Hey all – just a quick post on this bomber of Life & Limb, a beer that many of you are probably familiar with. Obviously, Dogfish Head and Sierra Nevada are two seminal breweries in the ‘craft beer movement’. I love ‘em both and I think they’ve both done a lot to push the industry forward. Therefore, I was pretty excited when I heard about this collaborative brew using maple syrup from the Calagione farm (DFH) and barley from the Grossman farm (SN). Disregarding the potential quality of the ingredients, the innovative natures of the brewers promises something worth trying. And, I must say, the beer did turn out quite tasty.

This beer pours a very dark brown, with a dense caramel head. The aroma is quite rich – notes of maple, caramel, and dark cherry do it for me. In the mouth, it stays true to form. At British room temperature, the beer exhibits tremendous richness – full of caramel and dark malt. The maple flavors really take hold around the back of the tongue, as does some flavor of sweet cream – very dessert-like and delicious. It isn’t as viscous as a stout. Rather, it comes across as a rich brown ale with big flavors and some yeastiness that isn’t in your face, but may borrow a bit from their Belgian brethren.

And, that’s about it. Frankly, it seems a short paragraph to write about a beer with such big flavors and some considerable hype. However, I have to wonder – at what point do we experience everything under the sun? This is delicious, sure. But, to be fair, I feel like I’ve tasted it a dozen times before. Don’t get me wrong, this beer is sophisticated and well-crafted and delicious, but it is *not* so different that I haven’t tasted all of these flavors before. And, in that respect, it’s a disappointment. But, I guess we were bound to get here. When dealing with a beverage that stipulates little more than 4 ingredients, the flavors are bound to run out. Leads me to wonder what keeps wine drinkers to interested? At any rate, I’m curious who out there is doing really innovative things and making them work? The further the ‘craft brew revolution’ goes, the weirder we gotta get to stay innovative. And, eventually, the beer is going to start to taste like shit. It’s inevitable. You can only get so weird. However, I’ll bet there are still some breweries pushing envelopes out there.

I’ll tell you the brewery that’s making the most innovative-yet-delicious beers that I’ve had in a while – Furthermore Brewery. Those guys make a coffee lager that’s amazing, and their cracked pepper pale ale is nothing to sneeze at – both fairly low abv beers with medium flavor profiles. I feel like the breweries to push us to the next level will be breweries that understand how to integrate flavors while practicing restraint – something that is, for better or worse, lacking in the current scene.

All I’m saying is that, while I *love* the craft beer culture in the US right now, I’m beginning to get bored with Imperial versions of the same old beers…

Narragansett beer is now available in North Carolina. So pick up a six-pack of Tall Boys at your local grocery store and pretend to go out shark hunting!  (Quint is a character in Jaws… I’ll let you guess which one.)

Also along those lines (of beer releases, not shark hunting), Narragansett Porter has recently hit shelves.  I should review the beer, but the less people know how good it is, means more for me! (Lew gives a good summary of the beer with “Wow!“)

Which brings us to (everything is just flowing together so nicely) another point of, will I actually post something of substance (i.e. a beer review)? Hopefully soon, but unfortunately raising an 18-month old is a bit of a time commitment (Who knew?).  Speaking of which, the little guy is up from his nap, so I’m off!

Listen. I know it’s been a long time since I rapped at ya’, and seeing as it’s been a solid 2 months since the last SevenPack post at all, I figure we’re a little overdue. So, I come at you know with a special Pacific Northwest posting of a brew that we’re nowhere close to getting on the East Coast. Tonight, I find myself in Seattle and, after being disappointed by the taps at some local restaurants, I decided to sidle into the local Safeway to see what they had in stock. As luck would have it, they had a number of brews that tempted my tummy, from a Fresh Hop Deschutes to an Elysian IPA to this little gem from a brewery I’ve never heard of. Long story short, I have one more night in town, so I had to settle for a single beer, and something called “Tricerahops” is bound to win. So here I am.

The Tricerahops hails from Eugene, Oregon which is, by all accounts, good hop territory. It pours a great deep amber color that is, while apparently not heavily filtered, not altogether too cloudy either. The aroma of the beer is absolutely fabulous – there is a lot of floral Northwestern hop here, but also a great bready sweetness. It’s the kind of beer that makes you want to hold your glass to your nose like a Halloween mask. The taste here is also excellent. Early on the tongue, there is a substantial hop burn – this is full of west coast fresh hops. The sting on the tongue is quickly mitigated by that malt backbone and some buttery flavors, killing the burn and mellowing out the hops while bring a strong sweetbread flavor through the mouth. The mouthfeel of the beer is thick and decadent, coating the mouth with sweet malts and fresh hops, and just a hint of citrusy grapefruit. In the end, the beer finishes with another pretty sharp hop blast that kicks back through the mouth. That sharpness sticks with you for several seconds, but eventually the malty sweetness reigns the aftertaste. Frankly, it’s one of the longer aftertastes I’ve tasted in a beer in a while, leaving a lot of flavor more than a minute after my last sip.

I don’t know much about Ninkasi, and this is their first brew I’ve tasted, but *man* am I impressed. I’m very excited to taste more from these guys, but sad that I don’t know when I’ll have the chance! See you tomorrow, North Carolina…

A bit of good news to report on a recent blog post of mine regarding the “Farmer-Brewery” license in MA. After a group of MA craft brewers sat down with State Treasurer Steven Grossman, Mr. Grossman announced, on August 8th, that the Alcohol Beverage Control Commission (ABCC) would be reversing the rule change dealing with “Farmer-Brewery” licensing and will schedule a series of public hearings for comments on the current system of licensing. That is certainly good news, especially since the ruling would have had a dramatic economic impact on current state breweries. Prior to Mr. Grossman’s announcement, legislation was filed by State Senator Robert Hedlund (R-Weymouth), on August 4th, that dealt with the ABCC’s “Farmer-Brewery” ruling by creating a new craft brewer license. I am unsure where this legislation now stands, due to the ABCC’s reversal, but the press release announcing the legislation ended with a nice quote.

Craft brewers already must deal with many disadvantages, from our archaic regulatory structure to the outdated 3 tiered distribution rules to competition from international conglomerate brewers. We should be creating incentives to promote this industry not hamstring it,” said Senator Hedlund.

Amen.

Given that today is IPADay, I thought I would write a post I’ve meant to write for some time. A while back Alan wrote a post titled “Mr Gillman On APA, SN PA, Liberty, Ballentines And Stuff“. Having just read about Ballantine IPA in Amber Gold & Black: The History of Britain’s Great Beers, I was curious to read if the post had any more nuggets of Ballantine information.

Boy did it! The post references a forum discussion on how to make a recreation of Ballantine IPA. The recreation utilizes two currently (albeit seasonal) brewed Sierra Nevada beers, Celebration Ale and Bigfoot Barleywine, in a “Half and Half” mixture.

Unfortunately I have neither beer in my beer stash, so I will have to wait, anxiously, for this year’s seasonal release of both beers. I look forward to trying the mix out and reporting back with my thoughts.

Happy IPADay everyone.

PS  A good, quick read about IPA myths by Martyn Cornell.

Well this certainly is disconcerting news to read. It seems as though the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (the commission of patronage) is taking a firmer stance on “Farmer-Brewery” licenses that will surely put a damper on the recently burgeoning local craft beer industry of Massachusetts.

Though there is another style of brewing license available called “Manufacturer of Wine and Malt Beverages License”, this license does not allow for breweries to self-distribute or do on site brewery tastings (two major pluses for small craft breweries). If a brewery does want to self-distribute they need a second license called a “Wholesaler’s license”. As for on site tasting, I’m not sure there is another license that covers that. Granted this recent firmer stance by the Commission is a great win for distributors in the state, since the new breweries will need to go through said distributors if the breweries can not pony up the cash ($5000) for a wholesaler’s license (the distributors probably had nothing to do with this recent firmer stance). Unfortunately as it stands it looks like the law will need to be updated for either a reinterpretation of “Farmer-Brewery” or a new license devised for self-distribution and tasting, with distributors fighting tooth and nail against (as they have before when dealing with distribution law changes).

The thing is (and this may shock some people, because Massauchesetts is located in the grain belt*), and as a post on Brewbound points out, Massachusetts does not even come close to producing enough malting barley for brewers to meet the “Farmer-Brewery” requirement. I guess if all the local farmers replaced their fresh grown edible produce with malting barley and hops, this might all just work out however. Then again that seems like a rather strange priority to have.

*No it isn’t.

So, I’m not going to spend a ton of time reviewing this beer from Odell, because I think my past reviews will indicate how I feel about this. I’ve never had a bad beer from the folks at Odell, I think their label art is swell, and I reach for IPAs about 75% of the time. Therefore, it stands to reason that I’m going to like this. A lot.

And I do. Frankly, I’m surprised by the pour, as it is much lighter than expected, coming out looking more like a pale ale or a lager than a full-bodied IPA. It is really quite clear, but I’d wager unfiltered – just a hint of cloudiness presents itself. The head is stark white, fluffing up quickly but then dying down to a thin ring around the glass. A substantial effervescence remains, with tiny bubbles rising to the top of the glass throughout the session. The aroma here is full of fresh hop – very flowery with a substantial citrus hint. In the mouth, this is an IPA by the book, and one of the better IPAs I can recall having. There is a ton of sticky fresh hop flavor with a bit of pineapple citrus throughout the mouth. I wouldn’t call this very complicated – it presents it’s flavor at the front of the mouth, and that flavor remains all the way through to the aftertaste. Perhaps the citrus flares up a bit in the middle of the tongue, relaxing into more of a hop aftertaste.

All in all, I’d rank this up there with the old standards of IPA-dom, like a Dogfish Head 60-minute or a Bell’s Two Hearted. It’s an incredibly tasty beer, mildly sessionable, and impressive value for the cost. Odell’s remains one of my favorite breweries…

One month later, and another special batch from the folks at Rush River. This one is their Uber Alt – a large take on the German Altbier, a typically rich malty concoction.

This brew pours a very dark golden – just slightly cloudy with great effervescence and a creamy dense head that just won’t stop. The aroma of this is just fabulous. It lives up to the style with rich baked bread aromas with an extra slight dose of sweetness reminiscent of cotton candy. In the mouth, this doesn’t disappoint. The initial flavor is quite sweet. In fact, it gives me a light sensation of SweetTarts. However, this is quickly mellowed out by rich sweetbreads and hints of maple syrup. The flavors are undoubtedly rich and decadent. However, the texture of the beer maintains a fairly viscous texture and flows through the mouth quite easy. The flavor tends to stick on the tongue, but the beer comes off quite crisp and clean.

Frankly, I couldn’t be more impressed with this stuff. It’s such an interesting combination of candy sweetness and rich maltiness, and such an unexpectedly smooth and clean mouthfeel, that it’s really unlike anything I’ve tasted. However, it’s not *weird*, like so many ‘different’ beers can be these days (a good thing in its own way). What Rush River has done here is to incorporate flavors we know in a unique fashion, providing a beer that is both familiar and new, and very tasty.

All in all, I think this is a fabulous beer and a great value in a 6-pack. For sure, you’ll want to watch yourself, as this rings in at a deceptively strong 8.5% abv. However, I highly recommend picking up a batch.

Here is yet another brewery that I was not familiar with until spending some excessive time in the town of Minneapolis, Minnesota. I see quite a bit of Rush River around these parts, but I decided to take on the IIPA for my first dive into their catalog. This IIPA stands to be a bit more interesting (and boozy) as it is brewed with honey.

The pour of this is a surprisingly light golden color. Not quite cloudy, but not crystal clear, either – I’m guessing it is partially filtered. The head here is substantial but course, flaring up and then diminishing rather quickly. In the nose, I’m sensing an oddly nutty aroma. There is certainly a light sweetness from the honey and substantial hops, but the overall scent is more earthy than expected. In the mouth, as well, this beer is different than I had planned. Don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty tasty; but it isn’t what I expected. The initial flavor offers hints of ginseng – lightly earthy – before merging into flavors of bitter hops. The hops here aren’t entirely floral, tending more towards an English metallic hop style. Later in the mouth, I begin to sense the honey to a greater extent, almost as the beer is going down the throat. There is a sharp moment of sweetness before the honey diminishes into the background. In the aftertaste, I sense mainly metallic hop flavors. All in all, it is an interesting beer, but nothing I’d write home about. That being said, I’ve been hearing great things about Rush River from the locals, so I’ll likely try out some of their other brews.

This is the first beer I’ve had from Furthermore. I’ve in fact never heard of them at all, but I do like their labeling and good taste in styles. This, the Fatty Boombalatty, is basically an Imperial Belgian White. Being a huge fan of the classic white, Hoegaarden, I am quite excited to try this.

The pour of the FB is a cloudy deep golden full of effervescence, kicking up a pillowy white head that still maintains a thick cake on the top of the beer 5 minutes after being poured. In the nose, this has all the trademark aromas of a witbier in spades – lots of malt with a strong yeasty scent and light citrus notes. The flavor of this also leaves little to be desired. If you’ve had Hoegaarden, then you’ll recognize the general flavor here – but this is turned up to 11. Belian yeast takes center stage, providing lots of sweetness and some bubblegum flavor. On through the mouth we get some spiciness redolent of citrus and coriander. Down the throat, the coriander spice sticks around the middle of the mouth while that bubblegum flavor shoots up the nasal cavity, leaving a lingering sweet essence. Frankly, I couldn’t like this beer much more. It has the trademark flavors of a good summer beer, but it is rich and bold enough to nearly be a dessert beer. Refreshing and decadent in equal measures. It is probably good that this is as rich as it is because, at 7.2% ABV, you wouldn’t want to session too many of these. Overall, a fantastic beer, and I’m looking forward to trying more from Furthermore…

photo credit: walknboston

With Ben reviewing some canned craft beer, I thought I would hop aboard with a review of a canned beer I have recently been enjoying, Bitter American by 21st Amendment.

Poured into a pint glass, the beer’s aroma of floral, with a tweak of lemon, hop, and slightly sweetened malt emanates from the off-white head. This head sits atop a body that is crystal clear, amber-copper in color, and interspersed with meandering bubbles of carbonation. The beer’s display is aromatically and visually enticing.

In the mouth the beer is rather light on the tongue with some carbonation “roughness” to make it slightly interesting. Without the carbonation, the beer would probably have a rather watery mouthfeel. The hops take the more central role in taste. The floral characteristic noted in the aroma is more earthy mid-mouth, though the lemon note is still there, if not subdued. The hops don’t steal the show though, because the malt arrives with a character of bread drizzled lightly with caramel (its dessert bread). The beer finishes dry and bitter with a taste that is minty and fruity. As the beer warms the midmouth hop character starts displaying a pine note. The challenge to this pine note is actually letting the beer warm up enough to reach it.

This is a wonderful beer (and the can’s label is a definite bonus), and I have been thoroughly enjoying it for the last few weeks. The only downside to the beer is the fact it is a “seasonal”. A flavorful, sessionable (the beer is 4.4% abv) beer found in a can is something the American beer market needs more of, so hopefully this beer becomes a year round offering sooner rather than later.

Second up on our week o’ cans is this selection from Surly. Now, Surly is a very Minnesota beer. In my couple of weeks in Minneapolis, I’m seeing this stuff everywhere. It’s the kind of local beer that, even though it’s a good craft brew, it will find it’s place amongst the taps of even your less-discriminating pubs. This is seemingly because it is so well-entrenched in the hearts of the Minnesotans that even your Bud Light swilling locals will pick up a pint. It’s good to have a beer that people associate with home, and Surly seems to be that beer here (along with Grain Belt, a substantially lower quality cousin).

This particular beer, the Coffee Bender is *not* anything I’ve seen on tap around Minneapolis, but I’m intrigued. My impression is that this is coffee blended with beer, as opposed to coffee brewed with beer. This, in itself, kinda turns me off. However, Surly speaks of their cold brewing technique for the beer – it’s a technique I’ve seen used to good results in iced coffees, so I’m curious to see what this does with a beer.

The pour of the Bender is very dark, but not at all as viscous as I expected. Rather, it pours quite lightly, churning up a thin caramel head that quickly dissipates. In the nose, this may as well be a bag of coffee beans. The aroma is intense and rich and could stand along any of the other better-known coffee brews out there. The initial flavor of the beer is lightly sweet, but doesn’t smack you in the face. However, it quickly grows to a substantial coffee flavor. Compared to most coffee beers (which are, admittedly, mostly stouts), the mouthfeel of the Bender is flaccid. It’s a light beer, it flits through the mouth easily, and it doesn’t have a tendency to stick to the tongue. That being said, this packs quite a lot of coffee flavor into a rather light ale. This is chock full of coffee flavor with just the slightest malty flavor to let you know there is beer involved. In the coffee beer market, most brewers are trying to do the biggest, most syrupy beer they an pull off. What Surly has pulled off is creating a coffee beer that is sessionable. It’s appealing, light, and refreshing – and it tastes like coffee. I think there are a lot of people out there who would really enjoy this, and I’m one of them. It might be easy for some to chalk this up as a lesser cousin to the Terrapin Wake-N-Bake Stouts or the Founder’s Kentucky Breakfast Stout. However, I think those folks would miss the goal of the Coffee Bender – actually making a beer that wouldn’t be out of place early in the morning (not that we condone that or anything)…

Hey folks. I know it’s been about a 8 years since I last posted anything. In the meanwhile, Dave has done a good job of periodically holding down the beer blogging fort. However, seeing as I’m stuck in snowy Minneapolis for the better part of the next couple of months, and seeing as how I discovered a great bottle shop just down the road from where I stay, it would seem rude of me to not share some of my finds.

This week I decided to grab a couple of canned beers. First up on the list is this IPA from Tallgrass Brewing. I’ve never had a beer from Tallgrass, a brewery out of Kansas, but they appear to have a stable of pretty traditional varieties on the shelf. I figure an IPA is a good place to start with any new brewery.

This beer pours a medium golden color – certainly darker than a Bud Light, but not quite as dark as the bigger IPAs from Dogfish Head or Bell’s. Upon pouring, the head rears up a light caramel color and quite rocky. As the head subsides, substantial remnants are left hanging on to the sides of the glass. To be honest, the aroma isn’t anything to write home about – there is some light hop presence, overpowered by a more substantial bready aroma. However, neither aroma is very strong, rendering this fairly impotent in the nose department. The flavor, however, is a pleasant surprise. The initial flavor on the tongue is surprisingly sweet, bringing lighter malts to mind. Shortly thereafter, there is a decent floral hop note. As the flavor travels down the tongue, malt and hop blend, providing a well-rounded flavor that isn’t at all overwhelming, but still manages to hold a substantial flavor. The aftertaste here is a bit more hop than malt, leaving just a light floral bitterness on the back of the tongue. I didn’t expect to be too impressed with this given the aroma, but it actually turns out to be a great medium-bodied IPA. I’m not sure about the ABV here, but it strikes me as a great session beer – pleasing the palate but not blasting the tastebuds. I’m not sure I’ll be rushing out for other Tallgrass beers, but I certainly wouldn’t complain if one found its way into my hand…

With Saint Patrick’s Day upon us, I thought this would be a great time to review Guinness Foreign Extra Stout (FES), which hit American shores six or so months back. Instead of a flat-out review however, I will be comparing the FES with Guinness Draught (i.e. the can with a widget in it) and Extra Stout (ES).

The three contestants sit in front of me poured into two Imperial Pint glasses (the FES and Draught) and one shaker pint (ES), because unfortunately my third Imperial Pint shattered a long time ago. Visually the beers are rather similar. All are black bodied with some variation of tan-colored head. The FES has the darkest head of the three with the ES a tick or two lighter and the Draught considerably lighter, bordering on white. As for head consistency, the Draught has nitrogen, so it’s in a league of its own, however FES and ES are very similar, being full of large air bubbles, giving the heads a rocky structure. As the heads of the FES and ES recede, at a similar pace, intricate lacing is left down the glasses.

The nose of the three beers is quite different. ES has a prune, raisin, and earthy hop aroma to it. FES hits the nose with a roasted, slightly smokey, mingling of chocolate and coffee, a light touch of sourness (after the beer warms), and a hint of alcohol. The Draught lacks any real distinct aromatic qualities. Maybe a light grain, but certainly nothing compared to the other two beers.

As for the taste and mouthfeel, FES is a mix of the ES and Draught. It has the bolder flavor of the ES, but a mouthfeel that is smooth and goes down easy, similar to the Draught. Though both FES and ES are bold in taste, the taste itself is quite different. The FES has an enjoyable chocolate malt character that envelopes the mouth. I do not notice any coffee notes, as mentioned in the aroma, but I do notice a subtle sourness, and a tweak of alcohol in the finish. The ES on the other hand is a bit bitter and quite earthy, especially in the finish. The malt character is there but rather indistinct, with the aforementioned earthy quality taking all the lime light. The Draught… well that just goes down. A “light malt roast” is what I could label the taste but compared to the FES or ES it really does not amount too much.

The FES’ 7.5% abv is something to watch out for, especially when compared to the Draught’s 4.2%, but overall the FES is a great addition to the Guinness line-up, with great flavor and drinkability.

Side Note: Martyn Cornell (i.e. author of Amber Gold & Black … buy the book) has an interesting blog post about the difference between African and Ireland brewed FES. The post made me wonder where the American version of FES comes from. Anyone with an answer?

This just hit store shelves around me, so for a larf I bought a can (the store was just putting it out, so when I picked up a can to see what it was, the cashier said, “It will be the next Four Loko.” With that type of endorsement how could I not make a purchase?). I went with the blueberry pomegranate flavor (there are three other flavors: strawberry lemonade, raspberry watermelon, and grape), because it was the only flavor on offer and not due to Pomegranate’s anti-oxidant powers.

For all of our beer reviews here at Sevenpack, we pour the beer into proper glassware for visual analysis. A nice looking beer is just that more enticing. Well, Blast poured out into a glass is absolutely terrifying. It is a weird neon blue (the “FD&C Blue #1″ noted on the can certainly shines through here) with only a wisp of white head, and nearly non-existent carbonation. Quite frankly I’m not even sure why you would pour this out into a glass, and really its best not to. The beer’s aroma is dead on blueberry, with not much else to write about in that regard.

Now I’ve had my fair share of malt liquor in life. From Dogfish Head’s Liquor De Malt and The People’s Pint Tap and Die, to Old English and Private Stock, but I have never had a Colt 45, so I’m not sure how Blast and Colt 45 compare. Then again I’m pretty sure the two are not supposed to be similar anyway. The taste of Blast is like a blueberry flavored Blow-Pop (if they actually made such a thing). It’s incredibly sweet, very light on the tongue with some light carbonation play (more than I thought there would be). Amazingly enough, based off of this review of Colt 45, and other malt liquor drinks, Blast and Colt 45 actually share in their sweetness factor (though I would guess Blast is significantly sweeter). The taste of 12% abv is nowhere to be found due to the sheer overpowering sweetness and blueberry flavoring of the drink. I tend to take the masking of high abv as a note of a well made beer… not in this case however. The beer is actually quite tough to get through due to its incredible sweetness (then again I’m not a huge drinker of sweetened drinks).

With the can done I can say this, “It’s awful and my tongue is blue.”