New Glarus Black Top

It should come as no surprise when I say that New Glarus Brewing Company is one of my favorite brewers of American craft beer. Since I have been keeping track of my beer reviews on Two Beer Dudes, I have had some 34 flavors (reminds me of the ice cream shop for some reason). Over the past few years they have started flexing their muscle into styles that are “hip” and have done so well.

Black Top is a cascadian dark ale that quickly shows that New Glarus has the ability to brew up a smooth and nicely hopped beer. Black top’s dark malts and dry hop aroma compete for attention on the nose and eventually in the mouth. Hops are west coast in style while there is enough balance to bring a touch of bitterness in the finish but one that is fruity and short.

Another solid offering and one that I look forward to the next. Enjoy!

Aroma: 9 (25%), Taste: 10 (25%), Look: 8 (15%), Drinkability: 9 (35%), Overall: 9.1

Useless Fact: The practice of using ten pins in the game of bowling originated in colonial America as a means of circumventing a gaming law. An eighteenth-century ordinance in Connecticut ruled that “bowling at nine pins” was illegal, and offenders were often jailed or placed in stocks. To get around this law, bowlers added an extra pin to the game, so that they would be playing “ten pins” rather than “nine pins.” The name stuck, and so did the number of pins.

New Glarus Cran-bic Ale

New Glarus Brewing Company started up a new line of beers this year: Thumbprint. I believe the idea behind this line of beers is to continue to be creative and different from the rest of the American craft beer industry. There is a quote on the New Glarus site on this topic from Deborah Carey. Exert from that quote:

Thumbprint beers are still brewed with the beer enthusiast in mind. Thumbprint beers are brewed in small batches that are intended to be available for one time only. However, popular demand has caused some styles to return. This is my own thumbprint, to let everyone know this is a real New Glarus handcrafted beer! Cheers.

The second release this year is Cran-bic Ale. This beer was part of the Unplugged series back in 2009 and now is re-released into the Thumbprint series. I don’t mind at all. The oak that this beer is aged on comes through spectacularly on the nose: white oak is so pleasant and tantalizing. There are also notes of cranberries, sweet, and tartness. Per any of the fruit beers that come out of New Glarus, Cran-bic is delicious and especially refreshing this time of year. Enjoy!

Aroma: 8 (25%), Taste: 8 (25%), Look: 8 (15%), Drinkability: 8 (35%), Overall: 8.0

Useless Fact: Harry Drake of Lakeside, California, competing in a footbow archery contest at Ivanpah Dry Lake, California, in October, 1970, shot an arrow that traveled 1 mile, 101 yards, and 21 inches. A foot bow is fired by lying on one’s back, stringing the bow, and pushing out the wooden part of the bow with one’s feet.

New Glarus Raspberry Tart

Converting macro beer people into American craft beer fans can seem difficult at times, especially based on the ease they are willing to accept the change. Of course beers that bridge the gap by being lighter usually allow that conversion to go easier.

The neighbors had a get together so I thought some home brew, a wheat beer and honey pale, would be perfect starters with the finish coming from a bottle of Raspberry Tart by New Glarus Brewing Company.

Definitely not a first time with this beer but just a complete appreciation for how well New Glarus does fruit beers. Besides the perfect amount of raspberries there is a nice subtlety of vanilla and oak adding a nice level of complexity.

The great thing about the fruit beers that New Glarus brews up is the ease at which women will at least try, usually coming back for seconds after an initial small pour. I will keep this one in the cellar for just these occasions and my own person preference. Enjoy!

Aroma: 9, Taste: 10, Look: 9, Drinkability: 8, Overall: 8.9

Useless Fact: All continents, with the exception of Antarctica, are wider in the north than in the south.

New Glarus Coffee Stout

I kicked the weekend off with a home brew, Honey Pot Pale Ale, at work with the boss and a fellow IT colleague. I thought this would lead to a crazy a night of American craft beer but I found myself in the middle of a game of Titan Quest with the guys from work. I wanted something familiar, something not over bearing, something I didn’t have to physical review this time around.

Coffee Stout by New Glarus Brewing Company was exactly what I needed. New Glarus is a frequent stop, so it is something familiar. Coffee Stout is a mild stout so it wasn’t over bearing. I have had it plenty of times in the past so I didn’t have to do a review. Perfect.

Coffee Stout is a regular release from New Glarus, that has enough coffee flavor/aroma to know it was there but really allows the under lying stout to shine through, and that it does. Roasted and chocolate notes are aided by the coffee to form a nice drinking, solid stout. Enjoy!

Aroma: 9, Taste: 9, Look: 9, Drinkability: 9, Overall: 9.0

Useless Fact: The figure of Kong Kong seen in the original movie of the same name was actually a model 18 inches high.

New Glarus Unplugged Abt

As I started rereading what I wrote about beer 161, New Glarus Brewing Company Fat Squirrel, I quickly did a search on Sips to see what beers I have had from New Glarus since the start of 365 American craft beers in 365 days. I have checked out quite a few beers (around 10 I would say) by New Glarus but that, for some reason, only made my thirst for another New Glarus beer even greater.

I expeditiously made a mental note of what I had in cellar versus what I had written about. Jackpot. There were a few beers that percolated to the top. I knew I had a winner in Unplugged Abt. If memory serves me, this was the third Unplugged beer last year with a release time starting in August.

Abt is a Belgian Quad that has aged fairly well. I know that isn’t an overwhelming endorsement of the beer but I don’t think it was quite the same beer I had some nine months or so ago. At times it seemed to be a bit malty but more like a brown ale as I thought I could pick up nutty flavors. I don’t know if I would rate it as highly as I did the first time.

I have a few more so I will be giving another chance. Hopefully it was just an off night for the taste buds. Enjoy!

Aroma: 8, Taste: 9, Look: 9, Drinkability: 9, Overall: 8.8

Useless Fact: Roughly 40 percent of the population of the underdeveloped world is under fifteen years old.

New Glarus Fat Squirrel

I decided to take a break from big American IPAs and switch to something a bit more mellow by American craft beer standards: an English Brown Ale and, believe it or not, a beer that wasn’t brewed on the West coast.

Fat Squirrel by New Glarus Brewing Company has been on top of my list since the first time I had a good ten or more years ago. A friend of Rich’s had gone up to Wisconsin for business and brought back some New Glarus. Rich seemed to already know about New Glarus at that time, I had no idea who they were. That evening we shared a sixer of assorted New Glarus beers. I was hooked. Fat Squirrel was quickly one of my favorite as was Coffee Stout.

New Glarus briefly distributed to Northern Illinois but that was very short lived and to this day they still only distribute to Wisconsin, having more tap handles in the state than the macros When you brew 100,000 barrels or so and sell it all in the state in which it was made, that is impressive.

Having Fat Squirrel reminds me of the goodness that is New Glarus. I will have to continue to inject their beers into 365. Enjoy!

Aroma: 8, Taste: 8, Look: 8, Drinkability: 8, Overall: 8.0

Useless Fact: A survey conducted at Iowa State College in 1969 suggests that a parent’s stress at the time of conception plays a major role in determining a baby’s sex. The child tends to be of the same sex as the parent who is under less stress.

New Glarus Two Women Lager

This is a short story of the quirkiness of American craft beer.

Last summer I was up at New Glarus Brewing Company and purchased some sixteen ounce bottles of Two Women Lager. A beer I was told was only going to be brewed once, had one of those “R&D” looking labels, and had a story behind it. Unfortunately I don’t remember said story but I thought it had to do with making something for a friends wedding or something else along those lines.

I really liked the beer and never thought I would see it again. I am glad I am not looking to be a psychic. Each year New Glarus runs a fan vote that gets to choose the beers they brew. It seems that Two Women Lager was liked and liked a lot. It not only made it into this years release pattern but is now part of the year round releases. Go figure.

This time around the beer was in a twelve ounce bottle with a new logo (the one on this page). It is a solid lager that is crisp and refreshing with a nice fruity aroma and taste that compliment, making the beer more complex.

The only thing that sticks in the back of my mind is that isn’t quite the same beer I had before but I can’t believe that it isn’t. (?) Enjoy!

Aroma: 8, Taste: 9, Look: 8, Drinkability: 9, Overall: 8.6

Useless Fact: The work of an artist cannot be exhibited in the Louvre until he has been dead for at least sixty years. The only exception ever made to this rule was Georges Braque.

I remember thinking not so long ago that one of my favorite American craft beer breweries, New Glarus Brewing Company, hasn’t made an American Double IPA. I didn’t know if they were trying to buck the norm or if they just hadn’t had a chance to come up with one that they were completely thrilled about.

I had Moon Man when they released it for the first time, realizing that they can make a really good American Pale Ale with a pleasant hop profile, why not an IPA or IIPA?

With New Glarus’s recent release of Thumbprint IIPA they have quickly showed that they can brew a Double IIPA, brew one to West Coast style, and brew one well. Thumbprint is a really refreshing, easy to drink DIPA. So easy to appreciate that you don’t realize that the 9.0 ABV is there until it sneaks up on you, tapping you on the shoulder telling you that your toes are tingling.

Once again New Glarus has done a quality job with a short release beer, continuing to make me eager to drive the 2.5 hours to pick up more. Enjoy!

Aroma: 9, Taste: 9, Look: 10, Drinkability: 9, Overall: 9.2

Useless Fact: In Elizabethan England the spoon was such a novelty, such a prized rarity, that people carried their own folding spoons to banquets.

New Glarus Spotted Cow

Another day, another American craft beer from New Glarus Brewing Company. Today’s flavor happens to be Spotted Cow, their most popular beer.

I heard that there are more tap handles in Wisconsin that adorn the Spotted Cow insignia than the main macros combined. That is quite an accomplishment in spite of the fact that Miller’s home is Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

I look back at when I rated this beer and wonder if I really would rate it that same today. My palate has been spoiled by an over abundance of big beers that continually make these “lighter” beers seem even lighter. It is still a damn good beer and, the main reason in my opinion that it is so popular, is the fact that it is nice and light and a good cross over beer – easy for the non-beer geek to pick up. Enjoy!

Aroma: 9, Taste: 9, Look: 9, Drinkability: 9, Overall: 9.0

Useless Fact: Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.

New Glarus Unplugged Enigma

Enigma is from New Glarus Brewing Company and is part of their quarterly releases of the Unplugged series of beers.

Unplugged is a series of beers that is best described from words off of New Glarus’s web site:

A few times a year, we will cut Dan loose to brew whatever he chooses, uncensored, uncut, unplugged. Always handcrafted, this beer is brewed for the adventurous soul. This is a very limited edition and we make no promises to ever brew this style again.

The description of this brew is yet to be announced, but we hope that you enjoy! Thank you for your patience and support! Cheers!

Enigma was released, I believe, in the second quarter last year. This is another fruit beer that is slightly tart but has a ton of oak and barrel flavors, along with cherries, that make this a very easy drinker as well as a beer that I cannot get enough of.

Their second quarter release should be coming soon, so I will keep checking their site to get an idea of what they will be brewing up. Enjoy!

Aroma: 9, Taste: 9, Look: 9, Drinkability: 8, Overall: 8.7

Useless Fact: Elephants are the only mammals that can’t jump.