Craft Brewing and Distilling News for December 11, 2014

•San Diego’s Ballast Point Brewing and Wirtz Beverage have extended their existing partnership to enter the Wisconsin market, effective January 1. The two companies are already partnered in Minnesota, Nevada and Illinois. Ballast Point offers more than 50 styles of beer such as IPAs, pale ales, porters and wheat beers, as well as craft spirits like gin, rum, vodka and whiskey. The brewer’s Sculpin IPA and other top beer brands as well as a core selection of spirits will be available at Wisconsin’s restaurants, bars and retail accounts at the beginning of the year, with expanded product offerings available throughout 2015.

•Kent, Washington’s Airways Brewing Company has brought back Final Departure Imperial Stout for the third consecutive year. First brewed in 2012, the latest batch follows the same recipe as previous years but with Kent-based Rad Roasting Company contributing select coffee beans aged in whiskey barrels from Bainbridge Organic Distillers. The beans were then roasted and added to conditioning tanks, resulting in a 9.1%-abv beer with notes of coffee, whiskey and chocolate with hop bitterness, the company says. The limited edition stout is available in 22-ounce bottles throughout western Washington state and Portland, Oregon for $7.99.

•Stratford, Connecticut’s Two Roads Brewing has debuted its latest offering, a blonde barleywine called 20 Ton. Named after a 20-ton overhead crane and hook in the company’s new brewery, formerly the US Baird Automatic Machine facility, the latest release is brewed with Golden Promise malt and hopped with classic varieties. The result is a fruity and piney beer at 12% abv, according to Two Roads. 20 Ton is available on draft and in bottles throughout Two Roads’ distribution area, which includes Metro New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

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