We took a bit of a break this summer as finding a mutually beneficial time for all of us to meet proved to be impossible. A lot of traveling along with various family commitments got in the way of the important work of reviewing beers. What is this world coming to? My wife and I took a rather extended trip ourselves to the West Coast where we visited the craft beer Meccas of Portland and Seattle. From there we cruised up to Alaska. More about that next time.
We began the fall season with a trip to Copper City Brewing in Rome, NY. While the mega-breweries like Budweiser like to paint craft beer drinkers as sissified urban hipsters, small neighborhood breweries like this one expose that perception as the bullshit that it is. Situated in the heart of a rust belt blue-collar city, Copper City Brewing hearkens back to a time before the mega-brews hijacked the beer industry and made American beer into a bland one-size-fits-all tasteless McBeer.
Copper City is a fairly young brewery, having opened in 2016, but it is the first neighborhood brewery in Rome, NY since the 1930's, when Prohibition effectively destroyed American beer. It's one of those perfect little neighborhood breweries that have been springing up all across the country since the advent of the Craft Beer Revolution. Like many of these breweries, it does not serve food, but often has food trucks in the parking lot, or you can order out if you like. They stick to what they know - beer.
In a cozy tasting room, they have a rotating selection of beers on tap, featuring a wide range of styles - Belgians, Porters, Stouts, Blondes, Ambers, Saisons and, of course, IPAs, as well as seasonal brews. Between the seven of us we tried both their New England style IPA and their Imperial IPA, as well as a terrific coffee Porter, a Stout, and a nicely hopped Amber. They were all terrific beers, hitting all the right notes for each particular style.
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Our last beer club was quite simply some of our favorite beers that had not yet been reviewed. So, here they are.
AVERY BREWING IPA
AVERY BREWING
WHAT THE BREWER SAYS: "A Colorado IPA with crisp, juicy, and resinous hops and a rich, malty finish."COLOR: Unfiltered clover honey
POUR: Less than Decent Head quickly dissipates
AROMA: Sweet, butterscotch, English-style ale aroma
BODY: Bit beyond Medium
TASTE: Nice balance of bitter and malt with hints of caramel, butterscotch and floral
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS: Just shy of Can't Get Enough!
COMMENTS: "I felt it was kind of malt forward; Floral hops; Nice beer; Good change-up to American East or West Coast IPAs; The butterscotch/caramel tastes reminds me of English IPAs; Nice little buttercup honey."
RANSACK THE UNIVERSE
COLLECTIVE ARTS BREWING
THE BEER FACTS: BREWERY: Collective Arts, Ontario, Canada; STYLE: Hemisphere IPA; ABV: 6.8%; IBUs: 85; MALT: 2 Row Pale Ale, Flaked Wheat, Crystal, Carafoam; HOPS: Galaxy, Mosaic - dry hops: Citra, Centennial, Chinook, Simcoe
WHAT THE BREWER SAYS: "Galaxy hops from Myrtleford, Victoria in Australia and Mosaic hops from Yakima, Washington, USA, deliver aromas and flavours of tropical furuits, mango and citrus. Light malt body lets the hops shine through, and finishes crisp but not bitter. A hemispheric hop mashup."
COLOR: Unfiltered straw
POUR: Between Decent and Guinness Class
AROMA: Big hoppy, pine grass aroma
BODY: Between Medium and Full
TASTE: Nice hop bitterness with minimum malt sweetness but enough to balance things a bit, pine, citrus, tropical fruit
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS: Can't Get Enough!
COMMENTS: "Classic IPA - right color, taste, aroma; Pleasing aftertaste; Big enough; Has rekindled my love of our Northern neighbor; Nice juiciness to this; Nice bit of balance makes this really drinkable; Canada is definitely getting on board with the craft beer revolution."
JAI ALAI
CIGAR CITY BREWING
THE BEER FACTS: BREWERY: Cigar City Brewing, Tampa, FL; STYLE: American IPA; ABV: 7.5%; IBUs: 70; HOPS: six different hop varietals
WHAT THE BREWER SAYS: "An intense bouquet of tangerine and candied orange peel entice the nose while flavors of clementines, Valencia orange and subtle caramel provide counterpoint to an assertive bitterness and rich malt character. Bold hop flavor and aroma from six different hop varietals is front and center in this flavorful American IPA."COLOR: Crisp, clean golden
POUR: Between Decent and Guinness and lasts nicely
AROMA: Pine, floral, citrus
BODY: Medium
TASTE: Nice pine, citrus bitterness with a bit of caramel malt
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS: Can't Get Enough!
COMMENTS: "This is the style of IPA I first fell in love with; Really classic West Coast style; Wonderful bitterness with lots of citrus, pine; Really clean finish that lingers; Some grapefruit in there and a bit of caramel for balance; Discovered this on a trip to Florida a few years ago and it's finally available here; Nice beer!"
INTO THE UNIVERSE GALAXY IPA
COPPER CITY BREWING
THE BEER FACTS: BREWERY: Copper City Brewing, Rome, NY; STYLE: American IPA; ABV: 7.5%
WHAT THE BREWER SAYS: "Imagine floating through the galaxy on a cloud of melon and citrus. Subtle fruit aroma, mild bitterness, a bit cloudy, with pleasing melon and berry flavor."
COLOR: Golden
POUR: Decent Head
AROMA: Piney, hoppy
BODY: Medium
TASTE: Fruit, a bit of anise with clove, banana, kiwi, mango all in there.
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS: Can't Get Enough!
COMMENTS: "This is a really unique taste for an IPA; Yeah, I like it though; Some anise in there, with a kind of tropical fruit thing going on; Really flavorful beer; I get a little clove like you get in British ales; Really different though, good beer."
DEEP CUT DOUBLE IPA
BIG DITCH BREWING
THE BEER FACTS: BREWER: Big Ditch Brewing, Buffalo, NY; STYLE: Double IPA; ABV: 8.2%: MALT: 2-Row, Munich; HOPS: Nugget, Citra, Calypso, Meridian; AWARDS: Best New York State Brewery - 2016 - TAP NY. Deep Cut won gold in Strong IPA category TAP NY 2017.
WHAT THE BREWER SAYS: "The final obstacle in constructing the Erie Canal was leveling a 7 mile section of the canal 40 feet deep - by hand -between Lockport and Lake Erie. Our Deep Cut Double IPA is our most ambitious beer to date. It's layered with citrus, tropical punch, and wild berry flavor, with moderate bitterness and a dry finish."COLOR: Cloudy, unfiltered wheat
POUR: Big, long lasting Guinness-class head
AROMA: Grassy
BODY: Medium
TASTE: Balanced with hints of toffee, malt, citrus and tropical fruit
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS: Can't Get Enough!
COMMENTS: "Freakin' delicious!; Deep Cut taste; Excellent double IPA, with a nice balance of malt and hops; Really tasty."
PAVEMENT DIPA
FOAM BREWERS
THE BEER FACTS: BREWERY: Foam Brewers, Burlington, VT; STYLE: New England Double IPA; ABV: 8.2%
COLOR: Unfiltered pale yellow
POUR: Decent Head
AROMA: Lemongrass
BODY: Medium
TASTE: Lemon, pineapple, citrus and tropical fruit with some malt for balance.
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS: Can't Get Enough!
COMMENTS: "Tastes light, refreshing and juicy for a beer over 8%; I get just a bit of sour on the end but it works; This is a big ol' juice bomb, I wouldn't have thought it was as big a beer from the taste, it is very drinkable."
FEARLESS
MIDDLE AGES BREWING
WHAT THE BREWER SAYS: "Fearless is a Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Coffee Stout. This beer uses massive amounts of specialty malts and a huge amount of oats. after aging in freshly dumped bourbon barrels for over a year, this beer is hit with a big dose of coffee beans from Recess Coffee and Roastery."
COLOR: Black
POUR: Not a huge head but some lingering caramel colored lacing
AROMA: Dark chocolate
BODY: Full
TASTE: Chocolate, coffee, bourbon.
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS: Can't Get Enough!
COMMENTS: "Looks like blood from a vampire; A dessert beer; I don't get the alcohol until the very last thing; Cold coffee with too much sugar; Nice dark chocolate taste in there; This is a real rich, full flavored sipping beer. A nice change-up from the IPAs tonight."
Slante,
The BOTB Guys
