Growlers: Rebel Kettle Collaboration with Mother's, Lost 40 Forest Queen, Stone's Throw Wheat Stout

Months ago, we told you how Rebel Kettle Brewing Company was working on a collaboration brew with Mother’s Brewing, the hugely influential craft brewery in Springfield, Missouri. Right now, the RK team is up in Springfield brewing Hipster Banana, which head brewer John Lee describes as a New England-style Sour IPA brewed with pawpaws. If you’ve never heard of pawpaws, they are a large fruit that has a sweet custard flavor similar to banana or mango. Pawpaws are indigenous to the southeastern United States. Typically, the brewing process takes a couple of weeks, so we’ll let you know when Hipster Banana is available. While the Rebel Kettle team is in Missouri, the taproom will be closed today for a final inspection of the new kitchen expansion. It should reopen tomorrow. Lastly, this week’s 4:30 Thursday will see the return of the brewery’s excellent Wake ‘n’ Flake Coconut Cream Stout. At six barrels (186 gallons), this is the largest batch Rebel Kettle has ever done, so make sure to bring a growler to take home.
The queen brew of Lost Forty makes its return today. Forest Queen Milk Stout goes on tap for today’s Freshcut Monday release. This is the lighter-bodied counterpart to the brewery’s Forest King Imperial Stout. The stout has some pretty bold flavors, including espresso, cacao nibs and a rich, roasted malt. Milk stouts are brewed with lactose, or milk sugar, which gives them a sweeter, more velvety body. Lost Forty is selling Forest Queen in any way you want it, including pints, crowlers, growlers and six-packs to go. Also, keep an eye out for Forest Queen at a liquor store or grocery store in your neighborhood.
Stone’s Throw Brewing has a couple of new releases coming out for its #NewBrewFriday event. The brewery is debuting its Hot Rod 50 Wheat Stout, which should be an interesting take on stout ales. It’s also putting back on its Kupfer Munich Dunkel, a malty style of ale that’s low on hops and high on rich, warm notes. Both those hit the taproom at 4 p.m. on Friday. Also this weekend, Stone’s Throw will be holding its regular Brunch Beers event at Bernice Garden Farmers Market from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Bernice Garden is reaching the end of its season, to this will be one of the last times this year for this beer brunch get-together.
Diamond Bear Brewing Company is getting its cold-weather brews ready. Already, head brewer Nathan Greubel has put on Black Diamond Porter at the taproom. It’s Diamond Bear’s standard porter recipe infused with cold-brew coffee from Andina’s Café in downtown Little Rock. Diamond Bear is currently brewing its oatmeal stout for release on Nov. 10. Also, Diamond Bear has brought back the Cubby Series, its small-batch series that lets Greubel experiment with some new recipes on a limited scale. Keep an eye out for some new brews from Diamond Bear in the coming weeks.
And there’s not too much new happening at Flyway Brewing this week, but I did want to give a shout-out to Flyway and Dempsey Barbecue for the outstanding pop-up they pulled off yesterday. Wait times were long at first, but considering this is the first time I’ve ever had to stand in a line for Arkansas barbecue, I was quite content to enjoy good beer and conversation with friends and family while waiting. Let’s hope this collaboration becomes a regular occurrence.
Do you have some beer news you would like to share with us? Email steve@rockcityeats.com.