CulturAle Press

 Pizza Boy Seize the Brae Wet Hopped IPA, Enola, Pa.

Date:  November 12,2018

The Story—  If you’re reading this you’ve gone back through the archives – or are checking us out from London.  Either way, congratulations.

This week we’re highlighting three East Coast Wet Hop ales.  The beauty of the wet hopped beers is that they’re almost always brewed from hops from nearby hop farms — airlifting heavy fresh hops is prohibitively expensive, and although it’s been done, it’s not common.  And it doesn’t have to be since both coasts now produce fine hops.   We’ve gotten to love the hops in New York, Pennsylvania and more recently, Massachusetts.

We’ll have more to say about Pizza Boy — a remarkable stunning surprise of a place in outer Harrisburg, Pa. in upcoming posts.   But here, for starters, is a very nice wet hop beer.  (What’s a wet hop beer? – checking out the next few posts.)

The Beer—  Interesting hops shows pine, lime and a touch of Mr. Clean.  Malt shows some sugar and a suggestion of cotton candy at the end.   It’s a good beer, but not the best beer from Pizza Boy that uses local hops.  Ellie picked up some cucumber and carrots.   I missed those flavors but wasn’t eager to go back and find them.

Value —  Good.  I’d be grateful for this beer at a bar with four taps.  At Pizza Boy there are 99 taps and dozens of their own.   I’d only not have another of this beer because there are so very many others as good or better.

This week we focus on 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 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.