Pretty Things: Grampus

When I was 16 we used to drive around aimlessly at night listening to college radio stations. Sometimes it was endless droning, sound experiments, lost blues music, or as it happened to be this one particular time, local music. A guitar cut through the silence and immediately I was in love. The song started with some buzz saw guitar solo and led into a talk/sing style verse with a build it up then cut it down chorus, then another killer guitar solo. I waited patiently hoping to find out what band it was. That band was Allston Rock City's own Karate, who'd end up being one of my favorite bands ever. That was the Pandora's Box of my slow and wonderful journey from alternative rock stations to listening to college radio at 3am and having substitute teachers tell me about shows at the Garment District in Central Square. Karate led to Modest Mouse, which led to Q and Not U and my favorite band of all time The Dismemberment Plan. 

So what the fuck does my rambling have to do with any of this? Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project was my Karate of sorts. I'd already been a beer fan, but when Pretty Things Jack D'or started popping up at all my favorite bars, it unleashed a long-standing love of beautiful beers, and especially locally produced brews. 

Jack D'or was the gateway, and I'm glad Pretty Things is still pushing the beer world with delicious and unexpected beverages. Grampus is just that, a Belgian style golden ale made with double mashing grain with the original wort, making for a much denser, sweeter beer that drinks a bit more like mead that traditional ales. The hops are nice, light and add a good crispness to help prevent it from being a massive sweet bomb, and while it straddles the line, it doesn't get pushed over the edge. It's really a beer that needs to be enjoyed with friends due to it's high booze content, 10.5%, and loaded with sweetness that makes for better drinking in small quantity. Now, if I could lobby Pretty Things to move to 12oz bottles I would love it, but that's an entire blog to itself. For now, I'll just enjoy the next Pretty Things beer that comes out of my fridge. 

Dogfish Head: Namaste

I remember buying a bottle of Namaste a long time ago and not being a fan. It tasted clunky, with many moving parts but lacking symmetry. I remember being overpowered with Lemongrass, like drinking a dry version of Lemon Pledge, and being incredibly underwhelmed by this beer. Maybe it wasn't fresh, or maybe I had the wrong food with/after but something didn't work. Tonight I got a bottle of the newly bottled Namaste 12oz and I think I was wrong.
Dogfish Head Brewery never seems to care about current trends in the beer market, between every brewery putting out their seasonal a season too early to everyone making a session IPA, Dogfish Head just carried on. They were already making a session beer, and though it's not a hop forward one, it is still a session beer. The problem? It was way too expensive. $11 a bottle. So they decided to rectify that problem.
Recently they released Namaste, a 4.8% witbier made with Lemongrass, Orange Slices, Coriander and Peppercorns, as a 6 pack offering, and immediately I wish I had more than the one bottle. The smell is a delicious mix of orange and spice, with some of that lemongrass and pepper funk. The taste feels like it'll be sweet, with the orange coming right at you, but it's immediately dry on the tongue, with some smokey pepper and coriander on the back of the tongue. Really, it's delicious. It's both soft on the tongue and full of flavors. Something I'm very glad to have in a fridge full of dense dark beers. And at $12 a 6 pack it's much more manageable on the wallet.

Bantam Cider Taproom Opening

If one thing has been made abundantly clean in this blog I've been writing is that I love when something wonderful is made locally. So when I read in the Weekly Dig (the only good local weekly left) about a Cambridge couple were making cider, naturally I wanted to try it. So I found co-founder Dana Masterpolo's email address and asked if they'd be distributing to West Concord. In short, they told me no, so the next obvious step was asking if I could just come and pick some up. So the next thing I know, I am on the street in Cambridge loading cases of cider into my truck. With it came a lovely sample bottle that I took home for the lady and myself to try.

Bantam Cider pours a pale straw color and is clearly very effervescent based on a nice head that dissipates quickly. The apple tastes up front are super light on the tongue, with notes of grapefruit and a dry grassy finish. Immediately I realize it's unlike any other hard cider I've ever tasted. Like an amazing Sauvingon Blanc made with apples. It was instantaneously the lady's favorite alcoholic beverage, and her obsession began. 

That takes us to last Saturday night, March 8th, Bantam Cider's Taproom Opening party. I had heard about it but had no idea when it was opening. An email to Dana goes unanswered, for good reason. Apparently it was opening that weekend and it was completely sold out. An email to a friend who might be able to help me out leads to another dead end as he tells me what I already know. It is sold out. Then, on Saturday afternoon, an email from Dana asking if I was still looking for tickets and that two people dropped out, so if I wanted in, I was in. So then there the I was, with the lady, in Bantam's brand new taproom. Bantam's taproom has an industrial feel to it, with stockpiles of barrels with aging cider, and a center bar with eight draft lines pouring 6 different ciders. The night had some food accompaniment with Union Square Donuts and some amazing chili served in a bag of Fritos, a take on the classic Frito Pie. And to finish off the atmosphere for the night they had a looped video of the making of the taproom, from bringing in tanks to laying floor tile on a giant projection screen. 

Bantam is making some amazing ciders in a variety of ways with wild yeast strains, barrel aged, blended with other ciders, with persian spices, and who knows what else. They're pushing the boundaries of what cider is, and they're doing it in my backyard. And while I'm pretty sure I'll always be a beer guy, Bantam is making drinking cider an equally exciting experience. I can't wait to go to the tap room and get a pint of something amazing and interesting once it finally opens to the public. 

Avery Dictator Series: Maharaja

How can I pass up a beer with Great Tiger from my favorite video game, Mike Tyson's Punch Out!, on the label? (Side Story: I bought Mike Tyson's Punch Out a few years back and without a second thought made it all the way to Tyson without even being knocked down, but ultimately failed at defeating Tyson. I haven't beaten him since I was 12 and I'm still trying.)
Avery's Maharaja is the second beer in their annual dictator series, apparently showing their brute force dominance over your taste buds. Maharaja is the bitter force, with Centennial, Simcoe, Columbus and Chinook hops blasting your taste buds with grassy piney hops over a sweet toffee backbone. And if you weren't sure of the smack the hops were hitting you with, then a nice alcohol warmth with soothe you into a winter slumber with the alcohol coming in easily above 10%. It's not a harsh alcohol either, just a nice warm feeling to balance out a bitter beast as it Tiger Punches you into bliss.