Beer Stats:
Brewery: Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project
Alcohol: 5.40%
Serving: Bottle, 22 oz.
Style: English Pale Ale, BJCP Style Guide

Appearance: 4.5 | Smell: 4.0 | Taste: 4.0 | Mouthfeel: 4.5 | Drinkability:  4.5

Overall: 4.2 

Hedgerow Bitter pours a cloudy, dark golden. It's topped by an off-white, stiff, meringue-like head that fades leaving good lace. The aroma is mildly malty with sweet fruity esters, and grassy hops.

This beer has mildly bready and toasty malts. The finish has nice grassy, and leafy hop flavors that leave a lingering bitterness. This beer is medium-bodied, and has prickly carbonation and a nice dryness.

A very nice rendition of an English Bitter.

Labels: English Pale Ale

Jadyn and I went to Ireland to visit her sister the week of Thanksgiving 2010. Since Ireland's not a "Beer Country" like Belgium/Germany/England/Czech Republic, I didn't spend a lot of time seeking out Irish beer. Though I probably drank more Guinness in one week than I did in the last three to four years, and we did take a tour of the Guinness Brewery


On Saturday evening Jadyn and I went to a show at Whelan's with her sister. We stopped for a beer at The Dice Bar. I went with Sparta Pils, which I mistakenly thought might be Irish.

Beer Stats:
Brewery: Brouwerij Van Steenberge N.V.
Alcohol: 5.00%
Serving: Tap
Style: Czech Pilsener, BJCP Style Guide 


Pours a clear golden, and is topped by a white head that's fed by lots of bubbles. The aroma has notes of cooked grain, and a bit of malty sweetness.

The taste is clean and crisp with a mild sweetness, and a grassy bitterness in the finish. This beer is crisp, light-bodied, and has a good deal of carbonation.

Overall this was a pretty good pils, not the best, but solid.





Jadyn and I spent Monday the 22nd taking her nephews around Dublin. After dropping them off with Jadyn's sister we had dinner and beer at The Porterhouse in Temple Bar after walking around a bit.





Beer Stats:
Brewery: The Porterhouse Brewing Company
Alcohol: 5.00%
Serving: Tap
Style: Irish Dry Stout, BJCP Style Guide


Appearance: 4.5 | Smell: 4.0 | Taste: 4.0 | Mouthfeel: 4.0 | Drinkability: 4.0

Overall: 4.1

This stout pours an opaque black, and is topped by a thick, creamy, brown head that retains well. The aroma is chocolatey with roasted malt notes. The chocolate gives the aroma an almost fruity aspect.

This stout has a roasted backbone, which moves into a milder center with a bit of bite and roasted bitterness in the finish that's cut by a mild sweetness. Light-bodied and smooth with mild carbonation.

I thought this was a very nice stout.




After dinner I had a three beer sampler, and Jadyn had another beer

Beer Stats:
Brewery: The Porterhouse Brewing Company
Alcohol: 4.30%
Serving: Tap
Style: Euro Pale Lager

Pours a clear, light golden with a creamy head. The aroma is clean with grassy notes. It's grainy with a mildly sweet finish. Pretty ho-hum.


Beer Stats:
Brewery: The Porterhouse Brewing Company
Alcohol: 4.30%
Serving: Tap
Style: Irish Dry Stout, BJCP Style Guide


This beer pours a dark brown that's clear up to the light. It's topped by a dense, creamy head. The aroma is chocolatey and sweet with roasted notes and not a lot of fruit. There are mild roasted malts throughout with only a very mild sweetness. The finish is lightly bitter.



Beer Stats:
Brewery: The Porterhouse Brewing Company
Alcohol: 4.80%
Serving: Tap
Style: Irish Dry Stout, BJCP Style Guide


This beer pours a clear brow with a creamy brown head. The aroma is roasted malts with a bit of a sharp edge. This stout is very mild with only a mild roasty character. The finish has a mild sweetness and light spiciness.



On Tuesday Jadyn and I took a tour of the Guinness Brewery. The tour was pretty slick and marketing heavy. The brewing process was discussed, but not in depth. The most interesting part of the tour was the video that discussed cooperage. The highlight by far was having beers in the Gravity Bar, which had great views of the city.




A slick waterfall.



















I picked this beer up at a grocery store, either Tesco or SuperValu, and had it at Jadyn's sister's house on Thanksgiving.

Beer Stats:
Brewery: Carlow Brewing Comany
Alcohol: 4.30%
Serving: Bottle
Style: American Pale Wheat Ale, BJCP Style Guide

Appearance: 3.5 | Smell: 3.0 | Taste: 3.0 | Mouthfeel: 4.0 | Drinkability:  4.0

Overall: 3.3

This beer pours a clear golden with a fluffy white head that fades to a thin layer, but leaves clinging lace. The aroma is wheaty and grainy with notes of fruit and spicy hops.

This beer is grainy upfront with a grassy backbone. There are enough spicy, leafy hops in the finish, just enough to prevent it from being bland. This beer is crisp, light-bodied and slightly dry.

Not super flavorful, but refreshing enough.

Labels: Czech Pilsener, Euro Pale Lager, Irish Dry Stout, Travel

I was planning on splitting this post up and providing notes for each beer, but that seems to cause procrastination. I'll just provide a list of the beers that I had, and make note of the highlights instead.

The Belgian Beer Fest is my favorite Beer Advocate fest because Belgian beers remain some of my favorites, especially the sour ones, and the BBF provides the opportunity to taste sours that are otherwise hard or impossible to try.

1249. Allagash Avance - Allagash Brewing Company
1250. Allagash Big Little - Allagash Brewing Compay

1251. Allagash Little Big - Allagash Brewing Compay
This hazed copper beer has a malty aroma with a bit of acidity on the nose. Sweet malts and fruity esters are met with a balancing bite of sourness. The finish has a mild bit of bitterness.

1252. Old Mother Hubbard - Cambridge Brewing Company
1253. Kosmic Mother Funk - Boston Beer Company

1254. Old Lambic - Boston Beer Company
The person working the booth said that this beer was seven years old. It pours a clear copper color. The aroma is funky and acidic. This beer has a nice acidic sourness, medicinal phenols, and a surprisingly smooth finish.

1255. Belgian Pale Ale - Brewery Ommegang
1256. Brooklyn Cuvee Noir - Brooklyn Brewery
1257. Madame Rose - Goose Island Beer Co.
1258. Fleur - Goose Island Beer Co.
1259. Ename Tripel - Brouwerij Roman

1260. Kriek Pale Ale - Harpoon Brewery
I believe that this was Harpoon's IPA Kriek-ified. It poured a hazy copper with an acidic, cherry aroma. It had great sourness, and cherry flavor along with a bit of bitterness in the finish.

1261. Monstre Rouge - De Proefbrouwerij

1262. Super Friends IPA - Ithaca Beer Company
This was a great IPA conditioned with Brett. It had a nice explosion of hops, but had an Orval-like finish.

1263. Belgo IPA - New Belgium Brewing
1264. Belgian Style Blonde Ale - New Belgium Brewing
1265. Framboise de Amorosa - The Lost Abbey
1266. Sinner's Blend 2010 - The Lost Abbey
1267. Cellar Door - Stillwater Artisanal Ales
1268. Autumnal - Stillwater Artisanal Ales
1269. Grisette - Zero Gravity
1270. Emelisse Double IPA - Bierbrouwerij Grand-Café Emelisse
1271. Troubador Magma - Brouwerij De Musketiers
1272. The One - Zero Gravty
1273. Fennel Saison - Sixpoint
1274. Chinookered! - Harpoon Brewery

1275. Ruby Bruin - The Tap
This was pretty late in the fest, but I thought that this was a tasty Oud Bruin

1276. Smuttynose Gravitation - Smuttynose Brewing Company
1277. Smuttynose Winter Ale - Smuttynose Brewing Company
1278. Stone 09.09.09 Vertical Epic Ale - Stone Brewing Company

1279. Bellegems Bruin - Brouwerij Bockor
Another solid Oud Bruin.

1280. Van Twee -  De Proefbrouwerij
1281. Lozen Boer - De Proefbrouwerij
1282. Hopus - Brasserie Lefèbvre SA
1283. Stone 10.10.10 Vertical Epic Ale - Stone Brewing Comany
1284. Malheur 10° - Brouwerij De Landtsheer
1285. Allagash Black - Allagash Brewing Company

Labels: Beer Fests

Jadyn and I had dinner and beers at the CBC on October 28th. They had a new IPA that decided to give a try.

An overabundance of hops here at CBC has permitted your local brewers to go a bit hop-wild! Hops are at their best when fresh, so all their myriad flavors and aromas come through in your beer. But, our Brewmaster over-bought for the year, and now we’re forced to brew IPA after IPA. Terrible news, right? Expect to see a rotating IPA on tap almost full-time until Will has finished his penance. Bumper Crop IPA was brewed with Pilsner malts and a variety of hops including: Simcoe, Cascade, Centennial, Amarillo, and new-hop-on-the-block Citra. An outstanding citrusy aroma and flavor dominate this beer, while clean malt character provides a modicum of balance through the finish. Cheers!

Beer Stats:  
Brewery: Cambridge Brewing Company
Alcohol: 6.80%
Serving: Tap
Style: American IPA, BJCP Style Guide

Appearance: 4.0 | Smell: 4.0 | Taste: 4.0 | Mouthfeel: 4.0 | Drinkability: 4.5 

Overall:  4.05

Bumper Crop IPA pours a lightly hazed, bright, copper color. It's topped by an off-white head that fades to a film. The aroma is bright and hoppy with notes of resin and citrus. There's also an undercurrent of grainy malts.

Toasty malts upfront provide just enough balance to the hops without detracting from them. Resiny, grassy, and citric hops  appear in the center and move into a strongly bitter finish. The beer is light and crisp on the palate with carbonation that provides a good bite.

This is a nice hoppy IPA.

Labels: American IPA

Bennett had given me several bottles of beer at my defense celebration. This one had been in my fridge sine then, and Jadyn and I split it with dinner on October 24th.

Beer Stats:  
Brewery: Goose Island
Year: 2009

Alcohol: 8.00%
Serving: Bottle, 22 oz.
Style: Dubbel, BJCP Style Guide

Appearance: 4.0 | Smell: 3.5 | Taste: 3.5 | Mouthfeel: 3.5 | Drinkability: 4.0

Overall:  3.65

Pere Jacques pours a cloudy brown, and is topped by a creamy, light-brown head that fades to a sudsy film. The aroma is clean with notes of dates, figs, and a mild hint of alcohol.

Mildly sweet malts upfront have notes of bread and chocolate, which move into a sweet center with notes of dark fruit. The finish has powdery yeast notes, spicy alcohol, and a moderate bitterness. This beer is crisp, and surprisingly light-bodied for a dubbel.

Overall I thought this was a decent Dubbel, but seemed somewhat subdued compared to many others.

Labels: Dubbel

I've had this beer in the fridge for awhile, and I decided it was finally time to try it.

Beer Stats:
Brewery: Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project 
Alcohol: 10.50%
Serving: Bottle, 22 oz.
Style: English Strong Ale

Appearance: 4.0 | Smell: 4.0 | Taste: 3.5 | Mouthfeel: 3.5 | Drinkability:  4.0

Overall: 3.75

This beer is the first in Pretty Things' "Once Upon a Time..." series, in which they brew beers according to very old recipes.  Despite the fact hat this beer was labeled as a Mild Ale, the alcohol content certainly indicates that it's not a mild in the sense that we think of today.

This beer pours a lightly hazed, amber-copper color. It's topped by a fluffy and creamy, beige head that leaves sticky lace. The aroma has malty notes of bread, caramel, and toast. There's a bit of fruitiness in the center, almost a banana flavor. The fish has a peppery spiciness from the alcohol, and a good dose of bitterness. This beer is medium-bodied, and moderately carbonated, but has a light, crisp finish.

This beer is definitely not mild, but it's a decent strong ale that's pretty malty, but not overly so.

Labels: English Strong Ale

Jadyn and I had dinner at Cambridge Common on October 20th.  I had a couple pints of Ithaca's awesome Flower Power IPA.

Beer Stats:  
Brewery: Ithaca Beer Company
Alcohol: 7.50%
Serving: Tap
Style: American IPA, BJCP Style Guide

Appearance: 4.5 | Smell: 5.0 | Taste: 4.5 | Mouthfeel: 4.0 | Drinkability:  4.5

Overall: 4.55

Sometimes you have an IPA that reminds you how wonderful hops are, and how a lot of IPAs have hop bitterness, but sacrifice hop flavors. Ithaca's Flower Power IPA captures the essence of hops.

It pours a very nice, hazed, orange-copper color, and is topped by a thick, creamy, off-white head that fades, leaving the side of the glass coated with lace.  The aroma is intensely hoppy. There are floral and citric notes, as well as a pungent, resiny bite. This really smells like sticking your nose in a bag of hops.  Swirling the beer brings out the malts, which are predominantly bready and biscuity.

There's a mild malty sweetness upfront that's bready and sugary. The hops begin to assert themselves in the center, first with favors of citrus and grass, and then a strong resiny bitterness appears in the finish. The hops oils are evident on the palate, but are balanced by the crisp carbonation.

Overall I thought that this was a fantastic IPA.  It really showcased both the hops bitterness and flavors.

Labels: American IPA

Jadyn and I had dinner at the CBC on October 13th. I passed up pumpkin beers to try this one. From the website:

CBC inaugurates it’s new Tabula Rasa specialty beer series with Penumbral I.P.A., an almost black Belgian India Pale Ale. The Tabula Rasa (blank slate) series will celebrate outside-the-box creative brewing as informed by ancient history, poetry, philosophy, conceptual art, and rock ‘n’ roll music. Releases will be irregular but inspired.

A penumbra is a partial shadow, as in an eclipse, between regions of complete shadow and complete illumination. Penumbral I.P.A.’s depth of color sends you into the shadows only to be illuminated by bright floral hop notes in the nose and on the palate, balanced by spice and earth notes from our house Belgian yeast. Some of you may find yourselves confused by the apparent contradictions of this beer. Belgian brewers had made nearly black beers for centuries, but they’re not known for super hoppy brews and only recently have “Belgian stouts” appeared. Leave it to American craft brewing ingenuity to combine Belgian character with an I.P.A., and then paint it black.

Amarillo and Glacier hops provide fruit and floral notes while a backbone of Belgian pale and aromatic malted barley is augmented by German CaraFa, a specialty malt which provides color without excessive roastiness. Blend in a little Belgian funkiness and your palate will plunge into the shadows of this dark-but-brilliant beer.

Beer Stats:  
Brewery: Cambridge Brewing Company

Alcohol: 6.8%
Serving: Tap
Style: Belgian IPA

Appearance: 4.0 | Smell: 3.5 | Taste: 4.0 | Mouthfeel: 4.0 | Drinkability:  4.0

Overall: 3.9

Penumbral IPA pours a cloudy, dark brown that almost looks black. It's topped by a creamy, light-brown head that fades quickly, but leaves good lace. The aroma is surprisingly malty. There are strong notes of caramel and chocolate, notes of roasted grains, and grassy hops.

A caramel malty sweetness upfront is undercut by the roasted malt flavors in the backbone. The sweetness mellows towards the center with a roasted dryness appearing. The finish is roasted malts and a mild, hoppy bitterness. This beer is crisp with a mild dryness in the finish.

Having not seen the description of the beer, this is not what I was expecting. I thought it was a pretty interesting take on a Belgian IPA.

Labels: Belgian IPA

Jadyn and I had the day off on Indigenous People's Day so we went to Bukowski's for lunch and some beers. They had the newest beer in Pretty Thing's Once Upon a Time... series so we split a bottle.

Beer Stats:  
Brewery:  Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project

Year: 2010
Alcohol: 7.80%
Serving: Bottle, 22 oz.
Style: English Brown Ale, BJCP Style Guide


Appearance: 4.0 | Smell: 4.0 | Taste: 4.0 | Mouthfeel: 4.0 | Drinkability:  4.5

Overall:  4.05

This beer pours clear, but looks like an opaque black when viewed to the light. It's topped by a creamy and sudsy, brown head, which fades to a sudsy film leaving good lace. The aroma is roasty with notes of diacetyl, chocolate, mild toffee, a bit of fruit and a good dose of hops.

The beer has a roasty backbone throughout, a mild chocolate sweetness, bready sweetness, and toffee. The finish has a nice roasty and resiny hop bitterness. The beer is medium-bodied, and moderately carbonated.

This beer is malty but the sweetness is attenuated and balanced by nice roasted flavors and a good dose of hops.

Labels: English Brown Ale

Jadyn and I had dinner at some friends' place on October 6th. They had a bottle of Fluxus 2010 that they shared.

Beer Stats:  
Brewery: Allagash Brewing Company
Year: 2010
Alcohol: 10.30%
Serving: American Double Stout

Appearance: 4.0 | Smell: 4.5 | Taste: 4.0 | Mouthfeel: 4.0 | Drinkability: 3.5

Overall: 4.05

Fluxus pours an opaque black, and is topped by a  thin, quick fading brown head. The aroma is very nice aroma with lots of chocolate, roasted malts, and a mild woodiness.

Sweet notes upfront combine with the dark chocolate bitterness in the backbone to give impressions of rich chocolate. There's a mild bite at the end, and a woody aftertaste. This beer is full-bodied, and moderately carbonated.

A little sweet overall, but it has a very nice chocolate flavor.

Labels: American Double Stout