Shenandoah Valley Beer Trail: Siblings’ Rivalry– Cry Baby Belgian Pale Ale, Strasburg, Va.

Date:  April 30, 2019

The Story—  Strasburg is a lovely old townlette in the Shenandoah Valley dating from 1761.  It boasts the largest population in the county — a bit under seven thousand.   The museum is highly regarded for, among other things, a model railroad and an historic caboose.  There are the expected small shops and Civil War sites abound in the area.  Strasburg has a turn of the century hospital-turned hotel and we’ve been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the planned brewery — but before we were able to get there, there were two!

Siblings’ Rivalry (yes, that’s where thy put the apostrophe) is an “enthusiast*” brewery that draws a good local crowd of admirers.  Some of the townspeople we talked to much preferred them to the glitzier and better funded Box Office down the street.  Good for them.  Even in a town of less than seven thousand people, there seems to be room for two very distinct breweries.   Bring in food or ordered it from a delivery service; lots of games, but not lots of room.

A Belgian IPA is a modern invention – and it was invented in the US, not in Belgium.   The Belgians have embraced the style, but we’ve found the Americans manage the hop component better.  This 7% is big enough to not require subtlety and its one of the more interesting beers from these rivals.

The Beer— Fruity with dried flowers.  Chalky and slightly funky with a yeast that echoes Duvel and some of the Abbey Belgian breweries.  A yeast and hop bitter settles in at the back of the palate, but it fades soon enough.

Value —Good.  Standard small brewery taphouse prices.

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.

*Our terminology of an “enthusiast” brewery is one that may not have the most sophisticated brewing equipment and the brewer isn’t a graduate of Weihenstephan or UC Davis brewing schools, but they pursue their passions and turn out beers that make their customers as enthusiastic as they are.   Hats off to ’em.

This week we’re featuring some beers and breweries we’ve found in researching our guide to breweries and inns of the Mid Atlantic, this time on a weekend in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.   Once again we present our standard caveat: only some the beers we describe will be at the brewery if you go there, but they’ll probably have a beer that’s close to the style and if they do one stout well, they’ll probably do others about as well.

 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.”

Beers that got us through the winter: Bull & Barrel Old Bourbon Oak Imperial Old Ale, Brewster, New York

Date:  April 29 ,2019

The Story— If you find yourself driving west on I 84 from Connecticut to New York you’ll pass by Brewster just after you cross the state line on your way to Newburgh.  It’s spitting distance from the interstate, but you’ll need a GPS to guide you through the interchanges.   We haven’t been there, but are eager to go.   We’ve run into several of their beers that have ranged in quality, but we’ve always thought that some of the flaws we’ve found were due far more to distance and packaging than to any trouble in the brewhouse.   This Imperial Old Ale– more impervious to post fermenting issues– further confirmed our opinion.

Bull and Barrel is primarily a brewpub that sells beer to go — and some of that winds up in distribution in the biggest beer stores.   The menu is adventurous and they smoke their own meats.

Brewers take a great deal of liberty with the Old Ale style.  Originally it referred to a stronger than average beer that was partially soured for extra flavor.   Today it’s pretty much what the brewer says it is.   We think this one is pretty legit.

The Beer— Rich deep caramel with plenty of wood.  Toasted caramel. Some hops sneak through and add depth.  Some fruit as it drinks.  Big rich creamy but clean woody flavors.

Value — Good.  Available in 12 ounce cans.

 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.Next week we’ll return to visiting fun places to explore beer — and much more–a different destination each week.   Our beers of the day will feature beers from this wonderfully wet destinations.  For this week, though, we’ll take a quality break and give a shout out to brewers from all over that made the winter a bit warmer.  The upside is that some of these beers may be available in a good beer store near you.

A caveat as always: the vast majorities of craft breweries may have a few beers that are usually available, but their most interesting beers are usual season or one-off brews that we may rave about, but you can’t find.   Our specific beer descriptions, can tell you what sorts of beers the brewery does well; if you don’t find the exact beer on tap, you’ll probably find something similar.

Beers that got us through the winter: Breakside India Pale Ale; Portland, Oregon.

Date:  April 28 ,2019

The Story— This beer took a long journey from Portland, Oregon, to Bethesda, Maryland via Westboro, Mass.   I’m pretty sure it would be brighter closer to the tanks, but there was enough there to still make it one of our better beers this winter.

Breakside operates three breweries in the Portland area.   We suspect that any brewery that can make it in that packed market has to be worth a close look.  Their claim that their brewery has been recognized as one of the best breweries “in the area” says a great deal.   (They’re talking a section of Portland, not the Northwest of the US).

We love IPAs and did our share to popularize them in the East.   But goodness, there are a lot of them now.   the meticulous note taking that we once thought would end up in the Smithsonian seems pointless when there are thousands of IPAs that I know I could not differentiate even with a gun at my head.   Still, this one held up well and stands out for a brilliant combination of hops that leaves it nicely separate from the herd.

“Tastes like vinyl sounds,” about their flagship beer in a market that really is not kind to flagships.  The vinyl probably plays as well in Portland as IPAs and this IPA has a right to its shelf space.   Citra and Chinook keep each other from aggressiveness, but the breadth of Falconer’s Flight and CTZ also keep any one flavor from annoying while providing a satisfying depth of hoppiness.  We’ve gotten really fond of the dankness that many beers show — it’s a step back from fruit juices and echoes the spiciness that big hopped beers used to show.   This one hits the dank button, but includes much more.

The Beer— “Splendorous” hops they say, and they’re right.   The chewy caramel malt is gobsmacked by floral, dank, earthy, oily, and resiny hops.   An edge after its long journey can’t mask the the beauty of the hop orchestra in this IPA.

Value —  Good.   Bombers are expensive, but I’d buy this again.   Breakside is at the top of our list to visit next time we’re in Portland.

 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.Next week we’ll return to visiting fun places to explore beer — and much more–a different destination each week.   Our beers of the day will feature beers from this wonderfully wet destinations.  For this week, though, we’ll take a quality break and give a shout out to brewers from all over that made the winter a bit warmer.  The upside is that some of these beers may be available in a good beer store near you.

A caveat as always: the vast majorities of craft breweries may have a few beers that are usually available, but their most interesting beers are usual season or one-off brews that we may rave about, but you can’t find.   Our specific beer descriptions, can tell you what sorts of beers the brewery does well; if you don’t find the exact beer on tap, you’ll probably find something similar.

Beers that got us through the winter:  Medusa Activate Coffee Porter; Hudson, Massachusetts.

Date:  April 27, 2019

The Story— Medusa’s been around for four years, but you won’t find their beers far from their Hudson, Mass. home.   A large taproom is clearly the foundation for the brewery’s viability, but they’ve started to distribute in the state and we’ve been impressed with their ability to deliver a good product — and one that will hold up more than a few weeks.

English porter brewers of the 19th century would be shocked to see the number of variations on what was then something of a variation in itself.  Americans are nothing if not creative, though, and in this market a coffee porter seems almost staid compared to the Banana Jalapeno Imperial Kolsch you’re likely to find in your beer journeys.

The Beer—  The coffee is in your face from the start, but there’s lots more to it.   By the end the coffee and dark roast are doing a fairly polite two-step with some slightly woody vanilla standing by.  Some brown sugar and some unexpected dandelion join in as it drinks.

Value —  Good to very good.   Nice beer at a pretty common price point.

 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.

Next week we’ll return to visiting fun places to explore beer — and much more–a different destination each week.   Our beers of the day will feature beers from this wonderfully wet destinations.  For this week, though, we’ll take a quality break and give a shout out to brewers from all over that made the winter a bit warmer.  The upside is that some of these beers may be available in a good beer store near you.

A caveat as always: the vast majorities of craft breweries may have a few beers that are usually available, but their most interesting beers are usual season or one-off brews that we may rave about, but you can’t find.   Our specific beer descriptions, can tell you what sorts of beers the brewery does well; if you don’t find the exact beer on tap, you’ll probably find something similar.

Beers that got us through the winter: Duvel Tripel Hop with Experimental Hop Nr. 291. Duvel Moortgat, Puurs, Belgium.

Date:  April 26, 2019

The Story—  When we first started to catalog beers in Europe, we rarely returned to a brewery expecting to find new beers.  Now it’s the rare brewery that doesn’t give us a new look at least once a year.

Duvel was small enough in our early days so that we spent a wonderful afternoon on the porch of the matriarch of the brewer, Miss Moortgat, admiring her prize roosters and drinking her own stock of cellar aged Duvel at one year.  They had only recently given up malting their own barley — there were just enough emerging malt houses that they didn’t have to any more, but it still had the feel of at most a medium sized regional brewery.

It’s now a global player, owning the American funky trio of Ommegang, Boulevard and Firestone-Walker in addition to several breweries that were independent back in the day.   They still brew well, though, and these days, they’re an easy-to-root-for David to Leuven’s AB InBev Goliath.   Hats off to them for seizing one of the newest and most interesting hops on the market this year and framing a version of their beer around them.

We first encountered the Tripel Hop version of the iconic Duvel Ale in 2012 and have had a few since.   It’s very seasonal, and if we’re asleep at the beer store switch, it is gone before we knew it was out.   But we found the 2018 and would have jumped on it even if it had not had an intriguing experimental hop.   But it is a showcase of sorts for Experimental 291, which may or may not by now have a real name.

Hop Breeding Company (HBC) developed this hop in the Yakima Valley an area that has produced some of the immensely fruity new varieties in the last decade.   But HBC291, its current official name, is different, showing some of the terroir, but encompassing the hard-to-describe floral notes of something close to noble German hops as well.   Haas’s blog essentially calls it the first truly American noble hop.

The Duvel Tripel Hop’s aroma shows some of this complexity — Softly fruity with some metal, it also encompasses an herbal quality that sets it apart from many of the Yakima palate shakers.   This is a bucket list beer for serious beer drinkers.  It may not be the “best” beer we tasted this winter, but it is surely one of the very most interesting.

The Beer—  The Duvel brewers talk about the black pepper and lavender that shows up in this beer and they’re not mistaken.  Stone fruit is also in the mix and it all rides on a full bodied, slightly sweet and a remarkably gentle firm rich gold foundation.

Value —  Good, plus.   We’d rate it excellent, but we have a hard time claiming that any beer at five bucks for a third liter bottle in a beer store is a “steal.”   Still, it’s money you need to spend.  Besides at 9.5%, you’re not going to need many.

 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.Next week we’ll return to visiting fun places to explore beer — and much more–a different destination each week.   Our beers of the day will feature beers from this wonderfully wet destinations.  For this week, though, we’ll take a quality break and give a shout out to brewers from all over that made the winter a bit warmer.  The upside is that some of these beers may be available in a good beer store near you.

A caveat as always: the vast majorities of craft breweries may have a few beers that are usually available, but their most interesting beers are usual season or one-off brews that we may rave about, but you can’t find.   Our specific beer descriptions, can tell you what sorts of beers the brewery does well; if you don’t find the exact beer on tap, you’ll probably find something similar.