Grizzly Growler

A couple of weeks ago I went to Arizona to watch some spring training games (go White Sox!). While down there, I stopped by a Total Wine & More store, which has a large selection of wine, liquor and, most important, beer, for sale for some pretty decent prices. The beer aisle is set up [...]

Blackfoot River Brewing Co.’s new Imperial IPA is on tap now. Here’s the lowdown: Say hello to our Single Malt IPA’s big brother! Brewed with 1,300 pounds of Montana 2-row pale malt and 88 pounds of specialty malts this Imperial IPA comes in big at 9.5 percent alcohol by volume. With so much malt, over [...]

Big Sky’s already vaunted powerhouse IPA will be briefly overshadowed by the emergence of an Imperial IPA, which is currently pouring at the taproom, or so I’m told. I shall venture forth to find out if that’s true. This is the next in their Limited Montana Release Series, formerly known as the 406 Series. It [...]

Here’s a short video showing a couple of Stone Brewing Company head honchos as they rebuild the amazing IPA as it would have been during the waning years of the British Empire. They imported British white malt and are using East Kent Goldings, an original IPA hop, along with some other new and interesting hops [...]

These questions and others filtered through our heads and our conversations on Sunday, as we brewed our first mega batch of Belgian Dubbel, one of three such batches that will fill our 55-gallon French oak Merlot barrel soon. As every brewer knows, drinking beer while brewing is a must. Mostly because the inspiration in a [...]

On Friday, beer buddy Jon caught a Twitter post from a friend (Steve Leighton) in England who was about to sample Brewdog’s Sink the Bizmarck. (current holder of the title of World’ Strongest Beer) So he asked him if he’d be willing to do a video review to help some Americans understand this European war [...]

When my friend Jon told me he wanted to give his Barista Manifesto at the Ignite Missoula event, I wondered how difficult it would be to give a manifesto with a five-minute time limit accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation. I still don’t know if it was easy, but it was done and brilliantly. Jon’s a [...]

And it has my name on it. Well, not really. It has the Grizzly Growler name on it, but since I try to fill those rather tremendous shoes by posting under that name, I’ll count it. So I was finally able to stop into Bitterroot Brewing to try some samples of all their current Brewer’s [...]

From Jason Goeltz: Power of 10 Imperial IPA – (9.78% ABV) – Our 1000th brew coming in at just under 10% ABV and 100 IBUs…hence the power of 10. A very hoppy beer delivering strong citrusy notes to the palate accompanied by a nice full body character, certainly something you want to get a taste [...]

Though it’s many thousands of miles away, Mikeller Brewery in Denmark might just be one of my favorite craft breweries anywhere. This is not a light statement either. There are many factors that surround this. For one, Mikkeller pays tribute to the adventurous American breweries who are not afraid of taste and exploration in brewing [...]