Thursday, February 5, 2009

Insider Ale debuts

The Durango Bootleggers Society has released Insider Ale, an apple beer brewed with juice produced at the Homegrown Festival in October.

Insider Ale is on tap at all four breweries. Bombers can be purchased at liquor stores.

Insider Ale is an apple beer, as distinguished from a cider, because it contains a majority of malt, said Eric Maxson, brewmaster at Carver Brewing Co. It comes in at just under 6 percent ABV.

Soggy Coaster had an Insider Ale during a ridiculously expensive breakfast at Carver's on Saturday. It was light in color and full-bodied. The apple flavor was present but not strong. It was good, but not as completely awesome as Carver's recent Life's A Peach Lager, or for that matter the heavenly '07 Braggot (the '08 iteration seemed to pack less pear flavor).

Turtle Lake Refuge, Creative Conspiracy and local CSU extension officer Darrin Parmenter helped get the beer out.

Production yielded a half-barrel for each brewery and 34 cases of bombers. That's not a lot, so if you want an Insider Ale, don't wait.

If you've already tried it, leave a comment. I'd love to know what others think.

3 comments:

  1. I've had a lot of beer in this town, all sorts of beers. Some are light and some are dark, but this Insider Ale is the first one I would describe as "watered down". I found it to be quite undrinkable. I was at a table with two others, we had a round and were all in agreement. We gulped the watered down apple juice down and got another round consisting of Old Oak, Jack Rabbit and a Porter.

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  2. Chuck - love what you're doing here. Just a heads up - Small Batch belgian Amber on tap over at Ska. I was pleasantly surprised to run into it last evening, to say the least. No bombers - just on tap. A fantasic candi Sugar twist on top of a smooth drinking Amber base. Real nice.

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  3. Had it. Liked it. Blogged about it at the top of the long "He said beer, she said wine" entry. Keep them tips coming, though.

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