I've been trying to find some bottles of this beer for quite some time. It seems there was a shortage here in Massachusetts for a little while. I managed to find a good stash of them at a local beer store so I am happy to finally get a chance to try out Pretty Things' quadrupel. After a couple hours of shoveling heavy snow earlier today, this was definitely in order this evening. 

From the Pretty Things site:

"Baby tree is a "quadruple" brewed with a single strain of Belgian yeast...Our "quadruple" benefits from the addition of 40lbs of dried California plums in the kettle - hopefully contributing to the overall dark-fruit character of the beer. Like Jack D'Or, no spices are added to this beer"

Here we go...

Pour - ruby and dark auburn with some red highlights. The head is very full and thick. Composed of lots of super tightly packed bubbles this looks great in the glass with some nice lacing on the inner walls. 

 

Aroma - baked apple, figs, prunes, raisins and banana. Slight hints of alcohol (brandy?) in the nose but mainly dark fruit and lots of esters. 

 

Taste - lots of dark, sweet, ripe fruit. Flavors are delicate yet complex. Definite plum and apple flavors along with some alcohol heat, caramel and rum. There are slight hints at sour cherry as well. This is an extremely drinkable yet high alcohol beer. I am impressed by how great this beer tastes. 

 

Overall - amazingly smooth and extremely well tempered. Lots of great fruit flavors combine with some nice warmth from the alcohol. This is a great example of an American Quad and one that some age will do even more wonders for. Another exceptional beer from Pretty Things. 

 

Vintage - Bottled July 2009 (Batch Two)

 

Would I buy more of it? - absolutely, I was very impressed by this and I think it will do well in the cellar. I plan on buying a few more bottles now that I know where to find them.

 

Note -  You can learn a LOT more about this beer by going to the Pretty Things site.

Pretty Things founders Dann and Martha Paquette visit the real "Baby Tree"

Permalink

Share

More from this: State (33) | Country (354) | Brewery (6) | Style (3)

Labels: Belgian-Style Beers, Quads, Beer Videos

BrewDog's Atlantic IPA, this is a beer that could tell some stories. Atlantic IPA is an authentically brewed historic English IPA from a "210 year old recipe". Brewed using traditional ingredients to create as close to the original style as possible BrewDog could have called it a day with this one. However, since India Pale Ales spent some serious time in barrels aboard ships, BrewDog put this beer into wooden barrels and loaded them on to a fishing boat to spend two months at sea. The end result, an IPA true to its historic roots which includes the time at sea. Only 960 bottles made it to the US market, there may have been more if one of the barrels hadn't fallen into the ocean while being loaded (see video below). 

From the BrewDog site:

"We religiously followed the 210 year old recipe and the beer has now fully fermented. It is a sturdy 8% ale loaded with classic English hops such as East Kent Goldings and Bramling Cross giving a ferocious 90 IBUs. The beer is already unlike any we have ever tasted. Most strong IPAs tend to focus on American high alpha hops, giving them very fresh citrus, pine and fruit favours. However our old school hop monster's robust malt base is contrasted with very spicy, herbal and earthy hop notes and an immense enduring bitterness. We can are qualified neither scientifically, nautically or spiritually  to do anything more than speculate as to how the flavours will develop and what may be added during the 2 months in oak at sea."

Here we go...

Pour - Atlantic IPA pours a murky, slightly flat orangish amber color. The head is very slight and its looks fairly viscous in the glass with some streaks inside the glass.

Aroma - Earthy hops, caramel, a bit of smokiness, some vanilla and a surprising hint of chocolate. Very interesting.

Taste - Very much a sipping beer, especially since I've only got 5.5 ounces available to me. Lots of vanilla flavor along with some spicy hop bitterness. The sweetness from the malt does a great job of backing up the hop flavors. Its defintitely got the qualities of an English IPA however the barrel aging and time at sea do add some complexities. I'm trying hard to pick out any brininess but its tough. As it warms there is some hints of smoke and plenty of roasty/toasty flavors along with some sweet bread dough flavors. 

Overall - It was unique and enjoyable. Quite tasty stuff but the characters from the voyage at sea were not too distinguishable unfortunately. That being said I don't believe the people at BrewDog had any way of knowing what to expect from their experiment and I still give them lots of credit for what they did. Cheers!

Would I buy more of it? Luckily this bottle was shared with me by my good friend Luke over at BlogAboutBeer. Cheers Luke! Otherwise, I don't think I'd be shelling out $26 which is what a bottle of this is/was going for retail.

the short story

 

the long story

 

  
the label on this is just incredible

Permalink

Share

More from this: Country (4) | Brewery (3) | Style (13)

Labels: English IPAs, Wood-aged Beers, Beer Videos

Smuttynose brewers make casks out of pumpkins...

I'd love to try this myself, I just need to get an acetylene torch! If you haven't yet had the Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale you should definitely give it a shot. Its some great stuff. 

 

Labels: Beer Videos

Ahh, yes, its not fall without Dogfish Head Punkin Ale. This is definitely one of the better pumpkin beers available and this year marks 15 years of brewing this beer for Sam Calagione and Co. 

From the Dogfish Head site:

"A full-bodied brown ale with smooth hints of pumpkin and brown sugar. We brew our Punkin Ale with pumpkin meat, organic brown sugar and spices. This is the perfect beer to warm-up with, as the season cools."

Punkin Ale pours a clean, clear rusty brown color with some golden highlights. The head is nice and thick and leaves some good lacing. Lookin' good Punkin Ale, lookin' real good.

The aroma is sweet brown bread, honey, cinnamon, brown sugar (the type you top a coffee cake with) and a touch of tangy citrus. There is in fact a bit of a pumpkin/squash aroma to this beer but it is very faint and subtle, it smells a lot like a warm piece of pumpkin spice cake. 

One sip and you know you've got something great in your glass. Its got an incredible sweet malt flavor that combines perfectly with the spices and the subtle pumpkin flavor. Its not an over the top pumpkin pie flavor, instead its a very well balanced beer.

The tangy, spicy, dark sugary sweetness of this beer is really alluring. I wish I had more of this as its very drinkable at 7%. Punkin Ale is not something you'd want to drink one of and then move on to something else. You could get comfortable with a 4-pack of these.

Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head talks about Punkin' Ale

Permalink

Share

More from this: State (8) | Country (354) | Brewery (8) | Style (9)

Labels: Pumpkin Ales, Beer Videos, Autumn Beers

 

What can you do with a $200 budget and plenty of ingenuity? You could go to a casino and try counting cards OR you could build a totally awesome kegerator out of an abandoned fridge that looks like a giant iPhone/PSP/etc.. Seriously!

Check out more on this over at WIRED

 

 

Labels: Beer Videos

You just have to love this story. Luke Nicholas, owner and brewer of Epic Brewing in Auckland, New Zealand, has got a passion for beer that reminds me of some of the brewers here in the States. You know, the Sam Calagione types that take beer to the limit but also do some unique things just for the sake of doing them and seeing what happens...

"Luke Nicholas of Epic Brewing Company tries the first sample of Epic Armageddon IPA from the oak barrels that spent 6 weeks on the Interislander ferry that travels between the North & South islands of New Zealand.

The barrels crossed the Cook Strait 126 times. The beer was sampled at the public festival Beervana, on the 28th and 29th August 2009, to very positive feedback from the public.

The barrels were named Pete & Melissa after UK based beer writers Pete Brown and Melissa Cole.

The inspiration for this idea come from Pete Brown's book Hops & Glory."

Epic Brewing Company

Labels: Beer Videos

Absolutely hilarious stuff from VB!

Labels: Beer Videos

Absolutely Hilarious..." url="http://www.twinbeer.com/?p=356" width="500">

Flying Dog Brewery has a pretty...well...interesting video podcast available directly from their website here or via iTunes here. (If you want to watch them on-line you can see them on blip.tv here.) What is worth checking out is their 3 part series that covers all the aspects of the brewery and brewing process (although they also have footage of a drunken race around the brewery...)

These guys certainly like their job...and who can blame them.

The intro:

The three videos about the brewery and the company can be seen here:
Brewery Tour Part 1
Brewery Tour Part 2
Brewery Tour Part 3

Ever wondered why it's called Flying Dog? Now you'll know... 

Labels: Breweries, Beer Videos

This was an interesting find on YouTube, I'm not entirely sure of it's origins but it is well done. (I get the impression that it was actually produced by Chimay.) In just 10 minutes the video runs through the history of the Trappists as well as Scourmont Abbey and the brewing and bottling process.

The information regarding the brewery, and the beer, is given by none other than the Director of the Brewery - Father Thomas as well as other monks. Worth a watch!

 

Labels: Beer Videos, Belgian Beers, Breweries

Here is a one hour presentation by Lew Bryson talking about his book "Pennsylvania Breweries". Quite a treat for people in the Keystone state, but interesting for anyone interested in brewing and brewing history. He talks a lot about prohibition and the likes of Yuengling, as well as breweries like Dock Street that are no longer with us. Can't embed this one, but it is downloadable and viewable on line here: Pennsylvania Breweries.

This is available on Google Video and originally aired on the show PA Books on PCN- which as you can imagine is a show about authors of books about Pennsylvania.

From the show description about the book and author:
"Pennsylvania Breweries provides a new and updated tour of 53 of Pennsylvania's breweries and brewpubs. Beer writer and connoisseur Lew Bryson brings new establishments to the list, revisits some old favorites, relates some of the history of brewing in the state, and gives information for each site on tours, beers brewed, food served, and nearby lodging and attractions, along with his pick of favorite beer for each brewery. Lew Bryson writes about beer and the brewing scene for Malt Advocate and Ale Street News. He is the author of New York Breweries and Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware Breweries. He lives in Newtown, Pennsylvania."

Russ originally reviewed this book here.

Labels: Beer Videos

BrewDog is a Scottish brewery that is making waves in Europe and it seems like they are beginning to hit the American market as well now. They have won numerous medals in beer competitions around the world, and this - their IPA - was recently given a bronze at the World Beer Cup.

Labeled as a "post modern classic pale ale" it is BrewDogs heavy hitting trans-Atlantic fusion IPA. It pours with a very small head, a light amber color with some bubbling.

The aroma is all hops. Citrusy, with fruit and a lot of fresh hops. You can almost taste this through the smell.

The taste is right on target with how it smells. One can taste the color green here. Has a tart grapefruit start and ends very crisp and dry, with a long hoppy aftertaste. What is impressive with this is that it tastes extremely fresh, as if they just removed the hops from the beer. Not whiplash educing, but refreshingly bitter. 

It's great to see that this style of beer is starting to be brewed in Europe more and more, and that newer breweries are adding their twist to things. This may not make a big impression on people used to hop monsters, but it's become a big hit here in Sweden. (In fact Sweden was BrewDogs first export destination.) Punk IPA is even better when you can find it on tap.

That's what I have to say, but why not listen to what the dudes who brewed Punk IPA have to say about it:

Permalink

Share

More from this: Country (4) | Brewery (3) | Style (49)

Labels: American IPAs, Beer Videos