Day 195, July 14 / Dean’s Beans Coffehouse Porter

Day 195 /  July 14, 2011

Dean’s Beans Coffehouse Porter

Berkshire Brewing Co. / South Deerfield, MA

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Now this’ll wake you up!

Now normally, this wouldn’t have been a beer I’d pick, but it was the only beer at the store from Berkshire Brewing Company, who I had been told was a good Massachusetts brewery.  This style is generally too bold for my tastes.

Berkshire Brewing Company is a small craft brewery started in 1994, with distribution in 5 New England states.  Their web site says that produce a number of ales, stouts and porters, plus a couple lighter year-round and seasonal beers.  Most of their bottled beers are in 22 oz. bomber bottles, meant to be shared.

The Coffehouse Porter takes BBC’s Drayman’s Porter and adds Dean’s Beans organic coffee to the mix.  Dean’s Beans is a free trade, organic coffee roaster headquartered nearby.  This is a very thick, dark beer, almost black in color, with a thick, mocha colored head.  The smell and taste of the coffee is very strong, and comes close to overpowering the beer.

While this beer is not my cup of tea (pun intended, of course), I can appreciate the style.

Day 194, July 13 / Mayflower Golden Ale

Day 194 /  July 13, 2011

Mayflower Golden Ale

Mayflower Brewing Company / Plymouth, MA

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Beer for Pilgrims!

Do you like a little history with your beer?  The Mayflower Brewing Company was founded in 2007 in Plymouth, MA, by a 10^th great grandson of John Alden, a beer barrel cooper on the Mayflower!

Beer was actually the staple drink aboard the Mayflower, due to its natural preservatives and abundant source of carbohydrates.  It is documented that the Pilgrims searched for weeks for a suitable harbor, but finally settled at Plymouth, because, in their words, “we could not now take time for further search or consideration, our victuals being much spent, especially our beer.”

In fact, the abundant spring water discovered in Plymouth by the Pilgrims is used in Mayflower Brewing’s beers.  I actually wasn’t expecting much from the Golden Ale, a American blonde ale.  But I was pleasantly surprised.  It was bit dry, and had just a touch of bite from the Galena and Liberty hops.

Good luck finding this beer outside of Massachusetts!

Day 193, July 12 / Abel’s Hill India Dark Ale

Day 193 /  July 12, 2011

Abel’s Hill India Dark Ale

Offshore Ale Company / Woods Hole, MA

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Fresh as fresh can be!

We ventured down to Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard yesterday and found the only brewpub on the island.  OK, it wasn’t just coincidence, I found it on the net a month ago.

So I dragged the extended Davidson clan into the Offshore Brewery Company for lunch, which wasn’t a bad proposition.  50 pounds be damned, I had a cup of clam chowder and very tender fried clam strips.  Yum!

Offshore has 6 or 7 beers on tap at any given time.  My beer o’ the day was their Abel’s Hill India Dark Ale.  It is described as a Cascadian dark ale, rich in roasted malt notes with balanced hop bitterness and aroma. I definitely enjoyed it, but it was a bit heavy for a hot summer day.   I also had their Nut Brown Ale too, which was good.

If you’re a beer geek and find yourself on Martha’s Vineyard, its definitely worth a visit!  And while you are in Oak Bluffs, make sure you check out the Flying Horses Carousel, the oldest operating carousel in America, complete with brass rings!

No, I don't know these people. 
Just found this picture on the web.

Day 192, July 11 / Larry Imperial IPA

Day 192 /  July 11, 2011

Larry Imperial IPA

Wachusetts Brewing Company / Westminster, MA

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Hey Larry!

Who knew?  Massachusetts is full of small breweries with good beers!  Many of which don’t travel far from the home state.  Wachusetts Brewing in Westminster, MA was founded in 1993, and they are only distributed in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island.  Note to Jeff R:  why didn’t you tell me about these guys??

Larry is an Imperial (or Double IPA), with higher hop content and alcohol than your average IPA.  Normally, I’m not a big fan of Double IPA’s – they are too bitter for me.  But the brewery markets this to be a highly drinkable Double IPA, and I agree.  It’s got just a bit more hop bitterness than other IPA’s, and it clocks in at 7.5% alcohol.

Larry is a one-time collaboration between Wachussets Brewing and the Publick House, a popular craft beer bar in Brookline, MA, just outside of Boston.

Day 191, July 10 / Ipswich Original Ale

Day 191 /  July 10, 2011

Ipswich Original Ale

Ipswich Ale (Mercury) Brewery  /  Ipswich, MA

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Mass. Consumption

I’m on vacation for a few days on Martha’s Vineyard, so I thought I would continue my theme of drinking locally by drinking only beers made in Massachusetts for the next few days.  Actually, full disclosure, I may have some non-Mass. beers, but I will be blogging about the Mass. beers.

I wanted to get off to a good start, so I located a beer and liquor store online in Cape Cod, that we could hit before we boarded the ferry.  Yesterday was Sunday, so Kappy’s Liquors didn’t open ‘til noon.  We pulled into the parking lot at 11:45am, and there were already a few people waiting in line at the door.  We had 15 minutes to kill, so we poked around in the store around the corner.  When we came back at 12:05, the Kappy’s parking lot and store were packed.  These people need to get their drink on!

I picked up three variety 12 packs from Wachusett, Ipswich and Casco Bay breweries.  Casco Bay Brewery is actually in Portland, Maine, so those will be some of the other beers.  And this beer isn’t all for me - we’ve rented a house with my brother and sister and their families too.  And yes, that should explain the glass in the picture – this rental house doesn’t have quite the selection of beer glasses that I do.

Ipswich is on the northern coast of Mass, not too far the New Hampshire border.  It looks like their beers are only available in MA, NH, CT and NJ.  Their Original Ale is unfiltered English style ale.  Definitely quaffable – you can (and I did) have a few of these at one sitting.  There is a good balance between malt and hops.

Now this is pretty cool – if you live near the brewery, you can rent one of their 3 TapMobiles for your event.  Click the picture below for more details.