Experimenting with Beer Freshness

Over the last few years I've noticed more and more drinkers only wanting to drink the freshest beer possible.  If a beer doesn't have a bottled on date, there is a good chance these connoisseurs of freshness will pass on the dateless beer and go with something else they wouldn't typically prefer, simply because they want freshness guaranteed. Then there was me. I was always aware that hops can break down and lose their potency over time, but I had serious doubts that I needed to go out of my way to check the dates on my 6-pack. We’re talking about excellent beers made by reputable breweries so why shouldn't I trust that their beer would still be top quality as little as 3 months later?

With that question in mind, I set out to Heavy Seas Brewery with Deana and Oliver Gray of Literature & Libation (check out his reaction to our experiment here) to see if we could determine a difference between fresh beer and a beer nearing the end of its “best by” window. The new beer was Heavy Seas Loose Canon, kegged on February 17^th and sampled 5 days later on February 22^nd. The older bottle of Loose Canon was purchased on November 12^th, 2013 and stored in my basement until the February 22^nd tasting. The idea was simple. We’d look at each beer, sniff ‘em, and then taste the beers noting any differences. Oliver and I were to act as the experienced drinker and Deana represented the casual drinker in our attempt to discern if it took an experienced palate to pull out differences between the old and new beer.

Long story short, it was painfully obvious that freshness matters.  The bottled beer seemed to take on a sweeter malty profile in both aroma and flavor. The hops were there, but as Deana put it, everything about the bottled Loose Canon seemed to be muddled.  Good,yes, but muddled.  The fresh beer, on the other hand, was where it was at. It wouldn't matter if it was the first beer you've ever had or your 1 millionth, the difference was staggering. The aroma of the new beer evoked smells I've experienced as a homebrewer opening up a brand new package of hops. For those of you who have never ever homebrewed, there is an earthiness about hops that seemed to be lost over time with the old beer. Where taste is concerned, the fresh hops in the newer beer also improved the overall drinking experience. The earthiness I referenced in regards to hop aroma also helped enhance the flavor. Instead of a beer with muddled flavor, you had a drink with distinct malt and hop presence. Even the mouthfeel of the fresh beer was different as you could notice the hops prickling your taste buds with each sip.

This experiment has changed the way I’ll drink hoppy beers from here on out. It’s not that the older beer was bad. It’s just that the newer beer tasted so much more alive. The fresh earthy features the hops provided the newer Loose Canon made for an incredibly inviting drink. Brewers go to incredible lengths creating recipes that showoff all that hops have to offer and it’s on us as consumers to make sure we’re buying the beer when it’s at its peak. I don't think I'll ever buy a beer, especially an IPA, without checking dates again. From here on out, when I'm shopping for beer my rules for buying beer are simple. Buy fresh beer. Buy local beer. Drink Happy.

My Perfect Baltimore Beer Week

Coming up in the not too distant future is one of my favorite weeks of the year. Baltimore Beer Week. For 9 days there are smorgasbord of great opportunities for beer lovers to get their craft beer fix no matter their budget. Some of the events cost nothing and some will set you back a few bucks, but they are all sure to provide a good time. Below, I've narrowed down the list to what I consider My Perfect Baltimore Beer Week...the events I'd like to hit up if money and time were no object.

October 18

•          Chilibrew VII
•  I  I love chili and I love homebrew. Having the opportunity to show off my skills and taste that of others sounds like my kind of fun.
•          King of the Pins
•     DuClaw, Heavy Seas, and a host of other breweries are battling out to see who can drain their pin the fastest.
•         BBW Kickoff Party with DuClaw at The Judges Bench
•     DuClaw takes over the taps and offers a special firkin of HellRazor
•          Public Works Ales Debut at John Steven
•     The debut of Public Works Ales. On tap will be Red Cent Amber, Fair-Shake APA, and Knucklebuster IPA

October 19

•          OktoBEARfest
•     Oktoberfest at the Zoo. Beer and Bears. 
•          Monocacy Brewing Co Tour/Tasting
•     A chance to taste and tour one of the areas newer breweries.
•          Das Best Oktoberfest
•     Baltimore does their version of Munich's Oktoberfest at M&T

October 20

•          Baltimore’s Own Beer Tap Maker
•      Sample some homebrew, learn the process of homebrew, and see what it takes to make tap handles.

October 21

•     Beer Hunter: The Movie
•     Watch a movie and drink some homebrew. This is probably the event I'm most interested in as we all should know and thank Michael Jackson.
•     Q&A with Union Craft Brewing
•     Learn what it takes to take your beer to the big leagues
•      Pumpkinfest
•     30 different Pumpkin Beers at Victoria Gastro Pub

October 22

•          Public Works and RavenBeer meet thebrewers at Peabody Heights
•     Meet the brewers and take a tour
•          Homebrew with Brad Smith
•     This sounds awesome. Learn about homebrew during happy hour at Maryland Homebrew. The speaker will be none other than the man behind Beersmith, Brad Smith.

October 23

•          Zion Lutheran’s Saurbraten Dinner Celebration
•     I went last year and had a nice time. Good food, good atmosphere, good beer all in a beautiful church.
•          Four Randalls of the aHOPeclipse
•     A bunch of Dogfish Head IPA's going through Randall the Enamel Animals

October 24

•          Mussels and Cask Ale
•     Heavy Seas and Bertha's
•          Rare Beer Night
•     Hard to find stuff at Victoria's Gastro Pub
•          Vintage Brews from the Cellar
•     Taste some vintage Heavy Seas beers aged in Hellas Restaurant

October 25

•       Seattle Pumpkin Fest
•     A slew of pumpkin beers from Elysian Brewery
•           Think You Know Beer
•     Test your knowledge of Beer with a blind taste test. 

October 26

•          Tour the American Brewery Building
•          Real Ale Fest
•      40 Casks. $40
•          Steins and Shots Vessel Making
•     Make your own drinking aparatus. 
•          Gruit Ale Contest
•     Gruit's are some of the best tasting Ale's I've had lately. 

October 27

•          New Belgium Beer Dinner
• Beer and Food pairing at a pretty reasonable price.

      Now obviously I don't have the time or money to attend all of these events, but in ideal world I'd be there for all of them. Take a look through some of the links and have a good time if you end up there. Maybe we'll bump into each other. And if none of these events sound fun (impossible, i know) or fit into your schedule, fret not for there are a ton of other events not mentioned here that might be perfect for you. Happy Baltimore Beer Week!

The Six-Pack Project: Maryland Beer

We're bringing together writers from all over the country to highlight a six-pack of our home’s native brews that best represent what our beer culture has to offer. If someone is coming to visit, what bottles or cans would we want to share? Here are the rules:

• Pick a six-pack of beers that best represents your state and/or state’s beer culture.
• Beer must be made in your state, but “gypsy” brewers are acceptable, so long as that beer is brewed with an in-state brewery and sold in your state.
• Any size bottle or can is acceptable to include.
• Current seasonal offerings are fine, but try to keep selections to year-round brews as much as possible. No out-of-season brews preferred. 

When Bryan from This Is Why I'm Drunk contacted me to ask if I was interested in participating in The Six-Pack Project as a Maryland representative I was happy to jump at the opportunity. I love Maryland Beer and the idea of giving out-of-towner's some beer advice is my kind of fun. Of course, I'm not the only person in Maryland with a blog and an interest in local beer. So, Bryan got creative and came up with the idea of a Maryland Craft Beer Fantasy Draft between myself and Oliver from Literature and Libation. A coin flip determined who made the first pick and then we snaked (the last pick of the previous round makes the first pick in the next round) our way through until we both had a full Six-Pack of Maryland Beer. Here is how the draft played out (my picks are underlined):

Round 1: 

Flying Dog Old Scratch Amber

Heavy Seas Loose Canon

Round 2:

Union Craft Brewing

DuClaw Bareass Blonde

Round 3: 

Evolution Lot #3

DuClaw Mysterium

Round 4:

Brewers Art Resurrection

Heavy Seas Small Craft Warning Uber Pils

Round 5:

Pub Dog Hoppy Dog Ale

Red Brick Station Something Red

Round 6:

Heavy Seas Great'er Pumpkin Ale

Baying Hound Lord Wimsey Mild

Let's go to the Coaches Corner where I discuss what was going through my mind when I was making these picks and give you a little background on each of the players.

Heavy Seas Loose Canon - As I said when made this pick I don't necessarily think that this is the best beer in Maryland, nor is it my favorite,but when I'm making a first round pick I'm looking for someone who is consistently going to show up each and every week. And if Loose Canon does anything it shows up. I don't have any empirical data to back this up, but in my opinion Loose Canon is easily the most readily available Maryland beer in my neck of the woods. It's on almost everyone's tap list throughout Baltimore and if you walk into a distributor that isn't carrying Loose Canon you probably shouldn't be in that store to begin with.

Loose Canon is an IPA that is Orange/Amber in color. The head is average and diminishes quickly. On the nose you're hit with floral aroma, a little pine, citrus and lemon. Sweet and malty in the initial taste, the hops gain strength through the finish and you experience all the same floral, pine, citrus notes that were present in the aroma. Best of all, the bitterness doesn't linger which makes Loose Canon highly drinkable.

Union Craft Brewing Duckpin Pale Ale - I followed up my first round pick with another IPA. Normally, I  don't like to hit the same position in back to back picks, but I had to make an exception here. In addition to putting out an all around delicious beer, Union goes out of there way to insert themselves into the local community. They host food trucks at their brewery and are currently doing an outdoor movie event each weekend. If you're visiting Baltimore for a weekend, there's a good chance Union is up to something fun. They just started canning their beer a few months ago, but if you get the chance to visit them at the brewery don't pass it up.

Duckpin pours a medium amber color. If I had to describe the beer in one sentence I'd say it's a straight forward, well balanced pale ale. It's nothing fancy, but it's always one of the freshest tasting beers around. The nose is a little piney with hints of grape fruit and orange and it tastes of the same. Duckpin isn't astringent. It's not too dry. It's just very drinkable. This beer displays the perfect amount of hops. Plenty to let you know they are there, but they never wear you out and make it easy to go back for more than one.

DuClaw Mysterium - Before I even made one pick I knew I had to have DuClaw represented somewhere in my 6. The only problem with making a DuClaw pick is deciding which one to take. Somewhere in the past year DuClaw has grown on me and you could easily make the argument that they are the best Maryland has to offer in the way of beer. Everything they make is solid and balanced perfectly. In the end, I decided to go with their Belgian Spiced Ale, Mysterium. Not only is it a beer I enjoy, but it's my girlfriend's favorite.

Normally, when I read "spiced" in a beer description I pass, but as I mentioned earlier DuClaw does a fantastic job of balancing things out.  The restraint they show with the spice, both aromatically and in the flavor is a thing of beauty. None of the spices jump out and say "Hey, you taste that? It's me, Scary Spice...your favorite Spice Girl". But just like the Spice Girls came together as five (?) different girls to perform as one solid unit of pop music perfection, so to do individual flavors in Mysterium. Most surprising, you can still taste an earthy malt backbone which is almost unheard with other spiced beers.

The Brewers Art Resurrection - This is one of those beers that you love but always find yourself over looking. Maybe it's the places I visit, but Resurrection isn't as available as some of the other beers in this list and that's a shame. It's a damn good beer and definitely deserves it's place in your Maryland Six-Pack.

Resurrection pours a sexy dark Amber color with ruby hues floating throughout.  Aromatically, there are hints of dark fruit, plums, bubblegum, and clove leaving no doubt that you're about to partake in a Belgian Abbey Brown Ale. It tastes of cherries, dark fruits, with a touch of clove and caramel on the finish.

Redbrick Station Something Red - After Oliver went with a local (to him) pick in Pub Dog, I decided to follow suit. Red Brick Station is within 10 minutes of my house and within walking distance of my place of employment. They specialize in English Style session beers and Something Red is definitely that.

Something Red pours a beautiful copper like an Irish Red should. The malt backbone here is perfectly earthy. The hops are there as necessary and it finishes a touch sweet.  Something Red is the ultimate session beer. Being that Redbrick is so close to where I work, it's a great place to meetup with my lady after work and blow of some steam. Something Red is the perfect beer to numb the day but never interrupt my train of thought when it's time to whine and moan.

Heavy Seas The Great'er Pumpkin - Now, I kind of broke the rules with this pick because it's seasonal, but I did so for good reason. This is the beer that got me all twitterpatted about craft beer a few years ago. Most likely, they'll be releasing this around the end of August so be on the lookout if you're here around that time of year.

The Great'er Pumpkin is an Imperial Pumpkin Ale aged on Bourbon Barrels. It's also the best and most complex pumpkin beer in the history of pumpkin beer. Even in a world full of pumpkin beer on top of pumpkin beer this one never disappoints. And it ages well to boot. You've got pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, oak, bourbon, great pumpkin flavor, and this awesome alcohol burn that warms you to your bones. The first time I ever tried this beer it floored me and sent me right back to the store to pick up even more. Needless to say, this is a beer you need to get your hands on if you can.

Overall, I really like the Six-Pack I put together. I've got a few IPA's, a few Belgian's, a Session Beer, and my favorite beer of all time. If I were leaving Maryland, not to return for a considerable amount of time, and this was the Six-Pack I left with to remember this great state by I'd be pretty happy. Does my fantasy Six-Pack have enough star power to take out Oliver and his squad? Maybe. Maybe not. What I do know is that any traveler looking for good beer in Maryland is in for one hell of a tasty trip.

Other State/Area Six-Packs:

Maryland - by Literature and Libation
Chicago - by Hop Brained
New York - by Once Upon a Stein
Ohio - by Queen City Drinks
Kentucky - by Hoperatives
California - by The Beginners Brew

Heavy Seas Alehouse

A few weeks ago I wrote about the trip we made to Ellicott Mills Brewing Company when my brother and his girlfriend came down to visit. You might remember me mentioning that one of the things we share in common is a love of beer. So, keeping to the beer theme, I decided to take them to the Heavy Seas Alehouse. Once upon a previous visit we did a Heavy Seas Brew tour and over the years we've all developed into big Heavy Seas fans. Our trip to the Alehouse only served to make us bigger fans as we ate like kings.

 We came to the restaurant straight from an O's game on what was probably the first true scorcher of the summer. We were hot and famished so we went a little nuts when it came to appetizers. I decided to order shrimp cocktail and my brother decided to try their cornbread. After taking one peek at the cornbread, I immediately ordered another one so that Deana and I could share as well.

The shrimp cocktail was some of the best I've had. The shrimp were big and meaty and the homemade cocktail sauce made me very happy. But the real star of the appetizer party was the cornbread. It was beyond good. The cornbread itself was warm, sweet, and moist. Left alone, I would have been totally happy. By the time you throw in the crispy bacon, fresh jalapenos, and what they call a pale ale rarebit (essentially cheese sauce) you are in cornbread heaven. I can't say enough good things about this stuff. This was the best cornbread I've ever had.

For dinner, everyone got something a little different. My brother's girlfriend, Amy, ordered the Cavatelli. She had nothing but good things to say about her meal calling it delicious and the pesto extremely fresh. The ricotta cavatelli come with a roasted egglpant, piquillo pepper, and a basil pesto sauce.

Deana decided on the Cuban sandwich. I had a little bite of this as well and it was a great sandwich to have on a hot day. The bread was nice and crunchy, meat juicy and tender, and the cheese was super melty. Most importantly for any good cuban sandwich, the pickle tasted great and brought the whole thing together.

My brother and I both went with mussels. This was the first time I had ever ordered mussels. I know it's almost sacrilege on a Baltimore based blog, but I've never been the biggest fan of seafood. I'm doing my best to expand my horizons and I was pleasantly surprised with this dish. The mussels were plump and tender. The sauce they were served in was nice and briny and I really liked the burst of acidity you'd get from the cherry tomatoes that were sprinkled throughout the dish. My only complaint was that they were served without bread to sop up the broth. However, they are served with french fries and I was extremely into those bad boys. I felt like the fries and I were communicating on some kind of romantic level because I couldn't keep my hands off of them.

Beerwise I think we covered the basics with a Loose Cannon, Gold Ale, and Sea Nymph. But what I want to focus on is one of their beer cocktails. It seems like beer cocktails are the new thing in the craft beer world and so I wanted to try my first. I decided on the Sea Shandy which at that time was an ale mixed with basil and strawberry lemonade. Despite the fact that I got made fun of for drinking such a foofy drink, I found it really refreshing. By no means would I order this over a regular Heavy Seas beer, but if you're looking for something different this is definitely something worth giving a shot....especially on a hot day.

Overall, we had a great experience at the Heavy Seas Alehouse. The food was beyond what we were expecting and the beers we already knew were top notch. I couldn't have been happier. But with that said, the prices are bit expensive and could leave a lot of would be Heavy Seas fans on the outside looking in and I think that's a bit of a shame. I'm not saying they should dumb the restaurant down so that it turns into Buffalo Wild Wings, but I'd like to see a menu with a better mix in prices so that more people are willing to walk through the doors and eventually become fans of Heavy Seas.

Price: A little expensive, but not outrageous
Recommendation: Visit ASAP
What to order: Cornbread

Beer Tastings: Heavy Seas The Great(er) Pumpkin

One of the new things I'm going to start doing is posting a brief review/synopsis of all the beers I've tried over the past few years. I have a pretty decent list and I thought it might be nicer to chronicle my beer adventures in blog form instead of a boring ass Excel spreadsheet that nobody sees but me.

The first beer(s) I'm going to talk about are Heavy Seas The Great Pumpkin, The Great'er Pumpkin, and Great'er Pumpkin Cask. Being that I just bought my first fall beers of the season yesterday, I thought a beer like this would be an appropriate place to start.

The Great Pumpkin was actually my first foray into the Heavy Seas. In fact, I had no idea they were a local brewery at the time but the whole Pirate theme jumped out at me. I started off with The Great Pumpkin. The first taste I had was awesome. I can actually remember sitting in my rocking chair starting down into my pint glass amazed that pumpkin beer could be so good and so full of flavor. It actually has the fruity taste of pumpkin in there. A lot of pumpkin beers have a manufactured pumpkin taste to them. With The Great Pumpkin, it almost feels like the fruit was sitting in your beer emitting flavor not 5 minutes before you opened the thing. The other feature that makes this beer stick out is the balance of spices involved. Again, come fall time it's really easy to find beers that pummel you with cinnamon and what not and it makes the beer unpalatable. The Great Pumpkin is a beer that has big flavors but it's put together in the perfect way.

The Great'er Pumpkin is the same as Great with the exception that the beer is aged in Bourbon barrels. This simple change adds an awesome bourbon flavor to an already exceptional beer and it will knock you on your ass if you're not careful. The ABV rises from around 8% with the Great to 9% with the Greater.

I love both of these beers but can't pick a favorite. It kind of depends on my mood. Every year when fall rolls around I hunt for this stuff like a french pig sniffing for truffles.Without a doubt, I look forward to the release of these beers each year more than any other. In recent times, I've even found myself buying extra bottles so that I can age them in the basement.

The only time I've ever been less than impressed with The Great Pumpkin was when I tried the 2011 version on cask. The flavors just became very muddied. All of the things I normally love about these beers seemed to be missing in the cask. But no matter. Before too long the temperatures are going to drop and you'll be looking for a nice fall beer to relax with. If you haven't tried a Great Pumpkin don't wait too long before you hunt one down. If there are others out there like me there might not be much to choose from.

Details for Greater Pumpkin:

Style: Pumpkin Ale

ABV: 9
IBU: 25