Robin Shepard
A tulip glass of Bedlam along with a six-pack of canned Bedlam on the bar at Karben4.
Bedlam, the popular Ale Asylum-made Belgian-style IPA, is back courtesy of Karben4.
Good news for fans of Ale Asylum’s Belgian beer lineup. Karben4 Brewing is bringing them back starting this month.
Karben4 acquired the labels and recipes of the closed Madison brewery earlier this year and reintroduced favorites Hopalicious and Ambergeddon in spring. A few weeks ago, Bedlam, a Belgian IPA, made it to local shelves ($11/six-pack), and by the end of the month Ale Asylum’s other Belgians will be on the brew schedules. That includes Diablo, a dubbel; Tripel Nova, a tripel; and finally Mercy, a quadrupel.
Ryan Koga, co-owner of Karben4, says his staff is “having a lot of fun” making the Ale Asylum beers and re-discovering favorite flavors. I’m most excited about again enjoying Tripel Nova and Mercy, and just in time for the holiday season. Both rank high on my list of Belgian favorites from the former brewery that introduced them to Madison drinkers more than 15 years ago.
More Belgians
There’s nothing quite like a Belgian dubbel on the Thanksgiving table — its deep notes of yeast and dark fruit complement the flavors in one of the richest meals of the year. My pick to pair with a holiday feast is D5, a dubbel from Sunshine Brewing in Lake Mills. There is complexity in the chocolate and caramel notes from brown and red malts, along with what the Belgian yeast gives, with hints of dark fruit like raisin and plum. While this medium-bodied beer goes well with meats and vegetables, its distinctive sweetness also makes it a pleasant dessert beer ($14/crowler).
The return of another classic
The latest release in New Glarus Brewing’s Thumbprint series is a wee heavy Scotch ale. The beer is one of the brewery's classics, though it’s not been offered for nearly a decade. “The intent for this beer was to embrace the tradition and heritage of scotch ales,” says the brewery’s Randy Thiel. The 2023 version features Golden Promise malt, an heirloom barley from the United Kingdom. That malt lends hints of toffee and biscuit breadiness. There are also light fruity notes of plum and raisin. I like how the small amount of smoked malt accents the finish ($13/four-pack).
On ice
O’so Brewing Company’s Marc Buttera has created a new session-like IPA called Tip Up. The beer is light and crisp at 5.2% ABV. It’s fermented at cooler temperatures than most ales, which allows a subtle fruit character to emerge. Citra hops and a special yeast known for creating flavors like guava and passion fruit give this light yellow-golden ale distinctive tropical hoppiness ($10/six-pack). “It’s a very Wisconsin beer, brewed for being out on a frozen lake to celebrate the anglers’ cry of ‘tip up’ when the fish are biting,” says Buttera.
Mellow malts
In Mount Horeb, Grumpy Troll Brew Pub is offering Boreas, a bold imperial stout last made in 2020 and named after the Greek god of winter. Brewmaster Mark Knoebl makes it with 16 different malts and conditions it in the brewery’s cellar for more than a year; this latest batch was brewed in November 2022. That long aging time allows the malts to mellow, decreasing some of the bitterness often found from dark roasted barley. The result is a full-bodied dark black beer with a soft brown head, rich in roasted and toffee notes that make it smooth and warm, with a modest 8.1% ABV ($7/glass). This is a great example of how imperial stouts can be flavorful without being over-the-top in roasted maltiness or high in alcohol. Knoebl has held back some of it for bourbon barrel-aging for release in spring 2024.
Among the big beers I’m most excited about this month is 8ight Anniversary, a bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout from Raised Grain Brewing Co. in Waukesha, made to celebrate the brewery turning eight this fall. Every year the anniversary beer is a version of an imperial stout, “and each year the recipe is a little different,” says Raised Grain’s Nick Reistad. “This time it’s made with the widest blend of barrels and is just about the strongest beer we’ve ever made.”
8ight was created by aging the base stout for eight months in three types of bourbon barrels; when the beers were removed from their respective barrels, they were all blended together. Then two of Raised Grain’s past anniversary stouts (2020 and 2022 vintages) were added, to make one big bold batch of birthday beer. It finishes around 13% ABV and sells in single 16-ounce cans packaged in individual boxes ($16 each). Chocolate and Belgian malts, bourbon and wood make 8ight taste like a boozy chocolate-covered cherry.
And congratulations to Full Mile Beer Company and Kitchen in Sun Prairie and Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee for capturing honors at this year’s Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beers in Chicago. The event is North America’s largest barrel-aged competition for beer, cider and mead. Full Mile’s Palace of Gold, a Belgian golden strong, received silver in the wild Brett beer category. It was among my summer beers to watch for and is still available at the brewpub. Also capturing a silver was Lakefront’s Brewers' Reserve Bourbon Barrel-Aged Honey Bock.
