Cape May Brewing Company

I was thinking Bounding Main, if not one of the other 2 , plus Coastal Evacuation and Always Ready. More than enough IPAs since I might try getting some stuff from Carton, Kane, Slack Tide, 7 Mile, etc.

 

Not to hijack this thread, but according to social media Slack Tide cans a bunch and 7 Mile has a couple out.

 

@BeastOfTheNortheast I haven't been at the brewery in a week due to being out in Denver for the Craft Brewers Conference, but looking at our Untappd page, which we update very regularly, there's still some Krusty's left but it looks like Catch the Drift is gone. All the cores and Bounding Main are available, and yesterday we released Maybe She's Brewed With It, our Pink Boots Society beer in celebration of International Women's Day, that's a deliciously refreshing cherry mango gose-ish beer that drinks like a rosé

 

@brianhink Thanks Brian! Actually went to the brewery yesterday. Good place!

 

Wow! Brewbound - "On Track for 23,000 Barrels, Cape May Expands Distribution in PA" (and Northern NJ)

I saw a store in North Jersey today posted Follow the Gull, amazing. Good reminder too that their rotator hop series (?) sees pretty wide distro for the very limited time it's available (Bounding Main, White Caps, Gull, Anniversary, City to Shore).

 

I discussed Cape May Concrete Ship in today's New Beer Sunday thread:

It’s summertime: a new beer from the shore!

Most of the country probably uses the word “beach” but we Southeastern Pennsylvanians and New Jerseyites refer to it is as the shore.

The beer I will be discussing today is from Cape May Brewing and the new beer is called Concrete Ship Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout.

Now, you might ask yourself – what the heck does Concrete Ship mean? I regularly go to the Cape May shore so I already know what this reference means:

“S. S. Atlantus

The S. S. Atlantus is probably the most famous concrete ship. She was built by the Liberty Ship Building Company in Brunswick, Georgia and launched on December 5, 1918 and was the second concrete ship constructed in the World War I Emergency Fleet.

The war had ended a month earlier, but the Atlantus was used to transport American troops back home from Europe and also to transport coal in New England. In 1920, the ship was retired to a salvage yard in Virginia.

In 1926, the Atlantus was purchased by Colonel Jesse Rosenfeld to be used as ferry dock in Cape May, New Jersey for a proposed ferry between Cape May and Cape Henlopen, DE. The plan was to dig a channel into to the shore where the Atlantus would be placed. Two other concrete ships would be purchased to form a Y-shape where the ferry would dock.

In March 1926, the groundbreaking ceremonies were held for the construction of the ferry dock. The Atlantus was repaired and towed to Cape May. On June 8th, a storm hit and the ship broke free of her moorings and ran aground 150 feet off the coast of Sunset Beach. Several attempts were made to free the ship, but none were successful.”

http://www.concreteships.org/ships/ww1/atlantus/

A good story also needs a good visual:



Now back to this beer. Below is how Cape May details this beer on their website:

“Concrete Ship

Stout - Russian Imperial

ABV10.5%

IBU80

SRM47

Named for the sunken SS Atlantus, a retired WWI concrete ship visible from Cape May’s Sunset Beach, our Concrete Ship is a full-bodied Russian Imperial Stout. With just a touch of heat coming through thanks to the high ABV, we’ve perfectly melded the roasted barley and chocolate malts together, giving the final brew rich notes of cocoa and coffee. Bold yet insanely drinkable, Concrete Ship has a velvety smooth texture that won’t sink you.”

Now, I normally would just ‘jump in’ and detail my thoughts about a beer (which you will read below) but I figured for this beer I would first discuss what I look for in a beer like this. Firstly the RIS beer style is typically a very complex beer in and of itself but since this particular beer was aged in a Bourbon Barrel it should be expected that the level of complexity of this beer will be ‘kicked up a notch’ as Emeril Lagasse would phrase it.

For me the RIS style should have a Shrek like quality of “layers” (everybody loves parfait). There should be complexity from the assorted dark malts with assorted flavors of coffee-like, dark chocolate, dark fruits,…Given that this beer was aged in a Bourbon Barrel we should expect some residual Bourbon Barrel-like flavors such as a hints of vanilla, perhaps some subtle caramel, and maybe some toastiness from the barrel’s char. Hopefully the beer will not be too sweet or sticky. At 10+ %ABV there is likely to be some ‘heat’ from the ethyl alcohol but hopefully not too much harshness here. A bonus here would be if these flavor characteristics came in ‘waves’ with some aspect being more prominent in the fore-palate, others on the mid-palate and maybe others on the finish.

All this typing has got me salivating in anticipation. As Donkey said in the movie Shrek: “Do you have a tissue or something? I'm making a mess. Just the word parfait makes me start slobbering.”

Served in my Gulden Draak tulip glass:

Appearance:

Deep black in color with a HUGE tan/brown head.

Aroma:

Wow! Lot’s going on here!! Chocolate is at the forefront but there is some vanilla and even a bit of coffee. I am almost getting the impression of ‘creamy’ here (from the vanilla I suppose).

Taste:

Flavor follows the nose with chocolate being predominant but yes there is vanilla here and bit of coffee. This beer has a moderate bitterness.

Mouthfeel:

This beer is luscious! It is smooth but yet has the aspect of being chewy.

Overall:

In one word: EXCELLENT. This beer is great for the above detailed qualities but also for what is not there: no booziness, no off-putting sticky sweetness,… a beer with nicely balanced yet complex qualities.

As much as I enjoyed drinking this beer now (summertime) this beer would be even ‘better’ slowly sipping it in a comfy chair in front of a roaring fireplace on a chilly winter evening.

Cheers to the folks of Cape May Brewing for producing a BBA RIS that rivals Shrek in “layers”!

@KOP_Beer_OUtlet @rotsaruch @brianhink @RobH @capemaybrewingco

 

Thanks @JackHorzempa for the kind words! That's quite the write up, appreciate it

 

No, the thanks go to you Brian (and the Cape May team) for crafting an excellent beer.

Keep up the good work!!

Cheers!

 

Nice. Might see you there depending on schedule. How is Follow The Gull? Is it similar to Always Ready?

 

the Bog is also a great summer crusher

 

Thanks dude. If you don't mind me asking, how much is a 4 pack roughly?

 

Thanks! Good price! Will pick some up this weekend if CMBC has it. Saw they are releasing a couple other beers, but Follow The Gull and Coastal Evacuation will be what I get. Love me some Coastal Evacuation.

 

@CapeMayBrewCo you are killing me on that Crushin' It drop . . .