Duvel Moortgat Acquires Liefmans

Duvel has acquired Liefmans! The transaction, including real estate that Duvel had bought earlier in the year, will total 4.5 million euros.

This is very good news. Not only will the Liefmans brands survive, they will be controlled by a brewer I quite respect. Good news. Goudenband lives on!

Coaster: Boston Beer Works

This coaster was picked up during my New England trip in 2004. I went to the location near Fenway Park.

They made a nice IPA but I couldn't get served fast enough to try a second beer. They seemed quite understaffed and the place wasn't even crowded. It would be worth a second trip though.

The Brick Store Pub: 11th Anniversary

I have not been out and about to drink beer in many months due to many different issues going on in my life but with things finally getting back to normal, I was looking for an excuse to get out and enjoy some good beer.

When you are out to enjoy good beer in the Atlanta metro area, the first place that springs to mind is the Brick Store Pub in Decatur. This Saturday kicked off the 11th anniversary celebrations at the Brick Store so I decided to be down there when they tapped the special kegs they brought in for the occasion.

The fact that a place like the Brick Store could survive 11 years in Georgia is amazing in itself. It's even more amazing considering that until 4 years ago, no beer over 6% ABV could be sold in the state. But they did survive and since the ABV cap was lifted in 2004, they have thrived. It is the best beer bar in the state and certainly one of the best on the East Coast.

I got there just after 3 PM and Dave was on the steps giving a speech and thanking everyone for coming out to celebrate and introduce the special kegs for that day. After he was done, I headed upstairs to the "Belgian Bar" and sample the beers.

The first beer was Guido by Brouwerij De Regenboog. Happily, I knew nothing of this beer before I tried it. Had I known in advance that it was brewed with honey and raisins, I may have passed it up.

Guido poured a hazy brownish orange with a frothy but thinnish head. Very sweet fruity smells, raisin and other assorted dark fruit. The flavor is really amazing. Very sweet and fruity, with raisins and dark plum but the noble hops are there too to provide a bit of balance. Lots of spicy, yeast flavors too with a touch of alcohol burn. It's sweet but not cloying. Very unique and very tasty.

The second beer was J.W. Lees Lagavulin vintage 2001. This particular beer is the J.W. Lees Harvest Ale aged in a cask that once held Lagavulin whiskey. The Brick Store got a pin keg and I was lucky to get a glass. I have not been a huge fan of the Harvest Ale in the past but this one was fantastic.

It pours a lightly hazy dark amber with no head to speak of. I could have just smelled this beer and been satisfied. Peaty and earthy, sweet malt and whiskey from the cask. Beautiful. The taste matches the smell. Very boozy and quite sweet but always with that peaty, whisky flavor permeating throughout. Very fruity with hints of toffee and vanilla. Sweetish finish with the whisky flavor lingering.

Both beers are not ones that I would have normally tried but both were fantastic.

I went in by myself but had nice conversation with a couple of guys named Lee. One was the bartender and the other was a guy I had met at a Beer Advocate event late last year.

Normally, the beer menu would suck me in for the better part of an afternoon but I had places to go and people to meet. If you come within 100 miles of Atlanta, you have to get to the Brick Store.

The Brick Store Pub

Out of The Cellar: Cherish Kriek

Brewer: Brouwerij Van Steenberge
Date Cellared: October 2003
Date Sampled: June 2008
Style: Kriek Lambic
ABV: ???

This is one of those inadvertent cellarings. It's a beer I bought for my wife years ago but it has languished in the cellar for over 4 1/2 years. I'm not crazy about the more "commercial" examples of Kriek Lambic but I was curious to see what would happen to it after all this time. I was pretty sure this is a pasteurized beer but did any of the brettanomyces survive? Would there be any added funk or sourness imparted by the age?

Logically, I know the answer is probably not. But what's done is done. Let's check it out.

It pours a a deep copper color with a hint of red and is topped by wispy thin ivory head. Smells of tart cherry and just a slight hint of toffee.

There's a lot of tart cherry flavors with just a twinge of toffee. The body is much thinner. There's sweetness but it's not that sweet. It finishes with a light sticky aftertaste.

Firstly, there was no funky brett character at all. The pasteurization is complete and thorough! Second, the tart fruitiness does seem to be stronger in the flavor profile but I would imagine that is some of the fruity oxidation flavors blending with the cherries.

Chalk it up to experience. An interesting accident but nothing more.


Brouwerij Van Steenberge

Tasting Notes: Foret

Brewer: Brasserie Dupont
Style: Saison
ABV: 7.5%
Date Poured: June 2008

Foret is an amazing beer. I was at the Brick Store Pub in Decatur, Georgia a couple of years ago and was in the mood to have a Saison Dupont on draft. They were out but they had just tapped some Foret and offered me that instead. I took it. How bad could it be? Turns out it was even better than Saison Dupont! But instead of reminiscing, I'll talk about the bottle of Foret I've got right in front of me.

It pours crystal clear. I mean, the clarity in quite dramatic on this beer. Clear copper with a dense creamy ivory head and sheeting lace on the sides of the glass.

Smells of lemon, sweet spice and banana of all things. Light peppery spice also fills the nose.

In the mouth, a strident noble hop character takes over, something I did not detect in the nose. Peppery flavors and yeastiness underneath. A driness in the finish, some bright citrusy fruitiness from the malt. It's lovely. A symphony of flavors in the tongue.

On top of all this, Foret is certified organic by Ecocert. (It goes by Moinette Bio in Europe)

Run, don't walk.


Brasserie Dupont

The Session # 16: Beer Festivals

Beer festivals. I've been to some great ones. I've been to some lousy ones. Now, in my mid-thirties, I've figured out two essential ingredients to knowing what will make a beer festival enjoyable for me.

1) There have to be beers at the festival that I would have difficulty sampling otherwise because of geography, cost or limited availability.

2) There either has to be an early session of the festival or the doors have to open early in the afternoon. If you go early, you tend to miss the drunken louts who show up after dark simply to get loaded.

Thus, my best beer festival experiences have been ones that I have travelled out of state to attend. Lots of new beer to sample in those cases and the festival format allows you to sample much in a limited amount of time.

But my favorite festival that I attended was one in Maine while I was living in that state. It was the Southwest Harbor Oktoberfest and the last one I attended was probably in 2003.

Maine had a lot of craft breweries per capita (at one point it was more per capita than any state in the union but that may have changed since) but some were draft only, brewpubs or a very limited availability. Some breweries literally serviced only a 45 mile radius from the brewery. So even if a brewery was in-state, you might not be able to find the beer. So this was a great chance to sample beers from all over the state and even meet many of the brewers.

Some highlights:

I got to meet Rob Tod of Allagash Brewing. It was my first chance to try beers from Sheepscot Valley Brewing and from the Narrow Gauge Brewpub (Narrow Gauge is gone now but had a great cream ale). The Liberal Cup, Gritty McDuff's and The Bear brewpubs were all there too.

It was outside at a campground and the weather was great. There was the beer tent and another tent with live music and still another for crafts and artists. You could bring the whole family if you wanted to.

If you find yourself near Mt. Desert Island in Maine this fall, you can check it out for yourself.

And if you remember those two rules, you'll probably find any beer festival that meets them worthwhile.

For more entries for this month's The Session, head over to Geistbear Brewing Blog where it's being hosted.

Tasting Notes: Agave Wheat

Brewer: Breckenridge Brewery
Style: American Wheat\Agave Wheat ?
ABV: 4.2%
Date Poured: June 2008

Once I made the move to Georgia several years ago, I learned a new appreciation for wheat beers. It's hot down here and a good witbier or hefeweizen really hits the spot. I particularly dove into exploring German hefes and then, as I am prone to do, started looking for some good examples made by American brewers.

I was sorely disappointed. Beers that claimed to be "hefeweizens" turned out to have none of the characteristics of their German equivalents. Where was that banana/lemon/bubblegum flavor imparted by that typical hefe yeast? Nowhere, it seemed. American witbiers were better but most seemed flabby and lacking, even compared to industrial examples like Hoegaarden. And the ales labeled simply "wheat beer" were crisp but soulless. Little flavor and even less enjoyment.

I believe that American brewers can make great examples of any style in the world but with wheat beers they come up short. I can only think of two stellar examples: Allagash White from Allagash Brewery in Portland, Maine and Gumballhead from Three Floyds Brewery in Munster, Indiana.

But that doesn't stop me from continuing to look. Colorado's Breckenridge Brewery has released a wheat beer flavored with the nectar of the Salmiana Agave. And since I have never heard of a brewery doing such a thing, I had to give it a shot.

It pours a very hazy pale gold (it is unfiltered) with a 1/4 inch snow white head. A pretty typical appearance for an American wheat beer. Sweet wheat malt aromas mixed with aromatics from some sort of lemony fruit. Maybe this is from the agave?

In the mouth, a lightly sweet wheat malt imparts a light crispness. It starts out quite dry in the mouth too. There's a lime-like flavor in there which I am assuming is the agave nectar. It still finishes clean and crisp but with just a hint of stickiness in the aftertaste.

The addition of agave is interesting to be sure and does save this beer from still being just another limp American wheat beer. But it doesn't make it great. Extra credit for trying something different. I wouldn't have thought of agave in a million years. I will say that this is a cut above your average American wheat beer.


Breckenridge Brewery

Tasting Notes: Highland Kashmir IPA

Brewer: Highland Brewing
Style: IPA
ABV: 5.6%
Date Poured: June 2008

Jumping back into the beer tasting, I was really wanting an IPA. I decided starting with an IPA from the southeast US (where I am) would be a good place to start. So, it's the Kashmir IPA from Highland Brewing in Asheville, North Carolina.

It's got a lightly hazy and very pale gold body with a frothy ivory head. Sheets of lace left on the glass. Light herbal hop aromas with a hint of citrus.

Herbal bitterness that builds as you drink it. No sweet citrus here. Lightly sweet pale malt and bitter finish, lightly sticky. Medium bodied with a biting bitter aftertaste.

Not bad. Quite a solid single IPA.


Highland Brewing Company

Tasting Notes: Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout

Brewery: Samuel Smith's Old Brewery

Style: Oatmeal Stout

ABV: 5%

Date Poured: April 2008

Samuel Smith's used to be one of my regulars. At least the Taddy Porter and the Oatmeal Stout. These were two beer that I cut my teeth on when I was getting into "better beer".

There was only one problem. Samuel Smith's insisted on sending their beer across the Atlantic in clear glass bottles. Perhaps this is not a problem in England. Maybe the turnover of stock is better and the stores know better how to treat beer. But over here, it wouldn't take too long before a bottle sitting out in the fluorescent light would get skunked. Nothing worse than dropping good money on beer only to have it tasting off when you got it home.

When I lived in Maine, I had a solution. I knew what day my local co-op got there beer shipments and I could go there on Wednesdays and pick my bottles straight from a sealed box. Down here in Georgia, it wasn't so easy and it was an even chance that I would get a sub-par sample when grabbing the Taddy Porter.

So I stopped buying Samuel Smith's products.

Many months (maybe more than a year now) ago, Samuel Smith's started bottling their beers in brown bottles for consumption on this side of the Atlantic. It took me a long time to give them a try (creature of habit) but I finally picked up a bottle of Oatmeal Stout to sample.

It pours opaque dark brown with a creamy light brown head. Smells of sweet chocolate and a grainy oat. Sweet and milky but lightly bitter aromas.

It fills the mouth with rich and creamy flavors. The oatmeal is there bringing a light bitterness and astringency to a sweet and creamy malt. There's a lightly sticky texture and it is quite full bodied.

It's as good as ever! Time to add these back to my regular rotation.

Samuel Smith's Old Brewery

Beer Travel: 19th Century Style

Since family issues and illness have cut down on my beer drinking/beer travel, I have been doing a bit of reading and have come across some beer related things here.

I found a book called "Europe Viewed Through American Spectacles" by Charles Carroll Fulton. Mr. Fulton was the editor of The Baltimore American and sent many letters home from his 1873 trip to Europe that were published in the American and eventually compiled in book form

Fulton and company were quite shocked by the pervasiveness of beer drinking in European cultures and surprised that in was enjoyed by all classes of people, not just drunken degenerates. He seemingly became a beer loving convert during his travels.

I'll post some selected passages that I find interesting.

Dresden

Beer Drinking

Everybody in Germany drinks beer, it being part of the daily food, as much so as
coffee is in America. Mothers wean their infants on beer, and they are brought
up accustomed to drink it as freely as water. At all the stations on the road an
opportunity is given to the passengers to secure a supply, and it is more easily
obtained than water, and almost as cheap. The Germans attribute the absence of
dyspepsia to beer, and point to the rosy cheeks of their daughters as the result
of this wholesome beverage. Our party are all giving it a fair trial, and hope
to return home with a new lease of life and health. With all due respect to our
American brewers, we do not think that any of them come up to the quality of the
German article, which is of a bright and clear amber color and sparkles under a
heavy froth. The taste for it is an acquired one, and we are all getting quite
accustomed to its use. It seems to be free from all intoxicating effects, and if
it proves a cure for dyspepsia, as is claimed by our German friends, it will do
much more than the doctors have been able to accomplish in most cases of the
kind.

The "Dutch Treat"

The Germans in the United States, and those Americans who afîect a fondness
for lager-beer, don't drink it as it is drunk in Germany. They rush into a
restaurant and gulp down two or three glasses, and move on. Here a German never
thinks of finishing his glass of beer in less than ten minutes, or of drinking
it without eating something at the same time, even if it is only a crust of
brown bread. In fact, a German in the Fatherland is constitutionally opposed to
doing anything in a hurry, and especially to drinking beer with "rapid speed."
The consequence is, that we do not see men here with great, huge paunches, as at
home, capable of swallowing a keg of beer after supper. They never treat one
another, but sit down to the tables, and, though they drink together, each man
pays for what he consumes, whether it be beer or food. This of itself is a great
preventive of excess, as if a half-dozen or dozen were to sit down to drink, ae
with us, each man must treat in turn, and thus six or a dozen 35 glasses would
be guzzled, whether they wanted it or glasses would be guzzled, whether they
wanted it or not. If our temperance friends could institute what is called the
"Dutch treat" into our saloons, each man paying his own reckoning, it would be a
long step towards reform in drinking. In short, beer in Germany is a part of
each man's food. He takes it as a sustenance, and not as a stimulant.

The Session #15: Seeing The Light

For this month's version of The Session, we were asked to write about when we knew we were hooked on beer. I know the exact night it happened. It's not an incredibly exciting story but here it is.

I was visiting one of my college roommates at his parent's place in Wilmington, Delaware. We were preparing for an evening in the basement, shooting pool, watching baseball and drinking beer. We were heading out for a beer run and Tom suggested we go to Total Beverage because they had this great feature where you could "create your own six-pack". This was the early 90's and while I had started drinking "better beer", I really hadn't explored that much. This new concept of a mixed sixer would allow me to do just that.

We went to Total Beverage. I got two mixed sixers. I still remember the beers.

Anchor Steam

Anchor Liberty Ale

Anchor Porter

Sam Adams Boston Lager

Sam Adams Cream Stout

Sam Adams Honey Porter

Orkney Skullsplitter

Rhino Chasers Amber Ale

Rhino Chasers American Ale

Sierra Nevada Stout

Pete's Wicked Ale

Guinness Extra Stout

I had no idea what I was buying. I was just making selections based on what were my favorite beers at the time (Sam Adams Boston Lager and Guinness Draft) and how cool the labels looked. but I lucked into a few really good ones and somewhere in the middle of all those beer that night, I knew I was hooked. It solidified my new found love of stouts and porters, gave me my first tastes of an IPA and introduced me to a whole new style of beer (Wee Heavy).

Outside of Pete's Wicked and Rhino Chasers American Ale, all of those beers became regulars in my drinking rotation and set the stage nicely for the beer journey to come.

All thanks to Tom, a huge corporate beverage entity and Wilmington, DE (one of the ugliest cities you've ever seen).

More entries for The Session can be found here on Boak and Bailey's UK Beer Blog.

Tasting Notes: 2008 Longshot Beers

Brewery: Boston Beer Company
Date Poured: March 2008


Some notes from last month on the Sam Adams 2009 Longshot beers. More on the Longshot homebrew contest can be found here.

(The Longshot box usually contains 2 bottles of each winning beer. However, one of the winners this year was a Double IPA and Boston Beer was unable to secure the hops during this year's shortage. So one of the winning beers was postponed and 3 bottles of each of the following beer was included.)


First up is a weizenbock brewed by Rodney Kibzey of Chicago.

It's a murky opaque mahogany with a dense and creamy brown head that leaves sheeting lace behind. Sweet strong aroma of ripe banana and cloves, rich maltiness and just a hint of lemon in the nose.


Tastes of rich malt, banana estery flavors, lemony and spicy, especially clove and pepper. Rounded body and not nearly as full and sticky as I expected. Fairly clean finish for a weizenbock but a light sticky malt finish and aftertaste lets you know the beer was there.

Really, really good beer. It's got to be right up there behind Aventinus as the second best weizenbock I've tasted and there's certainly no shame in finishing second to that beer.

The next beer is called a Grape Pale Ale by the winning brewer Lily Hess. As the name implies, it's a pale ale brewed with grapes.

Pours a pale orangey copper with a frothy ivory head. Smell is quite sweet and grapey with the faint aroma of pale malt.


I was expecting this ale to be sweet in my mouth but it's actually quite dry with just a touch of sweetness in the finish. It's crisp and light, subtle and bright.


I wasn't expecting much from the grape ale as I don't like fruit in my beer as a rule. However it was surprisingly tasty and refreshing. I won't put it on par with the excellent weizenbock but it was no slouch either.




Boston Beer Company

Out of the Cellar: Hooker Imperial Porter

Brewery: Thomas Hooker
Style: Imperial Porter
ABV: 7.8%
Cellared: February 2007
Poured: April 2008


Even though I didn't buy or cellar this bottle until 2007, there is a label pasted over the flip-top cap that says 2006. The beer is usually released in late Fall so I'm going to assume the beer is actually 18 months in the bottle.

It pours opaque brown with nary a head even with a healthy vigorous pour. It has legs like wine when you swirl the glass. A little bit of alcohol in the nose surrounded by dark ripe fruit.

I am bracing myself for a flat blast of alcohol but am relieved that a very mild carbonation can still be detected on the tongue. The dark fruity flavors dominate (ripe plum and black currant) the rich maltiness with hints of vanilla. There's a lightly smoky flavor in the finish and hints of alcohol but not of the strength I was expecting.

I have to wonder about the wisdom of aging beers in these flip-top containers. I have only tried it twice in recent memory; the first was a Sweetwater Festive Ale which I aged for two years and it was flat and infected, so bad I couldn't even blog about it. The second is this beer which, while not horrible, is pretty unappetizing to me. I don't mind diminished carbonation but this beer is not helped by it at all.

I'll not be aging these flip-top bottles again and I would recommend drinking this Imperial Porter sooner rather than later.


Thomas Hooker Brewery

Tasting Notes: Schafly Stout

Brewery: St. Louis Brewery
Style: Oatmeal Stout
ABV: 5.7%
Date Poured: October 2007

More old notes from beers I got from my summer trip through the Midwest.

Pours very dark brown with ruby highlights peeking through, thin but (persistent) khaki head. Sweet, grainy oaty smells, creamy nose.

Roasty grain in the mouth. Hint of alcohol. Astringent but in a good way and creamy. A lingering roastiness and bitterness in the finish and aftertaste.

You can't go wrong with a good oatmeal stout as far as I'm concerned and this one isn't bad at all.


St. Louis Brewery

Tasting Notes: Opening Day Edition - Loose Cannon Hop3 Ale

Brewery: Clipper City Brewery
Style: IPA
ABV: 7.25%

(Rained out last night, the Orioles play a double header this afternoon against the Texas Rangers. It would have been cool if this beer was a Double IPA but hey, what are you gonna do? This is the 9th inning of sort as this is the last installment of the series of beers from Clipper City from Baltimore.)

It pours a crystal clear copper. Vibrant color in the body with a thin ivory head. Lots of citrusy hops in the nose.

Taste is dominated by hops, herbal and citrusy. Strident bitterness, orange rind and grapefruit. There's a nice bready malt to support the hops. Lightly sticky, nary a hint of alcohol with lingering bitterness in the finish. It's very nice.

Clipper City Brewing

Tasting Notes: Opening Day Edition - Clipper City Peg Leg Imperial Stout

Brewery: Clipper City Brewing
Style: Imperial Stout
ABV: 8.0%

(The Orioles continue their improbable run to open the season, now at 6-1 and still leading the AL East. Here's the third installment of this series from Baltimore's own Clipper City brewing.)

It pours deep black but you can pick up a hint of mahogany highlight every so often. In the nose, bitter hops, almost smell like noble hops...(Fuggles and Goldings actually, British style...) Some roasty aromas from the malt

First impressions are that it seems bit overcarbonated in the mouth. Very creamy and sweetish, almost like an imperial milk stout! Tasting lots of that herbal hop character in the flavor. Quite hoppy for an Imperial Stout. But it's yummy.

It's bottle conditioned so the last two bottles go into my cellar. Maybe I'll break one out when the O's reach the World Series in October. Nah, who am I kidding...

Clipper City Brewing

Tasting Notes: Opening Day Edition - Clipper City Small Craft Warning

Brewery: Clipper City Brewery
Style: Imperial Pilsner
ABV: 7.25%


(Oriole update: The O's are 5-1, they sit atop the AL East and have a 4-0 lead over the Texas Rangers as I type. Sweet victories and sweet beer!)

Part two of a four part series dedicated to the beginning of the baseball season, my Baltimore Orioles and Baltimore's own Clipper City brewery. Next up to bat is Small Craft Warning, a beer I would call an Imperial Pilsner but they describe as an Uber Pils.


As you can see, it pours a luminous pale coppery gold with a billowy snow white head. It leaves big thick lacing down the sides of the pilsner glass. Nose is sweet pilsner malt and noble hops.

Lots of noble hops in the mouth. The website mentions amarillo but all I'm getting is the saaz and tettanger. Otherwise, the body is quite sweet and the mouthfeel is sticky but it's not cloying.


Another good one. More Clipper City to come tomorrow.



Let's go O's!





Clipper City Brewing

Tasting Notes: Opening Day Edition - Clipper City Winter Storm

Brewer: Clipper City Brewing
Style: Imperial ESB
ABV: 7.5%

I should have thought of this last week but I guess various other commitments would've made this impossible last week...

Seeing that the baseball season kicked off last week and that I am a die hard Baltimore Orioles fan (and that the O's started an impressive and unexpectedly great 4-1 this week) I thought I would highlight some beers straight out of Baltimore.

We are lucky enough here in Atlanta to be able to get Clipper City beers (straight out of Baltimore!), at least the Heavy Seas Series (a line of beers that could best be described as "extreme"). I picked up a 12-pack sampler and will be making my way through them in tribute to the upstart Orioles this week.

First up is Winter Storm, described as an Imperial ESB. It's still pretty rainy and cold down here in northeast Georgia so these beers are going to hit the spot.

Pours an orangey (black and orangey?) copper with a thin but persistent ivory head. Some light lacing.

Lots of big citrusy hops in the nose buoyed by bready malt aromas.

The first sips reveal big hops but this beer is not just a hops delivery vehicle. Although it does that quite well. It's strangely balanced with the sweet and considerable bready malt profile. Bitter herbal and citrusy hops dominate the finish and aftertaste. Their website says they use American and English hops and I believe it. Not sure I've ever tasted this combination of hops working in such balance before.

Hell of a good start! I'd never tried this one before but tomorrow I'll be revisiting an old friend...

Clipper City Brewing

The Session # 14: Beer People

This is a tough installment of The Session for me since I really don't know many people in the brewing industry personally and I didn't really have a "beer guru" who introduced me to the wonders of craft/artisanal beer. Also, I have covered some of this ground before during The Session (#5 - Atmosphere) as I consider people to be the ultimate atmosphere when it comes to drinking.

So in the absence of a true beer person, I'll rehash a bit about my "beer partner" in my explorations, my good friend Dave.

The world of beer began to open up a bit in college from the day we discovered we could get a beer called Genessee 12 Horse Ale for the same price they were selling Busch Lite and the ilk at our favorite music bar. 12 Horse was not a great beer by objective standards but it turned the light on for us. It was quite different from the American industrial lagers we knew as "beer". And it was actually tasty!

Once we were able to buy beer legitimately (after the age of 21, 1991/1992), it was Sam Adams Boston Lager that opened our eyes even further and we began to delve more deeply into the American microbreweries as well as downing pint after pint of Guinness on the weekends. (Now that I think about it, Dave introduced me to Guinness and, in turn, to all stouts)

From there I remember discovering great beers and Dave was always in the vicinity. There was the party in DC when we walked down to the corner market and discovered Old Rasputin. My girlfriend split to study in Europe and that evening was my first taste of La Fin Du Monde.

After that there was a split as far as our beer journey. I joined the Navy and had already began to turn to the malt side. Belgian ales and big malty German lagers began to be my beers of choice. From 1995-99 I was either overseas or in the beer desert of northern Florida. Good beer began to be synonymous with imports and the big malt flavors many of them imparted became my preference. Ports of call in Belgium, The Netherlands, Great Britain and a backpacking trip through Germany solidified this thinking.

Meanwhile, Dave remained in the Washington D.C. area during the boom (and bust) of the initial American craft beer movement. Dave was cutting his teeth on lots of American craft beers and the hops were prominent in these brews.

So when I got out of the Navy, our tastes were quite different. Dave was quite the hophead while my tastes craved the malt and yeasty esters. I considered the big IPA's overdone and heavy-handed. He considered many of the beers I championed quite boring.

I moved to Maine and he joined me a couple years later. At that point, he was able to show me the appeal of some of these hoppy beers (Tupper's Hop Pocket Ale, Troeg's Hopback Amber and finally Stone Ruination got me over the hump) while I was able to introduce the Belgian styles and the new-found microbreweries in Maine, which were, by and large, quite dedicated to making English style ales.

I've been gone from Maine for four years now but he still ships me the occasional package of Cadillac Mountain Stout and I send him Sweetwater IPA. Even from a distance the education continues.

So what's the moral to this story? I guess if you're not going to have mentor as you begin your journey into beer, at least get yourself a good foil and/or a good friend. You learn more that way.

More entries in this month's installment of The Session can be found over here at Stonch's Beer Blog.

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