It’s been over a week since my last post. A lot of things have been keeping me away from the computer to write about beer — but like I said in my previous post, dear readers, worry not about my beer consumption. It’s been staying steady and I’ve had the pleasure of trying even more brews that were new to me. Beer Trading and the almost infinite amount of good beer available to us in NYC saves the day again.
In the “Beer News” department, which I don’t touch on very often, Orange County, California’s The Bruery is making its debut in the New York City market next month. A variety of awesome sounding events, all of which will be apparently attended by head brewer Patrick Rue, will be popping off in the next week! Brew Dog Blog has had the pleasure of sampling some of Patrick’s brews and they do not disappoint! Hear a nice interview with Patrick on The Brewing Network here, and brush up on the beers he has to offer here. Get ready to geek out on some really interesting beers, fellow beer enthusiasts!
In the “Recent Flavors” department, here’s a couple tastes of things I’ve tasted. Long form reviews are to return soon, as soon as I can get my rhtythm back.
Victory “Golden Monkey” – Golden Monkey is touted as being one of the first American brewed Belgian Style Tripels, a style that is one of the easier to pin down of the Belgian “Trappist Style” beers. Golden, spicy, a bit hoppy, and very floral from yeast aroma, Golden Monkey hits the style hard on all marks. A great beer that is pretty widely available and is a great choice if you can randomly find it stuck in with a bunch of shitty macro beers at an airport or a local deli. There’s a sixpack in my work fridge, which reminds me, having two of these 10.5% ABV beers during lunch is one too many. Oops.
Kelso “Hop Lager” – Kelso is fucking killing me lately, and somewhere deep in my beer-brain there’s a feature article/interview/tribute piece where I break down why they rule so hard. You probably haven’t had any of their beer, have you? If you live outside of NYC, you’re forgiven, but if you live in this fair city, you need to seek them out, like, immediately. “Hop Lager” is a beautiful clear, golden, effervescent…hoppy lager. Not entirely different from their Pilsener, which I also enjoyed quite a bit, Hop Lager is a great choice for a few late night pints, and certainly would have been a good substitution for the two Golden Monkeys that killed my aforementioned work day. A nice touch of bready grain, a good dose of hops, and a clean, floral smell gives this everything you could ever want from a sessionable Lager. Not sure if there’s anything these guys can’t do.
Captain Lawrence “Rosso E Morrone” – Travelled up to Pleasntiville with the entirety of the BDB crew the other day for this latest beer in CL’s lineup. A few of us had tried this about six months or so ago at the Belgium Comes to Cooperstown festival at Ommegang, and boy has it changed quite a bit since then. Fully carbonated, intensely sour, and unbelievably fragrant, this even beats Cuvee de Castleton in my book and takes the prize for the greatest East Coast sour beer and certainly competes with any of its west coast counterparts (yes, including Russian River). Rosse is a Cantillon styled, very acidic sipping beer that… can actually be compared to Cantillon, which is saying quite a lot in any beer nerd’s book, especially mine. A deep reddish brown color with a perfectly present body that finishes very dry, this beer took a few years to complete and I’m glad the brewer waited as long as he did to release it. He was waiting for perfection, and I think he found it. I’ll be aging this beer for a while, and I’ll try to write a year from now as to how it’s pouring. Find one if you can!
That’s all for now, back soon with more!
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