Could not agree more

 https://beerandbrewing.com/brew-it-dark-and-hoppy-the-balancing-act/

Adirondack Brewery in Lake George, NY

Let's not mince words-- Adirondack Brewery is a great destination for Beer fans, dead of winter, a very solid selection of world class selections apart from their own brews.  All well balanced, and great counterpoint to the menus of food for about every taste. We had two great beer that inspired this bleery photo shoot-- it seems the Imperial Stouts do come on faster than anticipated. 

New Holland's Dragon's Milk Boubon Barrel Imperial Stout is just an outright iteration of the style, and outstanding winish bourbon at 11% leviathan ABV.  To be sure on second pull, I recall thinking "the Halls have unleased a new circle of hell on Earth with this Bourbon barrel stuff".   

The Petrus Cherry Chocolate Nitro Belgian Quad (8.5%) was a thing to behold, 6 malts, apart from the Cherry and the cocao for that matter, and so our group beheld 3 each, which required a cooling off period before the freeze walk back to our rooms, not feeling the cold much either way. This beer is like a new Yes album, if you will. 

Thick, rich, nitro frothed mouth feel is notable, the exception to 9 of 10 beer out there. The ethanol in these beer was the least interesting element, but these Wine-beers are the trends, and these were both good friends. One wonders if the Cherry juice is fermented with the malt, or added later, like flavoring.

I'd say the New Holland and the Petrus were "Amazing and Delicious", "tasty" and the latest foodie buzzword for extraordinary if enough hadn't been said about them already.  Anyway, they were right. 

Adirondacks Wave IPAs are more than swell-- hazy cold and humid, just they way I love it, featuring various configurations of high Alpha hops-- simcoe, crystal, eureka... the grain bill composed of red wheat and flaked oat. Their beers are indeed "Nice Liquid" as the slogan reads-- their IPAs were fresh with a bite like that North wind coming off the lake, that should not faze you much after one or two with some Stout to follow it up. 

You'll find them here:  https://adkbrewery.com/beer/lgipa/

 

Royal Palm Brewing, Wellington FL

 

Royal Palm Brewing in Wellington is a interesting little nondescript shopping center operation, tucked away next to a resort community, offering strange flavors on what looks like chainsaw furniture.  So the surroundings are casual and fun, and as I'd come to find out, the beers are a bit strange and tropical themed, using native fruits and grains-- from Mexican corn (Millera time), Mango, to Key Lime, to... um.... Gatorade, made from their local, fresh, organic available... Gator-fruit? 

Let's be clear-- this is not Cigar City, and prolly isn't trying to be.  It's Wellington-- Horse themes and Winter Polo are more fitting anyway, not that they draw from the terroir too much anyhow. 

Nevertheless, that IPA was a nice brisk combo of my favorite Hops, that is, basically too much hops, less boiled and bitter than fresh and lovely.  However, the malted leg of that three legged stool was a bit weak for the Jomammy mouth feel. I'd drink that on hot days-- it's light enough to keep you sober like a Pils, but hopped up enough to savor the mad pine flavaz.

I took a nip of everything here, from Peanut Butter porter to a Gartoraide Gose, which was way too far beyond the pale ale for me.  I had to send it back. It really did taste like Gartoraide, brand high carbo loaded sports drink. 

But what's right at Palm Beach is the Key Lime Gose-- absolutely on of the top 3 Gose I've ever had.  I can't say enough about it and should not have to because great is great, and you'll have to experience it yourself.  The lime after shock is everything Corona with a Lime wised it could be, 100s of years after "Limeys" (English Navy) used cheap available high vitamin C limes it to fight off scurvy on and off the high seas on their way to the plantations.  Basically-- it's how the lime got in your beer bottle when you got to college. I can not account for the way an Orange got into your glass of Blue Moon with an interesting historical tid bit-- that was just pure genius meeting pure marketing-- orange flavored soda on tap with guaranteed perception of freshness built right in, floating atop your pull, whether that Bar back sliced Orange was free of all the nitemare sprays and GMO design or safe, Organic, grown in Roundup free to chew zones.  I have not dug too deep to consider if Blue Moon is made with Organic grains, so don't quote me when I say, it strikes me as soda beer, where Palm Beach's Sour Key Lime Gose does not.  They even have a canning machine-- 32oz for $10 clams, as you watch the bartender do it by hand, one at a time.

So basically, if you're within 30 miles of Palm Beach Brewery, it's better to drive over than to just sit in some pub drinking bottles of Diego or BudMillerMolson on soda jerk taps.   It's an comfortable place to get out of the midday sun, with an interesting fun array of attempted innovations, that you can't fault for their trying.  I suggest a 3oz glass before ordering up some of these new flavors. 

The brew tanks that I peeped on the way back to the WC looked clean, neat and orderly, which is a thing in and of itself. 

I can't vouch for the food as I had none.  I think they had burgers and salads, but the Website will correct if I'm wrong: https://www.royalpalmbrewing.com/

Wheat Wacker Dandelion Sorghum Pils

Drink one, smash one, save one, go!

I though I'd just need one or two of these today, but watching Dobbs pass away Tenn victory over the Sooners has been enough to drive one to drink.

Only one of these beer is American now.

The storied skunky Dutch brewer Heineken has purchased 50% of @langunitasbeer, plowing deeper into America's taste for highly hopped, rich, cheesy sour flavors first introduced by those college dudes parading around their daylight skunked cases of green "Hinies".  I guess it's safe to say skunk flavors grew on us (the Dutch do), and Tony McGee, who some people are calling the PT Barnum of brewing, has done it again... okay, well, nobody is really calling him that, but I thought it would be funny.


Wheat Wacker
Speaking of skunky flavors, what started with Italian dandelion I grew, a few pounds of malted sorghum and wheat, turned out well and way better beer than I thought it would with this Wheat Wacker Sorghum Dandelion Alt Factor.  It ended up with a very thin Belgium-ish (ie, New Belgium) taste with a dry distinctively aromatic, bitter finish, different from hops, but surprisingly agreeable, like a hand full of other hop alternatives, whether it be Heather, or Pine.  

Most Sorghum beers are promoted as an alternative to the evils of gluten, so wheat is usually not part of the grain bill on these brews.  Not so here-- fusion baby-- it's a little like ketchup and mustard on your hot dog, which I know is a sin in parts of Chicago, but a little patience and understanding go a long way... remember those those great Cuban-Chinese restaurants that used to be all over NYC?  

I hopped the beer with fresh dandelion flowers late in the boil, the way I've done Heather in the past to give it an Alt aroma and it worked well.  It ended with big frothy bubbles, that didn't last long.

This batch turned out great, which is to say, worth repeating. 

I drank that bomber in two sittings and it was better the second day... it also put me in the tank.

The Letter F is for Fall, Football and Fermentation

So as you're there, standing in the grain isle designing a new batch of beer by hunch with just 20 minutes to select and grind up the grains, you realize your hunch is based on a taste for something very bready, all hopped up and maybe with a red tinge, remind me what I'm drinking if the label falls off one later on.   

So here is my list of starters:

 

  
In addition, I know I'm using 5% Rice Hulls to clear it up, and Dex to raise the ethanol. 


I pulled Centennial and Amarillo out of their fridge to make as hoppy as need be. Nevertheless, even though I literally had the brewing software opened (BeerSmith), and the pot on the stove, I backed it down.  Didn't feel right.  I'm still not so sure, or ready to cook it all up, so needs more time to search, research, incubate and scheme.  

But soon... soon.

And recently had this Smuttynose at a Lobster Bash in upstate NY, and it was as inspirational as it was, well, frankly..  debilitating... yes, it required walking around town for a hour or two before lighting out. You can find the skinny on Homunuculus here.  It's a very hoppy, Belgian style monster that rocks out at 9.48% ABV, which will may just have you circling the parking lot too.  To hop it up, they use Bravo, Sterling, and Calypso, which sounds a little like directions from air traffic control, to be sure.

I also picked up this blast from the past months ago, and finally got around to it.  All it needed were a set of Lawn Jarts and 30 M-80s, just like 4th of July, circa 1979.

Various & Misc. Homebrewed Pourings in Fall 2014

Homebrewed High Hopped Heather Ale, or HHH.

This is a Highly Hopped Healther Ale that came out very well balanced and fantastic.  I need to revisit the recipe with Beersmith to see if it's repeatable.

Heather is a distinctive, interesting adjunct that added flowery, acidic elements. I can't imagine using it without hops, and glad I didn't try.

Homemade NY-Chicago Concord Mulberry Wine

This was one of the best sweet dessert wines I ever made, using fresh mulberries, picked off trees in a park on Chicago's South West side in 2012.  Basically, it's like mulberry jam mixed with a strong Cab, and poured carbonated, which makes me think I could have waited a few years, but I was too damn curious.

It's making a great mixer with hard ciders.







Sweet Mulberry farm wine with about 10,000 uses.

 Homebrewed White Pine Stout

This was a piney stout (literally), which was roasty, toasty, malty and interesting.  That's white pine off the back pourch, boiled in as a late addition, making it a pine fresh scent without any Pine-Sol(tm) issues.

Historic Belgian Wheat

This Martens Belgian Witte is basically was like liquid Baseline senario for outstanding beer, highly recommended... I believe it was purchased in the great state of NJ in a 4 pack at a sizable discount on sale.

Pale Ale Price Wars at Fairway

Speaking of Baselines, Samual Smith's India Ale needs no introduction or explaination as an example of doing it right, and nor to two other massive SKUs in the craft market.

Under $5 dollars at Fairway makes Samuel Smith well worth the trip, as it goes head to head in a kind of Pale Ale price war with Sierra Nevada, www.sierranevada.com and Lagunitas Brewing Company lagunitas.com, where consumers are the winner right now.

Lagunitas is tearing New York a new hole from outlets such as Costco and Fairway, and by sponsoring public radio for we well healed craft beer fetishists, influencers and minons alike. 

Dogfishhead Stout

Dogfish Head stout at Harlem Ale house was a nice piece of business, as you can see here.  It tasted about as good as it looks.  Doesn't really need a hard sell.

Homebrewed Hedgeclipper Pils

Believe it or not, this beer lasted 2 years in a dark place, and came out looking, smelling and tasting like spring 2012, which was very good.  Loved that pour, and which I had 10 more.

It's Not Retro if it Never Left

What can one say-- I found this blast from the past in NJ as well...  thank you for keeping Genny Cream Ale alive Florida Farm & Ice of Costa Rica.

#Homebrewed Stout Study: Highly Hopped Wheat & Kelp Variation

This beer started out as a part of my 7 gallon, low gravity, "Stout Study" batch, and ended up highly hopped with a variety of pellets and buds I had ziplocked in the fridge, and before I was done (just before I was done because I added the Kelp on bottling really), there was the potassium rich hint of the sea, the result of a pinch of seaweed.  

According to my Beersmith notes, apparently, "I added enough hops to make this a celebration type ale than a typical dry or sweet stout. Hops include Cenntenial for bittering, Chinook for both and Cascade for dry hopping-aroma".

It was converted using Nottingham yeast, the voracious monster I favor in missions such as these.   At first, I though I a pinch of powered cacao to the boil, intending to accent the roasty flavors, but Beersmith notes tell me it was a shot of coffee. Go fig-- Beersmith does.  

Apparetnly I also added unusual elements to the boil: Cayenne pepper, flacked oats (4.7%), honey, Northern Brewer's wheat extract, and Briess "Caracrystal Wheat (16%), which is way beyond suggested ratios of 13%, I know, but I think we were way off the reservation by then.  I used 3lbs of Black Barley, which is 45% of the sugaz, so it's hard to tell if the coffee gives it the chocolate notes, or the roasted barley.  I used 1lb of caramel malt (11.7%).  I used 5.3 oz of Wisconsin wildflower honey, or just 3.9%, mostly to bring the alcohol level up a bit. 

Original gravity was 1.031, and it ended up 1.010, or 4% by weight.   The IBUs are estimated to be.... 57.7 (hehehe).

I'll have you know, I also added a good half cup of roasted American oak chips (and a bit of juice from boiling them).

The result-- get my nut hugging flight suit because it's truly "mission accomplished," right down to the small hint of kelp after taste. The stout is really very good.  I mean, if I were to make something the mad flavors I like most, this would be the beer: chocolate, sprucy nose, well balanced roasted malt taste with the kind of thickness you've come to expect from the world's leading Stout, which shall remain unnamed, in Dublin.  

A nice big bubbled frothy head, which is still in effect after 30 minutes drinking this flavor delivery devise. And the after taste of kelp, so you know you'd getting the potassium a body needs.  I love this beer