History – Page 45 – A Good Beer Blog

Vermont: Magic Hat Brewing, South Burlington

Magic Hat is one of those breweries whose stuff I like but when it comes around to doing a review folks come over and drink all the beers I have and there is nothing left to review. So I have only reviewed one to date – Revell porter out of the winter 12 pack. This time it will be different. I am going to defend the stash against perps and foist paper and pen upon them.

What I like about Magic Hat is that they do light ales well. Not thin – light. It is easier to make a big beer than a small one and in this biggie world there is a mad rush to bigosity. This summer 12 pack says no. It says I will not bow to loud Lord Big. There is the lightly fruity #9, the gentle wheat beer Hocus Pocus, their wit by name of Batch 370 and Fat Angel which is something of a rich malty ale…but an unbig one. All displaying a deft hand. Their website displays something of a daft hand, by the way. One of the guys who started it is now a baker of treats near a pal of mine’s place. I will have to interview him one fine day on the whole nuttiness thing.

- - #9: Effervescent orange ale spewing masses of tiny white bursting bubbles. Peach juice. Aroma and taste of peach juice. In the mouth it morphs into a bit of grainy wheat or pale ale maltiness and twiggy hop. Not too far off the idea of a dry Irn Bru, the Scottish soda pop. Light not too sweet, quaffable and refreshing…but lots of peach. If you are against it, as some 12% of advocates are, you are really against it.
  - Batch 370: White foam and rim fed again my a very active carbonation, this time in a Belgian wit…but the BAers say it is a version of a German hefe! Hmmm…no banana or clove to hand that hat on. How odd. Amber with a bit of orange. Cloudy with yeastie floaties. Dry and orange peely over lemon. Again, twiggy drying hops. There is lots of yeast tanginess and nice spice. Not a real corriander or other spice presence but the raw wheat gives a flour-dusty and creamy effect that sets it apart and is quite likeable. Is this an ok US version of a wit…or a hefe…or what? I dunno. It is a light summer ale and in itself it is not neither wicked or the other sort of wicked. I’ll have another if that is the way the guest grabbing plays out.
  - Hocus Pocus: again a highly active ale, this time light straw under white foam. A bit grassy nicely offset by a touch of twiggy and metallic hops. The center is somewhat vegetative – not fruit but faintly like the green of celery or broccoli. Underneath milky yeast but still a dry beer. I think of the four this is my favourite. I am surprised that 21% of BAers do not like this as I find it a simple but clean balanced summer wheat ale with true real flavours.
  - Fat Angel: Again light but the least of the four. A hint of crystal malt and maybe even a hint of smoke. Reddish amber with a white rim. Quite still unlike the other three. The same signiture grassy tang. Like the Hocus Pocus I would call the light touch on the hops twiggy and metallic. I don’t think I like this one that much though I have been far more offended by ales in my life. There is again that dry heart that I would think is wheat malt but it does not meet well with the sweeter notes. The advocates rate it positively but with a low average.
It may be unfair to have these the weekend of the beginning of the World Series when they are clearly hot weather brews. Ice cold of a humid day they may all be perfect. But they are similar in a way that makes you wonder about whether at least three are variations on a core recipe. So I am still with Magic Hat and I admire them trying to escape the standards but taking a separate path carries risk.

The Stash Renewed

While in Syracuse NY for a couple of days, a brief side trip this morning to the Galeville Grocery sees the stash now renewed for another month or two. As a result, I have stories to write about Middles Ages, Mendocino of Saragota, Magic Hat, plus two new to try from each of Youngs, Ommegang and Weyerbacher (their imperial stout and imperial pumpkin ale) as well as a bunch of singles including Stoudts ESB.

The night before found me at Clark’s Ale House and its neighbour the Blue Tusk. I didn’t take notes or photos taking the time to just enjoy these two great bars and introducing them to pals. Both institutions handle the beers fantastically, coaxing hidden flavours out with their cleanliness and care. I had my first taste of Lake Placid’s keg only brown ale last night at Clark’s – very pleasant nut brown with what I thought was an interesting subtle spiciness in either the hop or yeast selection. At the Blue Tusk I settled into an extended relationship with Dogfish Head 60 Minute Ale, the intermediary between their Shelter Pale Ale and 90 Minute IPA which sits in what I now think of as my happy place. There are snugs at the Blue Tusk, those little rooms off rooms that give you a quieter spot, time to talk and listen. The one farthest from the bar sits eight in benches like slightly reclined pews.

St. Veronus, Peterborough, Ontario

So we went to Peterborough yesterday to see old friends and we had lunch at St. Veronus, a cafe/bar with a subtitle: “Belgian beer temple”…truer words were never writ. We are now looking for jobs in the Peterborough area. Unaccustomed to great selection, great service, reasonable prices, care and attention to interesting beer and fantastic food selection am I in a Canadian beer spot that I kept mentally making US exchange rate calculations as I browsed the menu and the beer lists. Then I would shake my head and say…this place is actually in Ontario…and Ontario is in Canada.

I was overwhelmed at the outset when I realized what lay before me. I did not know what to order for a first drink so I just wandered around the two room cafe taking pictures. I mentioned the fact of this here website and, without shifting into a higher gear of service in any respect, the extremely helpful staff answered any number of my deer-in-headlight questions. They even allowed themselves to engage in a little beer porn for the camera as illustrated below. I settled on a Rochefort 6, a new beer to me. At 7.5% it was off their “new arrivals” short list. It was heaven. From recollection malty, a tad burlappy with even a little chocolate perhaps. Others had various lambics and Gueze as well as a very nice Barbar honey ale which I got to sip. Loverly. Just look at the bar fridge – now that’s real shock and awe.

Despite the excellent price and variety of the beer, however, it was the food that actually made the visit. St Veronus offers a selection of grilled thick sandwiches with thoughtful ingredients that match the beers very well. The best I thought was the cheddar, slow cooked onion goo and slow cooked apple goo sandwich – it has an other better name but whatever it is called it was scoffed down by a seven year old in mucho haste. For my second sip, I had a local micro, Church-key Northumberland Ale. I did not get a six of that when I visited the brewery last winter but I will next time I go. It was a full malt-fruit forward rich pale ale under what must be the best beer handling conditions I have met in Ontario. And only 4.50 CND for a 500 ml pint.

Definitely a first of many visits.

Quick Note: St. Peter’s Old Style Porter

This beer from St. Peter’s is a ruby brown ale under an oddly ivory head. I’ve never seen an ivory head: tan plus hints of green-grey. This is old style, like Burton Bridge porter: barley candy plus molasses with lime and green hops. The yeast is sour cream or soured milk or something in between. Yet all well balanced.

Is this the holy grail? A 1750s porter? Likely not sour enough but colonial US farmers drank diluted vinegar so go figure.

Three More US Pale Ales

A Sunday afternoon on a balcony overlooking the St.Lawrence and Lake Ontario and these three fine examples of American brewing. On the radio, the Yankees and Red Sox in the rubber game of the weekend’s series. Perfection.

Dogfish Head Shelter Pale Ale: From Delaware. I picked up a few of this ale last weekend in Syracuse and am glad I did. It poured white foam over fairly still orangey amber ale with a relatively soft mouthfeel. The hops are not overwhelming with their green profile. The beer is minerally even salty. There is lots of toasty bread crust graininess to the malt. Also, a sort of shadow of unsweetened chocolate lingers – maybe not from the use of chocolate malt so much as the combination of pale malt fruit, bitter hops and a modest but rish yeast strain. The finish is dry with a little white pepper heat. A very well balanced pale ale that satisfied even though it is not juicey moreish.

Stoudt’s American Pale Ale: From Pennsylvania. A rocky half-inch of white head resovles to foam and rim leaving lace. The ale is deep golden straw. Its aroma is floral as is the first sip. It is a far hoppier take on the pale ale compared to the Shelter Pale Ale. Again, it is minerally with green weediness to the floral hops. The strength of the hops overwhelms the pale malt, exposed and lightly braced as it is by a small addition of crystal malt. There is some toffee but less than you would expect from an English pale ale or a US IPA. The finish has some pear juiciness and accordingly a bit of moreishness. If this were any other brewer this might be their IPA but given Stoudt’s dedication to the big as well as their Double IPA this is a relative pip squeek.

Stone IPA: From California. Again a similar white rim over orangey amber ale, though lighter on the red notes, halfway to deep golden straw. Similar to the Stoudts but softer with less weedy green in the hops, more grapefruit rind and green herb. They are chewy without being bombastic – as Stone
can well be. A bit hot in the mddle, it has less of the salty mineral feel of the Stoudts. The yeast is creamy but quite subdued, just a rich note behind it all. Really nice if you like a hoppy ale and perfect with ballpark peanuts in the shell for the game – even if the Yanks beat the Sox 1-0.

New York: Southern Tier Brewing, Lakewood

I have written about Southern Tier‘s porter a couple of times and reviewed the IPA. All but the Hop Sun were in a variety twelve along with the porter that I picked up at the beginning of July – again obeying the golden rule of variety twelves (all ales and four styles please). I have enjoyed everything they have thrown at me and here are a few more:

- Phin and Matt’s Extraordinary Ale: white rim over light amber brew. Quite fruity – apricot and peach – in the malt. Kind of like a bigger Magic Hat #9. It is also a bit unconventional in the taste structuring. The hops hit a wee bit early and the malt opens up after. A nice semi-sweet amber ale. The effect of the hops and yeast is creamy vegetative. Interesting for something of an everyday ale. Advocators say yay.

- - Triple: white foam over deep straw with a sweet boozy nose. Smooth rich Belgian-style pale malt – a little less severe than most triples – if candy can be severe. It is sweet with flavours of candy floss and corn on the cob…yet still musty like a biere de garde. Very fine but the BAers have issues.
- IPA: I really like this beer as well. White rim over a really attractive medium brown, like antique patina of cherrywood. Isn’t that just about the lamest thing I have ever written – except it is true…or at least trueish. The malt fruitiness is autumn apple over cream yeast. Not a hop bomb like, say, Ithaca Flower Power, but a rather nice balance of malt sweet, bit of heat and bitter greens. The effect is something like well oaked chardonnay – if chardonnay were made of grain and not grapes. I reviewed this last year at the same link as the Flower Power above and found it more spicy than green. As of today, ninety-nine advocates all say yes.
- Hop Sun Wheat: I noticed this beer rated highly with the Beer Beacon’s column called “Beers of Summer” in the August/September issue of Great Lakes Brewing News, one of the excellent trade papers published by Brewing News of East Amherst, NY. The beer’s head falls quickly back to a white rim over medium-light straw. The ale is crisp by which I mean the bitter green hops are a nicely balanced sharp taste at the front of your mouth. Blending with the green hops are some green grass notes from the biscuity core of wheat malt. Beyond these two there is a high note of lemon as well as deeper ones of green apple and maybe apricot. All bright lightly acidic flavours. So for summer sip, this is well structured and flavourful even if it is 4.3% and at the light end of mouthfeel that I can put up with. I hate wondering if I missed my mouth. All 40 at the BA like it.

The Stash

The results of a trip south are often a slowly decreasing but merry little stash of singles in the closet and the fridge for the best part of a month as reviews get written. Sweet 1978 Rawlings, too. I am pretty sure I have only had two of the bottles previously, the McEwans Export and the Smuttynose Hefe. The future is unknown and that is great. I see about new brewery reviews including those nine new bottles for me from Middle Ages, three from Wolavers, four from Southern Tier as well as a couple of new Wittes and my first Mackeson’s XXX stout.

One other pick-up at FLBC was a variety 12-pack of Great Divide ales from Denver Colorado which has obeyed my two rules for variety twelve packs: give me four types, three bottles each, and no lager. If you like lager you likely won’t like an ESB or IPA and if you like those the lager is likely just a waste of space. Saranac makes a largely lager 6×2 pack which is quite legitimate…though I don’t think I would buy one with great anticipation.

Red’s Dairy Freeze, South Portland, Maine

Illustrated is the “Chocolate Boston”, which is a chocolate milkshake with chocolate soft serve ice cream topped with chocolate sauce. The “Boston” can be had with other flavours but it is always milkshake plus soft serve plus sauce. Eaten with a spoon and a straw, it is apparently known only to Red’s of South Portland and their customers but we stand to be corrected.

I do not love chocolate but this actually inched me a little towards that affliction. I ate it so fast I got an ice cream chest ache.

Six US Darks

Washington, Vermont, New York, Oregon,
Pennsylvania and California

Life is tough. Life needs little projects. I found all of these lovery little brown bottles at the excellent Finger Lakes Beverage Center in Ithaca, NY and was able to buy singles of each – though the Southern Tier Porter came in a mixed 12 pack I picked up. They represent parts of the range of dark ales above brown ale. There are two dark porters, a mocha porter, an organic oatmeal stout, an imperial oatmeal stout and the granddaddy of them all a Russian Imperial stout. Mmmmm…roasty malty goodness.

Wolaver’s Oatmeal Stout: certified organic from Middlebury, Vermont. Effervescent, dark brown ale under a smooth rich tan head. Lots of flavour and lots of flavours. Not a slave to the silky texture oats impart, this beer also has plenty of hops, roasty grain and yeasty goodness – all in one smooth balanced beer. The hops are not as minty as Guinness’s norther brewer variety. I am thinking the citrus rind of Cascade. In the grain there is a bit of cocoa, a bit of coffee and a nice brown breadiness from the interaction with the creamy biscuity yeast. The finish goes dry, leaving the roast and then just the hops. A very fine complex medium weight example.
Stoudt’s Fat Dog Imperial Stout: from Adamstown, Pennsylvania. After my first contact with Stoudt through their Double IPA, I am going to need more than a moment with this brew. Darker brown with red notes under a mocha head that dissipated quickly. The sensation of this 9% ale’s strength is a little like a black rum and coke – which is to be expected as 9% amounts to around one oz. shot of 80 proof being added to a regular beer or two shots to a pop/soda. But that is a side track, a red herring. When beers are like this you have to think of them more like great port or sherry as opposed to table wine. Expect the flavours to open up over time. The body is fairly hefty, though it is not overdone – there is no massive attack of roasted grains though they are there as a supporting cast. There is some chocolate but mainly a lot of rich dark malt, pumpernickle. The hops are also there but far further in the background than the Wolaver’s. Underneath it all there is a rich double cream yeast that fills in gaps in concert with the smoothness of the oats. Quite extraordinary. And that was all from the first two sips. An hour later, two more flavours came out – licorice and some fruit which, surprisingly, I would not call dried fruit so much as plum and maybe apricot. Again complex and very worthy.
Southern Tier Dark Porter: from Lakewood, New York. I like this porter a lot. A good honest roasty dark ale with body to match. Too often porters or the slightly lighter style called dark ale are just darkened versions of the brewer’s pale ale. But this beer has a good amount of roasted grain, some coffee and a bit of bitter chocolate all over a nice rich biscuity yeast. Not as complex as the beers above but more of an everyday porter.
Grant’s Perfect Porter: from Yakima, Washington. I am quite surprised how much lighter this porter is compared to the southern tier. Its light tan head dissipates to a skim quickly over the mahogony ale. Chocolate mousse smelly. I would really call this a dark and not a porter but I should not as this is a Bert Grant’s beer. Up front there is some roast but it fades away a little sooner than I would like revealing a bit of vanilla cream and then a bit of edgy vegetative hop and smoke. I recall the Burton Bridge porter I had in 2001 or so and its lack of balance to my mind – too thin, too sharp – which later learned that it was more historically accurate. This is like the same elements placed in more modern balance – a bit of sour in the yeast, a bit of sharp in the end but better balanced than the Burton. I don’t know if I can call this tasty or attractive. At 4% a lower strength expression of the style.
Rogue Mocha Porter: from Eugene, Oregon. A skim of tan head over deep brown ale. Big hop tang across the roof of my mouth – minty, lime rind – over the top of dusty chocolate and black malt. Not so much mocha beer as mug of joe beer. Somewhat discordant, a bit sharp here and a bit dry roasty there. I don’t know if the yeast is really pulling its weight but, still all in all it’s got full flavour and real flavour. Not as tough a call as the Grant’s but there is a lot of thinking required with this beer.
Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout: from Fort Bragg, California. Very nicely balanced for a 8.9% beer. Lots and lots of roasty-toasty roast barley imparting a garnet hue to the inky ale, its tan head quickly dissipating. The hops are not minty and the nose is actually floral with a fair bit of black rum Christmas cake dry fruitiness as well. There is a lot of heat with hoppy spicy over the roasted black malt and roast barley and with a creamy heart. A very nice example of a well layered beer – like a big red wine lots and lots of flavours that open up over time. It would be interesting to do a side by side with Freeminer Deep Shaft, my favorite stout since I began these notes.

There you go. All six done and a fine range of examples of part of what people might think of when you say “dark beer”.

New York: Sackets Harbor Brewing Co., Sackets Harbor

We visited the Sackets Harbor Brewing Co. in the North Country of New York State last weekend. Sitting at the eastern end of Lake Ontario in the bay that once saw one-half of the US navy located there around two hundred years ago, the brew pub is in one of the prettiest settings around for a glass of real ale. It is also one of the smallest brew pubs I have ever seen. The building set on the waterfront next to a marina is divided into a pub side and a dining side with their DME brewing equipment set up in the front with a view from the pub. There is also a patio on the marina side.

We really didn’t take in the full range of the beers offered as we were in the middle of a day long Father’s Day upstate road trip with two little kids in tow but that is ofter a good measure of the capability of a pub. It was kid friendly if only because of the active harbour out the window of the dining room – count the boats, kids. While that was going on, I had their stout which I was really pleased with – full of flavour with a bit of chocolate and a bit on minty hops over a clean milky yeast. We also tried a half pint of a cherry wheat which was clean and refreshing with a solid cherry flavour which leaned a bit towards cherry pie as opposed to cherry picked off the tree.

I had had lowish expectations as I had not fallen in love with the brewery’s bottling of its 1812 Ale when I tried it a year and a half ago. Not only was that view of their beer dead wrong based on that sample given the two we tasted – but just the food and the view at the pub would make it a destination regardless of the beer. I will have to try their 1812 again.¹ Lew points out that Sackets Harbor has a new brew master, Andy Gersten, who previously had worked at Oswego at King Arthur’s reviewed here last month. I liked his last stop, too.

Three advocatonians have visited and reported.

¹ 29 Dec. 2006: I have two left in the stash now and can confirm they are quite lovely session ambers. I will do a proper review soon.