Oskar Blues launches Ten FIDY Imperial Stout early thanks to new-ish brewery

Oskar Blues plans to release its first batch of the award-winning Ten FIDY Imperial Stout ahead of schedule. The seasonal brew is now fermenting in the tanks at both the Colorado and North Carolina locations. It’ll be distributed to all 32 states where Oskar Blues is sold. This full-bodied seasonal will be available at craft beer fans’ favorite watering hole or retailer earlier than ever this year—in September—thanks, in part, to the new(ish) brewery. Following the successful release of Oskar Blues spring seasonal, GUBNA, the FIDY will be available until February 2014 (or until it sells out).

Oskar Blues’ Ten FIDY has been showered with accolades that almost stand up to the size of this behemoth-in-a-can, including:

· “The biggest, baddest, boldest beer in a can” from Celebrator Beer News
· “2008 Beer of the Year” The Denver Post
· “100 Rating” – Ratebeer.com
· “A-Rating” – Beeradvocate.com
· Gold Medal – 2010 and 2012 World Beer Championships
· “Top 51 Beers” – 2011 Beer Magazine

Ten FIDY is a super-strong, 10.5-percent ABV beer that takes strength to make. This brew is made with an enormous amount of two-row malt, chocolate malt, roasted barley, flaked oats and hops. Ten FIDY’s nearly 5,000-lb grain bill is just short of 50 percent specialty malts, which are packaged in 55-lb bags and loaded into the mills by hand. The many bags of oats are poured directly into the mash tuns. The oat and rice hulls have to be lugged up 20-some-odd stairs to the top of the brew-decks.

“Brewing Ten FIDY is unlike any of the other beers we make. We have to mash-in two batches just to get one kettle filled because we only take the most concentrated wort from each mash. It’s a very time consuming and labor intensive process. This is part of how we make Ten FIDY so unique, rich and complex,” said Brevard head brewer Noah Tuttle.

Ten FIDY is packaged in 12-ounce cans and sold in four-pack carriers, as well as on draft at craft beer retailers, growler fill shops, restaurant, bars and more.