Coaster: Cisco Brewers

The distinctive design of the Cisco Brewers graces this coaster. Cisco is one third of a facility that also houses a winery and a distillery on the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Want to find the brewery? The coaster is functional in two ways: a resting place for your beer and a map to find your way back.

I've never been to the brewery but whenever I was in Boston I made a special effort to pick up some of their beers. Cisco had unusual packaging as all their beers were only available in capped 750ml bottles only. Standouts include their Moor Porter and Whale's Tail Pale Ale. Their blond ale, one of surprising complexity, was Bailey's Golden Ale and was a staple of my Maine summers for several years.

Cisco is now distributed down the east coast, from Massachusetts to as far south as Washington D.C.

Cisco Brewers

Coaster: Celis Brewery

This one's from the now defunct Celis Brewery in Austin, Texas (obviously). Pierre Celis (of Hoegaarden fame) started the brewery in 1991 making primarily a witbier called Celis White. Unfortunately, Pierre made the poor decision to allow Miller Brewing to buy a controlling interest and in 2001 they closed the brewery.

The Celis line is still produced by Michigan Brewing who bought the rights to produce the beers after the brewery closed.

Somebody must have brought this to me because I have been to Texas only twice and I have never had Celis White (must get around to that someday) as far as I can remember so somebody must have brought this coaster to me.

Sam Adams Glass, Grätzer and Belgium

I've been meaning to write a little note about these new Samuel Adams glasses for awhile and now is as good a time as any. Boston Beer released these glasses in 2007 after (supposedly) painstaking scientific research on what would be the best glass for their flagship beer. I received two of the glasses as a thank you for being a founding subscriber to Beer Advocate magazine.

I don't know if all the claims and marketing are accurate but there are two great things about the glass. First, it absolutely delivers the hop aromas to your nose better than most glasses, Second, it feels great in your hand, very ergo friendly. They are great glasses for any kind of lager (even doppelbocks) and light ales and since I was short on good lager glasses, they get quite a workout at my place. Recommended.

*****

I can't say enough about how great it is to read the beery gems mined over at Shut Up About Barclay Perkins. I have always considered myself to be fairly knowledgeable about beer styles and the history of brewing but Ron keeps digging up new styles and redefining the old ones. I'm especially enjoying the posts about the Polish style Grodziskie/Grätzer.

*****

Looks like Tim Webb will have a new edition of the Good Guide to Belgian Beer out soon. Now I have to get the new one!

Tasting Notes: Narragansett Lager

Brewery: Narragansett Brewing Company
Date Poured: January 2008
ABV: 5.0%

My Mainer friend Dave sent me this beer in a box full of Cadillac Mountain Stout. Talk about a rough in the diamonds.

The story of Narragansett mirrors the story of many an American regional brewer in the second half of the 20th century.

Narragansett was a regional brewery based out of Rhode Island and founded in the 1880's. It was quite popular around southern New England for years. It was a sponsor of the Red Sox in the old days and Robert Shaw's character in Jaws drank cans of Narrangansett.

The Haffenreffer brewery (of Boston, where Boston Beer now houses their test brewery and Sam Adams tour) became closely involved with Narrangansett in the early 60's as many regional brewers struggled to survive. Eventually, the Haffenreffer lines would become part of Narrangansett and then all were swallowed by the Falstaff Brewing company. The brewery in Rhode Island was closed in the early 80's and the brand quickly declined in quality and sales. The brand has changed hands many times over the years but in 2005 it was purchased by an interest that revitalised the recipe and the brand and it is now being contract brewed by High Falls Brewing (JW Dundee, Saranac) in New York.



Pours bright yellow gold with a creamy white head, lots of lacing, persistent but becomes thin. Lot's of bubbles Lightly sweet and bready pale pilsener malt, light twinge of noble hops.

Taste is basically the same. Sweetish aftertaste. Inoffensive but I wish it had a bit more crispness in the mouth.

This is a nostalgic brand. Being that I am not a native of New England I can say it's no better or no worse than a lot of industrial lagers but doesn't particularly appeal to me.



Narragansett Beer

Tasting Notes: Houblon Chouffe

Brewery: Brasserie Achouffe

Date Poured: January 2008

ABV: 9%

A burgeoning style, the Belgian IPA, is taken on by Brasserie Achouffe. But hell, if you're reading this blog, you know all about this beer. On to the notes!

Pours a pale, lightly hazy, yellow gold with a huge billowy ivory head that is the consistency of whipped cream. Lots of huge chunky lacing. Citrusy hop aroma, fruity Belgian yeast. Lots of estery, bready aromas.

Very hoppy flavors and bready, yeasty tripel type flavors. The perfect marriage of a tripel and IPA. The combination of Amarillo, Tomahawk and Saaz is odd enough. Then combine that with a fruity, earthy tripel...well that's nothing you see everyday. Dry in the mouth, lots of hops in the finish and aftertaste. Really drinkable for my tastes. Some hints of alcohol in there but the 9% ABV is masked nicely. Still unlike anything I have ever had before. Totally unique. Totally quaffable. It's amazing.

Brasserie Achouffe

New England, July 2005: Part 3 - Oak Pond Brewing

Having packed up all our camping gear the night before, Dave and I got up, left his wife and their 100 year old farmhouse behind and headed west on I-95. (Yes, it was actually I-95 South but it goes west in this part of the state, trust me.)

About an hour into the trip, we stopped by a general store in Skowhegan to pick up a few provisions. We grabbed some snacks and some breakfast and then something in the cooler caught my eye. It was a bomber labeled "Oak Pond Brewing Dooryard Ale". The reason it caught my eye is that I had lived in Maine for over four years and prided myself as knowing a bit about all the in-state breweries. However, this brewery had seemed to escape my attention. I grabbed the bomber figuring it was time to sample some of Oak Pond's offerings.

The clerk who checked us out commented on how much he liked Dooryard Ale and after chatting about it for a a minute, we learned that Oak Pond Brewing was right there in Skowhegan and virtually around the corner. After learning that, we decided we couldn't leave town without at least stopping by.

We pulled the car into the "dooryard" at Oak Pond and the brewery was indeed open for business. Oak Pond resides in what once was a chicken barn. It started up in 1999 but the current owner has only been there since 2003. The owner, Don (Chandler, as I later found out), was manning the operation that morning, showing people around the brewery and selling growlers and bottles of his ales and lagers. Did I say lager? Maine brewers don't make lagers. There was an Oktoberfest for sale and I asked Don if it was indeed a lager or simply an Oktoberfest-style ale. Don reported that it was indeed a lager beer. A pleasant surprise as, at that time, Oak Pond was the only brewery in Maine producing a lager. (As of 2008, I believe this is still the case).

Don let us try some samples of some of the beers he had on tap. Of all the brews sampled, it was the Nut Brown Ale that grabbed me. Nutty, malty and smooth as velvet. I bought a growler to go. Dave took to the Oktoberfest and picked up a bomber of that. With that, we had a pretty nice haul to drink around the campfire that night.

Oak Pond Brewing is one of those hidden gems that I love finding when I'm travelling. They do not make "extreme" beers (although they do make a seasonal Doppelbock) and the average beer snob would dismiss their beers as "boring". That's their loss. Oak Pond makes well-crafted, sessionable beers and is truly local. I would imagine that most of Don's sales come from Skowhegan and within a 60 mile radius of the brewery. He's your neighbor...who just happens to make some damn good beer. That's one of the many things I miss about living in Maine.

Anyway, we paid for the beer, got back in the car and started our drive north, up through the Appalachian Mountains toward The Forks.

Oak Pond Brewing

Belgium Trip Update

I finally have my airline ticket to Brussels so I have been paying a bit more attention to what's happening in the world of Belgian beer and getting some tips from other bloggers on what to look for when I go.

The photo I used for this post is courtesy of BoakandBailey.com. They have offered some of their beer photography for free use by other bloggers. This photo is of a neon Kasteel sign in Brussels.

This post over at BeerAdvocate.com eventually led me to find this hopeful article about the fate of Liefmans Brewery. Looks like the Duvel Moortgat brewery will be taking over brewing operations in preparation to make an offer to take over the Liefmans operation. Good news indeed!

Lew Bryson reports that Orval (one of my favorites) is a completely different animal when fresh. That hadn't occurred to me so I will have to make sure that I get a bottle when I get over there.

For the few of you who may be reading this and/or may actually have experience with this, I have a question. Is Westvleteren worth it? We will definitely be going to In de Vrede and sampling all the Westvleteren ales but I haven't decided if it's worth it to spend a bunch of time calling the monastery and spending another big chunk of time waiting in line at the monastery for my beer. Any thoughts are welcome.

I love De Koninck. One of the things I'm looking forward to most on this trip will be having another bolleke of fresh De Koninck in Antwerp. I have had bottled versions on this side of the Atlantic but in my experience the broad group of beers known as "Belgian Pale Ales/Ambers" do not travel well. At least not off of the continent. So it was nice to see that The Beer Tourist had a writeup of this fantastic ale from last September. Even nicer, I learned that the old unofficial brewery tap, Café Pelgrim, closed last March. The new unofficial brewery tap is Afspanning De Hand. I need to add that one to my list of stops in Antwerp.

Coaster: Great Guinness Toast 1998

I really need to work on my photography skills for these coaster posts. Anyway...

This coaster is from 10 years ago. K and I actually went and participated in this toast at a little Irish bar called The Fly's Tie in Jacksonville Beach, FL.

The beer situation in Jacksonville in the late nineties was pretty dire. You could get some decent beer at a few upscale specialty shops but you could forget about that when you went out to eat or drink.

The Fly's Tie was not far from our apartment and at the very least took pride in their taps. Nothing earth shattering, mostly Guinness, Bass, the occasional Sam Adams seasonal, some cider and Harp lager. But it was always a quality pint at a fair price in a very traditional Irish pub atmosphere. Good times.

The Session #13: Organic Beer

I was always looking to try organic beers from the first time I saw them. Unfortunately, I found most of them lacking.

That has changed in the last 4 years or so as the range of organic beers has gotten better and, I think, the quality of the organic ingredients available for brewing has gotten better as well.

So what to choose? I wanted to get a beer from Pisagh Brewing up in Black Mountain, NC who brew all their beer to USDA organic standards. Their Vortex II Imperial Stout was one of the best beers I've ever tasted, organic or otherwise. Sadly, they do not distribute to Georgia and I wasn't going to make it up to North Carolina this month.

My next thought was to go with a bottle of Foret (marketed as Moinette Biologique in Belgium) brewed by Brasserie Dupont. It is brewed with 100% organic barley and hops and is certified organic by ECOCET in Belgium. But technically it does not have the USDA organic label so I decided to try and find something else. If you're looking for a good organic saison though, Foret is highly recommended.

So I decided to go with Lakefront Brewery's Organic E.S.B. Lakefront is based in Milwaukee and has just arrived in Georgia within the last few months.

It pours a deep amber with a thinnish, but persistent ivory head. Plenty of fine lacing. Smells quite biscuity from the malt, thin herbal bitterness but an overall sweetish aroma.

Taste is much like the aroma. A very British style ESB, lots of biscuity malt and a present but understated herbal hops presence. Finished very, very clean. Mouth is a bit on the thin side. If I had to pin this beer down to one style I would probably say it's just a bitter instead of an Extra Special Bitter.

It's not bad at all but could bring a little more as far as flavor. Good session beer.


Lakefront Brewery



Make sure you check out the other entries from the 13th edition of The Session. The rundown is over at Chris O'Brien's Beer Activist Blog.

Out of the Cellar: Unibroue Trois Pistoles

Date Cellared: March 2004

Date Sampled: February 2008

ABV: 9%

Straight out of Quebec, one of the great North American breweries is Unibroue. They specialize in Belgian style ales and one of their best ales is Trois Pistoles. The beer is named after a village in the Les Basques region.

I have had mixed results aging Unibroue beers and the shelf life on this one is only supposed to be 3 years. Let's see what happens.

It pours an opaque brown with a huge creamy tan head. The aroma is dominated by the signature Unibroue yeast. Ahh, that spicy Unibroue yeast! Bready and earthy, rich dark malt, sweet, lush candy sugar.

Surprisingly smooth body, lightly dry considering the sweetness of this beer. Some breadiness in the malt, some peppery spice, still a hint of alcohol and the body has thinned out a bit from when fresh. Sweetish finish some alcohol warming. Lightly bitter in the finish.

Success! This one ages beautifully. I have more so we'll check it out again in a few months.

Unibroue

Tasting Notes: Mojo IPA

Brewery: Boulder Beer
Date Poured: August 2007
ABV: 7.0%

Never one to turn down an IPA, I picked this one up this summer during the trip to the Great Midwest.

It's a lightly hazy but bright copper in the glass. The head is snowy white with tons of lace. Crazy hop aromas here. The hops provide herbal, citrusy and floral aromas.

As expected, a nice amount of hops delivered in this beer. It's snappy and spicy in the mouth. A bit of pale malt but nicely showcasing the hops in this one. Hops dominate the finish and the aftertaste. A nicely hopped ale, at least for a regular IPA.

This is a nice beer and a nice surprise. I was disappointed with the dry-hopped Hazed and Infused but this beer delivers. Recommended.

Boulder Beer

New England Trip, July 2005: Part 2: - Beerhunting Through New England

It's only about 3-4 hours from Boston to Bangor and since Dave wasn't going to be off work until Friday evening, it was time for some beer hunting at the area liquor stores.

Heading north, the first place I stopped off at was Portsmouth, NH at a little place called Gary's Beverages. Gary's doesn't look like much from the outside. In fact, it could be mistaken for just about any bottle shop in northern New England. In truth, it's the best beer store in Portsmouth. The selection is great but the store is a bit cramped and disorganized so hunting for beer takes on a whole new meaning. I stopped here specifically for Smuttynose beer (especially the Big Beer series) and I was not disappointed. I got hold of some Smutty Barleywine, Wheat Wine and some Big "A" IPA. Also found some bottles of the Harpoon 100 Barrel Series, in this case it was the Triticus wheat wine.

Crossing into Maine, the next stop was Tully's in Wells. Tully's is housed in a shopping center anchored by a Hannaford and is easily the best beer store south of Portland and north of the New Hampshire border. That makes it a popular stop for people from Massachusetts and New Hampshire to find Maine beers that are not distributed outside of the state. (Can you say Cadillac Mountain Stout?) Tully's had expanded their selection since my last visit and had anything you could want as far as Maine brewed products. The selection of Belgian beers was also notable.

Next up was a stop to RSVP in Portland. RSVP is not the best beer store in Portland but it is reasonably easy to get to from the interstate. It's dingy and they don't dedicate near enough of their ample floor space to beer but the selection is still very good, they even sell growlers from draft-only Maine brewers. Again, lots of Maine beers but tons of micros "from away", certainly better than when I lived in state. RSVP also benefits from being in close proximity to the The Great Lost Bear, the best beer bar in Portland. Alas, the GLB was not yet open. That may have been a good thing as a quick lunch at GLB can quickly turn into a lost afternoon and I still had to get further north.

For kicks, I stopped off at Lou's Beverage Barn in Augusta. Lou's always had a great selection but notoriously kept really old beer in the store. It's no different now. I left without buying a thing. Back on 95 North.

Arriving in Bangor, I stopped off at the Natural Living Center and was pleasantly surprised that their beer selection was greatly improved. Natural Living Store had always been the best place for beer in Bangor by default (this is no longer the case, several stores in the area have stepped it up in recent years) but now it was worthy on its merits. Lots of singles, lots of in and out of state micros. I picked up some singles of old friends and some I wanted to become acquainted with...and headed further north still.

I know my destination was Bangor but up in downtown Orono (home of the University of Maine) is Burby and Bates, a fine little liquor store with an emphasis on fine wines and, more importantly, fine beers. You can mix your sixers, they have fresh growlers from area breweries but today I was all about the Dogfish Head. Georgia had recently raised the ABV limit on beer but that was only up to 14%. Hello World Wide Stout and 120 Minute IPA!

I had made better time than I had expected so it was down the street to sample some beer at the Bear Brewpub. Not the most imaginative name for a Maine brewpub, I'll grant you. Still it was a drizzly afternoon and I decided to grab a late lunch and kill some time over a pint or two. The salmon chowder was excellent and I had the house IPA with it. Was it a master stroke of beer pairing? No but the wicked herbal hoppiness did cut the creaminess of the chowder nicely. Not a bad little IPA here. After a couple hours, it was off to Dave's place for a good night's sleep before we ventured out on the next leg of the journey...

The Haul

Harpoon Triticus

Smuttynose Finest Kind IPA

Smuttynose Big A IPA

Smuttynose Summer Weizen

Smuttynose Barleywine

Smuttynose Wheat Wine

Allagash Summer Ale

Allagash 4

Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA

Sea Dog Winter Ale "Cabin Fever"
Dogfish Head World Wide Stout

Dogfish Head 120 Min IPA

Atlantic Special Old Bitter (S.O.B.)

Atlantic Brother Adams Honey Bragget Ale

Geary's London Porter

Magic Hat Blind Faith

Casco Bay Pale Ale

Frye's Leap IPA

Unibroue La Terrible

Maine Coast Irish Stout

Unibroue Ephemere Cassis

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Coaster: Bush Beer 7° (Clovis)

I grabbed this coaster from a pub in Brussels circa 1996. Not until I started this post did I realize that this coaster is not an advert for the more famous Bush Ambrée (known as Scaldis in the US) but a different beer entirely. This version is know as Clovis in the US but I have yet to try it. So much for attention to detail...

Tasting Notes: Spanish Peaks APA

Brewery: Spanish Peaks Brewing Company
Poured: July 2007
ABV: 5.7%

Still more notes from the Great Midwest excursion. Two thoughts: Damn, I bought a lot of beer on that trip and Damn, I need to do something a little more creative on this bog pretty soon.

It's a lightly hazy copper, yeast in suspension with a fluffy ivory head. Sweet, sweet hops in the nose, sweet pale malt too.

The sweet hop aroma does not hint at the herbal biting bitterness the hops deliver. It's like a turbo charged English style pale ale. Mouth is dryish lots of herbal hops in the finish and aftertaste.

Something about this beer doesn't mesh well, the hops (Crystal, Mt. Hood, Horizon) are not right for the malt profile or they overpower it too much. Whatever, it just doesn't work for me. Only fair.




Spanish Peaks Brewing

Tasting Notes: Summit India Pale Ale

Brewer: Summit Brewing Company
Poured: July 2007
ABV: 5.8%

Yet another beer found during my trips to the midwest this summer...

It pours a deep clear amber creamy khaki head. There's a lot of lacing on the glass. The nose is full of herbal and floral hops. It's a wonderful sweet aroma.

Very herbal hops in the flavor, some hints of loose tea from the hops as well. The body is crisp but lightly sweet malt comes through and it finishes with the low-level herbal hops. The hops linger in the aftertaste.

A nice surprise. A well-balanced and tasty regular IPA. I've been pretty impressed with Summit so far. They make solid, tasty beers.

Tasting Notes: Bell's Java Stout

Brewery: Bell's Brewery
Poured: January 2008
Style: Coffee Stout

Still more stout from Bell's and more beer from the trip to the Great Midwest...

It pours blacker than black with a thin tan head. Powerful coffee aromas, big mocha and bitter chocolate. Roasty but still lots o' sweet chocolate.

The flavor is dominated by coffee. Lots of mocha and bitter chocolate. Unfortunately, the coffee taste builds and overwhelms the beer in time. It's too much coffee for me. A lingering bitterness in the finish.

Outside of the heavy handed coffee, it would be an outstanding beer. Even so, it's still pretty good. In the interest of equal time, K (my wife) loves this brew.

Bell's Brewery

Tasting Notes: Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat

Brewer: Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing

Date Poured: January 2008

Style: American Wheat

One of the fringe benefits of having people over for poker is that they sometimes leave beer at your place that you wouldn't normally buy on your own. Somebody left this Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat in my fridge a couple weeks ago.

This beer pours a hazy pale orangey gold and is topped with a lacy and frothy snowy white head. The nose is full of citrus, lemon and orange. Almost mimosa type smells with light a sweet spiciness.

The first taste is quite bitter with over the top orange peel flavors. Crisp but sweetish wheat malt with a spicy finish. A sweetness starts taking over, an orangey sweetness with a extracty kind of taste.

I'm not a fan of American wheat beers as a rule and they tried to do a Belgian wit here but missed the mark.

Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company

Tasting Notes: Kalamazoo Stout

Brewery: Bell's Brewing Company

Date Poured: September 2007

ABV: 6.5%

I love Bell's Brewing. I unabashedly state that they are the best brewers of stout in the country. So I am thrilled to finally get ahold of some Kalamazoo Stout, one of the few Bell's offerings I have not tried.

This beer is pitch black in the glass with a dense tan head you could support small coins. Smells sweet and chocolatey with light hints of mocha. Very nice.

There is much more coffee in the flavor than in the nose. More bitter than I was expecting but with a sweetness that offsets it. The bitter and the sweet lead to flavors reminiscient of dark chocolate.

A nice thick body that is just heavenly in the mouth. Drinks smooth as silk with some light smokiness in the aftertaste acconpanied by hints of coffee and a creamy sweetness.

It's money. I might drink nothing but stout if Bell's distributed to Atlanta...

Bell's Brewery

The Session #11: Doppelbock

"The (Paulaner) brewery Has its origins...with a community of monks of St. Paul, who became well known throughout the city for the strong beer they brewed, call Salvator (Saviour) to sustain themselves during Lent...Most other double-bock beers echo the Saviour's brew by bearing names ending in -ator."

- Michael Jackson


With these words echoing in my head, I got off the train in Munich. Did I say I? I mean "we". It was the fall of 1996 and I was with my girlfriend (eventually my wife) K. It was my first proper stop in Germany and the day was going to spent hopping about the various biergartens and I was like a kid in a candystore.

Being on small budget during this backpacking excursion around Europe, many lunches were bought at local grocery stores in the form of bread, chesse and various suasages. Munich was no different and to go with lunch, I bought my first Salvator...in a .5 litre can! Barbarian that I was I drank it from the can as well! Even so, it had a profound effect (from both a spiritual and physical sense) on me and I spent most of the rest of the day trying to sample as many examples of the style as I could, as well as getting a proper serving of Salvator in a glass later that afternoon.

The day is quite hazy or I'd run down all the places we went. Let's just say a day in Munich is a marathon and not a sprint. K took a liking to doppelbocks too and paid to price for it by evening's end!

These days I tend to neglect the original doppelbock. Up in Helen, GA there's a little German restaurant called the Old Bavaria Inn. Sometimes, you can get a bottle of Salvator on special for $1.50. A hell of a deal that I never pass up. Because of this, when I see a bottle of Salvator (like the one non the table before me) I can't help but think of camping up in the north GA mountains.

So to wrap up this tribute to the original doppelbock, some quick tasting notes from tonight's bottle.

The body is a luminous orangey brown with a frothy ivory colored head. You can get a wisp of alcohol in the nose, it's a fairly fresh sample (bottled in October) but mostly you get that rich nutty malt character typical of a doppelbock. I have never been able to put that aroma (or flavor) into words but once you try a few doppelbocks, you'll see what I mean. A doppelbock has a distinct flavor and aroma imparted by the malt.

The flavor is dominated by that same maltiness, some nutty caramel with just a bit of fruitiness too. It's velvetey smooth and drinks easy, masking it's strength. Why don't I pick this up more often? Sometimes the constant search for the new makes you overlook the old reliable. But make no mistake, this is still classic.

For more posts for The Session, pop over to Brewvana who is hosting this month's session.

Tasting Notes: Flying Monkey Four Finger Stout

Brewer: Flying Monkey

ABV: ???

Poured: 10/2007

(I'm clearing out some old notes from back in the fall. Here's the first one...)

Still more from the stash rounded up this summer from the Great Midwest...

This stout pours black, of course, with a dense brown head. Lots of mocha aromas and supported by burnt malt and roasty smells. Strident but lesser sweetish dark malt aromas mixed in there as well.

It's a nice balance of sweet and bitter flavors, damn near perfect balance as far as I'm concerned. Lots of dark chocolate flavors here with sweetish finish, lightly sticky and rich. Very full bodied with a lightly bitter finish.

It's nice, one of the best stouts I've had in awhile. I am impressed. Run, don't walk.

Flying Monkey Beer