Foaming over the sides

Foam, what is it good for...Absolutely nothing! Actually foam is good for something, at least the foam that sits on top of your favorite craft beer. The foam or more commonly and better known as the head on top of beer is a good thing, always in moderation of course. The head on beer is produced when you pour a beer into the glass which then releases all of the pent up carbonation which then obviously goes to the top of the liquid. Each beer will produce a different level of head on top, some have a denser froth and will linger, while others are more loosely formed and will not leave a lot of lacing (or the story of your drink as I call it, also a great clue as to your drinking style) on the side of the glass as you down your drink. The importance of the head is that it is releasing all of the aroma that your beer was brewed with and will give you an idea of the flavors that you are about to indulge yourself with.

I love a nicely formed head on my beer, but as I said before there is such a thing as too much head on your beer. The head of a beer in my opinion should never be more than an inch or inch and a half wide, or two fingers wide at most. What this tells you is that you had a clean glass, I mean CLEAN CLEAN, and that you or the bar keep poured the perfect pint. Something to remember, be cognizant of the glass you are choosing for your beer. When going with an IPA, which is full of aroma producing hops it is best to go with a tulip shaped glass which will hold the head and also allow for multiple repeat sniffs. While a strong Belgian of this sort is best consumed from a snifter or snifteresq glass. For more information on glassware head over to the Beer Advocate.  All in all remember that some beer head is good...a little bit more is better, but too much is just sad and takes away from your drink and you have to wait for it to die down before you can sip your brew. For more in depth analysis of beer head visit Wikipedia.

Now on to your regularly scheduled blog post. I knew that I wanted to review a local beer and I had two in my hand, one was from Legend Brewing and the other was from Heavy Seas. I decided to go with the brew from Heavy Seas Brewery (fyi that link may not work, has not worked for me in a couple days) in Baltimore, MD, but it is actually brewed by some local home brewers that won the annual Heavy Seas Letter of Marque contest. According to history a Letter of Marque was used to show that someone was now a professional pirate, hence why the contest from Heavy Seas is named the Letter of Marque contest, where local home brewers can take a shot at becoming a professional. This beer was brewed by Clay Wright and Nick Boylan, I was unable to find any information on these two gentlemen, so if you know anything please pass the information along to me. Much appreciated!

There was no official name given to the beer, but they do label it as a Tripel Wit style Malt brewed with Spices. What this means it is a strong Belgian styled beer so right off the bat you know that it will be more crisp that a Lager or ale. It will also have a good amount of fruit flavor and aroma.

The Tripel poured a nice golden blonde color, also a bit hazy in the glass. It finished with a light effervescent head on top. From first smell you get the orange zest that is used during the brewing process, which will almost remind you of Blue Moon, however this is MUCH better because it is it won a contest obviously!

When diving in for your first sip you get the typical mouth feel of a Belgian styled beer, it is lighter in feel, yet at the same time very flavorful. However, on the finish the brown sugar that is added really shines through and helps this beer end with a great malty taste with a bit of an alcohol feel as well. I must admit I am not the biggest Belgian fan, they just do not tickle my fancy, yet this one was good. Having tasted other home brewed Belgians thanks to the Stafford Brewing Club, this had the distinct taste, feel and smell of a home brew beer so if you want to get a good idea of what home brew is all about this is about as close as you will get without going to your local home brew club.

Cheers!

Welcome Home

Whew! This is my first week back from vacation and boy have I been busy! Not necessarily with beer related items or activities, but with life in general. Last week Mallory and I spent a few days in New York City with our boys and her parents...Yes, the in-laws (really not bad as most would think!) We drove to New Jersey on Wednesday morning, getting there in time to attend the Yankee/Ranger game that night. In preparation for the game my father-in-law and I went out in search of some good craft brews (a great thing about my father in law... he like himself a craft beer...or two) We arrived at a local liquor store in East Rutherford, NJ with hopes that they will have a decent selection with brews that I cannot usually get in Northern Virginia. You can understand how horrified I was when all I saw was horrible Budweiser and Bud Lite. Yet like a shinning light from God there was one shelf full of Samuel Adams Octoberfest!

You may be surprised when I tell you this, but it was my first time ever having this Samuel Adams beer. I have never really been into fall seasonal beers mainly because I have never liked anything with pumpkin in it, but this is not a pumpkin beer and I am a bit more open minded now. So with no pretense in mind I cracked a few bottles in the parking lot waiting to go into the game and I must say I was very pleased. The beer was very smooth, with a great blend of the malty flavor you would expect from a beer better suited for the fall season than the summer. However, the malt flavor was actually a great choice since it was a rainy evening and the game was rain delayed.

Once inside the stadium I figured that I would not find anything worth drinking, but again I was pleasantly surprised when I found Goose Island IPA on tap at each stand. Again this was a beer I had not had before and found myself enjoying it immensely. It did not pucker your mouth like some IPA's, which is not a bad thing some times, but this beer was sweet like IPA's yet not overly so. Very drinkable which will leave you the ability to drink more than a couple before being down and out for the night, which is always a plus.  I would not hesitate to get this IPA again and will be looking for it at my local Wegmans.

Thursday's plan was to venture into the city and do some exploring, this is where the kids got really excited, they thought when we said World Trade Center we meant World TRAIN Center, crazy boys! This was not a beer excursion so no major opportunities to search the city of its wonderful hidden gems of beer goodness, but I was able to get a good idea that I want to go back just Mallory and I and really spend time exploring the concrete jungle that is New York City. We did stop for lunch/drinks in Battery Park where we found a Beer Garden featuring Victory Brewing Company, here I had their lager and Festbier, both of which were as good as you would expect from Victory Brewing. I was a bit surprised that a Philadelphia brewery would be in Manhattan and not a New York brewer, but that's a story for a different time. For dinner we stopped at an alehouse in the Upper West Side called Amsterdam Alehouse. This was a great place with great beer, with my dinner I had a Dale's Pale Ale drawn from a cask. For those not in the know a cask is just like a keg however the carbonation is lighter than what is usually found in beer (yes I know this is not an in depth description, but that's not what I am here for tonight).

All in all this was a good trip, it was the kids first time to the Big Apple and they had a good time. It was a quick trip that seemed longer just because of all of the walking around the city. I highly suggest spending a weekend to tour the city of your choice be it for the beer or just for the city experience I am sure you will have a good time. Best of all I was able to spend some great quality time with Mallory and the kids away from work!

Cheers!

My Journey

I started my journey into the world of craft beer almost a year ago now. It all started when I became fed up with being told that I should be drinking what everyone else was; fizzy yellow water! My solution to getting away from macro brewed beer? Try/look for a new beer at my local grocery store or Total Wine every week, luckily both do a great job of procuring craft beer from around the country.

At this point I do not remember what my first adventure was (other than Sam Adams and their long list of craft brews) however I do remember my mouth exploding with flavor. I found beer and flavors that stretched and in some cases exceeded limits of what was considered beer by most standards (and mine up until this point).

During the past year I have made it my mission to learn all that I could about craft beer and the brewing process. While on my search I have found that I was not alone in my quest for great beer. The craft beer community is full of great people who enjoy conversing, sharing and drinking everything that is craft beer. It seems we all have one goal in mind...TRY MORE GREAT BEER!

Although my journey is a great one and I generally believe I am up for the challenge to try every beer ever made, I could not have gotten this far had it not been for my wife who has allowed me to bore her with details of each beer and consenting to taste tests right a long with me!

So as we embark on the next leg of my journey we go together, I will share the beers I am tasting and buying, as well as things that are going on in my life at that moment...I will post pictures here, on instagram, twitter and Facebook feel free to follow (maamrb5, andrewbutler85 and Andrew Butler).

Thanks for reading and Cheers!