Ian and Mikey have been hard at work brewing so much new beer, that we are dedicating this entire blog post to breaking it all down for you! As an artisanal brewery focused on your taproom experience, we are constantly rotating what’s on tap. The best way to know what’s available any given day is to check out our Beer page. There you will find descriptions and images for all the current Blackbird Brewery beers we have on tap in our taproom. For now, keep reading to learn about our new beers on tap and what’s coming up soon!
Yellow Submarine Hazy IPA Returns!
Yellow Submarine Hazy IPA is back! After several small batch Hazy IPAs, the people spoke and asked for more of our massively dry hopped Citra beer. It is available in cans now!!!
Coming Soon!
- Friday we’re releasing a Belgian Dubbel using yeast sourced from a Trappist monastery. Made with all Belgian ingredients, this amber ale gets most of its flavor from dark crystal malts and dark candi syrup bringing notes of biscuit, plum and molasses.
- Next week is another version of West Coast IPA, this one uses piles of concentrated hop products and hop oils. We’ll keep pushing on this style to coat your palate with hops while still being dry, light in color with moderate bitterness.
- We made a super rich and malty Brown ale and threw in some Saigon cinnamon and golden raisins. Spice is the variety of life.
- Also next week is the beer that’s been sitting in our upper horizontal tank for the past couple months. We went all in on this Pilsner! The notorious Triple Decoction was performed on this beer. Each mash temperature step is reached by pumping out the correct portion of mash, boiling it and returning it to the rest of the mash. The ultimate Czech brewing tradition. You should get a Cub Scout badge for pulling this off, 12 hours of technical and physical brewing goes into each batch and it took us 3 batches to fill the tank. Czech malt, Sladek and Saaz hops, naturally carbonated and lagered for 10 weeks.
In the Works
- A couple June beers already in the making is a return of the Kolsch which will be accompanied this time by an Altbier, an Amber ale from northern Germany which uses many of the same techniques as Kolsch but with a richer, toasty malt character. Kolsch from Koln and Altbier from Dusseldorf are considered “sister” styles by American brewers, but when you travel there you find out the people don’t really like each other’s beers. We’ll let you be the judge!
- A Classic American Pilsner also known as Pre-Prohibition style, scheduled to release in time for 4th of July celebrations. This uses 100% US ingredients. Malted barley from Virginia, malted corn from Tennessee, and hops from Michigan. This is being brewed now and will rest in a horizontal tank until fireworks season.
- An oyster stout! We have been getting really into oysters lately, Harmony just shows up with bags of them sometimes and we have to figure out what to do with them. We’ll line this up with Father’s Day to put some hair on your chest for those who need it!
- Now that the taps are finally filling up, we can allocate some tank space to other things: barrel ages stouts and Barleywines! We’ll start building our barrel wall behind the couches and fill them with intensely concentrated beers that will age an average of 12-18 months before release. Over time, we will taste the barrels, choose blends to balance their unique flavor profiles, and even choose additional flavorings at times to increase their complexity. The future’s so dark, but we’ll still wear shades cause they look so cool.
New Beers Currently on Tap
Inspired By U American IPA
More color, malt presence and IBUs than our West Coast IPAs. Overloaded with kettle hops per tradition (70-100 IBUs or something), then dry hopped with a healthy dose of Simcoe, Amarillo, and Azacca hops. Blackbird style, it was decoction mashed to widen the malt complexity and double dry hopped with concentrated lupulin pellets. 7.2% ABV
Waldo Hazy Pale Ale
Brewed in collaboration with our good friends at Heyday Brewing! Waldo clocks in at a tame 5.8%, this one is super soft with a restrained bitterness. It was bittered and whirlpool with Citra then aggressively dry-hopped with 100% Motueka. The result is an aroma of vibrant tropical notes of ripe lime zest, light floral-rose, and white nectarine. 5.8% ABV
Tuxedo at a Pool Party German Pilsner
Our first of what will become many attempts at Euro Pils. These are special beers that require extra steps and know-how on the brewhouse with 8 weeks minimum maturation in tanks. German malt is step mashed with a single decoction, then hopped with Hallertau Mittelfrüh and Saphir. Naturally carbonated and lagered in horizontal tanks. 4.8% ABV
Smoked Schwarzbier Wooden Robot Collab
Brewed with our friends at Wooden Robot in Charlotte. They drove down with some Epiphany Maple Smoked malt from Durham and we turned it into a dark lager. We did our usual step mash program for Euro styles and included a decoction to show off, but also to add some improved head retention to the beer. Naturally carbonated, expect some smokey and roasty notes married together with a rustic edge from 8 weeks in tanks. 5.2% ABV
Where I Belong West Coast IPA
Modern West Coast IPAs are one of our favorite styles. We went tried and true with the “holy trinity” hops Citra, Mosaic and Simcoe. Fermented bone dry with balanced bitterness to produce clean, clear hop juice! 7% ABV
Kaleidoscope Eyes Hazy Double IPA
Made to introduce our new tulip glass, we wanted orangey citrus for this big fat hazy DIPA so we used a heavy dose of El Dorado lupulin alongside Citra and just a touch of NZ hops to keep it funky. 9% ABV
Michelle Belgian Tripel
Michelle, my bell, these are words that go together well. A tribute to the woman who raised our brewer and has some serious wallpaper and sewing skills featured in our brewery, this light and dry complex ale is for those who prefer to drink beer like it’s wine. 10% ABV
Stay Up to Date!
We know it’s a lot to keep track of. The best way to stay up to date with all the latest beers is to check our Beer page periodically!
