I am not sure why I waited so long to review this beer. I wrote about the beer here a few months back, and, in case you don’t want to go back and read it, the short version is that this recipe is generally considered to be the first American microbrew. It was available in 12 oz. bottles and ran about $9 for a 6 pack. Some additional info on the beer here:
Jack McAuliffe’s pioneering spirit paved the way for the American craft beer revolution. We’re rereleasing his original Pale Ale, with its distinct American hop character for the first time in 30 years in honor of Jack and his contributions to craft brewing. Cheers!
The beer pours golden in color with a fizzy white head. There are major grain notes on this beer – from a foot away, I immediately thought of a baguette when I smelled it. Upon closer inspection, grain dominates the nose with hints of hops and a touch of yeast interspersed. A very crisp and refreshing beer that is light on the palate – mild grain dominates and is followed by just a very light touch of hops, finishing long with a strong grain profile. Has some very lightly roasted character and very mild hop characteristics, such that you might not recognize this beer as a pale ale, but enough punch from the yeast that you know this beer is not a pilsner of lager. More of the pale character shows through as the beer warms but it is light enough on the palate that you can enjoy several in one sitting.
The beer is a study in how far craft brewing has come from its infancy in the 1970’s and New Albion Pale is a beer that every craft brew drinker should have at least once, just so that you can appreciate a time when that beer was so much different than anything else on the market.
New Albion Pale Ale waxes nostalgic with a solid 3 antiques out of 5.
From Chuck’s FB Page, what the evenining looked like. Also a rare photo of the elusive Iron Chef Leftovers in his natural habitat.
Chuck’s Hop Shop in Greenwood recently hosted a bottle swap night. What is that you ask? Well, 24 people brought in at least 22 oz. of something rare/vintage/can’t get it in Seattle and shared it with a group of strangers. The group was split into 2 tables of 12 people each with the intention of that each table would get to taste 12 beers. Well, there was a lot of passing of bottles between tables and Chuck kept bringing out bottles from his personal stash, so, needless to say, I tasted way more than 12 beers that evening. It was an amazing opportunity to taste some stuff that I probably would not have gotten to try otherwise and there were some great conversations about the beers going on at our end of the table. It would have been nicer with a slightly smaller crowd, but based on some conversations I had with some new friends, I think we will try a CSE bottle share with fewer people at some point in the near future.
I took some brief notes on the beers, so here is an incomplete list of what I had:
Terrapin Moo-Hoo Chocolate Stout – Brought to the tasting by yours truly, so there will be a full review of this beer forthcoming.
Surly Abrasive Ale – A giant hop bomb, lots of citrus; exactly what I love in a hoppy beer. Score : 4 out of 5 Brillo Pads
Dogfish Head Faithful – Disappointing; some currant flavor but it seemed flat. Had a weird lavender finish. Score: 2 out of 5 Pearl Jams
Jester King RU55 – Not a fan favorite. Funky sour (but not in a good way) with hints of wood (like chewing on a 2×4, not aged in a barrel). I am wondering if the bottle was bad. Score: 1 out of 5 Comedians
Breuery Melange– Loved this beer. Major oak with lots of vanilla and malt character. Reminded me of a fine sherry Score: 5 out of 5 Mash-ups
Breuery Black Tuesday – More mellow oak than Melange (Melange is a component of this beer), but harsher. I think it needs to age to mellow out a bit before being fantastic. Score: 3 out of 5 Mondays
Big Sky Ivan the Terrible – I had been looking forward to trying this one. Lots of malt, chocolate and coffee. Delicious. Score: 4 out of 5 Czarist Swine
Troeges Nugget Nectar – lots of hops and citrus but it seemed overly fizzy, would love to retry it though. Score: 3 out of 5 Hummingbirds
Goose Island Bourbon Country Cherry Rye Stout – very complex beer. Rye barrel and cherry dominate but there were lots of subtle character too. Would love to retry on a clean palate. Score: 4 out of 5 Covered Bridges
Sam Adams Utopias Anniversary Edition – had Utopias once before, but this blend was even better. Not really a beer and more like a high end cognac or port. Score: 5 out of 5 Sir Thomas More’s
Hill’s Farmstead – was looking forward to trying this one also, but it was like drinking an ashtray – smoky with no balance. Tasted like someone was burning down the Farmstead. Score: 1 out of 5 Barns
Three Floyds Rye ‘da Tiger – gets a bonus point for the name, but was a delicious rye hop bomb. Would love to put it up against Laughing Dog, Reuben’s and Anacortes to see who would win in a blind tasting. Score: 5 out of 5 Survivors
Cascade Bourbonic Plague – Lots of oak with a mild sour finish. Have to pick one of these up for the cellar. Score: 4 out of 5 Bring Out Your Deads
Stone Double Bastard 2008 – the bottle was gone and tasted like wet cardboard. That is the danger of aging beer; you never know how it will turn out. Score: 1 out of 5 Inglorious Basterds
Arcadia Big Dick’s Old Ale 2010 – Was too light for the end of the night, reminded me of an Imperial Pilsner. Score: 3 out of 5 Too Easy, I Won’t Even Go There
I want to thank Chuck and his staff again for hosting such a wonderful evening and look forward to doing it again.
From Chuck’s FB Page, what the evenining looked like. Also a rare photo of the elusive Iron Chef Leftovers in his natural habitat.
Chuck’s Hop Shop in Greenwood recently hosted a bottle swap night. What is that you ask? Well, 24 people brought in at least 22 oz. of something rare/vintage/can’t get it in Seattle and shared it with a group of strangers. The group was split into 2 tables of 12 people each with the intention of that each table would get to taste 12 beers. Well, there was a lot of passing of bottles between tables and Chuck kept bringing out bottles from his personal stash, so, needless to say, I tasted way more than 12 beers that evening. It was an amazing opportunity to taste some stuff that I probably would not have gotten to try otherwise and there were some great conversations about the beers going on at our end of the table. It would have been nicer with a slightly smaller crowd, but based on some conversations I had with some new friends, I think we will try a CSE bottle share with fewer people at some point in the near future.
I took some brief notes on the beers, so here is an incomplete list of what I had:
Terrapin Moo-Hoo Chocolate Stout – Brought to the tasting by yours truly, so there will be a full review of this beer forthcoming.
Surly Abrasive Ale – A giant hop bomb, lots of citrus; exactly what I love in a hoppy beer. Score : 4 out of 5 Brillo Pads
Dogfish Head Faithful – Disappointing; some currant flavor but it seemed flat. Had a weird lavender finish. Score: 2 out of 5 Pearl Jams
Jester King RU55 – Not a fan favorite. Funky sour (but not in a good way) with hints of wood (like chewing on a 2×4, not aged in a barrel). I am wondering if the bottle was bad. Score: 1 out of 5 Comedians
Breuery Melange– Loved this beer. Major oak with lots of vanilla and malt character. Reminded me of a fine sherry Score: 5 out of 5 Mash-ups
Breuery Black Tuesday – More mellow oak than Melange (Melange is a component of this beer), but harsher. I think it needs to age to mellow out a bit before being fantastic. Score: 3 out of 5 Mondays
Big Sky Ivan the Terrible – I had been looking forward to trying this one. Lots of malt, chocolate and coffee. Delicious. Score: 4 out of 5 Czarist Swine
Troeges Nugget Nectar – lots of hops and citrus but it seemed overly fizzy, would love to retry it though. Score: 3 out of 5 Hummingbirds
Goose Island Bourbon Country Cherry Rye Stout – very complex beer. Rye barrel and cherry dominate but there were lots of subtle character too. Would love to retry on a clean palate. Score: 4 out of 5 Covered Bridges
Sam Adams Utopias Anniversary Edition – had Utopias once before, but this blend was even better. Not really a beer and more like a high end cognac or port. Score: 5 out of 5 Sir Thomas More’s
Hill’s Farmstead – was looking forward to trying this one also, but it was like drinking an ashtray – smoky with no balance. Tasted like someone was burning down the Farmstead. Score: 1 out of 5 Barns
Three Floyds Rye ‘da Tiger – gets a bonus point for the name, but was a delicious rye hop bomb. Would love to put it up against Laughing Dog, Reuben’s and Anacortes to see who would win in a blind tasting. Score: 5 out of 5 Survivors
Cascade Bourbonic Plague – Lots of oak with a mild sour finish. Have to pick one of these up for the cellar. Score: 4 out of 5 Bring Out Your Deads
Stone Double Bastard 2008 – the bottle was gone and tasted like wet cardboard. That is the danger of aging beer; you never know how it will turn out. Score: 1 out of 5 Inglorious Basterds
Arcadia Big Dick’s Old Ale 2010 – Was too light for the end of the night, reminded me of an Imperial Pilsner. Score: 3 out of 5 Too Easy, I Won’t Even Go There
I want to thank Chuck and his staff again for hosting such a wonderful evening and look forward to doing it again.
The title is not really an exaggeration or inaccurate.
Have you ever heard of New Albion Brewing? Chances are you have not, considering the company has been out of business for the last 30 years. New Albion is generally considered to be the first micro-brewery in the U.S. and it, along with Anchor Brewing in San Francisco, are the two breweries that really got the entire craft brewing industry going.
Why is this important? Well, thanks to Jim Koch at Sam Adams, he worked with Jim McAuliffe, founder of New Albion to try to recreate New Albion’s original pale ale recipe. The beer is being released and should be in stores soon.
So next time you are in your local bottle shop, pick up a New Albion Pale Ale and taste the beer that made it possible for you to be drinking just about all of the beers you are currently drinking on a regular basis (and the one that made it possible for me to review something other than Bud, Coors or Miller).
Sam Adams in the last few years has been getting back to its roots with producing some interesting beers on a limited release basis. One of those beers is Veloren – which is an almost dead style called Gose. What is Gose you ask? From the Sam Adams website:
A link to the ales of Saxony that have all but vanished, Verloren (translating to “lost”) is a peculiar yet captivating brew. This gose style (pronounced “goes-uh”), with its base of an unfiltered wheat ale, is light and refreshing yet also has a softness to it. Verloren’s flavor is brought to life by an unexpected touch of salt for a mineral quality, and coriander for a peppery spice. The result is an unusual and delicate brew that’s full of flavors to discover.
Our rendition of an old German style, Verloren is brewed with 50 to 60 percent malted wheat creating a fine haze, cloudy straw color, and crisp twang. The singularity of this brew however, comes from its soft creaminess, dry finish, and spices. The addition of salt creates a slight sharpness against the soft cereal character and enhances the other flavors around it, while ground coriander creates a peppery bite to enliven the brew.
I picked up this beer because, for the life of me, I can’t remember ever having tried a Gose. The beer ran $7 for a 750ml bottle, wasn’t particularly difficult to find (megamarts with a better beer selection should carry it) and comes in at 6.0% ABV and a very light 15 IBU. Gose is brewed with a bunch of malts, Saaz hops and salt and coriander are added in the brewing process.
This beer pour amber and slightly coudy, you would almost think you are drinking a strange colored wit just by looking at it. The nose consists predominantly of malt and sugar with some citrus and hints of spice and herbs in the background. Malt also dominates the palate, giving way to some spice with hints of sweetness followed by citrus and citrus peel in a very long finish. As it warms, sugar starts to compliment the malt without being over the top and hints of hop bitterness come out on the finish. I never really got any distinct salt in the beer, but that is probably the point, salt should enhance all of the other flavors without being a player itself.
Veloren isn’t the best beer you will ever try, but you should try it just because you probably have never tried the style. I don’t know that I would run out myself and buy it again, but if I was in the mood for something different, I probably would pick one up.
Overall, Sam Adams Veloren gets 3 Bubo virginianus out of 5.
FlatbreadGarden 