• Review – Blue Point Brewing Company Toasted Lager

    October 4, 2011 Author: Scott
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    Today Chris and I are reviewing Blue Point Brewing Company‘s Toasted Lager.  Like last time we are doubling up by doing the review while working on the website. In our ongoing review series we’ll be covering the following 5 items:

    • Appearance
    • Aroma
    • Mouthfeel
    • Flavor
    • Aftertaste

    Here is a quick guide for the beginner http://indybeers.com/beer-tasting-guide/.

    About Blue Point Brewing Company:

    Based out of Patchogue, NY they brew about 30,000 barrels annually, having just passed the 10 year mark in brewing.  They are happy to offer free tours and beer samples at the brewery, so if you find yourself in the middle of Long Island, NY, check them out.

    Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/BluePointBrewer

    Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BluePointBrewery

    Appearance

    Scott:  This time around I gave Chris the beer with the light head, and poured mine with more of a heavy hand.  While this caused for a good bit of head at first, it was almost gone about 2 minutes later.  The color is a nice copper tone, as you would expect from a lager.

    Chris: While this is only our second review this is not Scott’s second beer. He may get better at pouring beers with practice, but come on. Really, again? Enough messing around, this beer golden with hints of browns and yellows. The head on mine was thin with small light bubbles. It doesn’t strafe from your typical lager.

    Aroma

    Scott: The isn’t much of a nose on this one, but what you do get is full of malt.

    Chris: As I mentioned in the Stone Review, I’m recovering from a head cold. I’m at the tail end but my sense of smell is still really lacking. The aroma is weak and barely leans towards the sweetish side.

    Mouthfeel

    Scott: Wow, mouthfeel, can’t find it as I’m lost in flavor.  After a few more sips I’m getting a full head of bubbles that seem to explode as soon as they touch your tongue, but quickly dissipate.

    Chris: I’m still not sure how this is a category yet. Feels like beer.

    Flavor

    Scott:  With the bubbles gone I’m left with a nice classic lager flavor, if not slightly light.

    Chris:  This beer has a light flavor which is slightly sweet. Even though I mention its sweetness I can’t stress enough the that its flavor is light.

    Aftertaste

    Scott:  I definitely get the “toasted” part of this beer.  With the bubbles and initial flavor gone I’m left with a short lingering reminder of something that was cooked over an open fire.  Very pleasant.

    Chris: Like the flavor, the aftertaste is pleasant, light and somewhat short lasting.

    Final Thoughts

    Scott:  I’ll give this one a 3.5/5.  Not big on flavor, but there’s more than enough to go around.  It does, however, seem to be going down very easy.  At 5.5% these could sneak up on your quickly.  Fun stuff for sure.

    Chris: This is one of those beers that while I find difficult to describe it has unwritten qualities. It’s not overpowering in any aspect which makes it an easy beer to drink without thought. It has a nice flavor and aroma but neither bully you around the bar. I’m fairly certain that my fiance would love this which, for me is a plus. Score it a 3.5/5.

     

  • 2011 Fell’s Point Fun Festival

    October 3, 2011 Author: Scott
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    On a cold and wet day Kelli and I headed to Fell’s Point for the 45th annual Fell’s Point Fun Festival.  The festival took place Saturday and Sunday Oct 1 & 2 from 11am-7pm, with us arriving on Sunday around 2pm.  While the street vendor section of the festival was partially crowded, the 98rock/Budweiser Beer Garden was nearly empty.  There were a total of 6 beer booths, with 3 of them shut down and not even serving beer.  The beer that was available was limited to Anheuser-Busch InBev brands.  There was Bud Light, Budweiser, Stella Artois, and Dominion Hop Mountain Pale Ale.

    I was curious how a craft beer like Dominion Hop Mountain Pale Ale of Old Dominion made it onto the taps of the Bud Light truck, so when I got home I did some quick research.  It turns out that Anheuser-Busch owns a stake in the company.  From the wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Dominion_Brewing_Company the following is stated:

    “Anheuser-Busch’s purchase stake gave them no control of either of the two breweries, nor any input or influence on brewery recipes, nor oversight of any day-to-day management — AB’s interest solely resides in the distribution side of the two breweries’ business using AB-favored distributors, entirely focused on competing with SABMillerCoors “craft brand” Blue Moon.”

    So there you have it, another ruse from big beer to make you think you’re getting an independent product when in fact you putting more money in their coffers.  Of course, with no other options (no outside beer allowed and all beer had to be purchased in the Beer Garden), I went with the Hop Mountain Pale Ale.  It was a heavy attempt an an IPA that I otherwise wouldn’t bother with outside of no other options.  I won’t do a full review, but I will give the beer a 3.5/5 stars.  It’s an OK craft beer, but tasted like the flavor was injected into the beer.

    To accompany the beer there was plenty of live music.  We arrived just in time to see The Niki Barr Band.  She did her best to entertain the 50 or so people in the Beer Garden.  It was tough, however, as the beer vendors were on the opposite side of the parking lot from the stage, and most seemed intent on staying closer to the beer than the stage.

    In between bands I found an odd sight of no lines for the spot-a-pots.  I think the cold and rain really spoiled the day and kept many of the festival goers away.

    Next up on stage was Can’t Hang.  They managed to get most of the crowd to come to the stage, and celebrated at the end by bringing as many people as they could on stage.

    After seeing The Niki Barr Band and Can’t Hang we left the Beer Garden to see the rest of the Festival.  There weren’t too many people left, or maybe there never were too many people to begin with, but there were plenty of vendors selling their goods.  We ended our Festival experience with a few orders of mussels from Bertha’s Mussels.