Club Corner
Beer of the Month Club December 2024: Other Half Brewing
OTHER HALF BREWING To close the year out we have a selection of IPAs from a brewery celebrating their tenth anniversary this year. Other Half Brewing was founded in 2014 by Sam Richardson, who studied fermentation science at Oregon State with chefs Matt Monahan and Andrew Burman. Richardson, who is the head brewer, met Monahan after moving to New York to work at Greenpoint Beerworks. After opening they quickly gained notoriety for the sprawling lines of beer enthusiasts waiting to get their hands on their beer. They soon expanded from their original Brooklyn facility to multiple locations in New York and eventually out to Philadelphia and Washington DC. They are known for their New England-Style IPAs, a richly aromatic, tropical style with a soft, pillowy mouthfeel from the addition of flaked oats or wheat malt, and without the bitterness sometimes found in some IPAs which is usually achieved by double dry hopping the beer. Essentially, this process involves using comparatively fewer hops in the boiling phase while adding more during fermentation or conditioning to keep the bright hoppy aromas while minimizing bitterness in the finished beer. Cheers! Justin Malesheetz Beer Buyer Other Half Brewing Green Flowers Double Dry Hopped West Coast IPA NYC / USA A clear straw with fluffy foam and a bright nose of papaya, peach, grapefruit, and mango with a slight herbal resinous quality. On the palate it is soft, with a bit of malty sweetness and bread flour character to balance the pineapple and tropical notes. Made with Simcoe, Chinook, Nelson Sauvin, and Columbus Cryo hops. 6.8% ABV Head Brewer: Sam Richardson $7.99 per can / $26.99 per 4-Pack Other Half Motueka+Galaxy Double Dry Hopped Imperial IPA NYC / USA A deep hazy straw with a thinner foam and lots of citrus on the nose with notes of ruby grapefruit, tangerine, mandarin orange, and pineapple. Lush and pillowy on the palate, with a grainy malt character, soft carbonation, and notes of orange sherbet. 8.5% ABV Head Brewer: Sam Richardson $9.99 per can / $33.99 per 4-Pack
Learn more
Beer of the Month Club July 2024: Break Even Beermakers
BREAK EVEN BEERMAKERS This month we have an ambitious new project based out of a tiny city up in gold country. Originally founder Kevin Carter was looking for a place close to San Francisco to relocate his father from the Pacific Northwest. This eventually led him to Amador City, where he purchased a building that at the time was a beer house and BBQ restaurant as well as 40 acres nearby. Once he decided to open a small brewery in the space he was connected with Aaron Wittman who had started his brewing career at Rare Barrel after spending time in academia, went on to Cellarmaker, and was working with Berkeley Yeast designing beers to test newly engineered yeast to be used for commercial brewing before going over to help start Break Even. The pair started work in 2020, with an eye towards using local and sustainable ingredients from like minded companies close to home, like Admiral Maltings for grain and hops from California Farmers, going only as far as the Pacific Northwest for other needed varieties. They use a Copper 10 barrel system to make 2 to 3 Beers a month with a focus on high quality sessionable beers. They pride themselves in doing everything as hyper regional as possible, even planting an acre of hops along with an orchard with olive trees and apricots. All of this extra care shows in the beers, which are well balanced and expressive. Cheers! Justin Malesheetz Beer Buyer Break Even Beermakers Chasm Black Lager Amador City, CA Brilliantly clear black with a fluffy foam that quickly dissipates. Rich toasty nose with notes of vietnamese coffee, chocolate biscuit, graham cracker, toasted brioche, and a touch of vanilla. Dry on the palate while still feeling rich and showing some coffee fruitiness and a light pleasing bitterness on the long finish. $6.99 per 16 oz can / $26.99 per 4pk Break Even Beermakers Poppy Pedal Hoppy Lager Amador City, CA Pale gold, with a thick fluffy foam. Very floral and citrusy on the nose, with notes of bread flour, white peach, grapefruit, green apple. Moderate hop bitterness on the soft palate with a round maltiness and a more tropical flavor with notes of pineapple and mango. Perfect for when you want all the flavor of an IPA, but without the heaviness. $6.99 per 16 oz can / $26.99 per 4pk Break Even Beermakers The Head of Joaquin Murieta Hazy IPA Amador City, CA Slightly hazy straw with moderately fluffy foam. Bright and tropical on the nose with notes of pineapple, key lime, guava, and new world riesling. On the palate the lush fruit is accompanied by notes of cotton candy, banana, and a slight bread flour like malt character balanced by moderate hop bitterness and a dry finish. $6.99 per 16 oz can / $26.99 per 4pk
Learn more
Beer of the Month Club March '24: Shadow Puppet Brewing
SHADOW PUPPET BREWING One of the best parts of enjoying beer is watching a brewery improve over time. The brewery we’re featuring this month is one I’ve been visiting almost since they started in 2017 due to a close friend moving to the area around the same time. Shadow Puppet Brewing has been getting better and better each year, winning numerous awards (most recently winning multiple gold medals from the Summer 2023 US Beer Tasting Championships) and quietly becoming a powerhouse brewery over the course of their 7 year existence. Showing a mastery of multiple styles from all ends of the spectrum, the quality of their work speaks for itself. Cheers! Justin Malesheetz Beer Buyer Double Lush Nectar Hazy Double IPA 8.7% ABV / 48 IBU Pouring super hazy almost like juice with very little head. Citrusy and fruity on the nose with little detectable alcohol. Flavors of pineapple, grapefruit, guava, and clementines with a long mouth coating finish. $4.99 per can / $15.99 per 4pk Brewed with El Dorado, Citra, Amarillo, and Azacca hops Bittersweet Memories Golden Imperial Dessert Stout 9.8% ABV / 35 IBU Decadent and mouth coating. The substitution of lightly roasted coffee beans instead of dark malts typically used in traditional dark stouts gives it a finish reminiscent of Vietnamese coffee. Vanilla, caramel, and hazelnut round out the impressively long finish. Pair with a tres leches cake or chocoflan. $5.99 per can / $15.99 per 4pk Brewed with Ecuadorian cacao nibs, vanilla, lightly roasted coffee beans Double Contortion Imperial Milk Stout 9% ABV / 25 IBU Pouring black with a thin, quickly dissipating head and slow barely perceptible carbonation. Notes of roasted coffee, Dr. Pepper, dark chocolate fruitiness and a long creamy finish with pleasantly rich malt sweetness and a surprisingly mild alcohol finish for being 9% ABV. Pour this over some chocolate ice cream for a decadent dessert. $5.99 per can / $15.99 per 4pk Brewed with lactose
Learn more
Beer of the Month January '24: Knotted Root Brewing
We’re starting off the new year with a fairly new (they will be celebrating their 5th anniversary in July of this year) brewery out of the mountains of Colorado. Knotted Root is the brainchild of Chris Marchio, who started home brewing in college in Vermont around the time that it was becoming well known for its hoppy, unfiltered IPAs. The love of the process led him to Central Washington University to study brewing and fermentation science, and eventually a job brewing at Anderson Valley Brewing. After this, he relocated to Colorado in 2014 to become Assistant Brewer at Fiction Beer Company, followed by a Head Brewer position at Joyride Brewing, where he continued crafting his approach towards unfiltered beers. With Knotted Root he and Head Brewer Connor Reeves focus on hoppy ales and make some of the best NE-Style IPAs I’ve tried recently. Cheers! Between The Light Unfiltered Double Dry Hopped DIPA 8.6% ABV Smooth and juicy palate with flavors of stone fruits, pineapple, mango, and orange juice $7.99 per can Citra and Amarillo Hops. Malted Oats and Flaked Wheat Beyond Description Unfiltered IPA 7% ABV Pale gold with a thin foam. A great entry into hazy for fans of traditional IPAs. Resinous hoppiness balanced with bright tropical and citrus flavors. $7.99 per can Simcoe and NZ Rakau Hops. Flaked Oats Taylor Ham, Egg and Cheese, Salt, Pepper, Ketchup Unfiltered Double Dry Hopped DIPA 8% ABV Gold in color with a fluffy foam. This juicy, velvety, mimosa like DIPA bursts out of the glass with flavors of POG juice, ruby red grapefruit, kiwi, and mango with a moderate piney hop finish. $7.99 per can Motueka, Hallertau, and Vic Secret Hops Thick Fruit Medley Goo Unfiltered Smoothie Style Berliner Weisse 6.9% ABV Amber in color with little to no head. This sticky mouth coating beer is tart and rich with decadent flavors of lime sherbet, strawberry, sweet tarts, lemonheads, and kiwi. $8.99 per can Milk sugar, guava, pineapple, passionfruit, raspberry, strawberry, mango, and lime. Conditioned on Madagascar vanilla beans and double dry hopped with Citra hops
Learn more
March Beer Of The Month
Cellarmaker Brewing If there’s one thing we love at PlumpJack, it’s establishing new relationships with local breweries to expand our selection of the freshest of the fresh from the localest of the local; and we are always excited to shine our spotlight on hometown heroes. Cellarmaker Brewing, from here in San Francisco, is in our opinion one of the best breweries in the bay. To coincide with bringing them into the fold, we have expanded our cold storage to fit all of your beer club selections. Why is this important? Well, you may have noticed a lack of hoppy beers in our beer club as of late. So let me lay down a fact for you all: hoppy beers need cold storage. Will the beer spoil without it? Not exactly, you can still drink it; but the flavors and aromas will vastly differ from the brewer’s intent. Time has a huge impact on the intricacies of the hops’ flavors, and the longer a hoppy beer is stored, the more it loses from its layers and complexities. Storing beer at room or even cellar temperature multiplies this aging effect almost 7 fold. There are other factors such as oxygen levels, of which Cellarmaker’s canning system excels at, but lets not get too far into those weeds. This month you have a mixed 6 pack of pints. A Lager, a Pale Ale, three single Hazy IPAs, and a double Hazy IPA. Enjoy the fresh hops and fruitiness of these beers, and please - keep them cold and drink them soon! Cheers! Sam Gold Stallion Hops: Crystal This California pilsner is brewed with low colored Canadian pilsner malt and a small amount of rice for an extremely light and crisp pilsner. We keep the malt restrained to showcase a judicious hopping of citrusy and spicy Michigan and Oregon grown Crystal hops. Refreshing as can be! Beer style: California Pilsner 5.2% abv, Serve 38°F Emerald Eyes Hops: Strata, Riwaka & Talus The world needs more pale ale. You should drink more pale ale. And that’s why we are stoked to rebrew this very new pale, sessionable and aromatic brew. Hopped with a unique and modern combination of Riwaka, Strata and Talus, Emerald Eyes is incredibly soft with aromas of peachy stonefruit, white grape and guava and underlying notes of coastal pine and lime. Beer style: Hazy Pale Ale 5.7% abv, Serve 45° F Wizard Hand Of Evil Hops: Mosaic, Nelson Sauvin & Idaho 7 Wizard Hand of Evil is a sinisterly drinkable IPA with aromas of just ripened pineapple, tangy OG Kush and Bartlett pears. It has a balanced malt profile and just enough bitterness on the back to make you go back for another sip. The all-seeing eye that sees! Hops: Mosaic, Nelson Sauvin & Idaho 7 Beer style: Hazy IPA 6.8% abv, Serve 45° F Cloudy With A Chance Of Doobis Hops: Citra The Dobis family is dedicated to brews made with 100 % Citra. Our tap list, like this Bay Area weather, is changing all the time. However, we love Citra so much, there is usually a chance of Dobis. This Dobis has an expressive yeast to soften & add even more tropical fruity flavors to your experience. We enjoy the aromas of passionfruit, mango & pineapple. Beer style: Hazy IPA 6.8% abv, Serve 45° F Wicked Juicy Hops: Simcoe, Citra & Galaxy In Northern California we say HELLA, but in Boston they say WICKED… We first brewed Wicked Juicy back in 2015 as our 1st attempt at creating an IPA in the style of the great hop-forward brewers in the Northeast. Now it is a favorite! We make this one with Simcoe, Citra & Galaxy hops along with a simple grist of pale malt & oats & ferment it warm with an expressive yeast. It’s totally unfiltered and juicy AF! Beer style: Hazy IPA 7% abv, Serve 45° F Captain Terp Hops: Simcoe, Enigma, Galaxy, Citra, Centennial and Idaho 7 Trade in your phaser for a dab rig and get ready to hit warp 3. Captain Terp is brewed with oats for a nice fluffy, nebulous mouthfeel that compliments the expressive yeast. Add to that an over the top hopping of Simcoe, Enigma, Galaxy, Citra, Centennial and Idaho 7 resulting in a robust, juicy ale; an apogee of tropical and bright terpene aromas. Beer style: Hazy Double IPA 8% abv, Serve 45° F
Learn more
December 2022 Beer Of The Month Club
Holiday Beers This month we have four different beers to cozy up with from three different breweries bringing you three different styles across two countries divided by a common language. First up an English Winter Warmer in the form of a Nut Brown Ale imported from Oxfordshire. From Connecticut we have a Double Dry Hopped Hazy Double IPA with holiday spices and a Double Pastry Stout meant to invoke spiced eggnog. Finally an imperial stout from Oklahoma with cacao nibs, chilies, Christmas spices, coffee & vanilla beans. Happy Holidaze -Sam Ridgeway Brewing - Warm Welcome Location: Oxfordshire, England Winter warmers are a common offering in England for the holiday months. Ridgeway’s winter warmer is available to us in the form of a Nut Brown Ale. Full of flavor for a style thats light in body, Nut Brown Ales are malty, nutty, and thirst quenching with a slight hop bite. Beer style: Nut Brown Ale 6% abv Serve 40-45° F Abomination Brewing - Gingerbread Fog Location: North Haven, CT A double dry hopped hazy double IPA with spices. Fruity and Juicy like most Hazy IPAs tend to be with a slight spicy gingerbread character that slowly creeps in with each sip. Fun! Beer style: Spiced Hazy Double IPA 9.1% abv Serve 40–45° F Abomination Brewing - Santa’s Black Blood Location: North Haven, CT An imperial Pastry Stout with eggnog spices. Chocolatey, spicy, and a bit creamy. A full bodied decadent slow sipper that will not disappoint anyone with a sweet tooth. Beer style: Imperial pastry stout 13.3% abv Serve 45–55° F Praiirie - Christmas Bomb Location: Oklahoma The holiday version of their infamous BOMB! Another spiced Imperial Stout with cacao nibs, chilies, christmas spices, coffee, and vanilla beans. Note: This beer is different every year. If you like stouts and haven't tried Prairie’s offerings, I recommend trying anything from their amazing line up. Top notch! Beer style: Holiday Spiced Imperial Stout 13.0% abv Serve 45–55° F
Learn more