Pumpkin Beer Matchup

Happy Thanksgiving (for those of you who read this)! Okay, I admit this is a little late in the season for this, but it will be good for future reference. My brother, my uncle and I compared two pumpkin beers on Thanksgiving that have been recommended to me as the best. Both beers have been recommended to me as the best of the pumpkin style so I had to try them side by side and decide which one is actually the best (at least in my opinion). Feel free to do the same, if you can find any, or wait until they come back around next year.

Pumpkin Beer Championship Match:
Southern Tier Pumking vs. Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale

In one corner, the Southern Tier Pumking. Bottled in a 750mL, it poured a vibrant, clear orange color with very minimal head that dissipated quickly. The first sniff gives off an aroma of sweet pumpkin while leaning more towards pumpkin pie than an actual pumpkin. Nutmeg was the prevalent spice with maybe a little cinnamon hiding behind. Upon tasting, it was medium to full body and a lot sweeter than I expected. I've had a few other pumpkin beers in the past that was nowhere as sweet as this. The sweetness gave way halfway through, though, surrendering to strong notes of nutmeg and cinnamon. The finish was slightly bitter and really lasted long after swallowing. The lingering bitterness and spiciness was enjoyable and really added to the flavor. Pumking was smooth, easy to drink and very enjoyable.

In the other corner, the Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale. Bottled in 12oz bottles that come in a 4-pack, it poured a lot darker than it's competitor. Instead of a clear orange, it poured a dark brown that wasn't all that dense with a small head that didn't stick around. The pumpkin aroma was strong and smelled more like a pumpkin than like a pie. It was powerful enough to overwhelm the underlying spices. I had a difficult time finding the cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and clove that the bottle claimed was in there. The beer had a fuller body, definitely strong, more bitter taste of pumpkin with very little spice to counteract. It wasn't like taking a bite out of a pumpkin but it was all I could detect and it wasn't nearly as sweet as Southern Tier's version. It finished dry and bitter (in a good way) but it faded relatively quickly. No lingering spices or bitterness on this one.

And the winner is.....

Southern Tier Pumking! If I were to crave a pumpkin beer next year, this would be the one I would look. There was just enough sweetness without being cloying and boasted a much nicer blend of all of the ingredients. No one spice or flavor overpowered the others as the Weyerbacher tasted more like pumpkin than anything else. The Pumking was smoother, easier to drink and a lot more flavorful and enjoyable. I don't want to come off as anti-Weyerbacher's pumpkin ale. I just prefer the one from Southern Tier. Weyerbacher's had its own positives and is definitely worth picking up and trying for yourself. But personally, next year, I'm going with Southern Tier.

Once again, I apologize for doing this taste test this late into November since it's unlikely that you will find any left in stores. (For the record, last I checked, there were still two 4-packs of Weyerbacher left in the Shop Rite Wines & Spirits in Emerson, so make haste if you want to try it!). Hopefully when next August/September comes around, you can pick up both and do your own taste test!

Brooklyn Brewery

   Well I'm back on the blog saddle and my first post in a long time is about my wonderful trip to an industry party at the Brooklyn Brewery.  The tap list for the night included all of the delicious beers in Brooklyn's year-round line, as well as, three brewmasters reserve beers, Detonation Ale, little brother Blast, and the newest beer of the line, Cuveé Noire.  Also included were Brooklyn's large bottle offerings.  The brewery itself is tucked into an industrial area, but is more than worth the treasure hunt.  When you arrive you open a large barn door to reveal a scaled down version of a brewing and bottling setup(most Brooklyn beers are produced upstate, but Brewmaster's Reserve beers are brewed and bottled in house).  As you walk past the brewing equipment you walk into a small but adequate tasting room with 8 taps.  There are a few benches and a few communal picnic table, true beer hall style, and on this night there was a small food spread set up on the side of the room.  
    The first beer I tried on the night was the newly-released Brooklyn Cuveé Noire.  Every description I read about this beer defined it as undefinable.  And they were all 100% correct.  This beer pours out a deep dark black with a nice creamy, foamy head.  To a casual observer the first thing that comes to mind is stout.  There is a nice roasted malt smell, but also a good hoppy smell that confuses you.  Upon the first sip you're completely dumbfounded.  It has a rich hop profile of the best imperial IPA, the roasted malty flavor of a nut brown ale, the sweetness of a belgian, and the creamy smoothness of a stout.  This beer is incredibly complex and dangerously drinkable at 8.7% ABV.  This beer is an absolute 5 Pints out of 5 along with the brewery itself.  
     Also try the Detonation Ale and the Blast if you have the chance.  The Detonation is an imperial English style IPA and the Blast is a flowery west coast style Imperial IPA.  The Detonation can currently be found on tap at The Shepherd and the Knucklehead so none of you, my readers, have an excuse to not try it.  Blast is produced in small batches every year so keep an eye out for it.  
       I want to give special thanks for making this night possible to my new colleague Sean from Beekman's Wine in Glen Rock(look for much better beer selection there soon) and Mike from Brooklyn Brewery.  I'd also like to thank Garrett Oliver, brewmaster for Brooklyn Brewery for hosting an amazing evening of beer.  I will certainly be returning to Brooklyn Brewery soon.

Harpoon India Pale Ale

Name: Harpoon IPA

Brewery: Harpoon Brewery, Boston, MA

Style: India Pale Ale

ABV: 5.9%

IBU: 42

Date: October 11

Price: $8.99 for a 6 pack at Shop Rite Wines & Spirits of Emerson (shameless plug, I manage the beer in that particular store)

So, I'm Josh, co-writer on this here blog for hopheads. As mentioned above, I work with beer all day every day and, with Aaron's help, have experienced and love microbrews, the hoppier the better! But enough introductions...on to my first review!

So Aaron started off this blog with a palate-destroying Triple IPA, so whaddya say we back up a few steps and delve into something more of a crowd-pleaser? Allow me to introduce you to, Harpoon Brewery's flagship beer, their India Pale Ale. Now don't let the name 'India Pale Ale' scare you away and think this is a super hopped up unapproachable brew for the serious hopheads only. Quite the contrary. Harpoon's IPA is definitely a "beginner's IPA".

Into a generic pint glass, it pours a very nice orange-amber and is relatively transparent. There is a very thin line of pasty-white head that hovers and lingers at the edges of the glass with sticky lacing. The hops reach the nose quickly but they aren't very strong. No cringing in fear from overt bitterness. The aroma is both floral and has hints of pine with a subtle sweetness hiding just below the surface. It smells as light as it is, particularly light for an IPA.

The first sip grants a fantastic hop-forward, pine-like taste that quickly fades behind the malt sweetness. The hops return to linger and dance softly on the tongue in a long, dry finish but is actually quite refreshing. Gloriously non-existent is any hint of alcohol even though it pushes 6%; it's hidden very well underneath the malt and hops. A crazy hop-head might feel cheated due to the beer's thinness and easy drinkability but it's not a bad choice for a regular macro-drinker wanting to try something different without going overboard. As previously mentioned, it's a crowd-pleaser. It's not a bad beer to kick back with while watching some football on a Sunday or BBQing with friends. So drinkable for an IPA, you could put down two or three without leaving your tongue decimated or your head too woozy.

My rating: 3.75 pints out of 5. I, myself, do like a hoppier beer, but this is a very nice, smooth, easy to drink IPA that is sure to keep people coming back (like me!) or help newbies get started on the road to some of the crazier brews out there (i.e. the Devil Dancer that Aaron reviewed in July). Affordable, approachable...it's no wonder it's Harpoon's number one selling beer.

Belmar Beer on the Pier

        This past Saturday, September 25th, I attended the 1st annual Belmar Beer on the Pier festival on the pier on the Shark River in Belmar, NJ.  Fellow blog contributor, Josh, and I decided to purchase the VIP tickets that allowed us early entry and access to a special VIP tent that was to feature some rarer beers, a small buffet, and a commemorative beer on the way out.  We pretty much learned that all of that was BS.  Yes there were more beers in the tent, yes there was a small, VERY SMALL, buffet and yes there was a commemorative beer, for some people, on the way out.  The special beers were brought out to the general admission ticket holders after the VIP period ended.  The buffet was enough for maybe 20 people and they did not brew enough of the commemorative beers.  All in all they just underestimated how many people purchased VIP tickets.  They should have limited the VIP tickets to the amount of gift bags they had available and then planned food accordingly for that many people.
         Ok so that was the one negative of the event.  Everything else was overwhelmingly good.  The beer selection was limited to two drafts for every brewery represented, most breweries were just represented by Hunterdon Distributors sales reps.  A few of the local breweries and brewpubs sent actual brewers or other brewery employees.  Of those two beers per brewery, the selection was amazing.  Our consensus overall beer of the day was Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron, with a close 2nd for Oskar Blues GUBNA.  A few of the other rarer beers included Smuttynose Really Old Brown Dog, Lagunitas Maximus IPA, Stone Cali Belgique, and River Horse Hippolantern.  There are way too many pictures to post so just click here for a picture of every beer sampled between the two of us.  The big surprise of the day was newcomer East Coast Beer Company with their Beach Haus Pilsner.  East Coast has only been brewing for a few months and this is their first offering, available on tap and in bottles, but it tasted like they've been doing it for years.  It was a very clean, simple, crisp pislner.  I've never really been wowed by a pilsner, but this was as close as it gets.  I'd absolutely recommend picking up a 6-pack of this very drinkable pilsner.
       i'd absolutely recommend this event to anyone who loves hanging out down the shore with some great beer.  Next year's event is already scheduled for September 24th.  I'll definitely attend, but might think twice about shelling out the extra $10 for VIP.  Although VIP ticketholders have received an email about another special gift to be picked up at a later date.  I'm thinking it was the beer that was being brewed during the event as part of what was supposed to be a homebrewing demonstration, but looked more like a few guys making beer quietly and answering questions if asked.  I'm giving the event 3.5 pints out of 5 but I'm assuming there were just some first year glitches.  Next year promises to be bigger and better and its a must attend event in my book.
        

DeCicco's Ardsley, NY

     This place was like walking into heaven.  Full of gourmet foods, prepared, packaged, and fresh, and  hundreds of varieties of beer.  Being New York, they only sell beer and not wine or spirits because they would have to obtain a different liquor license.  The beer section is not huge and it doesn't need to be.  They carry a little bit of everything so they can satisfy everyone and rotate stock fast enough that it does not go bad.  The few summer beers I saw that were left had huge clearance price cuts.
      The most interesting thing I found was the set of taps in the back.  I had been to a few New York beer stores so I was familiar with their ability to fill growlers of draft beer.  In New Jersey you can only have that done at bars that have a takeaway license.  In New York almost any beer store can have a tap setup to let you take home fresh draft beer.  I was perusing the taps when an employee came over to help and offered me some samples of a few of the drafts including my selection and a beer made for their store.  The growler prices were very very reasonable.  As a non-growler owner I needed to purchase an empty bottle.  They were $2 for a 16oz or $3 for a 32 or 64oz.  Most other places are around $10 for an empty 64.
       The beer I chose was Brooklyn Detonation Ale from the Brooklyn Brewery Brewmaster's Reserve collection.  I'll review that here in a few days.  DeCicco's actually has a beer made and bottled for them (Captain Lawrence Birra DeCicco) exclusively by Captain Lawrence Brewing.  On this occasion they also had a draft offering, Sierra Nevada Camp Ghidorah, that was made through Sierra Nevada's Beer Camp.  The Beer Camp invites people from the beer industry around the county to come to Sierra Nevada Brewing, in small groups, and create and brew a beer to be distributed only to the establishments affiliated with people from those groups.  Generally its representatives from bars, beer stores, or distributors that are invited to participate.  Ghidorah (Ghidra to Godzilla fans) is an American Double IPA and is only available in a handful of locations around the country, with each location only getting a few kegs so if it sounds interesting to you then get up to Ardsley soon.
     The store is on beermenus.com so I won't go into any real detail on what else is available because the stock rotates quickly, making for good fresh beer.  The staff, and other customers for that matter, were very friendly and loved to talk about their beer and beer in general.  Some prices were a bit high but there were bargains out there.  Some of the older beers that age well were priced well below what I've seen anywhere else.  I can understand why you would lower prices on 6-packs of summer beers, but there were some big beers, meant to age, that were at clearance prices so a deal can be had.  I'm going to give DeCicco's a 5 pint rating.  It's a mecca for beer lovers and gourmands alike.  DeCiccos has 5 locations in New York state including one on this side of the Hudson in Rockland county just a few miles north of the Thruway.  It's an absolute must visit for any beer snob or someone who just wants to see alot of good beer and good food in the same place.  A link to the website is above.  Stay classy San Diego.