Last Friday started with a familiar face: Many of us remember Jim Koch oh-so-well from those commercials in the ’90s. We ran into the founder of Samuel Adams Brewing Co., while enjoying beer and brunch at Marlowe’s, Denver’s historic saloon and chophouse. Koch led a breakfast full of Wagyū beef, biscuits and gravy, sausages galore and some New England touches, like fried clams and crab-cake sliders. The founder spoke extensively about his love of craft beer and the deep appreciation he holds for homebrewers and their place in pushing craft beer forward. “I want to celebrate quality and creativity,” he said.
Koch offered flights of an upcoming ale trio: Fresh as Helles and Hopscape, which will be seasonal releases, plus the Rebel Juiced IPA, which will be available year-round. Fresh as Helles produces inviting orange notes from the Mandarina hops and orange blossom petals, which fade into a slightly sweet finish. Hopscape is a hoppy wheat ale, quadruple-hopped on zeus, centennial, citra and chinook; taste-wise: citrus at the forefront cascading into dank, pine. The earthy, hoppy flavors are a nice change of pace from traditional wheat beers.
The new Rebel is triple hopped and brewed with mango juice to create a sweet, tropical IPA that jives with the citrus IPA boom. Rebel Juiced IPA will be available on draft by the end of the month, with bottles and cans debuting early next year in January/February along with the sister brews ringing in the new year. 2017 is already shaping up to be a good year.
