IPA!

Cracked open my IPA a few days early from its end conditioning date. Results are fantastic. It's medium gold in color, light head, very smooth mouthfeel and round earthy hops. Modeled after Stone's delicious award winning IPA. 90 minute boil, 2 oz of magnum, 1 oz centennial hops. 2 oz cascade added for dry hopping. Mostly pale ale malt and a pound of 10L and 20L crystal. Next time around will add some darker malts and more hops. A lighter IPA thats mega crisp and refreshing!

5.2% ABV
OG: 1.045
FG: 1.006

DELISH. If you want some get at me!

Hoppy Feet by Clown Shoes Brewing Co. Ipswich, MA

clownshoesbeer.com

After hearing the name of this beer, that it was brewed here in Mass and that it was a black IPA, I felt I needed to immediately go out and procure a 22 oz bottle for myself immediately. The beer is brewed under contract by Mercury Brewing Co. in Ipswich, the same guys that brew Ipswich Ales.

The beer pours dark brown and builds up a huge tan creamy head. Sharp grapefruit aroma up front with toasty chocolately undertones. The flavor makes an awesome transition from hoppy citrus into a deep dark coffee. There's a sharp and fine carbonation and a dry mouthfeel. All this amounts to a great beer thats very light and drinkable. This being my first black IPA, it's definitely not what I expected. I was looking for less of the blackness and more hops to contribute to the IPA-ness. Regardless of this, its is a delicious and unique beer. I've since had a few other black IPA's and they were closer to what I had anticipated with this brew. Though I enjoyed them a great deal, I'm glad that Hoppy Feet stands out on its own.

Watch City, Waltham, MA

Just a note: I realized that I haven't been specifying how the beers have been served, whether out of bottle or on draught. This is because nearly every beer I have tried has been served on draught. Unless I say otherwise, assume that this is the case!

watchcitybrew.com
Now that I'm back home in my native Boston, I'm hard pressed finding local brewpubs because well, there aren't any. Wait, we have Rockbottom! Oh wait thats a corporate chain. Oh we also have Deadwood! Oh...thats a chain too. Boston Beer Works? Chain. John Harvard's Brewpub? Fucking chain! It seems counter-intuitive that one of the oldest cities in the country has a serious lack of truly local beers but that's just the way it is. Thanks to a recent issue of the Yankee Brew News, I found a few promising leads. The most interesting of these was Watch City in Waltham, MA. Just minutes from my new apartment, it's a delicious gastrobrewpub with a fantastic beer menu to match.

Titan Ale 6.1% ABV
Dark brown in color with little to no head and little to no lacing. Big hops in the nose with a hint of nuts and sweet maple. This beer has a slightly creamy body and hints of fruit, nuts and spices. The sweetness is perfectly balanced out with some mild hops. It finishes dry and leaves a malty flavor on the tongue.

Golden Cream Ale
Served on cask. Light gold in color with a surprisingly huge head and slight cloud. No carbonation visible. Woody, toasty and malty in aroma. The taste is slightly bitter, hints of apple and light spices. The body is smooth and creamy, no carbonation detectable, as with most cask aged beers. The finish is wet and mildly fruity.

As for the food, good shit. Grabbed their lamb burger with a feta spread on it. Definitely one of the tastier burgers of my life, and I'm pretty damn picky. Haven't had anything else on the menu but I'm willing to bet its all pretty good. Just a quick word of advice for those looking to purchase a growler. Do not show up on Sunday to do so because they can't sell you it. The damn puritans still continue to ruin Bostonian's lives this very day.

The bahhh


The Titan


The super sexy beer reviewer at work


The brew house. Brick jacketed kettle? Neat


No more iPhone pics. I promise!

SUCCESS! The first Bronze Age Brews!

And Voila! I have just consumed my first homebrewed beer! Its an incredibly delicious weiss. Nearly opaque due to sediment and lack of filtering, it pours light gold in color, with very thick lacing. Has a spicy, yeasty aroma with a sharp carbonation and refreshing taste of citrus and clove notes. It has a crisp yet slightly thick body. Next time around, my brewing partner Evan and I decided to cut back on priming sugars as it was a bit over carbonated. Overall however, this beer is pretty damn good for a first attempt. In addition to sampling this brew, we bottled our long awaited IPA. Due to my impatience I gave the beer a try pre-conditioning. Good shit; super hoppy with a decent earthiness to it just as I had hoped. Can't wait to try the final product.
Through very rough calculations laid out on the chart which came with our hydrometer, we found that each beer is incredibly alcoholic. This would make a whole lot of sense as I have only had three in total and I'm definitely ready to just lay down. No noticeable alcohol taste or big flavors to mask strength in either. Just solid beers with big ABV's. Awesome.

Weiss and IPA labeled by color on caps (you can't tell due to crappy iPhone picture)

Cody Brewing Company Amesbury, MA

codybrewing.com

**I'd like to preface this entry by apologizing for the blurred pictures and announcing that tomorrow, Bronze Age will be bottling our IPA! As we do so, we will be sipping on our newly ready weiss! Get ready for an onslaught of deliciousness. Updates will be posted. Now on with the blogging...

The past few weeks I've been doing my best to track down smaller, lesser known breweries in the area. Most recently, my search led me to the small historic New England town of Amesbury, MA where Cody Brewing Company calls home. This 7 Barrel operation is run by Sean Cody (and a few friends), who spends nearly every day of the week there brewing like a maniac. Unlike most brewers I've met, Sean fell into brewing rather than seeking it out as his career path. He began the company in 2006 as a brewshop/brew your own beer operation, aptly named BYOB. Overtime it evolved into the brewery it is today.
While I was on location, I had the delight of sampling four of Cody's brews. I was initially quite impressed with their seasonal Hefeweizen, dubbed "Dog Daze." At first taste one would imagine that a crapload of bananas was tossed into the boil, however it is characteristic of the particular strain of yeast employed in this brew which gives it this very specific and recognizable flavor. Light notes of citrus and spices balance this out perfectly. Right out of the fermenter, this stuff was delicious. I reckon I'll be grabbing a growler of it next time I stop by. It was what I took home this time that really took the cake for me however.

S.O.S. Belgian Pale Ale 5.8% ABV
While this is a year round offering, it was quite a divine substance to imbibe on this hot summer day. It pours light brown in color with a thick creamy head and has a delicate lacing. The aroma is very yeasty, probably due to the fact that it is unfiltered. There's also some malt and some hop undertones in there. This beer almost drinks like an IPA, but the wheat used gives it a crisp, slightly thick body and the hops are quite up to the IPA standard. There's a sharp but fine carbonation to this beer and it finishes off hoppy. Delicious. I will be purchasing this brew again.

The brewery itself


A "beer gun". This is what Sean uses to fill bottles rather than purchase a mind numbingly expensive bottling line. Smart stuff


The S.O.S. MmmMMmM

McCoy's Kansas City, MO

mccoyspublichouse.blogspot.com

After arriving in Kansas City, I very conveniently found that within 100 yards of where we had parked, there was a fantastic brewpub. I immediately headed for it in hopes of imbibing delicious beverages. My hopes were realized.
McCoy's is a craft brewery with multiple locations. Their Kansas City location has a fantastic outdoor deck and bar where I set up shop. I started with McCoy's sampler to get an idea of the spectrum of beers they produce. The roster features an above average, mega hoppy IPA, a delicious not-too-sweet ginger shandy and a solid brown ale of perfect consistency known as "the hog pound". While all these beers were great, it was the beers that were not on the menu, or included in the sampler, that really left an impression on me.

The Triple B 11% ABV
I enjoyed the fact that the bartender called this beer "unidentifiable" and noted that its some sort of a bad ass barleywine/ESB hybrid. Awesome. It pours medium cloudy brown in color, with a gold head, lots of fizz dancing through it. It smells of light hops and spices up front with an underlying maltiness. The taste is bitter right up front, thats the ESB. The mouthfeel is dry and the finish is almost like a that of a cognac. Alcohol is highly noticeable. Huge, bold and will put you on your ass. A+

St. Elizabeth Double IPA 10% ABV
HUGE head on this bad boy, light brown in color and smells like hoppy apples. Definitely a powerful IPA with a fruity and earthy taste, noticeable alcohol. Crispy and slightly thick mouthfeel up front but finishes dry with a spicy aftertaste. Definitely wheat in this one. Has an overall sweetness probably given to it by the 50 pounds of honey added to the boil. Would drink again.

Honorable Mention: The Razzle Dazzle, a 50/50 mix of McCoy's IPA and Raspberry wheat. A local favorite!

The sampler

The Triple B

The DIPA, just look at that head!

New friends Chris and Jessi! Thanks for the beers guys!

Things to come

So before I post my last few entries from my cross country beer romp, I'd like to announce that Bronze Age's first brew will be ready this weekend. It will be a delicious oatmeal weiss. In anticipation I have created a logo for our brand. It's a very simple art-noveau style ditty that still in the works. Let me know what you think:

Great Divide/Wynkoop Denver, CO

Many a one horse town and crappy drive after Portland, our travels led us to the wonderful town of Denver. I was pretty excited as I had heard its beer-putation was comparable to that of Portland's. Unfortunately, I only had the ability to get to two breweries but I am quite satisfied with the results.

Great Divide Brewing Co.

Apparently everyone and their mother had heard about this brewery except for me. Color me ashamed. Rated 7th in Beer Advocates 2009 "Greatest Brewery on Planet Earth" category. I can see why. This is a craft brewery for the thrill seeker (i.e. ME!). Anyone looking for beers of huge character, flavor, alcohol content and imagination will be more than delighted. Make sure to take a look at the roster on the website, few beers fall under 6%. If visiting, get there early in the day and raid the tap room. Four generous free samples await your taste buds. As you drink, enjoy friendly conversation with the beertenders and wafts of wort from beyond the brewery walls. Also, for you Bostonians, this stuff is available at the new Marty's location in Brighton, as well as pretty much every other beer ever (GET YOUR ASS OVER THERE).

Chocolate Oak Age Yeti 9.5% ABV
With a flavor as big as its cryptozoological moniker, this is by far one of the best fucking beers I've ever tasted. Just look at the damn picture and you'll get the idea. Black in appearance with a thick chocolate brown head that quickly dissipates. This beer smells of spices and coffee up front, with malty chocolate undertones. The taste is incredible. The first thing I notice is the pepper, cayenne to be exact. As a hot sauce lover, I think this is great. There is a slight bitterness to balance spice, as well as some bold coffee flavor. The feel is creamy with a fine carbonation.

Samurai 5.1% ABV
Defined as a "Rice Ale" this beer pours a cloudy gold with a light white head. Light hops and crispy spiciness in the aroma. Was hoping for something more interesting with the flavor. Goes down like your average wheat beer. Good, but unspectacular. Meh.

Honorable Mention: Claymore Scotch Ale, a must try for the scotch lover (duh).

Wynkoop Brewing Co.
wynkoop.com
An incredible Brew Pub, Denver's oldest dontcha know? Important to note: cheap eats with big portions and free pool Mon-Fri 11am-5pm (of which I took full advantage). This joint also makes their own hot sauce and employs an unusually friendly staff who will kick your ass at pool. Oh and hey, the beer is pretty good too. Andy Brown, head brewmaster, upon hearing that I was blogging his beer came out of hiding and gave me a brew, a tour and a six pack to go home with (the brewery has just begun a canning operation. The machine is pictured below and right).

Patty's Chile Beer
I'd like to meet whoever Patty is, so I can shake his or her hand and ask if he or she had me in mind when creating this delicious beverage. Drinking this beer is like biting into a fresh bell pepper, though as I came to find out, anaheim chiles and smoked anchos were the veggies of choice. Pours a nice gold color, no fizz, no head, slight cloud to it. Smells like a peppery pilsner. Light and refreshing, almost no carbonation, which I think it needs more of. Not sure if there was something going on with the keg, or if the lack of bubbly was due to the breweries air stone conditioning, but the other beers I sampled suffered the same flatness, save one or two. If this beer had the carbonation it should have, it would most likely be my favorite out of all those I have sampled on this journey.

The other beers I consumed I did not properly log. I must however recommend the B3K Schwarzbier and Wynkoops limited edition special release of their "Tut's Royal Gold." Inspired by the brewing methods and ingredients of ancient Egyptians, this beer was crafted for the Denver Art Museums new exhibit for said pharaoh. The result is delcious and original and more info can be foundhere.


Mash tun with grist hopper above at Great Divide

Bottles on pallet ready for bottling at G.D.

Newly added fermentation tanks outside G.D.

An example of the monstrous 8 dollar sandwiches at Wynkoop.

Head brewmaster Andy in the mega crampt conditioning room at Wynkoop

Brew kettle at Wynkoop

Andy and I pounding the Silverback Gorilla. Wynkoop donates proceeds of their Silverback porter to help these big guys out! Awesome!