7/10/12

Recent Craft Beers


Summer is going strong, and it has been extremely warm here in the northeastern US.  I have been enjoying a number of great beers lately.  I have been purchasing primarily high quality beers, and in smaller quantities.  It is expensive, but allows me the option of trying a number of different styles and brands. 


Baxter Brewing based out of Maine is a great up and coming local brewery.  I really like that they brew their stuff in cans, and really enjoy their Stowaway IPA, kind of like an east coast version of Dales from Oskar Blues (mentioned below!)  This beer is nothing like that, and is very different from any other beer I have had.  It's certainly summery, but not as light as the Narragansett Summer I so love.  It has a lot of herby-fruity flavors going on and is surprisingly bitter. 



Cambridge Brewing is one of my favorite breweries.  Their bombers come out in batches, and are based on the most popular recipes sold at the brewpub.  Red God is an Imperial Red, clocking in at 9% ABV.  I did not get the best impression from this beer, as it was pretty late and the last beer that I drank.  I enjoyed the hops, but would like to re-visit in the future.


Ahhh Dogfish Head Festina Peche, how I have missed you!  I tried this beer 2 years ago and it was one of the first "sour" beers I had ever tried.  It looks like a pale fizzy lager, but it is really nothing like that.  Incredibly light both in mouth feel and drinkability, this beer is a Berliner Weisse.  Not as sour as a geueze or lambic, but still tart enough to scratch that sour itch.  This beer is fantastic in the summer and fairly priced at $10/4pk.


Maine Brewing Company is another great brewery out of Maine.  I have almost all of their offerings multiple times and really enjoy what they put out.  The specialize in hoppy beers with the Peeper, Zoe, and Lunch IPA highlighting hops.  Mo is between Peeper and Lunch although leanign to the citrusy lunch side, rather than the leafy peeper.  This beer is expensive at 7$ for 500ml, and I wouldn't hesitate to pick it up frequently, if it were available and priced at $5, but c'est la vie.


Deviant Dale's is the sup'd up version of Dale's Pale Ale.  Like Dale's is really an IPA mascquerading as a Pale Ale.  Deviant Dale's is certainly a Double IPA.  It is extremly aggressive in hops, and went well with the spicy pork sausage stirfry behind it.  Beautiful color and fine head make for a delicious hop bomb.  $14/4pk of 16 oz cans is reasonable.


An old favorite of mine, Pretty Things Jack D'or is one of the best and most accessible saisons brewed in New England.  $6 for a fresh bomber of this farmhousey, spicy "saison americane" is a real bargain.  It is not incredibly high in ABV like some of it's american saison brethren, which is a favorable aspect in my opinion!


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