Jack's Abby Brewing

Whenever I have some free time traveling, I try to visit a new brewery or two.  I just got back from a trip to Boston to visit family, and of course Sam Adams and Harpoon both came to mind, but I had been to both previously and they both can get super crowded on the weekends.  So I was happy to learn about a new brewery that just opened last summer even closer to my relatives home.  The brewery is called Jack's Abby and is located in Framingham, MA.

The entrance resembled the typical So. Cal. microbrewery, a non-descript building in an industrial park

I did a little research on them before showing up, so I knew a little bit about their story, but was welcomed by a friendly tasting room staff who was able to fill in the details and also give me a tour of the brewery.

They are run by three brothers who are all full time employees, as well as two other full time employee's.  One of the brothers is Jack, and his wife is Abby, hence the name of the brewery.  Abby was manning the tasting room when I showed up.  Jack was the head brewer, and the other brothers were in charge of sales, marketing, operations, and other duties.

The current selections on tap in the tasting room.  

One of the first interesting things about Jack's Abby was their decision to brew only lagers.  Lagers are typically more difficult, time consuming, and expensive to brew.  But Jack told me for those same reasons most microbreweries stay away from lagers and he thought it would be a way to differentiate themselves.

Descriptions of the beers

Even though they have only been in business for a short period of time, they have some pretty impressive equipment.  Their brewhouse is a 20 barrel kettle with mash tun, and then they have five 40 barrel fermenters.  They recently ordered a bright tank and two more fermenters.  Plus they have a bottling line capable of bottling 1300 bottles an hour.

The brewhouse, 20 bbl capacity

They currently have five 40 bbl fermenters and are planning to get a few more

Another part that was interesting to me was the contrast in liquor laws between California and Massachusetts.  Breweries in MA aren't allowed to sell beer to drink in their tasting rooms.  For this reason, Jack's Abby offered free tastings of all of their beers, but only 2 ounce pours, and no pints.  They sold bottles and growler fills in the tasting room also, and seemed to be doing a pretty solid growler business.  The entire time I was there, there was a pretty constant flow of people coming in to fill growlers.  Also, all of the breweries in MA sell their growlers for refundable deposits.

Huge logo on the wall

Finally, on to the beers.  All of them were pretty tasty.  Jabby Brau, their session lager, was nice and crisp, light and drinkable, but still with some nice hop bitterness to give it some character.  Hoponius Union was their IPL, which apparently they can't officially call an India Pale Lager since it isn't a recognized beer style, but it was pretty solid as well.  My favorites were the Biere de Garde which had some nice spiciness from the hops and the rye, as well as the baltic porter.  I went with a growler of the Biere de Garde, and it was a definite crowd pleaser that evening.  Overall, all six were pretty tasty, and I will definitely be heading back there again on future trips to the area.  If you happen to find yourself in the suburbs of Boston, be sure to look them up!

The OC Brew Ha Ha

The second annual OC Brew Ha Ha was this past Saturday, September 10th at Irvine Meadows.  The morning of the event looked pretty ominous, as thunder, lightning, hail, and rain rolled through many parts of Orange County.  Luckily, though, the Brew Ha Ha was spared (I'm guessing that thunder and lightning aren't allowed by the Irvine Company, so the clouds had to make a detour...).

The location was once the home of Lion Country Safari, which included the famous escaping hippo Bubbles that lived in the wild along Laguna Canyon Road for a few weeks, however on this day it was home for different types of wild animals, those looking for some great craft beers and some tasty grub.  The event benefitted a portion of the proceeds to the Fallen Firefighter Relief Fund, a great idea to allow people to have fun, drink some good beers, and also help support a good cause.

Introductory speech about the craft beer industry by Dr. Bill Sysak from Stone.

Those of us that were able to make it in time were greeted by a short talk from Bill Sysak from Stone about the history of the industry, and also got to begin the day with a pour of the Stone black imperial 15th anniversary IPA (which I had tasted before, but is delicious).

Welcome to the Brew Ha Ha!

After taking a quick walking tour of the grounds to get the layout and see which breweries were able to make it (not all breweries showed, for example I was looking forward to having some Russian River because they were on the list, but they were no where to be seen), I then decided to jump right in to it.  I attempted to taste mainly from breweries that I did not get to drink from often, and as many new beers as possible.  My tasting list throughout the day was:

• Stone Black Imperial 15th Anniversary IPA
• Inland Empire Dark Strong Ale
• Black Market Brewing Brown Anglo American Style Ale
• Craft Brewing Co. Holly's Belgian Pale Ale
• Hangar 24 Fall Seasonal Oktoberfest
• Belmont Brewing Co. Top Sail Amber Ale
• The Bruery Mischief
• The Bruery Mischief Gone Wild
• Addison Homebrew Privisions Scotty's Big IPL
• TAPS Imperial Russian Stout
• Iron Fist Spice of Life
• Ballast Point Sculpin IPA
• Bootlegger's Wildfire Wheat
• Firestone Walker Oaktoberfest
• Old Orange Brewing Street Fair Kolsch
• Backstreet Brewery Malanga

In addition I was able to sneak a few sips from other beers that friends had tried.

Craft Brewing Co.'s tent

Just a few of the beers we got to try...

The VIP tickets included tickets for 14 four ounce tastes.  Prior to the event I was a little concerned that this wouldn't be enough and wouldn't allow me to try as much variety as I would like.  Luckily, the breweries made sure that this wouldn't be an issue.  My favorites during the day were the Black Market Brewing American Ale, the Hangar 24 Oktoberfest, and the Iron Fist Spice of Life.  Black Market was a new one for me, they are located out of Temecula, and I haven't been able to make it out that way yet.  I pretty much love everything from Hangar 24 that I have had, and the Oktoberfest was no exception.  I had tried a few Iron Fist beers before, but particularly liked this Spice of Life from them.  

I also really enjoyed being able to simultaneously taste The Bruery's Mischief and Mischief Gone Wild.  The difference between the two is that Mischief Gone Wild has the addition of brettanomyces, which apparently happened accidentally, and they decided it was worth brewing.  I love Mischief, it is definitely one of my favorite Bruery beers, and it was interesting to see the characteristics that the brettanomyces brought in comparison.

The event also included a few bands that played throughout the day, a few special guest speakers giving talks, and several different food truck or other food options.  The bands were all decent, mostly cover bands, but provided a good background for the event.  The food did not disappoint either.  As a snack, I shared a pretzel from the Stone World Bistro booth, and it was delicious, one of the best pretzel's I have ever eaten.  And for lunch I went with a tri-tip sandwich from the always delicious BT's Southern BBQ.

Mmm, BBQ.....

My only complaint, which I think is a relatively minor one at that, was that it became difficult to attend the guest speakers.  I was looking forward to sitting in on several of the speakers, but the event was running a little behind schedule, and it became hard to know when the speakers would be speaking.  They had the band make announcements of when the speakers were going on, but it wasn't always easy to hear those announcements.  The downside of it was that I missed out on some speakers I was hoping to hear.  The upside, though, was that I got to spend more time trying new beers!

Bootlegger's Brewery won the "People's Choice" award, and deservedly so.  I love pretty much every beer Bootlegger's puts out, and enjoy spending time at their brewery as well.  Aaron (the owner) is a really good guy, and I would love to see them continue to grow and brew more great beers.

Overall it was a fantastic day and I am already looking forward to next years event!

Telegraph Brewing Company - Santa Barbara

Last weekend I had a chance to visit the Telegraph Brewing Company in Santa Barbara.  The brewery is in a great location, just a few blocks off of state street in an industrial area, and adjacent to a winery (that also has a tasting room, making it a good spot even for those who don't like beer!).  They have been open for about five years, but it is a relatively small brewery and is probably brewing close to its capacity (I was told they are currently brewing around 1800 barrels per year).

The entrance to Telegraph off of the appropriately named Salsipuedes St.

They did have a formal tasting area, however there were no taps in the tasting area.  They had 3 permanent taps coming from their refrigeration area for their year-round beers, along with 2 temporary picnic taps for their seasonal beers.

The taps coming out of the refrigeration unit. They had two people working the tasting room, one of them was one of their brewers, Paul, who was a real nice guy and was willing to answer all the questions I had for him.

The bar in the tasting room.

The five-beer flight was $8 and included a 10-ounce pour of any of the five beers after finishing the flight.  The five beers I was able to try were the White Ale, Cerveza de Fiesta Pilsner, California Ale, Stock Porter, and Reserve Wheat Ale.

The list of beers available on tap for the flight.

My favorite of the five was definitely the California Ale, which I chose as my 10 ounce pour and followed up with another pint of it.  It seemed very similar to a California common, and in fact apparently has been compared to a California common in many beer ratings, but is an ale rather than a lager.  It was very well balanced, had a medium body, a nice piney flavor and spiciness from the hops, balanced by the malt and also some some subtle fruit flavors as well.

A pint of the California Ale.

I also really enjoyed the Reserve Wheat Ale which was a wild sour ale brewed using brettanomyces and aged in oak barrels.  The sourness was not overpowering but gave it a good flavor, although it really didn't have any fruitiness to it and I think it might have been a little better with some fruit flavor mixed in.

Overall it was an excellent place to visit.  I really enjoyed the atmosphere and hanging out right amongst the brewing equipment is always fun.  I'd love to see them have a few more beers to try and maybe take a few more risks on some of their beers, but overall it was very fun and solid beers, definitely worth checking out if you find yourself in the Santa Barbara area.

Red Eye Brewery, Wausau WI

One of the advantages to traveling all over the country for your work is ending up in small towns with a whole new set of breweries you normally would never go to. This past week my work landed me in Wasau, WI. With a population of only 38,000, this town supports 3 major local breweries. After polling the locals on which one to try out the answer was clear. Go to Red Eye, and try the Thrust.

Upon arriving I instantly knew why everyone was recommending the Thrust. Thrust IPA has the highest ABV available in the brewery at 7.2% and 73 IBU. In a state consistently in the top 3 for most bars per capita, it didn't surprise me that the locals were recommending an American Style IPA.

Golden with a slight haze, the first thing noticeable about the beer is it's aroma of strong hops chasing a floral lead. Suprizingly I found that in the taste the floral smell was replaced with a citrus, though the hops were still present in mass. The bar back I was chatting with thought this was likely due to the strong dry hop they used. With the strong IBU, I was surprised to notice that there was still an element of sweetness. Overall, this seemed a pretty typical american style IPA, and I would score it a solid 82 out of 100.

The most characteristic beer of the night came next in the brewing co's german wheat beer, Big Betty. Named for it's appearance, this clear brown brew exudes a heavy fruit smell. I knew even before tasting that here was a beer my wife would love. The most accurate way to describe the taste would be if you licked a banana, and then chewed a piece of Clove gum. That may not sound too appealing, but I found it very enjoyable. The assistant claimed that the strong banana flavor was due to the yeast strain, but I could not get the specific name from him. The mouthfeel was light and low in carbonation. Overall I found the beer to be very drinkable, and feel it would be a perfect starter beer for someone just starting to dabble in the world of craft brewing. Due to filling this niche I think the beer deserves an 87 out of 100.

I finished my evening at the brewing co with a nice chat to a couple visiting on their anniversary, and a pint of Scarlet 7 belgian dubbel. A good finish for the evening, this beer had a heavy plum aroma with a silky smooth mouthfeel. The taste was sweet and malty with a bouquet of fruit flavors. Overall I think the beer was enjoyable, but lacking the balancing elements usually found in a belgian dubbel. For this reason I would rate the beer a 78.

With a strong buzz and a full stomach I casually strolled through dowtown Wausau back to my hotel, and found myself lured into the attached restaurant for one final delight. I ordered up a piece of New York cheesecake, and a pint of Leine's Summer Shandy. For those of you who know this beer, you know the flavor to be a very strong lemon flavor. Needless to say, when combined with the New York Cheesecake (for a lemon cheesecake taste), it made for the perfect night cap.

Best Domestic Beers??

I am normally a big fan of Men's Health Magazine because their articles are typically very useful, relevant, applicable, and cover a wide range of topics.  However I think they need to rethink this posting titled "Best Domestic Beers."  Their list of the top 8 domestic beers is:

Sam Adam's Summer Ale
Miller Lite
Goose Island 312
Blue Moon
Pyramid Apricot Weizen
Iron City in Aluminun Bottles
Abita Turbo Dog
Lone Star

Although they do have some different categories (which helps explain why some of these are in here), it definitely does not justify this list.  Let's take a look at the list one by one:

Sam Adam's Summer Ale - Started the list off strong.  Nothing wrong with this selection.

Miller Lite - Whoa.  Not only is this questionable as a domestic these days (MillerCoors was bought by Molson from Canada...), is this really the second beer to mention when giving a list of the Best Domestic Beers? I will grant them that I do prefer Miller Lite over Bud Light or Coors Light, but we're only two beers in to this list and they've already almost lost me.

Goose Island 312 - Ok, I can live with this.  It is a good beer, but Goose Island just doesn't do it for me as much anymore now that they are owned by InBev.  And speaking of InBev, this also brings to question whether this one is truly a domestic anymore too!

Blue Moon - Ok, now they lost me for sure.  Not only is Blue Moon also part of Molson Coors, but the article begins by saying they don't want to reach in a drink a belgian ale, but they justify this selection by saying it's because its part of Coors.  That does not justify it in my book, that only makes it worse...

Pyramid Apricot Weizen - I haven't had this one so hard to make a good judgment on it.  I do like most of what I have had from Pyramid, but am still not completely happy about this choice either.

Iron City in Aluminun Bottles - Well, if you are really in to aluminun bottles, then I guess you can justify this one, but I would typically prefer to choose my "Best Domestic Beers" based on taste than on the bottle they come in.  Besides, I've never really liked drinking out of aluminun...

Abita Turbo Dog - A good, solid beer from a good brewery.  Can't complain about this one much either.

Lone Star - A decent beer that can fit the bill in certain situations, but still hard to imagine it qualifying for this list.

Now, I do understand that different people have different tastes and different preferences for what they look for in a beer.  But, as I am guessing you imagine, my list of the best domestic beers would look a little different than this one.

What would be on your list?

Hangar 24 Craft Brewery in Redlands

The Hangar 24 Craft Brewery has only been open a little over 3 years, but has made quite a splash on the Southern California beer scene.  It is already one of the largest microbreweries in the area, and after making a trip out there last week, it is easy to see why.  I made the trip on a Wednesday night after work.  Normally, tempting the roughly 60 mile drive from Irvine to Redlands during rush hour on the 91 freeway would not even cross my mind, the drive could easily turn in to 2-3 hours long.  However, I had spoken about the brewery to my friend Jake who is a pilot, and Jake offered to fly us out there.  So I headed over to John Wayne airport and prepared for the flight.

Jake inspecting the plane before takeoff, it was a Diamond with call name 321 Charlie Kilo.

I had never been on a small plane like this and it was a pretty exhilarating experience.  

Just about ready for takeoff

We got up to around 4000 feet on the way there, and about 4500 feet on the way home.  Jake told me this was a newer plane (2004 model) so it had a lot of upgrades and features that other planes he has flown didn't have.  I think those definitely made me feel more comfortable in the flight.

When we arrived at the Redlands Municipal Airport, we could immediately see the brewery.  It is directly across the street from the airport, and was less than a 3 minute walk from the transient airplane parking.  Although we couldn't confirm much info at the time, I believe the building was in fact an old hangar used by the airport.  The brewery had a pretty decent crowd considering it was a Wednesday evening, and is set up with several long picnic tables and umbrellas on an outside patio.  Mara and I both ordered a flight (appropriately named given the aviation theme!) which included 8 year-round beers and two seasonal selections.

About ready to dive in to the flight

I started with the Helles Lager and worked my way around to finish with the Double IPA.  Each beer was unique and I thought they kept getting progressively better.  I particularly enjoyed the Pale Ale and the Columbus IPA, so I followed up the flight with a pint of the Columbus IPA and a six-pack of Pale Ale to take home with me.

The brewery itself was pretty impressive.  They had a lot of tanks, and some of them pretty massive.  I wasn't able to find out the capacity of it all, but they had some pretty heavy-duty equipment.

The beer board behind the bar 

A couple of the smaller tanks

Overall it was an awesome trip for me, everything from the flight to the brewery to the beers was great.  I would definitely recommend checking out Hangar 24 if you have a chance, even if it means making the drive out to Redlands.  The beer was delicious and the atmosphere was fun, so it will be well worth your efforts.

Mara enjoying her flight and Jake having some tea that he brought

And a big thanks for Jake and Mara for letting me fly with them!

Anaheim Brewery

The Anaheim Brewery is one of the newest breweries in Orange County.  It is located on Anaheim Blvd, near the "downtown" Anaheim shopping area, in an old Packard building.  It is actually a resurrection of the name from a brewery that was closed down about 90 years ago.  The brewery opened its tasting room doors on July 1st, and then had a grand opening party two weeks later.  I was able to show up for the opening on July 1st.  The doors opened at 4pm, and we arrived at about 4:05pm and snagged the last two seats available at the bar.  Unlike most of the other local breweries in Orange County, Anaheim Brewery is not in an industrial area, and the tasting room has more of a bar atmosphere.  By about 4:15pm, almost all of the standing room was filled as well.  It seemed like a nice place to relax and drink a pint or two with some friends.  I bellied up next to some strangers but struck up a conversation about beer and brewing and was able to chat a little bit with the owners, Greg and Barbara, as well.

At the opening they only had their 4 staple beers on tap, but they told me they plan to expand to include seasonal and special beers as well.  My favorites were the Anaheim 1888 which is a California Common, and the Hefeweizen, although none of the 4 blew me away.  I think perhaps they may have all been a bit young still, and I look forward to going back and trying them again.  Definitely a place worth checking out, though.

 This is the outside of the building.  I think they are still working on the landscaping, and was told they plan to make this area in to a patio where you can bring food from the Umami Burger (attached to the building in front) and enjoy a pint.

 I started off with a flight of their 4 staple beers.  This picture is the Anaheim Gold, and shows the tasting glass that they let you keep.  The old saying on the glass still sort of applies, because pints are $5 each.

 Empty tasting glass with coaster and tokens for the rest of my flight.

I enjoyed the Anaheim 1888 so followed up my flight with a pint of it.  You can see the fermenting tanks in the background.

Healthy Beers

As if we needed any additional reason to drink beer, this list from Esquire mentions the "healthiest" beers to drink.  There's some decent beers on this list too.  If you're looking for something light and/or healthy but still with full flavor, this is not a bad list to start from.

My personal favorite off this list is the Shmaltz Brewing Co. Rejuvinator.  They brew some pretty good beers at Shmaltz.

Check out the entire list by clicking here.

Eel River Brewing - Blonde Ale

Description: This beer is described by Eel River as "Our lightest beer . A great organic beer. With an exceptionally crisp palate, this ale balances the light malt palate with a subtle bitterness. This ale is an ideal beer for those unaccustomed to micro-brewed beers. Made with pale, wheat, carastan and carapils malts. Hopped with Cascade, Saaz and Tettnang hops. Made with pride and great taste from the worlds first certified organic brewery."

Appearance: Poured a little deeper and darker than I was anticipating for a blonde ale.  Nice head when poured but that faded away quickly.

Aroma: It had a very fruity aroma.  I smelled quite a bit of citrus and melon coming from the glass.

Taste: Very sweet, strong citrus and melon flavors as well.  The description talked about a subtle bitterness but I wasn't noticing much of a hop flavor.  Very drinkable and refreshing.

Mouthfeel: Much like other factors of this beer, it had a fuller body than I was anticipating for a blonde ale, which I thought was nice in a beer like this.

Overall: This beer hit the spot for the mood I was in at the time, looking for something smooth, refreshing, and easy to drink.  It had quite a bit more flavor than I thought it would, with the citrus flavor almost being too strong but not quite there.  I agree with Eel River's description that this beer would be a good introduction to craft beers for many people, and I can see why this has won several awards.  Overall a very good blonde ale.

Score (out of 100): 85

Bootlegger's Knuckle Sandwich

I thought I would start this blog off with a post about one of my favorite beers.  This double IPA is released by Bootlegger's Brewery from Fullerton, CA.  Due at least partially to a shortage of simcoe hopes, this beer is only released in small batches and typically sells out quickly, adding to the mystique of this brew.  I really enjoy how well balanced this beer is; it is as hoppy as you would expect a double IPA to be, but uses a ton of malt to balance it out and make it very drinkable.  And at 10% ABV, putting down a bottle makes you feel pretty good.  It's hard to find and not a cheap beer to get, but well worth the price and the trouble if you are able to find it!