Ale Asylum’s new Apocalypse Bingo: MRDR HRNT pale ale uses a relatively new brewing technique called dip-hopping.
I know we’re all exhausted by all the “ugh, 2020, amirite?” takes by now, but it’s the truth.
Last spring, the brain trust of Madison’s Ale Asylum, fresh off a quintessential 2020 statement with its FVCK COVID beer tandem, was lamenting the seemingly constant downward spiral of the world. The most recent surreal news: The Asian giant hornet had showed up in the U.S. You know, the “murder hornet.”
“Every month there was a new thing,” Ale Asylum co-founder Dilba said: Australia on fire. A seeming near-miss of war with Iran. COVID-19, of course. “It was like, ‘Did anyone have murder hornets on their apocalypse bingo card?’”
As the year pressed on and the FVCK COVID beers became a hit from coast to coast, distributors began asking Ale Asylum to go to the well again. FVCK COVID 3.0 was ruled out quickly. “We didn’t want to get to the point where we were beating a dead horse,” Dilba said.
Instead, the Apocalypse Bingo series was born; its first offering, MRDR HRNT hazy pale ale, dropped in November.
“It’s an extension of the FVCK COVID philosophy, where if you don’t laugh you might cry,” Dilba said. “Let’s poke fun at the absurdities — the sometimes cataclysmic absurdities — of modern life.”
There are two names in the hopper for the series: Conspiracy Theorists and Karen’s Rage, which is due for a late February or early March release. But the list is fluid, Dilba notes, because if the past 12 months have taught us anything, it’s that the universe is acutely adept at presenting new manifestations of bad things.
But Apocalypse Bingo is not merely a parade of cool names. It’s also a bit of a reinvention for Ale Asyum. The goal with each release is to create a beer that shakes up what you think you know about Ale Asylum’s beer, which has almost entirely stayed away from extra ingredients like fruit, coffee, cacao and the like over the brewery’s nearly 15-year history.
“We intend to stretch the boundaries and techniques and maybe sometimes the ingredients from what we’ve done in the past to take each beer in this category regardless of the style and turn it up to 11,” Dilba said. “We’re interested in whatever (the brewing staff) want to drum up. You want to try something fun, let’s do it.”
The releases in the queue — even the Karen’s Rage dropping this spring — don’t have actual beers corresponding to the names yet. But just about everything is on the table, Dilba said, as long as it doesn’t taste like anything Ale Asylum has made before.
And this week’s beer, alluded to as an also-ran in the 2020 Beers of the Year, tastes like nothing Ale Asylum has made before.
Style: Hazy pale ale
Brewed by: Ale Asylum, 2002 Pankratz St.
Where, how much: MRDR HRNT dropped somewhat abruptly in November, and supplies in the tail end of 2020 were somewhat spotty. Dilba expects shipments of the beer to distributors, including the national Brew Pipeline, to increase by late January. Six-packs around here run around $9, a tick above the regular Ale Asylum price. The best MRDR HRNT price is from the brewery itself ($7), which has been offering deep discounts on to-go six-packs. I’ll say it again: Buying direct is a huge windfall to breweries, and they really need it right now.
Up close: If Dilba wants every Apocalypse Bingo beer to drink like something truly unique, the series is off to a good start with MRDR HRNT. Immediately upon opening the can, an intense, heady tropical citrus aroma fills the room. I’m not kidding, you can smell this beer even if you’re not drinking it. It’s a sweet lemon-lime character, almost like a beer Sprite, accenting a huge pineapple note. The sips deliver that same swirl of tropical joy, along with a sweet, malty body and just a touch of bitterness coming in to clean up the dry, refreshing finish.
Where does all this juicy fruit action come from? It’s not from fruit. MRDR HRNT uses a relatively new hopping technique called dip-hopping that introduces a new step in the brewing process before traditional dry-hopping that elevates the intensity of the Mosaic, Denali and Trident hops while avoiding the “green” and vegetal character that befalls many heavily dry-hopped hazy IPAs. Dilba also believes dip-hopping keeps each variety in the hop blend distinct and clearly expressive. Some high-ester (but not kveik) yeast also contributes to the juiciness.
Overall, it’s a startlingly good start to the end of the world.
Bottom line: 4½ stars (out of 5)
Beer Baron’s Beers of the Year 2020: Worst Year Ever Edition
Let’s take inventory of the most unforgettable, symbolic and just downright delicious beers of 2020.
This was not the best new beer Madison’s Ale Asylum released this year, but it was unquestionably the most successful, and it’s obvious why without even cracking open the can. This beer’s label perfectly captured the zeitgeist at the time of its release in early April, and it never really stopped resonating. The pilsner was followed by a hazy pale ale version, and both were taken national by the new Wisconsin-based distributor Brew Pipeline. Locally, the brewery has offered the FVCK COVID duo and many of its other beers for $6 a six-pack for most of the year. By the way, my favorite new Ale Asylum beer also had a “ugh, 2020” theme: MRDR HRNT, the first in a new “Apocalypse Bingo” series. It’s a pale ale heavily dosed with Mosaic, Denali and Trident hops that create an intense, nearly hard seltzer-like lemongrass-lime character.
This is not one but 25 beers, a different one from each of the Wisconsin breweries that committed to this worldwide collaboration started by San Antonio’s Weathered Souls Brewing. Most of the beers were imperial stouts, but the Black Is Beautiful black IPA (remember that style?) from community-focused Delta Beer Lab might have been my favorite of those I tried. The other participating Madison-area breweries were Herbiery, Giant Jones, Parched Eagle, Rockhound, Sunshine and Young Blood. Black Is Beautiful was, of course, a response to the other story that defined 2020: our national awakening on racial justice. The 1,192 breweries that took part pledged to donate proceeds to local foundations that support police reform and legal defense for those who have been wronged by police, and also committed “to the long-term work of equality.” I am happy to drink to that.
Yes, there are plenty of beers on this list that are not a statement on times like these. And Untitled Art’s take on the legendary Chocolate Shoppe ice cream flavor was probably my favorite of them. Loaded with lactose for sweetness and creaminess, and cocoa nibs and dark malts for chocolate character, it was not just a beer that tasted like chocolate ice cream but specifically like Zanzibar. It was sweet but not overly so, and the chocolate had dark depths and the fruity complexity of its namesake.
Young Blood Beer Co. picked a heck of a year to debut. The plan was to pack the taproom on King Street and pour glass after glass of head brewer Kyle Gregorash’s IPAs, saisons, lagers and pastry stouts. The opening went ahead in May, with a quick pivot toward canning the bulk of the beer, though the sidewalk patio did brisk business, too. Young Blood’s M.O. is to crank ’em; its Untappd page records 117 different beers already. And while this is really a nod for the entire brewery over a single beer, I don’t think any Young Blood I had this year surpassed the mostly by-the-book but excellent saison Cheryl’s 2004 Cobalt. I’m looking forward to seeing more of the colorful cans in my fridge — and what they come up with next for beer names — in 2021.
The label of color fields and geometric shapes was almost as adorable as this beer’s diminutive pop culture namesake, but the beer inside was the real force. Released for Third Space Brewing’s fourth anniversary in September, this kinda-hazy session IPA packed bright citrus and stonefruit flavors and a satisfying body despite its wee 3.9% ABV. Baby Yo capped a great year of new hoppy beers, with kveik yeast stars Nordic Sunrise and Fjord Explorer strong BOTY contenders as well.
If you’re the most successful craft brewery in Wisconsin and you’re going to release only one new beer in a year, it had better be a banger. And this complex, enigmatic sipper sure was. A blend of three batches of spontaneously fermented ale from New Glarus’ “wild fruit cave,” it incorporated Geisenheim grapes after blending to put an unmistakable spin on brewmaster Dan Carey’s familiar fruit lambics. This sweet creation was aptly named, with a floral, intensely fruity profile of apricot, white grape and honey that really did evoke a butterfly’s sip.
Oktoberfests get all the love every year, but a great Vienna lager can scratch that toasty-malty itch year-round. For that reason, I didn’t love that this beer from Lakefront Brewery’s My Turn series came out in fall when shelves were already loaded with beers with a similar profile. But it was still a standout: bready and flavorful but clean and balanced. Wisconsin brewers, let’s be like Lakefront warehouse employee Johnny Hopgood (his real name, a true aptonym) and make some more Vienna lagers, please!
Yes, the bow on top of my 2020 Beers of the Year is a 117-year-old American light lager that you can find literally everywhere. I wrote a column in May revealing the Champagne of Beers as my “comfort beer,” a rock of palate certainty to balance the uncertainty in the world. But as the year marched on, I realized there was another factor bringing me back to High Life. On Feb. 26, a Molson Coors electrician killed five co-workers and himself at the Miller Valley brewery in Milwaukee. I feel a kinship with this beer for many reasons but the one I thought about often while buying yet another 12-pack this year was a solemn solidarity with the survivors of that day and the loved ones of the fallen: Dale Hudson, Gennady "Gene" Levshetz, Jesus “Jesse” Valle Jr., Dana Walk and Trevor Wetselaar.
Got a beer you’d like the Beer Baron to pop the cap on? Contact Chris Drosner at chrisdrosner@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @WIbeerbaron.
January 16, 2021 at 10:00PM
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