VICTOR, ID — Grand Teton Brewing Company, known throughout the West for their exceptional craft brews, announces the release of Coming Home 2011 Holiday Ale, the second release of their annual Holiday Ale. The first keg will be tapped at their pub in Victor, Idaho on Friday, November 4th at 5 pm sharp.
This year’s Holiday Ale is a Belgian-Style Golden Ale that checks in at 9.0 percent ABV and 40 IBU’s. Coming Home 2011 is rich in flavor and is designed to be a smooth and soothing sipping beer.
Deep blonde in color, Coming Home 2011 uses rich malts balanced by a special Belgian yeast strain that adds notes of soft, peppery, clove-like spice character to the beer. Belgian candi sugar is used during the brewing process to give this ale a clean, easy drinking appeal. True to the Belgian tripel style, it carries deceivingly soft alcohol aromas.
Don’t let the innocence fool you, this holiday ale is one to be respected. It will delight when shared with your favorite people during the holiday season and can also be cellared to warm you on any cold winter’s day. This beer should age gracefully and can be cellared for a year or more.
Originally brewed by Trappist monks, the tripel style is deceiving. Pale in color, it nonetheless packs a flavorful punch. Its relatively light body hides its strength. The use of fully fermentable candi sugar provides lighter body and a drier finish, very different from the strong ales and barley wines traditionally brewed in England and the United States.
The name tripel traditionally indicated a beer that was about three times the strength of everyday table beer, or single, which weighed in around 2.5-3% alcohol. Dubbels are traditionally in the 5-6% range, and triples usually 7.5-9%. Though singles today are hard to find, dubbels, tripels, and even quadruples maintain the old naming convention.
Enjoy Coming Home 2011 with Cajun crab cakes or your favorite holiday game bird, whether it be roast turkey, pheasant or duck. Its spicy herbal character will complement holiday dishes like sage stuffing. We’ve bottle-conditioned this ale to a traditionally high carbonation level, so its effervescence will cut through the richness of even the creamiest and fattiest dishes. The beer’s mild sweetness should work with sweet potatoes without being cloying. For dessert we suggest a delicate cr├¿me brulee or an apricot-amaretto tart.