Tag Archives: pale ale

beer, beer tour, craft beer, Guest blogger, opinion, review, Travel

AMERICAN ADVENTURE: 5 FAVOURITES FROM A RECENT U.S. ROAD TRIP

Leave a comment

Here in Atlantic Canada, beer drinkers are just close enough to the U.S. to get tantalizing hints of the great brews we’re missing. American craft brewers like Maine’s Geaghan Bros. show up at the Fredericton Craft Beer Festival and you’ll find the odd surprise in stores. But for the most part, the American craft-beer scene is a big tasty world we don’t get to explore. 

So when it came time for a family trip stateside in early October, my first thought was “BEER!” Read on for my five favourites from the trip. Note: I spent most of my time in Rhode Island and Maine; by no means did I do a comprehensive review of the country’s (or even those states’) best beers. These are my favourites from what I sampled. You have different favourites? Vive la différence.

 

Czech Pilsner by Moat Mountain in North Conway, N.H. 

A classic Bohemian pilsner: light, crisp and refreshing. A little orange-peel zestiness with black-pepper hints. Clean and dry finish. Easy to drink, surprisingly tasty for the style, and a modest 4.9% ABV: this is an all-day drinker. Best enjoyed on a verandah overlooking the White Mountains. 

 

Frosty Stout by Newport Craft Brewing in Newport, R.I. 

I picked this one up after an earnest endorsement from the cashier at Beach Wine and Liquors in Middletown, R.I. and it ended up being my favourite beer from the trip. Produced in collaboration with beloved local ice-cream parlor Frosty Freez, this is a rich and nutty stout, creamy and quaffable with a bittersweet finish.

 

Pumking by Southern Tier Brewing Company in Lakewood, N.Y.

I typically wouldn’t cross the street for a pumpkin beer, but I’ve read repeatedly that this one is the gold standard for the style, so I was keen to give it a try. And I’m glad I did. Spicy, sweet, butter, light-bodied, and well balanced: pretty much the best pumpkin beer I’ve ever had. At 8.6%, it finishes with some boozy heat and packs a wallop. Share with friends.

 

Pale Ale by Tuckerman Brewing Company in Conway, N.H. 

If I had to pick only one style of beer to drink for the rest of my life, it would be the classic American pale ale. Flavourful, easy to drink, and hoppy without stunning the palate. At its best, the style is everything a beer should be. And this cold-conditioned and dry-hopped ale is a textbook example. Naturally carbonated in bottle or keg with the German “krausening” process, this brew has a simple and straightforward profile that belies the craftmanship behind it. 

 

Captain’s Daughter by Grey Sail Brewing in Westerly, R.I. 

Balance is important and all things in moderation… but hey, sometimes you just need a big boozy hop bomb. This DIPA fits the bill nicely. Massively hopped with chinook, citra, and mosaic, it manages to have tons of hop flavor without that fresh-cut-grass bitterness that plagues the style. Pleasantly bittersweet, it goes down easily; at 8.5% ABV, it punishes the careless can-pounder.

 ~

Regular contributor and guest reviewer Trevor J. Adams is senior editor with Metro Guide Publishing and the editor of Halifax Magazine. In 2012, he published his first solo book, Long Shots: The Curious Story of the Four Maritime Teams That Played for the Stanley Cup (Nimbus Publishing). You can see what Trevor is drinking on Untappd and follow him on Twitter.

 

DrinkNBrew.com

 

Like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, and be our friend on Untappd.

Advertisement
beer, craft beer, opinion, review

Grimross – Maritime Pale Ale

Leave a comment


Grimross Brewing is a small brewery located in Fresricton, NB. Opening July 1st, 2013 by Stephen and Dawn Dixon, they have a growing reputation for great beers and expanding operations. Maritime Pale Ale is their first offering in cans or bottles. 

Appearance: Deep golden colour with an off-white fluffy head that is long lasting. Nice lacing on the glass. 

Aroma: Big hop nose of citrus, with a slight pine note and a hint of earthiness. A little malt aroma and a sweet finish. 

Taste: Hops – pine and citrus, little floral. Long lasting, late bitterness on the palette. A little malt comes through, a bit more as it warms. 

Mouthfeel: Light-medium body with a medium carbonation that so quite appropriate. Creamy texture, but cut with hop oil. 

Overall: Very nice. Balanced (little malt, but nice range in the hop flavours). This is one I will be going back to and recommending. I can’t wait to see more offerings on the shelves from Grimross. 

84/100

Grimross can be found on the web, Facebook, and Twitter.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, like us on Facebook, and be our friend on Untappd.

Drinknbrew.com

beer, Guest blogger, review

Great Lakes Brewery – Canuck Pale Ale

Leave a comment

IMG_1714.JPG

Building on the popularity of its signature pale ale, Great Lakes has become one of Canada’s top craft brewers, winning Canadian Brewery of the Year in 2013 and 2014. This summer, the brewery relaunched and rebranded the ale. Launched in 2010 to dovetail with the Vancouver Olympics, it was originally known as Crazy Canuck and brought the West Coast pale-ale style to eastern Canada. “While the name and branding change, the wonderful liquid inside the can remains the same,” says brewery owner Peter Bulut Jr. “Our version of a West Coast ale has been turning heads since we launched it in Ontario in 2010 and because it’s a serious beer, we wanted to give it a new look more in line with our increasingly popular Tank Ten series.”

From the brewery: “It’s been said that ‘Canada is the only country in the world that knows how to live without an identity.’ This beer doesn’t help much with that crisis. From the fiercely irresponsible stereotypical image on the front of the can to the distinctly American style of the beer inside it we’ve really made a mess of things. What have we done? Sorry.”

Appearance: Rich golden colour, hazy; thick, creamy head.

Aroma: A slight hoppy nose, with whiffs of fresh grapefruit peelings.

Taste: A nice refreshing hit of grapefruit-citrus at the start, but not as much as your nose tells you to expect. A dry hoppy finish, which stops just on the right side of overpowering. The taste stays with you, but that’s fine, because odds are good you’re going to drink another one anyway. It’s that kind of beer.

Mouthfeel: A little soft for my taste, but not under-carbonated… I’d just prefer a bit more.

Overall: This is pigeonholed as hot summer-day beer, but don’t let that stop you from trying it this fall. Its flavours are nicely layered and balanced. It’s a crisp, refreshing beer. Easy and pleasant to drink. Potentially deadly—you could drink a case of this and not notice it until you tried to stand.

85/100

Guest reviewer Trevor J. Adams is senior editor with Metro Guide Publishing and the editor of Halifax Magazine. In 2012, he published his first solo book, Long Shots: The Curious Story of the Four Maritime Teams That Played for the Stanley Cup (Nimbus Publishing).

Drinknbrew.com
Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and be our friend on Untappd.

 

beer, brewing, homebrew, techniques

Axe Grinder: Hoppy pale ale for the coming cool months.

1 Comment

 

 

IMG_1825.JPGAs the nights start to cool and I find myself shopping for the little one’s school supplies, I know that summer is ending and fall is closing in on us. Late August is hop season. This is the time of year that the hops on the farms and in the backyards of the very avid home brewer are maturing and are ready to be picked for beer. I don’t have a hop farm or even a rhizome or two in the yard (yet), but I do love hops. The fall, to me, signals the time to brew something hoppy. Though, admittedly, I am not as big of a hophead as some of people (I’m looking to you on the West Coast), but I do love that big hit of hop flavour and aroma. I love a great balance beer with big notes of citrus, pine, and even a bit dank.

So, whats left to do, but brew a hoppy pale ale.

I worked out a recipe a while back, but never got to brewing it until recently. I was looking for something that was moderate in strength (mid-5% or so) and moderate in bitterness, but big in hop flavour and aroma. I always like to try new things and my local home brew shop started to carry Falconer’s Flight, a blend of Pacific Northwest hops from Hop Union – loads of citrus, tropical fruit, and floral notes, by all accounts – so I thought that would be perfect for a pale ale.

Brew day was two weeks ago and went great, no problems or anything. The beer was fermented at 19 C and was finished up in about 10 days. I gave it a couple of extra days and then chilled to 2 C for a day or so before putting it into a keg.

Since its fresh in the keg I will give it a few days to get carbonated, but I can say that out of the fermenter it was pretty awesome. The aroma was almost pure grapefruit, so much citrus with just a touch of the grains. The favour was much as the aroma, loads of citrus – grapefruit, lemon, and some tropical hints. With a pretty solid bitterness and just enough of the malt backbone to keep things in check this beer is balanced nicely.

I can’t wait to see how it is in a few days, but I think I may have hit on my perfect “house” pale ale recipe after more than a few tries. Stay tuned for some tasting notes in the near future on this one. Click here for those who want to try it check out my recipe for the now named Axe Grinder.

-Cheers!

drinknbrew.com

Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and be our friend on Untappd.