The Beer News

Posted on by Evan

Here are this week’s  happenings in and around the Charlotte, North Carolina Area.

  • August 24th Thursday 3 pm-10 pm Birdsong Brewing Company is having a release party for its Autumn seasonal, Wake Up Porter.
  • August 28th Monday 11 am-10 pm Olde Mecklenburg Brewery is releasing its Mecktoberfest beer. 
  • September 4th Monday 2 pm-7 pm Free Range Brewing Funky Farm Day. Live Music, and beer. Free to the public. More information on Free Ranges Facebook page. 
  • September 16th Saturday 21 pm-8 pm Blue Blaze Brewing is having Oktoberfest. The brewery will have traditional German-Style beers and JJ’s Red Hots will be crafting a limited edition brat using Alpine Weisse Oktoberfest Ale. This brat will then be sold at their restaurants between September 16th through October 3rd. More information On Blue Blaze Brewing’s Facebook page.

Service Brewing Old Guard Bière De Garde

Posted on by Evan

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Service Brewing in Savannah Georgia a military themed brewery brews Old Guard Bière De Garde, 6.6% ABV. Old Gaurd is part of Service Brewing seasonal series. The brewer says that one of the greatest military honors is the privilege to serve with the 3rd U.S. Infantry, otherwise known as the Old Guard. In 1996 SGT (Sargent) Heather Johnsen woman to guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier proudly joined the ranks. Old Guard is brewed with their strain cultivated from honeycomb from their own brewery’s apiary or bee farm. house yeast st Old Guard pours a deep orange-copper color with a two-finger beige head that slowly fades down to some minimal lacing that gives nice sweet notes of ripe fruits, sweet malts, and some slight honey, that beckons you into the taste of more ripe fruits with nice sweet malts and honey. The honey is full on flavor with some malts swarming around it with little balancing effects. Old Guard has a nice sweet finish of honey with a sweet after taste that coats your mouth. Mouthfeel is on the fuller side but Old Guard is somewhat easy to drink. This Service Brewing Old Guard Bière De Garde is a B+. This beer might be too much flavor after about three or four. That holds this beer back that is otherwise tasty and something that I recommend trying. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly! 

Unibroue Grande Réserve 17 Aged with French Oak

Posted on by Evan

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For some time now I have been looking for this Unibroue Grande Réserve 17, 10.0% ABV. This is a dark ale aged in French Oak and bottled refermented. This Ale was originally brewed in 2007 to celebrate the brewery’s 17th anniversary, and it was such a success that they kept brewing it. This particular bottled was bottled in 2015 making it two years old.  I picked this Unibroue Grande Réserve 17 up at Whole Foods. Unibroue Grande Réserve 17 pours a deep brown dark color with a two-finger beige head with nice retention giving off sweet brandy/wine notes with touches of nice toffee and slight caramel on the nose, leading into a taste of slightly alcoholic sweet brandy with notes of toffee, raisin, and caramel. This beer drink smoother than it should for a 10.0% beer. Which might be a little dangerous. Unibroue Grande Réserve 17 has slight boozy semi-sweet finish with some toffee and an aftertaste of slight semi-sweet alcohol brand notes. The mouth feel is full. Overall this Unibroue Grande Réserve 17 is good for a big beer, it is a definite A. Miss slightly on the boozy finish but only just. I highly recommend Unibroue Grande Réserve 17 and I will be going back to this lovely beer. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!   

Smaltz Brewing Company Slingshot Craft American Lager

Posted on by Evan

IMG_5221Craft beer drinkers tend to think that Lagers aren’t good and this may have some thing to with non-craft beers like Bud, Miller, Coors, etc… But I think that if you can brew a great Lager beer that is the true sign of a good brewer. Unlike a dark beer, there aren’t any bold flavors for the mistakes of the beer to hind behind, plus I enjoy a good lager. Here I have Smaltz Brewing Company in Clifton Park New York, Slingshot Craft American Lager, 5.3% ABV. Slingshot pours a golden yellow color with a one finger white head that fades rather quick but does give off slightly sweet aromas with some little fruit notes with some faint corn. Tates is much like you’d expect from a lager with slight sweetness like some light mixed fruit, there is a slight crispness with a very faint hop not on the back of the mouth. Slingshot finishes smooth with a subtle sweet note and has a refreshing after taste with a touch of a corn like sweetness. The mouth feel is light on Slingshot and overall this is an A- beer. Slingshot is a great craft lager but I think the sweetness needs to be toned down a notch and it would be even tastier. But I really enjoy it and I highly recommend this beer. It is an easy smooth drinking beer. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly! 

Weyerbacher Brewing Co. Sexy Motherpucker Sour Ale

Posted on by Evan

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I don’t think I’ve had much from the Weyerbacher Brewing Co. but I think they are kind of popular on the east coast. Weyerbacher Brewing Co. in Easton Pennsylvania brews Sexy Motherpuck Sour Ale, 7.5% ABV, which I received from a Brewpublik delivery. This Sour ale pours a light brown hue with a thin beige one and a half finger head that doesn’t stick around for long and gives you a sour citrus aroma with light notes of some grape, slight plum, and cherry, but mostly citrus orange. Taste is really weird, it’s sour orange up front with tiny traces of red grape and with a tartness in the middle with some citrus notes and faint cherry. But the on the end or back of the mouth it has an off sour note that just gross, and continues on into the finish with more sour tart citrus leaving a bitter sour aftertaste that is just wrong and awful. The mouth feel is light to medium. This Weyebacher Sexy Motherpucker Sour Ale is an F. I like sour beers and I like dark sour beer as well but this like two different kinds of sour ales trying to be one and they aren’t working. Do not try this at all. It’s not good at all. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

The Unknown Brewing Co. Dinner at Babalu

Posted on by Evan

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Yesterday evening Babalu Tacos & Tapas had a collaborative dinner with The Unknown Brewing Co., four courses paired with four Uknow Brewing Co. beers. The restaurant sat us at a bar table with all the other people in attendance, sitting at this type of table with a barstool is not so comfortable a table would have been more comfortable. The dinner started off with a snack of Charcuterie, house made sausage, Spanish cheese, beer bread, and paired with Unknowns Pre Game Session Ale. This beer is categorized at as a Pale Ale.

 

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Pre Game Session Ale, 4.25 ABV

This beer is smooth and easy to drink. It is like a better craft version of Bud, Miller, Coors beers. it has a very light citrusy smooth flavor to it, and didn’t over power the any of the snacks. The first course Serrano and Melon; cantaloupe, red onion marmalade, whipped queso fresco was paired with Let’s Get Tropical IPA.

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Let’s Get Tropical IPA, 5.8% ABV

This American IPA was slightly hoppy with nice pineapple, mango, melon, a little bit of grapefruit and some faint coconut on the end and finish. I see why this was paired with this, it was the melon in the dish and the melon flavor of the beer. Nice touch and not a bad IPA but I’ve had some that are better. The second-course was Seared Scallops, sea beans, burgundy truffle, water melon radish paired with Hospitali-Tea Amber Ale.

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Hospitali-Tea Amber Ale, 5.6% ABV

I have had this before and very briefly talked about this beer in a review of the South Blvd Harris Teeter bar. In a nutshell, it’s like iced tea with some honey on the end. It has some nice sweetness to it. I found this beer to be quite good as was the second course. The third course was dry-aged ribeye, mole Amarillo, roasted vegetables, honey garlic, purple Peruvian chips paired with over The Edge American IPA.

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Over The Edge American IPA, 6.4% ABV

This is there more hop forward IPA and you can definitely taste the hops on this one. It’s a big full hop flavor up front and slightly mellow though the rest of the mouth and finishing with a big hoppy note that is on the drier said. Not a bad IPA but there is a lot of hoppy flavor to this beer with some lighter grapefruit and earthy pine notes. I think this could use more of the earthy pine and grapefruit notes. Now the dessert was chocolate pot de creme, burnt orange syrup, Grand Marnier pearls, and thyme paired Unknown Craft Ginger Ale cocktail, which was Jack Daniels, muddled orange and Unknown Craft ginger ale, which is non-alcoholic. This Ginger Ale is great with bourbon and rum and great all on it owen. Much better than all the ginger ales you find at the grocery store. This isn’t so sweet like the average ginger ale. 

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Unknown Craft Ginger Ale Cocktail

Overall the whole beer dinner was good but could have been better, the food wasn’t bad but I’ve had better, and the beer was good. Sit us at a table next time. Cheers! please enjoy responsibly! 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

  

 

 

Terrapin Beer Co. T-Time Berliner Weisse

Posted on by Evan

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This  I am fond of the Terrapin Beer Co in Athens Georgia. they brew great beers. This Terrapin, T-Time Berliner Weisse, 4.0% ABV and only 5 IBUs is a German Style Ale with Maya Tea and lemon. I think the idea here with this is golfers lemonade. T-Time pours a yellow color with a thin one and a half finger fizzy white head that quickly fades into a thin tiny halo, giving off a tart lemony aroma with a faint hint of tea. Taste is similar to its aroma, there is nice tart lemon with a light tea note up front that is slightly semi-sweet with a light tartness in the middle that finishes with a light tart lemon note give you a tart lemonade aftertaste. I found there to be a small amount of tea on this beer. So I give this an A-. It’s a nice touch on a refreshing style. But I think Terrapin needs to stick to brewing beer and not puns. So many bad gold puns on this can. But that doesn’t take away from how this beer taste. That’s the art and or marketing department fault. This T-Time is an easy refreshing beer that I highly recommend you try. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

The Beer News

Posted on by Evan

Here are this week news and happenings in and around the Charlotte North Carolina area.

  • Wednesday, August 2nd Salud Beer Shop 6pm-10pm Allagash Funk Night 3306 N. Davidson St. Charlotte, Nc 28205
  • Thursday, August 3rd The Unknown Brewing Co. and Babalu will have a four-course beer dinner paired with Unknown beers and a special Babalu menu. $55 per ticket purchased here eathere.com.
  • Thursday, August 3rd 5pm-11pm Westbrook Brewing Co. Tap Takeover at O-Ku 2000 South Blvd. Charlotte, NC 28203
  • Saturday, August 5th 4pm-8pm 2nd annual Friends + Beerfest Legion Brewing IPA Edition, local breweries, food, and live music. Tickets $18.
  • Thursday, August 10th 3pm-10pm Collaboration Release: Bastille Day Sour Saison with High Branch Brewing 
  • Sunday, August 19th LOSO Neighborhood, LOSO Neighborhood Block Party 11am-10pm, free admission. Yancy and Southside Dr.

Foothills Brewing Craft Happiness IPA Project Clean IPA

Posted on by Evan

IMG_5194Foothills in Winston-Salem, North Carolina has another in their Crapt Happiness IPA Project, Clean IPA, 6.0% ABV and 55 IBUs. Clean IP is benefiting clean water. Clean IPA pours an orange color with a two finger big but thin white head giving you an orange/orange peel, citrus fruit, like grapefruit with piney, earthy and some hoppy aroma notes which lead into a similar taste. You get citrus fruits, earth hoped pine notes that are just enough and Clean IPA finishes nicely with a bit of with a bitter orange and grapefruit but the after taste halts quickly with a bitter citrus flavor. This beer is very easy to drink for an IPA and give this Clean IPA an A. Everytime I have one of these beers from Foothills brewing I can’t say enough good things about it. This is a good one that I recommend trying for yourself. It just the right amount of hoppy flavor. But not as bold as some of the others in this series which helps this beer to be an easier drinker. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!        

Birdsong Brewing Company

Posted on by Evan

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The Birdsong Brewing Company here in Charlotte, North Carolina makes some of Charlotte’s best beer. Last night I went over to check out their brewery tap room. When I got there a little before 7:30 it was a bit crowded. I started off with Birdsongs newest beer (introduced this past Wednesday) Hotel Yorba, a barrel aged Belgian Blonde.

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Hotel Yorba, Barrel Aged Belgian Blonde, 4.2% ABV

This is their All Knight Long Belgian Blonde aged in NC white wine barrels for six months. It has nice sour green grape notes with some nice tartness. I found it to be refreshing. The atmosphere of the tap room is very open with a big bar and a few bar tables and sizable patio area outside. They don’t serve any food they have free peanuts and will usually have some sort of a local food truck outside. Towards the end of Hotel Yorba, the brewery became less crowded and I then moved to Eat A Peach, Pale Ale.

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Eat A Peach Pale Ale, 4.9% ABV

This was big with peach flavor with hops on the end and finish with out being overly or too hoppy, it has just the right amount of hoppy flavor. I also found this refreshing. The staff at the Birdsong Brewery are very friendly and quite knowledgeable about their beers. The service is fast here. This beer went down easy and once I finished this I over heard the staff say that this is unusually slow for a Saturday night. I think it was due to people being on vacation and Charlotte Restaurant Week. I then decided to have their Paradise City Session IPA.

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Paradise City Session IPA, 4.8% ABV

This one has a small IPA flavor profile, you get nice hops, earthy pine with slight citrus. The one was also easy to drink. I enjoy this and found the flavor to not be so in your face with hop bitterness. By this point in the evening (9:15) A few people came in for a drink or two but it was not that crowded at all. I slowly enjoy this and when I finished it I had one my favorite Birdsong beers Lazy Bird Brown Ale. 

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Lazy Bird Brown Ale, 5.5% ABV

This is creamy with a sweet slight nutty flavor with touches of coffee. It is one of my favorite brown ales. The brewery was getting close to the last call so it was pretty much empty except for a few people. I finished this and decided to call it a night of enjoyment at Birdsong Brewing Co.           Continue reading Birdsong Brewing Company