Brickyard Brewing and West Shore Brewing, the same breweries that brought you White Bronco New England IPA and Green Flyer NEIPA, have teamed up on Das Blep Double Dry Hopped NEIPA, a hazy creation not short on cat puns. Cans will be released at both locations on September 22; Brickyard will be selling cans on the street during the Hops & Harvest Festival 10am and West Shore will then be selling cans during their Oktoberfest party at 5pm. Each location received approximately 22 cases each.
Meteer and Dziomba showing off their work
Das Blep, a beer born out of a love of cat videos and photos between Brickyard’s John Meteer and West Shore’s Josh Dziomba, was brewed at Brickyard and canned by Revolution Canning with Galaxy, Nelson and Vic Secret to produce notes of white peach, over-the-top tropical fruit and white wine. Blep is brewed with all Galaxy and Nelson with Vic Secret and even more Galaxy and Nelson added to the dry hop.
“Think white grape and Juicy Fruit,” Meteer says. “It’s absurd. It tastes completely different from any other IPA we’ve ever brewed. It’s leaps and bounds outside the realm of juiciness. If you’ve had [Green] Flyer, you know how good it is, and if you’ve had White Bronco, you know how good it is, so when Josh and I were talking about collaborating, I said, ‘let’s just go for it.’ We got a great deal on some Nelson hops and we just went for it.”
Dziomba’s Das Blep can art star Penny
The name Das Blep comes from the viral Internet trend of posting photos of cats with their tongues hanging out, either slightly or entirely on full display. Meteer and Dziomba say that the idea for the name of the beer came from hours and hours of viewing the Blep Reddit page, which features nothing but photos and videos of cats blepping. The Das portion of the name was inspired by it being released during Oktoberfest.
“I’m not kidding, 90 percent of my phone is cat pictures,” Dziomba says. He actually owns four cats, one of which, Penny, is predominantly featured on the can art, blepping, naturally. Meteer owns three cats and has fostered many more over the years, a total of 22, the latest being Zelda, a rehabilitated feral kitten who currently needs a home. Meteer has found good homes for all of his fosters, including a pair to Big Ditch Brewing’s Owner Matt Kahn.
Meteer’s foster cat Zelda
Dziomba says that not only is Das Blep by far the most expensive beer he has ever made, it also has everything that you could possibly want in a hazy beer, thanks in large part to the combination of the Galaxy and Nelson hops that were used to brew it.
“The beer is soft and delicious; tropical fruit meets white wine – literally a flavor palette that you’ve not seen from us. This is probably the most expensive beer I’ve ever made. Beyond the most expensive beer I’ve ever made,” Dziomba says. “This beer has everything you could want – super soft mouth feel, a tropical beginning and super grape notes on the back end. The Galaxy, Nelson combination is something special. I
Some Blep and my cat Sylvester
don’t know if I’ve ever been as excited about a beer that I’ve made than this beer. I love Nelson because it gives the beer a grape, stone fruit note that’s not quite resin or floral, and you’re getting straight tropical fruit from the Galaxy and the Vic Secret is going to do the same thing. There’s a reason these hops are as expensive as they are. I’ve been wanting to brew with these hops forever.”
I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to get an advance taste of Blep, and what Meteer and Dziomba say is true. It starts with tropical fruit aromas that open into a soft fruit cocktail of peach, papaya and pineapple. It’s fantastic. But don’t just take my word for it, grab some yourself. As a matter of fact, you should probably go out of your way to get some of Das Blep. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Meteer and Dziomba are brewing some of the best hazy beers around that no one is talking about, so grab some Blep today and see why.
A bonus kitty selfie of Meteer
For more information on the release of Das Blep, click here.
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.
