Beer Profile: Saranac Octoberfest
Profiled by Maria Devan
Saranac Oktoberfest. Original and quite to style. Color is perfect. Bright clear beer with a cream colored head that was on the fast side to fall but left some spots and streaks of lace. Clean nose with a slight malty aroma. Taste it soft creamy malt. The hops in this one show only a swift cool breath of herbal as they finish the beer . On the nose though the perle shows off a hint of spice. There is a tiny balancing bitterness. A touch thinner than some other oktoberfests in the finish. Saphir hops show you a pleasant moment of citrus juiciness in the swallow but they do not outdo themselves or the beer with it.
The reason I was a bit stingy in the taste category and overall is because there is a touch of hops bitter that finishes this beer. It’s not that much but it does make it appear thinner. Also that citrus taste brought the rating a touch lower.
3.5
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.”
____________________________Beer HERE
___________________________________________________________________
MAAAAAAARIA……………. THERE ONCE WAS A BEER REVIEWER NAMED “Maria!”
Kroger Installing Beer Taps
Kroger is, of course, the BIG boy on the block in the south. Question being: “Will this make it to Nashville, Chattanooga, Clarksville, southern KY, etc. As residents well know, Kroger takes a while to compete seriously with trends like this, and seems quite reluctant. They finally gave in Nashville when Publix didn’t just go away, like previous attempts to go up against the big boy. In the Dayton/Cinci area, part of this articles commentary, they have long had to compete with the likes of Meijers and local beloved: Dorothy Lane -PGA
Kroger is tapping in-store beer stations and tastings in the supermarket chain’s latest push to drive customer traffic.
This fall, customers will be able to buy or bring in their own growlers to fill with craft beers fresh from in-store taps at the new Kroger Marketplace in Oakley as well as the Harper’s Point Kroger store in Montgomery. The stores will establish busy schedules of weekday and weekend tastings for craft beer aficionado as well as the curious and thirsty.
More stores in the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky-Dayton market are also on tap to get the taps, including the Corryville replacement store next year and the Anderson Township Marketplace by 2017 as part of a remodel. Kroger also plans to serve wine at the beer taps stations.
Want to read more? Please click…
HERE
Maria Devan Reviews: Sixpoint 3 Bean
Is organic craft beer really worth drinking?
Finding a craft beer is easy. Finding an organic craft beer? Well, that’s another matter entirely.
Despite the artisanal nature of the craft beer industry, the majority of brewers have opted to forego obtaining organic certification. But those who have embraced the concept of organic brewing are quite passionate about it.
“What organic represents is the absence of carcinogenic pesticides on the ingredients,†says Arthur Lucas, founder of Charleston, SC’s Freehouse Brewery. “Getting the label lets me communicate with people. It’s about informing the public.â€
Want to read more? Please click…
HERE
Tom Becham Reviews: Stone Imperial Russian Stout (Chai Spice Edition)
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)”
Beer Profile: Abigale by Sixpoint
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.”
_____________________________________Beer HERE
___________________________________________________________________
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.
Bright, Light and Belgian
Belgium’s easy-drinking summer ales will surprise you
To the novice, Belgian beers are thought to be by turns “heavy†or “rich†and “full-bodiedâ€, but such descriptors believe the fact that Belgium’s beer tradition—in addition to many a very big brew—includes super-refreshing, lighter styles, too. Miguel Silva, Beverage Director of Villains Chicago, a soon-to-be-opened craft-focused beer bar in the Windy City’s Printer’s Row area with 40. handles and deep bottle list, got into these full-flavored brews (among others) in the 1990s, exploring the famous lists at places like The Map Room. Ditching his career as a mortgage lender in June 2007, he was soon working in craft beer around the clock and taking trips into Michigan’s brewery- and beer bar-dotted Upper Peninsula. Smart moves.
What’s your favorite summer beer style? Tell us below.
Want to read more? Please click…
HERE
How Cream Ale Rose: The Birth of Genesee’s Signature
Slight over statement at one point. Yes, Genny Cream was the “standard” but with many new Creams, or even just Sleeman’s, saying “THE” and “all others” is a tad far in the professor’s opinion- PGA
Gary Geminn was in high school and just approaching the old New York state drinking age of 18 when his father, Clarence Geminn, is said to have declared on the floor of the Genesee Brewing Co.’s brewhouse, “I think we have a winner here.â€
The winning beer in question? Genesee Cream Ale, which debuted in 1960 and became for a time the best-selling ale in the United States, with some 1 million barrels annually rolling out of the Rochester-based regional brewery—no small feat, given it was then barely distributed beyond the Northeast. The elder Geminn, Genesee’s brewmaster since 1959 and an assistant brewmaster there for eight years before that, had spearheaded the beer’s creation.
Want to read more? Please click…
HERE
Brew Biz: Werts and All
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.â€
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”
You must be logged in to post a comment.