6 brewers salute Apollo 11

Composite image of beers celebrating the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11

 © 2019 Timothy R. Gaffney

 
America's celebrating the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 this year, and several brewers are stepping up to mark the occasion with special beers. This gives us an excuse to taste a lot of new beer, and it's bringing out a lot of new Apollo 11 anniversary bottles and cans for breweriana fans.


In case you missed it: the Apollo 11 mission was America's third manned mission to the moon and the first to attempt a landing. Wapakoneta native Neil A. Armstrong, mission commander, blasted off from Kenney Space Center on July 16, 1969, with Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins. Four days later, Armstong and Aldrin touched down on the moon while Collins remained in lunar orbit. They returned to earth on July 24.

 
Why celebrate Apollo by brewing beer? For starters, many beers these days are made with Apollo hops, a new variety of hops created in 2000 by cross-pollinating other hop plants. Another reason is, why not?


So, what's brewin' now?

Moeller Brew Barn


Graphic illustration advertising release of Moeller beer First on the Moon Pale Ale.
Moeller Brew Barn's First on the Moon Pale Ale announcement.

Here in Ohio, Moeller Brew Barn in Maria Stein has a new release on the launch pad: First On the Moon Pale Ale. Just 26 highway miles from the Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta, Moeller is commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission and Wapakoneta native Armstrong's achievement as the first human to walk on the moon.


It's also promoting Wapakoneta's First on the Moon community celebration, a series of events from July 12 to July 21.

 
Moeller will host the beer release at its Brew Barn, combining it with the brewery's fourth anniversary celebration. A variety of activities will include an appearance by former NASA Astronaut Gregory "Box" Johnson and an evening moon gaze with the moon nearly full. A silent and live auction, merchandise sales and a $20 admission fee ($10 for children) will help raise money for Wapakoneta's First on the Moon program. 

Land-Grant Brewing

Photo of a can of Land Grant Beer's Tranquility Base Black IPA.
Land-Grant's Tranquility Base Black IPA.


Moeller isn't the only Ohio brewer celebrating Apollo. In Columbus, the Land-Grant Brewing Co. blasted off its Space-Grant Series in 2015 with EF-1, a black IPA, in celebration of the re-opening of the Center of Science and Industry's (COSI's) planetarium.

 
Since then it's added five more beers to the series: Gravity Wave (2016,) Godspeed (2017,) Binary Star (2018,) CubeRRT (2018) and Tranquility Base (2019.) All are black IPAs except CubeRRT, an extra pale ale.

Celestial Beerworks


Photo of Celestial Beerworks' Apollo 11 IPA.
Celestial Beerworks' Apollo 11 IPA. Photo courtesy Celestial Beerworks.


Down in Dallas, Texas, Celestial Beerworks just opened in 2018, but it boasts a series of Apollo-themed ales, from Apollo 11 and Lunar to the whimsically named Buzz Ale-Drin. A picture of its tap room in the Dallas Observer shows Apollo-themed decor.


Clandestine Brewing


Photo of stacks of cans of Celestial Brewing's Apollo-11 Double IPA.
Clandestine Brewing's Apollo-11 Double IPA in cans. Photo Courtesy Clandestine Brewing.

 
San Jose, Calif.-based Clandestine Brewing dramatically depicts the mighty Apollo-Saturn rocket on its cans of Apollo-11, a double IPA. Apollo-11 was Clandestine's first can release in 2018, and the company says it will bring it back in July for the space mission's anniversary.

Schlafly Beer

Photo of a 12-pack carton of Schlafly Beer's bottled Lunar Lager series.
Schlafly Beer's bottled Lunar Lager series comes in 12-packs. Photo courtesy Schlafly Beer.


A commemorative 12-pack is available from Schlafly Beer in St. Louis, Mo. In April, Schlafly released Lunar Lager, a sampler pack that includes Lift-Off Lager, Apollo’s Orbit Black Lager, Moon Walk Dunkel and The Eagle Has Landed American Lager.

 Started in 1991, Schlafly is one of the elders of the independent craft beer movement. It bills itself as "Missouri’s largest locally owned, independent craft brewery." Of course, there's this other brewery in St. Louis...

Budweiser


Photo of six-pack of Budweiser Discovery Reserve American Red Lager.
Six-pack of Budweiser Discovery Reserve American Red Lager. Photo: Budweiser.
Nearly simultaneously with Schlafly, Anheuser Busch-InBev announced an anniversary-themed release by its  mega-brand Budweiser, the Discovery Reserve American Red Lager.


A Budweiser press release said Discovery Reserve's package design "is inspired by the past while recognizing the future; the 11 stars represent the Apollo 11 mission and the alternating bottle caps represent both our footsteps on the Moon and our next frontier, Mars. The historic Anheuser-Busch A & Eagle has also been updated to reflect the red planet with the Earth in the background. Finally, each bottle features wings and stars inspired by the original Budweiser cans."

 Image of NASA's Apollo 11 Mission Patch.It's entirely appropriate for Bud to salute Apollo 11. After all, NASA's mission patch looked more than a little like the Budweiser eagle.


I can't end this post with a nod to irony. Leave it to Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man and founder of Amazon.com, to turn the whole Apollo-beer connection on its head. Bezos also owns a rocket company named Blue Origin, and last week he announced the company's newest venture: a moon-lander designed to carry cargo to the moon in support of the next wave of human missions there.

 Its name? Blue Moon.


I wonder if it comes with a slice of orange.

 Amazon.com isn't booking rides on Blue Moon, but it is taking pre-orders for my book, Dayton Beer: A History of Brewing in the Miami Valley. 
Location: Dayton, OH, USA

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