On Tuesday, March 29, beginning at 8:30 a.m., head brewer Chris LaPierre and his girlfriend, beer lover and president of In Pursuit of Ale (IPA), an all-women beer appreciation club, Suzanne “Beer Lass” Woods, will collaborate at Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant (124 East Kings Highway, 856-273-0300) to create a special pepper-infused saison they’ll call Saizanne. Combining Woods’ favorite condiment, green and pink peppercorns, with a traditional Belgian-style saison, the beer is the long-time couple’s first joint effort – and sure to become the stuff of local brewing legend.
“When I travel, I bring home pepper grinders for Suzy – and this beer combines them with one of our favorite styles,” says LaPierre. “We’re thrilled to work together for the first time in the four years we’ve been dating to prepare this very special beer.”
Woods, who is a renowned local beer expert and has been featured in a host of publications on the subject, adds, “We’ve talked for a long time about brewing a beer together, but we wanted to make something really special and not just a gimmick.”
The beer will be brewed on March 29 and aged by LaPierre at Iron Hill. Then, at the end of April, Woods and her beer club, IPA, will travel over the bridge from Philly to Jersey to debut the new beer with a festive party. On Saturday, April 30 from 12 noon until 5 p.m., guests can meet and greet Suzanne Woods and sample the beer, which LaPierre says will be unfiltered, light-bodied, bright and complex with earthy, fruity, spicy character and a refreshing finish.
Founded by home brewers Mark Edelson and Kevin Finn and restaurateur Kevin Davies in Newark, DE in 1996, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant is the region’s fastest-growing restaurant group, blossoming from one restaurant and brewery to eight locations across the mid-Atlantic. Each is dedicated to producing and serving top-quality hand-crafted beers and cuisine in a warm and hospitable setting, and all are open seven days a week for lunch and dinner. Their acclaimed beers have accumulated a wealth of awards from the nation’s top beer festivals, and their restaurants have earned more than 100 “Best of” nods from local and national publications.
Suzanne Woods is the founder of In Pursuit of Ale and the author of www.beerlass.com. You can also follow her on Twitter: @beerlass.
For more information about Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant or Saizanne, or to make a reservation at any of their locations, please visit www.ironhillbrewery.com. You can also follow them on Twitter (@ironhillbrewery), specifically their Maple Shade location (@IronhillNJ).
