Posts Tagged ‘Pretty Things’

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

Brewery: Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project
Location: Cambridge, MA
Style: Belgian Quad

When it comes to beer buying, the OAB HQ can be real suckers for a couple of things. Call it “artisanal” and we’re probably going to buy it. Have a strange or interesting or bold label, and we’re probably buying it. Have both – we’re definitely buying.

So, we ended up bring back two bottles from the Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project on our Western Mass. road trip. The first up is Pretty Things Baby Tree Quad brewed with dried plums.

This is a majorly dark beer. Deep ruby color with a medium amount of carbonation. The head was a bit thin and fell rather quickly. A big Belgian malty/sugary/fruity scent leaps from the glass. This is a big sweet ale with a solid fruitiness. It’s not exactly plummy – more like the plum adds a fruitiness to the overall flavor. There is a slight bitterness under the big sweetness that is a welcome change from many purely sweet quads. You can certainly taste the 8.6% ABV – a little harsh at times but it mellows as the ale breathes. This is a lovely artisanal ale and one I look forward to trying again sometime.

One note on the use of the term “artisanal” as opposed to the usual “craft”. I believe all artisanal beers are craft but only some craft beers are artisanal. It’s mostly a matter of production scale and techniques. A home brewer is working the artisanal side of brewing. A company like Dogfish Head may employ the experimentation of an artisan brewery, but their scale places them in a craft category. I know it’s a hair split, but one I might explore further some other time. What is important here is Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project demonstrates a devotion to the art of brewing that places them in world of artisanal brewing.

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