Anyone for salted pretzels or buttery popcorn? This light-bodied lager suffers from doughy nothingness and astringent corn-maize nature. Faintest butterscotch-marzipan flicker saves lightly toasted malt finish. Contract brewed for Maryland’s Hook & Ladder.
HOFSTETTEN KUBELBIER
Spry orange-peach mist and sharp-hopped mineral graining enrich cloudy amber moderate-bodied zwickel (an unfiltered bottom-fermenting German-styled lager). Baked bread-y sourdough finish almost conceals tidy butterscotch sweetness.
HOFSTETTEN GRANITBOCK
Chewy molasses-soaked raisin-pureed stewed prune opening enriches dark-spiced brown-sugared chocolate malt sweetness of robust doppelbock. Honeyed nut, almond, pecan, and hazelnut illusions gather along tertiary port-whiskey slip.
THE BRUERY TRADE WINDS TRIPEL
Elegant beige-headed bronze-hazed bottle-conditioned Belgian-styled tripel drifts in and out of stylistic deluges with mostly positive results. Thai basil and rice provide lightly spiced Southeast Asian appeal to creamy full body. Polite white-peppered orange peel bittering counters sharp prune-fig souring, chewy banana liqueur illusion, and fleeting clove-coriander-allspice wisp at busy midst. Tertiary honeysuckle, peppercorn, and lemongrass influence intertwines tangy tangerine-peach-pear sweetness. Slight alcohol-burnt finish allows cinnamon cider, burgundy, and white wine illusions to seep in softly.
SLY FOX WGV PALE ALE
WGV stands for Whitbread Goldings Variety, a dry hop style worthily informing this soothing moderate body. Tingly dry-spiced lemon-grapefruit rind mildness embitters steadfast tea-like malting, grassy earthen musk, and minor tobacco nuance. Woody hops absorb citric acidity.
SOUTHERN TIER IMPERIAL INIQUITY BLACK ALE
Well-integrated velvety smooth dark ale maintains mocha-driven piney fruited complexity. Maple molasses-sapped caramel malts infiltrate chocolate-covered raisin, black cherry, spiced rum and sugar plum illusions. A hint of bourbon or burgundy fills out recessive coffee easement.
OTTER CREEK WORLD TOUR OTTER MON JAMAICAN-STYLE STOUT
Slick ink black milk stout brings stove-burnt coffee souring to light chocolate-caramel roast. Dark spices, vanilla extract, and anise fill out oats-charred backdrop, but peppery hop astringency and harsh nuttiness overwhelm sugar-caned mocha aspect.
SARANAC IRISH RED ALE
Aromatic caramel-toffee sweetness disrupted by faded floral hop astringency that delicately fizzles out. Abbreviated toasted graining, muted mocha wisp, and blah orange-apple-peach tang barely inform ill-defined metallic finish.
OTTER CREEK WORLD TOUR SPHINX MULTIGRAIN ALE
Toot-sweet Egyptain-styled multi-grained pale ale ‘brewed with honey and chamomile’ finds both advertised adjuncts hitting their mark firmly. Anticipatory honey-dripped affluence slowly picks up tea-like subsidy overrun by pasty marzipan-butterscotch creaminess and warm almondine illusion. Astringent hop coarseness and minor diacetyl buttering cut into mild ginger-snapped cinnamon-nutmeg interlude.
DEFIANT BELGIAN-STYLE TRIPEL ALE
Well-defined chartreuse-hazed witbier not far removed from Ommegang’s impressive Abbey ales matches herbaceous farmhouse nature to yellow-fruited souring, dark-spiced sweetness, and earthen mineral graining. Sour lemony banana blitz receives candi-sugared apricot glaze and clove-spearmint-green tea tingle reinforced by mild white-peppered hop bittering.
THE WEDGE
ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA
After making the rounds in Tennessee for a few days, returned to Asheville, visiting an old school brewery and two new ones, August ’08.
Hidden in the warehouse-laden River Arts District at an old brick building down stairs, THE WEDGE may look dank and rustic, but its beers are exquisitely crafted. Opened June ’08, this small tasting room with eight brew tanks and an outdoor porch served six different libations this evening.
I tried the buttery orange-peeled, lemon-candied, coriander-spiced, chamomile-tinged, floral-hopped, tartly-embittered Witbier and creamy banana-bubblegum-sweetened, sourly lemon-bruised, peach-syrupy, gin-soaked Golem Strong Golden Ale.
Even better was maple-sapped, burnt-sugared, chocolate-roasted, cherry-pureed, hazelnut-skewed, cappuccino-espresso-finishing Community Porter.
125B Roberts Street, Asheville
JOHN HARVARD’S BREW HOUSE – LAKE GROVE
LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK
Perched between Black Forest Brew Haus (a half-hour east) and Southampton Publick House (an hour west) in the mall-filled village of Lake Grove, JOHN HARVARD’S BREW HOUSE is an affiliate Northeast brewpub with same-named locations in Connecticut and Massachusetts (plus Providence, Rhode Island’s Union Station Brewery). Originally opened 1997, this spacious freestanding Smith Haven Mall bar-restaurant (with flashy maroon awnings) greets customers at its bright yellow-painted middle entrance.
Visited August ’09, the commodious interior featured formal right side wooden square bar (festooned by hanging ceramic mugs and multi-TV’s) serving surrounding pub area and large left dining spaces with house beers from large glass-encased center-staged brew tanks. Menu included fine salads, gourmet sandwiches, and Americana fare to go with Dave De Turris’ stylistically distinct beers and ales.
Lighter libations included astringent straw wheat-fronted, maize-dried, lemon-spiced Long Island Light, soft grapefruit-tangerine-lingered honey-malted woody-hopped dry-bodied John Harvard’s Pale Ale, and mild lemon-candied honey-glazed banana-clove-smitten Hugh Hefe.
Buttery vanilla-honeyed, candi-sugared, cream-corned, cinnamon-nutmeg-spiced Belgian Tripel and soft black cherry-ripened, cedar-charred, beechwood-smoked Flanders Flemish Stout (with ascending stove-burnt coffee finish) were Euro-styled delights.
Dry-bodied apple-orange-grape-soured celery-thin Red In The Face (Red) Ale merely sufficed but toffee-malted plum-soured cherry-pureed banana-breaded grape-nutty apple-skinned Mad Tom’s Old Ale proved interesting.
Best bet: Belgian-styled witbier, Friggin’ Swheat, a busy medium-bodied delight featuring toned-down Italian plum, boysenberry, and blackberry fruiting usurped by dry cider-soured cherry-banana-confluence rising above recessive lime-y brimstone dusting.