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January31

Fort George Brewery

By: Jake

Fort George Brewery is a great place to visit if you find yourself in Astoria, OR, home of the Goonies. Astoria is a small town that is situated near the mouth of the Columbia River as it dumps into the Pacific Ocean. There is plenty to do in and around Astoria.

Drive along Highway 101 aka Highway 1 when you are in Cali. Beautiful, fun stretch of road.
Fort Stevens Park – Did you know that we had an active fort on the west coast during WWII? Did you know that the Japanese used to send air balloons across the ocean with bombs attached to them, so that when they landed they would explode. Cool historic site.
Lots of great fishing and tons of charters to head out to sea for salmon, tuna, etc.
Tons of hiking, both in Oregon and Washington.
Tour filming locations of the Goonies. Sloth loves Chunk.

While you are exploring you must stop at Fort George Brewery. It’s a cool building and has lots of history, plus the beer and food is awesome. The current brewery and public house was built in 1924 as a Ford service station. The renovated brewery is awesome. I was there a few year back and had a great time. The atmosphere is very relaxed and fun. There is some local art work on the walls and some cool wood pieces. Beer is served in mason jars and if you are lucky you can show up during one of their BBQ cook outs. I was fortunate or lucky enough to be there during one of these. They do it up right, big smoker, fire pit, great beer and live music!

BEER! They have a great spread, brewing up all the classic styles; 1811 Lager, Quick Wit, Divinity, Sunrise Oatmeal Pale Ale, Nut Red Ale, Vortex IPA, Working Girl Porter and Cavatica Stout. From what I remember having they were all solid and below are some highlights.

Quick Wit – Was very refreshing after a long warm day of hiking. Nice malty balance with spices. There is a great flavor of coriander and citrus (orange).
Vortex IPA – Classic IPA, not an overwhelming hop head brew. As Fort George puts it; this brew was designed to not rip the taste buds off your tongue, but rather vigorously stimulate them and your palate into a lupulin-ecstacy of pleasure. The hop bill includes Amarillo, Simcoe and Centennial.
Working Girl Porter – This is a new spin on the porter I tried on my visit. This new brew uses over 5 lbs of Working Girl coffee beans. The beans were put into both the mash tun and the kettle to create a light coffee aroma and coffee aftertaste in this distinctive porter. With additional hints of chocolate and rye malt, this porter is well-balanced and fantastic at any point in the day. Wish I could go back and give it a try.

Fort George recently started to can. If anyone finds a can locally let us know. Or if anyone heads out west and wants to bring back some cans that would be greatly appreciated. If you do make the trip let us know what you think and if anything changed.

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January15

TDY Visits Lake Placid Part 2

By: Jake

After a long day of bobsledding we stopped by the Adirondack Brewing Co. The restaurant associated with the brewery is a little more high end than your typical brew pub. The food is great here. The Clam Chowder really hit the spot. The menu is full of surf and turf options, all of which looked awesome.

The beer list included: Haystack Blonde Ale, Ausable Wulff Red Ale, Cloud Splitter BelgianThe Red Ale is a good solid brew. It was amber in color with a rich malty taste. The Hefeweizen is a traditional German Hefe, you know what that tastes like. The Belgian Strong Ale is a high alcohol example of a Belgian. They use Belgian candi sugar so the taste is sweet with a dry finish and a hint of alcohol. Strong Ale, Hefeweizen, Whiteface Stout, and John Brown Pale Ale. After we sampled all the brews, Whiteface Stout and the Pale Ale stood out.

Whiteface Stout has won multiple GABF awards for foreign-style stout. Huge amounts of roast and chocolate malts give this brew a very robust opaque color. The malt bill also contributes flavors of chocolate, roast, coffee, and Espresso. This is a medium to full bodied brew that has 7.6% alcohol to balance out the roast flavors. We drank a lot of these.

John Brown Pale Ale is a classic west coast pale ale hopped with a ton of Cascade hops. The beer is then dry hopped with cascade whole hops in the fermenter at over a pound per barrel. The dry hopping produces a sharp, crisp citrus aroma for this hop lovers beer. This brew had a much bigger hop taste than the traditional pale ale, which was a pleasant surprise.

If you are ever up in the area stop by for a brew. They also have a few seasonal selections throughout the year.

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January5

TDY Visits Lake Placid Part 1

By: Jake

Lake Placid, NY has hosted the winter Olympics twice, 1932 and 1980. One of the more memorable, if not the most memorable, event in US Olympic history took place here in 1980. Of course I’m talking about the US Men’s Hockey team beating USSR. This game gave us a great speech from Coach Herb Brooks (kid version here):

Great moments are born from great opportunity. And that’s what you have here tonight, boys. That’s what you’ve earned here, tonight. One game. If we played ‘em ten times, they might win nine. But not this game. Not tonight. Tonight, we skate with ‘em. Tonight, we stay with ‘em, and we shut them down because we can! Tonight, we are the greatest hockey team in the world. You were born to be hockey players — every one of ya. And you were meant to be here tonight. This is your time. Their time — is done. It’s over. I’m sick and tired of hearin’ about what a great hockey team the Soviets have. Screw ‘em! This is your time!

So what does this have to do with beer? Absolutely nothing. Currently Lake Placid is part of La Nina, hence no snow, but the beer is still flowing. We frequented may local watering holes and sampled our fair share of local brews. Two breweries sit in town; Lake Placid Brewing Company and Adirondack Brewing. We will focus on Lake Placid Brewing first.

The Lake Placid Brewery brew pub is along side the shores of Mirror Lake in the town of Lake Placid. It’s a cool two story building with lots of hearty wood and beer paraphernalia on the walls. The first floor had a cool, dark wood bar that was hosting a santa party when we were there. The second floor had more tables and a fireplace. Very relaxing place to grab a brew and food.

On tap they had the everyday selections of: Ubu Ale, 46er Pale Ale, Lake Placid IPA and Moose Island Ale. The seasonal selections this time of year were: High Peaks Hefeweizen and Lake Placid Winter Lager.

Ubu Ale – The is the flag ship beer for the brewery. Named after a dog who had a great nose for beer and was a staple at the brewery. This beer is smooth and very malty with a slight hint of hops, but mainly malty. The website says English hops are used.

46er Pale Ale and Lake Placid IPA – Both beers are very similar. I believe the only difference between the two brews is the amount and type of hops used. Both appear to have the same malt flavor and finish. The Pale ale used fuggle hops while the IPA was more citrusy.

Lake Placid Winter Lager – A very dark copper pour with a great head. A nicely spiced brew, typical winter beer spices, ginger and a malty nutty taste. Light body with a nice warming effect, good for cold winter nights after skiing all day.

Keep your eyes open for some Lake Placid bottles around town. I have seen Ubu and the IPA on the shelves of some bottle shops.

Check back for Part 2 of TDY Visits Lake Placid. Part 2 will include Adirondack Brewing and other local brews we found on tap around town.

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October9

GABF Part 1 : A Denver Getaway

By: Tim McFarland

At the top of every beer lover’s life list, a trip to the Great American Beer Festival is supposed to be a culmination of all that is great about craft beer. Most of the major breweries and brewpubs in the United States descend on Denver, CO for a three day celebration of the independent brewing spirit. I made my first pilgrimage to GABF this year with my wife in tow. We both love Denver so the extended weekend was a nice mini vacation.

Flying in on Friday afternoon, we enjoyed dinner at the Vesta Dipping Grill. This trendy Denver eatery has several interesting entrees, and I went with the grilled venison. The real allure of Vesta is that each entree comes with 3 different sauces perfect for dipping. Choose from 37 different types of sauces and pair with one of the excellent local tap selections from Odell and Great Divide Brewing Co.

We continued our Friday in Denver with drinks at Celtic Tavern where I enjoyed Breckenridge’s Java Porter on Nitro. This is not one of my favorite Porters and here at TDY we refer to it as a gateway porter as the beer is surprisingly sweet and appeals to the porter novice. On Nitro this beer is different and full of a variety of flavors that otherwise just don’t show up. The creamy head of the porter on nitro complements the strong vanilla flavor.

Our night was finished off with a visit to the tap room at Great Divide. We drank some of our favorites : Belgian Style Yeti, Wild Raspberry Ale, Fresh Hop, and Hoss’. The Belgian style Yeti is certainly an interesting take on a great base stout, Yeti. The Fresh Hop was also fantastic with a malt/hop balance that often escapes wet hop variety beers. The Hoss is Great Divide’s Marzen style beer with a Rye twist and was a new experience for us. Overall, Hoss has a much greater depth in flavor than the traditional Marzen beer with some interesting spicy flavor on top of the sweet malty characteristics. The tap room has a fun vibe, full of great beer at a good value and is a must visit on any Denver trip.

With the beer festival waiting for us on Saturday evening, our morning began with a nice run through downtown Denver including a circuit of Coors Field. Nothing to wake you up and get your drinking engine going like a brisk run. A post-run brunch was served up at Rialto Cafe, home to a bottomless Mimosa and Bloody Mary bar. Stock up here on lots of protein and carbs before the day of drinking begins.

Our major pre-brewfest stop was at Renegade Brewing Co. We thoroughly enjoyed the sampler particularly the Ryeteous Rye IPA, 5 O’Clock Blonde Ale, and Another Thrill Imperial Porter. A very chill understated tap room in Denver’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, Renegade serves up some interesting brews with open air courtesy of some well placed garage doors. Another Thrill Imperial Porter is just a fantastic beer full of roasted malts and a high alcohol content. Another Thrill is a must try for porter lovers.

Early in the afternoon, we began our GABF preparations : stocking up on gatorade, tums, and snacks. I’m not as young as I used to be and I’ve found that it is better to plan ahead for these types of situations. We went on the hunt for pretzels to make our pretzel necklaces for the beer festival. We were excited to see the following sign outside the Rite-Aid.

Look for our continuation on the actual Great American Beer Festival….

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September7

Appalachian Brewing Co. (Camp Hill, PA)

By: Tim McFarland

Standing outside ABC in Camp Hill

Appalachian Brewing Co. has three locations in the Harrisburg area : Downtown Harrisburg, suburban Camp Hill, and historic Gettysburg. ABC has also recently opened a new location in Collegeville, PA to tap into the Philly marketplace. While perhaps not as well known as the other Harrisburg brewery (Troegs), Appalachian offers a large variety of beer styles that often differ among the locations as all are functioning breweries.

My sister, Mel, lives in the Harrisburg area so I have found excuses to visit the Troegs brewery in the past. However, I’d never been to any of the ABC locations before. My family enjoyed an early dinner at the Camp Hill location this past weekend. In a decidedly suburban setting, the building looks a little bit underwhelming but the bar inside is nicely decorated with beautiful wood and a handpainted ABC logo on the floor. The dining room vibe fits a little bit better with the building exterior. The bar is really the place to be. Craving some wine? The Camp Hill location has 12 wines on draught!

A special of the ABC’s Camp Hill location was the lineup of 3 double IPAs each made with only one type of hop : Nugget, Summit, and Cascade. Jake and I have always talked about doing this. What a great way to study the effect of different hop varietals on the pallet!

ABC's IPA Triple Play

Nugget (7.57 % ABV, 82 IBU) – Starts off with a very nice floral aroma actually more than the Cascade which I found very surprising. Overall this beer is crisp and clean with some notes of citrus with some bitterness towards the end. The finish is overall well-balanced and not too dry.

Summit (7.57 % ABV, 87 IBU) - The best head of the three beers but missing any sort of noticeable aroma. The flavor profile is complex with a sweet first taste followed by a sourness. There are unmistakeable notes of citrus, primarily orange flavor. The finish is more bitter and dry than the other offerings but still is relatively well-balanced.

Cascade (7.57 % ABV, 72 IBU) - The cascade has a good floral aroma which is not surprising. Overall, the flavor is a bit bland but the finish is slightly sweet and a bit drier than the Nugget though not as dry as the Summit.

My favorite : The Summit had the most standout flavor but the Nugget was a much more well-rounded IPA. I’ll take the Nugget everytime.

I look forward to sneaking away from future family gatherings to visit ABC’s other locations. The downtown Harrisburg location has a seperate Belgian beer bar, The Abbey!

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July30

TDY Road Trip: Glacier National Park

By: Mark Wanczak

Listen up yinz, TDY will be driving from Spokane, WA to Kalispell, MT next weekend and we need your recommendations on which breweries to check out along the way. We’ll be short on time so we need the best of the best.

Leave a comment and let us know what brews we just can’t pass up.

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July29

Great Lakes Brewing

By: Jake

This past weekend a great friend of ours got married in Cleveland. This was a the perfect excuse to visit Great Lakes Brewing between wedding activities. This brewery is reason enough to make the trip up to the Mistake on the Lake.

The brewery was in a cool up and coming neighborhood. After finding street parking we walked around what we thought was the building for the brew pub. The parking attendant was nice enough to point out that we were walking around the brewery and the brew pub was across the street.

In the square across from the brew pub, a Saturday art market was taking place. I didn’t walk around the market because it was way tooo hot and the beer was calling. The brew pub looks like it used to be huge old house. They have outside seating which looked very relaxing and was packed. Inside there are two floors of seating. The bar downstairs looks like it was straight out of pre-prohibition brewery. Display cases throughout the brew pub housed classic beer stuff. They even had a can of a Pittsburgh Brewing product; Old Frothingslosh.

On to the food and beer now! The tap list seemed a little short for a brewery. They had 8 beers on tap and they all seemed to be the classic Great Lakes’. We were a little bummed out they didn’t have Lake Erie Monster on tap (it’s ok we had it at Smokin’ Joes in the Southside last night, another reason Pgh is better then C-land.) In general everyone really enjoyed their food and beer. Our table had a wide variety of food and beer. The sausage sampler was excellent. The horseradish mustard is wicked strong!! If you need to clear your sinuses have some of that stuff! The Eliot Ness went well with the sausage sample, I also hear the Edmund Fitzgerald Porter and Commodore PerryIPA were a nice pairing as well.

Lunch hit the spot. I had the brats with pierogies. The pierogies were homemade and the brats might have been too. The food tasted excellent. The Eliot Ness was a nice light pairing with the meal. It lightened up the spicy horseradish mustard. I was nervous to pair it with the IPA, because of the spicy mustard. It was a huge surprise to find the IPA matched up really well with this plate. The IPA didn’t add spice to the mustard it was able to cut through and let the hops hit the tongue. What else could you ask for; beer, hops and pierogies.

All in all the group had a great time. A lot of Eliot Ness, Commodore Perry and Dortmunder Gold went around the table. Good food, good beer and great company. The atmosphere in the pub allowed us to relax and be a little loud, ok a lot loud. The visit to the brewery and the wedding came to an end, and it was time to make like LeBron James and get the f@#* out of Cleveland.

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July1

Arcadia Brewing Co. (Battle Creek, MI)

By: Tim McFarland

Last Visit : June 11, 2010

Visiting the town of Battle Creek, best known as the home of Kellogg’s famous cereal brands, is a bit like taking a step back in time to enjoy a slice of true Americana. Sarah and I happend to be visiting during the town’s cereal festival and so ran into a fairly crowded area. Right in the middle of this typical Midwestern town is the Arcadia Brewing Co. which brews in the traditional styles of England and Scotland. The taproom and restaurant are adjacent to the brewery so there are some good views of the bottling line from the bar. However, this location is in a warehouse so that the restaurant can get pretty loud. This place reminds more of a very typical brewpub with a full restaurant menu.

The Cereal City Bitter was the $2 pint special. The bitter is nice and light with just that right touch of bitterness to make it a refreshing summer beer. Sarah ordered the Whitsun wheat which has a great aroma and a crisp initial taste but ends with a yeasty aftertaste and a slight touch of hay (present in many american wheat beers.) I did get to try the Hopmouth Double IPA which has a nice aroma of Cascade possibly mixed with some U.S. Fuggles. This is a great addition to the Arcadia family which already makes a very good IPA. The double IPA does carry some residual sweetness which some may not find complementary to the malt bill, but I think this is an interesting take on a typical IPA.

I have to give the Arcadia folks some credit for staying true to their beer. The bar does not serve any outside brews or liquor and wine drinkers have only three options (Red, White, and Sangria). This is a refreshing view as I have seen far too many brewpubs that pander to the masses by offering at least one of the mass produced U.S. light lagers. Also a really cool feature for the men’s restrooms, there’s a chalkboard above the urinals to share your thoughts!

Arcadia is worth a visit if you happen to be near Battle Creek. There’s plenty other things to see and do in the area and many other breweries to visit too. You can make a weekend just by visiting the many local breweries in the Southern Michigan area.

On Draft….

Cereal City Bitter

Hopmouth Double IPA

Starboard Stout

IPA

Whitsun Wheat

Rapunzel Light Wheat

Irish Red

B-Craft

Sky High Rye

Anglers Ale

***Brewery Visits are a biweekly post about our favorite tours and taprooms all over the U.S.. Check back to see where we are going next!

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June21

What We Drank at Beer and Gear…..

By: Tim McFarland

We tasted a lot of beers at the Beer and Gear festival. Here’s what we thought about a few of them…

Voodoo Pilzilla (Tim) – really is a pilsner on steroids. Crisp and refreshing lager with a wonderfully dry finish.
Voodoo Brown (Jake) – little roast/coffee flavor, dry and a touch of bitterness but still smooth. a great fall beer!
North Country Pale Ale (Tim) – nice coppery/caramel color. a bit light on hops but an interesting aftertaste which is an interesting mixture of the malt bill and a touch of the hop aftertaste.
Erie Railbender (Tim) – light on the aroma but with a complex oaky flavor. a nice hop/malt balance.
Voodoo IPA (Jake) – most likely dry hopped with several hop varietals as the aroma is complex but the IPA is not overly bitter making this a very smooth beer. (Tim) – complex hop pallet with a dry aftertaste.
Mtn. State Cold Trail (Tim) – clean and crisp golden brew (think kolsch)
Mtn. State Amber (Jake) – a very solid amber entry. a smooth brew that has a well balanced malt bill. does not end with an overly malty taste like so many ambers do.
Mtn. State Seneca IPA (Tim) – great aroma with some cascade and other varietals. very good bitterness profile at the end. a nice complete IPA.
Otto’s Apricot Wheat (Tim) – lots and lots of apricot flavor. reminiscent of a pyramid apricot ale but a bit light on the wheat/malt flavor.
Great Lakes Blackout Stout (Tim) – smooth as velvet with a hint of roast malt and a nice thickness ending in a creamy aftertaste. great stout!
Voodoo Love Child (Tim) – a complex summer fruit beer. people seem to either love it or hate it due to the residual sweetness.
Erie Misery Bay IPA (Tim) – crisp but not too hoppy. a dry aftertaste with lingering hop residue (on the tongue not the back of the jaw)
Victory Sunrise Weissbeer (Tim) – nice belgian style white beer. a spiciness reminiscent of coriander comes through. a good beer but perhaps not all that aptly named.
Fatheads Coffee Stout (Tim) – all about the coffee flavor which is really overpowering. not much body or head retention.
Voodoo White Magic (Tim) – spicy aftertaste reminiscent of black pepper which makes this a very interesting take on the Belgian White style.
North Country Breakfast Mild (Tim) – similar malt bill to the NC Pale Ale but with a less obtrusive hop profile.

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June15

Founders Brewing Co. (Grand Rapids, MI)

By: Tim McFarland

Last Visit : June 12, 2010

I had the pleasure to visit the Founders Brewery this past weekend in Grand Rapids, MI. This visit is important for the Pittsburghers because Founders has only been available in the Pittsburgh area since late last fall. Right in a beautifully restored downtown area of Grand Rapids, this fairly new location (opened in 2007) has a great laid back vibe with good views into the brewery. A great location combined with a whole lineup of great brews made for my favorite of the four Michigan breweries I visited this weekend.

I tried a couple of things that you won’t normally find out in the stores. The Devil Dancer is an excellent imperial IPA weighing in at 12% ABV. The alcohol is not overpowering but there is a residually sweet flavor with a wonder ful bitterness. Sarah enjoyed the Cerise (Michigan Cherry Beer!) which is very much like a cherry cider. For a nice summer brew, try the Endurance Ale (4.8%) which is bursting with Cascade hop aroma and flavor. Sarah and I both enjoyed the Curmudgeon Olde Ale (9.8%) which has a wonderful malt bill giving it the flavor of a much darker beer. The food is mostly sandwiches but there are a lot of choices. It’s the little touches on the sandwiches that make them so good here. I enjoyed the Big Easy sandwich which is sort of like an italian sandwich served with an olive tapenade on sundried tomato bread. Sarah thoroughly enjoyed the Turkey/Bacon/Gouda on Ciabatta bread. I highly recommend the sandwiches!

My favorite brew from Founders is probably the Double Trouble Imperial IPA (avail. Jan-Feb). Since you won’t be trying this one this summer, I highly recommend the Centennial IPA and the Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale. I have not even encountered a mediocre beer from Founders (one of only a handful of breweries that I can say that about). Wait around for the late fall for a special treat: one of the best breakfast stouts you may ever drink! Try it now!

http://www.foundersbrewing.com/

***Brewery Visits are a biweekly post about our favorite tours and taprooms all over the U.S.. Check back to see where we are going next!

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