Blog | Almanac Beer Co.

Introducing Farmer’s Reserve No 3 & 4

Almanac is proud to announce the latest additions to our seasonal barrel aged beer program! Combining our love of barrel aged sour beers and local farms, our Farmer’s Reserve series capture seasonal harvests in complex sour ale form. These new offerings are available in 375ml bottles and limited draft starting mid-May.

Farmer’s Reserve No. 3

Ale aged in wine barrels with strawberries and nectarines

6% ABV | 375ml bottles & limited draft

Our third entry in our barrel-aged Farmer’s Reserve series is an ode to summer. When summer comes to California’s farmer’s markets, the stands explode with mountains of stone fruit and strawberries. We selected the sweetest coastal strawberries from Swanton Berry Farm and high summer Crimson Baby nectarines from Blossom Bluff Farms to make this tart, wild ale as a celebration of our California summer.

Aged for 12 months in used white wine barrels with a blend of wild belgian yeasts and bacteria, this tart and bright wild ale has a huge aroma and tart finish.

Farmer’s Reserve No. 4

Ale aged in wine barrels with cara cara oranges, meyer lemons and buddha’s hand citrons

6% ABV | 375ml bottles & limited draft

This tart, citrus-infused wild ale is the story of a farm. In 1921, Shotaro Hamada founded Hamada Farms in the San Joaquin Valley. Today, his grandson Cliff manages 235 acres of bountiful land. Brewed with a tantalizing blend of Hamada’s winter citrus—tart Cara Cara Oranges, sweet Meyer Lemons and fragrant Buddha’s Hand Citrons—this refreshing ale is aged in used wine barrels for over a year.

Farm to Barrel

We’re proud to announce the release of our new line of 375ml Farm to Barrel beers. Since Almanac’s very beginning we’ve worked hard at developing an epic barrel-aging program. Simply put: we are infatuated with barrel aging. Oak aged beers are some of the most exciting and flavorful brews out there. Drawing inspiration from the sour beers of Belgium and bourbon barrels of the American South, oak aging offers a slower, more complex, and ultimately more rewarding way to craft unique flavors and aromas that can’t be created any other way. It also offers us the chance to work with smaller, more specialized harvests of fruit from our favorite local farms.

As we’ve brewed our various beers over the past eighteen months, we’ve regularly stashed away beer in what is now an impressive collection of 250 various wine and spirits barrels. We check on each barrel regularly and wait for just the right time to say, “ready”. After more than a year of waiting, we are thrilled to release the first three beers in our new 375ml Farm to Barrel Series.

Barrel Noir

This oak-aged ale is our love letter to bourbon barrels. Barrel Noir is a sumptuous, inky ale that celebrates the velvety texture and subtle heat that only Kentucky charred oak can impart. Born from a blend of American imperial stout and Belgian-inspired dark ale aged in bourbon barrels, this rich brew can be paired with braised beef dishes and dark chocolates. Enjoyed best in front of a warm fireplace.Barrel Noir

Farmer’s Reserve No. 1

Our first California wild ale is brewed with a blend of Cabernet & Muscat Grapes from Alfieri Farms, Concord grapes from Hamada Farms and plums from Twin Girls Farm—all located in the fertile San Joaquin Valley. Aged for over a year in used wine barrels, this sour ale blends rich flavors of the 2011 autumn harvest with farmhouse funk. Enjoy with aromatic Taleggio cheese and rich duck confit.

Farmer’s Reserve No. 2

This barrel-aged ale is a celebration of the California autumn harvest. Brewed with heirloom pumpkins from La Tercera Farms in Bodega Bay, crisp Fuyu persimmons from Hamada Farms in the San Joaquin Valley and fresh ginger from the Santa Clara Valley, then aged for over a year in white wine barrels to create a deliciously complex wild ale. Enjoy with delicate white fish and roasted squash.

Announcing Southern California Distribution

We’re happy to announce that we are bringing our beers to sunny Southern California starting January 1st, 2013! We’ve partnered with California Craft Distributors to distribute our Farm-to-Bottle beers in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties. We’re thrilled to be expanding availability outside of the Bay Area and getting our craft beers into the hands of our thirsty Southern California friends.

Southern California has a phenomenal craft beer scene, and we’re very excited to become a part of it. In addition to our seasonal and upcoming barrel-aged offerings, our California Table Beers including Honey Saison, citrus-infused Extra Pale Ale and new Biere de Chocolat are all perfect pairings for Southern California’s sunshine, beaches and year-round delicious seasonal produce and cuisine.

SoCal restaurants, bars, retailers and beer lovers—interested in getting some of our hand-crafted ales? Drop us a note and we’ll make it happen. Cheers!

California Table Beers

We’re proud to introduce our year-round, farm-to-bottle California Table Beer Series.

Our Honey Saison and Extra Pale Ale are the first Almanac brews available year-round in convenient 12oz. bottles. Perfectly balanced, these beers are brewed with California barley, hand-selected additions from local farms, citrusy hops and a touch of oak. Whether shared with friends over a celebratory dinner or afternoon picnic, we invite you to enjoy a new line of beers that could only come from California. Available in bottles and draft in Northern California starting late August 2012.

Honey Saison : 4.8% ABV

Our Honey Saison is a beer for all seasons. Brewed with Bay Area honey from Marshall Farms, wheat, California two-row barley, French oak and fresh, local ginger root for a hint of spice. Balanced with earthy Mount Hood and Saaz hops, this is a refreshing brew enjoyed best with your favorite seasonal fare.

Extra Pale Ale : 6.0% ABV

Our Belgian-style Extra Pale Ale is brewed with heaps of sweet Mandarin oranges from Blossom Bluff Farms and California two-row barley. We dry-hop with generous doses of aromatic Cascade and Columbus hops and finish the beer with a hint of lightly toasted American oak.

Sausage Making with Fatted Calf

As long as man has been stuffing ground anonymous bits of pork into other unmentionable parts of the pig, he has also been pairing it with beer. Beer and sausage are such a natural pairing that it’s the gold standard of baseball games and most Anthony Bourdain “No Reservations” episodes. We decided to up the ante a bit in the sausage and beer game, and paired up with Taylor of Fatted Calf to do it.

Taylor tasted our new Biere de Mars with Fennel and almost instantly knew what he wanted to do with it. Building on the fennel base already in the beer, he created a lightly smoked cooked salami that layer beer and fennel on top of the natural sweetness of the pork. Finally the stuffed salami is lightly smoked and steamed in the beer for one last layer of beer-goodness.

Sliced thin on a crostini with a small salad it’s a great accompaniment to the beer, puling out the earthy fennel flavors and bitter backbone. Available this spring at the SF & Napa Fatted Calf stores.

Here is how he made it: