Boxcar Pumpkin Porter (Starrhill Brewing Company)

                 Hello from Virginia craft beer month and what a whirl wind it has been. I have scheduled 6 samplings this month that have proven to be more than I can handle. I am getting it done, barely. I have worked 18 days straight with no day off and I have worked two samplings with another one tomorrow. I am excited about the one tomorrow, there should be a good mix of college kids and yuppies. I worked this sampling with a good friend of mine and we killed it. It is the most beer I have sold since I have begun this sampling experiment. Boxcar Pumpkin porter was a big winner tonight, and so was I. I escaped with four of them babies back to the mansion. 

                 Starrhill released boxcar last year and it was an interesting player in the pumpkin beer category. It isn't an extreme nutmeg and cinnamon disaster like some of the southern tier, dogfish head, or loose cannon liquid pumpkin pies. This unique porter based seasonal beer, is a subtle pumpkin flavor with some smokey notes. Thank you Mark Thompson for this gift of great beer. If you are scared of dark beers this maybe your training wheels. If you are wondering what makes a porter so dark, it is the dark roasted malt. If you imagine roasting a grain to the point it is almost black, it's going to taste like burning. OK, well maybe like coffee or dark nuts.

                  Speaking of dark nuts, Mark S. Thompson started his brewery in the walking mall in Charlottesville before the walking mall was even cool. The brewery could even be said to be a big part of the development of that area. A couple of years ago he moved the brewery into an old delmonte canning plan by the train tracks in Crozet Virginia. They make some wild beers that I suggest you pick up if you see them like smoke out or cryptical. So if you are out this fall pick up some boxcar or head up to Crozet to check out what Starhill has goings on. Check them out online at www.starrhill.com 

Dark Hollow (Blue Mountain Brewery)

            I'd rather be in some dark hollow where the sun don't ever shine. Then to be at home alone and knowin' that you're gone. Would cause me to lose my mind. Well blow your whistle freight train carry me far on down the track. Well I'm going away, I'm leaving today. . I'm goin', but I ain't comin' back. I'd rather be in some dark hollow where the sun don't ever shine.
Then to be in some big city, in a small room, with you upon my mind. Well I'm going away, I'm leaving today.
I'm goin' but I ain't comin' back.
           I was in Total Beverage here in the fine city of Richmond and the name smacked me in the face. Dark Hollow is one of my favorite grateful dead songs. It is part of my camping play list. They had a display of these singles right in the front of the store, and it worked. You see folks, that is my job to place things in parts of my accounts that get the mind working, until you realize you neeed it.
            This dark delicious is a Bourbon barrel aged imperial stout from Blue Mountain brewery, weighing in at 10% ABV. I like the way the brewery stamps the year on the cork in the bottle in case you are one of those self control drinkers that can have beer sitting around for years. I am not, bought today drank tonight with a hot dog dinner. I will form my opinion of this beer and if I think It maybe better later, I'll go buy another. I don't believe that I will be though. I'm not sure if it was my poor pairing or if this is just a nasty beer but for the money I wouldn't suggest this beer. It isn't alcohol heavy in taste, and it doesn't have a roasted or coffee taste. The after taste is almost fishy. I'm drinking it slowly hoping that my palette will come around. The brewery says they age the beer in barrels that are practically dripping with Bourbon, and I think that maybe the case. The Bourbon flavor clashes too much with the stout giving an off flavor. Most beers for lagering or storing, taste sugar heavy, so this one wouldn't really be a candidate.

Pepe Nero (Goose Island Brewing Company)

           So I had one of those weekends where I usually wind up and wendy's too many times or at a friends house eating his wife's cooking. That is right, I was left to fend for myself and I did so well not spending money, then I went searching for a reward.

          I found this four pack of Pepe Nero at Once Upon a Vine north. I went with the intention of getting something fall seasonal then I settled on this. There was a lot of hype surrouding this brewery and I haven't have the one that knocked my socks off yet. To be fair, I have had two of Goose Islands wheat selections, which I am not a fan of wheat beers anyways.

         Goose Island advertises as being Chicago's craft beer. They produce a thurough line of beers and have a very unique barrel aging program. Like clipper city they have three degrees or levels of beer and this Pepe Nero is one of the their most serious. Nero is a farmhouse beer, and it has a velvety mouth feel with some subtle spice, that comes from the peppercorns. 

           I know very little about this brewery and their website is but so informative. What I have experienced so far is an attention to detail and commitment to providing unique beer. So go check for yourself, see what kind info you can turn up at www.gooseisland.com   

Land Ho! Black Pilsner style Lager (A Collaboration)

I have to admit it collaborations are always exciting ventures to feed the flavor of the week craft beer crowd. Stone, Dogfish head and Victory brewing have done a series of collaborations they are still making to this day. I was hoping for something a little risky or maybe something that was more flavor intense, but that's not what I got. What I got out of Heavy Seas in Baltimore and Devil's Backbone from right here in VA, was what could be described as an apparent blended beer? It has some of the subtle complexities of the DB Vienna Lager but it has that mouth feel like a Heavy Seas Peg Leg.

My previous post had my rant about the Heavy Seas brewery and what it means to me and so on. Now Devil's Backbone is a "taste the local" brand distributed my yours truly, and it has been an exciting partnership. I have been to the brewery twice and my 64oz growler came from there. When Haley and I got married we used a gift certificate to the Homestead that I had won at work, which was a real bore. While heading to the next stop, a bed and breakfast outside of Charolettesville, we made a slight detour to this brewery for lunch. As a huge fan of the area the drive captured my imagination and once we got to the brewery, pictured on this bottle, I fell in love. It was the first part of our honeymoon where we could actually relax, we tried all their beers. One of the best things this brewery has going for it is the venue itself.

Devil's Backbone has won several awards for their different brews. You can find their Vienna Lager, one of their most decorated beers, their 8 point IPA and their rotating seasonal in bars and specialty shops all over town.

And of course check out and support both breweries at:

http://dbbrewingcompany.com/

http://www.hsbeer.com/

Deviant Dale's IPA (Oskar Blue Brewing)

IPA's have been two major flavor profiles, they can either be piney and clean or citrusy and in your face. My personal preference is to have that piney oily smell without all the bite and nasty after taste, although I do enjoy the after burps of an IPA. Now this beer has been highly anticipated by . . . . Me. When I first saw a four pack on store shelves the 15$ price tag threw me a little. So earlier today I went to Once Upon a Vine north and picked up a bottle for my buddy Dan and I later on this weekend and I spotted it, a single can. $3.49 for a single 16oz can of Deviant Dale's. The packaging is sexy, it has two of my favorite colors, but is it really a worthy new product for a an incredibly established brewer? I'm not so sure. As previously blogged about Oskar Blues Gubna is still to this day one of the finest IPA's I have ever tasted. I bring the glass to my lips and the first sniff is as to be expected, piney and exciting. The beer hits my lips and that familiar acidic burn becomes relevant. I swallow, and the burn remains, there is nothing there that I haven't experienced before. The lingering flavor of burning remains. Damn Ralph Wiggum, It sure does "feels like burning". It is definitely a different hop flavor.

Oskar Blue Brewing is from Lyons Colorado. If you have never been to the area but in the community they say there is nothing to do but snowboard or drink beer while waiting for it to snow. It is a rich beer community which is why oskar blues was one of the first craft brewers to can, the superior package for preservation. They have also run with the environmentally conscious marketing, at their website you can find biking jersey's and merch for your pup. It is all this that helps me identify with this brewery, unfortunately lots of other breweries are cashing in on this marketing angle, IE. fuck fat tire. Oops, so surf of over and check them out soon at www.oskarblues.com.

Plank II, Dopplebock style lager (Heavy Seas)

Baltimore holds a space in my heart. About a month or so before I got married some friends and I went there for a gentleman's weekend. The only thing on my agenda was to visit the Heavy Seas brewery and to check out some local watering holes. I have since been back to the brewery with work and have fallen in love with the scene that Heavy Seas has created in Baltimore. What man doesn't like pirate themes and hometown beers. The brewery isn't as much of a destination as say a Devil's Backbone or even a Hardywood park. It is in an industrial park and there is no where within a few miles to grab a bite to eat. They have in the past year opened a brew pub but I have yet to go there.

Heavy Seas releases there beers in three series, the clipper fleet, the pyrate fleet and the mutiny fleet. The clipper fleet is your standard portfolio of styles, a golden, a pale, a lager, a marzen and a summer ale. The next step up is the pyrate fleet which are beers of higher alcohol content or a little extra process in production. This series has IPA, black IPA, pilsner, stout, saison, double IPA. Richmonders are in love with the IPA's from this line. Loose cannon tap markers can be found all over town, and black cannon the black IPA is a highly anticipated beer every year. Then the mutiny fleet are 22's of flavor, that are released with every season and holiday change but what I am drinking this evening is the second installment of their plank series.

Although barrel aging has become all the craze with craft breweries, heavy seas has chosen to circumvent the pain of securing and storing the barrels. Instead they carefully select planks of different woods to age in whatever style of beer they chose. The Plank I was an old english ale and now the Plank II is a dopplebock style lager, and a dark one at that. I have chosen to smoke a cigar with this beer so I cannot give you idea of the nose, but it has velvety mouth feel that goes well with a cigar. I appreciate that this run doesn't have the heavy residual sugars like the first one. At 10 dollars for a 22oz bottle I probably will not be purchasing another, and I am not sure lagering this beer would enhance the flavor. I like this periodic series and look forward to new offerings.

http://hsbeer.com/beer/plank2/

Be on the look out for Land Ho! a collaboration between heavy seas and virginia's very own Devil's Backbone.

Best Brown Ale (Bell's Brewing)

I am a coffee drinker, and have an appreciation for the subtle flavor varieties in coffees from just about anywhere. I tend to think about coffee when I have a good brown, stout, or porter. Brown's tend to be the smoother drink, that can follow with a variety of flavors.

This selection from Bell's Brewing has a sweeter taste that what I generally like. This isn't a brown that I would pair with a cigar. This beer almost seems to have a fruity taste to it, like apricot. At 5.8% ABV, this beer will keep you warm during the fall and winter.

Don't judge Bell's by this particular brew. In Richmond, their Two Hearted ale seems to be the flag stone. This brewery from Kalamazoo Michigan does all the right things to help stimulate a beer lover with a large portfolio of seasonal and special releases. Check them out at http://www.bellsbeer.com/