Peak Organic IPA

Hm, another IPA? Yes! They are that good. This one is very similar to the Smuttynose.
So, very good! This one is more carbonated though and really refreshing. Also a little
more fruity with hints of lemongrass of course. The Peak Organic IPA taste what a great
IPA should taste like: Bitter, strong and good hop flavor. Go have one and find out!

Smuttynose - IPA

Here we go, another smutty nose. This time the IPA, my favourite. Already the cover of the
bottle invites you to taste this. Too guys in chairs cheering with you, awesome!
As an IPA it smells of malt and fruit. The long white foam presents a respectable time and
forms a thin sheet once it dissolved, looking delicious. It has a great brown-blonde amber
color and a very strong, hoppy taste. It's actually one of the most bitter beers I've ever
tasted, very strong, hoppy and slightly fruity. It leaves a malty aftertaste and you
definitely want another one. Cheers!

Kriek - Cuvee Rene

We found this beer in the shelf of Delhaize in Belgium. Close enough to New England beer,
let's taste it! Pour it into your glass and you see a cherry-red colored beer with a fine,
purple foam. It's fantastic cherry aroma goes hand in hand with the color.
Looks are deceiving though, the taste does not come close. It is definitely fruity,
but the strong sourness dominates the taste completely. This makes it not really enjoyable to drink and should not be used to impress your girlfriend with your good taste in beer.
Maybe this was just the one, bad bottle in the shelve. But if not, skip it and go for
another good Belgian brew, there's plenty of it.

Smuttynose - Star Island Single

Eight months of blogging and no Smuttynose. We change this now.
From the coolest brewery in Maine comes the Star Island Single. It's a blonde summer ale, presenting a thick, white foam. You can hear the thick bobbles pop when pouring it. The aroma is slightly fruity and goes well with its light blond color. It tastes mild, is medium hopped and soon develops a fruity aftertaste. This beer is perfect for warm summer nights and will be a good friend for your BBQ food.

Shipyard Brewing Co. ME - Pumpkinhead

Just don't... you can do better than this.

Cambridge Brewing Company

So, what happens when 3 physicists go to the brewery? Beer drinking of course :)

The Cambridge Brewing Company is a small bar-style brewing pub that features a great selection of ~10 home brewed beers. As we are in New England, its mostly Ales (all of which are awesome, no exception). But there are also some new impulses. For example they offer a sake-beer hybrid.
Our fine party sampled a pitcher of the Tall Tale Pale Ale and the Cambridge Ale.

The Tall Tale Pale Ale is in the best tradition of New England Ales. And it's a perfect blonde - 10/10. It has a very thick, fine foam that stays a long time in the glass. Also it smells of citrus and flowers, which is the hops. It tastes great.Very bitter, lots of hops, a full body, and, according to the menu, a special caramel malt. I didn't taste it though.

The next beer sampled was the Cambridge Amber. And it is amber. From the first look, we mistook it for the porter. Very malty, and brewed from a combination of four different hops. This one goes more in the chocolate, malty taste. I lost my notes so I just write it is really worth it.

Pretty things - Jack d'Or seasonal americane

Pretty things - Jack d'Or seasonal americans Pretty things beer & pale ale project inc. Westport, MA


Another pretty things beer. They all have really interesting labels, so I had to try this one.
Also, they have large bottles and a good amount of alcohol, this one 6.4%.
So, after pouring this beer, you set your eyes on a strong beer,
definitely brewed for wintertime. It has a thick white top of foam with thick bubbles that
retreats only slowly and leaves a thick rim on the glass. Its body is a thick and opaque blonde
color which matches the smell of a wheat beer with a good hint of hops very well. The beers
taste continues these impressions. It is very thick, has exactly the right amount of bitterness
to go with it and tastes of hops. Strongly of hops. The after taste lasts long and is also
decently bitter. What a great beer to be enjoyed by itself. Cheers!

http://www.prettythingsbeertoday.com

 

New Grist - Beer made from sorghum and rice extract

New Grist - Beer made from sorghum and rice extract Lake fron Brewery, Milwaukee, WI


This is not New England brew per-se but to interesting to be skipped. When I poured this beer, I was
first confused whether this is not a white-wine. And this thought stayed with me the whole time.
It has a crispy, fresh foam top and its body color could easily make it pass as a white wine. It is
light and golden. Also the smell was pleasently dry and a little sweet. And this is exactly how it
tastes, as if someone blended a white-wine with a light summer beer. But in the good way. It has
a dry fruityness in its taste, some notes of hops and an unintrusive bitterness.

Bar Harbor - Blueberry Ale

Bar Harbor - Blueberry Ale    Atlantic Brewing Co. Porland, Maine

This ale is brewed with blueberry aromas, so another fruity treat. And you can already tell by its
smell that that this is not your average ale: malty, salt and a more than decent hint of sweetness
and fruit come up your nose. The looks are ale-ish of course, they feature a transparent amber brown
body and a thick, brown-ish crown of foam. The taste is really great, a to me previously
unknown, awesome blend of malt and berries. This makes this ale taste incredibly light. After your
first sip, a malty note stays on your toung.
This is a very refershing ale with a great taste of blueberries, exactly as advertised. Therefore
it also counts as one of the five units of fruit recommended per day.

Not quite Pale Ale

Magic Hat - Not quiet Pale Ale, Magic Hat Brewing Co. Burlington, VT.

A "not quite Pale Ale" in a bottle with a cool label. Interesting.
When you pour it in, you get a thin, slightly brown foam which also
tells you right away its highly carbonated. So how 'not quite Pale Ale'
is it? Quite far away from a Pale Ale. First of all it has a very golden,
transparent color. Quite different from many pale ales. Also the taste
is not quite pale ale. Its fruity, fresh, and very light on taste
and after taste. This is a fresh and slightly fruity, light great ale
with 5.1% alcohol. Cheers!

Allagash White, Allagash Brewing Co. Portland, Maine.

Another day, another beer. This time its a beer brewed with spices, at least it says so on the label, hailing from Portland, Maine. This first thing that stings the eye is its violent yellow, opaque, color. Not golden or blonde, but yellow. It reminds one of a fruit juice. I've never seen this in a beer before. It smells fresh of hops and honey melons, although a little soapy. The taste is awesome though. A little on the fruity side, mild and highly carbonated. And not soapy at all. There is little aftertaste. Actually, this beer reminds me of some white wine. So this is what I'll drink the next time there is a fish dinner.

White UFO, Harpoon brewery, Boston, MA

Local, unfiltered wheat beer, directly from Boston! How can I say no? The label looks friendly and has UFO written in large friendly letters on it. The first impression after pouring the cloudy, blonde, gold liquid in the glass: it looks like a wheatbeer. The first impression is enforced as a thick, white, foam develops. The taste: very mild and bitter with hints of orange. It is very sparkly, a great refreshment. There is little aftertaste. The only thing not optimal is the taste of orange that does not develop fully enough to really persuade. Also the bottle is too small, 0.5l would be perfect. But otherwise White UFO tastes how a wheatbeer has to taste.

Our Finest Regards

Our Finest Regards, Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project. Westport, MA

The bottle strikes your eyes with one of the strangest covers ever on a beer bottle: A man with a shovel on a field, accompanied by a rabbit and another, unidentifiable rodent. They stand on a field and stare into a hidden stash of booze. WTF? Anyhow, this ale is your friend right from the beginning. Thick brown, long-lived brown foam on the top. Smells of hops and chocolate greet the beer connoiseur. The ale has a thick, opaque color of deep red-orange brown. It tastes very intense of sweet malts and chocolate and tells you that it has the same nutritional value as a good steak. But in liquid. This is awesome. So why not just make this your dinner instead?

Harpoon Celtic Ale

Harpoon Celtic Ale, Harpoon Brew Co, Boston, Ma

This ale has a chestnut, gold-ish color and is almost transparent. A thick, light-brown foam develops at the top of the glass, but retreats quickly. Almost in the same way, as the taste of this beer. It is very light and there are notes of malt, hops. Of course it also tastes bitter, it still is a beer. But there is also the taste of soap that comes in your mouth. A beer in the style of the good, irish ales, as Smithwicks, or Murphy's red: It goes down well and doesn't bother you with a strong taste. This is a beer you can drink many from on a good evening. But then of course, you could drink Irish beer, which is the same, but better tasting...

Kennebunkport Brewing Co. Winter Ale

This fine New England brew comes in a standard 12 fl oz bottle and has respectful 6.7% alcohol by volume. It is a seasonal beer, and here winter means strong and malty. It pours dark-brown in your glass and produces a white, thin foam of large bubbles who immediately disappear. Your nose senses fruits and caramel coming from the glass that is a clear chestnut brown. It tastes very malty, almost like caramel and hints of sweetness which go greatly along with its very high carbonation. After a few sips, you have a great aftertaste of caramel in your mouth. This beer goes great with food and solo. One is definitely fun to drink, probably also a second one. But its taste reminds me somewhat of single-malt whiskeys. And these are meant to be enjoyed, not to be drunk in masses. The same holds for this fine Ale.

Maine Beer Company, Peeper Ale

This Ale, brewed by the Maine Beer Company in Portland, comes in a 500ml bottle and has 5.5% alcohol. It has a fine opaque, hazy gold-brown color, finnished with a thick, solid-white foam head. It has a distint fresh, fruity smell with reminds of passion fruit. Its has a mildly bitter taste and is light bodied with a medium carbonation. This is what makes it well drinkable. The citrus smell and fruity taste makes it probably not a favourite for everyone, but I really enjoyed this one. A very interesting Ale, not too strong and a good candidate to drink more than 3 on one evening.

Righteous Ale

This ale, hailing from Sixpoint brewery in Brooklyn, N.Y., greets you from a shiny silver can. I poured a can right that came right out of the fridge. The color was a thick opaque hazelnut brown with a thick white/brown foam on top that lasted for some two minutes before leaving a thick, dark brown edge at the glass. The smell of the ale is fresh and of hops with a strong hint of citrus fruits. Taking the first sip, the ale wins the happy drinker over with its mildness and its perfectly-bitter taste. After the first sip, it stays leaves an enjoyable aftertaste which is never too strong. Even after 30 seconds one can still enjoy some aftertaste of fruit and hops. Having a alcohol content of 6.3% by volume certainly helps enjoying this fine Ale.
Score: 6/6

First Post

Hi,
my name is Ralph, I am a German living in Boston for 9 months. When I moved here I was amazed by the availability of great beers. Totally the opposite of what the rumors about American beer are. So I decided to present each new product of fine brewing I experience. As there are far too many for one person to ever drink, I will limit myself to the beers of New England.
Cheers!