Breweries

Since it’s the perfect thing to drink with chili, plenty of people consider adding beer to their chili recipe, but which beer style should you choose? I made an extremely basic recipe, using cubes of beef (chuck) browned in oil (ok lard), tossed in chili powder* and then in goes the beer. Although that didn’t work out, I still wanted to try and get the malt character of the beer  to mesh with the chili, so I tried Drake’s Amber. Add the chili powder to the hot oil at the end (to bloom the spices), and toss in the meat, their collected juices, and the beer, not quite to cover, maybe 3/4s of the way up the meat.

This year’s edition of Hopocalypse Double IPA will feature Talus hops, one of the more unique hops to come out of the Pacific Northwest in the past few years. This crossing of U. S. and European influences all came together in Cascade, a hop deliberately bred from cultivated European rootstock and a “wild American male” (I love that it says that on the USDA description!). Not only were pure neomexicanus hops released, but growers started crossing them with existing hops, and now we’re seeing them hit the market. Sabro got people’s attention, but I’m more hyped on Talus hops (look, we got back to where we started!).

Complementing the Citra in this batch are Simcoe hops, potentially our favorite hop here at Drake’s, and Sultana (Denali), an off-the-radar hop that underpins the heavy hitters with dank, resinous aromas and fleshy citrus notes. Aroma Coma IPA can be purchased now at all Drake’s locations and is currently being shipped to our distributor partners. That’s because there’s no such thing as an “original recipe” for Aroma Coma. That was Aroma Coma through 2015, a rye IPA that we released every summer with a constantly tweaked hop bill.

Drake’s Brewing is excited to announce the return of their beloved seasonal sipper, Tree Beer IPA, made with spruce tips and juniper berries at 5.5% ABV. cans, Wednesday, November 25, at Drake’s Barrel House (San Leandro) and Drake’s Dealership (Oakland), and then arrives at Drake’s BARN (West Sacramento) on Friday, November 27. Tree Beer IPA was originally brewed in 2013, shortly after the Christmas season, when discarded trees were considered a great opportunity. Since then, the Tree Beer IPA recipe has been refined, and every year it’s slightly different, but remains an incredibly unique experience.

In the fourth episode of Beer Rants, Drake’s brewmaster, John Gillooly, goes to school on Kick Back IPA. It’s what we loosely call a Session Beer, a term John covered in episode two of Beer Rants. Beer Rants explores Drake’s beer releases, ingredients, trends, history, insider stories, and anything else that John is itching to rant about. Subscribe to the Drake’s Brewing YouTube channel to receive updates about new Beer Rants episodes and other fun content.

In advance of this year’s release, we asked our brew team to sit down and draft a few words about the 2020 batch of Headzo. Then John Gillooly, Drake’s faithfull Brewmaster, will tell the beer’s origin story and discuss the difficult task of brewing high alcohol by volume beers. This year’s batch of Headzo is the fourth version, and the strongest at 18.5% ABV. So that was in my brain a little when we went after Headzo, that lost quest for 25%, but mostly it was 25% for 25 years.

Enjoy delicious food made with fresh organic produce, grown right next door to Drake’s: Watch the video below to learn about our relationship with the West Sacramento Urban Farm Program, who operates this amazing resource, as part of the Center for Land Based Learning. Program manager, Sara Bernal, talks about the mission of the organization and what she’s producing for Drake’s, while our executive chef, Rachael Zavala, describes what it’s like to have a farm at her fingertips, and all the wonderful opportunities it creates for our guests. Riverfront Farm is a seasonal resource.

Drake’s Brewing Company, premier innovators of Bay Area craft beer, has nominated November 3rd as Denog Day. An ode to the massively hopped Denogginizer Double IPA, this designation celebrates the one thing every party can agree on: regardless of the results, you’re gonna need a beer. This designation celebrates the one thing every party can agree on: regardless of the results, you’re gonna need a beer. It’s not about telling folks who to vote for or to influence how they vote, it’s about getting people as engaged and informed as possible,” says Brewmaster John Gillooly.

I love how this smells,” sometimes it’s very brand-specific (ask us what a “1500 Simcoe” is), and usually it’s somewhere in-between. That’s because Cascade is never used as a pure focus for a Drake’s beer (unless we make Wandering Possum again). It’s really hard to imagine craft brewing without Cascade, and we want them to touch our core hoppy beers. Now, that root structure theory might be hooey, but I know a lot of brewers who have observed that some newer hops come out of the gate super-vibrant, and then in a couple of years seem dull.

So for me, I’d like to see the definition under 4%, but American beer drinkers have demonstrated that they’re not looking for sub 4% beer. Just because a hazy sour fruited milkshake IPA is under 5%, doesn’t mean it’s drinkable like a British Mild. While it takes skill to manipulate big flavors in higher ABV beers, mastering the subtle flavors of a session beer is where brewers really show their talent. We’re tasked with creating a low ABV beer that can still support the hop load required to make it IPA like.