What’s up 2021?! It’s good to be here.
Last year was a quite an interesting journey for the entire craft beer industry, and unfortunately, Delaware lost at least one brewery (3rd Wave in Delmar, DE). But ever the optimistic state, DE gained a fancy new brewery in Middletown - First State Brewing - and Burley Oak opened up a spin-off “Loakal Branch’. So that’s a net gain of one, which isn’t too bad considering the ramifications of a world altering pandemic.
Coming out of the the unexpected craziness that was spring 2020, the Autumn Arch team sat down and made some decisions around ‘who we were going to be’ moving forward (and how to do that in the middle of a pandemic). What became abundantly clear during that work is that we were going to double-down on our mission to create and release complex and unique beers.
What does this mean in reality? It means delivering beers that make you say ‘whoa’ with just the aroma. It means crafting beers so delicious that you save the bottle and place it in location of high regard (as I do). It means trying some edgy and experimental things with adjuncts/barrels/ingredients that may or may not work. It means sending more cans and bottles out into the world. It means bringing in a full-time brewer (which we did) who shares the vision and has the tools and experience to execute.
Therefore, in addition to our can releases, you’ll see two new bottle series from us in the coming month - Cellar Series and Abstract Methods .
One half of the Valentine’s Double Sour Release
The Cellar Series is exclusively focused on our nascent sour program. After nearly two years of brewing and barrel-aging, the program is yielding some very interesting and unique flavor profiles, which hopefully you’ve experienced at one of our Sour Wednesday events. We have several fun sours and sour-hybrids currently bottle conditioning, as well as a few more in the works for a 2021 release. We are very excited about what’s in the pipeline, and in fact, the first two beers in the Cellar Series releases on Feb 6! More details on that little gem soon…
Abstract Methods is a series more focused on the ‘complex’ side of ales and lagers. No sours here. These will generally be high ABV (10%+), high character/interestingness, occasionally barrel aged, and rarer styles. In other words, not your typical Monday night after-work beer. Justin and Dan are actively working to release the first one of these in late February/early March.
Does this mean we are eliminating all the light/golden beers on the tasting room menu?!
Heck no.
The tasting room will continue to serve a broad range of ‘whatever suits our fancy’ which includes a nice selection of golden/dark ales and lagers. But you’ll start seeing the occasional Cellar Series and Abstract Methods beers sprinkled in, which is a good thing for 2021.
P.s. I made a resolution to post more than once per quarter on this blog, so hold me to it.