Blue Lobster Brewing

Blue Lobster Brewing in Seacoast New Hampshire
By Eric Cioffi

It was a gloomy drizzly Saturday with nothing much going on.  I managed to cut the lawn before the rain started and got a few things done around the house.  Played with Jackson for a while then decided to head over the boarder to the New Hampshire Seacoast to check out Blue Lobster brewing in Hampton.  Located in a nice little strip mall on Lafayette Road the tasting room is set up with a number of high top tables and a nice blue stone bar.  Four beers were available for tasting at the unbelievable price of $1.00 a glass.  The samples were poured into 5 ounce snifters with the Blue Lobster logo on them.  A very generous sample for a dollar!  The owner was behind the bar and we chatted for a bit.  He spent some time in Oregon where he was influenced by the west coast style of beer.  Blue Lobster’s beers are definitely hop forward!

 

I started with their flagship beer the Gold Claw American Pale Ale.  This is a fantastic brew!  The beer was a clear pale yellow in color with a nice white head.  Aromas were of citrus and slightly sweet tropical notes.  Very carbonated and crisp; the ale is medium bodied and hoppy.  You get some resinous hop up front, which is followed quickly by citrus and pine.  The hops are balanced nicely by toasty biscuity malt.  The finish is bitter but not overwhelmingly so.  I picked up a growler for the Patriot’s game tomorrow.

 

The Black Claw Stout was very good.  Plenty of roasted malt and chocolate with some hop bitterness.  A dry stout with plenty of carbonation and flavor.  Smooth and balanced.  One of the better stouts I have had that is not Guinness.

Next up was the Ragged Neck Porter.  My past experience with porters has not been good and I generally stay away.  Usually sticky sweet and heavy, they reminded me of cough syrup.  I was in for a very pleasant surprise with the Ragged Neck.  It was crisp and dry with a medium body.  The brew master uses peat in the brewing process, which imparts a wonderful smoky flavor that stays in the background adding depth without being obnoxious.  Dark but not bitter it was a great beer.  I picked up a half growler.

The final beer on tap was A Life Of Sundays, a wee heavy scotch ale weighing in at 10% ABV.  I never tried a wee heavy before.  It was very good, sweet but not overly so.  It was balanced by a measured hop bitterness.  Lightly carbonated and very smooth.  Flavors of honey, rich caramel, and roasted malt with a subtle bitterness at the end. ABV is very well disguised. The finish is mellow and smooth with a lingering sweetness. A great winter beer.

I also picked up a bottle of Little Lobster on the Prairie, a Farmhouse Saison that is lightly hopped with Galaxy hops and fermented with Brettanomyces Bruxellensis.  I will be cracking that for the Sox game.  I was very impressed with these beers and will definitely be back to try more!

Go Sox!

 

MassWhole HefeWeizen

Wormtown Brewery - MassWhole HefeWeizen

By Eric Cioffi
 

The days are getting shorter, football season has started, the kids are back to school, and summer is just about over. With all the end of summer gatherings, the tempestuous change in routines, and crazy work schedules, it has been a busy time over here at Hoppy Daze and I am finally getting caught up.  This review is of a delightful wheat beer from Worcester’s Wormtown Brewing and finishes off my assortment of wheat beers.

The Wormtown Brewery is located in Worcester Massachusetts in the same building as Peppercorns restaurant. Opening to the public in the spring of 2010, Wormtown prides itself on using local ingredients whenever possible and has been delivering a vast array of truly unique craft beers.

The name Wormtown is based on the nickname that was foisted on the city during the late 1970’s when there was a punk rock explosion in the area. The independent Wormtown Punk Press covered the music and art scene and hit a nerve in the city. Those who were entranced with punk picked up on the name Wormtown and adopted it quickly to represent themselves and their emerging culture.

Not everyone identifies with Wormtown. Not everyone is involved with the underground music scene, and not everyone is a fan of punk. But the name has stuck and has been adopted by countless Worcester citizens because it symbolizes and embraces the free spirited do-it-yourself ethic that is simply Worcester. Wormtown Brewery has that same spirit - they are creating something unique to add to the mix in of the city. Will it change Worcester the way music did back in the late '70s? Who knows. But one thing is for sure, there is nothing that goes better with good music than good beer.

MassWhole HefeWeizen

All of the ingredients in every batch of Mass Whole are Massachusetts grown. Brewed with 4 Star (Northfield) Wheat and Magnum hops, and Czajkowski grown (Hadley) Valley Malted barley. Bavarian style unfiltered wheat beer with spicy clove and banana aroma. Pale straw color with cloudiness from wheat protein and yeast. Clove and banana continue into the flavor complimented by sweet wheat malt. Medium light body with a spicy dry finish.

Wormtown's take on the classic German style pours a cloudy pale straw color into a weizen glass from a 22 ounce bottle.  A full fluffy head of white foam lingers and draws silky lacing as the bubbles slowly recede. The aroma is clean and carries hints of citrus, banana, clove and sweet bread.

The first sip reveals a medium body with a high degree of carbonation leading to subtle clove spices with citrus and tropical flavors.  With just a hint of tartness, it is not overwhelmed by the Bavarian yeast.  The beer is crisp and smooth, refreshing and easy to drink. For those who want to give German style wheats a try this is an excellent entry into the style.  It is more like an American wheat, yet this ale presents a complicated flavor profile without being overbearing.  This has become my favorite wheat beer and I highly recommend you grab a bottle if you see one.

Bavarian Wheat | 4.9% ABV

Rating: 93

Two Kansas City Wheats - “80 Acre Hoppy Wheat” and “Unfiltered Wheat”

Boulevard Kansas City Wheats

By Eric Cioffi

Just getting caught up on some tastings from the end of the summer. It has been a busy time here at Hoppy Daze.  Back to school and adjusting to the new routines, but hopefully we are back on track. 

I have been on a wheat beer binge lately.  Maybe it has been the glorious summer weather we have had or perhaps I just needed a change from the usual hop bomb IPAs I tend to favor.  Whatever the reason, I am enjoying these delightful brews.

This review looks at two very different wheat beers from Boulevard Brewing Company in Kansas City, Missouri.  Boulevard makes some fantastic beer – I love their Double Wide IPA, fashioned in the West Coast style, with plenty of hops. One of the beer gurus at Winchester Wine and Spirits has highly recommended their “Tank 7 Saison” as an excellent representation of that style and my bottle is in the beer fridge awaiting my tasting and review.

Boulevard is not only the second largest brewery in Missouri, but also one of the largest craft brewers in the Midwest. Founded in 1989, Boulevard’s mission consists of producing fresh and flavorful beers using the finest traditional ingredients and the best of both old and new brewing techniques.

The Boulevard story begins in 1988, when founder John McDonald started construction of the brewery in a turn-of-the-century brick building on Kansas City’s historic Southwest Boulevard. A vintage Bavarian brewhouse was installed, and the first batches of beer were produced in the fall of 1989. That November, the first keg of Boulevard Pale Ale was delivered—in the back of John’s pickup truck—to a restaurant just a few blocks away. In 2006, a major expansion adjacent to the original brewery raised Boulevard’s brewing capacity to approximately 600,000 barrels per year—a sizable increase from the 6,000 barrels contemplated in their original business plan.

In a previous review I discussed the differences between American wheat beers and traditional German or Belgian style wheats.  That article can be found here if you want more details. 80 Acre and Unfiltered Wheat are brewed in the American style with a subdued yeast profile.  Both of these beers are very good but they are quite different and it was interesting and pleasurable to taste them side by side and really be able to observe the differences.

We were on vacation and had spent the day at Third Beach at the Parker River Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island laying in the sun and cooling off in the waves. The Refuge maintains 6.5 miles of pristine beachfront and unspoiled dunes. Sunburned and salty, I had worked up a mighty thirst and was looking forward to some ice cold beer.

 80-Acre Hoppy Wheat

With roots in two of today's most popular brewing styles, 80-Acre Hoppy Wheat Beer is the result of careful cultivation by our brewers and cellarmen. Their efforts to craft a hybrid yielded a bumper crop of flavor; delightfully distinctive ale with the aroma of an IPA and the refreshing taste of a wheat beer.  Brewed with Bravo, Zeus, Summit, Cascade, and Nelson Sauvin Hops.

If you enjoy big hop taste you owe it to yourself to try this ale. 80-Acre is an un-filtered wheat beer with a just enough body to keep the brilliant hops in check. It pours a cloudy, pale, straw-yellow color with a delicate head that clings to your glass. The strong pine and citrus that you get on the nose is just as bright and crisp on the palate. You almost notice a faint hint of lemon grass on the back of the tongue between sips. Easy to drink with and very balanced I really enjoyed this beer.  This is a substantial beer full of hop flavor but not overpowering. It will be in my fridge year round for when I want something a little lighter.

American-Style Hoppy Wheat Ale | 5.5% ABV

Rating: 90

Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat

Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat Beer is a lively, refreshing ale with a natural citrusy flavor and distinctive cloudy appearance. This easy drinking American-style wheat beer has become our most popular offering, and the best-selling craft beer in the Midwest.

Another gem by Boulevard, this Unfiltered Wheat Beer poured a moderately cloudy light yellow color and seemed to be decently carbonated after being conditioned in the bottle. Once in the glass, there rose a wonderful solid two finger white head that seemed to last a good long time. There was plenty of creamy lacing on the glass when gently swirled to let the aroma breathe. This looked like a very well made wheat beer. The aroma was clean and fresh, slightly bready with citrus and tropical expressions.  The beer was crisp and lemony and slightly tart and was light to medium in body.  The hops are barely present adding only a grassy element with no bitterness to speak of.  Very refreshing and drinkable this is one of the best wheats I have sampled this summer.

American Wheat Ale | 4.4% ABV

Rating: 88

Night Shift Bee Tea Wheat Ale

Bee Tea

By Eric Cioffi

Wheat ale brewed with sweet orange peel and orange blossom honey. Aged on organic, loose, gunpowder tea leaves from Mem Tea imports.  Bee Tea is our cross-pollination of two classic beverages – green tea with honey, and the Belgian-style wheat ale. Strong aromas of orange and honey lead into a flavor that’s soft, sweet, and sophisticated. A dry, herbal finish comes from aging the beer on organic loose green tea, sourced from Somerville’s Mem Tea Imports.

Night Shift brewery in Everett, MA brews some crazy beers and this one is no exception. Very unique tasting, it is a hazy deep amber in the glass. Subtle grassy, orange, and honey notes amuse the nose. Medium to full bodied with moderate carbonation and fluffy tan head. The beer is sweet honey mead up front with bitter orange peel and a bitter "strong tea" finish.  You can really taste the tea in the back end as it washes away the sticky honey almost like a palate cleanser.  As the beer warmed the flavors became more intense. Very balanced and flavorful it had me thinking of an Indian Summer day in Vermont.  Not my usual style but I enjoyed it very much.

Herbed Wheat Beer | 8% ABV

Rating: 80

Sweaty Betty Blonde

 By Jeff Purcell





Sweaty Betty Blonde is a refreshing, unfiltered Bavarian-style Hefeweizen. The Weinstephan yeast gives this brew subtle hints of clove and banana with an attractive, hazy blonde color. For the best flavor, rouse any settled yeast by swirling the bottom of the bottle.



The day was heating up so it was time to try a refreshing wheat.  Sweaty Betty is fizzy, with no head

to speak of, and is pale yellow in my pint glass. The scent is pleasant with a slight lemony taste that lingers. I wouldn't buy case, but this is a decent beer but just an average wheat.

American Wheat | 5.2% ABV
Rating: 69

Jeff Purcell - Angler and Beer Legend

Hazed & Infused Dry-Hopped Ale

 By Jeff Purcell

Boulder Beer - Colorado's First Microbrewery 

In 1979 two professors at the University of Colorado received the 43rd brewing license issued in the United States, creating Boulder Beer Company, Colorado’s First Microbrewery. The original site of the brewery was a small farm northeast of Boulder, the brew house sharing space in a shed originally housing a few goats.

 In a world of light yellow lagers, Boulder Beer won industry and consumer accolades for its line of bold Boulder Beers: Boulder Porter, Stout and Extra Special Bitter.

2002 saw the packaged introduction of the innovative and widely heralded Hazed & Infused dry-hopped ale, an unfiltered dry-hopped amber ale. In 2003 Mojo India Pale hit the scene, and every year since then has ushered in new flavors and new styles of beer developed by our creative team of brewers, which often are on the cutting edge of craft brewing trends. The brewers continue to test boundaries with unique blends and combinations. 

Hazed and Infused - This unfiltered amber ale is “Hazed” in its natural state and “Infused” during dry-hopping with Crystal and Centennial hops, creating a flavorful, aromatic brew unlike any before it. Tapping into the creative spirit that launched Colorado’s First Microbrewery, the brewers at Boulder Beer Company have blended together four different hop varieties to give Hazed a unique aroma, with just enough yeast for a full mouth feel and a smooth, easy finish. So sit back, relax and get hazed. 5% ABV

Sitting on my deck, which also known as "The Essex Street Bar and Grill", I poured this American Pale Ale from a 12 oz bottle into a frosted pint glass. The beer pours a hazy copper color and produced a nice tan head with average retention that left an average amount of lacing on the glass. The aroma consisted of floral citric hops and apples. Medium in body, this ale exhibited a foundation of malted grain, citric lemons, apples, and hoppy oils - The hops dominate this ale.  I enjoyed this beer on sunny late August day.  I would recommend it.

American Pale Ale | 5% ABV
Rating: 78

Jeff Purcell - Angler and Beer Legend

 

Orval - An Introduction Into the World of Trappist Ale

By Eric Cioffi

Wow this is an amazing beer! I am no longer a witless fool, benighted and blind to the pleasures of real Belgian ale.  I had long shied from the strange rumors of wild yeasts and untamed flavors bruited to be harbored in these golden draughts. Brewed by magicians this beer is mythical and very special.

 The Orval Brewery is a Belgian Trappist brewery located within the walls of the Abbaye Notre-Dame d'Orval founded around 1070 AD in the pastoral Belgian countryside. The beer is brewed and bottle conditioned using three different malts, two types of hops, Belgian candied sugar, a complex fermentation process with multiple yeasts, dry-hopping, all of which contribute to great character and complexity.

The Abbaye Notre-Dame d'Orval

Orval is an extremely intriguing beer. It is the one Trappist beer to get dry-hopped and it is the only Trappist beer to get spiked with Brettanomyces yeast (a wild yeast that creates the unique flavor found in Belgian styles) upon bottling. As a result of being bottle-conditioned with wild yeast, Orval is constantly evolving inside of the bottle. If you drink Orval fresh, it tastes very similar to an English Pale Ale–spicy, floral, hoppy and very dry. But if you taste it after the 5 month mark, you will find yourself drinking an entirely different beer. And the more age it has, the more unique it becomes.

The Orval Monastery Founded on 1070 AD

The Orval Legend

As if the beer wasn’t cool enough itself, the story of Orval’s creation is equally intriguing. According to legend, Princess Matilda of Tuscany was passing through this region in about 1070 with her retinue. She stopped at a clear spring and trailed her hand in the water – and her wedding ring, a gift of her recently deceased husband, slipped off her finger and sank. Distraught, she knelt and prayed fervently for its return . . . and a trout swam to the surface with the ring in its mouth, returning it to her. She is said to have claimed, “Truly, this is a golden valley!” (French: Or = gold; val = valley) She gave the land to the church, and the trout with the gold ring can be seen to this day in the Orval logo.

My Tasting

My bottle was date stamped 23/01/2013 making it about seven months old…A perfect time to open and savor. In the glass it is a deep orange copper color with a dense off white head.  There was a fascinating earthy aroma with fruity and spicy components. Just a hint of hops. The first impression was of how carbonated this beer is making it very light and dry almost like Champagne.  Full flavored, you can taste the spice and pepper elements contributed by the wild yeast as well as the floral hopppy constituent, which imbues a slight bitterness. The malt adds a hint of bready sweetness and the finish is moderate and slightly bitter.

This is a unique and complex ale, words do not capture all of the nuances and subtle shades of flavor hidden in the bottle.  This is not a beer for Bud drinkers.  It will expand your mind.  Grab a bottle and taste the magic.

Trappist Belgian Pale Ale | 6.9% ABV

Rating: 95 

One Happy Monk!