DRAFT Magazine

Yesterday, we were fortunate enough to have lunch with Nico Freccia, chief watermelon officer at San Francisco’s 21st Amendment Brewery. (That’s him in the photo, wearing just one of the many watermelon hats he owns, and yes, watermelon sunglasses.) He was in New York bringing his brewery’s wonderful canned beer to Gotham — hooray! — but he also told us some exciting news about a new release coming from 21st Amendment this fall.

The brewery will launch its Signature Series line of limited releases with Monksblood, a “dark Belgian with a ton of West Coast hops that’s port-infused with an oak finish and vanilla notes.” The brew, which checks in at 8.5% ABV and will totally alter how you think of beer in cans, required a trip to Belgium to perfect. (Tough life, no? Also, if you ever meet Nico, make sure to ask him to tell you the story about the ostrich farm. We promise you won’t be disappointed.) But perfect it they did, with the help of Sean Paxton, the Homebrew Chef.

Check for it around October 1st. It will be sold in four-packs. Buy as many as you can. If you happen to see any watermelon apparel, pick that up as well.