I suppose that if you bother someone enough, eventually you’ll figure out what you’re looking for in the world of beer blogging. I’ve seemingly been following the Braxton team around town for the last month with questions around their beer variants for their first anniversary party at ever opportunity I could find. Upon questioning, each member of the team had their own ways of avoiding the questioning, with the overall best tactic being that they wouldn’t let each other be left alone with me for fear of someone letting something slip. After corning Evan Rouse by himself at the Cincinnati Beer Week draft event last week, I thought I’d finally struck gold…only realizing that they had already gotten to him when he responded with fears of Braxton’s Jonathan Gandolf firing him if he spoke too much.

Alas, though… persistence has paid off and I’m sitting here with the list of variants in front of me.

The Party

Before I get to the good stuff (well…it’s all good stuff, but you get the idea here) I think that some of the details of this party bear mentioning again, even if I’ve written a bit about this before. Braxton is throwing one heck of a party to celebrate their first anniversary this month. The details are below…but for those of you adverse to looking at graphics you can show up at their taproom in Covington on Saturday, March 26th at noon. Expect the first ever release of their Trophy Pale Ale in 22oz bombers, a whole slew of fantastic music throughout the day, food trucks… and of course beer tappings.

That’s why I’m hunched over this keyboard right now – The Beer.

Growing The Garage Series

3 new additions to the Garage Series is enough to get anyone excited. Braxton is releasing additions of a Czech Pilsner, a Berliner Weisse and a Belgian IPA to their series of limited draft releases on their anniversary making this the biggest beer release day yet in their short existence. To solidify the day as the biggest beer release day in their history they’re also firing off two variants of each of the beers, making it a day of 9 new taproom releases… Good Lord. Here’s what you have to look forward to:

1st Gear – Belgian IPA

This Belgian IPA features Galaxy, Simcoe and Amarillo hops to celebrate the popular style in true celebratory fashion. By itself, it sounds fantastic but here’s what they’re doing to make it even better:

1st Gear Belgian IPA with Spruce Tips

1st Gear Belgian IPA with Lavender

Yesterday’s Headlines – Berliner Weisse

Berliner Weisse was the most requested style for the team to brew when they sent out their survey to their Builders at the end of the year. Keeping with their tradition of doing all they can to show their builders how much they appreciate their support and enthusiasm, of course we’re getting one for the party! The variations of Yesterday’s news are:

Yesterday’s Headlines Berliner Weisse with Kiwi

Yesterday’s Headlines Berliner Weisse with Raspberry

Catalyst – Czech Pilsner

It wouldn’t be Braxton without another lager, and although I haven’t gotten the chance to taste this latest creation, if their past lager examples are any sign of what it’s going to be like… this one will be a home run. There are few things more enjoyable than a crisp, traditional pilsner outdoors with the sunlight shining through the glass. They couldn’t add the experience into the brew kettle, but they’ve created a couple variants of this one too:

Catalyst Czech Pilsner with Black Pepper

Catalyst Czech Pilsner with Dry Hop addition

Do you need any more reasons?

Soooooo… if you didn’t need more reasons that you should clear your calendar for the 26th – I think it’s pretty clear that these are 6 more reasons that you need to be down there. I have yet to be at an event for Braxton that isn’t a home run in my book, and this will be the biggest of them all – a real celebration of a brewery that is a family’s dream come true. If you haven’t yet talked to any members of the Rouse family – please do. Find them on the anniversary and tell them thank you for what they’re doing not only for Cincinnati beer, but for the city of Covington, and for the tradition of quality brewing in this city.

I’ll see you all there!