Rapture at Weyerbacher

Well, that title is going to skew some of my search results. This post is about the new sour released by Weyerbacher last Thursday the 22nd at the brewery, not about going to heaven. Sorry crazy people! It was named Rapture because they apparently bottled it back in May the day or day before the rapture was supposed to occur. Whatever works, right? The last release, the one for Riserva, was awesome and I knew I didn't want to miss this one. Jo and I left after work and an hour and a half later made it to the brewery. Unlike last time, there were quite a few more people waiting in line to pick up cases when we arrived.

Turned out, their registers went down at 5pm just as they were supposed to start selling the beer. This meant they had to enter things by hand which is obviously quite a bit slower. Still, the line moved quickly enough, I got to chat with a few people, and I was soon back at the car with my case of Rapture and ready to start sampling and sharing. Inside the brewery, just like at the Riserva release, Weyerbacher was pouring samples of different things: Rapture, the Imperial Pumpkin, Old Heathen, and some others.

I think one the great things Weyerbacher does for their releases is pour samples of the thing they are releasing. It helps that none of their releases have been super small but, still, it's a nice gesture. Rapture is a Flemish Red that was aged in Chaddsford Winery Pinot Barrels for like a year and a half then blended with some that was aged in virgin oak. Maybe there was something else involved, too, but I can't remember. Guess I could look it up but I'll leave that to the class to research.

Classy looking bottles too. It was really quite tasty with a nice balanced sourness and lacking the bitter tannins I've found in similar beers. Really impressive. Plus, it's only around 6.5% ABV so it won't kick your butt like Riserva does.

After that I went outside and shared a bottle of Cisco Pechish Woods (almost sweet and sour and pretty tasty) with a crowd of people and had a few samples myself. Got to try Olde Hickory Event Horizon again (less sweet now), Hoppin' Frog Barrel Aged Naked Evil (really good and glad I have a bottle), and Cascade Vlad the Impaler (another good sour.) There was quite a bit more that people shared but it sort of all blends together now that it's been 4 days. I do remember one was a good double IPA named White Raja from some place in Ohio or something.

An hour or so passed and Jo and I decided it was time to head on to dinner at our usual spot, Pearly Baker's Ale House. Once there I ordered a glass of the Stone 15th Anniversary, a black IPA with a really long name that I didn't write down which comes in at 10% ABV.

Hoppy grapefruit nose. First sip had some pleasant grapefruit hop notes, smooth roast, some sweetness, and finished with a little bit of bitterness. The sweetness was pretty surprising since Stone IPAs are usually wicked bitter but it was really nice and balanced out the grapefruit flavors. This was quite balanced and really tasty. One of the best black IPAs I've had.

Another great visit to Weyerbacher. I'm glad they only do releases when they have quite a bit of the beer they are releasing so that I don't have to go super crazy. For Rapture, they had 300 cases (so 3600 bottles or so) which is plenty when it's not being distributed. I also got to try it before buying a full case which meant I knew it was good. The release itself was also fun with people sharing very cool things and just hanging out with some guys I don't get to see too often. Even Jo generally enjoyed it. Looking forward to the Riserva release which should be some point in October or November.