Beer List

Caramelized Dark Fruits, Toffee, Butterscotch and Slightly Muddled Aged Hops

JW Lees is a family brewery company which was founded in 1828. We are based in Middleton in North Manchester and own JW Lees Brewery, JW Lees Pubs, The Alderley Edge Hotel, The Trearddur Bay Hotel and Willoughby’s Wine Merchants. JW Lees is a sixth-generation family business which employs just over 1,000 people, 140 at the brewery and site in Middleton Junction in North Manchester and 865 in its 36 managed pubs, inns and hotels, as well as letting a further 105 tied pubs to self-employed tenants.

Cask beer is at the heart of JW Lees and we brew six cask ales as well as three lagers, three smooth beers and eight limited edition seasonal cask ales which are available throughout at different times of the year. We also have the sole UK distribution rights for Bohemia Regent Premium Lager from the Czech Republic. Willoughby’s is our wines and spirits company and we stock over 500 wines from all over the world.

sweet caramel, vanilla, raisins, dates.

JW Lees is a family brewery company which was founded in 1828. We are based in Middleton in North Manchester and own JW Lees Brewery, JW Lees Pubs, The Alderley Edge Hotel, The Trearddur Bay Hotel and Willoughby’s Wine Merchants. JW Lees is a sixth-generation family business which employs just over 1,000 people, 140 at the brewery and site in Middleton Junction in North Manchester and 865 in its 36 managed pubs, inns and hotels, as well as letting a further 105 tied pubs to self-employed tenants.

Cask beer is at the heart of JW Lees and we brew six cask ales as well as three lagers, three smooth beers and eight limited edition seasonal cask ales which are available throughout at different times of the year. We also have the sole UK distribution rights for Bohemia Regent Premium Lager from the Czech Republic. Willoughby’s is our wines and spirits company and we stock over 500 wines from all over the world.

Samael is the prince of demons, the angel of death, accuser and destroyer. Filled with enmity towards man, he planted the vine, the forbidden tree of paradise. Behold his venom and vengeance, both sweet and tempting, enticing you, his spellbound victim, within his wings.

In 1993, the craft world was a very different place. Styles like Double IPA that now rule the market weren’t even invented yet, and most craft brewers were fighting to simply not be put on the import list. That year, Adam Avery incorporated the Avery Brewing Company in Boulder, Colorado and still acts as president and head brewer. 

Like many of its older craft brew brethren, Avery started out very small. When it opened, the brewery utilized only a seven-barrel tank to ferment, leading to a very low volume of production. In the years since, the brewery has expanded significantly to encompass the entire block of warehouses where it’s located. Even after 21 years, Avery is still a relatively small operation with a limited national footprint.  We’re lucky Avery has been in the Texas market for many years.

These days, Avery is best known for big, extreme beers, but that hasn’t always been the case. The original line-up consisted of an Amber Ale, a Brown and a Dry Stout. It wasn’t until 1995 that Avery released Avery IPA. In 1999, Avery released Hog Heaven, a beer that they still call American Barley Wine to this day, but in reality, Hog Heaven was one of the first Double IPAs in the world.

It was around this time (late 1999 -2003) that Avery’s beer lineup became the heavy hitting powerhouse that it is today.  Reverend the Belgian Quad launched in 2000, Salvation the Belgium Golden in 2002, and in 2003, Czar the Russian Imperial Stout ascended to the throne and is one of Hay Merchant’s favorite Avery beers. Avery’s first experiments with barrel aging began in 2004, along with the release of the Maharaja, a 120 IBU 10.5% monster of an Imperial IPA.

In recent years, Avery has become known for its sour barrel-aged beers. The first beer in the series, Barbant, was released and was limited to 694 cases. It was an ale pitched with Brett and aged for 9 months in Zinfandel barrels. Anvil Bar and Refuge (Hay Merchant’s sister cocktail bar) was one of the only bars in Texas to get a case of this very rare beer.  Over the last few years, Avery has released a few of these beers a year, and each one is different.

sweet caramel, vanilla, raisins, dates, and faint smoky oak

JW Lees is a family brewery company which was founded in 1828. We are based in Middleton in North Manchester and own JW Lees Brewery, JW Lees Pubs, The Alderley Edge Hotel, The Trearddur Bay Hotel and Willoughby’s Wine Merchants. JW Lees is a sixth-generation family business which employs just over 1,000 people, 140 at the brewery and site in Middleton Junction in North Manchester and 865 in its 36 managed pubs, inns and hotels, as well as letting a further 105 tied pubs to self-employed tenants.

Cask beer is at the heart of JW Lees and we brew six cask ales as well as three lagers, three smooth beers and eight limited edition seasonal cask ales which are available throughout at different times of the year. We also have the sole UK distribution rights for Bohemia Regent Premium Lager from the Czech Republic. Willoughby’s is our wines and spirits company and we stock over 500 wines from all over the world.

Earthy taste with vanilla, caramel, cinnamon, and whiskey Earthy taste with vanilla, caramel, cinnamon, and whiskey 

Philip and Diane Conner and their son, Charles, founded the Real Ale Brewing Company in Blanco, Texas in 1996. They set up shop in the basement of an antiques store on the Blanco town square. They had three original recipes brewing—Full Moon Pale Rye Ale, Rio Blanco Pale Ale and Brewhouse Brown Ale. They were brewing on converted dairy and handmade equipment.

Then they met a young man named Brad. Brad Farbstein was a UT graduate with a degree in economics, an avid homebrewer and was employed by a small craft beer distributor.  Brad had become a pretty big fan of this tiny brewery and found himself occasionally heading out to Blanco to lend Philip and Charles a hand with some bottling or labeling, working for a few beers. Coincidentally, it was around this time that Philip decided to get out of the brewing business. He asked Brad if he might know anyone interested in buying the brewery’s equipment. Recognizing a rare opportunity to turn a dream into reality—even though he had no idea how he was going to pull it off—Brad said, “I’m your man.”

Brad took over the brewery in the summer of 1998, and with the help of two employees, made about 500 barrels of beer that year. The original brewery had a 2-vessel, 15-bbl brewhouse that was basically outside, housed in a carport attached to the store’s basement.  Tanks, cold storage, bottling and labeling equipment and everything else were crammed in a space of less than 2,500 square feet with only 7-foot high ceilings. If you were to design a space to NOT be a brewery, this would probably be it. In spite of the many obstacles, spatial and otherwise, facing the fledgling brewery, the beer flowed and demand for RABC’s handcrafted ales grew exponentially for the next several years.

Real Ale steadily increased its output until finally maxing out the original location at 5,500 barrels in 2006. (If you do the math, that’s 366 batches of beer in one year on a 15 barrel system!) In 2005, Brad realized that for Real Ale to achieve its potential, something had to be done. He took another leap of faith purchased several acres of land just outside the Blanco city limits to allow for the construction of a new brewery from the ground up. Brad likes to say that many years of having to do things the wrong way taught him how to do things the right way.  Construction began in 2005 and the brewery went online in 2006.

The brewery has under gone several small expansions after the big move in 2006. In 2013, the brewery produced approximately 53,000 barrels of beer. As of 2015, RABC had 25 fermenters available ranging in size from 60 bbl to 480 bbl.

They brew on a 60 barrel four-vessel brewhouse consisting of the mash tun, in which they can conduct single and step infusions as well as single decoction mashes, a lauter tun, a kettle, and a whirlpool, with a throughput of 6 brews a day.  All of the fermenters are cylindroconical, otherwise known as unitanks. Unitanks allow the beer to ferment and condition in the same vessel. The packing hall was the newest expansion, which has an average daily output of 2,400 cases of bottles, 1,200 cases of cans and 200 kegs, with a new bottle filler capable of filling 400 bottles a minute.

Brad credits the local Blanco River as "some of the best brewing water for the styles of beer that we make," making Blanco an ideal location for the brewery. The term Real Ale is an English phrase referring to cask conditioned ales. It’s ironic that for the first half of the brewery’s history, they did not make a cask conditioned beer. However once they began to cask condition, they quickly became the best producer of the method in the state. Large cask beer bars like Hay Merchant owe a lot to the knowledge and expertise Real Ale brought to the market.

Real Ale is best known for the Firemans #4, a light, easy drinking Blonde Ale named after Firemans Texas Cruzer, a small local BMX bike builder.  But RABC has gained wide craft beer respect with beers from the Mysterium Verum and Brewer’s Cut lines.

Mysterium Verum is a line of beers in which the beers are aged in barrels. Some of these beers are additionally inoculated with wild yeast and/or bacteria. These beers range greatly in flavor and can only be found on draft and are the rarest beers RABC produces.

In 2012, RABC add the Brewer’s Cut product line, which focuses on developing new recipes to put out to the public, and then relying on customer feedback through social media to determine whether the recipe will be bumped up to a year-round product, a seasonal product, or set with plans to be brewed at a later date again in the series. This is a limited-release product and can be found in both package and draft.

Earthy taste with vanilla, caramel, cinnamon, and whiskey 

Philip and Diane Conner and their son, Charles, founded the Real Ale Brewing Company in Blanco, Texas in 1996. They set up shop in the basement of an antiques store on the Blanco town square. They had three original recipes brewing—Full Moon Pale Rye Ale, Rio Blanco Pale Ale and Brewhouse Brown Ale. They were brewing on converted dairy and handmade equipment.

Then they met a young man named Brad. Brad Farbstein was a UT graduate with a degree in economics, an avid homebrewer and was employed by a small craft beer distributor.  Brad had become a pretty big fan of this tiny brewery and found himself occasionally heading out to Blanco to lend Philip and Charles a hand with some bottling or labeling, working for a few beers. Coincidentally, it was around this time that Philip decided to get out of the brewing business. He asked Brad if he might know anyone interested in buying the brewery’s equipment. Recognizing a rare opportunity to turn a dream into reality—even though he had no idea how he was going to pull it off—Brad said, “I’m your man.”

Brad took over the brewery in the summer of 1998, and with the help of two employees, made about 500 barrels of beer that year. The original brewery had a 2-vessel, 15-bbl brewhouse that was basically outside, housed in a carport attached to the store’s basement.  Tanks, cold storage, bottling and labeling equipment and everything else were crammed in a space of less than 2,500 square feet with only 7-foot high ceilings. If you were to design a space to NOT be a brewery, this would probably be it. In spite of the many obstacles, spatial and otherwise, facing the fledgling brewery, the beer flowed and demand for RABC’s handcrafted ales grew exponentially for the next several years.

Real Ale steadily increased its output until finally maxing out the original location at 5,500 barrels in 2006. (If you do the math, that’s 366 batches of beer in one year on a 15 barrel system!) In 2005, Brad realized that for Real Ale to achieve its potential, something had to be done. He took another leap of faith purchased several acres of land just outside the Blanco city limits to allow for the construction of a new brewery from the ground up. Brad likes to say that many years of having to do things the wrong way taught him how to do things the right way.  Construction began in 2005 and the brewery went online in 2006.

The brewery has under gone several small expansions after the big move in 2006. In 2013, the brewery produced approximately 53,000 barrels of beer. As of 2015, RABC had 25 fermenters available ranging in size from 60 bbl to 480 bbl.

They brew on a 60 barrel four-vessel brewhouse consisting of the mash tun, in which they can conduct single and step infusions as well as single decoction mashes, a lauter tun, a kettle, and a whirlpool, with a throughput of 6 brews a day.  All of the fermenters are cylindroconical, otherwise known as unitanks. Unitanks allow the beer to ferment and condition in the same vessel. The packing hall was the newest expansion, which has an average daily output of 2,400 cases of bottles, 1,200 cases of cans and 200 kegs, with a new bottle filler capable of filling 400 bottles a minute.

Brad credits the local Blanco River as "some of the best brewing water for the styles of beer that we make," making Blanco an ideal location for the brewery. The term Real Ale is an English phrase referring to cask conditioned ales. It’s ironic that for the first half of the brewery’s history, they did not make a cask conditioned beer. However once they began to cask condition, they quickly became the best producer of the method in the state. Large cask beer bars like Hay Merchant owe a lot to the knowledge and expertise Real Ale brought to the market.

Real Ale is best known for the Firemans #4, a light, easy drinking Blonde Ale named after Firemans Texas Cruzer, a small local BMX bike builder.  But RABC has gained wide craft beer respect with beers from the Mysterium Verum and Brewer’s Cut lines.

Mysterium Verum is a line of beers in which the beers are aged in barrels. Some of these beers are additionally inoculated with wild yeast and/or bacteria. These beers range greatly in flavor and can only be found on draft and are the rarest beers RABC produces.

In 2012, RABC add the Brewer’s Cut product line, which focuses on developing new recipes to put out to the public, and then relying on customer feedback through social media to determine whether the recipe will be bumped up to a year-round product, a seasonal product, or set with plans to be brewed at a later date again in the series. This is a limited-release product and can be found in both package and draft.

sweet caramel, vanilla, raisins, dates, and peat

JW Lees is a family brewery company which was founded in 1828. We are based in Middleton in North Manchester and own JW Lees Brewery, JW Lees Pubs, The Alderley Edge Hotel, The Trearddur Bay Hotel and Willoughby’s Wine Merchants. JW Lees is a sixth-generation family business which employs just over 1,000 people, 140 at the brewery and site in Middleton Junction in North Manchester and 865 in its 36 managed pubs, inns and hotels, as well as letting a further 105 tied pubs to self-employed tenants.

Cask beer is at the heart of JW Lees and we brew six cask ales as well as three lagers, three smooth beers and eight limited edition seasonal cask ales which are available throughout at different times of the year. We also have the sole UK distribution rights for Bohemia Regent Premium Lager from the Czech Republic. Willoughby’s is our wines and spirits company and we stock over 500 wines from all over the world.

"This titanic, immensely viscous stout is loaded with inimitable flavors of chocolate-covered caramel and coffee and hide a hefty 98 IBUs underneath the smooth blanket of malt. Ten FIDY (10.5% ABV) is made with enormous amounts of two-row malt, chocolate malt, roasted barley, flaked oats and hops. Ten FIDY is the ultimate celebration of dark malts and boundary-stretching beer." Commercial Description

Oskar Blues Brewery was founded by Dick Dale Katechis in Longmont, Colorado. The company began as a restaurant called ChuBurger in Lyons in 1997 and began brewing beer in the basement in 1999.

Oskar Blues is known for their use of cans over bottles. Some credit Oskar Blues as the creator of the first canned craft beer in the United States with the release of Dale's Pale Ale in November 2002. They were, however, not the first craft beer in a can—Chief Oshkosh Red Lager, contract brewed by a company called Mid-Coast Brewing Company of Oshkosh at Steven’s Point Brewing, was released in a can June 17, 1991. Regardless of who was first, by 2011, about 50 U.S. craft brewers were issuing craft beer in cans. As of 2014, over 500 breweries were canning.  In Texas, there are three different companies that offer mobile canning services to small breweries that can’t afford to buy their own canning equipment. Oskar Blues is without a doubt the brewery that helped push this move toward cans.

Dale's Pale Ale was Oskar Blues' first beer. It is somewhere between American Pale Ale and India Pale Ale brewed with European malts and American hops. Old Chub is a Scotch Ale brewed with seven different malts, including crystal and chocolate malts. Old Chub also gets a dash of beechwood-smoked grains imported from Bamburg, Germany.

G'Knight is a hybrid version of Strong Ale, roughly based on an Imperial Red and a Double IPA made using six different malts and three types of hops, then dry-hopped with Amarillo hops.  G'Knight is brewed in tribute to the late Gordon Knight. In addition to opening some of Colorado’s first microbreweries, Knight was a Vietnam veteran and huge promoter of craft beer. He lost his life in 2002 while fighting a wild fire outside of Lyons, Colorado. In 2013, Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant Group filed suit against Oskar Blues Brewery, so they were forced to change the name of the beer from Gordon Knight to G’Night. This, combined with the fact that Gordon Biersch brews crappy beer, is why we don’t sell Gordon Biersch at Hay Merchant.

Ten FIDY is an Imperial Stout brewed seasonally with flavors of chocolate, malt, coffee, cocoa and oats. Ten FIDY takes its name from its 10.5% ABV and is made with two-row malts, chocolate malts, roasted barley, flaked oats and hops. Mama's Little Yella Pils is a small-batch Pilsner. Mama’s is made with pale malt, German specialty malts and traditional (Saaz) and 21st century Bavarian hops. Gubna is an Imperial IPA and is made with three malts and Summit hops. Summit hops are also used for post-fermentation dry hopping.

Cranberries, Orange Peel and Cinnamon

Cascade Brewing was founded in 1998 by owner Art Larrance and brewmaster Ron Gansberg. Together, Art and Ron put their 40 years combined beer experience to work, designing and installing Cascade’s 10-barrel brewing system in Southwest Portland, then creating and distributing well-balanced traditional ales.

Sour beers really came about by default. The pair had followed the trends of traditional ales and were growing tired of what they referred to as the “hops arms race” of ever-hoppier beers, especially in the Northwest. Both wanted to focus instead on beers that offered an intense sensory experience other than hops. They considered what they could draw upon from the region: an abundant supply of wine barrels from the nearby wine country, and access to delicious and plentiful local fruit.

They chose to create sour ales (though they purposefully stayed away from trying to recreate Belgian style sour ales). Employing lactobacillus, an acid bacteria that produces moderate levels of acidity and sour flavors, they began their sour journey in 2005. By 2006, they were producing the base beer that would then be aged for up to a year in wine, port and whiskey oak barrels.

In 2008, the brewery developed three ultra-premium, oak barrel-aged, lactic-fermented Northwest sour ales: Kriek, Apricot and Cuvee du Jongleur. Each was hand-bottled in 750 ml champagne bottles with a cork and wire basket. That fall, Cascade entered all three into the Great American Beer Festival in the Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer category: a total of 22 beers were entered in the class, and Cascade Kriek took the Bronze.

In 2009, they brought in 4,500 lbs. of Bing and sour pie cherries straight from the orchards for making Kriek, Sang Royale and Sang Noir. They picked up 2,500 lbs. of apricots for their Apricot Ale, one ton of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes for a yet to be named beer (going through extensive aging) and 2,500 lbs. of white wine grapes for The Vine. That fall, they again traveled to the Great American Beer Festival, submitting three of their beers in the Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer category. Out of 45 entries, Cascade Brewing was awarded the Gold for Bourbonic Plague and the Silver for Vlad the Imp Aler. These wins propelled the obscure brewery into the forefront nationally for Northwest sour ales.

In September 2010, Cascade opened the Cascade Brewing Barrel House, the nation’s first “House of Sour,” at 939 SE Belmont Street in Portland. Located in a 7,000 square foot former produce warehouse, the Barrel House contained a 5,000 square foot production side with a loading dock, barrel room, cooler and workspace; as well as a 2,100 square foot tasting room with seating for 90 inside and another 80 out front.

In 2014, the production side of the Barrel House was bursting at the seams and needed to relocate. Cascade leased a 23,000-square-foot warehouse in Southwest Portland that headquarters all of its blending, aging, packaging and distribution. The Cascade Blending House currently holds more than 1,500 barrels filled with its sour beer, plus an additional nine foudres (giant wooden barrels that typically hold around 1,800 gallons of beer). All of its beers continue to be brewed at the original brewery at 7424 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy in Portland.

After taking a year off, Sucaba returns for a curtain call in 2018. As always, this latest vintage delivers big, boozy bourbon and American oak aromas combine with soft chocolate malt undertones. Complex malt flavors are framed in oak with hints of dark chocolate, vanilla, toasted coconut and a touch of dark cherry. Sucaba is a one-of-a-kind sipping experience.  It is a beer built to last, and one that will reward careful cellaring for years to come. We highly recommend counting the years with an abacus.

Firestone Walker Brewing Company brewed its first beer in 1996 in a small facility rented from the Firestone Vineyard estate in Santa Barbara County.  In 2001, owners (and brothers-in-law) Adam Firestone and David Walker purchased the SLO Brewing Company located in Paso Robles, CA.

Firestone Walker’s ales are selectively fermented in the Firestone Union oak barrel brewing system. The Firestone Union incorporates 65-gallon, medium and heavy toast American oak barrels.

Firestone Walker takes pride in making exceptional pale ales. More recently, they created a seasonal series offering, as well as their Proprietor’s Reserve series of beers, born from their Anniversary program. These vintage and limited release beers are the consummate sipping beers, meant to be enjoyed with friends and family. 

Firestone Walker Brewing Company continues to grow as the palates of Americans migrate to craft beer. Their brew staff has picked up “Mid Size Brewery of the Year” at the World Beer Cup an unmatched four times.

Parabola is a beer of darkness and immensity, a barrel-­aged beast that is routinely ranked as one of the top beers in the world.  This Russian imperial oatmeal stout is aged for a full year in  Heaven Hill barrels, developing flavors of rich, chewy roasted malts, charred oak and bourbony vanilla. Parabola bares its teeth with its impenetrable black hue and soaring alcohol, yet its bite remains refined with a silky, balanced finish.   

Firestone Walker Brewing Company brewed its first beer in 1996 in a small facility rented from the Firestone Vineyard estate in Santa Barbara County.  In 2001, owners (and brothers-in-law) Adam Firestone and David Walker purchased the SLO Brewing Company located in Paso Robles, CA.

Firestone Walker’s ales are selectively fermented in the Firestone Union oak barrel brewing system. The Firestone Union incorporates 65-gallon, medium and heavy toast American oak barrels.

Firestone Walker takes pride in making exceptional pale ales. More recently, they created a seasonal series offering, as well as their Proprietor’s Reserve series of beers, born from their Anniversary program. These vintage and limited release beers are the consummate sipping beers, meant to be enjoyed with friends and family. 

Firestone Walker Brewing Company continues to grow as the palates of Americans migrate to craft beer. Their brew staff has picked up “Mid Size Brewery of the Year” at the World Beer Cup an unmatched four times.

"Brewed for BFM's 15th Anniversary! Belgian style saison matured in third use Abbaye de Saint Bon Chien barrels for 4 months."  Commercial Desription

Jérôme Rebetez concocted the first batches of beer in his parents’ kitchen. Enthusiastic about his results, he decided to present some of his creations at the “Swiss Homebrewing Trophy” contest. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who enjoyed his brews; the judges at the contest awarded Jérôme the first place.

At 23, with a bachelor in enology, Jérôme Rebetez aspired to open up a brewery in his home region of Franches Montagnes. Full of passion but without any cash, Jérôme Rebetez decided to create beers with atypical character. He won the televised competition "Le rêve de vos 20 ans," which allowed him to establish La Brasserie des Franches-Montagnes in Saignelégier, Jura, with the obtained cash. With its spirited image, BFM was positioned as a pioneer in Swiss artisan brewing, crafting finesse beers that are complex with a great corps.

Jérôme Rebetez uses ingredients chosen to guarantee the highest quality. They are always original and sometimes tricky to mix like Sarawak pepper, sage or other spices. He built a reputation for crafting rich beers with complex bouquets, remarkable tastes and long finishes. 

L’Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien, a BFM specialty that matures in oak barrels for 12 months, was mentioned in The New York Times as the one of the best barley wines in the world.

Balanced with a nice resin, citrus, earthy hops and a slightly sweet maltiness.

"National IPA Day seems like the perfect time to release our newest beer, Art Car IPA, a very hoppy American IPA featuring a blend of both new and old hop varieties from the Pacific Northwest. We love this beer.

The nose is a blend of apricot and tropical fruit and mango. The taste starts with a big bitter blood orange that morphs into mangos and sweet tropical fruits. There is a lightly sweet malt body that allows the hops to shine while there being a nice complexity to the flavors.

The Art Car IPA name was inspired by the fleet of hand painted Art Cars created by local artists for Saint Arnold. You've probably seen our salespeople driving them around town. The label artwork was designed by renowned Houston graffiti artist and our good friend, GONZO247, who has painted four Saint Arnold Art Cars. If you've been to the brewery, you've seen his murals on the inside and outside of our building." Commercial Description

The Saint Arnold Brewing Company is a brewery in Houston, Texas, named after a patron saint of brewing, Saint Arnulf of Metz. Founded in 1994 by Rice University graduates Brock Wagner and Kevin Bartol, the brewery offers tours every weekday and Saturday afternoons, which have attracted a large following. Saint Arnold has won numerous national and international awards.

Saint Arnold was originally located on the far northwest side of Houston and operated out of that location for more than fifteen years. In 2009, Saint Arnold purchased a three-story 104,000-square-foot brick building—constructed in 1914 and most recently used as a food service facility for the Houston Independent School District—north of Downtown Houston. The maximum capacity of the new brewery is over 100,000 barrels, compared to 26,000 barrels at the previous location. As of 2015 the brewery is brewing just under 60,000 barrels a year. A large percentage of the brewery’s production capacity is taken up by beer brewed under contract for BJ’s Brewhouse.

Saint Arnold is known for a core lineup, including Lawnmower, a light bodied German Style Kolsch, as well as a traditional American Style IPA, Elissa. In recent years, Saint Arnold has began to step out of the traditional mold it has followed for years. In 2013, they launched two new lines of beers: Icon is a series of more unique beers released four times a year, and Bishop’s Barrel, a special release series sold only in the bottle available only to bars and restaurants. While coming late to the barrel aging game, the Bishop’s Barrel series has been a hit with fans. In the summer of 2014, Saint Arnold released a Berliner Weisse. Very popular with craft beer fans, the slightly sour German style is an extreme and surprising beer for the generally conservative brewery.

This is where it all started in 1800 by Dennis’ great great grandfather when he founded Frankenbreu, Tanna.  This is a picture of the original facility. However no brewery exists there today.

In 1800, Our great great grandfather Schaubert began our family’s heritage at his Franken Braue Brewery in Tanna, Germany. Today, our rich tradition of naturally brewing authentic German Style Bier using the purest ingredients is carried on at Franconia Brewing Company in the heart of McKinney, Texas.

"Bavik Premium Pils has already many awards on its list of achievements. This can be entirely attributed to its traditional brewing process whereby only aroma hops are being used, a long and cold maturation process and where pasteurization is out of the question." Commercial Description

Note: Sometimes the name for a style of beer refers to a region or country of origin and can legally describe beers brewed only in that area. At Hay Merchant, we believe names are important in describing a beer and help consumers make educated choices. That’s why we categorize beers in literal terms and reference the style, even if they weren’t brewed in a specified region. In order to help add clarity, we will use the word “Style” in the style name to make this distinction. For instance, beers brewed in the style of German Pilsner but not brewed in Germany will be called German Style Pilsner as opposed to German Pilsner.

Pilsner is the dominant beer style in the world today.  All 3 Pilsner sub styles—Czech (Bohemian), German and International—share the same basic flavor profile and the same root history, but German Pilsners are better attenuated and drier then their Czech cousins, showing off more hop bitterness. 

Appearance
Pilsners should be pale straw to golden, and very clear with a frothy, clean white head. Pilsners should look clean, and German Pilsner will be slightly lighter in color then the Czech style. 

Aroma/Flavor
Crispness is the most universal flavor profile for this style. Water type plays a huge role in taste. Pilsners have light malt aromas, a backbone of graininess and a grassy noble hop note. German Pilsners are more earthy and bitter in both aroma and flavor because they use Saaz hops in addition to other European Noble hops, whereas Czech Pilsner uses only Saaz hops.

There are two types of German Pilsner, distinguished by the difference in the water of Northern and Southern Germany. The water in the North is fairly hard, which accentuates bitterness and creates a very hoppy beer—strong, zesty, in-your-face hop bitterness. In Southern Germany, where you will find extremely soft water, the bitterness is suppressed, resulting in more of a mellow hop.

Ingredients
The most common ingredients for this style are 2-row Pilsner malts and German low Alpha hops. 

Glassware/Serving Temperature
At Hay Merchant, you will most often find Pilsners served in the 20oz Pilsner glass and stored in our lager cooler at 35° F.

Stats
This style will have a common ABV range of  4.5%-6% (American Pilsners trending toward the higher percentage). This style will have an average IBU range of 25-45 (German Pils trending toward the higher IBU).

History
The story of the Czech Pilsner is really a story about the blending of technology and raw ingredients. The Czech Pilsner was created as a result of the technological revolution that occurred in Germany in the mid-19^th century. The style was possible due to advances in refrigeration, transportation, steam and microbiology.

The style originated in the town of Plzen, Czechoslovakia around 1840. The Czech-speaking lands of Bohemia were home to two very important ingredients: very good quality 2-row barley and Saaz hops. For centuries, the Grand Dukes of Bohemia attempted to control the supply of these hops by imposing the death penalty on anyone caught smuggling the Saaz hop rhizomes (root cuttings) out of the region.  

In 1838, an entire season’s worth of beer was poured out in the town square because it was of low quality. The Czechs have always taken their beer very seriously and had little acceptance for bad beer. As a result of this bad batch of beer, in 1840, the town of Plzen voted to build a new brewery that utilized the pressurized steam to heat the brew kettles.

In 1842, Josef Groll was hired to be the brewmaster for this new state-of-the-art brewery. Groll was the son of a Bavarian brewer from just outside Munich. When he got to Pilzen, he borrowed heavily from Bavarian brewers and hired Bavarian assistants and Bavarian barrel makers. He even brought a Bavarian yeast strain with him.  For all his talent as a brewer, Groll was not a well-liked man. His own father called him “the rudest man in Bavaria.” It might have been for his inability to work with other people that led to his contract not being renewed when it expired in 1845. However, in his short tenure in Pilzen, he helped birth the Bohemia and the lager. 

Summary
In summary, the German Pilsner is slightly lighter in color than other Pilsner styles and are more earthy and hitter in aroma and flavor, due to its use of Saaz and other European Boble hops. Water distinguishes the two types of German Pilsner: hard water in Northern Germany accentuates bitterness and creates a very hoppy beer, which the soft water in the South suppresses the bitterness. 

The Brabandere Brewery (Brouwerij De Brabandere) was founded in 1894 and opened in 1895 by Adolphe De Brabandere in Bavikhove. In 1909, Joseph Brabandere took the brewery over and renamed it The Brewery of Saint Anthony and also expanded its production capacity. In 1950, other family members took control of the brewery, changed the name back to Brabandere Brewery and began to open a large number of cafés and pubs. Bradandere expanded its own market base by making the brewery the sole supplier of product to those cafés.

In 1990, the family split the operations of the cafés and the brewery. The brewery was renamed again, this time taking inspiration from the town that had been home to the brewery for almost 100 years—Bavik. Over the next decade, the brewery made some large investments into the brewery itself, modernizing the brewery and expanding capacity, making it one of the largest family-owned breweries in Belgium.

In 2013, the fifth generation of the Brabandere family took over. The decision was made to once again use the family name, and thus the Brabandere Brewery was revived.

In Belgium, beers are traditionally known by their stand alone brand names and not by the brewery name. Brabandere brews  three main brands: Bavik, Wittekerke and Petrus. Bavik is best known for the Pilsner, a light, refreshing, slightly hopped bohemian rendition of the style. Wittekerke is the brand used to sell wheat beers. Petrus is the moniker that adorns the “special” beers—usually higher in alcohol or anything different from the core brand of that particular brewery, not always referring to the same style of beer. The most notable beer from the Petrus line is the Aged Pale: 100 percent pale malts, dry hopped and aged for at least 18 months in large wooden fermenters. This beer is light in body but aggressively sour in taste—a Hay Merchant favorite.

Primary fermentation takes place in stainless with their house ale yeast before the beer is racked to barrels that have been inoculated with a mixed culture of wild yeast and bacteria. Once this secondary fermentation is complete, tart cherries are added to the barrels and allowed to referment, adding a further layer of complexity to this very drinkable sour ale. Gold medal winner at the 2014 Great American Beer Festival in the Belgian Style Lambic or Sour Ale category.

Philip and Diane Conner and their son, Charles, founded the Real Ale Brewing Company in Blanco, Texas in 1996. They set up shop in the basement of an antiques store on the Blanco town square. They had three original recipes brewing—Full Moon Pale Rye Ale, Rio Blanco Pale Ale and Brewhouse Brown Ale. They were brewing on converted dairy and handmade equipment.

Then they met a young man named Brad. Brad Farbstein was a UT graduate with a degree in economics, an avid homebrewer and was employed by a small craft beer distributor.  Brad had become a pretty big fan of this tiny brewery and found himself occasionally heading out to Blanco to lend Philip and Charles a hand with some bottling or labeling, working for a few beers. Coincidentally, it was around this time that Philip decided to get out of the brewing business. He asked Brad if he might know anyone interested in buying the brewery’s equipment. Recognizing a rare opportunity to turn a dream into reality—even though he had no idea how he was going to pull it off—Brad said, “I’m your man.”

Brad took over the brewery in the summer of 1998, and with the help of two employees, made about 500 barrels of beer that year. The original brewery had a 2-vessel, 15-bbl brewhouse that was basically outside, housed in a carport attached to the store’s basement.  Tanks, cold storage, bottling and labeling equipment and everything else were crammed in a space of less than 2,500 square feet with only 7-foot high ceilings. If you were to design a space to NOT be a brewery, this would probably be it. In spite of the many obstacles, spatial and otherwise, facing the fledgling brewery, the beer flowed and demand for RABC’s handcrafted ales grew exponentially for the next several years.

Real Ale steadily increased its output until finally maxing out the original location at 5,500 barrels in 2006. (If you do the math, that’s 366 batches of beer in one year on a 15 barrel system!) In 2005, Brad realized that for Real Ale to achieve its potential, something had to be done. He took another leap of faith purchased several acres of land just outside the Blanco city limits to allow for the construction of a new brewery from the ground up. Brad likes to say that many years of having to do things the wrong way taught him how to do things the right way.  Construction began in 2005 and the brewery went online in 2006.

The brewery has under gone several small expansions after the big move in 2006. In 2013, the brewery produced approximately 53,000 barrels of beer. As of 2015, RABC had 25 fermenters available ranging in size from 60 bbl to 480 bbl.

They brew on a 60 barrel four-vessel brewhouse consisting of the mash tun, in which they can conduct single and step infusions as well as single decoction mashes, a lauter tun, a kettle, and a whirlpool, with a throughput of 6 brews a day.  All of the fermenters are cylindroconical, otherwise known as unitanks. Unitanks allow the beer to ferment and condition in the same vessel. The packing hall was the newest expansion, which has an average daily output of 2,400 cases of bottles, 1,200 cases of cans and 200 kegs, with a new bottle filler capable of filling 400 bottles a minute.

Brad credits the local Blanco River as "some of the best brewing water for the styles of beer that we make," making Blanco an ideal location for the brewery. The term Real Ale is an English phrase referring to cask conditioned ales. It’s ironic that for the first half of the brewery’s history, they did not make a cask conditioned beer. However once they began to cask condition, they quickly became the best producer of the method in the state. Large cask beer bars like Hay Merchant owe a lot to the knowledge and expertise Real Ale brought to the market.

Real Ale is best known for the Firemans #4, a light, easy drinking Blonde Ale named after Firemans Texas Cruzer, a small local BMX bike builder.  But RABC has gained wide craft beer respect with beers from the Mysterium Verum and Brewer’s Cut lines.

Mysterium Verum is a line of beers in which the beers are aged in barrels. Some of these beers are additionally inoculated with wild yeast and/or bacteria. These beers range greatly in flavor and can only be found on draft and are the rarest beers RABC produces.

In 2012, RABC add the Brewer’s Cut product line, which focuses on developing new recipes to put out to the public, and then relying on customer feedback through social media to determine whether the recipe will be bumped up to a year-round product, a seasonal product, or set with plans to be brewed at a later date again in the series. This is a limited-release product and can be found in both package and draft.

Brewed with organic 2-row, organic Crystal 60 and Blackprinz, a huskless black malt that gives this beer it’s black color with notes of coffee and chicory without any tannic bitterness. The hop additions are many and generous, featuring Apollo, Horizon, and Simcoe, clocking the beer in at 70 IBU. Over 10 pounds per batch of Chinook hops are added directly to the fermenter yielding a resiny herbal and spicy aroma. A hybrid style for dark beer fans who love hops

(512) Brewing Company is a microbrewery located in the heart of Austin. Owner Kevin Brand, with an engineering degree and a background in medical devices, is a self-taught brewer.  (512), named for the Austin area code, brews for the community using as many local, domestic and organic ingredients as possible. (512) beers are built on old world English and Belgian styles, enhanced to celebrate bold domestic ingredients.

Flagship beers include Wit, Pale, IPA and Pecan Porter.  Limited beers include (512) Black IPA, (512) Bruin, (512) Whiskey Barrel Aged Double Pecan Porter and more.

(512) Double Pecan Porter is a robust porter accented by organic Texas grown roasted pecans and subtly enhanced by aging in recently emptied oak whiskey barrels for two months. Notes of chocolate, coffee and pecan marry with the subtle flavors of vanilla and whiskey to make this a wonderful warmer worth savoring. 

(512) Brewing Company is a microbrewery located in the heart of Austin. Owner Kevin Brand, with an engineering degree and a background in medical devices, is a self-taught brewer.  (512), named for the Austin area code, brews for the community using as many local, domestic and organic ingredients as possible. (512) beers are built on old world English and Belgian styles, enhanced to celebrate bold domestic ingredients.

Flagship beers include Wit, Pale, IPA and Pecan Porter.  Limited beers include (512) Black IPA, (512) Bruin, (512) Whiskey Barrel Aged Double Pecan Porter and more.

Brandy Land, a brand new Smokestack Series limited release, is a cinnamon infused, double mashed imperial stout that slumbered 12 to 24 months in casks that held bourbon and apple brandy. Boasting notes of chocolate, espresso, baked apple and spiced wood, Brandy Land’s delectable blend ends with a warm, lingering finish. 

Founded in 1989, Boulevard Brewing Company has grown to become the largest specialty brewer in the Midwest. Their mission is simple: to produce fresh, flavorful beers using the finest traditional ingredients and the best of both old and new brewing techniques.

Boulevard beers, known for their full flavor, distinctive character, and unsurpassed quality, are currently sold throughout the Midwest and in select markets from coast-to-coast. The GABF® Gold Medal-winning Unfiltered Wheat Beer remains Boulevard's most popular offering. An easy-drinking American-style wheat beer, Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat is the best-selling craft beer in the Midwest. 

Founder John McDonald started construction of the brewery in 1988 in a turn-of-the-century brick building on Kansas City’s historic Southwest Boulevard. A vintage Bavarian brewhouse was installed, and the first batches of beer were produced in the fall of 1989. That November, the first keg of Boulevard Pale Ale was delivered—in the back of John’s pickup truck—to a restaurant just a few blocks away.

In 2006, a major expansion adjacent to the original brewery raised Boulevard’s brewing capacity to approximately 600,000 barrels per year—a sizable increase from the 6,000 barrels contemplated in John’s original business plan. The new brewing and packaging facility is a model of sustainable urban architecture and engineering; a three-story, 70,000 square foot building housing a new, state-of-the-art 150-barrel brewhouse, packaging lines, administrative offices, and hospitality rooms.

Ale Brewed with Black Currants and Matured in Oak Barrels.

Hanssens Artisanaal is the oldest independent geuze blender in the whole world. At Hanssens, no beer is actually brewed! Instead, they pursue a profession that was very important in the history of lambic style beers, they are solely blenders of beer.

Lambic beers are famous for being "wild fermented". Instead of adding a special yeast strain to cause fermentation, some brewers in the Senne river valley leave the warm, sweet, unfermented beer (called wort) open to the elements. Wild strains of yeast and other micro organisms will then seed the liquid. Normally when brewing beer, a brewers yeast will be used to turn sugar into alcohol and certain flavor elements of the beer. In these wild beers, yeast and others will turn sugar into alcohol, acid, and a huge variety of flavor chemicals. 

Since each batch is different, the beer has to be blended with multiple batches to create a consistent product. Most lambics are created from a mixture of aged sour beer and young, sweeter beer. They are then barrel aged to combine the flavors.

Hanssens takes this a step further, and actually blends batches from different breweries in their area. This used to be a very common practice, but Hanssens is now the oldest remaining blender. They bring to this endeavor a variety of barrels, some up to one hundred years old, and a passion and a love for the tradition of Geuze and Lambics. They will also add whole fruits to some of their beers, to make even more flavorful blends.

Hanssens Bartholomeus, former major of Dworp, started to brew lambic in 1871, in the previous Sint-Antonius brewery. Documents have proven that he continued to brew, from 1896 onwards, in buildings located in the Vroenenbosstraat, Dworp. These premises are still used. 

At Moody Tongue, our goal is to create thoughtful, exciting beers that blend familiar flavors with quality ingredients through our philosophy of culinary brewing: using a chef’s mindset to highlight flavors and aromatics in balanced beers.

Culinary brewing rests on three principles:

• Sourcing the highest quality ingredients
• Understanding how best to handle those ingredients to showcase flavors and aromatics
• Knowing when during the brewing process to incorporate these ingredients

Brewmaster Jared Rouben draws on his culinary training to forge this connection between the kitchen and our brewery, building recipes for our beers in the same manner a chef would for a dish. Our beers are created with simplicity and balance in mind, and can be enjoyed both on their own or paired with food.

Beer is our food. We look forward to feeding your moody tongue.

The Saint Arnold Brewing Company is a brewery in Houston, Texas, named after a patron saint of brewing, Saint Arnulf of Metz. Founded in 1994 by Rice University graduates Brock Wagner and Kevin Bartol, the brewery offers tours every weekday and Saturday afternoons, which have attracted a large following. Saint Arnold has won numerous national and international awards.

Saint Arnold was originally located on the far northwest side of Houston and operated out of that location for more than fifteen years. In 2009, Saint Arnold purchased a three-story 104,000-square-foot brick building—constructed in 1914 and most recently used as a food service facility for the Houston Independent School District—north of Downtown Houston. The maximum capacity of the new brewery is over 100,000 barrels, compared to 26,000 barrels at the previous location. As of 2015 the brewery is brewing just under 60,000 barrels a year. A large percentage of the brewery’s production capacity is taken up by beer brewed under contract for BJ’s Brewhouse.

Saint Arnold is known for a core lineup, including Lawnmower, a light bodied German Style Kolsch, as well as a traditional American Style IPA, Elissa. In recent years, Saint Arnold has began to step out of the traditional mold it has followed for years. In 2013, they launched two new lines of beers: Icon is a series of more unique beers released four times a year, and Bishop’s Barrel, a special release series sold only in the bottle available only to bars and restaurants. While coming late to the barrel aging game, the Bishop’s Barrel series has been a hit with fans. In the summer of 2014, Saint Arnold released a Berliner Weisse. Very popular with craft beer fans, the slightly sour German style is an extreme and surprising beer for the generally conservative brewery.

Named for a winding stretch of Hill Country highway. Good spice from hops, pale golden color, and fruity esters.

Philip and Diane Conner and their son, Charles, founded the Real Ale Brewing Company in Blanco, Texas in 1996. They set up shop in the basement of an antiques store on the Blanco town square. They had three original recipes brewing—Full Moon Pale Rye Ale, Rio Blanco Pale Ale and Brewhouse Brown Ale. They were brewing on converted dairy and handmade equipment.

Then they met a young man named Brad. Brad Farbstein was a UT graduate with a degree in economics, an avid homebrewer and was employed by a small craft beer distributor.  Brad had become a pretty big fan of this tiny brewery and found himself occasionally heading out to Blanco to lend Philip and Charles a hand with some bottling or labeling, working for a few beers. Coincidentally, it was around this time that Philip decided to get out of the brewing business. He asked Brad if he might know anyone interested in buying the brewery’s equipment. Recognizing a rare opportunity to turn a dream into reality—even though he had no idea how he was going to pull it off—Brad said, “I’m your man.”

Brad took over the brewery in the summer of 1998, and with the help of two employees, made about 500 barrels of beer that year. The original brewery had a 2-vessel, 15-bbl brewhouse that was basically outside, housed in a carport attached to the store’s basement.  Tanks, cold storage, bottling and labeling equipment and everything else were crammed in a space of less than 2,500 square feet with only 7-foot high ceilings. If you were to design a space to NOT be a brewery, this would probably be it. In spite of the many obstacles, spatial and otherwise, facing the fledgling brewery, the beer flowed and demand for RABC’s handcrafted ales grew exponentially for the next several years.

Real Ale steadily increased its output until finally maxing out the original location at 5,500 barrels in 2006. (If you do the math, that’s 366 batches of beer in one year on a 15 barrel system!) In 2005, Brad realized that for Real Ale to achieve its potential, something had to be done. He took another leap of faith purchased several acres of land just outside the Blanco city limits to allow for the construction of a new brewery from the ground up. Brad likes to say that many years of having to do things the wrong way taught him how to do things the right way.  Construction began in 2005 and the brewery went online in 2006.

The brewery has under gone several small expansions after the big move in 2006. In 2013, the brewery produced approximately 53,000 barrels of beer. As of 2015, RABC had 25 fermenters available ranging in size from 60 bbl to 480 bbl.

They brew on a 60 barrel four-vessel brewhouse consisting of the mash tun, in which they can conduct single and step infusions as well as single decoction mashes, a lauter tun, a kettle, and a whirlpool, with a throughput of 6 brews a day.  All of the fermenters are cylindroconical, otherwise known as unitanks. Unitanks allow the beer to ferment and condition in the same vessel. The packing hall was the newest expansion, which has an average daily output of 2,400 cases of bottles, 1,200 cases of cans and 200 kegs, with a new bottle filler capable of filling 400 bottles a minute.

Brad credits the local Blanco River as "some of the best brewing water for the styles of beer that we make," making Blanco an ideal location for the brewery. The term Real Ale is an English phrase referring to cask conditioned ales. It’s ironic that for the first half of the brewery’s history, they did not make a cask conditioned beer. However once they began to cask condition, they quickly became the best producer of the method in the state. Large cask beer bars like Hay Merchant owe a lot to the knowledge and expertise Real Ale brought to the market.

Real Ale is best known for the Firemans #4, a light, easy drinking Blonde Ale named after Firemans Texas Cruzer, a small local BMX bike builder.  But RABC has gained wide craft beer respect with beers from the Mysterium Verum and Brewer’s Cut lines.

Mysterium Verum is a line of beers in which the beers are aged in barrels. Some of these beers are additionally inoculated with wild yeast and/or bacteria. These beers range greatly in flavor and can only be found on draft and are the rarest beers RABC produces.

In 2012, RABC add the Brewer’s Cut product line, which focuses on developing new recipes to put out to the public, and then relying on customer feedback through social media to determine whether the recipe will be bumped up to a year-round product, a seasonal product, or set with plans to be brewed at a later date again in the series. This is a limited-release product and can be found in both package and draft.

"Brewed for tap walls overrun with the white noise of West Coast IPA's, here’s an offering so exotic, you’d think it was from another world. Like its namesake before it, the axis deer of Southern Asia, so too has this species (beverage?) of hop-forward animal magnetism come to invade the landscape of IPA’s that have long held sway over the taps of Texas’s finest watering holes. Tropical fruit, citrus, and a pale golden body, help keep this breed light on its feet. And with few natural predators there is little anyone can do to stop the spread. IPA may not have been born in Texas, but it will soon seem as native as the sky that stretches between its borders." Commercial Description This version is double dry hopped with mosiac hops

Philip and Diane Conner and their son, Charles, founded the Real Ale Brewing Company in Blanco, Texas in 1996. They set up shop in the basement of an antiques store on the Blanco town square. They had three original recipes brewing—Full Moon Pale Rye Ale, Rio Blanco Pale Ale and Brewhouse Brown Ale. They were brewing on converted dairy and handmade equipment.

Then they met a young man named Brad. Brad Farbstein was a UT graduate with a degree in economics, an avid homebrewer and was employed by a small craft beer distributor.  Brad had become a pretty big fan of this tiny brewery and found himself occasionally heading out to Blanco to lend Philip and Charles a hand with some bottling or labeling, working for a few beers. Coincidentally, it was around this time that Philip decided to get out of the brewing business. He asked Brad if he might know anyone interested in buying the brewery’s equipment. Recognizing a rare opportunity to turn a dream into reality—even though he had no idea how he was going to pull it off—Brad said, “I’m your man.”

Brad took over the brewery in the summer of 1998, and with the help of two employees, made about 500 barrels of beer that year. The original brewery had a 2-vessel, 15-bbl brewhouse that was basically outside, housed in a carport attached to the store’s basement.  Tanks, cold storage, bottling and labeling equipment and everything else were crammed in a space of less than 2,500 square feet with only 7-foot high ceilings. If you were to design a space to NOT be a brewery, this would probably be it. In spite of the many obstacles, spatial and otherwise, facing the fledgling brewery, the beer flowed and demand for RABC’s handcrafted ales grew exponentially for the next several years.

Real Ale steadily increased its output until finally maxing out the original location at 5,500 barrels in 2006. (If you do the math, that’s 366 batches of beer in one year on a 15 barrel system!) In 2005, Brad realized that for Real Ale to achieve its potential, something had to be done. He took another leap of faith purchased several acres of land just outside the Blanco city limits to allow for the construction of a new brewery from the ground up. Brad likes to say that many years of having to do things the wrong way taught him how to do things the right way.  Construction began in 2005 and the brewery went online in 2006.

The brewery has under gone several small expansions after the big move in 2006. In 2013, the brewery produced approximately 53,000 barrels of beer. As of 2015, RABC had 25 fermenters available ranging in size from 60 bbl to 480 bbl.

They brew on a 60 barrel four-vessel brewhouse consisting of the mash tun, in which they can conduct single and step infusions as well as single decoction mashes, a lauter tun, a kettle, and a whirlpool, with a throughput of 6 brews a day.  All of the fermenters are cylindroconical, otherwise known as unitanks. Unitanks allow the beer to ferment and condition in the same vessel. The packing hall was the newest expansion, which has an average daily output of 2,400 cases of bottles, 1,200 cases of cans and 200 kegs, with a new bottle filler capable of filling 400 bottles a minute.

Brad credits the local Blanco River as "some of the best brewing water for the styles of beer that we make," making Blanco an ideal location for the brewery. The term Real Ale is an English phrase referring to cask conditioned ales. It’s ironic that for the first half of the brewery’s history, they did not make a cask conditioned beer. However once they began to cask condition, they quickly became the best producer of the method in the state. Large cask beer bars like Hay Merchant owe a lot to the knowledge and expertise Real Ale brought to the market.

Real Ale is best known for the Firemans #4, a light, easy drinking Blonde Ale named after Firemans Texas Cruzer, a small local BMX bike builder.  But RABC has gained wide craft beer respect with beers from the Mysterium Verum and Brewer’s Cut lines.

Mysterium Verum is a line of beers in which the beers are aged in barrels. Some of these beers are additionally inoculated with wild yeast and/or bacteria. These beers range greatly in flavor and can only be found on draft and are the rarest beers RABC produces.

In 2012, RABC add the Brewer’s Cut product line, which focuses on developing new recipes to put out to the public, and then relying on customer feedback through social media to determine whether the recipe will be bumped up to a year-round product, a seasonal product, or set with plans to be brewed at a later date again in the series. This is a limited-release product and can be found in both package and draft.

Duchesse de Bourgogne from Brouwerij Verhaeghe is the traditional Flemish red ale. This refreshing ale is matured in oak casks; smooth with a rich texture and interplay of passion fruit, and chocolate, and a long, dry and acidic finish. After the first and secondary fermentation, the beer goes for maturation into the oak barrels for 18 months. The final product is a blend of younger 8 months old beer with 18 months old beer. The average age of the Duchesse de Bourgogne before being bottled is 12 months.

The story of Brouwerij Verhaeghe-Vichte started in 1885 when Paul Verhaeghe set up his brewery and malt works. Polkes’ (little Paul’s) barrel beer quickly Brouwerij Verhaeghe-Vichte
© BeerTourism.com
gained a foothold in the Kortrijk (Courtrai) region.

And soon the brewery was using the railways to transport its so-called ‘Blonde de Flandres’ as far as Brussels.

As it did for so many other breweries, the First World War signalled a temporary disruption of the production process in Vichte.

The occupiers dismantled the brewhall to get their hands on precious copper.

New equipment was needed to restart production when the war ended.

During the 1920s the first bottled beer was produced at Verhaeghe.

The brewery managed to survive the Second World War by selling a table beer that was low in alcohol (0.8% ABV).

After the war King Pils reigned everywhere but, in its home region, Brouwerij Verhaeghe bravely rowed against the tide. Though in time they did introduceight from the foeder...
© BeerTourism.com
Sultan Pils, named Vera Pils in later years.

Genuine kriekenbiers like those produced by Brouwerij Verhaeghe-Vichte take their lineage from the tradition of sour Flemish red-brown beers.

The brewery’s main focus today is to maintain the quality of its existing beers and to develop new brews.

Much has happened throughout the years but they have never veered away from this mission.

This family brewery is now owned by brothers , their family’s fourth generation of brewers. Karl is responsible for daily management while Peter is in charge of production.Beer galore...
© BeerTourism.com

Their flagship beer is Duchesse de Bourgogne, matured in oak barrels. Since 1976 this Vichte-based brewery has also been making Caves, the traditional city beer of Lier, which is commissioned by a local guild called the Heren Van Lier.

Nowadays 80% of the entire annual production, amounting to around 1,100,000 litres, is destined for export, in particular to Canada, the USA, Russia, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan.

Besides Vichtenaar, Duchesse de Bourgogne and Echt Kriekenbier, all of them Flemish red-brown beers, the range includes Barbe and Cambrinus, both top-fermented beers, the Christmas beer Barbe Noël (‘Santa’s Beard’) and Verhaeghe Pils.

Citra and Galaxy Hazy Pale Ale. Big juicy citrus with a light, pleasant hop bite.

11 Below Brewing Co., a new brewery located in North Houston, was founded by three former oil industry professionals, Jeff Handojo, Bryce Baker and Brandon Moss. 

The 10,000-square-foot, 30-barrel brewhouse officially opened in May 2015, with Keenan Zarling as head brewmaster. They launched with three beers: 7-Iron, a hoppy session; Oso Bueno, an American Amber; and Color Blind, a Red IPA. 

Laid-back local microbrewery & pub with a diverse menu plus retail beer & logo merchandise.

Sour ale aged in Tequila Barrels with Cherries. 

In 1993, the craft world was a very different place. Styles like Double IPA that now rule the market weren’t even invented yet, and most craft brewers were fighting to simply not be put on the import list. That year, Adam Avery incorporated the Avery Brewing Company in Boulder, Colorado and still acts as president and head brewer. 

Like many of its older craft brew brethren, Avery started out very small. When it opened, the brewery utilized only a seven-barrel tank to ferment, leading to a very low volume of production. In the years since, the brewery has expanded significantly to encompass the entire block of warehouses where it’s located. Even after 21 years, Avery is still a relatively small operation with a limited national footprint.  We’re lucky Avery has been in the Texas market for many years.

These days, Avery is best known for big, extreme beers, but that hasn’t always been the case. The original line-up consisted of an Amber Ale, a Brown and a Dry Stout. It wasn’t until 1995 that Avery released Avery IPA. In 1999, Avery released Hog Heaven, a beer that they still call American Barley Wine to this day, but in reality, Hog Heaven was one of the first Double IPAs in the world.

It was around this time (late 1999 -2003) that Avery’s beer lineup became the heavy hitting powerhouse that it is today.  Reverend the Belgian Quad launched in 2000, Salvation the Belgium Golden in 2002, and in 2003, Czar the Russian Imperial Stout ascended to the throne and is one of Hay Merchant’s favorite Avery beers. Avery’s first experiments with barrel aging began in 2004, along with the release of the Maharaja, a 120 IBU 10.5% monster of an Imperial IPA.

In recent years, Avery has become known for its sour barrel-aged beers. The first beer in the series, Barbant, was released and was limited to 694 cases. It was an ale pitched with Brett and aged for 9 months in Zinfandel barrels. Anvil Bar and Refuge (Hay Merchant’s sister cocktail bar) was one of the only bars in Texas to get a case of this very rare beer.  Over the last few years, Avery has released a few of these beers a year, and each one is different.

Our DeadHead IPA series melds the alluring vibe of our favorite music with unbounded tasks on the hoppy beers we love to drink, elevating both to a higher state of consciousness. Our Extended Jam IPA features pilsen malt, flaked oats, wheat and an encore of Mosaic and El Dorado hops, awakening jammy aromas and flavors reminiscent of tropical & stone fruits.

DESTIHL Brewery is located in the G.E. Warehouses just off of Veterans Parkway and General Electric (G.E.) Road in Bloomington, IL.  The 20,000-square-foot production brewery is situated just half a mile from their first gastrobrewpub location in Normal, IL.      

The production brewery features a 25 barrel (BBL), four vessel, steam-heated Saaz Brewhouse capable of producing over 20,000 barrels a year.  Currently they are operating with a 15,000 barrel annual fermentation capacity utilizing eight 60 barrel (BBL) fermenters, five 30 BBL fermenters, two 60 BBL and two 30 BBL brite tanks and a 60,000 lbs. malt silo. Their 5,000 sq ft. beer cellar is presently storing over 300 oak barrels (a mix of former California wine barrels and also bourbon barrels), plus a 33 hectoliter (871 gallon) oak foudre and two 45 hectoliter (1,188 gallon) oak foudres (each received directly from France).  The cellar has enough vertical space for over 100,000 cu. ft. of barrel aging, with the bulk of it used for their renowned sour beer program.  On the packaging side, they have an automated canning line manufactured by Cask Brewing Systems. They have recently added an Italian bottling line for bottling our Saint Dekkera Reserve Sour Ales and other specialty releases. This rotary, 6-head rinser/filler with labeler (fills 600-1,000 bottles per hour, or 10-16 bpm).

"A true German-style Kölsch. Originally brewed in Cologne, this beer is crisp and refreshing, yet has a sweet malty body that is balanced by a complex, citrus hop character. Multiple additions of German Hallertauer hops are used to achieve this delicate flavor. We use a special Kölsch yeast, an ale yeast that ferments at lager temperatures, to yield the slightly fruity, clean flavor of this beer. Fancy Lawnmower Beer is a world class brew yet light enough to be enjoyed by Texans after strenuous activities, like mowing the lawn." Commercial Description

The Saint Arnold Brewing Company is a brewery in Houston, Texas, named after a patron saint of brewing, Saint Arnulf of Metz. Founded in 1994 by Rice University graduates Brock Wagner and Kevin Bartol, the brewery offers tours every weekday and Saturday afternoons, which have attracted a large following. Saint Arnold has won numerous national and international awards.

Saint Arnold was originally located on the far northwest side of Houston and operated out of that location for more than fifteen years. In 2009, Saint Arnold purchased a three-story 104,000-square-foot brick building—constructed in 1914 and most recently used as a food service facility for the Houston Independent School District—north of Downtown Houston. The maximum capacity of the new brewery is over 100,000 barrels, compared to 26,000 barrels at the previous location. As of 2015 the brewery is brewing just under 60,000 barrels a year. A large percentage of the brewery’s production capacity is taken up by beer brewed under contract for BJ’s Brewhouse.

Saint Arnold is known for a core lineup, including Lawnmower, a light bodied German Style Kolsch, as well as a traditional American Style IPA, Elissa. In recent years, Saint Arnold has began to step out of the traditional mold it has followed for years. In 2013, they launched two new lines of beers: Icon is a series of more unique beers released four times a year, and Bishop’s Barrel, a special release series sold only in the bottle available only to bars and restaurants. While coming late to the barrel aging game, the Bishop’s Barrel series has been a hit with fans. In the summer of 2014, Saint Arnold released a Berliner Weisse. Very popular with craft beer fans, the slightly sour German style is an extreme and surprising beer for the generally conservative brewery.

BAKFISH Brewing started when a couple of good friends, Brian and Kris, who shared a passion for quality craft beer, decided to take a leap of faith and quit their jobs to pursue their dream.

BAKFISH Brewing Co. is the first of its kind in Pearland, TX. We brew and serve our craft beer onsite. We have a 2,000 square foot air conditioned tap room and a large covered patio. Guests can enjoy fresh beer while playing games, watching TV or just hanging out. We are family and dog friendly. We do not serve food, however, you may bring your own or try one of the rotating food trucks that may be onsite. Growler fills and cans are available to go.

Robust malt flavor and body balanced to perfection by classic American hops

11 Below Brewing Co., a new brewery located in North Houston, was founded by three former oil industry professionals, Jeff Handojo, Bryce Baker and Brandon Moss. 

The 10,000-square-foot, 30-barrel brewhouse officially opened in May 2015, with Keenan Zarling as head brewmaster. They launched with three beers: 7-Iron, a hoppy session; Oso Bueno, an American Amber; and Color Blind, a Red IPA. 

Sour ale that is aged in Tequila barrels with lime zest and salt.

In 1993, the craft world was a very different place. Styles like Double IPA that now rule the market weren’t even invented yet, and most craft brewers were fighting to simply not be put on the import list. That year, Adam Avery incorporated the Avery Brewing Company in Boulder, Colorado and still acts as president and head brewer. 

Like many of its older craft brew brethren, Avery started out very small. When it opened, the brewery utilized only a seven-barrel tank to ferment, leading to a very low volume of production. In the years since, the brewery has expanded significantly to encompass the entire block of warehouses where it’s located. Even after 21 years, Avery is still a relatively small operation with a limited national footprint.  We’re lucky Avery has been in the Texas market for many years.

These days, Avery is best known for big, extreme beers, but that hasn’t always been the case. The original line-up consisted of an Amber Ale, a Brown and a Dry Stout. It wasn’t until 1995 that Avery released Avery IPA. In 1999, Avery released Hog Heaven, a beer that they still call American Barley Wine to this day, but in reality, Hog Heaven was one of the first Double IPAs in the world.

It was around this time (late 1999 -2003) that Avery’s beer lineup became the heavy hitting powerhouse that it is today.  Reverend the Belgian Quad launched in 2000, Salvation the Belgium Golden in 2002, and in 2003, Czar the Russian Imperial Stout ascended to the throne and is one of Hay Merchant’s favorite Avery beers. Avery’s first experiments with barrel aging began in 2004, along with the release of the Maharaja, a 120 IBU 10.5% monster of an Imperial IPA.

In recent years, Avery has become known for its sour barrel-aged beers. The first beer in the series, Barbant, was released and was limited to 694 cases. It was an ale pitched with Brett and aged for 9 months in Zinfandel barrels. Anvil Bar and Refuge (Hay Merchant’s sister cocktail bar) was one of the only bars in Texas to get a case of this very rare beer.  Over the last few years, Avery has released a few of these beers a year, and each one is different.

A blend of Azacca, Mosaic, and Amarillo hops, added to the whirlpool and also at multiple times in the fermentation process, produces hop flavors and aromas that mimic the addition of ripe tropical fruits.

Philip and Diane Conner and their son, Charles, founded the Real Ale Brewing Company in Blanco, Texas in 1996. They set up shop in the basement of an antiques store on the Blanco town square. They had three original recipes brewing—Full Moon Pale Rye Ale, Rio Blanco Pale Ale and Brewhouse Brown Ale. They were brewing on converted dairy and handmade equipment.

Then they met a young man named Brad. Brad Farbstein was a UT graduate with a degree in economics, an avid homebrewer and was employed by a small craft beer distributor.  Brad had become a pretty big fan of this tiny brewery and found himself occasionally heading out to Blanco to lend Philip and Charles a hand with some bottling or labeling, working for a few beers. Coincidentally, it was around this time that Philip decided to get out of the brewing business. He asked Brad if he might know anyone interested in buying the brewery’s equipment. Recognizing a rare opportunity to turn a dream into reality—even though he had no idea how he was going to pull it off—Brad said, “I’m your man.”

Brad took over the brewery in the summer of 1998, and with the help of two employees, made about 500 barrels of beer that year. The original brewery had a 2-vessel, 15-bbl brewhouse that was basically outside, housed in a carport attached to the store’s basement.  Tanks, cold storage, bottling and labeling equipment and everything else were crammed in a space of less than 2,500 square feet with only 7-foot high ceilings. If you were to design a space to NOT be a brewery, this would probably be it. In spite of the many obstacles, spatial and otherwise, facing the fledgling brewery, the beer flowed and demand for RABC’s handcrafted ales grew exponentially for the next several years.

Real Ale steadily increased its output until finally maxing out the original location at 5,500 barrels in 2006. (If you do the math, that’s 366 batches of beer in one year on a 15 barrel system!) In 2005, Brad realized that for Real Ale to achieve its potential, something had to be done. He took another leap of faith purchased several acres of land just outside the Blanco city limits to allow for the construction of a new brewery from the ground up. Brad likes to say that many years of having to do things the wrong way taught him how to do things the right way.  Construction began in 2005 and the brewery went online in 2006.

The brewery has under gone several small expansions after the big move in 2006. In 2013, the brewery produced approximately 53,000 barrels of beer. As of 2015, RABC had 25 fermenters available ranging in size from 60 bbl to 480 bbl.

They brew on a 60 barrel four-vessel brewhouse consisting of the mash tun, in which they can conduct single and step infusions as well as single decoction mashes, a lauter tun, a kettle, and a whirlpool, with a throughput of 6 brews a day.  All of the fermenters are cylindroconical, otherwise known as unitanks. Unitanks allow the beer to ferment and condition in the same vessel. The packing hall was the newest expansion, which has an average daily output of 2,400 cases of bottles, 1,200 cases of cans and 200 kegs, with a new bottle filler capable of filling 400 bottles a minute.

Brad credits the local Blanco River as "some of the best brewing water for the styles of beer that we make," making Blanco an ideal location for the brewery. The term Real Ale is an English phrase referring to cask conditioned ales. It’s ironic that for the first half of the brewery’s history, they did not make a cask conditioned beer. However once they began to cask condition, they quickly became the best producer of the method in the state. Large cask beer bars like Hay Merchant owe a lot to the knowledge and expertise Real Ale brought to the market.

Real Ale is best known for the Firemans #4, a light, easy drinking Blonde Ale named after Firemans Texas Cruzer, a small local BMX bike builder.  But RABC has gained wide craft beer respect with beers from the Mysterium Verum and Brewer’s Cut lines.

Mysterium Verum is a line of beers in which the beers are aged in barrels. Some of these beers are additionally inoculated with wild yeast and/or bacteria. These beers range greatly in flavor and can only be found on draft and are the rarest beers RABC produces.

In 2012, RABC add the Brewer’s Cut product line, which focuses on developing new recipes to put out to the public, and then relying on customer feedback through social media to determine whether the recipe will be bumped up to a year-round product, a seasonal product, or set with plans to be brewed at a later date again in the series. This is a limited-release product and can be found in both package and draft.

"

Did you know the Gulden Draak (Golden Dragon) owes its name to the gilded statue on top of the Belfry in Ghent?

The legend says the gilded dragon first featured on the prow of the ship with which the Norwegian king Sigrid Magnusson left on a crusade in 1111. He offered the statue to the emperor of Constantinople (the current Istanbul) to put it on the cupola of the Aya Sophia. Some hundred years later, the Flemish count Baldwin IX had the showpiece transported to our regions. Here, the Norwegian dragon ended up in the hands of Bruges. After the battle on the field of Beverhout in 1382, the inhabitants of Ghent took the dragon as war booty and put it on top of their Belfry. In the Belfry all communal charters were kept. The dragon had to protect these documents and it was also the symbol of the freedom and might of the city.

Such an imposing symbol that has lasted for over 6 centuries needs an equally imposing beer. Like the dragon shines at the top of the city, the Gulden Draak is part of the international top of beers. It is a dark triple, which in itself makes it an exceptional beer. But it is the complex taste with hints of caramel, roasted malt and coffee in combination with the creamy hazel head that makes it unique. It is a beer that is worthy of its name.

Like the other special beers of the Brewery Van Steenberge, Gulden Draak is a high fermentation beer with secondary fermentation. For the secondary fermentation, wine yeast is used. This also contributes to the unparalleled taste.

And of course, a unique beer deserves a unique presentation. That’s why Gulden Draak is presented in a white bottle. The white bottle, the black banner, the golden dragon and the red letters, constitute a stylish result that has no equal among the many Belgian special beers.

Gulden Draak can be drunk as an aperitif or dessert, or whenever you have the time to sit back and relax. But this barley wine is also perfect with and in stews, especially the Ghent variety. It is also a plus in sauces for red meat, such as a bordelaise. It is particularly suited as a dessert beer, especially in combination with dark chocolate." -Commercial Description

Like many others of its kind, this brewery originated from a ploughland farm, that was also engaged in brewing beer for its own consumption. The first time this brewery was mentioned on paper was in 1784 under the name of "Brouwerij De Peer." It is very likely however, that there had been a brewery long before that time but that the farmer, John Baptist De Bruin, a native of the village 'St. Kruis Winkel' which is located not too far from the brewery, did not leave any written documents behind until that point in time.

Gradually, brewing became the farm's main pursuit and eventually all agricultural activities were abandoned between the two World Wars. After John Baptist's death, his widow, Angelina Petronella Schelfout, continued the business. From 1876 on, her nephew Jozef Schelfout gave her a helping hand. The brewery was extended with a malting house and a hops field. Indeed, many inhabitants of Ertvelde, the village where the brewery is located, can remember the two-acres field that belonged to the brewery.

Jozef Schelfout's daughter, Magaretha, married Paul van Steenberge, who became mayor of Ertvelde and even Senator in the Belgian Parliament. It was Paul, who eventually changed the brewery's name into "Brouwerij Bios," Bios meaning life. The beer in stock was labeled "Bios": it was a mixture of young beer weakened with a two year old brew. This style of beer today is called: old Brown. The brewer named the beer "Vlaamse Bourgogne" (Flemisch Burgundy), a proper name for such fine quality beer.

In order to comply with changes in common taste, bottom fermentation was introduced. A new brand was born: "Leute Bock", (Leute = Joy) but a commercial name seemed more suitable, and it became SPARTA PILS. The feasibility of this rather expensive switch to lager, depended entirely on the enormous success of the Flemish Burgundy that paid for the investment: better cooling, new lagering tanks in aluminum. On top of that, the old fashioned barrels were to be replaced by glass bottles!

After WW I, the brewery started the production of lemonade. Mr. Jozef Van Steenberge (son of Paul and brewer till 1990) shepherded his business through the crisis of WW II. A war that unfortunately meant the end of hundreds of Flemish village breweries.

Due to the prospering of regional beers, the brewery knew a tremendous uplift. In 1978, the brewery was able to get hold of the recipe and yeasts from the Augustiner monks in Gent, who decided to stop brewing and license the beer out to the Van Steenberge brewery. The brew-engineer at that time, Mr. De Vroe, refined the AUGUSTIJN ale, and turned it into the show-piece of de Van Steenberge brewery. Today, this beer and other special artisanal beers like the Piraat, Gulden Draak, Bruegel and Bornem, all of top-fermentation, make the brewery grow continuously.

In 1990, Mr. Paul Van Steenberge (Joseph's son) took over the mash staff and the brewery. Enormous investments allowed the brewery to follow the technological evolution closely. By the end of 1992, this resulted in the installation of a completely computerized and automated brewery: a real masterpiece. The first in Belgium at that time.

Where is the brewery today? Last year they produced about 35,000 barrels (50,000 HL) of beer with 31 people. Most of the production is sold in Belgium. The export brings the beer all over the world. The top export market is Italy, followed by Holland and the USA. Then comes France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany and other countries.

The mission of the brewery is to brew an exceptional world class beer product, and to stay independent.

• A traditional sour German wheat beer brewed with coriander & sea salt.
• This refreshing beer has a sour & salty twist that helps shake them haters off.

In 1965, the doors to the Houston Astrodome opened for the first time. Dubbed the "8th Wonder of the World", this first ever air-conditioned domed stadium coincided with Houston's launch into the global spotlight.

In 2013, inspired by the spirit of Houston, we began brewing beer in a dome-like warehouse in East Downtown. Exploring styles from across the beer world, we have something for everyone.

We like good beer and good fun, and we strive to craft both at 8th Wonder.

"Modeled after the classic wheat beers of Bavaria, Hefeweizen is cloudy and straw-colored with a meringue-like head that lingers to the bottom of the glass. Brewed with an ample volume of wheat malt and few hops, this beer features a unique yeast strain that produces harmonious notes of clove, banana, and vanilla throughout this effervescent brew. A traditional interpretation of a classic style, this idiosyncratic Bavarian beer is perfectly at home here in Texas." Commercial Description

The name of the style itself can frequently help decipher what the beer should taste like. Weisen or Weizen are German words that literally mean “wheat.” According to the German beer purity law, the names Hefeweizen, Wezenbier or Wessbier (the names are used interchangeably) the beer must be at least 50 percent wheat. Weissbier is German for “white beer.” Weissbiers were much paler than the dark beers that were so popular in Bavaria in earlier times, so the word “white” is used relatively. By today’s standards, Weissbier is more golden due to the development of light beers like Pilsner and Helles.

The terms Hefe Weissbier or Hefe Weizen refer to any Weissbier that has yeast (Hefe) in it (i.e., a bottle-conditioned Weissbier). Outside Bavaria, most wheat beers are called Hefeweizen regardless of the yeast content or flavor profile. This practice is becoming less frequent as the American beer drinker becomes more savvy. We use the name Hefeweizen to describe a very specific German style of top fermenting wheat beer.

Appearance 
The appearance of Hefeweizen is pale straw to very dark gold in color. A good amount of haziness should be expected and is appropriate. A very thick, mousse-like, long lasing white head is characteristic.

Aroma/Flavor
The aroma has moderate to strong phenols and fruity esters. Noble hop character ranges from low to none. A light to moderate wheat aroma may be present. Acceptable aromatics can include a light, citrusy tartness, a light to moderate vanilla character and a low bubblegum and banana aroma.

The flavor is a low to moderately strong banana and clove flavor. The balance and intensity of the phenol and ester components can vary.  A very light to moderate vanilla character or low bubblegum notes can accentuate the banana flavor. The soft, bready or grainy flavor of wheat is complementary. Hop flavor is low to none. A tart, citrusy character from yeast and high carbonation is often present. Well rounded with dry finish.

The mouthfeel is medium-light to medium body.  The texture of wheat imparts the sensation of a fluffy, creamy fullness that may progress to a light, spritzy finish aided by high carbonation. Overall, a pale, spicy, fruity, refreshing wheat-based ale should be expected

Ingredients 
According to the German beer purity law, the beer must be at least 50 percent wheat.

Glassware and Serving Temperature 
At Hay Merchant we serve this style in a 20oz German Pilsner glass from our lager cooler at 35°-37° F.

Stats 
Beers of this style are most often 4.3% - 5.6% ABV and 8-15 IBU. 

Examples 
Beers like Live Oak Hefeweizen, and Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier are great examples of the style. 

History 
By the end of the middle ages in Germany, both barley and wheat were being used to make a top-fermented beer. The first true Weissbiers were made toward the end of the 15^th century. In 1602, Duke Maximilian I placed a ban on public Weissbier brewing, and the Bavarian House of Dukes became the only body with the legal authority to brew Weissbiers. The profits from Prince Maximilian’s Weiss brewing helped fund the Thirty Years War.

As the popularity of Weissbier waned, the German House of Dukes begin to outsource the reasonability to brew to the private sector around the early part of the 1800s but still maintained control.

But the move to private brewing would not be enough to save Weissbier from extinction.  In 1855, Georg Schneider bought Wesses Brauhaus in Munich. In 1872, he worked a deal that ended the 250 year reign of royal brewing and allowed him to operate under his own terms. Even still, it wasn’t until the end of World War II that Weissbier regained its place as the No. 1 beer in Germany. Weissbier accounts for around 22 percent of the German market. It’s is the No. 1 selling micro-brewed style in Australia and can be found in the lineup of many American microbreweries.

The Live Oak Brewing Company, located in Austin, Texas since 1997, is a locally owned and operated brewery. Founder Chip McElroy can still be seen at the brewery almost every day.

Live Oak is best known for their traditional German style lagers. They also produce a very good year-round IPA (often available on cask at Hay Merchant), as well as an amazing English Barley Wine. The brewery produces four year-round beers as well as four seasonal (or special release) beers. Live Oak beers are only available on draft.

While Live Oak uses industry standard step mashing for most of their beers, they use a more difficult and rarely used old-world style of mashing known as decoction mashing for a few of their beers, most notably the Live Oak Pilz and the Oaktoberfest. Live Oak uses large dairy tanks as fermenting vessels instead of the more traditional cylindroconical fermenters.

The brewery is currently run out of an old industrial building in Southeast Austin. Recently, the company purchased 20 acres of undeveloped land on the Colorado river just north of the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on which to build a new brewery, estimated to take "a couple of years” to complete. When this expansion is completed, it is expected that they will add a bottling line.

"“Schlenkerla Helles” is brewed with fine Bavarian aroma hops from the area around the city of Nürnberg. It's lagered in century old caves underneath the historic Schlenkerla brewery and maltings. Schlenkerla Helles is boiled in the same copper kettles and bottom fermented by the same yeast as the historic Schlenkerla Smokebeer. Its subtle smokiness without using smoke malt makes “Helles Schlenkerla Lager” a unique representative of the classic lager beer style “Bavarian Helles”" Commercial Description

The historic smoked beer brewery Schlenkerla is located in the middle of the old part of Bamberg.  Bamberg's specialty, the original Schlenkerla Smokebeer, is still being tapped directly from the wooden barrel according to old tradition.

Its smoky flavor is achieved by exposing the malt to the intense, aromatic smoke of burning beechwood logs at the Schlenkerla maltings. After mixing it with premium-class hops in the brew, it matures in 700-year-old cellars into a mellow beer. 

Firestone Walker Brewing Company brewed its first beer in 1996 in a small facility rented from the Firestone Vineyard estate in Santa Barbara County.  In 2001, owners (and brothers-in-law) Adam Firestone and David Walker purchased the SLO Brewing Company located in Paso Robles, CA.

Firestone Walker’s ales are selectively fermented in the Firestone Union oak barrel brewing system. The Firestone Union incorporates 65-gallon, medium and heavy toast American oak barrels.

Firestone Walker takes pride in making exceptional pale ales. More recently, they created a seasonal series offering, as well as their Proprietor’s Reserve series of beers, born from their Anniversary program. These vintage and limited release beers are the consummate sipping beers, meant to be enjoyed with friends and family. 

Firestone Walker Brewing Company continues to grow as the palates of Americans migrate to craft beer. Their brew staff has picked up “Mid Size Brewery of the Year” at the World Beer Cup an unmatched four times.

Blacksmith has teamed up with Clown Shoes brewing to bring Texas an amazing coffee bourbon barrel aged russian imperial stout! Blacksmtih pulled 1,000 shots of espresso, using Finca Santa Barbara coffee beans from Apaneca, El Salvador, to be used in the beer!

The Clown Shoes mission is to produce beer without pretension while being free and a little crazy. Jesse Dooley, beer manager of Berman's liquor store in Lexington, Mass. began improving the store's beer offerings a few years ago. Eventually Gregg Berman, one of the owners, became interested in the craft beers he was bringing in. They started to talk about the idea of making their own beer, and then the realization clicked...they already had a distribution license. They could make a beer and distribute it! They initially contacted a few breweries to work with and Mercury Brewing Company, brewers of Ipswich Ales, stepped to the plate with open arms. Head Brewer Dan Lipke was the perfect match because he didn't merely listen to what Berman and Dooley were saying, he really understood what they wanted out of the brand. 

What really sums up Clown Shoes is how they look at beer. Their goal: "To bring fresh, local and innovative beers to the folks without pretension. Ultimately, if we can make beer that people enjoy we have accomplished our goal." 

Sour with Flavors of Cherries and Notes of Bourbon, Oak, and Vanilla 

In 1993, the craft world was a very different place. Styles like Double IPA that now rule the market weren’t even invented yet, and most craft brewers were fighting to simply not be put on the import list. That year, Adam Avery incorporated the Avery Brewing Company in Boulder, Colorado and still acts as president and head brewer. 

Like many of its older craft brew brethren, Avery started out very small. When it opened, the brewery utilized only a seven-barrel tank to ferment, leading to a very low volume of production. In the years since, the brewery has expanded significantly to encompass the entire block of warehouses where it’s located. Even after 21 years, Avery is still a relatively small operation with a limited national footprint.  We’re lucky Avery has been in the Texas market for many years.

These days, Avery is best known for big, extreme beers, but that hasn’t always been the case. The original line-up consisted of an Amber Ale, a Brown and a Dry Stout. It wasn’t until 1995 that Avery released Avery IPA. In 1999, Avery released Hog Heaven, a beer that they still call American Barley Wine to this day, but in reality, Hog Heaven was one of the first Double IPAs in the world.

It was around this time (late 1999 -2003) that Avery’s beer lineup became the heavy hitting powerhouse that it is today.  Reverend the Belgian Quad launched in 2000, Salvation the Belgium Golden in 2002, and in 2003, Czar the Russian Imperial Stout ascended to the throne and is one of Hay Merchant’s favorite Avery beers. Avery’s first experiments with barrel aging began in 2004, along with the release of the Maharaja, a 120 IBU 10.5% monster of an Imperial IPA.

In recent years, Avery has become known for its sour barrel-aged beers. The first beer in the series, Barbant, was released and was limited to 694 cases. It was an ale pitched with Brett and aged for 9 months in Zinfandel barrels. Anvil Bar and Refuge (Hay Merchant’s sister cocktail bar) was one of the only bars in Texas to get a case of this very rare beer.  Over the last few years, Avery has released a few of these beers a year, and each one is different.

Big citrus hops with orange, tangerine, vanilla, clean crushed citrus, stone fruit and passionfruit. 

(512) Brewing Company is a microbrewery located in the heart of Austin. Owner Kevin Brand, with an engineering degree and a background in medical devices, is a self-taught brewer.  (512), named for the Austin area code, brews for the community using as many local, domestic and organic ingredients as possible. (512) beers are built on old world English and Belgian styles, enhanced to celebrate bold domestic ingredients.

Flagship beers include Wit, Pale, IPA and Pecan Porter.  Limited beers include (512) Black IPA, (512) Bruin, (512) Whiskey Barrel Aged Double Pecan Porter and more.

"These days Reissdorf Kolsch has almost reached a "cult status" with beer connoisseurs around the world looking at it as a "well preserved secret". Top fermentation lasts for about eight days with another four weeks of cold conditioning following. "Reissdorf Kolsch" is designed to be pale of color, soft on the palate, restrained on fruitiness, with a delicate dryness in the finish. "Reissdorf Kolsch" is a "session style" beer served in its typical 7 oz. glass in the wee-hours after work.

Another tradition unique to this beer style is its method of serving. Small wooden casks brought up to the pub via dumb waiter and placed on the bar counter are gravity -dispensed into narrow, cylindrical glasses (20 cl) called " Stangen" to expedite the pouring of the beer as well as to reduce the waiting time for impatient guests." Commercial Description

Kolsch
Kolsch is a young style in the beer world, recognized only for the last 100 years or so. It’s a crisp, clean, delicately balanced beer with very subtle fruit flavors and aromas.

Appearance 
The appearance of Kolsch is very pale or light gold. Authentic versions are filtered to a brilliant clarity.

Aroma/Flavor
Kolsch has a pleasant, subtle fruit aroma from fermentation.  Sometimes there is a light sulfur character from the yeast. The lower fermention temperature forces the yeast to strugle and thus produce slightly sulfur off flavors. 

The style has a delicate flavor and a low to medium bitterness with a dryness and slight pucker in the finish, but no harsh dryness.  It is smooth and crisp in the mouth with a light to medium body.  It’s generally well attenuated, but not dry. It’s more malty than a Helles and less bitter than a Pilsner. 

Ingredients 
Kolsch is made with German noble hops and German Pils or pale malt. Traditionally, this style uses a step mash program—fermented at cool temperatures and lagered for at least a month. Kolsch yeast is top fermenting. It’s a hybrid because it uses an ale yeast but is lagered for as long as 10 weeks. 

Glassware and Serving Temperature 
Kolsch is classically served in a small 200mL straight-sided glass, but at Hay Merchant, we serve this style in an American Pint poured from our lager cooler at 35°-37° F.

Stats
Beers of this style are most often 4.4%-5.2% ABV and 20-30 IBU. 

Example
Great examples of this style are Sunner Kolsch and Saint Arnold’s Lawnmower. 

History 

Founded on October 4, 1894 by Heinrich Reissdorf and his wife Gertrud in the city of Cologne (Köln), the Reissdorf brewery has established itself as the pre-eminent brewery of the classic Kölsch.

During the period of "promoterism" at the end of the 19th century, the breweries in Cologne sprang up like mushrooms. In this era, the Privat-brauerei Heinrich Reissdorf was founded. Its founder, Heinrich Reissdorf, derived from an old-established farmer family who were based in Zieverich as farriers and coach builders. A few years later, in 1905, the name Kölsch was established for the top-fermented Cologne beer-speciality. After Heinrich's death in 1901, Gertrud Reissdorf managed the brewery until 1908. The continuance of the company had never been in danger, though, since the Reissdorf couple had five sons: Johann Hubert, Heinrich, Hermann, Friedrich and Carl Reissdorf.

When the product range was diversified to further other styles of beer, the top-fermenting brewery was renamed to Brauerei Heinrich Reissdorf in 1923. Friedrich's two sons Hermann-Josef and Karl-Heinz led the company through economically difficult times after World War II, when 90 percent of the brewery was destroyed. Today, the business is continued in the fourth generation.

Due to a prosperous development of the Privat-Brauerei Heinrich Reissdorf, a new site for the brewery had to be found within the boundaries of the city of Cologne; therefore, the company purchased premises in an industrial park in Cologne-Rodenkirchen. With the new production facility, a brewery with most modern brewing technology was built, which meets the highest quality criteria.

"Kwaremont blond is just like the killer climb of the Oude Kwaremont in the Flemish Ardennes: fiery and packed with character. This full malt beer delivers that jolt of liquid sugar you crave after pedalling your heart out." Commercial Description

The Brabandere Brewery (Brouwerij De Brabandere) was founded in 1894 and opened in 1895 by Adolphe De Brabandere in Bavikhove. In 1909, Joseph Brabandere took the brewery over and renamed it The Brewery of Saint Anthony and also expanded its production capacity. In 1950, other family members took control of the brewery, changed the name back to Brabandere Brewery and began to open a large number of cafés and pubs. Bradandere expanded its own market base by making the brewery the sole supplier of product to those cafés.

In 1990, the family split the operations of the cafés and the brewery. The brewery was renamed again, this time taking inspiration from the town that had been home to the brewery for almost 100 years—Bavik. Over the next decade, the brewery made some large investments into the brewery itself, modernizing the brewery and expanding capacity, making it one of the largest family-owned breweries in Belgium.

In 2013, the fifth generation of the Brabandere family took over. The decision was made to once again use the family name, and thus the Brabandere Brewery was revived.

In Belgium, beers are traditionally known by their stand alone brand names and not by the brewery name. Brabandere brews  three main brands: Bavik, Wittekerke and Petrus. Bavik is best known for the Pilsner, a light, refreshing, slightly hopped bohemian rendition of the style. Wittekerke is the brand used to sell wheat beers. Petrus is the moniker that adorns the “special” beers—usually higher in alcohol or anything different from the core brand of that particular brewery, not always referring to the same style of beer. The most notable beer from the Petrus line is the Aged Pale: 100 percent pale malts, dry hopped and aged for at least 18 months in large wooden fermenters. This beer is light in body but aggressively sour in taste—a Hay Merchant favorite.

Loggerbier is a german pils that sat in our tanks fermenting and conditioning for over 6 weeks, resulting in an amazingly crisp, clean, and floral beer.

Pilsner is the dominant beer style in the world today.  All 3 Pilsner sub styles—Czech (Bohemian), German and International—share the same basic flavor profile and the same root history, but German Pilsners are better attenuated and drier then their Czech cousins, showing off more hop bitterness. 

Appearance
Pilsners should be pale straw to golden, and very clear with a frothy, clean white head. Pilsners should look clean, and German Pilsner will be slightly lighter in color then the Czech style. 

Aroma/Flavor
Crispness is the most universal flavor profile for this style. Water type plays a huge role in taste. Pilsners have light malt aromas, a backbone of graininess and a grassy noble hop note. German Pilsners are more earthy and bitter in both aroma and flavor because they use Saaz hops in addition to other European Noble hops, whereas Czech Pilsner uses only Saaz hops.

There are two types of German Pilsner, distinguished by the difference in the water of Northern and Southern Germany. The water in the North is fairly hard, which accentuates bitterness and creates a very hoppy beer—strong, zesty, in-your-face hop bitterness. In Southern Germany, where you will find extremely soft water, the bitterness is suppressed, resulting in more of a mellow hop.

Ingredients
The most common ingredients for this style are 2-row Pilsner malts and German low Alpha hops. 

Glassware/Serving Temperature
At Hay Merchant, you will most often find Pilsners served in the 20oz Pilsner glass and stored in our lager cooler at 35° F.

Stats
This style will have a common ABV range of  4.5%-6% (American Pilsners trending toward the higher percentage). This style will have an average IBU range of 25-45 (German Pils trending toward the higher IBU).

History
The story of the Czech Pilsner is really a story about the blending of technology and raw ingredients. The Czech Pilsner was created as a result of the technological revolution that occurred in Germany in the mid-19^th century. The style was possible due to advances in refrigeration, transportation, steam and microbiology.

The style originated in the town of Plzen, Czechoslovakia around 1840. The Czech-speaking lands of Bohemia were home to two very important ingredients: very good quality 2-row barley and Saaz hops. For centuries, the Grand Dukes of Bohemia attempted to control the supply of these hops by imposing the death penalty on anyone caught smuggling the Saaz hop rhizomes (root cuttings) out of the region.  

In 1838, an entire season’s worth of beer was poured out in the town square because it was of low quality. The Czechs have always taken their beer very seriously and had little acceptance for bad beer. As a result of this bad batch of beer, in 1840, the town of Plzen voted to build a new brewery that utilized the pressurized steam to heat the brew kettles.

In 1842, Josef Groll was hired to be the brewmaster for this new state-of-the-art brewery. Groll was the son of a Bavarian brewer from just outside Munich. When he got to Pilzen, he borrowed heavily from Bavarian brewers and hired Bavarian assistants and Bavarian barrel makers. He even brought a Bavarian yeast strain with him.  For all his talent as a brewer, Groll was not a well-liked man. His own father called him “the rudest man in Bavaria.” It might have been for his inability to work with other people that led to his contract not being renewed when it expired in 1845. However, in his short tenure in Pilzen, he helped birth the Bohemia and the lager. 

Summary
In summary, the German Pilsner is slightly lighter in color than other Pilsner styles and are more earthy and hitter in aroma and flavor, due to its use of Saaz and other European Boble hops. Water distinguishes the two types of German Pilsner: hard water in Northern Germany accentuates bitterness and creates a very hoppy beer, which the soft water in the South suppresses the bitterness. 

The Greek letter sigma is used as a summation operator in math, engineering, and in science in general. We wanted to name our brewery something that was personal to us and represented how much beer is a part of our lives, so we thought it was a good fit. Sigma, to us, means that brewing is the summation of our lives, and sharing it with others is what has made us whole.

At Sigma, we are just regular dudes that have all lead different lives, and over the years the one thing that always kept us connected was our passion and love for beer and home brewing. As we started brewing not-so- shitty beer at home, we started to wonder if one day we could make beer our jobs and not just our favorite pastime. From there, “The Brewery,” as it became known, was something that we all fantasized about.

About 7 years ago, we decided to stop fantasizing. We took a hard look at ourselves and knew that we didn’t have what it took to start and run a brewery, so we rubbed our hands together and got to work. We did our research, we (drank) did our homework, and we convinced not only ourselves, but others, that we (sort of) knew what we were doing, and if nothing else our passion and drive could make "The Brewery" a reality. We will be the first to admit we don't know everything, but we are sure as hell going to enjoy learning from the process.

So come hang out with us and tell us if you think our beer sucks or not, cause either way, we are going to love what we do and we can't wait to share that with you.

A light and refreshing IPA, Galaxy hops add mellow tropical flavors and aroma, balanced with just enough malt to create a subtle bitter finish.

Brazos Valley Brewing Company was founded in Brenham, Texas, in December 2013.  Brothers Josh and Jeremy, along with longtime friends Nelson, Todd and Richard, create this five-man team of craft brewing enthusiasts. With its 20-barrel brewhouse and passion for brewing bold and tasteful beer, Brazos Valley Brewing aims to make a variety of high-quality craft beers for the people of Texas.

Their first recipe, the Golden Ale, is available year-round, along with other year-round and seasonal beers. 

Their patio at the old Brenham Brewery is open to the public every Friday and Saturday night, 6-10pm. 

50% ale aged in Tequila barrels and 50% ale aged in Cabernet Sauvignon barrels 

In 1993, the craft world was a very different place. Styles like Double IPA that now rule the market weren’t even invented yet, and most craft brewers were fighting to simply not be put on the import list. That year, Adam Avery incorporated the Avery Brewing Company in Boulder, Colorado and still acts as president and head brewer. 

Like many of its older craft brew brethren, Avery started out very small. When it opened, the brewery utilized only a seven-barrel tank to ferment, leading to a very low volume of production. In the years since, the brewery has expanded significantly to encompass the entire block of warehouses where it’s located. Even after 21 years, Avery is still a relatively small operation with a limited national footprint.  We’re lucky Avery has been in the Texas market for many years.

These days, Avery is best known for big, extreme beers, but that hasn’t always been the case. The original line-up consisted of an Amber Ale, a Brown and a Dry Stout. It wasn’t until 1995 that Avery released Avery IPA. In 1999, Avery released Hog Heaven, a beer that they still call American Barley Wine to this day, but in reality, Hog Heaven was one of the first Double IPAs in the world.

It was around this time (late 1999 -2003) that Avery’s beer lineup became the heavy hitting powerhouse that it is today.  Reverend the Belgian Quad launched in 2000, Salvation the Belgium Golden in 2002, and in 2003, Czar the Russian Imperial Stout ascended to the throne and is one of Hay Merchant’s favorite Avery beers. Avery’s first experiments with barrel aging began in 2004, along with the release of the Maharaja, a 120 IBU 10.5% monster of an Imperial IPA.

In recent years, Avery has become known for its sour barrel-aged beers. The first beer in the series, Barbant, was released and was limited to 694 cases. It was an ale pitched with Brett and aged for 9 months in Zinfandel barrels. Anvil Bar and Refuge (Hay Merchant’s sister cocktail bar) was one of the only bars in Texas to get a case of this very rare beer.  Over the last few years, Avery has released a few of these beers a year, and each one is different.

"This is our classic bourbon barrel-aged barleywine – kicked up a notch. We took Mash, already oaky, sticky and sweet, and amplified its barrel character with the addition of fresh vanilla beans. This vanilla prominence is complemented by the woody bourbon flavors and coconut notes that are imparted to the beer as part of its extensive maturation in oak bourbon barrels. Mash & Vanilla is best enjoyed fresh to experience the vanilla flavors at peak strength." Commercial Description

The Bruery is a boutique craft brewery located in Orange County, CA specializing in barrel aged and experimental ales. Founded as a small, friend & family run business in 2008, The Bruery takes it’s unique moniker from founder Patrick Rue’s family surname.

Patrick picked up homebrewing as a hobby, later to become an obsession, as a distraction to the banality of law school. Soon he was winning numerous awards for his beers and driving his wife, Rachel, mad with the messes that he would leave on the kitchen stove. Upon finishing school, he took it upon himself to draw up a business plan rather than study for the California Bar exam – a risky endeavor that shows through still today in the creative, genre-tilting beers that The Bruery prides itself on.

The Bruery is founded on the excitement that Patrick felt in those first years of homebrewing and we continue to strive for that same passion in every aspect of our business today. We never stop challenging ourselves to develop distinctive & imaginative beers, constantly pursuing improvement in all that we do. We brew dozens of original beers each year with our list of ingredients and inspirations growing perpetually. Our collection of oak barrels has also become a primary element of our brewery. Nearly half of our beer is aged in wine or spirit barrels bringing forth flavors reminiscent of the Belgian countryside or classic American distillers.

We greatly value our customers as well as our employees at The Bruery and want to give them all an impassioned way to spend their time while sharing a beer worth talking about.

A bright and delicate hop creation featuring Amarillo hop alongside simcoe and mosaic. Wheat and Oats in the malt bill.

(512) Brewing Company is a microbrewery located in the heart of Austin. Owner Kevin Brand, with an engineering degree and a background in medical devices, is a self-taught brewer.  (512), named for the Austin area code, brews for the community using as many local, domestic and organic ingredients as possible. (512) beers are built on old world English and Belgian styles, enhanced to celebrate bold domestic ingredients.

Flagship beers include Wit, Pale, IPA and Pecan Porter.  Limited beers include (512) Black IPA, (512) Bruin, (512) Whiskey Barrel Aged Double Pecan Porter and more.

Produced in partnership with Primus Cerveceria, a leading Mexican craft brewery based in Mexico City founded by three cousins, Rodolfo, Jaime, and Rebeca. Mural is our joint homage to the classic agua fresca that also pushes the boundaries of what a beer can be. 

In Mexico, the agua fresca is everywhere.  They're usually found in street food markets and feature a blend of seasonal fruits. Our cerveza takes inspiration from agua frescas and features hibiscus, agave, watermelon, and lime for a fresh, vibrant sip.  

New Belgium founder Jeff Lebesch was inspired to start his own brewery during a mountain biking trip to Belgium in 1989. 1989.  He returned home to Fort Collins, Colorado and began brewing beer in his basement--a brown dubbel with earthy undertones named Abbey and a well-balanced amber called Fat Tire. 

Jeff’s Belgian inspired brews garnered enough praise from friends and neighbors that Jeff and his wife Kim (now New Belgium's CEO) took their basement brewery commercial in 1991. Kim, social worker by day and mother to two always, began the marketing process by knocking on their neighbor's door. Artist Anne Fitch was that neighbor, whose watercolors came to help craft the New Belgium brand for 23 years, including the original Fat Tire label. 

Bringing on Peter Bouckaert, a Belgian Brewmaster previously working at Rodenbach, in 1996 helped influence their love of sour beers. Moving forward, Peter would take the brewing reins as Jeff began pursuing other interests. In 2009, Jeff moved on completely and New Belgium continues to flourish with Kim, Peter and a team of dedicated employee-owners at the helm. 

New Belgium is expanding to Asheville, North Carolina, and is in the midst of construction on a 133,000-square-foot brewery, scheduled to start brewing beer by the end of 2015. 

Ducato Microbrewery was founded in 2007 in Roncole Verdi, a small village in Parma County, by Giovanni Campari, a home brewer with a BA in Food Science and Technology. 

Ducato selects the highest quality raw materials by directly visiting the farmers whenever possible. The malts have different origins: some are imported directly from France and England whereas others are purchased from Germany and Belgium. The hops come from Germany and are personally selected during harvest time, as well as England, the United States and New Zealand. The yeasts are selected strains propagated in the brewery. They brew using top, bottom and mix fermentation by adding wild yeasts and lactic bacteria.

All the beers are unpasteurized, because they believe that putting such an aromatically complex and delicate product through heat treatment would forever compromise its organoleptic quality and freshness. Some of their beers undergo a natural conditioning process in closed tanks to end fermentation and are later bottled in an isobaric manner. Others are bottle conditioned—given a dose of either sugar or wort before bottling which, after a period under controlled temperatures, triggers in-bottle fermentation, thus naturally carbonating the beer. 

Ducato is currently exporting more than 15 percent of its production to the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Norway, Sweden, Spain and Japan.

“In a state known for theme parks, Cigar City Brewing has become a major attraction for those who appreciate and seek out excellent beer. It opened with a flourish and spread its reach quickly, appealing to both hardened beer geeks and brew novices with eyebrow-raising flavors and commitment to quality. Capitalizing on the Latin culture and tobacco-manufacturing history of Tampa Bay, Cigar City highlights those strengths on its labels and in its beer names and recipes. Many of the beers it produces – Jai Alai IPA, Improv Oatmeal Rye India-Style Brown Ale, Cubano-Style Espresso Brown Ale – reflect the sensibilities and ingredients of Florida. One of Cigar City Brewing’s most sought after beers is a special release called Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout. The 11 percent ale is aged on cacao nibs, Madagascar vanilla beans, ancho chiles, pasilla chiles, and cinnamon.”
– John Holl, The American Craft Beer Cookbook

At Cigar City Brewing we make beer we like to drink and toast those who choose to drink with us. Behind all our beer is the philosophy that quality is achieved by giving first rate ingredients to first rate people in a space where they are free to pursue their passion. We acknowledge that what we do at Cigar City Brewing isn’t for everyone, but we welcome all.

"This German-Style
Festbier is amber-hued with a full malt aroma and a thick, creamy, foamy froth.
The taste offers a decidedly nutty light roast with an emphasis
on malt sweetness that's smooth and well balanced." Commercial Description

The name Oktoberfest and Märzen can be used somewhat interchangeably to describe a classic German style with roots dating back to 1840. It is important to note that Oktoberfest the beer and Oktoberfest the event do not go hand in hand. The city of Munich has officially celebrated the Oktoberfest since 1810. The beer wasn’t developed until 1840 and didn’t use the name Oktoberfest until 1872.

Appearance 
This clean lager has a dark gold to deep orange-red color with bright clarity and a solid off-white head.

Flavor/Aroma
Oktoberfest beers have a rich German malt aroma from Vienna or Munich malts, and a light-to-moderate toasted malt aroma is often present.  The flavor has an initial toffee-like malty sweetness but moderately dry finish. The style should have medium body, with a creamy texture, moderate hops and medium carbonation.  

Ingredients 
This style of beer will most often use 2-row barley in the form of crystal, Vienna and pils malt. Much of the base malt is Munich with Continental hops. A double decoction mash is traditionally used. 

Glassware and Serving Temperature
At Hay Merchant, we serve this style in a 16oz American Pint. We store the beer in the lager cooler at 35° F.

Stats 
Märzen is slightly less hoppier then Vienna, ranging in the low 20s (IBU) while Vienna is in the high 20s. Märzens are also slightly lighter in color then Viennas (9-13 SRM compared to 11-14 SRM). Both styles noticeably lighter then than dark lagers of the time (40 SRM). 

Examples
Common craft brewed examples of this style are Ayinger Marzen and Spaten Oktoberfest.

History
The Oktoberfest event is the result of a decree issued in 1553 by Duke Albrecht V in which he forbade all brewing between April 23 and September 29. The purpose of this was to keep beer from quickly spoiling during the summer months. The people did not know it at the time, but the warm season fueled the growth of harmful beer-spoiling bacteria. Because of the decree, brewing increased in the month of March to ensure a supply over the summer. March beers were brewed slightly stronger and stored at lower temperatures.

Over time, it became common practice for brewers and the towns around the breweries to hold small local celebrations when the breweries started up production for the next year: late September to early October. While there is little evidence to support the theory, it is very possible that brewers begin to brew special beer or extra beer in April to help support these festivals in September-October.

In 1810, the city of Munich held the first official Oktoberfest. The Bavarian King Maximilian I held the two-day event October 13-14 to celebrate the marriage of his son.  The event took place in four locations throughout the city and offered free beer and food.  This proved so popular, it became an annual celebration.

In the 1870s, the event was moved to September for weather concerns. October has traditionally been the start of the rainy season in Munich.

There are strict rules about the beer served at this event. Only beer brewed by the larger breweries within the Munich city limits is allowed to be served at Oktoberfest. As a result, the exact style of beer poured at the event has changed as the taste of the public and the styles being produced by those breweries has changed. It is this reason that the event and the beer style are alike in name only. 

The beer served at the event has become lighter and lighter over the last century. By the 1990s, all beers served at the Oktoberfest were slightly sweet golden colored lagers. According to EU regulations, no one other than the officially authorized lager breweries of Munich are allowed to label beer as Oktoberfest. This, of course, has no effect on American brewers who brew Oktoberfest beer to the classic 19^th century standard and use the name Oktoberfest.

Märzen and Vienna Lager are very closely related. Both beers were brought to the market in 1841, one year before Pilsner made its appearance. The two brewers that invented the styles (Vienna lagers and Märzen) were close friends and helped each other develop the two different styles. Märzen was developed by Gabriel Sedlmayr, son of Spaten Brewery’s owner Joseph Sedlmayr.

Prior to the development of Vienna lagers, Märzen and Pilsner in the early 1840s, all German lagers were some shade of dark brown. This was to do with the malts brewers were using. Prior to 1840, all German malts were dried using a direct fire method. This technique used open flame to heat the stone floor of the malt kiln. The resulting malts were unevenly roasted. Some kernels were very dark while others were light, and some kernels were very dry while others still had fairly high moisture content.

In the early 1800s, the British had developed a way to dry malts using an indirect method. By using heated air instead of direct flame, the malt could be completely dried without burning or even darkening. The result was pale malt. The British used pale malt to start brewing beers like Pale Ale.

In 1833, Dreher and Sedlmayr went on a fact-finding mission to the United Kingdom. Some people would call the trip an exercise in industrial espionage; some would call it smart business. Call what you may, but upon their return to their respective breweries, they quickly adopted the British method of malt drying.

Using these new methods, Sedlmayr released a completely new beer at the Spaten tent at the Oktoberfest in 1841. Märzen was typical Central European in its medium body and full malty flavor. Märzen finishes sweeter then Vienna and has less hop bitterness up front. The unique blend of British influence and German flavor lead to the invention of a new beer style and a new type of malt.  The malt used to make the first Märzen by Spaten is named after its home city Munich.

In 1872, Spaten used the name Oktoberfestbier to describe the Märzen they were selling at that year’s Oktoberfest.

Southern Star Brewing Company was founded in July 2007 in Conroe, Texas (north of Houston).

The first craft brewery in Texas to offer canned beer, Southern Star started production in March 2008.  The first beer ever brewed was the Pine Belt Pale Ale and soon added Bombshell Blonde and Buried Hatchet Stout to the list of year-round releases. 

The brewery's season beers, such as Le Mort Vivant and Walloon, are based on beer styles that were all but extinct.  Coming soon: the Taproom Series, a line of limited draught-only beers. 

Southern Star has broken ground on a new facility, expected to open in late 2015. 

Bell's Brewery, Inc. is a brewing company based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, with a second brewery in Comstock, Michigan. Bell's also has a brewpub called the Eccentric Cafe.

Larry Bell incorporated The Kalamazoo Brewing Company, Inc., in 1983 as a home-brewing supply shop. In 1985, it began to sell its own beer, producing 135 barrels in its first year.

The brewery today consists of two separate brewing facilities, the original Kalamazoo Avenue facility, and the state-of-the-art Krum Avenue brewery, in Comstock, Michigan, which opened in 2003. The Kalamazoo Avenue brewery is adjacent to its pub—Bell's Eccentric Cafe—and a General Store which sells Bell's beer and apparel, as well as homebrewing supplies.

As of 2005, Kalamazoo Brewing Company changed their name to Bell's Brewery, Inc., reflecting the name by which most people refer to the brewery; it was formally reincorporated as Bell's Brewery, Inc., in 2006.

Big Bright Lemony Tartness with Sour Cherry Flavor

Hanssens Artisanaal is the oldest independent geuze blender in the whole world. At Hanssens, no beer is actually brewed! Instead, they pursue a profession that was very important in the history of lambic style beers, they are solely blenders of beer.

Lambic beers are famous for being "wild fermented". Instead of adding a special yeast strain to cause fermentation, some brewers in the Senne river valley leave the warm, sweet, unfermented beer (called wort) open to the elements. Wild strains of yeast and other micro organisms will then seed the liquid. Normally when brewing beer, a brewers yeast will be used to turn sugar into alcohol and certain flavor elements of the beer. In these wild beers, yeast and others will turn sugar into alcohol, acid, and a huge variety of flavor chemicals. 

Since each batch is different, the beer has to be blended with multiple batches to create a consistent product. Most lambics are created from a mixture of aged sour beer and young, sweeter beer. They are then barrel aged to combine the flavors.

Hanssens takes this a step further, and actually blends batches from different breweries in their area. This used to be a very common practice, but Hanssens is now the oldest remaining blender. They bring to this endeavor a variety of barrels, some up to one hundred years old, and a passion and a love for the tradition of Geuze and Lambics. They will also add whole fruits to some of their beers, to make even more flavorful blends.

Hanssens Bartholomeus, former major of Dworp, started to brew lambic in 1871, in the previous Sint-Antonius brewery. Documents have proven that he continued to brew, from 1896 onwards, in buildings located in the Vroenenbosstraat, Dworp. These premises are still used. 

"Pale Ale began as a home brewer’s dream, grew into an icon, and inspired countless brewers to follow a passion of their own. Its unique piney and grapefruit aromas from the use of whole-cone American hops have fascinated beer drinkers for decades and made this beer a classic, yet it remains new, complex and surprising to thousands of beer drinkers every day." Commercial Description

In 1979, Ken Grossman began building a small brewery in the town of Chico, California. His goal: to brew exceptional ales and lagers. Today, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. is considered the premier craft brewery in the United States. And the beer? Critics proclaim it, “Among the best brewed anywhere in the world.” 

Ken’s passion for brewing began when a friend’s father showed him the basics of homebrewing. Using homemade equipment, he began brewing five-gallon batches of beer on his own and soon became a proficient home brewer. 

In 1976, after studying chemistry and physics at Butte Community College and California State University, Chico, he opened his own store, The Home Brew Shop. There, he supplied Chico’s homebrewing community with equipment, materials and advice, but dreamed of opening his own brewery. 

Two years later, it was time to make the dream a reality. Ken cobbled together a brewery from dairy tanks, a soft-drink bottler and equipment salvaged from defunct breweries. Though the equipment was secondhand, he created a first-rate microbrewery. The ingredients were premium, including the copious quantities of hops that would become the brewery’s trademark. An avid backpacker, Ken named the new company for his favorite hiking grounds—the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 

On November 15, 1980, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. brewed the first batch of what would soon become a landmark in American craft brewing: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Word spread quickly and over the next decade the demand for Sierra Nevada brews soon exceeded the brewery’s modest brewing capacity. Despite nearly constant additions to the brewery, Ken was soon back at the drawing board, planning a new brewery. In 1989, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. moved to its current site. 

Ken traveled to Germany and brought back a used, traditional, 100-barrel copper brewhouse that became the heart of the new brewery. It met demand for a while, but the brewery soon needed to expand again. In 1997, he commissioned a new, larger brewhouse, and coaxed the original coppersmiths out of retirement to match new kettles to the originals. This expansion became the powerhouse that helped bring the brewery’s total capacity to more than 800,000 barrels per year. 

Building the new brewery afforded Sierra Nevada the opportunity to create two stunning showcases, both featuring exceptional dining, live music and its award-winning beers. The Sierra Nevada Taproom and Restaurant has become a destination in its own right. The brewery is also home to the 350-seat Big Room—a beautifully designed live music venue.

Sierra Nevada brewed one million barrels in 2014. Year round beers include Pale Ale (flagship), Torpedo® Extra IPA, Hop Hunter® IPA, Nooner® Pilsner, Porter, Stout, and Kellerweis® Bavarian-Style Wheat.

The soul of Sierra Nevada is the brewery's affinity for whole-cone hops and the special flavors and aromas they provide. Sierra Nevada uses more whole-cone hops than any brewery in the world. They love the aromas from dry-hopped beers so much that they created the revolutionary “Hop Torpedo,” a sleek, stainless steel device they use to gather the most hop flavor and aroma without imparting any excess bitterness.

In every aspect of the brewery, Sierra Nevada strives to be as environmentally responsible as possible. From recycling and composting to water treatment, bio-fuel production and water conservation, the brewery works hard to minimize its impact on the environment. In 2008, Sierra Nevada completed construction of one of the largest privately owned solar arrays in the country with more than 10,000 panels that provide nearly 20% of the brewery's total energy needs. 

In 2005, Sierra Nevada was the first brewery to install hydrogen fuel cells; the combination of the solar array and the fuel cell system generates more than half of the brewery’s energy needs on site. They also have an extensive water treatment program including our own wastewater treatment facility. 

Through extensive recycling, reuse and composting programs, the brewery is able to divert 99.8% of its solid waste from landfills. 

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. was named a “Green Power Partner” in 2011 by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and "Green Business of the Year" in 2010 by the EPA for its practices in sustainability.

"Dark and cloudy, Primus Weizenbock marries the rich, malty flavors of bock beer with the fruity and spicy flavors of weizenbier. Brewed with significant contribution of wheat malt, Primus features a subtle warming alcohol character. Dark roasted malts impart notes of chocolate, caramel, and toffee in concert with flavors and aromas of clove, banana, and vanilla contributed by the Bavarian yeast strain. Primus is a rich, complex beer perfect to enjoy on a winter night." Commercial Description

The Live Oak Brewing Company, located in Austin, Texas since 1997, is a locally owned and operated brewery. Founder Chip McElroy can still be seen at the brewery almost every day.

Live Oak is best known for their traditional German style lagers. They also produce a very good year-round IPA (often available on cask at Hay Merchant), as well as an amazing English Barley Wine. The brewery produces four year-round beers as well as four seasonal (or special release) beers. Live Oak beers are only available on draft.

While Live Oak uses industry standard step mashing for most of their beers, they use a more difficult and rarely used old-world style of mashing known as decoction mashing for a few of their beers, most notably the Live Oak Pilz and the Oaktoberfest. Live Oak uses large dairy tanks as fermenting vessels instead of the more traditional cylindroconical fermenters.

The brewery is currently run out of an old industrial building in Southeast Austin. Recently, the company purchased 20 acres of undeveloped land on the Colorado river just north of the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on which to build a new brewery, estimated to take "a couple of years” to complete. When this expansion is completed, it is expected that they will add a bottling line.

Founded in 1989, Odell Brewing was started by Doug Odell, his wife Wynne and his sister Corkie. Today, the culture of family and collaboration still thrives, fostering a brewery full of beer-centric people. It is this passion for beer that inspires Odell Brewing to create quality, hand-crafted, innovative brews.

In 2009, having outgrown every inch and aspect of their previous brewery, Odell doubled its plant size to 45,000 square feet and its beer sold to 45,000 barrels—one barrel per square foot! 

As a regional craft brewery, Odell Brewing is committed to serving the communities in which it distributes by sourcing local raw materials, and through its charitable giving program known as Odell Outreach. Odell Brewing is an award winning brewery, nationally and internationally. 

Limited release spritzy sour ale brewed with tart raspberries.

In 1984, Steve Hindy ended a five and a half-year tour as the Middle East Correspondent for the Associated Press where he covered wars and assassinations in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Sudan. On his last night in Beirut, his hotel was hit by a mortar barrage. Steve picked up a still-warm piece of shrapnel as a memento, packed up his family and returned to New York City. During his years in the Middle East, Steve befriended diplomats based in Saudi Arabia, where Islamic law prohibits alcoholic beverages. The envoys were avid homebrewers and happily plied Steve with their flavorful beers. Returning to live in Brooklyn and editing foreign news for Newsday, Steve started brewing at home. Eventually, he enlisted his downstairs neighbor, banker Tom Potter, and they set out to establish the Brooklyn Brewery. Steve placed that shrapnel on his desk as a reminder of his days in the Middle East, where it still sits today.

Steve and Tom commissioned fourth-generation brewmaster William M. Moeller, a former head brewer at Philadelphia’s Schmidt Brewery, to brew Brooklyn Lager at the FX Matt Brewery in Utica, New York. Moeller pored over the brewing logs of a grandfather of his who had brewed in Brooklyn at the turn of the last century to develop a recipe for Brooklyn Lager. The result was an all-malt lager beer with a tangy aroma created by “dry-hopping,” an age-old technique of adding hops during the maturation process to create a robust aroma. Brooklyn Lager made quite a splash in the 1980s beer scene in New York City, dominated by the light, rice and corn lagers sold by Budweiser, Miller and Coors.

In 1988, Steve and Tom delivered their first cases of beer, and flickerings of brewed glory began to appear in Brooklyn once again. Word started to spread that the two men could be found at bars and restaurants pouring this (relatively) shocking concoction that was darker than Heineken and smelled strongly of hops, of all things.

In 1994, Garrett Oliver was brought on board as brewmaster to helm the brewing program and work on establishing the brand new Williamsburg brewhouse. Garrett began homebrewing in the 1980s after living in England for a time, where he discovered cask-fermented real ale in between gigs managing rock bands. Garrett’s talents and personal flair led to his tenure as President of the New York City Homebrewer’s Guild, where he met Steve Hindy. Whether or not Garrett was wearing a cape (a matter of mild contention between the two men to this day), this meeting included Garrett describing the recipe that would become Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout. Not long after, Garrett left his post as brewmaster of Manhattan Brewing to cross the East River and join Brooklyn Brewery. On May 28, 1996, Mayor Rudy Giuliani cut the ribbon at the grand opening of the new Brooklyn Brewery brewhouse, Tasting Room and offices in Brooklyn.

Garrett went on to develop recipes from Black Chocolate Stout to East IPA, seasonal favorites to limited run Brewmaster’s Reserve releases. His beers and his books - including The Good Beer Book, The Brewmaster’s Table and The Oxford Companion to Beer - have won many international awards, including the 2014 James Beard Award for Outstanding Wine, Beer or Spirits Professional. To this day Garrett serves as brewmaster as well as juggling a demanding international travel schedule to teach and learn new brewing techniques.

2003 was a year of big changes for Brooklyn Brewery. Years of growth made the brewery large enough to be taken seriously by big distributors, so the distribution arm of Brooklyn Brewery was sold off. Tom, who had been heavily involved in the distribution division for the previous fifteen years, decided the time was right for him to retire and sold his shares to the Ottaway family. (Not long after, Tom grew bored with retirement and filled his time by founding the New York Distilling Company not far from the Brooklyn Brewery.) The Ottaways were longtime friends and early investors, spreading from David Ottaway’s days in the Middle East as a Washington Post reporter alongside Steve Hindy.

David Ottaway’s two sons, Eric and Robin, had run the Brooklyn Brewery’s Massachusetts distribution company before it was sold in 2002. In 2014, Steve announced that the Ottaway brothers were assuming official leadership roles in the brewery, with Eric serving as CEO and Robin as President. All three continue to be highly involved in daily life at the brewery, which continues to be independently owned to this day.

Today, the Brooklyn Brewery is continuing to thrive, spreading good beer around the world. Bars and restaurants from Texas to Sweden to Australia proudly pour Brooklyn beer and display its iconic logo in great cities and far-flung reaches. Here in Brooklyn, Garrett and his team push the boundaries of brewing with an expanded barrel aging program housed in the historic Brooklyn Navy Yard down the road from the brewery and an extensive roster of experimental batches tucked away for study (and tasting.) 

The brewery is also currently planning an expansion site to boost production and send even more beer to old and new markets worldwide. 

The Bruery is a boutique craft brewery located in Orange County, CA specializing in barrel aged and experimental ales. Founded as a small, friend & family run business in 2008, The Bruery takes it’s unique moniker from founder Patrick Rue’s family surname.

Patrick picked up homebrewing as a hobby, later to become an obsession, as a distraction to the banality of law school. Soon he was winning numerous awards for his beers and driving his wife, Rachel, mad with the messes that he would leave on the kitchen stove. Upon finishing school, he took it upon himself to draw up a business plan rather than study for the California Bar exam – a risky endeavor that shows through still today in the creative, genre-tilting beers that The Bruery prides itself on.

The Bruery is founded on the excitement that Patrick felt in those first years of homebrewing and we continue to strive for that same passion in every aspect of our business today. We never stop challenging ourselves to develop distinctive & imaginative beers, constantly pursuing improvement in all that we do. We brew dozens of original beers each year with our list of ingredients and inspirations growing perpetually. Our collection of oak barrels has also become a primary element of our brewery. Nearly half of our beer is aged in wine or spirit barrels bringing forth flavors reminiscent of the Belgian countryside or classic American distillers.

We greatly value our customers as well as our employees at The Bruery and want to give them all an impassioned way to spend their time while sharing a beer worth talking about.

Sangria Cider uses a blend of six fruits including peach, apple, elderberry, lime, cherry, and strawberry for a shareable drink just in time for the holidays.

Austin Eastciders makes old-style cider using bittersweet and bittersharp apple varieties to produce ciders which are dryer, smoother and more complex than many modern hard ciders. 

They use antique cider apple varieties, high in tannins and acids, to produce flavors that have not been widely experienced in America since Prohibition. These are the apples with which hard cider was traditionally made. During Prohibition many cider apple orchards were destroyed, meaning cider has since been made with eating apples. Austin Eastciders uses real cider apples, traditional processes and simple recipes - adding nothing which isn't present naturally in the fruit.

They work with farmers across America to reintroduce vintage apple varieties and to help recultivate the old Southern varieties that thrived back in the day. At one time the South could boast an incredible 1,800 varieties, of which 500 still exist in small amounts today.

Austin Eastciders scours the country looking for sources of super-rare American cider apples like Hewes & Harrison and uniquely Southern cider varieties like Winesap & Arkansas Black. With these, they blend Austin Eastciders 'Small Batch' ciders. Their 'Gold Top' cider is made with more than 40 different bittersweet and bittersharp varieties sourced from old English cider orchards. 'Gold Top' is medium dry, full flavored and deliciously tangy, available on draft and in 16.9oz bottles. 'Eastciders Original' is a blend of American dessert apples and European bittersweets, available in 16oz cans. It's dry and light, fresh and fruity, the perfect summer cider.

Brazos Valley Brewing Company was founded in Brenham, Texas, in December 2013.  Brothers Josh and Jeremy, along with longtime friends Nelson, Todd and Richard, create this five-man team of craft brewing enthusiasts. With its 20-barrel brewhouse and passion for brewing bold and tasteful beer, Brazos Valley Brewing aims to make a variety of high-quality craft beers for the people of Texas.

Their first recipe, the Golden Ale, is available year-round, along with other year-round and seasonal beers. 

Their patio at the old Brenham Brewery is open to the public every Friday and Saturday night, 6-10pm. 

Big, boozy bourbon and American oak aromas combine with soft chocolate malty undertones. Complex malt flavors are framed in oak with hints of dark chocolate, vanilla, tobacco, coconut and just a touch of dark cherry. 

Firestone Walker Brewing Company brewed its first beer in 1996 in a small facility rented from the Firestone Vineyard estate in Santa Barbara County.  In 2001, owners (and brothers-in-law) Adam Firestone and David Walker purchased the SLO Brewing Company located in Paso Robles, CA.

Firestone Walker’s ales are selectively fermented in the Firestone Union oak barrel brewing system. The Firestone Union incorporates 65-gallon, medium and heavy toast American oak barrels.

Firestone Walker takes pride in making exceptional pale ales. More recently, they created a seasonal series offering, as well as their Proprietor’s Reserve series of beers, born from their Anniversary program. These vintage and limited release beers are the consummate sipping beers, meant to be enjoyed with friends and family. 

Firestone Walker Brewing Company continues to grow as the palates of Americans migrate to craft beer. Their brew staff has picked up “Mid Size Brewery of the Year” at the World Beer Cup an unmatched four times.