American Pale Ale Archives - Kaedrin Beer Blog

A Trip to Asheville

August 15, 2023 by Mark

On some of my previous travelogue posts, I devised military style operation names (i.e. Operation Cheddar for trips to Vermont, Operation Chowder for Boston) and I toyed with the idea here, but the only foody thing that stuck out to me during this visit was boiled peanuts… but while “Operation Boiled Peanut” actually has a nice ring to it, there are two things that held me back from that. One is that boiled peanuts are a more broad, regional thing and, like, yeah, so are cheddar cheese and chowder, but there is point two to consider, which is that boiled peanuts are actually kinda gross. I’m sure there are artisanal boiled peanuts made with amazingly flavorful herbs and spices or somesuch, but the stuff I had was… not that. So we’re just calling this a trip to Asheville.

For the uninitiated, Asheville is a city in North Carolina that sports the second highest breweries per capita in the US. There are some big breweries that have distro around the country (Burial), some that have sold out (Wicked Weed), and tons of places ranging from large-ish operations to tiny holes in the wall. Lots of stuff in the city proper, but also tons in the outlying area too. Plus, for whatever reason, the Asheville region seems to be the location of choice for West Coast breweries looking to set up an East Coast base of operations, like Sierra Nevada, New Belgium, and Oskar Blues.

According to my records, I was in Asheville for 5 days, during which I visited 28 venues and consumed 73 different beers. No, my body has not developed a superhuman ability to metabolize alcohol, it’s just that the grand majority of those were small pours (of, I should add, mostly sessionable stuff). Most places had options for at least a half pour, if not even smaller, and my novelty-addled brain always springs for the wider variety. I was going to try and organize this by grouping breweries into tiers and ranking them, but that seems like a futile effort, so I’m just going to follow along my checkins at each brewery visit (and the grand majority of venues were breweries, rather than bars or restaurants, though there were a couple of those).

One quick caveat: I didn’t take detailed notes on pretty much any of these beers (you’re welcome!), but I did rate them on Untappd, so I will include the numeric Untappd score in lieu of my normal letter grades (for clarity, this is a 5 star (“cap”) scale with .25 increments). A thousand pardons for the inconsistency. Alrighty then, let’s kick things off with the sellouts:

Wicked Weed

As luck would have it, our arrival in Asheville happened to cross paths with Wicked Weed’s Brewpub, so it was our first stop.

It’s a very nice place, clearly that AB Inbev money has been well spent, but it still has that quirky brewpub atmosphere, if a bit more upscale than you normally get. As per usual, perfectly cromulent beer was pouring:

Haka – A New Zealand Style Pilsner, a crisp, refreshing start to the trip. 3.75
Tea and Crumpets – An English Style Pale Ale, not something you see around often, but it was solid. 3.75
Wallonia Rye Saison – Remember saisons that aren’t sour? No oak aging, no fruit, just some added rye and saison yeast. Very nice. 4
Perni-Haze IPA – A hazy version of their (flagship?) Pernicious IPA, solid, but I think I actually like the original West Coast style version better. 3.75

So yes, they’ve sold out and I’m not wild about that, but this is a neat place, the beer seems the same as ever, and I’m not opposed to visiting the Funkatorium on some later trip.

Green Man

Green Man is one of the craft pioneers of the Asheville scene. I had been advised by multiple people to visit the “older brewpub” location (which is referred to as Dirty Jack’s), but the night we visited, it was closed for a “Private Event”. Standing outside in the rain like abandoned puppies, longingly looking in at a group of happy people having a great time in a place with a nice looking atmosphere, we eventually gave up and walked a few feet up the street to the Green Mansion, which was very nice and spacious, but didn’t seem to have the personality of the other location. A much more industrial feel with a few nice quirks. Oh well, next time. As for the beer:

Ommagio – Perfectly cromulent Italian-Style Pils, it doesn’t quite hold up to the best I had, but it was quite nice. 3.75
Nerd Nectar – Solid little NEIPA made with New Zealand hops. 4

Would absolutely visit again, if only to check out that original location.

Catawba

I feel like we saw several different Catawba taprooms throughout our travels, but the one we actually stopped at was the Asheville Biltmore Village location. It happened to be a quizzo night, so we informally played a round or two, but they were all music related rounds, so I didn’t do so well. Anyway, decent enough beer here, and as a little treat, here’s a candid portrait of your humble blogger next to his Altbier (and some IPA or somesuch):

Altbier (2023) – Love this style, and this is a fine example, if not great. 3.75
Small Batch Galaxy – West Coast IPA brewed with Galaxy hops, very nice stuff. 4
Small Batch ESB – Not going to blow you away and I had better ESBs during the trip, but this hit the spot. 3.75

Perfectly cromulent stuff, probably wouldn’t seek it out upon a revisit because there’s just so many places that I still haven’t been to, but I wouldn’t be opposed to stopping in if it was convenient either.

Burial

I actually visited two different Burial locations (on two different days).

The Asheville South Slope location was one of the hipper places in town, filled with kitschy decorations and artwork like this mural:

A mural of good friends Sloth and Tom Selleck at Burial

The Forestry Camp Location feels a little more “grown up” but it still retains its personality (oh look, another weird mural). They had food there too, and this breakfast sandwich (ham, egg, and cheese on a biscuit) was one of the best things I ate all week:

And oh yeah, they make beer too:

Scythe Dry Hopped Red Ale – Oh man, remember these? This style used to be more common, and I enjoyed dipping in to this one. Certainly not the best I’ve had, but nice! 3.75
The Residual Imprint of Nearly Illogical Beginnings – A NEIPA that clearly uses the Tired Hands playbook in terms of naming, it’s a good example of the style typical of good haze purveyors. 4
Prophetmaker – This was the first I beer I had at the Forestry Camp location, a hazy pale ale at 5.3% ABV that drinks pretty well. 4
That Which Induces Boundless Experience – Similar to the above NEIPA with the Tired Hands naming convention, it’s another above average hazy. 4
Billows – A dry hopped Kolsh, a bit light after the NEIPA (drank these out of order, I guess), but I enjoyed (might bump it up to a 4 if I had it first). 3.75

Certainly recommended if you like that hipster vibe, and this was the one place I snagged some beer-to-go from (mostly because a friend asked and we split up some 4 packs).

Mountain Layers Brewing Company

The next morning, we headed west of the city and worked our way back to town, stopping at a few places. I was with some folks who had been here before and they really liked it, but fair warning: it’s a bit of a hike to get here. If you’re into white water rafting, it’s right near some apparently good rapids, so there is that as well. We also stopped at a place just up the street for lunch that was excellent.

High Test Deli had an excellent assortment of sandwiches that made for a perfect start to the day, after which we headed over to Mountain Layers for a few brews.

Get Off My Kolsch Lager – A bit of a misnomer, but a pleasing beer. 3.75
Isolated Mind – All Mosaic Pale Ale, rock solid. 3.75
Tale of the Dunkel – A fair example of the style. 3.75

If you find yourself out this way, it’s certainly worth stopping, but I don’t know if it’s worth the trip on its own – there’s just too many breweries closer. That said, there are other outdoor activities in this area that might be an attraction on their own, and if it wasn’t raining and we had more time, it might have been more productive.

Angry Elk

As we made our way back to town, we spied this relatively new brewery and decided to stop in. Great logo, but only so-so beer.

Still relatively far from Asheville proper, pretty standard small brewery setup here, and I got a flight of brews:

Czech Point Pilsner – Not the worst example of the style I’ve had and it’s not, like, infected or anything, but not an encouraging start. 3
Slice of Hefen – This Hefeweizen was probably the best thing I had here, but it’s not exactly great either. 3.5
Copperhead Hazy IPA – A not particularly accomplished NEIPA, it’s not terrible, but there’s far, far better out there. 3
Proctor Town Porter – Not great, but I could drink more of this. 3.5

I feel a little bad because the folks here were very nice and it’s clearly the only brewery in the area, but there’s far better out there. Sometimes new breweries need some time to get their feet under them, but as of right now, I probably wouldn’t return here.

Balsam Falls

Continuing our way back towards town, this one is more like it. It’s still pretty far, but I think it was the highlight of the day.

Typical small brewpub atmosphere, I was impressed with the taplist and was able to grab a few things that were in short supply whilst in Asheville:

Elevensies Livener – A modestly good dark English mild, certainly a step up from Angry Elk. 3.75
Bells Will Be Ringing – I guess it’s not a good sign that a Christmas/Winter Warmer is still pouring in April (then again, Balsam Falls seems holiday themed?), but I like the style and this was a pretty damn fine example. 3.75
Double Mist DIPA – West Coast DIPA, very good and tasty. For whatever reason, I didn’t spring for a lot of DIPAs or high ABV brews during this trip, though in a lot of cases it’s just because they weren’t pouring that many. Glad I got this one. 4
Kings Shadow – I usually like to vary my styles, and I love a good Russian Imperial Stout, but this was the only place pouring one (or at least, the only one I noticed), and it’s a rock solid take on the style and I was happy to see it. 4

Something about this place just tickled me, and while it’s actually still quite far from Asheville, it might be worth the trip next time.

One World Brewing

After finally arriving back in town and grabbing some dinner at a place called Pack’s Tavern (standard pub fare) we walked over to a seemingly hidden alley and basement brewery called One World Brewing (it’s not quite the obscurity of Fermentary Form and there’s an actual sign, but close enough). It was a neat little place, great atmosphere.

They had some live music provided by a guy named Isaac Hadden, who was amazing! He was playing guitar by himself, but doing all sorts of crazy stuff, looping background tracks and playing over them, etc… In speaking with the bartender, it seems like this kid is going places. Listening to him play, he was clearly very talented and I can believe we’ll hear more about him someday. Anywho, onto the beers:

Beer For Keeping – Very nice little Bière de Garde, yet another style you don’t see around too often, which was welcome. Spicy, herbal, floral, another one of those non-sour farmhouse ales, always welcome. 4
Springfest Vienna – Not my favorite, but it got the job done. 3.5
Citra Bomb IPA – Not quite a NEIPA, but not really WC either, a nice balance… 3.75

It’s a cool place that’s well worth visiting and I’m totally going there again.

Sierra Nevada – Mills River

The next day took us to points South, starting at Sierra Nevada’s gorgeous (and gigantic) East Coast facility at Mills River.

Spacious indoor and outdoor seating, though by the time we left, the place was quite crowded. Good lunch and a bunch of brewpub exclusive beers (along with the usual stable of offerings) to be had:

Stein Altbier – As per usual, rock solid take on traditional German style. 3.75
Oktoberfest 2023 – Yes, you read that right – more on this below. Short story: Sierra Nevada heard our indignant rage last year and will be bringing the Oktoberfest back to national distro (and they’re bringing back German collaborations too!) Exciting news! 4
Cryo Fresh Torpedo – I haven’t had a regular Torpedo in, I don’t know, a decade or so? But man, I really enjoyed this spin on it that utilizes cryogenically preserved fresh hops. 4
Summerfest – Somehow had never had this before, a nice little German style pils. 3.75
Draught-Style Pale Ale – I never knew this was a thing, but apparently the bottled Pale Ale is different than the draft Pale Ale. I didn’t have them side by side, but Pale Ale is a classic, so… 4

So I was chatting with the bartender about the Oktoberfest and clearly I wasn’t the only one who showed excitement at the prospect of Oktoberfest returning, and she actually pointed out that this year’s German collaborators (hmm, that sounds menacing, but this isn’t 1940, so you get what I mean) were right over there, working on this year’s Oktoberfest (apparently what I was drinking was a test batch or somesuch).

German Collaborators for this year's Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest

They were from a very small Hamburg brewery called Kehrwieder Kreativbrauerei, and they were very nice. I’m very much looking forward to this year’s Oktoberfest!

They offer formal tours, but also self-guided ones, and it’s a large, fun facility to walk through.

Definitely worth a visit, and I will most certainly make the trip next time I’m in the area. As an added bonus, you can stop at the next brewery on the way back into town:

Burning Blush

As we worked our way back into town, we hit up what became my favorite discovery of the entire trip: Burning Blush.

A beautiful taplist filled with beer-flavored-beer, all of them excellent takes on their respective styles, no matter how obscure:

An Opportunity To Reset – An excellent 3.8% ABV IPL that does just what the name says: it was a perfect palate cleanser. 4
Simply N.C. – Another pale lager, this one made with 100 percent North Carolina ingredients. A collaboration with NC State University and a few other breweries. Also excellent. 4
Road To the Morning – A very good Altbier. I was surprised at how often I saw this style during the trip, and this was probably the best I had. 3.75
Sanctioned Buffoonery – Perhaps the best beer name of the trip? Another straightforward, non-sour saison, most excellent. 4
Windy Summer – What’s another word for excellent? I seem to be saying that a lot here. Um, this is a fantastic ESB. 4

Definitely a highlight of the trip and a must visit for lovers of traditional beer styles. The location is a pretty standard beer hall type place, but look at how beautiful this is:

It doesn’t get much better.

Brouwerij Cursus Keme

Now we come to the weirdest brewery of the trip, and I say that with affection. Technically in town, it’s on the outskirts in a seemingly remote location.

Not super well marked, but that’s part of the charm of the place, which is clearly going for a reclaimed industrial sorta vibe.

Actually very pretty, and an interesting taplist too (plus, some cool backgrounds for beer pics):

V6 – Solid little pilsner to start things off, well done. 3.75
Raptors in Trees – A Brett ESB? Sure, why not. Funky, but very tasty stuff. 4
Psaurum – Who had “California Common” on their obscure styles BINGO card? A nice change of pace for sure. 3.75
Nitro Stout – Exactly what it says, with that gorgeous Nitro cascade, and very tasty stuff. 4

Recommended for those who don’t mind a little quirkiness. I would certainly like to return here.

New Origin

Just a hop and a skip away from Cursus Keme is New Origin, a decidedly more conventional brewery taproom type experience. Small warehouse with an outdoor section, kids running all over the place, pretty standard stuff, maybe a hint nicer than usual. We stopped in but didn’t stay long because we were getting hungry.

Mandarina Pils – A pretty uninspired hazy pilsner, not the worst thing in the world, but not as good as what we were just drinking. 3.5

I’d be open to giving this place another shake, especially since its so close to Cursus Keme.

Buxton Hall Barbecue and Chicken Palace

Everything I’ve covered so far has been a brewery, but this restaurant is worth mentioning. On the recommendation of a friend, I had the Buttermilk Fried Chicken Sandwich, which was fabulous. Apparently there’s a separate place called Buxton Chicken Palace that specializes in this sandwich, and I can see why. The BBQ comes recommended as well, though I did not partake upon this visit. Still, located right near Green Man, Burial, and several others, it’s a solid option.

Edmund’s Oast Bound by Time – Not actually an Asheville beer, this is made in *gasp* South Carolina. It’s a pretty straightforward IPA, paired well with the sandwich and fries. 3.75

Wedge Brewing Company

Neat little location, another one of those reclaimed factory type locations, apparently there’s a hip record company right there and live music and a very nice outdoor space.

I was perhaps a little burned out by the time we got here (it’d been a long day of drinking!) and my palate was a little fried too, but there was some decent beer to be had:

Hoppy Lager – Pretty standard stuff, though as previously mentioned, I didn’t exactly have the freshest palate. 3.75
Schwarzbier – Again, nothing to write home about, but decent enough. 3.75

Worth visiting for the location moreso than the beer, but I’d be open to revisiting…

Zebulon Artisan Ales

Tiny little out-of-the-way brewery that came recommended by a friend, really glad we made time to stop at Zebulon Artisan Ales. Small seating area inside and even smaller area outside and not much the way of convenient parking, but damn, the beer is fantastic, and they’ve got some nice decor and design going on as well.

Fun sign in the bathroom too:

Employees Must Carve Slayer Into Forearms Before Returning to Work

I didn’t realize until after that Zebulon is apparently a reference to a confederate officer in the Civil War and later North Carolina politician with a… questionable reputation, though for what it’s worth, none of that was in evidence at the brewery.

Bramling Cross Bitter – Damn good take on the style. 4
Czech Tmave 12° – Another fantastic take on an uncommon style, really delicious. 4.25
Mandarin Saison – Not quite the revelation of the previous two, but I always appreciate non sour takes on saisons. 3.75
House Pilsner – Spot on pilsner here, really great. 4

They had a barrel aged stout on tap, but I avoided that because I thought I would be able to snag a bottle but alas, this was not to be. Next time Zebulon! And there will be a next time. Recommended.

Zillicoah Beer Company

It’s a battle of the Z breweries! Zillicoah was significantly larger in terms of brewing capacity and seating capacity (not to mention parking), both inside and outside. Indeed, there was a visible stream out in back, and they had a pretty nice Taco food truck in residence, which was a welcome treat by this point in the day. Only had a couple of beers here, but they were promising:

North German Pils – Perhaps suffers a bit in comparison to the Zebulon House Pils, but this was just fine. 3.75
Dunkel – Another solid brew, always enjoy a good dunkel. 3.75

Worth visiting again, if only to sample more of their brews.

DSSOLVR

Back in downtown Asheville, this brewery reminds me a lot of Tired Hands. NEIPAs galore, kooky naming conventions, total hipster vibes.

The only weird thing: the place was nearly empty on a Saturday night. Odd. I don’t know enough about hipster trends, and indeed, the very term “hipster” is probably not relevant anymore (sort of like the Web 2.0 style convention of removing vowels from your name), so maybe that’s why it wasn’t so crowded? Solid beer though!

A Long Way To Travel – Pretty standard NEIPA brewed and DDH with newfangled hops, many of which I don’t recognize because I can’t keep up with this stuff anymore. 3.75
Pain Into Power – After several days of drinking mostly session beers and mild styles, this Apple Brandy Barrel Aged Wheatwhine was certainly an eye opener. Aged for 28 months and clocking in at 12.5%, it was quite nice and a welcome change of pace at this point in the week. 3.75

Would definitely like to check out more from DSSOLVR, and perhaps solve the mystery of the lack of crowds there.

Fonta Flora

Our last day in Asheville started with a bit of a hike out to Fonta Flora. There are a couple of locations, but we hit up the Whippoorwill Farm Brewery (about an hour East of Asheville), which was a cool little place with a bunch of outdoor seating (alas, a bit of an overcast, drizzly day). Of all the breweries in this post, I was already most familiar with Wicked Weed and Fonta Flora. It seems everyone would stop here and bring a bottle back to share or something. As such, I pretty much knew what I was in for, which is to say, solid beer:

Local Lo-Cal IPA – A 4% session IPA and pretty good as these sorts of things go, though not the best in style. 3.75
Nebo Pilsner – Straightforward pils that, for some unknown reason, I neglected to rate. I don’t remember anything off about it, but I think I was maybe having some internet connectivity troubles. Let’s just call it a 3.75
Hefeweizen – In case I haven’t demonstrated this enough in this post, I like that I could get one of these unsexy styles at just about every brewery we went to. Hefeweizens were, at one time, a key craft gateway beer, and this is a nice take on the style. 3.75
Hop Beard Mountain Man – West Coast IPA made with amarillo, citra, mosaic and simcoe. It’s like 2011 again, and it’s great. 4

This was also one of the few places where I snagged a to-go beer or two. The ’22 Three Year Blend was a great American Wild Ale with a gueuze-like aging/blending regimen (I described it as “bubblegum funk” which is, uh, good) and the Coracoid was a decent barrel-aged barleywine/stout blend. Would definitely be interested in getting back here sometime.

Whaley Farm Brewery

Tiny, miniscule little brewery about halfway between Asheville and Fonta Flora (and right next to our next stop), I love what they’re doing here.

The location isn’t much to write home about, pretty standard small tasting room. But several beers on cask that were fantastic, and while we were only here for a short time, I really wanted to sample the entire menu. I had to settle for these two cask offerings:

Burton Bitter Ale – A 4.2% ordinary bitter served on cask, this was fantastic. I know I’m just a lowly American who has no business commenting on British pub session beers like this, but this beer is worthy of the following. 4.25
Mild Ale – A 4.5% mild also served on cask, really good stuff. 4

This is a brewery to keep an eye on, and one of my favorite discoveries of the trip. Definitely worth stopping if you’re making the trek to Fonta Flora (or as a destination in itself!)

Hillman Beer

Just across the street from Whaley Farm sits the Old Fort location of Hillman Beer, which strikes me as a sorta modernized version of the early craft brewpub chains (there are other locations, including one in Asheville proper).

Large place, it was actually pretty crowded, with a pretty standard brewpub style menu and average beer (though, again, a nice variety of options available).

Ode to Mosaic – A 5% IPA made with Mosaic, pretty standard stuff… 3.75
Altbier – I can’t believe how many altbiers I encountered in the Asheville area; this one is fine, if unremarkable. 3.75
Schwarzbier – A nice dark lager, not going to blow anyone away, but certainly not bad 3.75
Six and Candy – Apparently their 6th Anniversary beer, a Belgian style dubbel. This is one of my favorite styles, so I found this slightly disappointing, though not bad. A little under-attenuated and too sweet for the style, with not enough yeast character, but it’s still decent. 3.75

Not something I’d be inclined to seek out again, though I’m not opposed either. In this scenario, I’d rather have spent more time at Whaley…

Lookout Brewing

No one had heard of this place, but it was on our path so we decided to stop in. It turns out that there’s a reason no one had heard of it. Granted, we didn’t stay long, and part of the experience was soured by a bunch of unruly children hanging around (to be clear: really young, diaper wearing children). This isn’t exactly the fault of the brewery, but… I only had one beer and it was lackluster at best.

Staycation IPL – Deeply underwhelming, muted hops but flabby base that lacks any discernable character. It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever had or “defective”, but it’s not worth seeking out. 2

I could maybe be talked into giving them a second chance, but you’d have to be convincing.

Black Mountain Brewing

Another small place in the vicinity of Lookout, we popped over here looking for something a little better. And while it was certainly a step up (and we randomly ran into a group of folks who were also from our area in PA/DE – it’s a small world, after all), we didn’t end up spending a lot of time here.

Blackest of Mountains – A 5.8% oatmeal stout with cacao nibs. Honestly didn’t really get much in the way of cacao character, but it was an ok beer and a big step up from Lookout. 3.5

Again, I could see myself stopping in here again at some point, but it would require convincing.

Hi-Wire Brewing

Another brewery with multiple locations, though this looked to be a much larger scale operation than I would expect out of the brewpub model (but they have taprooms all over Asheville and environs as far afield as Ohio, Kentucky, Alabama, etc…). We were at the Biltmore Village location, which had a nice outdoor area and standard warehouse style tasting room type of thing on the inside. It was a big operation, and I got the impression that a bunch of other locations don’t actually “brew” the beer in the location. Anywho, we were on the trail end of our trip, so we didn’t stay long, but I’d be curious to try more:

Italian Pils – Bartender was surprised that I knew what an Italian Pils even was… but alas, this means I was comparing this with the likes of Wayfinder and Human Robot’s examples of the style, which are certainly better. That said, after Lookout and Black Mountain, this was quite nice. 3.75

Epilogue

There were a few other stops along the way, including the Mellow Mushroom (a perfectly cromulent pizza place, though it doesn’t really stand out when compared to the standard pizza shops in my area) and Off the Wagon Dueling Piano Bar (which was apparently an off nite, so they only had one piano player and an anemic crowd, but he was pretty good. If the crowd was bigger and more into participating, it could have been a lot of fun. I don’t understand why you’d go to a place like this and sit, stonefaced and quiet.) Packs Tavern also hit the spot at one point; casual fare and a decent enough taplist.

The Appalachian Mountains near Asheville

All in all, this was a great trip. Despite all the above, I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of what’s available in the area. I would really enjoy heading back down to Asheville at some point. In particular, I’d like to check out some of the finer dining options in town, and there are plenty of breweries that deserve investigation.

Many thanks to Kaedrin compatriots Danur and Tom for their guidance during this trip (I… may have pilfered some of their pictures as well). Cheers!

Suarez Family Brewery Hecto

October 15, 2020 by Mark

We all know Suarez can nail those Pilsners and Saisons. I mean, weird flex (who focuses on those two styles), but it’s very true. My only experience with their hoppy wares was a few cans of Crispy Little that I accidentally froze because the meager alcohol content couldn’t stand up to the bitter cold of a rental-house’s refrigerator. However, I did manage to crack one of those cans before the fridge ate the rest, and while I enjoyed it well enough, it doesn’t quite stand apart from the neverending throngs of pale ales and IPAs out there.

Enter Suarez’s Hecto. On paper, it’s a similar beer. It’s a 4.5% ABV pale ale hopped with Citra, Mosaic, and Amarillo. And I dunno, it’s awesome. Maybe it’s just because I had been on the road for about 7 hours and I had cracked a can whilst sitting on the dock by the lake, but damn this was great. Now, I also managed to get another taste of Crispy Little this year, and while it’s very good, Hecto is just noticeably better (i.e. it’s not just the malevolent refrigerator coloring my opinion of Crispy Little). Worth trekking into the wilds of the Hudson Valley to procure!

Suarez Family Brewery Hecto – I didn’t pour this out, so I don’t know what it looks like. Imma guess it’s pale with white head. Smells fantastic, sweet, bright citrus fruit, pineapple, a hint of dankness. Taste follows the nose, citrus, sweet pineapple, a hint of grapefruit, dank pine. Mouthfeel is light bodied, crisp, and refreshing, utterly quaffable. It doesn’t suffer from that whole “diet IPA” feeling that a lot of similar beers have. Incredibly well balanced. Overall, this is an astounding beer for a such a low ABV pale ale… A

Beer Nerd Details: 4.5% ABV canned (16 ounce pounder). Drank straight from the can, like a man on 7/25/20.

I didn’t save the can and didn’t note the canning date; I know you’re crestfallen, but rest assured, it was very fresh. As usual, Suarez is just killing it. I have some more saisons from this year to cover, so stay tuned (at this rate, I’ll get to it sometime in 2022).

Upper Pass Double Feature

August 28, 2017 by Mark

This isn’t exactly Vermont Beer Roulette, that venerable practice wherein I just grab a bottle (or can) of something in Vermont that I’ve never heard of and hope for the best, but it’s close. In accordance with tradition, I did a little asking around before this latest Operation Cheddar to see if there was anything I should be on the lookout for, and one of the things that came up: get some Upper Pass!

They’ve only been around for about a year and a half, but if these two cans are any indication, they’ll be here to stay. Currently brewing on a tiny one barrel system, they do manage to slip in the occasional big batch at the Von Trapp Brewery in Stowe (I believe my two cans hailed from one of those supplementary batches). I don’t know what it is about Vermont that breeds great IPAs, but Upper Pass has joined those hallowed ranks. Maybe it’s in the water.

Upper Pass First Drop – An “American Pale Ale” (but seriously, pretty much indistinguishable from an IPA) made with Golden Promise and Pilsner malt, a blend of two “East Coast” yeasts (and we know how important that is to the NEIPA style), and a lineup of hops that include Azacca, Centennial, Citra, and Mosaic. Pours a cloudy golden orange color with a finger of white head that leaves lacing. Smells great, sweet stone fruit, almost peachy, with some dank pine peeking through. Taste hits that juicy citrus and dank, resinous pine note hard, peaches and pineapple, with a balancing but only moderate bitter bite in the finish. Mouthfeel is light to medium bodied, well carbonated, relatively dry, and quaffable. Overall, this is fabulous stuff. Very well balanced and crushable. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 5.9% ABV canned (16 ounce pounder). Drank out of a tulip glass on 8/11/17. Canned on: 7/27/17.

Upper Pass Cloud Drop – Pours a little paler orange, cloudier, and a half finger of white head and lacing. Smells just as good, less stone fruit and less dank but still juicy and citrusy. Taste hits that juicy citrus hop character, sweet and less bitter, but still relatively balanced. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, well carbonated, a little thicker than First Drop, sticky with a faint but pleasant hint of booze. Overall, while I think I might actually like First Drop a teensy bit better, this is still pretty fantastic and earns the same grade! A-

Beer Nerd Details: 8% ABV canned (16 ounce pounder). Drank out of a tulip glass on 8/11/17. Canned on: 7/27/17.

Always something new and great brewing in Vermont, these folks are putting out some great beer and we will be on the lookout upon future sorties into Vermont.

Operation Cheddar VI: Night of the Living Cheddar

August 17, 2017 by Mark

So this annual sorty into Vermont to secure beer has become a hallowed tradition here at Kaedrin, and is thus well tread ground at this point. Every year, there are some minor tweaks, but the general shape of the invasion has cohered into a firm(ish) state: Start at Warren Store, hit CBC in Waterbury, new Alchemist visitor’s center, Lost Nation for lunch, Hill Farmstead, and now Foam, all before heading back to my vacation spot in upstate NY.

It’s a fun little day trip, and I’m happy I get to do it, but I’ll try not to bore you with repetition, so enjoy some brewery pictures, hauls, brewery pictures, hauls, brewery pictures, hauls, and a few quickie reviews (that are light on tasting notes and heavy on ruminations, so less skippable than usual, heh).

A wide shot of the new Alchemist site, it’s purty

Some brewery equipment at the Alchemist

Lunch at Lost Nation, some sort of smoked beef sandwich with pickled onions on top, glorious as always

Obligatory Hill Farmstead sign that I post every year because I like it and you should too

A wide shot of the Hill Farmstead compound, which kinda makes it sound like a cult and, um, that’s not too far off for a lot of visitors (sadly not excluding myself)

The entrance to Foam

Hill Farmstead Difference & Repetition – First things first, this is a perfect name to describe the never-ending succession of IPAs that everyone offers these days. To outsiders, this must seem ludicrous. When I got back from Vermont, my brother asked what the difference was between all these IPAs and it’s like, ugh, he doesn’t want a lecture on yeasts and hop terroir and it’s funny, because these mostly taste the same to him. Even to a grizzled veteran, drowning in IPAs can lead to a sorta palate fatigue. You can see differences, but it all starts to feel samey after a while. Or… different but repetitive, if you will. Anyway, this orangish yellow IPA is brewed with Simcoe, Amarillo, & Galaxy hops (just a citra away from my own Crom Approved homebrew) and smells and tastes fabulous, ripe mangoes, citrus, a hint of dankness, with a well balanced, light bitterness towards the finish. Easy going and quaffable. Overall, yeah, no crap, stop the presses, this Hill Farmstead IPA is great. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 6% ABV growlered (750 ml swing top). Drank out of a flute glass on 8/5/17. Growler filled 8/3/17.

Foam Experimental Jet Set – Named after a Sonic Youth album (all of Foam’s names appear to be indie-rock references), I don’t really know much about it. At first, I assumed it used experimental hops, and maybe that is indeed why they referenced this album, but who knows, the details of the recipe aren’t readily available. I was quite impressed with Foam during last year’s Operation, and loved their Built to Spill (I snagged another growler of that this year for a friend), so I was excited to get another taste of their wares. It turns out that this is one of the murkier, more turbid entries in the NEIPA style (cleaning the growler revealed lots of sediment gunk in the bottom of the bottle, which seems pretty rare for a growler), but it’s pretty darned tasty. It looks like milky orange juice, smells of sweet, juicy citrus hops with a taste that follows the nose. The mouthfeel is a bit chewy and sticky, with some booziness too. Overall, an interesting NEDIPA, a bit boozy for my tastes (I tend to prefer my DIPAs in the 8%ish range), but worth checking out. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 9.27% ABV growlered (750 ml swing top). Drank out of a flute glass on 8/5/17. Growler filled 8/3/17.

Hill Farmstead Dharma Bum – An all Simcoe IPA, this one takes me back. Simcoe was, perhaps, one of the first hops I kinda grew to recognize and differentiate. It’s always been a favorite for my homebrewing (my first homebrewed IPA was single-hop Simcoe and I still always use it for bittering, at least, when making an IPA). It’s got a nice citrus and pine character that isn’t entirely overwhelmed by the juicy flavors and aromas imparted by whatever yeast strain HF uses. It makes for an interesting, almost transitional NEIPA beer. Really nice Simcoe character imparted here, and just enough NEIPA juiciness to keep tings interesting. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 6% ABV growlered (750 ml swing top). Drank out of a charente glass on 8/6/17. Growler filled 8/3/17.

Simple Roots Citra And Amarillo – When I was walking into the Warren Store (my usual first stop of Operation Cheddar, usually just to get some Lawson’s, but I always end up taking a flier on something I’ve never heard of), I noticed someone carrying two cases of beer from their car into the cooler. I asked, and it turned out it was these Simple Roots cans. After Simcoe, Citra and Amarillo have also been a mainstay in my homebrewed IPAs, and are definitely favorites. Pours a, a, a… is that clear? What the hell guys? Clear golden yellow with finger of white head that leaves lacing. Floral, citrusy hops, a little cereal grain in the background. Light bodied and crisp, well carbonated and quaffable. Overall, do we call these things throwbacks now? Clear, almost west-coast inspired APA? It’s nice. B

Beer Nerd Details: 5.1% ABV canned (16 ounce pounder). Drank out of a tulip glass on 8/12/17.

Burlington Amber Ridge 2017 – A “robust” maple amber ale aged in bourbon barrels, my kinda stuff. This beer changes from year to year (last year was a brown ale base), but the idea remains the same. Presumably named after Amber Ridge Maple farm and the maple syrup they provided, it was also aged in Stonecutter Spirits whiskey barrels (of which, I don’t know much about.). The result is a pretty darned good take on the style. Nice amber color with off white head, good barrel character, maple, caramel, oak, and vanilla, relatively light and nimble for its 12% ABV (I mean, still medium bodied, but something like this is usually much heavier), I liked this a lot. B+ or A-

Beer Nerd Details: 12% ABV bottled (750 ml). Drank out of a snifter on 8/12/17. Vintage: Limited Release 2017.

Moar reviews to come, so stay tuned. I’ll leave you with some haul pics because that’s always fun too:

Can Haul: Alchemist Skadoosh IX, Heady Topper, Pappy’s Porter, and Beelzebub. Burlington Strawberry Whale Cake. Upper Pass First Drop and Cloud Drop. Lawson’s Finest Liquids Sip of Sunshine. Simple Roots Citra and Amarillo (see above).

Miscellaneous Bottle Haul: Central Waters BBA Scotch Ale, BBA Barleywine, BBA Stout. Crooked Stave Nightmare on Brett with Blueberries and regular ol Nightmare on Brett. Tilquin Gueuze. Burlington Amber Ridge (see above)

Hill Farmstead Bottles Haul: Farmer Wave, Anna, Arthur, Clara, Edith, Florence, Brother Soigné, and Convivial Suaréz.

And if you think that’s a lot, well, I didn’t actually capture, *ahem*, all of the bottles and cans I bought. I know that’s the cool kid thing to do, but that was, like, way too much work and you don’t need to see a hundred bottles and cans splayed all over your monitor. Anywho, this basically concludes Operation Cheddar VI: Night of the Living Cheddar. More to come in terms of actual reviews, so stick around…

A Trip to Hidden River Brewing Company

November 22, 2016 by Mark

Hidden River brewing opened its doors a little over a year ago. So many local breweries have opened recently that I’m having a hard time keeping up, but I’d been hearing some buzz about these beers of late. These guys aren’t in the most convenient location (Douglassville, PA, not quite the middle of nowhere, but far enough from me), and I’m the worst so it took me a while to get in gear, but now that I’ve been there, I will most definitely be making return trips.

It’s still a tiny operation, located in the beautiful Historic Brinton Lodge. It’s a deceptively large facility though, broken up into a small bar area, several dining rooms, and a pretty great outdoor bar. The lodge is supposedly haunted and the owners apparently run various events along those paranormal lines, which I’ll most certainly have to take advantage of next Halloween. So it’s a great space, and the decor works too.

The food menu is somewhat limited, but everything I had was great (charcuterie plate and a panini, great bread too). A solid and ever-rotating taplist helps things along (more on that below). All in all, it reminds me a lot of the original Tired Hands location, before the hype and expansions.

I’ve now been there twice, and while I didn’t take formal tasting notes, I’ll give you a broad overview of what I got:

Green Mass – A 5.9% pale ale made in the Northeast IPA mold, super cloudy, juicy hops, and so on. Would love to try a higher ABV version of this, but this was quite a nice first impression.

Fresh Press – A 6% dry-hopped saison, very nice. Again with the super-cloudy beer (does look like orange juice) and juicy hop character, along with some nice saison yeast character. Definitely a highlight.

King’s Watch – An 8% Baltic Porter that really impressed me. I’ve often noted that many local breweries aren’t great at dark beer, but this is a really impressive take. Not quite HF Everett or Maine King Titus, but along those lines. Fantastic.

Hummingbird High – A 9.5% DIPA, this one doesn’t quite live up to the expectation built up by my first three tries. It’s certainly a fine beer, but not a top tier DIPA (and, perhaps tellingly, seemed like less of a Northeast IPA style).

Golden Oak Magic – I suppose if they were really aping Tired Hands, they would have named this “Golden Oak Magick”, heh. A 4.8% saison brewed with Shiitake and Black Poplar mushrooms, cilantro, and a bunch of lime zest, this one appears extremely clear, and has a more traditional saison yeast character too it, with some savory earthiness (but not really funky and you can’t exactly pick out the mushrooms…)

Melt Banana Face – A 7.6% IPA made with, you guessed it, bananas. And they do come through strong, though that means they sorta overwhelm the Northeast IPA base. All in all, a very interesting beer, would drink again, but sorta one-dimensional…

Rum Barrel Aged Mapping the Past – An 11% English Barleywine aged on coconuts in Rum Barrels. My initial reaction was of sugary, rum soaked raisins, but once I figured out the coconut component (didn’t see that in the description before ordering), I really started to get that too. Not sooper boozy or anything, and could probably use a little more malt backbone, but it’s still a pretty fantastic offering that I enjoyed immensely…

So there you have it, everything was very good to great, one of the better hit to miss ratios I’ve seen at a new(ish) brewery in a while. I greatly look forward to sampling more of their wares in the future. I do not look forward to making the trek out there, but the results do seem worth it!

Operation Cheddar V: Bride of Cheddar

August 10, 2016 by Mark

When I was a teenager, I drove cross-country with my brother and uncle. One feature of such a trip is that once you get past major population centers, you tend to see the same people over and over again. There are only so many major highways and if you’re both traveling in the same general direction, you’ll find yourself stopping at the same gas stations, eating at the same roadside stops, and even camping at the same campgrounds. There’s a (admittedly trashy) movie called Road Games that relies on this dynamic, making it a sorta moving version of Hitchcock’s Rear Window.

I noticed something similar going on during Operation Cheddar V: Bride of Cheddar, only instead of gas stations and campsites, I kept seeing the same people at breweries. Go figure. This is my fifth such trek through the wilds of Vermont in search of beer, and as per usual, it was a lot of fun.

This started off, as per usual, at the Warren Store, where I always go to pick up some of Lawson’s Finest Liquids. Alas, both available options were things I’d had before, but then, they’re both great:

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That’s Sip of Sunshine and Super Session #2, for those keeping count. I also snagged a freshish bottle of Frost’s Plush, as I’d heard good things about them.

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From there, I headed up to The Alchemist’s new digs in Stowe, VT. For the uninitiated, during the first Operation Cheddar I was able to go to The Alchemist’s cannery in Waterbury, VT. However, due to the high level of traffic and with consideration for their town and neighbors, they closed that location to the public and started distributing their beer throughout the state. This made their beer more difficult to snag (at least, for passers-through like myself), but due to intense demand, they were able to open a new brewery facility in Stowe. While the cannery still puts out as much Heady Topper as possible, the new brewery focuses on their other brews, notably Focal Banger and Crusher.

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Limit of one case, but you could get a variety, so I got a mix of Heady Topper, Focal Banger, and The Crusher. That last one is something I’ve never had before, so you will most certainly be seeing more about that in the near future.

Just a hop and a skip away from there is Lost Nation, which has become a mandatory stop, if for no other reason than their food is just astonshingly good. I had some sort of smoked beef sandwhich, which was great, of course. And I snagged some Gose and The Wind while I was at it.

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Next up is another mandatory stop, Hill Farmstead. They’ve been doing some expansions of their own, and while lots of folks were there, the lines and waiting have been reduced considerably (though now you get bottles and growlers at two different locations). They also had some vintage bottles for sale, though only for onsite consumption (a bit pricey, to be sure, but probably worth it). I must have hit them at a weird time, as their bottle selections were dwindling rapidly, but hey, it’s hard to complain when you get bottles of world class beer:

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That’s Casita Cerveceria Del Arboles (this is a contract brewing operation that brews at Hill Farmstead, which is something that obviously requires more scrutiny that will be provided at a later date), Dry-Hopped Arthur (I believe this is another beer that uses Segal Ranch Cascades), Table Dorothy, and growlers of Sumner, Single-Hop Citra, and Single-Hop Nelson Sauvin. What the hell, let’s review some of those growlers right now, while we’re here and all:

Hill Farmstead Citra

Hill Farmstead Citra Single-Hop Pale Ale – This is pretty much what it sez. I missed out on this during my first exposure to Hill Farmstead many moons ago during Philly Beer Week, so I was glad to finally catch up with it. Pours a cloudy orange-yellow color with a finger of fluffy white head and decent retention. Smells wonderful, bright, juicy citrus leavened by that floral note I tend to get out of Citra. Taste follows the nose, lots of juicy hops, a little of that earthy floral character, finishing on a bitter note. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with fine carbonation and a bit of dryness, quite drillable. Overall, yep, it’s fabulous and I feel like even grading on a curve, this rates an A-

Beer Nerd Details: 5.4% ABV from a growler (750 ml swing top). Drank out of a charente glass on 8/5/16. Growler filled 8/4/16.

Hill Farmstead Sumner

Hill Farmstead Sumner American Pale Ale – Brewed with Simcoe, Citra, and Mosaic hops? Well, ok, if you’re going to twist my arm. Pours a little less cloudy, paler yellow color with a finger of white head. Smells similar, but with less floral character and more dank, resinous pine – still plenty of citrus though! Taste is again more on the dank side, plenty of citrus, a little less bright, but juicy enough, with a little less bitterness in the finish. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, finely carbonated, less dry, very crushable stuff. Overall, less intense, but still quite good. Again grading on a curve, maybe B+ or A-? This is getting impossible you guys.

Beer Nerd Details: 5.2% ABV from a growler (750 ml swing top). Drank out of a tulip glass on 8/6/16. Growler filled 8/4/16.

Then I popped over to Burlington Beer Company, the first time I’d visited. There I met with Kaedrin friend Cian McGuire, who works at the brewery and was busily bottling some beer when I arrived. We had a nice chat and I picked up plenty of beer. Naturally, I forgot to take pictures of the facility, so you’ll just have to deal with the haul pic:

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That’s It’s Complicated Being a Wizard, Peasant King, Peach of Mind, Brettanomyces Incident, and Chunky. Check out that artwork, so nice. Looking forward to these!

Finally, I stopped in at Foam brewery to visit with Lipstick n Lager and try some of their wares. They’ve only been open for about 4 months, but they’re really nailing their IPAs, which in Vermont is really saying something. I only snagged a single growler from them, but you will most definitely be hearing more about it in the near future. And I will almost certainly stop here again next year.

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From there, it was a simple jaunt back to the Adirondacks (where I was staying last week) to enjoy my spoils. I should also mention that I went back to Fulton Chain brewing, which was within walking distance of where I was staying. If you recall, during Operation Cheddar IV: Smoked Cheddar, I stopped in to this place mere weeks after they had opened. I was glad to see that they seem to be well established at this point, with a healthy crowd and many more taplines open.

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Highlights were Go Fluff Yourself (made with peanut butter and marshmallow fluff) and Flooded Tent (a cucumber lime saison). Not quite Vermont levels awesome, but hey, walking distance. I should also add that Officer Bob enjoyed Eskimo Strong, an imperial red/amber:

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Also of note, Wakely’s Speakeasy on the other side of town (awesomely named Thendara, NY) that had probably the best Bourbon selection I’ve ever seen. Very secretive, need a passphrase to get in, and no cell phones/pictures allowed. But live music and again, great whiskey selection (not so good on the beer front, but whatevers). Apparently the owners were from Kentucky, so they’ve got their connections. Well worth stopping in if you’re ever in the area…

And that just about covers another successful Operation Cheddar. Now if you’ll excuse me, all this VT beer ain’t going to drink itself. I’ll leave you with some pictures of Tired Hands beers that I was drinking all week in preparation for Operation Cheddar…

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It was a fun vacation, is what I’m saying. Already looking forward to my next VT odyssey.

Yuletide Beer Club

December 15, 2015 by Mark

I don’t know why I called this a “Yuletide” beer club except that ’tis the season and I am a bit tipsy (alas, none of the beers we tasted were particularly festive). For the uninitiated, Beer Club is a monthly get together amongst friends and coworkers (and former coworkers) to share some beer and partake in general revelry. We have been woefully neglectful of late, and indeed, after just barely sneaking a September meeting in at the very end of that month, we did not manage a meetup in October or November. But we’re back on track and managed a pretty good showing.

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For the sake of posterity, some thoughts on each beer are listed below. Standard disclaimers apply, we were at a sushi place, not a sensory deprivation chamber. Notes are below, in order of tasting, not necessarily in the order pictured.

Fat Head Trail Head Pale Ale – It’s like a toned-down version of Fat Head’s Headhunter, dank, piney hops, tasty, a decent start for the night. B
Lost Nation Gose – Yup, a beer we’ve had many times here, and it’s a nice, light, tart beer that works well as a warmup beer.
Rubber Soul Dropout – A super fresh crowler from this brand newish (less than 6 months old) Maryland brewery that is rather obviously comprised of Beatles Fans. This is a pretty solid DIPA, nice citrus and pine hop presence, and a decent amount of bitterness too (this will come into question later in the tasting). B+
Trinity Red Swingline – Was not expecting much from this beer named after an Office Space reference, but it wound up being one of the better of the night, super funky and earthy, with a decent amount of hop presence, and only a hint of sourness. One of these days, I’m going to buy a waxed beer that will totally lead me astray, and I thought this might be it, but I guess not. Also of note, the wax job was rather weird, like they dipped it once, realized that wouldn’t be enough, so they dipped it again, and then just said “fuck it” and dipped it a third time because why the hell not. This is important, and I am totally justified in writing more about the wax job than the beer itself. B+
Free Will DC Cranberry Farmhouse – I picked this up at the semi-local Free Will release on Sunday. A pretty nice little saison number, but it’s more subtle than the beer we just drank, so I think it suffered a bit from the comparison. Still, it seemed pretty darned good. B or B+
Pretty Things Jack D’Or – Thus begins a little, informal tribute to the sadly now defunct Pretty Things brewing company, this is a little more sweet and raisiny than I remember, but it’s still relatively dry and a great match for the sushi we were eating at this point. B
Pretty Things Hopfenpop! – This was not a fresh bottle and you could sorta tell, but it was nevertheless pretty good and held up pretty well. I would have liked to have tried this one fresh, but for this, I’ll give it a B
Stone Double Bastard In The Rye – This wound up being a sweeter take on the Double Bastard (as compared to, say, Southern Charred or even the base beer), but the hop character survived and tries its darnedest to counteract the sweetness. Still one of my favorites of the night though, and pretty fantastic. B+ or A-
Troegs Impending Descent – The Scratch beer that keeps on giving, I managed to get up to Troegs this Black Friday and pick up some of this solid imperial stout, perhaps not as great as their initial vintage, I still love it.
Pretty Things Fumapapa – A very nice imperial stout with all the standard notes and an additional and very complementary smoked malt character that manages to make itself known without overwhelming anything (or making you wonder who put their cigar out in your beer). Very tasty, and damn, I’m going to miss these guys. A-
Dogfish Head Hoo Lawd – Yes, this beer’s premise, brewed to 658 IBUs (apparently the highest confirmed measurement ever, despite some others with higher “theoretical” IBUs), is gimmicky and such things tend to be hit or miss, but this was indeed an interesting beer to try. It pours a jet black color (i.e. not very IPAish), has a nice hoppy nose, dank citrus and pine, and the taste starts off just fine, like a malt-forward IPA, then the bitterness starts coming in towards the finish and building through the aftertaste. It’s kinda like when you eat a hot pepper and you’re all this isn’t so bad and then 10 seconds later your mouth is on fire and 10 seconds after that you think you might die. Alright, so it never quite approaches fear-of-death levels of bitterness, but it is very bitter, which isn’t that unusual, except that this lingers for much longer than normal. I’m really happy I got to try it and would recommend getting a sample if you see it, but the smallish pour I got was plenty, and it’s not something worth really hunting for. Interesting though and one of those things that makes it hard to rate. B

After the Hoo Lawd, we opened a couple of “palate cleansers” that were IPAs that basically tasted like water, so I won’t really go into detail on those. The Rubber Soul Dropout fared slightly better, but still didn’t taste bitter at all. Go figure. So that wraps up this beer share, look for more in January, I hope!

September Beer Club

September 30, 2015 by Mark

Tonight was beer club! For the uninitiated, beer club is a monthly gathering of like-minded coworkers and acquaintances at a local BYOB for drinks, food, and general revelry. This time, we stopped in at a local Pizza place for some deep fried dough, strombolis, and yes, pizza. It’s not a big place and the pizza isn’t as spectacular as the last beer club gathering, but we always manage to make due. Good attendance tonight too, and plenty of beer.

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For the sake of posterity, some half-addled thoughts on each beer are listed below. Standard disclaimers apply, this was a social gathering, so I wasn’t paying too close of attention to what I was drinking and you should totes ignore what I’m writing and make up your own mind because I’m totally the worst and this post is definitely an ill-advised idea that I’m only doing out of tradition because I’ve done it for all previous iterations of beer club and are you even reading this? Why? The beer notes are below, in order of tasting, not necessarily in the order pictured (and some later attendees brought some stuff that is not pictured):

Platform Speed Merchant White IPA – Not expecting much out of this Ohio beer brought back by a visitor, fantastic citrusy nose, more typical IPA-like taste. Quite solid though, and worth a look on its own. B+
Pizza Boy Hop Test #1 (Cascade Single Hop) – Yep, it’s a pale ale. The very definition of cromulence, this does nothing particularly special, but it’s an enjoyable little pale ale. B
New Belgium Pumpkick – Whoa there, this is quite perfumey, moar ginger than anything else, but that perfumey character really overpowers everything else with this beer. Not horrendous, but not a particularly good pumpkin beer either. C+
Firestone Walker Union Jack – Back in the early days of this blog, this would have been an A worthy beer, but grade inflation is a bitch. It’s still an accomplished and emminently accomplished IPA, well worth checking out. Delicious citrus/pine/malt balance. B+
Weyerbacher Tarte Nouveau – Very nice little tart beer, tart, crisp, refreshing, very light bodied and easy going, sorta beginner sour stuff but quite nice on its own. B+
Overshores Tripel Brun – Bottle a bit of a gusher, and thus carbonation levels a bit off, but this is basically a very raisiny Belgian strong dark. B
Brasserie De Blaugies / Hill Farmstead La Vermontoise – I know I’ve had this before, but apparently I never reviewed it. It’s not quite up to speed with the best of Hill Farmstead, but it’s a rock solid saison, earthy and spicy, quite delicious. B+
Fantôme Coffee Ruby – One of my contributions, this came off as surprisingly muted. There’s some coffee character that is definitely present, but it’s not overpowering at all, despite the fact that there doesn’t seem to be a ton of other stuff going on with this beer. It’s got a very, very mild funk to it, and the combination of the base with coffee doesn’t entirely blesh, but it’s certainly an interesting beer. A little weird, but could more interesting with more funk. Keeping in mind my legendary indifference to coffee, I’ll give it a B
Cascade Figaro – This is typical Cascade sour here, which is to say, it’s a fantastic little sour. I don’t get a lot of fig or lemon peel out of it, but it’s got that trademark Cascade lactic sour and oak character that just work so damn well. Generally agreed to be one of the best of the night. A-
White Birch Indulgence Ale (2014) – Not sure which version of this beer I tried (I think it’s this retired 2014 version), but it was labeled as a Belgian Imperial Stout, and it definitely had a sorta brighter take on the imperial stout style that worked really well. Lots of rich malt, light roast, some hints of Belgian character, but with the style’s inherent dark malt sweetness (i.e. not a dry or highly carbonated beer). Actually quite nice and among the better of the night. B+
Brewmaster Jack Barrel Aged Prinsipia Quad – Sounds great, but came out kinda limp, very boozy, a little raisiny Belgian character, but not at all balanced. Not terrible, but not quite getting the job done either. B-

And that just about covers it. We just got this one in under the wire, last day of the month. Will need to try and plan the next beer club soon. Great time, as always.

Lost Galaxy

June 15, 2015 by Mark

During previous sorties into Vermont, I liked to play a little game I called Vermont Beer Roulette* wherein I would grab bottles of beer from a Vermont brewery that I’d never heard of before and try them out. This is how I discovered obscure breweries like Switchback, Foley Brothers, Bent Hill, and Crop Bistro.

So far, the most eye-opening random discovery of Operation Cheddar III: Cheddar Harder has been Lost Nation. The founders got their start at Von Trapp Brewing, then set out on their own with Lost Nation in 2012, releasing their first beers in 2013. They focus on “lesser known European beer styles” like Gose (a beer we’ll get to soon enough!), but this is Vermont we’re talking about here, so they have some hoppy offerings as well. This is a 4.8% Session IPA (a style I will forever call American Pale Ale) brewed with wheat and presumably hopped generously with Aussie Galaxy hops. I get the impression these are limited cans only available at the brewery, hence the nifty but clearly improvised can labels (Alchemist did something similar with early batches of Focal Banger), let’s go in for a closer look:

Lost Nation Lost Galaxy

Lost Nation Lost Galaxy – Pours a very pale, clear yellow color with a finger of fluffy whitehead. Smells strongly of citrus hops with perhaps a note of slight spice to it, those nose certainly makes a nice first impression. Taste starts with those citrus hops, moving into a light spice (not belgian/saison spicy or anything like that, but something light and earthy) and a biting bitterness in the finish. Mouthfeel is very light bodied, almost watery (in, like, a good way), well carbonated, and quaffable. Should have sprung for more cans of this (I elected to split a 4 pack of this and the Gose with friends), as it’s quite drillable. Overall, it’s a great little session beer, light but tasty. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 4.8% ABV canned (16 ounce pounder). Drank out of a willibecher glass on 6/7/15. Canned on 5/22/15. Can also sez: HEY MAN, presumably another batch code or perhaps they’re just saying hi.

I am fortunate enough to have several other rather exciting beers on deck from Lost Nation and have indeed already cracked open my lonely can of Gose and taken some notes (which I may or may not get to this week – I’m behind on reviews for some unfathomable reason). I will most assuredly be returning to Lost Nation on the next Operation Cheddar trip, which may be happening sooner rather than later…

* A variant on my earlier game, Belgian Beer Roulette, where I simply find a Belgian beer I never heard of before and try it out.

Three Floyds Man-O-Awe

September 15, 2014 by Mark

Most breweries will have an American Pale Ale in their portfolio. Three Floyds has ten. Alright, that’s a bit disingenuous, as looking closer at a few, I see a couple things that may have only been made once or in extremely limited quantities for special events. On the other hand, two of their most popular beers, Alpha King and Zombie Dust, are featured amongst the ten along with several other popular offerings, and I’m not including the similar stuff like Gumballhead (a pale wheat ale). Plus, it’s not like Three Floyds shies away from regular old IPAs and Double IPAs, which represent a similar proportion of their output.

They like hops, is what I’m trying to say. So all these pale ales have to have some differentiation, and in this case, we’ve got a beer made primarily with Michigan hops. This is not that far from Three Floyds, which is situated in the northwest corner of Indiana, and thus somewhat local. Alas, Michigan is not exactly known for their hops. As per usual, Three Floyds does not really mention what specific hop varieties are used, but I’m guessing it’s along the lines of classic American C hops like Cascade, Centennial, or Chinook. There is, of course, nothing wrong with that, and it’s probably a good idea to decentralize hop production in the US (which is currently centered on the Pacific Northwest), but it means that this beer probably won’t be blowing the hats off of snobby beer nerds in the way that Three Floyds manages to do with many of their other beers, like the Citra-based Zombie Dust.

But I’m a big tent guy, and when you have ten pale ales, you have to differentiate them somehow, so let’s drink some Michigan hopped beer, least that aggressive looking gentleman-o-awe on the label get angry.

Three Floyds Man-O-Awe

Three Floyds Man-O-Awe – Pours a bright orange/amber color with a finger of fluffy white head. Smells of straightforward citrus and pine hops, with some grassy notes and a little crystal malt hanging around to say “Hi”. Taste goes along similar lines, decent malt backbone, with crystal malt doing its thing, and plenty of grassy citrus and pine from the hops hitting in the middle, with a slightly bitter, pretty standard pale ale finish. Mouthfeel is on the lower end of medium bodied, and it sorta thins out towards the finish, which has a slight drying aspect to it that makes it go down rather quickly. Overall, this is a pretty standard pale ale, which would be fine, except you know, Zombie Dust. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 6% ABV bottled (22 oz. bomber). Drank out of a tulip glass on 9/12/14. Bottled: 06/17/14.

Damn, this was almost three months old by the time I got to it… but then, I still rather enjoyed it. I suspect it would be even better fresh. Speaking of which, I’ve nearly exhausted my Three Floyds beer supply. They were mostly hoppy, so I wanted to get through them pretty quickly… I feel like I’ve been really hitting the hops pretty hard over the past month, so bear with me. We’ll have plenty of other interesting stuff in the near future…