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Archives for April 2016

We’ll be back in 2017!!

April 9, 2016 by Tupper 2 Comments

We’ll be back in 2017!!

franklin silver

Somehow we ran off the rails– stunned by the idea of recognition from someone we didn’t know, I suppose.

But we’re brewing up an new set of posts and beers of the day and reviewing the notes on the 1700 or so beers that we tasted this year.  Those beer just might have had something to do with our AWOL status

Look for us to go live again on January 1 — as good a time as ever to write about beer instead of drinking it.  See you then.

Filed Under: Hopping Around

20160408

April 8, 2016 by Tupper Leave a Comment

Bohemian Brewing, Midvale (Salt Lake City) Utah

Noble Hefeweizen

 

  •     * Skip It
  •    ** Good Craft Beer
  •   *** Well Above Average
  •  **** Exceptional
  • ***** Top 1%
Rating: ****  Value: *****

Utah brewers labor under some of the most bizarre legal restrictions in the nation.   As one told us “the situation is that a group of people who don’t drink make all the rules for the people who do.”   Even though draft beers can’t top 4% abv (3.2 by weight) Brewer Brian Erikson still hits the target with a fine Hefeweisen.  A bit of clove, some bubble gum and a nice jab of pepper in the finish give it a character that would be entirely at home in a small Bavarian village.   You can sit and savor it on Bohemian’s porch and stare at the snow covered peaks nearby.   Those peaks are at the edge of the Rockies, but they might as well be Alps..

Filed Under: Beer Reviews

20160406

April 6, 2016 by Tupper Leave a Comment

Terrapin, Athens, Ga. with New Belgium

Black Is The New Wit

 

  •     * Skip It
  •    ** Good Craft Beer
  •   *** Well Above Average
  •  **** Exceptional
  • ***** Top 1%
Rating: ***  Value: ****

Ellie thought I was kidding.   “an Imperial Balck Rye Wit Spiced Ale?”  It makes “Tuppers’ Hop Pocket”– whose name we all agreed was too long, sound like “Bud.”   But that’s just what it is – and it’s very very good.
Dark malts, dark fruits somehow embrace the witty orange and corriander and they all go for a roll in the barley while the yeast sits on the porch and watches slyly. Dark fruits include plums, dates, blackberries and raisons but they never quite gang up at the same time.   Some might find this beer complicated, we found it beautifully complex. .

Filed Under: Beer Reviews

20160405

April 5, 2016 by Tupper Leave a Comment

 

Pro Re Nata, Crozet, Virginia

Beans Deep Coffee Stout

 

  •     * Skip It
  •    ** Good Craft Beer
  •   *** Well Above Average
  •  **** Exceptional
  • ***** Top 1%
Rating: ****  Value: ****

I didn’t start drinking coffee until I was in my 60s.   It was good coffee beers that convinced me I was missing something important.   I’ll have to admit that the caffeine has done me more good than harm, but a good coffee stout still reminds me how I got started.
This is one of those really nice coffee stouts.   It smells like a coffee grinder and the flavor does not disappoint.   A jolt of espresso joins a husky but clean roast.  The hops, well, they balance a bit, I guess, but they’re not why you’re here in the first place.
Brewer Brad Hulewicz brewed some fine beers at Mad Fox in Falls Church and hasn’t missed a beat since moving south.   We’ll feature a couple of his other triumphs in upcoming posts.

Filed Under: Beer Reviews

20160405

April 5, 2016 by Tupper Leave a Comment

Pro Re Nata, Crozet, Virginia

 

Beans Deep Coffee Stout

 

  •     * Skip It
  •    ** Good Craft Beer
  •   *** Well Above Average
  •  **** Exceptional
  • ***** Top 1%
Rating: ****  Value: ****

I didn’t start drinking coffee until I was in my 60s.   It was good coffee beers that convinced me I was missing something important.   I’ll have to admit that the caffeine has done me more good than harm, but a good coffee stout still reminds me how I got started.

This is one of those really nice coffee stouts.   It smells like a coffee grinder and the flavor does not disappoint.   A jolt of espresso joins a husky but clean roast.  The hops, well, they balance a bit, I guess, but they’re not why you’re here in the first place.

Brewer Brad Hulewicz brewed some fine beers at Mad Fox in Falls Church and hasn’t missed a beat since moving south.   We’ll feature a couple of his other triumphs in upcoming posts.

.

Filed Under: Beer Reviews

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What’s New Inside

 Gold Metal Winning Tuppers’ Hop Pocket Ale Returns!

Join us at Dynasty Brewing on July 17 between 3PM and 8PM to savor the first batch of Tuppers’ Hop Pocket Ale in almost five years.  We’ll be there signing books at a huge discount and the brewery will be pouring the beer that was created to be “Hoppy enough for Bob and balanced enough for Ellie.”

It hasn’t been easy to resurrect Tuppers’ Hop Pocket Ale, winner of a gold metal at the GBBF in the ’90s when well hopped beers were rare and almost non-existent in the east.  We’ve collaborated with Dynasty’s head brewer Favio Garcia, the brewer who produced the last batch of Tuppers’ Hop Pocket at Old Dominion to reproduce an authentic version of the original.    Dynasty is in Ashburn, Virginia– almost within walking distance of the Old Dominion brewery that brewed the first batch just over 25 years ago.

NOW PLAYING: on Beer of the Day—  Some great beers in the San Francisco Bay area.  Scroll down below this entry to find the featured beer of the day.   >>>>>

Later — in July we resume some great weekend destinations for beer travelers that we’ve found researching our guide to breweries and inns of the Mid Atlantic.  Whether you’re looking for a turn of the (20th) century 100 year old quaint and slightly rickety hotel, an engaging B&B or a magnificent survivor of the great era of railroad hotels, we’ve found hem– within walking distance of a brewery.   We’ll present more previews of the book’s best here rolling up to Pennsylvania before we’re through.

 

 

 

Beer of the Day

only beer pub 27 IMG_3154

 At Pub 27 in Pompeii

Far From India: India Pale Ales in the 21st Century.

Date:  March, 2019

The Story—

The Beer—

Value —

Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

In mid-March we’re taking a look at the incredible variety of IPAs.   The style is by far the biggest seller among craft beers in the US and probably in Europe as well.   Even century-old breweries in Reinheitsgebot-narrowed Germany are brewing IPAs (if the brewer calls it “ale” it doesn’t have to conform to the strict purity law).   But you have to ask these days: What is an IPA”?  We’ll take a look at almost a dozen recognized and semi-recognized styles of IPAs in the next couple of weeks.

 We’re often asked to share our tasting notes on over 33,000 beers; this blog is in answer to those requests.   Not all our notes, though.  The great beer writer Michael Jackson admirably followed the Thumper Rule, and we’ll try to do the same.  (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”)   All the beers we post are from the top half of our ratings and most are from the top quarter.   Of greater value, we think, are the stories behind the beers,   and we try to give you enough about the brewery, the style and the places to find great beer to help you on your own beer journeys.   At CulturAle Press we try to write books and publish posts that will help you “Drink Well and Travel Safely.”

More Beer Reviews

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