Beer News: Firestone Walker's 2015 Sucaba

FIRESTONE WALKER RELEASES 2015 §UCABA

ON JANUARY 17

Brewmaster Spills Secrets on Barrel-Aged Tongue Twister

Paso Robles, CA—Firestone Walker Brewing Company is set to release its first Proprietor’s Vintage Series beer of 2015 with the return of §ucaba—and Brewmaster Matt Brynildson is now spilling a few secrets on the tongue-twisting, barrel-aged barleywine that has been a brewery staple since 2006.

“We’ve never talked about it, but §ucaba is actually a blend of two separate beers,” Brynildson said. “The base beer is what you would call §ucaba, but each year the final blend also includes around 10 percent of another barrel-aged beer, which gives it this chocolaty, dark cherry dimension.”

Brynildson wouldn’t reveal the identity of the other component beer, but he did share some insights into the name §ucaba.

“Back in my early brewing days at Goose Island, I had this massive handheld calculator,” Brynildson said. “I would break it out when we were doing brewing calculations, and the guys would laugh at me and say, ‘Uh, oh, Brynildson’s firing up his abacus again.’ I always liked the word, and finally got to use it as a name for this beer.”

Alas, that original name was later undone by a legal challenge, and so the brewing team simply reversed it to §ucaba as a defiant yet virtually unpronounceable way to maintain the beer’s lineage.

So what’s the official pronunciation? “There is none,” Brynildson said. “SUC-a-buh, SOO-cah-ba, SOO-cab-uh, you hear it all, so it’s kind of fun. But in the brewhouse, we still call it by its original name.”

2015 §ucaba Lowdown

Release Date:  January 17, 2015

ABV: 13.5%   IBU: 42   Color: 36 (Dark Ruby)

Malts: Pale Ale Malt, Maris Otter, Munich, Dark & Light Crystal, Chocolate

Hops: Magnum (bittering), East Kent and Styrian Golding (late kettle)

Aging: Barrel-aged for one year on average in retired Bourbon barrels

Production: 3,500 cases (22-ounce bottles)

Retail: $16.99 (22-ounce bottle). Available while supplies last in select markets across the United States.

Tasting Notes
Big, boozy bourbon and American oak aromas combine with soft chocolate malty undertones. Complex malt flavors are framed in oak with hints of dark chocolate, vanilla, tobacco, coconut and just a touch of dark cherry. 

Cellaring
§ucaba is built to last and will reward careful cellaring (ideal aging temperature: 45F) for years to come. We recommend counting the years with an abacus.

A Visit to Santa Fe Brewing Company

The best part about a road trip is having the option to take day trips that are a bit off of the planned route.  This was how my boyfriend and I ended up visiting Santa Fe Brewing Company last month.  Santa Fe Brewing Company is the oldest brewery in New Mexico, established in 1988.  Although they have been around for nearly 30 years, I had not sampled any of their beers until earlier this year when I traveled out of state.  I purchased one of their beers based simply upon the name, Happy Camper.  I immediately was a fan. Santa Fe Brewing Company's friendly Social Alchemist Max found us at the bar and introduced himself.  Max was very friendly and offered to take us on a tour after we finished our beers.  While we were finishing up the beers we had ordered, other brewery employees started to talk to us and were extremely friendly.  Having friendly employees definitely helps to make beers taste even better!
While I had the opportunity to sample most of the beers available in the tasting room, my favorite was Happy Camper.  It is a great every day drinking IPA.  Having the chance to tour the brewing facilities was great because it is always fun to see the variations in how breweries operate.  I look forward to when Santa Fe Brewing is available in more states, hopefully even California!

I highly recommend a visit to Santa Fe Brewing Company, the beers, atmosphere of the tasting room and location are all fantastic!  Currently there are two tasting rooms in Santa Fe, but plans are underway for an additional location in Albuquerque.

Brewery Tasting Room
35 Fire Place
Santa Fe, NM 87508
(505) 424-3333
Open Mon-Fri 11:00 AM-10:00 PM
Sat 11:00 AM-9:00 PM
Sun 2:00 PM-8:00 PM

Eldorado Taphouse
7 Caliente Road Unit A9
Santa Fe, NM 87508
(505) 466-6938
Open Mon-Fri 3:00 PM-10:00 PM
Sat 2:00 PM-10:00 PM
Sun 12:00 PM-9:00 PM

A Visit to Marble Brewery

One of my favorite aspects of traveling is of course, visiting breweries.  Last month, I was able to visit three breweries while traveling through New Mexico.  At two of the three breweries, my boyfriend and I were also able to talk with some very friendly employees as well as go on impromptu tours!  The first brewery we visited was Marble Brewery located in Albuquerque.  With both a large outside patio with a stage and a more intimate sized seating area inside, there is ample room for both small and large groups.  While finishing up the first round of beers, my boyfriend and I struck up a conversation with one of the tasting room employees who ended up introducing us to one of the brewers who happened to still be there.  Brewer Dan was very friendly and offered to show us around the brew house.  It's always interesting to see how different breweries do basic operations.  One thing that we noticed that we hadn't seen before was that their tasting room beers are actually tapped into brite tanks.  What a great idea!  While at Marble, we were able to sample some of their signature beers.  My favorite beers that I sampled were their IPA and Barley Wine.  We had such a great time at Marble Brewery that we visited their Downtown location both at the beginning and end of our road trip.  Everyone who works there is very friendly and nice, this only helps to enhance the experience of drinking their delicious beers!

  

If you're ever in New Mexico, you should definitely visit Marble Brewery!  There are three tasting room locations which makes it easy to try their beers on draft.

The Marble Pub in Downtown
111 Marble Ave NW
Albuquerque, NM 87102
(505) 243-2739
Open Mon-Sat, 12:00 PM-12:00 AM
Sun 12:00 PM-10:30 PM

Westside Tap Room
5740 NightWhisper Rd NW
Albuquerque, NM 87114
(505) 508-4368
Open Mon-Thurs, 12:00 PM-11:00 PM
Fri & Sat, 12:00 PM-12:00 AM
Sun, 12:00 PM-10:00 PM

Santa Fe
505 Cerrillos Rd. Suite A105
Santa Fe, NM 87501
(505) 983-6259
Open Mon-Thurs, 2:00 PM-11:00 PM
Fri-Sun, 12:00 PM-11:00 PM

2014, A Year of Amazing Adventures

2014 was another year filled with amazing adventures, from attending concerts, visiting new breweries, beer events, and of course drinking delicious beers.  Listed below are just a few of my highlights from 2014!

Favorite Events

1.  Sabroso Craft Beer and Taco Festival
Drinking beer while watching luchadores in a picturesque setting, this event was so much fun!

2.  Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Fest  
Of course, once again, my favorite beer event of the year and one I always look forward to all year long!

Favorite Beers

1.  Ska Brewing's Mexican Logger
A great beer for a warm summer day, I love how light and refreshing this beer tastes!

2.  Firestone Walker's Oaktoberfest
A beer that until last year was only available on draft, so happy to be able to get it in bottles at my local grocery store!

Favorite Shows

1.  Pixies
A year when the Pixies tour is a good year indeed.  Seeing them at Humphreys by the Bay in San Diego was fantastic.  

2.  Weezer
Seeing one of my all-time favorite bands was so much fun, loved that they played both old favorites as well as their new album in it's entirety!

Additional Highlights

1.  Bottle Logic Brewing
Who would've imagined a brewery opening in February winning a medal at the Great American Beer Festival in October?  Pretty amazing if you ask me!  It's been exciting to see Bottle Logic Brewing's success in less than a year's time.  I can't wait to attend their first anniversary celebration!

2.  Bootlegger's Brewery
So excited that the first brewery that introduced me to craft beer won not only one, but two medals at the Great American Beer Festival!  

3.  A Visit to Club 33 and Le Salon Nouveau
Craft beer inside Disneyland?  Luckily, I was able to drink a local favorite, Bootlegger's Brewery's Rustic Rye thanks to a kind friend.

I had such a great 2014 and look forward to many more fun-filled adventures in 2015!

Beach City Brewery's Grand Opening

This past Sunday, I had the chance to visit Orange County's newest brewery, Beach City Brewery.  I've been looking forward to their opening for quite awhile, so I was really happy to finally have a chance to visit them and try their beers!  Beach City Brewery is located in an industrial park area, like many other breweries.  Their facility houses both their brew house and their tasting room, which is always interesting to see all in one location.  Beach City Brewery has the distinct honor of being the first production microbrewery located in Huntington Beach.

PCH Pale Ale, Hang Five IPA, Overcast Summer Wheat, and Sweet Crude Stout were all on tap on Sunday and I was able to try all of them.  I have to say, I enjoyed all of the beers but the one that I was surprised at liking the most was the Overcast Summer Wheat.  I tend to gravitate towards IPAs and Pale Ales, and often don't try wheat beers.  So I was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked the Overcast Summer Wheat.

I had a great time visiting Beach City Brewery, while the beers and tasting room were both outstanding, I'd have to say my favorite part of my visit were the friendly staff.  It's obvious from the enthusiasm from everyone who works at Beach City Brewery that they truly care about their brewery.  I look forward to visiting the tasting room again and sampling more of Beach City Brewery's beers.

Beach City Brewery's Grand Opening is this Saturday, May 10th from noon until 10 p.m..  PCH Pale Ale, Hang Five IPA, Overcast Summer Wheat, Sweet Crude Stout, an exclusive nitro beer and two special cask ales will be available.  Two food trucks will also be at the Grand Opening, GD Bro Truck will be there from 11:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m. along with The Viking Truck from 4:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m..

Beach City Brewery
7631 Woodwind Drive, Huntington Beach, CA 92647
(714) 425-4756
www.beachcitybrewery.com

Bootlegger's Brewery 6th Anniversary Celebration

I'll never forget the first time I had beer from Bootlegger's Brewery.  I was at a friend's birthday party and she told me she had some beer from a brewery that was just up the street from her house.  Of course, being at a party where the beer is free, I had to try some!  I may or may not have had more than my fair share of Old World Hefeweizen.  I was amazed at how flavorful the beer was and ended up liking it a lot more than my usual beer of choice.  My friend told me, in between my sips of all of her beer, that Bootlegger's was a small brewery that was located in what looked like somebody's garage.  I just kept thinking to myself, beer that's made in a small place like someone's garage?

Thanks to Bootlegger's Brewery, I had my first taste of craft beer all those years ago.  If it wasn't for Bootlegger's Brewery, I may never have found the light that is craft beer!  Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend the sixth anniversary celebration of Bootlegger's Brewery.  The event was located as it has the past two years at the lovely Muckenthaler Cultural Center in Fullerton.  The setting is beautiful, making you forget that you are in Orange County.  The event featured several local breweries as well as those from other parts of California and even some from out of state, like Ninkasi Brewing.  Besides glorious beer, there were a great selection of food trucks, games, live music, and of course a mechanical bull.  Cause, what beer event is complete without a chance to test your skills on a mechanical bull?

Since the Muckenthaler occupies such a large area, jockey boxes and beer pouring stations were spread out all over the vast lawns and garden areas.  Although over 1,100 tickets were sold, it never once felt crowded while mingling with fellow craft beer enthusiasts.  The lines at all of the various vendors were never more than a few moments long, which of course helped the day to run smoothly.  Bootlegger's brought 61 beers to share with their loyal fans.  Among them were variations of their standard beers as well as beers that were only available at the anniversary.  My favorite beer of the day was the 2011 Imperial Black Phoenix.  I've had this beer before and it definitely keeps improving with age.

Thanks to Bootlegger's Brewery for putting together another amazing event, I can't wait to see what the future has in store and to celebrate again next year!

Bottle Logic Brewing

Last night, I had the opportunity to visit Anahiem's newest craft brewery, Bottle Logic Brewing.  Located in a small industrial area, it is easy to find, located off of a major street, La Palma Avenue.  There is ample parking both on the street as well as a few spots directly adjacent to the brewery and tasting room.

Upon entering Bottle Logic's tasting room, I was immediately in awe of all of their careful attention to detail.  They obviously are big fans of science and gadgets, as is shown throughout the decor of their tasting room.  A small patio in the front of the building greets visitors.  There is also ample seating at the bar as well as at small tables throughout the tasting room.  Bottle Logic's tasting room is definitely someplace I can see myself visiting on a regular basis with my friends.

They had four beers on tap, and I was able to try each of them.  I thought it was great that they had four different styles of beer, to better ensure that there is something for everyone's diverse tastes.  The first beer that I tried, She Shot First, is a 4.7% ABV Pale Wheat Ale.  This is a beer that I can picture myself drinking on warm summer days.  The second beer, Double Actuator is a Double IPA, coming in at 9% ABV.  Although the beer is 9% ABV, it hardly seemed like it when I was drinking it.


The third beer I had, Tattered Prince, is a 7% ABV French Style Saison.  As with the previous two beers I tried, I really enjoyed the flavors of the Tattered Prince.  The final beer I tried last night, the Mother Heifer is a 5% ABV Milk Stout.  Milk Stouts are not generally a style that I find myself enjoying on a regular basis, but Mother Heifer is a new exception.

Overall, I found all four of the beers to be amazingly delicious.  While tasting the delicious beers, those in attendance also had the opportunity to check out the brew house.  It's always interesting to see where beer is made.

After last night's trip to Bottle Logic, I'm already looking forward to my next opportunity to visit.  Bottle Logic Brewing's Grand Opening is this Saturday, February, 15th.  They will be open from 12 p.m. until 11 p.m..  On Sunday they will also be open, from 12 p.m. until 8 p.m. and on Monday from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m..
I can't wait to see what Anaheim's newest craft brewery has in store!