(Escondido, CA) – Stone Brewing Co. will release a tribute beer this month for a brewer, Matthew Courtright, that was killed in a brewery forklift accident in 2013. The company has previously said that it would re-release some of Courtright’s recipes and this beer comes from one of them.

22 oz. bottles and draft will ship next week and hit accounts nationally in Stone’s markets starting the last week of January.

Some info on the beer below from Stone as well as the back label…

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10.5% ABV, IBUs 50

Malt bill: Pilsner Malt, Red Wheat Malt, GoldPils Vienna Malt and Cherrywood Smoked Malt

Hops bill: Magnum and Hersbrucker

Distribution: AK, AL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MT, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, and WA

Tasting Notes, provided by Brewmaster Mitch Steele:

Appearance: Pours deep golden with a light haze that clears as the beer warms.

Aroma: Belgian yeast clove-like aromatics and banana, followed by hints of smokiness.

Taste: Fruit and spiciness from the Belgian yeast, followed by a more pronounced smoky woodiness. The finish is malty, with a touch of alcohol. There’s a really nice blend of flavors of here.

Palate: Full bodied, but very dry with a lingering hop bitterness.

Overall: It means a lot to us to have brewed this particular beer in memory of Matt Courtright. Matt was a very creative and talented brewer, and we knew that brewing this amazing recipe would be a wonderful way to pay tribute to everything Matt brought to us. I love how all the flavors play together very well, and this beer should be suitable for aging at cellar temperatures for several years.