What's up with that? and Beervana beat me to it, so go check out what they have to say!Turner seems an unlikely place to celebrate the cradle of civilization, so it's exciting to note that this weekend marked something of a coming out party for a new brewery, Gilgamesh Brewing!
The line-up hits CT's core interests as well as core fears: Citrusy hopping and heroic, stunt beers.
The thing is, the combinations are intriguing enough that they could be home runs. Mint isn't that far from hop, and so while Chocolate Mint Stout sounds more like a Girl Scout cookie than a beer to me, I am at the same time totally willing to suspend my disbelief and harbor not-so-secret hopes for some "wow."
Earl Grey tea is flavored with the citrus bergamot, and CT loves them amarillo and other citrusy hops, and while my basketball loving friends tell me Black Mamba Ale sounds too much like a Kobe homage out here in Blazerland, the beer itself might be terrific. The combos are unexpected and appear thoughtful, and they might be great.
We look forward to learning and tasting more!
Also, while on the topic of citrusy hops, the news that Widmer had to ditch a batch of beer because of a power outage brought the new Deadlift to our attention. It's got the same Nelson Sauvin (and possibly also Summit) hops of the Drifter Pale Ale, and an imperial IPA with that citrusy hopping profile sounds terrifically appetizing for winter. (Though in the spring I found Drifter a little too sweet, the malt balance grew on me in the cooler and darker fall, and it has wormed its way into CT's heart as an essential "plan B" backup brew - which means that since Salem's selection too often doesn't permit plan A, I enjoyed Drifter more often than any other beer in 2009 - and it would be my beer of the year for 2009!)
The Hopscotch was very good, but I LOVED the Black Mamba Ale! I can't wait until it shows up in local taps (C'mon, Venti's!). Until then, Gilgamesh says they will deliver growler refills to your home! How cool is that?
ReplyDeleteOn behalf of Gilgamesh Brewing, we'd like to THANK YOU for your blog post! We can't wait for you to try our brews!
ReplyDeleteWe had an amazing first festival experience and owe a HUGE THANKS to the community, the festival organizers and participants, and the Statesman Journal! We are so new that we have not been able to supply to any restaurants and bars yet, but we are working on it just as fast as we can!
For now, we would like to invite everyone to join our email list (by emailing info@gilgameshbrewing.com) and our facebook group so that we can keep you in the know when we are in restaurants/pubs and future events.
Thanks again,
Lani Radtke, Gilgamesh Brewing
www.gilgameshbrewing.com
PS - Stephanie, thank you for your rave review! Hope to see you at future shows!