Idle Hands Craft Ales – Edgeworth

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Craft Beer, Malden, Massachusetts, New England, Pilsner

After fully recovering from the lingering effects of my illness a couple of weeks, it was time go forth and try out some new beer again.  I took advantage of a particularly nice day last weekend to swing by my local brewery and grab some provisions. This one also comes with a nice little story; it is inspired by the neighborhood the brewery is a part of and $1 of every sale goes to the restoration of a nearby WWI monument.

Beer Name: Edgeworth

Brewery: Idle Hands Craft Ales (Malden, MA)

Style: Pilsner

ABV: 4.8%

Description: The release notes call it an easy drinking American hoppy pilsner made with 100% American hops and malts that give it a floral aroma and notes of cracker malts and citrus peel.

Appearance: Perfectly see-through pale straw body with a lively white foam head.

Smell: Light cracker malts with a slightly lemony, floral backing.

Taste: Clean and crisp with crackery light malts backed up by a citrus/grapefruit sweetness.  Slightly grainy finish with subdued lemon and floral notes on the very end.

Mouthfeel: Light bodied and somewhat less than moderately carbonated.

Hype: The brewery had some social media buzz around this, but pilsners typically aren’t really where the hype goes these days.

Overall: Light and easy drinking with a nice blend flavor, this was an excellent brew for me to get back in the game with.  I was happy to hear that they plan on canning on this in the future as I would love to have some of these to sit outside with on a warm summer day.

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Book Review: The Last Days of New Paris, by China Mieville

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Book, Book Review, China Mieville, Fiction, Horror, Reading, Surrealism

And now for things to get a bit weird.  This 2016 novel is my second reading from author China Mieville and probably one of the strangest books I’ve read for the blog so far.  

The story takes place in 1950 in an alternate version of Paris.  In this world not only is the war-torn city still occupied by Nazi Germany, but certain events that occured in 1941 have also made it an epicenter of supernatural activity.  Demons, in loose alliance with the Nazis, prowl the streets, while bizarre apparitions called manifs, manifestations of Surrealist art, are springing to life throughout the city with motivations known only to themselves.  The novel follows a young French resistance fighter named Thibaut who has decided to try escaping the city after seeing his resistance cell wiped out.  As he makes his way through the distorted remains of Paris, he teams up with a mysterious American photographer and a massive exquisite corpse, both of whom seem drawn to him as part of some higher purpose.

This was a strange one, but I enjoyed it immensely.  I’ll admit that the concept might sound a bit out there, but the Mieville pulled the story off quite well by maintaining a tight focus on Thibaut’s wanderings.  He didn’t really spend a whole lot of time justifying or explaining the weirdness, opting instead to just throw the reader in and let it flow. Haunting and engaging from the start, I found it very easy to get caught up in the bizarre and often grotesque imagery of this world.  Not knowing a whole lot about the Surrealist movement, I occasionally found myself going on tangents to look up a particular person, concept, or work of art that got referenced and quickly came to enjoy these efforts in their own right. Although the ending was a bit rushed in how quickly it wrapped up the conflicts that emerged, this book was definitely more about the journey than getting sort of resolution, and in that regard it most certainly delivered.

If you’re on the lookout to read something unique and a bit weird, I highly recommend picking this up.  I certainly had a good time with this book and consequently will be adding more from this author to my reading list.

 

Brewmaster Jack – Total Eclipse

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Brewmaster Jack, Craft Beer, Massachusetts, New England, Porter

This is a beer I’ve actually been meaning to review here for quite some time now.  I picked it up for the first time a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it, but missed out on getting it reviewed.  To make matters worse, the beer that took its place was something from the same brewery I didn’t really like all that much.  Time to make amends!

Beer Name: Total Eclipse

Brewery: Brewmaster Jack (Northampton, MA)

Style: Porter

ABV: 6.0%

Description: An American porter brewed with a blend of barley, rye, and oats to impart coffee and chocolate flavors mixed with a touch of lactose sugar.  Read more about it here.

Appearance: Smooth black body with a thin tan head.

Smell: Creamy and sweet, with hints of rye on the end.

Taste: Started out with creamy, rich dark malts that carried into a smooth blend of rye and grain mid-sip.  Subtle light roast coffee came in for the finish

Mouthfeel: Slick, smooth less than medium body with low carbonation.

Hype: Not much for the rest of the world, but as I said in the intro I was on a personal mission to see this brew reviewed here.

Overall: Smooth and flavorful, this is now one of my favorite porters. The rye added a nice extra dimension to the near perfect balance of roast and cream.  Recommended.

Harpoon Brewery – The Craic

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Boston, Craft Beer, Harpoon Brewery, Massachusetts, New England, Red IPA

As soon as I saw this hit the shelves in early March I knew I had found my St. Patrick’s Day brew.  Unfortunately, illness intervened and I instead spent the day recovering from a terrible stomach bug.  This review is based on notes I took from the “research” bottle I opened up last week.  I’m not quite ready yet to start thinking about drinking beer again just yet, but did want to wish you all a belated Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Beer Name: The Craic

Brewery: Harpoon Brewery (Boston, MA)

Style: Irish Red IPA

ABV: 6.9%

Description: Listed on the brewery website as a combination of a toasty Irish Red Ale and a citrusy IPA, the given inspiration behind this was extend the St. Patrick’s Day spirit to last an entire season.  Sounds admirable enough to me and at $9.99 six-pack this was relatively easy on the wallet as well.

Appearance: Surprisingly see-through coppery red body topped by a bubbly layer of off-white foam.

Smell: Sweet and toasted malts with a piney/grapefruit bitterness on the backend.

Taste: True to the description, there was a steady presence of toasted malts throughout the brew, though they were most prominent at the very beginning and end of the sip.  About mid-sip a citrusy sweetness appeared just ahead of a wave of bitterness highlighted by grapefruit and earthy hops. The hops and toasted malt lingered slightly after finishing the sip.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with a moderate level of carbonation.

Hype: Despite their history and longevity Harpoon doesn’t get a ton of attention in the local beer scene, at least in what I refer to as the enthusiast community.  I personally had some high hopes for this quietly being a standout brew since Harpoon’s sadly retired Red Squared and Celtic Red were two of the beers that opened up my eyes to Red IPAs.

Overall: My final verdict on this is pretty good, with bonus points for price.  The interplay of toasted malt and earthy hops wasn’t my ideal profile for the style, but that said I’ll have no problems finishing off the six-pack once I am back up to full strength.

 

Funky Bow Brewery and Beer Company – Panama Red

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Beer, Beer Review, Craft Beer, Funky Bow Brewery, Maine, New England, Red IPA

Despite the stubborn tenacity of wintry weather in my area, it seems that my preferences in beer are gradually drifting away from big stouts for the time being.  Looks like hoppy red ales are becoming my go to style of late-winter/early spring.

Beer Name: Panama Red Ale

Brewery: Funky Bow Brewery and Beer Company (Lyman, Maine)

Style: Red Ale

ABV: 7.5%

Description: Listed as a red ale brewed to provide a balance of bready caramel malts and Centennial hops.  Read all about here on the brewery website.

Appearance: Poured a murky, deep-red/amber body with light tan foam up top. Some sediment could be seen floating in the glass.

Smell: Sweet caramel malt on top of a sticky hop bitterness.

Taste: Started out with a solid backbone of creamy caramel malts combined with a slight bit of citrus sweetness on the edges.  The finish brought on a slightly more than moderate amount of bitterness in the form of grapefruit and a blend of spicy and floral hops.  A mild hop presence and crackery malt tastes lingered a for a few seconds post-sip.

Mouthfeel: Medium-plus body with a roughly moderate amount of carbonation.

Hype: Another situation where any hype involved was more of a personal thing.  I’ve officially started hunting down red IPAs again and the guy in the beer store mentioned this was a good one.

Overall: I was quite pleased with this one.  Although I tend to prefer piney hops with my caramel malts, this particular blend of floral hops really worked for me.  Definitely going to seek out more.

Book Review: Armada, by Ernest Cline

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Armada, Book, Book Review, Ernest Cline, Reading, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction

Back into science fiction we go!  Published in 2015, this is the second novel from author Ernest Cline and the follow-up to his highly successful Ready Player One (the movie adaptation of which hits theaters at the end of March).

Zack Lightman is a seventeen year-old gamer living in a small town in Oregon.  One day while drifting off in class, he looks out the window and sees a spaceship from Armada, his favorite online game, hovering in the sky.  He soon comes to discover that the game is actually a secret government training program and that it, in conjunction with nearly every major American science fiction work of the last 40 years, has been designed to prepare humanity for eventual contact with hostile alien forces.  As one of Armada’s top players, Zack is recruited to an elite force that will lead the fight against the coming alien invasion.

Honestly, I have to say that I was incredibly disappointed by this book.  In theory this was something I should have loved, especially considering how much I liked Cline’s previous novel, but sadly that was not the case.  Sure my brain fired off all the requisite happy little tics associated with catching references to our shared fandoms, but stylistically this book leaned far too heavily on its myriad of geek cultural references and appeals to nostalgia for its own good.  I love references to things like Dune and Star Wars as much as the next guy (perhaps even more so since I noticed the author mistakenly referred to A-Wings being present at the Battle of Yavin), but this story lacked any substance beyond such references.  It too often read like a literal listing of the author’s favorite things and about halfway through started getting cringe-worthy. Plot-wise the story didn’t offer anything new or exciting beyond being a mashup of Ender’s Game and The Last Starfighter and even that felt lessened by Zack giddily considering these possibilities at length.  As for the characters, they were all essentially the same person (or even Ready Player One characters for that matter), all sharing a near-obsessive interest in the exact same movies, games, books, TV shows, and music as each other despite significant differences in nationality, age, and gender.  This in particular felt like a missed opportunity as I think it would have been fun to look at how a diverse set of fandoms would intersect in this world. Alas, that was not to be.

Alright, I’ve said my piece and will stop beating up on this now, though I will say that something about letting all that out felt cathartic.  I think what bothered me the most after this reading was the feeling that this was more an uninspired, or even worse cynical, effort to sell me my own nostalgia rather than an attempt to offer entertainment. It just felt way too similar to the author’s previous book and not nearly as well executed.  Suffice to say this one was not for me and I would not recommend it, even to folks like myself who fit squarely within its target demographic.

Mayflower Brewing Company – X

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Craft Beer, Massachusetts, Mayflower Brewing Company, New England, Stout

I made it a mission of mine to make sure I got a chance to try this.  Though they don’t always generate the most hype in the Massachusetts brewing scene, Mayflower consistently puts out some amazing beer and I had to see what they did to celebrate a major anniversary.

Beer Name: X

Brewery: Mayflower Brewing Company (Plymouth, MA)

Style: Imperial Stout

ABV: 11.0%

Description: An Imperial Stout brewed in honor of Mayflower’s 10th anniversary.  Apparently it’s their largest beer brewed to date!

Appearance: Dark cola brown/black body topped by a thin tan head that cleared out very quickly after pour.

Smell: Creamy and sweet, with slight hints of roast and heat on the end.

Taste: Creamy sweetness upfront, with lots of dark malt and chocolate.  Stayed on the sweet side throughout but turned towards caramel and faint light roast coffee on the finish with some moderate heat mixed in.  Heat level slowly intensified as the beer sat.

Mouthfeel: Thick bodied with a minimal amount of carbonation.

Hype: This made the rounds on social media postings from various local bottle shops I follow, but overall the hype was low-key in the sense that I had no problem going out and picking this up.  That said, this brewery has a solid reputation with many Massachusetts beer drinkers and I jumped at the chance to try out their big anniversary offering.

Overall: An excellent straight up Imperial Stout and a very worthy anniversary release.  Definitely check this out if you come across it.

Off Color Brewing – Coffee Dino S’mores

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Chicago, Craft Beer, Off Color Brewing, Stout

Although I haven’t had this particular variant before, I do have some very fond memories of its base beer from a festival I attended a few years ago.  Needless to say, I was pretty excited when bottles of this hit my area a few weeks ago.

Beer Name: Coffee Dino S’mores

Brewery: O (Chicago, IL)

Style: Russian Imperial Stout

ABV: 10.5%

Description: Per the website, the Imperial Stout at the base of this beer was brewed with graham flour, marshmallow fluff, vanilla, and cocoa nibs.  The coffee influence came two types of beans; one that added floral and citrusy notes and another for chocolate sweetness and body.

Appearance: Black body with a thin tan head.

Smell: Rich dark malt, mellow marshmallow sweetness, and fresh light roast coffee.

Taste: Rich dark malt and vanilla upfront, followed by a layer of bittersweet chocolate.  Gradually transitioned towards medium to light roast coffee and a marshmallow sweetness.  The finish was moderately boozy and swirled all the various flavors into one complete package.  Not entirely unlike a slightly roasty, boozy s’more served up with coffee.

Mouthfeel: Thick, full body with low carb nation.

Hype: Elevated.  There was much fanfare when this hit the Boston area and I was very curious to see if it would live up to my memories of an all too brief first encounter.

Overall: I really, really liked this.  An excellent big stout for those that enjoy the extra flavors, I happily savored this on a cold evening.  It’s not something I’d want a lot of at once, indeed the 12 oz bottle was probably the ideal amount, but I’d readily seek this out again.

Solemn Oath Brewery – Death by Viking

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Craft Beer, Illinois, Solemn Oath Brewery, Viking

Sometimes a beer just catches your eye.  I wasn’t necessarily looking for a huge Double IPA when I found this, but when I saw this one I couldn’t resist.

Beer Name: Death by Viking

Brewery: Solemn Oath Brewery (Naperville, IL)

Style: Double IPA

ABV: 10.0%

Description: Described by the brewers as blending rich caramel malts and ferocious onslaught of bitterness and hops.

Appearance: Poured to a slightly cloudy golden/amber body with a full bubbly head of white foam.

Smell: Fruity upfront, followed by a muted pine bitterness and boozy finish.

Taste: Sweet combination of light and caramel malts upfront joined by grapefruit and subtle citrus notes.  It then took on some moderate to assertive bitterness from a mixture of piney and earthy hops before coming to a malty, boozy, and slightly hoppy ending.  Strong and flavorful.

Mouthfeel: Medium-plus body with moderate carbonation.

Hype: None that I was particularly aware of.  It was the last can of its kind on the shelf and I soon as I made eye contact with that Viking I knew it was mine.

Overall: There are a lot of beers out there these days with crazy, attention grabbing names, but I would have to say that this one definitely lived up to its label.  This was one hard core brew, more of a hoppy strong ale than a double IPA, that made me think of it as some sort of hybrid between Stone’s Double Bastard Ale and Dogfish Head’s 120 Minute.  Sweet, boozy, and packed with hops this beer is not for the faint at heart.  I liked it, and would probably get it again given the chance, but it’s not the kind of thing you just casually break out on a work night.

Pipeworks Brewing Company – Close Encounters

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Chicago, Craft Beer, Pipeworks Brewing Company

Continuing my adventures in non-standard IPAs, it had been a while since I last had a Black IPA.  The style seemed like it was really popular around the time I was getting into beer several years and then fell off shortly thereafter.  Not only did this beer give me a chance to revisit a style I once really enjoyed, I’d like to hope I made Captain Kirk proud as well.

Beer Name: Close Encounters

Brewery: Pipeworks Brewing Company (Chicago, IL)

Style: Black IPA

ABV: 6.0%

Description: The can called it a meeting of rich roasted malt and aggressive hops.

Appearance: Black body with bubbly tan head.

Smell: Citrus fruit and pine resin, with undertones of roasted dark malts.

Taste: Citrusy sweetness enhanced by piney hops and a subtle backing of dark malts.  The finish brought on a bit of roasted coffee then blended nicely with the opening flavors.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with a fairly moderate level of carbonation.

Hype: None that I was aware of.  This brewery now gets pretty regular distribution in my area now and Black IPAs aren’t really trendy these days amongst hardened beer seekers,

Overall: I really enjoyed this and thought it was very tasty.  It offered a great blend of flavors and was a nice throwback to some of the brews that got me into beer in the first place.  Definitely recommend and definitely something I’d drink again when I get the chance.