They’re hot off the heels of yet another fantastic release of one of their now famous Midwest Fruit Tart Ales, called Faraday Cage (made with plums) and Urban Artifact is not set to quit blowing minds and getting beer geeks all worked up quite yet.

Whirligig

For starters, they posted an update to social media last week to let us know that this week’s Tap Tuesday is going to be another can release.  The crowd pleasingly delicious and tart Whiligig is hiding away in happy little aluminum houses, just begging to be taken home by all of us.

The beer is part of their ever growing ‘Urban Legends Series’ of beers which includes all of their Midwest Fruit Tarts that seem to be getting everyone all excited-like lately.

In addition to the standard declaration of 8% ABV, 3.5 PH and whatnot, the label tells us a little more about the beer if you’re curious.

Whiligig is a Middle English term for a spinning contraption.  It is typically referring to children’s toys, but also applicable to any mechanism that rotates.

This Midwest Fruit Tart is brewed with 3,000 pounds of blueberries and 60g of vanilla beans per 30bbl batch.

That’s all find and dandy, but I don’t think you can really get what Whirligig is all about unless you try it for yourself…so go ahead and clear your schedule for this afternoon (Tuesday, August 15th) while you’re thinking about it.

Bewilderfest Gets… Bottley if that’s a word.  Bottlified?

If you missed last years Bewilderfest, you missed out on some of the wildest, weirdest beer that I’ve ever seen being poured all together before.  Judging by what I’m seeing by the Urban Artifact list for this year – things are only getting better for 2017.  The coolest part about Urban’s beer list is that these are not just some beers that we’re going to get on tap (which we will) but every single one of these is going to see packaging too.

Freaking sweet… though I can already hear my wallet sobbing.

Barrel Aged Beers – These are aged on oak with Urban Artifact’s house micro flora culture.

  • Reflexology – A barrel aged red sour ale with toasted almonds and chocolate.
  • Fusee – Sour Amber Cuvée.  This is a blend of 1st use bourbon, 1st use wine and 2nd use bourbon barrels.

Epicurean Series – Barrel aged beers that are designed to be paired with and/or cooked with food.

  • Blueberry Pie – Barrel Aged Midwest Fruit Tart with cinnamon, and vanilla.
  • Wood Ear Wild Ale – Barrel aged wild ale with wood ear mushrooms.
  • Wood Ear Mushroom Salad – Barrel aged wild ale with wood ear mushrooms, garlic, toasted sesame seeds, Serrano peppers, green onion and cilantro.
  • Shiitake Wild Ale – Barrel aged wild ale with shiitake mushrooms.
  • Roasted Shiitake Mushrooms – Barrel aged wild ale with shiitake mushrooms, shallots, black peppercorns, & rosemary.
  • Tiramisu Ale – Bourbon barrel aged dark ale with coffee, vanilla and chocolate.

Whirligig Variants – Urban Artifact’s Blueberry Midwest Fruit Tart Ale with the addition of unique ingredients.

  • Trail Mix – Granola, cinnamon, & walnuts
  • Mocha – Chocolate & coffee
  • Blueberry Orange Smoothie – Orange peel & fresh vanilla beans.
  • Peanut Butter & Blueberry Jam – Whole peanuts
  • Blueberry Sorbet – Lemon zest & fresh basil

The Guest Taps

Urban Artifact really likes to try push boundaries not just for their own beers, but for the guest taps that they offer during this festival too.  They haven’t released specific taps yet (I’ll definitely share them with you when they do, but so far we know that there will be some killer breweries represented during the festival:

  • Wolf’s Ridge Brewing
  • Dogfish Head
  • Jackie O’s
  • 5 Rabbit
  • Forbidden Root
  • Little Fish
  • Streetside
  • Cascade
  • Bad Tom Smith
  • Copper & Kings Distilling
  • Fibonacci
  • Brink
  • Sam Adams

It all goes down this month – so even before you get all the details, you can’t go wrong by making sure you’re ready for the weekend of August 25th through the 27th!

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