Half Acre News: New Releases and Expanded Brewing Operations

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Sep 2, 2010 9:00PM

Half Acre Beer Company isn't content to simply keep brewing tank after tank of Daisy Cutter Pale Ale and Gossamer Golden Ale, although they could; I'll posit that Daisy Cutter is arguably the best locally produced beer currently available. Recent weeks have seen them ramp up their game with new beers, collaborations and improvements to the brewery.

The addition of new 60 barrel bright tanks and fermentation vessels will help Half Acre keep up with the demand for their two flagship ales, while working on limited releases like the stellar "Freedom of '78." A collaboration with Short's Brewing and Piece's Jonathan Cutler, this is an India pale ale brewed with wheat malt and guava is simply badass. The samples I had at Half Acre's tasting room left a sticky sweetness in the back of the palate, but it's also double dry-hopped to remind you this is a Midwestern beer.

Half Acre's newest saison, Bairn, is brewed with lemon and chamomile. It's another in a series of smooth farmhouse ales that don't taste like them, proof that the Midwest could be on the cusp of a Saison renaissance. Those two beers were followed by Sticky Fat, a dark ale using freshly harvested hop cones from California. How fresh? The cones were still sticky from the vine when received at the brewery. Sticky Fat is an all-draft release available only at the brewery starting tomorrow.

Half Acre owner Gabriel Magliaro and Head Brewer Matt Gallagher are doing a masterful job of brewing beers that resonate with their customers and marketing the beers so that they're must-buys, right down to eye-catching labels on the bottles and tap handles.