(Atlanta, GA) – Here’s a peak at SweetWater Brewing’s newest year-round offering, Sweetwater Sch’Wheat (Unfiltered) Wheat Ale.

Per the brewery: “We will be sneaking a few bottles out in Atlanta over the next few weeks in the latest edition of the Tackle Box, and then getting after it with the official release happening at this year’s SweetWater 420 Fest, April 17th and 18th.”

Sweetwater Sch’Wheat Wheat Ale label sneak peak

[Disclaimer: Beernews.org is a leader in craft beer news and is the original source of this article. If you would like to check out more, please visit the original site. Thanks!]

Southampton Keller Pils is an unfiltered Pilsner (“Keller” means unfiltered) that will showcase a different (single) hop each year.

Commercial description: “Visit an Old World lager brewery and the brewmaster will insist that you enjoy a “keller” beer direct from the aging tank. To a brewer this is beer at its purest: unfiltered, nuanced and gently carbonated.

Southampton Keller Pils is just such a brew. And each year we make it with a different hop variety to create a unique interpretation of the pilsner style.” Stats: ABV: 5% and IBUs: 35.

The beer should debut in mid-late May with Pumpkin Ale returning late this summer.

RateBeer shows a Pre-Prohibition Pils appearing on the tap back in 2007-08 though I haven’t confirmed whether this is the same recipe.

For what it’s worth, I can personally vouch for Biere de Mars. I can’t compare it to the old limited version but the new one is terrific and suitable for beginning craft beer drinkers as well.

Southampton Keller Pils debuts this May

[Disclaimer: Beernews.org is a leader in craft beer news and is the original source of this article. If you would like to check out more, please visit the original site. Thanks!]

(Longmont, CO) – Oskar Blues Brewery will soon debut a new look for Old Chub.

The beer will showcase a new green label with a noticeable difference in how the beer is described. What once read, “Scottish-style Ale,” now reads, “Scotch Ale.” Both terms refer to the same style and are used interchangeably given that many Scottish-style ales feature Scotch characteristics. As to why the change, I’m sure that there was a marketing study done or something to that effect because it’s not cheap to make a switch like this. [3/18 Update: Thanks to Stan for pointing out that BJCP style guidelines dictate that a Scottish-style ale between 6.5-10% ABV should be referred to as a (Strong) Scotch Ale.]

The brewery pays tribute to Mike Myers’ character in So I Married an Axe Murderer with the phrase, “A Virtual Planetoid,” on the label. See this blog post for more on that.

Here is the old label:

Oskar Blues Old Chub ditches Scottish roots

[Disclaimer: Beernews.org is a leader in craft beer news and is the original source of this article. If you would like to check out more, please visit the original site. Thanks!]

(Portland, ME) – Shipyard Brewing will add a new Wheat Ale as its spring seasonal this year. Per a Shipyard Brewing rep, “This beer will be ready to hit the shelves in early May. This will be a filtered American style wheat ale with 4 to 4.2% abv.” Flavor profile is still in the works apparently so not much more to report for now . . .

Shipyard Brewer’s Brown Ale hit shelves earlier this year as a new year-round addition.

Shipyard Wheat Ale arrives this May

[Disclaimer: Beernews.org is a leader in craft beer news and is the original source of this article. If you would like to check out more, please visit the original site. Thanks!]

[3/19 Update: New blog post from Three Floyds Brewing on the matter.]

(Munster, IN) – Internal server errors, trending topics and a major web shopping site brought to its knees . . . all in a day’s work. Some of you lived through it but for posterity, here is what went down.

It was an eventful St. Patrick’s Day for Three Floyds Brewing and those trying to secure Dark Lord golden tickets for the big event in late April. Things didn’t go exactly as planned and the brewery was still sorting the mess into Wednesday night.

How did it all start?

Last year, the brewery put golden tickets on sale around 4:25am in the morning. Some guessed that the brewery would once again put them on sale early in the morning and literally pulled all-nighters so that they wouldn’t miss their chance. Others relied on Twitter’s alerting service to send a text to their phone for when Three Floyds announced the sale.

Over the course of the day, after no announcement had been made, more and more people flocked to DarkLordDay.com, pounding the refresh button for an update on the status of tickets. The site was consequently down for much of the day with a “500 – Internal Server Error.”

On Twitter, the ticket sale was the topic of the day among beer people to the tune of well over 1,000 tweets. The last time that many tweets poured in for a single craft beer topic was back in the fall when users showed their support for Rock Art Brewery in the Monster Energy fiasco. The golden tickets ended up as a trending topic twice in Chicago, an indicator that (at least for a little while) more Chicago people were tweeting about Dark Lord than anything else.

Tickets finally went on sale shortly after 8pm EST/7pm CST but not before some damage had been done. It was St. Patrick’s Day, perhaps the biggest drinking holiday of the year, and at least a few voiced their displeasure with how 3F went about the process. Right before the announcement, the brewery injected some humor into the whole thing (an inside Twitter joke, 3F used its 313th tweet for that message).

I scanned the Twitter Sentiment website at that point which showed a 77%/23% negative/positive split for the term, “3Floyds.”

And that wasn’t even the half of it.

In a move that I actually think was a good idea (because it moved the e-commerce part of off 3F’s own troubled server), the brewery used Shopify.com, a site that lets anyone set up their own e-store, to run the sale. What the folks in Munster didn’t realize was that Shopify was ill-equipped to handle the Dark Lord flood. This is when the St. Paddy’s Day Nightmare really set in. Site errors kept popping up forcing people to keep refreshing the browser. Many folks incurred mysterious shipping charges on the tickets. Confirmation screens didn’t appear. It was a mess.

The Head of Support at Shopify later sent a candid apology to Three Floyds: “You caught us with our pants down.”

Just shy of the 55 minute mark into sales, tickets sold out. Compare this to approximately four hours last year. As far as I know, the number of tickets sold hasn’t yet been disclosed. The Munster team has pledged to sort through all the sales and make sure that no one will have to pay any shipping charges and that is where we currently stand.

Rare beer releases have hit critical mass. It is as if craft beer needs its own Ari Fleischer to consult on these things. That said, it is hard to fault Three Floyds for what happened today. I wouldn’t be surprised if Shopify’s staff were huddled in meetings tomorrow making sure this never happens again and you can’t blame 3F for that part.

As for conducting ticket sales on the night of St. Patrick’s Day . . . I’m guessing that wasn’t plan A and that something happened earlier in the day. Who knows.

This will blow over and all will enjoy the annual pilgrimage to The Prairie Hoosier State come Saturday, April 24th. For those that got left out for tickets, by all accounts, it is still a must-visit event regardless.

Dark Lord tix bring down the innernets

[Disclaimer: Beernews.org is a leader in craft beer news and is the original source of this article. If you would like to check out more, please visit the original site. Thanks!]

(Golden, CO) – I may never get to say this again. Today, I was scooped by the Wall Street Journal.

In mid-February, a label approval came through for a new beer called, “Coors Batch 19 Pre-Prohibition Style Lager.” I dug up some information and found out that Coors began testing this beer this past fall (contrary to what the WSJ reports). A Coors representative working on the project said that it was basically a non-story and other sources backed that up.

Flash forward to St. Patrick’s Day, and what rolls across my Twitter stream but an article posted by @BeerWars about Coors Batch 19 (and some other random tidbits from the mega-brewery). Fool me once . . .

Here is what the WSJ is reporting:

“Brewing giant MillerCoors LLC plans to test-market a new beer called Batch 19, which is based on a pre-Prohibition recipe, as part of several initiatives aimed at rejuvenating sales in the sluggish U.S. market.

MillerCoors will start selling the new brew next month in draft in bars and restaurants in Chicago, Milwaukee, San Francisco and Washington, said Peter Swinburn, chief executive of Molson Coors Brewing Co., which co-owns MillerCoors.

Mr. Swinburn said in an interview that Batch 19—named for the year, 1919, before Prohibition began—is designed to attract consumers looking for ‘a true, authentic, original beer.’ He said Keith Villa, master brewer at MillerCoors, found a recipe in the archives of Coors Brewing Co. in Golden, Colo., that was used to make one of its beers before alcohol was banned in the U.S. for a 13-year period. ‘It’s the beer that got beer banned,’ Mr. Swinburn joked.”

In light of a spirited discussion on Beer Advocate regarding immoral and illegal tactics being used by large brewers (allegedly), craft brewers have reason to take note of this. Some of the comments mention distributors playing on craft beer’s success to get more tap handles and shelf space only to swap in macro brands later. I’ve heard that Batch 19 is actually a pretty decent beer and not just slapping a fancy label on a bland Coors product but only time will tell whether this is a real play at making something “craft” or just a tactic.

Over 700 reviewers have poured in ratings for Budweiser American Ale at both BeerAdvocate and RateBeer. Will craft beer drinkers continue to test what AB-InBev and MillerCoors are delivering in the name of “craft” or will they put that money into craft breweries’ pockets?

This could get interesting.

MillerCoors opens up testing on new small-batch beer

[Disclaimer: Beernews.org is a leader in craft beer news and is the original source of this article. If you would like to check out more, please visit the original site. Thanks!]

(Chico, CA) – Quick note on Sierra Nevada Brewing . . .

The brewery continues to update the labels on its seasonal beers. Next up in the portfolio is Summerfest, a Pilsner-style lager. In addition to the label change, the beer will also be available in 24 oz. bottles for the first time.

Here is a shot of the old label for comparison.

How has Glissade Golden Bock, the brewery’s new spring seasonal, fared? Helles Bocks don’t earn as much praise as other styles and this beer is no exception to the rule. Reviews have been mixed and this currently sports a B average.

Recently released is Sierra Nevada Fritz and Ken’s Ale. Initial reviews are quite positive thus far.

Sierra Nevada Summerfest gets new label

[Disclaimer: Beernews.org is a leader in craft beer news and is the original source of this article. If you would like to check out more, please visit the original site. Thanks!]