Solid 8's

Here are three new beers that I think are excellent candidates for breakfast stouts...

Ballast Point Victory at Sea Coffee Vanilla Imperial Porter
22 oz -- Luke's, Rockland
its an imperial porter, but i'm gonna count it as a breakie stout. drank pretty warm while moving a friend. vanilla flavor really did stand out. much recommended.
Score: 8

Great Divide Espresso Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout
22 oz -- Cork's, Mansfield
had the oak aged yeti before, but not infused with espresso. has a totally different label than the first beer, not as flashy but pretty classy. strong coffee flavor is needed to even out nearly 10% abv. enjoyable though.
Score: 8

Troegs Java Head Stout
22 oz -- Cork's
pour you would expect with slightly more sizeable head. fresh coffee nose. rising bitterness amidst charred java. easy drinking but a little chalky. very nice beer but never blows you away. if you are looking for some sort of tie-breaker, this was probably the most expensive of the three...
Score: 8

Washington D.C.

As promised, my trip to Washington D.C. gave me some new states to check off the list. These are going to be hard to find up in New England, but asking your local liquor store is always an option...

Blue & Gray Stonewall Stout
22 oz -- Rick's Wine and Gourmet, Alexandria, VA
a virginia beer. drank it as a breakfast stout on halloween. all good things in flavor: chocolate, coffee, roasted malts. worked better as a breakfast stout than anticipated.
Score: 7

Legend Brown Ale
22 oz -- Rick's Wine and Gourmet
from richmond, virginia. attractive to the eye... very malty with robitussin/liquorice/dark fruit in taste... little thin, which means its not too heavy. not a bad brown.
Score: 6

Legend Pale Ale
22 oz -- Rick's Wine and Gourmet
another nice amber pour with very fresh nose. earthy bitterness with sweet finish. i would give it the edge over the brown.
Score: 6

Old Dominion Dominion Ale
Bottle -- Brickskeller, Washington D.C.
recommended by one of hil's friends as their favorite beer. i'll be honest, the low-budget label made me skeptical but this really was great. solid malt presence but very balanced and drinkable. i would definitely get a six-pack of this next time.
Score: 8

RJ Rocker Patriot Ale
Bottle -- Brickskeller
from the other carolina. aroma is mostly wet dog. flavor is like chewing on raw hops, but the bitterness is still mild. a loss.
Score: 3

Terrapin Rye Pale Ale
Bottle -- Rick's Wine and Gourmet
wow, a beer from georgia! i was excited to bring a six-pack of this back with me from dc. only 10% rye, so more of a pale ale than anything. breadiness cuts crispness of hops. not bad at all.
Score: 7

My favorite:

Duck-Rabbit Porter
Bottle -- Brickskeller
hil ordered this so that i could try a beer from north carolina -- what a sis! mahogany pour with big head... mostly chocolate flavor... creamy texture. this was surprisingly good. suppose i shouldn't have been that shocked since north carolina has a very robust craft beer scene. something to explore further, i guess.
Score: 8

Homebrewing through the seasons

It has been a while since I posted about my homebrews, so let's catch up. My last few homebrews have been heavily tied to the seasons, unlike my early homebrews which just focused on some of the major styles. A wheat beer for the steamy end of the summer, a pumpkin ale for the fall, and a darker beer planned for the holidays.

Hold-The-Lemon American Wheat
Bottle -- Brockton
designed as a clone to widmer's hefeweizen -- my first attempt at a true clone. not a hef though, just like widmer's isn't a hef. american wheat is a much more appropriate designation in my book, much like harpoon's ufo hefeweizen or sam adam's summer. (but hopefully mine will be a little better than the latter though...) the idea was a flavorful, yet easy drinking beer. nice enough looking beer with some fresh hops on nose. love the flavor too -- citrus from the hops and caramel from the malts. solid balance. yeast is especially tasty (wyeast 1007), again more fruity than a german hef strain. smooth going down, perhaps slightly watery. i thought this accompanied meals especially well and was pleased with how close this was to what i was going for. i should point out the flavor turned slightly after 6 weeks, but nothing compared to this next beer...
Score: 6

Mr. Jack Ale'Lantern
Giant pumpkin -- Brockton
pours clear orange with neat head... spice does come through in aroma, along with malts, a hint of alcohol, and apples? that was unexpected. nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves all present themselves in taste to lend a real pumpkin flavor to it (i discovered in the brewing process that pumpkin really doesn't have much a flavor to it at all, and what we consider to be the taste of pumpkin is actually fall spices... seriously, taste it sometime.) there is a moment of bitterness up front and i was surprised to taste the yeast as well. very lively mouthfeel throughout and very light bodied. as mentioned in the last post, this rating is for the beer when first brewed. the spices did start to sour fairly quickly, so this is a beer that needs to be consumed relatively quickly. still, i would consider this a success.
Score: 6

On deck:
Chocolate. Chipotle. Milk. Stout. Returning to the scene of my greatest failure: homebrew #3, You're So Vain... You Probably Think This Stout is About You! I thought I could play it safe on this one and produce a Guiness or something... or I could brew the greatest beer ever made. Results to come at Christmas.

Fun with pumpkins

This was probably the most excited I have been about Halloween since the age of 5. Yes, 5 -- by the age of 6 I had already developed my current disinterest in candy. But enough about my sad, puritanical life.

This Halloween was exciting since I was going to build a keg out of a pumpkin. And then put my homebrewed pumpkin ale in it. And then drink it! This was going to be big.

Step 1: Now listen carefully because this is the most important step: Find some suckers to allow you to create a keg out of a giant pumpkin inside their house! Ladies and gentlemen, Leanne and Ryan! (Note the lack of alcoholic beverages in front of everyone but myself -- this becomes increasingly relevant as our story goes on...)

Step 2: Find a large knife with which to stab the pumpkin. Remove a lot of pumpkin guts.

Step 3: Secure access to some serious powertools. (Note concerned look on the face of all onlookers...) Now, very carefully drill a hole that is just big enough for... @#$% %^&*! Okay, take a deep breath, we can fix this. RYAN, WHERE IS THE DUCT TAPE?! WHAT?! WHO DOESN'T OWN DUCT TAPE?!?!

Step 4: With the tap "secured" we are ready. It is at this point the relevance of completing Step 1 becomes very evident. Man, Kelly would kill me if I ever did this in our house. Nevermind that, everyone, fill that pumpkin!

Step 5: Wow, that is a lot of beer. Let's seal this up and get started!

Step 6: "You are going to have some, right, Kelly? Where is your cup? Oh, you are full. Okay, how about you, Ryan? What, you are making hot apple cider? Well, that was forseeable... George! My trusty old buddy, George! Here have some delicious pumpkin beer! What? It is too sweet?! BUT THEN WHY ARE YOU DRINKING HOT APPLE CIDER INSTEAD?!?!" Obviously, I proceeded to drink a lot of pumpkin beer. Here is some of the aftermath. Note massive flooding below pumpkin.

To be fair, this beer was much better when I first brewed it. I had heard that spiced beers tend to sour over time, but I never thought it would happen in the span of a couple of weeks. In an effort to fix the problem, I added a brown sugar solution to sweeten the beer, which was definitely an over-correction. So it goes. I thought the beer was still delicious, although the last quarter of a pumpkin was a little heavy. I wouldn't say the pumpkin infused much flavor, but that wasn't really the point, is it? Next time I would better time the brewing, put the pumpkin on ice, and probably get a smaller pumpkin. But again, where is the fun in that? Regardless, I highly recommend trying this yourself next Halloween. Just remember, Step 1 is the most important step.

Maine Beer Festival

Maine. Beer. Festival. Maine Beer Festival! Yup, that is where I was last weekend. 15 Maine brewers, 12 tickets of 4 oz samples, 3 1/2 hours. So it was pretty much the greatest day of my life.

Couple of thoughts. Believe it or not, but this was only my second beer festival, and it was quite a bit different than the first. 12 drinks (or 4 beers) may not seem like a lot in 3 1/2 hours, but it really was plenty. I much prefered this to unlimited samples in 1 oz glasses since you get a much better sense for the beer you are drinking. Also, these Maine brewers did a much better job of bringing some interesting beers. Belgians, porters, double IPA's, world-class stouts -- pretty much everything was here. Especially impressive was what some of the bigger brewers brought: imperials, cask-conditioned, nitro pours, bourbon barrel-aged, you name it. Nevertheless, it was the smaller brewers that really stole the show. The lines for each of these brewers ran across the expo center.

Anyways, here are twelve new beers I tried at the festival. I think it is worth noting that I also had some more familiar, and yet still enjoyable, beers from Bar Harbor Brewing, Gritty's, Peak Organic, Sea Dog, and Shipyard. Perhaps I'll see you there next year?

Allagash Hugh Malone
Sample -- MBF, Portland
i usually like to wait on the stronger beers at festivals but i couldn't help but make a beeline to this 8.5% belgian ipa that i hadn't tried yet. white grapes factor prominently in flavor. heavy aroma. sweet and strong, with a bitter finish. nice.
Score: 8

Atlantic Brewing Mount Desert Isle Ginger
Sample -- MBF, Portland
hadn't had many ginger beers but still went in with low expectations. surprisingly good. you could taste the ginger but it was very well placed. nice balance too. not sure i would drink a whole six-pack of these, but i would definitely reccomend it.
Score: 7

Federal Jack's Taint Town Pale Ale
Sample -- MBF, Portland
my first beer from this kennebunk brewpub. they are affiliated with shipyard and even had a 2008 cask-conditioned prelude available. i made the wrong choice, because this was not good. breadiness and grassy hops clashed in flavor.
Score: 2

Geary's Imperial IPA
Sample -- MBF, Portland
i was surprised to see geary's jump into imperial wave overtaking maine. i think brewers are going a little overboard with these high alcohol monsters, but it is exciting to see a new beer from geary's. kind of a letdown though. alcohol and heavy maltiness come through more than expected bitterness.
Score: 6

Kennebec River Penobscot Porter
Sample -- MBF, Portland
my dad is a big fan of this beer -- but then again he loves most any dark maine beer. this is a dark one, with a healthy dose of charred malt and... spanish olives? yup, that is a new one. not bad though.
Score: 6

Run of the Mill Bug Zapper Super Lager
Sample -- MBF, Portland
from the producers of my beloved liberal cup in hallowell maine. this was a new one to me, a "double brewed" lager. not quite sure what that means. generous grassy hops for a lager, for sure. a lot more flavor than their bug lager. i liked it, my dad did not.
Score: 7

Sebago Local Harvest Ale
Sample -- MBF, Portland
apparently they can grow hops all the way up in monroe, maine! gives me hope for my future hop farm. the hops are quite sweet, as is the malt profile. little too one-dimensional for my liking, but not bad at all. like the idea.
Score: 6

Sebago Barrel-aged Lake Trout Stout
Sample -- MBF, Portland
i was really hoping they would bring this beer. i mean, they aged one of my favorite beers in a bourbon barrell! predictable level of alcohol knocked me off my feet. tastes a lot like bourbon. i would only drink this in certain situations but it would be perfect to share with dan when smoking a cigar!
Score: 8

Sheepscot Valley Sheepscot River Pale Ale
Sample -- MBF, Portland
good balance between caramel malts and fruity hops. best sheepscot i have had yet.
Score: 8

Sunday River Alt
Sample -- MBF, Portland
overly malty and bland. unenjoyable.
Score: 3

Sunday River IPA
Sample -- MBF, Portland
given to me as sunday river's ipa. does that mean the 420 ipa they absorbed from stone coast? probably. piney/citric hops, although a little watery.
Score: 5

Best in show:
Maine Beer Spring Peeper Ale
Sample -- MBF, Portland
i made a beeline to this new maine brewer, which was deserved. founded by the kleban brothers (with a little help from allagash, i believe), maine beer company started with a "west coast pale." citrus hops on nose, and a solid bitterness, although it doesn't build out of control. balanced enough that i could drink this regularly. can't wait to see what is next from these guys!
Score: 9

Randomness

You'll see these beers came to me from all over the map. And the march to 1,000 beers continues...

Avery White Rascal
Bottle -- Julio's, Northborough
kelly purchased this after realizing that she liked most witbier's, not just allagash white. powerful yeast, but i have had tastier. fruitiness makes up for it in flavor. certainly goes down easy.
Score: 5

Capital Blonde Doppelbock
Bottle -- Julio's, Northborough
medium brown color... lighter malt profile, albeit with a slight skunkiness. better than your average doppelbock, i thought.
Score: 6

Coney Island Sword Swallower
Tap -- Prezo Grille and Bar, Milford
solid citric bitterness on nose and flavor. not bad. have to say though, george ordered one of these later in the evening and it was awful. dregs of the keg? i'm not sure.
Score: 6

Flying Dog Doggie Style Classic Pale Ale
Tap -- Prezo Grille and Bar, Milford
first off, classy name. i just don't like these guys. beer itself has rather rawish hops with maltiness in center of taste. meh.
Score: 6

Founders Double Trouble
Bottle -- Prezo Grille and Bar, Milford
i actually had to send back an incorrectly delivered founders breakfast stout in order to get this beer -- seems like a crime. this was very good at least. pungent nose... sweet peach flavor... excellent.
Score: 8

Kona Wailua Wheat
Bottle -- Brickskeller, Washington D.C.
off-putting aroma... formaldehyde? not sure. flavor is equally bad. don't order this beer.
Score: 1

New Holland Mad Hatter IPA
Bottle -- Brickskeller, Washington D.C.
not the hoppiest ipa you'll ever find with a solid malt profile. my really complaint was that it was a little watery. pretty good overall though. i'd still like to try another one from this much respected brewer.
Score: 7

Otter Creek Helles Bock
Bottle -- Peabody
malty, blah.
Score: 3

Pyramid Haywire Hefeweizen
Bottle -- Brickskeller, Washington D.C.
little cloudy. apricot and wheat flavor. easy enough to drink but not especially well-constructed.
Score: 5

Saint Somewhere Lectio Divina
750 ml -- Shoreline Beverage, Huntington, NY
the bottle calls this an amber ale. beer advocate lumps it in with belgian strong pale ales. all i know is i have never had anything like it. big pop once the cork comes off. raisins and a candied sugar sweetness dominates. alcohol was kind of strong too. not my favorite.
Score: 6

Two Brothers Domaine DuPage French Style Country Ale
Bottle -- Luke's
don't think i have had a biere de garde before. sustained head... subdued aroma with slight twinge of yeast... slight sourness and fruity. interesting.
Score: 7

One to seek out:
Caldera IPA
Can -- Brickskeller, Washington D.C.
never found this beer while out in oregon. comes in very bright can. hops are closest to grapefruit and quite nice. this may have been my favorite beer of the weekend.
Score: 10