CulturAle Press

Sometimes We Just Stay Home and Drink: #9: Brewport Seventh Inning Session IPA, Bridgeport, Ct.

Date:  June 6, 2019  —

The Story— We’ve known Brewport’s founder and brewer, Jeff Browning, for many years.  We see him almost every year at the Blue and Gray Beer Convention in Northern Virginia, which started as a can trading show and has evolved into a all-thing-beer event.

Jeff was the brewer that put New Haven’s iconic Bru Room at Bar on the map.  A few years ago he split off to create his own brewery in Bridgeport and has probably done as much as anyone in the business to find and recreate 19th century history in beer form.   He’s one of the most generous people we know — he runs his own hospitality room at Blue and Gray which is a calm respite from the sometimes packed main hospitality room elsewhere.

He’s also a heck of a brewer.   Session IPAs are increasingly popular, but really hard to brew.   The tendency is to play to a hop addicts need for hops without the malt that makes those hops enticing.  Jeff has managed to retain some malt character while still providing a good hop smack in this exceptional SIPA.   At 4.6% it’s a true session– at least in the United States– but it drinks like a true beer.

The Beer– Big flavor! Chewy roast with hops and some husky malts. Herbal with a bit of toast and some slight hop resin.  Herbal with soft toast wraps it up.

Value — Very good.  But also very hard to find.   If you’re anywhere neat Bridgeport, take the detour and grab a pizza while you’re there.

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.

Sometimes we just stay home and drink beer — hundreds of them over the course of the year as we hunt for a new favorite.  The searching for the beer of the day never stops, so for a while, there will be fewer travel-oriented posts and just some to-the-point descriptions of beers we’ve enjoyed.

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.”