Posts Tagged ‘Lager’

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

Brewery: Saranac Brewing
Location: Utica, NY
Style: Lager

Switching up from the recent run of big beer reviews – but staying in a New York state of mind – I present one of my latest favorite session beers: Saranac Summer Brew. My friend Peter Wohelski first introduced me to the concept of mixing lemonade with lager for a summer drink. Few bars are actually equipped to do this either lacking a decent lager – or more often – lemonade worth mixing. So, finding a brewery putting together in one bottle seemed like kismet.

Let’ get one thing out of the way at the start: I would have preferred this use REAL lemonade and not a flavoring. Of course, that would have introduced a number of issues that I’m sure someone like Dogfish Head might want to overcome, but just don’t make sense for a session brew from Saranac. The end product does suffer a little from the flavoring factor, but not so much to fail the beer.

It should come a no surprise that this pours a clear pale yellow with a frothy bright white head. While the heads falls a bit quickly, it’s not a real issue for me with this beer. It’s not about the head here – it’s the beer. There is a definite lemony scent combined with a simple lager aroma. I wish the lemonade to lager balance of the scent came through in the taste. Unfortunately, the lemon flavor dominates here. I suspect it’s the flavoring versus a real lemonade. I’ve had well made lager and lemonade with fresh lemonade and the beer and citrus balance perfectly. Think Ale and Stout or a proper Snakebite to understand. The lemonade flavor lends a bit of a soda pop edge to this – not quite Zima territory but bordering dangerously close.

Thankfully, it does not enter the dreaded Zima Zone and stays in a very nice utility beer DMZ just outside the ZZ. This is nothing challenging – nothing extreme – nothing more than a simple crisp beer perfect for a summer drinking while kicking back on the deck next to the BBQ or fire pit. The 3.5% ABV keeps this firmly in the “have a few category.” I had the one for this review while eating Cha Cha Hut Fish Tacos and the pairing was brilliant. Clean simple citrus brew with well grilled fish on a nice summer night. I rarely gets better at the OAB HQ.

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: Shmaltz Brewing
Location: Saratoga Spring, NY
Style: Lager

We return once again to the Coney Island line from Shmaltz. We picked up a Coney Island Human Blockhead Tough As Nails Lager when we got the Coney Island Albino Python White Lager. i figured if we were getting a spiced lager for Mrs. Ohabeer I’d get a strong lager for me. We – of course – ended up splitting them both.

This is a nice copper colored beer with a very foamy head. The head fades quickly leaving behind slight traces. There is a nice malty aroma. That aroma carries over into the tasting. Big malty front end segues nicely into a big hoppy back end. The balance work out nicely making for a very huge tasting lager. The 10% ABV adds a bit of alcohol kick to the mix as well.

I’m not quite sure I totally enjoyed this. Splitting a 22 oz. sometimes does provide enough drinking to get a solid focus on a beer. This one is a different sort of lager – at least for me – that I kind of liked but definitely need to revisit for a final opinion.

Brewery: Blue Point
Location: Patchogue, NY
Style: Lager

This is what I call an Underworld Lager. By that I mean drinking it makes me think of “Born Slippy .NUXX” by Underworld. Specifically the point in the song when Karl Hyde shouts “Lager Lager Lager”.

Blue Point Toasted Lager is that sort of beer. Nice golden color with a slightly nutty taste. Good foamy head. Nothing too filling or over powering. The 5.3% ABV means you’ll be able to have a few before getting too slippy. Something perfect for raising a pint glass while shouting “lager lager lager!”

Watch this while drinking Blue Point Toasted Lager:

I’m a bit late on this. Got too busy around the holidays. We actually restocked the celler for NYE and made the trip to the Half Time in Poughkeepsie (the temple of craft beer in upstate NY).

Here’s what was in the Oh…a beer cellar over the holidays:

GROWLERS
Cave Mountain Nut Brown Ale
Cave Mountain Spiced Winter Ale

SPECIALS
Goose Island Bourbon County Stout 2008 [12oz/13%]
Fort Collins Double Chocolate Stout [650ml/8.1%]
Cisco Brewers Moor Porter [650ml]
Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Stout [12oz/7.8%]
Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock [650ml/5.5%]
Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence [750ml/7%]
Sly Fox Raspberry Reserve (bottle conditioned) [750ml]
Rogue MoM Hefeweizen [650ml]

BOTTLES
Blue Point Toasted Lager
Mad River Steelhead Scotch Style Ale [6%]
Heavy Seas Winter Storm “Category 5″ Ale [7.5%]
Anchor Porter
Stoudts Fat Dog Imperial Oatmeal Stout
Dundee Festive Ale
Troegs Dead Reckoning Porter
Ithaca Nut Brown Ale
Guinness Extra Stout
Wolaver’s Oatmeal Stout
Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout
Troegs Rugged Trail Nut Brown Ale [4.4%]
Left Hand Black Jack Porter
Samuel Adams Cream Stout
Samuel Adams Boston Lager
Samuel Adams Holiday Porter
Goose Island Nut Brown Ale
Lagunitas Brown Shugga [9.5%]
Flying Dog Road Dog Porter [6%]
Dragon Stout [7.5%]