Majestic mahogany-hued Belgian strong ale, aged in oak barrels, could pass for a sour ale or saison instead of a hybridized Christmas seasonal. Cherry-soured green grape tannins bring vinous mouth-puckering tartness to lactic yeast funk, finishing with a water-crisped floral-fruited wining. Pinot noir, red zinfandel, sherry, sirah and rosé illusions deepen limestone-dried Granny Smith apple, green pear, cranberry and fig snip as well as floral chrysanthemum, lavender and lilac hints.
Reputable sienna-headed mahogany-toned full body with dry coffee-oiled entry picks up Blackstrap molasses bittering over toasted oats backbone. Peat-y compost waft never sullies walnut-charred peanut shelling or dark chocolate undertones. Tertiary bourbon, vanilla, espresso, cola nut, black cherry, and ashen tobacco illusions barely touch the surface as heavy black coffee density overrides rich mocha finish.
Terrific ‘Smoked Doppelbock Lager’ brings velvety smooth hickory-charred molasses malting, cedar-chipped bourbon whiskey sweetness and surging black chocolate creaminess to cherry wood-smoked vigor. Tertiary black cherry, red grape, pecan and almond illusions secure mossy bottom. Bacon-greased maple sapping enriches sturdy mocha backend. Advertised rye flavoring drowned out by rich mocha density to no ill effect.
Patchy dark-roasted coffee sedation stays a tad watery. Mild cocoa-dried brown chocolate malting saturates espresso binge, tobacco singe and hazelnut smidge to earthen peat bottom. Charcoal-fueled burnt toast bittering and recessive dry port wining encumber tertiary molasses-vanilla conflux. Inessential.
Approachable, softer-toned, canned IPA glides down the throat smoothly, intimating an admirable pale ale crossover. Moderate grapefruit-peeled pine comb bittering given a juniper pinch, contrasting lively pineapple, peach, apple and apricot fruiting to crisply mineral-grained bottom. Floral hibiscus, rose and daisy illusions flutter by sessionable summer treat.
Convincing mocha-centered hop goblin (with grain bill akin to German schwarzbier) deepens blackened molasses malting and brown-breaded dark chocolate roast with toasted hop char. Hesitant piney grapefruit bittering and resinous nuttiness reinforce smooth mocha creaminess. Coffee-roasted espresso backdrop and distant dark-fruited sedation fill out medium-full-bodied Cascadian Dark.
Luxuriously robust Norwegian strong dark ale for Christmas season (alias God Jul) gathers stout-like black chocolate, vanilla and maple-smoked molasses richness over dried-fruited gingerbread-allspice-coriander dalliance. Whiskey-daubed black cherry, prune and raisin illusions reinforce mocha-bound full body and crystalline Grimstad water brings silken nature to exemplary winter warmer.
Thick and creamy German-style winter lager brings chewy caramel-chocolate malting, brown-sugared molasses sinew and sweet Scotch warmth to soil-y wood-burnt bottom. Subsidiary raisin-pureed fig spicing and dark cherry tartness add depth. Milk Duds-like toffee finish reinforces initial mocha theme. A wintry doppelbock hybrid any chocolate lover will indulge.
Marvelous mocha-bound full body retains advertised ‘salty licorice’ spell beneath hazelnut coffee sweetness and French roasted coffee urging. Burnt-sugared black chocolate, vanilla, cola, maple and molasses undertones plus nutty fudge reminder contrast lemon-twisted espresso souring.
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
Streets were filled with Mummers regaled in stage getup who’d finished their Broad Street parade route when I got to the FARMERS’ CABINET, a new Walnut Street saloon (opened St. Patrick’s Day, 2011) named in honor of an ancient agriculture handbook. A uniquely gothic gastropub, it serves “the most diverse collection of European craft beer in Philly” alongside a few indigenously “primitive field” beers emulating from an urban farmhouse nanobrewery down in Arlington, Virginia.
The brainchild of Lehigh University graduate Matt Scheller and married couple Matt and Colleen Swartz, Farmers’ Cabinet also boasts a tremendously original cocktail selection and creative farm fresh menu that includes cured meats and bread made in-house. Originally, the three Pennsylvania-based entrepreneurs had varied success with similarly schemed endeavors initiated by Emmaus’ gothic candlelit Euro pub, Tap & Table, and its twin offspring, Bethlehem’s beer-intense Bookstore Speakeasy cocktail lounge and East Falls’ two-storied Old World-styled Fork & Barrel.
“All those places were steppingstones and building blocks to get into Philadelphia with an equally intense cocktail program with great beer and food fused to the former concepts,” Kutztown native Scheller explains. “We were going for a 19th century Victorian saloon feel with the sparks of elegance – yet ruggedly rustic.”
Heavy curtains drape the burlap-sapped wood planks of Farmers’ Cabinet, where the left side European Beer Hall-influenced communal table welcomes interaction and its opposing cocktail room recalls Prohibition Era speakeasies. A vast array of European beers handpicked by Scheller on international travels age in a temperature controlled cellar storage area. Snooty beer geeks and curious ale hounds will be knocked out by the large amount of hard-to-find one-off brews originating from Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, England and all points between.
“The goal is to provide topnotch obscure beers from small European breweries,” Scheller says. “The biggest concern is spoilage. The health of the beer is important. There’s concern for delicate moderate-bodied beers. Bigger, more robust beers, such as stouts, could sit for awhile and it’s not a major concern. If I think a beer’s been sitting too long, I’ll try it myself. However, most beer’s made to be consumed fresh. There’s a whole different pay scale for several rare bottles, like with fine wines, but they seem to go pretty fast.”
During August ’11, Farmers’ Cabinet hooked up with meritorious brewer, Terry Hawbaker, whose phenomenal craft beers at Williamsport’s Bullfrog cannot be understated. Now working out of a 5-barrel urban farmhouse nanobrewery in Alexandria, Virginia, the talented brewmeister’s trend-setting adjunct saisons have become all the rage in Philly.
“Terry’s currently working on developing a beautiful house yeast to cultivate a really cool sour ale base for blending with other beers. We’ve also gotten invited to Copenhagen’s Beer Celebration in May. Top American brewers will include Port, Hoppin’ Frog, Jolly Pumpkin, and Hill Farmstead alongside many heavy-hitting Europeans,” Scheller revels.
Upon my mid-afternoon sojourn, four worthy saison house beers were available to peruse while sipping a delicious bowl of creamy squash soup. Suitable Ragtime, Delta Blues and Cabaret music played in the distance of this Classical pub as I dug into soft-tongued Autumnal Saison. Utilizing seasonal pumpkin to lacquer lemon-soured citric hops in an unobtrusive manner, the contrarily spice-less libation went well with the delectable gourd broth.
Lively perfumed citrus hops enlivened the earthen barnyard rusticity of smoothly soothing session beer, Field Hop Grisette, where herbaceous white peppering surrounds lemony fig-dried melon wisps. Essentially a lighter saison with impulsive Extra Special Bitter properties, its not far removed from Farmers’ Cabinet’s regular grisette, a lightly tart Berliner Wiess hybrid.
Moving on to the two dark ales, soft-flowing Imperial Holiday Porter dumps 50 pounds of pumpkin and sweet potatoes upon hop-oiled coffee acridity and musty chocolate chalking, gaining cherry-dried pumpkin puree illusions over time.
Labeled a hybrid Belgian dark ale, D-Rye Field Stout brought marble-breaded chocolate rye, coarse cola nuttiness, funky earthen musk and pine-burnt wood char to tart dried fruiting. Scheller acknowledges the first batch was not nearly as wood seared and the second batch “got a lot dryer.”
To further experiment with house beers, Hawbaker’s Virginia brewing facility recently installed eight separate 10-gallon vessels in order to test different hops, flowers and woods in certain saisons.
Those who are looking for an abundance of rare European beers or well-crafted specialty house beers will embrace this dimly lit antediluvian public house.
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PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
To start off New Years Day, 2012, visited Philadelphia’s TRIUMPH BREWING ‘round noon (closed in 2014 and sold to 2nd Story Brewing). Located at the Olde City district just up the street from Penn’s Landing near the banks of the Delaware River in a former paper mill, this pleasantly rustic restaurant-bar had a looser atmosphere than Triumph’s New Hope and Princeton franchises.
Opened April 2007, the red-bricked neighborhood bar (with beige window frames and door) features a 15-seat right side bar, private white-walled booth, small rear stage and left side dining area with neo-mod ‘60s wood furnishings. Upstairs, the wood-floored space has a banquet room, glass-encased business room, 8-seat metal bar and silver brew tanks.
Both TV’s at the bar had the Eagles-Redskins football readied as I consumed a few previously untried libations. Winter Bock, a higher octane version of Old City Lager, scattered sourdough yeast atop herbal-tinged lemon rot, clover-honeyed orange tartness and boozy Courvoisier illusions, receiving an ancillary Extra Special Bitter-like fig-date astringency after a few sips.
Dry-bodied Holiday Ale- Cask brought wafting peat to soft fig-cherry acridity and hop-oiled roasted chocolate.
Briskly carbolic Unfiltered Helles layered mildly astringent corn-soaked yellow fruiting over soft grained breading.
Seasoned beer drinkers may lean towards Rauchbier, a perfume-wafted, beechwood-smoked German-styled dry body topped with a sharply hop-spiced pepperoni pizza crusting that’s perfect complementing barbecued meat dishes.
Others may reach for the less astringent Irish Red, with its stoned-fruited orange tang overlaying wheat-husked cereal graining and recessive caramel nuttiness.
