"Re-IPAtriation," or "How an American comes home from 5 years to evaluate IPAs and American Pils"

Howdy from Frankfurt Germany, after a 13 day whirlwind tour of Philadelphia and NYC in June. If figured, a post this important, I mean silly, needs its own own thread.
My itinerary: 3 days Philly.

3 days in the Poconos with a family reunion/my parents' 50 wedding anniversary​

6 days NYC.​

That doesn't add up to 13, does it? Don't forget, you loose a day basically on the plane ride to Germany.
Also, I'm going to have to break this thread up into separate posts, due to the character limit BA imposes on each post.

The main reason I want to post my reviews of beers I drank in the USA was that after spending 5+ years in Germany bemoaning the lack of interesting beer while gaining an ever bigger appreciation of German beer styles, I thought this would be a good time to put my knowledge of beer brewing and experience of drinking in an IPA desert to bear when I drink in the USA. When I went out to a restaurant or pub, my first priority was to drink the best craft beer I hadn't tried yet on their menu, especially if they only offered BMC beers. Second, I wanted to focus on either drinking and comparing IPAs from America, and third, to try as many American craft brewed Pils or other German styles to see if they were up to snuff to the authentic German versions.
I hope to post a lot of pics in this thread, too.

Here's a pic of the menu of the Back Bar of Monk's Care in Philly on June 17, 2013.

 

To start with, unless stated otherwise, all beers are assumed to be from a tap.​

​

Our first night of drinking American beers... was at Monks Cafe in Philly, on June 18, 2013.​

​

I post this in another thread that was totally unrelated to this topic, so I will repost it here with some changes. I wrote the original on my iPhone, which meant I was unable to add any formatting. I'm going to rectify this below.​

​

First, their listed beers on the Internet don't match the actual menu, so I was disappointed I wasn't able to try my first Pliny. Second, we only tried beers that were on the on tap menu. Third, the food was good. Inhad a huge, juicy burger, the homemade fried were delicious but way too much, and my g/f had the Ceasars Salad, mummbling something about a diet. Our table neighbors had 2 buckets of mussels, and the aroma was enticing, but i wanted meat from a mammal.​

​

Beer #1: They did have Russian River's Blind Pig. I ordered that for the g/f and for me, the Port Wipe Out. The BP was great, needed more malt backbone IMO, but wow. The PWO was maltier but not as citrusy, more bitterness, though. I preferred the PWO, my g/f the PB. The PWO was really, really süffig, for the pint glass was empty within minutes though I was trying to appreciate its complexity.​

​

Next #2, I thought I'd give my first US Pils a try. They had Soudt's Pilsner, and I was disappointed. I thought it was hoppy enough with Noble hops but the mouthfeel was not nearly up to par with even an Oettinger. It was "weak" and thin. The Pils malts also lacked something. I didn't take notes, so this is the morning after. Basically, a weak imitation of a German Pils.​

​

Now #3, another IPA: Boneyard Nefarious. At 10.5%, it wasn't noticeable and hid it well, though it killed my sobriety. It was hugely citrusy but not super bitter.​

​

Finally #4, I wanted a Belgium style. Monk's Cafe Flemish Sour Ale was WOW. They say it was brewed for them outside Ghent; it was super lovely malty, tasted like lots Special B. hops were light in the background. The foam head's creaminess was almost eternal. It stayed tight through almost to the end of the glass. It tasted like Kriek (cherry), but not overly sweet. I detected virtually no sourness, neithr lactic nor acetic, as advertised on the menu. But it was still there slightly maybe, probably held back the malt and fruit sweetness from being overpowering. This was my favorite beer of the night. It was the perfect dessert, though it wasn't a dessert beer.​

​

All 3 IPAs were great, though each had their strengths, I still couldn't get over the fact that my super-whirl pooled Axis and Allies IPA is hands down better. In the commercial IPAs, I miss the honey malt notes of the Abbey malt and Münchner malt's caramel. The hops add such complex fruitiness that I get so many different answers to which fruit flavor they detect. I've gotten people insisting they taste strawberry, pear, marakuja, grapefruit, and more.​

 

2nd day. Drunk in Eulogy Belgian Tavern, Philly, PA, June 19, 2013:

#5 - Uinta Brewing's Dubhe Imperial Black IPA (bottle): Licorice,caramel malts, citrusy, almost sweet flavors with hoppy bitterness up front. Love it! WOW.


#6 - Avery Brewing's Springhouse Planet Bean: Bean aroma, coffee, nice but a little too thin. No pic b/c it was on tap.

#7 - Avery Brewing's India Pale Ale (bottle): ??? Lost my notes on this one. All I remember was being disappointed


#8 - Victory Hop Devil (bottle): I'd had this one before and it didn't disappoint. WOW. Lovely fruity aromas and flavors with warm maltiness and just the right thickness and mouthfeel.


Drunk in Khyber Pass Pub, Philly, PA, June 19, 2013:

#9 - Dark Horse Black Bier (on Cask): Basically tasted EXACTLY like the description in the beer menu: "Jet black brew is bursting with the flavors of dry roasted malts with delicious hints of chocolate and coffee beans." WOW…! not much else I can say.

 

Drunk on June 20, 2013 at City Tap House in Philadelphia.

This place was suggested by Jack Horzempa. I'll repeat this from a previous thread: he's a VERY generous, nice, friendly guy and a good conversationalist as he even got my 13 year old daughter involved in our conversation. He gave me a few American versions of Pils/Helles to take home with me as well as 5 or 6 of his home-brew, all of which I'll do my best to give my report and opinions on.

We drank all beers that were on tap, so only 2 or 3 pics here.


#10 - Tröeg's Dreamweaver (Hefeweizen): very citrusy, up front, pils and wheat malts and luckily little

bubblegum.​

#11 - Ommegang's Fleur de Houbloun (Pale Ale): very thick! I liked it a lot, with cheery, orange-marmalade flavors with some hop bitterness mixed in. A ¡WOW! beer if I remember correctly.

#12 - Yards Brawler (English Bitter): maple flavors, lightly sour aftertaste, bitter citrus notes, malty, thick feel &

nice orange and spicy aroma. Almost WOW.​

#14 - Avery 3point5 IPA: very bitter & hoppy! Not too thin and some citrus… loved it. Especially at only 3.5%

You'd expect a beer this low in alcohol to be thin or weak in flavor. The opposite was true. It's a ¡WOW! beer.​

#15 - Carton Brewing's Boat Beer (APA with Kölsch yeast & German malts & American hops): light yellow,

thin, very bitter, almost no malts, not very good.​

#16 - Victory Storm King (Imperial Stout): malty, lost of bitterness up front, great porter flavors, hides the

9.1% very well. Excellent beer.​

#17 - Victory Scarlet Fire (Rauchbier): could be a Schenkerla clone, but almost too much bacon/rauch malt that

overpowers.​

#18 - Victory St. Victorious (Doppelbock): lots of smoke, sweet but not enough to balance the beer out.

#19 - Uinta Brewing's Tilted Smile (Imperial Pilsner): almost no aroma, very alchy- hot alcohol (9%), cloyingly malty, disappointing. This beer might be better with age. It's too young to drink now.

Though we didn't order a Stoudt's here, I liked the pint glass, and here's a pic of it.

 

The next few beers are ones that Jack gave me to try. You notice almost all of them are German styles?

I tried them all while sitting poolside in a crappy resort in the Poconos, drinking and sweating with my relatives, most of whom drank this crap beer: (#20) Landshark Lager by Margaritaville Brewing, from St. Louis, MO… sounds like a front for Bud. Yes, I tried it out of curiosity, just to see what it tasted like. They said it was just like Corona. Actually, it was similar to Corona in lightness and aroma, but much much weaker in flavor with much less malts or hop flavor present.

First, I love the new Sly Fox aluminum cans with the wide mouth, where basically the whole top of the can is pulled off. This makes the can into a "cup," allowing you to drink directly from the can while still getting a large part of the aroma. I was already a fan of aluminum cans for craft beers, as it keeps the aroma hops fresher than a bottled beer.

#21 - Sly Fox Pikeland Pils (can): virtually no aroma, decent bitterness up front, doesn't taste like any Pils malts were used, not much Pils malt sweetness, needs maltier aftertaste. Decent thickness but could be thicker. VERY disappointing.


#22 - Sly Fox Helles (can): malty aroma, some noble hops. This could be a German-brewed beer, but it's too thin for that. it has a sweet Pils malt aftertaste, and bitterness up front of Tettnanger, but if it were sold in Germany, it'd be on par with Oettinger, and that's not good.


#23 - Ithaca Beer Co's Flower Power IPA (bottle): nice citrus aroma with some weak orange hints & bitter hops. Flavor is very bitter, not much citrus flavor. Amarillo hops on label. Adequate thickness, but at 4 months old, maybe past its prime? Good aroma, but flavor doesn't come close to matching it. Disappointing.


#24 - Tröegs Brothers' Sunshine Pils (can): virtually no aroma, maybe some Pils malt smell. Flavor is closest to a good Pils in Germany of all the one's I've tried. Pils malts are well present in flavor, giving it some sweet, Pils malt but not overpowering. Slightly dry… not digging that… yet very good flavor, close to a Jever, but lacking the aroma that should correspond with the taste.



#25 - Deschutes Brewery's Chainbreaker IPA: I can't find my notes about this beer, but I remember thinking it was had only minimum hoppy/citrusy flavors but it did have the pepperiness and spiciness of a Wit. Overall, it was thin and a little disappointing.



The next 2 beers I drank in a restaurant in the resort. These were the only 2 craft beers worth drinking that evening.

#26 - Long Trail IPA (bottle): really thin, not much malt flavors, actually very "light"in flavors. Not even much citrusy or other C hops seem present. Really boring.


#27 - Victory Golden Monkey (Trippel) (bottle): Honey aroma and flavors. Taste evidence of Abbey or Special B malts, with well-defined spices, yet not overdone. Also some bitterness up front, enough to tell it's American. Hides the alcohol well. WOW!!!


That's enough for today. I'll post the beers of NYC tomorrow.

 

First, I forgot to count one of the beers, Port Wipe Out, which should've been #2, so I'll add one more to this posting.
2nd, I wasn't able to go to any of the "beer-centric" pubs suggested by Jack or others. My g/f said Philly was the Beer Tour, and now in NYC, she got to say where we ate/drank. Nonetheless, I managed to find some beers to drink, some craft, some…er… you'll see.

Drunk on a boat that toured the NYC harbor

#29 - Brooklyn Brewery's Pre-Prohibition Style Brooklyn Lager (bottle): Wonderfully süffig, but light on Pils malts, which were only evident after warming it up. I can't remember if there were much malts, but it went down great on a hot and sunny day. [I had hoped to visit their brewery, but alas… 6 days are not enough time with a g/f who had a list of things a mile long to do in NYC before we even arrived.]


#30 - Fire Island Beer Co. Red Wagon IPA (bottle): good IPA, nice aroma and flavor, but needed to warm up before any these were evident. Otherwise, average IPA.


Drunk in Ward III bar on Reade St. and W. Broadway in Chelsea, NYC on June 24, 2013:

#31 - DFH 90 min IPA (on tap): Very fruity taste strawberry, marakuja, some bitterness up front, malts are simple, a little caramel. Mostly hops from whirlpool. This is a WOW! beer that I'd always wanted to try, and I'm so glad I have.

Drunk in some irish Pub near Times Square on June 27, 2013:
#32 - Goose Island IPA (on tap): not bad,… I liked the aroma, flavor, but it was getting into territory of ABI (Another Bloody IPA), where I thought it didn't taste much different from any other IPA, which is a good thing if it's the only IPA in a touristy Irish Pub, but bad if it had much competition.


Drunk at Organika restaurant on 7th Ave, NYC on June 28, 2013:

#33 - Peak Organic Brewing's IPA (bottle): LOTS of bitterness up front. Some but not much citrus or or other flavors. More caramel malts present.


#34 - Peak Organic Brewing's Hop Noir (bottle): Good chocolate notes, roasted coffee, hoppy bitterness with burnt aftertaste. Can taste lots of bitter up front.


#35 - Peak Organic Brewing's Summer Session Saisson (bottle): A decent bitterness up front, citrus flavors but not from hops. A very light sour hint only. Predominated by pils or lite pale malts, though. Mild flavors, VERY refreshing, tart aftertaste.


Drunk in The Grisly Pear bar on Greenwich Village, MacDougal Street on June 29, 2013. Newcastle bombshell (bottle): grassy, musty horse blanket taste, very little malt taste

#36 - Smuttynose IPA (on tap): Quite bitter. Some citrus hops, some caramel malts. Mostly bitterness but almost balanced, but not quite.


Drunk at Okeanos Greek restaurant and bar in Brooklyn. We went there to get out of the heat and use their free wifi, and we had to buy something. Unfortunately, this is all they had that I hadn't tried before:

#37 - Mythology Lager- Original Greek Lager beer (from Greece) (bottle): tastes like corona but bitterer and a tad more pils malt.


#38 - Keo (from Cyprus) (bottle): some bitterness up front but barely noticeable. Very pils malty sweet, almost too much, not balanced enough.


Unfortunately, this was my last beer on American soil, but it couldn't be helped. There are more beers to be reported on, though, so look again tomorrow.

 

Thank you! I drank them and noted their flavor/aroma with y'all in mind.

I'm not that disappointed, for I never expected many American beers to reach the high standard that German beers have in Germany. I think I drank a total of 1, maybe 2, American brewed Pils that would hold a candle to some of the best Bayern beers. Again, I think Americans really need to compare their Lagers or Pils not with what they can get in the USA, especially if it's Bitburger, etc, but with small "craft" brewers from Bayern.

Glad I could bring back such good memories for you.

I think you misunderstood the timeline. The beers I drank in the Poconos were over a 3 day weekend… after the first 3 days in Philly. I drank a bunch more there with my cousin, who's coincidently been on BA balosss since 2003, that I didn't take notes and have a vague memory of, but I have pics, so I'll do my best to report on them later.[/quote]