Darkest Beers For Darkest Days

It’s that time of year again, the Darkest Day, the Winter Solstice, the time to drink those pitch black beers.  Of course, we drink a lot of dark beers throughout the winter. I had a really delicious can of Hardywood Christmas Pancakes Gingerbread Stout a few weeks ago and it was dark and syrupy and amazing.

Hand holding a Low Earth Orbit 16oz can up to the ceiling, like it's in orbit, with an Elf on the Shelf dangling from the fan above it

This year I’m celebrating with an oatmeal stout that really paired amazingly with the cookies I was baking while I was drinking it. Spritz cookies and Millionaire’s Shortbread and chocolate snowball batter. It’s an Oatmeal Stout from Alementary called Low Earth Orbit. It’s a nice drinking stout, at 6.7% it’s not an oppressively heavy imperial or anything.

Jason: “I liked it smooth not overpowering”

It got some nice roast flavors, some chocolatey notes to pair with cookies, and then just that smooth oatmeal stout mouthfeel without feeling overwhelming or dominating. Just a nice happy beer to enjoy while doing my Christmas baking. And plenty dark.

Jason is drinking a Skinny Chicken 12.8% blackberry pastry stout from Buried Acorn

What are you drinking for our darkest day? Feel free to tweet at us and let us know.

Ceetar can be found on Twitter and Untappd where he’s still making cookies.  You can also email him at beer@ceetar.com.

Cider For Thanksgiving

Long time readers and/or followers of mine may remember that my go-to Thanksgiving beer is Figgy Pudding by The Alementary. Figgy Pudding is an English Barleywine aged in Rum barrels and conditioned on Figs, Prunes, Apricots, and Dates. It’s slightly different every year but every year it’s amazing. That’s for me though, what else are we drinking?

Cider. The answer is cider. For Thanksgiving I’m a big proponent of early drinks and late drinks. The beverages you might enjoy early on in the day are much different than the ones you might want when you’ve already packed in some heavy food. Drink whatever you want first, good time for that Figgy Pudding, or Gingerbread Cookie Porter or whatever, but once you’ve sampled from all eight cheeses I bought? Maybe switch to something a little crisper. Like Cider!

A nice dry cider feels like the perfect contrast to rich food, plus it’s apples, which is harvesty and topical! As luck would have it, and totally not the reason for this post, I was just a a cider mill in Vermont and came back with a six-pack of a hard cider I liked. This one’s from Cold Hollow Cider Mill, called Rural Recess. It’s not quite as dry and crisp as I would pick for Thanksgiving, but it’s pretty balanced and it’s also dry-hopped with Cascade Hops, which gives it that nice fresh flavor.

So Figgy Pudding early, and Rural Recess late, and maybe I’ll mix in a Alchemist Heady Topper in there, because this is a beer blog and I did just go to Vermont. What are YOU drinking for Thanksgiving? Tag us on Instagram or Twitter and let us know.

 

Ceetar can be found on Twitter and Untappd where he’s making too many potato dishes for Thanksgiving  You can also email him at beer@ceetar.com.

 

Mets On Tap Episode 2

It’s almost Opening Day, pending Nationals Covid contact tracing, so here’s a new podcast from your friends at Barley Prose. Today Michael, Chris, Jake and Jason discuss Opening Day, Irish Beers and Mikkeller NYC, baseball stadiums and our hopes and dreams for this baseball season.

Lindor signed his extension right after we recorded, so we were as of yet unaware of that, just like we were unaware that Opening Day was going to get canceled.

Beers

Jake: Second Street Brown Ale

Chris: WhichCraft Much Love: Strawberry Basil Lemonade Sour

Jason: Guinness

Michael: Alementary B’Wizzle Barleywine.

 

Taking Advantage of Quarantine Beer Shipping Policies

The unexpected benefit of being quarantined and not being able to visit tap rooms is that breweries are empowered, by desperation and by the relaxing of strict rules against it, to deliver and ship beer. Even as some states have relaxed guidelines to allow us to visit and drink in certain situations, the ever-persistent pandemic has us drinking most of our beer at home. 

Early on I ordered either pick-up, delivery, or whatever I could get from local breweries to try to support them as they struggled. My locals make great beer, so this is not particularly onerous. Most recently I picked up two very interesting beers from the Alementary in Hackensack, NJ called Sweet Summa’ Child, and #Staycation. Sweet Summa’ is a ‘hot, honey wheat ale’. Honey, Cayenne, citrus, meant as an ode to summer cuisine. Amazing. #Staycation is a gose, slightly tart, with pineapple, coconut and ginger. The ginger really makes this next level, as it lends some spiciness but also a warming sweetness too. Couple that with the tart, and the fruit, and I’m starting to wonder if eight was enough.

There are other breweries out there of course, ones in a larger radius from my home that I either like to visit, or would like to visit when I have the time. Now that it’s somewhat irresponsible to just hang out in public with others, I’ve been taking advantage of delivery or shipping options. Most recently, Magnify Brewing in Fairfield, NJ. Fairfield is not far from me, in fact I used to work there, but it’s outside my usual routine and requires a special trip, but you better believe that when they started offering beers for delivery, I jumped. I’ve been a fan of Magnify since inception, I visited their brewery within a few weeks of opening, met the owner and both his parents, and enjoyed the first beers they produced. 

Magnify makes a lot of beer, especially a lot of New England IPA, and they do a good job of it. Specifically, they’re one of the breweries that are, and this is as of yet unverified by me, nailing the ‘fruited gose’ style. Fruited beers, due to the unfermented sugar in the can and therefore the potential for that can to ferment, create CO2, and explode, are the latest hot button issue in the craft beer world, if you don’t count the ongoing failure of the Brewers Association to adequately address racism, which is absolutely a thing that is happening, but also one I don’t feel fully versed in discussing, but still wanted to mention. 

Fruited Gose. Is it a good idea for breweries to sell a product that you HAVE to keep refrigerated or it will explode? That’s the debate. A lot of it comes down to how you think about beer–is it a fresh produce type thing, like milk, where the consumer is expected to keep it cold, be aware of it’s expiration, and take responsibility for that? Or is this a beer too far, and breweries should absolutely not be selling dangerous exploding cans to potentially un-aware consumers? I have some thoughts, but I’d like to taste one of these beers first, which brings me back to Magnify.

Coming today, to my house, is a shipment of Magnify beers that includes Pastry Proof, a variation of their Trade Proof series, because you can’t trade a beer that’s going to explode in an unrefrigerated USPS truck. Pastry Proof is a heavily fruited smoothie style Gose inspired by berry pancakes. Conditioned on blueberry, blackberry, boysenberry and maple syrup. Thick and fruit forward. Roll the can before cracking! Interesting. I mean, who can argue with that? That sounds delicious. I’ll let you know. 

New York is much better than New Jersey with the ordering beer for shipping. Luckily, my parents still live in New York and will happily, though I can’t say I gave them a choice, accept beer deliveries for me, as I did with a shipment from Plan Bee earlier this year. Recently, I was alerted to the fact that Threes Brewing, a great brewery in Brooklyn that typically has other locals on tap when you visit and was the host for at least one BeerGraphs meetup, would also ship other brewery beers along with theirs on their site. This was all I needed to hear, and I quickly ordered their Short Fuse, and Oak Aged Smoked Helles, their Thought Experiment, their Dare to Know, and then Greenpoint’s Please Stand By, Folksbier, who I’d never tried but wanted to, Cucumber Lime Glow Up (this is a pickle beer. I repeat, this beer tastes like pickles), and Wild East’s Temperance. 

Thanks to quarantine I’ve gotten to try a lot of breweries and beers that I would’ve had to put extra effort into getting to otherwise, so I guess you could call this a silver lining. Hopefully testing ramps up, vaccines and treatments emerge, and we can all hoist a pint in person with our favorite breweries and people soon, but until then, appreciate the less-local breweries that will ship you amazing beer, and encourage them to keep doing it. 

 Ceetar can be found on Twitter and Untappd where he’s finishing off a bottle of Japanese whiskey. You can also email him at beer@ceetar.com.

Inaugural Barley Prose Beersport: Oktoberfest Edition

The name of the game is Beersport – two beers enter, one beer leaves. Beersport.

The return of Beersport! Made famous by J.R. Shirt on BeerGraphs and on the Drinking With Shirt Podcast. Feel free to badger Shirt to reprise either here. This classic beer competition returns with a classic Oktoberfest battle between Von Trapp Oktoberfest and Alementary Oktoberfest. Vermont vs. New Jersey. Go. 

Oktoberfest season is tailing off as October comes to an end, but I assure you these beers are still tasty well into November, and further!

Preconceived Notions:
I’ve had both these of these beers a fair amount. I like them both. The style is not super broad that I can easily say much about them cold, so it’ll still be a good head to head battle. I’m a member of Alementary’s Order of the Atom, which maybe gives this an unconscious bias, but you’re just going to have to live with that. 

Appearance
The Von Trapp had better head retention, otherwise they’re both pretty similar bronze colors typical of an Oktoberfest. The packaging is both appropriately Bavarian blue with the brewery logo. Both in 12oz cans. 

Winner: Von Trapp

Aroma
The Von Trapp has a sweet malt smell with a lot of light biscuity caramel notes. Reminds me some of some dark cherry smells. 

The Alementary has a much stronger smell, and a much richer one. Almost like a fresh loaf of bread with butter wafting into your nose. 

Winner: Alementary

Taste 
It’s a fairly gentle sweetness with the Von Trapp, but with some bitterness/astringency. The malt is not dominating as much as I would like, with some drying taste on my mouth from the hops. Though the malt builds with each sip which is nice, it sort of rounds out into form. 

Alementary’s taste is rich too, with a nice complex malt flavor. It’s sweeter and maltier. A nice sweet glaze on a good loaf of bread. This beer has a vibrant taste and rich malt flavor, but not overbearingly so. There’s a sense of fullness that then fades into a gentle almost honey aftertaste.

Winner: Alementary

Mouthfeel
Von trapp tastes a little airier, a little more carbonated, and a little less full bodied.

Alementary is almost sticky, and hits more tastebuds, is a more fullfilling experience.

Winner: Alementary

Overall 
I like both beers. They both make me happy. The Von Trapp is a little simpler, maybe a little easier to drink in volume, but the Alementary is a more complete beverage and is really wonderful. 

Beersport Winner: Alementary

Alementary takes down the inaugural BarleyProse Beersport. Great beer, check it out.

Ceetar can be found on Twitter and Untappd where he’s pondering starting a Barley Prose podcast. You can also email him at beer@ceetar.com.