Look out for this Spring from a new sparking imperial offering from Southern Tier Brewing (Lakewood, NY). Imperial Compass joins Plum Noir in new offerings this year. Compass is a bottle conditioned (expect lots of bubbles), with a hint of rose hips. We rely on age-old tools in the brewery despite being surrounded by high technology. As sort of compass, we use the six pointed brewer’s star to help ravigate uncharted brews. The cardinal points of water, malt. grain, yeast, hops and a brewer make the baseline. From there anything goes. Sometimes the journey is as Important as the destination. You’ll notice s slight bittemess In Compass derived from our use of rose hips accentuated by high effervescence. Drink it cold from a fluted or tulip glass and by all means, avoid sea serpents! Style: Sparkling Ale (Tripel? w/ Rose Hips) Availability: 22oz bombers, Draft Arrival: Spring, 2013 9% ABV http://beerstreetjournal.com/southern-tier-imperial-compass-added-to-spring-lineup/
Had to do a double take on the brewery... This is really outside the box for Southern Tier - should be interesting.
This sounds great. Southern Tier has been surprising recently with some very solid brews like Eurotrash Pilz and Live.
Hmm, and I saw on FB that they're bottling a 2XSteam beer, and another thread on here for Plum Noir. I like that they're making a lot of new stuff this year. I hope to try them all, as ST is one of my favorite breweries. The new 2XMAS last year was pretty good, too.
I still miss Jahva and Mokah, but I guess this, Plum Noir and all the other planned releases will make up for it.
Maybe I have been out of the loop, but are they no longer going to bottle these brews? May have to shop around to see if I can find some if that's the case. Definitely two outstanding off the wall brews. As for the imperial compass, I don't know if I even want to try it. Sounds a little too out there. Not even sure what is meant by "sparkling ale".. I guess that refers to the carbonation level, but is this a style (and no, im not trolling.. someone explain this if they know what it is). I know Bell's has a sparkling ale, but I have never seen or had it. The Plum Noir sounds like it will be worth a shot. Don't like the Imperial Porter classification... I'm sure it will be along those lines. But to me imperial porter means "Im not flavorful enough to be called a stout ale".. But I suppose that a lighter roast flavor will help accentuate the addition of plums. Regardless, I will try this one.
Yeah, they said this year they would only be doing Choklat and Creme Brulee in the Blackwater Series (Now they will have a third beer with the addition of Plum Noir.) Oat is out as well, so try to get some of that too if you like it.
