New Beer Weekend #215

Thanks for the great opening @ChicagoJ, as a teacher this weekend is always bittersweet and comes with a lot of feelings, I’ll touch on in a later post. For now we keep it simple…

My beers for the foreseeable future, month or more, will mostly be from our trip to Vermont. I plan to highlight mostly beers from lesser known breweries, this beer is an exception.

With the recent “dank” thread started by @John_M this beer timing seems to be perfect. So, does this beer live up to its namesake??? Read on…for my opinion; others may disagree.

Alchemist - Kiss of Dank (5.1% Hop Alchemy)



Dirty colored straw, abundant white head with nice retention; this beer is highly opaque, not as murky as it appears, becomes evident when backlit.

Highly aromatic nose; lively; bright orange and citrus peel, little bit of fruitiness, pine lurks in background; touch of pepper.

The taste is actually quite different but that’s partly because of feel; the fruit note is quick to disappear aromaticly, and is quickly followed by a biting grapefruit-pine and sticky bitterness, with some spice quality too; peppery.

It drinks quite well, medium body; finishes clean which lets the hops just bite away at the tongue until you decide you want your next sip.

A lovely beer that has a lot of what I love about Heady Topper but in a more drinkable package, albeit a touchy fruitier. Really happy I purchased a four pack.

——————

On the topic of dank; this beer tastes more dank than it smells. It has a lot of that citrusy spicy bite that a lot of weed has; even has a touch of that taste you get when eating it.

Does it scream weed? Not really to me; but if I had this blind does is scream alchemist? Yes, 100% recognize-able hope bite and feel.

Cheers everyone and see you again tomorrow! Hope everyone has a good evening and shares a beer with us.

 

Formula - Chasing Automobiles Helles Lager

 

What I did for my summer vacation – Part 2

Last week I detailed my recent visit to Lake Placid/Stowe and today I will be discussing my visit/tour of The Alchemist Brewery.

I signed up online for the tour of the brewery the day before the tour and when I showed up for the tour it turns out that only two people (me and my wife) were on the tour. The tour was conducted by a nice young man: Fred. Before the tour started, I informed Fred that I have been homebrewing for several decades and I asked if it was OK if I could ask a lot of technical brewing questions. He demurely replied that he was not part of the brewing team but he would do his best. The tour was scheduled to last about ½ hour but he generously permitted us to extend the tour to about an hour due to a combination of lots of discussion but also since there was only two of us, he took us into places he could not do with a larger group due to space constraints. The other cool thing was that Fred poured a can of Heady Topper into two small-ish glasses and let us enjoy some beer was we wandered through the brewery.

I learned quite a bit about The Alchemist brewery both from a brewing aspect but also about their business ethos and history. A very worthwhile tour which I would recommend to others.

A few things I think that are worthwhile for specific discussion:

Needless to say, I was aware of the brewery in Stowe but during the tour I learned they also had a separate brewery located in Waterbury which I did not know prior to the tour. Fred stated that the production capacity is about the same between the two breweries and they mostly use the Stowe brewery to produce their two big sellers: Heady Topper and Focal Banger.

Earlier that day we toured the town of Waterbury and we saw from the outside (it was not open yet) the brewery Prohibition Pig and as it turns out this this the original location of The Alchemist brewpub.

At the end of the tour they give you one ‘free’ beer (included with the price of admission) and I chose Heady Topper that was served from a beer engine. Generally I prefer hoppy beers served on regular draft (or via can in the case of Heady Topper) but I am always up for a new drinking experience.

Here is a photo of Fred pumping my beer:



Served in an Alchemist glass:

Appearance:

Golden yellow with a white head.

Aroma:

The aroma is mostly citrusy but also some resin & in the background is a noticeable aspect of diesel.

Taste:

The flavor follows the nose with mostly citrus and some resin/diesel. There is a notable bitterness.

Mouthfeel:

Medium body with a soft/creamy mouthfeel, a lower carbonation level and a dry finish.

Overall:

This beer is very good.

The aroma (and associated flavor) is muted in comparison to the canned Heady Topper I drank during the tour. I enjoyed the canned version more since when it comes to hoppy beers (e.g., IPA, DIPA) my preference is a very robust hop aroma/flavor profile.

It would have been interesting to have conducted an actual side-by-side of the two beers but we were a bit time compressed after the tour, had somewhere else to be.

@KOP_Beer_OUtlet @rotsaruch @RobH @Bierman9

P.S. As I drank my beer engine poured Heady Topper after the tour a couple of the brewers were also in the tasting room enjoying some post-shift beers. I chatted with them for 10-15 minutes and was able to learn more brewing stuff.

 

A couple more photos from my visit to The Alchemist brewery. A view from the outside:



A view from the tasting room into the brewery:



I think it is really cool how they made the fermenters look like giant cans.

Cheers!

@Bierman9

 

I wish I had read this a week+ ago, I would have purchased a four-pack of this beer during my visit to The Alchemist.

I am not a fan of beer that smells or tastes like marijuana and I purposefully avoided this beer because of the naming of this brand.

Cheers!

@John_M

 

I'm starting early on the long weekend with not one, not two, but three new beers from SIearra Nevada beers that I tried today. I'm not going to post about all three, and I will start with the one that I think I had some years back but didn't have notes about.

SIearra Nevada — Ruthless Rye IPA

The Fan Favorite Pack never made it to Brooklyn, but thanks to Costco, the newest version of the Fantastic Pack is here, and it is indeed fantastic.

The beer pours ruby red with a thin quickly dissimilating head.

The nose is a faint rye and West Coast hops.

The taste is unmistakably SN malty bitter IPA.

The full-body round mouthfeel completes the picture.

Overall, this IPA drinks like a lighter version of Bigfoot — a perfect example of the best SN beers.

 

Hello NBW folks, since Iowa State starts their season tomorrow I'll be going to and from the game, so better get in a new beer before the ocean of Miller Lites tomorrow!

Bitburger Premium Pils

Appearance: Clear yellow, big head.

Smell: Some grain, hay, grass.

Taste: Nicely balanced, mild bread followed by a solid grassy bitterness. Grass and bread continue in the finish. Medium bodied.

Overall: Seen a lot of Bitburger Pils on the boards so I picked up a single to try. Nice pilsner beer, balanced but also good bitterness which I enjoy in pilsners. Worth a try!

 

The can is 2 to 4 years old. A basement floor pull. I had a can last spring I thought it tasted better aged Fresh it wasn't very good that's why the cans didn't get drank up right away.

 

Thanks for a great start & we're off!

 

Sounds like a great tour

 

American Solera Rattle Snake Hazy Pale Ale, 5.0% ABV; 4.02 overall

Pours a very hazed gold with 2 fingers of cream-colored head. Great lacing & good head retention

S: Guava, passion fruit, a little breadyness & citrus & melons late. Great nose

T: Biscuitty malt, some woody hops, dryness, grassyness & lime up front. Very dry, some pine, plenty of cakeyness & a little lime & a little green melon & pineapple once warmed up. Finishes dry, piney with a little bit pineapple & green melon

MF: Medium body, slight carbonation, pretty good balance

Solid APA, perhaps a little too dry & malty for my taste

 

Great pics, @JackHorzempa!

 

That graffiti piece seems out of place and kinda random.. they should have done something relating to the brewery/logos/etc imo.. but those fermenters made to look like their cans are super awesome!!! Must have been a great time.. Cheers!!

 

Sorry I didn’t post sooner @JackHorzempa. As per your other post I think it is spot on for the heady. I love that they really seem to have made that hand pulled version more of an experience, even watching the guy pour it, slice off the froth and then clean the glass. A unique fun drinking experience that I hope to do each year.

@ChicagoJ that is really neat about your last name, now you have two new travel spots. North and Northwest Spain and Vermont

@Beersnake happy birthday to your daughter, enjoy your time up in Canada with family.

@shkin is that from the Costco pack? It’s a shame the closest Costco here with alcohol is about an hour away from me.

 

Good morning Jack. I loved headdy topper. I understood from posts and particularly from @cavedave that the beer is brewed a temperamental strain of yeast that is hard to work with. When I went to Vermont years ago they had just put headdy in outlets locally and I saw cases of it on-sale at one particular storefront called hunger mountain. ( I think that was the name.) That beer had the " je ne sais qua" that I cant describe without it in front of me, your pics are great! Looking forward to this thread today.

 

Holy shit, UtopiaJane sighting! Good to see you back on the thread-haunting... hope you're well.