16Mar / 2015

Garrison City Beerworks – Dover, NH

And now for something completely different…a brewery! Garrison City is a relatively new nano-brewery in downtown Dover, NH. They’ve got a fairly unassuming street presence, but that’s the only thing about the place that’s mild. I was introduced to the brewery a few weeks ago, as I have a friend who lives about five minutes away, on foot. He’d been in a couple times and had picked up some of their “Crowlers” (more on that in a minute), to share with me. Two weeks ago, I was finally in Dover and had the time to pay a visit myself. What an awesome place!

The brewery has a wonderful modern-contemporary feel with tall “family-style” wooden bar tables, a matching bar along the long side of the rectangular tasting room, and a massive television behind the bar displaying their beer offerings and descriptions. The brewery only offers tastings, a flight of six tasters for $9. They serve the beer on a wood paddle in the shape of a leaf, arranged according to the list on the TV. Since you can’t get a full pint, I bought three Crowlers to go. I’ll be reviewing those in the coming weeks.

So, now you’re wondering, “What the hell is a Crowler?” Well, it’s a combination of a can and a growler. It is a 32oz can, sealed right before your eyes on the bar using a special can sealer designed by Ball Canning and Oskar Blues Brewery. One of the proprietors of the brewery mentioned that there are only about 100 Crowler sealers in the world, so they’re doing something quite unique to add to their overall coolness factor. While enjoying our flights, the time somehow flew by, and before we knew it, the tasting room had been closed for half an hour, and we were simply chatting away with the employees.

Garrison City Beerworks has stepped up to the plate with the ferocity needed to play in the big league of nano-breweries and compete with the best. I’m hoping they can get fully entrenched in Dover and continue to churn out awesome brews for many years to come. I can’t wait to go back.

<>Beer Man

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08Mar / 2015

Throwback Brewing – Maple Kissed Wheat Porter

Oh damn. This is a good one. This is a new brewery to me, I’d never heard of Throwback until recently when I stopped randomly at a brew retailer in Concord. I bought this on a whim, since it combined two of my favorite things – beer and maple.

They’ve clearly gone all-out for this maple wheat porter. It’s not a super heavy porter, more of a middle of the road thickness. First off, the aroma from the pour is pure, straight-up maple. Very little beer scent. The first sip is as smooth as silk – it just flows across the tongue effortlessly. The maple that Throwback has chosen for this one is intense; they’re not stingy with it. This one blows all the other maple beers out of the water. One of my personal favorites is the Catamount Maple Wheat that Harpoon brews on occasion for their 100bbl Series, and while they utilize the unique yeast strains that now-long-gone Catamount cultured many years ago, their maple profile is pale in comparison. Half way though this one and I’m still being being bombarded with maple, which is awesome – it doesn’t fade one bit. It even works as a dinner beer with the delicious Italian dish Winey Woman just handed me 🙂

Overall, I highly recommend this brew, especially if you’re a fan of real maple.

<>Beer Man

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28Feb / 2015

White Birch Brewing – Nyx

Dark and delicious!

This beer is dark. Like dark as night dark….hence the name. The aroma is super strong, too. Even before my first sip I can smell the malty goodness from a couple feet away. The head was a nice, thick, creamy, chocolate-colored foam that lingered for quite some time.

The first sip wasn’t at all what I expected. There’s no sharp attack from the malt, like you get with some dark beers. This is just smooth all the way through. It’s got a chocolate flavor to go along with the color of the head; and a slight coffee hint that rounds out the aftertaste, which is good since I love coffee, but not as much as I love beer. Part way though my massive tankard, I’m finding that there are some hints of hops beginning to poke though the wall of malt. It’s not a lot, just enough to take the pointed sweetness down a bit.

As I reached the midpoint of this one and the temperature came up a bit, the flavor changed massively. The chocolate started to wain a tad, with coffee coming to the nose, accompanied by a stronger hop scent. The end of this bomber offers another round of coffee-ish malt, with the hops fading into the background….and a yearning for more.

This was one simply awesome brew, and I can’t wait to try more of this unique creation next fall/winter.

Beer Man

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21Feb / 2015

Sea Hagg Distillery– North Hampton, NH

We went to North Hampton to look at BMW motorcycles, and when we were done looking at motorcycles, we made a quick detour on our way home to Sea Hagg distillery. Tucked into a business plaza, this cute little distillery serves a variety of rum, whiskey and brandy. When we arrived, we were greeted by Zoey the standard poodle, who led us to the tasting bar where they offered us a delicious taste of some hot buttered rum that was warming in a jury-rigged Mr. Coffee. It was scrumptious and I’m kicking myself for not snapping a pic of the recipe they had typed out in front of it.

We tried a blueberry, strawberry, and then Beer Man tried their white whiskey and oak-aged brandy. The flavored rums would make excellent mixed drinks, particularly mojitos. The proprietor was extremely friendly and knowledgeable and we highly suggest a visit the next time you are near the NH seacoast.

Winey Woman 🙂

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15Feb / 2015

Winey Information Resources #1

The internet is full of information, but with so much to sift through, where should you start when looking for information about wine, beer, and other alcoholic goodness? Of course, I would suggest you start with this blog (self-promotion never hurts!), but we are by no means a never-ending vessel of information. I will be doing a series of posts highlighting great resources for information, good books to read, etc. on our favorite subjects.

Our first featured resource is Pinterest.com. I was really surprised to find the great practical information available on Pinterest. Sure, knowing all of the ins and outs of what makes a good wine is important, but sometimes you just want to know the type of wine that goes best with your salmon and risotto for your dinner party or holiday meal!

Pairing Wine, Beer, and Spirits with your Thanksgiving Meal from Pinterest.com

Or, how about how much of each type of alcohol should you buy for your party based on the number of people you’ve invited?

How to buy the correct amount of alcohol for your party.
From Pinterest

Sure, all of this stuff is merely guidance. Maybe you don’t care that Pinot Grigio is the best wine for your Thanksgiving stuffing–you’re going to drink your Malbec regardless of what the little chart says. These charts and infographics are used best when you’re not sure or you need a starting place. They can also be a great place to start experimenting with your alcohol and food pairings. Having the “right” wine can often take an already delicious meal to the next level.

Happy Pinning, dear readers! Just make sure to set a time limit for yourself, or you can spend several hours surfing Pinterest and not even realize it!

Have a great resource for information? Share in the comments!

Winey Woman 🙂

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15Feb / 2015

Atlantic Brewing — New Guy IPA

Note: Sorry for the delay in posts! Beer Man and I were in the process of selling our house and life sort of took over. We should be posting far more from here on 🙂

I found this brew (along with some others I’ll be reviewing soon) at a beer emporium in Concord, NH that I’d never seen been to before.

This IPA is so nice and refreshing. So many breweries have been leaning toward Doubles or Imperials, and this is a nice throwback to an earlier time when IPA wasn’t about being big and bold. There’s really not much citrus in this one, just a pleasant piney flavor and smell. The beer first hits you palate with a nice sweet note that transitions to a good, old-fashioned pine bitterness that lingers on the roof of your mouth. Overall, I’m quite pleased with this one, and I’m really looking forward to our summer vacation to northern Maine so I can visit the brewery in Bar Harbor.

<>Beer Man

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04Feb / 2015

Long Trail Brewing – Limbo IPA

Spoiler Alert — I know at the start we stated that this blog was going to be for the Average Joe, with no snobbery. I’m breaking that rule on this one.

Limbo IPA is a special new brew from Long Trail. They’ve used a “new variety” of hops, coming from Australia and the Pacific Northwest. Why. Why are they importing hops from across the country and half way around the world??? They’re ruining their “small-town brewery” image here. They could have found a local variety of hops, grown in the northeast, that is comparable to whatever they’re using from around the world (they conveniently don’t mention what “new varieties” they’re using). Many, no, most, of the other breweries I’ve been enjoying lately are clearly proud to let their customers know what hops they’ve used in their beers, but Long Trail is being secretive for some reason.

The beer isn’t bad, despite what my above diatribe may have indicated. There’s a quite strong nose of orange, with a little hint of herbs, too. The first sip offers up a nice hoppy fizziness on the tongue, followed by a slight bitterness. It’s not so bitter that you pucker up and reconsider what you’ve gotten yourself into, however. The overall mouthfeel is smooth with a slight bite from the new “mystery” hops. I did like it, but I’m just disappointed that they couldn’t be bothered to use local ingredients. I’d have to say with this gaff, Long Trail has now graduated from micro-brewery to craft brewer; and I’m sad to see this happen.

<>Beer Man

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28Jan / 2015

Dark Horse–Big Red Blend

Sometimes you walk into the wine section of the grocery store and you know exactly what you want. You know that you want a red, a Merlot with tobacco and chocolate flavors that’s on the dry side and will go great with a juicy rare steak.

And other times you walk into the wine section looking for something new and CHEAP. I often like to try different wines, and I tend to avoid the bottom of the barrel $5 wines because they are usually closer to the complete crap side of the spectrum. Sometimes, you get lucky and you find a gem that is both delicious and cheap. Dark Horse is definitely one of those rare gems. It was on sale for $7.99 a bottle and the label was good and the description sounded fantastic, so I thought, “What the hell!? Eight bucks is a pretty low-risk bottle of wine.”

Such a classy label!

Dark Horse is not as dry as Dreaming Tree, it falls closer to the middle of the dry-sweet spectrum, maybe slightly more on the dry side than the sweet side. It has a truly luscious round fruit flavor, but with balance to keep back what can often be an overpowering sweetness. Lots of tart cherry, blackberry, and currant flavors with a dash of oak on the finish. For such an inexpensive bottle of red, it is so delicious. I would pair this with food or just to sip on the couch while enjoying a classic episode of Top Gear (such as the episode where they launch a Mini Cooper off of the ski jump at Lillihammer).

Definitely consider picking up a bottle the next time you visit your local grocery store (I got mine at Hannaford!).

Winey Woman 🙂

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28Jan / 2015

Peak Organic–Citrus Saison

This one is different. It’s not at all what I was expecting, and that’s unfortunate. The first whiff after I poured it smelled like Budweiser. Plain old Bud. It even tasted like Bud; with some extra citrus flavors on top. I’m probably not being entirely fair here, as I believe this was intended to be a summer brew for Peak, not a 10-degree day winter drink. I’ll be looking for this one again come summer….try it when the temperature is about 70 degrees higher.

<>Beer Man

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22Jan / 2015

Smuttynose Brewing with Stone Brewing — Cluster’s Last Stand

This beer is great. To start, it pours with a near-perfect head. The first sip starts out with a pleasant hit of malt, balanced with full citrus hops. Like the head I was able to achieve in pouring, the first sip is nearly perfect. This is a wonderful collaboration beer. The bitterness of the hops starts to poke though after a few swallows, but it’s nothing overwhelming; there’s still plenty of sweetness from the malt to keep things in check.

After a while, the bitterness dissipates somewhat, leaving behind a well-rounded beer. I imagine part of this is because the brew has warmed up a little (5-10 degrees maybe?), and partly because it’s got enough of an abv to make a dent in my sobriety as I sit on the couch watching Top Gear and writing this, relaxing after a marathon of a Monday at work. With a “man’s dinner” of steak and potatoes, this beer is excellent as well.

This is an all-around wonderful brew from two powerhouses in the craft/micro-brewery genre. I will definitely be seeking out more bottles quite soon.

<>Beer Man

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