Saturday, November 24, 2012

Latin Foods and Local Brews

In the Boston area at least, there seems to be some sort of beer festival taking place most every weekend. This is not a complaint.

One that caught my eye though was "Latin Foods and Local Brews" this past weekend. Taking place at the Somerville armory, the festival offered area brewers, Mexican food, live music, and all the proceeds went to a charity called Casa Connection! Now how can you beat that?

With a low key atmosphere, very cool venue, and some excellent food and drink, I can give this one my full endorsement. Here come the ratings!

Clown Shoes Chocolate Sombrero, 8
imperial stout with a beautiful pour. roasty chocolate does come through. was never blown away by clown shoes but i think a lot more of them after this one.

Clown Shoes Tramp Stamp, 8
belgian ipa with burst of grapefruit flavor. another best in show nominee.

Enlightenment Illumination, 10
dubbed a "Farmhouse IPA," which is fitting since it is both Belgian and American... aggressive hops cut by yeast... even better than their Biere de Champagne.

High & Mighty XPA, 3
nothing to see here. again. 

John Harvard's Yellow Belly IPA, 6

not bad but a light ipa. 

John Harvard's Porter, 5

watery. 

Rapscallion Concord Grape, 1

grape water. 

White Birch Farmhouse Red, 4
plenty of brewers are hopping on the farmhouse bandwagon. but calling a muddled red a farmhouse is going too far. 

White Birch Hop Session, 7

a hoppy red. and solid. the best white birch beer i have tried yet. 

White Birch Oude Timey, 6
a murky brown wild ale with decent sour bite up front. interesting.