New Real Ale Packaging

BLANCO - Real Ale Brewing has rebranded its product labels and related packaging materials, including some designs featuring local Austin artists.

The new packaging will also include four-pack carriers for their Sisyphus barleywine, the first time this beer has been available in a multiple packaging format.

Real Ale in Imbibe Magazine

Erik Ogershok of Blanco's Real Ale Brewing was featured in part of a piece on brewing with rye in this month's Imbibe Magazine entitled, "Against the Grain."

Texas Brewers at 2010 GABF

DENVER, CO - Winners were announced over the weekend at the 2010 Great American Beer Festival, and again three familiar Texas brewers brought home medals.

Recognized Texas brewers include:

• Saint Arnold: Gold for Fancy Lawnmower as a German-Style Kölsch
• Real Ale Brewing: Gold for Rio Blanco Pale Ale as an Ordinary or Special Bitter
• Saint Arnold: Silver for Elissa IPA as an Extra Special Bitter
• Saint Arnold: Silver for Oktoberfest as a Scottish-Style Ale
• The Covey Restaurant & Brewery: Bronze for Cowboy Lager as a Munich-Style Helles

The Great American Beer Festival (GABF) is an annual event sponsored by the Brewers Association, the professional organization for the craft brewing industry. This year's competition included 3523 entries from 522 brewers with a total festival attendance of more than 49,000.

Gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded for beers in 79 different style categories plus a separate pro-am competition.

Real Ale Hans' Pils

BLANCO - Real Ale Brewing has just released their second lager and new seasonal, the Hans' Pils. Modeled after a Northern German style, this beer is a bit hoppier than traditional pilsners at 52 IBUs.

Hans' Pils will be available on draft only for now, and only as a summer seasonal.

Real Ale Launches New Website

BLANCO - Hill country brewer Real Ale launched a newly redesigned and updated website this week. Online improvements include updates, brewery merchandise and updates about the latest products and events.

Real Ale Phoenixx Double ESB

BLANCO - Real Ale Brewing has just received label approval from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) for bottles of their seasonal Phoenixx Double ESB.

Bottles of this ESB should follow once their Coffee Porter is out, and be available at retailers by the end of the year.

Real Ale Brewing Oktoberfest

Blanco's Real Ale is brewing up a new and as-yet unnamed Oktoberfest-style beer, according to a recent Facebook entry. Their first lager, this beer will be brewed using a traditional decoction mash.

A release date or availability have not yet been announced.

Real Ale Brewing IPA

Blanco's Real Ale is brewing up a new and as-yet unnamed IPA, according to a recent Facebook entry. A release date or availability have not yet been announced.

Update: False alarm; merely the newest batch of their seasonal IPA, the Lost Gold.

Texas Brewers in the News

A few more news items have appeared in various media sources regarding Texas brewers and the Texas beer scene. The online news source Bloomberg.com featured the success of native Texas craft breweries in their recent piece, "Texas Beer Drinkers Swap Cowboys' Longnecks for Fancy Lawnmower."

Rahr & Sons also received a little out-of-state attention from the Appleton Post-Crescent of Wisconsin with this columnist's profile of "Rahr stands out from other ambers." The Fort Worth-based Rahr family and brewing tradition are originally from Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

Although now a few weeks old, Patrick Beach of the Austin-American Statesman profiled Blanco's Real Ale in his piece, "Blanco brewery keeping it Real."

Various other minor news pieces have appeared recently regarding local Oktoberfest celebrations and special beers throughout the state but these all feature already familiar seasonal products and events.

Ginger Man Hosts "Texas Breweries" Tasting

The Ginger Man will host a "Texas Breweries" tasting at its Austin location on Monday, August 4th.

The tasting will include selections from five different Texas breweries such as Real Ale, Live Oak and Saint Arnold, as well as a few surprise guests as yet unannounced. Head brewers from the Austin-local breweries will also be present to lead the tasting and field questions.

Update: One of the unannounced breweries will be (512) Brewing, with owner and brewer Kevin Brand attending.

Real Ale to Introduce 22-oz Bottles

Real Ale Brewing Company will soon start bottling their beers in 22-oz bottles, a size commonly referred to as "bombers." The first beers to be bottled in this size will be their seasonal offerings.

Real Ale's seasonals are currently not bottled and only available at draft locations.

Real Ale Tasting, Apr 18

The Mason Alamo Drafthouse in Katy will host a Real Ale tasting on April 18th. The owner/brewer of Real Ale is expected to speak, as well as a show featuring classic beer commercials and other related programming.

Texas Brewers in the News

A snapshot summary of the 2008 Texas craft brewery scene entitled "Beer mugs runneth over" appeared in Tuesday's edition of the San Antonio Express-News.

Written by Travis Poling, reporter and beer columnist for the Express-News, the article touches on the status of new breweries such as (512) Brewing, Southern Star and Franconia, as well as the upcoming Freetail Brewing brewpub in San Antonio. Also mentioned is the recent Ben E. Keith acquisition as well as a number of out-of-state craft beers likely to appear here soon.

Additionally, a report by Lee Nichols appeared in the Austin Chronicle last Friday entitled "A Disaster Brewing," recounting the origins of the drastic current hop shortages and how local Austin brewers such as Live Oak, Uncle Billy's, North by Northwest and Real Ale have been impacted.

Ginger Man Hosts "Taste of Texas"

The Ginger Man hosted its first "Taste of Texas" beer tasting at its newest Fort Worth location yesterday, February 16th. A similar event is planned for its Dallas location next Saturday, February 23rd.

This tasting featured a selection of beers from various Texas brewers, including Real Ale, Live Oak, Saint Arnold and Rahr & Sons. Presenting their beers and fielding questions were Kendra Harrell (North Texas Sales, Saint Arnold), Chip McElroy (Brewer and Owner, Live Oak) and various staff members from the local Rahr & Sons brewery. Representatives from Real Ale were scheduled but unable to attend.

Points of note from the tasting include:

• Real Ale's next planned commercial beer will be called Real Heavy, a Scottish-style wee heavy due out later this year.
• Due to the recent hop shortage, Live Oak's Liberation IPA will be cut back to a seasonal offering. To compensate for customer demand, their year-round Pale Ale recipe will be modified slightly to near IPA strength and flavor.
• The next edition of Saint Arnold's Divine Reserve will depend on expected new equipment recieved at the brewery, both for timing and for style. Early delivery will mean added capacity for the next release of an in-house recipe this summer; late delivery will mean the next release will be taken from the winner of the Big Batch Brew Bash in May.
• Rahr & Sons featured a keg of their End of Winter Warmer, a limited release of their standard Winter Warmer aged in Maker's Mark bourbon barrels.

This "Taste of Texas" beer tasting is an annual event with the North Texas Ginger Man locations.