New Beer Friday 12/30/22

For the last New Beer Friday of 2022 we have a rare non-IPA week. Of course there's plenty of fresh IPAs out there for you to celebrate the new year, but this week's new offering are a refreshing (literally and figuratively) mix of old and new world beers; perfect for you midnight sociable. 

Beer Nerd Radio today welcomes Jill Wantanabe, co-founder of Utah's Tsuki Sake. Is sake beer, wine, or neither? Jill will set us straight on Sake and its place in Utah. That's today at 2pm on KUAA, 99.9FM 

Strap Tank - New Seizand Saison: Aroma of citrus and floral hops, mild grassy funk. More of the same in the taste, light grassy funk complimented by citrus zest, floral hops, a touch of spice, and a solid pale malt base. Light body, crisp, flavorful, and appropriately carbonated. Nicely done. Not my favorite of the single hop series, but nicely done overall. 5.0% - Strap Tank locations.

Strap Tank - Wassail: This Spiced Graff (blend of apple and beer) The aroma is malty and heavily spiced with big apple pie and a shot of orange as well. Likewise the flavor is heavily spiced with nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice and apple cider over sweet doughy and bready malts. There is a hint of hops at the end that fades into the finish along with some of the pineapple. It's light to medium bodied with mild carbonation. 5.0% - Strap Tank locations.

RoHa - Rum Barrel-Aged Porter: Nose is roasted coffee with hints of vanilla. The flavor opens with more big roast, smoke, and burnt malt. Chocolate, and cocoa powder mix in, in the middle. End is sweet with a touch of vanilla. A cola finish with a lingering roast aftertaste. 5.0% - Available at RoHa.

Hopkins - Back to Basics Pale Ale: Hopkins' ode to a traditional American west coast pale style, this beer features a beautiful copper color with a moderate hop bitterness. A blend of Chinook and Cascade hops leave some light pine and citrus notes. Heavy malt backbone to mellow the bitterness to a pleasantly crushable beverage. 5.0% - Available at Hopkins.

Fisher - Piney Brown: Big toasted malt nose. Smooth within the medium body. With each sip its like my palate gets slapped with a loaf of toasted bread. Mild hopping is there to balance, suggestions of dried grass, grapenuts, chicory, cocao nibs, and mildly roasted grain in the finish. Such an amazing Brown Ale, loads of flavor and extremely drinkable. 7.3% - Available at Fisher today.

TF - Naturlich Pilsner: This is Templin's second foeder-aged pilsner. This one spent 12 weeks lagering - 8 of those in the foeder. It opens up with classic toasty cracker flavors, sweetness is light. The oak pops almost immediately adding small amount of buttery oak, vanilla and toasty wood. hops are classic euro with lots of herbal grass and a hint of citrus zest. Every pint is a history lesson. 5.0% - This is available in can and draft starting today. 

Here are this week's Small Batch Beers from Hopkins Brewing.

Cheers!