FW fans waiting for the Tap Room to open just before noon on saturday (pic by Matt B.)
Well, it was pretty cold up in Paso yesterday, but the crowd was deep at the brewery for the XV Anniversary party and beer release. People were lined up around the parking lot out front before the tap room opened its doors and started selling XV.
The breezway.
A minimum purchase of three bottles granted you access to the XV party held in back of the brewery in the breezway, where there was complimentary food, live music, and of course lots of tasty beer to sample for free. In no time at all, it was pretty packed back there, but the line for beer moved quickly and I don’t think anyone was without a beer for long.
The beers being poured were: XV, Bravo, Good Foot, Sticky Monkey, Double Jack, Helldorado, Double DBA, Sour Double DBA (young right now but has a lot of potential), SLOambic, Parabola, Abacus, Velvet Merkin, Unfiltered DBA and Pivo Pilz. (I think, haha. Could have missed a couple others…)
SLOambic, our oak-aged sour ale with olallieberries . Tasting great right now.
This was actually my first chance to taste a few of our component beers and I was loving Helldorado, a blond barely wine aged in bourbon barrels. SLOambic was the highlight of the day for me though, and really makes me wish we would work more on the sour beer project.
Rounds of corn hole were played, beer was drunk, and I hope everyone who attended had a great time. I managed to drop an empty bourbon barrel on my foot while cleaning up but it’s actually feeling pretty good today. My tip for XV is make sure to drink one fresh while the hops are still vivid (thanks to the Helldorado and Double Jack in the blend), but I think it’s going to age very nicely over the next couple of years if stored in the fridge or a cool cellar/closet. As I was leaving, the blowoff on the batch of Double DBA that we brewed on friday was just starting to go crazy and foam out of the drum. A good sign for our upcoming Proprietors Reserve bottling of it next year after it sees some time in retired union oak barrels…
Any chance on getting some info on the Stick Monkey grain bill? Does the long boil and brown sugar add all that color or are there some darker malts in the bill? Maybe some British crystal or amber malt?
There is some medium and dark English crystal (we use Crisp) as well as some chocolate for color. Sticky Monkey and Good Foot are very similar except Good Foot has gobs more hops.
Thanks for the response! The grains are really to style, are the hops? Fuggles and EKGs for late addition with Target or Northdown for bittering?
I thought Sticky Monkey was an excellent English Barleywine and loved the addition of Turbinado, gives it a good California twist. I’ve been looking to deconstruct it and add it to my list of future homebrews!
It’s been awhile and I don’t really remember the hops that well, but I would think magnum or spalter select for bitterness with Fuggles and/or EKG late. And not too many overall. Just enough to come through with some balance.