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!

International IPA Day

Hoppy IPA Day everyone...get it, hoppy!? I make myself laugh sometimes (admittedly more often than other people really). If you have not already heard , which if you are reading this I doubt thats the case; today is the second official IPA Day(IPA Day history). IPA day was created by online personalities Ashley Routson of Bison Brewing in California (Bison Brewing) and Ryan Ross of Karl Strauss Brewing Company (Karl Strauss Brewing Company). They wanted something that would unite the whole craft beer world, from California to Maine to Europe and beyond. I think it worked. I saw some statistics today and there were 6.4 thousand tweets with hashtag #IPADay and 4.7 thousand blogs/posts. It is amazing to me that the craft beer world is still so small and that people have not caught on yet!

I must admit that I have been excited and anxious about writing this particular blog post for the past week or so. The IPA beer has become the staple of just about every American Craft Brewery, and no two brews are alike while some breweries like Sierra Nevada and Oskar Blues have two different strong Pale Ales, so I knew I had to find a brew that was new (at least to me) and write a poignant and informative review. I have succeeded in finding a newer IPA I even went with a Double IPA and hopefully I will succeed in the latter.

Tonight was my last evening of manual labor with my dad for a little while, how long, I do not know. It is also the last night that I have to stay home alone and dress myself in the morning! The dressing myself is the scary part..trust me, I can however tie my own tie...YAY ME!

The beer that I am drinking tonight is from the Long Trail Brewmaster Series: Double IPA. It clocks in at 8.6% ABV with an 86 IBU rating. What this means to you is that this is a strong, bitter beer, at least in theory. Long Trail has brewed this IPA with the decidedly American Chinook and Cascade Hops. The Cascade hops give the beer a distinctive floral and "citrusy" taste while the Chinook hops give smokey and herbal flavors. This special bottle gives the drinker instructions on how to pour as well as what kind of glass to pour into. This being the big beer it is you will want to pour slowly so that the head does not get so big that you cannot drink right away. You will also want to serve this beer chilled at around 45-50 degrees, which in my opinion is to keep the alcohol flavor somewhat suppressed.

Upon tasting this DIPA your mouth is hit with the hops and all the floral and citrus flavors, but what Long Trail has done really well is bring out the malt flavor. If you let the brew sit on your tongue (its hard not to swallow good beer right away as I am sure you know this already) you can really feel the low carbonation of the beer and the alcohol softly hits the back of your nose. This beer gets better as you continue to sip and I will say my second glass was a lot better than my first, which is very impressive.

I am considering the purchase of another 1.6 pint bottle for ageing purposes, just to see how the character will change. Overall I enjoyed this beer, maybe not one I would get for an everyday drinking session, but one I would get for special occasions or special dinners, but make sure you are having a strong meat like beef brisket or grilled Lamb...at least that's what Long Trail says! Don't take my word for it, take theirs!

Happy reading and Cheers!