Grains of Wrath Debuts First Beer in Cans - Overkill IPA
Today, Grains of Wrath Brewing rolled out its first cans. After weeks of marketing the debut in a coy, tongue-in-cheek fashion where the neither name of the beer nor the label was revealed, the brewery busted out cans of flagship Overkill IPA. The beer is a clean and crisp IPA featuring Simcoe, Galaxy and Mosaic hops.
Brewer and Co-owner Mike Hunsaker said, "Overkill IPA is an homage to Lemmy and Motorhead. Probably one of, if not my very favorite band." When Hunsaker brewed at Fat Head's, he created Built For Speed IPA that released 4 days after Lemmy Kilmister's untimely passing. "To brew Overkill IPA at my own brewery is very poignant," added Hunsaker.Why start canning now? Hunsaker says it was always the plan, but the beer had to meet his own high standards. "We worked really hard to dial this IPA in. It's been a best seller, but now it's right where we want it. We're super proud of this IPA."
The imagery of the label is a not-so-subtle tribute to Motorhead's War Pig graphic, with fonts that also pay homage to the band. The metalheads of GOW labeled the beer in a matte black with a deeper GOW logo melted into the design. The War Pig graphic on the front jumps off the can due to the low-opacity print over a metallic label. "We canned 20 bbls, almost 200 cases in 160z cans," said Hunsaker. "The metal shine off of it looks like foil or something. Man, these things look cool."Overkill IPA's cans also feature 3 symbols that represent some of GOW's values: the Independent Craft Beer symbol, a Veteran-Owned symbol and the UPC code as the State of Washington. Another very important message on the can reads: "Don't be an asshole. Recycle."
The cans are also being released alongside 50 limited edition Overkill IPA T-shirts made available for sale tonight only.
The Future of Cans at GOW
The Overkill IPA can is the first can from Grains of Wrath as they plan to release 4 core cans over the next 4 months. The other three core cans will include the rotating experimental hop IPA - Pandemic, Luger Lager and EGA (Eagle, Globe & Anchor) IPA."Overkill will probably get canned 2 or 3 times per year," said Hunsaker. "Pandemic will probably see more canning runs due to the nature of the experimental hops and how often we'll brew that IPA."In addition to their core-four lineup, another very limited can release is planned for early-February. While no one wanted to speak openly about this release, Grains of Wrath told New School that the release will include 3 cans simultaneously released as an ode to one of their favorite movies. A limited amount of cans will only be available in a set of 3.Overkill IPA cans released tonight at 6PM at Grains of Wrath in Downtown Camas.Three Overkill IPA can release parties are planned around the area this week:
- Friday, December 21st at Belmont Station - 5PM-7PM
- Saturday, December 22nd at John's Marketplace - 3PM-6PM
- Thursday, December 27th at Ben's Bottle Shop - 6PM-8PM