New Brewers

It is always exciting to try a brewer for the first time. Obviously, when the first beer is a good one, I will search out other offerings from the brewer in the future. Of this group of east coast brewers, I will probably go back to Clipper City, HeBrew, and Cottrell, in that order.

Clipper City Heavy Seas Loose Cannon Hop3, MD
Sample-- Yesterday's, Newport, RI
clear copper with measured head. floral, piney hops found in both aroma and flavor. some spice and hides 7+% alcohol well. balancing malts are present, but hops are still a little over-the-top.
Score: 8

HeBrew Messiah Bold, NY
Bottle -- People's Liquor Warehouse, Fall River
aroma of toasted malts, cocoa, and something else i can't pick up. detect molasses and chocolate in taste, with a surprising degree of hop bitterness. very good flavor for a brown ale.
Score: 7

Hook and Ladder Golden Ale, MA
Sample -- Yesterday's, Newport
pours a hazy gold with very thin head. grass and bread on nose. bitter start overtaken by sweet corn. that said, i am really reaching on all of this. very light and boring overall.
Score: 3

Mayflower Pale Ale, MA
Tap -- Union Brewhouse, Weymouth
this pale ale is all about the hops. fruity on the nose and bitter on the taste. not bad at all, but kind of one dimensional.
Score: 7

Mendocino Red Tail Ale, NY
Bottle -- Union Brewhouse, Weymouth
a brownish-red amber ale with muted grain aroma. sort of bland but there is some saving bitterness in there. drinkable enough but a little confused...
Score: 5

St. John Brewers Virgin Islands Pale Ale, ME
Sample-- Yesterday's, Newport
so brewers from massachusetts moved to the virgin islands to open a brewpub but their beer is actually brewed in maine. strange. anyways, you can't miss the mangoes in this one. i don't really like mangoes, and i certainly don't like them in my beer.
Score: 2

Best of the bunch:
Cottrell Old Yankee Ale, CT
Tap -- Union Brewhouse, Weymouth
my first connecticut beer. dark amber pour with heavy malt aroma. toasted and sweet malts on taste, with bitter hop finish. loved the balance on this one.
Score: 8

Birthday Weekend

I had a reunion with some very good friends last weekend, which also happened to be my birthday. Drinking ensued, and over the course of our tour around Massachusetts, we visited three of my favorite local brewers. Here we go!

Northampton Pale Ale
Sampler -- Northampton Brewery
orangey color, muted aroma, sweet caramel malts and piney hops in taste. well balanced.
Score: 8

Northampton Redheaded Stepchild
Sampler -- Northampton Brewery
an irish ale that pours a reddish-amber. caramel malts and fruity hops, but this is still kind of bland.
Score: 6

Northampton Steamer
Sampler -- Northampton Brewery
a hybrid lager-ale. golden and cloudy. flavor is of sharp, citrus hops and grains. very smooth.
Score: 7

Northampton Black Cat Stout
Sampler -- Northampton Brewery
aroma dominated by roasted malts, taste by dark chocolate. silky, smooth texture. underwhelming.
Score: 6

Northampton Old Brown Dog
Sampler -- Northampton Brewery
nutty. weak.
Score: 6

Northampton Maggies Wee Heavy
Sampler -- Northampton Brewery
expected sweet malts in aroma. what i didn't expect was a note of coffee in the taste... which worked for me. overall though the taste is characterized by sweetness and alcohol. of the six beers i sampled at northampton brewpub, this was my favorite.
Score: 8

Berkshire Steel Rail Extra Pale Ale
Sampler -- Northampton Brewery
as pale as advertised. light hops and sweetness on the nose. also some fruitty overtones in the flavor and kind of watery.
Score: 4

Berkshire Draymens Porter
Bottle -- Chicopee
a standard porter. roasted coffee bordering on burnt and some chocolate/cocoa flavor. a little thin in consistency but very enjoyable overall.
Score: 8

The Tap Chocolate Porter Pint -- The Tap, Haverhill
disclaimer: i was probably already drunk by the time i arrived at the tap, so my notes are brief, i.e. nonexistent. however, i remember this as a very flavorful, enjoyable porter, if a little watery.
Score: 8

The Tap Irish Stout Pint -- The Tap, Haverhill
not as good as the porter. alcohol makes its presence known. that said, i am not entirely convinced this beer is called irish stout...
Score: 7

The Tap Hewitt Brown
Growler -- The Tap, Haverhill
good aroma of malts with hint of coffee. both found in flavor as well, although it is a little watery. it is bland, but has more character than most brown's.
Score: 6

Best of the bunch:
Berkshire Lost Sailor India Pale Ale
Growler -- Chicopee
hazy golden-orange with great lacing. the biggest flaw in this one was the nearly absent aroma... all i could pick up on is some fruitiness. the hops are also understated in the taste, with an unusually dull bitterness for an ipa. nevertheless, i really liked this one, and think its simplicity might make this a great starter beer.
Score: 8

LongShot v. LongShot

I generally stand up for Sam Adams as I find their beers err on the side of drinkability... not a bad thing. And while I do have my share of problems with the brewer, I also really like their American Homebrew Contest. They decided on eight winners, brewed up their winning beers, and released them in limited quantities. My friend Dan and I pitted the LongShot Grape Pale Ale against the LongShot Weizenbock. It wasn't a fair fight.

Sam Adams LongShot Grape Pale Ale
Bottle -- People's Liquor Warehouse, Fall River
fresh (but minor) aroma of raisins/grapes and some grassy hops. grape-apple taste, with kind of sour finish... much more subtle than most fruit beers. thin body and very lively on lips. i wasn't impressed.
Appearance: 3/5 Aroma: 3/10 Flavor: 4/10 Palate: 2/5 Overall: 6/20 Total: 1.8
Score: 3

Sam Adams LongShot Weizenbock
Bottle -- People's Liquor Warehouse, Fall River
pours hazy brown with two fingers of frothy off-white head. on the first whiff i was nearly knocked over by distinctive german yeast. on closer inspection spice, sweetness, and banana emerge. all of these elements are found alongside toasted wheat taste, as well as a very strong presence of alcohol. very complex, very good.
Appearance: 4/5 Aroma: 9/10 Flavor: 8/10 Palate: 5/5 Overall: 16/20 Total: 4.2
Score: 9

Winner: Sam Adams LongShot Weizenbock

NYC

I love a good beer bar, and I found two of them on my weekend trip to New York City. The Ginger Man has 60 taps and 120 bottles... and everyone knows it! The House of Brews was much more low-key and had 80 different beers, with a good focus on local breweries. I would recommend both. What I would not recommend is the microbrewery where we started our night: Heartland Brewery.

Heartland Big Belgian Blonde Ale
Sample -- Heartland Brewery, NYC
translucent with some minimal aroma of fruit and yeast. tastes strongly of banana... not my favorite fruit. there is some warming alcohol but a very liberal interpretation of belgian style.
Score: 6

Heartland Buffalo Bock
Sample -- Heartland Brewery, NYC
defined by sweet, toasted caramel. again, an unusual bock.
Score: 5

Heartland Cornhusker Lager
Sample -- Heartland Brewery, NYC
wow, this was awful. watery with taste of corn.
Score: 2

Heartland Farmer Jons Oatmeal Stout
Sample -- Heartland Brewery, NYC
hey, this one was decent! jet black with tan head. taste of espresso and, to a lesser extent, chocolate. not very sweet though. kind of thin is my biggest quibble.
Score: 7

Heartland Harvest Wheat
Sample -- Heartland Brewery, NYC
pale and cloudy with big, billowy head. very bland. i don't see how they think this is a wheat.
Score: 3

Heartland Indian River Light
Sample -- Heartland Brewery, NYC
light with some hops in aroma. lemony taste. crisp. a light beer.
Score: 3

Heartland Indiana Pale Ale
Sample -- Heartland Brewery, NYC
fresh, grassy hops produced sharp, bitter finish. very one-dimensional.
Score: 5

Heartland Red Rooster Ale
Sample -- Heartland Brewery, NYC
i was struck by the caramel / toffee in smell and taste. smooth, somewhat sweet malts, a few hops, stale bread. meh.
Score: 5

Brooklyn Winter Ale
Sample -- The House of Brews, NYC
sweet malty aroma, with faint taste of roasted coffee. very smooth and a little watery. a warming winter brew.
Score: 6

Kelso Nut Brown Lager
Sample -- The House of Brews, NYC
pleasant aroma. taste of sweet caramel and nutty malts. medium-bodied with little carbonation, almost to the point of being flat.
Score: 7

Ommegang Hennepin
Sample -- The House of Brews, NYC
nice clear yellow pour with distinctive sour yeast smell. mild sweetness, faint spices and good accompanying bitterness. an excellent saison.
Score: 9

Southampton Double White Ale
Tap -- The House of Brews, NYC
cloudy pour, sweet and yeasty on nose. mild citrus and spice with subdued aftertaste. good mouthfeel: clean, astringent, dry, and lively. my first beer from southampton and i liked it very much.
Score: 9

Brew of the batch:
Southampton ESB
Tap -- The Ginger Man, NYC
a very drinkable English-Style Ale. woody/nutty malts balanced perfectly with subtle earthy, bitter hops. grainy, almost chewy mouthfeel. exactly what i am looking for in a beer!
Score: 10

Cambridge Brewing Co.

Saturday after an exciting Boston Bruins win in a shootout, I went across the Charles with a few friends to the Cambridge Brewing Company. This has been on my to-do list for some time, and for good reason. This was the best brewery I have been to on the East Coast, with a great atmosphere, good food (although I would avoid the steak...), and even proper glassware! Their beer was pretty solid too... not a bad one in the bunch!


Cambridge Tall Tale Pale Ale
Sampler glass -- Cambridge Brewing Co. Brewery

pours a hazy orange with fresh, grassy hops on aroma. earthy, bitter hop taste with some sweetness. crisp and light. this is actually pretty well-balanced, if a little watererd down.

Appearance: 3/5 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 6/10 Palate: 4/5 Overall: 13/20 Total Rating: 3.4 Score: 7


Cambridge Amber
Sampler glass -- CBC Brewery

a very unusual amber. appearance is the expected dark amber but i was surprised to be met with coffee and cocoa on the aroma. nutty, coffee flavors complement taste of roasted malts. cambridge is certainly testing the style on this one and i am giving points for creativity here.

Appearance: 4/5 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 9/10 Palate: 3/5 Overall: 13/20 Total Rating: 3.7 Score: 8


Cambridge Charles River Porter
Sampler glass -- CBC Brewery

roasted coffee and sweet chocolate flavor is matched evenly with bitter hops. once again, pushing the envelope. a little thin, but overall a solid, drinkable porter.

Appearance: 4/5 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 7/10 Palate: 3/5 Overall: 12/20 Total Rating: 3.5 Score: 8


Cambridge Tripel Threat
Sampler glass -- CBC Brewery

hazy, golden-orange with long lacing. smell of spice, yeast, apple juice. very sweet, prominent yeast, fruity on taste buds. lively carbonation, kind of dry, medium-bodied. true to style, but not something i could drink a lot of.

Appearance: 4/5 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 6/10 Palate: 3/5 Overall: 10/20 Total Rating: 3.1 Score: 7


Cambridge Blunderbuss Barley Wine
Sampler glass -- CBC Brewery

clear reddish-copper. very aromatic with sweet fruit and spices... and some alcohol. taste of sweet caramel malts with soft bitterness. medium-bodied, creamy, smooth, with warming alcohol. strong but complex -- very nice.

Appearance: 4/5 Aroma: 9/10 Flavor: 8/10 Palate: 5/5 Overall: 15/20 Total Rating: 4.0 Score: 9


Cambridge Espresso Stout
Sampler glass -- CBC Brewery

dark pour, blanketed with tan head. this one is all about the coffee, both on nose and buds. i'm surprised they call this an oatmeal stout, and not a sweet stout... no oatmeal to be found at all. rich and full-bodied. not nearly as subtle as the description says, but i like it a lot.

Appearance: 5/5 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 8/10 Palate: 4/5 Overall: 15/20 Total Rating: 4.0 Score: 9