Pumpkin Beer Tasting -Glenbrook Farms Oktoberfestr

My friend Jeff recently invited me to Glen Brook Farms for an Oktoberfest with his friends and family.  Not only was this a great financial deal, but it was an absolute blast.  We drank endless amounts of great beers and experienced loads of dried meats, homemade beers, and dangerous Polish alcohols.  On Saturday, after attending the local Garlic Festival, we conducted a pumpkin beer tasting. Between 10 men, we indulged in tasting and finishing 21 pumpkin beers, 18 of which were provided by Jeff's friend Dan.  Seeing an opportunity for a great blog topic, I asked each participant to rank each beer as went along.  Each person was to rank each beer on a 0-5 point scale.  At the end, I was to average the results and reveal the rank of each beer.  This turned out to be an extremely fun time that also kickstarted the heavy amount of alcohol that would be consumed later in the evening.  Below are the results of the pumpkin beer tasting.

Pumpkin Beer Tasting

First, here is the panel of very dignified, intelligent alcoholics.  



 

 

Finishing in dead last was Smuttynose's Pumpkin Ale.  Personally, this beer did nothing for me.  I find it very weak and lacking any real body or great flavor.



 

Finishing next to last was the CBC Great Pumpkin Ale.  Derrick brought this one from a local brew pub in Boston, and I think he may have wasted his money.  Not much to it.

 

Finishing in 19th place, was Fisherman's Pumpkin Stout offering.  A pumpkin stout sounds amazing, but this stout lacked anything to allow it to stand out. 

At 18th, Elysian's Night Owl took the honors.  I, personally, enjoy this beer a lot.  However, the panel disagreed.  Elysian is a brewery that I have been really into lately.  Lots of good stuff.

Surprisingly, Terrapin's PumpkinFest finished in 17th.  I enjoy most of Terrapins offering, but this one did not stand out to me.  It definitely wasn't bad, but also did not blow any minds.

 

 At 16,  was Long Trail's Imperial Pumpkin.  A solid strong pumpkin ale from a brewery that generally puts out some middle of the road beer; never amazing, but never terrible.

Epic Brewery's Imperial Pumpkin finished in 15th place.  Epic seems to always put out some interesting brews.  This beer was good, but definitely didn't wow the stingy crowd.

As we approached the second tier of beers, Southern Tier's Pumpking finished surprisingly low.  This beer packs a huge pumpkin flavor.  In some ways, it is overwhelming, in others, it is delicious.  Although it has an almost artificial flavor, I do always pick up one Pumpking each fall season

At 13th, Billy Corgan's favorite, Shipyard's Smashed Pumpkin.  (Get it?) A solid, pumpkin blast in a bottle.  This beer is like sipping a liquefied version of a pumpkin pie.  Also, it has some great artwork.  A solid pumpkin brew.  Could be overpowering for some. 

 

 

 

Surprisingly, Sam Adam's Harvest Pumpkin Ale finished in a respectable 12th place.  Sam offers a nice, crisp, and refreshing pumpkin brew.  This is very easy to drink and as smoothe as any pumpkin ale.  Solid.

Woodchuck makes a pumpkin cider?  Yes.  And somehow it finished in the top tier of the 21 pumpkin brews at hand.  I think this is because after 21 pumpkin beers, anything different tastes great.  Interesting taste, but I wouldn't buy it again.

We enter the top ten. Surprisingly, Harpoon's UFO pumpkin sits at number ten.  This beer was actually excellent.  Very smooth, nice finish of pumpkin.  I would definitely buy it again.

 

Ithaca...a brewery that is just kinda...there.  However, Ithaca has proven that their fruit beers are excellent. (ie. Apricot wheat)  THe country pumpkin was deserving of a ninth place finish.

What else can you say about River Horse?  They continue to turn out great beers.   Almost every Riverhorse beer is boldly flavored, high in alcohol, and delicious.  The Hippo Lantern Imperial Pumpkin is no different.  Riverhorse surely makes New Jersey proud. 8th place and deserving.

Hopping frog? Really?  Yes, this beer has absolutely the worst artwork and packaging ever.  No, they don't have anything else worth paying decent money for.  However, their pumpkin offering pleased the crowd.  A solid, easy drinking pumpkin beer. 7th place.

 

Old reliable, Dogfish head's Punkin Ale took 6th place.  One of the first pumpkin beers I ever had, Dogfish head puts out a great seasonal brew.  Punkin ale focuses is not overwhelming, and definitely doesn't punch you in the face with pumpkin flavor.  However, as far as body and taste, Punkin is a great beer.  I look forward to it every year.

Weyerbacher is known to put out some solid beers.  The Imperial pumpkin is definitely an example of why this beer finished so high. Bold, big, and pumpkiny? Solid beer.

 

 

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Fegley's Pumpkin Ale was excellent.  Great body, huge flavor.  Fegley's seems to be hit or miss.  This was a freakin hit.  Great beer! 4th place!

For whatever reason, I forgot to take a picture of the 3rd place beer.  Probably because we had at least 11 tastings at this point.  Anyways, Schafly's pumpkin ale was amazing.  Personally, this was my favorite.  Creamy, bold, and giant pumpkin taste.  Awesome beer.

 

And.. the runner up..gos to to Whole Hog's Pumpkin Ale.  What a great beer.  Super smooth, lots of pumpkin, and tons of mouthfeel and body.  I had never had this beer prior to the tasting.  Can't wait to look for this one next year.

 

And the winner goes too...SAM ADAM'S FAT JACK.  I thought this beer was excellent.  Two weeks prior, I wrote about the deliciousness that this beer brings.  Sam is definitely back.   They are releasing numerous solid beers.  Fat Jack is such a great combination of strength and flavor.  Nice job Koch!

 

 

Overall, this was an awesome time had by all.  Although the results are not my personal opinions, it was such an enjoyable experience had by all.  Who wouldn't want to drink 21 pumpkin beers on a nice crisp fall day in Upstate NY?  Looking forward to next fall!

 

 

 



Trail Mix Brown Ale

I recently was sitting eating trail mix and inspiration suddenly arrived.  I wondered if I could somehow infuse a beer with some of the great flavors in the trail mix, including dried cranberries, raisins, bananas, chocolate and nut flavors.

My hop additions including both Williamette and Fuggle hops.  I wanted to keep the  hop flavor low in order to not compete with the large amount of flavors going into the brew.

My specialty grains included 6 oz of Chocolate Malt, 8oz of Biscuit Malt, 8 oz of Cara 20, and 8 oz of carapils.  I am hoping both the chocolate and biscuit flavors show through.

At flameout, I added 1 pound of  pureed raisins.I am hoping to get some nice, subtle raisin undertones.

 It was now time to use my new wort chiller.  Thank god for this simple tool.

 Upon racking into the secondary, I added 8 oz of dried bananas and cranberries.  I want to give this brown ale flavors that are tasted in the aftertaste and not boldly upfront.  

I will post again upon first tasting.  This could go either way.

New Equipment!

I recently got some new brewing equipment and it rules.


First, my wife purchased me 2 Corny Kegs and a regulator.  This means nice, cold fresh draft beer avaialble in the house at all times!  I  immediately racked both my Blueberry Amber and Chicorye into the kegs.  Both beers turned out great.  Very pleased with the results.

The second piece of equipment I purchased was a nice new wort chiller. This is such an upgrade from chilling my wort in a cold sink or freezer.

Brewery Trips-Adirondack Brewery

After leaving Davidson Brothers, it was time to head towards Lake George.  We first went to a wine tasting, and then on to the Adirondack Brewery.  This brewery holds a special place in my heart.  I have eaten here, went to Oktoberfest celebrations, thrown kegs in a competition, and of course sampled and drank many delicious beers.

As soon as we pulled up, I noticed one huge difference.  The brewery has undergone a large expansion and is now bottling many of their beers.  I was definitely impressed with the size of the addition.  The brewery addition flows seemlessly and sticks to the woodsy, cabin like feel of the esatablishment. 

The Adirondack Brewery sits just outside of the main area of Lake George Village.  We sat outside on the deck and immediately examined the beer selection and the menu.  Again, it was a no brainer.  I decided to order the sampler.  The brewery seemed to have expanded its selection to around 12 available beers.  With the sampler, came the Vienna Lager, Bear Naked Ale, Czech Pilsner, IPA, Beavertail Brown Ale, and Witte Peach.  Not a bad round of 6.

Beer Reviews

First up was the IPA. (sorry ...I couldn't resist a few sips.)  It was excellent.  The beer had an awesomely hoppy with lots of head.  I found it very smooth and enjoyable.  8.5/10

The Beavertail Brown was also very enjoyable.  The nut brown flavors were more mild then many other nut brown offerings, but still gave the beer a very enjoyable undertone of flavor.  This seemed like a very good, easy going session beer.  In fact, I purchased a six pack in stores later in the week. 7/10

The Peach Witte was intriguing just by name alone.  It was very light and easy to drink. However, I do wish that they added alot more peach into this brew.  The beer lacked body and seemed a little too weak for my tastes.  Kind of a let down.  4.5/10

Next, we tried the Czech Pilsner.  Pilsners are generally not in my favorite category of beer.  However, this beer seemed to have a nice hop finish to it. (Possibly Saaz hops?)  Ther beer was not too bitter and I could definitely see the appeal to lighter beer drinker.  7/10

The Bear Naked Ale seems to be the staple of the Adirondack Brewery.  It is a great colored amber that is full of body.  I thought that it had great taste as always was easy to drink. Solid.  8/10

I finished with the Vienna Lager.  Ths was a simple, crisp beer.  I really didn't have too many feeling towards the brew either way.  It was the kinda beer that you just kinda..drank, if that makes any sense.  5/10

Overall, I might be a little bias towards the brewery.  I always have a great time there and it simply instills quality, positive feelings in me every time I visit.  I always enjoy most of the beers and really dig the motif and general vibe of the brewery.  Also, the food is very affordable, quality tasting pub food.  Who can argue with that?

We left the brewery with smiles, laughs, and a slight buzz.  Oh, we also had to rush back to the house for our family's annual vacation wine tasting. (liver twitch)  Adirondack Brewery is always a great stop and i would highly recommend it. 

Overall 9/10

Sam Adam's Fat Jack Review

I picked up a bottle of Sam Adam's Fat Jack Double Pumpkin.  First off, the label is awesome.  It has a very dark looking, almost Nightmare Before Christmas like pumpkin, with a devious smile on the front. I have been really enjoying Sam Adams big bottle series and was excited to try yet another new pumpkin beer. 
The beer was definitely strong.  At first, it almost seemed like a pumpkin barleywine.  After a few more sips, I noticed hints of cinnamon, pumpkin, and all spice.  I really liked the strong up front taste of this beer.  It had a great feel and the aftertaste was fall to a tee.  I really feel like Sam Adams is back to their creative ways.  For a while there, it seemed like they were offering many of the same boring beers.  However, there new stuff has been right on point .  Good job Sam. 8/10

Brewery Trips-Davidson Brothers Brewery

I just returned from Brant Lake , NY, where I went on my annual vacation with 40 members of my extended family.  As always, it was an excellent time shared by all.

On Wednesday, my wife, my cousin Bryan and his wife Carly, and I decided to take our usual day out to a brewery or two and enjoy the Lake George area.  We decided to try Davidson Brothers Brewery in Glens Falls, NY.

We parked about a block away and walked towards the restaurant.  The brewery was in a very cool, historic looking area of the town.  Surrounding the brewery, were buildings with great architecture and little shops that catered to both locals and vacationers.  We decided to sit outside, enjoy the beautiful weather, and begin the slight punishment of our livers.  Inside, the brewery seemed to have a good variety of choices. I counted 9 beers on tap.   The restaurant had a rustic vibe with brick walls and antiques and lake like paraphernalia on the walls.  Patrons can also get a great view of the brewing system.

 

 

 

Naturally, I decided to order the sampler.  At Davidson Brothers, you fill out a card with your selections.  I chose the IPA, the smoked porter, oatmeal stout, scotch ale, Belgian white, and the nut brown ale.  We also ordered a nacho sampler to suppress our 11:30 alcohol intake.

 









 

BEER REVIEW

The first beer I tried was the IPA.  Now, since I find myself to be an IPA junkie, I always look forward to trying someone else's interpretation of the beer.  Davidson Brothers' IPA was definitely good.  It was light in color and had a very smooth and easy to drink quality.  It was not incredibly hoppy, but definitely was a solid beer.   7.5/10

Next up was the smoked porter.  Exciting!...Not so much.  This turned out to be my least favorite brew from Davidson Brothers.  I found the beer to lack a lot of body, and almost watery.  There was a decent subtle smoke flavor, but the rest of the beer lack aroma, mouth feel, or any other of the snooty beer snob terms.  Overall, this beer was only ok.   3/10

Next was the oatmeal stout, which I definitely forgot to take a picture of.  Oh well, I'm new to this.  The oatmeal stout was definitely better than the smoke porter. I thought it was very smooth and very easy to drink.  it was hard to pick up on any oatmeal flavors, but it was definitely a beer that could be enjoyed by all.  Unfortunately, i found this beer to have very little body also.  4.5/10

 

 

The Strong Scotch Ale was next on the list.  This beer was definitely an upgrade from the previous two.  It was super malty, but very balanced.  I liked how you could taste the power of the beer, but also its very smooth "drinkabilty".(ugh..sorry) Overall, this was one of Davidson Brothers' best offerings.  8/10

The Belgian White was exactly what I expected.  It was very easy to drink.  Other then that, it pretty much tasted like most light Belgian beers.  I enjoyed it, but would go running back for another. 6/10

 

The Nut Brown Ale delivered my favorite offering of the evening..I mean almost publicly acceptable drinking time.  The beer was excellent,  it had great body, great flavor, and was simply the most enjoyable beer at Davidson Brothers for me.  8.5/10

 

Davidson Brothers was a great stop.  Although I felt some of their beers were a little weak, I thought the restaurant and environment were excellent.  We had a great time and I would definitely go back.  Overall rating-7/10

 

Next Stop Adirondack Brewery