Jim Moorehouse, Nate Albrecht and Brad Zeller, three pals planning to open a Chicago brewpub under the moniker of Aleman, won first place at last year's Iron Brew homebrewing competition in the Windy City (judged by none other than Greg Koch, Jason Ebel of Two Brothers Brewing, and celebrated Chicago brewer, designer and author Randy Mosher). Their style-bending IPA artfully married the…
Evil Twin / Stillwater / Stone "The Perfect Crime" Black Smoked Saison. In a masterfully orchestrated collaboration of the minds, Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø of Denmark's Evil Twin Brewing, Brian Strumke from Baltimore's Stillwater Artisanal Ales, and Stone brewmaster Mitch Steele crafted a beer that cleverly exploits the definition of a saison.
Rick and Robbie’s Spröcketbier is the first ever winner of the Stone Spotlight Series brewing competition. A black rye Kölsch-style ale, it arose victorious over 18 other impressive entries ranging from barrel-aged stouts to fruit-laced sour beers and nearly everything in-between. A uniquely dark spin on this traditionally light-bodied German beer style, Spröcketbier delivers mild roast,…
Several Stone “firsts” are evident in this beer. It’s our first time using Sorachi Ace and Motueka hops (newer, intensely-flavored hop varieties from Japan and New Zealand), our first time using mash hopping and first wort hopping, and our first time using more than two kettle hop additions (we actually had 10 additions throughout the wort boiling process). Perhaps most significantly, this is the…
Truly a collaborative beer, I want to thank everyone who went above and beyond to help:
- Our Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens overnight team for toasting 1,000 lbs. of coconut to a perfect golden brown. You all rock!
- Our Stone Brew Crew, especially Tom, Kevin, Chris and Sean, for all the last minute ingredient preparation (grinding, bagging, and placement in…
When Ron, Kjetil, and I started communicating about our collaborative beer, we knew going in that we wanted to make a great beer for the holidays. That was about it. Greg spoke highly of Kjetil’s Holiday Ale that he tried on a recent trip to Norway, so we used that as starting point, and started e-mailing. We quickly decided to try and use one indigenous ingredient from each of our brewing…
This is a story of how a collaboration brew with–IMO–two of the greatest breweries on this planet initially began with a “fizzy yellow beer.” It all started in Denmark in the late 90’s when a group of friends and I started going to a bar in our neighborhood that sold a bucket of imported beers. My first love was (yikes) an American fizzy yellow beer......Well, things have changed since..... We…
To many of us who have lived in the coastal valleys of California, the words “El Camino Real” conjure up images of golden hills, California sunsets, and oak, eucalyptus and pepper trees. Offering a glimpse into what many feel is the “real” California, the El Camino Real wends through the state’s coastline, mountains, fertile farming valleys, and traffic-heavy urban and suburban areas. And of…
I'm with two old friends, and my fingers reek of rosemary. Bill, Sam & I just finished picking the "Estate Rosemary" for our collaborative Saison du BUFF. It'll go into the brew in about a half hour—along with the other herbs—and in the meantime we're all sitting like kids in detention writing our labels. Good times. Seriously. We're having a great time catching up. Other than the many times…
Stone brewers Drew Neldon and Steve Via won this year’s annual in-house Stone Spotlight Series brewing competition with this hefty brown ale—an impressive result considering that one of them had never encountered a brown ale he liked before tasting this one. Given layers of flavor from Vienna, Victory and Chocolate Wheat malts, and warming, refined sweetness from Honey Malt and turbinado sugar,…
