Posts Tagged ‘White ale’

Brewery: Sherwood Brewers
Location: Marlborough, MA
Style: Belgian white

One more session brew before we head back into the big beers…

It’s no secret the OAB HQ is big on Belgians. In the winter, we loves us the big spicy Belgian ales. In the summer, we turn our love to the Belgian Whites. There are few things better than a great summer day (or evening) on the deck with a crisp clean white ale. So it should come as no surprise when we found a six pack of Sherwood Forest Friar’s Belgian-style White on a recent beer run, we had to pick it up.

There is a faint haze in the lovely gold color of this ale. Very light (almost non-existant) head. The aroma is a nice blend of spices with a touch of citrus. It has all the familiar Wit flavors – clove, coriander and orange balanced nicely in a solid wheat base.There is nothing particularly challenging here. It’s just a great light bodied ale excellent for a session on the deck. Very crisp and clean – it’s goes perfectly with grilled chicken and fish.

It will certainly be making a return appearance to the OAB deck this summer.

Brewery: Otter Creek Brewing
Location: Middlebury, VT
Style: White ale

Continuing on the Belgian or Belgian styled white ale trend of the last few reviews, I turn now to an OAB favorite brand: Wolaver’s. I have yet to be disappointed in anything I have had from them. Often I feel the “certified organic” tag is nothing more than a marketing ploy to attract yuppie douchebags and charge far too much for a product. In the case of the Wolaver line – however – the price is no more than the usual craft beer but the quality definitely stands out.

Ben Gleason’s White Ale is a Belgian style white brewed with organic raw wheat, organic rolled oats, and organic 2-row malted barley. This is then spiced with organic coriander and orange peel. All of that organic care actaully comes through in the final product.

This is a slightly cloudy pale gold beer with a bright white head. There is quite a bit of carbonation and that brings all the orange, yeast and spicy goodness to the nose as you pour. The word that comes to mind on tasting is: crisp. This is a crisp light Belgian with a perfect citrus to spice to yeast balance. Those organic grains have laid down a perfect foundation of light maltiness with a nice level of wheat. We can only hope the foamybeer Ring My Belgian we are currently conditioning will turn out half as good.

Excellent with a light BBQ dinner outside on a summer evening. You simply can’t go wrong here – unless you REALLY hate great Belgian beer. Wolaver’s continues to impress and I continue to look for their beers.

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: Shmaltz Brewing
Location: Saratoga Springs, NY
Style: White lager

Having spent 10 years in Brooklyn – just up the F Train line from Coney Island – before moving to the Ohabeer Mountain HQ in the Catskills, I have a fascination with the Shmaltz Brewing line of Coney Island beers. Not only do proceeds go to help Coney Island USA, but they are also damn fine beers. We picked up two on our last restocking trip and started off with the Coney Island Albino Python White Lager with spices. A review of the Coney Island Human Blockhead Tough A Nails Lager is coming shortly.

Mrs. Ohabeer was quite excited about this beer as she is a devotee of the spice beer. I can take them or leave them, though usually I find them quite nice and drinkable. Given our success with the Shmaltz line so far, it was no surprise this was a great spice lager.

It pours a cloudy gold with a bright white bubbly head. Much carbonation going on here. the spices coming out right away – ginger and orange being the brightest scents. If you look above, you’ll see crushed fennel as a spice. This came off – perhaps with its interaction with the hops – more as coriander, but it was definitely present. There was also a bit of honey sweetness.

On first impression, I felt this was an odd one. Mrs. Ohabeer took to it immediately – regretting having to share the 22 oz. bottle with me. She’s already planning a restock mission with a bottle all her own. I began to get into this the more I drank it. It has a very spicy mouth feel with a linger sweetness. Like a Belgian without actually being a Belgian. I think it may be the crossing of the lager with spices that threw me. I’m more familiar with spiced ales.

All in all, I learned to like it as I drank it. It has me wondering how this will work in outdoor drinking season. It strikes me as a great beer for sitting on the deck while something is grilling on the ‘que. We shall hopefully soon see…