Magic Hat Encore

I want to apologize for the lack of blogging lately. I've been uninspired lately, for lack of a better word. Beer, while still my drink of choice, was just not making me want to scream from the rooftops about it lately. It has been a very sad two months of uninspiring and lackluster beer. Fortunately, all that changed two weeks ago when I went to visit a couple of my friends up in Vermont.

My friend Tom deserves a lot of credit for this blog because without a lot of his pestering, I wouldn't be drinking a great deal of the beers that I have tried. I'm sure of this because I really hated hops not too long ago and now I think they're all right, most of the time at least. I went and stayed with him and Jess exactly two weeks ago and we went to Burlington to visit Magic Hat in Burlington, VT. The brewery is fantastic, I highly recommend a visit. I did not bring my camera with me, and I wasn't particularly looking to review the brewery at that time with the lack of inspiration and all; but if you get the chance, don't pass it up. You get four free samples and that choice was one of the hardest I've had to make in awhile.

When I was there they had their Encore on tap. Encore was one of their IPAs on tour and made with the ever hard to find Simcoe hops. I've said it once and I'm sure I'll say it until it's no longer true, I don't like beers that are too heavy handed on the hops. I have a hard time with very bitter beers and was extremely hesitant to try it given that it's even dry hopped. That being said, I bought a six pack to bring home and formally review before I left the state.

The name of this beer was most certainly deserved. It needs an encore for its encore. The beer is a wonderful blend of both genres it represents. It is an American Wheat IPA. It is simultaneously hoppy and yeasty which generally seem to be contradictory flavors in most beers. I brought this beer home because I knew my dad would enjoy it and tonight was that night.

The beer poured a rich, deep gold color that was a bit cloudy. The head was white and had very good retention throughout the course of drinking the beer. The nose has a lot of good hop notes to it but there is a bit of a bready undertone to it as well. Overall, both are very subtle and not very scary in the least. The flavor is the most remarkable part of this beer. It is a bit hoppy but in a way that doesn't make the beer inaccessible to people who don't like that quality in a beer. It isn't bitter, there are little to no pine notes which generally are what drive me away from a beer. There is a hint of mango, which I was told by one of the gentlemen at the brewery and will freely admit that I probably would have been driven mad by the unnamed flavor in the beer. This note, I was told, comes from those Simcoe hops that are so desired by brewers. The finish is bright and leaves you wanting more.

This beer is truly a delight in every way. The price of $8.99 for the six pack was more than doable considering the quality of the beer. I do feel the need to say that the best part was what was under the caps. I hadn't noticed it on the first one I had of the six pack but when I uncapped the second I saw a saying on the cap so I arranged our caps for a photo op. I'll be sure to update this when I uncap the other two from the pack.

So happy 2012, everyone! Raise your glasses to a bright new year!

Fremont Brewery

My trip to the Seattle area was phenomenal. The people are fantastic and incredibly friendly. Anyone and everyone will start up a conversation with you. This, in addition to the wonderful beer, was part of the appeal of the Fremont Brewery. It was recommended by a friend of my cousin's, who I was visiting this weekend, but she had never been herself either. Both of us were very impressed.

While we didn't take a tour of the brewery, we arrived during the hours in which they hold their Beer Garden. As you can see from the picture above, they have a long bench table set up with planks of wood propped up on used kegs. You can purchase beer by either draft, growler, keg or bottle. Growlers, however, need to be taken with you as there is a sign asking you do not drink them on the premises. The place was packed when we arrived and there was no room for us to sit but people moved in and out fairly quickly so don't let this discourage you if come and this happens to you. Plus, you can always get a beer while you wait like we did.

Photo taken at the end of the evening, it was much more crowded when we arrived

I asked the bartender what his favorite was because I'm trying to be adventurous and he suggested either the Harvest Ale, which is a saison, that had just be put on draft that day, or the Interurban IPA. I chose the Harvest because I had never had that style of beer before and was eager to try it...and maybe a little because I'm still intimidated by IPAs

Held by my lovely assistant :)

The beer poured a beautiful golden color with very little white head. The head stuck around, clinging to the edge of the glass, the entire time I drank the beer. This beer was a bit of a challenge for me because I am unfamiliar with the style but I was able to figure out the different flavors all on my own. The beer had a faint apple smell to it which pleasantly combined with the hops. The taste was mildly hoppy but still had some of the fruit notes evident. Overall, I'd definitely agree with the bartenders' assessment of the beer coming out wonderfully.

Now, I know I normally only review the one beer, but I was so impressed with the Harvest Ale that I went back and purchased a sampler of the rest of the beers they were offering that evening. The beers offered on draft were Universale Pale Ale, Sister Imperial IPA, Wandering Wheat, Harvest Saison, and Interurban IPA from Fremont and Troll Porter from Hale's Ales as a guest tap.

From left to right: Universale Pale Ale, Hale's Troll Porter, Interurban IPA, Wandering Wheat, Sister Imperial IPA

The first one I tried was the Imperial IPA. It was gold in color with a thin white head. The smell was very crisp and almost piney. It smelled a bit like Christmas trees to me. I think I might just be unfamiliar with this style of beer though. It was intensely hoppy in its flavor which for me was a bit of a turn off but I'm still getting used to hoppy tasting beers. I could make out some citrus notes and the beer had a very crisp, clean finish.

The Sister Imperial IPA

The next one up was the Wandering Wheat which was rather refreshing to me after such a hoppy beer, but again, that's personal preference. The wheat was gold and cloudy in appearance with a thin white head. It had a very mild scent to it with mild wheat and bread notes. A very smooth beer, it had a sweet flavor to it and a nice clean finish. It had a citrus quality to it as well.

Wandering Wheat

The next beer I had was the Interurban IPA. The color was slightly darker than the Imperial IPA with a thin white head. Once again, all I could really smell was pine and hops but it was far milder than the Imperial IPA. The flavor had some citrus notes but also quite a bit of hops to me. It was more enjoyable than the Imperial but still not my favorite of the evening. The finish was clean and crisp and the flavor lingered just a little bit with some hops.

Interurban IPA

The next one on the list was the Universale Pale Ale. Now, I know in the picture above the Troll Porter would appear to be next in line but with all these hoppy beers I wanted a malty one to finish. But, alas, I digress. Visually, this beer was hard to tell apart from the Interurban IPA. They are similarly colored. The flavor, however, was a bit different. While still hoppy, this was a much more accessible beer to those of us who don't enjoy hops. It was citrusy with a mild hops flavor. It had a mild flavor lingering at the end but was very pleasant.

Universale Pale Ale

The final beer of the night was actually not from Fremont's Brewery but from another local Seattle brewery, Hale's Ales. This was their Troll Porter in nitro which is a style I'm growing to really enjoy. The beer poured near black in color with a light tan/beige head that stayed the length of the beer. The smell was coffee and very sweet malts. The taste was rich dark chocolate with some coffee notes. The beer was sweet but not overly so and very smooth with light carbonation due in part to the nitro.

Nitro Troll Porter

Overall, this outing was fantastic. Everything about the experience, the beer, the people, the atmosphere, made it truly enjoyable. The pricing was just right. The Harvest Ale was $4 for the pint with most beers running about the same. Each sampler glass of beer was a dollar which I thought to be more than reasonable. The growlers ran $8 for refills and I'm not sure how much it was to buy a growler from them (anyone with that information feel free to let me know!). I purchased a 22 oz. bottle of their Summer Solstice brew for $3.75 and I'm very excited to try it. For the first night out in the Seattle area, this brewery certainly set the bar very high.

Coming soon: Widmer Brother's Hefeweizen and Big Sky Brewing Co. Moose Drool

Harpoon IPA

Now I know what you're thinking. She doesn't like hoppy beers, why is she drinking an Indian pale ale? It was the special last night, to be honest, and I hadn't had it on tap before so I thought I'd give it another shot. A friend of mine and I went to Friday's for appetizers and drinks last night because I was being stubborn and wasn't hungry for real food.

I would like to say that I wasn't skeptical. I would like to say that I was terribly gung-ho about the opportunity to once again give hoppy beers another chance, but I wasn't. I was being cheap and it ended up being a pale ale. So I got it and was a bit hesitant but fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised by my own reaction.

This particular one was made by Harpoon Brewery. This brewery opened in 1986 and currently has two locations, Boston, MA and Windsor, VT. Their IPA is one of seven year round brews made by the company.  According to their website, their IPA is modeled after the original English IPA that was created to bring beer over to America in the unrefrigerated vessels available way back when.

Hops: Perhaps the former bane of my existence? 

I took a few sips, not really believing that I was enjoying this hoppy beer. Who was I? What was wrong with me? No matter what the question was, the answer always seem to come back to "It doesn't matter, this is delicious." The beer was hoppy, as IPAs are. It was a very light beer, that is to say it didn't feel like it was filling me up like some of the other beers I enjoy. The finish was clean though very bitter and hoppy in flavor. It lingered in the mouth much like the Hop Sun but dissipated much faster.  

As the picture shows, though not very well, the beer was very light gold and when poured from the draft it had a nice, bright, white head on it. The price was perfect for what we were doing at $4 for a pint but it was on special that night. I would undoubtedly drink this again, even if it wasn't on special. Does this make me a convert? Not necessarily. Does it make me want to try other hoppy beers and see how I like them? Absolutely.