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Tag Archives: Craft Beer

Idle Hands Craft Ales – Essential Premium Lager

29 Friday May 2020

Posted by mrericness in Beer Reviews

≈ 4 Comments

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Beer, Beer Review, Craft Beer, Idle Hands Craft Ales, Massachusetts, New England

Checking in again on another fine day with a brew we picked up at Idle Hands.  

Beer Name: Essential Premium Lager

Brewery: Idle Hands Craft Ales (Malden, MA)

Style: Lager

ABV: 5.0%

Description: Intentionally brewed to channel the subdued, easy drinking experience of a macro lager, this beer was intended to be enjoyed with “sunny days and outdoor adventures.”

Appearance: It poured to a clear, bubbly pale yellow body.

Smell: Subtle hints of pale malt and sweetness, but not a whole lot to report in this department.

Taste: Crisp and clean with mild tastes of pale malt and yeast stop a subtle sweetness.

Mouthfeel: Light bodied and bubbly.

Hype: None really, but it was nice to have a fresh, easy drinking beverage on hand.

Overall: Immensely satisfying and exactly as advertised.  Definitely a welcomed addition to the fridge this past holiday weekend.

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Idle Hands Craft Ales – Time Enough at Last

18 Monday May 2020

Posted by mrericness in Beer Reviews

≈ 1 Comment

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Beer, Beer Review, Craft Beer, Idle Hands Craft Ales, Massachusetts

My wife and I braved the outside world this past weekend and swung by the no contact pickup station at Idle Hands, our friendly neighborhood brewery.  One of the centerpieces of our order was this wonderfully named lager that drew its inspiration from a classic Twilight Zone episode I’ve been thinking about a lot lately.

Beer Name: Time Enough at Last

Brewery: Idle Hands Craft Ales (Malden, MA)

Style: Czech-style Amber Lager

ABV: 5.1%

Description: Listed as a clean lager that pays tribute to Czech brewing traditions, I couldn’t in my admittedly limited searching find out what that means exactly, but was willing to just go with it.  This is the sort of thing the brewery tends to do quite well.

Appearance: Poured a clearish amber/copper body with a resilient and foamy beige head.  A steady stream of small bubbles trickled up the glass throughout the experience.

Smell: Toasty malt backed by a mild toffee sweetness.

Taste: Solid nutty, toasted malt backbone with notes of bread and a toffee presence that added a bit of sweetness.  It closed with a creamy culmination of the previous flavors, with just a slight hint of fruity sweetness added to the mix.

Mouthfeel: Smooth, medium-plus body with less than moderate carbonation.

Hype: No real hype I suppose, but it sure was nice to get some beer direct from a brewery again!  I honestly wasn’t really sure what to expect from the style, but the name made me want to love it.

Overall: I liked this a lot. Flavorful and easy drinking, it was a bit more robust that your typical warm weather lager but without the heaviness of something bigger.  This beer was a winner for sure and I kind of wish we got more than just a single four pack.

Idle Hands Craft Ales – Bluma

16 Thursday May 2019

Posted by mrericness in Beer Reviews

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Beer, Beer Review, Craft Beer, Idle Hands Craft Ales, Malden, Massachusetts

Checking in from the better late than never department here at BeerRantsAndBooks headquarters, I enjoyed this next beer at the annual Idle Hands Maifest event two weekends ago.  It was an outdoor, all ages (at least until 6:00) happening that featured polka bands, food trucks, games, and, of course some great beer! Fortunately the rain held off that that day and the family was able to spend some much needed time outdoors for a couple of hours.

Beer Name: Bluma

Brewery: Idle Hands Craft Ales (Malden, MA)

Style: Maibock

ABV: 7.1%

Description: Listed here as a sweet, bready lager with some spicy herbal notes and citrusy hop finish.

Appearance: Poured to a cloudy light orange body with a thin, slightly off-white head.

Smell: Light blend of sweet and bready malts.

Taste: Some sweetness to start, followed by bready malts and very subtle notes of lager yeast.  The finish brought on mild hints spicy and floral hops that mingled nicely into the aforementioned malts.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.

Hype: I figured this was would at least be something pretty solid to make it the star of the event.  It’s not really a style that people line up for, but this is also the kind of beer that Idle Hands typically nails.

Overall: I enjoyed this and found it to be a great beer for drinking outside in a festival atmosphere.  Nice clean malt profile and perhaps a little sneaky at 7%!

Game of Thrones: Trinity Brewhouse – Samwell Tartly

13 Monday May 2019

Posted by mrericness in Beer Reviews

≈ 3 Comments

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Beer, Beer Review, Craft Beer, Game of Thrones, Providence, Samwell Tarly, Trinity Brewhouse

With the penultimate episode now in behind us, it seems like a good time to lighten things up a bit (no pun intended).  I actually came across this next beer by complete chance while out with the family for Mother’s Day dinner.

Beer Name: Samwell Tartly

Brewery: Trinity Brewhouse (Providence, RI)

Style: Kettle Sour

ABV: 3.7%

Description: Kettle Sour brewed with raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries.  Named, of course, for Samwell Tarly – the loveable Night’s Watchman and scholar.

Appearance: It arrived with a murky, red/dark grapefruit colored body with a thin line of white foam across the top.

Smell: Lightly tart with a very subtle funk on the end.

Taste: Very sweet with a tart berry background.  The berries definitely came through loud and clear and this one, with plenty of raspberry, strawberry, and blackberry on display.  There was a bit of cream and light funk in the background.

Mouthfeel: The body was a bit thicker than I thought it would be with a light bump of carbonation on the finish.

Hype: I had no idea this beer even existed until I saw the beer list.  Once I saw the the name I had to order it.

Overall: It good, though not something I was particularly excited by.  I’m not really into this style all that much anymore so I’m sure that plays a role here as well.  Light tasting with a huge berry presence, this would be very well suited to a sweltering hot day or on ice at the beach.

Aslin Beer Company – Pew Pew Pew

04 Saturday May 2019

Posted by mrericness in Beer Reviews

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Aslin Beer Company, Beer, Beer Review, Craft Beer, Pew Pew Pew, Triple IPA

Happy Star Wars Day and May the Fourth (and the Force) be with you!  I’d originally planned something a bit more epic for today, but an insanely busy work week made me have to put that idea on the shelf for next year.  Luckily I had a pretty epic beer to help save the day! I’ll admit that it’s a bit of a tangent, but it’s what I’ve got.

Beer Name: Pew Pew Pew

Brewery: Aslin Beer Company (Hendon, VA)

Style: Triple IPA

ABV: 12.8%

Description: According to the brewers, this huge triple IPA was brewed using “copious” amounts of their favorite hops: Citra, Mosaic, and Galaxy.

Appearance: Served on draft, it arrived with a somewhat cloudy, golden/orange-amber body topped by a bubbly white head.

Smell: Sticky sweet, with some warm resiny bitterness on the end.

Taste: Huge pineapple/tropical fruit taste that blended smoothly into piney, resinous hops and a solid sweet malt base.  The finish had a bit of heat from the alcohol, but on the whole this was dangerously drinkable given the ABV.

Mouthfeel: Thick, creamy body with below-moderate carbonation.

Hype: Other than seeing a cool name and thinking I’ve heard good things about the brewery I did not know much of anything about this brew going in.

Overall: Loved this!  There was an excellent blend of sweetness between the fruity opening and steady malt base that combined perfectly with the not-quite aggressive bitterness.  Amazing balance going on here that made this way too easy to drink for such a potent beverage. I’ll be keeping my eyes out for this one (as well as anything else the brewery may have out my way).

Collective Arts Brewing & Moon Dog Craft Brewery – Origin of Darkness (Black Truffles)

29 Monday Apr 2019

Posted by mrericness in Beer Reviews

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Collective Arts Brewing, Craft Beer, Guest Post, Moon Dog Craft Brewery, Truffles

It’s my wife’s birthday today and to help celebrate the occasion she gets the honor of writing the first guest review to appear on my blog!  I made a few edits here and there to translate her thoughts into my posting format, but otherwise the tasting notes below are entirely hers. In the spirit of full disclosure, I myself gave up on this beer after the first sip, but she powered on through it and at the end of the glass insisted that I tell the people.  This one’s for her!  Note, I gave up on this one before even snapping a pic, so here’s the bottle art I found on the brewery website: 

Beer Name: Origin of Darkness

Brewery: Collective Arts Brewing (Hamilton, Ontario) and Moon Dog Craft Brewery (Abbotsford, Victoria, Australia)

Style: Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout w/ Black Truffles            

ABV: 11.5%

Description: Part of an ongoing series of collaboration brews Collective Arts has running with breweries across the world.  For this release they paired with Moon Dog Craft Brewery and found inspiration from Australian cuisine, opting to age their Origin of Darkness Stout in bourbon barrels along with black truffles.  More details are here.

Appearance: Dark like the night with little head.

Smell: It reeks of earthy black truffles.

Taste: If you gulp past the initial rush of mushrooms, all you taste is a lovely sweet bourbon barrel stout.  The moment you finish the sip peel your lips away from the glass, however, that all-consuming earthy, mushroom-tastic presence returns at full force.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied and smooth.

Hype: No idea.

Overall: Drinkable*. Stinky. If you hate mushrooms, you will hate this. If you like mushrooms but hate stinky things, avoid this. If you are passionate in your love for all things truffle, devour this.

*Note: “Drinkable” is used here in a much more literal sense than how I typically apply the term.  I typically use it to mean relaxing and easy, though here she means only that the beer is capable of being drunk.

And there you have it, the first ever BeerRantsAndBooks guest review!  Again, I wanted absolutely nothing to do with this beer after finding the HUGE truffle completely overwhelming before I even managed my first sip, so congrats to my wife for taking one for the team to prepare this.  I’ll have something tastier to share with you all next time (I hope).

Schmaltz Brewing Company – Star Trek Mirror Universe: Terrans Unite!

25 Thursday Apr 2019

Posted by mrericness in Beer Reviews

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Beer, Beer Review, Craft Beer, Lager, Schmaltz Brewing Company, Sci-Fi, Star Trek, TOS

The moment I saw this beer I knew I had to try it out.  Wary as I am of buying things based on name alone at this point, there was no way I was going let a Star Trek-themed beer pass me by.

Beer Name: Terrans Unite!

Brewery: Schmaltz Brewing Company (Clifton Park, NY)

Style: IPL

ABV: 5.0%

Description: Based on the description offered by the brewers, it seems that this hop-forward lager drew its inspiration from the classic episode of Star Trek called Mirror, Mirror in which Kirk and company are sent to an alternate universe by means of transporter glitch.  Just another reason to never trust transporter technology I guess. Also, would the evil, mirror version of myself be clean-shaven?  There’s some brewing specs there as well, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Appearance: It poured to a murky, amber-colored body out of the bottle.

Smell: Faint aromas of sweet caramel malt.

Taste: It featured a prominent sweet malt backbone with some sticky pine sweetness on the end.  Definitely more malt-focused than the popular trend in IPAs, or IPLs, these days but I didn’t mind that so much.  Nice balance of sweeter malts and bitter hops.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.

Hype: Even though I called this a total gimmick upon picking up the bottle, I was still really excited to drink it.  My not so inner sci-fi geek rejoiced at an opportunity to combine my interests.

Overall: I am happy to say this was actually pretty good.  It wasn’t the most amazing beer I’ve ever had, but it drank a lot better than I feared it would.  Always nice to have your curiosity rewarded from time to time!

Swamp Head Brewery – Midnight Oil

16 Tuesday Apr 2019

Posted by mrericness in Beer Reviews

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Beer, Beer Review, Craft Beer, Florida, Stout, Swamp Head Brewery

This next beer is one I had out in the field.  I didn’t have any intention of doing a review when I ordered it,Stout but after my first sip I couldn’t resist.

Beer Name: Midnight Oil

Brewery: Swamp Head Brewery (Gainesville, FL)

Style: Oatmeal Coffee Stout

ABV: 5.0%

Description: Billed on the brewery website as a traditional English-style oatmeal stout brewed with locally sourced coffee.

Appearance: I watched it pour out of the tap as black as midnight and thick as oil.

Smell: Blend of moderate light cream and sweet dark malt.

Taste: It began with a smooth, creamy sweetness and grainy oat presence that gradually took on a very faint bit of roast by the finish.  Mild, yet flavorful and incredibly drinkable.

Mouthfeel: Smooth, slick medium body with low-level carbonation.

Hype: Elevated for me.  Swamp Head seems to be one of the more popular Florida breweries and I’d had a really good experience with them during my previous visit.

Overall: I really enjoyed this.  It was light, flavorful, and very easy to drink even in the Florida heat.  I’ll for sure keep an eye out for this one my next visit.

Funky Buddha Brewery – Manhattan Double Rye

05 Friday Apr 2019

Posted by mrericness in Beer Reviews

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Beer, Beer Review, Craft Beer, Florida, Funky Buddha Brewery, Mixology

One of my hopes for my trip last week was that while in Florida I would be able to try out something out of the ordinary from one of the locals.  This next offering certainly seemed to fit the bill, but let’s see how it tasted.

Beer Name: Manhattan Double Rye

Brewery: Funky Buddha Brewery (Oakland Park, FL)

Style: Whiskey Barrel-Aged Double Rye Ale

ABV: 12.7%

Description: Part of the brewery’s Mixology Series, this beer blends a double rye ale aged in High West rye barrels and a Belgian Tripel aged in wine barrels and infuses them with herbs and botanicals.

Appearance: It poured a cloudy light brown body with a layer white foam.

Smell: Sweet malts with a solid whiskey and rye backbone.

Taste: Mildly sweet, with distinct notes of rye and oak on the front end with the influence of the barrels picking up around mid-sip.  The finish brought on hints of Belgian yeast from the Tripel and a pervasive herbal presence that really took over the beer.

Mouthfeel: Medium body with low carbonation.

Hype: I was really intrigued by this one.  I’ve definitely heard good about the brewery and it seemed like an interesting, if somewhat pricey, pickup at $6 a bottle.

Overall: Well, it sure was interesting though I can’t really say that I liked it all that much.  In its defense I will said that it tasted more or less as the name suggested, but something about those flavors being in beer form just seemed off to me.  The barrel influences, Belgian yeast, and herbal notes really just didn’t come together all that well for me. Glad I split the bottle.

Crooked Can Brewing – Winter Garden, FL

03 Wednesday Apr 2019

Posted by mrericness in Beer Reviews, Brewery Visit

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Beer, Beer Review, Brewery Visit, Craft Beer, Florida, Winter Garden

One of the really fun things about our trip last week was that we did a bit more exploration than usual and tried out a lot of things we hadn’t done on previous visits.  For one of our first new adventures we drove about a half hour south of our home base in Sorrento to the city of Winter Garden. Lured by the discovery of a new (to me) brewery called Crooked Can, we decided that it looked like a good place to grab lunch and a few drinks.

img_20190320_111911754_hdr-e1554134430299.jpg

Crooked Can’s brewery and taproom is located downtown at the end of a small market place it shares with several artisanal food stands and shops.  Everything we passed by looked amazing, especially the cuts of meat at the butcher stand, but most of our food for the day came from Morthan Cheese.  Honestly, I don’t think I can say enough good things about that place.  The food was absolutely delicious, we each had roast beef sandwiches and shared a surprisingly large order of pretzel bites topped with their mild cheese melt, and the man behind the counter was incredibly friendly, offering samples and even bringing the food to our table while we sat outside!  The food and service were both top and I’d highly recommend giving them a try if you’re in town. If cheese doesn’t happen to be your thing, there was a pretty diverse range of options available at the other stands so I would image almost anyone could find something they’d like.

Beer, however, was my main focus of the day.  As I mentioned above, the brewery was located at one end of the market and took up maybe a quarter of the building that housed the market.  There was some indoor seating available in the taproom itself, though considering the nice weather there was no way we weren’t going to take advantage of the market’s ample outdoor seating.  Decorating the taproom was a large electronic screen listing the day’s tap list and several posters of the brewery’s label art featuring silhouettes of a steampunkish Victorian-era man engaging in various shenanigans.  It seems like such a little thing in retrospect, but that art was indeed it a big part of the reason we chose to visit Crooked Can over a couple of other options in the area.

There were more than a dozen beers in a variety of styles on tap that day, so my wife and I decided to divide and conquer by each ordering a flight of our own to get as much of a feel for the place as possible.  Our original plan was to try everything, but by the time we finished lunch my father-in-law and son were both ready to head over to our next stop so we packed up and moved on. I do feel like I have unfinished business there now, but at least it gives us a good reason to go back!

Our flights were served in iron airplanes that, in addition to being really cool looking, complimented the overall aesthetic of their can art quite nicely.  While we liked to loved everything we tried, rather than run through the whole list of our samples I’m only going to touch on our top three. The consensus favorite was (appropriately enough) a Golden Belgian Strong Ale named Domestic Bliss.  Checking in at 9.5%, it tasted a lot lighter than its ABV would suggest and offered all the glorious bubblegum yeast, banana esters, and mild peppery notes you want from the style.  My personal highlight was Freedom Ride, a creamy 5.0% milk stout that had just the right amount of mild roast on the end.  It was the only stout on the list that day and it did not disappoint! My wife on the other hand was a huge fan of a 5.5% red ale named Tri-Wishes.  Since she was pretty attached to her sample, I’ll rely on her word that its smooth, sweet malts and light grains made for a highly enjoyable drinking experience.  Lastly, because we enjoyed this place so much, I’ll also give an honorable mention to King of Shoals, a 5.6% IPA with a clean, light bitterness and nice lime/citrus notes.  It was a nice, light flavorful that was great to drink outside.

Between the wide variety of great beer, wealth of delicious food options, and relaxed outdoor seating we all had an amazing time here and are highly likely to come back again the next time we go down to Florida.  This was a fantastic all-round experience and I highly recommend stopping by the market for food and some beer if you happen to be in the area!

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