First up is our trusty Thursday cask and this time around it's that tasty lil' pale ale that's been a favorite on both sides of the bar (and which handily features a hop that we think deserves more love): Crystal! And since we like to "spice things up" around these here parts, we added in a whole bunch of Centennial! Party!
ABV: 5.2%
Barrel: Wheat Whiskey
Tasting notes: dry as heck with a pinch of funkiness and a smidge of tartness and a subtle-but-noticeable note of ripe strawberry.
Pair with: something simple and summery, maybe caprese salad or (dare we say it) strawberry shortcake.
ABV: 6.5%
Barrel: Rye
Tasting notes: lightly malty-sweet with a solid whack of bright acidity, tempered by an undercurrent of oaky vanilla
Pair with: fatty meats like short rib work well, as do most preparations of potato.
ABV: 5.2%
Barrel: Rye
Tasting notes: dry and tart with some fruit flavors fighting for first place with funkiness from the Brett
Pair with: stinky cheese (taleggio is our favorite but feel free to go nuts on this one).
And lastly but not leastly on the Critters front, it behooves us to add a bit of a disclaimer. Since this is - at the moment, anyway - an experimental "pilot" program, that means we ain't got much of each beer. And since we're already hella small batch, we completely mean it when we say we ain't got much. We're not tryin' to get all "scarcity marketing" on you or anything, we just figured you'd wanna know.
- Remember how we had four bands last year? This year we've got seven! The Weisstronauts will be returning for their third year, plus we'll be bringin' back Sunken City and DnA's Evolution and Blood Built Empire from last year, and we're adding Organ Meats and Benthic Realm and Shadows Bleed Red!
- And to go with those seven bands gracing our tiny makeshift "stage," we're brewing a special beer for each dang ol' band! And since we don't really have a way to set all this aside for a septuple release on the Big Day, we'll be releasing these beers over the course of the month, so keep them eyes peeled!
- Speaking of keeping up traditions, there's gonna be more special anniversary swag! We ordered new mugs (and there's only 150 of them, so get 'em while you can) and new shirts and we're gonna have Heads Up Screenprinting in here doing some on-demand printing!
- For food, we've got Brato rollin' up with some straight-up Fred Flintstone action in the form of tomahawk steaks! And then when they run out of either time or meat, Liz and Jared will be grabbin' the grill and doin' up dollar hot dogs and (probably) dollar burgers!
- If you're lookin' to add some heat to all that meat, we're bringin' back another third-timer to this lil' shindig: Alex's Ugly Sauce!
- And for those of you who have a bit more of a sweet tooth, we're gonna have macarons and grilled banana splits!