Name change suggestion: Happy Monk?

Grumpy Monk by Boston Beer Company | Samuel Adams
Belgian IPA
5.7% ABV

Have you worked your way through the Sam Adams IPA-Hop-Ology pack yet?
You should.

Unlike my co-blogger, I usually shy away from IPAs all together. Scratchy, tongue shredding hops are not something that I enjoy drinking. That said, I learned a ton about IPAs working through this sampler and… I LOVED THEM ALL!

The Hop-Ology Pack includes six limited release IPAs; The Third Voyage IPA, which takes its inspiration from Captain James Cook, whose titular third voyage took him from England to New Zealand to the Pacific Northwest. The double IPA contains hops from all three of those locations to give the brew a citrusy, earthy character.

The Dark Depths Baltic IPA is inspired by an English variety, the Baltic IPA transformed a mild ale into a dark and complex lager, with dark, roasted malts and a citrus hop character.

The Tasman Red IPA contains hops from Tasmania, the Australian island state. The beer has the grapefruit and pine flavors typical of IPAs, but the hops also have a flavor of roastiness with a hint of toffee to balance the normal IPA flavors. This is a strong bold red, more so than I was used to, but still enjoyable.

The Latitude 48 IPA contains a blend of five different hops, all originating from the titular 48th latitude line. The hops come from the Hallertau region of Germany (Hallertau Mittelfrueh), the East Kent region of southeastern England (East Kent Goldings) and Yakima County, Wash. (Ahtanum, Simcoe and Zeus).

The Whitewater IPA combines the white wheat, sweet citrus and spicy coriander of Belgian-style white ale with the grapefruit flavors of an IPA and last but not least the Grumpy Monk … (we’ll get back to this one)

I was weary with every pour, and to my surprise I enjoyed every brew. The sampler came to about $22 and was well worth it. The art overall with this sampler is awesome. Each bottle ties together the series with hand drawn chalk design on the case. It's unique and inviting. Well done BBC design team -- gotta love marketing!

My favorite of the sampler had to be the Grumpy Monk. The name on its own sells the beer.
I turn to the bottle for a description:

“The long held brewing traditions of Belgian monks aren’t meant to be broken. Yet, to the monk’s dismay, the distinctive character of Belgian yeast with its spicy clove and fruit notes can be reimagined when combined with the brazen hop character of an IPA. These hops impart a citrusy, piney, and earthy flavor that’s balanced by a roasted malt sweetness for a complex and playful brew."

Well, this monk has nothing to be grumpy about.

The Pour: Gorgeous amber color with a creamy two finger head. I also had some clingy lace to the side of my glass.

The Nose: It’s grainy and bisquity with dominant notes of clove

The Taste: light-to-medium bodied and well balanced with citrus, pine and earthy flavors that all meld together creating one of the best Belgians I’ve had in a while. It’s well carbonated, bready and delicious. My only negative comment – I only got two!

Do you know what else the Monk’s make that goes great with beer? Cheese!
This would pair up nicely with any stinky, gooey washed rind cheese you can get your hands on.

Well that’s my IPA lesson for today kids. Hop heads and those in training can get behind this variety pack, I promise. Keep an eye out!

What are some of your favorite IPAs? Tell us below:

Anderson Valley's Summer Solstice Out Shines other Seasonal Brews

Anderson Valley Summer Solstice
Style | ABV
Cream Ale | 5.60% ABV

This is my second time trying Anderson Valley’s offerings and I really enjoy their unique style. Would you ever think to put cream ale and summer together on one label? It sounds crazy, but man, it’s delicious and different!

I found a sixer of this beer in a can. (Is that a bear/moose on the front??) A lot of craft brewers are thinking about canning their products and I am all for it. It’s portable for beach and lake side excursions, lighter to carry and keeps the beer just as fresh. I always pour my beer into a glass anyway so it doesn’t take away from the drinking experience for me. There is also a lining inside each can that keeps the beer from touching the aluminum so don’t worry about that “metallic taste,” affecting your suds. Drop the stereotype and give craft in a can a chance!

Pour: A hazy amber color with a creamy, two finger fluffy head. A tiny ring of lacing hung out for good.

Nose: It’s sweet with toasty grains and caramel, followed by vanilla and ginger. It’s like a cream soda mixed with fresh baked brown bread. Fantastic.

Taste: Follows suit with the smell. It’s so unique. It’s a light to medium-bodied brew with a smooth velvet flavor that covers your tongue like a ginger-cream-soda. It actually reminded me of a ginger bread cookie. It’s biscuity and sweet, but balanced through the malts and just plain delicious. Despite the creaminess, it’s not overly filling and very drinkable. No bitterness to speak of.

Anyone that has ever had a Kilkenny and enjoyed it will like this beer.

Ok Anderson Valley, you have my attention. I’ll keep an eye out for some more of their craft-canned products in the future.

Up Otter's Creek with a Delicious Summer Bottle

Otter Creek Summer
Style | ABV
American Pale Wheat Ale | 4.90% ABV

What is up with the Bros from BA not liking any of my beers lately? Bummer!
Well like we always say, drink what YOU like, and this one I like.

Otter Creek is one of those great “under the radar” breweries. They put out some great stuff and I am never afraid to order their latest pour when I see it on the draught list. They are situated in Middlebury Vermont and it’s pretty easy to get to if you are thinking of touring some New England breweries this summer or fall.

Otter Creek summer is currently on tap at Five Horses in Davis Square and I have seen it at some other good beer bars in the area. Otter Creek Summer is a yummy bready brew that pairs easy with almost everything. I’ve had it with a bunch of different menu items; mussels, salad, a cheese plate, white bean hummus, chili – and it paired nicely every time.

Pour: Golden, with a little fluffy white head – it left a little lacing on the glass

Nose: Not overwhelming but it’s grassy with a lot of oats and wheat hanging out, smells like fresh baked bread to me

Taste: It’s light-bodied and drinkable with toasted malts, wheat and a slight sweetness. It finishes with a little bite of citrus and honey at the end. Overall very palatable. The brewery describes it as “crisp and clean” and I would have to agree. It’s a safe bet.

It’s a nice change from the heavy heffs and lemonade type beers that are normally floating around. No need for a wedge of lemon in this brew.

Cheers to summer!
What is everyone drinking? Tell us below:

I love Betty Weiss! (Not to be confused with Betty White)

Elder Betty by Magic Hat
Style | ABV
Hefeweizen | 5.50% ABV

It’s August – can you believe it?
Pretty soon the shelves will be full of October beers and pumpkin ales and while fall is my all time favorite beer drinking season, I am not ready. I am drinking in the last weeks of summer while I still can.

Some really great seasonal beers launched this summer including Magic Hat’s Elder Betty, and I have to say it’s my favorite this year.

I just can’t get enough of it. I would describe it as:
“The best blueberry beer you will ever have.”

The Elder Betty is a weiss-style ale with a bready malt flavor. It’s well carbonated, refreshing and a little tart. Betty got a beat down on beer advocate, ranking in the 70s … but I would say that if you like blueberry suds this will not disappoint you.

Bottle: The art is very cool and whimsy. It falls right in line with Vermont’s hippie vibe. Totally man.

Pour: Light golden orange color with a one finger, white fluffy head

Nose: Like you stuck your face in a field of blueberries, seriously. It’s a fresh, inviting, grassy- blueberry smell.

Taste:

It’s a light mouth feel made for very easy drinking. The tart, crisp berry flavor is followed up by a nice wheat finish. What I love about this beer is that it’s not super sweet. I don’t feel like I am drinking jam or sucking on a jolly rancher. The flavor is there without making my cheeks pucker. The one drawback – like most fruity beers, it really wouldn’t pair with much other than desert.

I haven’t seen the Elder Betty listed at any bars in Boston and Magic Hat site says it’s only available through July 31, so if you are interested in giving it a-go I wouldn’t wait to snag a sixer at the liquor store if you see it.

Tried it and liked it? Tried it and hated it? Comment below:

Your Guide to the Fourth!

As we turn our calendars to July, and make plans as we sit on the eve of the 4th... the All-American holiday for lawnmower or specialty beers, cookouts, sports, and fireworks. But before I get into my guide to help you pick out something special for the All-American Holiday, I want to get into something that got me thinking this morning.

RESPECT.

While I dig deeper and deeper into the world that is craft beer... I have to admire the level of respect that people have for one another. For example... last year, I tried a few sour beers and was NOT a fan at all. What's my first instinct? To say, "This beer is gross!! Yuck! Who would EVER like this??" No... I just said, "Umm, yeah... I don't think this beer is for me." But, I'll admit, I think my tastes are changing a bit. Just two weeks ago I sat on the patio of the Willimantic Brewing Company, and enjoy a Dogfish Festina Peche. Last summer, I wanted NOTHING to do with this tart/sour beer. And I like a lot of DFH stuff... but this time around - it was real refreshing. I had friends that hated craft beer... now they can't get enough. Some of them are even telling ME about new Double IPAs on tap or new Bourbon-Barrel Aged offerings. Bottomline... keep an open mind. You might not like something at first... but you never know how your opinions might change!

Ok... the reason you clicked on the link. My good buddy, Matt asked me the other day about some beers for the 4th of July. So as you count down that final hour at work... or for all of my teacher friends that are already on vacation... here's my little guide to some beers that could make you impress your friends/family. Just tell'em Beer411 sent ya (in no particular order):

1. Cisco Bay Whale Tail Pale Ale

2. Six Point Apollo or Righteous

3. New England Brewery Elm City

4. Dogfish Tweason Ale or Festina Peche

5. Hooker Watermelon

6. Blue Point Blueberry

7. Narragansett Summer Ale

8. Pyramid Apricot Ale

9. Clown Shoes Tramp Stamp or Clementine

10. Baxter Celsius **Only found in ME**

So respect your fellow Americans and raise a cold one on the 4th to this beautiful country. And a special thanks to those that fight for our freedom day in and day out. Cheers!

Maine Event Part 2: The Rematch

So much time to drink... so little time to blog. I recently was scolded the other day about my blog. Yes, I admit... I'm not as consistent with my posts as I wish I was. Hopefully, it's about the QUALITY, not the QUANTITY. I HAVE been much more consistent with my tweets though... I mean, that's what a blog is in a sense. To enlighten people that read your blog about things that they might not have known about. When you tweet something, you're pointing your followers in a direction that they might not have if you didn't. My friends over @RelicBrewing and @RandomPink coined the term, "Nano-Blog" this last wkd. It works, right? Alright... let get to it.

I've had some fantastic... umm.... BREW-tastic adventures the past few weeks, all over New England. The next few posts might be a bit out-dated and a little out of order... But I saw a tweet the other day the sparked an idea to get this post up.

It was a link to this article titled, "Top Ten Craft Beer Cities to Visit". I quickly clicked through the obvious choices here: Fort Collins, CO... Portland, OR... San Diego, CA... and then I saw it: Portland, Maine. About two weeks ago, two of my sisters and I decided to head out and tour Portland, Maine for the day. One of my sisters lives IN Maine, and Portland is only about 25 minutes away from her. Since it's so close to her I've been meaning to check it out for some time now. Given the rest of our wkd's activities, we could only devote one full day to our BREWtastic Voyage, but it was well worth it. And I'm already looking forward to the next trip.

We were focused. Our first stop was one of my favorite breweries, the Allagash Brewing Company. Our tour was scheduled for 12:30 so my OTHER sister departed CT around 8:30am without a minute to spare. We picked up our Maine sister got to the brewery JUST in time for the tour... and as if I couldn't LOVE Allagash any more, they STARTED with the tasting. They led off with their flagship, Allagash White... then the Victor (brewed with cabernet franc grapes), followed by the Tripel and lastly... (drumroll)... the Curieux. If you don't know the Curieux, you are MISSING out. It's a beautiful sweeter beer aged in Jim Beam barrels. They explained that in order for bourbon to be considered bourbon, it can only sit in the barrel once. Allagash has an agreement with Jim Beam that when the bourbon is done aging, the barrels get shipped up to Portland. Allagash uses these barrels only once and there you have it... Curieux. And after one sip... you can taste all 11% of this tasty treat.

Along the tour, our awesome tour guide, Ashley, took us into the CURIEUX ROOM (also known as Heaven). There are barrels from floor to ceiling and as you walk in, you're instantly hit with the sweet smell of bourbon.

One of the "cool"er parts of the tour actually happened AFTER the tour itself where we got to check out the Coolship. It resembles a small one room shed with an flat shallow pan that takes up most of the room. Hot wort is added to this pan and allowed to cool overnight (rather than forced to cool using wort chillers). Along with the opened air cooling, the natural occurring yeast from the air gets into the wort. This is what ferments the beer. The interesting thing about this whole process is that it's the first known one outside of Belgium. There you go... Allagash, yet again, pushing themselves to achieve great things.

That was the START of our adventure. We then checked out the much, much smaller, newer Maine Beer Company. That was a quick visit but still cool to walk in, meet some very cool people and try some tasty beers. I even bought their "Thank You, Allen" that's only available at the brewery.

After about two hours of sampling and empty stomachs... we needed a base. So we headed over to The Great Lost Bear. A measely 60+ beers on tap. SAY WHAT?! Shut yo mouth. We had some delicious teriyaki mushrooms with a pepper dipping sauce, and some cajun style wings. And with over 60 beers to choose from, we had to jump into a sampler:

Green Flash Hop Head Red

Six Point Spice of Life: Crystal Hop

Geary Special Ale

Baxter Stowaway IPA

Allagash Odyssey

Never had any of these beers in my life... all very good. Loved the Allagash... my favorite might have been the Six Point. Green Flash was good, but very complex.

As the black clouds started forming, we quickly found shelter at another staple in the Portland Beer Diet... Novare Rae Bier Cafe. This wonderful place touts 25 rotating drafts, 2 hand pumps, and over 500 bottles. And look... we were there on the day of a Green Flash Takeover. Ok... Let's go.

I kicked things off with the notorious IPA known as the Palate Wrecker, which has over 100 IBUs (International Bittering Units). The bartender warned me that this would kick the @#$* out of my tongue, and I loved it! And with Green Flash making a name for themselves in CT now, this is one to look for, especially for you hopheads out there. This is also a great place to get a little nosh. We had a nice cheese/meat plate and some duck tacos. They also have a mug club / dungeon looking place. Basically you get a "scorecard" and have one year to try all of the beers on the card. If you fill it out, you're awarded a mug that's kept in this dungeon looking type place. Complete with lock and chain and heavy iron door. Very, very cool.

And since we were in the area (once the rain had stopped)... we walked over to one of Maine's Original Brew Pubs, Gritty McDuff's. After wrecking our palates, and trying all sorts of crazy brews, it was nice to get a balanced Vacationland Summer Ale and an IPA.

I have to admit... after Gritty's we were beer'd out. But what a day it was. So if you are looking for a place that's only a few hours from CT where you won't break the bank... head up to Portland, Maine. There are SO many other places to check out including Geary's, Shipyard or restaurants like Nosh or 3 Dollar Dewey's. You could EASILY spend a wkd up there. Just make sure you stretch out your liver first.

As the Welcome to Maine sign reads, "The Way Life Should Be." Cheers... and safe travels.

---

So on the heels of my Maine excursion... word JUST came out yesterday that one of my favorite brew pubs is having... wait for it... an ALLAGASH BASH!! It's one thing to find a great Allagash beer on draft... it's COMPLETELY other thing to take over 10! Mark your calendar, kiddos...

WHEN: Thursday, June 28th @ 6pm

WHERE: Backstage, 84 Main Street, Torrington

Allagash continues to establish themselves as one of the BEST in the craft beer industry. And to have them come all the way to CT for this is nothing short of incredible. Just two weeks ago, I drove over 3 hours to try some of these beers... and come next Thursday, 10 of them will be in little ol' Torrington. Check out this lineup:

White

Curieux

Yakuza

Tripel

Dubbel

Black

Four

Blonde

Victor

Victoria

Food pairings, giveaways, and MORE. A craft beer lovers dream and a night not to be missed.

Harpoon Catamount Maple Wheat (100 Barrel Series)

Harpoon Brewery
American Pale Wheat Ale
Alcohol by Volume: (ABV) 6.8%

My colleague recently visited the Harpoon brewery and was thoughtful enough to bring me back a fresh growler of Harpoon’s 100 Barrel Series, Catamount Maple Wheat for me.

(Yum! Beer for breakfast?)

I did a little research to learn that this is Harpoon’s second attempt at this beer and it’s made with genuine Vermont maple syrup. Got to love local products using local products. The website reads:

“The balance of malts and hops allows the distinct flavor and aroma of real Vermont maple syrup to take the lead. The maple sweetness and body blankets this velvety amber beer showcasing one of New England’s most beloved traditions.”

Sounds awesome and different - let’s dive in.

The pour: A nice fluffy white head and the color of the beer, as to be expected it was an amber red, maple color

The nose: Not much going on. I am getting a little bit of sweet, bread notes, but it’s not overly sugary, or woody like I may have thought

The taste: A very bubbly brew with burnt caramel flavors and a strong bitter malt flavor. The finish is somewhat medicinal. It’s interesting because it doesn’t have that light crisp wheat flavor that I expected. It's more of a lager. Also, I hate to say it – but where’s the maple? Had it not been in the name I wouldn’t have been looking for it. I was expecting a sweet, grassy, wheat beer but got something much different instead.

It’s drinkable, but had I not had a growler and just ordered a pint at the pub, I would have grabbed the beer list and changed it up.

I always appreciate new recipes that bring together New England, but this was just ok for me. Grade: B