Sixpoint Craft Ale: Sweet Action

Another airport, another flight home, another farewell for now, to Scotland.  When I lived here many years ago, I found great meal deals at a restaurant chain called Werherspoon.  It's an interesting place.  You order everything at the bar and your food gets dropped off at your tables.  No waitresses checking in on you, no music ambiance, just cash and carry pub grub. It's a great place for the student on a budget.   

This time around, I was delightfully surprised to find somewhat of a craft beer revival at Wetherspoons.  They have signs all over the place advertising both Scottish and international (only American) craft beers.  It was pretty cool.  They even left a craft beer guide on the table so anybody could learn about beers that aren't just English bitters and the standard Budweiser offerings.  This little guide (pictured below) led me to the discover 3 beers by Sixpoint Brewery based out of Brooklyn New York.  I tried my luck and grabbed a can of their "Sweet Action" for a test drive.  How can you say no to a beer with a name like that?

Sweet Action is a pale ale and wheat hybrid beer.  The first one that I can recall ever trying.  Its aroma is very pungent and piney.  It's orange body is semi translucent and cloudy, likely from the wheat in the beer.  Amazingly, this pseudo pale ale wheat hybrid is very balanced.  Standing at the crossroads of two beer styles, it finds a way to fully represent it's two halves equally.  It goes tasty with the hops with a bitterness that I'm guessing comes in around 40-50 ibu's.  This particular beer serves as a reminder of how some of my favourite beers of this Scottish vacation, were actually imported from the united states.  

I'm a fan of you "Sweet Action" and I'm glad that Wetherspoons is making an effort to expand the craft beer scene in Bonnie ol' Scotland.  You deserve a B+ for your hybrid ways and I hope we meet again soon.  

Learn more about sixpoint craft ales at www.sixpoint.com

Support your local brewery!

Chris 

Presidente Cerveza Tipo Pilsner

Presidente Pilsener in The Dominican Republic

So I find myself here on my honeymoon at a beautiful five star resort with access to only one single beer: Presidente Pilsner.   Now I've come across this Beer several times during previous Caribbean vacations, but never have I been confined to a Presidente stranglehold at any resort.  I'm going to make the most of this situation and write this review.

Limited edition Baseball can and a lineup
of President beach pints

Presidente is one of a few popular beers in the Caribbean.  You may also be familiar with other vacation destination favourites like Buccanaro, Cristal and even Caribe. It's actually made in The Dominican Republic and is a staple in this country like anything Molson is in ours.  You see this beer splashed up at sporting events, on billboards, fat guy t-shirts and whatever else you can think of.

Presidente is a super clear and light Pilsner style beer.  Until closer inspection of the can, I actually thought that this was some form of Cerveza style (e.g. sol).  A pilsner style beer to me seems a little odd for the Dominican based brewery but I'm not going to question it and just go with this.

Presidente has a crisp aroma, highly clear, yet straw coloured body and a delicate head. In a typical vacation day I would sample this both in can format as well as on draft.  I found that the can has a better crispness and the draft has better carbonation.  Its a decent beer but its so light that it comes across almost watery (which is funny because its also available in "Presidente light").  

My experience with this beer is that it didn't seem to matter how much of it I drank I simply could NEVER even get a buzz off of it.  What is this stuff, like 2% abv?  It probably isn't but it kinda seemed like it at times.  Maybe my vacation tolerance has just kicked in overdrive... seriously, it happens when you're on vacation.

So to you Presidente, I say thank you.  You are a super light beer that served me well on my vacation and you came in endless supply in multiple formats.  I even appreciated your limited edition Baseball can (see second picture) and the fact that I got to say "Hola senior, dos Presidente cerveza por favour" every time that I ordered you.  You were a sudsy comfort between Mojito's and you deserve a C- for effort but an outstanding A+ for your ease of availability in multiple formats and because you were free for a week.  Presidente can't hold its own against other Pilsner favourites such as Double Trouble's Prison Breakout Pilsner and especially Toronto's own Steamwhistle.


Learn more about Presidente at http://www.presidente-beer.com

Support your vacation brewery!


Chris

Muskoka Harvest Ale

MUSKOKA HARVEST ALE

If there was ever one bottle of beer that I had hopes of saving for a special occasion, it was to be my sought after and coveted bottle of Muskoka Harvest Ale.  After watching Edge 102's Fearless Fred (@fearless_fred) review the beer in one of his beer Friday videos, I knew that I had to give it a try. Unfortunately, this past Saturday night was so uneventful that it has claimed my one and only bottle of this seasonal goodness.  So here's a review to honour its glory.

Harvest Ale is one if those simply unique gems that comes around so rarely that it must not be missed.  This assault on the senses grabs you first with its stunning bouquet of earthy and grassy hop aroma.  I guarantee you that this is unlike anything that you've ever put under your nose before.  

It's head is subtle and the body is a mostly transparent orangy-red hue.  Now, upon first sip, the complexity of this beer is immediately apparent.  It flows through the palette in so many layers of complex deliciousness.  It's mildly tart, very boozy (9%), mildly hoppy (guessing around 50 ibu's), and it runs that gamut with flavours that include toffee, malts, pine, and a very light hint of citrus. It's outstanding and well within a league of it's own.  

If you miss this beer you will definitely regret it!  One of the best beers I've ever had and one of the most memorable.  I can't say enough good things about this beer and rate it an A+(91) in my books.  It's a little late in the season to find it, but if you do, you won't be disappointed.  

Learn more about Muskoka at http://www.muskokabrewery.com

Support your local brewery!

Chris

Grapefruit Peel IPA

From my HomeBrew kitchen comes my latest experiment; Grapefruit Peel IPA.  I cooked up this batch in early October using a pretty straight forward recipe with as few ingredients as possible. It's aroma is forward and friendly with grapefruit leading the way.  I've honestly never used grapefruit peel in a beer before so I'm quite happy with the results it contributes to the smell.  I dry hopped it as well so it's difficult to tell how much aroma is hops and how much is peel. 

Grapefruit Peel IPA

The head is frothy with a ton of retention that chases this beer down to the bottom of the glass.  I added a small amount of rye to the grain bill (0.4oz) to help with the head and give it a little spice.  

The body is nice and spicy but not quite as hoppy as I had hoped it would be. I'm guessing it's somewhere around 35-40 IBUs which falls drastically short of the 60-80 range that I was hoping for.

  I'm still trying to figure this out so I compared hop additions to IPA style beer recipes I found online.  

It's got a nice biscuity body from the Vienna malt, its translucent in clarity with a warm orange colour.  It's refreshing with a bit of spice and lots of citrus wallop.  

The recipe is below if you want to give it a shot or help me modify it to make it even better.  It's a decent beer and I'll give it a C (61) for effort.   

Grapefruit Peel IPA 

1 Gallon Batch

1.3 lb Vienna Malt

.5 lb 2-Row Malt

.4 oz Rye Malt

.5oz Cascade @ 60 min

.25oz Cascade @ 15 min

.25oz Hallertau dry hop in secondary

1/2 Peel of Grapefruit in secondary

1/2 Packet of Safale US-05 yeast

10 days primary fermentation

10 days secondary fermentation

7 days bottled at room temp

14 days botte in the fridge