Worcester, MA Street Art - Caleb Neelon

I was in downtown Worcester for brunch at Armsby Abbey, which is the best brunch in New England for my money.  They serve numerous Hill Farmstead drafts alongside world class other beers and interesting food that is focused on local, high quality ingredients.  As usual there was a bit of a wait, so my wife and I took a stroll down Main St and came upon this mural. Turns out it was put up by Caleb Neelon, a known graffiti artist, based in Cambridge, MA.

Learn more here:

http://www.worcesterma.gov/development/cultural-development/public-art/denholm-building 

Hill Farmstead Flora B/B

I was in the mood for a single nice beer on Friday night after having hit it pretty hard the night before.  Usually when I am in a mood like that I will generally reach for either a stout or sour, since they are more complex than the IPAs or hoppy ales I usually drink.  I have two of the Hill Farmstead Flora B/B's hanging in my cellar, so before dinner I popped this in the fridge to cool it down a bit. I typically prefer water or wine with food, so after everything was cleaned up, I popped open this bottle.  An approachable 375ml that Hill Farmstead uses for its lower yield beers, attractive label, pours a nice fruit purple/red with moderate foam.  The foam dissipated fairly quickly.  Lots of HF funk on the nose, some fruits.  Taste was pretty nice, fruit is restrained, unlike some American wild ales.  I contemplated this over the 45 minutes or so I drank it, and really enjoyed it the whole time.  I look forward to my next bottle.

Trip to Hill Farmstead April 2015

Last weekend my wife and I made a trip to one of our favorite places in America, Vermont.  My primary desire was to replenish my stores of Hill Farmstead Brewery.  This brewery is widely considered the best in America, and some would say the best in the world.  Sean Hill, the brewer, is not a specialist, he makes world class hoppy ales in addition to sour, dark, farmhouse and everything in between.  He is committed to a sustainable business that can support itself and although he has grown rapidly, there is a target size for the company that he does not want to exceed.  This goal allows him to focus on doing the best possible work he can, which results in amazing beer.  He utilizes growlers so that he can ensure that his beers remain fresh. I much prefer to support a "local" brewery than one of the large conglomerates.  Also, Sean goes to great lengths to respect his community and helps support other local businesses.  He takes great pride in working in a remote area, and although you have to actually go to the brewery to buy his beer, he avoids wasting resources on things like distribution to stores.

The brewery

My haul

Edward - Flagship Pale Ale

Single Hop Pale Ale - Mosaic

Society & Solitude #5 Double IPA

Hill Farmstead Brewery: Society & Solitude #4

Hill Farmstead is one of my favorite breweries in the world.  They make amazing ales in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, a bucolic region of Vermont, populated equally by cows and humans.  They don't specialize in a single variety of beer, but produce many different styles.  Notably hoppy beers like IPAs and Pale Ales, Farmhouse Saisons/Wild Ales, and Stouts.  Beer geeks around the world covet their beer, as it is not distributed and sold in a normal retail environment, you must travel to the brewery and purchase it directly at the source.  None of the hoppy beers, that are meant to be consumed fresh, are sold from the brewery in a standard bottle, instead they are sold in 750ml or 2L growlers.  Bottles are sold regularly and include a regular rotating cast of beers named after the brewer's ancestors, as well as several other series named primarily based on philosophical texts.

The beer today is called Society & Solitude #4.  This series, named after the writer Ralph Waldo Emerson's text is an exploration of experimental Double IPAs.  The #4 is a combination of Double Citra and Double Galaxy.  These two beers are fantastic, featuring juicy hops, and the combined concoction is pure hop nirvana.  This beer packs quite a punch at 8%, so the 750ml growler was just enough for me.  A friend of mine picked this growler up for me while traveling in Vermont.  I intend to repay the favor when I am back in April.

#PROPERGLASSWARE

It should come as no surprise that I am a huge fan of craft beer.  Something that I think is extremely important to tasting beer is the use of a glass.  Many beer drinkers go straight from the can or bottle, but this is a complete rookie mistake.  Beer is meant to be poured out of its container and into a glass, regardless of what John Kimmich says about Heady Topper.  #PROPERGLASSWARE is a bit of a meme in the beer trading/beer geek/untapped/twitter universe, that refers to drinking the beer out of the brewery's or even the specific beer's specialty glass (see above).  I don't get into quite that level, as my collection is still relatively small, though my wife and limited cabinet space disagree!

The workhorse for higher gravity beers is the tulip.  This can come as a much like a snifter or a little bit skinnier with a dip in the middle.  I have pictured both pieces below.  I generally use this kind of a glass for almost all of my beers, it is versatile and handsome.

Oktoberfest Bier Mug - This type of glass is typically oversized and perfect for mass quantities of lager or festbier.  These beers are very sessionable and designed for the biggest beer session of them all Octoberfest!

A variation of this style is "Das Boot" made popular by the movie "Beerfest," if you haven't seen it check out below!

The glass that most people will be familiar with is the pint.  This typically comes in a 16 oz format and is great for relatively sessionable beers and is referred to as a shaker pint.  This glass is usually very cheap, so feel free to grab a bunch from different breweries when you visit.

It's less popular, but equally useful brother is called the Nonic Pint Glass.  It features a notch at the top and is typically sized for a true English pint, 20 ounces.  This is ideal for a lower ABV brew, particularly a real or cask ale poured on tap.  

A goblet is perfect if you are pouring a high ABV Belgian brew like a tripel or quad.  These beers have a great yeast character, and this glass allows you to take a very deep smell of these unique beers.

Gueuze/Lambic glasses are popular for the sour styles originating out of Belgium.  The wild ale train is just getting started, and as they become more popular, the quality sours become more expensive to buy or even impossible in the case of Cantillon these days.  This glass works almost like a flute for Champagne.

Continuing with the stemware trend, I am will move to the oversized wine glass.  You can use a regular wine glass in a pinch, but they are typically sized for smaller beers.  This works similar to a tulip, but usually the stem is much more elongated.  This makes for a more elegant experience.  My favorite beers for this style glass are saisons and other farmhouse ales made with Brettanomyces yeast.  I have included photographs of the Hill Farmstead and Pretty Things versions.

This next glass is called a Teku, and is a combination of the tulip and extended wine glass.  It features a 16 oz chamber, with a perfect shape for tasting beer.  Developed in Italy, more and more breweries that cater to beer geeks are having them made.  This is certainly on my wishlist, probably will end up with the Firestone Walker version.

Another glass recently developed is the so called IPA glass.  I know this was originally designed by Dogfish Head and Sierra Nevada for their hop forward beers.  I don't know why but something about this glass doesn't excite me a ton.  Looks like it would break quite easily.

Finally, tasting glasses, a great variety of which are pictured below made by Three Floyds of Indiana for their Dark Lord beers.  These are great for tastings where a 22 oz bomber of beer is shared by 4+ people.  Plus they look very cool.  Pro tip: Crate and Barrel has mini snifters if you have a last minute tasting coming up!

If I am missing your favorite style of glassware or you want to get in on the conversation, jump in the comments or shoot me an email!

#PROPERGLASWARE