east coast craft beers

New Blog Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA

While in DC for Savor, there was a place we went to after lunch down the street. I had this beer from Dogfish Head Brewery called 60 Minute IPA Ale. If you read my earlier blog on Dogfish Head Pilsner, you a little bit about this brewery. Let us get into this brew.

This beer is clear yellow color in the glasses. There is no smell to the beer.  A little circus and carbonation taste to this beer.  For being an India Pale Ale, it is very drinkable and sessional.

Here is a description from their website (www.dogfish.com):

60 Minute IPA is continuously hopped — more than 60 hop additions over a 60-minute boil. (Getting a vibe of where the name came from?)

60 Minute is brewed with a slew of great Northwest hops. A powerful but balanced East Coast IPA with a lot of citrusy hop character, it’s the session beer for hardcore enthusiasts!

Every Beer Has A Story…

In our Quick Sip Clip video below, Sam Calagione talks about the 60 Minute IPA. For some perspective, he compares this beer to its predecessor, 90 Minute IPA, and its big brother, 120 Minute IPA.

Sam stepped out of the brewery for the taping of this Quick Sip Clip and comes to us from the place where it all started: Dogfish Head, Maine.

Cheers!

Here is a few sources on the web to get information on Dogfish Head Brewery:

Website: www.dogfish.com

Twitter: @dogfishbeer

Closing, I hate to be very honest. I really did not like this beer at first drink, however, thinking about it, I really loved the drinkablity of this beer and the fact it is not overly hopped like most IPAs on the market. I would not say this is my favorite IPA but it is not the worse. Whenever, I think of Dogfish as far as IPAs, I always believe their IPAs will be hopped up but it is not the case. I respect all craft breweries but Sam is pushing the limits of beer drinkers. Go check this beer out. Drink it! Enjoy it! Metal it! \m/

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Email: djweiser13@comcast.net

Twitter: @djweiser

New Blog Heavy Sea Loose Cannon Ale

While in DC for Savor, I went for lunch at this restaurant. I order Heavy Seas Brewery Loose Cannon Ale. I had this beer when I was in Coopertown, NY a few years ago. Heavy Seas Brewery was known as Clipper City Brewery which became in 1994.  The founder of Clipper City Brewery and Heavy Seas Brewery is Hugh Sisson.  This brewery has a nice pirate theme going on which is very nice and creative for a brewery.  This brewery is brewing in Baltimore, Maryland.  They have several different fleets of beers.  Loose Cannon Ale is part of the Pyrate Fleet.  Let us get into the beer.

This beer is a clear copper color. It does not really have a smell to the beer. This nice American IPA has a nice sweet carbonation circus taste. The aftertaste is very bitter but not bad for IPA.  This beer very drinkable and sessional.  You can drink this any season and pretty much all day.

Here is a description from their website (www.hsbeer.com):

Burnished gold with a rich citrus hop aroma, it is wonderfully drinkable with a big hop flavor. We’ve knicknamed it Hop3 (hop cubed) ale to reflect the enormous amount of hops in this beer: over 3 pounds per barrel! It is hopped 3 ways: in the kettle, in the hop back, and dry hopped. Pairs well with strong cheeses and steak. 2nd Place CAMRA award winner at the 2010 Great British Beer Festival

Here is a few areas on the web where you can get to know this brewery:

Website: www.hsbeer.com

Twitter: @heavyseabeer

Closing out the lunch tab, I really loved this IPA. I could drink it any season of the year. It is very drinkable and not too overly hopped up like most IPAs in the market nor the states.  I wish it was available close to my home of Chicag0. Just like most beers it will kill the thrill you will get when it is not available to you everyday. However, if you live where you can get it everyday, I would recommend you trying this beer. Drink it! Enjoy it! Metal it! \m/

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Email: djweiser13@comcast.net

Twitter: @djweiser

New Blog Sebago Brewery Lake Trout Stout

In this blog, we are going to talk about a beer I received through my Beer of the Month. This brewery is unknown to me just like this brew. This brewery was founded in 1998. They offer a full line of different beer styles all the east coast.

This beer is black in color like your normal stout with a constant light brown head.  The smell from the beer is strong chocolate. The taste is not very good to be honest. The beer starts out water tasting and then a chocolate taste along a strong chocolate aftertaste.

Here is a description from their website (www.sebagobrewing.com):

Lake Trout Stout is midnight black with a thick and creamy head.  It is a full bodied stout brewed with oatmeal and plenty of hops to balance the roasted barley. Our stout is an experience.  It tastes the same way it looks – dark and rich. It is named after the famous deep water Sebago Lake Togue or Lake Trout which inhabit the depths of Maine’s deepest lake. Enjoy.

BEER DETAILS:

Style: Stout

History: First Brewed in 1998

Orig. Gravity: 13.5 °P

Color: Midnight Black 170 SRM

ABV: 4.7%

IBU’s: 32

Pairing Suggestions: rich sauces, grilled meats, or chocolate

Here is their website and twitter addresses:

Website: www.sebagobrewing.com

Twitter: @sebagobrewing

In closing, I love stouts in every style, however, Irish Dry Stout is very dry and I feel you need to drink a water with this style of beer. This beer is good but not bad. Since I cannot get this beer in Chicago, I will be enjoying my last two bottles of this brew. Drink it! Enjoy it l! Metal it! \m/

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Email: djweiser13@comcast.net

Twitter: @djweiser

New Blog Big Horn Ram Blonde Beer

In this blog, I am on location at The Ram in Wheeling, IL. This is the third blog on this brewery, please look back at the older blogs on back story if this brewery. If you have read them, then you know about this beer.

We are going to talk about one of their everyday beers called Blonde Beer.  It sits in the glass as a clear with a yellow to golden color. There really is no smell to this beer. As far as taste, you can taste the carbonation while the sweetest kicks in halfway through the tasting experience.

There was a menu lying around so here is the description of the beer:

Big Horn Blonde award-winning golden ale, light bodied with mild malt sweetness and delicately hopped for a crisp, refreshing finish.

ABV 4.4% SRM 6.0 IBUs 20 Grain Pale Munich Hops Cascade and Willamette.

In closing, I am going to be honest.  I am really not a fan of this beer nor the style. I really can see people loving this beer. It is a very drinkable beer and session. It is a perfect day like today in Chicago where it is 90+ degree today. This will make the American lager drinker to the wheat beer drinker happy. I do not see many hop heads liking this beer. Enjoy it! Drink it! Metal it! \m/

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Email: djweiser13@comcast.net

Twitter: @djweiser

Boston Beer Company Samuel Adams IPA Hop-ology 12 Pack Sampler

Well this will be my second blog of the day and will be a pretty long one.  Boston Beer Company, I believe you will not need any history or information on this company.  Unless you live under a rock get hold of me and I will give you the information.  I will still put there twitter and website addresses on this blog. They were one of the first to get the craft beer business going in the states and the world.  Well for the last two years Sam Adams has put out sampler back for the hop heads of the world.  Latitude 48 IPA (India Pale Ale) came out last year from Sam Adams just to keep up with the growing sales of IPAs.  Last years sampler pack was a collection of Latitude 48 IPA brew with different hops.  It was one of my favorites set of beers last spring and summer.

A very sweet and to the point history on IPA.  England back in 1600s was looking to ship beer to their soldiers in India.  Well every shipment of beer went bad. The name escapes me but a brewmaster added more hops to make the beer last longer on the travel to India.  So a new beer style was borned from the England Pale Ales.  English India Pale Ales are not as high in the IBUs as the USA ones.  Most American West Coast Pale Ales are just as high as the English IPAs.

This years sampler pack will feature the following IPAs and each will be review in this blog:

Latitude 48 IPA

This beer is in an everyday six pack bottles.  It has your normal IPA amber to copper look to it with a white head.  Tasting this beer gives a nice hop taste with nice bitter ending.  You can taste beer from the front of the pallet which gives off sweet to bitter tastes.  The after taste is something I really don’t like about this beer.  For what Samuel Adams is today, this is a well made beer.  I hate to say it because I know it is a slap in the face to any brewmaster but this is a nice beginner IPA for people wanting to get into this great beer style.  Overall a nice drinkable and sessional beer.

This is the dscription the bottle:

A unique IPA brewed with a carefully selected blend of hops from top German, English, and American growing regions all located close to the 48th Latitude within the “hop belt” of the Northern Hemisphere.  The intense hop character is balanced by a slight sweetness and full body from the malt blend.  Cheers! Jim Koch

Dark Depths Baltic IPA

This IPA pours as a dark brown color.  This is a pretty big IPA with an ABV of 7.6%.  For most people calling this a Black IPA.  It is very light color black.  I really wouldn’t call it a Black IPA.  I realize it is taking from a Porter and mixing it with IPA.  You will see I read this from the decription off the bottle.  It just doesn’t taste that way to me.  This is just my thought on the beer.  I compare this Widmer Pitch Black IPA and Uinta Dubhe Black IPA.  There is a very little head on the beer when you are done pouring it.  Smell the beer gives off smells of malty and then hints of the hops.  The taste is sweet with slight roasted malt hints with a hop finish of bitterest.  The hops are not overpowering.  It is a very well balance IPA for the ABV being so high.  This beer is also available in 22oz single service bottles in any craft store in you.

This is the dscription the bottle:

Across the cold and brackish waters of the Baltic, the English porter was transformed, from a mild ale to a dark and complex lager that confounds definition.  Immersed in dark, roasted malts and a bold citrus hop character, these big and contrasting flavors are brought together with the smoothness of a lager for a brew that’s bold, mysterious, and full of flavor

White Water IPA

This beer is available in six pack bottles, part of this sampler, and also in their summer sampler pack.  Here is a IPA style that is starting to grow.  This a wheat ale that is brew with a ton of hops.  There a very few IPA Wheat Ales out there.  There is Three Fylod Gumballhead Wheat Ale and Shock Top Wheat IPA from the ABInbev Company.  Gumballhead is more of a wheat with a ton more IBUs then your average wheat ale out there.  Lagunitas Brewing Company has one called A Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ ale.  It is more of a wheat mix with blond ale with a high IBU on it.  Yes it could get you in trouble with a pretty bartender.  Trust me I know.  Samuel Adams is slightly cloudly and you do get the wheat taste along with the hop finish.  It is pretty hoppy for a wheat ale.  The only problem I have with this beer, which is why I don’t like most wheat ales, it is too much of the yeast taste for me.  This beer fits into this new growing category.  Overall, it is a good beer and very drinkable.  I can see people enjoying this beer.

This is the dscription the bottle:

This hazy brew combines the crisp character of a white ale with the intense pine and citrus flavors of an India Pale Ale.  We took this unique combination to a new level with the subtle addition of apricots, which provide a slight sweetness to balance the bitterness of the hops.  Cheers! Jim Koch

Third Voyage Double IPA

This beer is a copper color when you are pouring it with the head always there.  Nice looking copper color beer with white head.  When smelling it, it has a  very strong pinely smell to it.  Just burn some pine trees and you will get the same feeling I am talking about.  Please don’t go out and burn a forest.  I am just giving an example of the smell you will experience from this beer.  Now let us get back to this beer. When drinking this beer, you will get a nice sweetness through out the beer tasting beer experience and then the slap of the bitterest at the end of beer. This is a very balance and drinkable IPA for the ABV being 8.0%.  It has a very nice grapefruit to circus taste to it.  Overall, this is a great beer.  I am very impressed for being made by Samuel Adams. This beer is also available in 22oz single service bottles in any craft store in you.

This is the dscription the bottle:

This unique double IPA takes the style’s origins a step futher.  IPAs were born out of making an ale that could sustain a long voyage.  For our take, we were inspired by the indomitable Capt. James Cook whose 3rd voyage made him the first to navigate a treacherous route from England to New Zealand to the Pactific Northwest.  Using Cascade hops from each of these regions, we created a brew that’s citrusy, earthy, and full of bold character.

Grumpy Monk Belgian IPA

This whole thing calling this a Belgian IPA is a bunch of bull shit.  Sorry for using it but it is true.  Belguin, the last time I check beer history didn’t make any IPAs, however, they did make a beer style from Monks called a Triple, which is pretty close to English and American IPAs.  American breweries get your facts straight and I hope you are talking about Triple. Not making up a style you think they made in this small sexy country.  Well Samuel Adams did a beer that they called Belgian IPA.  Guess what it is a Triple.  A light cooper color with barely no head.  Nice Monk yeast and hoppy taste.  This is really good beer for the style that is so wrong.  This is a Triple not an IPA.  Triples are Belguin’s IPA but with heavy spicies on their yeast.  Overall, this is a very good beer.  I am kind of impressed.  This beer is only available in this sampler pack.

This is the dscription the bottle:

The long held brewing traditions of Belgian monks aren’t meant to be broken. Yet, to the monk’s dismay, the distinctive character of Belgian yeast with its spicy clove and fruit notes can be reimagined when combined with the brazen hop character of an IPA.  These hops impart a citrusy, piney, and earthy flavor that’s balanced by a roasted malt sweetness for a complex and playful brew.

Tasman Red IPA

This beer pours red just like what the beer says on the label.  Picture this, a person with a burn face as red as red can get with blonde hair and this is what the  beer will look like in your glass when you hold it up to the light.  Pretty funny.  This is a very balance IPA with sweetness.  This is a very good beer.  I am really stun I like this because I am not a really a fan of Red Ales. If you read the decription below from the bottle, the red comes from the hop called Tasman.  I am not a brewmast but that is really interesting.  This beer is also available in 22oz single service bottles in any craft store in you.

This is the dscription the bottle:

This wily red IPA gets its character from the Tasmanian hops that are full of grapefruit, pine, and earthy notes., creating a bold flavor that threads throughout the taste.  The hops are balanced by a core the taste.  The hops are balanced by a core of roasty malts that give this brew body and richness with hints of toffee.  This flavorful brew is rounded and smooth with a dry and citrusy hop finish.

In closing, this is an awesome set of IPAs.  It is gives you a lesson of all the different IPAs around the world or in the states.  However, I really like the one fron last year.  I kind of wish they would have done that plus this one.  It is kind of good to get some of these beers that are in 22oz like Tasman Red IPA, Third Voyage Double IPA, and Dark Depths Baltic IPA in 12oz bottles.  Some of them I wish were in six pack bottles.  I understand why they are in 22oz bottles to get into that high in market that most craft beer companies are trying to reach.  Overall, great patch of IPAs, I say try it once to get your own thought on this pack.  Drink it! Enjoy it! and Metal it!

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Twitter @djweiser

Email djweiser13@comcast.net

Sixpoint Brewery Apollo

In this blog, we are going to talk about Sixpoint’s Apollo ale.  Let’s start with the history of the brewery.  Sixpoint is a craft brewery out of Brooklyn, New York.  They were founded by homebrewer Shane Welch in 2004.  They brew several different styles of beers from IPAs, Ryes, Lagers, etc.  They also brew this wheat ale that we are going to talk about in this blog.

I will be up front and honest before we get into this beer.  I am really not a fan of wheat ales however, I have becoming a huge fan of Bavarian Wheat Ales.  Apollo is their new summer seasonal.  Here is what is posted on Sixpoint website (www.sixpoint.com) on what it is.

“The unmistakable flavor of a Bavarian Wheat, but with a clear golden brilliance and a Sixpoint twist. An entirely unique canned offering for the sun-worshipping ale lovers.” (taking from the sixpoint website)

The one thing that this brewery is doing right on their packaging and I kind of wish others would pick up on this.  Sixpoint puts IBU, ABV, and SRM on their cans. Apollo is a 5.2% abv, 11 IBU (internation bitter units), and 3.7 SRM (the color of the beer).  Also on their can it does tell you what the beer is.

Apollo pours with a head but it goes away pretty quick. It is a cloudy with a strew to golden color. It smells like a Germen hef with some circus. This is a very nice balance beer when tasting it. The lemon attacks your pallet throughout the drinking experience. Very little to no after taste from the hops but a slight lemon hint. The IBUs are only 11. It is in the average for a wheat, white, hefenize, etc.

Ram Brewery Wheeling IL

I love supporting great brewpub with great food.  I didn’t realize I had one in my backyard.  I am talking about the multiple locations brewpub called The Ram Brewery.  Their beer is a really good for a great value for the price.  This is a perfect place to take people that are new to craft beer world that want to sample new Craft Beers.  The other one I would say in the Chicagoland market would be the #1 craft in Chicago which is Goose Island Brewery.  They have two location in the city but if you are in the burbs of Chicago The Ram has two location in the Northwest.

To get information and see updates and news on this company.

Twitter @theram or @therambrew (wheeling location)

Website is www.theram.com

The Wheeling location has special on Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday.  They have a sampler plate just like every other brewpub.  Go and drink to support some great craft beers!  Cheers!