This year I had the opportunity to attend the Roc City BrewFest, which is in it's second year I believe. I contacted the person in charge in advance hoping to procure a volunteer spot for me and some friends and it worked out that I was able to wristband entrants as they passed security and then after about an hour or so enter the festival myself. There were two such sessions, 3 hours each, which after wrist-banding I was able go to and taste a lot of different beers. The second session I even had a friend join me in this endeavor and he managed to meet up with a couple Army Reserve buddies, so we went from booth to booth with them geeking out on beer and tasting notes/votes. One of his friends owns a bar in Syracuse so this was sort of an opportunity for her to taste several different beers.
All in all, I was a bit disappointed with the beer and the quality of the beer as well from the kegs. Almost every vendor's beer was being poured by volunteers, they were using kegs that do not do the beer justice, they were pouring from pitchers and did not know much more than the cliff notes about the beer, This was definitely a festival for people who just wanted to get drunk, not for those who desire to have a thoughtful drink.
This is what all I tasted (sorry I do not in all cases have very extensive tasting notes as it is difficult to drink with one hand and put information into an ipod or phone with the other when there are practically no tables, and I forgot my ipod the 2nd session at home):
Session 1:
1) Dogfish Head Namaste - [no notes]
2) Elysian Dragonstooth Stout - astringent, roasty, coffee, espresso, burnt coffee, dark roast notes.
3) Left Hand Sawtooth Ale - candied peach aroma, citrus, seltzer water, bitter.
4) Elysian Loser Pale Ale - tropical fruit, citrus, mango, thick mouthfeel, hop balanced, bitter finish, slight haze, gold/amber color.
5) Westbrook White Thai - lemongrass nose, clove, not much bitter, witte, belgian yeast, slight sourness.
6) Galaxy St Stusan Ale - bubble gum nose, banana, plum, sweetness is nice, reminded me of banana peel astringency.
7) Smuttynose Winter Ale - nose vanilla and fruity, brown ale? confusingly underwhelming, sweet, sugary, some alcohol.
8) Troegs The Master of Pumpkins - clove, nutmeg nose, cinnamon, pumpkin puree, some bittering hops, slight haze, orange/amber, sourness.
9) Sixpoint The Crisp - dry, grassy, fresh, biscuit, nose is citrus and floral, great head, white foam.
10) Sixpoint Bengali - tropical fruit, melon, grassy, fresh, cream, not too bitter, good bitterness, fruit punch.
11) Custom Brewcrafters Twang Belgian Farmhouse Ale - spicy, peppercorns, tasted like a witte with herbal notes, touch bitter.
Session 2:
12) Abandon Nut Brown - not super nutty.
13) St. Lawrence Sugar Plum Winter Lager - too much candy sugar beet aroma, nice plum sweetness.
14) Galaxy Andromeda IPA - nice aroma and hop flavor falls a touch short of great, not overly bitter for 58 IBU's.
15) Three Huskies Howling Simdorado - was not an accurate representation of the actual beer, caramal malt balanced, little hop aroma/flavor.
16) Three Huskies Wooing Wit - decent Belgian, coriander touch of orange peel, not big Belgian yeast notes.
17) Victor Brewing Cherry Dubbel - not sure this was the correct beer, hard to get the name, but it was a tasty dubbel.
18) Victor Chinook IPA, not sure this was the correct beer either, it just said IPA.
19) Beau's All Natural Brewing Co., Bog Water - herbal but not super tasty of a blend.
20) Jack's Abby Hoponious Union - tropical fruit, pine, good aroma, sessionable.
21) Bayou Teche LA 31 Boucanee - super smoky, great cherry flavor.
22) Bayou Teche LA 31 Biere Noire - [no notes]
23) Westbrook IPA - [no notes]
24) Stillwater Artisnal Cellar Door - very lemony citrus.
25) Flying Dog Raging Bitch Belgian IPA - too warm to give accurate tasting notes.
26) Bronx Rye Pale Ale - spicy.
27) Oskar Blues Old Chub Nitro - not as smooth as I thought it would be, better in the can?
28) Smuttynose Vunderbar Pilsner - good full bodied malt bill.
29) Troegs Perpetual IPA - bitter.
30) Stone Go To IPA - bitter pine, resin.
31) Bell's Smitten Golden Rye Ale - spicy.
I apologize for the lack of depth in the notes department, and to those breweries whose beers I am misrepresenting. That is not my intent. If fault lies somewhere it should lie with the festival organizers. I would not pay $35 to go to this festival in the future unless they can learn to keep the beer fresh and offer more than basic standard offerings from pretty much every non-local/regional brewery. They also promised this one would be big and it was rather small in my opinion. They missed some really good breweries in the Rochester area, namely Rohrbachs, and I think tried to conceal this fact by not showing on their webpage what breweries would be attending until a couple days beforehand--as well as promising that the list was not conclusive. Nor was it accurate when many of the breweries did not show up! See their site here.
My favorite brews of the festival were: Dogfish Head Namaste, Victor Cherry Dubbel, Stillwater Artisanal Cellar Door, Jack's Abby Hoponious Union, Three Huskies Wooing Wit, Galaxy Andromeda IPA, Sixpoint Bengali.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Rohrbach's Imperial/Double Tasting & Lost Borough Brewing Co.
On Thursday I went with a friend to Rohrbach's Brewing Co.'s Railroad Street Tasting Room for an even they call Brews & Bites. They were tapping two new brews, an Imperial Scotch and a Double Patch Porter. Both brews are the big brothers (Imperial/Double) to other Rohrbach's brews of the same name (Scotch Ale and Sam Patch Porter). They also had some absolutely delicious German sausages with sauerkraut and stone ground mustard and offered a free pint or four 4 oz. pours as a flight, all for $8. Good price. The only downside to the evening was the place was packed and they were supposed to have a tour of the next door brewery, but reneged I believe because they weren't expecting so many people and were short staffed.
Tasting notes for both brews and the four flight sampler I had:
1) Imperial Scotch - This had a fruity, jammy nose, bready, sludgy sugary thick with a foamy mouthfeel, a touch of alchohol and a brief warming sensation, sweet with molasses and hazy. 10% ABV. See more here.
2) Double Patch Porter - a light aroma or coffee, a milk chocolate taste, hoppy background, good legs with lingering roasty chocolate, almost too rich for two in a row. 7.5% ABV.
3) Highland Lager - Never had this one before actually, I always thought it would be too light but didn't realize it is a Vienna Lager style, but I found this nicely balanced with a citrus sweetness and a touch of bitter at the end. 5% ABV, 11 IBU, see more here.
4) Extra Special Bitter - a fruity, spicy and sessionable beer, quite tasty and enjoyable but I am not sure it uses an English yeast? Unknown ABV.
5) Railroad Street IPA - tasty, citrus with a strong tropical fruit note, a touch of pine and great legs. 6.5% ABV. 66 IBU.
6) Vanilla Porter - roasty, chocolate, vanilla and richness. 6% ABV.
After we found out the tour was canceled, we left and went to a nearby new brewery (opened in October of 2014), Lost Borough Brewing Co. on Atlantic (behind Sticky Lips on the corner of Culver near East High). There we had a flight also, four beers I've never had before, actually the first Lost Borough brews I've had as well.
Tasting notes:
1) Blonde Belgian Wit - nose of old banana, spicy, citrus and clove, quite hazy with a touch of sugary sweet aftertaste, a full mouthfeel and maybe too much carbonation. 5.8% ABV.
2) Nut Warmer Brown Ale - a full ginger nose, earthy, walnut, I really liked this. 7% ABV.
3) West Coast Red IPA - more bitter than citrusy, a floral aroma, fairly high bitterness with a touch of pine. 6.9% ABV.
4) Scotch Ale - a nice burnt caramel flavor, smooth with cherry, raspberry, toffee notes, overall really tasty. Uknown ABV.
My favorite of the night: Lost Borough Scotch Ale, smooth and tasty, this is the kind of Scotch Ale I love.
Tasting notes for both brews and the four flight sampler I had:
1) Imperial Scotch - This had a fruity, jammy nose, bready, sludgy sugary thick with a foamy mouthfeel, a touch of alchohol and a brief warming sensation, sweet with molasses and hazy. 10% ABV. See more here.
2) Double Patch Porter - a light aroma or coffee, a milk chocolate taste, hoppy background, good legs with lingering roasty chocolate, almost too rich for two in a row. 7.5% ABV.
3) Highland Lager - Never had this one before actually, I always thought it would be too light but didn't realize it is a Vienna Lager style, but I found this nicely balanced with a citrus sweetness and a touch of bitter at the end. 5% ABV, 11 IBU, see more here.
4) Extra Special Bitter - a fruity, spicy and sessionable beer, quite tasty and enjoyable but I am not sure it uses an English yeast? Unknown ABV.
5) Railroad Street IPA - tasty, citrus with a strong tropical fruit note, a touch of pine and great legs. 6.5% ABV. 66 IBU.
6) Vanilla Porter - roasty, chocolate, vanilla and richness. 6% ABV.
After we found out the tour was canceled, we left and went to a nearby new brewery (opened in October of 2014), Lost Borough Brewing Co. on Atlantic (behind Sticky Lips on the corner of Culver near East High). There we had a flight also, four beers I've never had before, actually the first Lost Borough brews I've had as well.
Tasting notes:
1) Blonde Belgian Wit - nose of old banana, spicy, citrus and clove, quite hazy with a touch of sugary sweet aftertaste, a full mouthfeel and maybe too much carbonation. 5.8% ABV.
2) Nut Warmer Brown Ale - a full ginger nose, earthy, walnut, I really liked this. 7% ABV.
3) West Coast Red IPA - more bitter than citrusy, a floral aroma, fairly high bitterness with a touch of pine. 6.9% ABV.
4) Scotch Ale - a nice burnt caramel flavor, smooth with cherry, raspberry, toffee notes, overall really tasty. Uknown ABV.
My favorite of the night: Lost Borough Scotch Ale, smooth and tasty, this is the kind of Scotch Ale I love.
Most memorable IPA's of 2014
Yes, American craft beer lovers are mostly obsessed with IPA's. So, the style I have drank the most since I started this blog has been the IPA. So, I thought it might be fun to write a post about the most memorable IPA's from a long list of 50 plus. This includes 29 American IPA's, 2 Belgian IPA's, 4 Black IPA's, 6 English IPA's, 1 Double/Imperial Black IPA, 7 Double/Imperial IPA's, 2 Triple IPA's and 1 White IPA.
Sorry I'm not going to split the honors between American/English even though the styles are so different.
The most memorable IPA's (including Double/Imperial) to me were:
Heady Topper by The Alchemist - not just because of the journey to even drink Heady Topper, but it is the tastiest and most refreshing IPA I've ever had. So fresh and not overly bitter, just flavorful. This is one IPA that you can define several different hop flavors.
90 Minute IPA by Dogfish Head - this is a bold IPA, tons of flavor, sharp and bitter but in a flavorful way, lots of citrus and aroma to back up the intense hoppiness of this brew.
Two Hearted Ale by Bell's Brewery - one of the first IPA's I had after starting the blog and it has stuck with me as being a super flavorful sessionable IPA. Just a good mix of hops brewed into this one.
Space Dust IPA by Elysian Brewing - I do not know how else to describe this other than it tastes like space dust, there's like an interesting particulate nature to this brew. It also features great citrus/tropical fruit/melon/lime notes with a tinge of spiciness.
Single Hop Series: Falconer's Flight by Dark Horse Brewing Co. - a single hop IPA that contains bold flavors for just one hop. I was really surprised and pleased by how complex one hop could be. I think sometimes brewers add too many different kinds of hops just to make their beer sound complex when all it really does is muddle the true flavor of the hops together. Not true with this one.
Dubhe Imperial Black IPA by Uinta Brewing Co. - so flavorful, complex, dark and rich with chocolate and coffee notes balanced by grapefruit and pine. It's a wonder how this one works, but it does so admirably.
Sorry I'm not going to split the honors between American/English even though the styles are so different.
The most memorable IPA's (including Double/Imperial) to me were:
Heady Topper by The Alchemist - not just because of the journey to even drink Heady Topper, but it is the tastiest and most refreshing IPA I've ever had. So fresh and not overly bitter, just flavorful. This is one IPA that you can define several different hop flavors.
90 Minute IPA by Dogfish Head - this is a bold IPA, tons of flavor, sharp and bitter but in a flavorful way, lots of citrus and aroma to back up the intense hoppiness of this brew.
Two Hearted Ale by Bell's Brewery - one of the first IPA's I had after starting the blog and it has stuck with me as being a super flavorful sessionable IPA. Just a good mix of hops brewed into this one.
Space Dust IPA by Elysian Brewing - I do not know how else to describe this other than it tastes like space dust, there's like an interesting particulate nature to this brew. It also features great citrus/tropical fruit/melon/lime notes with a tinge of spiciness.
Single Hop Series: Falconer's Flight by Dark Horse Brewing Co. - a single hop IPA that contains bold flavors for just one hop. I was really surprised and pleased by how complex one hop could be. I think sometimes brewers add too many different kinds of hops just to make their beer sound complex when all it really does is muddle the true flavor of the hops together. Not true with this one.
Dubhe Imperial Black IPA by Uinta Brewing Co. - so flavorful, complex, dark and rich with chocolate and coffee notes balanced by grapefruit and pine. It's a wonder how this one works, but it does so admirably.
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