Third Wheel Brewing is busy with recent and upcoming releases

I’m finding that as a part-time beer writer, doing what one person kind reader called, “G-ds work,’ is getting tougher and tougher, as local breweries appear to have the Light Speed gear in their brewing, with what feels like a release every single day. Third Wheel Brewing is in this category, with three new beers I want to share with you.

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Peanut Butter Porter Time

As winter beers go, I’ve always felt the “porter” style of beers is often overlooked with the popularity of stouts. Third Wheel Brewing has made one of my favorite porters, the Saint Peter’s Porter for years. This award-winning beer serves as the base beer for their newest variation, Peanut Butter Porter Time.

“Saint Peter’s Porter was one of our first home-brew batches, years before Third Wheel ever existed, and it was the first we wanted to brew on the big system,” said Third Wheel head brewer Abbey Spencer. “A few of our customers and staff requested a peanut butter beer. I don’t really care for peanut butter, so I figured I’d add it to my favorite beer, and Peanut Butter Porter Time was created!

In this variant the dark malts and a small amount of hops are allowed to shine so that the beer isn’t 100% peanut butter. It’s a great beer first with complimentary flavors and aromas of peanut butter. It’s very well-balanced and not too sweet as some “candied” style dark beers can be.

Tasting notes

On the pour, you see a dark brown, almost black and opaque moussy tan foam.

On the nose, you get dark chocolate covered with peanut butter.

The flavors will be dark chocolate, sweetened expresso, and sweet peanut butter, but all are balanced appropriately.

If you’re into pairing beer with food, this will go very nicely with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

The label art and name

The Peanut Butter Porter Time art is one of the only remaining labels made by the brewery’s original artist, Christina Ryan. Christina is a tremendous tattoo artist who currently is an artist at Tattoo the Lou Studio. 

And while the name is not a huge stretch for the imagination, it did in fact come from a poll of customers.

“We actually polled our Facebook followers for creative names for Peanut Butter Porter Time. It was great! We had so much fun hearing all the crazy, awesome ideas. As a staff, we voted on our favorite,” said Spencer.

Where to find

Peanut Butter Porter Time was released in the taproom on October 26. But, it’s now available at your favorite craft beer retailer and local bars and restaurants.

No D Dunkle

Like a porter, a Dunkle-style, or Munich Dunkle-style beer is not a beer you find on an everyday tap menu, but they are pretty common in St. Louis. The Munich Dunkel style is an easy drinking, yet flavorful and complex lager. Dark bread, a hint of chocolate, and a bit of nuttiness are the ideal tasting notes of the Dunkel.

It is rare for Third Wheel brewers to brew “to-style,” but for No D Dunkel, they kept this beer right in line with the originals.

“We use imported malts and hops from Germany, high-quality lager yeast and we allow the beer to lager (sit cold) for several months before packaging to give it that classic, smooth, crisp finish. We’re proud of the extra time and energy that goes into it, and it reflects in the finished product,” said Spencer.

The backstory

Unlike other Dunkel’s, this particular beer has a strong backstory.  Here is Spencer in her own words.

“As you can guess, we’re being a bit cheeky with the name “No D.” During the creation of this beer and label concept, there was a lot going on both politically and personally for the brewers at Third Wheel. We were frustrated and tired of being treated “less than” because of our gender. This beer name is a direct reflection of that frustration and outright anger. This beer is typically released on or around election day, and the first version was released just prior to the presidential election.”

“I don’t speak for everyone at Third Wheel, but I feel comfortable speaking for the brewing staff then (and now), that we were NOT interested in a president that has no respect for women. We were tired of the catcalling (a recent issue one of the brewers had dealt with). We were angry about being mansplained all the time. We were over the patriarchy pushing us around. No Donald. No dicks (literately and figuratively). No douchebags. No D Dunkel.”

Goomah LaLa