Posts tagged beer
5 Beers Essential for the Fall
So we are fast approaching that time of year where the days get darker earlier in the evening, football fans get ready to cheer on their team, and of course the fall seasonal beers come back on the shelves. So here are five beers that will make autumn much more enjoyable. Cheers!
Blue Point Oktoberfest
Blue Point Oktoberfest is another palate-pleasing seasonal brew. Originally brewed in 1810 to celebrate the betrothal of the Crown Prince of Bavaria, Blue Point continues the celebration by traditionally brewing this special malty amber lager every October. Oktoberfest lager is stored cold for 2 months to ensure its distinct smooth flavor.
Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar
Rogue Ales is an American craft brewery founded in 1988 in Ashland, Oregon. The following year the company opened their second brewpub in Newport, 
Oregon where they are now headquartered. They operate brewpubs in Oregon, Washington, and California. Rogue exports throughout the US and internationally. This brown ale pairs well with pork and beef. A nutty twist to a traditional European Brown Ale. Dark brown in color with a hazelnut aroma, a rich nutty flavor and a smooth malty finish.
Great Lakes Brewing Company Oktoberfest
Great Lakes Brewing Company is a brewery and brewpub in Cleveland, Ohio. This was the first brewpub and microbrewery in Ohio. Cleveland’s celebration of Oktoberfest dates to the mid 1800’s when German immigrants gathered at outdoor beer gardens like Haltnorth’s and Kindvater’s St. Clair Gardens. Great Lakes Brewing Company’s amber lager has a rich malt flavor with noble hops that honors Cleveland’s diverse cultural heritage.
Dogfish Head Punkin Ale
This seasonal brew is a full-bodied brown ale with smooth hints of pumpkin and brown sugar. They brew their Punkin Ale with pumpkin meat, brown sugar and spices. As the season cools, this is the perfect beer to warm up with. Punkin Ale is named after the seriously off-centered southern Delaware extravaganza Punkin Chunkin. In fact, Punkin Ale made its debut as it claimed first prize in the 1994 Punkin Chunkin Recipe Contest.
Sam Adams Octoberfest
In 1810, Munich celebrated the wedding of their Crown Prince with a special beer. After 16 days the party ended, but the tradition continues. For Sam Adams, their version of the classic Oktoberfest lager blends 5 roasted malts for a rich, hearty flavor while Bavarian Noble hops add a touch of bitterness.
Aug 22nd
Take Beer to the next level with the Fusion Tower
Now more than ever beer has been having many spices, fruits, and more ingredients added to it to find a new and great tasting beer. It is almost like people are using the idea of mixed drinks to see what type of new brew they can make. One way to invent a new beer is the Fusion Tower.
Never heard of the Fusion Tower before? Well it is an easy-to-use beer infusing system that allows you dry-hop your beer seconds before you drink it. The Fusion Tower can also be used to infuse other ingredients such as malts, spices, fruits and oak chips.
Matt Kyle who is the founder of Fusion Tower said, “We love the way it smells, the way it tastes and the way we can literally add anything into the Fusion Tower to create something new and unique.”
He goes on to say, “It is a truly creative process for the operator and an utterly magical experience for those lucky enough to drink it. Our mission is to bring infused beer to everyone, encourage experimentation and provide a life-changing beer experience for those daring enough to stand at the forefront of the new frontier in beer.”
Their site breaks down how their invention works. They say that hops are constituted of two main parts: Alpha and Beta acids. The Beta acids are responsible for most of the aromatic qualities of the beer. They are very delicate and do not survive the brewing process.
With the help from the Fusion Tower, you can put components back into the beer and dramatically. In turn that will upgrade the taste of your beer. They also stat that dry-hopped beer will also give your beer a slightly smoother texture and fuller tasting body.
There are many other fusion techniques out there, but the gang over at Fusion Tower state that other infusers subject the beer to trauma during the infusing process. This type of trauma in the infusing process yields beer that is flat, warm and usually very slow to pour.
The Fusion Tower looks to take those issues away to help you enjoy the perfect beer. So where can you check out the Fusion Tower? There are two of them in two of the World of Beer restaurants. Both are in Florida. The two stores are in Sarasota and Westchase. For more information check out the Fusion Tower website.
May 7th
Know Your Beer – Blue Point Brewery
In this edition of Know Your Beer, we look at Blue Point Brewing Company. They are a microbrewery in Patchogue, New York. Founded in 1998 by Peter Cotter and Mark Burford, the two friends started out gathering brewing equipment and began to start crafting some fine beers. They built a brewery in a 1970s Penguin Ice Factory and never looked back. In 2011 Blue Point was ranked 34th in the Top 50 Craft Breweries in the Unites States. Their Toasted Lager won a World Beer Cup Gold medal in 2006.
Blue Point started their construction of beer in a traditional 25-Barrel Brew House. Scorching hot flames from a unique direct-fire brick Brew Kettle imparts a lightly toasted and complex flavor to their brews. Blue Point always uses natural fresh ingredients and is never pasteurized. They use quality hops from all over the world in places like Germany, United Kingdom, Belgium, New Zealand and here in the United States.
If you are in the New York area you should make it a point to go out to Long Island in the town of Patchogue for a beer in their tasting room or for their annual Cask Ales Festival. I was there in 2010 and 2011 for the Cask Ales Fest and had a blast tasting the craft beers from over 20 breweries. Their tasting room is located at the brewery and you can sample 12 different types beer every Thursday and Friday from 3-7pm and Saturdays from noon to 7pm. Not only do you get taste some great beer, but the staff is well educated on pairing food and beer.
Blue Point staples are the Toasted Lager, Blueberry Ale and Hoptical Illusion and all three are available all year round. Some of their seasonal beers are Spring Fling Copper Ale, Summer Ale, Oktoberfest and Winter Ale that are sold in a variety 12-pack. Other notables are Old Howling Bastard, Double Blonde, Golden Ale, Oatmeal Stout, Sour Cherry Imperial Stout, 10th Anniversary IPA and No Apologies Imperial IPA. For more info on how you can find their beer in your area go to their website.
Feb 26th
Know Your Beer – Hangar 24
If you drive about an hour east of Los Angeles, you’ll find an up and coming craft brewery nestled in an old Norton Air Force Base building right across from the Redlands Municipal Airport. The Hangar 24 Brewery offers daily tastings from 11am to 10pm every day. Guided tours are available on Sunday from 11am to 6pm.
To understand Hangar 24, you need to know about the brew’s Founder and Master Brewer Ben Cook. A Biology major from Cal State San Bernardino, Cook took his love for beer to a whole new level and completed the Master Brewers Program at UC Davis. After finishing the program and putting in 6 years as a QA/QC guy at the Anheuser-Busch Brewery in Van Nuys, Cook searched for a place to launch his own brewery. The spot next to the Airport was where he landed, and that drove the name of the beer, Hangar 24.
The brewery has a solid selection of year-round craft beers, seasonal favorites and some other specialty releases. Orange Whet is the flagship brew. It’s an American Wheat Beer “brewed with whole, pureed, 100% locally grown oranges added throughout the process.” Think of it as a rich man’s Shock Top, with more of a full-bodied, silted/textured taste. They use the whole damn orange in there, man.
The other beers in the signature collection are they types of brews that you enjoy as standalone options. There are German classics like the light Helles Lager or the roasty Alt-Bier Ale. Hangar 24 brews a variety of Pale Ales like the Amarillo Pale Ale with a dry hoppy American touch, the unfiltered explosively hoppy Columbus IPA and the more citrusy-sweet Double IPA. A rich Chocolate Porter rounds out the year-round offerings.
The seasonal selections include Hullabaloo, a hoppy Scottish Winter Ale; Oktoberfest, malty-amber German lager; a tart Belgian Summer Ale and California Spring Beer, a warm weather wheat ale with a brisk hoppy finish.
So where can you get this stuff? If you don’t want to tour the Hangar 24 Brewery (which, you know, you probably should do), you can visit one of the 2,342 on and off-premise locations from San Diego to Sacramento that carry Hangar 24. You can also grab the stuff in bottles and cans. Hangar 24 is the first craft brewery in Southern California to provide quality craft beer in can form (I say start with the Helles Lager). Prost!
Feb 15th
Guinness Black Lager Is Awesome
I was sent a bottle of a new Guinness beer – Guinness Black Lager. It’s a black colored beer that’s supposed to be served cold. It was billed as light, but I had my doubts. Regular Guinness can serve as a meal replacement, so Guinness Black Lager, how light could it be?
Well when I tried that thing, I couldn’t believe it. Seriously. It’s better than advertised. You’re supposed to drink it right out of the bottle, so I did. As soon as that sweet, frosty light/black combo hit my lips, that bottle was toast. It had no chance. Stout – 1, new bottle of Guinness Black Lager – zero.
So what does this thing taste like? Well for starters, it’s super refreshing. I like Guinness on occasion, but I wouldn’t call myself a habitual stout drinker. The beer bares my name so you’d think it’d be a match made in heaven, but I don’t always like the heavy, not-so-brisk taste that comes with stout beers.
That’s why I’m such a big Newcastle fan. It’s really not that heavy. All that “lighter side of dark” talk rings true with Newcastle Brown Ale. If you like the invigorating effect of a cold Newkie, you’ll definitely dig this new Guinness. It’s a fantastic extra-cold beverage; black beer that drinks like a light lager but still has distinctive malty undertones and full-bodied flavor.
Now when I say light, I don’t mean low-cal. I just mean not heavy and overbearing. I could care less about the calories with this black lager. It’s just too damn good.
Now maybe it was the presentation or the special delivery (the bottle of Guinness Black Lager that I received came in a fancy box with its own coozie bottle cooler jacket), but the next time I see this beer — in the store, at a bar — I’m definitely going to reach for it. If you like dark beer flavor without the heavy, heavy impact, you’ll enjoy this new Black Lager from Guinness.
Oct 4th
