Boston Beer Works

July 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment
bostonbeerworks

[Editor's Note: Our friend Dominique switched coasts for a week with a trip out to Boston, and came back with the following review of plenty of beers at Boston Beer Works. Enjoy, and happy Fourth of July.]

What more patriotic circlejerk is there than a pretentious beer review from the heart of the American Revolution? Boston’s got beer. I’ve got an expendable liver.

So I traipsed down to Boston Beer Works and ordered the whole left side of whatever was on tap. Join me for an obnoxious amount of sampling, and I’ll try not to slur.

***

Light

I couldn’t visit Boston Beer Works without trying the legendary Bunker Hill Blueberry Ale. Watching the blueberries rise and fall within the ale would have been cuter if the beer didn’t taste like watery blueberry syrup. There was a tangy sweetness, some aromatic spice, and, unfortunately, much to be desired. Even as someone who enjoys a light, summery beer, this one left me just a little disappointed. Save it for when you’re inebriated enough to derive all your joy from the mesmerizing, lava-lamp-like blueberries.

The Watermelon Ale is a cheap trick, a regular ale with an aromatic watermelon slice atop the glass rim. Another fizzy, fresh, cool, but insubstantial beer for the high school kids.

Medium

The Cask-Conditioned Double Pale Ale is an ambitious, hoppy IPA. If you’re into IPAs, this is your crate of tea, historical Boston pun intended! No need to pretend if you’re not, though; the tongue wants what it wants.

The Victory Red, named after the Boston Red Sox 2004 World Series victory, is another bitter and hoppy beer. Why do I feel like this one is lip service more than brewmaster craftsmanship?

The Mayflower Maibock, though, is a good artisan beer. It’s malty, smooth, bocky, and easy to drink. Also you can pretend you’re a pilgrim, settling…for whatever bar rat hits on you that round. It makes everything that good.

Dark

The Buckeye Oatmeal Stout was a full, round glass of comfort with a stalwart coffee aroma, but without being too sweet. A dark beer lover’s velvety dream.

The Old Ironsides Ale took me by surprise since it had little to no nose. Just wait until it’s in your mouth for half a second, and taste its boozy, delicious bite. It starts off with a good taste and ends on an upswing. Definitely too complicated for this plain colonist to explain, but I love it.

The Muddy River Porter probably tastes better than the Charles River, especially if you like porters or coffee or both. Like the Ironsides, this beer has a complex tasting journey, except it ends with a sweet (rather than a boozy) aftertaste.

The Beantown Nut Brown Ale gives more of that dark, coffee nose. There’s the telling roasted malt with Northwest hops (Manifest Destiny, anyone?), just a little reminiscent of hazelnut. If you like slightly sweet, dark, nutty beer, this is for you.

***

Overall, I’ll stick my flagpole in the Beantown Nut Brown Ale, the Oatmeal Stout, the Mayflower Maibock, or the Cask-Conditioned Double Pale Ale any old day. My hands-down favorite was the Old Ironsides Ale. Boston Beer Works has a good thing going on, but you may want to steer clear of those lighter ales. They try so hard, though! It was enough to inspire me to scalp some BoSox tickets last minute and then scream my lungs out. True story.

Oh, and Boston Beer Works will make you a hearty burger, too.

Filed Under: Ales, All Other Beer Styles, Beer Reviews, Bocks, IPAs, Porters, Stouts

Maibock, Big Horn Brewing Company

June 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Big Horn maibock

The Ram is a micro-chain of brewpubs brewing beer on-site under the name of the Big Horn Brewing Company. The pub has locations in Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Oregon, and Washington. The Ram’s restaurant group also runs several other restaurants serving Big Horn beer: CB & Potts, with six locations in Colorado; C.I. Shenanigans in Tacoma and Spokane, WA; Murphy’s in Boise, ID; and Sonrisa in Seattle, WA.

I first encountered The Ram when I moved to a new town and was looking for a place to watch my beloved Packers on Sundays. Turns out my local Ram is a Packers bar when the games are on. I’ve enjoyed many a lazy Sunday two-fisting a porter and a coffee while watching a 10am kickoff.

Big Horn recently started offering a maibock; the beer is a limited release for the season. You can even purchase a “Get Your Goat On” maibock pint glass for your brew.

The beer arrived light and cloudy, with a thin head that disappeared within a minute. The first sip was funky: very yeasty, with an odd fruitiness, like past-ripe nectarines. The beer is fairly sweet, but it doesn’t really cover the acrid, bitter undertones, sort of like dead grass.

I wasn’t a very big fan of this beer. It just sort of tasted off. Fortunately, the beer had a very thin body and remarkably little aftertaste, otherwise I don’t know if I would have finished the glass.

I will be heading back to The Ram, because I need a place to watch sports, but I’ll be sticking with the porter or the blonde. Or the Oktoberfest, which is really good, and fortunately coincides with football season.

For you growler fans out there, the Salem Ram offers half-price fills on weekends, and I’m assuming the others do, as well. They also offer some good happy hour, late night, and weekend specials, running from half-priced food to $3 fills of their 18-ounce glasses.

And they offer all the samples you need to pick your flavor, so you don’t have to butt heads with a bad beer.

The Basics:

  • Bighorn Brewing Company
  • Salem, OR (for review; the chain has numerous other locations that brew on-site)
  • Style: Maibock
  • ABV: 6.0%
  • IBUs: ?

Filed Under: Beer Reviews, Bocks

Holy Water Maibock, Southern Oregon Brewing Company

May 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment
SONY DSC

The Basics:

  • Southern Oregon Brewing Company
  • Medford, OR
  • Style: Maibock
  • ABV: 7.1%
  • IBUs: 30

Southern Oregon Brewing’s (S.O.B.) Holy Water will have you worshiping at the altar of deliciousness.

Maibock is a seasonal beer; the name means May bock. The style is a variation of a helles lager. “Helles” means “light,” but refers to the color, not the alcoholic oomph or the calorie content. Maibocks are brewed stronger than a standard lager, but they are lighter in color than a traditional bock and with a bigger hops presence. While they often have a rich malt flavor, they are usually a little more subdued than a standard bock.

S.O.B. brews Holy Water exclusively with German specialty malts, and the beer is conditioned for twelve weeks to round out its flavor profile.

The beer pours a beautiful light copper color, with a restrained head. The brew is very well carbonated, with a very subtle sweetness paired with a well-rounded but laid-back malt flavor. The German hops lend a mild spiciness to the brew, without imparting any hops bitterness. Despite being quite alcoholic, the beer goes down as easy as much lighter beverages. Given the style’s history as a festival beer, I suppose such easy drinking should be expected.

S.O.B. has been in the brewing game for less than a decade. If they keep putting out brews as good as Holy Water, though, I have no doubt they’ll find increasing success, even in the crowded Oregon market.

While I drank the Holy Water, a single beam of light from the sky didn’t illuminate me and no gospel choir sang in the distance. (Though the kitchen light did shine down and Springsteen growled out “The Rising” from the living room.) But my tastebuds sure were happy.

Filed Under: Beer Reviews, Bocks