AleSmith News Including Next BA Release

The Full Pint caught up with Peter over at AleSmith. We uncover details about the next few BA (Barrel Aged) releases, as well as expansion and CHEESE. Cheers, TFP!

Barrel Aged Wee Heavy 2009 Bottle Release – AleSmith will be releasing Barrel Aged Wee Heavy January 26, 2011 at their facility. There should be a 3-4 (Still TBD) bottle limit looking at about 900 bottles for sale. This event will be a small party, with the MIHO Gastrotruck in attendance . Stay tuned for the exact time and “fairness system.”

Barrel Aged Decadence 2008 Bottle Release – Approximately a month after the BA Wee Heavy Release will be the BA Decadence 2008 release (English Style Barley Wine). The date is TBD, and whether or not this will be sour or not is also to be determined. Peter says it’s taken on a life of its own after hitting the barrel. This will be a far smaller run than the Wee Heavy, yielding about 32 cases/384 bottles.

Decadence 2011? – The style and name has not been determined yet for Decadence 2011. It will most likely be brewed in June and will likely come in at 9%. Stay tuned for details.

Bottling/Winter Yulesmith Bottle Issues – AleSmith is aware of the reported off bottles of Winter Yulesmith this year.  Alesmith has isolated this to 14 cases out of 980 bottle conditioned cases. The bottling was broken into 5 different runs, and has pointed out that they are definitely growing out of their methods and equipment. Anyone

So with that said, AleSmith has just purchased a Bottling Monoblock from Italy which will be installed in June. This will also allow for them to finally put dates on their bottles and get them to the stores quicker. A change that will be made once the new line is in place is some of the bottled beers will not be bottled conditioned any longer. It will also give them the chance of bottling some tap only seasonals like Nautical Nut Brown and Evil Dead Red. We will all have to wait and see. When asked about a face lift for their bottles, they said while not at the top of their priorities, re-writing some of the bottles is on the board for things to do.

Expansion – With the new bottling line and increased demand leads to the fact they are expanding rapidly. The ink is drying on a new lease which will bring AleSmith from 6,400 square feet to 10,710 square feet.  This will take Alesmith from 3,300 barrels in 2010 to around 4,000 barrels for 2011.

Collaboration – AleSmith is approached by European brewers all the time for collaborations, but there hasn’t been time to do so yet.  There will be a collaboration this year with San Diego Brewing between AleSmith’s Matt and SD’s Dean. The beer will be a hoppy beer made just for the AHA convention.

Cheesesmith – Peter has been perfecting his cheese craft, and is looking to take his artisianal, AleSmith infused cheese to market for 2011. If all goes well, you will be able to by CheeseSmith Cheese in 2011.