Elevation Beer Co. to release next round of seasonals this August

Wild Flowers will use a different Saison yeast strain this season.

Elevation Beer Co. is set to release its next seasonals in its Black Series and Double Black Series of seasonal specialty and barrel-aged beers. Elevation will release its Wild Flowers Imperial Saison in the Black Series, while Fanboy (its virgin oak barrel-aged Double IPA) will be released in its Double Black Series.

“We changed up Wild Flowers this year, using a different Saison yeast strain,” said head brewer and Elevation Co-founder Christian Koch. “This resulted in a drier finish, which has made the beer a tad more traditional to the style.

Elevation was rewarded for this slight change in recipe with a Gold Medal for Wild Flowers in the Saison/Farmhouse Category earlier this month at the U.S. Open Beer Championship, which is its fourth medal in that contest over the past two years. Elevation is also re-releasing Fanboy, which was aged this year in a combination of first- and second-use Virgin Oak barrels custom-made for the brewery.

“Fanboy sat in barrels for eight months before being blended with a fresh Double IPA base and then dry-hopped to give its signature blend of oak, vanilla and citrus. It is a big grapefruit bomb this year, and we are extremely excited for it,” Koch said.

Fanboy is currently rated 92+ on Ratebeer.com and is one of only a handful of virgin oak barrel-aged beers made in the United States. Both beers will be finding their way to liquor stores and beer bars in Arizona, Colorado and Texas starting in August.