Set a reminder, beer lovers: This Saturday at 10 a.m. 4 Hands Brewing will launch an exclusive online presale of its 2022 Madagascar stout, a highly coveted annual beer release. Last year, some Madagascar variances sold out within minutes of the launch. The brewery anticipates a similar response in 2022, with more than 80 barrels produced for the release.
The original Madagascar release, in 2014, involved a small-batch, single-barrel collaboration with Schnucks in Des Peres to celebrate the supermarket chain’s 75th anniversary. “The process that we used in 2014 for that release is still used today,” says 4 Hands owner Kevin Lemp. “We source the very best vanilla in the world and hand-cut every bean to maximize the intense flavor imparted by the Madagascar vanilla.” This year’s Madagascar brew is an “inky black, sticky” imperial milk stout aged in “freshly emptied bourbon barrels” with whole Madagascar vanilla beans.
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The brewery will offer six variants of the Madagascar release, including one aged in orange bitters barrels from Withered Oak, the company’s new line of oak-aged spirits. Re-releases include the Madagascar Cobbler, Madagascar Tahitian, and Madagascar Triple Chocolate (available in 22-ounce bottles and 16-ounce cans for the first time). New this year: the Madagascar Blueberry Maple and Madagascar Echo Base Coffee, a collaboration with Sump Coffee.
Due to high demand, 4 Hands will limit customers to four bottles per Madagascar variant. Pickups will be February 17–20. “Each day will see variants added to the draft lineup when the tasting room opens exclusively to Madagascar release ticket holders at 10 a.m.,” says 4 Hands hospitality director Chris Trunk.
More details about the release can be found on 4 Hands’ website and social media channels.
