It feels like every week there’s another quirky beer holiday to remember, from Beer Can Appreciation Day in January to yesterday’s National IPA Day. Today is International Beer Day! Even if it sounds like a recently created holiday, we’re happy to use it as an excuse to build a to-go beer flight. Started in 2007 in Santa Cruz, California, International Beer Day is, as explained by its website, “a day for beer lovers everywhere to raise a toast to our brewers and bartenders, and rejoice in the greatness of beer!” Indeed. Celebrating the passing of another work week? International Beer Day! Trying to forget the nightmare that is our political situation? International Beer Day! Want to drink beers outside the United States? Oh yeah — it’s International Beer Day! The last angle is the one Peaks & Pints is taking. We’re offering an in-house beer flight of international beers — a flight we call Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: International Beer Day.
Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: International Beer Day
Birrificio Italiano Tipopils
5.2% ABV
ITALY: Italian brewer Agostino Arioli learned to brew in Germany. He returned home in 1997 to help start the Italian craft beer movement, drawing on the German pilsners he had already learned to brew. Birrificio Italiano, Arioli’s brewery in Limido Comasco, a small town southwest of Italy’s Lake Como, began brewing the Italian pilsner Tipopils, the original gangster of Italian pilsners, and it is widely given credit for starting the trend. An Italian pilsner is a German pilsner with a greater emphasis on hops, including dry hopping at the end of its brewing cycle.
Ayinger Oktober Fest-Märzen
5.8% ABV, 25 IBU
Sweet and grainy on the nose — think of fresh bread baked with honey and raisin — Ayinger Oktober Fest-Märzen features a pronounced sweetness of caramel and caramelized pumpkin on the palate. Hearty, and even a bit creamy as it warms, Oktober Fest-Märzen features a touch of bitter hops and fresh straw upfront before veering into a long malty finish. However, the beer dries out nicely to avoid a sticky or cloying aftertaste. This beer pairs beautifully with our pretzel bread sticks and side of beer mustard. Gemütlichkeit is, of course, free as always.
Brasserie au Baron Cuvee des Jonquilles
7% ABV
FRANCE: The Bailleux family is Belgian, but they opened a charming restaurant called Au Baron along a little stream in farming country just over the border in France and put a brewery in a cramped space near the kitchen. “Jonquilles” is the French word for daffodils, and the name undoubtedly refers to the lush garden surroundings of the Baron restaurant and its tiny Bailleux brewery, where the beer is made in very small batches. According to Phil Markowski, in his book, Culture and Craftsmanship in the Belgian, Brasserie au Baron‘s Jonquilles “fits the classic saison profile with a dry, hoppy, fruity palate.” Indeed, although it is described on the label as a bière de garde, it is refreshingly well-hopped compared to most modern French bieres de garde.
Hideji Beer Kuri Kuro Stout
9% ABV
JAPAN: Chestnut trees and their nuts are attractive to a wide range of wildlife, from insects to mammals, as a food source. The wood of a chestnut tree makes for an attractive and durable timber. The chestnut is the most ancient fruit in Japan. Charred chestnuts have been found in and around archaeological sites of the Jomon Period (10,000-200 B.C.) settlements. Once peeled, harvested chestnuts can be eaten raw, deep fried, roasted, and added to beer. Indeed. In fact, Hideji Beer Brewery brewed Kuri Kuro Stout with hometown Miyazaki-grown chestnuts, for flavor rich in nuts, herbs and sweet chestnuts along with an aroma of espresso and brown sugar from roasted barley.
Põhjala Cocobänger
12.5% ABV
ESTONIA: Põhjala was founded in Tallinn, Estonia at the end of 2011 by four Estonian beer enthusiasts and homebrewers. Scot and former Brewdog brewer Chris Pilkington joined the crew and contract brewed the first Põhjala beer, Öö Imperial Baltic Porter, in 2013. In April 2014, Põhjala moved into their own brewery in Tallinn’s Nõmme district. Named for “northern realm” in Estonian, Põhjala became the largest craft brewery in the Baltic states. Their Cocobänger is a banging Imperial stout brewed with coconut and a Caturra coffee from Costa Rica. Expect a creamy, dessert-like coconut followed by a rush of Turkish coffee — earthy, tarry, balanced by the taste of plums and blackberry. As the beer warms, chocolate notes start to shine, with hints of caramelized sugar layering on top of the roasted coffee. Finally, the oiliness of the coconut and the smooth coffee crash down the tongue, lingering and leaving their seductive taste until the inevitable next sip.
LINK: Peaks and Pints beer and wine cooler inventory
