I brewed this one to donate some to a silent auction. I chose the style because the auction coordinator, a friend of mine, tried Woodstock Inn’s Kanc Country Maple Porter and loved it. I have not yet brewed a porter. This gave me a chance to do that and use one of my most favorite foods in the world… maple syrup.

I had a taste of it now that it’s fermented and it’s excellent. It’s oaky, roasty, earthy, and a bit boozy. Because I used the syrup in the boil, it ferments out all the sugars and leaves that earthy woodsy maple flavor. I also used a yeast that tends to give off an oaky flavor. It tastes exactly as I imagined it would. I think I did everything right this time. I had tended to have a high fermentation temp in the mid-70′s. This one I fermented at 66-68° to avoid the esters that get released at the higher temps.

So now it’s got 2 weeks in the secondary and then I’ll bottle (actually just under 2 weeks because I’m bottling before Memorial Day weekend when I’ll be away). I’d rather it had more time in the bottles than the secondary before I bring it to the auction. I then have 2 more weeks to wait before it’ll be ready to drink. I’m hoping in those 4 weeks the booziness mellows out a bit.

Recipe

First, the venue… It’s in the old Black Rep a few doors down from Tazza. While I had never been to the Black Rep, it was sad to see it close. I know people who really enjoyed that place. I was happy to learn that something new opened up there. It’s a small little space with a tiny stage and a balcony with some tables. It has an L shaped bar with a lot of jazz/Harlem-influenced decor. It’s a nice room, perfect for the location. I don’t know if they have food or not, but they did have a decent, though small, beer selection. They had two taps. One was Peak Organic’s IPA, and the other was a Wachusett seasonal. They also had a small bottle selection. I can definitely see myself hanging out there. It’s got a cool vibe to it. It seems to fill a void in the Providence music scene. What I like about it is that it’s owned/run by the Providence Inner-City Arts, a non-profit organization that holds community arts events.

Now, the music… The band was made up of a bunch of musician friends who had never played together as a group – Scott Murawski on guitar, George Garzone on sax, Lionel Cordew on drums, Gregorio Vento on percussion, Tony Betancourt on guitar, and Baron Brown on bass. They were billed as “Jazz Jam” and that’s pretty much what they did. It wasn’t entirely free-form as they played songs, though I don’t have a setlist. While the music wasn’t mind-blowing, it was solid. For a group of people who had never all played together, they were pretty tight. You could tell they were all great at listening to one another as they jammed. It was a free show, and totally worth it. Heck, I would’ve paid $5-10 for this. I hope they continue to play as I’d love to see it again. Apparently, they’ve played as “Jazz Jam” before, but not all the same musicians. Scott is obviously an amazing guitarist, but I think the MVP of the night goes to Gregorio. That dude can beat those congas!

All in all, it was a great night of music at a great new venue in the city. I got to finally meet someone I had known on the Internet for about 6-7 years now, and I got to see some great music. If you’re in Providence, I highly recommend you check out Roots Cafe, and if you ever see Jazz Jam billed nearby, check them out.

UPDATE: Noticed some people came to this post via searching “jamjazz roots”. I figured I’d update with a link to a recording of the show as well. The links call it “Jam Jazz”, but they billed themselves as “Jazz Jam”.

24-bit FLAC

16-bit FLAC

I’ll start with Breckenridge. It’s a brewery that’s relatively new to RI. I have to say I really like all their stuff. It’s a solid brewery. Colorado and the Pacific Northwest are probably my favorite areas for breweries outside of New England. Everyone hypes up the California breweries, but I think the mountains and northwest are where it’s at. Anyway, Breckenridge has a nice lineup of great beers. I got to try their Oatmeal Stout, Lucky U IPA, Vanilla Porter, Agave Wheat, their summer wheat beer (don’t remember the name), and their Batch 471 Double IPA. They were all very solid. My favorites were the Lucky U and the Double IPA. The regular IPA is an American IPA with an English twist. It’s easy drinking and hoppy enough to please hopheads, but balanced for people who aren’t looking for a hop bomb. The Double IPA is a hop bomb. It’s one of the better Double IPA’s I’ve had – balanced, but hop forward. The Vanilla Porter was also a standout. It had a huge vanilla flavor, but wasn’t overly sweet or overpowering. I look forward to drinking more of their beers.

Another beer I had recently was the Dogfish Head and Three Floyds collaboration called Poppaskull. I don’t know what it was supposed to be, but whatever it was, it didn’t do much for me. It was light in flavor, color, and body. I just couldn’t put my finger on it, but something about it wasn’t that great.

Cigar City’s Warmer Winter Winter Warmer was awesome. I think it’s a Barleywine. It hit me in all the right places. I really enjoyed it. Very drinkable, but very flavorful.

Mikkeller made a Coffee IPA. I saw it on the shelf in the store and actually got to try it last night. I thought it would be terrible. Coffee and IPA just don’t sound like they’d go together very well. What I forgot to keep in mind is that Mikkeller makes awesome beers, some quite creative. This was actually incredibly tasty. The coffee hit you in the aftertaste, but it was subtle. You had to look for it.

Finally, Firestone Walker’s Double Jack is easily the best Double IPA I’ve had, beating out Pliny the Elder (I’ve never had Pliny the Younger, and didn’t have enough Heady Topper, from the Alchemist, to compare it). It’s smooth, crisp, hoppy, refreshing, balanced, fruity, everything I look for in a Double IPA and then some. They’re another new brewery to RI. I look forward to drinking more of their beers. I have their 14th anniversary in my cellar.

I’ll start off with the first brewery to pull out of Rhode Island that really sent some shock waves through the state – Allagash. They pulled out of Rhode Island a little over a year ago. It was shocking to see that a brewery from New England would pull out of a fellow New England state, a state that gave them good business and loved their product. Allagash was going through some growing pains at the brewery. They were expanding distribution while also expanding brewing capacity. The problem was, however, that they expanded their distribution prior to having the additional capacity to keep up with demand. People were upset, though the rumor was it would only be for about a year. Luckily, they were right. Because many of their beers are high alcohol, beer stores and bars stocked up and their beers remained on the shelves throughout the year, not going bad. The whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth. You see, they were expanding distribution to places like Chicago and Seattle. I understand the business aspects. You gotta send the beer where you can make money. It’s simple economics. However, rather than holding off on distributing to city 3,000 miles away until their production could be ramped up when the brewery expansion was complete, they pulled out of states that had seen their beers for years. Not only that, but they pulled out of local states. New England is a small region. It’s made up of six states that, together, are smaller than most other states. Beer from New England is local beer to me. I get annoyed when breweries ignore the local market to distribute to places farther away, as I prefer to support local breweries and local businesses (the places where I buy beer).

The Allagash story ended well. After all, Allagash kind of has a niche that few breweries fit. They make mostly Belgian-style beers, but they get creative about them. They don’t have the standard American brewery offerings as their year-round or flagship beers. That brings me to a brewery that does have those standard styles as their flagship – Dogfish Head. Dogfish Head recently announced they were pulling out of four states – Wisconsin, Tennessee, Indiana, and, of course, Rhode Island. They also pulled out of the Canadian and United Kingdom markets entirely. Rhode Island has been good to Dogfish Head. There have been yearly Dogfish Head beer dinners at Julian’s and other restaurants. They received a ton of attention at the beer festivals held in the state, especially Beervana. They saw huge crowds at beer tastings at Nikki’s Liquors. They’re also the favorite brewery of many in the area (they are actually one of my favorite breweries). You see, they aren’t making enough product to keep up with the demand (a problem many breweries would love to have). But they expanded distribution to get their product out there. They obviously pulled out of their smallest markets, but I have a feeling Rhode Island is only a small market simply because of the size of the state. The problem here, however, is the regular offerings from Dogfish Head. If they ever choose to come back to these states, they may have lost some customers. Their flagship 60 Minute IPA is a standard American IPA. The style is one of the most common styles that pretty much every American brewery has one. This is a great time for another brewery to step in and gain some ground in those four states. Their second most popular beer, 90 Minute IPA, is also a common style these days. Rhode Island is unique in that it’s a tiny state. We’re only a short drive from Massachusetts or Connecticut where we can go and buy some Dogfish Head. The only people who will do that, though, are the serious beer geeks who will seek it out. The people who tend to buy their regular beers from their regular liquor store won’t do that. I also prefer to support my local liquor store rather than cross the border. So should they come back, they may have a hard time selling their beer and getting tap lines at local bars, especially if the regulars start drinking another IPA that they happen to prefer.

Great Divide is another brewery that is pulling out of Rhode Island. I can honestly say that I won’t miss it. They had been one of my favorite breweries, but the distributor here did not give them any real attention. I can’t remember the last time I saw fresh bottles of Titan IPA. So, for them, it will almost be like it always has.

So with this news of breweries pulling back distribution also comes news that breweries are exporting more beer outside the country. This doesn’t make one bit of sense to me. While I can understand why some breweries choose to skip over certain states because of crazy labeling laws or to enter certain markets because they’re huge beer markets, I cannot understand why a brewery would send their beer across the country, or even outside the country, when they won’t distribute to their local market. I don’t have as big a problem with breweries who are just starting out (see Hill Farmstead or Pretty Things, who both distributed to Philadelphia before nearby areas). I mostly have problems with breweries pulling out of nearby states. I would much rather support Dogfish Head than breweries from California, but they don’t seem to want or need my support.

I tend to lean towards optimism. The big breweries have been losing market share to craft beer for the past few years now. Craft beer has caught on and people are getting into it. While there will always be a place for the big breweries, and it might even be with the majority of the market, there’s no denying the impact craft beer has had. The number crunchers at the big breweries see this. It’s why Coors is marketing Blue Moon so much and why A-B/InBev pushes Shock Top and the Michelob brands. They’re after the craft beer market. Unfortunately, the A-B/InBev line of “craft” beer isn’t really coming close to craft beer, with a couple of exceptions from the Michelob lineup. The big breweries have the ability to brew seriously high quality beer. After all, they have some of the best quality control in the industry.

Those wannabe craft brands from the big breweries aren’t really cutting it. And the small breweries are seeing huge expenses in brewing and distribution. So we’re seeing them pair up. Goose Island already uses the A-B distributor for their product. It gives them access to a larger market. This is really the next step. It gives Goose Island access to more funds to increase production of their very popular beers and add to their lineup. So long as A-B/InBev gives them full independence in their brewing, I do not see anything wrong with the buy-out. It seems like a win-win for both companies. Goose Island can continue doing what they do and increase what they do. A-B/InBev gets actual access to the craft beer market. I believe as part of the deal, Goose Island also said that they want to continue brewing in Chicago, which means they keep their staff and their brewery.

We’re going to see more of this. We’ve already started to see it with things like the Craft Brewers Alliance, whose membership included Goose Island prior to this deal, and Independent Brewers United, which included Magic Hat and Pyramid. IBU was recently purchased as well. Anchor was just purchased. Otter Creek was recently purchased by Long Trail. It’s going to continue to happen as breweries need access to additional resources – both financial and equipment/space. So long as these breweries are allowed to continue doing what they do best, I don’t see a problem with it

I will continue to support Goose Island, even though they are owned by A-B/InBev. Unfortunately, many fans of craft beer care more about where the money goes than the beer itself and will now write off Goose Island as just another sellout to the big guys. I am a fan of beer. If it’s good for the beer, it’s good for me. This move, so far, looks to be good for the beer, but only time will tell if this actually is a good thing.

Josh’s rant was more that he gets annoyed by rare beers because beer geeks love them and rave about them, but they’re nearly impossible to find. He had to do a questionably “douchey” thing in getting the people who run his local beer store to hold some for him (it never gets put on the shelf, you have to ask for it). I won’t go into the “douchey-ness” of it because I have my local store hold me special and rare beers all the time. I will say that it is annoying that there are all these fantastic beers out there that are hard to come by. But that’s not really the point of my post.

The way I look at it, there are a few different types of rare/hyped beers. I’m grouping rare and hyped beers together because while some might not be “rare” per se, they end up being so because of the hype.

1. Beers from a small brewery
2. Beers brewed in small quantities
3. Beers brewed in relatively normal quantities that end up hyped up
4. Beers artificially hyped up

I’ll use those as my type of rare/hyped beer. They cover pretty much all the “rare” and hyped beers for the sake of this post. I’ll be referring to them as Type 1, Type 2,  Type 3, and Type 4. So please remember what they are and feel free to refer back to that list. Type 2 can include Type 1, but for the sake of this, I will assume that Type 2 beers are not brewed by small breweries. By “small breweries”, I am talking breweries with only one or two employees. Breweries that don’t really distribute their beer outside of their state or region within the state (depending on the size of the state). Examples of small breweries include Lawson’s Finest Liquids and Hill Farmstead Brewery, both of Vermont (I’m a New Englander, give me a break for being a little New England-centric). Their beers are rare simply because of the size of the brewery.

In the case of Type 1, the beers are rare because the brewery can’t physically produce more. They might have a small brewing system. They might be a brewpub. They might be just a hobby for the owner/brewer. This type of rare/hyped beer can be a double-edged sword for the industry. There are a lot of what have been called “nanobreweries” opening up. They tend to be homebrewers looking to get into the industry. They release small batch beers. The beers can range in quality, but most tend to be experimental. Both Lawson’s and Hill Farmstead fit this category. They both make high quality beers. Those two breweries are great for the industry. The problem is when these breweries hype up their beers, but aren’t making a good product. I honestly have no examples of that, but I’m sure they’re out there.

In the case of Type 2 beers, the beers are rare simply because the brewery does not produce a lot of it. This could be because the beer is expensive to make and the brewery just can’t afford to make anymore than it already does. It could be because they want to drive up the hype of the beer. Examples of this type of beer include Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout and Brooklyn Black Ops (see? I’m not entirely New England-centric). These beers can also go either way for the industry. They tend to be hyped up because they are, in fact, high quality beers. In those cases, it is great for the industry. A brewery puts out a high quality beer and it might turn on people to that brewery’s other beers. Luckily for the industry, that tends to be the norm. However, if a beer gets hyped and the brewery puts it out, but for some reason it’s not up to par, it can be bad. It can turn a newcomer off from that brewery and even other beer geeks. Why listen to someone’s suggestions when you bought an expensive beer listening to their hype and it turns out bad? The only beer that comes to mind, while not actually being bad, is New England Brewing’s Imperial Stout Trooper. The beer is pricey. I think it’s $20 for a 750 ml bottle. I like the beer. It’s an excellent beer. Unfortunately, though, I don’t think it’s worth the price. In the past, it was. On tap, it totally is. Maybe it’ll age and be better, but who knows. Anyway, you get someone buying a bottle of that and because it’s not brewed with consistency from year to year, it can turn people off.

Type 3 beers tend to only be hyped. Maybe they’re rare for a while. It tends to be that way because the hype is about the brewery as a whole rather than the beer in general. I look to beers like Tröegs Nugget Nectar and new breweries like Pretty Things (no longer new, but they were super hyped when they started). As beers, they can be seasonals. They tend to be high quality beers. They’re not hyped up by the brewery other than normal marketing. They’re hyped up by the consumer, which is how it should be. These are great for the industry because they get people excited. In the case of seasonals, they turn people on to that brewery’s other beers. In the case of new breweries, they turn people on to the whole brewery and beer scene in general.

Finally, there’s Type 4. These beers are artificially hyped up by either the brewery or the consumer. I look to beers like Newport Storm’s limited seasonal series that gets release in blue corked wine bottles each year (back to my New England centricity). The brewery keeps it super secret until the release. So far most of them have been a bit of a let down. In these cases if the beer is artificially hyped up prior to actually being tried by the public, it can be a very bad thing both for the brewery and the industry. Take Sierra Nevada’s Hoptimum. It was hyped up. While it was a tasty beer, it was so limited that it was actually rare (even though it wasn’t pricey). It was totally not worth the hype it received.

Rare and hyped beers tend to distract us from the bread and butter of the industry. While we might think a brewery is making bank on a beer that costs $20 for a four pack, they probably aren’t. In fact, they probably make next to nothing on that because that beer costs a lot more to make than their regular beers, both in time and ingredients/supplies. So next time you hear about a rare beer or see a lot of hype about a new beer, think twice. Go ahead and try it, but don’t let it blind you from all the other great “regular” beers that are out there (by “regular” I mean craft beer, not Budweiser). The rare and hyped beers get us excited, but keep supporting the industry by buying the everyday beers. And most importantly, support your local breweries (I have a post about what it means to be local as well).

Those are my thoughts, and it’s just an opinion. Feel free to disagree, berate, comment, agree, and write out your own thoughts in the comments.

St. Patrick’s Day is generally reserved for Guinness, Killian’s, and that weird green beer. I’m going to suggest you avoid all three for a couple reasons. Guinness is owned by conglomerate Diageo. They’re located in London. Not very Irish, huh? Killian’s is an American beer made by Coors, but it’s not even an Irish Red Ale. It’s a lager, and it’s not Irish. Yes, the name was bought from an Irish company, but the beer is most definitely not Irish. And then there’s that weird green beer. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the ingredients in beer, nothing will make it green except for artificial coloring. Generally, the green beer is some tasteless American lager. It doesn’t even matter what kind of tasteless American lager it is, it’s not quality beer.

So this St. Patrick’s Day, I urge you to drink better beer. If you read that post I wrote about better beer for St. Patrick’s Day, I give some suggestions. I still suggest you avoid the Guinness, though if you have to drink Guinness, drink the good stuff. Guinness Extra Stout (what Guinness originally tasted like) and Guinness Foreign Extra Stout are excellent beers, and closer to what a true Irish Dry Stout should taste like. Guinness Draught is near tasteless in the grand scheme of things. Try something different, if you want. If you really prefer Guinness Draught, try Beamish or Murphy’s stouts. Guinness Draught isn’t even brewed in Ireland, at least not what we get in the US. It’s brewed in Canada.

As I said in that post, the Irish Dry Stout is actually an adaptation of an English beer. If you want to go true Irish, drink an Irish Red Ale. Murphy’s makes one that you can find around here, if you need to drink something from Ireland.

My suggestion for beer today would be to skip imported beers and drink something local, or at least more local than across an ocean. In that previous post, I suggested Harpoon Celtic Ale and Sam Adams Irish Red. They are both excellent American versions of the Irish Red Ale. Not only that, but they’re also better than their mass produced imported counterparts. If you want to go the stout route, try Gritty’s Black Fly Stout or Shipyard’s Blue Fin Stout. There are many American renditions of the Irish Dry Stout. Try one. You might be surprised. And if you really don’t feel like you need to drink an Irish style of beer, try something new. But do yourself a favor… drink local and avoid the “big 3″ American breweries (though I guess it’s the big 2 now since Miller and Coors are one company, or maybe the big 1 since Anheuser-Busch is owned by InBev, a Belgian-Brazilian company).

Today (Friday, July 30) is the first absolutely beautiful day we have had here in a while. It’s hot, but not unbearable. The air is dry. The sky is blue. The birds are chirping. It’s the perfect day to sit around outside (after work, of course) and drink a nice beer. Being that it’s summer, I wanted something lighter, but still full of flavor. I heard rave reviews about Berkshire’s new Czech Pilsner and had to try it for myself. I only bought this bottle last night, but it was calling my name. It also gives me an excuse to use one of my pilsner glasses, making the beer look extra special.

The beer pours a nice golden color. I think if I had to really give it a name, I’d say it’s maize. There’s a nice fluffy white head on top, about two fingers thick. You can see the beautiful bubbles rising to the top. Pilsners happen to be, at least in my (usually not so) humble opinion, one of the most beautiful beers when poured properly. It doesn’t matter what kind of glassware you use, they still look amazing. Though I will admit, the pilsner glass adds to that a bit.

The aroma has hints of the grassy, spicy hops and just a slight hint of the sweet malt. Upon first sip, you’re hit with those hops. As it lingers in your mouth, you get the nice sweeter malt flavors. It’s really hard to describe their flavor as they don’t hang around too long before the flavor turns back to the hops and leaves a nice dryness. It’s really hard to stop drinking this one. The carbonation in this beer, though relatively effervescent in the glass, is more mild in the mouth, though you can feel it tingle a bit on your tongue. It helps this beer go down easy, keeping it refreshing. While it may not be huge in-your-face flavor, it’s just the perfect amount of flavor with a nice dry finish. This is exactly the kind of beer needed
on such a beautiful day. A beautiful beer always pairs well with a beautiful day.

I’ve been getting more and more into lagers and kölsch lately. With the type of summer we’ve had, the lighter beers with a drier finish can be very refreshing and hit the spot just right. This beer is one of the better pilsners I’ve had. I see myself buying more of this beer in the future. It’s another excellent beer from a great brewery. I would even go as far as saying that this beer could easily turn your average Bud/Miller/Coors drinker onto craft beer, though they would have to be from New England as this is a small brewery.

Fast forward to yesterday. I was at a graduation party for a cousin of mine. In the past, they’ve had some craft beer at events at their house, but this time they had a keg. I suppose it was to provide the most beer that the majority of the people would drink, but whatever their reason, it was Bud Light. I’ve never been a fan of light beer. I think Coors Light was the only light beer I ever liked. I choose full flavored, full calorie beer. I laugh at the Miller Lite “triple hopped” marketing scheme, because 3 times 0 is still nothing. But with nothing else to drink (I’m not a fan of liquor, except for some frozen drinks), I drank the beer. I suppose I could have had some water or just drank soda all day, but I chose the beer.

I didn’t particularly enjoy it, though it was ice cold and pretty flavorless (I see why people drink a ton of it, it doesn’t really do much to the palate). I also didn’t hate it (likely because it was like fizzy slightly flavored water). But it made me wonder why people always steer towards the norm.

Let’s rewind about a week now. I was at a wedding for a friend of mine. Granted, the crowd was a different age, but the beer selection was quite different, though he had more than he needed. His options were Sam Adams Summer Ale and Long Trail Ale. Neither are in-your-face flavor bombs, but they do have flavor (and color and aroma). I don’t know if his choices were those because that’s what most people drink or because that’s what he wanted, but whatever his reasoning was, he picked beer that people drank (everyone was drinking Long Trail). Most weddings have a pretty lousy beer selection full of the usual suspects with a Sam Adams thrown in for people who like “fancy” beer. My own wedding had beer that was relatively local to RI (Sam Adams thrown in for good measure, but they’re only an hour away). No one complained, and people drank a lot of beer.

What I don’t understand is why people are so unwilling to try something new. Is it fear that their guests won’t be happy? Is it fear of breaking routine? Whatever it is, I just don’t understand the reasoning. I remember a college party I attended about 12 years ago. The only beer they had was a keg of Saranac Pale Ale. They were kinda hippies, and hippies were known to drink the microbrews. What stood out was that it was different. The common beer of choice at UConn was Natural Light (aka Natty Light) because it was cheap and easy to drink.

I guess my point is this… If you’re having a party and buying beer, try something new. You might be surprised by what your guests will drink. There are craft beers that even “light beer drinkers” will enjoy. But regardless of what you pick, I will almost never pass up a free beer at this point in my life.

Craft beer lovers rejoiced when they announced the return of their IPA, Blind Faith. This beer is an excellent example of just how talented the brewers at Magic Hat are. It’s an excellent IPA that I would stack up against some of the most popular (be warned: it’s not “west coast style”, but an IPA doesn’t need to be to be excellent). It’s a very balanced, yet hop-forward beer. It’s closer to an amber ale in color, with a nice body that neither too thin nor too thick.

Anyway, I suggest everyone who likes good beer try this one. It’s not mind blowing or life changing, but it’s definitely an excellent solid IPA. And stop hating on Magic Hat. While I agree with most people that they need to stop discontinuing some of their best beer (Blind Faith, Jinx, Fat Angel, etc.), I disagree that they’re not a good brewery. They’ve been churning out #9 for quite some time and people still love it, even if it’s not a particular favorite of mine. Give Blind Faith a chance. You won’t be disappointed.