Cape Ann Fisherman's Pumpkin Stout.

Mass Brewers' Summerfest was the first time I had seen a pumpkin stout, and now here is another one.

For having not drank anything in days, I was pretty amped for a beer. Then I took a ship and was disappointed. But then pleasantly surprised.

Up front, it tastes and feels like a less nitro'd Guinness, a little flat cola-ish. Maybe a hint of saltiness (psychosomatic effect?). Seemingly disappointing vegetable taste. But the finish melts into coffee, milk chocolate, and unspiced baked pumpkin.

Overall, it's a fairly bland beer but surprising and enjoyable. It's certainly drinkable though, after a few, I'm guessing the curious finish is going to matter less and less.

Harpoon Leviathan Triticus.

Holy shit, yes, this is actually a wheat wine.

Opaque pour, looks more like a stout. Mouthfeel is even stout-like, perhaps a bit more carbed. Sweet but clean nose. Up front, it tastes like a barley wine but finishes with a wheat-y, bitter wheat time character, though not as bitter as I've had. The whole thing is a little bizarre, keeping in mind the wheat wines I've been drinking.

Pulled Pork.

Used a dry rub from here, and let it sit in my refrigerator for two days. Shit was AWESOME. 1:1:1:1:2:2:2:2:4 (in TBS, black pepper, oregano, sugar, white pepper, chili powder, cumin, brown sugar, paprika) plus a teaspoon or two of cayenne.

The sauce was from Elise. I used a can of Barq's root beer instead of Dr. Pepper. Somehow, I think the Dr. Pepper would have been better. The sauce was good but had something off about it. Maybe too tomato-y.

More beers.

Some more beers I've had:

1. Avery Maharaja Double IPA - Heavy bodied, very hoppy, very floral. I wonder if there is a fundamental difference between an imperial and a double. Did not go well with my food, but willing to try it again.
2. Middle Ages Beast Bitter - Still not impressed with Middle Ages.
3. Southern Tier Chautauqua Ale - Supposed to be a recreation/homage to a bottle of brew found in the old brewery. Not very good really. Blue collar-hometown charm?
4. Brooklyn Brewery Manhattan Project - I actually can't remember much about this one. Toasty? Malty? Pretty decent but probably not worth the bottle price.
5. Brooklyn Brewery Sorachi Ace - Singly-hopped brew. A bit sour. In retrospect, lemons, but I wouldn't have said that without having read about them later. Would like to try more singly-hopped brews.
6. Stone Anniversary Ale - Super heavy, caramel, malt, toffee, was a bit full to enjoy it, but willing to give it another shot.
7. Smuttynose IPA "Finest Kind" - Real hop bitter at the end but not much else going on. Kinda reminded me of a bipolar Goose Island.
8. Smuttynose Old Brown Dog Ale - Pretty standard brown ale.
9. Sam Adams Noble Pils - A seasonal I haven't seen before. A lager but with the spirit of an IPA. Pretty good, and easier drinking than an IPA.
10. Sam Adams Cream Stout - A solid stout. Less bitter and more chocolaty than a Guinness Extra.
11. Victory Scarlet Fire - A rauchbier...milder than the Rogue...definitely not my style.
12. Harpoon Island Creek Oyster Stout - First Harpoon I've had since their IPA turned me off...couldn't taste any oyster, but the bargirl said it was like drinking seawater...tasted a bit of saltiness, but otherwise a reasonable stout.
13. CB Timmy's Tipple - A cherry chocolate brew from CB, not much to say, a bit flat.
14. CB Tap Room Rye - I've developed a liking for rye beers, has a nice bite to it. A milder, lighter version of GI Mild Winter.
15. Great Lakes Brewing Co. Burning River Pale Ale - Meh.
16. Great Lakes Brewing Co. Commodore Perry IPA - Starts out ok but progressively gets bitter and one-dimensional. Makes me feel like they mixed it up like Kool-aid.
17. Great Lakes Brewing Co. Edmund Fitzgerald Porter- Pretty good porter. It's not common I have anything good to say about porters but I was already one in on an empty stomach.
18. Ithaca Ground Break - Had this saison off the firkin which was perfect for the style. But I didn't care for it much.
19. Dogfish Head Chicory Stout - A run-of-the-mill stout. I still contend that DH is a more pretentious version of Rogue.
20. North Coast Old Stock Ale - I think I had the 2010 or 2009 vintage? Reminded me of a cross between Thelonious and a barley wine but without so much sweetness.
21. Bear Republic 11 - First offering. I think I read this the first time it's been offered outside of CA? Pretty tasty.
22. Dogfish Head 75-minute IPA - Reinforcing my opinion that Dogfish Head is overrated. Too syrupy and not hoppy enough.
23. Green Flash West Coast IPA - Very fresh and hoppy. Doesn't have the mature floral or body of Goose Island, but pretty damn good in its own right.
24. Lagunitas Olde Gnarleywine - My first shot at a Lagunitas. Pretty disappointed, but barley wine is a style where I have deeply-rooted opinions. Too hoppy, correspondingly not enough floral, but lacking the sweetness I want from a barley wine even though the residue was sticky.
25. Rogue John John Ale - Conditioned in the spruce barrels used for their spruce gin. Super fresh tasting, light color, lighter end of medium-bodied, beautiful floral and juniper notes, like drinking a great gin double boilermaker but at a much lower ABV.
26. Yazoo Pale Ale - Pretty solid, if not generic, pale ale. Everybody and their mother has a pale ale and it's pretty hard to screw up.
27. Yazoo Dos Perros - BA classifies this as an American Brown even though it's supposed to be a Mexican-style Munich dunkel like Negra Modelo. It's pretty tasty. I'm not well-versed in the style, but side-by-side, I probably wouldn't be able to taste much difference. Dos Perros does taste a little more "brown" than Negra Modelo though.
28. Lagunitas IPA - Not a bad IPA, pretty refreshing, but missing a little sweetness so it makes the heaviness a little more burdensome than I'd like.
29. Rohrbach's Robust Porter - A really solid porter. I'm not normally a fan of porters, but I thought this one carried all of itself pretty well.
30. Dogfish Head Aprihop - So-so IPA.
31. Brooklyn Buzz Bomb - Don't remember, oops.
32. Wolaver's IPA - Owned by Otter Creek. Not bad at all. Has kind of a maple-y taste to it, mild hops but still floral.
33. Blue Point Rastafa Rye - Bright, spicy, fruity, a hint of sweetness. Solid rye and hop flavors.
34. Bear Republic The Grizz - Imperial brown ale, interesting. Easier-drinking than one might expect from something this dark with 10%ABV. If only it had a nuttier taste.
35. Great Divide Espresso Oak-Aged Yeti Imperial Stout - Strong cold coffee taste, good espresso richness and body. Not too sweet or sticky.
36. Ommegang Zuur - Flemish brown, tart and earthy. Not bad but I'd prefer Flemish reds.
37. Sierra Nevada Harpoon IPA - Nice, hoppy beer, a little too carbed, I thought. Had something weird about it though, like the hops didn't open up all the way.

Chicken Fried Rice.

Haven't made friend rice in a while, and I had some rice and parts of a chicken I stripped.

Cambridge Brewing Company Porter.

This post is chronologically out of place, but the beer is good enough that it's worth mentioning because I'm likely to pick it up anytime I might find myself in Boston. This is a solid porter (not stout, rant further down). Dark body but lighter mouthfeel. Toast, coffee, hints of chocolate. This growler had a bit of astringency on the finish which wasn't present the first time I had had it. Really nice coffee tones. A little on the heavy end, but tasty enough to be sessionable, whether you mean to or not.

I had a brief chat the other day about porters and stouts, and it made me think about my labeling system. I actually don't label stouts with the "ale" tag even though they are. That's really just a carry-over from when I didn't know if it was top- or bottom-fermenting. But the distinction between porter and stout is always an interesting one. Historically, stouts were actually "stout porters", so it was actually a subcategory of higher ABV porters.

These days, it's really up to the brewer whether they call it a stout or porter. For me, I tend to think the lighter (less toasted, less chewy, less heavy) as porters and all the heavy stuff stouts. I suppose this is more in line with the origins. But breweries can call things whatever they want and there are some porters that are stronger than today's stouts and some stouts that really aren't very stout. And there's always the BJCP.

But back to the original issue, only having the "stout" label, if I happen upon a beer that calls itself a porter but tastes more like a stout (or vice versa), how would I label it? In any case, I tend to stay away from porters but gravitate towards stouts, and perhaps that's unfair. But that's an unfairness my labeling system will not really solve.

Smuttynose Wheatwine.

Amber-orange color; sweet malty nose, no head. Very tight carbonation, what little there is. Bready taste, smooth mouthfeel, a little bitter, finishes wet. Overall, it leaves me with more of a wine impression than a beer impression. Still can't say I'm a fan of wheatwines.

Smuttynose, I'm noticing, seems to have a trademark signature on the palette. like Southern Tier is generally sweet on everything, for better or worse, Smuttynose seems to take a thinner approach on body and mouthfeel. I'm not sure I really appreciate that in most of the styles toward which I gravitate. I should probably try their maibock or hefeweizen.

Banana Cookies.

From Elise. I had some bananas that needed to be used and I didn't want to go the typical banana bread/muffin route. A cookie seemed like the next logical option.

It's a standard size cookie batch with about an extra half cup of flour to presumably deal with the extra moisture of the 2 large bananas I used.

I'm curious if ripe bananas could be used in anything other than baked desserts.

Kelpie Seaweed Ale.

Mostly opaque brown body, tan head. Salty sea, a bit metallic smell. The very short front end comes off as porter (which I would have assumed it was, had it been a blind serving), but very quickly bubbles away into a watery then slightly bitter taste. Kind of reminds me of munching on raw iceberg lettuce, the white parts down by the root. Towards the bottom of the pint, I started to get more thin coffee, in a brown ale kind of way.

It's an interesting beer, certainly, and worth trying. It's not bad. but I don't think I'd order in a bar any time soon. It kinda of reminded me of oyster stouts but somewhat less flavorful. Interestingly enough, this has a B rating from both the public and "the Bros" over at BA.

Rogue Brutal Bitter.

No clue why BA says this is an American IPA. If it is, it's terrible. If it's a bitter, then it's pretty tasty. Brewed with Maris Otter, Cara Vienna, Cara Wheat and Crystal hops. Ever since I had that single malt Maris Otter at Blackstone, I've been on the search for single-malt or single-hop brews as well as Maris Otters-based beers. It's a potent grain.

Orange amber color, creamy head in check. Clean hop presence without punching you in the face, just saying hi. A bit of citrus, maybe orange. Well-balanced bitter, I say. Mouthfeel is smooth, a little milky, maybe a little too creamy to be a classic bitter and detracts from drinkability. But I got it on sale, and I think it's worth picking up. Needs more Maris Otter.

Clam Chowder.

Looked over this and that and tried to merge them. I love clam chowder and, in cooler weather, remember eating a lot of the canned variety when I was younger. Mostly I had a half bottle of clam juice leftover from this and wanted to use it; I also had a bag of Yukon Golds because I was sick of eating Russets.

Needed more clam juice (only had half a bottle) and more clams (only used two cans). I used flour and milk instead of heavy creme, but I think next time, I'll try the creme method. The flour didn't cook through so it ended up more like gravy than chowder. I wonder if going full-on fish and clam chowder is too much.

Smuttynose Imperial Stout.

Dark, opaque beer, mocha head. Very toasty nose, malty body with heavy dark chocolate and brown sugar flavors. Mouthfeel is smooth but a little sticky on the slightly hot finish.

It's a good comparison to Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout but I'd prefer Brooklyn.

Lion Stout.

I normally wouldn't have picked this up or even given it a second glance. I was at the beer shop with a friend, and I had jokingly made a comment about an Indian beer and then this one. He said he had actually had Lion Stout before and that it was actually pretty good. It even has a little blurb on the back from Michael Jackson.

So my first beer from Sri Lanka: Can't get anything in the nose, maybe some cold coffee. The chocolately finish but mostly mocha. I guess I cheated and read what Michael Jackson said, but I don't get the flavors as intensely as it sounds like he did. For 8%ABV (perhaps more like a classic stout), the flavor is quite clean. The mouthfeel is the shining point for me. Smooth, velvety, very fine carbonation; it certainly feels better than it tastes, not that it tastes bad at all. If only some other stouts would have this type of body.

At ~$9 for a six-pack, which comes in its own little display box, it's bit steep, but it's a nice change of pace and a nice middle ground between less flavorful, lower ABV stouts and the big imperial stouts flying in bombers.

Sam Adams Harvest Pumpkin Ale.

Really dark pour, thin head. Fresh pumpkin in the nose, unspiced. Mouthfeel is good, filling, but not too heavy. Taste is a bit metallic. Not much else to say about it. Pretty disappointed. It's like they built the house but nobody is home. A real shame because it could have been a great fall beer.

Mexican Pizza.

I used a cornmeal crust which was pretty good:

• 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal or polenta
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

I think 20 minutes at 400F should do it. Pretty simple and no wait time.

Mass Brewers Guild Summerfest 2010 + Sam Adams Boston.

Inadvertently found Harpoon Corporate. Bagels everywhere.

Hurrican Earl eating some buildings.

Took a short jaunt to Boston for the Mass Brewers Guild Summerfest (turns out to be the first one) which had been renamed Earlfest in honor of the pathetic hurricane attempting to make its way to the coast. Mostly, I was disappointed by the caliber of the beer. Also, they didn't even print up programs so I had to write everything down myself. As such, I was even less inclined to keep detailed notes. Here was the lineup:

• Amherst Brewing Company
• Just Beer
• Blue Hills Brewery:
  • Watermelon Wheat: Really intense watermelon nose and taste. Way too sweet. The watermelon was overpowering, and it just seemed like they used backsweetener+flavoring. The body was ok though, still wheat-y and not "malt beverage"-like.
• Boston Beer Works: These guys brought all Belgian styles, which was cool, but I felt like they were all off.
  • Tripel: Too malty, not enough carb leaves it all feeling too heavy in the mouth. Just made me wish for a Maredsous instead.
  • Flemish Red: Also a little malty but less noticeable due to the awesome sour profile. I have to say I like Flemish reds over browns. Reminds me of cranberry.
• Cape Cod Beer
• Watch City Brewing Company: One of the better breweries there, I thought. The two I tasted aren't even listed on BA so woot.
  • Beejeezus Botanical Belgian: Does not use hops. Elderflower is used instead. I don't actually remember anything other than that it wasn't bad and seemed pretty interesting
  • Bee and Lemon Balm, Jasmine Tea: Definitely the most interesting beer there. Diverse flavor profile you can walk through in the mouth. Wouldn't mind having another shot at it.
• Rock Bottom Brewery
• Cambridge Brewing Company:
  • Heather Ale: Grassy, floral, herbal, coriander. They were all out when we went there for dinner so I was stoked to find it at the fest. Best of the three I had from them that day.
• Haverhill Brewing Company
• Opa Opa
• Wattchusett
• Gardner Ale House: tapped out @ 8:20
• Cape Ann Brewing Company:
  • Pumpkin Stout: Uneventful. Just hadn't seen a pumpkin stout before. Pumpkin wasn't really played up very well.
  • Strawberry Rhubarb Saison: Interesting blend of fruit+vegetable, haven't seen either of them used before. A little too mild. I would have like to see the combination played up a bit more, but it was refreshing nonetheless.
• Berkshire Brewing Company: tapped
• Cisco Brewing Company:
  • IPA: Super fresh floral, hop bitter finish. I liked it.
  • Stout: Espresso grounds. One of the better beers of the night, and one of the better stouts I've had.
• Cody Brewing Company:
  • IPA: Got a huge taste of tomato. Had to throw it out.
  • Belgian Stout: Fruity, flat coffee. Haven't seen a Belgian stout before, but the combination is intriguing.
• Harpoon:
  • Glacier Harvest '10 Wet Hop: Another of their 100 Barrel Series. I'm increasingly interested in Harpoon as I try more of the 100 Barrels.
• Sam Adams

We had stopped for dinner at Cambridge Brewing Company before heading to the Seaport Hotel+WTC (which was an awesome venue [event rate on the room, soap/shampoo/conditioner dispensers instead of individual things, and Keurigs] since it was right across the street and by the harbor). I had the Arquebus English barleywine (sweeter than other Englishes I've had. I don't remember much about it now, but I remember not particularly liking it in comparison) and the Three Rings Belgian pale ale (tasty style, hoppy, heavy, a bit too residual to be session-able but definitely drinkable). The food there is also quite good.

Late breakfast/lunch at the Barking Crab. We had originally been across the street but their menu didn't have raw oysters; I think they were annoyed that we left. But having had a plate of fresh oysters, a whole lobster, and a basket of onion rings and fries, it was worth causing the annoyance.

Went on the Sam Adams tour with Kale, our very funny tour guide. He says, when asked what the ingredients in beer are, that "beer" is not the right answer. "This is where we put the beer in the beer. Thanks for coming." Got to see casks of Utopia.

Determined to buy a bottle of the next release.

The tour was pretty standard, though I was surprised by how small it was. The Boston brewery is apparently the smallest of their facilities. Kale took us through the standard 4-step tasting process (which can also include "lots of high-fiving and talking about feelings") of the Boston Lager, Coastal Wheat, and Brick Red (only available on tap, only in Boston; for a red, I liked it). One of his favorite responses on nose impressions, from a little girl: "...smells like my Daddy." Also heard some interesting stories about Jim Koch having to get cut out of a wool suit after spending a day getting dunked in a tank of his own near-stale beer. They apparently buy back their own beer at market price as it nears its best-by date. Some is consumed, some is reserved for the dunk tank, but most is discarded down the drain "along with [their] hopes and dreams and tears". Pretty cool. I've always been sort of on the fence about Sam Adams. They make good beers, and they make a lot of varieties. But I would never put them in the same tier as, say, Stone. I think I have some more appreciation for them now. Along with the free tasting glass, I picked up a pint glass (which, I guess, I could have gotten for free had we taken the trolley to the bar but it would have been a late drive back) and set of the Barrel Room Collection. Not sure if I'm going to sit on it or taste it. If I find myself in Boston again (and I would go again just to eat seafood), I'll pick up another set for consumption.

Leaving Boston: DRATWATS

Pillow Cookies.

This is a huge cookie. The paperclip for scale. It is also a huge paperclip.

Saw the picture and a name and googled it. The recipe I found used box brownies and a from-scratch cookie recipe. I don't own box mixes of sweets (except pudding) so I made both from scratch. I used my standard chocolate chip cookie recipe, which, compared to the one given, uses more sugar to flour (2:3) versus their .6:1. The difference, I think, is that their ratio will yield a lighter, fluffier cookie which would be better suited here. Also, chilling the dough is a must. A slightly larger pan (I used an 8x8) would have given slightly thinner brownies.

Mine looks like a flying saucer.

Italian Sausage and Kale Ragu.

Saw it here.

A whole bunch of kale is way too much for only a pound of sausage, I think. Also, I used macaroni because it's what I had. AM more assertive pasta like penne would have been much better. It seems a bit too generically salty for my taste. Maybe too much sea salt, but I don't think I used that much. And maybe needs more ricotta. Or in a bechamel with the kale more finely chopped with more effort in removing the stem. As far as silly leafy greens go, I still prefer red Swiss chard.

Rogue Dry Hopped St. Rogue Red Ale.

I am not normally a fan of red ales. (Though I will drink Killian's on the cheap with Taco Tuesdays, and I do like Rogue Santa's Private Reserve.) This caught my eye because it said "dry hopped". Also, it was on sale.

Dried blood-red color, uneven head which fades but still caps for the most part. Pleasant hop aroma, a bit roasted smell. Taste seemed very woody to me. Combined with the incredible flatness, I did not care for it much. I was kind of hoping it'd be good so I could grab a bunch on sale. But, alas, it was not meant to be.

Green Flash Imperial IPA.

Nose has beautiful, spicy hop smell, fresh and green. Light fluffy head, about a centimeter thick, creamy. Fairly light carbing, more like cream ale. Solid hop taste, long finish but no floral. Mouthfeel is clean. The taste-mouthfeel combo for this is much better than Hoptical Illusion or Hop Wallop/Devil, given as much hop character.

Overall, it smells better than it tastes, but it still tastes pretty damn good.