New Blog

Since this blog, "Hoppy Moon," was originally designed to update people on Amy and I's beer advocate of a honeymoon, I've decided it was time for a new name and URL associated with what I plan to blog about going forward. From now on, new posts will appear on my new blog -- Spontaneous Funk. Facebook and Twitter updates for new postings will occur under the new name from the new website. Thanks for reading. Cheers!

Rusian River Torando 25th Anniversary

Russian River is set to release Toronado's 25th Anniversary Ale this year. The beer will be called Oe Ta Meulick. This will be a follow-up to the wildly-successfully Toronado 20th Anniversary Ale, aka T20 (BeerAdvocate). Here is a description and photo of the label, courtesy of Beer Street Journal:

Toronado 25th Anniversary Ale started out as six individual brews, each with their own personality, and all incorporating Brettanomyces and or micro-organisms. Once the barrel aging was complete, Russian River’s Vinnie Cilurzo and Toronado’s David Keene got together to create the final blend. To create its fine carbonation, we re fermented the Toronado 25th Anniversary Ale in this bottle. Spent yeast cells from a thin layer of sediment in the bottom of the bottle. Pour slowly, allowing the natural yeast sediment to remain in the bottle.

This has the makings of a big year for Russian River, as they will also be releasing their Brett-fermented collaboration with Sierra Nevada this summer, via Sierra Nevada's distribution chain. The collaboration was fermented with Brett B., and will be called "Brux."

Allagash Coolship

Allagash looks to be preparing another batch of Coolship Red. Rob Tod a few pictures today, including photos of unlabeled corked and caged bottles, as well as of the blending session.

Resting bottles:


Blending:


Pictures via Rob Tod's Twitter feed.

New Allagash Beers

Allagash is set to release two new beers in the coming months. The first -- Saison Mihm -- will be an 8% saison with Maine honey. The second -- Old HLT -- will be a wild ale with cherries. Saison Mihm will be draft-only, whereas Old HLT will be draft-only to start, followed by a limited 375mL bottle release at Allagash's store in Portland, ME. Here's the Old HLT label:


Thanks to Beernews.org for the scoop and label.