Super Buy-Rite in JC

I've had a few friends tell me that the Super Buy-Rite in JC (down by the Holland Tunnel) has a great beer selection. Finally made the trip down there today with R and it was well worth it. They have quite a few brands there that I haven't seen at any of my other go-to spots in New Jersey (Mikkeller, New Holland, Uinta, more).

So we mixed a few sixes and picked up some fun stuff to try over the next week or two. I'm currently getting into an Otter Creek Solstice. It's an easy drinker, but doesn't completely blow me away. It's nice and balanced and has some great American hop notes (citrus, orange, peach), but also has a bit of a garlic/onion thing going on. Maybe the Amarillo hops?

I also picked up a mixed-six of the Mikkeller single hop IPA's (Amarillo, Tomahawk, Nugget, Warrior, Simcoe, one other...) which we'll do a serious tasting of later this week. Kind of weird that all of these hops get grown here on the west coast, shipped to Denmark for brewing, and then back to New Jersey for me to buy and drink. I don't really know a heck of a lot about this brewery's process and this particular project. If anyone knows whether or not all of these single hop beers are the same grain bill, I'd appreciate the heads up. Anyone know what their house yeast is?

First post in two months - Session Beers

This is my first post in two months. I apologize to those (one) of you who have been looking forward to more. My life the last few months has been all-consumed by house hunting with R, so homebrewing has been put on the back burner. I guess there's a pun in there, right? Homebrewing, back burner.....

Lew Bryson just posted a recap of last year's session beer vs extreme beer brew-ha-ha (yes, another pun!) over at his Session Beer Project blog. In retrospect the whole thing was a little silly, but it was fun while it lasted. I even tried to get in on the action by posting a nasty response to St. Sam's Ale Street piece. Unfortunately it seems that the Ale Street site dates back to the Clinton administration so the formatting and everything on my post got all jacked up. They showed me.

A while back Lew also linked to a blog post by Martyn Cornell. I found it significant because for the first time that I can recall I actually see the definition of the term "session" as used as a noun (as opposed to an adjective used to describe a particular beer):

"The “session” itself, the long night drinking down the pub with mates"

I still have yet to hear it used conversationally, and since it's a British thing I'm not really holding my breath that I will any time soon. I'm still not completely in love with the term "session beer". But it's better than "extreme beer", which as Garrett Oliver once famously stated, is "irredeemably pejorative".

Best of NJ

The Star Ledger and Inside Jersey are polling for their annual "Best of NJ" survey. Find out more here, and if you're interested in taking the survey you'll want to look for the "Click here to get started" at the bottom of the article (nj.com always does a great job of making their site nice and easy to use, don't they?) If you register and vote you'll get a shot at a $50 gift card. Not bad.

The only reason I bring this up in this space is because they actually have a poll in the restaurant category for New Jersey's best brewpub!!! Or as they call it, a "BREWED PUB". Hey, it's the thought that counts, right?

I won't tell you who I voted for, just encourage you to vote yourself if you feel compelled.

6,148

That's how many beers were entered in the NHC this year. Kind of a staggering number, no? I guess it's a testament to the popularity of this awesome, cool, and totally nerdy hobby, right?

I did my homebrewing thing this evening. Getting out of work early is awesome because I got home from work, brewed, and I'm completely done with cleanup before midnight. Knocked out an English style brown ale. It won't make it into the NHC, but I think it should be a worthy beer nonetheless.

Anyway, I entered four beers in the NHC. If even one advances to the national round I'll be stunned, flattered, and humbled. Everyone should homebrew.

Brawler

Just a quick love note to say that I'm having a great beer right now. We were in Lambertville today and the lovely R picked out a mixed six for me, one of which is Yards Brawler. It's 4.2%, has great chocolate and caramel flavors, a little bit of fruity English ale yeast character, and finishes with just the right amount of bitterness. A little dry, not too sweet. Great stuff.

The brewery calls it an English style "s*ssion ale". I'd call this a Mild, if ever there were a bottled one from an American craft brewery.

And on a great night of boxing on HBO and Showtime, the label fits right in. (I've got Abraham in a late round TKO over Dirrell tonight, by the way... but I can see a Dirrell decision too. Can't wait.)

Wonderful Word of Wines in Lambertville is a great, great store... for beer too! Plenty of bomber selections, mix-a-six, etc... Awesome.

Good afternoon. Today I came across an interesting article on the ever-escalating ABV of the American craft beer. You may link to it here and give it a read yourself.

I wouldn't necessarily agree with the title of the article - that the American session beer has met its untimely death. I just think that the ones out there are getting absolutely no attention while everyone goes bonkers for all of the special releases and big ABV beers. I guess that in a way that's to be expected. And it's kind of hard to argue with the success since American craft beer has been hugely successful over the last few years in a tough economy and when overall beer sales are down.

I'm just really happy any time I see something in defense of session beers (even though I hate the word "session" with a passion). There seems to be a correlation between a beer's ABV and the hype that surrounds it. And I agree with a lot of the commenters on the article who say that most of the big, hyped beers aren't really that great. It seems to me that people see an ABV or a special ingredient or process and approach those beers with a different mindset. Like they're already in love with the beer before they've even sniffed a glass of it.

Me, I'm the opposite. I'm a skeptic. If everyone is talking about how cool and great it is, chances are I'm already making up my mind that I'm going to hate it. So the moral of the story is that you can't trust me or anything I say. Be skeptical of the hype, but more importantly, be skeptical of me. Don't ever accuse me of giving you bad advice.