Sierra Nevada Beer Camp : Best of Beer Camp sampler pack

    Sierra Nevada Brewery : Chico , CA

   Here's a new concept, remember going away to camp as a kid or having day camp during the summer time? Well here is the adult version, Beer camp! A 100% hands out beer adventure. You get a behind the scenes look at the brewery, a full tour of how it all works, and best of all you get to work with other people with a passion for beer, and become a brewer and then name your creation! What a great idea! You must enter and win the contest in order to get selected for beer camp, make a video and the usual. But, hey that would be a once in a lifetime opportunity and a great time!

    Sierra Nevada decided to release a sampler pack highlighting the best of the creations at beer camp this year, and I got to benefit from the campers hard work very nicely! It is a rare 12 pack around here but I found some at a local store.

  The pack includes the following:

Weizenbock

California Common (steam beer)

Juniper Black Ale

Double IPA

The double IPA and weizenbock were excellent, my favorites out of the 4. I can't remember the last time I had a mix pack of this caliber. 4 very solid beers. As a whole, I would rate this mix pack a 5/5. Wish they were available more readily throughout the year, either way, this mix pack has grabbed my attention and I will be on the look out for new beer camp brews, hey who knows maybe one day I will make it to beer camp myself!

Northampton Brewery & Restaurant- Northampton, MA

Decided to go to Northampton Brewery to celebrate my birthday with my wife. I was attracted to this place from their very nice website with pictures of the restaurant, it just looks neat. I was also looking at their menu which everything sounded absolutely delicious. They had a list of a few dozen beers brewed all year or seasonal, and I must say that list is impressive with all types of styles. I like that their motto which is peace love beer. I love that they get all their produce from a local farm down the road. What can I say, there were a ton of reasons that made me want to come here, but the main thing of course is the beer! I got 2 sample trays with 4 samples each, yeah 8 different beers total! Here is a list of the beers I sampled along with descriptions courtesy of northamptonbrewery.com .

Beers Sampled :

Decadent Ale- "This is a rich full-bodied English style strong ale, malty, hoppy and full strength. Originally made to commemorate our 10th anniversary. "

Mean Green Double IPA - "This double India Pale Ale is a hop hammer. Loads of hops and a solid malt backbone, this balanced ale is the dry-hopped until delicious."

Eclipse -  An American Black Ale

Red Headed step child - "Our "adopted" version of an Irish red ale is medium bodied and surprisingly hoppy.

Northampton Pale Ale- "A medium bodied, copper colored English style bitter. Well balanced, with a solid hop finish."

Daniel Shays best bitter- "This English style best bitter starts off malty on the palate and finishes hoppy; named for our area's historic "bitter" rebel.

Kitchen Sink-   "An American Pale Ale. Lighter in color and lower in IBUs than our Northampton Pale Ale, but with more dry-hopping for that floral, hoppy character you’ve come to know from our beers. "

Nonotuck IPA- "Our version of an India Pale Ale. This straw colored beer is hoppy, hoppy, hoppy"


My favorites were the mean green double IPA, the decadent, and the eclipse. I liked how hoppy the mean green was but it was still easy to drink with a smooth finish. This double IPA was a lot better than most I have bought from a store, very impressed. The eclipse was nice and smooth and a great rich dark beer. The decadent was a nice strong english ale. It was very delicious, it was "decadent" and had a nice hop kick to it.

   Before I even got the the restaurant, I had checked out their menu online. I had my heart set on the southwest meatloaf. I am not a huge meatloaf fan but this is a new take on meatloaf and it sounded incredible. When we got to the restaurant, I decided to order the beer battered chicken tenders with apricot-mustard sauce. The breading was light and crispy and very very tasty. That apricot-mustard sauce was excellent too by the way and it was a great starter to go with my first sampler. Now, for the main dish. I could not keep away from this southwest stuffed meatloaf, I had to try it, so that is of course what I ended up ordering. The dish was sprinkled with black beans which I love. The meatloaf was perfectly cooked and stuff with peppers and cheese lava! Oooey gooey cheese and spices. This meatloaf was so packed with flavor it was unbelievable. Wrapped in smokey bacon as well! And to complete the dish: ancho chile spiced mashed pototoes that were creamy and really flavorful! saved the IPA to drink with the dish, it paired very nicely with all the spice!

     The best thing about the evening is that we were outside in very dim lighting, the weather was perfect, not too hot not too cold, and my wife and I were enjoying our food and company under the stars! Had to be one of the best lineups of beers I have ever sampled at a brew-pub and the food was excellent. I think we have a new favorite! 5/5 rating!

Clown Shoes Clementine Witbier

  I am always excited to try something out of the ordinary when it comes to beer. You see a lot of witbiers with orange peel and other beers with lemon zest and such. But this is the first time I have seen a "clementine" beer.

   From Clown shoes brewery in Ipswitch, MA I sample a witbier out of a 22 oz bomber. At first when I came across clown shoes I could help but say ( what the....?) but I am starting to realize this funny named brewery knows how to make a good brew. I am new to Clown shoes, this is only the 2nd beer I have tried from them. It pours a nice hazy orange color, with lots of carbonation and a foamy thick head that stays a while. The flavors are orange peel, coriander, hops, and yeast. The difference between this and your average witbier is this one is a bit more tart and sweet and has a very nice hop flavor. I have had a lot of different witbiers and citrus flavored beers and they all seem to be relatively the same. This beer is a very nice change up. I like the slight bitterness and extra flavor here. With the great amount of carbonation, the mouth feel is quite exceptional. It was very easy to drink and I could see myself drinking this beer a lot. If you like any witbiers and are looking for something a little different, get out there and give it a try. 4/5

Beer Battle Face off : Peak Organic mixed pack vs. Sebago Mixed pack

The battle of the mixed 12 packs, each with 4 different styles. Peak organic vs. Sebago. Both companies in Maine, both great mixed packs but who's is superior?

Sebago Brewing Co. Gorham, ME

Pack includes :

BoatHouse Brown
Saddleback Ale
Frye's Leap IPA
Full Throttle double IPA

Peak Organic Portland ,ME

Pack includes:

Pale Ale
IPA
Summer Session Ale (brewers pick)
Nut brown Ale

 This was a close one. Some great beers from each. I have to say that the best beer in my opinion out of all of these beers was the Sebago Full throttle double IPA. I thought it was excellent. Even though Sebago has the best beer out of the 8, the other 3 beers in the mix pack were just decent nothing special. The Peak organic has a more solid line up. An excellent IPA from Peak organic, I liked it better than the Frye's Leap IPA from Sebago. The Nut brown from Peak organic was much better than the sebago boathouse brown and I love my brown ales! Also, even though Sebago has the best beer, they also have the worst out of the bunch, I really didn't care for the saddleback ale. The Pale ale and Summer session from Peak are a solid offering. I really liked the fact that Peak included a seasonal in the pack and it was excellent!

It was a close one, 2 great mix packs but there can only be one winner:
  Winner : Peak Organic Mix pack

Beer Battle Face Off : Black Hops Vs. Hoppy Feet

    My new favorite style : the black IPA. Combining the strong hop flavor of an IPA and the dark roasted malt richness of a porter, this is a little bit of everything good.  This face off is between Blue Hills Black Hops and Clown Shoes Hoppy feet. Both local in Massachusetts and both Black IPAs in 22 oz bombers.

   When it comes to black IPAs I want some good hop flavors but balanced with the richness and malt of a porter. Before this face off, the only beer that does it for me in the Black IPA category is Otter creeks Alpine Black IPA. The clown shoes hoppy feet I feel is slightly better. There is honestly no real competition here between the hoppy feet and the black hops. The hoppy feet pours a thick creamy head that stays, the black hops has a thin head that dissipates quickly. They are both right in color "black". But the flavors are where the beers take 2 separate paths. The hoppy feet has a damn good hop flavor but it is consistent and fantastic all the way throughout unlike the Rogue black IPA. I love this beer. The black hops is a decent beer and easy to drink, but I really don't feel the hops are strong here for the style. It is almost like a slightly hoppy porter whereas the hoppy feet is exactly what I am looking for. Hoppy feet will be tough to beat and a definitive beer for the style. Black hops 3/5. hoppy feet 4.5/5

Winner : Clown Shoes Hoppy Feet

Also can't wait to try Clown shoes hoppy feet 1.5 which is an imperial black IPA !

Grilled BBQ Pale Ale chicken wings!

I love cooking with beer. I have made a few different wings in the crock pot and in the oven. This is my first time ever grilling chicken wings.

   I picked up a 12 pack mixed of Peak organic. The mixed pack came with an IPA, Pale ale, session summer, and nut brown. I was trying to find the right beer to be mixed with the wings. I decided to go with the Pale ale because it had a good flavor and wasn't overpowering because I was already going to use spices and Hickory BBQ sauce, so I wanted something to blend well with it.

  I first used a poultry seasoning grinder to season the raw wings. Coated them nicely. I then added the BBQ sauce. Next, I mixed in the beer and let the wings marinate for an hour or so.

The wings grilled nicely and were very tasty. I think what I would have done differently for next time was brush on some beer and bbq sauce mixure while they were cooking. Other than that I had a great experience cooking with beer and a successful first experience grilling wings

 

Beer & Food on Vacation

    I took a much needed vacation to Lake George, NY camping with my wife. When we take vacations, we like to not cram so much into each and every day we are there. We would much rather pick a few things that we want to do and balance it with lots of relaxing and doing pretty much nothing inbetween so we can actually relax on our vacation and not just simply run around.

   When you're on vacation, it's always nice to enjoy some good food and brews. I knew that my thing would be to visit some breweries while on vacation, and with a few in the area, how could I resist?

   It's nice to sit outside while camping and be able to grab a cold brew from your cooler and be able to enjoy it in the shade or in front of the fire. Yuengling is a decent beer that is not available anywhere in New England so I decided to pick up a 6-pack. Our first attraction was a really interesting zoo in the middle of nowhere where my wife got to hold a baby kangaroo!! (yes a joey). After we had a blast at the zoo we were really hungry but I wanted to find a unique place to eat and not a chain. I noticed a restaurant and gift shop with a silo and barn called the silo restaurant on the way to the zoo, so I decided I wanted to stop there. It kind of reminded me of a cracker barrel but unique to this one location. I had for lunch a ham and turkey sandwich on french toast with cranberry sauce (mmmm) and a side of sweet potato fries with a raspberry ketchup, Excellent!

    I noticed after doing some research that there was a brew-pub called Adirondack,  literally down the road from our campground, yes I could not resist. We decided to do lunch there. I of course got their beer sampler which is a must-have for me at brew-pubs. I sampled the IPA, bobcat blonde, dirty blonde, cafe stout,  bear naked, and hefeweizen. The brews that standed out the most were the IPA and dirty blonde. I loved the IPA the most and got a second pint to go with my meal. For food I ordered a prime rib sandwich, with horseradish mayo and au jus on the side for dipping (amazing) went very nicely with the IPA. I got beer battered fries on the side which were excellent as well. My wife got sweet potato fries to go with her burger. The sweet potato fries came with a raspberry sauce in her words "to die for" she loved it so much that she raved about it to our server and she let us buy a giant jar for 8 bucks! We also shared a "fudgie wudgie" for dessert which was like a double chocolate cake brownie with vanilla ice cream on the side! So rich and delicious. My wife might have had more fun than I have there (but hey it was a brew pub so thats debatable ). We walked away very satisfied and full, I had my t-shirt and Adirondack pint glass, my wife had he giant jar of raspberry sauce, and we were on our way.

     We loved Adirondack brew pub so much that we decided to go back our last day of vacation for lunch. This time I ordered to start an Apple Brandy Amber Ale. This beer was by far my favorite of the entire trip. It wasn't too sweet and had a nice hint of apple and was just something I could drink all the time! I ordered a Belgian Pale ale to go with my Buffalo Chicken Sandwich which both the beer and the sandwich were incredible and pair really well together. I got their beer battered onion rings with a chipotle sauce. mmmmm. Adirondack is a fantastic establishment with great food, great beer, and excellent service. Next time I am in upstate, NY I will go out of my way to stop by there again. Next time, I am definitely getting some growlers to go!

    I wanted to stop at Ommegang Brewery in Cooperstown, NY. When I plugged it into a GPS and found out that it was 2 hours away, I decided to do some more research and find something closer. I came across Olde Saratoga Brewing Co. They make beer for 3 different labels/companies Mendocino, Olde Saratoga, Kingfisher. The place is very neat, it's a small bar are with tables , very intimate and you can try whatever you want and as much as you want for free!  I was able to sample 7 different beers there, Kingfisher lager which is brewed for the company out of India, Olde Saratoga lager, Blue Heron Pale ale, Black hawk stout, White hawk IPA, Eye of the hawk ale, Red tail ale. The IPA and stout were good, I liked the saratoga lager as well. The one that stood out the most was The eye of the hawk ale which was a strong ale. Very smooth for a strong ale and very easy to drink. After picking up a shirt, a Olde saratoga pint glass, and a 6 pack of red tail ale , we were off to relax again at the campground.

     I got my fix of awesome beer and breweries. I got to have have a lot of fun and relax and enjoy some excellent food. I'd like to say it was a fantastic vacation, and can't wait to go to Maine next spring. I have to find a campground that has lots of breweries near it!