Every trip I take begins with the mapping out of local breweries. This week I am vacationing in Chautauqua Lake, located in Western New York, with my fiancée’s family. Along the road-trip from Boston to Chautauqua lie two of the east coast’s greatest breweries Southern Tier and Ommegang. This week I will focus on the prior.

Since Lakewood, New York is home to one of my all-time favorite craft breweries this was a must stop. When I think of amazing imperial stouts I think Southern Tier Brewing Company. My first encounter with the brewery was with their Pumking. Appropriately named considering it is the king of all imperial pumpkin beer (fact, not opinion, ok opinion, but still). If you have had this beer – if not, shame on you – and agree of its greatness then you should trust that the beer I am about to suggest is an absolute must buy…

About The Beer:

The Southern Tier Crème Brûlée Imperial Milk Stout is brewed with pale malt, dark caramel malt, vanilla bean, lactose sugar, and kettle hops – you get the picture – this defines dessert beer. If you live in the area you can pick up a growler, but if not, you may find this beer either on tap or in a 22 oz. bottle. For an imperial stout, it comes in about average at 9.6% ABV. If you have ever eaten crème brûlée before then you already know what this beer tastes like. This is its 22oz boozy sibling.

In A Nutshell:

Southern Tier’s Crème Brûlée Imperial Milk Stout is an absolute must buy. This beer is top of its class and does not disappoint. Find it and buy it.

Review:

Seldom do I find a beer that has that “it” factor. That thing that grabs you and shakes you and makes you wonder why it is, that before today, you have been clueless it ever existed. Saturday I was shaken after taking my first sip of a Crème Brûlée Imperial Milk Stout fresh off the brewery’s private taps at the end of their bottling line. The sweet flavors lather the tongue in a silky deliciousness. I realize that deliciousness is a technical beer nut term so let me break that down a bit. In this case it is defined as the specific combination of malt, caramel, vanilla, and sugar sweetness. Next time you are looking for a dessert beer pairing for your grilled chicken, steaks, or burgers give this one a shot.

Rating:

5 out of 5

On a side note, if you are interested check out some of the pictures I snapped from the tour. We lucked out and winded up taking the tour on the day of their annual Summer Fest. For the record though keg bowling is way more difficult than it looks.

After staying coastal for a few weeks, I was pretty jazzed to make my first trip ever to Colorado, and better yet, to Denver.  Regarded as one of the best beer cities, I knew I was in for something amazing and the Centennial State definitely delivered.

All I can really say about Colorado is this: there is a spirit in the beer community there that I feel is unmatched anywhere else (and I don’t think it was the altitude talking). Nothing seems to be off limits or unexplored.  If there is something you want in a beer, you can probably find a brewery in Colorado that does it. The breadth of interest and variety in beer is mind blowing, not to mention the incredible folks that comprise the beer community.  Without further ado, the highlights…

Upon arriving in Denver, I drove straight from the airport up to Fort Collins to visit New Belgium Brewing, the third largest craft brewery in the US.  I am lucky enough to know one of the head brewers (and sour beer guru) Eric, who has been at New Belgium for 16 years, and was kind enough to give me an epic tour of the ins and outs of the brewery.

They are rockin’ a serious operation up in Fort Collins, as one might expect at 680,000 barrels annually.  New Belgium’s signature Fat Tire Amber ale headlines their array of classic brews along with the Ranger IPA, Sunshine Wheat and others.  In addition there is a seriously impressive line-up of complex and intriguing brews coming out of New Belgium.  La Terroir is a dry-hopped sour ale that has a sort of citrusy and earthy sourness.  Another, La Folie, is a sour brown ale aged in oak barrels and has some granny smith apple flavors happening. Sour as hell and totally delicious.

Eric also introduced me to a little (seriously little) and very young brewery down the street called Funkwerks, which focuses on saisons.  This place is super tiny, rocking a taproom in the front and a baby brewing space in the back. We tried their classic saison as well as their chardonnay barrel aged saison, which adds some oaky and vanilla flavors to the sour base.

A little bit older and wiser, Great Divide has a really cool space in a cool part of town, and a great tour.  They started in 1994 with no commercial brewing experience and produced 300 barrels in their first year. Now they are up to 20,000 barrels a year and hope to up that to 30,000 for 2011. The Colette Saison offered a really great spicy, herbaceous flavor, while their Oak-aged Yeti Imperial Stout came out with the big roasty, carmelized flavors and vanilla notes.

I also spent some time in Boulder, starting at Avery Brewing Company.  What started as a father-son homebrewing team has grown into a brewery best known for Ellie’s Brown Ale, White Rascal, or even their DuganA IPA.  All great stand-bys, but I had the chance to try some special stuff that I hadn’t seen before: the Out of Bounds Stout on cask, and their 17th Anniversary Dry-hopped Black Lager.  The stout was so crazy silky, nutty, and chocolatey, and had this great almost piney bitter finish.  The Black Lager was a oaky and hoppy ending with a super clean finish. Amazingly balanced in all.

Twisted Pine is a little spot owned by a guy affectionately known as “Twisted Bob,” a homebrewer who opened Twisted Pine 15 years ago.  This place for me was a bit of a surprise, off the beaten path and hosting what seemed to be a steady stream of regulars.  Great beer though, including a brew called Billy’s Chilies brewed with jalapeño, habanero, fresno, serrano and anaheim chilies, as well as the Hoppy Knight Black IPA, with a beautiful balance of piney bitterness and roasty malt flavor.

Finally my friend in Boulder introduced me to Mountain Sun, a cool little brewpub that may have taken the cake for some of the best beer I tried in Colorado.  Their Old School Dry Irish Stout was super dry and clean with that lovely roasty burnt character balanced by a hoppy tinge at the end.  Their FYIPA (a local favorite as I understand) is a pretty basic but über delicious IPA, with that citrusy and piney hop flavor that is kinda hard to beat.  They’re making the kind of beers you come back to again and again.

All in all, the beer culture in Colorado was fantastic, complex, varied, and awesome enough to convince me to move to Denver.  So perhaps I am a little biased, but I’d bet that if one were to try a craft beer from Colorado, one wouldn’t be disappointed.  That’s the beauty of this state: there is a little something for everyone, and in this surge of craft beer excellence there has never been a better time to raise a pint.

The second leg of my beer journey took me to the West Coast, visiting San Diego, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco area (Seattle and Portland had to be saved for a separate trip).  But as far as California is concerned, the craft beer culture is thriving and the level of innovation and experimentation is high.  It seems to be the trend in the West; in a culture of hop-heads and extremists, crazy big beers reign the tap lists.

I visited a small sampling of breweries when you consider that California is home to hundreds of them.  Across the board, every brewery is focusing on re-defining the classic beers we’re used to, and coming up with some seriously complex and adventurous new beers to wet our palate.  As always a few stood out amongst the rest.

Stone Brewing, notorious for their big crazy beers with names like “Arrogant Bastard,” has made a name for themselves in the vein of hoppy and aggressive brews. These big brews dominate the market out there, which is evidenced by Stone’s recent announcement of a $26 million expansion.  The stand out for me was the Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale, an American Black Ale coming in at 8.7% that starts with a yummy brown sugar aroma and pulls through with a nice balance between malty, hoppy, and a roasty toasty finish.  With boldly hopped beers and equally bold marketing campaigns (“It’s not expensive, you’re cheap”) Stone has created a great deal of space in craft brewing for these irreverent beers.

Another SoCal brewery that deserves serious recognition is The Bruery in Placentia, CA.  Being only three years old and producing around 2,700 barrels annually, The Bruery’s presence in craft beer culture across the country is impressive to say the least. Packaging in 750mL bottles (no six-packs for these guys!) gives them an edge of exclusivity, and it’s fitting since they are making incredibly interesting and innovative beers. The Loakal Red, an oak-aged American red ale, offered a round, woody, and malty experience, while the Mischief (a Belgian golden strong ale) cask-conditioned with saffron is a spicy, herbaceous, and citrusy kick in the head (in a good way).  Or take their Black Tuesday, a 20% ABV imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels for over a year.  Everything The Bruery is brewing is complex, delicious and pushes the envelope.  You won’t find a flagship IPA from these brewers, they are more interested in developing a new definition of California craft beer, and doing a pretty good job at that.

If you head up north to the Bay area you’ll find some like-minded individuals, especially at a little brewery called Russian River.  Located in Santa Rosa, you won’t find any of their beers distributed out east, to the dismay of many.  Just like The Bruery, Russian River is pushing the boundaries, brewing with wild yeasts and bacteria like lactobacillus and pediococcus. The still have their signature IPAs to appease the hop-heads, as well as a triple IPA Pliny the Elder only released once a year.  I was lucky enough to try the Elder at Toronado in San Francisco, and even at 11% ABV, the hoppy and citrusy triple IPA is clean and goes down oh so easily.  They also have their Belgian beer series, which features beers like Defenestration, Supplication, Sanctification, Consecration, and Redemption.  Without a doubt, my favorite was the Supplication: a brown ale aged in pinot noir barrels with sour cherries, brettanomyces, lactobacillus, and pediococcus.  The cherries come straight through on the aroma, the barrels provide a nice oaky flavor while balancing the sourness from all the yeast and bacteria strains.  Again, some crazy things happen when you throw wild yeast and bacteria in to the mix, but Russian River is nothing short of eager to cross those lines for the sake of great beer.

Going from the first part of my trip on the East to the West Coast was a bit of a shock to the palate, but also quite fascinating.  A friend suggested that perhaps California crowds are more open to extreme beers because they don’t have to face the extremes of East Coast weather, which the more I think about, the more it makes sense.  Regardless, these breweries are listening to and answering the call for creative and experimental beers that define craft beer culture on the beautiful left coast.

If a little sign wasn’t hanging from the top of the building, you’d never even know Brooklyn Brewery was there. Since 1988, Brooklyn has distributed its beer from New York to Texas, and many states in between. On site, Brooklyn only brews about 20-30% of its product, concentrating mainly on their big bottle series (such as the Local 1 and Local 2), along with some more experimental brews. Our tour guide walked us through a quick educational lesson about the main ingredients in beer, the brewing process, and then walked us through the history of the brewery, highlighting the story behind their logo. The tour itself is very short, but everyone is encouraged to stick inside the brew house for 10-15 minutes, take a look at the equipment, and ask more questions as needed. You can even bring your beer from the pub to the tour!

Speaking of beer…no tasting? Unfortunately, Brooklyn does not do a traditional tasting at the end of the tour. However, there is a small “pub” inside the premises that carries a small selection of Brooklyn beers on tap. You can buy drink tokens (most beers are one token, specialty brews are two tokens) for $4 each, or 6 for $20. They do not serve food, but do allow visitors to bring their own goods or have food delivered (they’ll even supply local menus!).

My favorite part of the tour? A little (read: fat) cat named Monster (yes, named after the Monster Ale). Not all tour guides tell the story, but another employee was willing to answer our question as to why there was a cat at the merch/token booth judging us as we walked in. As the story goes, when the brewery was first setting up shop in its current location, the owners befriended a stray neighborhood cat. This cat eventually because “the brewery cat,” and has stuck around since. Don’t worry, she’s not hanging out around the bar, nor does it seem he’s interested in anything going on. Overall, Brooklyn Brewery is a great brewery to visit if you want a laid back experience that introduces you to what happens in larger scale beer production.

Last Saturday Beeriety & Girls’ Pint Out got 45 of our closest friends together for a private tour of the Sam Adams Brewery in Boston. It was a great chance to see old friends, meet new ones and learn a thing or two about beer. A great time was had by all.

Our tour started with a visit to the ingredients room, where we learned a little something about what goes into beer. Long time readers of our site should be familiar with the basics about what’s in beer and how it gets made, but it was great to see some of the ingredients up close to see smell and taste what beer is made of.

Next we got to take a visit to the Barrel Room, a special section of the brewery not usually shown on tours. It was really exciting to see where a lot of Sam Adams’ special releases like Utopias and their Barrel Room series are aged in handmade wooden barrels.

After that it was off to the tasting room we were got to sample some of the brewery’s classic beers as well as some new ones. While we were there we got to take a few sips of Brick Red, a special draft only brew only available in the Boston area, the profits of which go towards charity. However, the real highlight was getting to taste their Farmhouse Ale, a brand new beer in the Belgian saison style which Sam Adams will hopefully be releasing later this year. The beer was light and crisp while still being full bodied. It should make for a great brew during the warmer months.

Trying all of that beer made us a bit hungry, so we all went down the street to historic Doyle’s Cafe, the first place Sam Adams was sold commercially, for a little brunch. Doyle’s was nice enough to give us the entire back room. It was a great chance to chat with fellow beer lovers and munch on some tasty food.

All and all it was a great morning. We couldn’t have asked for a better turn out or nicer people at Sam Adams and Doyle’s. A special thanks to everyone who braved the cold and snow to join us. We’re hoping for a similar experience at our event next week at The Haven pub in Jamaica Plain. If you’re around next Thursday from 6-8pm you should be sure to join us for some Scottish beers and food. Check here for details.

Special thanks To Stephen Folkins for the photos.

With all of this in mind, and the fact that the brewery is located right in Boston, we felt it was only fitting that Beeriety check the place out.

The tour starts in a room full of the brewery’s history:

Some of The Boston Beer Company's many awards

Then we learned how beer is made and the ingredients that go in it:

Learning about the ingredients that go into their beer

Then we got to see the brewing process in action:

Touring the brewing facilities

Finally we got to taste the end result of all this brewing magic. They were as fresh as you’re going to get:

Sampling the freshest Sam Adams around in their tasting room

We found it to be fun, educational and full of free beer at the end. Included in the free samples at the end are a taste of Boston Brick Red, a special brew that’s available only on draft in the Boston area, sales of which help fund local charities. We also got to smell, not taste, a bottle of Utopias, Sam Adams’ special 25% alcohol by volume experimental beer, which can retail for almost 200 dollars a bottle and holds the Guinness World Record for strongest beer in the world; it was a real treat. The best part of course is that the whole thing is free. If you’re in the Boston area, do yourself a favor and check out the tour for yourself.

To see more photos of our trip to Sam Adams take a look at our photo set on flickr.

None of us knew quite what to expect when we made the long trek from Boston to Delaware, but we were all pleased by what we found at the brewery in Milton.  You’re allowed to get quite an intimate look at the brewing facilities and learn quite a bit of the company’s history. Besides brash innovation and experimentation one of the qualities which Dogfish Head is known for is it’s rapid growth and expansion. Even amidst the current economic downturn around the country, the brewery has steadily grown in size, at the staggering rate of 40% per year in the last few years. When we pulled up to the brewery the first thing we noticed was the evidence of construction. Clearly Dogfish Head’s “Off-centered ales for off-centered people” has come a long way from its early days.

Dogfish Head brewery's Sir Hops Alot

The tour begins with a look at Dogfish Head’s humble beginnings. When Sam Calagione opened the brewery in 1995 it was the smallest commercial brewery in America. On display is the very first brewing setup he used to make beer, which looks almost antiquated in it’s simplicity and small size. In the beginning  it took Calagione and a co-worker 10 hours to bottle just 100 cases of beer, today they are the country’s 21st largest brewery, producing  almost 2.5 million gallons of beer a year. Also on view is “Sir Hops A Lot” a device designed by  Calagione to allow for continuous hopping of beer during the brewing process, which makes his famous 60 Minute IPA and other continuously hopped beers possible.

In addition to the innovation Calagione has brought to new beers which defy categorization, he’s also innovated new brewing processes. Besides “Sir Hops A Lot” Calagione has also built “Randall the Enamel Animal,” which is described as a organoleptic hop transducer module (whatever that means). Basically beer leaving a keg passes through Randall, a cylinder full of hops and a filter, re-hopping the beer once more before it reaches your glass.

Dogfish Head brewery's fermentation tanks

The tour continues with a look at the many barrels and bright tanks which produce the beer which has become so loved by so many beer drinkers, including  a wooden barrel made from palo santo (holy wood in Spanish), a rare type of wood from Paraguay which is so dense it sinks in water, making it the perfect vessel to contain fermenting beer. The barrel is fifteen feet high and ten feet in diameter, and holds nine thousand gallons.

After getting to explore most of the brewing facilities we were provided with four beer samples, Shelter Pale Ale, Midas Touch, Raison d’etre and Indian Brown Ale. Three samples is the maximum the state allows. Our tour guide implored us to contact Delaware state representatives to plead for a more samples, but in the meantime we were happy to try the beer we were provided with.

Dogfish Head brews & eats at Rohobeth Beach

After the brewery tour we headed 20 minutes south to Reboboth Beach, home to Dogfish Head Brewings and Eats, a popular brewpub near the boadwalk which, in addition to quality pub food and Dogfish Head brews also serves Dogfish Head vodka, rum and gin produced at the brewpub’s micro-distillery. When we arrived on Saturday night the place was crowded and lively, with The Neon Swing, a swing band playing in back. The brewpub usually offers a few beers not typically available in stores. By the time we got there that night several of these special brews had already been tapped, but what we did try was delightful, and probably the freshest Dogfish Head any of us had ever had.

While we were there we also got to meet a reader, Vinnie, who spotted our offer to buy someone a round at the restaurant on Twitter. We were happy to meet him and and his wife, and happy to buy him a round.

All and all it was a great trip, and certainly worth the trip if you’re some place near by. Free tours are offered daily, check Dogfish.com for more information. To see more photos from the Dogfish Head brewery tour and our trip to Delaware check out the Beeriety trip to Delaware flickr set…

On Friday afternoon, Carleton, Ryan, Chris, and I left Boston behind us and hit the road for my home-town of Dover. We got into Delaware just before 10:00pm and decided to stop off in Newark for some food and a few beers at my favorite college haunts, Iron Hill Brewery. Iron Hill is a small, Delaware-based Brewpub chain with locations in DE, PA and recently NJ, known for their award-winning beers and their innovative cuisine (cheesesteak egg rolls? Yeah, they have that.)

The house flight at Iron Hill Brewery

Each of the guys got a flight, which consisted of 4 oz. pour of all EIGHT of their current taps, plus an additional pour of their cask-conditioned Pig-Iron Porter. [As the driver, I limited myself to one pint of their delicious Vienna Red Lager. Safety first.] The list consisted of their year-round brews and several seasonals, including a German Pilsner, a Hefeweizen and a Belgian Witbier brewed with coriander and orange-peel. Our waitress was knowledgeable and helpful, taking special care to explain the characteristics of each different beer-type (often offering comparisons to more well-known brews), what to look for when sampling each one, and a suggested-order for tasting specific beers. All in all, Iron Hill provided us with an excellent jump-start to a very beer-filled weekend!

Stay tuned for Carleton’s take on DFH’s Brewery and Brewpub!

American Craft Beer Fest

On Saturday, Team Beeriety and some friends including Susie from We Are Not Martha headed down to the American Craft Beer Festival on Boston’s waterfront. It was an amazing array of 75 American brewers with over 300 different craft beers to sample. There was a lot of unusual beers and beer lovers at the festival and we did our best to check out as many of them as we could.

Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project

The beer was fantastic and while we all had our individual favorites, there was a general consensus that Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project was the break away star. Considering this small brewery run by a husband and wife team has only been around for about a year their beers show an astounding amount of sophistication and deliciousness. Their labels also live up to their name as some of the prettiest I’ve seen in awhile. They are surely a brewer to keep an eye on.

Brooklyn Brewery

Another favorite was Brooklyn Brewery’s Intensified Coffee Stout. Brooklyn has long been one of the most prominent craft brewers in America and this new brew showcases why. I’ve known and loved many coffee stouts, but never have I tried anything that so thoroughly captured the taste and mouthful of French press coffee and stout.

For a more detailed look at what beers grabbed our attentions take a look at our individual favorite lists:

Carleton:

• Brooklyn Brewery – Intensified Coffee Stout
• Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project – Baby Tree
• Ithaca Beer Co. – Cascazilla
• Cambridge Brewing Co. – Imperial Skisbsøl
• Dogfish Head Brewery – Sah’ Tea

Chris:

• Brooklyn Brewery – Intensified Coffee Stout
• Southern Tier Brewing Co. – Jah-va
• Watch City Brewing Co. – HellHammer Oatmeal Stout
• Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project – Cofounded Mister Sisyphus
• Terrapin Beer Co. – India Style Brown Ale

Erin:

• Ithaca Beer Co. – Flower Power IPA
• Southern Tier Brewing Co. – Imperial IPA.
• Victory Brewing Co. – Wild Devil
• Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project – Jack D’or
• Terrapin Beer Co. – Sunray

Ryan:

• Brooklyn Brewery – Intensified Coffee Stout
• Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project – Baby Tree
• Brewery Ommegang – Three Philosophers
• Left Hand Brewing Co. – Oak Aged Imperial Stout
• Southern Tier Brewing Co. – Cherry Saison

Susie (from We Are not Martha):

• Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project – Baby Tree
• Terrapin Beer Co. – Side Project 90 Shelling
• Brooklyn Brewery – Intensified Coffee Stout
• Dogfish Head Craft Brewery – Midas Touch
• Left Hand Brewing C0. – JuJu Ginger

Woody Chandler, Beer Monk

There was also plenty of interesting people in attendance, like Woody Chandler, the ‘beer monk’.

Pretzel Necklaces were all the rage

Several people also had curiously placed a necklace of pretzels around their necks, which I’d never seen before but seems like a great way to snack while keeping two hands free for beer. We’ll have more on the beer fest and exclusive interviews from the floor with brewers and attendees alike once we have a chance to sort through it all.

Until then check out the rest of the photos from the fest on the Beeriety Flickr account and let us know if you attended and what you were drinking in the comments!