When the doors open at Drake’s Barrel House on Saturday, April 26th at noon, ride your bike, jog from the Alameda Ferry, hop on BART, or get your cool uncle to drive you down for the release of Alpha Session IPA and Omega Session American Dark Mild.
Summer is fast approaching, and with it, the promise of a season’s worth of outdoor activity all over California. Alpha Session IPA and Omega Session American Dark Mild are the perfect, refreshing, and flavorful beers to kick start you summer on the go. They both clock in at a mere 3.8% ABV & 50 IBUs, yet have the full body and hop bill you’ve come to expect from a Drake’s beer.
Alpha Session IPA is our bright and hoppy session ale. It’s light and refreshing, with 2-row barley, English Pale Ale malt, and light crystal malt but hopped up with classic West Coast hops and an ample dry-hop of Simcoe, El Dorado, and EXP 01210 for lively citrus note, and a subtle dank, pine edge.
Alpha Session will be available at the release on tap, on cask, in bottles (1 case per person), growlers (2 per person), and our Brew-Rhino 5g kegs.
Omega Session- what we call an “American Dark Mild.” (Imagine the English Dark Mild if it were invented on the West Coast.) Like Alpha, this is a 3.8% ABV hop-forward session ale that utilizes darker malts to envelop its resinous hop flavors and aroma with a smooth mouthfeel and a hint of toast and cocoa.
Omega Session will be available at the release on tap, on cask, and in growlers to-go (2 per person).
But that’s not all…
To prove to you that Alpha Session IPA and Omega Session are the perfect pairing with your outdoor endeavors, a couple of us will be guiding an Alpha-Session-or-Bust Bike Ride from downtown Oakland. We’ll be leaving from at Jack London Square at 11am, and riding down to the Barrel House. It’s about 11 miles, and mostly flat. Tickets for this are on sale now, and they’ll get you the guided bike ride, a pint each of Alpha & Omega Session, and a pint glass you can take home (and bring back on First Fridays)- all this for $12.
Real talk: we’re happy to guide, but in the end, you’re responsible for getting you & your bike here safely, so make sure you’re prepared, with water, a flat kit, phone, map, maybe a Clipper Card, and a good lock for when you make it down here. Also, while Alpha & Omega are indeed session beers, please do make sure you’re still in riding condition when it’s time to go home.
For those in for a more chill form of activity, we are also busting out the old washoe boards for a Washoe Tournament of Champions on the DBH dock. Some of you old school Drake’s fans may remember earlier incarnations of this event from way back when potatoes were used as video cameras. It won’t be quite so expansive as that, but there’ll be enough thrill of victory & agony of defeat looming to keep you on your toes.
And of course, we can’t talk this much about session beer without mentioning the mother lode of session beers- the Second Annual Norcal Session Fest, happening May 17th at Jack London Square. There you will get the chance to enjoy Alpha, Omega, and session beers from over 25 other west coast breweries all while enjoying the farmer’s market area of Jack London, some tasty food from Lungamare, and live music. Proceeds benefit Bike East Bay to help them in their local advocacy efforts to create better and safer biking on the sunny side of the bay.
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