E-Malt.com News article: USA, CA: Bison Brewing to release Zeal Island Pale Ale

Bison Brewing, the 100% certified organic brewery based in Berkeley, CA, teamed up with New Brew Thursday, one of the internet’s most compelling and popular craft beer video podcasts, to co-present a homebrew competition, Beernews.org reported on September, 6.

Roughly 60 homebrews were judged over the course of four months. The winner, Andrew Bell, was awarded the opportunity to brew his Zeal Island Pale Ale recipe with Bison’s Brewmaster, Dan Del Grande.

“As an organic brewer, hops are the most expensive and least accessible ingredient for us to work with. Only 25% of the hop varietals used in brewing are available certified organic. This is why hop centric beers are the most challenging for us to brew. However, the organic hops coming from New Zealand are quite extraordinary, with many varietals being higher in alpha acids (the bittering component of hops) than many of the trendy American hops. We are really excited to release a beer that showcases the true tropical beauty of New Zealand hops,” said Dan Del Grande from Bison Brewing.

“The homebrewed version that Daniel and I chose to win the competition was the hoppiest Pale Ale that I’ve ever tasted. I can’t wait to taste the final product,” said Dr. Bill Sysak, Master Pairings and Expert Drinking. And coming from a man that has tasted over 30,000 beers in his lifetime, this statement should not be taken lightly.

“During the judging process, the statement was made that there is not a commercial pale ale in the craft beer market that is better than this beer,” said Stephen Johnson from New Brew Thursday.

Zeal Island Pale Ale will be a competition entry at the Great American Beer Festival, not as Pro-Am, but as a commercial entry from Bison Brewing. It will also be served on the convention floor at the Bison Brewing table, alongside its other organic beers.

As with all of Bison’s Limited Seasonal Releases, Zeal Island Pale Ale will only be available on draft in select markets.

About Bison Brewing

Founded in 1989, Bison Brewing from Berkeley, CA has been proudly dedicated to brewing 100% Certified Organic craft beers since 2003. Bison’s current owner and brewmaster, Dan Del Grande is a leader of sustainability in both the craft beer industry and his local Bay Area community.

About New Brew Thursday

New Brew Thursday, a craft beer advocacy podcast, started out as a way for Stephen Johnson to introduce new beers to his friends. Later, Stephen connected with John Holzer and began creating a weekly internet show with the sole purpose of showcasing craft beer and to hopefully educate, entertain and spark, in the audience, a desire to join the Craft Beer revolution.

About Andrew Bell

Andrew Bell is a 24-yr old BJCP certified judge from Los Angeles who first caught the “craft beer bug” his freshman year of college in Dallas, TX through online beer enthusiast sites, primarily Ratebeer.com. His foundation for fermentation science started with making ciders, and Andrew has been brewing beers frequently since that time. Andrew has been brewing all grain for 3 years, and while qualified to judge to style, he rarely finds himself brewing to style. Like many craft brewers, Andrew brews what he likes, which generally these days are sours and West Coast (i.e lean, mean, dry) hoppy beers. Andrew considers himself a beer enthusiast/geek first and a [home]brewer second.


09 September, 2011