New Madagascar Nitro offering new experience for flagship beer

January 12, 2020 Jordan Palmer Beer, New Releases Comments Off

Did you get you some Madagascar?

The line outside 4 Hands Brewing Company was impressive on Sunday, January 12th, as the brewery marked the return of its biggest annual release, the Madagascar series of beers. New among this year’s variants, is the debut of something new and fun, Madagascar in 12-ounce cans on NITRO.

So, while Nitro beer is not new, it is something I did not know much about. I asked 4 Hands Brewing’s Kevin Lemp for a little Nitro 101 lesson.

Brewing With Nitro

In its simplest definition, most brewing of beer includes pumping carbon dioxide into sealed containers of beer. It’s called forced carbonation. It’s what gives beer its bubbles, its head and, well makes it beer. But, if a brewer substitutes C2 with nitrogen, the beer becomes a “nitro” and gives the beer drinker an entirely different experience. Think Guinness. Think about how creamy and smooth it pours with that frothy head, and how it just seems to move in slow motion.

A typical nitrogenized beer contains about 70 percent nitrogen and 30 percent carbon dioxide.

“And that was the point. 4 Hands did not want to just introduce a new variance, but rather we prefer to create experiences,” said Lemp. “We took regular Madagascar, which is brewed with a painstaking process, and looked at how we could take the flagship and be innovative and creative. We wanted to offer our customers a point of difference.”

The nitro experience is often described as “poetic,” giving the drinker an almost romantic experience when freshly poured from a nitro tap.

“Madagascar, will now get that cascading effect, and now will be lush and velveting,” said Lemp.