When plans to leave the country for a couple days fell through, my wife and I, already having convinced our brains that we were going to be out of the city for the weekend, decided we needed to get out of town anyway. We looked around for some weekend getaway options until remembering that we had been threatening to go and stay with some friends in Boston, and so arrangements were made and off we went. The weekend happened to coincide with a Striped Bass and Beer Dinner at Cambridge Brewing Company, and I had a few other items on my Boston Beer agenda I wanted to cross off as well, so the timing seemed impecable.
After raging on the road through a rain storm and other epic weather conditions, we finally landed on our friend’s couch around midnight, and immediately cracked open a couple things I brought up from NYC with me. We decided to call it a night pretty quickly given the amount of beer we were planning on consuming the next day, but not before I was able to impress my friend with a year old bottle of Captain Lawrence Xtra Gold, which he had never been able to try, and a few other miscellaneous treats. After a booze-free brunch the next morning, our beer day began at The Independent Pub in Union Square with a big round of Founder’s Red’s Rye P.A. I was supposed to write up a big batch of Founder’s a while ago and never got around to it, which is a shame, as they are one of my favorite Michigan breweries. Founder’s produces a nice stable of both year round and seasonal beers, and besides the Centennial IPA, I’ve gone for their Red’s Rye Pale Ale more than any other. Red’s pours a deep reddish brown color, clear as a beer could possibly be. The nose is pure citrus/grapefruit/tropical fruit explosion from the insane amount of Amarillo hops used in the beer, without much malt or spice to be found, but only small hints of both. The flavors this beer packs are more balanced but it’s still more or less a fantastic citrus bomb that stas crisp and smooth throughout. Drinking it a bit warmer will make it seem more malty and balanced, but no matter the temperature, the bitterness is never harsh or overpowering. A new fangled, more modern version of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is a good touchstone — more in your face, less concerned about mass market drinkability. All in all, an awesome start to a great weekend of beer.
After the Independent we started to make our way over to the Cambridge Brewing Company, a rather storied institution whose beers I have tried only once, at a festival, far from their home base. CBC has been around for 20 years, which is a hell of a lot considering there are hardly any functioning brew pubs that have been going continuously for that long. What makes CBC special, besides their focus on beer’s relationship with food, is their obsession with producing a vast array of beer styles, not specializing or focusing too heavily in one area. In one night of moderate drinking, my friends and I were able to taste a classic-styled Kolsch, a barrel aged Sour Kriek, and more. Here’s a recap:
Regatta Golden: I’m starting to appreciate it more and more when I can go to a place like CBC which sells a lot of far-out beers and also try a more classic style, like this Kolsch styled German Ale. Kolsch is like the Pilsner of the Ale world, if that makes any sense, and the Regatta Golden is a pretty damned good take on a difficult to pull off style. There’s a common understanding amongst home brewers and even profressional brewers that sometimes the simplest beers are the hardest to brew. Sure, you can easily pull off a super bitter IPA, a fruity Wheat Beer, or even a gigantic stout, but can you balance your Kolsch? Can you produce a flawless Pale Ale? CBC clearly can, and the Regatta golden is as clear and crisp of a golden ale as I’ve ever had. Very refreshing, balanced, and, damn, I gotta say it again, CRISP, there’s also a nice touch of bitterness, spiciness, and breadiness to keep everything together. Awesome with food, before food, or after food — just awesome.
Jedi Mind Trick: The terrible name aside, the Jedi Mind Trick is actually a Belgian Styled IPA or an American Styled Tripel depending on who you ask or how many versions of this beer you’ve had before. The combination of American Hops and Belgian Yeast is probably my favorite innovation in the past few years, and with excellent breweries like Stone, Green Flash, and other West Coast pioneers perfecting it, it’s always nice when an East Coast example steps up. Since CBC doesn’t have the overwhelmingly insane track record for dealing with massive amounts of hops, I was surprised and delighted to be … so surprised and delighted with this beer. It’s a difficult balance to pull off, that of balancing Yeast and Hops, and the JMT is a great example of a beer that can pull you in one direction one minute and then another the next without being overwhelming, inconsistent, or fatiguing on the palate. There’s nice malt sweetness, Yeast spiciness, Hop bitterness, and a nice amount of Hop flavor as well that all swim together in your goblet to give you a great picture of the amazing conversation going on right now between Belgian and American brewers. Fresh and delicious, JMT skirts enough lines without crossing too many boundaries and becoming muddled, to the point where I’ll even forgive them the name.
Arquebus: Arquebus is definitely the beer I heard the most about before ever trying any of CBC’s beers, and with good reason. It’s billed as a “Summer Barleywine,” and the CBC website explains that it’s produced with a lot of local honey, enhanced with white wine grapes, and then aged in chardonnay barrels for 18 months. The result is a massive 11% ABV beer that pours a beautiful deep golden color like an Itallian white desert wine. There are oxidative, fruity, and phenolic notes when you sniff, and a whole kaleidoscope of flavors when you sip. Arquebus is smooth and deep, not too overwhelming but hardly something you could drink a full pint of either. Really one of those beers that needs to be experienced in person, it is by far one of the most wine like brews I’ve ever had, and one of my favorites of all time for that matter. Just absolutely intense and if I had a stock of 33ml bottles of this, I’m not sure I’d ever leave the house.
Cerise Casee: Anytime I see a “Barrel-fermented Sour Wild Ale” on any beer menu, I’m excited, but after seeing all that CBC had to offer, and reading about their process for producing this beer, I was out of my mind stoked and shocked at the same time. I’m not sure why CBC doesn’t get more credit in beer circles for doing some truly unique things with Barrel-aged and Sour beers, but Will at Cambridge is easily on par with Vinne at Russian River and Ron at Jolly Pumpkin in terms of truly pushing the envelope. Cerise Casee is produced using the “Solera” fermentation system, which, like the system used in Belgium to produce Gueuze, has young, middle-aged, and older Lambics mixed together to produce the final product. CBC takes this further with an insane sour mash, and barrels that go back 6 years, producing a concoction that is just not attainable had these techniques not been employed. When you add fresh cherries into the mix, the resulrs are just spectacular. There is an aged, sherry like quality that accompanies this beer, which serves very nicely in balancing the sour tartness natural to the fermentation style. There is also a noticable amount of flavor from the wood, and a good amount of aroma as well. This is going to be a once in a lifetime style opportunity for most people who try this beer, and it should be savored. Make the trip and find out how good it is and how shitty I actually am at describing beer.
After a ridiculous helping of beer and some pretty damned good presentations of local Sea Bass, we called it a night at CBC, hit a local loft to see some out of town friends play an excellent show, and called it a night. The next morning we hit another brunch spot and then did some shopping before hitting the road. We had been talking about hitting Publick House Provisions, the retail arm of the well-renowned pub and bar in Brookline called the Publick House. After a nice coffee at a friend’s coffee shop, we wandered in to Boston’s Beer Mecca. Provisions is a very clean, well stocked shop that focuses on Beer, Glassware, and Cheeses, which, aside from the glassware, of course had me thinking of Bierkraft. I was mainly in the market for Pretty Things beers, of which I was able to score a few bottles, but was also pleasantly surprised to find a bottle of Cascade Kriek. I wasn’t very impressed by the “display only” case of Westvleteren beers behind the counter, the somewhat asshole-ish attitude of the guy behind the counter, or the outrageous prices on glassware ($12 for B. United glasses? What the hell? Should have checked before I walked out), but hey, this is a beer store, not social hour, so what am I expecting? All in all I would be excited to have this place as my local shop as I’m sure Brookline heads are, and I walked out with a nice haul.
I was very impressed with the beer offerings Boston had, especially it’s focus on pairing awesome beer with awesome food. The beer culture there is strong and I’ll be back soon to hit it again. Thanks to KFW and Robyn for the hospitality!