Tapping New Kegs and Rochester Beer

The last few days have been pretty eventful in my world of beer.

Over this past weekend, the wife needed to go pick up some wine club packages down in the Fingerlakes. The sun was shining, even though it was brutally cold. Keuka Lake had even frozen over, the first time since 2004 according to our host at Ravines Wine Cellar. We grabbed our wine, and I made a quick dash to the closest brewery!

Our first stop was at Abandon Brewing, a place I've been many times now, but still stop at almost every trip down to the lakes. Something about their beers that I really like. They had a pretty good crowd of people there Saturday afternoon and I did a tasting flight of four beers; Harvest Saison, Grape Dubbel, Farmhouse IPA, and their Pale Ale.  

Afterwards, we were in need of some food, so we made the long drive over to CB Craft Brewers for another flight and some dinner. I went with the reuben (which I always do, anywhere a reuben is on the menu!) and four beers in my flight. 2 that I'd never had, and two that I really like. Poor Richard's Ale and the Night Owl Cream Porter were the new ones. Caged Alpha Monkey IPA and the Joe Latte Vanilla Coffee Stout were the ones I'd had before.  I was really impressed with the Poor Richard's and whats not to love about a vanilla coffee stout?

Sunday night was another day of mourning. I had the final pint of my American Amber Ale, which meant I got to put my new keg washer back to use. This was a sad occasion because this beer was a pretty big milestone for me in my brewing. This Amber Ale was my first all-grain batch! (Special thanks to my dad who was my assistant brewer that day!) But as beer goes, when a keg runs dry, another needs to be ready to take it's place. So that's what I did yesterday. I kegged up my Belgian Pale Ale and hooked it up to the CO2 so it should be ready to go by this coming weekend. 

As a reward for my hard work I enjoyed the first taste of the last keg I hooked up, my Belgian Dubbel I mentioned in a previous post. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, filled with beers that helped keep you warm on these cold nights. Keep your spirits up, the days are slowly getting longer and the end of this winter is in sight....behind all those piles of snow!

Cheers!

What a Week!

This has been a fast and furious beer week. So I thought I'd better take a minute to recap some of the things that have been going on this week.

After the BJCP Style Session on Sour Beers, we held our monthly UNYHA meeting. As always it was great. Lot's of people in attendance, lots of great homebrew and a few great commercial beers that were passed around. Special thanks to our beer hunters who brought some beer back from Wicked Weed this month. Their Milk and Cookie Stout was phenomenal!!!!

At the meeting, I got to talking with a fellow homebrewer, and he invited me over for a brew session on Friday. We put together an Imperial Stout (see, I said this month was for Imperial Stouts!) and brewed it up on his awesome custom-built brew system. Check out his set-up and more at LüBrü. We had a great time brewing and the beer hit all the numbers and smelled awesome, I can't wait to try it!

Continuing on Saturday, we ventured out to do some shopping, which was good for me because it took us close to AJ's Beer Warehouse who just so happened to be hosting a tasting by one of my favorite local breweries Abandon Brewing,

I picked up a few bottles and tried some awesome brews from Abandon, including a Belgian Quad. If you aren't familiar, a Belgian Quad and a Belgian Dark Strong are similar in most ways, and completely delicious. Dark candy, fruits, and rich malts come together in this amazing brew. I was very happy to have gotten to try it!

I'm about half-way though my growler of Abandon's Farmhouse Saison, which is fantastic, so I need to get beck to that. I hope you all are having a great beer-week. Let us know what special brews you got into, or where beer took you this week.

Cheers!

Driving along the Fingerlakes Beer Trail

One of my favorite things about living in Rochester, is how close we are to the Fingerlakes. Known mostly for their wines, the Fingerlakes is the second largest wine producing region in the country, the beer scene around these lakes is really heating up.

Yesterday, the Mrs. and I decided to head down to pick up some wines, so naturally I needed to find myself some beers. Our trip yesterday included a stop at a recently opened favorite of mine, a few samples at a grand opening of another brewery, and even a pint of FLX beer when we stopped for lunch/

Stop #1, Penn Yan, NY at Abandon Brewing Company

Abandon just celebrated their grand opening a few weeks ago, but this was already my 4th visit. I ordered a flight of samples, and a half-pint of the home-made root-beer for the Mrs. and got to tasting. I got two new brews from Abandon: A Walnut Brown Ale and their Black Friday Ale. I also tried Loopy by 3HB, a Rochester brewery, that they were serving on their guest tap. My 4th sample was their Saison which I'd had before but has a terrific taste, even on a cold winter day.

Our next stop was for lunch, so we headed up to Canandaigua, and stopped in at Rio Tomatlan for some lunch. The mexican food there was fantastic and so was my beer. I had a Wet Hopped Stout by Climbing Bines which is another brewery in Penn Yan. I've not gotten a chance to stop by and visit them, but if this first beer I had was any indication, they are onto something pretty good. The hops flavor vs. the roast characters in the stout were interesting and perfect with my spicy lunch.

After lunch we headed to our final stop, a new brewery that was having their grand openeing just up the street. A short walk to burn off my chips and salsa and we got to..

Stop #2 Canandaigua, NY at Twisted Rail Brewing

This small brewery, attached to an existing brew-pub had a full bar when we got there. Five beers on tap for the opening, I ordered a flight and tried 4 of their creations. Toasted Ale, Farmhouse Ale, Oatmeal Stout, and an IPA were the flavors of the day. I was very impressed with the Farmhouse Ale. A simple belgian inspired ale that would be great to have a few pints of after a long day. 

After a long day of driving and trying new beers it was time to head back home. Keep up the good work Abandon, and good luck and best wishes to Twisted Rail. Can't wait to start seeing you guys around town!

Cheers!