The Breweries of Vermont Part Two

North on Route 100 a winding, roller-coaster of a road to the sleepy hamlet of Waterbury, where just off main street resides the Alchemist.

Whats in a name? In days of old Alchemists would scam money from unwitting patrons with tales and theories of turning lead into gold among other improbabilities. The scam was perpetrated by the Alchemist asking for increasing amounts of cash "needed" by the Alchemist to purchase the additonal "rare and secret ingedients" to complete the transformation process. For grins type the words Edward Kelley and Alechemist into Google and you will be shown a link to the Occultopedia for information on a Rougue, Alchemist and Lawyer named Edward Kelley

I was beginning to feel like an Alchemist of sorts with my own family. "We are almost there guys...just a few more minutes...be patient...another ten minutes ... I promise we'll be there shortly." Until at last, unlike the Alchemist Edward Kelley of old, I pulled a brewpub out of my hat. Or rather I pulled up to a brew pub. Outside looks fairly non-descript. An old brick storefront with the name artfully painted on the windows. You enter the door and are greeted by a high ceilinged room with a bar on the right and tables to the left. The light fixtures are eclectic chandeliers, the decor is a mix of unpainted brick, hardwoods and stainless steel. Cozy and inviting. We had a short wait during which the bartender left his post at the bar and crossed the room to see if we needed a drink. We did. I ordered an ale called Wild Child, my wife had the Hefty Weizen and the kids Artisanal Sodas Called "Pop Soda."

My beer arrived and it was hazy pale red, it had little head, little carbonation and the aromy was spicy, fruty with some biscuit aroma. The taste was delightfully sour much like a Flemish Red Ale. Very refreshing. My wife's beer was the brewer's cask-conditioned impression of a German Hefe-Weizen. It was fresh and tasty. Better than any of this style I have tried to date. The appearance was hazy yellow with a rocky white head. The aroma was classic Hefe-Weizen, bannanas and other tropical fruits, cloves and other spices, hints of bubble-gum. The taste was also the classic Hefe Weizen taste. Slightly sweet malt, a touch of floral hops, like my brew this beer was also crisp and refreshing. My eldest son's Lemon-Ginger soda was tasty and refreshing as well. So much so that we spent a fair amount of time trying to find a retail source for it.

As this is not a food column I will not dwell on the food except to say it was fresh, delicious and innovative. My burger was blackened, topped with bleu cheese and paired with Belgian style fries that were served with homemade mayonnaise.

Next week...the wacky World of Magic Hat!

Some links:

Occultopedia

The Alchemist Brewery

PopSoda

The Breweries of Vermont, Part One

So we loaded up the Tahoe and we headed north to Vermont. Yes, Vermont, the Green Mountain State; a verdant paradise of Appalachian vistas, clear running streams, captive insurers and excellent micro-breweries. My family is a tolerant bunch. They indulge me in my beer hobby. They have to of course, I am driving and it is a long walk home.

We crossed into Vermont in the Vicinity of Whitehall, New York. Formerly called Skenesborough, Whitehall is the birthplace of the United States Navy. It was in the harbor of this historic town that Benedict Arnold assembled his fleet of vessels before the October 11, 1776, Battle of Valcour Island. Though Arnold was defeated, with a significant loss of life and vessels on the both sides, the resistance encountered by the British and their losses caused them to delay their southward movement and return to Canada until the following spring. This bought the colonists valuable time and set the stage for the 1777 campaign in upstate New York. This campaign culminated in the stunning American victory at Saratoga on October 17, 1777. Alas I again have wandered off the trail…

So on into the Green Mountain State we drove. The Incredibles on the portable DVD player, three children blissfully ignoring the bovine adorned scenery (though they noted the earthy aroma) and my wife and I having a civil navigational discussion (cough, choke, muttered curses under the breath). Ultimately we arrived at our first stop on the beer tour, the Long Trail Brewing Company in Bridgewater Corners, Vermont (www.longtrail.com). We arrived from the South, the building is a modern structure built in the fashion of a dairy barn. With a peaked tin roof and an idyllic location on the banks of a rushing stream, it welcomed us and beckoned us to explore and experience. Alas it was not to be… a t-shirt and some beer to bring home was all we had allotted time for. They serve lunch and have indoor and outdoor seating. Their gift shop is well stocked and reasonably priced. The restrooms were clean.

I chatted briefly with one of the staff and complimented her on their fine ales, which are now available (since this spring) in New Jersey. She said their sales had increased nearly 25% over the same period last year. She recommended that I purchase some of their unfiltered India Pale Ale as it was fresh and available only at the brewery. I bit and I will share my review in a later column.

The Long Trail Beers I did try were all consistently excellent. Their flagship Long Trail Ale is a fruity, spicy and balanced Altbier. Double Bag is a richly textured, slightly maltier “Double Alt.” Hit the Trail Ale is a deliciously malty, lightly hopped, light to medium bodied, English Brown Ale. The “Blackbeary Wheat” is a flavored wheat beer that my wife and I both agreed was crisp and delicious. Sharply sour blackberry notes on a background of soft wheat malts. I normally eschew flavored wheat beers but it was a warm Vermont afternoon and the tart refreshing taste struck the right chord with us.

Sadly they did not yet have any Hibernator, their Scotch Ale, available for tasting.

Then it was back in the car and Northward on Route 100 to Waterbury. Our next stop, The Alchemist, a brewpub. (to be continued)

Judge Rules Miller Genuine Draft Not Proven to be Beer

We already knew this...

By Holly Herman
Reading Eagle

The case went flat for prosecutors when Berks County Judge Jeffrey K. Sprecher dismissed charges against a 44-year old Kutztown man accused of buying beer for his 17-year-old neighbor.
The teen, Shawn Putnam of Kutztown, testified at a pretrial hearing that Gregg R. Hartman, his neighbor, bought him a case of Miller Genuine Draft at Duffer's Distributors in Kutztown on Jan. 7 and that he drank five beers from the case.

But Sprecher ruled, in an order made available Tuesday, that prosecutors failed to prove Miller Genuine Draft is indeed beer.

Sprecher sided with the defense and ruled Putnam's testimony was not enough to prove Hartman of the 300 block of East Walnut Street bought beer.

“They did not have any beer cans or tests to prove it was beer,” argued defense attorney David R. Eshelman.

Eshelman said prosecutors did not present a state Liquor Control Board list of all beers.

“There is no testimony on the record that the beer contained any alcohol,” he said. “In most cases, the prosecutors will give a list from the state with names of beer to prove that it is beer. In this case, they did not do that.”

On Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney Joseph R. Speece filed a request for Sprecher to reconsider his decision and included with that the state's list of beers.

“We thought that the boy's testimony proved that he drank beer,” Speece said.

According to testimony at the pretrial hearing:

Hartman picked up Putnam to drive him to a restaurant. Instead, Putnam said, Hartman agreed to drive him to the distributor and buy beer for Putnam.

Putnam drank five beers in the car while Hartman drove around.

Hartman's car skidded on the right side of Long Lane in Greenwich Township and went off the road at 11:20 p.m.

State police responded, and Hartman was charged with furnishing liquor to minors.

Officials said Putnam was cited for underage drinking and pleaded guilty. Further details were unavailable.

Eshelman said the law requires prosecutors to prove the beer contained at least 5 percent alcohol.

“No testimony or evidence on records proved that Miller Genuine Draft contained 5 percent alcohol,” Eshelman said. “I was not surprised with the outcome. It was the right outcome.”

Beer and memory.

Brooklyn in the 1960's. There was the Jingle..."My beer is Rheingold the dry beer, think of Rheingold whenever you buy beer, it's refreshing not sweet, it's the extra dry treat, won't you try extra dry Rheingold Beer.." That jingle was everywhere. On the Radio, on the TV and at the Ball Game. Mr. Met even drank Rheingold beer. There was the special glass that Grandpa Eddy reserved for his brew of choice. It was sort of a wide-mouthed stemmed pilsner with the familar red and white logo. Then there were the secret sips that he would give me as we had Sunday Dinner. Grandma served up roasted chicken and potatoes and that secret bread pudding recipe that she baked in a pyrex bowl, sometimes it was rice pudding. I remember how the sunlight filtered through the Irish Lace sheers that covered the windows. I remember the heavy mahogany furnishings and the broad dark wood trim and tin ceilings. I remember Sunday dinners in Brooklyn and I remember my first sips of Rheingold Beer.

As I type this at my computer I know that Grandpa Eddy and Granny Mary Smyth are long gone, but I will always have them in my memories. I am sitting in Grandpa's desk chair that he was given by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. His gold watch and cuff-links are proudly dispalyed in the glass curio cabinet atop my bookcase. Sometimes, as I sip a cold beer with my family at Sunday Dinner I still remember that special glass. Yes I let my kids have a sip of beer now and again ... the wrinkled nose says it all.

As an aside I have tried the new Rheingold. Surprisingly, it tastes much as I remember it, though the new brewer has sweetend it up a bit and bottled it a long-necked clear glass bottle with a painted label. Rheingold, it isn't the best beer out there but for me, one sip and I am back in Brooklyn.

Leipziger Gose

This is one of the hardest to find beers of Summer, but it is worth seeking out for a delightful change of pace. This past week has been hazy, hot and humid on the Bayshore. The Dawg days of August call for heavy duty refreshment. This is the time of year when something light, crisp and perhaps a touch acidic can take the edge off the oppressive heat.

Gose is a style of beer unique to Leipzig, Germany and environs. It can trace its origins back to 1842, the same year as another perennial favorite style, the Pilsner, was first being brewed in Pilsen, Bohemia (Now the Czech Republic) to the South. It is also the same year that a famous all male Military Academy was founded in Charleston, South Carolina ... but I digress. Gose was once brewed by more than 20 local breweries. The Leipzig area fell upon hard times in the wake of the Second World War and the style all but vanished. Since reunification it has made a comeback with two regional brwers distributing Gose both in the region and the export market.

The style is reminiscent of the Weiss beers of neighboring Bavaria in that the grain bill is comprised of between 50 and 60 per cent malted wheat. The other malts are a Pilsener and a small proportion of Munich. The hops are Northern Brewer (for bitterness) and Perle, from the nearby Elbe-Saale growing area. Like most wheat beers, Gose has very little hop bitterness. In this particular style, the balancing dryness is provided by the ground coriander seeds and salt, which are added in the in the final stages of the mash.

If the proof of the pudding is in the eating, the proof of the beer is in the drinking. The beer was bottled in a long necked 25.4 ounce "flasche" with a porcelain stopper and a painted lable. The bottle looked like something you would find at an antique fair. Quite lovely actually. I chose a thin - walled .4 liter "Stange" to savor this beer as that was the closest thing I had to the Glass that was depicted in the hand of the very happy looking man in the label illustration.

The beer poured a hazy, sunshine yellow...not unlike the weather we have been having. The head was thick and creamy and it clung to the sides of the glass in thick clumps. The aroma was cirusy, spicy with malty/bready undertones. The palate is acidic and sharply sour with hints of spice and traces of salt. The sourness was profound and refreshing. This truly is a beer to take the edge off the heat.

I obtained my sample of Gose at Super Saver off route 22 East in Somerville. The distributor for this product is Hunterdon Brewing
. I have also seen it in the smaller half-liter bottle at Spirits Unlimited in Red Bank.

The Dumbing Down of American Beer

Firstly, thank you to Michele of Shore Point Distributors in Freehold for taking the time to answer a few questions about your employer, the Beer Supplier to Seastreak. Michelle we hope you enjoyed your ride on the Ferry and arrived home safely. Now, perhaps you can convince your employer to promote some other Coors brands on the Boats. Killian's, Caffrey's, Winterfest, Steinlager and Blue Moon are all Coors Brand's and more flavorful and tasty brews by comparison with some of the other Coors products. I also note that Yuengling is also distributed by your employer. They make a great Porter and a decent Lager and the are available in cans. Hey, it can't hurt to ask, right?

There was a time when America's mainstream brews were flavorful and full bodied. Where each beer had a distinct character and brand loyalty was based on a beers taste not the Swedish Bikini team or a pair of talking Geckos. That era has passed. The descent into beer purgatory started during the 50's. By the 80's the only tasty beers were imports. The rest of the market was mass produced, mass advertised and intended to be consumed in mass quantities. Today's mainstream brews focus more on convenience and "refreshment" as opposed to character. This is how they are marketed and this is what they live up to. American mainstream beers have largely evolved to become what are called "Adjunct Lagers." They are fermented from a certain percentage of malted barley, but also corn, wheat, rice, sorghum and other less expensive cereal grains. They are lagered with carefully cultivated yeast strains. They are lightly hopped with carefully processed dried hop pellets. The resulting brews are very mild in the palate. The brewers aim is to not offend anyone’s tastes as opposed to seeking a distinctive flavor and style. This guarantees them the broadest possible appeal to consumers. As the resultant beers are so mild and similar in profile, brand loyalty is acquired through marketing and gimmickry and not the brewing art.

These modern macro-lagers are however masterfully consistent - a Coors in Denver will taste the same as one in Miami regardless of which brewery it was produced at. This is indeed a modern marvel. Alas, to me, drinking a consistent bland beer is nowhere near as rewarding as savoring a full bodied beer with character. Just ask a serious scotch or wine drinker why they drink what they drink. They will likely tell you that they enjoy the depth and character of the drink they may say they find it relaxing to linger over a glass or two trying to tease ot the taste of the soil or the oak. They may also have a list of "every day" or "ordinary" drinks that they enjoy with meals or at parties. They also have "special occasion" drinks that they enjoy with a good book. It is also this way with many beer aficionados.

Now, we all know the stereotype image that beer drinkers have ... It does not have to be that way. The Craft Brewing Movement is taking back our beer. Now you can get reasonably priced, distinctive beer at most well stocked stores. In our area check out the vast selection at the Spirits Unlimited outlets in Red Bank and Middletown. Even our little Buy-Rite in Atlantic Highlands has some nice macro alternatives as well. Go ahead think out of the box. Before you grab that 30 Pack of Keystone and head for the block party, consider instead a couple of six-packs of a decent American Pale Ale or a locally brewed Pilsner. You may just find a new "usual."

Remember to think Global and Drink Local.