Ommegang’s new beer is perfect to toast the fate of wilding Mance Rayder — seen here with Jon Snow — in the season 5 premiere of “Game of Thrones.” (HBO, Helen Sloan)
It’s a partnership forged in hops and Westerosi magic.
and HBO have again teamed up to make their fifth Game of Thrones-themed beer. The latest, a dark saison ale dubbed Three-Eyed Raven, arrives this week just in time for the series’ season 5 premiere on Sunday.
Three-Eyed Raven is dark — almost black, in fact. It pours like a stout: thick with a foamy tan head. But, just like , nothing is as it seems.
Three-eyed Raven is a 7.2% ABV Belgian-style dark saison. (Photo: Ommegang)
The ale is shockingly light for a dark beer, and it’s quite complex. It carries the sweet and malty flavor of a saison and strong chocolate notes of a stout. To achieve this strange and unique mix, brewers blended specialty malts, including malted rye, added dark candi sugar, and hopped the ale with Hallertau Spalt Select, Tettnang and Bravo hops, among others.
In short, it’s spicy and original, much more interesting than the Bran Stark storyline that inspired it, and by its nature illustrates that the partnership between HBO and Ommegang reaches beyond name only.
Brewery spokeswoman Allison Capozza explained that Ommegang is given plenty of freedom with the specialty beers: HBO supplies plot points and Ommegang’s brewers let their creativity run wild.
“To us – and to the fans of both the show and our beers – we believe this is what really makes the partnership special. It is a very thoughtful collaboration, not simply a brew-under-license or marketing stunt,” she said. “It’s a highly creative exercise – for both our marketing team and our brewers so they are really excited, challenged and fulfilled.”
But despite Game of Thrones’ success — virtually guaranteeing a marketing win for the brewery — the medieval-themed Ommegang carefully thought it over before hopping in bed with HBO: “When making the very delicate decision of choosing to forge an association for our company and our brand, we want to be absolutely sure that we work with a partner who truly reflects our values,” Capozza said.
In the end, it resulted in a partnership forged as strong as Valyrian steel.
Three-Eyed Raven follows four overwhelmingly popular Ommegang Game of Thrones releases: 2013’s Iron Throne Blonde Ale and Take the Black Stout, and 2014’s Fire and Blood Red Ale and Valar Morghulus Dubbel Ale.
If you want to try Three-Eyed Raven, don’t wait too long: Iron Throne Blonde Ale, Take the Black Stout, and Fire and Blood Red Ale flew off the shelves. And Valar Morghulis is also now close to going the way of Oberon, despite a near-quadrupled production run. will tell you where to look.
