Author. Educator. Musician.
I’m on a journey to drink them all. And on this journey, I’ve drank a lot of them. Heady. Pliny. (The Elder, not the Younger. Yet.) Double Sunshine. Hill Farmstead Abner. Zombie Dust. 90 Minute. 60 Minute. Smutty. Lunch. On this path to IPA enlightenment, I’ve tasted greatness. So strap in tight and hold on …
Continue reading “Watch out, Heady Topper, Maine Beer Company Shows Us It’s Time For Dinner”
‘Tis the season for family feasts, yuletide gatherings, and Christmas mayhem. What better way to celebrate the season than by imbibing in locally brewed beers from around New England? Instead of showing up with a bottle of Cabernet to this year’s Festivus party, grab a 22 oz. bomber or a growler of the brilliant beers …
Continue reading “Seven Local Beers for the Christmas Season”
Then an old man, a keeper of a bar, said, Speak to us of Beer. And he said: Would that you could live simply on the fruits of the earth and be sustained by wine. But since you were born to drink delicious craft beer made locally by brewmasters who harness the powers of grains …
Continue reading “Lost Beer Passage from Kahlil Gibran’s ‘The Prophet’”
You find yourself in Burlington, Vermont, and you don’t know why. You’re not frightened. You’re where you’re supposed to be. It’s night. You walk down Church Street and get a Bombay Grab IPA at Vermont Pub and Brewery. This is delicious, you think. After tipping the angelic woman behind the bar, you walk up St. …
Continue reading “Hill Farmstead Brewery is a Microbrew Dream”
To some people, the title of this blog might be blasphemy. Like when Mick Jagger sang through those big puffy lips, “I know, it’s only rock and roll, but I like it.” A lot people were up in arms. Only rock and roll?! How can Mick be saying this only five years after Woodstock? How?! …
I’ve figured it out. It came to me while I was enjoying a glass of Zombie Dust this past weekend. It all seems so clear now I feel foolish to have missed it before. Here it is: the key to making world class beer is keeping the taste notes simple and graceful. Here’s another way …
Yeah, bold title, but it’s true. Maine Beer Company’s Lunch is the best tasting beer in the great state of Maine. And that’s saying something in a state that boasts a deluge of world class brews. The new hip beer on the scene is the sweet/sour, yeasty saison. In Maine, craft beer disciples are gushing …
Continue reading “Maine Beer Company’s Lunch is the Best Beer in Maine”
In my pursuit of the perfect IPA there have been a small handful of recurring beers people tell me I have to try. 120 Minute IPA. Check. Maine Beer Company’s Lunch. Check. Hop Stoopid. Sierra Nevada Hoptimum. Hop Wallop. Green Flash. Check. Check. Check. Check. I’ve even found myself holding the elusive and mysterious Heady …
Continue reading “When Life Hands You Citra Hops, Make Zombie Dust”
Drinking Pliny the Elder a few weeks ago with Tim, we got to musing over whether or not there’s any reason to rank beers. If a beer kicks your palate’s ass, then why start rating it against other beers? Why do humans feel the need to categorize and make best-of lists? As humans, we like …
Continue reading “Pliny the Elder Vs. Heady Topper: A Fight for World Dominance”
The story of how I got my greedy mitts on a bottle of Pliny the Elder is almost as integral to the mystique of the imperial IPA as the complex taste wave the beer possesses. In some camps, there’s an argument that Pliny’s stories of inaccessibility — it’s only available in parts of California — …
Continue reading “Does Pliny the Elder Stand Up to All the Hype?”
DAVE PATTERSON 