Wine Barrel Aged La Bestia Aimable and Mesquite Smoked Porter Early 2011
We aged our Belgian Dark Strong Ale and Mesquite Smoked Porter beers each in Port and Cabernet wine barrels from Dry Comal Creek, a great winery right here in Texas. The barrels infused nice flavor from the wine and the 6 months of aging created complex sour and tart flavors.
El Cinco Pils May, 2011
This special collaboration beer was released in May as the official beer of the inaugural San Antonio Beer Week. El Cinco is a Bohemian-style pilsner, inspired by a traditional pils brewed by the oldest of the five breweries (Blue Star Brewing Co). The breweries and brewers on hand for the brew included Blue Star Brewery’s Joey Villarreal, The Faust’s Ray Mitteldorf, Freetail’s Jason Davis (head brewer) and John Lee (assistant brewer), and Ranger Creek’s Rob Landerman. The Dodging Duck’s owner/brewer Keith Moore provided water from his brewery in Boerne.
Ranger Creek Hefe June, 2011
This Bavarian-style Hefeweizen was inspired by a homebrew recipe for which the guys won two homebrew medals at Houston’s Dixie Cup. The refreshing wheat beer is brewed in the traditional German style to honor San Antonio’s German roots. The use of German Pilsner and wheat malts give it a subtle, cereal-like malt sweetness. This provides the back drop for hints of clove that were pulled from the wheat using a step mash and banana esthers, along with some delicate spice notes from the yeast. The appearance is cloudy and dark gold. This effervescent, refreshing beer is great for triple digit Texas summers and pairs well with sushi, salads, goat cheese, and light desserts like strawberry shortcake.
Aimee June, 2011
Aimee (pronounced ah-mee) is a tribute by Rob Landerman, Ranger Creek’s head brewer, to his wife. Modeled after the Flemish acid ale, Aimee is a complex blend of beers that combines the brewery’s standard La Bestia Aimable with two barrel aged versions of the beer. The two barrels were filled on Landerman’s wedding anniversary (10/27/10) and have been aging for the better part of eight months. The first barrel was Ranger Creek’s first used Bourbon barrel filled with La Bestia Aimable. The other barrel was a new toasted barrel that held a distilled La Bestia Aimable whiskey for short period of time, which was subsequently emptied and filled with La Bestia Aimable. A blend of Pediococcus, Brettanomyces Bruxellensis, and Lactobacillus Delbreuckii yeasts were added to the barrels, which imparted a complex blend of tart, sweet, and earthy characteristics. The two 5-gallon barrels were emptied and blended with 5 gallons of standard La Bestia Aimable. The result is a fruity and acidic Belgian-style ale that is subtly sweet with cherry and soft fruit notes, a gentle lactic tartness, and some deep, dry earthy characteristics.
RE: SESSION Series July, 2011
The RE: SESSION was a response to the session beer movement going on with craft beer and also a play on the economic reality of 2011. The 2011 series included our RE: SESSION IPA and RE: SESSION Wheat. Both beers were lower than average in alcohol and very easy to drink.
Ranger Creek Gulf Coast Imperial IPA September, 2011
We held our first ever Sippy Cup Homebrew Competition as part of San Antonio Beer Week, The winning recipe was entered by Britt Taylor-Burton, which we brewed as our fall seasonal. This delicious Imperial IPA was 8% alcohol and 100+ IBU’s, a big and flavorful IPA.
Ranger Creek Saison Oscura October, 2011
This dark saison was a late fall seasonal. Based on the farmhouse ale style that is generally released in the spring or summer, we darkened the color with chocolate malt and boosted the alcohol to make it more warming. The result was a dark, mysterious beer that has a light body, subtle peppery spiciness, and hints of chocolate in the finish.
Want to homebrew this beer or other Ranger Creek beers? Check out our homebrew recipes page.
Ranger Creek UNO November, 2011
UNO is Ranger Creek’s birthday beer to celebrate their one year anniversary. It is an oak-aged rye OPA, which celebrates the success of the OPA as the best selling Ranger Creek beer. They started with their standard OPA, added rye to the grain bill, and then aged it in oak barrels. Rye was added because it’s a great, flavorful grain and it’s a crossover grain because we also use it in our bourbon. And using oak barrels to age the beer symbolizes the oak barrels use to mature our bourbon. The resulting beer has the creamy body and citrusy hoppiness of the OPA along with an herbal spiciness from the rye and notes of new wood.
Want to homebrew this beer or other Ranger Creek beers? Check out our homebrew recipes page.
Check out our interactive map for a list of places where you can buy Ranger Creek products.
