Posts Tagged ‘IPA’

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

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

A recent client meeting meant a trip to New Paltz, NY and a return visit to K & E Discount Beverage. Our mission was to add a few more bombers to the cellar and begin the transition to ale drinking season. I did end up buying one six pack.

Six pack
Troegs Hop Back Amber Ale

Bombers
Troegs Flying Mouflan
Wells Banana Bread Beer
Avery Ale To The Chief
Docs Draft Black Currant Hard Cider
Smuttynose Really Old Brown Dog Ale
Smuttynose Wheat Wine Ale
Smuttynose Gravitation Ale
He’Brew Bittersweet Lenny’s R.I.P.A.
Long Trail Brewmaster Series Coffee Stout

A run into downtown Roxbury for some chips to accompany some grilled chicken added another – and quite unexpected – six pack to the cellar. (Trust me – Roxbury is not known for any store having a fine selection of craft beer…)

Six pack bought locally
Hook & Ladder Backdraft Brown Ale
(very surprised to see this in our local convenience store)

February 27, 2009: Tax Prep Day. That meant a trip from the Catskill HQ of Ohabeer down to New York City to visit a god among CPAs Sam Nole. It also gave us a reason to hit some of the finer craft brew joints in our favorite areas – Greenwich Village and East Village.

Blind Tiger Ale House
281 Bleecker @ Jones, 212.462.4682
We had dinner reservations at Rare for 6:30pm and we made it to the Blind Tiger at 4pm. Do the math and you can tell we had a bit of time to kill. Luckily, Blind Tiger is one of our favorite places to kill time. Cozy and pubby, this is a true craft beer mecca. Beer, wine and sake are all they do. And oh the beers! I’m not even sure they have anything in the generic BMC beer realm. It a craft shop al the way!

This particular evening found them in the middle of a Stone Brewing festival. So many Stone brews to try. I – however – wanted to start with something on cask. I went with a Chelsea Brewing Sunset Red. The Red had a lovely – well – red color with a light sweetness and balanced malt flavor. Perfect kick off to a night of pub crawling. Not too heavy – not too light. Mrs. Ohabeer – however – went big from the get go by starting with a Stoudt’s Winter Ale on draught. This was a big dark beer – not the sort of winter “ale” one usually expects. Nice and chewy with coffee and chocolate notes.

While she nursed the Stoudt, I switched up to my own strong ale: Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard. This is an amazing beer. Creamy and a little bitter with a fruity bloom at the end. By the time the Arrogant Bastard was done, Mrs. Ohabeer was ready for a second. We asked Allan – the owner – for suggestions. Given her penchant for spicy beers, Allan suggested Mrs. Ohabeer get a Stone Cali-Belgique IPA. Think Belgian style IPA…spicy goodness with a nice light hoppiness.

I was looking for something unusual. Allan suggested – and gave me a taste of – the BFM Bon Chien. Uhhhh…no. Certainly unusual – very sour, looks a bit like a Cidre Breton, tasted like wine turning into vinegar. The taste I got was more than enough for me. (A good thing too as this is 15.50% ABV and I still had the night ahead of me…)

I ended up settling on – and ultimately having three – Alesmith Mikkeller Stone Belgian Style Tripel Ale. My god this was excellent. Lovely gold color with a bit of spice and an amazing hop/malt balance. Very very drinkable. As they are 8.7% ABV, this may have not been my best move. I certainly left for dinner feeling no pain…

Rare
228 Bleecker Street @ 6th Ave & Carmine, (212) 691-RARE (7273)
No craft selection here, but amazing burgers and fries to soak up the two hours at Blind Tiger. The Rare Murray’s Burger is not to be missed. Organic beef, artisanal cheese from Murray’s Cheese Shop and artisanal bacon. Best.burger.evah.

Half Pint
76 W. 3rd Street @ Thompson, 212.260.1088
I was surprised to find the former Harry’s Burrito Greenwich Village location was now a craft bar called Half Pint. Smallish space (then again most are in NYC) it was buzzing nicely at 9ish when we arrived. It appears one of their signature items is a 96oz tower of beer for $25. This evening it was Lion’s Head Pilsner. We did not go for the tower as I was firmly in cask search mode. (You cannot get much on cask in the Catskills.) I went for a Lagunitas Cruisin’ With Reuben & The Jets. An imperial stout that – at that moment in the evening – might not have been the best choice. Nice and thick, it was perhaps a bit too thick post-dinner. Mrs. Ohabeer went with a nice light Blue Point Spring Fling. Good hoppy balance with a pale ale edge.

East Village Tavern
158 Avenue C @ E. 10th St., 212.253.8400
After Half Pint, we headed out for the East Village. Plan was to have something at Standings (recommended by Eric the Ithaca Beer sales rep we met at Blind Tiger) and possibly Jimmy’s No. 43 on the way to East Village Tavern. Sadly, Standings was like some weird basement rec room sports bar with not that interesting a selection of beer. Jimmy’s No. 43 was just too crowded to wedge in. So, we jumped off and headed on to the final destination.

East Village Tavern is like most all bars in the East Village. Kind dumpy but in a good way. Unpretentious, decent jukebox and an array of clientele. We settled in at a table and got to work reading the menu. Still in search of the cask drawn, I went for the Troegs Nugget Nectar. Big hop taste with an amazing gold color and foamy head. The perfect end to the evening. Mrs. Ohabeer had the Goose Island Matilda. It was malty and a bit spicy. Our friend Annette had a Stoudt’s Pils. I’m not much of a pilsener fan, but this was fairly nice.

And so the evening ended. We headed back out into the night for the long trip back to Annette’s apartment in the Bronx. Looking forward to taking her up on the hospitality again and hitting more craft pubs in NYC.

When Mrs. Ohabeer and I venture our of the Ohabeer HQ and end up in a bar, it is most likely I am ordering beer. Living in upstate NY does not often afford one the opportunity for the fine art of mixology – I haven’t had a decent margarita since leaving NYC – so that the beer gods for the in roads made by craft beers even at local bars. Invariably, I’ll bring along the handy iPod Touch to see if there is WiFi in the bar (thus allowing for twittering while drinking) and to make notes on the beers drank. As I am attempting to be social while out drinking, I do not take any sort of detailled tasting note, but just something quick and simple.

So, here is the first installment of Random Beers in Various Bars wherein I clean out the notes I have on recent nights out.

Fox & Firkin Pub (Colonie, NY)
112 Wolf Road, Colonie, New York 12205 (518) 453-2369
When heading to the Colonie/Albany area for shopping, we used to hit the Old Chicago for some lunch and a great selection of craft beer. Sadly, they went out of business in January 2009. Luckily, this chain pub is located right across the street. It’s the usual ersatz English pub filtered through a marketer’s vision, but that do have an excellent beer menu. With lunch I had a Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA (on tap. lovely hoppy pale ale) and Rogue Dead Guy Ale (in a bottle. nice cloudy copper color. Smooth ale with what tastes like a hint of honey). They also carried the Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA, but as I had more shopping to do, I took a pass.

Andes Hotel (Andes, NY)
110 Main St., Andes, NY 13731 (845) 676-4408
You just have to love a bar with snowmobile parking. We ventured here one Saturday drawn by their local cable ads claiming the most craft beers in the area. Given the area we live in, that could have meant three. Luckily, it was around 30 with several on tap. Started with the Southern Tier Unearthly Imperial IPA on tap served in a goblet. Very hoppy rich gold ale with a thick head. 11% ABV limited me to one of these. Followed with a pint of Southampton Porter on tap. A thinnish head on a nice deep chocolate colored brew. Good balance of maltiness to chocoloate sweetness with a slight coffee back end. Finished the night with a Snapperhead IPA on tap. This might have been a mistake after the Southern Tier IPA. There is a bit of hoppiness, but mostly I am getting nothing. Could have fried the tastebuds? Might have to try this another time. Though the more I drank, the better it got. Also available at Andes Hotel: Weyerbach, Abita, Sierra Nevada, Anchor, Brooklyn, Yuengling, Ommegang, Magic Hat, Leinenkugel and more. They even have a few imported Belgians.

Baba Louie’s Pizza (Hudson, NY)
517 Warren Street, Hudson, NY 12534 518.751.2155
Had lunch here. Very nice artisanal pizzas. Excellent toppings. Had a couple of C.H. Evans Kick-Ass Brown Ales. Solid simple brown ale.

Spotty Dog Books & Ale (Hudson, NY)
440 Warren Street, Hudson, NY 12534 .T 518 671 6006
This was an amazing find. They were having a beer tasting that evening, but we could not stay that late. It is a bookstore with a bar. Nice selection of crafts on tap. The real story is it is located in what was the original C.H. Evans brewery space and so their core beers are from C.H. Evans. I went with a Dogfish Head Raison D’Etre (on tap) as I had not had it in a while. Such a great brew. I love the fact you can taste the raisins without it being too cloy. Mrs. Ohabeer had a Chatham Porter (also on tap). Nice rich color and a decent porter taste.

Brewery: Rogue
Location: Newport, OR
Style:IPA

I have recently decided – as a long time stout, porter and ale drinker – it was time to embrace the hop. Seriously – in most cases I would never consider picking up a pale ale much less an IPA. On rare occasions I might try something on tap, but I was certainly not going to buy a 22oz bottle or six pack.

I’m working on changing that. Broadening my horizons. Like I taught myself to drink bourbon, I am now teaching myself to embrace the hop side. Rogue Yellow Snow IPA was a winsw choice for the start of this journey.

The first thing I noticed – after the always great Rogue artwork – was an absence of the ABV on the bottle. Unusual for Rogue. It appears I am not alone as most folks appear to have no clue as to the alcohol content here and Rogue are not saying.

It’s a beautiful yellow gold color with a huge frothy head that fades somewhat quickly. Then the hop scent hits you. Even with the glass on the counter I could smell it. Mrs. Ohabeer is not a hop fan at all and was not really digging the scent. She thought it was ok, but nothing she would try again.

For me – however – I’ll certainly be back. It’s a bold taste – very hoppy – with a fair amount of dryness. Certainly not as bitter as I was expecting – though it definitely has a bitter edge. I’m betting I would actually prefer this in a summer outdoor drinking situation rather than winter by the fire.

This is definitely due to make a return to the Ohabeer cellar with a curiosity as to how it plays in the warmer months.