoken for by twelve different restaurants/bars through out the State of Maryland (hey, it’s our world!) and will be going on tap at twelve different dates though this month and next.  This list, as it stands today, is below:

• Max’s Taphouse (Baltimore, MD): Wed. 6/22 @ 5pm
• Frisco Taphouse (Columbia, MD): Thurs. 6/23 @ 7pm
• Alewife (Baltimore, MD): Fri. 6/24 @ 5pm
• Alonso’s (Baltimore, MD): Mon. 6/27 @ 6pm
• JD’s Smokehouse (Baltimore, MD): Wed 6/29 @ 6pm
• Racers’ Cafe (Balt. Co. MD): Thurs 6/30 @ 6pm
• Firestone’s (Frederick, MD): TBD
• Mahaffey’s (Baltimore, MD): Tues. 7/5@ 6pm
• Judge’s Bench (Ellicott City, MD): Fri. 7/8 @ 5pm
• T-Bonz (Ellicott City, MD): Sun. 7/10 @ 10AM (Pints & Pancakes)
• Mt Airy Inn (Mt. Air, MD): Wed 7/13 @ 6pm
• The Falls of Mt. Washington (Baltimore, MD): Thursday 7/14 @ 6pm **UPDATED**

The first time you show up to one of these, on the date listed, we will give you a ‘Passport’. For each event you attend, you will get a stamp on your passport. The top 5 people (or so..) with the most stamps*, will receive a ‘I survived the Colossus World Tour’ T-shirt. More details will be in a email we will be sending either today or tomorrow. If you are not on our email list, this is your time to sign up (plus all the other free stuff we give away!)

So get to these events, cause when Colossus ends at these places…it ENDS.

Cheers,

Dave

* God help the person that attends all of them.

Well, our release of Colossus 2010 is officially in the books.  Because we kept the release so ‘secret’, there are a lot of questions surrounding Colossus that needs to be answered.

1) This is our 2nd batch of Colossus. The first batch brewed in 2006, was initially released in litre bottles. Then last year we released the remaining beer from that batch in 22oz bottles. So those bombers last year, were already aged 4+ years.

2) The alcohol is not higher this year than before. It is the same as the previous batch, 21%.

3) The beer was brewed in early November of 2010, and sat in the fermenters for 4+ months. It’s primary fermentation was almost 4 weeks long. Just to give you a reference, most beers have a primary fermentation of a week and have a total time in the tanks of 30 days +/- .

4) Due to the long time in the tanks, and higher production requirements we are seeing, we won’t be able to brew Colossus again until we get a new, bigger facility.  We are working on that as I type..

5) 22oz bottles will be shipping to retailers next week.  The price is set by the retailers, but expect it to be a few dollars higher this year per bottle.

6) Starting Wednesday the 22nd, we are launching the Colossus World Tour.  If you want to know details, stay tuned to this blog. Better yet, subscribe!

Finally, we came across this blog post about Colossus and high gravity beers from Keith at A History of Drinking. I believe he does an excellent job, not only of describing Colossus, but high alcohol beers in general.

And remember..Drink Colossus slowly, it doesn’t want to carry you home.

Cheers!

Dave

ps – If you missed the release video catch it here

Well, it is almost here.  This Wednesday, everyone will get to find out what our ‘secret’ beer is.  This I can tell you, it has never been on draft before.

And I can also tell you this:  You won’t see this beer for another two years.  Why, you ask? Production capacity has been hit.  We simply do not have the tanks available to make it after this.  That is, until we get a bigger facility….

Cheers,

Dave

Thank you to all that have submitted requests for the cause of our H.E.R.O. beer!!  We are going through them, and already we see a monumental task ahead of us.  Please keep them coming, and remember this is just part 1 of helping.  Soon, we will be calling on you to be a hero along side of us.  Thanks again..

Cheers,

Dave

So today is the day X-5 hits our taps.  Officially, it is an Imperial Rice Ale brewed with a judicious amount of Sorachi Ace hops.  Though it has a ton of hops, it is not bitter.  Instead, the Sorachi Ace lends a lemon-grass aroma and flavor to the beer. Link here with some wiki info.

X-5 was brewed this with a good bit of rice (but there is still barley in there, for the gluten-free crowd to be aware of), so as to let the hop dominate this beer. And the combination makes it one drinkable beer!

Due to production capacity issues, we could only do a small batch, not leaving us with a lot of X-5.  So, you better try it quick before it is gone.

Oh, and did I mention it weighs in at 7.2% alcohol by volume…

Well, back to enjoying X-5!

Cheers!

Dave

ps – don’t forget June 15th release, YOU WILL NOT WANT TO MISS IT!