A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to snag a few of Heady Topper and Sip of Sunshine while visiting Burlington on a work day trip. After posting the head-2-head comparison photo below (well enjoyed with BBQ I might add!), we had started a social media war that could have nearly taken down the Internet. Our Instagram and Facebook accounts are still recovering from the war!
1 Industrial Way is the premier beer location in Maine, if not all of the Northeast. Located in Portland, Maine, this address has been home to many of Maine's well renowned breweries. Maine Beer Company and Rising Tide Brewing have both taken residence here. Bissell Brothers Brewing Company called this address home until very recently. Bissell's departure was fortuitous for Foundation Brewing by allowing them to expand their operation into the adjacent space.
Hudson, NY, is a quaint town in the heart of the Hudson Valley. Full of unique art galleries and a huge collection of both modern and antique furniture shops, Hudson is highly recommended for a weekend day (or two day!) trip. The addition of Hudson Brewing Company just makes this downtown even more attractive. Located on Front St. just across from the Amtrak station, it is both accessible and delicious.
I’ll go ahead and give away the punchline: Go to Tree House. Stand in line. Max out on growlers and cans. Repeat regularly. We knew all week we were going to go on Saturday, so we constantly stalked the website each day that week to see what was available and what was selling out.
Living in the North-East, I consider myself extremely fortuitous to always be within a stone's throw of an enormous number of quality local breweries and brew pubs. In New York's capital district, I sometimes feel that there is a new brewery opening every week. Now while I'll confess not every pint I've tasted is at the very top of it's game and blows-away everyone of our unique palettes, there are many gems that shine through as a clear product of one's passion for the art of brewing
We haven't focused on posting individual beer reviews (yet!), but I had to take a second to say that you MUST seek out Hill Farmstead's Excursion #3. It's a very light (quite literally...very pale yellow) and refreshing IPA that is perfect for the summer. A lot of IPAs of this style are using Citra hops to bring out an orange/tangerine citrus flavor, but the Excursion #3 uses Equinox hops, which I attribute to the lemony aroma and taste.
When doors opened in 2012, in what used to be a run-down alley in Saratoga, NY, Druthers Brewing Company quickly became the most popular brew pub of the region. Brewing a wide variety of styles from their All-In IPA to the Druthers Dry Stout, there's a tasty beverage for everyone's unique palette. But it's not just their in-house beers drawing all the attention. Bringing a combination of their award winning craft brewing expertise with their spin on upscale pub food it's no wonder Druthers instantly transformed into one of the busiest places downtown.
There is no doubt Mitch helped solidify Stone's legacy in the craft beer world. I look forward to hearing more about his next brewing chapter! Cheers to new opportunities! More information can be found on Stone's YouTube page...
I heard about The Real McCoy Beer Co several months ago, and have been stalking their Facebook page awaiting the next day they were open so that I could go check them out. The brewery is in a nondescript old auto body shop a few blocks from Delmar's Four Corners. There is a small taproom, albeit no tables. Although Facebook said two Pale Ales were on tap, only the Warehouse Pale Ale (hoppy wheat/pale) was still flowing.
There are few things that make me excited about craft beer as when tap takeovers from local breweries happen at our favorite bars. In celebration of American Craft Beer week, Common Roots (Glens Falls, NY) took over 7 taps at The Ruck (Troy, NY) on Wednesday night. We ended up trying 4 Common Roots beers in the pale/IPA categories (including a special Ruck-Common Roots collaboration IPA which turned out to be our favorite!) and 2 other IPAs from elsewhere.
It’s no secret that Belgium has one of the deepest rooted beer cultures in beer history. In fact, it’s hard to find a “best beers of the world” list without seeing many fine Trappist beers on the list. The Westvleteren Brewery at the Abbey of St. Sixtus repeatedly has brews ranked as the world’s best beer. I thought what better way to start a beer blog than to tell the story of how I was fortunate enough to go to the Abbey and get some.
Long before the HopGurus took to the Internet (at least in this forum), we've long shared our love of beer amongst our core team of beer lovers. Hidden among our collective group emails contains literally thousands of different tasting notes we've shared over the years. These emails broadly fall into a few categories...