A New Beer Thread

Here's what I will be getting into tonight!!

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Picked up some side duties at the paper doing a twice-monthly feature of the local micro scene and blog reviews of beers. I have a passion for consumption, of course, so I'm interested to delve more into the inner workings of things. It'll be nice to do something outside of sports. Paper is even expensing beer purchases and is willing to throw some overtime my way to do it. Win freaking win.

 

Nice gig!

 

This weekend a friend and I had a sort of impromptu beer tasting as part of a larger game night among friends. I brought over a couple of barrel-aged limited releases from Jack's Abby (Peanut Butter and Jelly and Cocoa-Nut Framinghammers, which are bourbon barrel-aged Baltic Porters). He had just returned from a Vermont beercation, so he shared some Hill Farmstead Everett, and of course, some Heady Topper. Heady was delicious, as expected, but I was actually more impressed by Everett, which I knew of, but had not read much about. It hit you with a punch of dark chocolate, before finishing with this great smokiness.

 

Of the IPAs/hoppys I got on our New England adventure in May, Heady Topper ranked near the bottom of my personal scale. I much preferred The Alchemist's other IPA release, Focal Banger. In addition, all four Lawson's Finest I had (Sip of Sunshine, Ava, Session and Triple Sunshine) were better, as was Fiddlehead's Second Fiddle (criminally under-recognized Burlington/Shelburne, VT spot, keep an eye on them).

Don't get me wrong, it was a solid beer but not life-changing. A buddy had sent me a four-pack a few years back (pre-flood, from the old place when they just started canning) and it was quasi-orgasmically fantabulous. However, this trip Heady just didn't hold the same sway for me.

HF Everett rivals the best American porters out there and I wouldn't argue that it belongs at the top (not my favorite style but I have learned to enjoy it in moderation). Got a growler at the brewery on our visit, also really dug their single-hop Amarillo Pale from their offerings that day. Regret only getting four bottles of Arthur though.

 

Michigan Brewer's Guild Summer Beer Festival this weekend.

Family reunion in PA next weekend.

Great Taste of the Midwest in Madison the following weekend.

Guess I'll need to send my liver out for a reconditioning mid-August.

 

My friend had some Fiddlehead, but only one can, so I felt bad asking to try it, although I really wanted to!

I agree that Heady was not life-changing or transcendent (Everett was close, since it was such a superior porter, and it just improved as it warmed), and I didn't drink it with that mindset, although I think many others do. I think it's strength is that it doesn't taste like an 8% beer, and coupled with its mellow bitterness it's very easily drinkable. It's funny about the original Alchemist. I visited many years ago (around 2008/2009 if I recall) when my brother lived in Burlington, but I really can't recall what I drank (this was before I began regularly drinking beer). I do remember that I had an amazing pulled pork sandwich.

While we're talking IPAs, I finally made a trip out to a great brewery in Monson, MA, Treehouse. I had their IPA Julius, Double IPA Haze, and a Blonde Ale Eureka. Great stuff all-around.

 

A good "cleanser" for your liver is milk thistle. I used it for the Homebrewing national conference and OD'ed on it (lots of trips to the head). LOL So, if used properly (unlike what I did) it helps a lot.

 

Tree House is definitely on the future agenda for next NE journey, when we'll focus mainly on Boston (even though TH is nowhere near there, we should still have time to hit there and Jack's Abbey). Trillium, Mystic, Night Shift...

May end up doing a combo Philly/Boston run at some point, possibly next year. Mrs. Fly's dead people in Boston and in doing more in-depth searching on my side I had some early Germantown settlers there, with loads of ancestors in that area. Haven't been to Philly in years, so have lots of to-do list spots there (Tired Hands, Pizza Boy, etc).

 

Everett is fantastic. Totally agree about it getting better as it warms. The day I had it in June, it became the best porter I ever had. But this past Saturday I was able to try the Kane Morning Bell out of Asbury Park, N.J. Man, if you dig coffee porters, there isn't much better. Right there with Everett on my list of top porters. High marks.

 

Tree House is definitely worth the trip. The scenery is great and so are the guys that run it. Plus, they're working on building a new brew house which will boost their capacity and should help reduce lines. I think they're only 6 BBL now, but will get up to 50(?) or so they said. Their long term goal is to start canning Julius.

MJP, I love coffee porters, and I looked that up and it sounds delicious. It's a shame it's Jersey distribution only, so I'll have to keep an eye out for if/when I'm down there.

 

Speaking of Jersey, I have heard great things about Carton. They don't have a big distro footprint and lack a huge variety of things but their canned stuff is supposed to be superb. Haven't had the chance to try any yet but I'm hoping to remedy that soon.