Beer Wrap Up

Well - last week was pretty boozy. Here are some of the highlights:

Sam Adams is releasing a new Imperial series that will contain a dopplebock, imperial white and imperial stout. The dopplebock is very traditional, despite a name that lacks the suffix "ator," and similar to the dopplebock Sam Adams has brewed in the past. The stout is big and bold - not too different from the other imperial stouts out there, certainly enjoyable. I was impressed with the white; it has a beguiling mix of adjuncts: citrus zest, coriander, grains of paradise, tamarind, vanilla, star anise and plenty more that I can't recall.

I usually prefer more subtle beers but these are worth checking out. They are certainly more approachable than some of the extreme beers out there. And, with Sam Adams distribution and marketing prowess you can count on finding these beers in places that previously would never offer extreme beers - that's a good thing.

Rattle N Hum recently debuted a bar within the bar that is dedicated to cask beer. The "Cask Bar" has two full-time cask lines and up to four lines will be employed for special events. Last week they had four vintages of Harviestoun Ola Dubh. Check out their website for upcoming events.

Brazen Head capped off another successful cask festival over the weekend. Led by Alex Hall, the event sold a record number of tickets proving that cask ale certainly has a foothold in the NY beer scene. My personal favorites were the Smuttynose IPA with a dosing of dry hops and the Brooklyn Blunderbuss, a winter warmer with Demera sugar. Other standouts were the Cane and Ebel Rye from Two Brothers and the Hop Red Rye from Bear Republic. Cask conditioning definitely favors rye malt. If you missed this one, don't worry. Chelsea Brewery and Alex are hosting a cask festival March 20 - 23.

Coming up this week, check out Beer Table's Tuesday night dinner, recently reviewed here and more importantly here. Don't want to trek to Brooklyn? Sixpoint is holding an anniversary event at Kettle of Fish featuring their beer and Wisconsin Mac N' Cheese.

Cheers.