Author: Bearcat

Another Reason to Celebrate Craft Beer? Good!

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With barely any rest from the grand success of the inaugural Harrisburg Beer Week we now find ourselves in the middle of American Craft Beer Week; a national celebration of the beverage we love.

American Craft Beer Week (ACBW) was started by the Brewers Association to celebrate and promote the craft beer industry in America. I have highlighted a few local breweries since the recent inception of this blog but thought this week would be a fitting opportunity to give some quick recommendations if you plan to venture out and celebrate ACBW around the Lancaster, Harrisburg and York area.

First up is the brewery closest to me, Columbia Kettle Works. They are on the verge of celebrating their one-year anniversary this Saturday May 16th and have been doing amazing work over the course of the past year. If you go, I recommend the Amber IPA. On Saturday for the big celebration, they will be having a number of exclusive and limited supply beers on tap including a barrel-aged beer that I have been watching slowly mature behind their bar for a couple months. Should be a great weekend. I will be dropping by so expect a full report next week.

In Harrisburg, swing by ZerØday Brewing Company and sample their Dolce Vita. I have raved about this beer previously and if you have yet to enjoy this sweet stout you are really missing out. Also ZerØday IPA Ep. 2 is on tap. I have yet to try this one but plan to do so this week.

In York, take the time to enjoy a fantastic Coconut Porter by Crystal Ball Brewing Company. I recently got to meet two of the brewers and you will not find a more welcoming and enthusiastic couple of guys. They are passionate about their product and took the time to discuss why they care about beer and what all they put into their product… also the Coconut Porter is really, really good.

If you are in Ephrata you should check out St. Boniface Brewing and get a taste of Offering #22 Berliner Weisse. It is a devastatingly crisp and refreshing beer and should go well with the warm sunny weather we have recently been enjoying. While you are there be sure to pick up a Crowler of their Paideia Pale Ale. I freaking love Crowlers and I really loved Paideia.

Speaking of crisp refreshing beers… Moo-Duck’s Honey! Basil Blonde is just the perfect blend of flavors for this spring weather. If you are not familiar with Moo-Duck Brewing, they recently hosted the Beer Busters Podcast and owners Mike and Kristen Brubaker were part of a great episode. Give it a listen and definitely check take the time to check out their beers.

Finally, if you are in Lancaster proper you should visit the Tap Room and sample Lexicon Devil a grapefruit IPA that is somehow as good as the name. I loved it. Also when you are visiting Spring House be sure to remember that they serve half pints. The perfect size of beer for the drinker that wants more than the little flights but wants to have a few different brews.

Cheers.

Dr. StrangeBrew or How I Learned to Quit Worrying and Love Funky Beer

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Dr. Stranglove

I have always been a Stout drinker.  I like my beers to be thick and hardy; to stick with you.  The deeper and the darker the better.  I love a nice hoppy beer but the malts always seemed to carry more depth of flavor.  The roundness of a proper malt character just works with my taste.

When I go into a bar with a decent tap list I would immediately scan the list for Stouts and Imperial Stouts but as of late I find myself looking for Saison and Farmhouse Ales.  I am drawn to the funkiness.  To the layer after layer of various favors.  To the subtle turns between sips.  They are weird and twisted and kind of strange.  I get the impression that these beers don’t always do what they are supposed to do.  The yeast operating like Peter Seller’s Dr. Strangelove.  They are fascinating to me right now.  Luckily there are a number of breweries that are providing excellent examples of the style right now that you can try in and around Central PA.

First up is ZerØday Brewing’s Saison 28.  I have mentioned this beer at least a couple times on the blog and frankly it deserves all the praise.  The beer was poured into a snifter and presented with a dried grass colored haziness. The aroma is slightly yeasty with a hint of lemongrass. It’s hoppy upfront with a proper floral bitterness that is welcoming.  The carbonation was as fine as to draw comparison to Champagne. The slight Farmhouse funk and earthy tones in the finish grow more pronounced as the beer warmed and disappeared from the short stubby glass.  This Saison is big and weighted in at 9.9% ABV but it drinks like some sub-4.0 near beers; careful with this one. This beer is as effervescent and deep as the girl that brewed it.  This beer is fantastic.  I loved it.

Shut Up, Meg by Evil Genius is the most approachable of the Farmhouse Ales I’ve had as of late.  It was mildly sour with a bright nose that lacked the deep earthy funkiness that can be off putting to some drinkers.  A cloudy straw colored ale that was forward tasting of citrus hops and a light spice finish this beer is easy drinking and is not loaded with booze at only 6%.  This is perfect for introducing someone to Saisons/Farmhouse ales.  It’s very well done and plays well with the subtle end of the Farmhouse ale spectrum.

Moo-Duck Brewery’s Just for Fun Ginger Saison was a special brew made just for Harrisburg Beer Week.  It is still around and available currently at the Elizabethtown brewery.  The aroma is citrusy with a strong but pleasant ginger spiciness in the nose.  Smooth drinking with slight farmhouse funk in the front and a long crisp and slightly sweet finish that brings the ginger flavor full circle. The funky flavors here are a little muted and make for a very easy drinking beer clocking in at 6% ABV.  The ginger puts a nice twist on the style and worked well.

Last was my favorite of the four, Dean Rustic Farmhouse Saison by Spring House Brewing Company.  I had this on draft at the Sturges Speakeasy and it was a great beer. In the nose I picked up cloves and a little spiciness from the yeast along with pears.  The taste opens up with a farmhouse funk and again some pears and apple; making it crisp in flavor.  The beer was not overly carbonated and provided for a nice dry mouthfeel.  As the beer warmed the big 9% ABV became evident but was not off putting.  The medium bodied beer is deep amber in color.  The finish is funky as hell with focus on earth tones and a long slightly sour dry finish that I loved.  This is a big beer that drinks lighter than it should; though not quite to the degree of Saison 28 above which masks the alcohol with what I assume is magic.

All four beers are very good and recommended.  Dean Rustic Saison and Saison 28 get the Bearcat Seal of Approval.

Toasting Harrisburg Beer Week’s Grand Success

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HBW

Harrisburg Beer Week was by all accounts from everyone I have talked to an unqualified success.

Tierney, Sara, Chelsie and Colleen worked hard and delivered a series of events that were one right after another impressive examples of both their hard work and the state of the craft beer business here in Central PA. I am greatly appreciative of this.

There were too many great events for anyone to attend them all. My personal highlights were the kick off event at ABC and the sublime (717) Collaboration Ale release, Victory Brewing firkins showing up outside their natural habitat, Moo-Duck Brewery tapping their Just for Fun ginger infused Saison, ZerØday debuting the fantastically funky and dry Sasion 28, The Little Big Beer Fest, and the Evolution Brewing party at Sturges Speakeasy.

I got to jump on with the Beer Busters Podcast; that was surreal and fun. I got to see my “beer friends” and to raise a glass with them. It goes without saying that I had the chance to try some fantastic beers. Everything about the week was a celebration in the truest sense.

It’s easy for people to be dismissive of this area and to say “Nothing happens around here.” That is bullshit. There are plenty of great things happening around here. Harrisburg Beer Week was only one example of all the great things happening here. It was a celebration of the great work people in this area doing in just one industry.  It was impressive even to someone who watches closely all that is going on in and around craft beer.

I hope that is one of the lasting effects from this past week. That people were exposed to a new brewery that they had yet to visit or experience. The great lasting effect would be for breweries like The Brewery at Hershey, St. Boniface, Crystal Ball, and Free Will to have earned new loyal customers.

The good news is Harrisburg Beer Week will be back next year around the same time. So the good news is, although it is over we get to do it all again next year.

Cheers!

Friday Beer News Link Dump

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Harrisburg Beer Week is winding down.  Tonight, May 1st, is the special PA Women in Craft Beer Conference.  This is a ticketed event and features a panel of four women who work in craft beer within Pennsylvania.  Should be a great event.

Also, Grain + Verse is hosting a beer ice cream, yes beer ice cream, event with Troegs and Urban Churn this evening.

You can also grab a chance to see Beer Wars at the Midtown Cinema.  If you have not seen it yet, this documentary is a must see for any craft beer lover.  Show starts at 7:00 pm.  If you go I suggest watching while sipping a Saison 28 from ZerØday. Both the movie and this find hoppy Saison get the Bearcat Seal of Approval.

Tomorrow, May 2nd, features the one event I have been most looking forward to… The Little Big Beer Fest at ABC’s Abbey Bar.  This a ticketed event (sold out) featuring small batch but high ABV beers from local breweries.  My level of excitement for this could not be higher.

If I don’t imbibe too much at the Fest tomorrow you can expect to see me at the Sturges Speakeasy for the Evolution Brewing Grand Finale starting at 6pm.  Hope to see you there.

Expect a full post on Sunday Monday detailing my thoughts on the Fest, the inaugural Harrisburg Beer Week and its future.

In other beer news – Thrillist, while typically not my first turn for beer news and commentary, did have an interesting take on the “Craft Beer Bubble” the coming bloodletting everyone who watches this industry can see on the horizon. It’s a good read.

Another interesting story on the future of craft beer and Jason Notte’s idea of what the industry will look like in the year 2020.

What does it mean to be “craft beer?”  Turns out the term might be completely meaningless.

Every summer I enjoy a week in Hilton Head South Carolina and one of the great breweries I seek out for sipping while on vacation is SweetWater.  Well the Atlanta based brewer is entering the Pittsburgh market effective June 1st.  I recommend their 420 Extra Pale Ale, the Georgia Brown, and Whiplash White IPA.

Also be sure to swing by Moo-Duck Brewery in Elizabethtown PA tonight as celebrate their six month anniversary and host a live recording of the Beer Busters Podcast on tap is the tasty Just for Fun Ginger Saison.  The Saison gets the Bearcat Seal of Approval.

The Highs and Lows of Cellaring Beer

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SlyFox Raspberry Reserve  Speedway Stout 2011

Shortly after I bought my first home eight years ago I started cellaring beer.  I had heard of the practice and it seemed like the perfect way to expand my interests in rare and unusual beers by making some of the best beers of today potentially even better.

First off… I am no expert on aging beers.  That being said there are a few rules I work around and they have worked for me.

  • The storage space should be cool. My basement is quite cool year round and never gets above 60 degrees.
  • It should be dark. Beer is as photosensitive as an albino in the tropics. I use wine boxes and some old blankets.
  • Choose boozy beers. 8% ABV and above.
  • Hops are fragile and their floral, dank, piney, resin, citrus and/or tropical flavors degrade quickly. This will make you sad.  Pick something else.
  • I like to generally work with dark beers… Imperial stouts, barley-wines, Belgian strong ales, sour beers, Flanders reds work but so can Triples and Quads.
  • Bottle conditioned beers and those injected with wild yeast or Brettanomyces tend to offer good results.
  • Try to run a vertical. Age a couple bottles from each year and then try them together to get an idea of how the beer is developing during its long slumber.  This is great for learning about when a beer reaches “maturity” and when its over the hill.
  • Experiment… some will work and some will not. Failure is an option. Some will be sublime and some will be ready to hit the drain.  It’s a crapshoot; get over it.

I ran into that the dichotomy of that last bullet point this past week.  First, I opened a bottle of SlyFox’s Black Raspberry Reserve from 2010.  This bottle conditioned fruit beer weighs in at 8% ABV, is loaded with raspberries and is brewed in Phoenixville, PA.  I first had this beer fresh and I found it overly sweet and lacking sufficient complexity in flavor.  It was a little on the thin side but its effervescence made for nice mouthfeel.  It poured a deep rich purple with a slightly pink head. Flavors were only slightly tart and that was drowning in sweet sugars and candied raspberry.  I thought the beer promising if only the tartness could be amplified, the sweetness muted and some of the other potential fruity flavors given a chance to come forward. So in the cellar it went for nearly five full years.

Upon opening the cork and caged 750 mL bottle and pouring it in to a snifter I could tell the long rest had made significant changes.  This beer previously had a luminance about it.  The color had clearly moved towards a darker more brownish hue; not immediately off putting but certainly different.  The bubbly effervescent liquid was now flat and thin.  The aroma once of raspberry jam was now only a whiff of its former self.  It was bland at the front with no discernable finish. The beer lacked any real flavor. The beer was boring.  Age had not been kind this beer.  What was once a modestly good beer, with what I had hoped to be great potential, was lost for good.

The second bottle I opened was a 2011 Speedway Stout by AleSmith out of San Diego California. AleSmith makes a number of very, very well regarded brews and is a company that I trust completely with my hard earned beer money.  When fresh this imperial stout pours a pitch-black with chocolate and coffee aroma’s dominating the nose.  The taste of coffee and chocolate are dominate but do not hide the subtle toffee, caramel, vanilla and dark sweet fruits notes.  These all come through thanks to the fine and abundant carbonation. This beer is silky smooth and very easy to drink even at 12% ABV.

My 2011 bottle after four years of hibernation showed significant and welcome change.  The beer pours slightly flatter with the previously firm dark brown head disappearing quickly and only providing minimal lacing at the edge.  The creamy mouth feel was replaced with the smooth silk like texture of a fine cordial.  With the coffee notes completely out of the way after its four year slumber the beer now focused on the roasted malts.  Toffee, caramel, and vanilla are all here in abundance but never over powering.  The 12% alcohol is more evident but never lends itself to a burn or unpleasant astringency and merely invites more rationed sipping; a wise credit to my patience.  The finish is as long as ever but instead of coffee now evokes the flavors of softly roasted malts and a hint of plums.  The beer was and remains complex and is never boring.  I am glad to have two more bottle to see what another five to ten years does.

Speedway Stout and cellaring your beers both get the Bearcat Seal of Approval.

A Beer as Prologue For My Love of Craft Beer

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About dozen years ago, when I first moved to Harrisburg from Pittsburgh I lived in downtown on North 2nd Street. I visited the bar scene along my street three to four nights a week. I worked at a beer distributor as a second job a couple weeknights and on weekends. Back then I considered myself above the average beer drinker because I preferred Guinness and spoke well of Yuengling Porter. Drinking dark beer alone a differentiator and sign of my good taste.

Then one cold afternoon more than a decade ago I wandered into Troegs Brewing Company’s tasting room; the one that used to be in Harrisburg. I had a Hopback, a Pale Ale or maybe even a Troeganator… it blew my mind. Here was beer of a completely different nature. It was flavorful in a way I did not know it could be. It was a revelation in every sense of the word.

Shortly there after, seeking out other beers of high regard I stepped into Appalachian Brewing Company (ABC) on Cameron Street. Their beers were sweeter and more approachable but no less interesting to my plebe beer tasting palate. Here again was beer brewed with care and respect. ABC’s then brewer, now owner/brewmaster of Roundabout Brewing in Pittsburgh, was my neighbor. This along with drinking regularly at Troegs helped expand my interest in craft beers.

Years later after I had given up on corporate beer and became fully committed to craft brews, a couple friends and I discovered Al’s of Hampden. This was back when he had six tables and maybe twenty or so taps. Here my world opened to styles of beer that I couldn’t have found elsewhere… Saisons, Black IPAs (remember when they were the new hotness), West Coast and triple IPAs and “What the hell is Brettanomyces?”

So last night at the Harrisburg Beer Week kickoff party, I had a beer that in many ways celebrated not just the region but my own journey to craft beer. (717) Collaboration Ale by ABC, Pizza Boy Brewing (Al’s of Hampden), and Troegs Brewing Company is my history with beer in a can. While Sara Bozich and the ladies at Stouts and Stilettos kicked off what took a ton of work to birth, I was thinking about my decade long journey with beer and the Harrisburg area; the two are woven together.

(717) Collaboration Ale is a strange beer that is brewed for a wonderfully strange area code. The area code where it gets its name holds a company town where government is the company. It is also home to some of the most fertile farmland in the country. The area has city life and Amish carriages all at once. Just as the area code is a hybrid, so is this beer. It has the character of noble hops like an IPA with the range of flavors of a Farmhouse Ale/Saison. This beer is hoppy in the front with a pronounced sweetness while providing the long dry finish and Chardonnay tang of a farmhouse brew.

Hybrid beers by their very nature are complex but this one is just uncanny in its depth. It starts with a billowy and long lasting head from a vigorous pour that provides a welcome yeast and peppery aroma along with some sweet and sour flavors in the nose. The slightly amber and completely clear and clean appearance are inviting and representative of the exacting standards these brewers demand.

The flavor profile provides for a bit of the honey sweetness up front as is typical for ABC beers in my opinion. The middle is all hops with a generous Nugget hop profile that is all Troegs. The finish is long and dry with a proper white wine and slightly sour notes clearly attributed to Pizza Boy Brewing’s history of sublime sours. The ability to definitively pick out the distinct characteristics of the three brew houses is truly unique for this collaboration. This beer is incredibly impressive on multiple levels.

The 7.17% ABV ale is easy drinking and sits comfortably in either a standard pint glass to be casually imbibed or savored in a snifter quietly with reflection. 

It is available on draft during Harrisburg Beer Week at Al’s of Hampden, ABC, and Troegs and will be released in 16 oz cans on Monday, April 27th at distributors in the area. If you get the chance, I highly recommend picking some up.

(717) Collaboration Ale gets the Bearcat Seal of Approval.

Friday Beer News Link Dump

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Today officially launches the first Harrisburg Beer Week (HBW).  After a ton of work by Sara Bozich, Colleen, and Chelsie we can finally see Tierney’s initial dream come to fruition.  Best of luck to all the organizers and I hope that Harrisburg River Rescue brings in a boatload of donations.  I am doing my part, you should too.

I will be attending the HBW VIP Kickoff Event tonight at Appalachian Brewing Company thanks to the generosity of Merlot Mike from Hershey Vineyards and Brewery. I am very much looking forward to having a glass of (717) the collaboration beer between tonight’s host (ABC), Pizza Boy Brewing, and Troegs. I am sure it is going to be a great event to start a great week for the city.  Expect a beer review of (717) tomorrow right here at BearcatOnBeer.com.

Speaking of (717), it will be available for purchase in 16 oz cans throughout the Harrisburg Area beginning on Monday, April 27, 2015.  Be sure to pick this one up early as I am sure it will sell out very quickly.

Really quickly, here are some of what I think are HBW’s can’t miss events:

April 25th — Victory Firkin at Brewhouse Grill (Victory rarely does firkins so this is great)

April 26th – Battle of the Homebrew Clubs at Federal Taphouse Harrisburg (ticketed event)

April 28th – Tired Hands Brewing Company on Tap at Al’s of Hampden (Tired Hands Beer!)

April 28th – Tapping of Saison 28 by ZerØday Brewing and Brewed in the Burg Screening at Midtown Cinema

April 30th – Moo-Duck Brewery Tour and Meet the Brewer Event at Moo-Duck in Elizabethtown

May 1st    – Pennsylvania Women in Craft Beer Conference (Ticketed Event)

May 2nd   – The Little Big Beer Fest at ABC (Ticketed Event)

In other PA Craft Beer News, this week New Belgium officially announced it was entering the PA market and has signed on a dozen distributors including locals, Ace Beer Distributors and W&L Sales; both are HBW sponsors too.

Yesterday, the Trib in Pittsburgh has a great story on women in craft beer, its a great write up.

Finally, Jason Notte on the brilliant Stan Hieronymus’ argument that craft beer loyalist are fighting the wrong battle.  Always remember what Steve Jobs said you should be “skating to where the puck is going not where it has been.”

Have a happy Harrisburg Beer Week everyone.  Be sure to follow along on Twitter @BearcatOnBeer and on Facebook if you are still into that thing.

Cheers!

Beer as Abstraction and Comedic Repetition

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If you ever had the pleasure of driving through Elizabethtown, PA you likely got a whiff of what are two of the biggest industries in Central PA; chocolate and dairies.  One is decidedly more pleasant than the other.  On breezy days the roasted chocolate aroma can waft for miles around from the M&M Mars plant.  It is always welcome and inviting.  Central PA has an abundance of chocolatiers. These include M&M, Hershey and preferred by me, Wilbur in Lititz.

In order to supply these plants there are plenty of dairy cows in the area.  Driving around Lancaster county back roads gives you a real sense of just how big the dairy industry is. They are everywhere.

These two facts makes Lancaster Brewing Company’s Double Chocolate Milk Stout a great representative for its namesake. I procured a 22 oz. bomber and poured the dark brown opaque beer into a snifter glass which brought forth a light brown to tan head that laced the glass lightly.  Aromas of bitter chocolate like a 70% cacao dark chocolate bar are accompanied by a soft sweetness and is inviting.  Lancaster Brewing created this with cacao nibs and it is evident with every sip.  This beer is chocolate through-and-through.

It has a velvety texture in the mouthfeel and is thick without the greasiness of some imperial stouts.  The lactose sugars are evident in the finish along with hints of caramel and roasted malts.  The finish is long, of again, cacao.  The beer tastes of Hershey’s syrup but has more of a refined chocolate expression in the long lasting and pleasant finish. This beer is beyond smooth in texture and mouthfeel with 6.8% ABV that is never evident or intrusive.

Deep, dark chocolate again and again given as a single note played over and over. But it works in the same way Portlandia got cacao to work as an example of repetition as comedy. If you like chocolate, especially semi-sweet or bitter chocolate you will love this beer.  The chocolate notes are divided up as you drink. In that the front it is sweeter and along the lines of milk or semi-sweet chocolate. The more bitter and refined dark cacao flavors come in the finish to wrap things up with a flourish. It’s dynamic yet monochromatic not unlike Kazimir Malevich’s Suprematist Composition: White on White.  This libation is not deconstructing what it is to be “beer” as monochromatic art can change both the concept of abstraction and art but it does let you explore the complexities of doubling down on a singular flavor profile.

Double Chocolate Milk Stout is an excellent dessert beer.  As local strawberries are soon in season, I would highly recommend this as a pairing or do as I plan to the next time and drop a scoop of vanilla ice cream in for a beer float.  It can be found on tap or in 12 oz bottles, but I would spring for the 22 oz. bomber and split it with a friend; it’s just right.

Lancaster Brewing Company’s Double Chocolate Milk Stout gets the Bearcat Seal of Approval.

Let Us Ignore the Fact that I Just Trashed Coffee Beers and Enjoy a Sunday Morning Stout

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Discerning craft beer drinkers can be a dismissive and an impolite bunch. The term “craft beer snob” can be a badge of honor when I turn down a Bug Light Lime; even a free one. Yet, it’s not a label I am comfortable with when I am drinking a craft beer that I find less than stellar. Brewers put lots of man hours and risk, financial and otherwise, into their craft. It’s hard for me to not always want to be supportive of the little brewery that could.

Even when I find a beer not exactly perfect, I frequently just chalk it up to not being to my taste.  De gustibus non est disputandum!  Unless a beer is so bad its clearly a failure or I have to pour it out I will give the craft brewer the benefit of the doubt.

I say this because over the past couple weeks as members of my beer drinking social media circle began trying Weyerbacher’s Sunday Morning Stout, a bourbon barrel aged coffee stout, I started to see a very serious and repeated trend: “Good but no KBS.” “KBS is still the best.” “KBS kills this.” “Meh, it’s not KBS.”

Founder’s Kentucky Breakfast Stout (KBS) is a world class beer, worthy of all the superlatives that are regularly gushed upon it. It’s a beautiful beer wonderfully crafted and if you are a fan of bourbon and/or bourbon barrel aged beers it is high on the list of must haves each year. Year in and year out, KBS sets a high standard for what bourbon barrel aged (BBA) beer can be.

After having a bottle the other night I can too say “Sunday Morning Stout is not as great as KBS.”  You see Founder’s brew is just transcendent.  It and its brother Canadian Breakfast Stout are highly regarded by beer snobs with good reason.

But the twist here is I liked it precisely for the ways in which it was not like KBS. In my opinion, KBS is best after a few years of cellaring. Its astringency goes way down; the bourbon’s burn takes time to mellow out. Given sufficient time, the coffee notes quiet with vanilla and oak taking over. It’s just a better beer even after at least twelve months rest.

In contrast, Sunday Morning Stout is ready now.  This is a stark contrast. It’s a fully matured ready to drink BBA beer today. Sunday Morning pours thick like a quart of motor oil and sits in the glass heavily. Held up to the light shows off this opaque beer has a slightly reddish brown hue at the meniscus with a thick greasiness that clings to the glass. In the parlance of wine tasting, this beer “has legs.” Even from a slightly vigorous pour I only got a short tan head. The nose is not boozy but simply offers a whiff of the bourbon and oak with a backdrop of fresh roasted coffee grinds. As the beer clings to the glass, so it does for you after a pull. This one is greasy as hell with an enjoyable mouth feel; not as thick as KBS but more than sufficient to remain true to style.

Coffee flavors play second fiddle to chocolate and roasted malts taking center stage. All the flavors you find are subtlety played here. Where the KBS plays tremolo the Sunday Morning is practicing portato. The bourbon barrel used with Sunday Morning brings out vanilla and caramel flavors; these are prominent in the finish while not evident at first. This is a beer that requires patience as as it opens with fresh air and dissipation of the refrigerated cold. As the beer comes up to temperature a warming astringency appears that is acceptable for this 11.3% ABV big beer.

So yes, this beer is no Kentucky Breakfast Stout. In some ways its better as its more welcoming and fully ready for its time in the spot light right now. It gets the Bearcat Seal of Approval.

Weyerbacher does big beers well. If you can’t get your hands on Sunday Morning Stout I also recommend picking up a variety case of Weyerbacher’s Big Beer. You will not be disappointed.

Bearcat’s Weekly Beer Related Links Friday News Dump

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KeystoneEdge.com posted a great rundown about the upcoming Harrisburg Beer Week.  It makes my post look like what it is… the sad drivel of an Internet enabled sot.  Great to see the hard work for Tierney, Sara, Chelsie and Colleen get recognized.

Speaking of the Stouts and Stilettos girls… they recently had a nice makeover for their website.  It is now 100% more girly and it looks perfect.  They have a nice niche going writing about craft beer from the woman’s perspective. I especially enjoy reading Tierney’s postings on craft brews and brewing.  Cheers to them.

Columbia Kettle Works (CKW) has just released Bald².  I am a big fan of both CKW and the Bald Guy Ale.  I don’t generally care for ales with rye, but this one just works.  Can’t wait to try it taken to the next level.  CKW also still have their Imperial Wheat IPA on tap which got the Bearcat Seal of Approval; be sure to get that one while it lasts.  I plan to pick up a growler of both.

Drinking barrel aged beer is not just a great way to try some of the most complex and tastiest beers but is also good for Mother Nature.

Bell’s Brewing Company officially announced they are making and will be canning Pumpkin Peach Ale during 2015.  Naturally, this will be brewed the easy why just like that stupid Bud Super Bowl Commercial told us.

Funck’s Restaurant in Palmyra will be having an all Pennsylvania beer tap takeover during American Craft Beer Week (May 11-17).

This Saturday is the Jersey Mike Rock+Run 5K sponsored by Al’s of Hampden (Pizza Boy Brewing).  I ran the inaugural race last year and loved it.  If I could have done it this year I would have done so.  If you have not signed up there is still be time for last minute entries including day of race sign ups.  Its a great deal of fun and a great cause and it gets the Bearcat Seal of Approval.