Ballast Point Calm Before the Storm

Hitting stores all over LA. If you're a fan of VAS then you will surely love this.

 

The Andersons (Monroe & Talmadge)

 

This was an absolutely amazing beer!! I can't wait to go buy more and my first six pack isn't gone yet

 

Where in NY did you see this, god dammit? Anywhere in NYC? I was looking for it all wknd and didn't see any.

 

It's in 12oz bottles at Smokey Bones at the Northshore mall in MA.

 

In Albany picked up a six and am about to pick up another

 

They had it on tap at Market District in Strongsville, Ohio... Sadly, the bar closed at 10pm and I walked up at like 9:56pm or so and the bar tender had no interest at all in serving me anything. He just kept ignoring me while I stood there for a while.

Oh well... Hope to find a single bottle soon or on tap elsewhere.

 

wait, it's not coming to NJ for three months? why is it sitting on shelves in NY state?

 

I need this in my life.

 

As of last week still not in Southern IL

 

I just got in two cases of this beer. I tried a bottle and it was pretty tasty. The coffee notes in it are phenomenal! Great taste but the body left something to be desired. The mouth feel just wasn't as full as I think the beer demanded.

 

Anyone know if this is showing up in Ohio or Arizona? I travel there some and was wanting to try this
Thanks in Advance

 

Wasn't very impressed by it. I bet with the lactose it was way better.

 

I will give this a whirl - even at BP's ludicrous pricing.

 

What would be a cream ale that you consider to be traditional, or on form? Would Naragansett's fit that bill?

 

Still no love north of Sacramento for Californians . Our DBI vendor is dragging his feet.

 

I've had Narragansett's. I remember liking it, but I haven't seen it in a long time. Supposedly, they had one in pre-Prohibition days, and when they decided to put out their modern one, they didn't want to base it off of their 60s version (which was lighter and sweeter). Problem was, they didn't have a recipe for the pre-Pro version. I guess they created a new recipe, but they still claimed the new version was a pre-Pro example (just hoppier). This illustrates the problem with the term "traditional." Are we talking 1870 traditional or 1970 traditional (or invented traditional)? The stuff is always changing. Having said that, it doesn't mean you throw up your arms in a "what's the use" gesture.

To answer your question, I'd go to a Genesee Cream Ale, but it's a compromise. GCA might be a blend of an ale and lager. (Seems like a pricey way to make a cheap beer, but what do I know?) I've seen definitions of cream ale include this, but maybe this came about to specifically accommodate GCA. This is clearly different from brewing an ale to mimic lagers. I think it's brewed with corn. Even if GCA is unique in it's class, and even if it's not like a pre-Pro cream ale, out of the ales that are being produced today, it might just be the ale that is most associated with the style as it's defined in the "craft era." Drinking one isn't 180 degrees different from drinking a Bud, and as such, it's in the spirit of the style as it came to be.

Fortunately, we live in a state where a handful of small craft brewers include this in their portfolio (Empire, Peekskill, Barrier, Crossroads, Horseheads... be it "authentic" or not... and with mixed results). If you see cans of Newburgh's Cream Ale, I'd recommend it. I have no idea why Newburgh claims their ale to be a "cream ale." It doesn't use corn. I know nothing of it's brewing process beyond that. Regardless, it's really tasty and goes down easy.

I'd be very happy if @jesskidden came in to rip my post apart... I don't know my right from my left and I was too young to drink cream ale in the 70s. He's the one guy around here I'd trust on the subject. Definitely don't trust anyone who refers to actual dairy products.

 

That's a "bastard ale" (industry jargon) - although some post-Repeal US cream ales (and other ales, like the still marketed Rainier and Chesterfield) were brewed in that manner. Traditional, pre-Pro-era US cream ales (along with similar US ale styles like sparkling/brilliant ale and present-use ale) were top fermented since they originated from ale brewers trying to compete with lager brewers by brewing a similarly light and highly carbonated ale.

Using lager yeast at high temps to ferment an "ale" became such a common process that it eventually was written into the US legal definition a decade or so after Repeal, dropping the previous wording of "Ale is a malt beverage produced by top fermentation" of the FAA Act:

Yeah, besides the "lactose = cream ale" fallacy, some brewers (mostly in the UK and Ireland, but also some here in the states) have adopted the term "Cream" to describe their nitro-served ales. That, too, sure ain't what US "cream ale" was.

Yeah, I agree with that, despite it's curious origins (Gary, the son of it's creator, Clarence Geminn, also a brewer at Genesee, has stated in interviews [after retiring IIRC] GCA did begin as a blend of their lager and the 1950s recipe of their 12 Horse Ale), by the 1960-70s, it had become what "cream ale" was - and what most of the imitations that soon followed tried to emulate. And the early AHA adopted that modern "cream ale" brewing method as part of it's definition (tweaked a bit since then, IIRC).

The "blending" was probably a cheap and easy way to go originally, since the ale and lager were Genesee's two full-time regular brews in 1960. As 12 Horse Ale began to sell less (and, seemingly, all but disappeared) and then was totally reformulated by around 1980 (as a "Candian-style golden ale), the blending method of making the +million barrel selling GCA seems --- "unlikely"? Later, Genesee even shut down it's separate ale fermentation/aging cellars (in the so-called Cataract brewery, recently torn down). Today, the brewery claims GCA is simply "top fermented".

Also suggesting it is no longer a mix of lager and ale - currently, Genesee Beer is listed at 4.5% and the last incarnation of 12 Horse was 5.1% - so how does one "blend" those two beers and get Genesee Cream Ale's 5.2%? (Well, I guess they could use high gravity, pre-dilution versions of the two beers).

I've always wondered if Geminn even had the original cream ale style in mind when he developed it (Genesee had themselves marketed a Cream Ale in the the late 40s-early 50s but that is ignored by the current owners' history) or did he or the marketers simply pick it as interesting sounding name? Certainly, pre-Pro cream/sparkling ales (as well as some post-Repeal examples) were not underhopped like the classic GCA is - 12 IBU's. Wahl & Henius' turn of the century recipes for both cream and brilliant ales called for 1-1.5 lbs of hops per barrel and post-Repeal cream ale recipes in the 30s still were using over a pound of blended imported and domestic hops. But both the pre- and post-Pro cream and other "light" ales, inspired by the popular US lagers of the era, were typically adjunct-brewed (corn or sugar).

 

That's so logical it hurts.

Could you say that a majority of US beer (regardless of style) was more highly hopped in the pre-Pro era vs the second half of the 20th century?
How does today's GCA compare to, let's say, Robin Hood (assuming you've had both)?

 

Lol I was just throwing a number out there. If its the same length of time for us to get Victory at sea , then probably close to that. HaHa..