2006-08 – Page 3 – A Good Beer Blog

Rohrbach Brewing Company, Rochester, New York

One of the other great things about a trip south, other than loading up the stash with brews that are forbidden to Canadians otherwise, is finding a great new brewpub. A few miles to the west of Rochester, on highway 33, we found one more at Rohrbach Brewing.

We sat outside and were treated to great service as well as great food and beer. The Rochester area seems pretty German if the number of cabbage fields we passed is anything to go by. Actually, it is fair to say that each corner town in the area we passed on our trip had a different history and immigrant population – Poles, Swedes, Germans. But Rohrbach is definitely a German spot given the brat’s and ‘wecks we had for lunch. Menu: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.

With my ‘weck, I had their South Wedge Hefeweizen, a beer with a fine white foam over yellow straw clouded ale. A dry take on the style, it had cream of wheat and grassy hops with tropical fruit like kiwi and papaya. A fine counterpoint to the food which was among the best pub meals I have ever had. The bread was incredibly fresh and the German potato salad hot tangy and hammy – like church supper scallop potatoes with a big shot of vinegar.

On the way out, I mentioned the blog and owner John Urlaub popped out to say hello. We chatted about beer blogging and the history of his bar and the upcoming Flour City Brewers Fest that Rohrbach sponsors which is coming up on its twelfth edition. Also on the way out, I picked up a copy of The Great Lakes Brewing News and read in Steve Hodos column that Rohrbach is having a great year with plans to meet the greater demand for their great brews by consolidating all brewing operations at the highway 33 location.* I think I caught one of the planners in a planning session in the photo I took through from the bar out to the brew house.

Just as we were heading out, John handed me some stuff including one comp pass to the Four City Brewer’s Fest. I can’t go and, even if this means contest over lap, if anyone within shooting distance of Rochester wants it give me something about your favorite western NY beer experience and I will get the ticket out to you. Or just tell me you want it. Best response in the next 24 hours gets it. And first one I get may just be the best.

*See comments.

Ontario: Sgt. Major, IPA, Scotch Irish Brewing

Nothing like a six of stubbies if you’re over 40 and a Canuck. I wrote about this beer in March 2005 and again in March 2006 when it compared very nicely in a side-by-side with Victory’s HopDevil. Careful sifters of clues will note however, that the address on the six-pack box above shows a different address from that mentioned in the previous two reviews. That is because for the last year or more Scotch Irish Brewing has been a branch or division or whatever of Heritage Brewing of Carleton Place, Ontario makers of interesting or at least daring seasonals especially that Maple Bush Lager. But the word was it was not so whatever-it-had-been now so I thought it was about to to try it again to see how things were going.

Starting with some non-fluid related observations, first thing I notice is that I like that they package has a lot number on it, in this case F077, which I understand means it is their 77th lot of the year and it was made in June. Someone will correct me I am sure but I am operating under the illusion that this beer is fresh. Next, I like the stubby. For those of you who are not aware, for people of a certain age, the stubby which ruled Canadian brewing for around 20 years from the mid-60s to the mid-80s is a bit of an icon for we of the Great White North. But one things that concerns me is the panicked look in the face of Mr. Sgt. Major. Look at him. While the last lad had a dull if determined air about him, this lad looks quite nervous, as if someone knew something about him and that that something was bad. We’ll have to find out if it relates to his job for the brewery and the beer or something in his private life like, say, a Zulu attack.

As for the beer, it left a lot of lace after the fine creamy head subsided and had a nice orange-amber hue all of which which is comparable to the 2006 picture and both sets of notes. As well, there is the soft water and pale malt graininess that I remember from before. The malt also is very much their with bread crust, sugar cookie and sultana raisin. What is different is perhaps a notch less hopping. While it is still a sharp shock of sour white grapefruit rind goodness, it does not seem to have quite the stomach ache producing acidity that I recall, less of the green hop fire in the finish.

But is that such a bad thing, if I am recalling correctly? For me, compared to many of the hard water beers of south western Ontario, that softness is something I would compare much more to the moreishness of many central New York micros. If you are a hard water fan, this might make it seem flabby but for me it is all good, giving a richness you might not find elsewhere in Ontario pale ales of any degree. So all in all a good experiment again. I will have to check-in in another year or so to see how this beer is doing.

CNY Brewfest 2007 Is History

To say I had anything other than a blast would be something of a understatement. Being, I have to admit, my first US style beer fest with hundreds and hundreds of people in a large barn at the NY state fair with 52 beer vendors giving it away for free it was quite a lesson in craft beer culture. We met lots of great people and, at one point, one of my fellow Canucks mentioned that if this many people were drinking free beer for this long a fight would have broken out. In the Syracuse all they did was stand around and talk about really great beer.

There were booths from macrobreweries and imports, booths with people selling t-shirts and booths manned by the good folks who put out beer publications like The Great Lakes Brewing News. But most of the crowd’s attention was given to the craft brewers of New York state like Ithaca Beer Co., Sackets Harbour Brewing, Middle Ages Brewing, Ommegang and Lake Placid Brewing. I now have an UBU sticker for the bumper of my car!

I’ll put down a little more later tonight about the event but for now here are some more photos. Look at that good looking beer blog business card…

Later: OK, what were the beers of the fest? I guided a number of people to the Allagash White tap, especially after they tried the Blue Moon. One in my group kept going back for the Ithaca Double IPA and, by that measure, my favorite was the Stoudts Double IPA. Smuttynose’s Winter Ale was also a repeat customer. I certainly did not have one of every kind but I did have some great chats about great beer with folk I had not met before like Mickey who runs the festival, Stefan (Inertiaboy) and Luc (Lubiere) who I know from The Bar Towel, with Spencer Noakes, Craft Sales Director for the main distributor for the festival, with the publisher of The Great Lakes Brewing News who I got to thank for publishing some of my articles (like one in this month’s edition), Peter Quinn, Founder of the excellent Wachusett Brewing, as well as a whole crew of my brothers from Hamilton, Ontario who are connected to a great craft brew pub there – and whose card I lost so I can’t mention the place!

All in all very worthy and certainly an event that will see me return with a larger gang and maybe a bus from the north to get us around, Syracuse being the land that taxis forgot. Buy the way, the Bar Towellers last view of us was jumping in a car full of guys who had been attending the neighbouring golf show and who were good enough to get us to the Dinosaur BBQ. From there we did not get much farther. Next time, I will make sure my compadres will get better nap time.

CNY Brewfest 2007 Update

With just six days to go until CNY Brewfest 2007 at the New York State Fair in Syracuse, the 11th annual, and preparations are being made – meaning that I have booked the hotel and have business cards being printed. Business cards? Me, too – I have no idea why. Anyway, I am going to post more information here as I collect it. At the bottom of the post is a list of all the participants as of last Thursday.

- There is some good information in the comments section to the original post.
- Here is an Mp3 of the radio ad that Mick, organizer and man about Teddy’s at Armory Square.
- I am having a little trouble figuring out the schedule for CENTRO, Syracuse’s bus service. If anyone want to send them a proposal as to having a useful website that might be handy.
- Here is that list of participants, local distributors listed in brackets. A nice mix with a hearty core of local upstate micros:

North Coast Brewing Co., Fort Bragg, California (TJ Sheehan)
Smuttynose Brewing Co., Portsmouth, New Hampshire (TJ Sheehan)
Otter Creek Brewing, Middlebury, Vermont (TJ Sheehan)
Magic Hat Brewing Co., South Burlington, Vermont (TJ Sheehan)
Sackets Harbor Brewing Co., Sackets Harbor, New York (TJ Sheehan)
Dogfish Head Brewing Co., Milton, Delaware (TJ Sheehan)
Stone Brewing Co., San Diego, Ca. (TJ Sheehan)
Lake Placid Craft Brewing Co., Plattsburgh, New York (TJ Sheehan)
Rogue Brewing Co., Ashland, Oregon (TJ Sheehan)
Middle Ages Brewing Co., Syracuse, New York (TJ Sheehan)
Lindemanns, Vlezenbeek, Belguim (TJ Sheehan)
Brewery Ommegang, Cooperstown, New York (TJ Sheehan)
Young’s Brewing Co., Wandsworth, London, England (TJ Sheehan)
Chimay Brewing Co., Cistercian Trappist Monks, Belguim (TJ Sheehan)
Wachusett Brewing Co., Westminster, Ma. (TJ Sheehan)
Lagunitas, Petaluma, Califonia (TJ Sheehan)
Samuel Smith Brewery, Tadcaster, England (TJ Sheehan)
Pabst Brewing Co., Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Onondaga)
Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Vancouver, Canada (Onondaga)
Bass Ale, Burton-on-Trent, England (Onondaga)
Hoegaarden Brewing Co., Hoegaarden, Belgium (Onondaga)
Stella Artois, Leuven Brewery, Belgium (Onondaga)
Heineken, Amsterdam, Netherlands (Onondaga)
Killians, Golden Colorado (Onondaga)
Newcastle Brewing Co., Tyne, England (Onondaga)
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, California (Onondaga)
Yuengling Brewing Co., Pottsville, Pennsylvania (Onondaga)
Blue Moon Brewing Co., Golden Colorado (Onondaga)
Saranac Brewing Co., Utica, New York (Onondaga)
Ale Street News, Maywood, New Jersey
Syracuse Suds Factory, Syracuse, New York
Rohrbach Brewing Co., Rochester, New York
Cooperstown Brewing Co., Cooperstown, New York (TJ Sheehan)
Salt City Brew Club, Manlius, New York
Anheuser Busch, St. Louis, Mo. (TJ Sheehan)
Harpoon Brewing Co., Boston , Mass & Windsor, VT. (TJ Sheehan)
Duvel Brewing Co., Breendonk, Belguim (TJ Sheehan)
Guinness, Dublin, Ireland (TJ Sheehan)
Sam Adams, Boston, Mass. (TJ Sheehan)
Spaten North America, Munich, Germany (TJ Sheehan)
Victory Brewing Co., Downingtown, Pennsylvania (TJ Sheehan)
Southern Tier Brewing Co., Lakewood, New York (TJ Sheehan)
Woodchuck Brewing Co., Middlebury, Vermont (TJ Sheehan)
Oskar Blues Brewing Co., Lyons, Colorado (TJ Sheehan)
Brooklyn Brewing Co., Brooklyn, New York (TJ Sheehan)
Miller Lite, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Sanzone)
Fosters, Australia (Sanzone)
Landmark Brewing Co., Syracuse, New York (Sanzone)
Leinenkugel (Sanzone)
Ithaca Beer Company, Ithaca, New York (Sanzone)

Middle Ages Brewing By Shoe Cam

We had a bit of a beer blog break through as Gary and I met at Middle Ages Brewing in Syracuse NY as part of his day of two tailgates and my introduction to NCAA football. It was a perfect place to meet to start the day. Gary filled in when my camera’s memory card let it be known that it was not about to cross international borders this weekend. The effect was top notch shoe camera.

Let me start by saying, this experience is fairly foreign to Canada but not unknown. Middle Ages opened its doors on Saturday at 11:30 am. Gary was there at the bell and reports that there were a couple of dozen beer fans lined up with growlers to be filled. Once those guys were served, two happy gents behind the bar asked what we wanted and sold us – no, gave us free 4 oz shots of their excellent fresh ale. I tried their porter, IPA and the double IPA. All were as good as I remembered. So good I bought the baseball hat. I figure that if a brewer is good enough to go into business, make great ale and then give it to you for free, you ought to buy the hat. Note also Gary’s uncanny capture of the original portrait of the wench who wails. Gary also showed me the first beer blog award pottery component which now just needs me to forward the brass plaque for the 2006 award to be announced later in the year – though I already am pretty sure I know who is getting it.

I mention that I have not seen exactly this sort of thing in Canada before but I have almost seen it. In the days before the beer blog, I lived in the Maritimes and Halifax’s Garrison Brewery would serve all you want. But it had to be booked and was a private affair for attendees only. You got to pour and hang around asking the happy patient brewer lots of repetitive questions and also get a tour of the place but it was not a moment to meet other beerfans and you did have to stick around for the time booked. I like the Middle Ages approach better.

So a return for the tour is definitely in order as are more secret assignments with Gary and the shoe phone.

Beer Shop: Marché Jovi, Gatineau, Quebec

A run to Ottawa to see the Billy Bragg show on Saturday meant the opportunity to do a Sunday morning run to one of the better shops in Western Quebec for craft beer, Marché Jovi in Gatineau, Quebec. The shop is handy for anyone near Ottawa’s Island Park Drive and the bridge to the other side and sits near the gate of Gatineau Park.

Inside you are met with one of the tidiest depanneurs I have ever come across. I asked if I was able to take some pictures and, one bien sur later, was being escorted around the place by a very friendly guy in a dapper white grocer’s jacket. He was proud to show of the selection, let me know that there was new stock coming in and took particular pride in noting the selection of glassware – quite the thing for what you would think was a corner store – and the fact that the regular customers were quite knowledgable in their correct use. I also picked up a copy of the autumn issue of Le Sous-Verre: L’actuality de la biere!, a free craft beer newspaper out of Montreal…a review of which Google has butchered in translation here.

As Blork noted almost two years ago now, buying beer in Quebec is similar to much of the States. You can get your beer and your corn flakes and your milk all in one stop. Usually this means one large stack of macro brew – as it does most place in the states – but where the owners have imagination and the knowledge, you can create a small oasis like you find at the Galeville Grocery near Syracuse or in pretty much any place in Portland Maine. Usually it also means a walk in cooler.

Most of the stock was Quebec products including macrobrews (inlcuding Labatt Porter) but also many craft beer from breweries like Unibroue, Saint-Arnould, Les Brasseurs RJ, Ferme-Brasserie Schoune. Blork has already reviewed the white beer made by each of the last three. I picked up mixes sixes from Saint-Arnould and Schoune for ten bucks each as well as a couple of large format imports from Saint Sylvestre of France (on special for $5.79) as well as a 330 ml Floreffe dubble from Belgium. Interesting to note that Blonde d’Achouffe is being brewed by license by Les Brasseurs RJ and was included in their six pack.

I would definitely go again, especially with the indication that there were going to be additions to the stock on a regular basis. Clean and helpful with a good selection and good price. What ele could you want from a corner store?

Lake Placid Craft Brewing Sold

Hey, seems I am not the only Canada who loves upstate New York craft brewing. One of my favorites has been bought up:

Montreal’s ICBS Ltd. said Wednesday it is buying New York`s Lake Placid Craft Brewing Co. The 10-year-old Lake Placid Craft Brewing Co. has created a market demand for their Craft beers, such as UBU and Frostbite ales, ICBS said in a statement.

More here. Here are my reviews of their 46’er, Ubu and Frostbite. I think I also had a brown of theirs at Clark’s last October. Lake Placid Craft Brewing has some of the best branding of a strong beer line up that I know of and their pervasive placement in North Country grocery stores is likely the envy of many micros. You’ll want to hug (or perhaps lick) the screen when you see their flash intro page to their website. [Flash intro pages are usually a nightmare but this one works.]

Lake Placid joins a very southern NY brewer, Ramapo Valley Brewery just bought in June, in the ICBS Ltd portfolio. Last week ICBS bought a lab that works in the beer industry. Hmm…is someone somewhere sitting behind a desk, rubbing their hands and saying “bwa-ha-ha”?

Update: I added the excellent photo above from the excellent Maltblog maintained by Jim of Cazenovia, New York. The photo is from the trip Jim took to Lake Placid’s brewpub last fall and it is excellent.

Ontario: Neustadt Springs Brewery, Neustadt, Bruce County

As I headed up from Stratford towards Owen Sound on a family tour, I knew that Neustadt was roughly on the way but I had to figure out the shift in the north-south concession lot roads from the north-west to south-east ones…and I got a little lost. South of Clifford on highway 9 I got my bearings again and soon was there. Watch out if you find yourself on School Road #7, though. I am glad I did find my way there as my whole family was treated to the sort of tour of Neustadt Springs Brewery by owners Val and Andy Stimpson, up and around the brewing equipment, that I really love and the others tolerate in return for all the other great things I do in life…really.

You may recollect that Neustadt’s 10W30 is a favorite of mine. Well, meeting the couple that make this brew was a real treat and also an education. We were shown their special import New Zealand hops, asked to grind a few pellets and shown which ones have hints of kiwi fruit and mango. Dandy. We were also given some of the short run Manchester Bitter to try and had a few secrets shared. I found it an excellent light beer in something of the light mild tradition. You will note there was only a bit left when I thought to take the photo of the brew.

After that, when the kids got a bit Dad’s-dragged-me-to-a-brewery…again, Andy said he’d take care of them and we all went off to the cellars. You see Neustadt is a 21st century micro sitting in and on top of a mid-Victorian brewery, the Heuther Brewery opened in 1868 or so and run by a cousin of the original operator of the now revived Heuther Hotel, another modern micro-brewery in Waterloo. In the basement we were shown the brewing area, the tunnels to the downtown area of the village as well as the one to the Victorian brewer’s home. We were also shown the air vents, below left, dug into the ground to keep the air sweet.

Great stuff. So now I got to support Ontario craft brewers while picking up a dandy 10W30 glass and t-shirt as well as a bunch of bottles fresh from storage. In the fall they are putting on a porter. Worth the trip if their other beers are anything to go by. Here’s the BAers take on the beers.

Directions to Neustadt Springs

Delaware: Golden Shower, Dogfish Head, Milton

An imperial pilsner. This is a sort of beer I never imagined I would need to concern myself with. Unlike stouts or pale ales with their history of bigness, surely no one would bother upping the game of brewing the steely king of lagers. No one told Dogfish Head from Delaware, however, and they went ahead and did it as they tell you about at no lack of length on their website, including this:

The big breweries are as guilty of any company in any industry of brainwashing the consumer through the sheer oppressive magnitude and breadth of their marketing efforts. They are selling a brand name and an image with such zeal that they have forgotten about the product behind all of this horseshit and hyperbole – the beer itself. Dogfish Head Golden Shower is the beer itself. A true Pilsner brewed with 100% Pilsner Barley, and impressively hopped using our self-developed continuing-hopping method. At 9% abv it’s also nearly twice as strong as the American, wanna-be pilsners made by the big boys.

If you have read my reviews here before you know I have questions about my relationship with pilsners. I respect the fact as much as the next guy that it is a noble and traditional style but then there is that metallic zing…or is it a zang…that fills my mouth as if I was chewing a quarter pound of four penny nails that have been laying around the shed. So I approach this beer with some trepedation. And some of the low rating BAer reviews are backing that up – like this one:

…Not drinkable at all. Really sad for such a great brewery. I dumped the remainder of my $12 bottle in the toilet, where it belongs. Don’t waste your money on this golden shower…

Yikes. I only paid $8.99 for mine but still. Intersting to note, however, that the highest BA raters consider many of the same elements but like them. I don’t know what to expect now.

The beer pours a very attractive bright burnished gold with a white head that resolves to a rim what with the low carbonation. When you shove your nose into the glass there is plenty of sweet apple and pear concentrate. The first thing I think of when I sipped was triple. It is sort of like a Belgian triple – candy-ish sweetness and all – but also with a fall fruit aspect like calvados. It is also thickish and does not have the overly metallic hop profile I feared – the hops are tightly herbal as much as anything. In fact, it is far more pale malty than anything else. And that is a remarkably well hidden 9%. The beer is not hot in the mouth but it certainly does warm otherwise.

Where does this beer fit in? It is a near neighbour to Belgian golden strong ales like Duval or triples like Chimay Cinq Cents with the white label – but without the bubble gum or candy floss notes Belgian candi sugar provides. A beer to contemplate the coming autumn. A beer to eat apple pie and vanilla ice cream along with, oddly enough. It would be interesting to have this beer condition in a wood cask as there is that butter and/or vanilla richness that could be umphed one notch for experimental purposes.

Cyclops – Perhaps The Worst Idea Ever

Describing taste in words is funny business but making the effort is worthwhile as it provides you with a mechanism through which you can record your experiences with food and drink, and especially craft foods like real ale. We each take in the esters, phenols and other organic elements and recreate their interconnection in our own minds as we sip, sometimes discovering what the brewer intended and sometimes finding out new nuances never expected. Then you use your words to frame your experience. Do it often enough and you develop your own descriptors that make sense for your experience.

So it is inordinately shocking, then, to learn about what may be the worst idea in the craft beer movement I have ever heard of – a standardized system of beer description not unironically called Cyclops:

Cyclops, the new scheme launched today at the Great British Beer Festival at Earls Court in London, has the backing of 14 real ale breweries. Under the scheme, the brewers have agreed to follow a standardised template on all promotional material, describing the style, smell, look and taste of their beers. Bitterness and sweetness – the two main measures used to describe real ale’s characteristics – will also now be scored from one to five.

Cyclops follows a pilot scheme introduced by Leicester brewer Everards, which simplified the language used to describe real ales on promotional materials so customers knew exactly what to expect. A Campaign for Real Ale spokesman said: “Real ale is an incredibly complex drink with an enormous range of styles and tastes. Cyclops will demystify real ale so drinkers will know what a beer will look, smell and taste like before they part with their cash at the bar.”

This is tragic. And it is stunning that CAMRA supports such a thing. It is important at this moment in time that the most famous Cyclops, Homer’s Polyphemus, was blinded for life by drinking strong wine and ate people. This is hardly the making of a good brand. But even when he had one good eye he saw things…like he was born with one eye in the middle of his forehead – as in without particularly strong ability to see things from other perspectives. Plus, as man eating giant shepherds who get tricked a lot, they sort of fit the images of a rural rube caricature, kinda like in the satirical play by Euripides.¹

And that is sort of what the program takes the craft beer lover for in presuming to tell you how to taste – it takes you for an ignorant oaf. It will create one recommended way to look at things and a snobby attitude to those who find their own way. Reject such mecho-branding systematic standards that will homogenize response patterns and trust yourself. If you think a beer tastes like the armpit Polyphemus after a long night in the cave (if you know what I mean) while the brewer tells you something like “it is a 5 (bitter), 3 (waterhardness), 3 (maltiness), 2 (mouthfeel) and 4 (overall) pale ale” then you just trust yourself and know that is likely tastes like that armpit.

¹…which would have been funnier if, instead of saying he was called “No man” thus leading to lots of punning hi-jinks that confused the big old dope, Odysseus had actually called himself “Norman” which would have led to a lot less confusion and likely the eating of Odysseus in the first few scenes thus saving thousands of undergrads the misery of figuring the whole thing out.