Bottles and a few other surprises.

OK, much to update.

First up, bottles will finally come to fruition. Look for six packs of our two new beers, Notch Session Ale and Notch Session Pils, in mid-February at a package store near you. This is contingent on you living in greater Boston, however. We’ll spread the distribution territory slowly through the year. The new Notch Session beers will also be available on draft at bars in and around Boston.

Notch Session Ale is my interpretation of the American Session Ale – well balanced for multiple pints, deep amber in color, toasty malt, and a pronounced American hop flavor and aroma. Notch Session Ale is perfect for when you care to keep your wits about you, or take a little longer when losing them. More on the Session Pils here, and look for more geeky beer descriptions on the website shortly.

Second, the Notch Cask Series will commence in April. These will be one-off beers (only brewed once) available exclusively in cask. Why? Because we can, and we should. Many Session beers are best served cask-conditioned, especially British low ABV beer (sub 4.0%). The first casks will hit beer engines and gravity dispense around April 1. Look for a true English Mild, various sub-styles of Bitter, and maybe Scottish 60 or 70 Shilling.

And third, look for a few really out of the box one offs. The first is based on my desire to pay homage to my family roots and brew a true Polish Grodziskie. I am currently working with Valley Malt in Hadley MA on smoking green wheat malt for this beer, something not currently done in any malt house in the world. It’s not as simple as tossing finished malt into a BBQ – traditionally this malt is smoked while being kilned and dried. The Grodziskie is made from 100% smoked wheat malt, is very hop forward, fermented with Kolsch style yeast, and clocks in at whopping 2.8 to 3.0% ABV. This will be my lowest ABV beer yet, and the most challenging.

Who said we couldn’t have fun left of the dial?