bankston 88

Trim Tab Brewing Company will release its Bankston 88 Belgian Blonde in a can in May.

Trim Tab Brewing Company is releasing its fourth beer in cans in May: The Bankston 88 Belgian Blonde.

The 4.5 percent alcohol by volume wheat-based Belgian blonde that with Japanese hops, with flavors like fresh bread, lemongrass and acidic fruits.

"Bankston 88 has developed a yearly cult following, because it's a light sessionable beer, but it's got a ton of nuanced flavor," Trim Tab Owner Harris Stewart said.

The first batch of the beer was brewed before the brewery opened the tap room's doors. In the fall of 2013, David Bankston, President of the junior board of the Autism Society of Alabama, reached out to Trim Tab about brewing a beer for an event benefiting the society.

Trim Tab happily agreed and started brewing. Then, it realized a yeast shipment didn't come in.

"When faced with the decision of either dumping it or thinking it up on the fly, we did a blend of two different yeasts," Stewart said.

Bankston got sick before the event could come to fruition and died.

"We offered it at the event and it was really popular," Stewart said. "Moving forward, that beer took on a different kind of significance for us. It's really a reminder for us to keep focused on our brand concept: to celebrate people who are, themselves, trim tabs," (A "trim tab" is part of a boat that stabilizes it).

Trim Tab already distributes its Trim Tab IPA, Pillar to Post Rye Brown and the Raspberry Berliner Weisse. Gulf of Birmingham is the brewery's local distributor.