The Great Lost Bear, of course, is one of the best known beer destinations in the northeast, if not the country. Celebrating its 30th “annibearsary” this year, it seems only natural that one of Great Lost Bear’s weekly Thursday night showcases should feature Allagash. Of course, GLB has an entire tap section known as Allagash Alley, so they’re stepping up their game this week to make it a “showcase.”

Along with the Allagash White (GLB’s number one selling beer), they will be pouring Burnham Road, Confluence, Dubbel, Tripel, Hugh Malone, and some casked Curieux. For any fan of Allagash or Belgian-style beers in general, this is enough reason to head to Forest Ave. this evening.

But just in case that doesn’t do it for you, there’s one other special treat (and no, I’m not talking about the moules et frites, which will be served). Four years ago, Rob and company brewed a 10th Anniversary Ale, a blend of two different batches of their White Ale. So what, you say? That was four years ago.

Well, apparently they kept one barrel of the stuff. Four years ago, they filled a single American oak Bourbon barrel with the 10th Anniversary Ale, and they’re pouring it tonight as GLB’s 30th Anniversary Ale. According to Allagash’s Jason Perkins, “[t]he deep malty character is complimented by flavors of sherry and port as well as a tart finish.” This sucker weighs in at a hefty 11% a.b.v., so I’m sure the pours will not be overly generous, but I’m excited to try one nonetheless. I’ll need to make a pre-volleyball pit stop this evening.

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GLB Celebrates 30th Anniversary with Allagash Treats

The Great Lost Bear featured Marshall Wharf in the weekly Microbrew Showcase.  On offer were the Cant Dog IPA, the Brown Ale, Illegal Ale-ien, and the Hefeweizen, all at the usual bargain prices. This was a wonderful line-up of beers – on this evening I thought the Hefeweizen got the special nod.  Kudos to The Great Lost Bear… after all these years The Bear remains the place to be on Thursday night.

At the close of festivities a small party adjourned to Novare Res where Eric Michaud tapped a keg of the Marshall Wharf Barley Wine, T2R9. The beer is named after a territory near Belfast…  There is a reason for that, but after drinking Marshall Wharf beers all night, who remembers?

The T2R9 is a very special beer. At 11.5% one expects a monster; it is anything but that. Like all of the Marshall Wharf beers this one is beautifully balanced, and drinks well below the alcohol level. The malt and hops are present for sure, but there is no aggressive flavor attack, no awkwardness at all.The impact is huge, smooth mouth feel and soft, luscious flavors. There are no elbows to this beer, it’s all curved and rounded.

There won’t be much of this beer around, so try it any chance you get. I doubt there is any left at Novare Res, but it’s worth inquiring after. This beer alone would justify a trip to Three Tides Inn in Belfast.

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Marshall Wharf T2R9!

XXXX IPA is a non-traditional American IPA with a brilliant copper color and the classic citrus nose of Cascade Hops. This beer demonstrates a unique balance of malt-inspired, delicate red grapefruit sweetness and lingering hop dryness. The OG and final Alc./Vol. provide the structure and body to balance the harmony of distinct flavors. Cascade, Warrior, Summit and Glacier Hops are used for bittering and Cascade Hops are added for dry hopping after fermentation. This hop blend is well balanced with Malted Wheat, Pale Ale, Crystal, and CaraMalt Malts.

The XXXX IPA will be available in 22 oz. foiled bottles by mid-May. Shipyard was nice enough to provide me with a sample bottle. When I was at the brewery store picking it up, I noticed that the 4-X is already available there, though I thoughtlessly neglected to notice the price.

I chilled my bottle to the suggested 55° and poured it into a nice NERAX tasting glass. I was greeted by some citrus hops and a huge, pillowy off-white head. On a smooth pour down the center of the glass, I was able to pour out maybe 12 ounces into my 20 ounce glass. The head subsided somewhat slowly and left little or no trace of itself on the sides of the glass. The color, as promised, was a very appealing copper. It’s noticeably darker than Shipyard’s Export and Pale Ale, but still perfectly bright. This is a very good looking beer.

The first sip yielded lots of hops balanced nicely by the malts. It was quite dry, but not in an off-putting way. Whereas something like a Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA is quite the hop bomb, this beer is hopped less aggressively and yields, in my opinion, a slightly more drinkable beer. The taste is coppery and has some nice citrus or pine notes to it. The mouthfeel is smooth and the malts give it a nice fullness. Most interesting to me is that, while I’m sure it was used, the telltale Ringwood taste of most Shipyard beers was absent, or at least well-masked, in this beer. The finish is clean and dry.

I paired it with a spicy chili. The bottle recommends Cajun food or barbecue, and chili was close enough. The assertive hops stand up well to spicy food, and the malty fullness helped to calm to habenero peppers I included in this batch. Overall, I would call this a very satisfying beer that is worth seeking out. At over 9% ABV, it’s no session beer, but for the occasional treat, it will find its way into my refrigerator again.

My Verdict: Seek This One Out. When this one shows up on the shelves of your local beer shop, grab a couple and invite some beer loving friends over to share. If it doesn’t show up by June, Portland is lovely by then, and you should definitely consider a visit to Newbury St. to grab some.

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Shipyard Announces New XXXX IPA

The Master Brewers Association of the Americas (MBAA) held their national Craft Brewers Conference in Boston during the last week in April. On Thursday evening, April 23, Harpoon Brewery hosted a cask ale night open only to conference attendees and guests. This was organized by the District New England chapter of MBAA and was staffed by folks from NERAX.

The Craft Brewers Conference is a meeting of brewers from across America. The objectives of Cask Night were to promote cask ale, and to give New England brewers a chance to strut their stuff. Using the NERAX festival equipment, the District New England offered 62 cask ales from brewers in every state of New England.

The beers were superb, in great shape, and the event was an enormous success. Many attending brewers had never seen so many cask ales in one place, and there was a lot of photographing of the bar and stillage. We ended up serving about 1200 brewers and guests from across the country. It was a triumph for New England brewers!

The NERAX guys were pleased with how easily this event went together, and then how easily it broke down. The event was in the (big) tent Harpoon uses for events, in their parking lot.  Set-up of the beers took about four hours. We’re getting better at set-up, but our equipment is also getting better after years of investment and volunteer work to construct lines and related gear. The cooling system now goes together quickly and requires a lot less de-bugging. Breakdown the morning after took about two hours, a new record. Put that down to having a lot of volunteer labor on hand.

Tending bar at this event was easy.  Everything was free, so there was no money to handle.  At that price no-one was too fussed about exact measures,  so pouring was easy.  We moved a lot of beer very fast!

Maine was very well represented by Sebago Brewing, Gritty’s Portland and Freeport, Allagash, Shipyard and Kennebunk Brewing.  Maine beers remain something we can be proud of in any gathering or context.

My favorite of the night was an IPA from Cambridge House Brewpub in Torrington, Ct.  Who are these guys, anyway?

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Cask Ale At The Craft Brewers’ Conference

In an article in Brewing Techniques magazine Randy Mosher said this about parti-gyle brewing:

“One technique that has almost disappeared from modern practice is parti-gyle brewing. This technique involved drawing off the first part of the mash and using it to make strong ale or barley wine, then remashing the grain and drawing off the second runnings for a more ordinary, weak and watery concoction called small beer, the light beer of its day.

The fabrication possibilities of the time made it relatively easy to construct large wooden mash tuns, but the technology required to construct equally large kettles had yet to be developed. Consequently, English ale breweries often made three brews from a single mash – strong (XXX), common (XX) and small (X) beer. In fact, this is the historical basis of the categories of Belgian Trappist beers: triple was made from the undiluted wort from the mash, double was made from the runoff from reflooding the first mash, and single was made from a subsequent infusion.”

The first of our beers is from the John Harvard brewpub in Connecticut, and the second is from our very own Marshall Wharf Brewing Company in Belfast.

The folks at Marshall Wharf initially set out to make a Barley Wine. That beer reportedly finished off in the 12% range. We’re not getting that beer at NERAX, but I’m sure looking forward to trying it somewhere here in Maine. The small beer, Little Toot, was a natural part of the Barley Wine project. It’s not finished yet, but it seems to be headed for a range of 4.1%-4.5%  This one on cask should be a lot of fun.

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Small Beers at NERAX

[a] beautiful orange-ish copper color, totally clear, just like all Harpoon brews. Big ‘ol carbonation, with tiny bubbles wildly swirling around to create a rather healthy looking, thick, frosty off-white head…The aroma is really inviting, with a big whiff of sweet, yet smokey Vermont Maple syrup. The spicy, herbal wheat balance is very good, with the wheat, hops and heat really adding to the nose complexity.

The BA folks outdid themselves with that description, but it sure sounds tasty. I really need to see if I can find some of this at the RSVP, as my Thursday night volleyball league prevents me from getting some straight from the tap. For those not similarly engaged, stop on down to Forest Ave’s beer block and grab a pint! Oh, and that Leviathan Series page lists a Quad as their newest offering. I will hunt this one down–it sounds wonderful.

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Harpoon Featured at GLB Tonight

Mead is somewhere between beer and wine on the drinks spectrum. It’s made by fermenting honey. Mead is an ancient drink, perhaps the oldest alcoholic beverage.

Maine Mead Works is producing a product that is clean, crisp and delicious. The taste experience is perhaps more wine than beer, but it’s neither and well worth a try. Be aware, they make two styles: semi-sweet and dry. Both are very good, just different drinks for different occasions.

Sal and I toured the production facility today.  This is a start-up operation, small scale. They’ve been in production for a little less than a year. Two thoughts struck me.  This is American Capitalism at the most storybook level, a real start-up. It also may be one of the more fascinating breweries/wineries I’ve ever seen. Their continuous fermentation process will surprise and delight you. If you get invited, don’t miss the chance to visit.

Look for this stuff in the stores. Try it and make up your own mind. It’s darned good, and a new adventure!

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Mead In Maine

The Victoria is a gem, consisting of about five large rooms strung out along the building. They do a very large lunch business, and were packed for the lunch period when I visited. Most customers for lunch were office workers, with a smattering of local, probably retired couples.

Good Food!

This is another Castle Rock pub, but their approach to beer is a bit different. They serve 12 cask ales, and only three or four were Castle Rock beers when I was there. The rest were guest beers. They have a strong emphasis on local breweries, and in fact are having a festival of local brewers next week.

Author Doing Research

Two beers really stood out here. The first was the Dark Star ‘Over The Moon” from West Sussex, an exception to the local theme and a favorite of mine. Dark star is a frequent visitor to NERAX. This beer was dark, almost the color of a Porter, though it’s certainly not a porter. It’s hoppy, smooth, and full of malt flavor.

The second surprise was the Funfair ‘Blueberry Stout’. Well, if some brewers can dump in oysters, why not blueberrys. I couldn’t resist a pint, and it was actually very good. It had a creamy head, a mild roast, and a distinctive, light flavor note that I dare not call fruity.

Funfair is a tiny local brewery launched in 2004, based in Ilkeston.

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Beeston: The Victoria Hotel

The beer community in Nottingham is keen on a variation of the locavore movement, and loca-beers (beers brewed within 20 miles) are proudly promoted. There is a surprising range of local breweries to both encourage and support this movement.

One series of events that fueled this loca movement was the purchase of a local brewer, Hardy and Hansons, by Greene King, one of the giant ‘New National’ breweries. The New Nationals (others are Wells and Youngs, and Marstons) are strong supporters of cask ale, but also tend to consolidate breweries for efficiency and cut corners in the interest of cost reduction. Once Greene king acquired Hardy and Hansons they quickly closed the brewery, moved production to their other facilities, and put Greene King beers into their chain of pubs around Nottingham.

Outrage at the H&H closure seems to have fueled the growth of local brewers. Castle Rock Brewery began in 1998 with a brewery in central Nottingham, and now produces about 100 barrels a week. They own a string of local pubs in Nottingham, and dominate the Good Beer Guide listings in the central city. This trip I enjoyed three: The Kean’s Head (excellent food, clean, great location in The Lace Market neighborhood), The Salvation (a historic old building, well cared for beers), and the Vat and Fiddle (The Castle Rock brewery tap, a full range of beers in great condition).

The Castle Rock beers are well made and good representatives of Midlands brewing. Their flagship is the Harvest Pale (3.8%). It is yellow straw in color, clean and crisp, lightly hopped with a bit of citrus in the flavor. It is a very accessible brew; two different bartenders mentioned that it was useful in training lager drinkers…  A heavier beer is the Preservation (4.4%) a stronger taste and more of a copper color, but maintaining a smooth, light mouthfeel.

My favorite pub in Nottingham this visit had to be the Vat and Fiddle. While I was chatting with the barmaid the assistant brewer came in to get glasses for their production tasting. He was busy, but when he found I was an American interested in Cask ale he stopped to chat about the beers. Later on I mentioned to the bar maid that I had tasted one of the Castle Rock seasonals (Snowhite) and didn’t think it differed too much from the Harvest Pale. She immediately put samples of both on the bar, said Harvest Pale drinkers think the Pale is much hoppier. Well, it was, but not by that much..  Later, I commented that I hadn’t seen a Castle Rock dark beer. The bar maid said ‘just a minute’ and disappeared down the cellar stairs. She came back with a quarter pint sample of their next seasonal brew, the Blackbird Porter (4.4%) a wonderfully smokey, malty brew. If you go, don’t miss this place, it’s right near the train station.

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Nottingham: Castle Rock Beers

Next Thursday is GLB’s annual, and much anticipated, Twelve Beers of Christmas. The management must have spent a little too much time sampling though, as they’ve missed the twelve beer mark (on the high side). Here’s a preview of some of what will be available:

• Geary’s Winter Ale
• Allagash Grand Cru
• Shipyard Prelude
• Sebago Slick Nick Winter Ale
• Samuel Adams Winter Ale
• Redhook Winterhook
• Long Trail Hibernator
• Harpoon Winter Warmer
• Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale
• Anchor Steam Christmas Ale
• Gritty McDuff’s Christmas Ale
• Delirium Nöel (en français)

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GLB Celebrates the Season