Coming Soon: Trill "Night & Day," Paulaner, Pipeworks "Lizard King," Firestone Walker "Leo vs Ursas," and Cidergeist Semi-Dry

TRILLIUM, NIGHT & DAY

Style: Imperial Coffee Stout

Abv: 11.5%

Size, Price: 10oz, $9.50

From the brewer: “Once again, we partner with Barrington Coffee Roasters to brew Night & Day. In order to reach the higher gravity and fuller-body of this massive imperial stout we employ a reiterated mash technique that allows us to create an unusually rich, high gravity, 100% malt wort. Pouring raven-black with a persistent creamy pale-brown head, Night & Day is seductive with aromatics of roasted dark malt, espresso, caramel, cocoa powder, dark fruit, charred toast, and subtle sweet vanilla. At a soul-warming ABV of 11.5%, this bold, imperial stout drinks velvety smooth with mellow bitterness, silky carbonation, and balanced flavors of dark roast coffee, chocolate, figs, affogato and black cherry.”  Sounds good to me.

PAULANER HEFE-WEIZEN

Style: Hefeweizen

Abv.: 5.5%

Size, Price: 16oz, $8

Paulaner is the #1 wheat beer in Germany and one of the world’s favorites. The brewers like to claim that beer experts call it “a masterpiece.”  In developing this beer, the Paulaner brew masters have perfected a unique technique with “yeast suspension”, resulting in a uniform, slightly cloudy appearance, consistent quality and perfect taste.  This traditional unfiltered Hefe-Weizen is naturally cloudy and warm silky gold under a really strong head of foam.  Aromatics of banana, tropical fruits are at the fore of a balanced, not too bitter, not too sweet hefe.  Super refreshing, great for beergardens (aka patios).

PIPEWORKS LIZARD KING

Style: Mosaic Pale Ale

Abv.: 6.5%

Size, Price: 16oz, $7.75

First off, these cats are definitely strange ones, with an intense nerd-core alien/ninja bent: just check out their artwork here.  Started in Chicago in 2012, the brewery has expanded rapidly and is now self-distributed across Illinois, in New York and Connecticut, and lastly in Boston due to the recent expansion of Night Shift into distribution (thank you NS for not just your beers).  The descriptor provided by the brewers on Beer Advocate:

Throughout the epic battle, the Ninjas and the Unicorns have been waiting for something, anything, to tip the scale in their favor. After all, The Unicorns and The Ninjas have been fighting this epic battle for nearly and epoch. In this age-old battle, will the Lizard King be the one to end the battle? Will there finally be peace among the two warring parties? Will this be the end of rhetorical questions?!

Aroma:  Tropical fruits and pine abound with a bit of piney resin kicking around the back.  Crackery smell from the malt.

Taste: The Mosaic hops come through in the flavor as well, with some dank, resinous textures as well.  Medium bodied.

FIRESTONE WALKER, LEO VS URSAS

Style: IPA

Abv: 8.2%

Size, Price: 10oz, $7.75

Part of a rotating limited edition series.  The name comes from the FW logo of the boxing lion and bear.  The theme behind the beers, according to the FW website:

From the Crucible of Conflict Come Beers of Great Intention

The sparring Lion and Bear not only speak to the unorthodox rapport between founders Adam Firestone and David Walker—they also hearken to the heart of our brewery culture, which for 20 years has been forged by often opposing forces in pursuit of the perfect beer. These forces now culminate in Leo v. Ursus, a chronology of beers that shift stylistically with each limited quarterly release. These are bold creations, often hoppy and intense, but always with a native sense of balance. Many also address “wish lists” expressed to us by loyal fans.

That’s some cool shit right there.  Even cooler, this is the first beer in the series, entitled “Fortem.”  They refer to it as a new-age imperial IPA drawing upon a range of influences, all while still being a recognizable FW IPA. As such, it blends newer hop varieties from the Pacific Northwest and Hallertau, Germany along with pale malt, wheat malt and flaked oats for a full body and rounded mouthfeel. Fortem has been left unfiltered for a full hop impact.  Gimme!

CIDERGEIST SEMI-DRY

Style: Off-dry Cider

Abv.: 6.2%

Size, Price: 16oz, $7

Cidergeist is the cider-fermenting arm of Rhinegeist in Cincinnati.  The semi-dry is fermented with the intention of really pulling forward the flavors of the Washington State apples used without making a cider so dry it becomes tart.  Clean, clear, and hints of yeastiness beneath the apple-juice nose and flavors.