With a stroke of luck I stumbled upon the Middle Ages Brewery’s 15th Anniversary Festival.  Yes!  I was already going to Ottawa to see some friends and they (Middle Ages) just happened to be having their 15th Anniversary festival on the day I was driving back to Virginia … well who wouldn’t stop and have a couple?

Here’s a shot of the brewery — the park was right across the street — festival was free.  Just buy your beer tokens, stand in a short line, and enjoy!

They had a pretty good crowd going and the party had just started…

So, yeah, I had a couple … starting with the cask ale (an IPA).  These guys are making some pretty good beers!

The catered food was excellent, the beer was excellent (had to stop with 2 darn it), the crowd was great, the people were friendly — I could get to like Syracuse (except for the cold weather of course!)

You ask, how could it get any better?  Some good friends of mine (Enter the Haggis) were playing at this festival as well … score!

So, I hung out for a couple of hours … and then drove back to DC! Ha!  What a great time this was.  Highly recommend their festival if you are in the area … and definitely try their beer!  I brought back about 6 different ones to sample (in a relaxed mode).  I’ll be blogging about them later.

Beer Mentor

My wife and I are relaxing this weekend just enjoying ourselves — bike riding, hiking, sampling wines, beers, and fireworks … tonight, we’ve just been hanging around enjoying the beautiful weather.  We were sitting on our patio this evening — she drinking a gluten-free beer: Redbridge … and me drinking a beer from The Bruery: 2 Turtle Doves.

I’ll have more to say about the gluten-free beers in another post.

Oh, yeah, nothing like some nice popcorn to go with your beer! LOL!

As I said, my beer for tonight is The Bruery‘s 2 Turtle Doves.  They claim this is their Christmas beer — it’s pretty spicey!  It’s also loaded with alcohol: 12% ABV.  Since it is a Belgian strong-ale, I got out one of my Rochefort glasses to use when drinking it.  Is it good? Yes, actually, very good.  Because of the Alcohol content, you definitely have to sip this beer — but it’s wonderful … the spices (chocolate and pecans) really do help this brown ale.

Yep … a sippin’ beer but enjoying every drop!

Beer Mentor

My friend Russ and his father-in-law joined me during my brew session a couple of weeks ago.  To celebrate (and because Russ’ wife and in-laws are from England) they brought me a couple of bottles of this Ruddles County.  Not only is Russ’ family from England, they are specifically from  Bury St Edmunds, where Greene King brews all of its beers.

So, while brewing, he had some great stories to tell!  This beer is a premium ale–quite refreshing and definitely in style.  I could drink a few more pints of this beer that’s for sure!  I recommend all of the Greene King beers … except, I haven’t had the IPA … yet!

Beer Mentor

I was over at Sine Irish Pub again today and realized I hadn’t had the Smithwicks since I started this list.  Smithwicks is the Oldest Ale in Ireland (since 1710) … a nice red color.  I guess they have it on draft there at Sine’s.

It came out in its nice pint glass — I took a long pull on it and declared, yes, I like this beer.  I’m not sure what more I can say–flavor was good, aroma was what I expected … it went well with my BLT.   I’ll drink it again!

Beer Mentor

I cracked open a 22 oz’er tonight.  I was out riding my Gary Fisher 2008 hi-fi Pro … it was beautiful weather, the trails were nice, and I rode like I meant it tonight!  I love a great ride!

To celebrate, I decided to crack open one of my favorite brewery’s beers: the Hoppe.

As I’ve said before, these Southern Tier guys are really making fantastic beers — and this one is no exception.  They call it an Extra Pale Ale … but you can’t fool me — this is definitely an East Coast IPA … the nose is straight up malts; I can barely get a hint of hops.  However, the taste is a very nice balance … you get the malt initially and then the hops come through in the finish.  It is subtle, but superb.  I really like this beer.

Beer Mentor

I picked my beautiful wife up at the Airport and we stopped in Osaka for some sushi.  What kind of beer do they have at a sushi bar?  You guessed it … Japanese.  If you remember from an earlier post, I’ve already sampled the Kirin.  So I went with the Sapporo tonight.

Sapporo is a very dry lager that actually goes well with Sushi.  It matches up well with the light style of sushi — and if you get the “Dragon Roll” or “Volcano Roll” like I usually do, the light, crisp flavor helps to tame down the spiciness of they sushi!

When in Japan … they always say.  Or someone does…

Beer Mentor

When I was growing up, my feet were growing faster than my height … so I had that Sasquatch effect… the Bigfoot.  In honor of that memory (since I was hanging out by myself tonight) I broke out the GDBC Yeti.  The Yeti is also a Sasquatch.

The Yeti is also a Chocolate Oak-aged Imperial Stout and yes it was chocolaty!  Again, the aroma was right on … the flavor wonderful, and I savored it for a good 1/2 hour.  This was a sippin’ beer.  When it warmed up, the flavor and aroma got even better.  I could recommend drinking this brew around 55 degrees and it would still be very pleasant.

You should see two things in the picture of me drinking this beer … 1) the chocolate all over the sides of the glass, and 2) the Bigfoot standing behind me … see him?  You can tell by my eyes that he spooked me…

Beer Mentor

I’ve been wanting to try this Duck Rabbit beer — and I did!  Actually, the first time I tried it was yesterday at the Northern Virginia Summer Brewfest.  They had their Milk Stout available, so I sucked down my 4 ounces in my tester.  It was nice to get a full bottle today — this time of the Brown Ale.

This brewery (located in North Carolina) claims to be “the dark beer specialists”–I think they are.  Both of the dark beers I’ve had from them are good.  The brown ale was spot on — flavor profile, color, aroma, mouthfeel.  It was an excellent beer to savor as I was transferring my homebrew between fermentors.   If you get a chance — try some.

Beer Mentor