Wachusett Green Monsta

We recently went out to Wachusett to check on some of their new offerings. They've relaunched Green Monsta, now in bottle form and a recently tweaked recipe. In short the changes have done this beer good.

Smell: Smooth malt with light biscuit tones, light floral hops
Appearance: Light head, medium amber, very clear

Taste: This is a new version on Green Monsta, the brewers over at Wachusett have cut the booze a little bit as well as the hops. But don't fret, it's only lost a few IBUs and the drop in alcohol has only made it more drinkable. We'll be honest, the old version of Green Monsta was good, but it wasn't our favorite from them. We both agree this new version, now in bottles, is a much more drinkable beer. It's very smooth malt up front with a two stage finish. This beer has a very unique finish that first starts with a nice hop bitterness and then follows up with a biscuity malt flavor. The hops build as you drink the beer so the more you drink the better it tastes, well within reason of course. If you've had this beer before, try it again and if you haven't give it a go!

Flying Dog Garde Dog

Appearance: Light golden thing fluffy head
Smell: smeet malts, light fruit tones

Taste: Very light flavor with hints of sweet malts. Without bogging down in the history, bier de garde came from french farmers looking for something to quench their thirst. If you go into this beer with that in mind you'll love it. It's a very simple ale, so it doesn't overwhelm your pallet in any way. It's clean, simple and refreshing, try replacing your standard light beer or golden ale with this for a change.

Finally, Spring has officially sprung! I don't know about you, but for us Spring means two things... Beer and BBQ. With Memorial Day weekend just around the corner we wanted to come up with something special. Sure we could give you lots of BBQ recipes and beer pairings (and don't think we won't soon), but for this special tasting we wanted to do something fresh and clean, in honor of Spring. With the success of our beer and chocolate tasting we learned something, you all like beer and food as much as we do! So we've come up with something new. On Saturday May 17th we'll be hosting a beer and cheese tasting at The Wine Gallery in Brookline on May 17th from 3-6pm.  

Now, it wouldn't be a DrinkCraftBeer.com event if we just used any old cheese, so we've chosen 5 different goat cheeses from local cheesemaker Westfield Farms and paired them each with a different beer designed to enhance the flavor of both beer and cheese. Come try some great beer and cheese and bring some to your Memorial Day party. We guarantee you're friends will be impressed if you show up with any of these great pairings. But enough of us talking, on to the pairings! 

Allagash Double and Westfield Farms Capri Chevre
This first cheese is a classic Chevre (plain goat cheese), very mild smooth and creamy. We needed a beer that was able to compliment the mild subtle flavor of this cheese without overwhelming it. The choice was clear to us, Allagash Double. The smooth malt notes of this beer pair perfectly with the cheese giving a very light and refreshing experience. We'd also suggest adding some fresh fruit along side this pairing.

Lost Abbey Red Barn Farmhouse Ale and Westfield Farms Garlic & Herb Capri Chevre
The plain Chevre with herbs added to it begged for a beer with a hint of spice. This farmhouse ale fit perfectly, slight hints of spice in the beer accentuate the fresh herbs in the cheese while the nice belgian funk of the yeast brings out the natural flavor of the cheese.

Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA and Westfield Farms Pepper Capri Chevre
It took us all of 5 seconds to decide what we wanted to pair with the this cheese, and that's before we'd even tasted it. Racer 5 is an all time favorite of ours and if you've never tried it it's worth coming to this event just for this beer. A fantastically hopped IPA, this used to be in bombers only but Bear Republic recently released this in 6 packs making it even more convenient for your spring grilling. Toss a couple 6 packs in a cooler and serve along with some Pepper Capri Chevre to impress your friends this Memorial Day. Make no mistake, this cheese packs a black peppery punch. The fantastic hop bitterness of Racer 5 cuts the heat, leaving the freshness of the cheese with a amazing peppery hoppy finish. We could go on and on about it, but just come try it for yourself. 

Stoudt's Fat Dog Stout and Westfield Farms Hickory Smoked Capri Chevre
We'll be honest, we took a bit of a gamble with this one. We thought it would work, but we didn't know for sure. You run a risk when you pair two roasty flavors together that all you'll end up with is too much smoke. Well, the fact is our gamble paid off. The roastiness of the beer accentuated the smooth smoke flavor of the cheese without being overwhelming. When served to a group of friends everyone enjoyed this. Many agreed that it was like eating a camp fire... but in a good way! Not sure how eating a campfire can be a good thing? Come join us and we'll prove it to you. 

Paulaner Salvator and Westfield Farms Classic Blue Chevre
Our hardest pairing by far, this cheese alone is simply amazing. We've eaten about 4 logs of this cheese since we first tried it, all in the name of science. OK that's a bold face lie, we just really like it so we keep buying more. This cheese uses the Roquefort strain of mold to create it's blue rind and it's simply incredible. A bitter but smooth pungent cheese, it balances itself out. It's flavor was so unique that it took us some time to really come up with something good enough to present to you. We think we've come up with a great pairing with Paulaner's Salvator Doppel Bock. The only thing we could see missing from this cheese was a bit of sweetness. The Salvator provides just that, a nice smooth malty sweetness without feeling heaving or overwhelming in any way.

So we hope after all of these you're ready to come try everything we've shown you. So here's the details:

Where:
Wine Gallery Brookline
375 Boylston St
Brookline,  MA  02445

When: 
Saturday May 17th 3-6pm

Drop by for some great cheese and beer and come say hi to us!

Press release from Sierra Nevada:

Sierra Nevada, the pioneer of fresh hop ales in America, has expanded its Harvest Ale Series with the release of another ground-breaking product introduction, Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale. This marks the first time in known history that a fresh hop ale has been available in America in the spring since hops are harvested in the fall in the northern hemisphere. The inaugural ale will debut in early May.

To make this project happen, Sierra Nevada traveled to New Zealand to harvest fresh hops, and then transported them from the southern hemisphere to Chico where they were immediately used in brewing. Like their award-winning Celebration Ale, the fresh hops in this beer are dried right after being picked then shipped immediately to Chico for brewing, so that they retain their peak aromatics and flavors. Freshly harvested hops are richer in hop oils so they impart more hop aroma and hop spiciness into beer.

“We love fresh hop ales, but until now fresh hops were only available here once a year – during the fall hop harvest,” said brewery owner and founder Ken Grossman. “So we journeyed to the southern hemisphere to catch their hop harvest, which occurs during our spring.” The result is the North-by South fusion of fresh-picked New Zealand Pacific hops with the finest North American malts. Southern Hemisphere Harvest will feature fresh Pacific Hallertau, New Zealand Motueka and New Zealand Southern Cross hops, all from New Zealand.

The introduction of Southern Hemisphere Harvest gives Sierra Nevada three fresh-hop ales in their Harvest Series. In addition to Southern Hemisphere Harvest, Sierra Nevada produces Chico Estate Harvest in late summer and its original Harvest Ale in early fall.

Chico Estate Harvest is one of the very few estate harvest ales produced anywhere in the world today. All the hops in the beer are grown organically on the premises at the Chico brewery. The brewers pick the hops themselves and then take them directly to the brew kettle, without being dried, just after picking so they retain nearly all of their natural oils and resins. It is made with Cascade, Centennial and Chinook hops. Until now, this beer has only been available in draft. Starting this year, Sierra Nevada will bottle it on a very limited basis (Chico only this year) with plans to expand its availability as they expand their Chico hop field in the coming years.

The cornerstone of their Harvest Series is the beer that started the modern-day fresh hop ale phenomenon in America, the original Harvest Ale. Created in 1996, Harvest Ale features Cascade and Centennial hops from the Yakima Valley in Eastern Washington. These hops are harvested and shipped as “wet,” i.e., un-dried hops—the same day they are picked—to their brewery in Chico where the brewers eagerly wait to get them into the brew kettle while their oils and resins are still at their peak.

Representing the journey following the hop harvest around the globe, the Harvest Series includes hops sourced from new regions and brewed using new methods in an effort to maximize the oily, resinous qualities of the hops from each harvest as they transported them to the brewery in Chico, California.

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. was founded in 1980 and is one of America’s first microbreweries. It is regarded as the standard of quality for American craft brewers and has won numerous awards for its beers and ales. Its flagship product, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, has been the number one selling craft beer brand in America for the past five years according to IRI scan data. The brewery is still 100% owned by Ken Grossman.

In addition to Pale Ale, Sierra Nevada makes a Wheat, Porter, and Stout year-round, a host of draft-only specialty beers, and offers five seasonal beers. Harvest Ale will be available in limited supply nationwide in 24-ounce bottles and draft. The cost is slightly above Sierra Nevada’s year-round products.

California Assembley Member Jim Beall, Jr., D-San Jose has introduced legislation that would increase the excise tax on beer by $1.80 per six-pack of $0.30 per 12 oz bottle. This tax would be levied against the manufacturer, but obviously passed on to the consumer.

This article details the legislation more.

You can contact Assembly Member Jim Beall, Jr. here, or use this contact info:

E-Mail Assembly Member Jim Beall, Jr.

Capitol Office:                                         District Office:
State Capitol                                            100 Paseo De San Antonio, Suite 300
P.O. Box 942849                                     San Jose, CA 95113
Sacramento, CA 94249-0024              
Tel: (916) 319-2024                               Tel: (408) 282-8920
Fax: (916) 319-2124                              Fax: (408) 282-8927

Capitol Staff                                             District Staff

Californians should be especially worried, but all beer lovers should take notice. This would be a bad trend to start. The above linked article states:

Beer corporations continue to rake in profits. American’s biggest brewer, Anheuser-Busch, reported a net income of $2.1 billion in 2007, nearly 8 percent above the previous year; Molson Coors reported $507 million in revenue after taxes.

What they don't tell you is that the enormous number of craft beer producers in California, small local businesses, do not make nearly this kind of revenue or profit. Many are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and, with the rising prices of raw materials, this additional cost could send many over the edge. Beyond this, raising prices to stem consumption of alcohol is ludicrous and doesn't treat the actual societal problems. All it will do is cause people to spend more money on booze and less elsewhere.

Beall states, "As responsible corporate citizens, breweries should be willing to pay their fair share of the damage that alcohol wreaks on society." You know, it's funny, I was pretty sure alcohol is pretty taxed already. Not to mention alcohol abuse is usually a symptom of a bigger problem, not the cause of all the problems. He goes on to say, "Researchers have concluded that raising beer taxes not only minimizes drinking but reduces alcohol-associated problems such as broken families, venereal diseases, property damage, and birth defects caused by fetal alcohol syndrome," and his office cites a study that "recommended a raise in taxes on beer to curb consumption by teenagers who, as a group, are highly price conscious." I didn't realize that raising taxes on the least intoxicating alcohol beverage you can buy would help the world so much [please note heavy sarcasm]. Teenagers are price conscious, but they're still going to drink. They'll just drink cheap vodka, and get even drunker. They won't stop drinking, they'll just switch product. You want to help prevent those broken homes, venereal diseases, property damage and birth defects? Education is the answer. And counseling. Tax beer and people will just get their buzz elsewhere.

It's fortuitous that the time for brewers to "start paying their fair share" comes when this state is already in a huge budget deficit. Maybe, as a responsible government, you should figure out a way to fix this deficit without devastating small local businesses. There are around 275 craft breweries and brewpubs in California. After they get hit with a $1.80 per six-pack tax, I wonder what that number will be?