I have a deep love for the top fermenting lagers that are coming out of a few of our breweries. A subset of styles that was shunned by so many craft beer drinkers for a long time out of the fear of mass-market fizzy yellow water, they’ve made a full comeback at this point. There aren’t a lot of places that have gone as “all-in” with them as Braxton has, either.
When they put out their first lager, Twisted Bit, back at the end of July of 2015, I think they were quickly blown away at how much this city loved it. It was such a big hit, in fact that they quickly announced that it would become a core style alongside crowd favorites like Storm and Dead Blow.
The Cans
This is the last piece of the core beer puzzle. Part of the big focus for Braxton Brewing in 2017 has been packaging, with a TON of new cans and bottles already making their way out the brewery’s door (and there are more to come too!). This beer is hitting store shelves just in time, too – with the warmth of spring finally pushing away the last remnants of winter and begging for an easy drinking lager to go along with it.
These cans won’t be available year round, like some of the core styles are, though. Instead they’ll rotate with Dead Blow. This means that in the fall and winter you’ll be able to get your Dead Blow fix, and During the spring and summer you’ll find Twisted Bit on shelves.
The cans should be hitting your favorite store very soon – as in this week. Make sure you clean up your finest lager glass and grab yourself a six pack for some deck drinking in the sunshine.
About Twisted Bit
I mentioned that this was the first lager that Braxton made, but it goes a lot deeper than that. They didn’t cut corners when they made this. It’s a super-traditional German Dortmunder lager.
The started it off by completely stripping and rebuilding their water profiled to match that of Dortmund Germany to say as close to style as possible. To still kick it up even more, they used Decoction to build a flavor profile that no amount of specialty malt can ever hope to achieve. You’re left with a delicate beer that is packed full of soft flavors and a fantastic mineral quality that I am honestly in love with.
The brewery’s description reads:
Every tool has a life of its own. It has a history and a soul. (Yes, we actually believe that.) Some were forged to perform reliably, days after long days. Some were designed to give its life quickly, like that saw blade you sacrificed to the rusted bumper bolts. But that’s a lot like you, isn’t it – you were designed to do something unique. And even if you haven’t yet found your thing, we raise this Twisted Bit Dortmunder to you. This is a crisp, refreshing true pale lager that the Dortmund region of Germany has enjoyed for countless generations. It’s brewed for those that see effort and honor in a twisted bit, rather than the flaw.
The beer is 5.8% ABV and a nice crisp 30 IBUs. If you’ve yet to try it (which is crazy to me) you need to do yourself a favor and grab it when you see the cans in stores.