‘Get On The Bus’ for Great Notion Brewing’s mind expanding flavor trip
Great Notion Brewing has always been creative with their desert inspired sours and stouts and style pushing NE-style Hazy IPA’s, but inspired by Bicycle Day, 4/20, and the Merry Pranksters, they have unleashed 5 new playful beers available in a flight.
The Great Notion ‘Get on the Bus’ campaign is out now at Great Notion locations on both draft and in cans. The 5 beers are created to expand your mind on what beer can be, from the triple Citra dry-hopping methodology of Aura to the bright green Bicycle day where taste and sight intersect to the Baked & Stuffed smoothie version of a famous danish pastry.
The lineup of beers, which can be ordered in a special GET ON THE BUS flight while supplies last, includes:
Triple Dank Shark - Hazy TIPA
ABV: 10%
Concept: First there was Dank Shake, then we made Double Dank Shake, but that wasn’t enough, so we brewed Triple Dank Shark. Party Wave Dave returns for another collaboration with @alvaradostreetbrewery. Dave or Dauv even lends his likeness on the half man, half shark can label. This hazy Triple IPA gets things started with Pilsner malt, Oats, Wheat, and some Carafoam in the malt bill. For a beer this huge, we needed to bring out the big guns, so we boiled Columbus hops to lay down some bitterness to contrast the sweetness in our Triple IPA. Strata, Galaxy, and Citra hops are used in the whirlpool to start building the aromatic profile. These three hops are repeated again in the dry hop of the beer along with the addition of Nelson Sauvin. The results make for a well balanced beer that has all the dankness you would expect with plenty of citrus and tropical notes. The deceptive 10% ABV keeps this party moving.
Aura
ABV: 7.2%
Concept: We brewed Aura once before, and the idea was always to explore other ways of capturing intense hop aromas that come with heavy dry hopping. We used a combination of hop pellets and experimental hop extracts in the first batch. The inspiration is in the same place for this rebrew, but it’s safe to say the change was an improvement. Aura is a rare treat in the sense that we rarely rely on one hop to get the job accomplished. Different varieties can be used at several different points in the process for varied results. Aura only received Citra hops in the whirlpool. We used the same Citra hop pellets in the dry hop along with Citra Cryo to keep the hop oil intensity high and the harsh and astringent sensations low. Citra spectrum is basically a hop extract in liquid form that is better for the environment, goes into solution immediately, yields more finished beer, and is without weird synthetic off flavors. The label art is a thank you to another thinker named Terrance McKenna, who, among other things, came up with the idea of the Stoned Ape theory, or the idea that proto humans consumed wild mushrooms that profoundly changed their brains. If you enjoy Ripe, you should really consider trying this beer.
Merry Dankster
ABV: 8.1%
Concept: Merry Dankster is our dankest offering in a hazy DIPA. The name and label artwork are a nod to the days of Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters. To make the beer, we start out with a majority of Pilsner malt to produce the bulk of the sugars the yeast will be consuming, and we add oats and wheat to create the desired body. The beer receives a very early charge of Mosaic hops to add just enough bitterness to the beer to counteract the residual sweetness. We use Mosaic once more in the whirlpool. Over in the cellar, we dry hop this hearty DIPA heavily with Columbus, Vic Secret, and then Simcoe and Motueka. Myrcene and other hop oils from these varieties create a strong hoppy aroma and flavor that keeps this beer dank as possible.
Bicycle Day
ABV: 7.5%
Concept: Bicycle Day celebrates new ideas of what a beer can be. Overload your senses with this new fruited sour that appears one way, tastes another, and smells different from what you might expect. We brewed a sour base beer that finishes with a mid range ABV. Mosaic hops were used only in the whirlpool to keep bitterness out of the finished beer. After fermentation, we added a significant amount of peach, pineapple, apricot, and tangerine to create an awesome citrus and stone fruit flavor. The aroma is intentionally different so you should notice a very different mixed berry aroma. Finally, we had to have some more fun with this beer, so we changed the color to a bright emerald green. The end result is a refreshing sour beer that challenges the ideas of traditional beer.
This beer also drops with a 16oz Willi Becher glass ($12) and a 5-Panel Trucker Otto Hat ($28) both featuring its can art.
Baked and Stuffed (Berry Danish)
ABV: 6%
Concept: While we kept the name the same for our annual 4/20 collaboration with @claim52brew from Eugene, the rest of the recipe is a completely different approach. The ideas for the GN side of the double batch collaboration were all over the place - in the end we decided to go with a smoothie that has the flavors of a berry Danish. Claim 52 will also be doing a completely separate smoothie in Eugene for the big week. Baked and Stuffed starts out as a simple sour beer made with Pilsner malt and some Mosaic hops added to the whirlpool. Our base beer begins with a high ABV that later on will be diluted with fruit for a lower ABV of 6%. Once the yeast is done fermenting the sour beer, our cellar team gets busy with adding the blueberry and blackberry purees. After we reach the body and viscosity we are after for our smoothies, the beer is flavored with graham cracker, cheesecake, and cake batter.