Sierra Nevada - Anniversary Ale

I'll admit that I'm not very familiar with Sierra Nevada's beer lineup beyond their famous Pale Ale, so when I saw both the Anniversary Ale and their new Hefeweizen, I picked both up to become more familiar with what makes them such a strong name in the craft beer industry.

The Anniversary Ale is described as an "American IPA" which is nothing but a complement. Some of the best IPAs in the world are now brewed in the U.S. This beer marks the 29th anniversary of Sierra Nevada. According to their website,

"Our 2009 Anniversary Ale is brewed in the style of an American IPA, a style that Sierra Nevada helped create"

I'm all for pushing the envelope of brewing, so I had to give this one a try. It pours a rich amber/orange with a head that says for white a while. The smell on this one is great - a nice citrus smell with a light overlay of hops is very inviting. It isn't one that you stick your nose in and pull back, exclaiming "Woah, hops!" And that isn't to its detriment.

It tastes very balanced and smooth. The hops leave you with that bitter coating once the beer has been swallowed. It lingers on the tongue and lips and begs you to take another sip. This is very well balanced but assertively hoppy. You know this is an IPA - and a good one. This would be a great beer for a hophead, or for someone breaking into hoppy beers. Its also 5.9% ABV, making not unreasonable to have a few of these in a sitting, or to share with others. Its not a 9% hop bomb that is scary - its accessible and quite delicious.

Portsmouth Beer Adventure - Passport Beer Dinner at Strawberry Banke

First, I must start this entry with a huge thank you to Rachel Forrest, columnist for the Portsmouth Herald (and all around foodie and awesome gal) for getting me tickets to thePassport Beer Dinner at Strawberry Banke – a fundraiser for both NH Public Television and the Strawberry Banke museum. If you love food (and wine, and beer), I recommendchecking out her column, which is excellent.

I arrived at the event not really know what to expect. There was a long line to be “checked in” but it was a beautiful evening so I didn’t mind standing outside. People were well-dressed and seemed in good spirits. I chose to wear a little black dress and heeled shoes, for some reason thinking that this was a beer dinner type event. When I checked in I figured out that I was probably ill-advised on the heeled shoes. I was given a map of Strawberry Banke, a living history museum with buildings, lawns, courtyards, and gardens – that showed me where the beer tasting and pairing stations were – throughout the whole museum grounds! I was still in a good mood though as they handed me my tasting glass. I’d just have to deal with the heels. (Ahh, such sacrifices for fashion…)

The place was setup to have little tents or booths featuring both a beer to be sampled and a food item. We were given “passports” to wear around our necks and we received a stamp signifying that we’d sampled a particular brew. Most of the breweries were local (Smuttynose, Allagash, Moat Mountain, Tuckerman’s etc.) but there were a few conspicuous absences (Redhook? Pennichuck?). The food was prepared by local restaurants (Including the Common Man, Four, Portsmouth Brewery Resturant and The Dunaway) so it was very fresh. Probably my only criticism about the event was that the tasting glasses that we were provided were essentially champagne glasses, making it difficult for my less-than-delicate nose to accomodate – and I would have really liked to be able to smell the beer more – perhaps in a tasting glass that was shorter and wider (yet still accomidating the same volume).

Despite that, I went around and tried everything. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality and thought of most of the pairings, and there were some that were just awesome.

Some of my favorites :

Moat Mountain brewed a martzen that was available two ways – the standard keg, or aged in a barrel made by the Strawberry Banke Cooper. I tried both and the aged one had a sweeter taste and nicer finish. I like beer with stories, and that was certainly one of them. It was paired with a buffalo and pork sausage accented with a blueberry mustard dip. While this might sound like an episode of “Chopped” (blueberries, buffalo and mustard – GO!) it was fantastic, and I can still taste the tang of the mustard playing off the sweetness of the blueberries.

One pairing that was to die for was the Smuttynose Baltic Porter paired with a Lindt Dark Chocolate with Chili. Divine. A really solid and thick beer, the Baltic Porter is a treat by itself. But accented with the dark chocolate and chili, both got to a new level of deliciousness. It made me wish I had discovered the pairing sooner, because it would certainly be a luscious thing to treat myself with after a long hard day.

Another fabulous dessert pairing was a orange creamsicile cheesecake paired with Allagash White. I think by itself, the cheesecake would have knocked me over with sweetness, but for some reason the White pulled the orange flavors and spices from the graham cracker crust out (probably because of some of the spices in the white) and both danced on my tongue gracefully. I would have never conceived of that pairing, and I almost want to see what else Allagash White goes awesome with (besides Turkey of course).

The end-all-be-all pairing for me, though, was the Allagash Dubbel paired with a Maple-Braised Pork Belly Confit made by the restaurant Four. A confit is when you slowly cook something in fat (as opposed to quickly frying it) so that it absorbs fabulous flavors. The pork belly was cooked in duck fat, and the taste was absolutely heavenly. It had so many layers of flavors that each chew brought an explosion of richness, crispness, savory saltiness and warmth. The Allagash Dubbel played off its richness and added a malty and yeasty partnership. I felt rich – even spoiled – to be sampling something so delicious.

All in all, I enjoyed the evening. There were a lot of people there, but proabbly not quite as many as organizers would have liked. I thought it was a great amount of people for being able to get in and out without waiting in line.The night turned misty and warm, and the candles and streetlights of Portsmouth glowed in the haze. As night fell, candle lanterns were lit along the paths to the tastings. I got to try everything I had been drooling over – including a fabulous lavender infused piece of baklava, pumpkin ravioli, and a portabello red pepper slider (one of several hundred painstakingly prepared by Sara Lauter, prep cook at the Portsmouth brewery) and left full and content, with only a bit of mud on my heeled shoes and a few mosquito bites on my back and legs. What a night.

Shipyard - Smashed Pumpkin (Pugsley Signature Series)

Another one of the "Pugsley Signature Series," the Smashed Pumpkin from Shipyard was something that I heard about through the grapevine. I'd been searching, in vain, to find a bottle of it at my favorite local beer haunts, but with no avail. The other two signature series bottles stood proudly mocking my attempt to find their pumpkin-lovin' cousin. Then, while in Brunswick for work, I got a tip. "The Smashed Pumpkin is on tap at the Great Lost Bear in Portland. You should stop there on your way home," I couldn't have been happier to hear that.

The Great Lost Bear is one of those places that you cold see yourself frequenting every day just to see what's on tap, with a bunch of friends having nothing better to do than trade stories about wild parties and embarrassing gossip.

We walked in, sat down, quickly ordered two Smashed Pumpkin and were told, "Oh, I think we just ran out of that." Visibly dejected, my server offered to check to see if they had, in fact, run out. She came back with a smile on her face. "The beer guy just came and brought some a few minutes ago. I'll get those right out for you." Victory!

The Smashed Pumpkin came in a tulip glass, and I noticed on the beer list at the GLB that the Smashed pumpkin was marked with a star. According to the menu, the star meant that it was an "extreme beer with high alcohol" and I realized that I didn't remember what the ABV was supposed to be. (It turns out it's about 9% which isn't too extreme for me).

The color on this was a dark mahogany/oak color - a bit redder than Shipyard's session pumpkin brew, Pumpkinhead. The head actually sprang up and stuck around for a little while, and the smell was definitely reminiscent of the Pumpkinhead. There is a lot of cinnamon and nutmeg in the aroma, giving me a clue as to what the taste would be like to come.

The taste is very nutmeg and cinnamon up front, with a definite alcohol taste at the end. I was surprised by the thin mouthfeel and overall light flavor. I was expecting something a bit more like Pumpking (Southern Tier) which was syrup-like and rich. The Smashed Pumpkin lacks the thickness and deepness I expected from the higher ABV, but the flavor grows on me after every sip. Not drying, but close, the pumpkin flavor itself is there but not center stage. Though a little less sweet than Pumpkinhead, I'd almost say that was a detriment.

On the other hand, when I had a sip of it paired with the chocolate toffee torte that was on special at the GLB - my taste buds lit up. It was the richness and the sugars from the cake that really brought out the full flavor spectrum, and I got a lot more of the pumpkin taste when layered on the taste of toffee.

This one isn't bad, and if you're a fan of Pumpkinhead, you may enjoy this because they are very similar in flavor profiles. However, this doesn't make my list of my top pumpkin brews this year, despite my expectations. Also, this one will be quick to get you "smashed" as the alcohol content isn't readily tasteable, it may be easy to drink this quickly and feel it even quicker.