I feel like I could spend a lot of time just talking about the amazing selection of packaged beer here in Cincinnati (and some weeks I feel like I do) – This last week is one of those weeks, with some really great stuff getting announced, and a few things popping up through the TTB as well.  I’ve got another one for you that should get you pretty pumped.

Phrenology

If you follow Urban Artifact on social media, you might have caught a glimpse of this when they added the release event to their calendar on Facebook – if not… well, I’ve got great news for you!  Urban Artifact is going to be bottling the fifth batch of Phrenology IPA, and this is exciting for a couple reasons.

This is a solid IPA for any fans of the style.  It comes in at 7.3% ABV with 55 IBUs from its great use of Mosaic and Chinook hops.  It’s a big juicy flavored IPA that harbors a deep secret, that when fresh can hide away in the background.

When I first wrote about this beer back in November of 2015, I talked a little bit about Brettanomyces.  It’s a wild yeast strain that turns this beer that would have been a normal, run of the mill IPA and kicks it up to another notch.  When the beer is fresh it shows itself as just a slight dryness in the background, and maybe some slight fruit notes that if you’re looking you can find.  But as this beer gets some age on it?  It starts turning into a different beast.

That’s where this gets really fun.  Up until now, we had to rely on the brewery to age our Phrenology for us, and put it on tap at a time when we could experience it at different points.  Now we can fill our own cellar with bottles of this gem.  As time progresses you’ll be able to see the hoppy, fruity flavors fade away, and be replaced by a funkiness that lovers of Brettanomyces absolutely treasure.

But this.  Buy a lot of this.  If you like funk, and you have been thinking about starting a beer cellar – this is the perfect opportunity to do that!  They haven’t outright told us this, but I can almost guarantee that they will be releasing this on a semi-regular basis.  After all, this is the point of this beer.  You should use this to experiment with age, funk and hops.

The Release

You should get on Facebook and not only RSVP to the event they’ve created – but share it with all of your friends.  I promise that if everyone you know buys a bunch of this beer, it will make it easier to host some really fun bottle shares in the future as this beer ages.

The event is on March 28th, from 4pm on at the Urban Artifact taproom. They’ll be dropping this beer in 12oz bottles as well as tapping some fun variants too.  (if you’re not curious about Grapefruit Phrenology and Coconut Phrenology, I’m not sure you’re human).

Because it’s Urban Artifact, there will obviously be live music in the taproom (TBA) so it should give you something to do as you hang out in the taproom that night… waxing poetic about the merits of wild yeast vs the common strains we have our beer fridges already stocked with.

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