Captain Lawrence Captain's Kölsch

A lovely summer beer, Captain Lawrence Captain's Kölsch is close to perfection as a session beer. Tasty, not too sweet, with a crisp but neither flowery or too bitter hop finish - a really excellent pilsener and highly recommended.

New Holland Golden Cap Saison Ale

Great balance between yeast and wine body, dry not sweet, very refreshing.

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Cerveza Cucupá Chupacabras Pale Ale

One of only a few Mexican mircobrews, Cucupá is out of Mexicali and makes a nice range of beers. Carrboro Beverage Co. recently started carrying a few, and I tried the excellently-named Chupacabras Pale Ale. And: a very, very nice beer. Great hop character and creamy body, well-balanced with malt. Super-satisfying beer and well more than just a novelty - pick it up if you get a chance.

Great Divide 16 Oak-Aged Double IPA

A knockout - oak aging perfectly balances the huge maltiness and (obvs.) hops of this guy, and leaves a fantastically smooth, dangerously smooth 10% ABV treat. Currently on tap at Tyler's Carrboro - go getchoo some.

Vichtenaar Flemish Ale

Sour nose, sour body, sour finish. Just sweet enough with strong tart-cherry flavors, it's a great sour ale; recommended if you're into that sort of thing (which I am).

One-line Beer Reviews Vol. II

Kind Belgian Red Ale: not bad, well-balanced and tasty, but nothing special and not especially Belgian – drink it at a party if it's there but don't go out of your way for it.

Victory Helios: super-refreshing, nice edge of the Belgian yeasty base and crisp but not overwhelming or floral hop finish – highly recommended, especially on a summer evening.

Stoudt's Gold Lager: just a great beer - crisp, refreshing, perfectly balanced, great hop finish; very highly recommended.

Stoudt's Karnival Kölsch: not bad, but a little too sweet for my tastes – probably not a repeat buy for me, but it could just be that I don't like Kölsch ales that much.

Brooklyn Dark Matter

I wasn't even aware of this beer before rolling up at Milltown to do some writing this evening, and my initial impulses towards it – bourbon-barrel-aged usually sells me straight away – were settled when the barkeep let me know there were 5 kegs of it in North Carolina, and Miltown had 2 of them – and that was it.

The beer: despite a nearly opaque brown-black, it's not a super-heavy ale. Malty, with the sweet oakiness of the bourbon barrels that's pleasant and not overpowering. Super flavorful body, nice vanilla notes, and a balanced, roasty finish with just a bit of hop. Just a great beer – shame it's only around for a while and only on tap, but highly recommended if you can get your hands on it. And of course: great, great name.

UPDATE: Now (beginning of May) on tap at Tyler's too!

Rogue Morimoto Soba Ale

Very intriguing beer right off from the name – Soba! – and no less from the taste. A golden and a bit cloudy ale with a thick creamy head, it has a nice lemony nose and a strong but not overpowering vanilla taste both from the first and throughout. There's also a citrus edge just at the outside of the flavor, super-creamy mouthfeel and taste generally, and a perfect tempering with hop bitterness. A thoroughly tasty, satisfying and non-standard cream ale – recommended

Sierra Nevada Fritz & Ken's 30th Anniversary Ale

Sierra Nevada has certainly been raising their game recently – the Harvest Series is both one of the best ideas and most well-executed set of beers I've had in a while, with the Southern Hemisphere just a fantastic beer. So it's not any surprise that they're really blowing the doors off for their 30th anniversary, releasing a series of four beers emphasizing big tastes and age.

First up is the Fritz & Ken's Ale, and it is a big (9.3%ABV) and distinctive beer. The first taste is a smoky, roasty malt flavor – probably the best use of smokiness I've ever tasted in a beer. The palette fills out with chocolatey tones and only a bit of sweetness, finishing dry and with smoke still all around in an incredibly pleasant way. Probably the closest a beer can come to the experience of a cigar. Certainly not a summer afternoon beer, but a worthwhile quaff nonetheless.

Heavy Seas Märzen Beer

Toasty, smooth and with a nice body but neither too light or heavy, Heavy Seas Märzen  suffers only from absolutely atrocious cover art – seriously, there must be about eight different fonts on the label, a cheesy skull-and-crossbones and mid-'90s-sports-franchise-style graphics to top it all off. Great to drink, but maybe pour it into a glass first (where it has a lovely blonde color).

(New) Dominion Brewing Company

During my DC days, Dominion was one of my favorite (probably the best, at that time) local breweries - Dominion Ale was just a great beer, and Tupper's Hop Pocket was probably the best DC-area beer, period. A great ale.

Recent years have not been kind – the brewery was sold in 2007 to Coastal Brewing Co. (a mid-major co-owned by Maryland's Fordham [always the poor child of local brews] and Anheuser-Busch) and they discontinued Tupper's Hop Pocket (which, gladly, still appears available on a limited basis).

Moving down to NC has shifted my local-beer consumption and in any event, Dogfish Head long since eclipsed them as the mid-Atlantic's best brewery. But on my last time up to DC I noticed some new brews from Dominion – a Baltic Porter and an Oak Barrel Stout, and it being Maryland they were pretty cheap so I figured I'd give it a go.

Dominion Baltic Porter: in an excellent surprise, it's really quite nice – smooth and not too boozey, understated chocolate tones and a good solid body and pleasant finish. A good beer!

Dominion Oak Barrel Stout: a bad, bad beer. Sickly sweet and over-oaked, over-artificially-vanilla. It turns out it's great for cooking (esp. in my Lazy Man's Mole) but not for drinking.

So, it's a psuedo-brewery imprint now, but at least capable of making a solid beer. Hopefully they haven't screwed up the Ale.

One-line Beer Reviews

Been slacking on this, so here goes:

LoneRider Deadeye Jack: nice solid porter, dry and chocolatey, reminiscent of English porters.

BrewDog Dogma: very nice and smooth, tasty, but probably won't buy again at its price point

Dogfish Head Aprihop (2010): a serious improvement over last year's dishwater edition, very nicely balanced hops and not overly fruity - perfect for a warm spring day.

Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron (2008): nearly two years' aging has taken this beer from unsubtle and overly woody to dangerously (at 12% ABV) smooth and super-tasty, and from disappointment to big-time winner.

Highland Seven Sisters Abbey-style Ale: very nice and not overly winey abbey-style ale; refreshing and well-balanced.

Mad River Serious Madness Black Ale: a great beer, rich and smooth and not as heavy as a stout or even porter - highly recommended.

Internet Beer Bread

 I've resolved to start making more bread. But I'm still kind of a n00b with bread, and can't quite understand the whole yeast business yet. Having made my old (read: one) standby bread just now – burned-on-the-top-soft-on-the-bottom banana bread – and with the oven hot, I was favored by the Internet with another recipe that didn't require waiting. And so, Internet beer bread.

Ingredients

• 3 c. flour
• 3 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 12 oz. light lager [I used PBR]
• 1/4 c. melted butter or margarine (the latter if you wanna go vegan)

Procedure

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 F
2. Grease bread pan and set aside
3. Mix dry ingredients until smooth
4. Pour in beer and melted fat; mix thoroughly
5. Bake for 50 min. 
6. Remove from pan and let cool on rack.
7. Slice and enjoy!

Verdict 

  

Pretty damn good! And with prep-time about an hour start to end, definitely a good stepping-stone to bread-making that my more cooking-oriented brain can deal with. Next time, might try with a dark beer.

New Holland Cabin Fever Brown Ale

Very dark with a rich, creamy head, you could be excused for mistaking Cabin Fever for a porter, but the flavor while roasty is very much an ale. Great mouthfeel and nice slightly bitter finish, none of the sweetness that sometimes plagues brown ales. Highly recommended.

Duck-Rabbit Baltic Porter

Each year I've been here, I've tried and been disappointed by the Duck-Rabbit Baltic Porter – too sweet, too boozey. But no more! This year's batch is perfect: rich, creamy, dry, super-flavorful. A truly great winter beer: pick yerself up some (especially get it on tap, at Milltown).

Founders Harvest Ale

A limited-release, wet-hopped ale, Founders Harvest is a solid IPA. Not overly floral but nice and bitter, refreshing. Not sure if I take it over their standard offering (Centennial IPA) but wouldn't refuse it, either.

Left Hand Fade to Black

Feeling very much in the mood for a dark beer that was a) local, and b) I hadn't tried yet, I settled on the just-released Fade to Black from Left Hand (producers of an excellent Milk Stout). Thick, creamy tan head over jet-black ale, it's marketed as a "Foreign Export Stout" and comes on strong with a full and slightly syrupy nose. The taste couldn't be less syrupy though: rich dark malts balanced with a nice hop bitterness and some dark fruit notes, it finishes incredibly smooth. Really is kind of like a much, much better and smoother Guinness Extra Stout (just saying this brings back memories of dank London clubs and a half-warm bottle between my fingers).

The Lost Abbey Lost & Found

I'd heard The Lost Abbey talked up but hadn't seen any for sale back east, so was glad to see it at Liquor Mart here in Boulder. We picked up some Lost & Found and popped it open, and it's definitely a winner: a nice subtle fruit and ale nose, thick creamy head and an excellent mouthfeel. Lots going on, good malt body and nice hop balance – never hoppy but a great slightly bitter counterpoint and finish that completes the beer excellently. Definitely glad to have had a chance to taste.

Allagash Curieux

Milltown had a tasting with Allagash last week, and so continue to have on tap several beers not normally found on draft, including the Curieux. Barrel-aged (in Beam barrels) and incredibly smooth, Curieux is a real treat – a bit of the traditional Allagash spice followed by vanilla and a great finish. Get a pour if you can.

Seattle: Elysian Brewing Company

Elysian Brewing Company is one of those brewpubs that is sadly uncommon in most parts of the country: rather than the beer being a gimmick to accompany so-so bar food, at Elysian it's the reason to come. The food's quite good, too – very nice grilled corn cakes to start, and the house-made black bean burger was excellent – but it definitely takes a back seat to the beer.

I'd been to Elysian before on my previous trip to Seattle and made my way through most of their regular beers (indeed, Elysian bottles and sells their beers all around, and many of their stand-bys are also on tap at other local pubs), so decided to take a trip through the seasonals. I was served well by this decision, as there were three sour beers on tap (my current semi-obsession, beer-wise), reviewed below in order.

Haleakala Hibiscus Sour Ale: Mild sweet nose, full body, tart edges. Carbonation mild owing to wild yeast, finish a perfect blend of tart, sweet, sour, bitter. Hops there but only as balance. Very refreshing and easy-drinking, gets a bit more sour when warm. A real winner and it turned out to be the best of the bunch.

Sour Power Flemish-style Wood Aged Sour Ale: Very, very smooth. More sour in the nose than the taste, and not overly woody - definitely wood-aged but all the good and none of the bad elements of the process. Kind of wished it was a bit more sour, but still solid.

The Trip III Dark Sour Blend: Super-sour nose, low carbonation, porter-style dark body with a great smooth and sour taste and finish. So sayeth the note: "The 3rd beer in collaboration between Elysian and New Belgium, 70% Dark Lager brewed by Elysian and aged sour ale (Foudre 13-30%) brewed at New Belgium.