New Beer Friday, Steve Smith Edition (September 13)

Steve Smith: Beer Mind

By Chris Siciliano

As you might expect, New Beer Friday begins this week with a reminder to check out our annual weeklong sale on homebrew and winemaking supplies. If you or somebody you know has been thinking about making beer or wine at home, now is the perfect time to begin the obsession—in addition to deep discounts on many big ticket items, our basic equipment and ingredient kits are marked down to their lowest prices of the year. In fact, most of our homebrew/winemaking products (with some exceptions) are at least 15% off the regular retail price. Trust us when we say it's worth checking out.

Also worth checking out is this Thursday, September 12 article on MLive.com starring none other than hall-of-fame former Siciliano's staffer Steve Smith. Not only has Steve crafted for himself a reputation as one of the preeminent beer minds in all of West Michigan, he remains an honorary lifetime member of the Siciliano family for (a) playing an important role in the early development of the Siciliano's Market craft beer and homebrew departments, and (b) just being an all-around good guy.

With hope that our man Steve Smith approves, we humbly present the newest beers to hit the shelves at Siciliano's.

New and Returning Beer

• Schmaltz and Terrapin Reunion 13, $7.19/22oz - "Reunion Ale ’13® is a dark Imperial Brown Ale brewed with vanilla, cinnamon, and cocoa nibs from Nashville, Tennessee’s Olive and Sinclair Chocolate Company. Local favorites Creekside Café & Coffee House (Glenville, NY) and Brooklyn Roasting Company (Brooklyn, NY) contributed signature dark roasts to this year’s recipe" (source).
• Sam Adams Fat Jack Double Pumpkin, $7.19/22oz - "This rich and luscious brew indulges in flavor with over 28Ibs of pumpkin per barrel, for a full bodied sweetness and deep russet color. Classic pumpkin pie spices of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice ignite a warmth and spark that’s deepened by an undercurrent of roasty smoked malts. The result is a delectable brew full of enveloping layers of flavor and spice. At Samuel Adams we love experimenting. This series of limited edition brews represents some of our favorite small batch creations" (source).
• Sierra Nevada Narwhal Imperial Stout, $2.49/12oz - "Narwhal Imperial Stout is the latest beer in Sierra Nevada’s High Altitude Series. This malt-forward monster is bold – with notes of baker’s cocoa, molasses, and dark roasted coffee. This massive imperial stout is incredibly complex, rich, and intense and will develop in the bottle for years to come" (source).
• Sierra Nevada Flipside Red IPA, $1.59/12oz - "Flipside Red IPA is a rebuttal to the mild-mannered beers of summer. Tropical fruit and citrus hop flavors from the use of whole-cone Citra, Simcoe and Centennial hops are the perfect notes for this in-between season" (source).
• Dark Horse Perkulator Coffee Doppelbock, $2.09/12oz - "This is a true dopplebock and Dark Horse Brewing’s only publicly distributed lager. It was so normal that we couldn’t stand it so we made it into a coffee dopplebock. Ha, take that Germany, with your Reinheitsgebot purity law! Anyway, we use fair trade organic coffee from our friends at The Ugly Mug Cafe in Ypsilanti, MI We did a label contest and opened it up to the public for this beer. We had so many awesome entries that we couldn’t just pick one winner so we have 2 labels for this beer. We stagger the bottles in the six packs but with no order in mind" (source).
• Founders Devil Dancer Triple IPA, $5.09/12oz - "Founders most complex, most innovative, most feared and yet most revered ale produced. Massive in complexity the huge malt character balances the insane amount of alpha’s used to create this monster. More IBU’s than any brewery has documented, more than you would believe and dry-hopped for twenty-six days straight with a combination of 10 hop varieties. Dangerously drinkable and deliciously evil. We dare you to dance with the Devil. 112 IBUs" (source).
• Founders Double Trouble Imperial IPA, $3.09/12oz - "An imperial IPA that was brewed to turn your world upside down. Hops have got you coming and going. Pungent aromatics up front paired with a malt balanced backbone and a smooth bitter finish. 86 IBUs" (source).
• O'fallon Pumpkin Beer, $1.79/12oz - "Like pumpkin pie in a bottle...we add 136 pounds of real pumpkin to the three-barley mash and then season the finished beer with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Available September 1" (source).
• He'brew St. Lenny's R.I.P.A., $9.59/22oz - "St. Lenny’s® flips the award-winning rye double IPA on its head using a custom Belgian yeast blend (2 Trappists and 1 Abbey) with the original R.I.P.A.® recipe. With a spicy punch of rye and caraway, fruity clove and anise flavors, and a gorgeous Belgian character, St. Lenny’s® is destined to intrigue hop heads and Belgian beer fans alike" (source).

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Cheers!