New Beer Weekend #193

Do you like Indian Cuisine?

Well, I do and today’s beer is marketed as being a good beer to drink while eating Indian food: Rupee Premium Lager Beer.

A story on the can:

“A world- renowned master beer brewer and an award-winning Indian chef have collaborated to make Rupee the go-to beer for Indian & spicy cuisine. Rupee has been slow brewed to a traditional Indian recipe using the finest all-natural rice, Maize, malted barley & three types of hops for an unforgetting smooth and refreshing finish.”

Hmm, I wonder who the “master beer brewer” and “Indian chef” are? Well, the answer is on the Rupee website along with an interesting backstory:

“Sumit and Vanit Sharma created Rupee Beer after they had a hard time getting Indian beer for the family’s Brunswick, Maine, restaurant, Bombay Mahal, especially after the start of the pandemic.”

And:

“Coincidentally, one of their parents’ neighbors and friends was Alan Pugsley, cofounder of Portland’s Shipyard Brewing and a renowned brewery consultant, nicknamed the Johnny Appleseed of craft beer.

“He has helped set up 80 breweries around the world, but he was excited to help us because he is from England, and the curry culture over there is much bigger than it is here. It’s kind of like what Tex-Mex is to Americans,” Sumit says. “He loves Indian food, and he loves beer, obviously.”

They collected samples of as many as 10 brands of Indian beer and held a big tasting dinner at the restaurant. “We told Alan what we did and didn’t like about specific beers in terms of everything from bitterness to color to carbonation,” he says, which kicked off months of trial batches at Geary Brewing Company in Portland, until they got the Rupee recipe they wanted. “We wanted the carbonation levels a little lower, because Indian food can be heavier and spicier and pairing it with a heavier carbonated beer can make you full.”

I will confess that I have never been a big fan of Shipyard beers but maybe things will be different with this collaboratively formulated beer. And on the can label it details that my beer was “Brewed and packaged at Dorchester Brewing Company, Boston, MA.”

I do not have any Indian food to eat but let’s see what a Rupee Premium Lager tastes like as a standalone beer.

Served in my Polish Pilsner glass:

Appearance:

Golden colored, slightly hazy with a BIG fluffy white head. The head retention is quite good and produced a nice Belgian lace as the beer is consumed.

Aroma:

There is a combination of citrus (lemon-like) hop aroma and white bread malt aroma.

Taste:

The flavor follows the nose with a combination of white bread and subtle citrus (lemon-like) flavors. There is a low/moderate bitterness

Mouthfeel:

Light/medium bodied with a dry finish.

Overall:

This is a very good AAL beer. It is very cleanly brewed & tasty beer.

With its good drinkability, I think this beer would be a refreshing beer for summertime drinking.

Cheers!

@rotsaruch @RobH @KOP_Beer_OUtlet @zid @John_M

 

We (collective BA) made a beers of each state list and I want to say this brewery, maybe even beer came up in that thread. Sounds like a good one.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this one. I’ve seen it around for a while but never tried.

In Tonewood news maybe you’ll see Poolside come around your way. Their Mexican lager; great AAL like but no adjunct, same sort of vibe though. Had my first one of the year last night.

 

Received this in an early trade (2013?), and was blown away. Had it a few more times over the years, but as trading dwindled here on BA, access pretty much disappeared. Glad you're getting to try it!

 

My local Retail Beer Distributor carries Tonewood but I have yet to see any of the Tonewood Lagers on their shelf. I suspect just too much competition from locally (Philly and suburbs) brewed lager beers?

If I do ever see a Tonewood Lager on the shelf I will indeed buy it.

Cheers!

 

Damn, everytime...I hope this changes one day

 

I haven't seen the can from this year yet, but I'm guessing those are tasting notes. Traditionally they have not added anything to this beer like coffee or chocolate. Also, they change the barrels for aging every year. The years they used some sort of red wine barrel it is very obvious. If you don't taste red wine, it's probably only aged in some sort of whiskey barrel.

 

King Louie by Wooden Hill

New brewery , new beer for me courtesy of @Victory_Sabre1973 in Bif 18


3.76/5 rDev -2.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75


Named for The Jungle Book’s boisterous orangutan, the King of the Apes who lives a lavish life in the ancient ruins of India. This one was brewed to be on the sweeter side, fermented with banana puree, and conditioned on vanilla.

Murky dark orange brown liquid, almost like an iced tea in color. Capped by a two finger yellowish foam , Scant lacings , settles to a ring

Aroma is banana, vanilla, graham cracker , slight orange citrus

Taste is banana, vanilla graham cracker , orange citrus

Smooth & Sweet

Good beer but not a flavor profile I would normally pursue

 

Yeah, me too but given the competition from locally produced lagers I am not counting on it.

At a past Philly Lager beer festival, the Human Robot sponsored Logjammin' event, I enjoyed the Tonewood Lagers there and had a 10-15 minute chat with Eli Facchinei. I hope to make it to this year's event (June 1st); just yesterday I bought tickets to the Yard's Real Ale Festival (May 19th).

Cheers!

 

I liked this one a lot. And it does go well with Indian food, even if it was by accident.

 

Finally back in town, glad to participate in NBW again.

Today's beer is Dangerous Man The Classic

I got a new black fridge, I'm going to have to change my picture taking angle or something!

Appearance: Clear yellow gold, good head.

Smell: Nice grapefruit aroma, hint of dank.

Taste: Mild sweetness, then a nice grapefruity bitterness starts to build from mild to moderate in intensity through the drink. Medium bodied, somewhat bitter finish.

Overall: Hey, a very good west coast IPA from Dangerous Man here. Not super bitter, but enough to make you take notice. Always good to have another old school IPA option locally.

 

Jjjuiceee Machine from Tree House.

Picked up during a quick 2 day beer trip in New England.

4.31/5 rDev -5.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

As seen above, hazy gold to orange in color with minimal head on a fairly aggressive pour. Alcohol legs and lacing coating the galss as I drank it. I was expecting a more explosive galaxy profile. There is definitely mango in there. Maybe some nectarine. Definitely a bit ripe and green. Body is a little thick for me but very true to style and not as thick as some NE beers can be. It's definitely good. Not necessarily disappointed, but was expecting a more expressive experience from this one. Overall, for the style, this is definitely up there, but there are better Galaxy NEIPAs out there, especially from Tree House.

 

Thank you @Squire for kicking of non Orthodox Easter Weekend. Having trouble getting pictures until I played around with my VPN source. This beer incorporated 200 gallons of water from a Forest Preserve we took our dogs to swim (well, at least the Golden Retriever, the Doberman wouldn't go near water) growing up.

I submitted a style change request as this is a Golden Ale / American Blonde Ale, not the Pale Ale listed by the person who entered this beer.

Hop Butcher For The World Regeneration Station



Can Notes: Purchased refrigerated at the brewery ($14.32 four pack) on 2/22/24, where I kept it at home until this afternoon. 16 oz canned 2/21/24, can stamp You Have Chosen..... Wisely. Wakatu-Hopped Golden Ale. 4.5% ABV. Brewed and canned by Hop Butcher For The World in Chicago, Illinois and Bedford Park, Illinois.

Brewery Tasting Notes Light Lime, Sweat Floral, Bread & Grains.

Additional Brewery Information: 200 gallons of hand pumped water was incorporated into this batch from the Forest Preserve off of Irving Park near Cumberland.

Appearance: Poured about 12 oz into a shaker pint glass. Clear golden pour, mild steady carbonation, bright white bubbly head laves soapy lacing. 4.25

Aroma: Mineral water, cracker, salt and pepper, medium plus strength, even higher enjoyment. 4.0

Taste: Consistent with aroma, bread, cracker, light pepper and then salt, mineral water much lower than the aroma but still present. Floral notes as well. Complex, enjoying. 4.0

Mouthfeel: Light, crisp, refreshing. Goes even lighter than low ABV, mild, slightly hoppy, firm consistent felt prickly carbonation, balanced, bread and cracker finish. 4.5

Overall: This is a solid complex enjoyable golden ale. Easy drinking, hope they replicate this down the road. Thank You Hop Butcher for revisiting the Forest Preserve where my family took the dogs growing up! This is a special beer to me and the friend who I shared a can with who grew up a few blocks away. 4.25

 

Busy Saturday morning. Walked the dogs, picked up groceries, did some weed pulling.
Now it's time for some basketball. The women first, LSU v UCLA, and the first half has been very competitive.
My new beer for today is First Class, a Belgian style ale from OEC Brewing.
Orange color, a little haze. Small white head. Tiny bit of lace'
Aroma of sweet malt, fruit. Floral.
Taste of lemon, sweet grass. Bread.
Light-bodied. Easy drinking.

 

Tree House Brewing Very Hazy. Courtesy of @azuelke. The look is very hazy gorgeous apricot orange, with a thick off-white, busy-looking, foam top. The smell is incredible. Vibrant orange, peach, grapefruit, and mango scents jump from the can, and explode when the beer is poured into a glass. The flavor is mildly sweet orange juice, peach, grapefruit, mango, lemon, and jackfruit. The mouthfeel is thick, soupy, soft, and smooth, with medium carbonation. Overall, this beer is worthy of its rating. It is one of the best NEIIPAs available.

 

Greetings all!
Rain brings the desire for malty beer but for me it’s too early for a good stout. Fortunately for me, @Roy_Hobbs sent me some very good Fox Farm beers.

Poured deep mahogany color with ruby highlights and a half inch beige head which left copious lacing.
The taste brings caramel, earthy grassy notes, chocolate and biscuits. Most definitely malt forward, any bitterness was very faint.
The feel is just crisp enough for quenching a thirst with very little body to slow me down.
Which means I drank it probably a little too quickly and I was certainly disappointed when it was gone.
Good beer!

 

Good afternoon NBW
I rarely pass on a Scotch ale, so I grabbed a four pack of this when a found it.

Schlafly Scotch Ale
16oz canned 01/24/24 poured into a thistle glass at fridge temp 6.2% ABV 25 IBU per label. The beer pours bright darker amber with chestnut highlights and dark khaki colored head. The head recedes to a thin ring and single layer of bubbles. The aroma is mild with sweet caramel, malt and honey. The taste is semisweet toasted malt with a hint of acidilated malt and an earthy, woody hop flavor finish with mild bitterness. Mouthfeel is thin to medium bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Overall, more of a good Scottish ale than a good Scotch ale as it falls in well below the minimum ABV for the style. Still tasty and definitely a great looking beer.

I just picked up a bottle of Grand Old Parr 12 year. I think a pairing is in order this weekend. Cheers all!

 

Always neat when a beer is more than a beer.