A trip to Beervana...

Back in November I visited Portland, Oregon for the first time. I was only in town for a few days for a museum conference, but I was geared up to visit as many breweries as possible during my down time.

I arrived on Wednesday night and my first order of business was to visit the Safeway a few blocks away from my hotel. Not an optimal choice for buying beer, but it was late, they were open, and it was close by. I was actually pretty impressed with the reasonable selection. I picked up a bunch of beer, including a mixed Deschutes six pack, and a couple more from Bridgeport, Full Sail, and MacTarnahan's. I drank a few in the first couple of nights, but the rest of them made it back to Boston safely after a meticulous packing job. I actually brought back a total of 18 beers and not one was broken...thank you Alaska Airlines baggage handlers.

I had a big presentation on Friday and I was still fine tuning my slides, so I did not visit any brew pubs in the first couple of nights. I did have an excellent dinner at the bar side of Higgins, including the most amazing hazelnuts I have ever tasted and a ridiculous Hair of the Dog Blue Dot Double IPA. It was a great way to start this beer adventure.

My talk was on Friday morning and right after I finished I had about 2 hours for lunch...I made a bee-line for Bridgeport Brewpub and Bakery. I was not disappointed, pairing a fantastic pizza with a cask-conditioned Hop Harvest Ale.

The conference sponsored a pub crawl on Friday night and I started the evening at Deschutes. The rest of the breweries on the tour did not interest me, so I decided to carve my own path. I walked up toward Powell's Books and peeked into Henry's 12th Street Tavern and a couple of the McMenamin's Bars, but did not stop long enough for a beer at any of them. I then made my way to the Rogue Public House for a quick pint and I purchased a couple of bottles of Imperial Chocolate Stout (two of the 18 packed into my suitcase). It was getting late, but I felt like a walk and hoofed it almost a mile and half to the New Old Lampoc, a gem of a dive bar with some excellent selections on draft.

During one of the breaks of my Friday sessions, I gave a quick call to my favorite brewery in the United States, Hair of the Dog. Of course the owner and brewmaster Alan Sprints, answered the phone. I asked if they were open for tours at all and he told me that they were having their anniversary sale on Saturday. I knew that I had some free time on Saturday afternoon and I planned a visit to the brewery. When I got to the brewery there were a couple of hundred people queued up and a parking lot full of folks loading their cars with cases and cases of beer...some of them brought their own dollys.

The atmosphere was awesome, I felt like I stepped into some exclusive local club, but somehow I immediately fit in. I started chatting with a few of the people around me and realized that I was standing in line to purchase beer, not to enter the brewery. I immediately cut out of line and went right for the free samples. I proceeded to spend the next couple of hours enjoying the scene, but most importantly sipping the Doggie Claws, Adam, and Fred From The Wood (truly amazing beers). The brewery had a great feel to it, kind of like being in the lab of a scientist that goes about his work on a daily basis, honing his craft. Sprints is truly a brewing genius, it is a shame that his beers are no longer available in Boston. I once featured Adam in my beer appreciation course at Wellesley College and I still mention the brewery despite not serving samples of the beer.

I had taken the bus to the brewery, so all I could manage to haul out of there was a six pack and a few t-shirts, but I was so glad I made the effort to get there. This was just one of those truly great beer experiences. I decided to pop into the Horse Brass Pub (one of my new favorite beer bars in the US) and bumped into a guy who had taken the train from Seattle just to visit the anniversary sale...now that is dedication.

After a late lunch and a few pints I headed around the corner to the infamous Belmont Station to pick up a few more beers to take back to Boston, including a bottle of Deschutes Abyss that I am currently cellaring.

Unfortunately that pretty much ends my beer experience in Portland. I had a very early flight on Sunday morning and called it a night after grabbing a quick dinner and heading back to the hotel to pack.

It really is hard to go wrong with beer in Portland. There are so many breweries, and so many amazing choices. Just about everything I tried was very fresh, super delicious, and superbly crafted...most of it was a completely mind numbing beervana experience.

I am still here....

So, where have I been?

I owe the three of you that are reading this blog on a regular basis (hi Bob and Jeff and that other person) my apologies for my woeful absence over the last seven months. Things have been busy, that is for sure. I have not stopped drinking beer, although I have supplemented it with a nascent obsession with single malt whisky. I could never have imagined that I would become a whisky drinker, but the small collection of about 12 single malts in my beer cellar is the start of newly found passion for the spirit. I have taken to one whisky and one beer on a typical night. Anyway, I digress a wee bit.

So what has been up. Well, I curated my first exhibition this fall for my day job at the museum. It was certainly time consuming, but incredibly satisfying and well worth the effort. That was just one of the things that ate into my beer blogging time. I taught my Tufts Museums and New Media class again this fall. I also played more golf this summer and fall than I have ever played in my life. In fact, I played 45 holes in one day. No carts, no breaks, golf for about 10.5 hours...I think I walked about 10-11 miles or so. I really wasn't that tired until a good friend came along just before the 37th hole with a corked bottle of Duvel in hand. Embarrassingly I had to pour it into my water bottle, I just didn't have a glass chalice on hand. I had one glass and it certainly hit the spot. It definitely loosened me up because that last round was the best of the day, but I think it helped induce a bit of lethargy and the urge to go home for another beer.

The biggest thing that has hampered my beer blogging is the preparation for the most important day of my life. My wife is due in about 6 weeks with our first child and I have been spending most of my spare time preparing the nursery and reading about how to be a daddy. Now do you see why I played all that golf...I will never see that much free time until I retire! I am teaching my Beer Necessities course this month, but all thoughts are on the arrival of bambina Gus (long story on the nickname).

I did spend some time over the holidays redesigning my website, so head on over and check it out http://bostonbeerman.com. I am featuring a new weekly posting called What's On Tap, where I do a brief review of a newly sampled beer. I hope to keep going with this.

So what comes next? Probably a few more postings and then another respite when the baby comes. I visited Beervana (Portland, Oregon) for the first time in November, but I just couldn't find the time to post and I hope to come up with some reflections on that trip in the next couple of days.

So, I am back for a little while at least and then my time we will be all consumed with bottles, diapers, and savoring every precious moment with my newborn daughter. See you in a few days.

Downtown Wine and Spirits...

For those of you in the Boston area, check out Downtown Wine and Spirits' new website and blog. Better yet, visit them the next time you are in Davis Square. It is a somewhat small and unassuming store, but they have a great selection and the prices are decent. I have found a number of Belgians there that I could not find elsewhere in the Boston area and they generally have a good selection of Ale Smith beers.

I teach at Tufts in the fall (museum course, not beer) and I make regular stops there after BBQ at Redbones or a burrito at Anna's.

They bailed me out last year for my course at Wellesley College. I needed a few extra bottles of Anchor Christmas Ale and I think they had the last six pack in the greater Boston area.

The Battle of the Home Brews...

On July 4th my brother Tom and his friend Phil stopped by for a couple of cold malted beverages and some BBQ. Both had home brews in hand and wanted me to give them a try...let's call this the battle of the knuckleheads.

I could tell you many stories to support this name. They would include catapults, geese, their role as altar boys, Mark Messier, a bar called Rasputin's, and a side kick named Opie...the list goes on and on, just trust me on this one. They both minored in drinking at St. Michael's College in Winooski, VT...actually I think Tom may have double-majored in it (explaining that 5th year he opted for).

They both recently delved into the world of home brewing and were quite proud to give me a couple of samples of their latest efforts. Tom and his crew cooked up an Octoberfest a few months ago and Phil and friends brewed a Pale Ale.

It is actually really cool seeing these two home brewing. I don't brew often enough, but I truly believe that doing so gives you a greater appreciation for all of the great craft brewers out there and you gotta love the satisfaction of trying those first couple of sips of your own concoction and thinking "shit, that tastes pretty damn good."

Just a few hours ago I cracked both beers and gave them a side-by-side rating. As many of you know, I rate my beers between 0.0 and 5.0. I think I have had a couple of 0.2s as the worst ("Mr. Dorfman, fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life son. ") and there have only been three 5.0s. At this point I have tried a little over 1,800 beers and to give you a reference point for the rankings, Miller High Life is about a 2.0, Yuengling's Lager is a 3.0, Bass Ale is a 4.2, and WestvleterenTrappistenbier - Abbey St. Sixtus 12 is the best beer I have ever tasted.

So let's get to the beers...
Tom's submission was brewed by the Worthog Brewing Club and was called Molstoberfest (the beer on the right). It pours a dark unfiltered copper color with an 1.5 inch thick head. It has a nice smell, including sweet caramel and crusty bread aromas with the slightest touch of citrus hops. This beer is medium bodied with an immediate malt sweetness with the first sip. It really is super smooth and drinkable and has a great refreshing carbonation. This is a very good session beer, you could drink quite a few of them...something Tom is known to do from time to time. I am going to guess it is about 6% abv. While the malt profile has the right sweetness, the use of extracts makes it just a touch thin at finish. This is a really nice Octoberfest...I am impressed so far. I give this a solid 3.6.

Phil's beer was created by his Six Finger Brew Club. It could have also been called Nine Finger Brew Club after a recent incident with a glass carboy. They put together a Pale Ale. I can safely say that this is the first beer I have tried that was made in my hometown of Chelsea, MA.

It pours an unfiltered copper color...which is a bit darker than usual for the style. This beer has good Belgian lace. It has a mild citrusy hop aroma with a touch of caramel sweetness. It is very fresh and certainly an American style pale ale. Hops linger on the back of the throat and tingle the gums a bit. I would prefer a bit more carbonation, but it is definitely thirst quenching. I like the hop profile on this beer...it is a nice combination of flavors including orange zest with herbal and floral notes. I could drink a few of these too...something Phil has in common with my brother Tom. Again, another solid offering, I give it a 3.5.

Overall both beers were very good and I was quite impressed with both efforts. Keep the free beer coming and I will continue to rate it. I have always said that my favorite beer is free beer.

Another fanastic beer from St. Bernardus...

I have tried almost all of the St. Bernardus beers available in the United States and I have never been disappointed. For some strange reason I am just getting around to trying the Tripel. One word...fantastic. I am enjoying a nice 750 ml bottle of it right now and it is a solid 4.7 out of 5 in my ratings.

It is a manageable 8% abv. This tripel pours bright orangish gold with a thick white head with wonderful retention--it is about 1.5 inches on each pour, even after sitting for an hour or so. This beer smells amazing...floral hops, caramel, candy sugar and banana with touches of pepper and clove scents throughout. It has a nice refreshing carbonation that tingles the mouth all over. You can really taste the spicy clove and pepper flavors with each sip, but they are not overwhelming. Fantastic fruitiness with citrusy hops, ripened pears, apple skins, and subtle berry flavors. It has a very refreshing medium body and an excellent mouthfeel. There is some warming in the back of the throat, but the 8% abv does not overwhelm you. It finishes dry and always maintains an interesting balance of sweet malts, sugar, and spicyness with each sip.

Wow, this is a fantastic beer! Each sip tastes different and goes down so damn smoothly. Simply put, this is another masterpiece from Saint Bernardus.

A pink hat beer...

I picked up Magic Hat's new summer 12 pack tonight fully expecting to extol the virtues of a brewery that almost always comes to the table with solid offerings. I am fond of the brewery for a number of reasons: I watched the Red Sox win the World Series in 2004 while sipping one of their beers in a Burlington, VT pub; my brother Tom majored in drinking at St. Michael's College in nearby Winooski and introduced me to the brewery; and many of their beers are great sessionable summer beers that go down great at backyard BBQs.

I just cracked open a Wacko Summer Seasonal, one of the new beers included this time around. The beer is...well...uhm...pink. Yes pink. Sorry for the awful pic, I was too lazy to get my camera and took the photo with my laptop camera.
It pours a ruby red grapefruit color with a soft pink head. Generally I wouldn't have a problem with a beer's color. Rodenbach Grand Cru is a similar color and it is one of my favorite beers, but it is naturally that color. Wacko is red because beet juice is added...why...well, I guess to make it pink. And that is what is most troubling. The beet juice is used as a natural food coloring to help market this beer, I guess--I can't see it having any other purpose. You can actually taste beets, but it really doesn't taste bad. The beer is a pretty straight forward golden ale with a typical Magic Hat fruity malt character with some balancing hops. It is pretty thirst quenching and has a refreshing carbonation, but it is pink, did I mention that.

Pink has taken on a new meaning in the Boston area. The popularity of the Boston Red Sox over the last decade has created a new breed of fan called the pink hat fan.

While most of the pink hats are worn by women, you don't have to be wearing a pink hat to fall into this stereotype. The typical pink hat fan shows up to the game a little late, leaves a little early, talks about anything other than baseball during the game, and cannot wait until the 8th inning to sing Sweet Caroline (I am a baseball purest and I hate all of these things). Click here to get a double bonus of a pink hat wearer and a pink hatter sleeping at the game...you get the point. These fans are generally seen as the new wave of baseball fans that jumped on board the well-marketed bandwagon of Red Sox Nation. Fenway has become a place to be seen (notice the pink hatters on their cellphones calling all their friends, waving at the camera, and asking "can you see me, can you see me?").

Sorry, I digress. I guess the parallel is in the marketing and making this a cool trendy beer choice, kind of like a Corona with a lime. "Hey look, I am drinking a pink beer, isn't that really cool?!" Well, actually it isn't, it is kind of stupid...just as dumb as drinking food colored green beer on St. Patrick's Day. I am disappointed in Magic Hat and I hope the other two new brews in the box are a little less colorful.

Combining my passions...

I am combining some of my passions today. I arrived in Indianapolis this morning for the 2009 Museums and the Web conference. I manage technology projects for a museum so this is my yearly opportunity to learn from a wide range of international museum technologists that are working on some really cutting edge stuff. But if you are reading this on my beer blog you probably don't care too much about that. Don't worry, I will get to the point.

This is my first time in Indianapolis so my first order of business was to scout out the good beer joints. As always I checked out the beerfly listings on beeradvocate. I wasn't very impressed with my immediate options. Rockbottom, Alcatraz, and Ram brewing companies all get average ratings. I was looking for something a touch better and found a listing for a German restaurant called The Rathskellar...of course what else would it be called. One pretzel, a rye roll, a jaegerschnitzel (breaded, pan fried pork with a rich wild mushroom gravy) salad, potato salad, sauerkraut, and an Ettaler Curator Dopplebock (great name for a beer on a museum conference!) and I was quite satiated. I thought about an angioplasty for dessert, but I surprisingly felt ok.

Baseball is another passion of mine and I took care of that by heading to an Indianapolis Indians baseball game. They are the Pittsburgh Pirates International League affiliate (founded in 1887). Tom Gorzelany was pitching and Andrew McCutchen is their star center fielder. You will be hearing about him in the next couple of years if you are a baseball fan. But I digress, there is more beer in the story.

Earlier in the day, during my lunch break, I slipped into a local package store and picked up three bottles from the infamous Three Floyds Brewing Company (Munster, IN). Their beer is not easy to find in Massachusetts so I was very excited to pick some up. Here is a brief review of their Broo Doo Harvest Ale:

This is an American IPA with a 5.5% abv. It pours a luscious autumn gold color with a thick 1/3 inch white head. It carries a wonderful piney hop scent with touches of sugar covered grapefruit. The first sip is incredibly thirst quenching and ridiculously delicious. The obvious hops are balanced by a rich caramel malt flavor that sits on the palate like a granny smith caramel apple--but again, it is balanced by a hop wallop of bitterness. This is a well crafted beer, it only takes one sip to realize that. I even think there are faint touches of milk chocolate on the malt profile and certainly dried fruit, maybe apricots and a touch of orange zest bitterness...it is more complex than expected. This stuff is amazingly smooth and it goes down way too quickly. Now I can understand all the fuss about Three Floyds. This is an outstanding beer that ranks about 4.6 on my 5.0 scale. I look forward to cracking the other two in the next couple of days.

I topped the night off by learning that my beloved Boston Bruins took the first of their 16 games needed for their date with Lord Stanley. Did I mention that this was a good day?