Beeriety is now on indefinite hiatus. Since we began the site in 2008 we’ve had a lot of fun and learned a lot about beer, but it’s time for the team to take a break and work on some other projects. Thanks to everyone who has kept up with us over the years. It’s been a real pleasure.
Cheers,
The Beeriety Team
The Great American Beer Festival, the second largest beer festival in the world took place last month and I had the good fortune of attending this year’s festivities. Celebrating their 30th anniversary this year, the GABF tickets sold out in record time, clocking in with 49,000 attendees. There were 466 breweries at the festival, serving 2,375 different beers, and 238 medals were awarded, including 18 to breweries entering the competition for the first time. In a word, it was EPIC.
About the beer: Ah yes, the crisp air of the fall season can only mean two things for beer lovers: 1. Pumpkin flavored everything & 2. Oktoberfest style beers! Being a native New Englander means being lucky enough to experience all four seasons, but it also comes with the unapologetic love for all of the Sam Adams seasonal varietals. And what’s not to love about a new beer for every season?
About: 
Like many people who grew up in the Mid-Atlantic, Yuengling holds a very special place in my heart. But much like our love of good cheesesteaks and Wawa, there’s just something about our Yuengling fever that seems to get lost in translation. What’s so special about it anyway? Well, whether you grew up in Yuengling country or not, chances are you may know that Yuengling is the oldest American-owned brewery operating today. Opened in 1829 by German emigrant David G. Yuengling in Pottsville, PA, the Yuengling brewery survived Prohibition by brewing non-alcoholic “near beer” and opening a dairy to supplement their income. The brewery is still owned and operated by the family to this day.
Review: It’s hard for me to be objective about this beer, but I’ll do my best. It pours a beautiful medium-amber color with good carbonation but very little smell. It’s got clean, biscuity cereal grain flavors; it’s low on hops and well balanced. Even using my most stringent beer-criteria, I really can’t find much to criticize here. Traditional lagers are frequently a fairly uncomplicated beer style, and this is no exception. But it’s flavorful, delicious, refreshing – everything about it rubs me the right way. Is the most amazing beer in the world? Or even the best and most perfect incarnation of a lager? Probably not. But is it a great beer for a lazy afternoon? At 4.4 % ABV and a price pretty close to Miller and Bud, it might be the perfect beer for a lazy afternoon – especially in the Mid-Atlantic, where Yuengling will always be king. It’s as American apple pie, baseball, and well, beer. Rumor has it, it’s even President Obama’s favorite brew. What’s more American than that?
About this beer: Boulevard is a regional craft brewery located in Kansas City, Missouri. They were virtually unknown to me until this year’s American Craft Beer Fest. I didn’t get a chance to try the quad and was incredibly excited to get my hands on it. It clocks in at a healthy 10.5% ABV and is supposed to have hints of dates with a “sweet malt smell.”
About the beer: Dopplebocks are dark and strong lagers that are traditionally enjoyed in the winter months. There’s still no reason why you can’t enjoy them any time of year though so last week I cracked open a bottle I had in my small beer cellar. The one I went with, Smuttynose S’Muttonator is a great example of this traditional style, but with an American twist.
In a Nutshell: Smuttynose S’muttonator is a great American take on a classic German style.
Review: Smuttynose has long been a favorite New England brewery of mine. While they are mostly known for more conservative fair like pale ales, when they do bolder styles in their Big Beer series they never disappoint. The S’Muttonator is no different. It’s a big, bold, nutty beer that tastes great. While dopplebocks are meant to be strong beers, both in their flavor and alcohol, I’ve often found many of them a bit too sweet to really get into. The S’muttonator does a nice job balancing out the sweeter qualities with just a kiss of hops, making it a beer I think anyone could enjoy.
Rating: 4 out of 5
(Photo by Dan Larson)
About this beer: Scotland’s Belhaven brewery is known for a.) being around almost literally forever. and b.) for making simply stunning beers that exemplify Scottish brewing. Their beers are usually nothing short of stunning, I have yet to have a bad beer on draft. I decided to see if their beers bottled would be as fine an example of good beers. I was far from right. I chose the Scottish stout, which when on draft ranks in my top ten of beers, it’s chocolaty,sweet and creamy. It has one of the most amazing mouth-feels ever. In the bottle? not so much.
In A nutshell: Seek this beer out on draft. Avoid the bottled version at all costs.
Review:When I picked up the bottle I was excited, it was jet black. In my mind the brewery went past brown bottles and made a black one! how cool is that? Only once I left the store did I realize that the beer was in fact in a clear bottle, something that would have had a great effect on my purchase.(Clear bottles let more light through than brown bottles and tend to skunk beers quicker.) When I cracked it I had hoped that the beer would have survived the trip across the sea and was still drinkable. It passed the test but barely. The pour was perfect, a great creamy head and jet black color. The aroma was off though, there was just a hint of that sweet malty smell that the draft version had and was left with a borderline skunked smell. (I have yet to be able to put the smell of skunked beer into words, easiest way…go buy a Heineken and smell it once cracked.) This effected everything in the beer; the taste had overtones of a beer going bad. I could still get the chocolate taste as well as the malt backing but ti jsut wasn’t strong enough. The beer’s body was incredibly thin and unsatisfying.
Rating: 2 out of 5
(Photo by K. Graham)
My all time favorite style is the sour ale, but I often find that I cycle through the “other style” I second-most enjoy, much like the turning of the seasons, although often out of sync with them. These days, I’ve been all about porters. A category of beer associated with bold flavors, complex notes of fruits and chocolates, and a certain smoothness and richness to the character under the right circumstances, the porter is a very versatile beer and, if you’re drinking the right one, can be an absolute treat to the discerning taster. To mark my reverence of the style, I decided to look at not one but two porters this week.
Firestone Walker Reserve Porter: Officially called Walker’s Reserve, this porter is unreal from the first sip. There’s a lavish, velvety texture to it that inundates you with a complex variety of flavors. Notes of caramel and bitter chocolate are the easiest to find, but a deeper look reveals a hint of spice that leaves you with a fantastically dry finish. Despite its hearty character and intricate flavor, it is still in every respect a porter. Unlike extreme breweries that rely upon style hopping to make something unique, Firestone Walker manage to stay true to the style while still creating something genuinely fantastic .
Samuel Smith Taddy Porter: I’ve had to convince many a friend to try the Taddy Porter. My elevator pitch is, “It tastes like beer chocolate milk.” If someone isn’t excited by that premise, I don’t want to know them. The Taddy Porter is a classic example of an English porter. Brewed with well water, the Taddy Porter is sweet and satisfying. It doesn’t reveal flavors as layered and convoluted as the Reserve Porter, but it doesn’t need to. It’s a simple beer, for people who simply want one thing; an incredible brew.
In a Nutshell: Each fantastic in its own right, the SS Taddy Porter beats out the FW Reserve Porter for reasons far too complex to explain.
Verdict: I don’t know how to summarize this outcome. I love the Reserve Porter. I drink it with an ear to ear grin on my face. It’s wild, and different, while still being the exact beer I need it to be. However, I must choose the Taddy Porter, because unlike the Reserve, the Taddy Porter feels more like a drink for the soul, and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters to me.
About: Michigan’s Jolly Pumpkin is perhaps best known for their American take on traditional Belgian and French styles like saisons and bière de garde. Jolly Pumpkin is also known for a characteristic tart-ness of many of their beers, and those of us who love sours are big fans of their work. Much of that characteristic flavor comes not only from their yeasts but from their particular aging process – all of Jolly Pumpkin’s beers are matured in oak barrels before being re-yeasted and left to bottle-condition.
Billed as a Dark Farmhouse Ale, the Bam Noire asserts that it’s ”Dedicated to the dark side.” Let’s find out.
About: Craft beer isn’t exactly the first thing one thinks when one thinks of New Jersey. There are however a number of fine craft breweries in the Garden State. Today we’re going to take a look at a brew from River Horse Brewing Co. out of Lambertville, NJ.
