Photo courtesy of Schlafly Beer
The latest limited release from Schlafly Beer comes with a hearty dose of history.
Throughout 2017, Schlafly—which will celebrate its 25th anniversary December 26—will roll out a new series, From The Ibex Cellar. The name references the wild goat native to the European Alps and the cellar beneath the Tap Room downtown where many beers are kept to age in barrels.
The six beers in the series are brewed in smaller, 11-oz. bottles, which is a common bottle size in Europe and slightly smaller than the standard 12-oz. beer bottle. The series will launch with Schlafly's Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout, available only in four-packs.
Photo courtesy of Schlafly
"We had not used [that size] before, and we really liked the look of the four-pack rather than a conventional six-pack," says Stephen Hale, Schlafly's ambassador brewer. "It sets it aside as a slightly more special beer. We've also been wanting to put the Imperial Stout into a smaller bottle size. For 10 years now, it's been in the 750-ml, [champagne-sized] bottle, and 25 ounces of a 10 percent beer is a lot to drink."
Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout is one of Schlafly's "biggest" beers with its 10-percent alcohol level, and it brings a "spicy, slightly sweet vanilla" taste with hints of bourbon from its time spent in bourbon barrels.
From The Ibex Cellar also pays homage to the Tap Room's historic architecture and the wooden ibex crest found inside the building. Each bottle in the series has three rearing ibexes embossed in the glass. Schlafly's senior designer Sarah Frost created the packaging, which includes imagery of the cellar and the Tap Room's outdoor arch that serves as an entrance to the bier garden.
"Overall, it has a different look and feel about it—slightly European. That also relates to the heritage of the Schlafly Taproom, given Tom Schlafly's Swiss background," Hale says.
Beer drinkers should also look out for other brews in the series—Local Oak, Imperial Coffee Stout—which will be released soon. The remaining three beers will be Gooseberry Gose, Barrel-Aged Pumpkin Ale, and Single Malt Scottish Ale.
From The Ibex Cellar is only available in bottle format across Schlafly's distribution region (as well as the retail areas inside both Schlafly Tap Room and Bottleworks).
