Kuka Banana Nut Brown Ale

Kuka is a new brewery based in Rockland County New York.  This brewery uses old Andean brewing techniques of using Maca Root and other exotic adjuncts to help smooth the profile of the beer.  The brewery currently has two levels of brews, high gravity and low gravity (higher ABV and lower ABV) beers.  Some stand out beers from KUKA is the Banana Nut Brown Ale which has a nice earthy brown ale malt profile but nice notes of banana which are not overly sweet at all, very enjoyable.  They also have a notable Imperial Rye IPA which weighs in at 9.4% ABV and you could mistake this beer for 5% its so smooth.  Be sure to keep and eye out for this upcoming brewery as they plan on impressing us with more beers such as their Pumpernickel Ale coming soon.

New York Limited - Savor Beer Collaboration

This year the Brewers Association is holding the SAVOR craft beer and food experience in New York City.  Since the prestigious event is being held in New York this years take home gift bottle is called New York Limited.  The Collaboration is a strong white lager with some special New York grown hops, honey and spices.  The three breweries involved with this collaboration is Brooklyn, Ommegang and Saranac.  Brooklyn hosted the brew day and bottling event and you can only get this brew during your exit from this event.

Bigfoot Vintage Tap Takeover at Croxley's Franklin Square

Get ready for one of the most impressive tap takeovers ever.  During Long Island Craft Beer Week at Croxleys in Franklin Square is the Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Vintage Tap Takeover.  There will be Bigfoot Barley Wine Style Ale from 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001.  This is your opportunity to try these vintage Bigfoot ales.  They will feature a flight to try the differences between each years release for $14.00.  Be sure to check out this once in a life time event.

Brooklyn Brewmasters Reserve Scorcher #366

Set for release in mid to late May 2013 is the next installment of the Brooklyn Brewmasters Reserve called Scorcher #366.  Brooklyn Scorcher #366 is an eminently sessionable (4.5% abv) hoppy pale ale featuring a hop so new that it doesn’t have a real name yet: “HBC 366”. Scorcher is dry, minerally and fruity on the palate, snappy in the center, and bursting with the citrusy, piney notes that make our new pal 366 so special.

Magic Hat HiCu

Magic Hat has released a new exotic ale called HICU.  HiCu is a Hibiscus Cucumber ale available in the Summer Scene variety 12pack.  This beer mixes two unique ingredients to create cool cucumber notes with a hibiscus tang to please and a smooth malt body.  This beer is truly unique and limited right now to just the variety pack in bottles.  The Summer Scene variety packs are currently available in better beer stores across Long Island.

 

Dogfish Firefly Ale & Sixty One Update

Dogfish Head has released Firefly Ale (Pale Ale) to be served at the Firefly music festival in Delaware.  This beer is rumored to be the Shelter Pale Ale but with a slight variation in the hops used.  Unfortunately this beer is being held up in the NY state label approval process.  Dogfish Head is having the same problem with the Sixty-One, which is also awaiting label approval.  The bad news is that if the label approvals aren't approved in a proper amount of time then there is a chance we will not get these items on Long Island because the beer has dates and when it is getting too close to these dates, then the beer will be shipped to different markets.  Lets hope the slackers up in Albany get these labels approved in a timely manner.

Long Trail Seasonal Line-up Update

Long Trail Brewing Co. from Bridgewater Corners, VT has made a decision to narrow their seasonal line-up down to just 3 seasonals.  As most people know in the beer industry, Spring beers are the least performing of the seasonal line-ups for most breweries.  What is a Spring beer style?  Traditionally Bock beers from Germany were the Spring beers of choice, however Bock beer is not as popular in the United States.  In fact most breweries don't even brew a Bock beer and pick another style for their spring seasonal.  Well Long Trail has decided to cancel their Pollenator (golden ale) and only release 3 seasonals (4 if you count pumpkin which is released the same time as the Harvest Brown Ale).  This year will be the last time to get your hands on the Pollenator.  If you see this Golden Ale out in the market, now is the time to try it before its gone for good.