New Planet Off Grid Pale Ale

So for this post I did something a little different. My mom recently found out she is gluten intolerant. She, like many of us, enjoyed a good beer from time to time but no longer can. I've been on a bit of a mission to find a decent gluten free beer and this one caught my eye on my last trip to the beer store.

New Planet's Off Grid Pale Ale boasted a higher hop rating from the store I was in than other beers I usually drink. So considering they also boast being a gluten free beer, I was very much intrigued. I bought two, one for myself and one for my mom to see if it satisfied her craving for real beer. Neither of us were disappointed. 

As you can see, the beer is a dark amber color and poured with a nice, cream colored head. The nose was light but fruity with a few malt notes evident across it. The mouth feel was very similar to a regular beer. It wasn't thin like some other gluten free beers I've had. The flavor was what really sold it though. While not identical to beer, it did bear a strong resemblance to beer. It had a hoppy, slightly bitter flavor to it with a strong hop finish. There was a slightly unpleasant aftertaste to it but it wasn't unpalatable. It was on par with a normal beer's finish. So for any one out there looking for a good gluten free beer, I would strongly recommend this one. 

I found it at Half-Time Beverage store in Poughkeepsie, NY. It was $2.59 a bottle which is on the pricey end for beer for them but definitely worth it as an alternative to regular beer for those who can't have. 

Brooklyn Summer Ale

So life got a little crazy these past few months and despite the fact that I tried some wonderful beers, I just didn't have the time to write about them. Things are calming down now so we're going to try to start things up again here.

About a week ago, my sister and I were on our way to get some beer for a party we were going to when we got distracted by a display of this year's summer beers. Among them were several cases of Brooklyn Brewery's Summer Ale which we scrambled to purchase. This is a beer we both enjoy a great deal and look forward to every year.

Brooklyn's Summer Ale is an English style Pale Ale which tends to have more malt notes than its American and Indian counterparts. Brooklyn's holds true to this in the actual flavor of the beer. I put this beer into my standard pint glass and it poured a gold color with a bright white head. The nose of the beer was hoppy and floral with just a hint of fruitiness. The flavor of the beer was surprisingly mild with a good mixture of hop and malt notes. There was a bit of citrus to it as well giving it a very crisp texture. The finish was clean and left you looking for more.

A very solid beer, in my opinion, that is accessible to both people who enjoy and do not enjoy the hoppy IPAs. A great start to summer and I look forward to continuing this blog for awhile to come.

Smuttynose Star Island Single

So for Christmas this year, I asked for fancy beer glasses because I was trying to be a little bit cooler this year. Put the beers I try in the correct type of glass when I try them to give them a proper chance when I review them. The set I picked out was from Spiegelau and my aunt got them for me from Amazon. I got them about a week and a half ago and was very excited to use them. Turns out, the jokes on me and I put this beer in the wrong glass, but alas, I digress.

Last week I had the opportunity to try a beer from Smuttynose Brewing Co., their Star Island Single. This is a Session Ale. I've also seen it listed as a Belgian Pale ale and at first glance, tomato tomato (which works much better when said aloud). However, after a bit of research I discovered that session ales are beers that are very drinkable with an alcohol content that is below 5.0% ABV. This definition disqualifies Star Island Single as a session ale by just a touch as its alcohol content is 5.1% ABV. Almost only counts in horseshoes and hangrenades, after all. The other part of the definition, however, is a beer that is well balanced in both malt and hops making it very drinkable to all parties. In this, Star Island Single succeeded.

This beer, on a whole, was unoffensive. I don't like coriander much as a spice and I could definitely tell coriander was used in this beer so it took away from what could have been a perfectly fine session ale for me. The beer poured a very pale gold color with a bright white head. The new glass I used was the lager glass instead of the tulip glass which was a rookie mistake (I'm sorry). The glass did show off some very nice lacing of the head, which was well retained throughout the beer's duration. The nose was very yeasty with some light floral and citrus notes. The flavor of the beer was very well balanced. It drinks a bit like a pilsner. It was also very yeasty and the coriander notes were evident here in the citrus notes of the beer. The finish was clean, no flavors really lingered.

Sorry for the fuzziness, it didn't look like this on the camera

As we all know, I can take forever to finish a beer. This beer was the same in flavor from start to finish with no remarkable changes as the beer warmed up. Overall, it was a solid beer. I didn't particularly care for it because of the coriander but I think its a very accessible beer otherwise. This beer I bought at Half-Time Beverages of Poughkeepsie. Their address is linked in the location and their website is in the name.

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!

Brouwerij Huyghe Delirium Tremmens

Happy Birthday to me!

Today, in celebration of my birthday, I wanted to get myself something special. While wandering around the local beer distributor in my town, I decided I wanted something with a cork on it. I also decided I wanted something that reeked of celebration with its label. Needless to say, Brouwerij Huyghe served that purpose with its dancing pink elephants on the label.

But how could you say no to dancing pink elephants

This brewery opened in 1654 located in Melle, Belgium. Unfortunately, Belgium is not on my planned stop during my trip to Europe this summer but perhaps I'll be able to visit someday. It's a family run company that has plenty of history in the area. This particular beer I bought was bottled around March 2010 so that puts it at more than a year and a half old. Perfect aging, in my book at least.

The beer poured a pale yellow with a bright white head that took the entire length of the beer to dissipate. The nose was very similar to champagne. It was very bright while being surprisingly mellow considering the ABV is supposed to be 8.5% ABV though it may have been a bit stronger when I got to it. The flavor of the beer was nice. It was well balanced with an almost champagne like quality to the flavor. There was a good citrus quality to it as well. The finish had a little bit of alcohol to it. The bottle ran me $10.49 for 25.9 ounces which is a little pricey but well worth it for my birthday.

Here's hoping you all celebrate yours in a similar manner!