Clifton Park, NY — Rabbis, lawyers, doctors, accountants, rock stars, studio execs and Jewish orthodontists have countless songs of praise celebrating their crucial and storied roles in our history and communities.
But with a name oh so hard to spell and a delicate job cloaked in controversy, when a Mohel (pron, “moi-el” or “mo’hel”) walks in the room with his sacred ritual instruments soaked in significance and honed with years of handiwork, the adults (and one particular 8-day old male child) could generally use a beer — or several.
Finally after 4,000 years of Jewish tradition from Abraham to Jon Stewart — and for many more world cultures in the fold — the perfect bubbly balm to sooth the Bubbes and the bystanders and sanctify such a precious moment. A new craft beer covenant coming to convert you — for real in 2017: Circum Session Ale®.
Shmaltz Brewing rises to the occasion once again with a fresh batch of Circum Session Ale® for all to behold. This all new blend of eight ales, lagers, and IPAs, aged in sour barrels pours from the draft line a hazy golden amber with a silky, lacy head. On the nose, a citrus zestiness combines with the sharp tartness from the life in the barrels. Tasting this lip-puckering potion, snippets of juicy lemon, and picked-too-soon grapefruit, collide with a biscuit maltyness and caramel. A whiff of farmhouse funk floats from the barrels that sustain the brewery’s annual Funky Jewbelation® series. This fantastic concoction stands on the cutting edge of craft beer.
Richie Saunders, Head Brewer waxes poetic about the intelligent design of his newest Shmaltz recipe: “For such a lingham-likened liquid, we wanted Circum Session Ale to pour out triumphantly with spirited carbonation for a full and fluffy head of foam atop a delicious barrel-aged beauty in celebration of Life. Aged for nearly a year in rye whisky and bourbon barrels, just a whiff of booze lingers and dances with a tart ring of flavor around the edges. Mouthwateringly delightful!”
Perfect for pairing with an array of like minded morsels, Shmaltz suggests pleasures such as Lamb Lollipops, Veal Sliders, and of course the classic Balls of Matzoh Soup to provide the perfect comforting nourishment. Though generally considered a more delicate nature of a session ale especially when fresh, Circum Session Ale® has been pre-aged for more mature enjoyment so perfectly able to pair with funky cheeses, raw foods or spicy hand rolls.
Jeremy Cowan, proprietor of Shmaltz, shares the inspiration for this off-beat creation: “An email came to our inbox from an avid fan, Adam Cossick from Suwanee, GA with an idea that has been tossed around at beer fests for many years. Truly profound shtick is hard to find and although we weren’t sure this would rise to our usual Shmaltz standards, Circum Session seizes the current low gravity session ale craze with a balanced and smooth entry into the growing barrel aged sour category. Since Big Beer marketing has deep roots in prurient, nether regions of low brow hack, we thought, Why not beat them at their own game? Thus, the birth of Circum Session. And I mean c’mon, after a winter like this couldn’t we all use a few great Spring beers — and one big release, distributed all over the country, based on a dick joke.”
Circum Session® for 2017 comes draft only though future releases could be perfect in 8 oz stubbies, 12 oz long necks, and 16 oz tall boys — the perfect package size for every drinkers needs. We are hopeful the beer stands on its own because additional marketing swag never quite made the cut. Custom fit foam beer koozies to offer manual protection and longer enjoyment when those sultry spring afternoons start heating up — gonna have to be do-it-yourself. The Circum Session® branded bottle openers — to serve double duty with an additional stainless steel flip top blade honed to slice up any low hanging spring fruits that might dangle from within arms reach — are not considered safe due to budgetary constraints. But Shmaltz did release a poster with all the bars and retailers crazy enough to hop aboard our 2017 Shmaltz ship of April Fools.
Locations include Hungry Monk (Chandler, AZ), Boulders On Southern (Mesa, AZ), Button Mash (Los Angeles, CA), Buzzworks (San Francisco, CA), World of Beer Viera (Melbourne, FL), The Big Mansion (Melbourne, FL), Coasters Biergarten (Melbourne, FL), Tap & Grind (Orlando, FL), My Parents’ Basement (Avondale Estates, GA), Marlay House (Decatur, GA), The Nest (Kennesaw, GA), Cigars and Stripes (Berwyn, IL), Headquarter’s (River North, IL), Harrika’s Brew Haus (Cedar Point, NC), Village Square Tap House (Clemmons, NC), Cape Fear (Wilmington, NC), Circa (High Bridge, NJ), Barcade Jersey City (Jersey City, NJ), The Doghouse (Teaneck, NJ), Hot Rods (Wharton NJ), Bacon Bar (Las Vegas, NV), Beer NV (Reno, NV), Beck’s Brew House (Reno, NV), Crafted n’ Cured (Dayton, OH), Capital City Gastropub (Albany, NY), Craftsman Alehouse (Harrison, NY), 163 Taproom (Lake George, NY), Sutton’s (Lake George, NY), Bull and Barrel (Latham, NY), Tipsy Moose (Latham, NY), Nanola (Malta, NY), The Cottage Hotel (Mendon, NY), Barcade St. Marks (New York, NY), District Tap House (New York, NY), Brockhouse (Nyack, NY), Sports Grill (Rensselaer, NY), Beer Market (Rochester, NY), City Tavern (Saratoga Springs, NY), Tap and Barrel (Saratoga Springs, NY), Henry’s Street Taproom (Saratoga Springs, NY), Olde Bryan Inn (Saratoga Springs, NY), Bombers (Schenectady, NY), Now and Later (Syracuse NY), The Oath (Tarrytown, NY), The Ruck (Troy, NY) Slidin’ Dirty (Troy, NY), The Shop (Troy, NY), Corcoran’s Towpath Tavern (Waterford, NY), Bottlecaps Beverage (Watertown, NY), Maggies on the River (Watertown, NY), Fire and Smoke (Myrtle Beach, SC), and Brew Cellar (North Charleston, SC).
On April Fools Day at the Shmaltz Brewing Tasting Room (6 Fairchild Square, Clifton Park, NY), the brewery taps the final keg of 2016’s Circum Session Ale® and celebrates the national release of this year’s version with the 1st Annual Beef Jerky Festival. At the event, three professional and three amateur artisanal jerky purveyors will feature their latest products.
Remember, just because it’s in bad taste, doesn’t mean it won’t taste great. So grab a snifter, pint, or pilsner glass, whatever feels good in your hand, of Circum Session Ale® and toast to the season of fools. L’Chaim!
About Shmaltz Brewing Company
Founder and owner Jeremy Cowan established Shmaltz Brewing in San Francisco in 1996. The first 100 cases of He’brew Beer® were hand-bottled and delivered throughout the Bay Area from the back of his Grandmother’s Volvo. Shmaltz Brewing now sells He’brew Beer across 35 states, through 40 wholesalers and in nearly 5,000 retailers.
After 17 years of being an outspoken cheerleader for contract brewing, Cowan and staff opened their own New York State production brewery in 2013 in Clifton Park, 10 minutes north of Albany. Shmaltz’s home boasts a 50-barrel brewhouse with 30,000 barrels of annual capacity and packages a diverse and tasty variety of core and seasonal favorites in 12 and 22-ounce bottles and kegs. The Shmaltz Tasting Room is open five days a week (Wed-Sun) and offers tours, barrel-aged previews, beer-to-go, and special releases.
RateBeer.com ranked Shmaltz as one of the “Top 100 Brewers in the World” in 2013, and the brewery brought home 10 gold and 6 silver medals from the World Beer Championships in the past several years.