The Bruery: Bryeian

My god this season is fucking busy. Between the massive amounts of work, time spent shopping, and spending time with family, sitting down for a nice beer seems like a chore. Usually I just end up crashing on the couch and popping open a Hoponius Union or something. So last night, after the smoke cleared and I was home from Christmas with the family, I decided to open a bottle of beer sent to me via my Reddit Secret Santa. The Bruery's Batch #1000 home brew contest winner, Bryeian, is a Cascadian Rye Ale originally brewed by Bryan Keas and Brian Pramov of Denver based Rock Hoppers Home Brew Club. And as it happens, the lady bought me a glass from Crate and Barrel that said it's specifically for a rye beer, so it worked out perfectly.
Bryeian pours as black as you'd expect a Schwarzbier to pour, with a big erupting head. The hops really smell delightful on the top of this beer, with some citrusy grassy notes shining though. The taste though is much more about the malt profile here, with an unexpectedly smooth opening taste bursting with chocolate and coffee sweetness and what I can only guess is the rye malt bill giving a little aztec chocolate spiciness in the finish. The hops don't present themselves much in the body of this beer but the bitterness left on the tongue leaves a nice finish. It took about four or five sips before I could even figure out what was going on in this guy, with it warming up and some of the flavors brightening, it really evolved quickly, and delightfully. It's really too bad I only have one, and probably won't see another one either. If, for any strange reason, you get a chance to get one, I'd highly recommend it for a nice quite evening of pure stress relief.

Goose Island: Lolita

As one of the harder to find Sisters in Goose Island's Belgian beer series, I was pumped when my salesman pulled up to the back door and carried a case in over his right shoulder, telling me it was hard to get this case for us but here it was, in the cardboard, Lolita. Lolita is a Belgian Wild Ale with Raspberry added and aged in used wine barrels. Immediately I bought up a bottle and took it home with me, opening it up with a nice braised short rib sandwich. The smell is a nice tart fruitiness with some wine sour notes everywhere, and a hint of alcohol. The first sip is a nice punch of tart, but then comes the sweetness. But the money is in the finish with some wine tartness, somewhat less punching than the first blast. Complex is definitely the descriptor of this wild lady, with some fruity raspberry and that pucker of wild Belgian yeast strain, then you get distinct wine barrel notes that almost suck the sweet right of your mouth. Every sip feels unique, with a range of flavors that make drinking this beer worth sitting back and sipping on it the entire way. I think I'll buy a few more bottles and age them to try vertically against a fresh bottle the next year, unless I drink them first.

Sixpoint: Global Warmer

I'm a total sucker for Sixpoint. I love canned beer, and any brewery that exclusively cans just adds to that love. That brings us to Global Warmer, their newest seasonal offering. The biggest issue I have with Sixpoint is they don't tell you anything about the beer you're about to drink. What is Global Warmer? Is it spiced like a winter beer? Is it alcoholic Red Bull? Even their website, which has a nice mock expert tone, doesn't exactly tell you what style of beer this is... it might be an IPA, or an imperial amber. I'm still not sure, I've been calling in an Imperial Amber because it reminds me of one of my favorite beers in the world, Nugget Nectar but even that might not be correct. The only thing for sure is it's dam delicious. 

As soon as you crack the can the hops just leek out and immediately I become like a 50's cartoon character following scent lines to a pie on a windowsill. Pouring hard into a glass unleashes even more lovely hops into the nose. The beer is immediately floral and citrus with a dry backbone to carry the hops and a nice bitter finish. This is a beer that just tastes fresh, and it tastes very consistent with the hop tastes present the entire time. From first sip I was in love with this beer, with hop notes being first and last and everywhere in between. It also pairs very well with the scallops I made for dinner, with the citrusy hops balancing the briny seafood very well. This beer is a truly excellent hoppy beer in an already saturated hop market. Luckily there's always room for one more. 

DuClaw: Sweet Baby Jesus

The best part of having friends living in Virginia is every once in a while they come up to visit family and bring me a mixed case of beer with them. The best part of that is getting a beer that I probably once saw while reading various beer news sites and then suddenly remembering that I wanted it, and then it's right in front of me. That beer today is DuClaw Brewing Sweet Baby Jesus! a chocolate peanut butter porter. I had to wait for the right occasion to drink this guy, and the fourth time my truck broke down in about two weeks seemed just about right.
The peanut butter smell is immediately present as soon as carbon dioxide gets cracked from bottle. The nose is all peanut butter. The first sip is basically like drinking a deliciously smooth reese's  cup. Big tastes of chocolate malt with a hint of smoke and coffee and immense peanut butter. The finish has very little bitterness from the english hops. This is defiantly a dessert beer and an excellent one at that. Next time you end up in Virginia I strongly recommend bringing back a feel bottles to end your Thanksgiving dinner with.

Trillium Brewing: Part 1 of a (Probably) Never Ending Series

I was excited to hear about Trillium Brewing opening in Boston proper early this year. As a resident of Boston, getting a brewery right down the pike from me was awesome. I was cautiously optimistic when I was able to order a Trillium beer from The Publick House, Beaver Hat, a Pale Ale that might've been the best Pale I've ever had by a Massachusetts brewery. Being able to easily get drafts from The Publick House meant I was a little lazy about going to the seaport district but I finally put on some pants and got a couple growlers. Immediately I regretted not going earlier, because walking into the tiny little shop to get growlers had that beautiful smell of cooked cereal malts that reminds me of some of the best breweries I've been too. Anyways, waxing poetically is boring, let's get to the beer.
Grass Hopper is a pale ale made with locally sourced malts and Massachusetts hops. It lives up to it's name with delicious citrusy hops that give it a very earthy grassy taste, and reminds me of freshly cut grass in a middle of a nice hot summer day. Unbelievably fresh tasting with minimal bitterness in the finish. If Trillium can bottle this and sell it for 10 bucks a 6 pack they'll be the best selling Ale brewery in the state.
Valley Buckwheat is another locally sourced malt saison brewed with, obviously, buckwheat. First sip is very different. It's incredibly musty, like smelling an old attic or something. The second sip is less musty, and much more blending of what reminds me of a German pilsner and a Belgian Saison. Every sip, as it warms up, gets better and better. The last sip is a blissful mix of cloves and pepper and earthy malt sweetness. Amazingly drinkable.
This was my first set of growler fills from Trillium but it will hardly be the last. I have friends coming up from Virginia that are all about hops, and I'm sick of hearing about how Bell's Two Hearted Ale is better than anything they can get here. I think Trillium will change their opinion.

Narragansett Private Stock: Imperial Black Steam

Narragansett Brewing has been trying very hard lately to up their game from being just a brewery that makes cheap adjunct lager, to a brewery that makes both easily accessible beers and rich full flavored beers that are both drinkable and complex. For the winter from their Private Stock collection comes an Imperial Black Steam beer. Steam beer is one of the few styles of beer that is indigenous to the United States, being traced back to somewhere around 1860 as a beer made with lager yeast but fermented at higher temperatures.
Narragansett's version is the strongest steam beer I've had before, and is definitely the only black version. The smell is wonderful roasted coffee, with some chocolate and a bit of anise star in the background. First sip is an excellent mix of smoke and chocolate and some burnt dark bread. The mouthfeel though is somewhat lighter than I expected despite it's color. At 9% alcohol I expected some burn but it actually finishes very smooth. While I've been a fan of Narragansett beers, this is their most complex beer I've had from them and will be great again on a cold winter night.

Great Divide: Espresso Yeti

This was an obvious choice for this blog. Great Divide's Espresso Imperial Yeti stout just screamed out for me to make some bacon and eggs and crack open this beer. I did, and it did not disappoint.
This beer is an absolute beast, and finishing it all by myself was a feat that I was very happy to be able to partake in. The taste is pure roasted coffee right off the bat, like someone decided to make some coffee in a tiny pot in this beer. The vanilla notes from the oak are in there as well as some roasty coffee deep in the background. The taste is amazingly smooth for a 10% beer. The flavors are like smoke on the tongue, filling up my nose with aromas and my palate with bitter coffee and sweet malt. I can't describe this beer anymore than I can wax poetically about the first time it touched my lips. Every sip is gets more complex with more flavors of the oak coming out as it warms up. If you see a bottle sitting on a shelf somewhere I'd buy it immediately.

Mystic Brewing: Will o the Wisp & India Wharf Pale Ale

About a week or so ago I found a beautiful Mystic Snifter at Goodwill and bought myself a bottle of their fall saison, Will o' the Wisp. Then the flu hits and I'm laid up with some flu like variant for about a week and have been on a steady diet of theraflu and vitamin C. In that time I acquired Mystic's newest Wigglesworth Series beer, an english style IPA, India Wharf Pale Ale so now that I'm better, let's drink them both.
For starters, Mystic Brewing makes impeccably clean tasting beers, and I've never been disappointed with anything they've put out. It's hard to explain what I mean, but these beers just always have an amazing smell, taste, and finish to them. Will o' the Wisp is their fall saison, and pours a nice brown and smells of brown sugar with something that reminds me of maple syrup. The taste is very autumn like, as if the fallen leaves distilled itself down into a wonderful elixir with some clove and pepper mixed in for good measure. The hops are in the background for this beer, giving just a slight bitterness in the finish. This is the first brown saison I've ever had and I can honestly say it's an excellently drinkable fall beer.
After that comes the new beer from Mystic's british beer series Wigglesworth, India Wharf Pale Ale. I was very recently told that Lord Falconer from last winter might not be back and is being supplemented with India Wharf. If you've read this blog, Lord Falconer was one of the best stouts I've ever tasted so I was very disappointed to hear about it's potential demise. But, fear not, India Wharf continues Mystic's tradition of wonderful beer. IWPA pours a lovely hazy golden with a nice lacy head. The smell is a musty american hops smell mixed with some earthy malt giving hints of citrus and fresh baked dark bread. The beer tastes amazingly earthy with both hop freshness and some bitterness in the finish. One sip after another is a nice balance of bitter and sweet and bitter again.
It's amazing to drink the two beers one after another. They're two completely different styles of beer yet they're both executed perfectly. I'm very thankful to have them within ten miles of my Brighton home and readily available whenever I want them. Prost!

Sixpoint: Autumnation

Great with buffalo chicken pizza.

Consistency is the pride of some brewers, being able to churn out the same high quality beer over and over. The Alchemist has been churning out 16oz can of Heady Topper for over 2 years and it's still the same amazing beer. Sixpoint Brewery out of Brooklyn, NY has no need for such consistency. Every year their seasonal seem to be tweaked one way or another, some good, some bad, but experimenting at all times. This years Autumnation is like none of the others. Previous years it was a pumpkin beer, but this year it's a lovely wet hop harvest ale made with the hop of choice chosen by Sixpoint's lovely fans, Mosaic hops. Mosaic hops are a fairly new variety of hops that pack a nice level of alpha acids, giving both excellent aroma quality and even levels of bitterness in the finish. 

Autumnation is a hop shadow box, taking a nice copper ale support and filling it with a single hop that's loaded with tropical fruit citrusyness and a bit of earthy fruityness. Then in the finish it's bitter, but doesn't suck the life out of your tongue. A much needed dose of hop deliciousness in a sea of pumpkin and fest biers. After a post birthday drying out this was a nice way to get back on the wagon, or fall off it, I forget what the wagon represents.

Long Trail: Pumpkin Ale

So this is what happens after drinking non stop for three days during my birthday. I don't update my blog for much too long. Let's get back to work.
Pumpkin beers seem like the most volatile of seasonal ales. One year they're well balanced and the next year there's too much spice, or too much malt. Last year, Long Trail Pumpkin was one of the better pumpkin beers I tried, being logged a 5 in my Untappd account. This year though it just wasn't the same, with a touch too much sweetness. It's actually a good beer, but it's hard to want to drink more than 1 in a sitting cause the sweetness makes it feel very rich. But if you're looking for a nice beer to compliment your pumpkin pie at the end of meal, this might be the beer for the occasion.

Blue Hills: Pumpkin Lager

I didn't see this beer coming. Blue Hills Brewery's Pumpkin Lager just said to me, easy drinking, potentially dangerously drinkable with a portion of pumpkin pie thrown in one way or another. What I didn't expect was a healthy dose of delicious chocolate malt to make this beer one of the most interesting and dessert like pumpkin beers I've had all season. This is what I always expect from a pumpkin stout, but this lager with a nice deep amber color and thin carbonation actually delivered what I was hoping for from a few others so far. Chocolate malts with some nice toffee sweetness and like pumpkin pie spices make it an delightful beer. If I could find this nitro charged at a bar somewhere I think it'd be even better, cause this beer is calling for a nice smooth creamy finish. Really though, worth the $5 bucks and then some. Better than a lot of pumpkin beers I've had so far.

Baxter: Hayride

Aged on American Oak is a phrase that always gives me pause when I'm drinking beer. Yes, oak aging can give a beer added complexity with nice vanilla overtones and a woody finish, but sometimes it can made an already sweet beer nothing but a big ol' sweet bomb. Luckily for my taste buds, Baxter Brewing Hayride is the former. Brewed with two rye malts, new zealand hops and then aged in fresh oak with ginger, black pepper and orange peel, this beer is all subtly all the way. It's got a nice hint of everything, with that spicy rye, ginger, and black pepper working together, the orange peel and sweet malt working together, then finishing with a nice light touch of wood on the tongue. It's complex enough that you can just sit back and sip on it and easy drinking enough that you might not even notice it. It also pours pretty dam ugly, so I might leave it in the can unless you like it dirty. But that's up to you.

Cambridge Brewing Company: Brett Semetary

One year ago, or so, on Halloween night the fine folks at Cambridge Brewing Company put a batch of their Great Pumpkin Ale in oak vats with some lovely brettanomyces and let the demons due their work.
Fast forward almost one year and here I am sitting at the bar at CBC and I get the privilege of ordering this fine beer. It pours immediately cloudy, with a strong nose of all spice and funk. I can't quite describe funk, but when you smell it, you know it's funky. The immediate taste is that same funk sour with a ripe gourd and cinnamon and some other spices. The finish is all brett. As someone who loves sours, this beer is just bliss. In a world of much too sweet pumpkin beers this tart masterpiece is a much needed break. I'm definitely gonna have to make one more trip to CBC before it's gone.

Alltech: Kentucky Pumpkin Barrel Ale

Industrial super complex Alltech has been planning to take over the world against Superman for what feels like decades. Attacks on our modern computer system, buying airlines and colluding with oil companies to raise gas prices, buying the Daily Planet to control the media, and all around mayhem are just every day activities for Alltech.
Apparently one part of their plan to destroy Superman is through his other weakness, Pumpkin Beers. Let's face it, Clark Kent enjoys sweater weather, and what goes better with the leafs changing in Metropolis than a nice warm feeling pumpkin beer. The problem is, it takes like 50 beers to throw Superman off his game, and Lex Luther know it. So what did he do? He came up with a beer that was much stronger than the ordinary pumpkin beer, but equally as drinkable as beers half the strength.
Kentucky Pumpkin Barrel Ale has strongs smell of wood in the nose. The head quickly fades in my snifter that they recommend I use. (Maybe another even more secret plan that I don't even understand?) The taste is very upfront bourbon, with vanilla and woody tones in the front and cinnamon carrying up the back. The finish is dry and easy with the strong booze from the bourbon leaving a nice linger at the end of the sip. Realizing the trap, Clark decides to light up a cigar, sit back and sip rather than pound them back. Plan foiled.
Wait, sorry, I was thinking of Lexcorp, I have no idea who Alltech is. Quick google search and they're a distillery and brewery company in Kentucky, but their world domination plans are unknown at this time. Either way, it's a nice beer to sit back and sip on a chilly patio somewhere.

Beer Works: Pumpkin Ale Part 1

Part one of a two part plan to make pumpkin beers. First pumpkin beer, a simple ale with even amounts of spice and gourd flavors. Later I'll get into the second plan, Beer Works Black O'Lantern Pumpkin Stout, but the first beer from them is Pumpkin Works Ale. A very well made ale that balances a brown ale perfectly with all the spices you'd find in any typical pumpkin beer. Some of them are heavy on cinnamon, or all spice or nutmeg but Beer Works blends them all seamlessly in this beer, with just a nice touch of that gourd flavor from the pumpkin. It's not too dessert-y but just a good drinking pumpkin beer. I'm genuinely impressed with this one. Nice job, I might even buy a whole 6er to have as it gets even colder. 

The Tap: Marzen Scorsese

There's no shortage of puns in the beer world, but oktoberfest beers usually just get called oktoberfest. Thankfully, The Tap in Haverhill has stepped up to the challenge of a good pun for a fest beer, Marzen Scorsese. Since their label relaunch The Tap has been churring out excellent beer and Scorsese is no different.
Pouring a deep amber with a thin lace of head, this beer has sweet breads in the nose, mixed with some citrus buried deep in back. It drinks very smooth, with just a nice bubbly sweetness of toffee and caramel. The finish has a touch of bitterness but the sweetness is definitely the overriding presence in this beer. Very delicious, and would've been worth raising a stein with. Excellent beer.

Boulevard Brewing: Mid Coast IPA

I'm gonna cheat a little. Boulevard Brewing has released a new 12 pack that includes to new beers that have never left the tasting room. And while this beer isn't technically fall related, it came out in the fall, and it's freaking delicious.
Boulevard Brewing Mid Coast IPA is a 100 IBU beer but only clocks in at somewhere around 5.5%. The smell was immediately grapefruit and piney hops. It gave off a very nice head that lifted up in my mug and was a beautiful clear straw color. Once it hits my lips though, it's a beautifully balanced beer that carries a nice touch of sweet malts with a blast of amazing pine and grapefruit and some tropical fruit and finishes with a lovely bitter coating on my tongue to finish. This is how you balance an IPA, without too much sweetness, just enough malt to carry the hops. If this was a 6 pack I'd buy it but I guess I'll have to settle for the 3 I get in the sampler 12 pack.

Left Hand Brewing: Oktoberfest

Left Hand Brewing has been seriously effected by the floods in Colorado right now, including being forced to put out bags of their malted barley in place of sandbags cause it was all they had. It's going to be a tough road back for them, so we should start by buying a 6er of some of their beer.
Left Hand Oktoberfest has the most upfront bite to any Oktoberfest I've had. It has a bit of a resiny smell sitting over sweet breads in the glass. The hit on the tongue is a very strong bite of hops, with a little curdle in the booze from this guy. It's a strong Oktoberfest, up around 6.5% or so, and you can feel the warmth in your chest. The bitterness comes back after the sweetness fades and leaves it sitting on the tongue after it's gone. Definitely the most American of the fest beers I've had so far, with a big beefy hop presence through the beer. Nice interpretation, though I don't know if I could fill a stein with it cause I might not make it through too many of them. Still delicious though.

Wasatch Brewery: Pumpkin Ale

Wasatch Brewery was Park City, UT's first brewery since prohibition, and rather recently, they started popping up on the shelves of stores in Massachusetts. Let's see how the few folks who imbibe make a pumpkin beer.
Wasatch's pumpkin pores very clean, with very little head that fades quick. It has faint smells of all spice and nutmeg. The taste is light bodied with some light spicing, but the taste that stands out the most is surprising, Pumpkin. The taste is very gourd with some subtle bitterness in the finish. This is definitely the most pumpkin tasting pumpkin beer so far, but after that, it doesn't have much else going on. Worth it if you want a serious gourd beer.

Guinness: Red Harvest

Guinness has been coasting for some 400 years or so on it's original Guinness Draught Beer. Recently they've been trying to mix it up a little bit. In 2005 they announced they'd be releasing four brewmaster series beers. They gave up after three. They introduced Guinness Black Lager and flooded the market with ads to try and jump start it, but so far it makes up less than 1% of its sales. Now they're jumping into the most lucrative craft seasonal market, fall beers, with Guinness Red Harvest Ale.
As you can see, Red Harvest pours much like its older brother, dark with a nice fluffy head that quickly gets pulled down by the nitrogen. The immediate smell is strong roasted malts with some chocolate and faint coffee notes. The taste is at first very rich with up front sweetness with the same toasty malt flavor and a touch of toffee and caramel. The lingering taste is very thin though, almost a bit watered down. The finish is very dry with no bitterness what-so-ever and as quickly as it was here, it's gone. Unfortunately, this beer just don't hit the spot for me, coming off as a watered down Guinness with some caramel tossed in to "redden" it up. I guess there's a reason they've been making the same beer for so long.

Southern Tier: Choklat

In a sea of oktoberfest and pumpkin beers I lucked out with a nice dessert beer after a long Sunday of fighting through crowds at the SOWA farmers market was a nice treat after a long day. It was also a somewhat random treat when my buddy Mike brought me a bottle of Southern Tier Choklat stout that I left in his fridge when I moved 2 weeks ago. Dated 11/27/2011, I was pumped to open a beer that I'd been aging that long for two reasons, one  because I wanted to see if the conditions in my apartment kept the beer well, and if successful, if this beer was as delicious as I remember it.
Cracking it and getting a nice hsssss from the bottle was a good sign. Chocolate is the overriding smell and the theme of this beer. The 10% in this beer had completely faded and it sipped a delicious mix of roasted caramel and pure chocolate deliciousness. It really was a sip on pure chocolate. Fresh this beer has a bit of an alcohol bite to it, but two years of aging has made this the perfect dessert beer, with delicious liquid chocolate and some deep coffee. I could sip on this after a nice dinner and eat some delicious tiramisu. If you see it, get it and drink it.

Red Hook: Out of your Gourd

The first pumpkin stout starts with Red Hook Out of Your Gourd Pumpkin Porter. The beer pours a dark black with a nice brown roasted head, about a quarter inch up and quickly fizzles. The smell is the usual array or typical pumpkin pie spice. The taste is overwhelming cinnamon, with some coffee and roasted malt, very dry in the finish with a little bitterness as well. This beer just seemed to miss the sweet spot for me, with too much cinnamon, not enough chocolate from the malts, and the hops buried way too deep. It was easy to sip on with it's incredible dryness though, so at least drinking a few would be easy enough.

Joseph Brau: Octoberfest

I really can't believe that Dan Gordon graduated from a brewing engineer program in historic Weihenstephane, Germany, because the beer the Gordon-Biersch Brewing Company makes for Trader Joe's and Costco is at best, ordinary, and at worst undrinkable. While shopping for groceries I made the decision that if I'm gonna try a bunch of fall related beers, I had to try every one I could get my hands on.
Joseph's Brau Oktoberfest pours a light amber with a good inch of head to it. It smells sweet, and up front it's sweet on the tongue, with caramel and pilsner malt, but the finish is slightly sour, leaving it slightly off putting. I get very little hop bitterness anywhere in this guy either. I guess for 6 bucks I can't be incredibly picky but I wish if Trader Joe's was going to impersonate craft beer they'd offer something with some more backbone to it.

Weyerbacher: Imperial Pumpkin

I had my first non beer pumpkin flavored thing today, a pumpkin yogurt, so I figure with that flavor still lingering somewhere in my brain, let's review another pumpkin beer, Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin.
Immediately I wish it was chillier when I smell it being poured into the glass. The smell is strong nutmeg with some faint cinnamon in the back. The head on this guy disappears quickly leaving nothing but an amber pool of deliciousness. The beer itself has all the spice qualities that you'd expect from a pumpkin pie along with some nice bitter pine in the finish from the hops, adding a good finish to an otherwise sweet beer, giving it a good balance in the finish. I'm always shocked how smooth this beer drinks despite the 8% alcohol tag, cause the burn isn't there, it just leaves a nice warmth in my chest. This is a pumpkin beer I'll be saving till closer to Thanksgiving when I'm really going to want to warm up with something delicious.

The Bruery: Autumn Maple

Definitely the oddest of autumn beers I'll try this year, The Bruery's Autumn Maple is made with cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, molasses, vanilla, maple syrup, brains, people and who knows what else. Okay, not the last two, but you get the idea. This is a beer that is immediately rich with all sorts of smells, from strong smells of allspice and vanilla with a touch of funk in the nose. The beer itself pours a nice cloudy brown with a fluffy inch of head that dissipates pretty quickly. The taste is an assault that reminds me of some seriously cooked up sweet potato fries, with nice yammyness and rich molasses sweetness. The funk from the nose is there giving a nice tart twist to an otherwise deliciously sweet beer. Overall this is a beer that's worth opening with a friend and sitting back and enjoying something that's really worth enjoying, like It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown or The Big Lebowski. Either way it needs to be sipped and enjoyed.  

Anchor Brewing Company: Big Leaf Maple

Anchor Brewing Company was the first important microbrewery in the United States. In 1965 Frederick Louis Maytag III used his Maytag money to purchase a majority stake in Anchor Brewing, and spent almost six years learning how to brew and the importance of cleanliness when making beer. Maytag saved Anchor from going belly up and turned around the beer movement in California with their signature beer, Anchor Steam. However; in 2010 Maytag sold Anchor to two for Skyy Vodka executives who are hoping to keep Anchor Brewing alive with new styles and some new beers. Their new fall seasonal is Big Leaf Maple Red Ale, made with maple syrup produced from the aforementioned tree. Big Leaf Maple Trees are not the ideal source for maple syrup, as the taste is slightly different from other maple syrup and it takes almost thirty-five gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. But Anchor plowed ahead and pumped some maple syrup into this beer creating a nice sweet finish from an all together excellent beer.
Big Leaf Maple pours a beautiful amber with a nice but thin head. The smell is all strong, piney hops. The taste though is a nice blend of pine and caramel blended together beautifully. The beer sips very easily with consistent wash of bitter and sweet, with a dry finish that leaves a touch of sweet in the back of the throat. It's nice to get some hops in an Autumn beer after wave after wave of oktoberfests. Definitely coming back to this guy again soon.

Sam Adams: Ruby Mild

British Milds were once a huge style in England, being the common drink of the working class after a long day. Eventually, as WW1 and WW2 ravaged supplies in England, malted barley became harder and harder to come by, and the British Mild was replaced by the cheaper Pale Ale. The mild never truly recovered. Luckily, though sporadically, they’ve shown up on the shelves including Pretty Things making two last year and now Samuel Adams including a mild in their autumn mixed 12 pack. It’s nice to see the mild casually making it’s return to the beer scene, even though it’s just coming back with a whisper, it’s better than nothing.

Unlike its counterpart the pale ale, the mild has a much richer malt backbone. It really drinks a bit like a snickers bar, with sweet delicious caramel and nougat and a very pronounced bitter finish. The hops leave a nice lace of bitter flowers way in the back of the throat that only make the next sip equally refreshing as the one before it. Too bad it can only be had through the mixed 12 pack.

Harpoon: Octoberfest

Football season is here, and it’s about the closest celebration that America has to Octoberfest we have. Sit back, eat some artery clogging food and drinking copious amounts of beer. That’s why I’m glass Harpoon has decided to can it’s Octoberfest. Being able to crack a can of deliciousness and lose myself for the entire even is everything a man could ever want.

Harpoon’s Octoberfest fills that niche very nicely. In a nice sea of IPAs cracking this beer is completely different. Rich smell of toffee and caramel give way to an almost burnt caramel flavor. If there are hops in this beer I’m unaware of it and really just don’t care. It finishes smooth and crisply and doesn’t leave me feeling terribly full, which is excellent since I’m on #4 and still going strong. It might not be the best fest beer I’ve had in my life, but 12 pack cans make it one I’m going to drink more than most. Prost! 

Brooklyn: Post Road Pumpkin

Brooklyn Post Road Pumpkin is my first pumpkin beer of the new season. Brooklyn is, if nothing else, a consistently great brewery. Something about the water, or the yeast, or their very literary approach to making beer has always stood up to the test of time with them, and their Pumpkin beer holds up with the rest of their releases.

Post Road Pumpkin smells like nutmeg and clove. The smell gives way to a nice blend of sweet caramel with the aforementioned nutmeg and clove with a hint of cinnamon and pumpkin. The spice isn’t over offensive though, and actually gives a nice balance to the very minimal hops on the tongue. This is my idea of a good pumpkin beer and I’m glad it’s the first one I’m reviewing. It tastes like a beer that has some pumpkin pie in the background, not like a pumpkin pie milkshake. Truly one of the best pumpkin beers to start with. 

Mayflower: Autumn Wheat

It's not very often we get a dunkleweiss from an American brewer. Hefeweisses litter the shelves, especially in the spring and summer, but I love the deep wheat taste of a good dark wheat beer. A little richer, with more ripe fruit flavors and less banana, a good dunkleweiss just feels richer than it's lighter counterpart. It helps that one of the last beers I got to enjoy with my Dad was also a Mayflower Autumn Wheat Ale. 
Mayflower autumn wheat pours a deep amber and wafts up smells of roasted barley and toffee. The taste that follows is similar with some bitterness mixed in from the hops. The mouthfeel is very light but also a little light on the carbonation but it almost floats on the tounge. The bitter finish is a nice touch compared to some of it's German counterparts, definitely an American touch. Overall an excellent beer as I move into a new apartment. 

Hofbrauhaus Wolters: Fest-Bier

My first authentic German festbier is gonna be from Hofbrauhaus Wolters. The beer pours a nice amber color with a nice head that quickly fades. It leaves a decent ring of belgian lace around my stein. The smell is musty German pilsner and not much else. The taste is also mostly pilsner with a touch of sweet bread malt and very faint bitterness in the finish. I love the mustiness but it leaves a bit to be desired in the traditional marzen malty. This might be better than their traditional pilsner, but it's not my favorite for a fest bier, though I'd fill another stein with this guy.

Newport Storm; Oktoberfest

I'm gonna try and review a new fall beer every day from September 1st till Thanksgiving. That's 89 beers, and I'm gonna fail this experiment, but here we go. Somehow I've never had a Newport Storm beer before and I was given a bottle of their Oktoberfest marzen lager to try recently, so why not start here.
Newport Storm Oktoberfest pours a nice amber, filtered so it looks incredibly crisp in the light. It leaves very little head and the 14 IBU's worth of hops leave no belgian lace on the glass. But I'm not here for the hops, I'm here for the German tradition. This is a great example of the style with a nice smell of toasted caramel which carries over to the tongue. The taste is wonderful sweet bread with a nice crisp finish with no bitterness. The tartness of some Rick's Picks' Classic Sours adds an excellent balance to the deliciousness of this sweet beer and I highly recommend a pickle and beer pairing with this beer. First beer of my marathon review session started good with a beer I'll defiantly be drinking again.

Hill Farmstead: Vera Mae

Sometimes life works in amazing ways. After figuring out when I'd be able to get to Vermont for a vacation I set up a side trip to Hill Farmstead. Then it turns out that I'd be arriving on the exact day that they'd be releasing a beer that I've been lusting over ever since I read about it's release last season. Vera Mae Saison.
Vera Mae is made with organic vermont spelt, dandelions picked right off the land, American hops, wildflower honey, and pure bliss.  This might be my new favorite beer, with a somewhat musty smell up front, with that wheaty base smell uncovered by a big whiff. The taste is amazing, with earthy wheat being carried over the excellent sweetness from the honey and floral tartness in the finish, a combination of bitter hops and what I can only assume is the dandelions coming through. Every sip is a treasure of taste and is an experience much like the trip to Hill Farmstead itself. Just perfect.

Destination Vermont, Last Stop: Hill Farmstead

Hill Farmstead Brewery is thee most beautiful brewery I've ever been to. Located off dirt roads in Greensboro, VT on land that's been in Brewer Shaun Hill's family for over 200 years, it takes hours to get to from just about everywhere. On the plus side, on my way back to Boston you drive through beautiful Franconia Notch State Park, adding even more beauty to an already amazing trip.
Hill Farmstead is an absolute must visit for any Vermont beer trip. Getting out of the truck and walking over you can smell the sweetness of nature and a brewery, a mix of grass and cooked grain, and the sights are just endless fields and a quaint farmhouse. That farmhouse just happens to have a brewery attached to it. Now, maybe it's the experience of making the extra journey, and being in what might be the most beautiful place I've ever been able to buy and drink a beer but Hill Farmstead makes the best beers I've ever tasted. Drinking them is as much about the adventure as it is about the excellent quality of these small batch beers that get churned out daily.
Edward, Hill Farmstead's American Pale Ale, named after their Grandfather, is the most purchased growler fill of the day, with a few folks bring cases of their custom labeled 2 Liter growler to get it filled. The man directly in front of me had 2 and says he comes every Wednesday to get them filled with Edward. Edward, as a beer, is just amazing. It's not some knock your socks off double IPA, clocking in at 5.2% alcohol, but it still boasts 85 IBU's, the International Bittering Units. The beer itself is nice and sweet, with hints of caramel malt but mostly it's carried by it's delicious hop profile, filling your mouth with stinging hops that are reminiscent of some tropical fruit, grapefruit and some excellent piney bite. It's just a perfectly balanced pale ale and the only fall back is that it's 3 hours just to get this growler refilled.

Vermont Vacation: Lost Nation Brewing

Photo by Lily Carey

Going to Vermont always brings new surprises and new beers to try, and of the newest beers I was lucky enough to drink on my vacation were from a new brewery housed in the place where an old brewery once was. Two brewers, Allen Van Anda and Jaime Griffith started planning their own brewing ideas when the Trapp Lager Brewery started an expansion and they started planning a new brewery of their own. Then the old Rock Art Brewery's space opened up, and after months of prep and who knows what else, Lost Nation Brewing opened it's doors.
When I saw Lost Nation Gose on the menu at The Farmhouse Tap and Grill in Burlington, VT I thought two things, first, I fucking love Goses and had to order it, and second, what the fuck is Lost Nation Brewing. I was already planning the trip across the state to hit up The Alchemist and Hill Farmstead, so what was one more stop on the way. I was assuming I'd pull up to a space and be able to taste a few beers, grab a growler of something and be on my way. What I wasn't ready for was an amazing smell of smoked meats and a bar full of people with delicious looking food in front of them. I immediately regretted eating anything that morning because I wanted to fill myself with everything going on in this place.

Photo by Lily Carey

I ordered a Vermont Farmstead Alehouse Creamy Cheddar plate with a Petit Ardennes, a belgian ale that was full of delicious clove spice and tasted a bit like every brewery smells, with that sweet grain smell in the glass. The lady ordered the Gose after stealing half of mine the night before, this time getting to take in the entire beer. The gose was equally delicious, with some nice coriander spice and that briny finish that pairs excellently with the creamy cheese, making it a beer you want to quench your thirst with and almost causes a bit of thirst at the same time. The cheese was amazing, and served with an excellent cherry jam that added a perfect fruity balance to the dry finish of the Petit Ardennes.
Vermont is full of amazing breweries, and Lost Nation Brewing added another stop on what's becoming an annual pilgrimage to Vermont. Session beers are becoming more and more necessary to me. Drinking imperial bombs are great, but being able to sit back and drink a 6 pack without feeling like I'm gonna wake up in a bathtub is equally important. Being able to drink all night while playing an epic 4 hour game of Arkham Horror and walk away unscathed isn't always easy, and finding low ABV beers that actually taste excellent isn't easy either. But Lost Nation Brewing is doing just that, and I hope one day I can pick up bottles of their beer anywhere, but for now it's worth the trip to Morrisville for a growler, some cheese and a sandwich.

Ballast Point: Sculpin IPA

The sculpin fish is found in both salt and fresh water, and is the only known fish to produce adrenaline. It also has small stingers that produce a small amount of venom and causes some serious pain when they sting you. It’s a very fitting name for this wonderfully crafted beer from Ballast Point Brewing.

Sculpin IPA is a wonderful beer, pouring beautiful amber with a nice thick head. The hops pop out of the glass with smells of grapefruit and even a hint of tropical mango. The taste itself is just what I want from an IPA, with that citrusy hop carried by sweetness from the malts with a dry finish leaving tons of bitterness on the tongue, just begging for another sip. This beer begs to be drank and it disappears fast. But I've got a 6 pack, so I'm going to drink plenty more! Luckily Sculpin clocks in at the perfect every day IPA alcohol level, 7%, so I'll still be standing by the end of the night. 

Night Shift: Snow White Stout

The concept of a white stout, to me, is the same as a Black IPA. Stouts are dark, and while stout really just started as a descriptor for a stronger porter (stout porter), it's since taken on a name unto itself. And where someone once said an India Pale Ale doesn't have to be pale, Night Shift Brewing has decided that a stout doesn't necessarily have to be dark, and it's led us to Snow, their White Stout made with Ethiopia Harrar coffee beans and oatmeal in the mash.
Snow White once ate a poisoned apple that knocked her out till a prince came and kissed her awake, like that makes any sense. What that lady needed was a massive blast of caffeine to get her going. The prince could've just poured a mouthful of Snow for her and she would've woken right up.
Snow pours a very nice golden color and the scent of coffee rises strait up out of the glass. The taste is immediately cowboy coffee, with the granules flowing through my teeth, but the oatmeal provides a nice sweetness in the backbone of this beer. The balance between bitter coffee and sweet oatmeal is amazingly well done, and this beer warms up and gets even smoother. Really surprising, and while I'd consider it more of a cream ale than an actual stout, it's more than just a novelty beer, it's just delicious.

Stone: Wootstout

I'm a pretty big nerd, so when I heard that uber-nerd Wil Wheaton would be brewing a beer with Stone Brewing for part of their collaboration series, and I knew I'd need to drink it. Wil Wheaton wrote and acted on Star Trek and writes his blog Wil Wheaton Dot Net, and makes on of my favorite podcasts, Tabletop. Tabletop is a podcast hosted by Wil where he presents a game to a group of friends and/or celebrities, explains the rules, and then they play the game. As a serious board game nerd, this is a podcast I could listen to all day just to get jazzed up to play Settlers of Catan or Carcassonne all night, and being able to enjoy a beer that Wil Wheaton got his dirty paws into while playing board games is gonna make that beer even sweeter. And then to make that beer even sweeter, they used a little pecans in the beer.
This beer was dark, too dark for the Lady to drink, so I was "forced" into drinking the entire beer. Thankfully only one fourth of this beer was aged in bourbon barrels, because the bourbon heat was subtle and nice, letting the lighter aspect of the wheat in the stout carry the subtle sweetness of the pecans and the coffee and chocolate in the malts all wash over. At 13% this beer was amazingly drinkable, and at the end of the entire bottle I was a little more inebriated that I wanted to be, so I fixed myself a nice cup of ice cream and settled into an episode of The Daily Show. Great beer, and the only problem I have is I wish it was in a 12oz bottle because I think if I have to drink another by myself it could be problematic.

Backlash Uprising! Series 1 of 3: Catalyst

Backlash brewer Helger Pimentel has decided to make a series of double IPA's using a single hop varietal to showcase that particular hop's unique flavor profile. Beer number one in a three part series uses Amarillo Hops, a deliciously citrusy hop that also has a very good level of Alpha Acids in it to give it a bitter kick.
This beer pours so hazy that I'm pretty sure I was picking hop chunks out of my teeth after drinking it. But ugly beers also tend to taste delicious, and this beer was no different. The immediate smell is of grapefruity hops and some sweet cake. The malts never fully take a back seat but the hops are still the main attraction of this beer, and they're just delicious. The fresh grapefruit in the beginning gives way to wonderful bitterness in the finish. This beer was bright and vibrant with hops and is just excellent. I can't wait for the next two beers in the series to explore some other hop varietals.  I have my fingers crossed one of them is CTZ.

White Whale: Westvleteren 12

"Spend your money on the things money can buy. Spend your time on the things money can't buy." Haruki Murakami, The Wind Up Bird Chronicle.

Thanks to a wonderful gentleman over at The Tippling House, I have had the pleasure of getting my hands on some Westvleteren 12, one of the most sought after beers in the entire world. A beer that under normal circumstances would require a plane ticket to Belgium, a well timed phone call, and a registered set of license plates as I approached the abbey. Hell, even now it required being a preferred customer at a certain store and getting lucky in a lottery. 

Luckily, I was allowed to get my hands on Westvleteren 12, their Quadruple Ale. The Trappist Abbey of Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren started brewing beer in 1838, but the 2 World Wars would make it tough on them, and Brouwerij St. Bernardus stepped up to the plate in1946 with licensing to brew beer for the Monks. But that licensing agreement ended in 1992 and the Abbey decided to begin brewing their own beer again. Since then Westy 12 has been called one of the best beers made in the world. And in the years since 1992 some unforeseen circumstances arose and the Monks needed immediate money for repairs to the monastery, so suddenly, there would be a small amount of Westy for purchase. 

As for the beer itself, Westy 12 drinks almost more like a cognac than a beer, with serious hints of raison and apple, with wood that reminded me of delicious whiskey burn in the finish. I was lucky enough to get 3 bottles, and I'm sitting on 2 more hoping that the heat dies down and the richness of this beer comes out but it’s going to be very tough to wait. 

Ölvisholt Brugghus Lava Smoked Imperial Stout

Despite Iceland being the villains in the classic movie, Mighty Ducks 2, I had my arm twisted into trying a bottle of Lava, a smoked imperial stout from Ölvisholt Brugghua brewery, brewed on a farm
within a stones throw from the active volcano Helka.

Iceland had a prohibition in place on all "Strong" beer (over 2.25%) from 1915 to March 1st 1989, only allowing spirits and wine to be consumed by its citizens, but the idea of craft beer has slowly been crawling into the minds of the Icelandic people. Repeal day, March 1st became a beacon though, known simply as "Beer Day,"and beer has quickly become the most consumed alcoholic beverage in Iceland. And in 2007 two neighboring farmers with a passion for beer decided that Iceland needed some serious beer in their country. It's actually quiet hard to find out information on Icelandic beer, other than opinions of the best they have to offer, so I can't say this is the best beer in Iceland, but as far as I can tell it's the best beer I've ever had from Iceland, so that's a start.
And Lava is a serious beer. Immediately is smells like a smokey chocolate bar, wafting right out of the glass and into my nose. The taste though isn't as smokey, with a nice light touch in the entire body of the beer, but not overpowering the nice chocolate and coffee tastes in the malts. It's not terribly bitter, but the smoke goes down the throat replacing any missing hops with a nice tobacco mustiness. This beer straddles the line between smokey and malty, and I think it hits it fairly perfectly. It's still pretty hot with some alcohol burn in the front, but I think a few months would edge that away and leave a beautiful bouquet of smoke, chocolate and coffee. I'll probably wait to open the 2nd bottle for a few months and let it mellow just a touch, but not too much, cause I don't want that smoke to vanish, just dissipate slowly.

Rising Tide: Maine Island Trail Ale

Last Tuesday I drove to Portland, ME to watch my good friend and bandmate Brian get sworn into the National Guard, and was able to pick up a few wonderful things I can't get in Mass. One of those beers was Rising Tide Maine Island Trail Ale, a collaboration beer with part of the proceeds going to the Maine Island Trail Association, and simple, low ABV ale, the Maine Island Trail Beer. 2 Hops, Citra and Simcoe blend to make one of the tastiest post softball beers I've ever drank, and I knew this would be a perfect trail beer.
After a nice 15-1 lose on a typical 90 degree night in Boston I was incredibly thirsty and I wanted to help heal the wounds of defeat, and I needed a crisp and delicious beer for the job, and this beer was perfect for it. It poured a hazy cloudy mess of golden beauty beer, and the smell is floral and citrusy hops all over. The taste is completely fresh on the tongue, with the same citrus and flowers carrying over with some nice malty sweetness with very little bitterness. It's the definition of a great summer sipper, and along side Notch's Left of the Dial, might be the class of session hoppy beers that few others can come close to. A perfect summer beer.

Night Shift: Bee Tea

When Night Shift Brewing was first coming into existence, there was some good hype behind them and what they'd be brewing. A Belgian pale ale with three different yeast strains, a chocolate stout made with local cocoa nibs, and a wheat beer made with locally cut green tea from Mem Tea Imports. The first two beers were expected, but a belgian style wheat beer made with green tea was completely out of left field for a new brewery. Massachusetts was getting a good influx of ambitious brewers but in March 2012, Night Shift Brewing opened its doors and changed Boston's beer scene. Barrel Reserve Society, Sour Future Programs and amazing collaborations (Backlash, Urban Farm Fermentory) and Night Shift Brewing has become one of thee most important brewers in Mass, and a day trip to Everett is now mandatory for anyone that loves great local beer. Ever beer from Night Shift I've had has been excellent (I Haven't tried Viva Habanera yet cause it's a little terrifying), and much like Star Wars, going back to the original trilogy is always a great idea. Bee Tea pours so imposing, like a thunderstorm rolling into a delicious glass. It tastes just perfectly amazing, with nice wheaty malt and a perfectly balanced green tea backbone that makes a perfect pairing. It really holds up as one of the best beers made in state and beer made perfect for a hot summer night sitting out back and wanting to sip on a beer while watching the sox and forget your day job.

Terrapin: Wake N Bake

As I try and dig myself out of my 4th of July hangover I'm gonna just make a quick post on one of the best beers I've had last week. Terrapin Wake-N-Bake Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout. Pouring black with a thin head it smells strongly of coffee and sweetness. It's taste is immensely smooth, with that delicious oatmeal sweetness carrying delicious coffee and chocolate. This was the prize of my trip to Virginia for stouts. If you find yourself south of the Mason/Dixon line I'd buy a case. This bottle was defiantly not fresh but it still tasted amazing, and might be the best breakfast stout I've ever had.

Jacks Abby: 2nd Anniversary

How Jack Hendler learned to make lagers like he did is completely baffling to me. Lagers, as a craft, seem like the precision in brewing is just that much more important because ales can have, and almost taste better, a little muddy while lagers are made to be clean. The fact to Jack's Abby has only been brewing commercial beer for two years is mind blowing. Hoponius Union, a beer that has instantly become one of my five favorite hoppy beers has only been brewed for a short time but its perfection is amazing.

But that's not the beer I'm here to praise, I'm here to talk about another beer from the brewers of Framingham. No, not this one, but yet another double India Pale Lager, 2nd Anniversary, commemorating two years of beautiful brewing. As soon as you hear the air rush from the bottle it's accompanied by a wafting smell of hops rising right up to the nose. It pours a beautiful golden with belgian lace clinging to the glass. The beer smells and tastes heavily dank, with citrus and pine and heavy bitterness over everything, but it finishes clean and dry. This is one of the best beers I've ever had. Period. Much like a planned trip to Vermont to buy some cases of Heady Topper, I have to budget in a case of 2nd Anniversary Lager because it's really so perfect.