Baggywrinkle Barleywine, Cisco Brewers, Nantucket Massachusetts

Baggywrinkle Barleywine...what more can you say? I check the Cisco Brewers website, which actually explains the name - Baggywrinkle being a nautical term, it's a good story - check it out on their site!

It pours a thick unfiltered molasses with a tight head.

The aroma is sweet malt with mild raisen and mild smokiness.

Big sweeet malt greets you right away. It is thick and velvety in the body. The sweetness lessens a bit at the finish, exposing more caramel molasses, raisen and heavy malt. It has a slightly bitter finish with Chinook and Northern Brewer Hops.

The aftertaste has caramel, biscuit, molasses and fig notes.

At 9.8% and in the 22oz, it's a great late evening sipper on the back porch....or front porch...or lawn...or somebody elses lawn if you don't have one...or the park....there are several flavors that develope as the beer warms.

Cheers!

Captain Swain's Extra Stout, Cisco Brewers, Nantucket Massachusetts

Our next beer comes from Nantucket, Massachusetts - from the Cisco Brewers to be exact. Their beers are available throughout the Northeast, but I haven't seen them elsewhere....yet. Let's give it a try....

It pours opaque with a big head.

The aroma is roasty with chocolate and espresso tones.

It is rich with a big malt/chocolate/espresso taste. Very roasty at the end. Fairly heavy and grows increasingly chewy as it warms.

The aftertaste is all roasty and a bit bitter. It leaves a lot of residue and lingers for a long time, dominating the palate with malt.

It's been awhile since I've last wrote, so I am a bit rusty. Brewing went successfully and we ended up making a Black Ale and a Wee Heavy. It is being bottled soon and I can't wait to give it a try!

Cheers!

Winter Lager, Samuel Adams, Jamaica Plain Massachusetts

Massachusetts...I just moved from Boston where I enjoyed a couple of years of East Coast living. Of course, I had Sam Adams beer while there - as well as many beers from the Boston and Mass. area. One thing about Sam Adams - they have some free tastings you can sign up for once a month - which is a lot of fun. Though, in my view, a lot of their beers are baseline - that is the place where beer should start at and go up from, but never below - it is always fun to have free beer. One thing to note is that a little bird back east told me that most of the brewing is done away from Boston - they still have a facility in Boston, where they develop their beers and try them out on happily willing people like me!

The Winter Lager pours a medium amber with a thin head.

The aroma is sweet malt with a little spiciness.

The taste is malty, mild roasty and mildly sweet. It is easy to drink with a medium body. It is clean and crisp and would be easy to pair or drink alone.

The aftertaste is mild mild bitter and the palate resets quickly.

This is the kind of beer that would go over well with the middle-road beer drinkers. It is mild and subtle, but still offers some dimension. It goes well with a warm meal on a cold night. I prefer it with some Bluestone pizza on Commonwealth Avenue with mine!

Cheers!

The Grey Lady, Cisco Brewers, Nantucket MA

A trip to Trader Joe's led me to buy some naan, which then led me to make some Aloo Gobi (my first attempt) which finally led me to tonight's beer selection.

"The Grey Lady" from Cisco Brewers in Nantucket is a Belgian-style Wit beer. I looked for some details on their website, but the beer most be a seasonal, since I did not find any info about it.

It pours a golden hue, think very light honey and has a big foamy head.

The smell is distinctly wheat, with a slight white pepper aroma. It is a little sweet.

The taste is wheaty with a citrus or orange. There is a little white pepper to it. It is a light body and crisp (almost sparkly). It is refreshing and went well with the semi spicy and heavy food. It clears the palate, but doesn't linger too long.

There isn't much aftertaste, a very soft spiciness, perhaps. All in all it is fairly dry and mild.

I found Cisco beers at almost every beer store/liquor store when I lived in Boston. Oh, and if you are curious there is this from the bottle:

"The name 'Grey Lady' comes from the nickname for the often-foggy island on which it is brewed." There you go, beer and geography!

Cheers!

Denogginator Dopplebock Lager, Paper City Brewery, Holyoke MA

Another from my reserves.... The Denogginator Dopplebock Lager from Paper City Brewery in Holyoke, MA. Unfortunately, I never made it to this brewery despite it's closeness to Boston, but their beers were available at liquor stores around the Boston area (Marty's in Allston for me) or occasionally on tap at the Sunset, which I highly recommend if traveling to Boston. It's a small brewery so it's doubtful if one could find these beers outside the Northeast. Their Dopplebock is a limited release.

So let's talk beer...

It pours nearly opaque, a very dark caramel color with just a bit of light passing through it. It has a medium head.

The smell is malty sweetness. There is also a mild alcohol smell that lingers.

The taste is strong and sweet. It has a full body and is roasty. It has a sort of sugary sweetness to it. It dominates the palate.

The aftertaste is malty and strong. A nice roastiness stays in the mouth. It is a sipper and I enjoyed it late in the yard last night. A good talking beer.

Dopplebock literally means double bock. A few sources point to it's origins as being Bavarian. We'll talk more about Lagers and their process soon. For now, drink up!

Cheers!

Ipswich IPA, Mercury Brewing Company

And I'm back. Tonight's beer hails from the Mercury Brewing Company in Ipswich, MA. The Ipswich IPA is available throughout the Northeast, but alas - no luck finding it out here...yet. I will keep a lookout though and if anyone finds it here on the West Coast, let me know because I am stoked on this IPA.

It pours a nice copper color with a medium head.

The smell is definitively hoppy, with a slight citrus and without sounding pretentious, I really did taste orange peel.

The taste is a full-body malt. It is a very thirst quenching and refreshing beer. It is a little thick, and slightly strong, so the taste holds it's own. It is not overly hoppy, but rather well balanced with the malt. From the website, I learned that U.S. and Belgian malts are used with Cascade and Warrior hops. Roasted barley is also used, which I think helps with the balancing of the beer and creating the full body.

The aftertaste is slightly bitter, but not-overly hoppy. Again, it finishes very well-balanced. A great evening beer. I had it with a veggie burger and black beans and it went well (especially with the spicy beans.)

It is 6.3 % with 60 IBUs.

Harpoon Rusty's Red Rye, 100 Barrel Series

Today's offering comes from the Harpoon Brewery in Boston, MA. They come out with a new beer in their 100 Barrel Series every few months and they are limited edition and one of a kind! You can't beat that and you can usually find them in the stores around the Northeast - so check it out. They have a great website which details each of their beers in the series.

I tried the Rusty's Red Rye Ale, which was a sad moment - as this was the last Harpoon beer I smuggled out of the Northeast....It's 6.5% with 38 IBU's.

It pours a dark amber, thicker than most red's I've tried.

The smell is a mild copper. There is subtle hop, but nothing overwhelming or definitive.

It tastes very very smooth, though hoppier than any rye I've tried yet. It is very well balanced with a medium body and a crispness that makes it refreshing even though it is a slightly thicker beer.

The aftertaste is crisp, then mild. Very drinkable. I cracked it open yesterday with my friend Kevin from Bellingham. We enjoyed it in the afternoon, both agreeing it was refreshing while still holding a unique and tasty character. Alas, it was good while it lasted...

Haverhill Leatherlips IPA, Haverhill Brewery

Let's take a quick exploration into the hoppy-side of the beer world. Our next beer comes from the Haverhill Brewery in Haverhill, Massachusetts - Leatherlips IPA. First, a note on the brewery which is referred to as "The Tap Room". If you in New England and looking for great brewpubs to explore - give this one a chance. We didn't explore the town too much - it's a small post-industrial town on the Merrimac River, the Tap Room has a very nice deck that overlooks the river and the train bridge. It is a great place to relax with friends and try their many beers on their rotating taps. By the way, the building the tap room is in is an old shoe factory - their taps are actual antique wooden shoe forms from the buildings history. Americana and beer drinking, ahhh.

The beer pours a bright amber color. It has 50 IBUs, which is International Bittering Units (a common measurement which we will explore more in depth when we crack the books on beer). So we expect a bitter beer - which I admit I am partial to.

The smell isn't overwhelmingly hoppy. I remember having the beer at the brewpub and the smell was a lot more aromatic when it is drawn from the tap. I can gather a slight citrus smell with the hop.

Leatherlips uses a combination of Centennial and Chinook hops. The taste is hoppy and bright. It is bitter but not overwhelmingly powerful. It comes with a clean, dry finish. I tend to think of IPAs as one of two flavors - Flowery or Coppery. Some have this very flowery, fresh taste and some with a more copper feel in the mouth - not unpleasant, probably not the best description. Soon we will delve into what these tastes are and how it is effected by the kinds of hops used.

The aftertaste is dry - leaving you wanting more. Not a bad thing, except I only brought one bottle with me and haven't found that they export to the West Coast at all. My palate seems to reset fairly quickly, but a nice slight bitterness remains in the back of the mouth.

If you happen to stumble across this gem of a brewery, then find your way towards Portland, OR - let me know! They bottle just a few of their beers, but if your quick, we can share a growler!

Cheers!