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

Let us celebrate

I'd like to spotlight a beer that I just had for the first time: Ayinger Celebrator. Ayinger is a German company and celebrator is a German style doppelbock. For years I've considered picking this beer up but I was scared off by the price tag. It comes in a 4 pack at around $12.00. Now I've spent much more then that on beers before, but mostly on beers that I was pretty sure I would like. I'm down with bocks, but double bocks can be a bit harsh at times. Not so with the Celebrator. This thing is smooth as hell and really tasty. Immediately you are hit with some nice roasted malts and a sweet molasses flavour. This is followed by some darker fruit flavours like raisin and plum. The medium body really compliments the flavour and makes this beer an experience. For me, this is the perfect winter beer: tasty, dark, smooth, and exceptionally well balanced. It helped me through the blizzard we just experienced in the Mid Atlantic. Also it has a really sweet label:

And each bottle comes with a plastic ram thing. I put mine around this wine bottle.

Also I chipped my tooth the other day.

What I'm drinking:
Tazo Organic Darjeeling Black Tea (my jam lately)
What I'm listening to:
Death Cab- all albums on shuffle