Summit Releasing New Unchained, Logo, and Beer Series

Yesterday, Summit Brewery announced the release of 100% Organic Ale, the twelfth beer in their incredibly popular, limited-edition Unchained Series. As its name suggests, Unchained 12 will be a 100% certified organic ale—Minnesota's first. Making a beer absolutely 100% organic is actually a surprisingly difficult feat, according to the Summit blog. Most USDA certified organic beers are actually 95-99.9% organic because it's so hard to come by ingredients like organic yeast; super-brewery Summit, on the other hand, enlisted the help of brewery microbiologist James Fetherston to create its own organic yeast strain for 100% Organic.

Created by brewer Gabe Smoley (in his first Unchained effort), the beer will be available on draft and in bottles starting the week of March 5, with a release party March 11 at the Butcher & the Boar, as well as a bunch of other release-related events. Summit describes the beer—weighing in at 4.5% ABV—as "a lighter beer perfect for springtime with floral aromas of perfume, rose and potpourri." But if that sounds a little too...perfumey, it's also got some hoppy punch: "the distinguishing characteristic of Organic Ale being its hop aroma and flavor as the beer is heavily hopped towards the end of production."

In other Summit news, the brewery will also be rolling out a new logo beginning in April, along with a two-year rebranding effort, slated to stretch into 2014, as the brewery prioritizes sustainability by using up all the bottles and packaging with the current design (rather than disposing of them). With Summit's expansion coming up, the brewery thought it would be a good time to change up their look.

The rebranding will begin on April 1, during Twins opening day at the redesigned Summit Town Ball Tavern (formerly the the Town Ball Tavern). On April 15, Summit will be rolling out yet another new beer, Meridian Session Ale, the first in the brewery's new limited-release Union Series, which will focus on new raw materials and ingredients in the brewing scene.
· Unchained 12 - 100% Organic Ale [Summit Website]
· Big News from the Brewery: New Logo, New Beer, Town Ball Tavern [Summit Website]
· All Previous Coverage of Summit Brewery [Eater MPLS]

[Image: Summit Website]