1001 Beers: Rye Pale Ale

Beer Number 97: Terrapin Rye Pale Ale

So I went up to The Busy Bee Cafe to meet The Beer Fairy, live, in color, and in person! I had looked at the menu the day before and decided that I wanted to knock this beer off the list. Pretty sweet that I did.

At the core of the ale is malted rye that is blended with Munich, Victory, and honey malts to add complexity and softness. Five differnet types of hops go into the ale: Magnum, Fuggle, East Kent Golding, and Cascade, and then it is dry hopped with Amarillo.

I enjoyed this one very much. It was a very solid pale ale. Had a little bit of a spicy kick, but overall a nice balance throughout. I wish I knew it had Fuggles in it. I LOVE THAT HOP! The beer carried a very good body and a sweet, smooth finish. One I would enjoy time and time again.

904 Bottles Of Beer To Go!

Cheers!

Natty Greene: Southern Pale Ale

Finally back to drinking some NC Beer. Guess I got side tracked with a variety pack I bought and some 1001 Beers fun... I did just buy a New Belgium Folly Pack, though...

The Southern Pale Ale is from Natty Greene's. I was going on their website trying to find a little bit of information about the brewery but it is kind of a read. I am too lazy for that atm. Maybe when I get out to the brewery I will talk to them and find out some history but reading the first 4 paragraphs of the about us page, I had to stop.

One thing that was easy reading though, was about this beer. Very clean and simple.

medium-bodied, deep golden ale with distinct, bitter character and a hoppy, piney, citrus finish

Let's see what I though.



I was shocked to see the head on Southern Pale Ale to be off white. Just very unexpected from this golden beer. A pretty big one at that, too. The nose was grassy a tad fruity, and you got some sweetness in it as well. Taking my first sips of this I found it to be very mellow for what I was expecting. Though, it had a nice round bitterness. Some citrus notes, toasty, and finished a little fruity. I thought this beer was a little thin but overall, this beer surprised me. Actually a pretty decent pale ale. One I would get again, that's for sure.

Cheers!

1001 Beers: Old Brewery Pale Ale

Beer Number 45: Samuel Smith's Old Brewery Pale Ale

This beer is one of the more common ones in this book. Not saying that there are a ton of hard to find beers, it really depends how you look at it, but you do not have to go to a special bottle shop or specialty store to pick it up. You can find this one in most, if not all grocery stores that carry just a small amount of beer. I have never had this one before but I have been a fan of their Nut Brown for some time now. Let us see how this one comes out.

Other brewers have stainless steel squares and some are even round, but tradition means much at Sam Smith's and its squares are not only square but made with Yorkshire stone, too. Other aspects of the brewery's traditional means that the grist of pale and crystal malts is boiled in traditional mash tuns and the hops are Golding and Fuggle; added late these bring a dash of spice to the beer. The yeast has been used at the brewery for more than one hundred years, and its vigor and vitality create the beer's rich, frothing, foaming head in the fermenting room. The original well at the brewery, sunk in 1758, is still in use, and the brewing water for Old Brewery Pale Ale is drawn from deep underground. The brewery even has that rare unicorn of brewing, a cooper, who still makes and repairs all the wooden cask that are used to serve a cask-conditioned version of Old Brewery Pale Ale in many of the company's pubs.

I had mixed expectations for this beer. I did not expect it to be anything like the Pale Ale that we have here in the states, but I thought since my palate is probably wrecked it would be underwhelming. I tend to prefer milder beers but you just don't get them over here. More Hops & More ABV is what "We" say. This beer actually shocked and pleased me.

I tried to put it in the closest thing I had to what I feel would be the traditional glass. Not in the right volume but I think I got there, close enough. A very nice, clean copper hue with a huge off white head that left a beautiful lace all the way down the glass. I should have snapped another pic of it, like the last time I had beautiful lacing. It did fade rather quickly, though. Bready and a pretty sweet toffee in the nose.

This is where the beer got interesting. It had a great body! Nice and full. Very creamy, toffee and herbal characters. A lot of dark fruits, which was very surprising. It then got a little acidic and vinegary... It really worked though. I do not know how to explain that one. I want to try another bottle and see if that was just my tongue playing tricks on me. And throughout the whole beer there was that nice, bready quality which backed the whole beer up.

Tasty. I very much enjoyed this one and it is definitely on my list of beers to try again. 1001, we have found another winner.

956 Bottles Of Beer To Go!

Cheers!

1001 Beers: Boston Lager

One of my favorite places to go out and eat... just because Fondue is amazing, is The Melting Pot. They can get a bit on the pricey end but you never leave dissatisfied... unless you get a crappy waiter. I have not experienced that yet. Just throwing out variables. Makes sense, no? Well, Recently I was there and decided to have the beer flight with my Big Night Out. Mainly because I wanted beer, not really because I was trying to pair. The last time I was here I did the wine flight. I think there was one I really liked and I didn't really keep notes on them so it's whatever.

The beers for the flight were split between ones I have had many times before and ones that I have only had a few times. They were Boston Lager, Sierra Nevada Pale, Stone IPA, and Rogue Chocolate Stout. Honestly, I did not really see any correlation in flavor of the food to the beers that they presented but I guess I cannot be too mad. There were a few good selections.



The first course was just The Big Night Out Boston Lager Cheese Fondue. A little appetizer to get us going. Bread Fruit Vegetables, and Beer Number 19 Samuel Adams Boston Lager. I have only had this one a few times before, and I always say I am not really a fan of Sams so this was just a formality since you cannot substitute beers in the predetermined flight... not that they really have a beer menu anyway. Honestly, I found nothing interesting about it... again. Just another beer. A bit of floral hops in the start, a tad earthy and then citrusy... It was way better in the cheese than in the glass but I guess I can't be too picky, I did come here for the food.



The next beer was a classic. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. I can't say anything bad about this beer. Though, I did not think it paired well with my salad... It wasn't bad, but for sure it was not thought out. Check out This beer Here.



Stone IPA is one I have had a few times and it actually fits into this series, but I will give it it's own post at a later date. It deserves one and will not go into this count. There is just so much to be said about this beer and this brewery, that I'd rather have it organized than just thrown together to get Boston Lager out of the way hah! I guess Lobster and Stone IPA is never a bad choice, but again, the whole coming together thing was just lost. My fault, or theirs???



The last beer, Rogue Chocolate Stout. I thought I had never had this one before, but a little search on Untappd proved otherwise. I am not really a fan of Rogue, but this beer was actually one I might buy get a pint of one day, and not just because I am at the brewery. Again, who ever made these pairing decisions should be fired but I guess the beer and the courses stood alone and that is what matters?

982 Bottle Of Beer To Go!

Cheers

Flying Dog

Since moving to North Carolina, I have been wanting to learn more about the beer from this side of the country. I have been checking out bottle shops for local beers and things that I am not accustomed to on the West Coast. Well, I decided to check out the whole line from Flying Dog. I guess technically, they are not local being they are out of Maryland and they do distribute out to where I was, but I made my decision this is when I was going to start checking them out.



I learned quite a bit about them as well. Some stuff that made me think upon discovery. The origins of Flying Dog go back quite a bit. Back to about 1983, but that whole story is here. Take a read. Other things that caught my attention was the fact that the original brewpub and brewery were out of Aspen, Colorado back in the early 90's. Now, that was way before I first got into beer... or was even old enough to walk across the street by myself... but then they made the move to their current home, Frederick, Maryland.

I guess it is only fitting looking over all of this that I first check out the beer that probably made Flying Dog who they are. In 1991 Doggie Style Classic Pale Ale was bottled and ended up winning “The Best Pale Ale in America” at The Great American Beer Festival. I had no idea this was even a category. But I guess things have changed a bit since then.

Style. As innate as its brother Cool, it can't be learned. Buried deep beneath the relics of awkward trends and hip nostalgia, the truth remains-- the moment you lay claim to having IT... it's gone. But rest easy, young soldier. What you have in your hands is all the style you need.

I would say that this beer has nailed everything it set out to do. It had a nice balance of flavor and bitterness. It is kind of exactly what I look to as I have a pale ale. Not many get it right. I find they are either a tad too hoppy, or under bittered. I got that it was a little fruity and then cut by the citrus. The balance with the flavor and the body for this beer really worked to keep it from being just another beer. I wish I was able to have some of it back in 1991 when it won the award but I can see how it did. For sure this beer has to become a regular.

Cheers!