Now available throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, these unique and appealing new brews are sold only in six-pack cans and on draft.

Can packages are especially popular in the growing craft beer market, offering many benefits for brewers and consumers, according to Julie Birrenkott, JP’s marketing director. “Cans are recyclable, unbreakable, lighter, chill faster and are often welcome where glass bottles are not,” she said.

“The time is right to give craft beer lovers four new adventurous beers – these are truly unique styles – and in cans only,” Birrenkott continued.

Brewing JP’s

JP’s Yabba Dhaba Chai Tea Porter is a traditional sweet porter brewed with chocolate malt. A chai tea blend from India, where a “dhaba” is a truckstop-style roadside restaurant, is infused into the beer after fermentation but before the aging tanks. The result is a flavor extravaganza, according to JP’s Bremaster Gabe Hopkins. “In addition to chocolate notes, Yabba Dhaba Chai Tea Porter is alive with the flavors of cinnamon, cardamom, anise, ginger and black tea along with a little bit of lemon zest,” he said.

JP’s Casper White Stout is not actually white in color, but it’s not the deep brown, almost black hue characteristic of stouts either: it is an inviting amber color. “Our challenge was to make it as pale as possible,” Hopkins said. “That means we cannot use black roasted malts in the brew, so instead we age it for two weeks with coffee beans and cocoa nibs to create the classic stout roasted character.” Hopped with East Kent Golding and Fuggles hops imported from England, Casper White Stout offers authentic stout flavor enhanced by hints of white chocolate thanks to the cocoa nibs.

JP’s Ould Sod Irish Red Ale is brewed with peated malt, red malt and pale malt for a ruby red color and full, satisfying ale taste. “Think of this beer as an Irish-style version of a traditional English India Pale Ale generously hopped with East Kent Golding and Fuggles hops. It’s a great session beer,” Hopkins said.

JP’s A Cappella Gluten-free Pale Ale is brewed with sorghum and Cascade hops. The flavor profile is similar to that of traditional pale ale, Hopkins said, but the sorghum provides a distinctly different mouthfeel to the brew. “There are a number of gluten-free lagers on the market, but few gluten-free ales. We offer something different with this new gluten-free pale ale,” he said.

More information can be found online at www.jpbrewery.com.  For more information about the Stevens Point Brewery, founded in 1857, visit www.pointbeer.com or call (715) 344-9310. Tours of the brewery are available, with schedules listed on the Web site.

More than a beverage to consume on the sidelines, beer has a historical and symbolic link to the game. Football fans and beer lovers share in their sense of camaraderie. College football fans are fiercely loyal to their teams and their respective conferences. Regional bias adds yet more fuel to the sometimes blazing fealty, with inevitable debates about whom, or which, is superior. Beer aficionados are little different—they are often staunch in their love for styles, brands or regional inclinations. The debates are more subdued but no less inspired.

College football and brewing also share a chronology, as both were popularized in the latter half of the 19th century. Nowhere is this connection more apparent than The Big Ten. Famous for its physical, take-no-prisoners style of football, the member universities cut a latitudinal swath across the upper Midwest and Great Lakes, which geographically casts a cultural mentality common to all of the members.

The Big Ten universities range from Iowa to Penn State in the east. Every state in between has at least one conference member. The region is also the birthplace of professional football. The earliest teams rimmed the Great Lakes in small, working-class cities whose residents were enamored of both football and beer.

Primarily immigrants from central and eastern Europe, these new Americans brought their brewing skill and love for beer with them. As they were accustomed to imbibing lager beers in their homeland, they brewed the same in America. The affinity for bottom-fermentation endures, though all modern styles of beers are well-represented, making the region unique in the United States.

The Big Ten states of Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio and Illinois were among the most prodigious brewing states of the 19th century. The cool climate and often hilly terrain provided the perfect environment. Today, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania are hotbeds of the modern American brewing scene.

Historically, football was just as reflective of the populace. Blue-collar football teams composed of farmers, factory workers, lumberjacks, and coal miners made for some rugged games on hardscrabble fields, a style that is still synonymous with the Big Ten.