Lewiston’s Brickyard Brewing Company are making a splash in the local beer retail market with their first ever can release, as they will debut Space Bronco New England IPA and Millions of Peaches Gelato IPA, on September 8 (3pm). Price is $16 (tax included) per 4-pack (limit of three each PP).
There should be about 50 cases of Peaches and 45 cases of Space Bronco available. As of now, the cans will only be available at Brickyard, but some limited draft could hit the market in the near future. The beers were canned by Revolution Canning.
Millions of Peaches features flaked oats, flaked wheat and lactose to create a pillowy base for Citra, Mosaic and El Dorado hops, Tahitian and Madagascar vanilla beans, and fresh Sanger Farms peaches from Youngstown, and Space Bronco is brewed using Galaxy and Mosaic hops for notes of dank, overripe mango and papaya. Space Bronco is an offshoot of Brickyard’s house New England IPA, White Bronco.
Brickyard Brewing’s John Meeter says that Space Bronco is a ‘legit beer,’ one that stems from his days as a homebrewer brewing beer in his basement. He says that this can release was really born out of pure customer response, which can also be said for Millions of Peaches.
“The original Bronco that we brewed at my house in the basement had Galaxy in it, but I knew we weren’t getting Galaxy when we first opened,” Meeter says. “[Fast forward to] Late last year and we decided to purchase some Galaxy and Mosaic and brew a batch Space Bronco, which back then did not have a name. We brought it Buffalo on Tap and the response was amazing. The beer just immediately had a following; great ratings on Untappd and people were coming into the brewery looking for it. We brewed it again in the spring and it didn’t last long, so we made the decision to can it.”
“Peaches was my baby last year,” Meeter adds. “Nobody thought it would work, and when I wanted to brew it, everyone thought I was crazy. The first time we put it on tap, it went so fast that I was getting angry texts that we were already out of it. Even my friends were mad at me for not saving them some” Peaches is the latest in Brickyard’s Millions Of… series, following Mangoes (Meeter says that this is his favorite by far in the series) and Strawberries. “Everyone kept asking for the beer so we figured we could run with it. The peaches are grown and harvested about seven miles from the brewery, so close that they just back the truck up and unload them.”
For Meeter, Space Bronco imparts notes of dank, overripe fruit (“if you rolled an overripe mango through a bag of wheat, that’s kind of what Space Bronco is to me,” he says), and Millions of Peaches is just flat out peach. “The vanilla adds so much depth to the beer without being too much in your face. It has to be there.”
I was lucky enough to get a sneak preview of each beer. I started with Millions of Peaches, which featured a vibrant orange peach juice nose and an incredibly soft mouthfeel with subtle orange and vanilla notes backed by massive overripe peach. This beer is a literal juice bomb. Space Bronco opened with a dank tropical fruit nose followed by pineapple and papaya. Dank hops cuts through the creamy frit as the beer warmed. Both were excellent.
In honor of their first ever can release, which just so happens to coincide with the Niagara County Peach Festival, Brickyard is offering a very special and very limited VIP package. For $60, you will receive entry to BBC’s second floor bar and patio at 10am, appetizers during the Peach Festival Parade, one four (4) pack of each beer, two limited edition stemmed Millions of Peaches glasses, limited edition Millions of Peaches unisex tee (Heather Navy), VIP access to Galaxy / Nelson Sauvin Triple IPA and Second-Use Single Barrel Barleywine and Black Button Bourbon Barrel Breakfast with Stevie (aged on cocoa nibs and Tahitian vanilla beans), plus whatever else the brewers dig out to share. Tickets can be purchased at Brown Paper Tickets. As of this writing, there are only 20 of these packages left.
As for what’s next, Brickyard has teamed up with West Shore Brewing on Das Blep, a Double Dry Hopped New England IPA, which will be released on September 22 on draft and cans at both locations (*Writers note – I will have a feature article on this beer/release in the very near future). A preview of this beer can be had at Pizza Plant Transit on September 20 (along with Brickyard’s White Bronco and West Shore’s Green Flyer). Meeter also says that another run of Millions of Peaches cans is already in the works, and the possibility of the other Millions Of… beers being canned is very high.
For more information on the can release, please visit https://www.facebook.com/events/455389458306542.
Brian Campbell is a co-founder/Brand Manager of the BNBA’s enthusiast arm, Buffalo Beer League, and writes the weekly Buffalo Beer Buzz column. If you have beer news that should be included in the Beer Buzz, Brian can be reached at buffalobeerleague@aol.com, on Twitter (@buffbeerleague), Instagram (@buffalobeerleague), Facebook (@thebuffalobeerleague) and www.buffalobeerleague.com.
