As a theme, Newsletters now open up with Apology
Corner. I didn’t write a Newsletter for
CBE17. Sorry. Also, I don’t really run this thing. I’m not in charge of it per se. The CBE is an entity. It’s a personality, and at this point kind of
has a mind of its own. It doesn’t answer
to anyone, even the person that has the password for the e-mail, Twitter, and
Blogger acct. These are all problems,
because when someone gets angry, the anger has to be pointed in a certain
direction. That direction is usually
me. Unfortunately, there is not an 800
number, like 719-26-OATES,
to a customer service center where you have to wait 30 minutes for someone to
not give you the information that you need.
So I apologize to those that were left out. I originally thought the move to the extra-large
12 person edition would be a crowd pleaser, but the crowd is always slightly larger
than I expect. So, sorry for the
exclusion. It’s really not that fun. Promise.
Click below for additional fun. Kind of PS, pictures are on there way, everything else is finished. All twelve. I know, I'm impressed myself...
Apology Corner out of the way, 12
people was a pretty big endeavor. It was
the next logical step to keep an even order in the number of selections,
(although sometimes even the most successful “numbers guys” still can’t tell
the difference between twos and threes; black caps are black caps, right? Maybe not in the metric system? Who knows?)
Small counting issues aside, it is a well-known fact, for many an exchange,
the lean this group has toward IPAs. And
in #CBEighteen,
it has never been more apparent.
Essentially 11 of the 12 selections are IPAs. One is technically a Rye, another a hoppy
Scotch Ale, so even if you take those away, you’re looking at the most IPAs the
CBE has ever done at 9. New breweries
also seemed, to jump into the fold. FoDo,
or Fordham and Dominion, or in this case just Fordham, is located in Dover
about an hour and a half from our area.
After almost 150 beers, we have finally discovered this “local” brewery,
and have two beers from them to check out; our only non-IPA selection the Gypsy
Lager, and Rams Head IPA.
Laurelwood. Where’s that? Missouri?
Georgia? Nope, it’s in
Oregon. I think at least, I’ll have to
do more Bing research later. Our first
beer from the Bethlehem/Allentown BrewWorks, recently or not so recently rebranded
as Fegley’s BrewWorks is the Hop Explosion.
There are two IPAs from Deschutes, the Inversion and Fresh
Squeezed. A grapefruit goliath from
Ballast Point, that is awesome enough that Whole Foods is still only selling
them by the bottle. And near and dear to
this lowly beer drinkers heart, the beer I drank at 8 o’clock in the morning
(on a Saturday, I’m not an animal) while I watched American Hero TJ Oshie
single handedly defeat the Russians in the 2014 Winter Olympics. Side Note: Damn, he is handsome. And good at shootouts.Click below for additional fun. Kind of PS, pictures are on there way, everything else is finished. All twelve. I know, I'm impressed myself...
One more housecleaning note before we get started. Brusca said he talked to the guy at Brewers a
week before we went, and because we always provide a boom to weekday business,
the guy said to let him know and he’d give a 5% discount on cases to our group. Since he didn’t tell us about it, nor
mentioned it to the guy, if you have your receipt, Brusca will personally
reimburse you 5% of your purchase. And
now on to the show…
I wanted to start out with a new brewery whose website I had
not yet been, so we’re opening #CBEighteen with Fordham Gypsy Lager and Ram’s
Head IPA. Beyond the fact that while
surfing around, I was completely trolled by their Tour FAQ page, it’s a pretty
good website
that gives you some information about a brewery that I barely knew
existed. They are on Twitter
@FoDoBrewing,
seem to have two completely different lines, and were interesting enough to
some for us to pick up two of their beers.
They also have some pretty decent information about said beers,
pairings, ingredients, etc.
Gypsy Lager - This
Munich-Style Helles Lager is brewed in the tradition of great German Lagers.
Munich and Vienna malts provide a honeyed backbone that is contrasted with the
clean bitterness of Perle Hops. The result is a crisp and refreshing beer. 5.0% alc/vol, 18 IBUs, Vienna,
Munich, CaraFoam Malts, Perle, Tradition Hops, Pairs with Salads, mild cheeses,
and blueberry trifle, Serve in a pint glass, flute, or pilsner at 40-45º F
Ram's Head IPA - This American Pale
Ale’s hop profile is complimented with an ample amount of malt flavor. It’s
cold-conditioned on New Zealand hops creating an unmistakable citrus-like
aroma. Cheers! 7.5%
alc/vol, 75 IBUs, Pale, Munich, Rye Malts, Chinook, Motueka Hops, Pairs with
Indian Cuisine, Blue Cheese, Rice Pudding, Serve in a pint glass at 50-55º F
I would like to tell you that I have tried both of these beers,
and give you my thoughts, but shockingly enough, to everyone including my wife, I have
yet to open a Fordham or Dominion Beer, and I’m not going to get to everything
tonight as this is going to be a journey for a dozen different beers. So enjoy opening up something new.
Confirmed by both Google and Bing,
Laurelwood Brewing Company
is in fact, in Oregon. More specifically in the Portland area. Home to Powells Bookstore,
VooDoo Doughnuts,
and like a thousand other breweries. How do they differentiate themselves? Distribute to Pennsylvania, and have the
bartenders at the Boathouse in Conshohocken constantly push it. I have had this guy before, and per Untappd
said, “Pretty good. Pine, weeds, med
bodied. It’s a solid IPA.” I don’t know what that really means, but I’m
excited to try it again. The website
says…
Workhorse is, hands down, our biggest seller! This is an extremely well balanced yet super flavorful IPA brewed in the West Coast style. The over-the-top aroma comes from a heavy handed dose of hops in the kettle, hop back, and 2 separate dry-hop additions. A slightly sweet finish helps balance the hop bitterness and creates an ale that is both big on flavor yet remains quite drinkable.
There is some other stuff, stats, ingredients, and even a
video review from the former brew master. I'd check the website out. I mean I did, but you should too.
Day 2
Continuing the #CBEighteen journey, I should note that I’m not feeling extremely punny right now, so it may be a bad idea to re-start the Newsletter. I’m going to give it a go anyway, and see what happens. #spoileralert, hilarity does not ensue in a very expected way.
Day 2
Continuing the #CBEighteen journey, I should note that I’m not feeling extremely punny right now, so it may be a bad idea to re-start the Newsletter. I’m going to give it a go anyway, and see what happens. #spoileralert, hilarity does not ensue in a very expected way.
*ahem*
The jump to a dozen selections
ensured there would be a lot of beers I was looking forward to try. Sure, most of them are IPAs, and yes, I have
had most of them before, but the Sierra Nevada Hoptimum jumped out as one of
the beers that has somehow escaped my Whole Foods stalking of recent years. Sierra Nevada’s website is not working right
now, and it’s driving me nuts. Especially
since I read on the Beer Advocate site that this beer was essentially the result of a dare. “How crazy could you go with an IPA if you
only used whole cone hops?,” someone said. “Well, probably over 10% abv crazy is the
answer,” said someone else. I just
recently had a different IPA that went 10% abv cray cray,
so I am very curious how this one would stack up. So I put it in the fridge, since I’m still
waiting for the website to load.
*30 minutes later*
Now I have half a website, and the beer is almost cold enough
to pop open. Not quite cold enough to
open yet though. So I drink a Bayou
Teche Courir de Mardi Gras,
a Biere De Mars while waiting. It’s
hoppy for a Biere De Mars. I like
that. It’s also a little smoky in the
finish. I also like that. Still waiting… I try Chrome.
Still nothing. This is
unreal. Chrome is loading all the words,
Explorer is loading all of the pictures.
I guess I should mention, the #CBEighteen Newsletter is brought to you
by Dell. The Apple is great, but I can’t
watch hockey while I’m working on it. I
guess I can’t visit websites if I want to watch hockey. Give… Take…
*another 20 minutes*
I am now watching two of the dumbest browsers fight each
other over which one can load one damn website.
Side note: Bayou Teche For President.
I can’t code, but probably could have put a semi-decent Sierra Nevada Website
together myself in the time this is taking.
Most of the information would have been completely made up. What’s the opposite of Fast and the Furious? Chrome and the Explorer vs the Sierra Nevada
Website.
*opens phone*
My iPhone doesn’t want to open this site either. I give up.
I’ve had some bad website experiences during this little CBE journey,
but nothing like this. Sierra Nevada’s
site can take a slow stroll into traffic. I was able to
pull this…
Hoptimum is a hurricane of whole-cone hop
flavor. Hopped, dry hopped and torpedoed for incredible hop flavor and
complexity, Hoptimum is the pinnacle of whole-cone hoppiness and the biggest
Imperial IPA we have ever produced. It features resinous hop varieties: Magnum,
Chinook, Simcoe and a new experimental hop variety exclusive to Sierra Nevada.
With intense hop flavors and aromas of grapefruit rind, pine, herbs and
tropical fruit, Hoptimum is an aggressive drinking experience. Originally
created as part of our Beer Camp program, Hoptimum throws down the gauntlet to
all other IPAs.
How does it taste?
Like the website sucks…
There was another beer that has also inexplicably escaped my
Whole Foods patronage (that link by the way is the Beermenus Website, you should bookmark it.) The He’Brew Hop
Manna. And we have a winner, kind of, referring to the website. It is important to note that Schmaltz Brewing has a website that doesn’t completely hate me. It definitely hates me a little as it won’t let me copy their cute little beer explanation.
Craft beer worshippers, wander no
more! Witness HOP MANNA IPA – our beloved
single IPA from He’brew Beer and a gift from our new Promised Land in upstate
New York. HOP MANNA is the answer to hop
heads’ prayers for a delicious IPA bearing floral and citrus goodness. At 65 IBUs and 6.8% Alcohol, HOP MANNA IPA is
crafted to provide session after session of hop nourishment, from our Tribe to
yours.
Also, our website kind of works. They should add that last part. I know it’s not very pun forward like the
rest of their copy, but facts are facts.
Warrior, Cascade, Citra, Amarillo, Crystal and Centennial hops. So I’m looking forward to this. Just so we’re all going through what I’m
going through, this website works, in the sense that the pages load when I click
on things. However, it’s still horrible,
and I’m making a prediction that it ranks just slightly above the Sierra Nevada
site by the time I get through all of these beers. Schmaltz used to be a contract brewer, but
have recently taken over a space and now I believe have a brick and mortar brewery. There appears to be a decent amount of stuff
on the site about that, but it’s difficult to access so most of that is a guess. If you ever played Myst or 11th
Hour in the 90s on a computer, and enjoyed those experiences, I can say with
100% accuracy that this may be the site for you. I’m almost 800 words in, and haven’t really
mentioned anything about beer. This is
frustrating. I hope when you enjoy this
beer, it is less so for you. It is perfumey, and
less citrusy than I expected. In a world
full of IPAs, this one is a little different and welcome change up. As it's warming up, I'm liking it more. It has a soft touch and is a little tart like a hoppy saison. Dig.
Stop everything you’re doing, forget about wasting all the
time you just wasted reading about those last two beers, and go open the BallastPoint Grapefruit Sculpin. Let me do you
a little favor. When you are scaling the
rows of beer at Wegmans, or freezing in the Whole Foods cooler, maybe even
perusing the selection in the fridge wall at The Beer Shoppe, and you are having trouble deciding
what to get... Just get regular Sculpin. It comes in bottles and cans, and is better
than pretty much any other IPA that’s on the shelf. Or you can take a chance and pick up that new
Stone Delicious IPA. You might, because
Sculpin runs you about 15 bucks a six-pack.
But then, you’ll be disappointed.
You’ll be drinking that Stone, thinking its ok, but remembering you
passed on Sculpin. Grapefruit is all of
that, and more. It’s like Ocean Spray
Ruby Red kissed a regular Sculpin, to make it even grapefruitier. I know that sounds dumb, but that’s pretty
much what it is…
Our
award-winning IPA, with a citrus twist.
Our Grapefruit Sculpin is the latest take on our signature IPA. Some may say there are few ways to improve Sculpin’s unique flavor, but the tart freshness of grapefruit perfectly complements our IPA’s citrusy hop character. Grapefruit’s a winter fruit, but this easy-drinking ale tastes like summer.
Our Grapefruit Sculpin is the latest take on our signature IPA. Some may say there are few ways to improve Sculpin’s unique flavor, but the tart freshness of grapefruit perfectly complements our IPA’s citrusy hop character. Grapefruit’s a winter fruit, but this easy-drinking ale tastes like summer.
You should also try Habenaro Sculpin if you see it. Share it with a friend. And their website is actually awesome. Food pairings, beers stats, t-shirts. It’s almost like it was designed to be used
by people, who have the internet and web browsers. Kudos, Ballast Point Website person, Kudos.
This next one is a layup, or as we say in the hockey world, a TJ Oshieshoot out attempt. I’ve never met an Ommegang
beer I didn’t like and more often than not (Any Game of Thrones beer, Fleur De
Houblon, Gnomegang, Adoration, etc.) I find a new one that I really love. Hop House falls hard into that category. On top of that, their website is awesome,
filled with tons of actual pertinent information, and most importantly at this specific time, it is easy to use. Although it doesn’t
say anything about drinking it during the Winter Olympics, it does say this…
This
uncommon Belgian-style pale ale is bronze in color with citrusy, spicy, floral
hop flavors and aromas coming from the liberal amount of Bravo, Styrian
Goldings and Columbus in the brew kettle followed by dry hopping of Bravo in
the conditioning tank.
Hop
House has combined the delicious aromas and flavors of Belgian-style pale ale
with more hops than we've ever put in a beer. A well-balanced, yet ample hop
character defines this fine pale ale offering citrus and tropical fruit
aromatics and flavors, a full body and a lush white pillowy head.
This was billed as Ommegang’s shot at an
American Style IPA. It’s hoppier than
other beers they make, but also has wonderful characters from whatever weird
alchemy their yeast performs. There is
not a ton to say about this one, except that it is awesome, and it probably won’t
be the last time you drink it because it's year round.
Day 3. The final day
of newsletter preparation? Time will
tell.
Deschutes has only been in the Philadelphia market for about 2 years. Since their entry into the market, and the
two selections in this CBE, we’ve now tried 5 of their beers. Thankfully, they have all been pretty solid, and
predictably, they make more IPAs than any other style. 11 of the 25 beers on their website are pale ales
or IPAs, and that doesn’t even include the barley wine. Unreal that they can brew that many hoppy
beers with the range that actually exists in those selections. Inversion is a year round IPA offering from
them that clocks in at almost 7% abv.
I’ve just uncapped my first one, and I’m pretty happy with it. It’s a little on the sweeter side with a pretty solid
malt base. Even though it’s visiting us
all of the way from Oregon, I think an argument could be made that it’s an
“East Coast” style IPA. It’s definitely enjoyable.
Paradise is stumbling upon our whole flower hop room and
inhaling. Inversion IPA is as close as you can get without knowing somebody.
Enter, if you will, all the glorious aromatic complexity
of the hop. This big, bold IPA's intense multi-hop kick gets a subtle dose of
restraint from select Crystal and Carastan malts. For discriminating hop heads.
The second selection from Deschutes is Fresh Squeezed. This is a seasonal release. The website summary doesn’t go into much
detail…
This mouthwateringly delicious IPA gets its flavor from a heavy helping of
citra and mosaic hops. Don't worry, no fruit was harmed in the making of this
beer.
I’ll tell you to think of orange creamsicles,
tangerine and pine needles. That may not make very much sense to you right now, but take my word for it. To start off day three of the Newsletter, the
Internet Gods have been merciful. Very
cool website. It’s not the most visually
appealing of all the brewery websites I’ve visited while doing this very
rewarding research, but it’s very easy to navigate, contains good information
on all of the beers, and then goes above and beyond with recipes, homebrew instructions, brewer interview video links, killer sale items (my birthday is in November, but I'll celebrate today if you want to pick me something up,)
and possibly the most important item, the link to their pinterest site. There is more information on this
website than(insert John Oliver ridiculous comparison joke here.)
I like a good Rye IPA.
I’ve never had this one, and was excited to try it. This is the CBE's 6th selection from
Great Lakes. It takes about 6.5 hours to drive
here. State College would be the
mid-point. You guys doing anything right
now, we could be there by (current time + 6.5 hours)? It may take slightly longer, because
there are at least 89 breweries within 10 miles of the route.
I hear Cleveland is beautiful this time of year… I’ve discussed this website before. I think it’s cool that they have spec sheets
for their beers. They are all done very
professionally, the copy is really good, and there’s a decent amount of
information. And now, I can copy
information off of them. So instead of
just this…
Strong citrus
and pine presence with a clean, dry finish
You can enjoy all of these “cat puns”…
Our Rye of the Tiger has claws.
Named for its fierce hop profile and sharp rye content, Rye of the Tiger is a
thrilling India Pale Ale with bite. Rye of the Tiger is crafted for the fighter
in all of us, a powerful beer meant to inspire feats of strength and skill. At
7.5%, mind those catlike reflexes if your bout goes into extra rounds. If you
can handle this hopped-up kitty, you’ve earned your stripes.
I count at least 6, everyone’s favorite being Hopped-Up Kitty. They should have named the beer
that. I probably would have had it by
now.
A brewery near and dear to my heart, the next selection
comes from Fegley’s Brew Works. Hop Explosion is one of their
year-round beers. You can find it on tap
at the Brew Works in either Bethlehem or Allentown, or at the PPL Center, the new home of the
Flyers AHL Affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The website says this about one of its
hoppiest flagship beers…
The smell of
grapefruit, a sweet malt flavor, and oh by the way, lots of hop bitterness.
Brewed in
the tradition of West Coast ales, we have put loads of malt and hops in our
kettle to come up with this sensational ale.
Brewed with
pale and crystal malts hopped with Tomahawk, Chinook, and Cascade from Yakima
Valley, WA, . This beer style has made many a microbrewery famous, and this one
is sure to please all those who love hops.
The Brew Works was one of the first Brew Pubs I ever went
to, and the food and beer at either location is pretty awesome. Without introducing me to awesome beers, you
probably wouldn’t be reading this Newsletter, nor would Iron Hill have been
able to open all of those other locations with my “investment” into their
business.
Last but not least is the only beer that was defined as “not
an IPA” in #CBEighteen. Founders Dirty Bastard, although the 4th selection from Founders, is actually only
the third beer as we have jumped into the Breakfast Stout pool twice. This is a website. It’s gone through a major overhaul since we
last had a Founders beer. All of the web
designers must have moved to Michigan.
Dirty Bastard is one of 5 year round beers that Founders brews, and in
my opinion is easily the most complex.
There’s enough booze, malt, roast and almost smoke, that you’ll wonder
if it is actually barrel aged. Aptly…
So good it’s almost wrong. Dark ruby in
color and brewed with seven varieties of imported malts. Complex in finish,
with hints of smoke and peat, paired with a malty richness and a right hook of
hop power to give it the bad attitude that a beer named Dirty Bastard has to
live up to. Ain’t for the wee lads.
No comments:
Post a Comment