We are about a month into 2020 and its time to get those taste buds ready for some new brews that have been cooking up at Poulsbo’s purveyors of potent potables.
First up we’ve got Rainy Daze, who just released (on Jan. 17) a new Double IPA that ties in popularity with its best-selling “Goat Boater.”
This new brew was dubbed Evil One as its taste is so light and refreshing that it’s nine percent Alcohol By Volume (ABV) is bound to sneak up on you. This beer was made from Galaxy, Nelson Sauvin and Citra hops.
While the new year brought in the Evil One, be on the lookout for new releases in February.
On the Feb. 7 Rainy Daze will introduce a collaboration beer called Stoked For Dazes IPA.
This 6.2 percent ABV IPA is a collaboration with Jeff Stokes a brewer out of Three Magnets in Olympia that has started his own brewery in Tacoma.
“I’ve known Jeff for a long time and we’ve joked about doing a collaboration … and now finally it’s happening and we’re pretty stoked about it,” said Mike Montoney, Rainy Daze’s owner and head brewer.
Montoney describes the collaboration as very aromatic with a tropical taste and brewed with El Dorado, Citra and Sabro hops.
Finally, if you’re looking for something sweet for Valentine’s Day, Rainy Daze will be releasing a Mexican Chocolate Stout.
Next up is Slippery Pig Brewing.
Head Brewer Dave Lambert doesn’t shy away from new and somewhat strange flavors, such as the Hog Thai’d IPA a beer inspired by the flavors of Thai curry; Bockstar 666 is a beer made with Hot Tamales candies.
For the new year though, Lambert has introduced two new beers with great stories behind them.
Up first is the Borghild Imperial Stout, named for Shawna Lambert’s great-grandmother.
The name Borghild means “fortified for battle,” which Lambert said describes Shawna’s great grandmother perfectly, despite her small stature.
“She would challenge my father-in-law to hit her in the stomach, she had abs of steel, he’d be like ‘no I don’t want to do that,’ then he’d do it and she’d make fun of him for how weak he hit,” Lambert said.
While this 9.5 percent ABV brew won’t give you abs of steel, it will certainly have you fortified through for the harshest of winters.
Moving on to Valhöll Brewing, where its Chocolate Milk Stout will have you feeling like a kid at lunchtime again. At seven percent ABV this stout is on the lighter end of things and is as sweet and refreshing as the chocolate milk you’d have with your school lunch.
Valhöll also joins the Hazy IPA craze with its Tage Norseman, a 6.6 percent ABV IPA made with Azacca, Zythos, Amarillo and Eldorado hops.
Tage offers a sweet taste of pineapple and color to match.
Closing things out is Western Red Brewing, which has added multiple new brews to its line up, some brand new and some are re-releases of old favorites.
Starting on the lighter end is the Little Tugger Lager, a 5.3 percent brew made from Loral hops with a very light and crisp taste.
Moving very quickly to the heavier or rather darker side of things is the Vanilla Baltic Porter. At 10 percent ABV, this beer is surprisingly light for a Porter but the vanilla taste is very present.
Finally for the newer beers at WRB is the Scotch Ale, a 9.6 percent brew with a dash of mint to taste with a bitter end.
WRB also brought back its Single and Triple Buck IPA’s.
The Single Buck, at six percent ABV presents a very tropical taste that only gets sweeter with the Triple Buck at 9.6 % ABV.
