Archive for Beer a Day
Harpoon Brown Session Ale
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Drinking a beer was the last thing I wanted to do this evening.
I’ve nursed a headache most of the day, and this evening it erupted into a full-blown migraine. For the past few hours, I’ve been flat on my back in the dark.
So for a couple of hours tonight, the integrity of this year-long project rested on my wife’s shoulders, who delicately checked to make sure I didn’t nod off for the night and forget to drink my beer. Everyone should have such a caring partner, especially one who reminds you to drink beer.
I grabbed a Harpoon Brown “Session Ale” from the refrigerator because 1) it was already cold, and 2) I wasn’t expecting much from this beer and therefore wouldn’t feel bad if the article you’re reading came across as thin and lifeless as I’ve been feeling this evening.
The Harpoon Brown Session Ale poured a dark amber color, with a soft but fluffy head. The aroma was flat, a one-dimensional caramel malt. The taste is also fairly light, but not bad. It actually reminds me of a mass market brew — watery and sweet, with caramel malt as the dominant flavor.
The Brown Session Ale is simple, drinkable, and light bodied. I think I grabbed just the right beer for tonight. It lives up to the label “session ale” because it would be easy to drink several of these without getting silly or tired of the taste.
But for my purposes, Harpoon Brown seemed to help with my headache. I certainly wouldn’t have been able to write this much without the headache shifting into the background.
Restorative power of beer? Not likely — it feels like my brief reprieve is coming to an end. See you on IPA Monday.
Brumaire Belgian Stout
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After running some errands today, my wife and I decided to have lunch at a brewpub in Haverhill, MA called The Tap.
Haverhill was once a mecca for the shoe industry, with leather and shoe factories throughout town. The Tap is located in one of these factory buildings — originally J.M. Hickey’s Shoe & Leather Exchange — in a facility which has been used as a restaurant and bar since at least 1897. You’re reminded of that heritage not just by the facade of the building, but by the wooden tap handles shaped like so many well-worn shoes lining the bar.
You may remember The Tap from my post about Haverhill Brewing’s Leatherlips IPA, which of course means I couldn’t order my usual IPA when I sat down for lunch today. This BeerADay.net challenge is never tougher than when I’m at a brewpub. So far this year, I’ve only been in two brewpubs because the experience of looking at a menu filled with interesting microbrews — but knowing I can only order one — should be against the Geneva Conventions.
Steelhead Scotch Porter
Posted by: | Comments“Some of our brewers have taken to donning a kilt when it’s time to brew this beauty.”
– Mad Riving Brewing Co. website
Full disclaimer — I’m not sure what a “Scotch Style Porter” is, but I like it! Craft beer can be difficult to fit into a specific, traditional “style” classification; and that’s exactly why I grabbed a bottle of this Steelhead Scotch Style Porter. And I’m glad I did.
What creates that peaty, funky, almost sour quality present in so many Scottish ales? Is it the strain of yeast? The malt? The Mad Riving Brewing website mentions the inclusion of “Scottish peated” malt, so I have to assume that — like many scotch whiskies — the flavor comes in part from roasting malt over smokey peat.
The first Scottish ale I ever drank was a Belhaven, on draft at the same Irish pub where I met my wife, just outside of Boston. That funky sweet-smokey taste came back to me on the first taste of this Steelhead.
Tröegs HopBack Amber Ale
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As far as passions go, drinking and discovering new beer sure beats the heck out of stamp collecting. I mean, I’m sure I could get excited about a good stamp if I really, really needed to mail a letter — but that letter would probably contain an order for beer.
Getting excited about a beer comes easily, especially when you’ve just discovered a beer like the Tröegs HopBack Amber Ale. I’ve never had a beer from Tröegs before — but if they’re all like the HopBack Amber, I may have just discovered one of my favorite breweries.
Beyond the color — a rich amber — the pour didn’t seem very special. It looked flat in my tulip glass, with only a handful of errant bubbles (despite the bubble-inducing etch at the bottom of the glass) and an aroma I could only smell by putting my whole face in the glass. My bottle was almost exactly 1 month old — bottled Jan 22nd of this year — so perhaps its youth is why I didn’t get much head or aroma.
The nose of the beer, even if weak, was quite inviting. And with my face practically buried in the beer, inviting is a good thing. The aroma is floral and spicy, with a hint of sweetness.
Saranac Adirondack Lager
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The Matt Brewing Company produces Saranac Adirondack Lager. According to its website, the Saranac “classic German lager has a perfect balance of caramel malt sweetness. Look for a rich, amber color and medium body.”
While not a bad beer, it definitely has much more of a robust aroma than the taste can live up to. If this is perfect balance, I’m an Olympic gymnast.
I poured my bottle into one of those new-fangled, curvy Sam Adams glasses and the result was a big, frothy pillow of foam atop an amber beer. The lager is bottle conditioned and my glass was just noticeably cloudy with sediment, drifting through the turbulent bubbles like smoke in the wind.
