Farmhouse Ale

Rating: 2

Smuttynose Brewing Co.

Portsmouth, NH

Style: Saison

ABV: 7.4%
22 oz bottle

Classic saison fruitiness and sourness. This has to be very close to the White Labs saison yeast I've used in most of my saisons. Light body, moderate hoppiness, somewhat sweet finish. Great saison interpretation except a) it's a little sweeter than I would prefer, I like the dry finishing saison for their drinkability, and b) the alchohol content makes it less of a session beer.

As a side note, the brewers' notes on their website are great from a homebrewer perspective, with details of malt, hops, and yeast. I definitely have to try some of the other "Big Barrel" series.

Beer Dinner 07/27/07

Given that it was in the 80's and way humid we went for the lighter food. Crazy cucumber gazpacho and pasta el vegetables. We led off the drinking with some Saison v6 - can't be beaten for a summer beer.

Reissdorf Kolsch
Rating: 2
Brauerei Heinrich Reissdorf
Germany
style: kolsch
notes: nice light beer, without other Kolschs for comparison we're having a hard time rating this beer

The Czar
Rating: 3
Avery Brewing Company
Colorado
style: imperial stout
notes: bang-up imperial stout...went well with our super-duper chocolate bundt cake.

Troublette
Rating: 3
Brasserie Caracole
Belgium
style: wit
notes: I swear there is a lemon meringue pie in that bottle, anyone who tells me otherwise is on crack.

Hopf Helle Weisse
Rating: 1
Weissbierbrauerei Hopf
Germany
style: hefeweizen
notes: not our favorite hefeweizen...I think we've had too many edel-weize's recently. And the comparison to Troublette is difficult.

Blanche de Namur

Rating: 2

Brasserie du Bocq
Purnode, Belgian
Style: Wit
ABV: 4.5%

750 ml corked bottle

This has to be one of the lightest beers I've ever poured, hazy straw color. Has the traditional wit coriander, lemon, orange smells. Light dry slightly acidic taste with a ton of tiny bubbles in my mouth. Very drinkable wit beer.

Hennepin

Rating: 2

Brewery Ommegang

Cooperstown, New York

Style: Saison

ABV: 7.7%

750 ml corked bottle

Ommegang's Hennepin, one of their flagship beers, pours with a huge, intense head, that dissipates very slowly, forming strange and - if you've had enough to drink - compelling shapes in the glass. The color is a surprisingly light gold, even yellow. There's an immediate spicy quality to the aroma - coriander is perhaps in here, but it's not that specific. There's also an underlying fruitiness. The flavour is a very balanced mix between the spicy notes, a floral quality, and a malty sweetness on the tongue; an extremely palatable, enjoyable beer to drink. There's also a zesty quality, like that from a lemon peel.

The beer is a perfect pairing with a rustic French cheese such as Comte Le Fort, with a mellow, earthy flavour.

Heavy Seas - Red Sky at Night

Rating: 3

Clipper City Brewing Company

Baltimore, Maryland

Style: Saison

ABV: 7.5%

12 fl oz bottle

This was an extremely pleasant surprise (though we've had other Clipper City beers recently, and enjoyed them): a saison available as a six-pack, on a seasonal (summer) basis.

The beer pours a light golden/straw colour with a small head. It has a yeasty (even bready), fruity smell, with sweet apples especially notable. The same qualities emerge in the taste, with a slight tart/sour quality on the tongue, along with the usual saison earthiness. Red Sky at Night pairs very well with good quality cheese.

Gareth's IPA v2 a

All grain IPA
20 gallons
7/1/07

This is my attempt to reproduce Gareth's IPA v 2 in an all grain recipe. I used additional hops during the final minute of boil and only had the dry yeast listed available.

Toasted malt, 1 lb, 1o min at 350*
Pale ale malt, 2 row, 20 lbs
Crystal malt, 2 lbs

Chinock hops 6 oz 75 min
Cascade hops 4 0z 5 min
Kent Golding hops 2 1/2 oz 1 min
Safale dry ale yeast S-04

Water heated to 170*
Mashed at 151-148* for 90 min
Sparge water 170*(water through sparge arm 150, mash at 136*)
Pitched 89*

OG 1048 7/1/07
Transfer to secondary fermenter 1010 7/4/07
Racked to keg 7/19/07 1010

Ebenezers Round 3

What we drank:

Unibroue Maudite
Brasserie Caracole Nostradamus - crowd favorite
St Bernadus Abt 12
Fantome La Gourmande - everything they brew is different
De Ranke XX Bitter
't Smisje BBBourgondier - reminiscent of the famous summer barleywine
Samichlaus - worth another try, I think MAF liked this more than the rest

It was a tough night...I had to get these beers blogged before they left my consciousness. Another great Ebeneezer's experience, except what's up with that intermittent sewerage smell, they seriously need to do something about that.

Allagash Brewery

It being a rainy Wednesday afternoon, we decided to pack the car a head to Portland to take the tour of Allagash Brewery. We were not the only ones bored with the weather as demonstrated by the size of the tour. We joined about 20 other beer lovers in the lobby of Allagash, off outer Forest Ave., in the very industrial Riverside Industrial Park, for our tour.

Our able tour guide started us off with a very brief history and some tasting. After some well place questions we learned that the owner Rob Tod earned his degree in beer drinking from Middlebury College and worked while there at Otter Creek Brewing. After graduating, he came to Portland and set up his first brewery in some rented space in the industrial park where they are now located. No garage brewing for young Mr. Tod. Thanks to his generous father, and his vision to create an all Belgian style brewery, and some initial lonely days brewing and tasting beer, Allagash Brewery has seen steady exponential growth since. We did have a sighting of Mr. Tod, but no verbal contact.

Once we got out of the lobby,we did weasel out some important trade secrets from our guide: Allagash's water is from Sebago Lake (Portland tap water), their yeast was a fortunate contamination, in true Belgium style, and they have been able to preserve it since, the name Hugh Malone come from the Latin name of hops, Humulus lupus ( see comment on Hugh Malone review).

Tasting which was held prior to the tour included White, Dubbel, Triple, and Hugh Malone. Beer was served in plastic glasses in the cement lobby while standing. Certainly not the ambiance, personal touch or quantity which we were fortunate to get at Redhook. I asked several time about casks, which are used for storage in the cold room, but was not invited to see them. Overall, however, the tour was interesting. The tour guide was pleasant and could not be stumped, although we tried hard. We were allowed to walk on the floor during production. I stopped a worker who was very friendly and informative. At the end of the tour we showed our appreciation by being good consumers in the gift shop, and made our way to Bray's to complete our total beer afternoon.

Chambly Noire

Rating: 3

Unibroue

Chambly, Quebec, Canada

Style: Black Ale

ABV: 6.2%

750 ml corked bottle

Chambly Noire is exactly that: it comes out of the bottle black, with an excellent foamy coffee-colored head; the head died back very fast, though. In the glass, the beer is completely opaque, like a dark stout. It has an extremely fruity aroma, with grape and prune especially noticeable. The flavor also has hints of grape, as well as a spicy maltiness. The beer had a vigorously carbonated feel in the mouth, and a slight but very pleasing sour quality.

We drank it as a dessert beer paired with some gingerbread, and the spiciness complemented the food well. At 6.2%, it's also considerably less potent than some other dessert choices (stouts aside) and as such extremely drinkable.

Tripel Karmeliet

Rating: 3

Brouwerij Bosteels
Buggenhout, Belgium
Style: Belgian Tripel
ABV: 8.1%
750 ml corked bottle

The beer pours with a deep golden color, and a solid head - though the latter dissipated fairly quickly. It has a bright, extremely fresh aroma, with a citrus scent particularly to the fore. The taste combined a maltiness with flavors of apple (especially green apples) and citrus fruits, with grapefruit emerging more strongly. The beer behaved like a champagne in the mouth, with intense carbonation. All around, an extremely drinkable, balanced, flavorful beer - top rating!

Trappistes Rochefort 6

Rating: 2

Brasserie de Rochefort

Rochefort, Belgium

Style: Belgian Strong Ale

ABV: 7.5%

33 cl bottle

Dark brown pour with a nice lacy head that quickly dissipates. Sweet complex malty aroma.

Sweet complex malty taste also. Some dry bitterness in this beer that isn't typically hoppy. People always talk about the drinkability of these abbey ales...but I'm not feeling it. Sure, it doesn't have the hops of most strong American ales, but with the aroma and flavors I can't imagine having more than one. This also is a beer that needs to be paired with something.

Don't get me wrong, I did really like the beer, I just found it closer to an after dinner digestive than the saisons I'm used to drinking.

Hugh Malone Ale

Rating: 2

Allagash Brewery

Portland, Maine
Style: Belgian IPA
ABV: 8.5%
750 ml corked bottle

Hugh Malone is an entry in the Allagash Brewery's "Tribute" Series, which mostly pays tribute to the brewery itself, as it includes things like their 10th and 11th anniversary beers; given the general quality of their beers, though, it doesn't seem unreasonable. By all accounts, Hugh Malone himself was an emigrant brewer, born in Ireland, who washed up in Portland with a fondness for hops (edit: after further research, this sounds like a hoax, for which someone at Allagash even composed a special website...).

The beer pours a rich amber color, with a serious head developing fast; the cork came out with a vigorous pop. The head died down pretty quickly, however. The aroma was quite mild, but yeasty. The taste started out fresh and bright, and in the middle became intensely yeasty on the palate. We struggled to pin down a suitable flavor comparison: we knew that it was not fruity, but weren't sure how to describe the spicy taste. It's a complex flavor, with perhaps something of the quality of a dry wine; although bitter, we didn't immediately think of hop flavors (though the beer has no shortage of hops).

The beer is extremely drinkable, and very tasty, but in the end we had to conclude that at the price - $15+ depending on location, which includes a $1 donation - it was a 2 rather than a 3.

Goudenband

Rating: 3

Liefmans Breweries
Dentergem, Belgium
Style: Flemish Sour Brown
ABV: 8%
375 ml corked bottle (2006 vintage)

In preparation for our upcoming Belgium trip I'm hitting the classics. Goudenband is billed as the classic Femish sour brown ale. Pours with a slight head that disappears quickly. Dark red color with a noticeably sour nose.

Sweet and sour taste. Lime flavor that leaves a lingering puckerness...(spell check doesn't think that's a word, but I don't care) Doesn't seem as syrupy as the Duchess, but in my opinion that makes it more enjoyable. More balanced in its sourness than a Gueze. All around a very enjoyable beer.

Lambic

Lambic v1
(10 gallons)
7/7/2007

20 lbs maris otter 3L
3/4 lbs munich
3/4 lbs wheat malt
2 t gypsum
8 oz german tettnang (120 min) - baked for 2 hours at 200 degrees to age the hops

infusion mash 150 for 90 min
120 min boil

yeast:
WLP655 Belgian Sour Mix I
WLP410 Belgian Wit Ale II primary/WLP650 Brettanomyces bruxellensis secondary

1.061 OG on 7/7

More of a lambic style beer than a true lambic. Lacking the necessary raw wheat and turbid mash, though I did attempt to use aged hops.

I'm pondering adding some wine grapes to one of the batches later in the fall.

Wostyntje

Rating: 3

Brouwerij De Regenboog
Brugge, Belgium
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
ABV: 7%
11.2 oz bottle

Pours clear amber with full white head. Doesn't look like mustard.

Very aromatic, maybe hints of mustard in there...but I'm probably just making that up because its called "mustard ale" on the label. Also some sour notes in the aroma.

Light dry body and taste for a stong ale, but definite belgian character, including some light sour flavors. I'd be hard pressed to identify mustard flavor, but there is some nice spiciness in there. The light body allows a lot of flavors to come through, I just have a hard time putting a finger on what they are.

Moat Mountain Smoke House & Brewing Co.

Just north of North Conway on Rt 16 we stumbled into Moat Mtn after a long day hiking the nearby Isolation Mtn. (As it happened we ran into some other Isolation hikers on the way in).

The restaurant is in a huge rambling white farmhouse, and we had no problem getting a table, though I was a little afraid I'd get lost on the way to the bathroom. They also have a good sized bar, where we managed to catch up on the Red Sox game on our way out.

For a brewpub the food was average, however the beers were outstanding. First the food. Given the smoke house billing, we both went with barbecue, the pulled pork sandwich and the beef brisket dinner. Maybe traditional barbecue comes this way, but we both were left wanting more sauce.

Now the beer:
Belgian Single - 2 (very drinkable belgian beer in a brewpub, I'm impressed)
Bear Peak Brown - 2
Golden Dog Pilsner - 3 (hoppy german/czech style pilsner, great crisp summer beer)

Sparge Manifold

This Sparge Manifold was made of 1/2 in copper pipe soldered together with lead free solder to fit the mash vessel. Vertical elbows were added to help stabilize it. 1/16 in holes were drilled into the tube. Smaller holes would probably be better if one could find a smaller drill. One problem I had was that the water would not reach the holes furthest away from he entry site unless the manifold was tipped up as in the picture. I can change the angle of the entry tube at a later date.

The Manifold seemed to work well, It can be manually moved to help distribute the water. Control of the flow was easy by using the valve on the water vessel. By keeping a 1/2 in head of water on the mash, I doubt any troughs were formed through the grain bed.

Hefeweizen v.2

Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse Clone
5 gallons
7/1/2007

4 oz aromatic malt
2 oz acid malt

The grains were heated to 155F in 1 quart of water, and left to steep for 30 minutes. The liquid was strained into the brewpot, the total amount of liquid was brought up to 1.5 gallons, and brought to a boil. The following were then added:

5.75 lb Munton's Wheat DME
2 oz malto-dextrin
1 oz Hallertau hops

The total amount of liquid was increased to 2.5 gallons and the wort was brought to a boil. After 45 minutes of vigorous boiling, I added:

1/4 oz Perle hops
1/4 oz Spalt hops

After a final 15 minutes of boil, the wort was cooled and added to the fermenter; the total liquid was topped up to 5 gallons, and I added the yeast:

Whitelabs WLP300 Hefeweizen Ale Yeast

After 24 hours, an EXTREMELY vigorous amount of fermentation activity was visible, noisily forcing CO2 and foam out of the airlock; I brought the fermenter downstairs to regulate the temperature somewhat. After a week in the primary, all seemed well - there was much evidence of that vigorous activity when I opened the lid - and the specific gravity was down to 1.012.

Southampton 10th Anniversary Old Ale

Rating: 2

Southampton Publick House
Southampton, NY
Style: Old Ale
ABV: 8.8%
750 ml

Not much carbonation when I uncorked the bottle. Deep red color with minimal head when the beer was poured. Strong complex beer, with many flavors going on. Pick any one you want, its probably there: raisin, caramel, date, ...

Not having had too many old ales, this beer kept reminding me of a barleywine, minus some of the hops. Great to drink sitting around a fire on a cold winter night. Might also be interesting to age for a couple more years.