This article was originally published on brewbound.com.
With the coming of spring, Carolina Brewery— one of the few founding craft brewers of the Tar Heel State’s now-booming beer culture— is playing on the tastes and aromas of the season with a limited edition India Pale Lager handcrafted for easy-drinking. The new beer was brewed in special celebration of Carolina Brewery partner and fellow Chapel Hill mainstay, the North Carolina Botanical Garden, for their 50th Anniversary, bearing the name of the garden’s 2016 “Wildflower of the Year,” the Rattlesnake Master.
“It seems fitting to celebrate our golden anniversary with a new brew, and we couldn’t be more thrilled that Carolina Brewery is adding their own flavor into the mix with their limited edition ‘Rattlesnake Master’ beer— named after our 2016 Wildflower of the Year,” said Damon Waitt, North Carolina Botanical Garden Director. “While the new brew’s namesake was used by indigenous peoples as anti-venom for rattlesnake bites, we think you will find other ways to put Rattlesnake Master India Pale Lager to good use.”
Crafted as a crossbreed of two beloved beer styles— a debut mashup for the Chapel Hill brewery— the Rattlesnake Master India Pale Lager blends the best features of ales and lagers into a thirst-quenching hybrid brew. Featuring a mixture of ale and pilsner malts topped off with caramel malt for enhanced color and a hint of sweetness, the brew layers in British-sourced Sovereign hops for an herbaceous aroma and mellow bitterness. Following a long, cool fermentation with Bohemian lager yeast, the Brewmaster also dry hops the beer with another fragrant piney ale hop— the smooth, citrusy American Simcoe— for a bright, nutty flavor finish.
“We are excited to brew this special new beer style we have never brewed before to help commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Botanical Garden. Carolina Brewery has a long history of working with the Botanical Garden and strongly supports all that they do for our community. This is going to be a fun local project with the beer available on our Chapel Hill brewpub and at various fundraising events for the garden throughout the summer.”
- Hops: Sovereign, Simcoe
- ABV: 5.2%
- IBU: 42
To unveil this newest brew during NC Beer Month, Carolina Brewery will be hosting a tapping party on Thursday, April 14, at 5:30 p.m. at its Chapel Hill brewpub at 460 W Franklin Street. Pubgoers can purchase $3 pints of the Rattlesnake Master or enjoy the beer in a commemorative take-home pint glass for $5.
For more information on Carolina Brewery, please visit CarolinaBrewery.com.
About Carolina Brewery
Co-founded in 1995 by Robert Poitras, Carolina Brewery is a North Carolina institution with two brewpub locations in Chapel Hill and Pittsboro— each serving fresh, made-from-scratch entrees using local ingredients. The brewery is the fifth oldest in the state and a pioneer of craft brewing throughout the country. Carolina Brewery has received numerous accolades in the press and at respected beer festivals throughout the world, including the gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival, over a dozen medals at the World Beer Championships and many more. A graduate of the Siebel Institute of Technology and World Brewing Academy in Chicago, Jon Connolly has served as Carolina Brewery’s Brewmaster for more than 20 years. Carolina Brewery’s beers are available at restaurants, bars and shops offering craft beer throughout the Carolinas and Tennessee.
For more information about Carolina Brewery, visit CarolinaBrewery.com. You can also follow Carolina Brewery on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
About North Carolina Botanical Garden
Since opening its first trail in 1966, the North Carolina Botanical Garden (NCBG) has been a leader in environmental protection, education and conservation. NCBG maintains and protects more than 1,100 acres of land in the state of North Carolina. The Garden offers a remarkable natural environment, without charging entry fees, to more than 100,000 visitors each year. True to its mission, the Garden also offers extensive educational programming focused on native flora, horticulture, ecology, conservation, and botanical art to over 9,000 people annually in more than 120 lectures, workshops, and classes. The Garden serves 5,000 children each year through field trips and school outreach and offers more than 40 on site programs designed to connect children and families to the natural world through summer camps, early childhood classes, afterschool, and homeschool programs. We further the University’s mission of teaching, research, and public service through our own mission: To inspire understanding, appreciation, and conservation of plants and to advance a sustainable relationship between people and nature.
For more information, please visit ncbg.unc.edu.