GSN Presents: “What’s Brewing?” December 14-18, 2015

Upper Hand Brewery is adding Yooper Ale to its year-round lineup. Previously available only on draft, Yooper Ale is set to debut in bottles this January. The 4%-abv entry, which is billed as a sessionable Pale Ale, marks the fourth expression in Upper Hand’s year-round portfolio, joining UPA (Upper Peninsula Ale), Escanaba Black Beer and Upper Hand Lager.

Longmont, Colorado-based Oskar Blues Brewery is rolling out a new nationwide limited release, Hotbox Coffee Porter. The 6.4%-abv brew features a malted base extracted from English and German roasted and caramel malts, which is then infused with cold-extracted coffee from the brewer’s spin-off craft coffee roaster Hotbox Roasters’ Burundian and Ethiopian coffee beans. Hotbox Coffee Porter will be available nationwide through January in 12-ounce cans and on draft. Oskar Blues, which is available in 44 states and Washington DC, says its approaching 200,000 barrels in 2015 between its Colorado and Brevard, North Carolina facilities.

Portland, Maine’s Peak Organic Brewing has partnered with New York-based The City Bakery to release its second-annual Holiday Saison. Brewed with dark-malted wheat and saison yeast, Holiday Saison is also infused with a blend of holiday spices from The City Bakery, including ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. The seasonal offering is currently available in six-packs and on draft for a limited time, and marks the final entry in Peak Organic’s 2015 Saison Series.

Boulder, Colorado’s Avery Brewing Company is releasing Vanilla Bean Stout, a new beer that combines two of its Bourbon barrel-aged stouts. To create the brew, Avery’s Czar Imperial Stout and Out of Bounds Stout were aged in Heaven Hill Bourbon barrels for three months and blended with whole vanilla beans from Tonga, Uganda and Mexico. The 10.8%-abv Vanilla Bean Stout will be available in 25 states in bottles and on draft. It joins Raspberry Sour in the company’s Botanicals & Barrels series of barrel-aged beers brewed year-round.