Posts Tagged ‘California’

After a rather crazed Labor Day weekend (wherein the Cha Cha Hut made its official commercial debut), we decided to journey to Oliver’s Discount Beverage in Albany to restock a quickly dwindling cellar. I once stated the selection here is much smaller than Half Time in Poughkeepsie, but what is there is truly amazing. I always find a ton of interesting new brews when dropping into Oliver’s So much so, I can’t remember the last time we made the trip to Half Time. Plus – the Oliver’s staff seem to be really excited to be selling something other than the endless stream of BMC we see going out the door.

Bombers
Southern Tier Imperial Pumking Ale
Southern Tier Imperial Mokah (chocolate & coffee stout)
Southern Tier Imperial Cherry Saison
Southern Tier Imperial Heavy Weizen
Dogfish Head Fort (brewed with pureed raspberries)
The Bruery Black Orchard
Brown’s Whiskey Barrel Aged Porter
He’Brew Rejewvenator Harvest Ale
Avery Fifteen Anniversary Ale
Avery Collaboration Not Litigation Ale
Red Hook DB Double Black Stout with Coffee

40 oz.
People’s Pint Tap & Die Malt Liquor

6 Pack
Wolaver’s Certified Organic Will Stevens’ Pumpkin Ale
Brown’s Oatmeal Stout
Sierra Nevada Kellerweis
Atwater Block Brewery Vanilla Java Porter
Boulder Beer Mojo IPA

My favorite alehouse in New York City – Blind Tiger Alehouse – is having another event that makes me regret ever leaving NYC in the first place. (Not that the OAB HQ in the mountains isn’t pleasant and all…)

Sierra Nevada @ Blind Tiger Alehouse NYC
Date: August 26, 2009
Time: 4pm
Location: Blind Tiger, 281 Bleecker St., NY, NY

The List:
Sierra Nevada Barrel Aged Scotch Ale (CASK)
Sierra Nevada Torpedo (CASK)
Sierra Nevada Vienna Lager
Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest
Sierra Nevada Brown
Sierra Nevada Belgian Triple
Sierra Nevada Double Debockel Doppelbock
Sierra Nevada Crystal Wheat
Sierra Nevada Stout
Sierra Nevada Blonde
Sierra Nevada Brown Saison
Sierra Nevada Vintage Bigfoot (2006)
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot
Sierra Nevada Bitter
Sierra Nevada Porter
Sierra Nevada Kolsch
Sierra Nevada IPA
Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest
Sierra Nevada Celebration 2008
Sierra Nevada Anniversary
Sierra Nevada Summerfest
Sierra Nevada ESB
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (you know, we had to do it)

(If anyone happens to go to this, please drop back by Oh…a beer and leave a review in the comments.)

I’m calling this the “Western Mass. Edition” due to a weekend OAB roadtrip to the I-91 corridor of Massachusetts. We decided we needed to get out of town for the weekend and decided to use the beer map in Yankee Brew News as our guide. There are many upcoming articles about the trip, but I decided to kick things off with a beerventory update that is now decidedly Massachusetts heavy.

As we were staying in the Northampton area, we THOUGHT we would do the beer run at Spirit Haus in Amherst on our way out. No such luck. We’ve see great reviews for this place, but the selection on a Sunday morning pretty much sucked. Perhaps we missed something other than the weak selection of bombers and 6/12 packs on the floor near the register. Perhaps it had been a heavy Saturday night – though to me most of the shelves looked stocked.

Thankfully, we had gone to Greenfield, MA on Saturday and looked around in Ryan and Casey Liquors. So after the Spirit Haus disappointment, we hit the highway, headed up to Greenfield and stocked up before heading back to OAB HQ. Looking forward to the coming weeks and drinking these. (Also looking forward to another beer run to Massachusetts.

Bombers
Berkshire Brewing Hefeweizen Ale
Berkshire Brewing Coffeehouse Porter
People’s Pint Pied pIPA
People’s Pint shWheat Ale
People’s Pint Natural Blonde
High & Mighty Two-Headed Beast Chocolate Stout
High & Mighty St. Hubbins Abbey
High & Mighty Purity Of Essence Lager
High & Mighty Beer of the Gods
Pretty Things Baby Tree Quad with Dried Plums
Pretty Things St. Botoisph’s Town Rustic Dark Ale
McNeill’s Ruby Ale
Southern Tier Mokah Stout
Southern Tier Creme Brulee Stout
Jolly Pumpkin La Roja Amber Ale
Arcadia Ales Cocoa Loco
Arcadia Ales Cereal Killer
Southern Tier Jah-Va Imperial Coffee Stout
Ommegang Biere de Mars
Flying Dog Wild Dog Weizenbock

40 oz.
People’s Pint Tap & Die Malt Liquor

12 Pack
Opa Opa Sampler featuring Opa Opa Light, Red Rock Amber Ale and Opa Opa IPA

6 packs : cans
21st Amendment Brew Free! or Die IPA
21st Amendment Hell or High Watermelon Wheat

6 packs : bottle
Saranac Summer Brew

I haven’t really done much of a restock lately to the cellar. We’ve been a bit too busy around OAB HQ drinking various foamybeers – our own line of brews. A recent trip to pick up more brewing supplies lead us to drop by Oliver’s discount Beverage in Albany. so, the latest beerventory…

Growlers
Cave Mountain Hefeweizen (bought at the brewery on $8 browler Sundays)

6 packs
Widmer Drop Top Amber Ale
Widmer Drifter Pale Ale
Saranac Summer Brew
Wolaver Ben Gleason’s White Ale
Sherwood forest Friar’s Belgian White ale
Boulder Brewing Hazed & Infused
Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA

12 Pack
Smutty Nose Sampler featuring Shoals Pale Ale, Old Brown Dog, IPA and Robust Porter

Bombers
Long Trail Brewmasters Series Double IPA
Jolly Pumpkin Bam Biere
Jolly Pumpkin La Roja Amber Ale
Arcadia Ales Cocoa Loco
Arcadia Ales Cereal Killer
Southern Tier Jah-Va Imperial Coffee Stout
Southern Tier Iniquity Black Ale
Smuttynose Really Old Brown Dog Ale
Smuttynose Gravitation Belgian Quad
Ommegang Biere de Mars
He’Brew Jewbelation 12
Elysian Bifrost Winter Ale
Flying Dog Wild Dog Weizenbock

Brewery: The Bruery
Location: Orange County, CA
Style: Belgain White

Belgian beers are a favorite in the OAB HQ. It’s perhaps the one style we drink year round. We drink the lighter whites in spring summer and move to the darker abby ales in the winter. In the spring/summer, we tend to look for the spiciness and slight citrus of the lighter Belgains which tend to go nicely with outdoor drinking and grilled food. As I had been recently reading about The Bruery line of beers, we decided to pick up a bottle of their Orchard White.

First a warning: this is a unfiltered bottle conditioned beer. Be sure you chill it! It definitely going to be active above 50ºF. At 57ºF, it was massively carbonated. Nonetheless, once it settled a bit, it is a gorgeous hazy gold with a crisp white head. (A bit over foamy on the head but I’m guessing that is the temperature miscalculation.) Lovely spicy scent with a slight edge of citrus.

The taste is very crisp and clean. Lots of coriander and citrus with a bit of flowery/grassy under tone. Excellent yeasty fruitiness and a medium bodied beer. I appreciate the semi-light ABV of 5/7%. It makes for a very drinkable Belgian perfect of a blue sky summer’s day on the deck. Looking forward to returning to this before the end of the season.

After a recent sweltering Sunday in New Paltz, NY chilling at the Gilded Otter (great beer – bad website) with The Beer Wench (as much fun to drink with as she is on Twitter) and some other fine folks, we swung by K & E Discount Beverage to do a little stock up since we were in the area.

Bombers
Brooklyn Brewery Local No. 2
Great Divide Hercules Double IPA
Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale
Rock Art Brewery Ridge Runner Barley Wine
Elysian Bifrost Winter Ale
The Bruery Orchard White
Troegs Flying Mouflan

Six packs
Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA
Sherwood Forest Friar’s Belgian-style White Ale

Promo bottle (yes! free beer!)
Guinness 250th Anniversary Stout

We bought the Troegs Flying Mouflan in order to cellar two more. We already had one in the cellar. Troegs claims this ages nicely – turning into a whole new beer. We’re looking forward to seeing if that is true. I am also a bit curious about the anniversary Guinness. It is not out yet, but – when I asked about it – the clerk gave me a free bottle from a promo pack. Given some of the press – and being a huge traditional Guinness fan – I’m a bit dubious about this one. Claims of it being “fizzier…maltier…made for the U.S. market” makes me think “Guinness dumbed down” but the 5% ABV (up from the 4.2 ABV of traditional Guinness) is intriguing. Then again – at $10/six pack – I’m betting this promo bottle is all I’ll have of the anniversary Guinness.

Brewery: Lagunitas
Location: Petaluma, CA
Style: Coffee stout

I ran into a few bottles of Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout on sale when I few discovered K & E Discount Beverage in New Paltz, NY. As I am a fan of both coffee stouts and the brews from Lagunitas, it seemed only natural to pick up a couple.

This pours a medium to dark brown with a somewhat pale and minor had that falls quickly. There is a solid stout aroma heavy on roasted malts with a touch of hoppiness. For the most part this is a milk stout with a bit of a coffee edge. There is certainly a coffee taste, but not as primary flavor. A recent favorite coffee stout – Keegan Ales Joe Mama Stout – did a better job of infusing a milk stout with coffee. I would not call beerfail on this – I just felt it needed the coffee kicked up a bit. At 8.3% ABV it is a proceed with only moderate caution brew.

I am hoping the so-so taste of this is not due to it bing a bit past freshness (and hence the $3.99 sale price). I have taken the second bottle and put it in the cellar. Perhaps a revisit later in the year will yeild different results.

Brewery: Green Flash
Location: Vista, CA
Style: Double Stout

I had been hearing a bit about Green Flash in the beer Twitter discussions, but had not actually run into any bottles until a trip to K & E Beverage in New Paltz, NY. They were stocking several styles, and – as OAB HQ loves the stout – we decided to pick up a bomber of Green Flash Double Stout.

This is a black brown stout – not completely opaque but pretty close – with a creamy brown head. There is a lovely scent of coffee and chocolate. The flavor is nicely balanced starting with a bitter sweet chocolate then a bit of sweet malt and finishing with a coffee bitter edge. It’s a creamy drink without feeling too heavy or thick. The 8.8% ABV gives it a little kick but does not harsh out the overall taste.

All in all a lovely drinkable stout that will certainly find its way back into the OAB cellar when stout season returns.

Headed over to New Paltz, NY last weekend to do a little research for a new business and drop by the Gilded Otter Brewing Company (another in the truly dreadful brewery website category). We started out at Taco Shack for lunch (part of our research) and noticed K & E Discount Beverage next door. More to the point, we noticed the sign touting their growler fill selection.

We ventured in to find a nice assortment of craft brews scattered about a fairly disorganized store. Ended up getting several bombers because of the great pricing. Certainly some place we’ll return to when in the area.

Bombers
Southampton Pumpkin Ale
Lagunitas Hop Stoopid
Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout
Green Flash Double Stout
He’Brew Jewbelation Eleven
Boulder Beer Obovoid Empirical Stout

Sampler 12 Pack
Saranac “What Ales You?” sampler featuring Pomegranate Wheat, India Pale Ale, Pale Ale, Brown Ale, Irish Red Ale and Stout

Brewery: Stone Brewing
Location: Escondido, CA
Style: Chocolate stout

At the end of February 2008, we took a trip to NYC for tax prep and pub crawling. First stop was the Blind Tiger Ale House in Greenwich Village. They were having a Stone festival, and we spent a couple of hours sampling a variety of Stone brews. (More on that coming soon…)

Upon returning to the Ohabeer HQ in the heart of the Catskills, we decided to open the bottle of Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Stout we had in the cellar. (You know – just to keep the Stone love going…)

This is a jet black stout with an excellent dark brown head. (The photo above does not do the head justice.) The head falls slightly too quick but clings nicely to the glass. (No, I refuse to use the term “lacing”. What is this a beer or sewing review?)

Great stout scent. Vanilla and chocolate but not the usual sweet chocolate stout scent. The bitter chocolate gives a slight coffee edge without it actually being coffee scented. On tasting, the chocolate really comes forward. Again – as with the scent – because we are dealing with bitter chocolate here the taste is not sweet. It is far more complex than most of the chocolate stouts out there. The addition of the oatmeal undercurrent gives a certain nutty balance to the taste. It all comes together as a lovely creamy artisanal chocolate bar – if artisanal chocolate bars have 9.2% ABV.

Drinking this made me consider something I thought impossible: this may be my new favorite chocolate stout replacing my previous go to Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout. Of course – given the Stone was a limited edition – Brooklyn’s place in my heart and cellar is fairly safe.