The Liberator

Double IPA with Lemon & Orange Zest

The Liberator was made as a 30th birthday gift to Joe Short. As a double IPA, this beast employs a sizable malt bill, but it is the crazy amount of hops added to the boil every 4 minutes, for 120 minutes, that really make this beer special. Fruity, floral, and piney hop flavors penetrate throughout the caramelized malt profile. The Liberator is a well-balanced, full bodied brew that has a bitter finish due to the post fermentation addition of lemon and orange zest.

The name, The Liberator, came from Joe’s name for the Short’s employees who carry out our company’s mission statement as “Beer Liberators”, freeing the masses from their misconceptions surrounding beer.

  • Double IPA

  • ABV: 8.0%
  • IBU: 95
  • ABW: 0%
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Origin Story

To pay homage to the original hop-headed hero of Short’s Brewing Company, this beer was made as a 30th birthday gift for Joe Short. A double IPA, this beast employs a sizable malt bill, but it’s the ridiculous amounts of hops added to the boil every 4 minutes, for 120 minutes, that showcases this beer. A fruity, floral, piney intensity of hops penetrates through the caramelized malt profile. This well balanced, full-bodied brew finishes bitter with a punch of fresh citrus from the addition of lemon and orange zest post fermentation. The first batch of Liberator was brewed on November 21, 2008, in Bellaire, and served exclusively at the pub. Liberator is an American Double India Pale Ale made with lemon and orange zest. The first batch was made in secrecy by Tony Hansen, who wanted to create a special beer for Joe and surprise him with it on his 30th birthday (Joe has always referred to Short's employees and those who carry out our company's mission statement as "Beer Liberators", freeing the masses from their misconceptions surrounding beer). In order to keep it a secret, Tony had to "juggle" the beer between multiple fermentors and conditioning tanks, each time labeling the beer as something different on the matrix, so Joe wouldn't get wise and suspect that something was up. The original batch brewed on the Bellaire system had 72lbs of hops in it, compared to Huma, which has around 27lbs of hops per batch! Today's Elk Rapids batches have up to 288 lbs of hops!! (Huma is roughly 110lbs of hops/batch) In order to cram all of these hops into this one awesome beer, Tony devised a plan to add approximately 1.5lbs of hops every 4 minutes, during a 120-minute boil, so the total number of additions would equal 30, in honor of Joe's 30th birthday. Liberator utilizes 8 different hop varieties. Seven of those are used in the boil and again in the dry hop, along with the eighth variety. When the beer was finally ready, Tony was in Peru on his honeymoon. With explicit instructions from Tony, our long-time cellarman extraordinaire, "Steve-O", oversaw the final stages of conditioning in order to finish the beer. On Joe's birthday, a lone growler of Liberator was brought over to our newly acquired production facility in Elk Rapids, where Joe was already overseeing the immense construction project at hand. There, Joe, Steve-O, Joe's dad Rick, and a few others, tasted this epic double IPA for the first time. Tony was still out of the country, but couldn't resist sending an email to Joe to see what he thought. Liberator was first bottled in December, 2009. The label art for the Liberator was originally designed and used for a GABF sponsorship tee shirt. People who paid $100 to help send us to the GABF in 2007 received $1.00 pints at the pub for an entire year and a snazzy tee shirt. If you look at the bottle label, the city depicted in the background is actually Denver. We all liked the artwork so much, that when it came time to bottle the Liberator, it seemed like a perfect fit.

Hops

Amarillo, Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, Columbus, Palisade, and Simcoe

Nutritional Information

  • Calories: 230
  • Carbs: 19.2

Name Origin

Joe has always referred to Short's employees and those who carry out our company's mission statement as "Beer Liberators", freeing the masses from their misconceptions surrounding beer

Available In

  • Cans
  • 12oz Can
  • 1/2 Keg
  • 1/4 Keg
  • 1/6 Keg
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