Far From India: India Pale Ales in the 21st Century.  Pizza Boy The Huma League; Enola, Pennsylvania

Date:  March 18, 2019

The Story— The northern west coast of the United States is still the source of some of the most respected hops in the world.  But other fields have challenged their near monopoly of flavor in your face hoppiness they held in the late 90s.  Aussies and Kiwis proved that you didn’t have to have a farm within a day’s drive of Portland to produce interesting hops and even Europeans are developing new strains that show complex  fruit and big alpha hops.

For us, though, the big breakthrough has been the return of lupuculture to the American mid-Atlantic.  From new York to Virginia, farmers are rediscovering why that region once led the Americas in hop production.  Some strains still grow wild, but increasingly farmers are realizing they can make more money growing hops for craft breweries than growing kale for millennials.

Pizza Boy Brewery at Al’s of Hampden is a funky wonderful brewery in Enola, Pa., a short drive from Harrisburg.  It sits on the one side of a sharp valley — a comfortable Holiday Inn Express is across the ravine, but please don’t try to walk it.   it used to be a smallish pizza place with a brewery in the lower level, but now it’s a big pizza place with a showcase brewery behind glass at the end of the beer and food hall.   It was always a great stop over; it’s now a destination brewery and tap room.   Almost 100 beers pour from the taps and Pizza Boy is confident enough to put some first class beers from the state and the country alongside the dozens of beers from the on-site brewery.

Terry Hawbaker is a master brewer who put Bullfrog Brewery in Williamsport on the beer geek map decades ago.  He’s a Picasso of sorts – having proved his ability to produce absolutely excellent versions of standard beer styles, he moved on to beers that make women without heads and guitars with disjointed necks seem normal.  But for all his wild and sour wanderings, he still has his touch with the basics, and he has a remarkable ability to find ways to bring the full potential of the the local Pennsylvania hops to fruition in his beers.

On our last visit, he had close to a half dozen beers featuring local hops and every one of them was a winner.  Our feature beer today was not only one of the best of the evening but one of the best of the year.

The Beer—Full malt still gives room for the distinctive and tasty local hops.  These Pennsylvania hops are exceptionally complex: earthy, some musty closet, pine, pineapple and leaf with even a hint of a little black pepper.   Ellie liked how balanced it was for a big beer.

Value — Excellent.  Five bucks for a standard twelve ounce pour of a masterpiece you just can’t get anywhere else.

Note– the 100 taps makes creating sampler trays an impossible task.  You can’t do all of them anyway even with four ounce pours, so take the time to savor an “adult sampler” of a range of third-liter pours.

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.

We return from a St. Paddy’s stout break to our voyage through the incredible variety of IPAs.   The style is by far the biggest seller among craft beers in the US and probably in Europe as well.   Even century-old breweries in Reinheitsgebot-narrowed Germany are brewing IPAs (if the brewer calls it “ale” it doesn’t have to conform to the strict purity law).   But you have to ask these days: What is an IPA”?  We’ll take a look at almost a dozen recognized and semi-recognized styles of IPAs in the next couple of weeks.

 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.”

No Guinness?  Great Stouts for St. Patrick’s Day: Beach Haus Parade Day Irish Style Coffee Stout, Belmar, New Jersey

Date:  March 17 ,2019

The Story— The New Jersey shore teems with tourists in the summer, but in early spring, there’s room in the inns and room at the bar in pubs and breweries.

Beach Haus is a giant shore-brewpub place on a central corner –all glass on 2 sides, 3 stories. When they converted the former bakery to the brewery, they repurposed the wood into rows of massive rustic picnic tables and benches.  It can hold a small army.

It sports 15 taps and offers a new “Test Dept.” beer each Friday.  They freely admit that not all of the 15 are intended to appeal to beer geeks – because brewery tap rooms can’t sell other alcohol, breweries have to make “beers” that appeal to wine and cocktail drinkers.  Nevertheless, Beach Haus does its best brewing for serious beer drinkers.   Lighter lagers pale before their very commendable IPAs and stouts.

We brought back a bottle of their Irish Coffee Stout and tasted it when it was only two weeks old.  featured waves of dark flavors, well-balanced coffee, and just enough hints of fruit and hops to make it interesting.  Meant for St. Patrick’s day, it was almost gone by the end of January.  No wonder.

If you go there, a top tier B&B is the Tandem Bike Inn sits a few blocks away on the way to the beach.  Breweries tap houses must close at 10PM in New Jersey—an attempt to shore up bars that pay vastly higher licensing fees.   When Beach Haus throws you out, walk across the street for a good dinner, acoustic music on some nights and the tasty Beach Haus IPA on tap.

The Beer—    A wave of dark flavors opens with dark malt, dark chocolate, and some dark roast coffee, following along.  Some fruit and a kiss of hops add breadth later.  Black background lasts nicely into a long and inviting aftertaste.  It’s almost good enough to make you forget about wanting to go to Ireland.

Value — Very good.   Ten bucks for a 75cl. big bottle of brewery-fresh happiness.

 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.

St. Patrick’s weekend interruptus:  St. Paddy’s day on a weekend.   What a huge benefit for bars across America!   Even in Ireland, where the holiday was a decidedly small change event until recently has started to embrace the excuse to party.  Most of this month, we’re looking at some of the many “spins” brewers put on IPAs these days.   We have enough, even holding ourselves to no more than two of a style, to range into April.

But it’s Saint Pat’s day and if the Irish still don’t celebrate like we do, Boston is the third largest city in Ireland by population, so here are three stout stouts that deserve a tip of bowler to these gems styled for the emerald isle.

No Guinness?  Great Stouts for St. Patrick’s Day: Rudy Duck Irish Stout, Dowell – Solomon’s Island, Maryland

Date:  March 16 ,2019

The Story—  The Rudy Duck lies across a parking lot from a Hilton Garden Inn.  If you want to go a bit farther along towards town you can stay at a first class B&B: the Solomon Victorian Inn.   The advantages are that you’re right in the heart of the maritime area and every room has a water view.  It’s close to some good seafood restaurants and although the famous (or infamous) Tiki Bar is closed — at least for now– you won’t have trouble finding a beer in town.    [nv; 5Q,2K]

We stay at the HGI for the convenience to the brewery– and because it’s a reliable room and breakfast, often at a very attractive price. The location is very hard to beat. On the other side of the HGI parking lot, the Ruddy Duck is an oasis of fine beer in a somewhat remote part of the Solomon experience

The Ruddy Duck is a bar/restaurant/brewery that is very close to a destination attraction.   An extensive menu of well prepared food keeps your stomach well lined for a full evening of sampling.  And the sampling is well worth the trip.   The Ruddy Duck has had some top tier brewers  over the years — one is now the head brewer at the NoVa standout Port City Brewing.   In our experience they’ve managed to maintain quality.  They brew a wide range of beers mostly well.   Side step the low gravity fruited follies formulated for people who fear beer, but you’re on solid ground choosing traditional styles.  An ordinary British Bitter was one of the best we’ve had in the US and IPAs range from OK to quite good.   This Irish Stout fits the style at 4.7% but you won’t confuse the flavor with Guinness. We’re huge Guinness fans, but when we want Guinness, it isn’t hard to find Guinness in good Irish condition.

The Beer—HEAPS of black patent, ash and a bit of licorice.  Unrelievedly dark.  Roasted unmalted barley and maybe some semi-burned shoe. From Ellie:  I could drink this all night too.

Value —  Very good.  $5.25 for a pint of beer this good is a wonderfully value.

 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.

St. Patrick’s weekend interruptus:  St. Paddy’s day on a weekend.   What a huge benefit for bars across America!   Even in Ireland, where the holiday was a decidedly small change event until recently has started to embrace the excuse to party.  Most of this month, we’re looking at some of the many “spins” brewers put on IPAs these days.   We have enough, even holding ourselves to no more than two of a style, to range into April.

But it’s Saint Pat’s day and if the Irish still don’t celebrate like we do, Boston is the third largest city in Ireland by population, so here are three stout stouts that deserve a tip of bowler to these gems styled for the emerald isle.

Triumph New Hope Irish Dry Stout; New Hope, Pennsylvania

Date:  March 15, 2019

The Story— Triumph was an early player

The Beer—  Creamy full and rich with a slight acrid-lactose pas de deux that the style requires.   Full bodied for 4.9%

Value —

 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.

We’re looking at some of the many “spins” brewers put on IPAs these days.   We have enough, even holding ourselves to no more than two of a style, to range into April.   But it’s Saint Pat’s day, far less celebrated in Ireland than in America.  But heck, Boston is the third largest city of Ireland by population, so here are three stout stouts that deserve a tip of bowler to these three gems styled for the emerald isle.