Welcoming sign at Pub 27 in Pompeii
Cushwa Jello New England IPA, Williamsport, Md.
Date: October 25, 2018
The Story— We feature another beer from Cushwa today. See yesterday’s post (click “More Beer Reviews” below and scroll down). People who doubt the craft beer revolution is sustainable haven’t spent enough time in breweries like Cushwa. If you can get great beer down the street and drink it with your friends with locally sourced snacks, why would you buy a craft beer — even a very good one– from a brewery on the other side of the country or the Atlantic. Not all breweries this size are going to make it, but a whole lot of them will last as long as the passionate founders want to keep them going.
The Beer— It’s spot on for the style: softly hoppy and citrusy with a clean sweetness in the finish. Pine, lime, and more grapefruit in the finish lead to a dusty oily hoppy aftertaste. Surprisingly moreish for all that with a better balance than many NEIPAs.
Value — Good. $7 for a glass is a fair price and probably enough to keep a brewery like this going.
This week we return to the US to highlight some great American craft beers, some of which we’ve found in researching out first US Beer publication: Brews and Snooze-– Breweries you can visit and walk back to a fine place to spend the night. Look for it in 2019.
Next week we’ll present our first Brewery of the Week with seven fine beers from Guinness– most brewed in their spanking new Baltimore location, but a couple of Irish pots of gold as well.
After Guinness we return to HIGHLIGHTS OF EUROPE– Surprisingly good beer in “bad beer cities.” The best we’ve found in researching our next book – a guide to great beer in European tourist cities. (Planned publication 2019.) We’ll shift back to great American beer finds next week.
About these posts: We taste and evaluate over a thousand beers every year. The beers posted here rank in the top quarter of those tastings. 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.
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