Sunday, April 2, 2017

NC Beer Month kicks off with Casks on Fools

Crank Arm's 4th Annual Casks on Fools kicked off NC Beer Month.

By Dathan Kazsuk | April 2, 2017
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April 1 ended up being a perfect day to drink beer, no matter where you were. The weather was just amazing – but we decided to kick off our adventure into NC Beer Month at Crank Arm Brewing Company for its fourth annual Casks on Fools event. 

For $10 you received a souvenir glass and four, 5-ounce drink tickets. Additional tickets were also available for $2.50 with proceeds going towards the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as well as the NC Craft Brewers Guild.


After receiving our cask program with all that was available to sample, we looked through the 19 different NC breweries to figure out what we wanted to try first. We quickly decided on D9's Witless – a peachy sour brewed with house yeast and bacteria. We both liked this beer, and while Jen finished off the rest of the beer, I made our next selection.


Next was Carolina Brewing Company's Mango Habanero Hop Roar West Coast Style IPA. Jen's not a fan of IPA such as myself, but she loves beer that has a little heat to them. And although this could have had a little more heat to it, it was still a good beer. The mango left a nice fruity nose to the beer while the extra Citra hops in the cask added a balance to the fruit.


By now Jen wanted a stout, and we selected Bull City Burger and Brewery's Jack Tar Dry Irish Stout with Amarena Cherries. A very slight taste of cherries could be found in what we both thought was a very thin and weak stout. This was our least favorite of the day. But we had one more ticket. Can we leave Crank Arm with a winner?


It was a toss up between Foothills Jade IPA with pineapple and mango or Lynwood Brewing Concern's Lucifeous sour beer. Since we already had an IPA with mango, we went with Lynnwood. Luciferous was a barrel-aged sour with apricots put in the cask. We both liked this one - but in the end, our favorite was D9's Witless.

Jen looks over the list of casks beers.

If you are interested in seeing everything that was offered at Casks on Fools, take a look below:
  • Aviator – Chocolate cream stout
  • Big Boss – War Hawk, dry hopped with El Dorado
  • Bombshell – Lady in Red with pumpkin spice
  • Brown Truck – Belgian dubble
  • Bull City Burger and Brewery – Jack Tar Dry Irish Stout with Amarena cherries
  • Carolina Brewing Company – Hop Roar West Coast Style IPA, on mangos, habaneros and Citra hops
  • Crank Arm – Tandem Double IPA with blood orange and orange zest 
  • D9 – Peach sour brewed with house yeast and bacteria 
  • Deep River – Bitter Unicorn Tears with Mosaic hops 
  • Foothills – Jade IPA with pineapple and mango 
  • Fortnight – ESB with East Kent Golding hops
  • Fullsteam – Steak Knives, imperial stout aged in bourbon with a set of steak knives
  • Gizmo – Stawberry Kiwi Gose
  • Haw River – Newlin's Original Belgian Oatmeal Pale, dry hopped with Crystal and Galaxy hops and strawberries 
  • Lynnwood Brewing Concern – Luciferous, barrel-aged sour with apricots
  • Mystery – Hornigold, a 6-gallon oak cask which traveled in a car for 4,000 miles, to recreate IPA's that traveled from England to India
  • Neuse River – La Belge aDorée, strong golden ale aged on dried chamomile flowers and organic lemon zest   
  • Raleigh Brewing Company – 4th Anniversary Ale, Scotch Barrel-Aged Wheat Wine with dates 
  • Trophy - Special Session IPA on tangerine peelss