They’re throwing out yet another beer for winter drinkers down at Covington’s Braxton Brewing Company with a new beer called Lumber to be tapped this week.  The beer is a Strong Scotch Ale, and becomes another part of their ever growing Garage Series, which you can read about here if you’d like.

About Strong Scotch Ales

Strong Scotch Ales (sometimes called Wee-Heavy’s are brewed seemingly for a stereotypical Scottish day – cool weather… maybe a bit of misty rain.  The type of weather that really cuts to the bone is pretty fitting for a beer that runs anywhere from 6.5%-10% ABV.  The strong malty character of the beer is reminiscent to Scotland’s famous whisky and seems to remind me of the beautiful landscape that the country is known so well for.  The beer is earthy… bready… strong.

These beers typically go through a long boil, a process that caramelizes the wort and bringing flavors of sweet bread… it’s a style that is a salute to the grain less than it is hops like so many other “popular” styles… I cannot wait to see what the brewing team at Braxton can do with a style that is so unique to anything that they’ve done so far.

Braxton-LumberAbout Lumber

Lumber is a beer designed for the cooler time of the year that we are headed into.  Braxton’s newest offering comes in at 8.5% ABV, which should warm you up from the inside out.  The brewery’s description of the beer is:

Like a pile of lumber, this Strong Scotch Ale has many layers – complex but subtle. A judicious addition of peated malt imparts a slight but distinct smokey and earthy character. This brew is decocted with almost 30% of the total malt being boiled to achieve a deep malty backbone. Finally, the wort is caramelized while slowly running into a red hot kettle. This adds a dimension of sweetness without being cloying nor syrupy. The end result is a very unique style – copper in color, sweet, and malty. Some call it a Strong Scotch Ale (don’t let the drinkability fool you: it clocks at 8.5% ABV), others a Wee Heavy. We call it Lumber, and it’s the perfect beer to settle in with during a cold, grey winter day.

Sign me up… and sign me up for that as soon as possible!

When Can You Get It?

This beer kicks off Braxton’s New Years Eve.  They are open that night until 1am for all you revelers to spend the evening drinking Covington’s finest beer.  The new beer is tapped at 4pm…but if you aren’t drinking that, they’re also tapping a few firkins to keep you happy.  With the logic of New Years eve being a typical night of cocktails, they are using the cocktail theme on 2 different firkins:

  • Moscow Mule Twisted Bit – 6pm
  • Piña Colada Dead Blow – 8pm
  • Irish Coffee Storm – 10pm

As with all of their firkin tappings, these are extremely limited and tend to go really fast, so if you wanna try them, get there early and stay there!  This is going to be a party that you don’t want to miss.  You can find the event on my calendar here – or of course you should probably head over to Braxton’s Facebook page and RSVP to the event here, and share it with all your friends so that they know to come too!

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