Thanksgiving is a time to reflect and give thanks for everything (and everyone) you are grateful for. It is a time to spend with the people you love, to enjoy good food, and of course, to indulge in a few good beers.
This year, be sure to impress your guests with a variety of Autumn Arch beers to enhance the Thanksgiving dining experience.
October has arrived and AUTUMN ARCH BEER PROJECT is fully embracing the spooky season. We’re so psyched to get our fright flags flying, that we’ve brewed up a superbly scary new beer (complete with a can design that would make even Michael Meyers stop and stare). And we’ve compiled a list of haunted local haunts in and around Newark, Delaware for your fearful pleasure.
10.3% Imperial Stout, Coffin Motif
The first stop on the Delaware Halloween tour is Fort Delaware just outside of Delaware City. If you’ve always wanted to go searching for ghosts, look no further. Aside from being a rad Civil War prison, Fort Delaware provides a dramatic background for a “3-hour paranormal investigation” hosted by the Diamond State Ghost Investigators. Sign-up soon as the spots are limited! (includes a cool boat ride too!)
Second stop: tour of Old New Castle. If you’re looking for a history lesson while you get spooked, this is the activity for you. The Amstel House is “one of the town's most haunted locations” due to the Lady in Blue. We would tell you who the “Lady in Blue” is; however, no one knows for sure. Keep in the spirit of colonial Delaware and drop by Jessop’s Tavern for a bite and brew afterwards.
Third stop: check out Dead President’s Tavern in Wilmington. While the tavern isn’t haunted by any actual presidents (that we know of) it is supposedly haunted by an exceptionally problematic drunk, who was aptly named “Lemonade Mullery”. Visitors that were unfortunate enough to pull up a bar stool close enough to Mullery experienced, “dishes being thrown at them, screaming, dominoes floating from the game boards in the recreation room, and other activities.” Mullery ended up dying in an unfortunate slipping accident in the tavern’s bathroom where his spirit apparently still lives; so stop by and hopefully you won’t get hit by a rogue ghostly domino.
Once you’re freaked out enough to REALLY need a drink, Autumn Arch’s tasting room is the perfect place to recover with friends. Our new 10.3% Imperial Stout, Coffin Motif, is out just in time for Halloween. A dark-hearted stout with an elegantly creamy body and strong roastiness, this strong stout pours jet black with a tan head, as all respectable stouts should. For those looking to imbibe on something a little more mellow - we just released our popular fall beer “Sans Pumpkin”, a delightful pumpkin porter.
Believe it or not, craft beer did not always exist in the world *gasp*. True. There were even a few years where beer was illegal in the U.S., and that was probably a difficult time to be alive! Beer has come a long way since it first began, and Autumn Arch Beer Project is just a small piece of this huge and constantly evolving industry.
Before you take another sip of your hazy grapefruit milkshake sour IPA, understand that craft beer is on a journey that started with humble beginnings. Prior to craft beer becoming the phenomenon it is today, American craft beer traversed amendments, Prohibition, bold entrepreneurs, acquisitions, and at least one Recession (and Brut IPAs...how was that a thing?).
One of the most significant moments in the history of beer was the Prohibition era. The Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution was enacted into law on January 16, 1919. Thus began the era when manufacturing, selling, and transportation of alcoholic beverages was declared illegal (can you imagine this happening today?!)
All legal breweries came to a screeching halt and soon took to producing non-alcoholic beverages to keep themselves afloat. These breweries started manufacturing malt-syrup, near beer, colas, and root beers….coincidentally, a lot of breweries have started doing this again! i.e. sparkling waters, kombuchas, and NA beers.
It took 13 years and multiple acts to repeal the Prohibition, ending with the Twenty-first Amendment. Once beer was legalized again, the journey to more flavorful beers started, a journey that was not really planned.
Prior to Jimmy Carter’s presidency, homebrewing was surreptitiously conducted in garages and backyards, but in 1979, the world was modernized and Congress passed the H.R. 1337, a bill that repealed any restrictions and taxes towards homebrewing. The bill then came into effect when President Jimmy Carter signed it into law. As soon as the H.R.1337 was passed, America saw its first Brewers Association and the American Home Brewers Association come into existence.
In 1978, there were about 89 breweries in the U.S.
In the period between 1985-1997, the microbrewery scene saw a boom like never before. With 20+ percent growth year over year, there was no stopping the craft beer business. People soon started seeing the potential, especially, because the early craft brewery owners were extremely successful. The Boston Beer Company even went public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in the year 1995! This brought in a new wave of investors who wanted to imbibe in the rapidly growing business.
By the end of 2020, there were over 8,000 breweries in the U.S.
While sales of all-time favorites and national flagship brands shrink, beer lovers have started experimenting with new flavors and styles (e.g. hazy IPAs, Fruit Smoothie Beers, seltzers, etc). In this case, consolidation has not crushed innovation; it has, in a way, fueled it. Brewers have realized their consumers have a strong desire to experiment with new flavors, and they are merely obliging them – even if this requires producing lesser volume but greater breadth of offerings. Gone are the days where a brewery could rely on a handful of ‘flagship’ beers!
Autumn Arch Beer Project, along with most of the other Delaware craft breweries, would not be where we are today without the strong growth in U.S. craft beer. Today, we have 15 different types of brews on our menu ranging from 3 varieties of IPAs, a couple Lagers, two imperial stouts and a sour or two...this is definitely a step up from the typical 1995 microbrewery menu! The team at Autumn Arch is constantly striving to create new and complex flavors, and this is not only the key to growing in a dynamic industry, but it’s been the key to craft beer's success over the past 40 years. Embrace the change!
From Source: Craft Beer in America: The History and Development | Microbrewery.com
From Source: The Illustrated History of Craft Beer in America | First We Feast
As the hazy and humid summer settles in over Newark, the Autumn Arch team took a long weekend break in July to reflect and recharge. Since one of our partners lives in Minneapolis, we decided to take the show on the road (with some stops in Iowa beforehand and Montana afterwards).
A couple points of interest:
Firstly, Minneapolis is quite the fun little city. Plenty of lakes, breweries, wide boulevards, and sunny skies (albeit slightly hazy with wildfire smoke). Tons of early 1900s buildings and neat midwestern architecture. This is something I’m a little jealous of since Delaware has very few old warehouse style buildings that would make good breweries. And the citizens of Minneapolis have definitely taken advantage of this.
Secondly, it was only a year ago that the city was rocked with protests stemming from the murder of George Floyd. We drove over to where it all happened. It looked like the site had remained relatively untouched with the streets closed off and flowers lining the sidewalks. Amid the serene calmness, it was hard to believe this tiny corner sparked a nation-wide movement a mere 14 months ago.
The break from Newark was good. Plenty of candid discussion on the where Autumn Arch is today and where it’s heading tomorrow. Tons of excitement there.
We had planned this little break back in the middle of winter, and now that it has come and passed, we all agreed that it was very much needed after all the furious activity involved in running a business through 2020. It was a collective deep breath before the start of race. A re-focus on what’s really important.
We hope you had a chance to hit the reset button this summer (or at least the pause button for a few days). COVID’s not over; things are getting expensive, the weather is weird, and craft seltzers are here to stay :) But so is exceptional craft beer at Autumn Arch. Drop by and tell us about your summer. We’d love to hear about it.
PS. Run Club on Wednesdays is a perfect opportunity to do this - you’ll have our undivided attention for 4 miles plus some serious hanging afterwards (with post run refreshments of course).
While the first weekend in July is almost always a party, the remaining weekends during this peak summer month can often go unplanned, leaving some of us with serious summer FOMO. The team at Autumn Arch is set to keep summer rolling in style, with new releases ranging from signature seasonal sours to hazy IPAs and everything in between (including a duo of High Viscosity “smoothie” sours that resulted from an April Fools joke gone wild). Here are a few pool side & backyard beer and food ideas to get you started.
July 9 - 11 : Charcuterie board + 8 Track Dreams (Golden Sour)
July 16 - 18 : Kebabs +Misplaced Dreams (Double IPA)
July 23 - 25 : Brats/ Hot dogs +Arcane Elements (Lager)
July 30 - 31 : Chicken Caesar Salad +Unconditional Summer (Golden Ale)
The Post 4th of July Recovery Weekend
It’s without a doubt that 4th of July was celebrated more excessively than normal this year since COVID restrictions have been lifted almost everywhere. The weekend of the 9th is for “active” recovery. Instead of BBQing, sit down in the back yard with a nice charcuterie board and our 7% Golden Sour 8 Track Dreams. 8 Track Dreams is the perfect combination of “barnyard funk + subdue citrus ” to set a mellow and zen-like tone after a hectic holiday weekend. Assemble your board with some cheese, crackers, and meat slices along with your new favorite sour in your hand, and kick your feet up. Throw in some olives if you’re feeling especially ‘euro’.
Kebabs and Misplaced Dreams (July 16-18)
After taking a week off from grilling, maybe you want to get back into it but you don't want to do the burgers and hot dogs again. Putting together some kebabs and tossing them on the grill is a perfect compromise and Autumn Arch’s Misplaced Dreams (8.8%, DIPA) is the perfect brew to pair with it. This double IPA has juicy notes of tropical fruit, ripe succulent mangos, and subtle cotton candy fluff all mingled with a resinous piny finish. Basically, it’s the perfect pint to pair with a light meal like kebabs.
Gas up the grills, it is a huge weekend (July 23-25)
Get your buns and mustard ready because July 23rd is National Hot Dog day, and we definitely have the right lager to wash down that dog. Plan the ultimate cookout to celebrate a uniquely American holiday, and pick up Arcane Elements Lager to partner with your medley of dogs. It’s the perfect sidekick for the weekend. So head to the grocery and grab those glizzies - we have your drink of choice covered.
Last weekend in July calls for the Perfect Salad (July 30-31)
For the last weekend in July, pair together a summer caesar salad and a fresh French baguette with our favorite golden ale, Unconditional Summer. A light summer meal with friends and family on the back porch will rival the most epic summer activities…mostly due to the chill nature of the food + beer. Unconditional Summer is brewed with orange and lemon peels and conditioned on key limes and tangerines to yield a genuine porch rocker.
For anyone interested in taking a sip on the sour side, our High Viscosity Mango and Fruit Punch Smoothie Sours were recently added to our tap options starting July 1st, and are also available for crowlers/growlers.
Even though Independence Day is in the rear view, there’s still plenty to take advantage of. Celebrate summer with the people, food, and brews you love.
