It’s in the tanks. It’s preparing for the onslaught of thirsty beer hoards. It will be ready. Will you?
Drake’s Hopocalypse DIPA and Hopocalypse Black Label Triple IPA will be returning on Saturday, February 2nd, 10am to 9pm, at Drake’s Barrel House.
Doors will open to the Barrel House at 10am. Hopocalypse DIPA (9.3% ABV, 100+ IBUs) will be available on tap, on cask, in 22 oz bottles (1 case per person limit), in growlers (2 per person), and in Brew Rhino kegs (limited availability, first come first served). Hopocalypse Black Label (12.5% ABV, 100+ IBUs) will be available on tap, on cask, and in 22oz bottles (2 per person limit) at the Barrel House only.
For the hungry, Fists of Flour Wood-Fire pizza, Me So Hungry, and Fiveten Burger will be stopping by to crank out good grub for your beer-filled stomachs.
Expect casks of Hopocalypse, brewery tours, great food, Hopocalypse swag, and enough hops to send you to the end of days tasting the dank hoppy deliciousness forevermore.
An air of excitement hung in the air as the sun rose in San Leandro on Saturday. Cases and kegs of our Hopocalypse Double IPA and Hopocalypse Black Label Triple IPA sat in the cold box waiting for thirsty craft beer fans to arrive and get the first taste of the hoppy-goodness and grab a few bottles for home.
At 8:20 am the first folks arrived to start the line which by the time the doors opened at 10 am had stretched back into our parking lot and started to curve toward the brewery.
At 9:55, the whole crew gathered inside the Barrel House for a celebratory toast of Hopocalypse to start the day, and at 10am sharp the doors opened unleashing a wave of hop-heads anxious to get their first sips and take home 22 oz bombers, growlers, and Brew Rhino kegs of the Hopocalypse Double IPA and the limited release 22 oz bombers of the Hopocalypse Black Label TIPA.
From 10am until 8pm the crowd at the bar never really died down with hop-heads from all over the Bay Area and beyond gathering across the width of our 30 ft. bar to get their Hopocalypse fix. Delicious smells of smoked ribs and tri-tip from Bourbon Bros. BBQ wafted over the patio all day long as folks casually relaxed sipping on both levels of the Hopocalypse or sampling one of the other 22 taps of our beers available in the Barrel House. Brewery tours ran throughout the day giving folks a chance to get a look inside the brewery itself and taste a bit of our next batch of the Hopocalypse DIPA straight from the tank.
The Hopocalypse kegs to-go were the first to go out the door, but do not fret. We will be getting more with each new batch of the Hopocalypse DIPA to come out. So, if you missed your chance Saturday, there will be a few more Brew Rhinos coming. Unfortunately, however, that’s not the case with the Black Label bombers that sold out of our entire supply of roughly 700-800 bottles on Saturday by around 5:30 or 6pm. If you missed your chance to grab a bottle for home, the Black Label will stay on tap here at the Barrel House for a brief while longer, so come on down sometime this week or next to indulge in the latest huge hoppy monster we’ve created.
Live Music got going around 2pm, starting off easy with a low-key acoustic duo and finishing the night with local band Rough Waters who rocked out the Barrel House until the bitter end inspiring some to break out their dancin’ shoes and celebrate the day. Fists of Flour pizza came by round 6 with their killer wood-fired pizza to satiate the dinner crowd and teach us all once again that craft beer and great pizza really were meant to be together.
As the final glass was poured at the end of the day the whole crew heaved a deeply satisfied sigh at the success of the day. We had a tremendous day that exceeded all of our expectations all due to our awesome fans that showed up in force to support and have a great time in the process.
To everyone that made it out, Cheers to you. It’s the craft beer fans out there that make it all possible, and ours are among the best. Can’t wait to see you all next week for SF Beer Week, and really can’t wait for next year’s release.
We can’t tell you whether you need to worry about the Apocalypse in 2012, but we can say definitively that the Hopocalypse is imminent. Clear room in your fridge; designate your driver; and prepare your tastebuds. On Saturday, Feb. 4th, the End is Beer.
Yes, the Hopocalypse hit the tanks today. Jeff stirred the mash of batch number two as Chris gleefully added the last of four massive hits of hops to the batch number one, and the whole brewery buzzed with an energy that comes from brewing this beer.
This seasonal orange beast boasts a hop arsenal of Magnum, Chinook, Simcoe, Citra, and CTZ and a three-hop dry-hop that will convert all who drink it into hop-heads and send its devotees into the beer rapture with its tantalizing, heady aroma and crisp slap of citrus and pine… Alright, so maybe we’re waxing poetic a little… we get that way about this beer.
The Hopocalypse is one of our favorite brews each year, and this year’s batch will the biggest yet. We are set to brew more of the Hopocalypse than ever before, and for the first time we have brewed what we have christened the Hopocalypse Black Label- a Triple IPA at 12.5% ABV with huge amounts of 5 different hops that will be available on draft and in a limited release of 22oz bottles only at Drake’s Barrel House.
Alex brewed the Black Label just before the New Year filling the mash tun to the hilt, but only filling the boil kettle two-thirds full to reach the level of Plato needed to hit the 12.5% ABV mark. Now the Black Label is tucked safely in its fermenter where it will be for the next month slowly transforming into a dangerously, delicious beer.
The Hopocalypse and the Black Label will burst forth from the brewery with force February 4 to greet all you patiently waiting hop-heads with a special all day release at Drake’s Barrel House. Mark your calendar. The Hopocalypse approaches.
