Bottling and C2CT

Time to bottle beer!  And, just like anytime beer is being made or bottled, you gotta drink some too!  Plus I just caved and joined the mindless masses of social media and got an Untappd account.  If you don't know what it is, no, I'm not going to tell you.  It's called Google, use it.  They have a badge for an event called Coast 2 Coast Toast, put on by a large importer of Belgian and French brews - Vanburg and DeWulf.  If you have 2 of the beers they import within the month of November, you get a badge.  I had one at a bar (I'm giving up on reviewing bar beers, unless it's something rare and amazing.

11.27.12 - the Meadowlark Flies

So this was released quite a while back.. over the summer actually!  Not gonna lie, I definitely forgot I had this stashed away.. so let's hope she's still fresh!

Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project - Meadowlark IPA.  Believe it or not, after almost 3 1/2 years, this is Pretty Things' first IPA!  A brewer went this long, in this day and age, without ever doing an IPA..  that's seriously impressive!  Was the wait worth it..  a 7.0% ABV 85 IBU IPA..  sorta bad lighting, but a lovely hazy golden pour.  Light honey and biscuit malts with a nice kick of citrus, passion fruit, grapefruit and mild pine hops.  For 7.0%, this is a wicked drinkable IPA.. nowhere near the body of an Imperial, but with much more alcohol kick than your run-of-the-mill IPA..  and, AND that kick is actually hidden!  You'll only get it if you pound this bomber in like 15 minutes.  Just enough malt body to hold this beer together, but more than a healthy dose of bitter and robust hops to kick you square in the jowls.  Citrusy, piney, grassy.. tons of tropical fruit..  resiny, slick, but somewhat malty and sweet.  The finish has just enough kick, just enough sweet, just enough dryness to keep you coming back.  Not quite west coast, not quick east coast.. this my friends, is why you wait to perfect a recipe..  to produce one fine-ass American IPA.

- - 9 Hops

11.23.12 - PJ20

Thought it'd be a boring night in spent cleaning, building shelving and drinking beer when I get a call from my buddy wanting me to come over and drink.  So, essentially the same gameplan, sans cleaning and building shit.  He's a MASSIVE Pearl Jam fan, as well as wanting to be exposed to craft beer more and more, so... this was the gem that I brought over for him...

Dogfish Head - Pearl Jam Twenty Faithfull Ale - a 7.0% ABV homage to Pearl Jam's groundbreaking debut album - Ten - 20 years ago.  It was brewed to be 20 IBUs and flavored via 10 additions of fresh black currants.  Dogfish sure loves their numbers!  A Belgian Golden ale, this is like slightly hazy sunshine.  Minimal head, bu then again, I poured into 2 half-yards.  Pilsner-esque, dry, crackery, semi-sweet malt nose, touch of floral and a deep, almost hidden fruity note.  Crisp and bubbly, the biscuit and Pilsner malts are faintly sweet and mingle nicely with a surprisingly mellow fruit note from the currants.  Adds a touch of sweetness to the malts, but balances well and doesn't try to overpower anything.  The Belgian yeast and floral hops work well with the effervescence and it finishes very clean, crisp and dry.  Not as outstanding for a DFH special release as I would have expected as they only really made one tweak to a classic style and that tweak was barely noticeable in the brew.. but still a nice ale.

- - 6 Hops

Surviving Thanksgiving

Everyone always says they need to survive the holidays.  Um..  how are they so bad?!  Thanksgiving = family, football, food and booze.  Christmas = family, food and gifts.. and booze.  So what!?  Then again, my family's celebrations have always been small.. and this year Thanksgiving was just me and the folks, the sis didn't even venture down.

That being said.. why not beer to help cope? And by help cope, I mean chill with pops.

Thanksgiving Eve

Thanksgiving Eve - the night everyone goes out in their hometown and it's like an unofficial HS reunion.. right?  And almost all of us HATE it, even though 98% of you will still go out.  Not me..  Yeah, I still met up with a HS friend, but a friend that's been there since before HS and still around.  And I drank good beer.  Bet I had a better time than you!

11.18.12 - Puppy Sitting!

It's Sunday.. I got asked by the good folks at Backlash Beer Company to watch their brand-spanking new puppy while they head to the brewery.  And how can you say no to a puppy?!?

Seriously.. tell me your heart isn't melting over that face!  This is Backlash Beer's new pup - Stout - and he's basically the shit.  I'm gonna steal him when they're not looking.  He just sleeps on you, snores, and eats leafs  - aka living the life.  Watching a dog named after a style of beer, I couldn't help but have a drink!

I snagged a bottle of Crispin - The Saint cider - 6.9% cider brewed with fresh pressed apple juice, Belgian Trappist yeast and added molasses.  Super hazy/cloudy yellow, like a pale apple cider.  Strong cider aroma, not much in the way of spice, but with an underlying fruity/yeasty note.  For a cider, it was delicious - smooth, full, not overly sweet.  The Belgian yeast gives a nice, albeit barely noticeable, complexity.  For a drink in general, it fell a bit short.  It wasn't that unique to stand out from other ciders beyond having slightly more thickness and natural sweetness (from the molasses, no doubt).  Worth a try if your a cider fan.. if you're not, probably won't convert you.
- - 5 Hops

Sixpoint Saturday

Another Saturday.. another time for more beer!  Let's have a theme tonight!

Friday Night Beer Party

Sometimes you need help with getting through your beers.  OK, well YOU probably don't, but I do.  I have too damned much!  And stupid breweries keep deciding to brew cool shit all the time, so I buy it.  What's their deal!?

So I called a few friends over for a small beer party - they bring the food, I share beers.  Of course I don't share the really good stuff, but then again, I don't stock the bad stuff either!

11.12.12 - Brew Day!

It's brew night!!!  I'm revisiting my Belgian-style Pineapple Wit of earlier this year (Overdose on Pineapple Wit-ney Houston) and kicking it up about 1000 notches..  in a few short weeks the world will know the glory that is...  dun dun DUNNNNNNNNN

Death by Pineapple Wit-ney Houston!  I used 16oz of crushed pineapple in the boil last time, and 40oz in the dry hop with Citra.  This time I used 40oz in the boil and have 80oz sitting in the fermenter and will probably add another 20oz with switching over to (hopefully) galaxy hops in the dry hop.

BUT!  What is brewing beer without drinking beer!?

Rogue - Chatoe Rogue GYO First Growth Pumpkin Patch Ale - 5.6% ABV and 25 IBUs.  The Chatoe Rogue's are beers that Rogue brews solely using ingredients grown by themselves - GYO - grow your own. Damn cool concept!  Even their pumpkins are fresh and homegrown.  Nice chestnut brown pour, off-brown fluffy head that lingers well.  The smell off this is incredible.. vegetative and totally fresh pumpkin flesh.  Great spice notes in just the right balance with some sweeter malts.  The taste is pure fresh pumpkin with floral hops and that lovely vegetative taste I was mentioning.  Sounds odd, but it really works here.  Nice spice with enough malt backbone to make it work - caramel, bready, nutty.  Smooth with a nice hoppy note to the finish  - real fresh, realy nice.  This is what a pumpkin ale should be!

9 Hops!

Stout Day 2012

Happy Stout Day everyone!

Yep!  Another beer holiday!  Are you complaining?  I didn't think so!

I started off with the ever classic Founder's - Breakfast Stout.  You simply cannot go wrong with that, it's perfect.  Then I dug into my treasure chest and found this treat!

The Pike Brewing Co - XXXXX Pike Stout - a 7.0% ABV, 65 IBU Extra/Import Stout.  I'm calling this an Imperial, deal with it.  Pitch black but light-pouring, the head on this cascades like a Guinness nitro pour!  Huge and fluffy!  Roasted malts, bitter black chocolate on the nose with some underlying grassy hops and rich fruit notes.  It's got the alcohol bite of an Imperial, that's for sure, but the body of any old bold stout.  Big, bold bitter chocolate that's actually quite smooth with molasses, dark caramel, black coffee and roasted malts.  There's a nice dried fruit/dark cherry note in this that adds an extra layer above and beyond most stouts.  This gives way to a muted floral/grassy hop note that is surprising prominent for such a bold stout.  The finish is smooth, malty and roasted..  slightly bitter and with the slightest alcohol bite.  Lacks a bit in body for a 7.0% ABV stout, but incredibly well-rounded, and I'm sure the 6 months or so that I've been keeping this has helped with it's flavor.. but definitely worth a try!
- - 8 Hops!

NERAX Goodie Bag

So this past weekend I volunteered at NERAX's November festival  (New England Real Ale eXhibition) in Somerville.  It's a smaller fest and organization focused on 'real ale' - cask beer - unfiltered, unpasteurized.. conditioned and served from a cask, not carbonated or nitrogenated at all and typically served much warmer than any other beer.

At the end of the fest they, much to my horror, dump all the beer!  So they let all volunteers take as much as they can carry in any sort of bottle form!  Waahoooo!!