OctoberQuest II - Week II

I'm a little late getting this post up, but another week's worth of Fall seasonals is in the books. A fantastic pumpkin ale was the early highlight of this week, without a doubt. There weren't many standouts otherwise, but one's bound to run into patches like this when one is in search of the ultimate Fall seasonal. To the reviews!

Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Terrapin Pumpkinfest
This is an outstanding pumpkin offering, plain and simple. The blend and balance of the pumpkin and spice is excellent. The spice taste is excellent. The sweetness is just right, while still maintaining the substantively malty body of a lager. There's no cloying or sour aftertaste. The only peculiarity came with dinner - I thought for sure the beer would only improve with barbequed pulled pork, macaroni and cheese and cornbread, but this was oddly not the case. If anything the flavors were more muted. That being said, highest marks I've given to a pumpkin beer.
4.5 out of 5 pumpkins

Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Otter Creek Oktoberfest
I've been pretty ho-hum about the few Otter Creek beers I've had. Unfortunately, this is no exception. The rich golden hue is nice, and the mix of sweet malt and German hops is pretty good, but it's mired by a metallic aftertaste. Simply put, I've had much worse, but I've had much better.
2.5 out of 5 pumpkins

Thursday, October 10, 2013
River Horse Brewing Co Hipp-O-Lantern Imperial Pumpkin Ale
I knew coming into this beer that I would have to be in 'Imperial Mode,' but this *still* put me on my heels. The alcohol bite is very harsh despite a fairly standard (for an imperial) 8.1% ABV. I catch just a hint of pumpkin at the very first split second, and a reasonably creamy body on the mouthfeel, but the alcohol heat just overwhelms. First imperial pumpkin I haven't particularly cared for.
2 out of 5 pumpkins

Friday, October 11, 2013
Blue Point Brewing Co Oktoberfest
Fresh off a ho-hum Oktoberfest, this is....a ho-hum Oktoberfest. Nice head, but the color is surprisingly light for the style. The mouthfeel is way short on taste, and there's a funky aftertaste that I can't even place. Overall, a wholly nondescript entry. Can't win 'em all.
2 out of 5 pumpkins

Saturday, October 12, 2013
Dukes Tailgate Edition II!
Samuel Adams Harvest Pumpkin Ale
The pumpkin and spices were certainly front and center in this brew, but somehow it left me feeling like it was trying a little too hard. There was a little sweet aftertaste that was a little off-putting as well. Good but just not quite right. Hard to describe...
3 out of 5 pumpkins

Sunday, October 13, 2013
Left Hand Brewing Oktoberfest
Another solid Märzen. I've had a few from Left Hand that I've enjoyed (the Milk Stout is deeelicious), and this adds well to the collection. Good amber color, solid bready body. It's a touch sweet for me, but a very minor complaint. I'd certainly drink another. Not that it earns any points, but the bottle art is pretty sweet as well.
3.5 out of 5 pumpkins

Monday, October 14, 2013
Lancaster Brewing Co Baked Pumpkin Ale
This was a delightful little surprise. With such a deliberate title and label, I thought for sure that the beer would be trying way too hard on the pumpkin pie angle to actually work. Lo and behold, the taste is spot on! The spice mix is right on the money, and that 'liquid pumpkin pie' taste is executed wonderfully. That being said, my minor complaint would be that its virtues end right about there. Despite the darker-than-normal hue, there's not much of a body in the mouthfeel; all you get is that pumpkin pie taste. Don't get me wrong - I do like this beer - but I feel like I have to drink a Guinness afterwards to compensate. Also worth noting - this is a very deceptive 7.7% ABV. Almost into Imperial territory, you could get in big trouble without knowing it!
3.5 out of 5 pumpkins

Come and Get Them

It pays to have awesome friends.  My good buddy's boyfriend called us up this week and asked us if we wanted to join them on a jaunt out to Warrenton, VA, to visit a winery and help them use an Amazon Local deal they'd purchased. Into day seven of the government shutdown and eager to see the light of day, I gladly accepted.

Sunday saw us making the great hour-long trek from DC to the wilds of Virginia. Our destination was Molon Lave Vineyards. "Molon lave" is a historic ancient Greek phrase that dates back to the year 480 B.C. at the Battle of Thermopylae. (You may remember this battle from the awesome abs-and-sandals picture 300) During said battle, the opposing army's leader encouraged King Leonidas to surrender and give up his weapons. Leonidas' response? "Molon lave," or "come and get them." Yeah, so that's pretty hardcore. With a name like that, how could you go wrong?

Now for some history - Molon Lave is owned and operated by the Papadopoulos family, of whom patriarch Louis is head winemaker. Louis' experience with winemaking began in 1961, in the Kifissia suburb of Athens, Greece. Surrounded by the centuries-old vineyards, he made his first barrels of traditional red and white Greek wines. He cultivated his first small vineyard on his forty-acre farm in Corinth, alongside lemon, orange, and apricot groves. In 1984, the family relocated to Northern Virginia and opened Mediterranean Cellars in 2003. Molon Lave opened in 2009, though the vines were planted in 2003. Louis' son, Louizos, is the owner of Molon Lave, and many family members work at the vineyard as well.

Upon entering the grounds of Molon Lave, you drive through some of the active vines growing alongside of the driveway. Though Brian and I have been to many wineries, we've never seen actual grapes growing on the vine! These grapes were a deep purple and looked as th
ough they were going to plop off at any minute. Members of the staff assured us that final harvest would be occurring in the next few weekends. (I'll admit that I very naughtily stole a grape off said vines to sample and was instantly punished. There are a lot of seeds in raw grapes, as it turns out. But what I could eat was pretty good!)

The first part of the deal entitled us to an olive oil sampling. I've never seen such a thing before in our travels, so this was a treat. The olive oils for sample did not come from the winery itself, but from Laconiko Olive Oil. Laconiko olive oil is grown and pressed on an olive estate located off the sandy beaches of the Southern Peloponnese, outside of Sparta, Greece. It is then shipped stateside and has a somewhat limited distribution. (Fun fact: this is another family operation! The four Pierrakos siblings all live in Gainesville, Virginia, not too far down the road from Molon Lave.) We were able to try five flavors of oil along with the basic extra virgin olive oil - garlic, basil, lemon, rosemary and blood orange. Spoiler alert: I walked away with a bottle of the lemon, which I've been assured tastes delicious on salads and as a marinade. The oils were all super delicious and nothing like we have here. Which makes sense, because the United States (as we were told) does not have any labeling requirements on what can be called "extra virgin olive oil" unlike the rest of the world.

The second part of the deal was a winery tour. A daughter of the vineyard was our tour guide, and she was exceptionally knowledgeable and entertaining. We viewed the small and large barrel rooms, which held these beautiful 300-year-old tables from a monastery in Greece. They were so heavy that forklifts were needed to bring them into the winery itself! We were then allowed to view the cellar where the wine is actually made. Molon Lave is one of three wineries on the East Coast that makes kosher wines, so there are stringent rules and regulations they must follow when making those varieties. After that we were shown the bottling, labeling and corking stations- all of which are run by hand by members of the family. The last stop on the tour was the press pad, where the grapes are processed before moving into the vats.

After the tour we participated in a wine tasting. We were able to taste six wines, and the seasonal sangria. We started with the 2012 and 2013 chardonnays, which were just okay to me. Truth be told, I am not much of a white wine fan. The tasting then moved to the 2012 merlot, the 2011 cabernet sauvignon, and the 2010 cabernet franc. Of the three, the franc was my favorite. I love dry reds, and this really spoke to me. We finished with the 2012 autumn nectar, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like- a thick, fruity wine that was very, very sweet. I was not a fan, but again, I'm just not that fond of white wines. We were then treated to a glass of the sangria, which I believe was orange or mango juice with blueberries, ginger ale and one of the chardonnays. A very sippable beverage- I definitely could see drinking a few of these then suddenly standing and finding that there was a problem with the ground not standing still.

As part of the deal my friends were able to get two picnic baskets, which were filled with summer sausage, cheese, crackers and tasty cookies. We gladly picked up a bottle of the cabernet franc and headed up to the pavillion on the property to kick back and relax. With a beautiful view of the lake and the vines, this was truly an enjoyable way to end the afternoon. Though I didn't think any of the wines were truly outstanding, I definitely believe this is a worthwhile stop on any wine tour of the area.

OctoberQuest II - Week I

What a great start to this year's OctoberQuest! There was no shortage of highs and lows, as I've already had ratings ranging from 1.5 to 4 out of a possible 5. Without further ado, on to the reviews:

Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Shiner Oktoberfest
Just like last year, we start out the month with a Marzen. Much like several other Shiner offerings, this one is a nice easy drinker. As much credit as I give for drinkability, I have to take some points right back though - I feel a Marzen should inherently have a little more body than this one provides. Still, reasonably enjoyable.
3 out of 5 pumpkins

Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Captain Lawrence Brewing Co. Pumpkin Ale
This is more of a pumpkin amber ale, as you can immediately tell from the color. The funny thing about this brew is that you get a good solid waft of pumpkin, and the initial taste of pumpkin and spice, but after a split second it gets buried by the amber-style malt. Pumpkin ales are truly a fickle beast. I'd drink this again, but it's not *quite* where I want it to be.
3 out of 5 pumpkins

Thursday, October 3, 2013
Legend Brewing Co. Oktoberfest
What a pleasant pour! Rich dark amber color and a nice thick head. It has a smooth, malty mouthfeel with some lingering sweetness, but not cloyingly so. A fairly simple and to-the-point beer that's well executed overall.
3.5 out of 5 pumpkins

Friday, October 4, 2013
Harpoon UFO Pumpkin
Sometimes good beers come from unexpected places. I wouldn't expect a fairly unique and delicious offering from a major brewery like Harpoon, but here we are. Right off the bat, this beer had an immense head (as you can see) that lasted well into drinking - it still had a half inch at the midway point. Also, I can't recall having had an unfiltered pumpkin ale before, so the hazy brown amber coloring was somewhat different. The mouthfeel was a sweet, liquid pumpkin pie-type flavor that went down *very* smoothly. Some might call such a pumpkin pie-y flavor profile a little hacky for a beer, but I very much enjoyed it. Just when I thought my review was over, at the bottom of the glass was a little present - little flecks of pumpkin and spice, another byproduct of the unfiltered beer. Going to be hard to beat this one!
4 out of 5 pumpkins

Saturday, October 5, 2014
Dukes Tailgate Edition!
Narragansett Fest
"Hi neighbor! Have a 'Gansett!" I couldn't resist getting the Fall seasonal for what amounts to New England's version of Pabst Blue Ribbon. And for a crappy beer's Fall seasonal, it wasn't terrible! Fairly substantial body, fairly smooth. Actually tasted pretty decent with the bacon we cooked up on the grill. But let's be real here...
2 out of 5 pumpkins

Sunday, October 6, 2013
Arcadia Jaw-Jacker
What a weird beer. Right on the label is a pretty nifty illustration of a blood thirsty pumpkin. So what's this beer brewed with? Cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg. No pumpkin?! It tastes pretty much exactly as you'd expect - a pumpkin ale without pumpkin. If I had never had a pumpkin ale before, I guess this might be an interesting enough beer, but it just tastes empty and the spices almost make it taste a little soapy. Weird weird direction to take.
1.5 out of 5 pumpkins

Monday, October 7, 2013
Paulaner Oktoberfest-Märzen
The folks at Paulaner have been brewing since 1634, so they might know a thing or two. Each sip seems to get breadier and maltier than the last. That's actually a good thing, as I initially felt like this beer had a little sweet, alcoholic note not to my liking. It seems like it just grew on me halfway down the mug. I could put a few of these down.
3.5 out of 5 pumpkins

Trap Rock Brewery - Tiny Beers Galore!

As previously mentioned, I've been remiss in my duties by not having found my way over to Trap Rock Brewery in Berkeley Heights, NJ, mere minutes from my hometown. Carly and I, along with my parents, had a lovely dinner there last week. More importantly, we enjoyed all nine of their beer offerings during our visit.

The first thing we noticed as we walked into the restaurant was the overwhelming scent of active mash. As homebrewers ourselves, Carly and I shared a knowing smile as we looked over to their seven-barrel lauter tuns. I mentioned in passing that I was a bit surprised that such an acquired smell permeated the restaurant, to which my dad quickly responded, "Not a smell that I have acquired!"

As Trap Rock only offers a six-glass beer tasting flight, Carly and I had to order two flights to run the whole gamut of their nine beers. With no help from my non-beer-drinking parents, we had quite the task ahead of us. Sometimes, you just have to buckle down and get it done.

As an appetizer, we ordered a fairly unique and satisfying dish - House BBQ Pulled Pork Mac 'n Cheese. The mildness of the four cheese blend really came together nicely with the barbecued pork. For my main course, I had the Vermont Cheddar Burger. Though my 'medium' burger came out closer towards medium-well, I enjoyed it all the same. And, the fries were quite delicious. But I digress - on to the beer!

I'll go straight down the list as provided by Trap Rock (although I must say, I couldn't really find rhyme or reason to their sequencing):

Ghost Pony Helles Lager - An award winner in the 2001 Great American Beer Festival...and that's about all I have to say in the positive realm. Maybe my palette's just not refined enough for the nuances of light lager, but they all kind of taste the same to me. A craft brewed light lager hits almost exactly the same notes as Natural Light as far I can tell. If it's a harkening to the hop-forward Helles style, you could've fooled me. So yeah. Not a fan. 1.5 out of 5.

Schroeder Weiss - This is a Bavarian style wheat beer that uses spelt grain instead of wheat malt. I found it to be quite interesting as it tasted more like a cider than anything else. Since the cider taste still had a little body behind it from the wheat style, I was more than happy to take care of both glasses as this was one of our three 'repeats' from the two combined flights. 3 out of 5.

JP Pilsner - Described as having "a bready malt flavor," this one fell short for both Carly and I. It tasted a bit like a homebrew that just didn't hit the mark. The flavor profile was short on just about everything, and tasted generally watered down. 2 out of 5.

Octoberfest - Both of us were more than eager to jump past the light styles, and this certainly helped. The Marzen style is a favorite of mine, especially for the season, and this one held its own. It suffered slightly from the watered-down issue like the JP Pilsner, but was much improved when paired with food. 3 out of 5.

Hang Ten IPA - Five different hops go into this offering, and it was a solid IPA overall. Again, improved with food, specifically the french fries, which seemed to complement and accentuate the bitterness of the hops. 3.5 out of 5.

Baltic Porter - Trap Rock mentions "dark malts smoothed out by the use of lager yeast." Not only was this absolutely correct, but this was my favorite standalone beer overall. Strong, ambitious malty and roasted flavors didn't get in their own way for a nice smooth finish. I nursed this one as it paired wonderfully with my burger. 4 out of 5.

August Der Weiss - Having recently experienced the Berliner Weiss style for the first time in Green Bay, WI (a Midwest specialty), our preconceived notions of "Get your pucker face ready, because this is going to be sour," were pleasantly off-base. The sourness was definitely there but was far more nuanced than we expected, which made for an engaging little brew. After feeling like we had stumbled out of the gate on the first number of beers, Trap Rock was beginning to hit its stride. 3 out of 5.

Jack o' Lager - Fall spices, check. Maple syrup, not typical, but check. Sweet potatoes instead of pumpkin? Now that's different. Interestingly, the sweet potato aroma was absolutely recognizable but it tasted just like a pumpkin ale. The real magic came when I was still picking through my delicious BBQ Pork Mac 'n Cheese, and I took a swig of this immediately after. The spices came skyrocketing forward, perfectly complementing the smoke of the pork and the cream of the macaroni and cheese. Totally changed the entire experience. On its own, 3 out of 5. With the BBQ Pork Mac 'n Cheese, best taste of the night, 4.5 out of 5.

Despiratado IPA - 7% ABV, and hard to pronounce after 11 tiny beers. Using Citra in both the boil and the dry-hopping process, it had a lovely hop aroma and citrus bite to the taste. This was Carly's favorite beer of the night and I certainly won't fault her for that as I quite enjoyed this hearty IPA as well. 4 out of 5.

Overall, I came out fairly impressed with the depth and quality of Trap Rock Brewery's offerings. Had I enjoyed a single flight of the last six on the list, I would have been wowed. I'll certainly head back for a return trip in the Spring, when there should be several new seasonal offerings to review.

Remember the Alamo

Day three of the government shutdown, and things were looking bleak. Hoping for some respite from being unemployed, I ventured back into society this afternoon and joined my mother in one of our favorite pastimes- going to the movies.  Today we visited the Thirteenth Wonder of the World: the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.

Founded in 1977 by Tim and Karrie League in Austin, Texas, the Alamo Cinema Drafthouse chain of theaters is famous not only for its hard-line stance on theatre etiquette, but also their amazing food and beer selections-- that can be ordered and served to your seats in the theatre!  Fortunately for me, I've had the pleasure of visiting three of the Alamo locations: the Alamo Drafthouse at the Ritz in Austin, Texas, the Alamo Drafthouse Winchester in (surprise!) Winchester, Virginia, and the brand-new Alamo Drafthouse One Loudoun in Ashburn, Virginia.


The new One Loudoun location is a beer aficionado's dream come true. Incorporated into the theatre is the Glass Half Full bar, which sports 32 draft beers on tap. Before our flick this afternoon, my mother bellied up to the bar ordered us each a Pumple Drumpkin Spiced Ale by Cisco Brewers in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Not to step on Brian's Octoberquest toes, but I did not care for this beer. It tasted rather chemically and nothing like pumpkin. In general, I don't really favor pumpkin beers.

The friendly bartender, hearing this and maybe hoping to pad his tab, suggested a bottle of Frog's Hollow Double Pumpkin Ale for the low, low price of $25. Now, maybe it was being off for three days in a row, or just because she's awesome, but when the lights went down in the theatre Mother ordered that $25 bottle of ale. And it was DELICIOUS. It tasted just like someone had liquified the best pumpkin pie you've ever had and put it in a bottle. Pumpkin-y, with just the right amount of spice-- this is a darn good beer.

Appropriately, the flick we saw this afternoon was The World's End, the finale to the famed "Three Flavors Cornetto Trilogy" by Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. The basic premise (spoilers ahead?) of The World's End is that a group of high school friends get together to re-do the epic pub crawl they didn't finish 20 years earlier. Called the "Golden Mile" in their hometown of Newton Haven, Great Britain, it consists of 12 pubs and ends at the pub aptly called "The World's End." I won't get into the nitty-gritty of it all, but the lads eventually find out that their town has been taken over by aliens looking to make Earth "perfect" so it can peacefully enter a intergalactic federation of planets or some such. In the end, the boys save the world, usher out the aliens, but end up plunging the world back into the technological (and literal) Dark Ages. Pretty deep for a film about a night out boozing, but I really enjoyed it. Edgar Wright has described the film as "social science fiction," and I think that is an excellent description. The performances were excellent, as can be expected from this group, and my mother and her boyfriend both professed to liking it, despite thinking it was going to be a buddy pic à la The Hangover and not a sci-fi film.

So there you have it- a location, beer, and film review all in one. If you're on furlough too, or just need a nice excursion out, do yourself a favor and find an Alamo and get there post haste. I promise you won't regret it.

American Pale Ale: A Homebrewer's Journey

     When you order a porter or a stout, what do you expect? If you're like me, you expect a dark, roasty, malt-forward beverage that reminds you of coffee, chocolate or even black licorice. When you order an IPA, what do you expect? You probable expect a piney, citrusy, spicy, hop-forward golden-to-amber beverage that smacks your tongue with bitterness but balances itself with a hint of malty sweetness. When you order an American Pale Ale, what do you expect? This is a question I have had difficulty answering. In fact, I find the Beer Judge Certification Program Style Guidelines (the guidelines by which beers are usually judged at homebrew competitions) to be rather vague in describing this particular style. They claim there should be moderate to accentuated hop flavor, some maltiness and a light color. To me, this leaves the style open to a wide variety of interpretations.

     Usually when I order beer from a craft brewery I've never tried, I like to try their pale ale first. I feel like for a craft brewery, the pale ale is a good “base model” (unless the brewery is heavily reliant on some sort of blonde lager). It is sort of a mission statement for the brewery. For example, if a brewery's Pale Ale is extremely hoppy, in my experience, their beers are most likely intense across-the-board. Their IPAs will most likely be damn-near imperial and their stouts will probably be tasty barley stew. On the other hand, some breweries make pale ales that just...are. They lack hoppiness and offer little exceptional flavor, while still tasting like decent craft beers. I don't blame these breweries for making these types of pale ales because I realize they are not making them for me. As the base model, they are offering something that invites those not accustomed to strong flavors into the realm of craft beer.

     So, an American pale ale is a light-in-color beer that falls somewhere between a cream ale (a blonde ale that has little to no hop flavor) and an American IPA. Given such a large target, I had to first establish what I thought an American Pale Ale should be.

     My first attempt to to brew an American pale ale was literally the pale ale recipe from John Palmer's hombrewer's bible, How to Brew. The beer I produced was delicious, but it wasn't quite where I wanted it to be. It was moderate, in every way. The best evidence of this were the responses I received from non-craft-beer-drinking friends and family. Being a homebrewer, I have come to read between the lines with comments like “this is pretty good, even though I'm not really a beer drinker,” or “this is really smooth.” I wanted a beer that was drinkable, but still challenging. I wanted “whoa! That's interesting.” I wanted faces to pucker. I wanted my base model to come with alloy wheels and an upgraded stereo. What I got was a basic CD player and hub caps.

     My second attempt, in retrospect, was a step further towards the mundane. I added a touch more hops but this did nothing to balance the additional specialty grain I added. What I ended up with was even less challenging and something even more “smooth.” I entered this beer into a homebrew competition and the comments I received reflected a lackluster palate pleaser. The beer was described as a decent ale, with enough bitterness, but lacking in actual hop flavor. It was disappointing that I hadn't placed in the competition but exciting to get feedback that confirmed my suspicions. I knew from the first taste, I hadn't reached my ultimate goal.

     At this step, I decided to do some pale ale soul searching. I knew I loved Sierra Nevada's interpretation of the style, but why did I love it? I put a Sierra Nevada up against my competition pale ale and let me tongue decipher the mystery. My beer was malty and smooth but it didn't have the citrusy punch of American hops that dominated the Sierra Nevada. It wasn't bitterness I was missing, it was a refreshing orange-grapefruit zap that livens up one's drinking experience.

     My soul search also led me to several other craft pale ales. Of the most notable, Troëgs' pale ale and Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale seemed to have that same citrusy punch I was looking for; however, both of these beers seemed to be pushing the boundaries of the American pale ale style. At 45 IBU (International Bittering Units), Troëgs is at the very limit of the style, as established by the BJCP style guidelines. At 65 IBUs, Oskar Blues has, in my opinion, stepped over the line into an IPA. I liked where I was with the bitterness of my own pale ale (44 IBUs). It was pushing the limits of pale ale bitterness like the Troëgs pale ale, but it still needed more hop flavor.

     How does one add hop flavor without adding bitterness? The bitterness of hops is determined by their Alpha Acid content while hop flavor is determined by the unique flavors inherent in each individual hop type. Brewers add hops to boiling wort (malt-sugar-laden water) to add bitterness and hop flavor to the final beer. Traditionally, brewers utilize an hour long boil for their hop additions. The longer hops are boiled, the more bitterness is extracted from the alpha acids. Less time in the boil imparts less bitterness from the hops but means there will be more of the hop flavor in the final beer.

     I realized if I wanted that same orange-grapefruit zap I loved so much in the Sierra Nevada and other craft pale ales, I needed hop additions of a citrusy American hop type later in my boil (this was also one of the suggestions I received from the homebrew competition judges). I had, by habit, long been adding flavor and aroma hop additions at thirty and forty-five minutes into the boil. I decided to make my additions of Cascade (a citrusy American hop variety) instead at forty and fifty five minutes. Using later additions left more hop flavor in the final beer and meant that I could add a larger load of hops than I had originally, without overstepping the bitterness. Additionally, I dropped a whole pound of malt from the original recipe to assist in bringing the Cascade to the forefront.

     As I write this, I am drinking the light-in-color, hop zinging, balanced, fruit of my labor I found at the end of my long journey for my own American pale ale. I feel my quest has ended in a base model beer that excites and challenges but doesn't overstep it's label. I only fear now that my five gallon batch will be way too small to satisfy my desire for this delicious brew.