May 18, 2011

Karl Strauss Announces Coastal Reserve Releases

Wistler Imperial Pils bottle

Boardwalk Black Rye bottle

San Diego’s Karl Strauss Brewing has announced the seasonal release of two brews to their Coastal Reserve Series. One features a revamped recipe of a beer first released last Summer and the other is brand spanking new to the higher-end line of beers.

Whistler Imperial Pils
I’ve previously reviewed the Whistler Imperial Pils last Summer when it was first released. This time around, however, the brewery has upped the ante on the hops side of things, resulting in a pretty decent bitterness level at 65 IBUs. The beer uses Pale Malt and Moravian Malt, as well as Saaz hops.

The Imperial Pils will be available starting in early June to those lucky few of you that live in Southern California.

Boardwalk Black Rye
The newest addition to the Coastal Reserve line of beers is Boardwalk Black Rye. It’s base is built upon Pale, CaraRye, Caramel 80 and Black Rye while Warrior and Ahtanum hops are added for bitterness resulting in 80 IBUs. The beer weighs in at 8% ABV and should be availalbe at the start of August.

I’m not too familiar with Ahtanum hops, but from what I’ve read, they are fairly similar to Cascade or Amarillo hops but with lower alpha acid levels (resulting in less bitterness) and a more forward citrus and floral character. I’m really looking forward to trying this one.

Boardwalk Black Rye will be available in early August.

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