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First beer brewed at E. Wash release this Friday!

Hello all,

MUCH has happened since my last Brewer’s Blog post several months ago: we closed our original Westport location at the end of October and have moved the brewery to the basement space underneath our Taproom at 1444 E. Washington Avenue on Madison’s near east side! So yes the Parched Eagle is wholly located at 1444 E. Wash: come on by!

We started brewing here in the last week of November (the day before Thanksgiving, actually) and the first beer brewed is none other than our flagship Hop-Bearer IPA! This is the version featuring Mosaic hops (DDH’d with Mosaic and Amarillo) hence Hop-Bearer w/Mosaic and it’s showing a ton of promise.

It’s being released this Friday 12/13 and will be on tap when we open at 3. Meanwhile we’ve started offering food from the excellent local Mediterranean restaurant Banzo (free delivery!) and here are my suggested food pairings to go along with the extravagantly hopped West Coast IPA Hop-Bearer:

Veggie: Batata (Sweet Potato Falafel) pita sandwich. The sweet potato should complement/contrast nicely with the pretty significant hop bitterness of Hop-Bearer as well as the significant tropical citrus hop flavor/aroma of Mosaic and Amarillo.

Meat: Chicken Shawarma pita sandwich. The savory character of the slow roasted  seasoned chicken thighs should really be complemented nicely by Hop-Bearer’s complex hop character as well as its siginficant malt backbone (English Maris Otter and Briess Crystal 40L).

More soon (including needed updates for this webite).

Hop to see you here soon!

Cheers,

Jim

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Late April-mid May Beer Releases

Happy Spring greetings all!

Here are our upcoming beer releases from April 26th through Mother’s Day (May 12th):

Friday April 26th: annual release of Señor Smoke Scotch Ale! Our “Wee Heavy” style ale returns at both locations this Friday at 3! Señor Smoke has a bit of smoked malt added to the grain bill to complement its heavy caramel-malt profile and weighs in around 8% abv. Rich, strong and malty, Señor Smoke shall help fully ring in the warm breezes of Spring (hopefully!). This could be the best batch of Señor Smoke yet (I am excited about it!). Sláinte!

Friday May 3rd: annual release of La Chingada Caca Maibock for our 4th anniversary party! OMG has it been four years?!? Indeed it has and on Friday May 3rd starting at 3pm at both locations we celebrate our fourth birthday! Maibock is one of my favorite lager styles and appropriately the hallmark characteristic of La Chingada Caca is an excellent balance of malt and hops. A strong Munich malt character with an appropriate level of hop bitterness and flavor/aroma for said balance. Come on by the Westport Brewhaus or E. Wash Taproom to celebrate with us!

Friday May 10th: debut of Norsepeeps Nordic Saison for the 2nd anniversary party of our Taproom at 1444 E. Wash! Wow how time flies as it’s already been almost two years since we opened our beautiful taproom on Madison’s (way) burgeoning E. Wash craft beer corridor. I’m excited about Norsepeeps and it will have a definitive Nordic character as we’ll be using a Norwegian yeast strain called Kviek that is quite hot in craft brewing circles these days. This wonder yeast can ferment at up to 98 degrees (that’s rather unprecedented) and should lend some rather nice farmhouse ale esters to go along with ground Cardamom and orange zest (spices used for Swedish Glögg). Norsepeeps will be on tap at both locations at 3 and also we’ll have our friends the Jolly Frog food cart on hand at our E. Wash taproom from 5 to 8 slinging their fine Mexican cuisine. Should pair nicely with Norsepeeps, La Chingada Caca, Señor Smoke, and our other sumptuous selections.

Sunday May 12th (hopefully): return of our acclaimed ESB Grainne’s Special Bitter at our E. Wash taproom for Mother’s Day! We just brewed GSB yesterday (brew day went well) and fermentation is happily underway so hopefully it will be ready for Mother’s Day. We’ll also have live music that day starting at 4 with our buddies Geoff Bradshaw and Mark Felten performing public domain blues, folk, and original tunes.

Meanwhile hopfully AUSOM Triple IPA will be released some time within this late April-mid May time frame (as it’s been fermenting rather slowly for the past few weeks). More on AUSOM (hopfully) soon!

Skål!

Jim

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March Beer Releases!

Frozen Tuesday morning greetings all,

First: I’m looking forward to the end of this savage winter too!

Meanwhile upcoming beer releases for March:

This Friday 3/8 features the return of our popular namesake Golden Ale Kölsch at both locations at 3!

Then mid-March features the release of two stouts:

Friday 3/15 the Ides of March: the annual release of the Parched Rider Coffee Stout at both locations at (you guessed it) 3! This annual beer is a collaboration with our good friends Let It Ride Cold Brewed Coffee and has been very popular since its first release in the fall of 2016.

Then Sunday 3/17 St. Patrick’s Day: debut of Ceiliúradh Irish Stout at our Taproom at 1444 E. Wash at 3! We’ve only brewed this beer once before three years ago and I’m looking forward to having it return on St. Patrick’s Day. We’ll also be having live music at 4pm: the debut of our quarterly Tunes & Tales Singer Songwriter series hosted by our excellent house singer/songwriter Jourdan Hines and Mary the singing bartender!

Friday 3/29 (probably): release of Saccharifice German Pilsner! It will be double dry-hopped with two newer German hop varieties: Hüll Melon and Mandarina Bavaria so expect the likes of honeydew melon and tangerine in the aroma/flavor profile coupled with that elegantly clean German pilsner malt. Saccharifice is our new beer release for March as we’re releasing at least one new beer for each month in 2019.

Cheers!

Jim

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February Beer Releases

Frozen Friday greetings all,

First: both of our warm & cozy locations are open at 3 today for the start of the weekend. Come on by!

Meanwhile upcoming beer releases for February:

Wednesday 2/13: return of our acclaimed GRAINNE’S SPECIAL BITTER ESB at both locations at 3!

Friday 2/15: return of the popular JANETHAN Robust Porter at both locations at (you guessed it) 3!

Wednesday 2/20: debut of GLUTEN TOLERANT The LESSER Wheatwine at both locations! This batch of Gluten Tolerant Wheatwine (first released in 2016) has been unfortunately affected by the Polar Vortex in terms of reaching the robust ABV target of 10% or more (too cold in our little brewery) so this batch is being called Gluten Tolerant The Lesser and will finish out at around 9% ABV. That said: we shall release no (Wheat)wine before its time and it is turning out pretty well! Tons of caramel malt flavor/sweetness with a bit of spicy wheat aromatics followed by 69 IBUs of balancing hop bitterness.

Friday 2/22 (probably): release of SPIRITUAL BOYFRIEND IPA! It features (Texas) grapefruit zest and is double dry-hopped with Galaxy and Azzacca! Should be right juicy. Spiritual Boyfriend is our new beer release for February as we’re releasing at least one new beer for each month in 2019.

Cheers!

Jim

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Tasting notes: Bourbon Barrel-aged Geronimo Imperial Stout

Hello all,

OK I kegged BB-aged Geronimo this afternoon and am sipping on a dram as I write this.

Aroma: a bit of Buffalo Trace bourbon up front with oak from the barrel to go along Geronimo’s complex dark roasted malt profile (along with some caramel maltiness and dark fruit esters). Smooth and complex!

Flavor: very similar to the aroma with fairly significant hop bitterness in the finish to go along with a bit of booze as it is 10% ABV and bourbon barrel-aged.

Additionally I’m getting some cola-like notes as the bourbon melds with the dark roasted malts. My goal all along is to have the bourbon barrel character to complement, not take over, this rather excellent batch of Gerinomo. Initial tasting notes lead me to believe that we have! SO I happily report that it is TOTALLY ready for its release TOMORROW (Friday January 18th) at 3PM at both locations!

Also stay tuned for the release of a limited amount of bombers of BB-aged Geronimo next week (we’re shooting for Thursday 1/24).

Cheers!

Jim

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