Mikkeller Invasion IPA brewed in California

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mikkeller, Mikkeller brewed in US, Mikkeller Drake's, Mikkeller Invasion IPA

Mikkeller isn’t so much a brewery, but rather a gypsy brewer. Mikkel Borg Bjergsø travels around the world and brews beer under the Mikkeller label in various breweries, mostly in Europe. If you’re familiar with Mikkeller you’d probably agree that they put out some fine beers, but one drawback to buying European beer is that it often isn’t as fresh as it should be when it gets down here to San Diego. That isn’t always a problem, Mikkeller makes some fine stouts and other beers where freshness isn’t crucial, but for the most part I’ve long avoided their IPAs, having felt I payed too much money for a stale IPA that unbeknownst to me had been sitting on a shelf (of even in a distributors warehouse) and was a shadow of what it once.

Because of that I was pretty excited to hear that Mikkeller has teamed up with Drake’s Brewing up in the Bay Area to brew some of his beers for the US market. For us down here in San Diego this will help immensely with the freshness aspect. Chances are also good the price points could be a bit better as well since the beers don’t have to be shipped nearly as far.

Invasion IPA didn’t blow me away, it’s a sold IPA, but far from the best I’ve ever had (though I wouldn’t hesitate to drink it again). At $7 or $8 for a 22oz I felt it was a fair price, a bit higher than many of San Diego’s best IPAs, but much easier on the wallet than European-made Mikkeller beers tend to be. Hopefully we start to see more US brewed Mikkeller beers showing up, especially the IPAs.

Brewmasters Dinner & Meet the Brewers: Evil Twin and Stillwater

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't Brouwkot Netebuk, 't Gaverhopke Koerseklakske, brian strumke, Evil Twin Ashtray Heart, Evil Twin Before During & After Christmas Beer, evil twin brewing, Evil Twin Katz Pis, Evil Twin Ryan and the Beaster Bunny, Evil Twin Soft DK, Hopfenstark Baltic Porter de L'Ancrier, Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergso, mikkeller, Stillwater / Mikkeller - Two Gypsies - Our Side, Stillwater / The Brewer's Art Debutante, stillwater artisanal ales, Stillwater Stateside Saison

I don’t think there is another brewery that I’ve had as few of their beers, but hold in as high a regard as Stillwater Artisanal Ales. Stillwater is Brian Strumke, a so called “gypsy brewer” who doesn’t have a brewery of his own but rather travels around and brews his beer at other breweries, both in the US and Europe. Stillwater is a small brewery, their website lists nine beers, about half of which I’ve seen in San Diego either in bottles or on draft. I’ve had most of those that are available here and love everything about them. It helps that most of Stillwater’s beers are Saisons, which is one of my favorite styles of beer (and is also a very loose style allowing for a lot of creative freedom). But it’s more than just the beer itself, it’s also the idea of someone making it, both making a living and making great beer while traveling around and seeing the world.

I actually don’t know much at all about Evil Twin, except for the fact that brewer Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø is also the brother of Mikkeller’s Mikkel Borg Bjergsø. Evil Twin’s beers are rated pretty highly on Ratebeer, that combined with the fact that Stone is hosting the brewer makes me look forward to trying some of their beers.

Both brewers will be at Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens on Thursday, August 11th for two events. Starting at 5pm and lasting until 6:30 is a Meet the Brewer event at Stone’s outside bar. Strumke and Jarnit-Bjergsø will be on hand to chat along with 11 beers (including a few that will be poured on draft for the first time in the US that night). At 6:30pm both Strumke and Jarnit-Bjergsø will join dinner guests for a Brewmasters Dinner featuring four courses and eight of their beers.

The dinner is $65 which includes both tax and gratuity while the meet the brewers event doesn’t have a cover charge, you just buy your own beers.

It looks like the pairings aren’t yet finalized, but the menu can be seen here.

The beers expected to be on tap are:

• Evil Twin Before, During, & After Christmas Beer
• Evil Twin Soft DK
• Evil Twin Ryan and the Beaster Bunny
• Evil Twin Ashtray Heart
• Evil Twin Katz Pis
• Stillwater Stateside Saison
• Stillwater / The Brewer’s Art Debutante
• Stillwater / Mikkeller – Two Gypsies – Our Side
• ‘t Gaverhopke Koerseklakske
• ‘t Brouwkot Netebuk
• Hopfenstark Baltic Porter de L’Ancrier

Stillwater’s Cellar Door was a Farmhouse Friday pick last month.