Rochester has a wonderful British pub called The Old Toad. It has cask ales, an impressive list of beers from around the world (namely the UK) and a regularly rotating draft line of about 15 different beers. Last night they had a special event with Custom Brewcrafters, who brought two different beers that they brew for Genesee Country Village & Museum: 1803 Fat Ox Ale and Intrepid Ale. In light of the event, a group of friends and I decided to take in some of Britain in Rochester and some great beer too.
The Old Toad website is here, they regularly update what they have on draft and it's a place worth checking out! They even have darts for free. Where else can you play darts for free?
Custom Brewcrafters, from Honeyoye Falls, NY, has their website here. They run an awesome operation, contract brewing for a ton of places all over western NY as well as producing their own brews.
Here's what I tried, one from the cask and the others on draft:
(1) Custom Brewcrafters Genesee Country Village & Museum 1803 Fat Ox Ale (American Brown Ale) - this is a beer produced from an American colonial recipe/notes from the 1800s. It has serious molasses notes with some alcohol too, really robust and smoky with pork/bacon flavors. I only tried a sample of this and not a whole glass. 5% ABV. More about this and the below brew here.
(2) Custom Brewcrafters Genesee Country Village & Museum Intrepid Ale (American Pale Wheat Ale) - This uses a ton of lemon and fresh ginger and has a great citrus and ginger spice. There is a definite wheat and lemon zest without much aroma. 4% ABV.
(3) Abita Coffee Dog - This I had from the cask, and apparently Abita put coffee beans in the cask and let it soak in the flavor. It has a burnt coffee aroma, smooth creamy and somewhat light in the mouth, but dark like coffee, some vanilla, black in color and sort of grainy in the mouth too like there is some coffee residue or grounds or something. I really enjoyed it, but I guess you can only drink iced coffee so long, so it isn't super drinkable but it was delicious. 5.6% ABV Not listed on their website.
(4) Ellicotville Brewing Catt County Cuvee (Strong Blonde Ale) - This is aged in American oak for 6 (their website says 3) months, which adds beautiful candied, banana and vanilla flavors. It is on the sweet side and has a honey aroma, wood, full bodied, malty with notes of coconut like creaminess and spicy finish. 8.5% ABV. More on this page.
Brew of the night: Intrepid Ale, for a summer evening and refreshing drink I'd turn to this anytime, the Coffee Dog is more of a wake up beer and Catt County Cuvee is more of a sipper.
Saturday, August 30, 2014
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Wegmans Craft Pack Night!
I love Wegmans Craft Packs! I used to completely overlook them. Who wants to pay $10 for a six pack of beer that probably sat on the shelves too long or is made up of reject beers that no one buys? Nowadays it seems that Wegmans has improved the craft pack to an elevated state. They have decent beers available and keep them cold too, so ready to drink. $10 doesn't sound so bad anymore either to taste 6 new beers that I've never had before.
Here's what my wife and I shared last night:
Here's what my wife and I shared last night:
Notes:
(1) Magic Hat #9 - I've had this at the Magic Hat brewery, and I liked that a lot better. Sure it was fresher, so that should be all the difference right there. I found this a tad skunky if you thought about it. Otherwise, it was sour from the apricot juice but a nice combination. 5.1% ABV. More here.
(2) Bell's Porter - brown sugar and malts, some smokiness, clean but not too complex, a fairly balanced brown porter with nice spongy head and legs. This beer is probably what my homebrew should have tasted like, or at least close to. I have come to the conclusion that I'm not crazy about brown porters. I prefer Robust and Baltic. 5.6% ABV. More here.
(3) Samuel Adams Harvest Pumpkin Ale - every pumpkin ale should have real pumpkin in it, and this one has clove, nutmeg, a solid pumpkin aroma and roastiness. This would be a solid choice for a pumpkin brew but it's not too complex and seems a tad light. 5.7% ABV. More here.
(4) Middle Ages Brewing The Duke of Winship (English style Porter) - immediate notes of alcohol and wood, spicy scotch notes and brown/English porter style with roasted hazelnut coffee notes, a slight creaminess. I found this brew interesting and enjoyable. This is the first brew I've had by Syracuse based Middle Ages Brewing Co. I think I'll have to go back for more. 6.5% ABV. More here.
(5) Chimay Rouge (Belgian Dubbel)- I used a wineglass for this because the bottle says to use a wide mouthed glass, it kept the beer colder than the pint my wife used and I preferred the spiciness of the beer from the wineglass (even though it is not a snifter, which would probably be best). My first time having a Chimay Trappist brew, this had a nice spiciness, banana and orange citrus aroma (it says apricot, so this was just my perception), a dry silky head and initial taste, not necessarily refreshing but a subtle brew that I grew to enjoy a good amount. 7% ABV. More here.
(6) Heavy Seas Peg Leg (American Imperial Stout)- A supposed molasses and roasted flavor, I had a hard time getting past the aroma/flavor of onion and pork/bacon, I did get some chocolate at the end, this brew is nearly black and I think without truly knowing enough to say definitively that it has some dimethyl sulfide peaking through in a not so good way. They also recommend pairing with Gouda or blue cheese and I agree with that as the beer tastes a little like blue cheese and is very acidic. 8% ABV. More here.
Top honors of the night for me goes to: Chimay Rouge. My wife preferred the Harvest Pumpkin Ale.
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Group Beer Tasting #2...And Some Board Games
This month my group lost a member (to Alaska) and gained another. So, we had six people and six beers. After tasting we also played some games, so this is sort of a double post.
This is what we tasted and below are some notes:
1) BSG (Kit) Homebrewed Porter - I gave some notes about this in my previous post, so I'll redirect you here. More about the kit here.
2) Otter Creek Copper Ale (Altbier style) - Malty, sweet, off-white head, orangish amber hue, grapefruit bitterness that lingers, orange notes, hops are not strong but they are bitter, malt aroma and semi-light in the mouth, 5% ABV. More here.
3) Bell's Amber Ale - Nice head, beer is a little hazy, pineapple notes leading to grapefruit, refreshing, delicate but tasteful, sweet to bitter in the mouth, this was a beer that grew on me! 5.8% ABV. More here.
4) Rhinelander Brewing Company Boatswain Chocolate Stout - Found this at Trader Joe's, it's a small batch brew of roasted chocolate, coffee notes, smoky, smooth, a tiny bit of vanilla sweetness, deep brown color, sweet to roasted to chocolate bitterness flavor progression and light in the mouth. It also hides 66 IBU really well. This one had me confused that I loved it and then wasn't super impressed and back and forth. I guess that's a good complexity, 5.4% ABV. Not any information on the company's website, but I've read that it goes by other names in different places, like Chocolate Bunny Stout.
5) Sierra Nevada Flipside Red IPA - A serious grapefruit aroma, some pine, citrus, peach even, an amber brown color, nice legs, crisp, I really wondered if there is some rye in this because of a spiciness, but overall it was a brew on the sweet side that I started liking less and less as I drank more, 6.2 ABV. More here.
6) The Alchemist Heady Topper - My brother finally had his first taste of this. This time it struck me as pineapple, grapefruit, herbal, tropical fruit, citrus, super fresh, almost white foam, hazy light gold color, and simply delicious at 8% ABV. More here.
Favorite on the night: the best brew in class clearly goes to Head Topper, but I was so impressed with Bell's Amber Ale, I've gotta give that the gold this time around.
For games this time, we played Bang! The new attendee, Joey, ended up winning as the Renegade. Next we threw down with Small World, and I ended up taking the cake with a nice combination of Trolls with their lairs (harder to conquer), Spirit Leperchauns (so I could have 2 decline races) and their pots of gold and Mercenary Barbarians.
1) BSG (Kit) Homebrewed Porter - I gave some notes about this in my previous post, so I'll redirect you here. More about the kit here.
2) Otter Creek Copper Ale (Altbier style) - Malty, sweet, off-white head, orangish amber hue, grapefruit bitterness that lingers, orange notes, hops are not strong but they are bitter, malt aroma and semi-light in the mouth, 5% ABV. More here.
3) Bell's Amber Ale - Nice head, beer is a little hazy, pineapple notes leading to grapefruit, refreshing, delicate but tasteful, sweet to bitter in the mouth, this was a beer that grew on me! 5.8% ABV. More here.
4) Rhinelander Brewing Company Boatswain Chocolate Stout - Found this at Trader Joe's, it's a small batch brew of roasted chocolate, coffee notes, smoky, smooth, a tiny bit of vanilla sweetness, deep brown color, sweet to roasted to chocolate bitterness flavor progression and light in the mouth. It also hides 66 IBU really well. This one had me confused that I loved it and then wasn't super impressed and back and forth. I guess that's a good complexity, 5.4% ABV. Not any information on the company's website, but I've read that it goes by other names in different places, like Chocolate Bunny Stout.
5) Sierra Nevada Flipside Red IPA - A serious grapefruit aroma, some pine, citrus, peach even, an amber brown color, nice legs, crisp, I really wondered if there is some rye in this because of a spiciness, but overall it was a brew on the sweet side that I started liking less and less as I drank more, 6.2 ABV. More here.
 |
| Really cool bottle art! |
Favorite on the night: the best brew in class clearly goes to Head Topper, but I was so impressed with Bell's Amber Ale, I've gotta give that the gold this time around.
For games this time, we played Bang! The new attendee, Joey, ended up winning as the Renegade. Next we threw down with Small World, and I ended up taking the cake with a nice combination of Trolls with their lairs (harder to conquer), Spirit Leperchauns (so I could have 2 decline races) and their pots of gold and Mercenary Barbarians.
My First Homebrew...Fermentation to Drinking
The next steps in the process are simpler than the first half of the homebrew process. Once the airlock stopped bubbling I waited another 2-3 days. I believe the beer sat in the fermenter for about a week. I wish I had taken better notes at this point. Once I opened the fermenter, I used an auto siphon to transfer the wort into the botting bucket. The bottling bucket has a hole at the bottom for a bottling spout. I learned later that the bottle filler, which has a release pin on the bottom of a plastic tube, I used to transfer the wort instead of fill bottles. I filled bottles straight from the spout. It worked fine I think, but I could see the bottle filler working better because it would aerate the beer less. I filled about 52 bottles and capping them went fine, no bottles blew up from too much pressure. Once I'd fill a bottle I'd put a cap on, but not cap it until I filled all the bottles. Then I went back to the first bottle I filled and capped them in the order I filled them. I wait is supposed to release the oxygen from the head space of the bottle and fill it with CO2.
I learned more than a couple of other key things from this completed process:
1) I did not put my hops in at the right time. The instructions were vague at best about when to put my hops in once I started boiling. All they list is a time in minutes, in this case 45 minutes, next to the hops ingredients. I was not aware until recently that the time means "how long before the end of boil" instead of "time into boil". They need to specify a little more clearly.
2) I may have put too much water in. A homebrew book I was reading suggested putting 1.5 gallons of water in the fermenter (because I was doing a 3.5 gallon boil) before adding in the wort. I'm pretty sure I ended up with 5.5 to 6 gallons in my fermenter. Next time I will top the fermenter off to 5 gallons after pouring in the wort.
3) I am not sure the priming sugar mixed evenly. I read after the fact on a homebrew website that you should mix in the priming sugar by creating a nice whirlpool. Some of the bottles I opened streamed out the top for a good 30 seconds, while others maintained their level upon opening. The only difference I can account for is two days between opening and some were from the beginning of the bottle filling and the others were from the end/middle. I'll have to continue monitoring this to see if the difference is more about what order they were filled or how long they are bottle conditioned. By the way, I've only let them sit in the bottle for 2 weeks, so maybe they will also improve after another week or more?
4) My first homebrew came out alright but not great. It was hazy brown, light in the mouth, on the sweet side, had an aroma that was not necessarily off but hard to discern. I would smell it at first smell late in the palate and sometimes after I'd swirl the beer in the glass to aerate it.
I had my beer at the most recent group tasting event at my place and I think it went over OK, but no one was crazy about it, including me. I'm ready for my next homebrew.
I learned more than a couple of other key things from this completed process:
1) I did not put my hops in at the right time. The instructions were vague at best about when to put my hops in once I started boiling. All they list is a time in minutes, in this case 45 minutes, next to the hops ingredients. I was not aware until recently that the time means "how long before the end of boil" instead of "time into boil". They need to specify a little more clearly.
2) I may have put too much water in. A homebrew book I was reading suggested putting 1.5 gallons of water in the fermenter (because I was doing a 3.5 gallon boil) before adding in the wort. I'm pretty sure I ended up with 5.5 to 6 gallons in my fermenter. Next time I will top the fermenter off to 5 gallons after pouring in the wort.
3) I am not sure the priming sugar mixed evenly. I read after the fact on a homebrew website that you should mix in the priming sugar by creating a nice whirlpool. Some of the bottles I opened streamed out the top for a good 30 seconds, while others maintained their level upon opening. The only difference I can account for is two days between opening and some were from the beginning of the bottle filling and the others were from the end/middle. I'll have to continue monitoring this to see if the difference is more about what order they were filled or how long they are bottle conditioned. By the way, I've only let them sit in the bottle for 2 weeks, so maybe they will also improve after another week or more?
4) My first homebrew came out alright but not great. It was hazy brown, light in the mouth, on the sweet side, had an aroma that was not necessarily off but hard to discern. I would smell it at first smell late in the palate and sometimes after I'd swirl the beer in the glass to aerate it.
I had my beer at the most recent group tasting event at my place and I think it went over OK, but no one was crazy about it, including me. I'm ready for my next homebrew.
Friday, August 15, 2014
Some Websites Related to Beer
I've been doing a pretty substantial amount of searching for websites related to beer lately. I've been looking for places to learn more at a quicker rate about brewing and beer in general. Some of my favorites so far include (in no particular order):
1) American Homebrewers Association (http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/)
...yeah this should have been a no brainer, but it took me a while to find this one, and I don't think I did until I was searching for beer magazine subscriptions and found their quarterly, Zymurgy. They also have a really simple visual learning to brew guide that takes you from novice to advanced brewing with all grain. Recipes abound as well. I think I already found my next homebrew on this site.
2) Craft Beer & Brewing (http://www.beerandbrewing.com/)
...a solid website with great articles and resources, also home to a magazine by the same name. They have online courses that you can take (for a price $) which I'm reluctant to do because I do not if it will be worth the $ when I can find a lot of information in other ways.
3) Mike's Brew Review (http://mikesbrewreview.com/)
...a site mostly dedicated to home brewing, which includes write-ups about first time homebrewers and their recipes, challenges and tips learned. The best article about how to use a hydrometer is available here along with other visual aids. There are also interviews with brewmasters from respected breweries and reviews of brews and pubs. Downside? It hasn't been updated since 2011...worth a look through though.
4) Bear Flavored (http://www.bear-flavored.com/)
...great articles, reviews of popular brews, recipes of homebrews and one man's quest to eat only fermented food and beverages for an entire year! Really impressed by this site.
5) The Brewing Network (http://thebrewingnetwork.com/)
...admittedly I haven't checked this out much yet, but there are radio broadcasts and different shows that cover the world of beer.
6) The Brew Site (http://www.thebrewsite.com/)
...blog style website, like most of the others, reviews and articles about breweries and other beer related stuff.
7) Inside Beer (http://www.insidebeer.com/)
...has a beer of the month archive with reviews and tasting notes and beer news. A UK site by Jeff Evans, who has had over 30 years of experience writing about beer.
8) Hop Union (http://hopunion.com/)
...this has a great resource about hops and selecting hops for specific flavors, which work well together and how to pair hops. I'll definitely be using this website when choosing hops in the future. There's also a link to alphanalyticstesting.com where you can send a beer sample from your beer to get alpha analysis and IBU levels.
9) Mike Beer (http://www.mikebeer.net/default.htm)
...this guy has been homebrewing since 2005 and has a list of all the beers he's ever made. There's resources and articles that are really interesting to peruse about brewing with extract, grains and both.
10) Tasty Brew (http://tastybrew.com/index.html)
...another great resource with articles dedicated to specific topics. There is even a recipes and a recipe calculator for making your own homebrews.
11) Brewtoad (https://www.brewtoad.com/)
...lots of recipes, user created submissions and tips (you can add your own), with brew logs and a subscription available to the site that in my opinion does not look to be worth it.
12) Brewtarget (http://www.brewtarget.org/)
...this has a free software program for brewing your own beer and calculating recipes. I've downloaded it and checked it out a bit and it looks pretty cool.
Just for clarification, I've not included any magazines or tv shows, even though they have websites, because these kind of go with a different topic (magazines and tv shows, respectively).
Check some of these out and tell me what you think!
1) American Homebrewers Association (http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/)
...yeah this should have been a no brainer, but it took me a while to find this one, and I don't think I did until I was searching for beer magazine subscriptions and found their quarterly, Zymurgy. They also have a really simple visual learning to brew guide that takes you from novice to advanced brewing with all grain. Recipes abound as well. I think I already found my next homebrew on this site.
2) Craft Beer & Brewing (http://www.beerandbrewing.com/)
...a solid website with great articles and resources, also home to a magazine by the same name. They have online courses that you can take (for a price $) which I'm reluctant to do because I do not if it will be worth the $ when I can find a lot of information in other ways.
3) Mike's Brew Review (http://mikesbrewreview.com/)
...a site mostly dedicated to home brewing, which includes write-ups about first time homebrewers and their recipes, challenges and tips learned. The best article about how to use a hydrometer is available here along with other visual aids. There are also interviews with brewmasters from respected breweries and reviews of brews and pubs. Downside? It hasn't been updated since 2011...worth a look through though.
4) Bear Flavored (http://www.bear-flavored.com/)
...great articles, reviews of popular brews, recipes of homebrews and one man's quest to eat only fermented food and beverages for an entire year! Really impressed by this site.
5) The Brewing Network (http://thebrewingnetwork.com/)
...admittedly I haven't checked this out much yet, but there are radio broadcasts and different shows that cover the world of beer.
6) The Brew Site (http://www.thebrewsite.com/)
...blog style website, like most of the others, reviews and articles about breweries and other beer related stuff.
7) Inside Beer (http://www.insidebeer.com/)
...has a beer of the month archive with reviews and tasting notes and beer news. A UK site by Jeff Evans, who has had over 30 years of experience writing about beer.
8) Hop Union (http://hopunion.com/)
...this has a great resource about hops and selecting hops for specific flavors, which work well together and how to pair hops. I'll definitely be using this website when choosing hops in the future. There's also a link to alphanalyticstesting.com where you can send a beer sample from your beer to get alpha analysis and IBU levels.
9) Mike Beer (http://www.mikebeer.net/default.htm)
...this guy has been homebrewing since 2005 and has a list of all the beers he's ever made. There's resources and articles that are really interesting to peruse about brewing with extract, grains and both.
10) Tasty Brew (http://tastybrew.com/index.html)
...another great resource with articles dedicated to specific topics. There is even a recipes and a recipe calculator for making your own homebrews.
11) Brewtoad (https://www.brewtoad.com/)
...lots of recipes, user created submissions and tips (you can add your own), with brew logs and a subscription available to the site that in my opinion does not look to be worth it.
12) Brewtarget (http://www.brewtarget.org/)
...this has a free software program for brewing your own beer and calculating recipes. I've downloaded it and checked it out a bit and it looks pretty cool.
Just for clarification, I've not included any magazines or tv shows, even though they have websites, because these kind of go with a different topic (magazines and tv shows, respectively).
Check some of these out and tell me what you think!
Friday, August 8, 2014
The Quest for Heady Topper
My wife and I went to Burlington yesterday to do one thing: buy Heady Topper! OK, maybe we went for other things too, which I'll tell you about, but my brother wanted me to buy some Heady Topper and I was not planning to disappoint.
What is Heady Topper you might ask? Made by The Alchemist (their website here), they basically do not make much else except for special releases here and there, like The Crusher, Focal Banger, Beelzebub, Holy Cow IPA, Luscious, and a few others. Heady Topper is their one consistently produced beer. It is an outstanding American Double IPA (8% ABV) that is hailed as the top of its class. If you are a hop head (meaning you love hoppy brews) you've doubtlessly heard of or already made a pilgrimage to Burlington to get Heady Topper. The big issue is that Heady Topper only sells within some 30 miles of Burlington and it is hard to get. This, I believe, is a specific decision by The Alchemist to keep Heady Topper as fresh as possible in aroma and taste. It is unpasteurized and the can instructs you to "DRINK FROM THE CAN!" so you will not lose any of the aroma just from pouring the beer into a glass. Yes, it comes in cans as well, less light pollution I suppose, and who doesn't love a pint sized can of great beer? Made with six different hops, each hop gives its own specific flavor and hops are meant to come in waves as you drink.
So, we knew that Heady Topper was hard to get. We check the website and consulted the detailed list of which stores receive Heady Topper on which days (in this case Thursday) and found that only one beer store received shipments of Heady Topper on Thursday, the rest were bars. We arrived around 1 pm and looked throughout the exceptional selection of beers on the shelves and eventually asked the worker at the counter. She gave us sort of a look, like "you newbs", because Heady Topper was coming in at 6 pm and apparently there would be a line. My brother pre-paid me for a case and we were instructed to arrive an hour early to get a case. We left and came back later.
A little break in the story here, just to keep the suspense up...between searching for Heady Topper and coming back later for Heady Topper, Brynn and I went to do some tasting. First we went to Citizen Cider in Winooski. We had a flight of ciders from their limited release cellar. I figure limited releases are harder to find so why try the regulars that will always be around? We had these five: U.P. Wild, Bourbon Barrel-Aged Cider, Chapin, Addison County Hop and Stan Wild. Honestly we were a little disappointed after loving The Dirty Mayor (a ginger and lemon cider), none of these were nearly as good.
Tasting Notes:
(1) U.P. Wild - a dry and still version of Unified Press (their flagship cider) fermented spontaneously with native yeasts, just not crazy about the yeasty flavor and the still-ness.
(2) Bourbon Barrel-Aged Cider - mostly dry, aged in oak, we liked this one, but the oak was overpowering enough to not make you want to drink a lot of this at one time. My wife's favorite.
(3) Chapin - dry, bottle-conditioned, blend of apples from Chapin Orchard in Essex, VT, this was just a different tasting cider because of the apples, couldn't tell if the original apples were sweet or sour.
(4) Addison County Hop - off-dry, bright, citrusy and balanced with Cascade hops from Addison County Hop Farm, this was my favorite because of the aroma and balance the hops brought to the cider.
(5) Stan Wild - off-dry version of Stan Up (dry, keg-conditioned with heirloom apple blends) with wild yeast, again we were not crazy about the yeast flavor.
I believe all of these ciders were 6.9% ABV. You can see about Citizen Cider on their website here.
Next, we went to Magic Hat brewery for a tasting and tour! After previewing their website, I was convinced that Magic Hat would be a fun place to visit and we both agreed after going. Their brewery is called the Artifactory and is industrial looking inside with a sweet round bar with tons of taps, tons of merch and lots of artwork throughout the place. Tours were free and unsupervised except for on the hour, so we went at 5 pm for a guided tour to learn a little more. Started in 1994, Magic Hat was truly a two man outfit that started from one man's homebrews and grew into what it is today, reaching 48 states and internationally. Vermont is also a very local and home grown kind of place, so that had a lot to do with its success. First we tasted, then we toured.
Tasting notes:
(1) Single Chair - a golden ale, very much like a pilsner, crisp and bready, light. 5 % ABV. More here.
(2) Circus Boy - a Hefeweizen, very clean even with the haze, only brewed with lemongrass unlike most hefeweizens. Liked this one. 4.5% ABV. More here.
(3) #9 Not Quite Pale Ale - the secret is out, brewed with apricot extract, which doesn't come out too much but smoothens this brew out nicely. 5.1% ABV. More here.
(4) Wilhelm Scream - a pumpkin ale brewed without pumpkin according to the attendant serving us, only spices like all-spice, cinnamon and nutmeg. I miss the pumpkin. 5.4% ABV. More here.
(5) Dream Machine IPL - an IPA mixed with a Lager, brewed with lager yeast, I felt like this had more aroma than bitterness from the hops which was nice. 5.7% ABV. More here.
(6) Over the Pils Imperial Pilsner (Humdinger Series) - this was somewhat the opposite of the IPL, more bitter less aroma. 8.1% ABV. Notes missing from their website and only available at the Artifactory.
(7) Big Hundo - a double/imperial IPA with 100 IBU of hops, hoppy and bitter, not the super aroma/flavor profile of a Heady Topper as it only uses two kinds of hops in the boil and dry hops with only Simcoe. 9% ABV. More here.
(8) Meat Whistle Imperial Stout - aged since 2011 in bourbon barrels, this one had quite the aged flavor, rich and dark. I felt like maybe they aged this a touch too long, but that's my opinion. 11% ABV. Only available at the Artifactory.
My favorite: not sure, a tie between the Circus Boy, Dream Machine IPL, Imperial Pilsner and Big Hundo.
After our tasting we toured, here's some photos of their bottling line:
Pretty big outfit, but what impressed me most was they had one bottling line, and their filler was gigantic (sorry no picture of that). Their fermentation room was also off-limits because they open-cask ferment their beers to allow for better yeast re-harvesting and any dirt of other yeasts let in could ruin an entire batch.
Heady Topper takes the cake on this one. No competition. And that completes the quest for Heady Topper!
What is Heady Topper you might ask? Made by The Alchemist (their website here), they basically do not make much else except for special releases here and there, like The Crusher, Focal Banger, Beelzebub, Holy Cow IPA, Luscious, and a few others. Heady Topper is their one consistently produced beer. It is an outstanding American Double IPA (8% ABV) that is hailed as the top of its class. If you are a hop head (meaning you love hoppy brews) you've doubtlessly heard of or already made a pilgrimage to Burlington to get Heady Topper. The big issue is that Heady Topper only sells within some 30 miles of Burlington and it is hard to get. This, I believe, is a specific decision by The Alchemist to keep Heady Topper as fresh as possible in aroma and taste. It is unpasteurized and the can instructs you to "DRINK FROM THE CAN!" so you will not lose any of the aroma just from pouring the beer into a glass. Yes, it comes in cans as well, less light pollution I suppose, and who doesn't love a pint sized can of great beer? Made with six different hops, each hop gives its own specific flavor and hops are meant to come in waves as you drink.
So, we knew that Heady Topper was hard to get. We check the website and consulted the detailed list of which stores receive Heady Topper on which days (in this case Thursday) and found that only one beer store received shipments of Heady Topper on Thursday, the rest were bars. We arrived around 1 pm and looked throughout the exceptional selection of beers on the shelves and eventually asked the worker at the counter. She gave us sort of a look, like "you newbs", because Heady Topper was coming in at 6 pm and apparently there would be a line. My brother pre-paid me for a case and we were instructed to arrive an hour early to get a case. We left and came back later.
A little break in the story here, just to keep the suspense up...between searching for Heady Topper and coming back later for Heady Topper, Brynn and I went to do some tasting. First we went to Citizen Cider in Winooski. We had a flight of ciders from their limited release cellar. I figure limited releases are harder to find so why try the regulars that will always be around? We had these five: U.P. Wild, Bourbon Barrel-Aged Cider, Chapin, Addison County Hop and Stan Wild. Honestly we were a little disappointed after loving The Dirty Mayor (a ginger and lemon cider), none of these were nearly as good.
Tasting Notes:
(1) U.P. Wild - a dry and still version of Unified Press (their flagship cider) fermented spontaneously with native yeasts, just not crazy about the yeasty flavor and the still-ness.
(2) Bourbon Barrel-Aged Cider - mostly dry, aged in oak, we liked this one, but the oak was overpowering enough to not make you want to drink a lot of this at one time. My wife's favorite.
(3) Chapin - dry, bottle-conditioned, blend of apples from Chapin Orchard in Essex, VT, this was just a different tasting cider because of the apples, couldn't tell if the original apples were sweet or sour.
(4) Addison County Hop - off-dry, bright, citrusy and balanced with Cascade hops from Addison County Hop Farm, this was my favorite because of the aroma and balance the hops brought to the cider.
(5) Stan Wild - off-dry version of Stan Up (dry, keg-conditioned with heirloom apple blends) with wild yeast, again we were not crazy about the yeast flavor.
I believe all of these ciders were 6.9% ABV. You can see about Citizen Cider on their website here.
Next, we went to Magic Hat brewery for a tasting and tour! After previewing their website, I was convinced that Magic Hat would be a fun place to visit and we both agreed after going. Their brewery is called the Artifactory and is industrial looking inside with a sweet round bar with tons of taps, tons of merch and lots of artwork throughout the place. Tours were free and unsupervised except for on the hour, so we went at 5 pm for a guided tour to learn a little more. Started in 1994, Magic Hat was truly a two man outfit that started from one man's homebrews and grew into what it is today, reaching 48 states and internationally. Vermont is also a very local and home grown kind of place, so that had a lot to do with its success. First we tasted, then we toured.
Tasting notes:
(1) Single Chair - a golden ale, very much like a pilsner, crisp and bready, light. 5 % ABV. More here.
(2) Circus Boy - a Hefeweizen, very clean even with the haze, only brewed with lemongrass unlike most hefeweizens. Liked this one. 4.5% ABV. More here.
(3) #9 Not Quite Pale Ale - the secret is out, brewed with apricot extract, which doesn't come out too much but smoothens this brew out nicely. 5.1% ABV. More here.
(4) Wilhelm Scream - a pumpkin ale brewed without pumpkin according to the attendant serving us, only spices like all-spice, cinnamon and nutmeg. I miss the pumpkin. 5.4% ABV. More here.
(5) Dream Machine IPL - an IPA mixed with a Lager, brewed with lager yeast, I felt like this had more aroma than bitterness from the hops which was nice. 5.7% ABV. More here.
(6) Over the Pils Imperial Pilsner (Humdinger Series) - this was somewhat the opposite of the IPL, more bitter less aroma. 8.1% ABV. Notes missing from their website and only available at the Artifactory.
(7) Big Hundo - a double/imperial IPA with 100 IBU of hops, hoppy and bitter, not the super aroma/flavor profile of a Heady Topper as it only uses two kinds of hops in the boil and dry hops with only Simcoe. 9% ABV. More here.
(8) Meat Whistle Imperial Stout - aged since 2011 in bourbon barrels, this one had quite the aged flavor, rich and dark. I felt like maybe they aged this a touch too long, but that's my opinion. 11% ABV. Only available at the Artifactory.
My favorite: not sure, a tie between the Circus Boy, Dream Machine IPL, Imperial Pilsner and Big Hundo.
After our tasting we toured, here's some photos of their bottling line:
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| This machine put the labels on in front and in back the boxer where a mechanic was working on fixing the line so it would run again. |
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| Bottles waiting to be labeled |
After our tour we headed back for the Heady Topper. Upon arriving to a full parking lot we went inside to find a line of about 100-150 people wrapped around the isles. We found the end and a guy told us we were "the end" and guaranteed at least a four pack!
6pm came and we waited through the line until it was our turn and did end up receiving two 4-packs each, so just two 4-packs short of a case! Not bad. So, my brother gets a half case and we bought 2 beers from him as our handling fee. Mission successful. Oh, we also picked up a Maple Tap Imperial Porter by Harpoon and a Citizen Cider bRose, their blueberry cider.
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| The "end of the line" |
Back home, we tried the Heady Topper and the Maple Tap Imperial Porter.
Notes:
(1) Heady Topper - well worth the wait, so aromatic and flavorful, grapefruit, orange, pine, others I couldn't quite pick out, and super smooth and drinkable for an IPA. 8% ABV. Probably the best IPA I've had.
(2) Maple Tap Imperial Porter - Smelled and tasted like it was aged in oak, some vanilla, but relaly the sugary maple was what produced that taste I think, chocolate and coffee notes rounded out the aftertaste. A little light in the mouth. 9.1% ABV. More here.
Heady Topper takes the cake on this one. No competition. And that completes the quest for Heady Topper!
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
A little taste of VT and others
I'm over in Granville, NY with my wife and her family this week. I decided to rope my brother-in-law and wife into a tasting this week. Brad, my brother-in-law, jumped on the idea and wanted to do the tasting tonight. So, we went to Poultney, VT, maybe 10 minutes across the NY border, and picked up some brews to taste.
You can see what we tried tonight, in order of left to right. I encouraged my wife and her brother to pick stuff that was from VT or could not be found many other places. Brad picked the Arrogant Bastard Ale, which was fine by me even though you can find it all over the place, because I admit I've probably had the ale or the Stone's Smoked Porter before but did not remember what I thought of either. My wife chose a cider, which is technically not a beer, but I'm glad she did because it practically stole the show. I picked up the first two on the left, Best Brown Ale and Old Hob. I had no previous knowledge of either but the first is from Portland, ME, and the other is from VT and doubtfully reaches where we are from in Rochester.
Notes about these brews:
(1) Gritty McDuff's Best Brown Ale - a deep amber color, with a sour and sweet aroma. I don't like this one as much as Guinness's Extra Stout, which is a long shot comparison because the Guinness is a stout and this is a brown ale, but they were remarkably similar nonetheless. It was more hoppy than malty in balance and had a slightly light mouth feel. More from Great Brewers website here (they do not list the Best Brown Ale on their website even though it is supposedly available year round). 4.1% ABV
(2) Foley Brothers Old Hob - This all German ingredient Altbier had a grainy or alcoholic aroma with a smoky taste, slightly sour with a unique flavor. It was cloudy brown with a creamy head and bittering aftertaste. It also had a full mouthfeel start to finish. Foley Brothers brew beer in small batches so it is hard to find any more detailed information about this beer. 5% ABV
(3) Stone's Arrogant Bastard Ale - I was really surprised by this one, even though I should have expected it to be as good as it is. I was especially impressed with how balanced this beer was, starting malty and ending perfectly hoppy. It was a reddish deep amber, with great head, warming at 7.2% ABV with a smooth to bitter taste. Notes of sugar, chocolate, toast, caramel and toffee throughout. More here.
(4) Citizen Cider The Dirty Mayor - Good things come out of Burlington, VT and this was no exception. This is perhaps the best cider I've had to date, a limited release cider with ginger and lemon peel. The aroma was all about the ginger and the taste was like sour apples with cane sugar or candied ginger with a bite or Lemonheads. It was slightly carbonated and of straw color. 6.9% ABV See more about Citizen Ciders here.
My favorite on the night: Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale. Hard to beat, though the cider was a close 2nd.
Friday, August 1, 2014
Private Tasting
So my wife and I went to Wegmans yesterday and got a craft pack of beer to try. For $10 it is a good deal and they have a decent quality of beer available to choose from.
Left to right here's what we tried and some notes on each:
(1) Abita Strawberry Harvest Lager - I was pleasantly surprised by this, one it was a lager, and two it is a fruit beer. This had nice light hop notes, a strong strawberry aroma, slightly fermented smelling but it didn't detract from the beer. Also a Belgian wheat aroma. More here.
(2) Wild Blue Blueberry Lager (by Anheuser-Busch) - Concentrate, alcohol and slight hop aroma. Tastes very malty like a Schmirnoff, and the aftertaste is really not good, detracting from the beer significantly. I would hardly describe this as a beer. More here.
(3) Saranac Wild Hop Pils - Was really pleased with this beer. It had a definite citrus character from the Belma wild hops. It was a hoppier aroma than it tasted, balanced from start to finish with a bittering aftertaste. Clean and clear. Nicely crafted beer. More here.
(4) Dogfish Head Namaste - Smooth and sweet, spicy from the peppercorns. Less of the orange peel aroma because of the coriander and lemongrass added as well. One of the better witbiers I've had so far. More here.
(5) Delirium Tremens - Spicy, peppery, grape notes, champagne notes, malty and warming. This is a rounded beer with exceptional mouth feel and is dry and semi-bitter at the end. A complex beer (voted best beer in the world in 2008 at the World Beer Championships). More here.
(6) Uinta Brewing Co. Dubhe Imperial Black IPA - I just liked the look and sound of this one when I picked it and was rewarded with a very pleasant experience. Coffee, chocolate aftertaste that just grows really beautifully. Hope nose is pine-like and maybe some grapefruit. Malty complexity to start that quickly gives way the abundance of hops (109 IBU!). More here.
My favorite of the night: Dubhe Imperial Black IPA
Every had any of these? What do you think?
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