Month: August 2015

Written by Tom Becham

Stone’s Imperial Russian Stout (yes, they refer to it that way instead of Russian Imperial Stout) is a solid, solid Impy Stout. It’s also one of the older ones produced in the United States. Typically, of Stone products, it has very strong, in-your-face flavors, high ABV, and apologizes for nothing.

In odd years, Stone releases unusual versions of their IRS. I remember a licorice-flavored version one year, vanilla and oatmeal in another. This year, their variant Imperial Stout is called the Chai Spiced Edition. Continue reading “Tom Becham Reviews: Stone Imperial Russian Stout (Chai Spice Edition)”

Profiled by Maria Devan for PGA

Orange and soft yellow hues. Hazy. White head of foam that falls pretty quickly but leaves a thin film on top and sheets of shimmering lace. Good stream of effervescence. Nose is wicked with sixpoint style tropical fruit. Alight touch of candi sugar and a sweet little toasty biscuit. Citrusy. Light bubblegum. Floral. taste is alight touch of fruit, a sturdy belgian dry malt . A dry cracker in the drink. Taste follows the nose except for a touch of spice. There is a tartness mid palate that is lovely and juicy. Orangey. Moderately dry finish with only a faint tickle from sweetness at the back of the throat. Finishes with a light hop bitter, a touch of pepper on a medium light body.

I think that this beer is a terrific example of a classic belgian style made with ‘different” hops. It does not ask you to suspend your disbelief at all. It is a belgian pale in every way. Drinks like a text book example. It does have a bit of an edge from the different hops. I chose that word because the fruitiness is so soft and gentle. The malt qualities in this beer they are sturdy and not shy or lacking in confidence. The edge is in the contrast between the texture that the american style hops lend to the palate and a delightful toastiness drizzled with tartness. I think they did this extremely well.

4

Welcome to the PGA beer rating system: one beer “Don’t bother.” Two: Eh, if someone gives it to you, drink. Three: very good, go ahead and seek it out, but be aware there is at least one problem. Four: seek it out. Five: pretty much “perfecto.”

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Maria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is a great beer writer. That’s Maria in the middle. The other two are not, but they are lucky to have her as a friend.

Written by Ken Carman

 Ken Carman is a BJCP judge; homebrewer since 1979, club member at Escambia Bay, Clarksvlle Carboys and Music City Homebrewers, who has been interviewing professional brewers all over the east coast for over 10 years.

Fulton Chain Craft Brewery, 127 North Street, Old Forge, NY 13420
315-525-0222
www.fccbrewery.com

 Old Forge: a great Adirondack town that since I was a kid has gone from sleepy most of the time, to busy more than not. Yet, as I said when I was talking to Chip Kiefer: fellow Town of Webb grad, about what kind of brewery might work here, “I know, when I lived here, there are some days you could toss an asteroid down Main Street and hit nothing.” He responded with: “It’s still like that sometimes.”
  Yes, for that and many other reasons, starting a business here is rewarding, yet can be tough, and a brewery has special challenges, as I’m sure co-owners of the Fulton Chain Craft Brewery, Justin Staskiewicz and Richard Mathy, know. The crazy busy times are buffered by the long “I almost wish an asteroid would go down Main Street” days, if only it could stop and shop.
 The off season can be immensely enjoyable, relaxing, but without planning it can be tough on business.
  One obvious sign it’s tough is how long it took for a craft brewery to get here. While the rest of country has been having fun brewing up many barrels of craft beer other than Saranac Lake and Lake Placid, the Dacks have remained mostly untouched. Saranac is a recent addition, Lake Placid not that long ago considering the history of craft beer, nationwide.
  I’m not surprised at all by any of this. In the 1977, at my Adirondack wedding, down the road in Big Moose, NY, my father-in-law brought a seemingly endless supply of Heineken Dark for everyone at the reception. In the Adirondacks, at the time, getting any beer beyond American Lager: essentially Bud or Miller-like products, was like finding a skyscraper in downtown Old Forge filled with wookies.
  After that moment I am proud to say dark beer, and other unusual brews (for the time), slowly started to appear in the Central Adirondacks.
  Yes, you can blame me, Old Forge.
  I have actually tried myself, in the past few years, to get a small brewery, or brewpub, started in the Old Forge area. For various reasons I failed in that beery quest, but BEHOLD…. Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All”