Twin Lakes Brewing Co. preparing release of debut IPA, its first new beer in a decade

The last time Twin Lakes Brewing Co. made a new beer, Joe Biden was elected vice president, the Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series and future WNBA star Elena Delle Donne spurned UConn for the University of Delaware.

Back then, Twin Lakes was only a few years into its existence, located in Chateau Country and pumping out the first batches of their instantly-popular Greenville beers.

After moving to Newport in 2016, re-starting beer production and opening a homey tasting room, co-founders Burke Morrison, Jack Wick and Matt Day are now ready to release Twin Lakes'  first new large-scale production brand in 10 years.

Emerald IPA, the very first India pale ale produced by Twin Lakes, will touch its first lips Thursday at Delaware Today's Best of Delaware party at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington. (You'll find it at the Standard Distributing Company table.)

If the brewers seem especially giddy, it's because Thursday also happens to be National IPA Day.

Emerald IPA is Twin Lakes' first new beer since 2008's Oktoberfest, which was brewed for the Delaware Saengerbund Oktoberfest celebration held in Ogletown each September.

The drinkable 6.3% ABV brew has not been canned yet, so it's draft only for now.

The beer should also be available at The Delaware Growler on Main Street in Newark in time for National IPA Day. The Twin Lakes tasting room (405 E. Marsh Lane, Newport) will pour it next weekend and the IPA will also be available at Wilmington's Riverfront Blues Festival, which runs Aug. 3-5 at Tubman-Garrett Riverfront Park.

As IPAs exploded in popularity across the country, Twin Lakes instead focused on their core beers: Greenville Pale Ale, Tweeds Tavern Stout, Caesar Rodney Golden Ale and Route 52 Pilsner, which was re-named Blue Water Pilsner after their Newport move.

"Route 141 Pilsner didn't have the same ring to it," Morrison jokes.

Twin Lakes, which also counts CEO Adam Doherty and tasting room manager Chris Bell as co-owners, turned to Wick, also head brewer, for their newest brew. He used six different hops (Chinook, El Dorado, Centennial, Cascade, Citra and Amarillo) to create Twin Lakes' boldest, most complex beer yet.

When Twin Lakes split with co-founder Sam Hobbs in 2015 and left his family farm in Chateau Country, the hunt was on for a new brewery with more space, eventually settling on the 3,000-square-foot Newport warehouse near Tile Market of Delaware.

"At the old brewery, we were struggling to keep up with production and really couldn't introduce a new brand," Morrison says.

With more room, it was time to (finally) introduce a new beer. They had an eye on National IPA Day and began toying with a few IPA recipes using their pilot system, allowing customers in the tasting room to try several of the styles in recent months.

"We got feedback from them and basically used it as a test market," Morrison adds.

Ed Morgan, the New Castle-based beer blogger behind The Dogs of Beer, says there will be plenty of interest in the new brew even though Twin Lakes lost a couple of years due to their move — at a time when new breweries were opening across the state.

"For people who are fans of the brewery, they definitely will want to try it. I know I want to try it," says Morgan, whose blog (thedogsofbeer.wordpress.com) has tracked Delaware breweries, beers and events for seven years. "Plus you have the IPA fans who are going to want it. I think there's going to be a good amount of people looking forward to get their hands on this beer."

Morgan says the sudden closure of Twin Lakes in Greenville in 2015 rocked the Delaware craft community, but he thinks they have been making good moves since.

He points to their decision to make their beers more widely available outside of their brewery. Instead of only canning Greenville Pale Ale, you can also now find Tweeds Tavern Stout, Caesar Rodney Golden Ale and Blue Water Pilsner in stores.

"They are starting to build back their place in the beer community," Morgan says. "And their new location is pretty far from other breweries, so I don't see any reason why they shouldn't do well there."

After giving nearly all of their beers Delaware-themed names, the 15-year-old brewery decided to go a more generic route when it came to naming their Emerald IPA.

Even so, the name is technically a nod to their old home, while also representing their fresh, all-natural motif.

"I think it started with us thinking about diamonds, like The Diamond State, and then we thought of Greenville and how we can play off of the color green," Morrison explains. "When we came up with Emerald IPA, it just made sense. It's a reference to our origins, but it is also designed to evoke a sense of something bigger."

The beer is expected to be available in cans in the future.

Contact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier), Twitter (@ryancormier) and Instagram (@ryancormier).

WHERE TO FIND EMERALD IPA

The first IPA in Twin Lakes Brewing Co.'s 15-year history will be available Thursday at the Delaware Today Best of Delaware party at the Chase Center on the Riverfront. The new brew will also flow next weekend at Wilmington's Riverfront Blues Festival and at the Newport brewery.