Castle & Cairn

Fall is in the air, and that means we have yet another year of Kirkland's Vintage Ale! Brewed proudly by  Deschutes (pronounced "Da-Shootz") in Bend, Oregon, this Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout spends nine months in the wood, picking up what the whiskey left behind (mostly vanillin and tannins). Bottled over the summer, this particular beer is from Lot B. Neither Costco nor the packaging give us much additional detail beyond the ABV and style. I remember finding  last year 's edition to be solid but nothing to write home about, fairly dry but a pleasant pour. The use of the work "vintage" to me implies that some changes may be made year-to-year but we'll have to see if our taste buds can help us validate. How does the 2025 vintage fair? 💅Style: Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout 🛒Sourced: $7.99 Costco, GA  for a 22oz bottle. $2 cheaper than the 2024 edition! 💥Hops:   Not Mentioned sadly. Other ingredients include chocolate malt, milled oats and Dutc...

A bit of Oktoberfest History Started in 1810 as a public celebration for the wedding of Crown Price Ludwig (later King), the first Oktoberfest took place on October 12th just outside of gates of Munich. It featured horse racing, food, and huge amounts of beer, drawing large crowds and becoming enshrined in annual tradition. Early Oktoberfest beers resembled dark lagers such as dunkels, but over time the focus shifted with Spaten Brewery's introduction of Märzenbier (Märzen - meaning brewed in March, and then stored over the summer). Spaten continued to innovate and introduced what we know as the first beer specifically branded as "Oktoberfest" in 1872, a continued evolution of the Märzen style. In the late 1970s, Paulaner introduced the Festbier style which gained prevalence as changing tastes shifted to these bright pale Munich lagers with Nobel hops. In general, Märzen is a malty German amber lager with clean, rich, toasty and bready malt flavor, minimal bitterness, and...

While the sad truth is that beer just simply isn't health food, it doesn't have to be dessert level calories. At the same time, keeping those frosty carbs down doesn't mean that you have to put flavor out to sea. It is worth mentioning that the key mechanism driving the calories in a beer is alcohol by volume. Each gram of ethanol contains around 7 calories per gram, almost double that  of other carbohydrates and protein. Other residual sugars do still contribute to the beer as any sugars not converted to alcohol remain from the original malt bill. Big beautiful beers often have both high ABV and residual sugar levels, but some "smaller" beers still manage to have good flavor.  I've pulled together my list of brews that pack decent flavor without blowing up your diet.  Low Calorie Beers with Alcohol Guinness - Crushing the myth that dark beers are higher in calories, Guinness has an iconic creamy feel due to the nitrogenating widget in each can. With 125 cal...

Even if you're more predisposed to wine or spirits, the beer component of your wedding bar lineup is an important and sometimes complex decision. Think of the last time you went to a bar with your friends, what did they order? There is a good change no two people ordered the same thing. How can we best serve so many differing tastes without breaking the bank or going crazy? This post will walk through an outline for picking your ideal beer lineup for a wedding or party. Pick a Number Planning your lineup starts by choosing a target number of brews. Starting with a firm number makes it much easier to balance selection considerations later and your venue or provider may give you this information up front. My general rule of thumb for most menus is 3-5 options. Science tells us that humans cognitive load and working memory maxes out around 4+1 "chunks" and this provides ample satisfaction/freedom without adding too much logistical complexity (see  Hick's Law , Paradox of...

What makes a great Summer beer? At Castle & Cairn, we evaluate the perfect summer beer on three main qualities: Bright Flavors - Sunshine is summer, and we're looking for tastes like citrus, fruit, or maybe some mild tartness. Crushability  - Whether it is at the beach, by the grill, or in the pool, a great summer beer shouldn't leave you feeling terrible after a full day of refreshment. Crushability is the combination of light body, moderate ABV, and a clean finish - served cold.  Availability - The best Summer beer isn't the best summer beer if it's not in your fridge or cooler. From the rip, you can already see that these qualities will point us towards styles like Mexican Lagers, Shandies, Radlers, Session Sours, Wheat Beers, or Juicy IPAs. Will your pick be in our list below? Our Top 10 Beers of Summer List 10. Dos Equis Amber Holding up the list, Dos Equis Ambar  Especial was created to celebrate the turn of the 20th century. It is a classic Vienna-style lage...

If you've been following the news, you may know that demand for Guinness in Europe is off the charts as of the end of 2024. Gen Z has discovered that the always popular classic stout as a result of celebrity spotlight, influencer marketing by Diageo, and product fundamentals that have always been solid.  It is this last bit that we'll explore in depth today; Guinness is fairly unique on the market as far as been flagships are concerned. Guinness: Differentiating Factors Known for its dark color, many believe Guinness to be a "heavy" beer, but those who have tried it know that the opposite is actually true. Guinness differentiates itself from the competition with three main factors: Nitrogen - Guinness's Key to Creaminess  In 1959, Guinness began to use nitrogen when kegging it's beer. Nitrogen is far less soluble than carbon dioxide which allows it to be pressurized without becoming fizzy (e.g. nitrogen bubbles are smaller which helps create the sensation of ...

If there is anything I love more than a good drink, it's saving money buying that good drink! The rules for providing discounts on alcohol differ substantially between states with some allowing outright discounts or coupons and others entirely disallowing any sort of purchase incentive. Thankfully though, in my native Georgia as well as most states, a simple reimbursement approach is permissible.  Alcohol Rebate Site Master List The following sites are relatively stable for each manufacturer. New offers usually come out every few months. None of these are affiliate links and I provide no assurance as to the process. I have saved so much money using rebates and hope you have similar success. Best practices and general process advice will be presented at the bottom. New sites will be added as I uncover them. Beer Rebates Boston Beer Company Brands  - Angry Orchard, Dogfish head, Hard Mountain Dew, Samuel Adams, Sun Crusher, Truly, and Twisted Tea. Some brands may not have active...

Trends come and go: Craft Beer, Hard Seltzer, Canned Cocktails, and more. In the world of beverage, the currents are constantly shifting, but one drink has an irrevocable grip on America: Light Beer. Good old beer flavored beer may take a hit from new competition, but brands like Miller Lite and Michelob Ultra constantly sit at the top of sales volume lists, even with the fall of Bud Light and rise of Modelo's Flagship.   But which light beer is best? Let's find out. Methodology - Light Beer Ranking Taste preferences vary significantly between consumers, but across a large sample we should be able to get a somewhat representative picture of the populations preferences. For this ranking, we will combine data sourced from multiple beer rating sites with an internal Castle & Cairn house ranking to create an overall beer quality score. The starting population of beer brands will be those that are explicitly branded as "flagship light" or beers with less than 100 calor...

Produced by Deschutes Brewery  (pronounced "Da-Shootz") for Costco, the 2024 iteration of Kirkland'sVintage Ale is an Imperial Stout that spends nine months resting in used bourbon barrels. Since being founded in 1988 as a Brewpub, Deschutes is a craft brewery located in Bend, Oregon that now distributes in all 50 states and internationally. The brewery gets its name from the Deschutes river and sells more than 225 thousand barrels per year of beer. Deschutes' Black Butte porter, Stoic Quadrupel, Obsidian Stout, and Fresh Squeezed IPA can be found on draft throughout the pacific Northwest. They currently offer eleven other barrel aged beers including 3 imperial stout editions, 3 sours, 3 imperial porters, and 2 sour brown ales. The " Abyss " is their recurring Imperial Stout recipe which checks-din around 11% ABV and 50 IBUs and features Nugget, Cascade & Delta hops though the exact hop mix has fluctuated year-to-year. 💅 Style:  Bourbon Barrel Imperial ...

Consuming almost seven years of robust internal research and development, the Heineken Draught Keg or "party keg" hit stores in Europe in 2005, waiting another seven years till it was introduced to the U.S. in 2012. Their goal was simple: satisfy consumers who have a preference for draught beer from the comfort of their own homes.  Why do people prefer draught beer? There are a number of reasons but the main contributor to draught's supremacy is texture. The foam bubbles on top of a draft beer are a uniform 0.8 to 0.9 millimeters in diameter owing to the carbon dioxide pressure used to push the liquid through the keg system. Bottled beer has to be dumped quickly to create a head and produces bubbles that are a good deal bigger, 2 or 3 millimeters across. Bigger bubbles dissipate more quickly, while the small bubbles persist and produce creamy mouthfeel. Some keg systems use nitrogen or a blend of nitrogen and carbon dioxide in their beer gas which may further promote a r...