Thursday, June 9
Jason was in a beer mood and opened a Best Damn Cherry Cola. He took one sip and pawned it off on me.
Appearance: drank from the bottle
Aroma: cherry Mr. Sketch scented marker
Taste: follows smell with artificial sugar and cough medicine aftertaste
Feel: light body, moderate carbonation
Overall: I really think that Best Damn Brewing Co. needs to change their name. I’ve tried two of their products now and they were both terrible.
Friday, June 10
After a slow night at work, a couple of my co-workers and I decided to hang around for a drink or two. Jason concocted this White Peach Sangria with some sort of white wine, peach schnapps, and pineapple juice. I’m not a fan of peach anything, but this was pretty tasty.
Still in the mood for something sweet, I ordered a Malibu Bay Breeze. It’s made with Malibu coconut rum, cranberry juice, and pineapple juice. I am a lover of simple fruity drinks.
Saturday, June 11
My boyfriend, Jason, and I started our day with breakfast at Fraunces Tavern, a bar/restaurant/museum in downtown Manhattan. The building has been around since the early 1700s and acted as a meeting house for revolutionaries during the American Revolution. We like to sit in the Oyster Bar section of the building because of their fantastic beer selection. I had a Founders Rübæus, (tasting notes from 6/8/16) and a dozen raw oysters. Pretty stellar breakfast, if you ask me.
After hopping on the East River Ferry, we stopped at t.b.d. Brooklyn for a drink or two before heading to the Brooklyn Expo Center for Pour The Core:Brooklyn, (a cider festival we were attending later in the day). Feeling a tad bit queasy after the hot ferry ride, we both ordered Bloody Marys.
While walking to Brooklyn Expo Center, Jason spotted a Schöfferhoffer tap handle through a window and insisted we stop for one. The restaurant was a cute little French place called The Brooklyn Label. I’d love to eat there if I’m ever free and in Greenpoint again.
Pour the Core: Brooklyn was a fun time. Jason and I met up with some friends from work. There was a nice mix of ciders that I’ve previously had and things I’ve never tried before. My favourite new-to-me cider was Doc’s Draft Sour Cherry Hard Apple Cider. I didn’t get to try everything, but I did drink enough to make it worth it.
After the cider fest, we went to Roberta’s for pizza. The wait was very long, so we took a walk and decided to grab a drink at Pine Box and Rock Shop. I got a margarita on the rocks. I wasn’t really in much of a drinking mood because it was so hot and muggy, but I feel strange sitting in a bar without a drink.
Sunday, June 12
After a lovely breakfast at a cute little bakery/restaurant, Jason and I headed over to The Hop Shoppe to spend sometime with his brother and his girlfriend. We thought we were going to stay for a drink or two, but we ended up hanging out for a few hours.
I started with a Free Will Cuvee Aigre. Jason’s brother, Mitch, said he had one and thought it was interesting. Being a fan of sours, I had to try it.
Appearance: hazy gold/orange
Aroma: funky, herbal, vanilla, lemon
Taste: barnyard funk, sour, light oak, light fruit, light malt
Feel: effervescent carbonation that fades quickly
Overall: This is like a funky, sour, champagne. It has slightly too much barnyard flavour for me to love, but this isn’t a bad beer.
Jason ordered an Other Half Brewing Styrian Farmhouse. I took a sip, but didn’t take any notes. It’s a hazy yellow/gold colour and very farmhouse. As much as I continue to drink farmhouses, I just don’t like them. This beer did have a decent amount of fruit flavour to balance the wet hay and light manure flavours, but it just wasn’t for me.
The Hop Shoppe has very interesting cocktails on their drink menu. I ordered a Fig Smoke made with El Buho Mezcal, Figenza Vodka, Green Chartreuse, fresh lemon juice, and garnished with a slice of jalapeno. This drink was so smokey and not spicy at all. I don’t think I’d order it again, but it was pretty good.
Jason’s second choice was Evil Twin Brewing Bikini Beer. I liked this one better than the Other Half. I didn’t take notes on this beer either. It is a really good introduction beer for people who don’t drink IPAs. It’s quite mild and is only 2.7% ABV.
Mitch ordered a Stillwater Artisanal Ales On Fleek (13% ABV). We all tasted it. A bit later the waitress came around and asked him how he liked it. Due to his positive response, she gave us another one on the house, which was bestowed upon me since I wasn’t driving.
Appearance: oily black with a thick, bubbly, brown head
Aroma: dark roasted malts, chocolate, coffee, light dark fruit
Taste: roasted malt, black coffee, slightly charred malt, slight sweet upfront, lingering bitterness
Feel: full bodied, medium carbonation
Overall: This is a good beer. You definitely need to be in the mood for it and prepared to drink a 13% beer.
While I was struggling through my On Fleek, Jason ordered a DuClaw eXile X-11 (Mesquite Smoked Brown Ale).
Appearance: dark brown, off white head
Aroma: ashes, molasses, sweet
Taste: very smokey, woody, vanilla, slightly sweet
Feel: medium bodied
Overall: Too smokey for me.
Mitch ordered an Eagle Rock/Flagship Brewery Not Your Bro, Dawg. He had killed the keg of Flagship that was on draft and this special collaboration replaced it.
Appearance: gold
Aroma: earthy/herbal hops, slightly malty
Taste: pine, resin, light grassy hops, citrus
Feel: light bodied
Overall: This was a nice beer. I don’t usually like West Coast IPAs, but this was quite enjoyable. I’d love to have a full glass, but I don’t think I’ll be able to get back to Hop Shoppe before the keg blows.
Monday, June 13
It was my week to bring in beers for the Monday night beer club.Like usual, I chose things that have been sitting in my fridge waiting for me to be in the mood to drink them.
We started with Crispin Steel Town 5th Anniversary. Barrel aged ciders are always interesting to me and I really wanted to drink this even though I was still cider-ed out from Pour the Core on Saturday.
Appearance: slightly hazy gold/orange
Aroma: apples, woody (oak?)
Taste: apples, wine, sweet vanilla, bourbon, port
Feel: light/medium body, low carbonation
Overall: I really loved this cider! Other than the apple, bourbon and vanilla were the first flavours to hit me and the rest fell in nicely behind. This is a fantastic cider. If you have the chance to try it, don’t pass it up.
When I bought this bottle of Allagash Fluxus (2014), it had already been aged a year. I kept wanting to drink this, but was nervous it was going to taste too much like trees since it’s brewed with spruce tips. A year after buying it, I finally decided it was time to drink it.
Appearance: hazy honey-coloured
Aroma: bready, light honey, spruce, floral hops
Taste: very balanced, follows smell, light lemon, very slight pepper
Feel: medium body and carbonation
Overall: Not nearly as scary as I thought it would be. I would have liked to try this beer fresh and compared it to an aged variety to see how the flavour profile changed over time. I feel like the honey wasn’t very strong and spruce was delightfully mellow. Good beer.
The third beer we drank was Grimm Rainbow Dome. Greg was shocked that I brought in a Grimm. They’re not cheap and sought after, at least by the craft beer drinkers on Staten Island. I tend to buy large format bottles and not want to drink them alone, so sharing a good beer with friends is worth the price of the bottle to me.
Appearance: murky orange, kind of reminds me of Sunny D
Aroma: sour, apricot, lemon, funky hops
Taste: follows smell, funkiness overtakes the fruit a bit, acidic, tangy
Feel: medium body, slightly thick, juicy
Overall: I liked this. Pretty good sour taste balanced by fruit and hops.
Tuesday, June 14
Nothing.
Wednesday, June 15
Nothing.
Until next time,
