The Wonder of Samuel Adams One Batch Series

Whoever says Sam Adam's is not a craft brewer and/or doesn't make good beers, I'm going to punch you in the face. And then I'm going to prove you wrong.

You see, a week ago I had two brand new Sam Adam's brews and holycrap was I collectively blown out of the metaphorical water. I originally was just going to do a review on The Vixen, a chocolate chili bock, but then my dad decided to break out Griffin's Bow Oaked Blond Barleywine Ale, and I took one sip and had to review it. Had to. There was no way I could not bring this treasure to the masses. Also, Sam Adams brews this in one batch series, so best get in on this quick if you want to try them.

But let's start with The Vixen first.

As mentioned before, this is a chocolate chili bock, made with chilies from Mexico, cocoa nibs from Ecuador, and Cinnamon from Southeast Asia. It's brewed with Hallertau Mittelfreuh and Noble hops, and is 8.5% ABV.

Color: Dark and dense, and it pours that way too. It has a nice slightly brownish / off white head, and is very foamy. Starts out large and thick, but disappears relatively quickly. The color of the brew itself is so dark it's really almost black, even when you hold it up to the light.

Aroma: Smells like it looks--dark. There's definite chocolate notes and a bit of that roasty smell coming from the malts. A little hint of alcohol, but it's not too strong. I also get a hint of something else that I think is the chilies. It's a unique smell. I actually can't remember if I've ever had a beer with chilies in it, so this was a new experience.

First Sip: Well isn't that something. A little peppery, a little chocolatey. It makes me think of Mexican hot chocolate (which, if you've never heard of or had before, has chilies in it). The pepper taste is mainly in the back of my throat, if that makes any sense. It's more like as you swallow it you get a hit of pepper. Well, not a hit, that implies it's overwhelming, and it's not. There's also some definite malt taste. It doesn't taste too strong (like some other dark beers) but the malts and the alcohol are definitely there.

Mouthfeel: A lot more of a roasty/toasty malt-like taste. Although they go out of their way to say what hops were used on the bottle, I can taste very little of them (and by that I mean not at all). Definitely chocolatey, definitely peppery. I find that I'm loving the pepper taste--it creates a nice warming sensation as it hits the back of my throat. It's like chocolate with a kick. And alcohol. Alcoholic chili chocolate. That's what this is. (Lindt has dark chocolate with chilies in it that would probably go very nicely with this.)

Aftertaste: Definite spicy taste that's left lingering.

The Vixen is a great beer to start off the colder weather, the holidays, and the dark beers of winter. Definitely try it if you're looking for something a bit different.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, the beer that you absolutely must try...

Griffin's Bow Oaked Blond Barleywine Ale.

This absolutely DELICIOUS beer is brewed with two row harrington, metacalfe, copeland pale, and paul's caramalt. The hops are Sauvins (from New Zealand) and Zeus. It was also aged in oak barrels, and has an alcohol content of 11.5% (so you can imagine what I was like afterward).

Now, I've looked at other reviews for this and no one seems to be as crazy about it as I am, but hey, they probably don't know what they're talking about and I definitely do, so you should totally listen to me. It's possible my taste buds are more sophisticated.

Color: Orangey blond color with a thin white head. Just a tad cloudy, but mostly clear. Think cream soda, but natural cream soda. The kind that's not bright orange. Okay, maybe cream soda is a bad comparison. Think.... think honey and oranges blended together.

Aroma: Smells very hoppy, which I think is coming from the Zeus hops (smells kind of similar to the Sam's Deconstructed Pack I reviewed over the summer). Has that great fruity, grapefruit smell, with a little bit of vanilla thrown in (from the oak barrels). Smells really yummy, but doesn't smell like a barleywine.

First Sip: Holy shitake mushrooms this is so fucking tasty I'm going to fall out of my chair in excitement it goes hoppy to fruity to smooth to OH MY GOD I NEED TO BREATHE.

Mouthfeel: This has such an array of tastes, it's like a roller coaster ride. Very complex in that it has a lot of different flavors, but they are present themselves in the following order. First, the hops--fruity and bitter. Then once you swallow a sip, the smooth vanilla taste from the oak barrels kicks in. Underneath that are pineapple, honeysuckle, and toffee flavors, blending together in a joyous melody of harmony and love. I didn't find it too sweet or cloying, more like fresh flavors. Fresh hops, fresh honey, fresh pineapple. The vanilla and the toffee make this really smooth. It really is like a parade procession of flavors, or a roller coaster of delight. And I normally hate roller coasters.

Aftertaste: More of the toffee flavor, with a traditional barleywine taste. Some bitterness is leftover, as well as a tiny bit of fruitiness. The taste sticks around for a while.


Overall, GODDAMN. I would definitely recommend this to others, although it may not be for everyone (although I think it should be). You should at least try it (and in my view, stock up). If you're not a fan of oaked beers, or toffee, or anything in this, I dont give a damn. TRY IT ANYWAY. And if you hate it, don't blame me. Blame your silly taste buds.

An Introduction to the World of Home Brewing

A few weeks ago, I received my introduction into the world of home brewing. And I suppose I should further clarify that statement by adding that this wasn't done at a special place for brewing your own beer. This was buy-your-own-ingredients-and-off-into-the-barn-you-go brewing. I vaguely remember my dad home brewing when I was younger, but all I can recall is that the kitchen was full of buckets and tubing, so I suppose we can count this as my first, do it yourself, at home, hope-to-God-nothing-explodes beer brewing.

One of my co-workers (same guy who gave me the home brewed pumpkin beer--which by the way, was tasty, but even tastier straight out of the tap) has a whole set up going on in his barn, so that's where I went.

As mentioned in one of my previous posts, brewing your own beer is about 85% drinking beer and standing around and 15% actually brewing. I don't mean to say that there isn't any work involved or that it's an excuse to get drunk in the middle of the day, because it's not like that at all. There's just a lot of waiting, and naturally, you need something to do while you wait.

First step is the set up. Well, if we're going to be technical, the first step should be to choose what kind of beer you want to brew, as that greatly affects the ingredients that you need. In this case, it was a Belgian Cranberry Dark Ale. At least I think that's the official name for it. It has Belgian chocolate and candied sugar in it, as well as cranberry juice, so sounds right to me. It also sounds extremely tasty, and I'm somewhat obsessed with cranberry juice, so... It's a bit of a shame I didn't get to add the chocolate to it (I was totally going to sneak some) as that happens at a later point in the process.

The ingredients. You've got yeast, the malt extract, grains, and the hops in the front.

Anyway, once you have your beer recipe and your ingredients, then you need the set up. The set up involves a lot of buckets and bucket shaped objects. (I'm going to say there were at least three separate buckets, which I guess isn't really a lot, but you can never have enough buckets when brewing beer, so go ahead and buy 20.) One of these should be fairly large and able to drain liquid in some manner. In this case, it was a Gatorade cooler with a modified spout (this was our "mash tun").

Mash tun!

You also need a method to heat up the water and the brew itself. A stove works fine, or, if you're doing it outside, a propane burner. You also may want a bucket or container with a sterilizing solution in it so you can sterilize tools and the like--important for keeping your beer free of things like bacteria. Also important to keep out of your beer: cats, mice, rodents, or wild half-crazed creatures living in the ceiling.

Oh, you'll probably want a thermometer as well, and some sort of stirring tool. You may also want to have a drink handy. Just because.

So, assuming you have recipe, ingredients, buckets, and a source of heat, you're ready to get started (theoretically).

First thing we did was to heat up the propane burner and get some water boiling. And can't be just boiling, it has to come to a certain temperature (175 degrees). While waiting for the optimum temperature, we poured the grains into the Gatorade cooler. It must be said that pretty much everything you use to brew beer smells really, really good. In this case, the grains kind of smelled like raisins. Truth be told, I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to grind the grains up like I did a Barleycorns (even though I was absolutely horrible at it). These came in pre-measured amounts, or at least I assume they did because that's how it was set up when I got there, and we did pour the whole bag in. We used two types of grains: Belgian Special B and Belgian Carapils. Originally, the recipe called for 2lbs of Canadian 2-row pale, but that was scrapped and liquid malt extract was added instead (although that was added later).

The propane burner.

Once the water was at the right temperature, it was taken off the burner and poured into the Gatorade cooler with the grains. Mix it up, put the cover on, and wait 30 minutes. This is when the first beer should be poured. In this case, it was an Ipswich Winter Ale. (Dark, a bit roasty, overall tasty.)

Mmmmmm.

It was also during this time that we prefermented the cranberry juice that was going to be added to the brew at a later point. Basically, all this involved was pouring a packet of yeast into a bottle of cranberry juice. There were two types of yeast: Champagne Yeast and Belgian Ale Yeast. I dont know which type was added to the cranberry juice, but I'm going to guess and say Champagne. There's a 50% chance I'm right.

After enjoying your first tasty beer, and the allotted time has elapsed, pour the liquid mixture back into the pot. This is is where the spout thinger came in handy. On the inside was this sort of mesh material that kept the grains from coming out with the liquid. The spout made it easy to pour into the pot, and then, voila! You have a sort of beery mixture that smells really really good. The technical name is wort, but I like "beery mixture" better.

The wort pouring out of the mash tun.

At this point, the pot went back onto the propane burner (which started off outside, but was then moved inside for the simple convenience of staying warm) and the beery mixture is heated again. Assuming you've finished your first beer, now is the time to pour the second one.

Now, there's a lot of timing involved in this part of the process that I didn't exactly keep track of. Partly because I didn't have a watch of my own to check, and partly because drinking two beers in about an hour and a half makes me a little fuzzy. Although I don't remember the timing, I do remember that we added the malt extract first, the first round of hops, then the Belgian candied sugar, then the last round of hops. (Hops were Mt. Hood and Willamette.) These were all added at specific points in the brewing process.

You can practically smell it.

After everything was added and the time was up, the brew was poured into another bucket and left to cool. (I guess that makes four buckets.)

And this is when my part in the process was over. This is when the beer is left to cool down, and then ferment once the yeast has been added. It's also when the cranberry juice and the Belgian chocolate is supposed to be added, which again, I was not there for. The cranberry juice is added in primary fermentation, and the chocolate (after being melted) is added during the secondary fermentation. The reason for this is so that a bit more of the chocolate taste would come through. Yeast, as any good beer geek or scientist knows, eats sugar and releases alcohol as a by product of its eating sugar process. If the chocolate had been added during primary fermentation, more sugar would have been eaten, and less of the chocolate taste would have been present. By adding it in during secondary fermentation, more of the sugar sticks around. (Am I getting this right? Someone correct me if this is all horribly wrong.) After fermenting for about 2 weeks, the beer will be ready for bottling, and then left a bit longer to age in the bottles.

Beer (with cranberry and chocolate added) being siphoned from the glass carboy into a bucket.

Beer going from the bucket to the bottle.

After it has aged for the appropriate amount of time, then it at that point, presumably, that I will get to taste the brew that I helped create.

And as soon as I get that taste, I might just have to review it.

I am a Jolly Pumpkin: La Parcela #1 Pumpkin Ale

So I planned on my next post to be the one about the home brewing experience, but I'm currently waiting on an email to verify certain facts because I don't want to sound like an idiot when I post it. So, in the interim, I will post my review on the last of the pumpkin beers this season. Next up will be Vixen from Sam Adams, which will mark the start of the holiday beers/darker beers. But before we get to that, let's move on to the review at hand.

Before we start, I want you to do something for me. Close your eyes, and remember the tastes of every single pumpkin beer you've ever had. They each have their own special aspect that draws you in, right? Maybe it's the way they added the pumpkin, or the different spice they put in. Maybe it's bitter with hops or maybe it's smooth like pumpkin pie. However, each of them have something in common, don't they? They all have pumpkin. Nearly all of them have cinnamon or nutmeg. So while they have their differences, you sort of know what to expect when you take your first sip. Some elements may surprise you, but it's always got that baseline. I want you to imagine the taste of every single one of those beers.

Now throw all that out the window.

Why, you ask? Because La Parcela #1 Pumpkin Ale (brewed by Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales in Dexter, MI) has nothing in common with those beers. Nada. Zip. Not a thing. Looking for true originality in a pumpkin beer? Well consider this beer as worth trying. In addition to the description below, this beer was aged in oak barrels, and has an ABV of 5.9%.

"Okay, so the joke was Jolly Pumpkin doesn't brew a pumpkin beer. Well, now we do. Packed with real pumpkin, hints of spice, and a gentle kiss of cacao to liven the soul. An everyday easy way to fill your squashy quotient. Guess now folks will have to find something else to joke about..."

Color: Egads, what a head! (It literally spilled over the sides of the glass.) It takes a while to disappear, and is quite thick and foamy. The beer itself is spot on the color of a pumpkin, and is a bit cloudy. Pours a very light golden color, almost clear. Has some nice carbonation going. (I always enjoy it when I can see the bubbles moving.)

Aroma: Very sour / tart. It smells like a lambic, and not very much like a pumpkin. This is my first hint that not everything that I expect this beer to be will be true. I smell and sniff and smell, and I cannot detect any trace of pumpkin or spices. Maybe a tiny bit, but that could just be me trying to taste something pumpkin-y about this. Not that it's a bad smell or anything, I just wanted to be sure I'm not missing something.

First Sip: Wow. Wow wow wow wow! The most different pumpkin beer I've had, and probably the most original. Very, very tasty...but I can't taste the pumpkin! It tastes pretty much like it smells, and is very good, if you like sour beers. A clean taste, a tiny bit of sweetness, maybe.

Mouthfeel: The tartness is absolutely amazing. There's a little bit of puckering, but overall it's light and not as sour as some other beers I've had. There's also a little bit of bitterness underneath, which could be the pumpkin/spices, or it could be the hops. I don't know, because I'm still having a hard time tasting anything other than the tartness. There is a little bit of sweetness associated with it, perhaps due to the cacao (which is basically chocolate or cocoa beans), or maybe because it was aged in oak barrels, which usually give a brew a vanilla-like taste (though I can't taste that either). I'd like to try this beer without one of the ingredients listed and see how the taste differs.

Aftertaste: A bit bitter at the end, maybe a hint of pumpkin. I'm not sure, my senses are befuddled.

Overall, a beer I really enjoyed. It's definitely still a "fall" beer, but I couldn't taste a lot of the pumpkin or spices. Still, I'd definitely have another glass if offered, and I'd definitely recommend this to others. Even if you can't taste the pumpkin, it's still an intriguing brew.

YARRR.

Yarr and avast, me mateys! I bring to ye a tale of the Heavy Seas, argh! I be reviewin' THE GREAT PUMPKIN Imperial Pumpkin Ale, the saltiest sea dog to ever sail the seven seas!

I could totally be a pirate, right?

Like I said, this review is for The Great Pumpkin Imperial Pumpkin Ale, brewed by Heavy Seas as part of their Mutiny Fleet brewing series. I just looked it up, and I discovered that there is another pumpkin beer called The Great'er Pumpkin Ale which was aged in bourbon barrels, is a very limited release, and holy shit I need to get me some of that. I think I might have missed it, but there's other beers that were aged in this way coming out soon. Look here to stay updated: http://www.hsbeer.com/beers/mutiny-fleet

Anyway, lets stay focused on the beer at hand and NOT get antsy about all those other beers.

This beer (and really all Mutiny Fleet beers) is 8% ABV, and it goes up from there.

Color: A brown-orange caramel color. Pour a lighter gold color, but both the pour and the beer in the glass is quite dense. There is no way to see through this--it is like the murky ocean moments before a storm, and them BAM a wave hits you and suddenly you're battling with Cthulhu, except he has a pumpkin for a head. This beer has a thin white head that disappears almost immediately. There is little to no visible carbonation.

Aroma: Pumpkin--pretty much the staple of pumpkin beers by now. I think it's a requirement that they have to smell like pumpkin or some variation of that. What makes this beer different is that it smells more pumpkin-y than most, and instead of spices or cinnamon or hops being the secondary aroma, this one has malts. Not only that, but you can practically smell the alcohol. Not only that, but you're suddenly convinced that piracy is our only option and you invest in triangular shaped hats and bandannas.

First Sip: You get a good hit of the pumpkin, followed by the swift realization that this beer is different. It's strong for one. For two, you can taste pumpkin, bitterness, and malts. It also has a strong alcohol presence--one might describe this beer as boozy (which is not a bad thing). It creates quite the first impression, and if the last beer you tried was the Pumple Drumpkin then let us make this analogy: Pumple Drumpkin was a nice quiet float down a river. The Great Pumpkin is battling a raging sea, swallowing mouthfuls of salt water, and trying to avoid gigantic whirpools that lead down into the depths of Davy Jones' locker.

Mouthfeel: There's more spices now, but it's still the pumpkin up front. It's a new sensation to taste pumpkin, malts, and alcohol. There's also an ever present bitterness that comes from the hops, although I feel they're there to add even more body to this beer through the bitterness, and to enhance the other tastes, rather than to be tasted on their own. The spices come through a bit more at the end. And of course, there's that malty, boozy taste that makes you deliciously light headed. This is a strong, bold beer, and really damn good. It's subtle in some aspects (the spices, for example), but nothing really hides in this beer.


Aftertaste: That kind of boozy taste, bitterness, and spices. This sticks around and doesn't fade, just like your desire to buy a parrot doesn't fade, just like your thirst for adventure will never leave, just like the fact that although you defeated The Great Pumpkin Cthulhu, you know he's only biding his time down in the deeps until he can strike again.

Congratulations, you are now a pirate.

OTHER NEWS: Today I helped to home brew beer, which was a lot of fun. To be honest, 85% of it is standing around drinking beer waiting for the right time to throw stuff into the beer you're brewing. Okay, so you don't really throw stuff in, but you get what I mean. A blog post on that experience should be up soon! And I say that with trepidation because I'm really bad at updating this. But let's stay positive and I'll try and get it up before Thanksgiving.

Cisco Brewing's Pumple Drumpkin

So remember how I said I would review another pumpkin beer, even if I had to do it in the freezing cold and semi-dark?

Well, I didn't have to do it in the cold or the dark. But I would have, and that's what matters.

We actually ended up going to our friend's house because we still didn't have power by the time I got home from work. So I brought my beer with me and reviewed it there. Now, I have to say that when I review a beer, I get really into it. Before the bottle's even opened, I take pictures of the bottle / label. I have someone (usually my dad) pour it into a glass while I take pictures of that. Then I take about a billion pictures of how the beer looks in the glass. Maybe I'll pair it with the bottle if the label looks especially cool. Then I spend time considering the color, the amount of carbonation, whether it looks clear or murky, the size/color of the head, etc. Then I, for lack of a better description, stick my nose in the glass and smell. And smell. And consider the smell. Then smell it again.

At this point usually ten minutes or so have passed and I'm getting weird looks from people who aren't used to the whole process. I dont think I got any weird looks that night, but it's definitely the sort of thing where if people dont get it, they'll wonder what the hell I'm doing.

Anyway, onward.

This pumpkin beer was the Cisco Brewing's Pumple Drumpkin, which is based in Nantucket, MA. They use local Nantucket pumpkins to make this beer. They also put this description on the bottle:

"On Nantucket a Pumple named Drumkin, brewed up some great ale with his pumpkins. One and all came to savor the delicious flavor, then wobbled around quite like bumpkins. At Cisco they thought, 'This De-Lish! Let’s make some more because we wish, to please all the tourists, and locals and purists, with the best ale that we can accomplish!'"

It also has a rather silly label.

Color: A dark amber with lighter red/orange colors where the light shines through. It pours with a thin white head that slowly disappears, but leaves a sexy slip of lace on the side of the glass. You have no idea how long I've been waiting to type that sentence.

The snowflakes on the glass just add to the allure.

Aroma: Slightly more pumpkin-y than the others with a hint of cinnamon. There's less of a brown sugar sweet smell, so the pumpkin is more prominent. There's also a sort of bitter, earthy smell, which comes from the hops. It's a bit unexpected, so at first I didn't recognize it. Even with the Dogfish Head Punkin, I didn't really smell the hops, just tasted them through the bitterness in the beer. And you don't really expect a prominent hop smell from a pumpkin beer--you expect pumpkin smells. So it took me a moment to sort out what I was smelling.

First Sip: Cinnamon and pumpkin with bitterness and hop taste. It tastes kind of like the outdoors, if that makes any sense at all. (You know, kind of like on a fall day after you've chainsawed a couple large tree branches and there's that cool, leafy, smell in the air?) The hops are actually more flavorful than the pumpkin, and it's the cinnamon that's more of the secondary flavor.

Mouthfeel: The bitterness is there, and the pumpkin comes through with it. Again, it's got more hop taste than the Punkin. The Punkin had more cinnamon/brown sugar/spices that you taste more than the bitterness. In Pumple Drumpkin, you get the pumpkin, the hops, and a little bit of spices. Overall, it's a hoppier beer than I thought it would be, and the pumpkin kind of comes through in the background and at the end.

Aftertaste: Some sweeter pumpkin-hop taste, then it fades away leaving just slight hints of cinnamon.

Overall, it's a good solid beer. As a beer itself, it's really rather tasty. As a pumpkin beer, it's not my favorite, but it's one I would have again. So if you're looking for a really flavorful pumpkin taste, I would look elsewhere first. If you're just looking for a beer to enjoy, then this would be a good candidate.

Update on Beer-y Things

Okay, so I don't have a beer review....yet.

Before that lovely storm hit on Saturday, I journeyed to Julio's, one of the best places in the whole world (www.juliosliquors.com) The first time I went I was totally overwhelmed and I'm pretty sure I spent the first 15 minutes standing in front of the beer section and drooling. I spent the next 40 minutes in a sort of blissful state, wandering around and grabbing things that looked good. I weep for all the beer I left behind, but it was a great experience and I got a lot of delicious beer.

The second trip I took was a bit more controlled because I knew what to expect. I also knew what I was looking for--straight up pumpkin beers. Because you know, I'm becoming slightly obsessed. That's okay though. I'm sure I'll move on to holiday-ish beers soon, along with stouts, porters, winter warmers, etc. Anyway, I got the following:

Cisco Brewers, Pumple Drumpkin
Heavy Seas, The Great Pumpkin (Imperial Pumpkin Ale)
Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales -- La Parcela, #1 Pumpkin Ale

I wish I could show you pictures now, but at 6:30 PM that night, we lost power and it has not been restored yet (I'm writing this from a remote location....a SECRET LOCATION). So while I might have pictures on my camera, I can't upload them to my computer. And I really, really want to put up a beer review, but I (and you) must content ourselves with just this.

The plan is, I will go home and, in the freezing cold and semi-dark, drink some Pumple Drumpkin from Cisco Brewers and write out my review with my half-frozen fingers. That will make you appreciate it more, right? Right???

Also upcoming is a growler of home brewed pumpkin beer from a secret contact. Okay, so it doesn't have to be a secret contact, but I like saying that because it sounds cooler than saying some I know through work is giving me beer.

Also, here are some other pumpkin beers I've tasted in the mean time, but didn't write a review for because I am lazy:

Dogfish Head Punkin -- True to their legacy, this is delicious. Like, really delicious. The best one I've tried so far, probably, because they're able to integrate hops and pumpkin into some sort of flavor tango, spiced with cinnamon, and if my memory serves me correctly, brown sugar. Even better, the name comes from Punkin Chunkin, an event in Delaware where contestants literally build trebuchets, air canons, and other machines that can fling pumpkins really, really far. This is actually happening Nov 4 - 6, so I recommend picking up some Dogfish Head Punkin and watching this, because it will be amazing. (http://www.punkinchunkin.com/)

Shipyard Pumpkin Ale -- I had this at the BBC (British Brewing Company) and, more recently, last night at Applebees. They put cinnamon and brown sugar around the rim of the glass if you want, which is very tasty. It makes this a bit sweet at first, but the beer itself does have a little bit of bitterness. And of course, it tastes like a pumpkin.

I also had another pumpkin beer at Sacco's Bowl Haven in Somerville a couple weekends ago, but I completely forget the name. Cambridge something? I saw it at Julio's too, and I cannot remember the name at all. The bottle had a blue label. That doesn't help, I know. Anyway, it was tasty. I'll get that name by my next post, but it too was a good beer. Sacco's also has some other nearby craft brews, including Pretty Things, which is located in Somerville. They also have the best flatbread pizza anywhere, and candlepin bowling.

So that's pretty much an update on what's been going on since my last post. I'll hopefully be able to post another review soon, but no promises... they say we're not supposed to get power back until tomorrow night around 11:45. So until then, I'm planning on drinking beer and freezing.

Mostly freezing.

Wachusett Imperial Pumpkin

Another post! Within 7 days of the first! Does my productiveness know no bounds?!

Well apparently it does, because I believe I'm getting sick, I'm tired, and I'm still going to make myself go for a run today. Why? I dont know why. But I'm going to be productive and post this damn it.

However, I am going to the BBC (British Beer Company) later on tonight after a little visit to Witch's Woods. So after getting shared shitless (possibly) I will be indulging in some delicious beers (extremely likely). Before that happy moment, I want to share another beer with you.

I’ve decided to continue this tradition of reviewing pumpkin beers, if you can call reviewing one pumpkin beer a tradition. If you can’t call it that, well then I’m going to make it a tradition. So, we’ll continue onward to the Wachusett Imperial Pumpkin Ale.

This rather subtle beer is brewed with two row barley, caramel malt, and pureed pumpkin. There’s also vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and Belgian candied sugar & spices. Overall, sounds like a great combination of flavors—everything that one would want in an autumn brew.

Color: A dark, almost reddish orange with a thin white head. It’s clear and very bubbly. It’s a bit darker than the pumking, with more reddish hues. A nice lookin’ beer. Say, do you come here often?

Aroma: Pumpkin! However, it is subtler than the pumking was. You can still tell that it’s a pumpkin ale, but the smell is a little more complex. There’s also a hint of cinnamon, and the other flavors (nutmeg, ginger) slowly rise out of the pumpkin aroma.


First Sip: Pumpkin, ginger, and cinnamon. In that order. There’s a little bit of bitterness and sharpness, most likely from the ginger. The taste is waaay (with three A’s) more sublte than the pumking, but the flavors are still there. They’re not hiding, but teasing, slowly leading the drinker on to all the delightful flavors that this brew has to offer.

Mouthfeel: Not so smooth, more sharp. The cinnamon and ginger are prevalent, with the spices playing out over the tongue. The pumpkin is still there—in fact it’s behind the other flavors, enhancing and balancing them. Also a bit more caramel coming through now, but I mostly taste the spices.

Aftertaste: The spices are left on the tongue, but they slowly fade away, leaving little to no taste.

If I had to choose one word to describe this beer, it would be subtle. The second would be intricate. A third would be yum. So if you’re a fan of subtle, complex beers where the flavors come to light gradually instead of announcing their presence loudly, then you will probably like this beer.

This beer is so good, it smiles at you, saying "I know how tasty I am. Drink me!"

Birthday Beers! A great way to kick off autumn.

Well my friends, it’s that time of year. October. Autumn. Fall. Leaves are changing color, there’s that hint of lovely crispness in the air, and brewers are putting really yummy things into their beer. Also, it was my birthday yesterday, and so I had birthday beers.

I also got this lovely book called “Tasting Beer.” Perhaps from now on I shall have a…more sophisticated way of describing the taste of beer.

Alternatively, I will continue to make lame jokes and extol the virtues of nearly every beer I come across. We’ll see.

Let’s start things off with a fall seasonal beer, which means one thing: pumpkins. And cinnamon. And caramel and malts and OMG HOPS. And beers that taste like pumpkin pies. Of course, I’m talking about one beer in particular here: Southern Tier Pumpking.

“Pumking is an ode to Púca, a creature of Celtic folklore, who is both feared and respected by those who believe in it. Púca is said to waylay travelers throughout the night, tossing them on its back, and providing them the ride of their lives, from which they return forever changed!”
--From Southern Tier Brewing Company website

This beer is brewed with 2 row pale malt, caramel, and pureed pumpkin. I even know that the kettle hops are magnum and the aroma hops are sterling. (Magnum hops are a bittering hop, used in pale ales and IPAs; sterling hops are used for aromas primarily, giving off an earthy or spicy smell.) How do I know, you ask? Are you taste buds that sensitive? Well, I wish I could say yes and have you all in awe, but I only know the ingredients because they were on the bottle.

And now, onto the tasting:

Color: A light orange, pumpkin color, that is very appropriate for the season. Would be great if had outside, set against the backdrop of the changing leaves. Has a thin white head that disappears quickly.

Mmmmm.

Aroma: Holy cinnamon! Smells very autumn-y. There’s cinnamon, cloves, spices—the sterling hops smell absolutely delicious. It’s as if you’re smelling a fresh baked apple pie, but liquid, in a glass, and alcoholic. I could just keep smelling it, it’s that good.

First Sip: Like fresh pie—pumpkin, cinnamon, spices—everything that the aroma promise. It tastes smooth and rich to me, but that’s no bad thing. It’s not too spicy or too bitter, but it certainly has those elements to it.

Mouthfeel: Nice and smooth and rich, and full of flavor. The cinnamon taste is quite strong, as is the pumpkin taste, but the hops are there as well, lending a slight bitterness to this beer that balances out the spices you get from the cinnamon and the aroma. The flavor is quite strong, and may be too strong for some who prefer a more subtle taste.

Aftertaste: A clean finish that leaves a hint of bitterness behind. It’s 8.6 % ABV, but it doesn’t taste that strong.



And now, on to one of the Top Five Ales in the ENTIRE WORLD, according to the bottle. I bring you Piraat, a 10.5% Belgian beer, a drink that packs quite a…well not punch (that would imply that you'd be doubled over wheezing after having a sip), but it’s really quite strong. While you couldn’t tell that the Pumpking had a high alcohol content, you can definitely tell that the Piraat does.

“Triple by strength, IPA by nature and history.”

It intrigues me that they would call a Belgian an IPA—previous to this, I thought they were two completely different styles of beer (well, they still are) and putting them together was something I’d never thought about. I was interested to see how exactly this beer would pull off two styles of beer.

Color: Light golden straw with a lot of carbonation. It pours with a great, thick, white head that stays until the last sip. Looks like a true Belgian beers.

Aroma: Smells like you would expect a Belgian to. It has a real yeasty, beer-y smell. Okay, I know “beer-y” isn’t a proper beer tasting term, but that’s the best way I know how to describe it. There’s a hint of fruit in the aroma as well, but I cant tell specifically which kind of fruit.

First Sip: A little more bitter than other Belgian beers. I cannot quite tell what I’m tasting. It does mostly taste like a Belgian—yeasty, slightly sweet, but it’s also got a bit of a hop taste in there. It’s a Belgian, but there’s a bitter taste in there that gives the slight impression of an IPA.

Mouthfeel: Very smooth. It definitely has a slight sweet, fruity taste, that may come partly from the hops, as it seems one moment, and partly from the “Belgian-ness” of the beer, as it seems the next moment. While you can tell that this is a high alcohol beer, it doesn’t hit you like a ton of bricks. It’s quite smooth, and a damn good beer.

Aftertaste: Mostly yeasty and fruity. It warms the back of your throat after you’ve swallowed, due to the high alcohol content.

I am amazed that they did seem to combine both a Belgian and an IPA, although this tastes mostly like a Belgian. There are hints of hops in there, but it’s definitely not overpowering, and a complete hophead may be baffled by this. But you’ll definitely want to try this, especially if you’re a fan of Belgians.

And once you’ve had a sip, well, you wont want to stop. So go ahead, have another one.

Manifesto

I cannot believe I haven't put this up here yet. Shame on me.

"If I Was A Beer" by Alyssa Lawrence

It couldn't be any Bud, Corona, or Coors
And not PBR, that's for sure.
You can forget that watery shit,
'Cause I don't like it one little bit.
The classless taste of college frats
is not how I would choose to bat.
I'd be something bitter, something dark
Something that would leave a mark.
A Guiness, a stout, or an S.O.B.,
A drink unafraid of getting dirty.
Or perhaps a pale ale, foam on top
The deliciously enticing taste of hops.
Dark, amber, red or gold,
Good beer just never gets old.
But if I had to choose just one
To be for a little fun,
Well then, GODDAMN!
I'd be a $200 bottle of SAMS!
Take that Miller and Natty Ice
You can never match my price.
Why don't you do yourself a favor
And try something with flavor!
You can say that I'm being too hard,
But I know I'm better - I'm a beer snob.

A note on the phrase "beer snob": I feel that "beer geek" would be a better choice of words here, but alas, it doesn't rhyme. "Snob" implies that there are very few beers that I hold in high esteem, when in fact I hold a LOT of beers in high esteem. It's true that I do look down on some beers, but I have tried every single crap beer mentioned in that poem (which is how I know they're crap). I've gone to college, I've had my share of PBR (oh, Emerson), and now it's time to start drinking good, tasty, delicious beers.

Blues & Brews Fest Pictures! Finally!

My mom and uncle, happy because they are about to get liquored up.

A very happy man at the "cask conditioned" booth. Their company takes beers from other brewers and conditions them in casks.

I honestly forget the exact name of this beer, but the one on the left has been cask conditioned. The one on the right has not. I am 99% sure that this was an IPA.

My dad, happily anticipating his cask conditioned beer.

The selection from Blue Hills Brewery. Their Watermelon Ale and Antimatter are really fucking good.

My mom was capture by Uncle Fester. It was weird.

And they had music!

This guy kind of just closed his eyes and "grooved" to the music. This was also weird and kind of awkward.

Many tastings in. My dad was the happiest person on the planet.

Believe this one is from Ithaca Beer Company, but dont remember which one it was. Maybe a smoked porter?

A selection of beers. Also, a girl's bum.

Total, complete, happiness.

And we round the whole thing off with a beer cupcake. Yes, that's right. It has Sam Adams Boston Lager in there.

Decostructed Pack Part 2

Before we begin, I'd like to apologize in advance (again) for the low quality of the pictures. They make these two beers look like they're the same color, which they're not, although they were similar. Please take my word for it, and don't judge the pictures too harshly.


East Kent Goldings

This comes from, in case you couldn’t guess from the insanely obvious name, East Kent in the UK (if you don’t know where East Kent is, I would suggest looking along the 48th latitude).

This beer brings “fruity, floral, and apricot flavors” to the table, something that I am eager to try.


Color: Closer to a true orange color with just a hint of amber. Pours golden and clear, and there’s not a lot of carbonation. If I had to pick, I’d probably say it was the color of apricots. And if it’s the color of apricots…

Aroma: …then it smells like apricots! It’s fruity and a little bit floral. It doesn’t hit my nose quite in the same way as the Ahtanum, but it still smells delicious. So if it looks like an apriot and smells like an apricot…

First sip: …then it’s an apricot!...Beer! Liquid fruity flavor! More fruity and sweet than the other hop varieties by far, and I can taste a bit more of the malts in this one as well. The apricot isn’t over powering, despite my previous exclamation points. It’s apricot, but it’s hops as well. It’s like an apricot that leveled up and got an ability to naturally produce beer.

Mouthfeel: I can taste more of the apricot, but it’s not too sweet. There is some hop flavor, but it’s a mellow bitterness. It’s not very carbonated, and as a result feels smoother than the other beers.

Aftertaste: So my notes here got mixed up with another beer and what I actually wrote doesn’t make sense. (Let’s also keep in mind I’m a small girl and even 6% ABV can hit me unexpectedly.) But I do remember being left with a sweetness on my tongue and a warmth in my belly (though that may have been the alcohol).

If you can’t get ahold of a deconstructed pack, but still want to try an apricot beer, may I recommend Aprihop, by Dogfish Head, or perhaps Son of a Peach by R.J. Rockers Brewing Co. Aprihop will have more hop presence with the apricot flavor instead of the more traditional grapefruit one, and Son of a Peach will taste fruitier, sweeter, and less bitter (it’s a wheat beer and not an IPA).



Zeus

True to it’s name, this hop variety purports to be the most intense out of all of them. They’re grown natively on Mount Olympus, but I suppose Yakima Valley, WA, has somehow got ahold of them too.

These hops contribute a strong hop presence and “an intense, pungent, resinous pine flavor.” I half expect lightening bolts to come shooting out of the bottle any minute. Or maybe for it to turn into a bull or a swan. Because you know that’s how Zeus rolled. (Mythology! Yeah! No one got that!)

Color: A dark gold. Pours a lighter gold, but looks darker in the glass. It leans towards a light caramel color, but definitely not as dark as the Ahtanum was.

Aroma: It has that familiar grapefruit smell, with piney and earthy notes mixed in as well. After the orangey, floral, apricot, and other diverse smells, this feels a bit like coming home…Kind of like winning the Trojan War and finally getting home after 10 years of epic, weird, and insane adventures.

First sip: Probably the most bitter and intense of all the hops here. I can taste a slight malt flavor and some yeastiness, but it’s mostly piney and resinous. There’s not a whole lot of fruity flavor to this one, but I love hops and bitterness, so I’m not too fussed. It’s like the sweet taste of victory after you’ve successfully surprised the enemy by jumping out of a wooden horse.

Mouthfeel: The pine flavor is quite intense when you let it sit in your mouth for a while. A lot of bitterness—there is almost no sweetness anywhere in this beer. It does get balanced out by the malts, but I only had eyes (or tongues??) for the bitterness. Those who weren’t fans of the East Kent Goldings or Ahtanum may like this variety better.

Aftertase: Bitter. Some malt taste left as well, but it’s mostly the hops. This beer has a great hop presence. Almost like lightening one might say…




I also have pictures from the Blue & Brews fest, which should be up by Saturday (hopefully sooner!). But to give you a bit of a preview, it was probably the most fun I've ever had. With good beer, good food, and good music, it's really hard to go wrong.

Also, I seem to have lost my notes for the Latitude 48 itself (boo, boo, shame on me, I know) so that review will have to wait until I find one to retaste. I'm not sure how likely that is, as I dont know if they have this beer year round, but I shall try to find one.

Upcoming in the next couple weeks, there is a good chance that I shall be going to Armsby Abbey, the greatest beer bar in Worcester (and possibly all of Massachusetts) to partake in the delights that they offer.

And by delights I mean beer, and lots of it.