Trust the Midas Touch?

Hey everyone!

And no, today's post hasn't turned this blog into an auto-mechanic forum.  Dogfish Head Brewery, one of the premier craft breweries around, also has one of the widest variety of craft beers.  One of these is Midas Touch.  The recipe for the brew is a Turkish recipe similar to one supposedly found in the tomb of King Midas himself (go ahead, check out the Wiki article for this ancient Greek mythology here).  Is this brew a royal flush, or more worthy to be flushed?

The bottle itself is pretty cool, and it stands out amongst the Dogfish line while keeping the trademark shark logo along the top of the bottle.   Dogfish describes the brew as balancing between mead and wine and as props to the website also suggests some tasting notes we should be looking for inside the bottle.  They include honey, saffron, papaya, melon, biscuity, and succulent (I question biscuity being a word but whatever).

It certainly pours light, and just looking at the picture above you can almost see that line Dogfish talked about as balancing between mead and wine.  It's a light golden color, and gives off the faintest, almost dainty sweet aroma of a flower.  So far, so good....

On the first sip I'm expecting some good ol' honey sweetness...and it's just not there!  This is one crossdresser of a beer.  It's a beer that wants to be a wine, or a wine that wants to be a beer.  I want to say its refreshing but, for me, it's almost slightly offensive to the palate.  It does have complicated flavors and distinct grape dryness with florals bordering close to what I'd expect to see in gin.  It maintains a particular dryness throughout, for better or worse.

If you can tell through this review, I wasn't a huge fan of it.  But I won't give this beer a bad rating just because I didn't like it.  It's notable for it's ingenuity and I can see how this beer will appeal to different kind of folk throughout.  As an aside, I also tasted this beer recently on tap and was more impressed by it flavors (yes I know, tap beer is tops anyway).  The beer deserves at least a Imperial PINTRS, for ingenuity but for also missing some of the mark when translated to the bottle.  Till next time!

Stone Cat Swatting at Bitter

Welcome to another Good Brew Hunting!

Today we're taking aim at Stone Cat Brewery's Extra Special Bitter (ESB).  Stone Cat is actually just one of the Ipswich Ale Brewery's lines established in 1999.  The brewery has been serving up beer since 1991 though this is the first time this native New Englander (Rhode Island to be precise) has heard of this brewery. Now I know Ipswich has some well-renowned clams, but can they serve up a beer worthy of merit?

Amazing Clubs' newsletter The Frosted Mug describes ESB as being quite smooth despite what it's name would suggest. Gotta say, I'm loving the label. I'll be one of the first to admit, I've judged a beer by it's label.  I've found good craft breweries put as much ingenuity on the outside of their bottle as they do in. A lack on the outside isn't a good start, but here we have something unique and eye-catching.

All Stone Cat Brewery gives us to go with on their website about ESB is that it's "dark, well-balanced, copper-colored ale is smooth and satisfying with a malty sweetness." Amazing Clubs adds that it has "an earthy hop taste with a wonderfully clean and healthy finish." Well, the picture sums it up that the beer looks as described. Dark amber is a good visualization for both its color and clarity. What should be added in the website's description is the flavorful aroma. Tart and fruity with some hops in the air, I was looking forward to what my taste buds would be telling me.

The best way to taste this beer in your head is think of an IPA. It lacks some of that citrus in an IPA, but overall flavor is powerful. It's really a balance of the citrus in an IPA and the flavor undertones in a copper ale.   It maintains some good carbonation throughout the bottle and has a much stronger alcoholic flavor to it than the 5.6% a.b.v. would suggest.

There's still bitterness here, there's no denying it. But bitter isn't bad! It's tart without the sour, and in a beer with a correctly described malty sweetness the two tastes fit together well. I'm giving this solid performance in the bitter beer category a Imperial PINTRS score. Can't wait to drink more!

A note: I've only spoken highly of this beer, so why haven't I gone higher than an Imperial score? Because in a  Frenche or Scottish score, I'm looking for more. More is different in each beer. It's usually something ingenious, something that really drives off the normal beer course. I can't tell you what was missing from this one, cause I only know it when I taste that it is there. Let the quest for great brews continue!

Keeping Warm with Stegmaier

Our first tasting everyone!

And this was one I was looking forward to as soon as I opened the box. Stegmaier Winter Warmer is brewed by Lion Brewery.  After seeking advice from the big G (and I don't mean God, he takes too long to answer) I found Stegmaier Brewing Company, a gold medal winner in its own right and the original brewer of the Winter Warmer, was bought by Lion Brewery in 1974.  Lion Brewery, also brewer of the Lionshead label, brews its beers in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.  Ok, our foundation is set, let's jump into the brew!

Here the brew is after the first pour. You'll notice the head is nothing huge and the beer itself has a deep copper tone to it. On my way to taking my first sip, a nice deep breath fills the nose with an aroma teetering on sweetness. The newsletter provided by Amazing Clubs, The Frosted Mug, made note of the fruity aroma and it's obviously there.

The first sip was impressive. The beer itself was full of flavor with a noticeable but not strong bite.  Behind a subtle strength, you can pick out the pleasant hop flavor that was, like the bite, not too strong but not too mild. Were Goldilocks a drinker, and whose to say she wasn't since she states bears were talking to her, this would be her selection for the just right winter beer in flavor.

 The frothy entry that is described for the beer is correct in some way, but could be interpreted wrongly. As it looks, the beer head itself is not what I would classify as frothy. However, it is bubbly and feisty for it's size. The flavors in the head perfectly match that initially aroma. The Frosted Mug describes the overall flavor as "a combination of spicy cinnamon raisin toast and peach pie crust." I don't think anyone will confuse this beer with the sweetness that is described, but if you can imagine a dry yet slightly sweet flavor with a lightly fruity aroma I can see how that description is appropriate. When finishing the swallow, Winter Warmer creates a fun fizz going in and down the hatch.

Lion Brewery says this beer is great in front of a warm fire on a frosty night. I'd have to agree. In fact, it's easily one of my favorites as a winter ale and were you to stack this against a well-known brew like Sam Adams Winter, I'd say Winter Warmer comes out the victor every time.

So, how does Winter Warmer stack against the Good Beer Hunting's Pint-tastic Rating System (PINTRS)? I think we have a solid Imperial in our mugs here. Till next time!

- JDM