May 2006
Book Review: <i>The Essential Reference of Domestic Brewers and Their Bottled Brands</i>
Posted by on Tuesday, May 30, 2006 in - 5 comments
I recently received a review copy of the second edition of the "Essential Reference of Domestic Brewers and Their Bottled Brands". Published by MC Basset, it is quite an interesting book as in a way it is not a book so much as part of a system, a tool which also includes access to an updated data …
Posted by on Tuesday, May 30, 2006
New York's First Beer Sommelier
Posted by on Sunday, May 28, 2006 in - 9 comments
A short but interesting article in today's New York Times on a newish restaurant, Cafe D'Alsace, with a serious interest in beer: • “"We don't aim towards pub people," he said. "We're about the beer geeks, people who want to try a new experience."” • This review says there are 118 beers there …
Belgium: Fantôme Chocolat, Brasserie Fantôme, Soy
Posted by on Saturday, May 27, 2006 in - leave a comment
A saison with chocolate and chili. I have every expection that this will be weird yet chocolate and chili are an entirely respectable combination in Mexican cooking. And the brewery says that the chocolate is locally sourced. There is a good third of an inch of yeasty goo at the bottom which other …
Big Hop Bombs: Two California IPAs
Posted by on Friday, May 26, 2006 in - 6 comments
I picked up these last time I was in New York, far western IPAs making their way across the continent. While I have had a number of North Coast brews before - like their Rasputin Imperial Stout - and have seen them fairly regularly, it was only around last Christmas that I noted the Lagunitas …
Ukrainian Beer Season
Posted by on Wednesday, May 24, 2006 in - leave a comment
I came across an interesting article in the Kyiv Post on the coming of Ukrainian beer season: • “With summer looming and the first days of real heat expected any time now, the beer season in Kyiv can be officially considered open (though when or whether it officially closes is another matter …
Book Review: <i>The Good Beer Guide To New England</i>
Posted by on Monday, May 22, 2006 in - 1 comment
A year ago, Lew Bryson wrote this in his email newsletter The Occasional Pint: • “I'm also kicking around ideas for the next book. New Jersey Breweries is already in planning stages, but what's down the road is a bit obscure. I've thought about doing a rye whiskey book, or a bourbon book. At the …
The <i>NYT</i> on McSorley's Old Ale House
Posted by on Sunday, May 21, 2006 in - leave a comment
The New York Times ran a great article today on McSorley's Old Ale House in that good city that has run for 152 years and a group of friends who meet there there: • “ON a chilly Friday night, outlined against a blue-gray cloud of cigarette smoke in front of McSorley's Old Ale House, the Five …
Festival Fiasco and the Great Long Island Beer Tour
Posted by on Friday, May 19, 2006 in - 1 comment
Two weeks ago in this space I mentioned that I would be attending the Long Island Beer Festival and gave you a preview of some of the attractions of the festival. In addition to great beers from New York, the other mid-Atlanic states, and from the rest of the world, Garrett Oliver and Phil …
Another Four...No, Three US Pale Ales
Posted by on Thursday, May 18, 2006 in - 4 comments
What a burden research is. I considered the state of the English pale ale just a couple of weeks ago and now find myself again facing four pale ales armed with nothing but time and an opener. Interesting to note the two examples from Massachusetts - Endurance and Fisherman's Brew - and the …
Posted by on Thursday, May 18, 2006
Posted by on Thursday, May 18, 2006
Quick Note: Abbot Ale, Greene King, Bury St. Edmonds, England
Posted by on Tuesday, May 16, 2006 in - 3 comments
A new beer for me found at Party Source Beverages...right there...on the shelf. • Caramel-amber ale with a rich white foam with a malty green hop aroma. A very pleasant ESB - or even perhaps English IPA come to think of it - with dry fruit and apple malt, some chewiness to the citrus and green …
Posted by on Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Update: Party Source, Syracuse, NY
Posted by on Monday, May 15, 2006 in - leave a comment
I have written about Party Source in the east end of Syracuse before, last time noting that I thought the shelves were a bit thin. Well, I am happy to say that when I popped in this evening I was very pleased. While the soda pop section is now cleared out, there was lots of excellent stock in the …
Belhaven Scottish Ale And The Ithaca Coffee Co.
Posted by on Sunday, May 14, 2006 in - 4 comments
Directions to the Ithaca Coffee Company. • As Mike Myers memorably stated "if it's no Scottish, it's crap". I will be spending time this week with some Scots, and so I decided to choose a beer that fit the bill, as it were, to get in the mood. Living now by Ithaca, I can shop at the rather …
Good Beer Blog Going Global
Posted by on Saturday, May 13, 2006 in - 2 comments
Just a reminder to join up with the Good Beer Blog Nation. Eighty-one have done so already with new recruits from the Philippines and northern India, the latter being the author of the newly minted India Brew, a blog about beer in India which has just started up. • There are no member privileges …
Tom Paine Original Brown Ale, Harvey et Son, Lewes, England
Posted by on Thursday, May 11, 2006 in - 27 comments
An exceptionally lush brown. From the other Harvey. • Balanced cocoa, licorice and molasses notes along with sweet brown breat crust graininess - Boston bean brown bread crust that is. Soft water coddled with the slightest baracing of hop. Dry fruit dates as well which open up into more dates …
So Health Ridden I Can't Believe It
Posted by on Wednesday, May 10, 2006 in - leave a comment
Another week, another bundle of news about the health properties of moderate beer consumption. The Times of London published a report on a group of scientists who met in Brussels under the chairmanship of Professor Jonathan Powell, of the Medical Research Council human nutrition unit in Cambridge …
Quick Note: Stiegl Beer, Salzburg, Austria
Posted by on Monday, May 8, 2006 in - 21 comments
A can from Austria. This is one of those beers I really don't know anything about, just an odd can sitting around the cheap seats in the LCBO cooler next to the malt liquors. Nice tan and red can design, though. Red and tan is a very under considered colour combo. Except maybe in WWII British …
Four More English Pales Ales
Posted by on Saturday, May 6, 2006 in - 2 comments
I have done a couple of sets of tastings of English pale ales before and with a guest about this is another good opportunity. Here are four more English ales: a 4.3% best bitter from Somerset to the left, then a 5.5% pale ale from East Sussex, next a 7.5% Burtonian IPA and to the right an organic …
Big Hop Bombs: Un*Earthly, Southern Tier, New York, USA
Posted by on Saturday, May 6, 2006 in - 14 comments
Can these guys make a bad beer? • This ale pours a light tan foam and rim over bright cherry-amber ale. You pick up heat from the first whiff. Check the bottle. Yikes 11%. I thought it was a Double IPA - but no...it's an Imperial IPA. Good thing the Mets and Braves went to 14 innings. Another …
Long Island Beer Update
Posted by on Friday, May 5, 2006 - 5 comments
This last week was unusual in that I made it to three of Long Island's four brewpubs. Last Friday at lunch I ran over to the Black Forest Brew Haus in Farmingdale to sample Joe Hayes's Hefeweizen and his delicious Chocolate Doppelbock. After lunch I stopped off at Kedco to visit Brews Brothers … read more »
Quick Note: Hazelnut Brown Nectar, Rogue, Oregon, USA
Posted by on Wednesday, May 3, 2006 in - 7 comments
A mahogany ale under beige head that resolves to an edge. Soft water semi-moreish. This beer cross-references both the Chocolate Stout and Morimoto Black Obi Soba Ale from Rogue. There is the dusky dry chocolate of the stout as well as the limey citrus and lighter body of the soba ale. The effect …
Belgium: Poperings Hommel Ale, Brouwerij Van Eecke, Watou
Posted by on Tuesday, May 2, 2006 in - 5 comments
Picked up at Tully's in Maine, at $3.29 USD for 330 ml, this is a Belgian strong pale or golden ale, sharing that general class with Duval, Piraat or Delirium Tremens. The brewery says this about its Poperings Hommel ale on its website: • “In the area of Poperinge, which is a little town in the …
Ministerial Dispute
Posted by on Tuesday, May 2, 2006 in - leave a comment
In other news, I am having a little difficulty figuring out the jobs assigned to different members of the cabinet in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia: • “Georgian defense minister, Iraklii Okruashvili spoke in support to Russian beer imports. • “"Russian beer makes up 15% of all beer at …
Quick Note: White, Allagash Brewing, Portland, Maine
Posted by on Tuesday, May 2, 2006 in - leave a comment
Even the disappointment of a rain delay of the game between the Red Sox and Yankees can't take away from this one. This is one of my favorite white beers, from the hard working elves and guys at Allagash... • Hey! Heck...I already reviewed this one. Oh well. It was bound to happen sooner or later.
