Ramstein

No, not the shitty German band. That is Rammstein. I'm talking about the beer made by Greg Zaccardi and his team at the High Point Brewery in Butler, NJ. I stopped by today for their monthly open house. They have a real nice set up. Really beautiful tanks and kettles. They have a sweet tasting room with four taps. The event was free, and you got four drink tickets upon entering. If you bought a growler (which of course I did) you could fill up your cup a few more times.

High Point specializes in traditional German style wheat beers and lagers. Greg imports everything except for the water from Bavaria. They had five beers on tap. I had four of them. I can't recall which one I missed though. They had a classic wheat which was malty, and wheaty, slightly sweet and yeasty. There was a golden lager which was smooth slightly malty with hops coming through in the finish. Next I had the double platinum blonde which was truly delicious. This was spicy, yeasty, fruity, and bitter sweet. Last I indulged in their seasonal Maibock. This was the star of the show. It was toasty and smooth, malty and delicious. Hops cut through in the beginning and the end. Very traditional and very delicious. I took a growler home with me. The Maibock received a great rating on both ratebeer.com and beer advocate.com. If you are in the area, stop by and pick something up. The tour is on the second Saturday of the month from 2-4pm.

Greg doing his thing

A beautiful sight

Tasting room complete with child bartender

I treated myself to a growler

Drinking: Magic Hat Odd Notion (number 2)
Listening to: E Smith-Figure 8

An Epic Sesh

On Friday night I headed out to Cricket Hill Brewery with a couple coworkers for their weekly “brewery tour”. Basically, you pay two dollars for four drink tickets which really served no purpose. Then you continually fill up the small cup that comes with your admission and hang out with a bunch of dudes and a couple chicks drinking some dope session beers. Eventually, owner Rick Reed will give an impassioned speech about his beer. The dude really gets into it. He also really digs session beers. Cricket Hill exclusively brews session beers. Session beers, for those not in the know, are craft brewed beers that you can drink all day. Basically, beers that are super tasty, with moderate alcohol content, and nothing too intense. There are really no actual rules to what defines a session beer. I would say that alcohol has to be under 7%. I don't think anything with the label imperial could be considered a session. Probably nothing aged in casks with oak chips. Actually they did have a cask ale on tap. At this point I feel obliged to talk about the beers they were serving:

East Coast Lager: Didn't actually try this one that night, but I've had it in the past. It's a pretty good lager. Not too dark, but certainly not light. I can't really get into specifics because it's been a while.

Porter: This was good. It borders on a stout. Some really nice roasted flavour, but it goes down smooth as shit. Really delicious. Great mouth feel, slightly burnt, but mostly just smooth with a roasted malt up front.

Hopnotic IPA: If it is possible for there to be an East Coast IPA this is it. Don't ask me why. Basically it is an American IPA, only a little lighter in body and hop bitterness, but maybe slightly more hop aroma and/or flavour. Definitely a great session IPA. According to Ratebeer.com it has an ABV of 6%. That is low for an IPA. It's good though. I could seriously drink this all day and not get into a fight or anything.

Colonel Blides Cask Ale: According to this dude I talked too, it is a cask American ale. Kind of a weird concept. A relatively banal style of beer put into a cask and aged. The result was seriously great. The first one I got was the butt of a cask. It lacked almost all carbonation but was chock full of sediment. I thought that was what they were going for. Then I drank like six more off the fresh tap. It was an American ale times a million. Like seriously delicious and almost addictive. I've never tasted so much character in an amber session ale. I highly highly recommend.

I had a great time at the brewery. The beer was right up my ally. I am a strong advocate of session ales. I think specialty beers are delicious and have there place. Believe me, I can definitely get into a Chimay blue cap or a Brooklyn black chocolate stout. But when it comes down to it, I'd much rather grab a pale ale around 5% that I can drink for the next 7 hours straight. That is living.

Rick made me self conscious about what I had in my fridge:

I was talking to Rick about the beers I had coming up. He did not seem very interested in the imperial stout I have bottle conditioning, but more interested in the ESB I have in secondary. The dude loves session ales.

In conclusion, if you want to have a good time with a bunch of dudes, you like session beers, and you can stand cigar smoke, check out the brewery tour at Cricket Hill Brewery. It is every Friday night at 5:30. Enjoy the pics and cheers.

A fermentation tank and some old dude

Rick preaching to the converted

A captivated audience and/or huddled masses

Brew master, some dude, taps on the wall

Chex mix, for some reason this was a legal requirement.

News and notes (something new):

I just ordered a digital camera. I thought that the Iphone would suffice, but it is simply not hacking it.

If your are on the upper west side, check out Pioneer. It's on Columbus around 74th. They have Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale bombers on special (2/$5).

Tis the season: Troegs Nugget Nectar is out there. Go and get it while it lasts. You will not be sorry.

What I'm drinking:
Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale (thanks pioneer) and pale ale.
What I'm Listening to:
88 Fingers Louie (oh yeah)