Future Beers: Alaskan, Wicked Weed, AleSmith, Carton, Short’s and Harpoon

We are back with another edition of FUTURE BEERS. We take a look at some upcoming beers that might be released in the near term or the next season cycle.  Either way, here’s a sneak peak with some thoughts behind the “will be” beers.

Alaskan Brewing is in the same boat as many other breweries of their size and maturity.  Being able to shake up the core lineup isn’t as easy for a small, young, nimble brewery when you have all those accounts to consider.  That being said, Alaskan looks to be adding a grapefruit IPA on the tail end of fruited IPA mania, as well as a Mocha Milk Stout on the heels of their successful Heritage Brown launch. Of note, they will be under the Pilot Series. Should these beers be a hit, look for them to transition into seasonal or year round status.

Two new sour beers are on deck for Wicked Weed Brewing. Lost Toys Blend #1 appears to be the beginning of a themed series, and by the looks of it, this is a straight up sour ale with no fruit or adjunts. Then we have a collaboration with our friends (and their friends) at The Rare Barrel, called Happy Blending. This bad boy will be very popular with the addition of STONE FRUITSSSSS.

A draft only favorite at Short’s Brewing is making it’s way to 12 oz. bottles. It would be Small Heath, an English Style Mild Ale.

Carton Brewing has a canned stout on the way named Unjunct. This appears to be a playful jab at the trend of big stouts with vanilla, cocoa, chilis, cinnamon, etc etc in stouts these days.

We kind of already knew this, AleSmith will be bringing back their most popular rare beer to date, Barel Aged Vietnamese Speedway Stout. While the trade kids probably want this SOOOPER rare, I’d like to see a wide release of this.

Last year, Harpoon and Deschutes celebrated their employee owned company business model with a hoppy collab known as EHOP.  Harpoon has spun this into a yearly edition, and have now brewed an oatmeal pale ale for this year’s rendition.