Smuttynose Farmhouse Ale
Brewery: Smuttynose Brewing Co.
Where: Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Beer: Farmhouse Ale (Big Beer Series)
Style: Saison / Farmhouse Ale
IBU: N/A
ABV: 8.8%
After tasting several other Saisons recently, I decided to give this one a try when I found it on the shelf at Gail's Hops and Grapes. Smuttynose is also a new brewery on my list that I haven't tried. When I read the label I noticed that this beer is part of a BIG BEER series, so it's not a standard run brew and its probably seasonal as well.
One of the defining characteristics of this beer style is the fruity notes with some hints of spiciness right behind it on the tongue. This beer has an excellent fruity aroma along with that spicy kick. In fact, the spice kick of this beer may be slightly higher than I personally enjoy in a beer like this, but it's an excellent beer none-the-less. At 8.8% ABV, its another beer that needs to warm up just a tad in the glass before you dig in... From the website:
Broadly speaking, a farmhouse ale - or saison - is an esoteric style native to the French / Belgian border region. Characterized by a golden to light amber color, light to medium body, and noticeable fruit / spicy esters, this beer, known also as a "country ale" was traditionally brewed in primitave conditions in farmhouse breweries for consumption throughout the warm weather by seasonal farm workers.
Gail's also had their Baltic Porter from this series that I might try down the road...
Brewing the House Blonde
My schedule is rather full for the next week or two, so I wanted to get a brew day in, and today turned out to be that day. I had the ingredients sitting around to brew another blonde ale. My previous "ESYFB" was my first attempt at a blonde. It was an excellent beer, but I wanted to make some adjustments to the recipe and try it again.
The blonde ale is a beer that I like to brew mainly for sharing with friends. This beer is a fantastic home brewed beer to give someone who is used to drinking beers in the BudMillerCoors family. It's a light colored and lower alcohol brew with a fantastic malt flavor that you will never find in football tailgater coolers. It has a rather small 7.75 lb grain bill and the hops are present, but subdued and not overpowering in any way.
I ran a 75-minute mash and then double batch sparged to collect a total volume of 6.75 gallons of wort that went into the boil kettle.
This is one of my favorite parts of brew day... dumping the hops in the kettle. The aroma created at this point in the process is simply fantastic. Today's beer took advantage of Centennial and Cascade hops. I can't wait to try it. I stopped making photos at this point because Mike and Chris stopped by. We had a few beers and chit chat. This beer will ferment for 14 days and then bottle condition for 21 days before we pop the top on any around the weekend of Christmas or shortly thereafter...
Founders Breakfast Stout
Brewery: Founders Brewing Co.
Where: Grand Rapids, MI
Beer: Breakfast Stout
Style: American Double / Imperial Stout
IBU: 60
ABV: 8.3%
I hate days like today. I have had a long work day and I was looking forward to having a good beer tonight. I came home and pulled the Founders Breakfast Stout that I have been saving for a while. I picked up a four-pack of these at Gail's Hops and Grapes last week. I'm a fan of stouts and imperial stouts. I love the richness of body and the roasted barley flavor dominance in most of them, but this particular choice is not good for me.
This beer poured the standard coffee-black color with an extra thick molasses-colored head. The aroma was definitely producing a coffee scent, and the label on this beer does boast double chocolate, coffee, and oatmeal, so I thought it would be fun to try. When I tasted this beer, there is only one word that comes to mind: ACRID. In my humble opinion, the coffee is overpowering in this beer. There is no essence of chocolate that I can detect and the roasted barley is present but it's simply overpowered by the coffee. My problem is that I'm not a coffee drinker at all. I can handle an occasional french vanilla cappuccino, but I never drink regular coffee, even with cream and sugar. To me, this beer tastes like what I would expect to find leftover in someone's coffee pot around noon or so after everyone had their morning fill. Once again, that's just me. If you ARE a coffee drinker, I would have to highly recommend giving this beer a whirl. I can't let myself underrate a beer that might be excellent because of my simple dislike of coffee.
This is only my second try of a Founders Brewing Co. beer, so I'll be sure to try some more in the future. I have three of these left if anyone is interested in trading me three other beers for them...
Table Rock Pale Ale
Brewery: Olde Hickory Brewery
Where: Hickory, North Carolina
Beer: Table Rock Pale Ale
Style: American IPA
IBU: 50
ABV: N/A
I really enjoy it when the guys at my local brewery bottle some of their beers. Today's sampling is one of the original and flagship beers of this brewery. The Table Rock Pale Ale is a nice malty pale ale with an excellent presence of cascade hops. From the bottle:
Table Rock Pale Ale is brewed using the finest two row barley malts with a generous amount of American Cascade hops making a balanced full bodied pale ale with a lively floral aroma and taste.
The guys at the Olde Hickory Brewery have recently bottled some of this beer along with three others from their lineup. I purchased some of each last week so stay tuned...
Thanks Steve and Jason!
Maggie’s Farmhouse Ale
Brewery: Terrapin Beer Co.
Where: Athens, Georgia
Beer: Terrapin Side Project - Maggie's Farmhouse Ale
Style: Saison / Farmhouse Ale
IBU: 25
ABV: 6%
Today's sampling is from the Terrapin Beer Company in Athens, Georgia. Their "Maggie's Farmhouse Ale" is one of their "Side Project" beers, and this is also my first sampling from this brewery.
I enjoy trying beers like this one that are part of a "side project" or some other project brews for any given brewery. It gives the brewer a chance to do something he or she likes rather than continuing along the established brew schedule all the time. These one-off short run beers are usually pretty interesting to try, especially when you find one of a style you really like. The Saison and other Belgian ales are rapidly growing on me and this one is a decent example of a Saison / Farmhouse Ale. From the website:
Welcome to the next version of Terrapin's Side Project series of beers. Volume #7 "Maggie's Farmhouse Ale." Brewing this style of beer was as exciting as it was challenging because of its high fermentation temperature (90 F) and its finicky yeast strain. You'll get all the aroma and flavors you'd expect from a farmhouse ale out of Maggie's. The nose is a combination of grassy and spicy yeasty notes with an underlying bready earthiness character. The flavor is slightly sweet up front with a tartness in the middle followed with a white pepper / tart finish. Maggie's offers the beer lover an old world style that is very pleasing to drink by itself of paired with fine foods. Cheers!
This beer is one that I would drink again, but I like my Saisons a little higher in alcohol...
Shmaltz Brewing – Human Blockhead
Brewery: Schmaltz Brewing Company
Where: Saratoga Springs, NY
Beer: Human Blockhead Tough-As-Nails Lager
Style: American Amber / Red Lager
IBU: N/A
ABV: 10%
As promised previously, I picked up several more samples of the Freak beers from Shmaltz Brewing Company. During the process, I also picked up some of the Chosen Beers as well, so we have several of these on hand to taste in the near future. Their "Albino Python" and "Mermaid Pilsner" aren't available to me locally that I'm aware of, but I might be able to find them elswhere in the future...
Today's sample is the Human Blockhead Tough-As-Nails Lager. When I was examining the bottle in the store, the first thing I found out of the ordinary (besides the normally outrageous packaging) was the 10% ABV note on the bottle. That's pretty much over the top for this style of beer, so I was quite curious as to what it might provide in terms of taste. Most beers like this have a significant alcohol presence in the flavor when they come right out of the refrigerator, and this beer is no exception. My normal procedure on a beer like this is to let it warm up to 55° F before really digging in, which is what I did with this beer.
This beer poured with a rich amber color and a decent head that maintained its presence for the entire drink. The flavor of this beer just about knocked me down (in a good way!) This beer is what I'd call a 'malt bomb' with a fantastic mouth feel. According to Shmaltz, this beer is made up of the following malts:
- Munich
- Vienna
- Wheat
- Crystal Rye
- Pale Crystal
- Flaked Oats
- Rye
The flaked oats are most likely responsible for the nice mouth feel of this beer, but I'm simply unexperienced on the Rye portion of this grain bill. I'm probably going to have to do a little research on those ingredients. This beer, regardless of what went into it, has pulled me in as a fan of Shmaltz Brewing. The malt complexity on this one is simply outstanding, but I must warn you... Take it easy with this one... It will sneak up on you while you aren't looking!
I'm such a fan at this point, I'm going to have to see if I can get Santa to cough up a Coney Island Lager T-shirt for me this year!
Post Calendar
Pages
Recent Comments
- TGTondini on Man Cave Hot Dog Chili
- john Womack on Hop Slam Ale
- Hoegaarden Original White Ale | Beer For Beer Drinkers on Hoegaarden Original White Ale
- John Setzler on Double Bastard Ale
- Tom Devlin on Double Bastard Ale
Categories
Associations
Blogroll
- Asheville Beer Blog
- Beer Examiner
- Beer for Dinner
- BeerPorn
- BeerSmith Home Brewing
- Drunken Polack
- Geistbear Brewing Blog
- PintLog
Stuff
Supplies
- Austin Homebrew Supply
- Brewmasters Warehouse
- Midwest Homebrewing Supplies
- Northern Brewer
- William’s Brewing
