In the last several years since our brewery opened, we’ve found that not every style matches our brewer’s interests with that of our customers. We enjoy beer from a variety of styles, but modern day beer drinkers seem to really want beers that are bold in flavor yet remain very approachable. This is a national trend for sure, but seems particularly true in Western New York.
Which is probably why our IPAs are so popular.
From the beginning, we vowed to make IPAs that defied the traditional incarnations of them; we shied away from making bitter, malty, and thick IPAs. Our first (and flagship) IPA was Hayburner, which is strong in flavor yet light bodied, and held a firm bitterness that was overshadowed by orange, grapefruit, and melon flavor. We like to say this beer is deceptively drinkable. And many others that have had the beer agreed. Following that beer was Deep Cut, our double IPA, which despite being stronger than Hayburner displays many of the same qualities, except the citrus hop flavor was now joined by notes of tropical fruit and wild berry flavor.
But, these aren’t the only IPAs we’ve made. Over the last several months we’ve made a few pilot batches of some new ones that were equally good, only on a smaller scale.
Well, it’s time more of you tried some of these. Introducing our Lock IPA series.
Our Lock IPA series will be limited amounts of canned IPAs that explore the range of fantastic flavors found in hoppy beer. We expect to add a new addition to our Lock IPA series every few months. Usually, we’ll only make a batch or two of each of these beers a year. Expect the cans to sell mostly out of the brewery for a price of $14.99 per four pack of 16 oz cans with a one case limit. Some of these beers will also be on draft at our tap room, but in a much more limited amount than say Hayburner or Deep Cut.
The first beer in this series is called Packet. Packet is named after the boats that transported early passengers on the Erie Canal. The beer is made with Galaxy, Mosaic, and Pacific Jade hops, resulting in a juicy, sticky hop bomb with tempered bitterness and tropical and lightly floral hop flavors abound. We are also getting a lot of fruit punch and pineapple out of this first batch. Not sure how much we’ll yield yet, but we’re hoping/expecting to get about 150 cases for the first run.
Packet will go on sale on Saturday 4/22 at 11am. Similar to previous releases of Deep Cut, we’ll have free coffee for anyone who gets there early and decides to wait for some.
We think you’re really going to dig this beer, Buffalo. Thanks in advance, and always, for the support. Cheers!