First Pour Night!
“Alright everyone, welcome to the Mug Club’s very first First Pour Night! 🍻
Tonight you get to try our brand new beer before anyone else. Once everyone here has had their glass, we’ll officially open it up to the public. And this is something we’ll be doing all year — anytime I brew a new beer, Mug Club gets first dibs.”
“Tonight’s beer is our new Pale Ale — or XPA — called 8-12-26.”
“So real quick, what’s an XPA?
It stands for Extra Pale Ale. Think of it as a pale ale that leans a little brighter and hop-forward — lighter body than an IPA, more punch than a standard pale ale, super clean and super drinkable.”
“Let’s talk about what’s in it.”
“The base malt is Golden Promise.
That gives us a solid malt backbone with a touch of sweetness — some people even get a honey-like note — and it contributes to a fuller, softer mouthfeel.”
“Next is Munich malt, which is basically Golden Promise’s sidekick.
Munich adds richer malt depth, more body, and it’s what gives the beer that slightly deeper golden color.”
“Crystal malt is the final punch.
This is a lightly kilned grain that helps with color and what brewers call polish — meaning it smooths out the bitterness and ties everything together while still letting the hops shine.”
“All three together make what I think is the perfect pale ale base.”
“For bittering, I used Magnum hops at the beginning of the boil.
Magnum is all about clean bitterness — almost no aroma, no rough edges. I chose it specifically just for bitterness and balance.
“But the real star of this beer is the aroma hop: Eclipse.”
“These are Australian hops, technically dual-purpose, but I mostly used them for aroma. To me, they’re like Citra times ten — huge tangerine and citrus peel flavor and aroma. I also hadn’t used them before… and they were on a 2025 crop close-out sale, which never hurts.”
“I used a total of 11 pounds of hops in this batch.”
“Now… you’re probably wondering what the heck the name means.”
“Has anyone Googled it yet?
“8-12-26 is August 12th, 2026 — the day of the next total solar eclipse.”
“I used Eclipse hops, so the name felt like a no-brainer.”
I also love the idea of the name sounding like a code or some sacred date...which it is
Because there’s one more Easter egg in the name.
“That date is also my wonderful Nikki’s birthday. She was a huge fan of our fresh hop pale ale Sun Becoming, and this beer is actually that exact recipe — minus the fresh hops.”
“So there you have it, my friends — 8-12-26.”
“Thank you for being Mug Club members, thank you for supporting what we do here, and enjoy the first pour and don't be afraid to mingle with fellow mug club members, which is on of the greater purposes of FIRST POUR NIGHT!
Next first pour night is going to be February 5th at 6pm for Prometheus our new red IPA!
