Brewing All Stars #14: Pitt Street Articles of War Double IPA, Greenville, NC

Date:  August 2 , 2019  —

The Story— We talked about Greenville, NC in yesterday’s post.  The best beer bar in town is Winslow’s Tavern, but the best brewery is Pitt Street.   A spacious high-roofed brewery with a big tasting area draws an appreciative local crowd to its dozen or so taps and good range of beers.   I thought this “big hammer” double IPA is better than most; Ellie thought it was good, but not special.   Sometimes, though, we need to stop and realize we’re in <Greenville, NC> for crying in the pitcher.  How wonderful is it to have a brewery this good in almost anyplace you wind up staying these days?  In 1992 we would have rated this one of the best hundred breweries in the country — and we’d have been right.   It’s still easily one of the top hundred beers in eastern North Carolina and these days that’s actually something of a distinction.

The Beer-Huge fruit aroma and the beer swerves from deep tropical fruit to earth dank and back again.  Something of a meld with a fruit-earthiness at the end with a dank overlay.  Nice full bitter

Value —  Good.  Few brewery taps give away beer at bargain prices — the greater margin they make by selling beer at more or less the going rate at the source is why so many of them are doing pretty well.  Give thanks, shut up, and pay the money.

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.

It’s All-Star season.  MLB has finished theirs, but it seems like a new sport is showcasing exceptional talent almost every day.  So we’ll be presenting our own all-star brewing line up.  We don’t claim to present– or even know– what the best beers in America are, but out of the hundred or so that we taste every month, some are indeed special.   For the second couple of weeks in July, we’ll share some recent standouts in  a very crowded craft beer field. .

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.”

Brewing All Stars #13: Wicked Weed Pernicious IPA, Asheville, NC

Date:  August 1 , 2019  —

The Story—  Wicked Weed is a boundary pushing brewery that AB-InBev bought to help them understand about boundary pushing.   Fortunately, they seem to have left the creative brewers pretty much alone and like the original Goose Island brewery in Chicago, good beer still flows from this Asheville icon.

We tasted the beer at Winslow’s Tavern in Greenville, NC.   If you get really sick in the eastern part of the tar heel state, you’re likely to wind up in Greenville which hosts a massive teaching hospital with some of the most respected health care on the east coast.   If you’re lucky enough not to be checked in, but are visiting someone who is, you have some good drinking options when visiting hours are over.

A couple of brew pubs are… a couple of brew pubs.   They’re fine, but pretty close to what you have within 10 miles of wherever you live.  The beer gem of the city, though, is Winslow’s Tavern a, rambling drinkery that’s part bar, part taphouse, part beer store and part restaurant.  It does pretty well at all of these.   Perhaps one of the best bargain drinking experiences in the state comes from their take out coolers — you can get cans and bottles at reasonable take out prices…. and drink them in.

The Beer–  Rich malt, big hops.  Clean pale 2-row malt with a spicy herbal broad-ranging fruit that blends and resolves as “just plain hoppy.” Slightly sticky as it drinks gives an additional nod to the hops and sit well as it drinks.

Value —  Very good to excellent.   Five and a quarter for an honest pint at Winslow’s. Expect to pay more elsewhere.

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.

It’s All-Star season.  MLB has finished theirs, but it seems like a new sport is showcasing exceptional talent almost every day.  So we’ll be presenting our own all-star brewing line up.  We don’t claim to present– or even know– what the best beers in America are, but out of the hundred or so that we taste every month, some are indeed special.   For the second couple of weeks in July, we’ll share some recent standouts in  a very crowded craft beer field. .

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.”

Brewing All Stars #12: SweetWater 420 Strain G13, Atlanta, Ga.

Date:  July 31 , 2019  —

The Story—  Part 2 of SweetWater:  Their flagship ale is a Dry pale ale called 420.  420 is a no longer secret code involving marijuana.   Thousands of pot heads light up at 4:20 on April 20th every year.  A good many myths surround the the origin of the term, but the truth is that a few pot smoking athletes in San Rafael, California rendezvoused at 4:20 PM — after practice– to hunt a supposed pot field abandoned by a member of the Coast Guard who had been transferred.  They never found the field, but somehow their term for pot hunting got to the Grateful Dead and from there to most of the globe.

The G13 refers to the way this IPA mimics the G13 strain of marijuana.  Frankly we wouldn’t know from personal experience–yet– but pot smoking friends have identified a range of hops for us that mimic the aromas of marijuana pretty closely.

Ellie and I agree more often than not on what makes a good beer.  I’m more tolerant of sours, if they’re really good, and she’s more fond of dark chewy beers than I am, but even in those groups, our ratings are usually close.   no so with the really dank IPAs of late, however.   I love ’em.  Ellie tolerates them.  This beer is one of those — OK by her, great by me.  So there we are — you try it and decide.  It’s not all that hard to find in the SweetWater distribution region.

The Beer–  Chewy, slightly creamy rich malt, but then WHAM– the dank hits early and never lets go.  Herbal and oily and manky in  really nice way.  Some stone fruit and pils malts show before  along bitter with a manky back of the closet dankness that leaves Ellie looking for the door and me looking for the couch.

Value —  Good to very good.   Five and a quarter for a 13 ounce “pint” at the Carolina Ale House in Greenville, North Carolina.

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.

It’s All-Star season.  MLB has finished theirs, but it seems like a new sport is showcasing exceptional talent almost every day.  So we’ll be presenting our own all-star brewing line up.  We don’t claim to present– or even know– what the best beers in America are, but out of the hundred or so that we taste every month, some are indeed special.   For the second couple of weeks in July, we’ll share some recent standouts in  a very crowded craft beer field. .

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.”

Brewing All Stars #11: SweetWater, the Woodlands, Sinner’s Son Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout with Coffee; Atlanta, Ga.

Date:  July 30 , 2019  —

The Story— SweetWater is one of the most creative breweries in the east.   That’s usually an indication that a bottle purchase comes with a degree of risk.  and so it is, but with SweetWater the hits outnumber the strikeouts by a pretty wide margin.   A coffee bourbon barrel aged Imperial Stout is right in their wheelhouse.   It’s a “Big Hammer” beer — (if the peg doesn’t fit…) that’s pretty hard to mess up, but still, it deserves respect for the time energy and wood they poured into this sipper.

The Beer– Very rich with big bourbon flavors that go beyond the vanilla.   Lots of roast and bakers chocolate with dark chocolate.  Herbal notes join the coffees the coffee and both ride on the sideboards as it rollicks down a woody road as it drinks.

Value —  Good.  The half liter bottle seems to give a share-able pour at a touch less bread than the 22 ounce bottle.

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.

It’s All-Star season.  MLB has finished theirs, but it seems like a new sport is showcasing exceptional talent almost every day.  So we’ll be presenting our own all-star brewing line up.  We don’t claim to present– or even know– what the best beers in America are, but out of the hundred or so that we taste every month, some are indeed special.   For the second couple of weeks in July, we’ll share some recent standouts in  a very crowded craft beer field. .

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.”

Brewing All Stars #10: Tall Tales Hood – India Pale Ale, Parsonsburg, Maryland

Date:  July 29 , 2019  —  This post is in progress.  Return soon for it.  In the meantime, click “more reviews” below to see our most recent “Beer of the Day” posts.

The Story— Tall Tales is a brewery you want to root for, but fear for.  It’s off of Route 50 on an easy-to-miss small road close, but not close enough, to Salisbury, Maryland.   But Yea! for the underdogs- they’ve done well and now you can find their beers far from home in suburban DC.  It’s still worth the effort to go there, however.  The core bar area is as inviting as ever, but the outside bar has more than expanded and opens up on a wonderland of garden fantasies.   Oh… and the beers are still really good.

The Beer– Lots of hop-induced fruit — ripe and dried fruit with some edible flowers on a full and firm malt foundation.  Ends with a bit of nice peppery spice.  Ellie thought the booze got in the way, but at 7.4% it’s withing specs for an American IPA.

Value — Very good: an honest pint for five bucks.

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.

It’s All-Star season.  MLB has finished theirs, but it seems like a new sport is showcasing exceptional talent almost every day.  So we’ll be presenting our own all-star brewing line up.  We don’t claim to present– or even know– what the best beers in America are, but out of the hundred or so that we taste every month, some are indeed special.   For the second couple of weeks in July, we’ll share some recent standouts in  a very crowded craft beer field. .

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.”