Prohibition Pig, Blackback Pub, The Reservoir: Waterbury, VT

I was working in Connecticut for the entire month of January so figured that since I was only a few hours away, it would probably be a good opportunity to head out to Vermont for a little weekend relaxation. I wanted to stay in a town that gave options for skiing, but even better options for beer. After doing a little research online, I decided that Waterbury would be the place to go. Aside from being minutes away from a few awesome ski areas, and being the town where the Alchemist cannery is located, Waterbury also boasts three really awesome beer bars.

After visiting the good beer spots, I couldn’t make up my mind of which one to write about. Each of them offer something different, so why not tell a little bit about all of them? All of the bars are located in the downtown area of Waterbury and are so close together, that you can see them from each others windows. Although located so close together, they each offer a different type of atmosphere.

The first place I stopped was Prohibition Pig. It’s a newer place that has only been around for a couple years and is located on the site where the Alchemist Brewpub used to be. The atmosphere is intimate with dimmed lights, exposed brick walls and candles lit at the tables and along the bar. As you walk in, the bar is on the right and the main dining area is on the left. Behind the bar is a tall group of wooden shelves that house a selection of high end spirits with a concentration on bourbon. Although there’s a large bourbon concentration, they still offer other mixed drinks. If you’re visiting over the weekend, I’d recommend heading in a little early so that you can grab a Bloody Mary. It’s served in a large Mason jar and garnished with a celery stick and pickled vegetables. It also comes with a small glass of Schlitz 60’s Formula Lager to wash it down. Even though the cocktails here are top notch, I mostly come here because of their 20+ taps.

The beer selection features a good amount of local Vermont beers. I was able to find at least 3 Hill Farmstead taps, two from Lawsons and Heady Topper from Alchemist. The rest of the taps were filled with other various American craft beers and a few Belgians. What I liked about this place was that they allowed half pours. Since Lawsons can be pretty hard to find – even while in Vermont – I was glad to get to try a couple while there without getting a full serving. I still had 2 other bars to visit afterwards and wanted to make it through the night.

Before getting into the beers, I had to eat something. I heard that Prohibition Pig has great food and I was pretty hungry after being in the car for 4 hours. The menu wasn’t as pork heavy as I would have expected it to be. Although it featured a number of smoked meats and BBQ, they also have a few outliers such as Bahn Mi, Tempeh, and even a little bit of sea food. Even though I didn’t order the Bahn Mi, someone next to me at the bar ordered it, and it smelt incredible. As good as it smelt, I was still very satisfied with my choice of brisket with mac n cheese. They try to keep everything on their menu as locally sourced as possible and there are typically specials available. After devouring my meal and drinking a few samples, I took a quick walk up the street to the next place.

Next on the list was Blackback Pub. Even though it’s located across the street from Prohibition Pig, it still offers a different type of atmosphere. Walking into Blackback, you could mistake it for being in a basement due to the low ceilings. It’s actually located on the first floor of a larger building, but in the side of a hill so I guess it’s sort of partially underground. There are two bars areas inside which are separated by a wall with a walkway between them. The wall makes the bar feel significantly smaller, but it really didn’t matter much for me since I was by myself. It wasn’t too busy, so I was able to walk right up to one of the bars and take a seat.

I took a look at the chalkboard on the wall and examined the beer list. The selection here is predominately Vermont beers and dominated by Hill Farmstead and there were a couple of Lawson’s on tap too. The rest of the beer list was a mix of well chosen American craft and European beers. I ordered Double Galaxy from Hill Farmstead, and it was served to me in the Hill Farmstead glassware. If beer isn’t your thing, and you’re looking for mixed drinks then this place probably isn’t for you. They don’t make mixed drinks, but you can still order Bourbon neat or a glass of wine.

Blackback has one television in each bar area and although it was playing some football game while I was there, it’s by no means a sports bar. You couldn’t hear the TV, but that’s perfectly fine considering there was a nice mix of Led Zepplin and Johnny Cash playing over the stereo. It was great to sit back, relax and drink some awesome beers while listening to some of my favorite Zepplin songs. But after a while I figured it would be best to leave so that I could make it over to my last stop of the little pub crawl: The Reservoir.

The Reservoir was the liveliest of the three bars I visited and also the largest. Walking in through the front door, it looks like it’s just a restaurant. There are a number of tables set up and there is a small stage to the right. When I arrived, there was a cover band playing Dropkick Murphys, and I was pretty happy that I didn’t need to pay a cover charge. I headed to the back and into the other section of the restaurant which is where the bar area is located. The bar sits 15-20 people and there are high top tables scattered around the room along with a couch. There are a couple TVs on the walls which usually play some type of sports game.

Although I was sitting in the bar area, I could still order food. The menu was mostly bar food, but made primarily with locally sourced ingredients. I’m not sure when they serve dinner till, but I was able to grab a half pound burger after 9 o’clock, so I’d assume that you can eat there pretty late. They’re supposedly known for their wings, but I didn’t order any and immediately regretted it after seeing the waitress walking by with some.

The tap selection is pretty large (20-something taps) and has the most reasonable prices of the three places I visited. They always have beers from Hill Farmstead, Lawsons and Switchback on tap, but if you had your fill from the other two bars, then some other notable breweries on tap were Founders, Ballast Point and Oxbow. The day I visited was unusually warm, so I was able to drink a beer on their deck outside and get some relief from the loud music from the band playing. It looks like they have live music pretty consistently.

I can’t really pick a favorite of the three places visited that night since they all had something different to offer. I guess that you can’t really go wrong though considering that they all offer beers from local Vermont breweries. I’d recommend checking them all out and making the decision yourself. Since they’re located so close together, you can always switch it up if one isn’t your cup of tea. Heck, I’d say they’re all worth checking out just for their tap lists alone, but that’s for you to decide. Regardless, I’ll be back to them all next time I’m in Waterbury.

Prohibition Pig
23 S Main St
Waterbury, VT 05676
http://www.prohibitionpig.com/

Blackback Pub
1 Stowe St
Waterbury, VT 05676
http://www.blackbackpub.com/

The Reservoir
1 S Main St
Waterbury, VT 05676
http://www.waterburyreservoir.com/

Finally Brewed Porter Variations

After what seemed like forever – and dealing with natural disasters, scheduling conflicts and a little planning – we finally brewed the porter variations and it was well worth the wait.

Our current brewing set up is limited to 10 gallon batches, so to ensure consistency between the variations we were looking to do, we asked Carton Brewing from Atlantic Highlands for some help. They have a “Tippy System” which is a pilot system that they use to test their own beers and develop new recipes. Their Tippy System allows the ability to brew 20 gallons at a time and is exactly what we were looking for. It’s very easy to use and is pretty much a home brewers dream machine. Although we understand the brewing process, we’ve never used the Tippy. So Jeremy Watts, Carton Brewing’s Assistant Brewer, was giving us a hand that afternoon.

Things went very smoothly throughout the course of the brew session and the Tippy allowed us to pretty much sit back and concentrate on other things (such as drink some beers). There weren’t any bumps in the road until we decided to add our organic dehydrated pumpkin powder for our final variation (pumpkin, vanilla with other spices). It was decided that the best time to add the powder to the wort was after flame out because we wanted to allow the beer to catch the flavor but without affecting the rest of the batch. If we added it at the beginning of the boil, then the entire 20 gallon batch would have the flavoring in it.

Although we tested the powder in water before adding it to the beer, we didn’t anticipate what would happen when using it in a large quantity. After running 15 gallons of the batch through the plate chiller, we added the pound of dehydrated pumpkin to the last 5 gallons and stirred it in the wort until it desolved. It was at that point where something went wrong. When the pumpkin powder was added, the particles started to absorb some of wort, expanding and causing the plate chiller to become clogged. Since the plate chiller was pretty much useless for what we were doing, it was decided to just transfer it into the bucket we were fermenting in, still hot, and to cool it off in the fridge before pitching the yeast.

After a couple weeks at 68 degrees, everything was ready to be kegged and carbed aside from the pumpkin batch. There was still a bit of pumpkin floating around in it which needed to be cleared out. We decided to drop the temperature, transfer it into another container and continue kegging the rest of beer, fully prepared to consider that batch a loss. It still had bits of the pumpkin floating around in it, so it needed to be settled before anything else could be done with it. It’s still resting in the carboy and we’re hoping for the best, but prepared to dump it if necessary.

Now that at least 15 gallons of porter was kegged, it was time to start doing a little bit of flavoring. It’s always nice to keep things local, so we used a quarter pound of medium roast coffee from Booskerdoo Coffee Roasters in Monmouth Beach NJ. The coffee was added in cheese cloth to the keg and removed after a week. It resulted in a nice tasting coffee porter where the coffee complimented the roasted malt flavors without overpowering them.

A week before adding coffee, we performed some testing to determine how much coffee to use. Since we were making a Founders porter clone, we figured it would be appropriate to perform coffee testing using that beer. We calculated the amount of coffee by scale that we would need to add to 12oz bottles of Founders Porter in order to mimic quarter pound, half pound and full pound additions in the keg. After taste testing them all, it was determined to use a quarter pound. It’s important to make these determinations before the additions to prevent spoiling an entire batch due to bad miscalculations or judgments.

I guess what I’m getting at with this entire post is that when adding coffee or other flavorings to a beer, it’s important to give it a test run. It would be a shame to add anything to a batch and have undesired results. Although we were able to accurately calculate an appropriate amount of coffee to add to one of our batches, we grossly miscalculated what would happen with the pumpkin. Having 15 gallons of porter still isn’t a problem by any means, but it certainly would be better to have 20 gallons.

Alpine Beer Company: Alpine, CA

Traveling in Southern California, it’s very easy to spend the entire time drinking beer in the San Diego city limits. With breweries located one on top of each other, why wouldn’t you? You have Ballast Point, Lost Abbey, Port Brewing, Stone, Alesmith, Hess, Green Flash etc. all at your fingertips. After visiting the majority of these breweries and looking for a change of scenery, I decided to take a drive a half hour outside of downtown San Diego and visit the Alpine Brewing Co in Alpine California.

The drive from downtown San Diego is pretty straight forward, but scenic. It was actually scenic enough to where my GPS and phone lost all service. I don’t know whether this only happens with my cell phone provider, but needless to say, you should load your directions on your phone or GPS and be familiar so that you don’t get too lost. After the half hour drive, I arrived at the brewery and brewpub.

Alpine Beer Company and brewpub is located on Alpine Boulevard, which is a fairly busy street. The brewpub and brewery are separate from each other and located in the same building, sandwiching a book store in between them. Unfortunately the brewery was closed when I arrived. But from looking through the window, I could tell it was quite small. It’s amazing how such a small place has generated such a buzz in the craft beer community. After doing a little snooping around the building to see if anyone was in the brewery, I gave up and went inside the brewpub.

I was glad that I went into the brewpub on a Sunday during the day because I heard that it can get pretty crowded over the weekend – especially when people hear they’re releasing some fresh bottles. Luckily I found a spot right at the bar and seated myself and started checking out the beer menu. I was immediately interested in grabbing a flight of beers and trying as many as I could. I’ve tasted their beers before with friends who have done trades, but it can’t get any better than drinking it directly from the source. Alpine is known mostly for their IPAs, so being able to drink some so fresh was something I knew that I needed to experience. The brewery serves flights of 6, and the flight I chose included Pure Hoppiness, Duet, Nelson, Tuatara, Alpine Ale and Captains Stout. The glasses the beer came in were placed in a metal container which looked like what you would use to bake cupcakes. Each of the spots had a number that corresponded with the beer chosen. As expected, the IPAs were incredible. 3 of the 6 beers I ordered were IPAs, but each of them were distinctly different from each other.

The next step was to try the food. Nate from Toronado (an AWESOME beer bar in San Diego) recommended that I try the wings. I’ve heard that the food was just as good as the beer, and those rumors were true. I wound up ordering wings, the BBQ chicken sandwich, and the beer flight. After spending about two hours sitting at the bar eating food and drinking my flight, I figured it would be time to leave and I ordered some bottles to go. I was in luck because while sitting there, they stocked some fresh Nelson and Pure Hoppiness in their fridge. I grabbed a few of each and pulled my tab. I was in shock when the total of everything I ordered -including my to-go bottles- wound up costing less than $60. I would have definitely thought it would be significantly more. From what I was told, the brewery likes to keep their prices reasonable and I was very thankful for that.

Driving up to Alpine was worth the trip and is highly recommended anyone visiting San Diego. Take a break from the coast, and travel into the mountains to eat some awesome food and drink even better beer. It’ll be worth the trip – especially if they have some fresh bottles for sale.

Sour Sandy Benefit: Highlands, NJ

This past October, Super Bitch – I mean Super Storm Sandy devastated the Jersey Shore. The entire coast of New Jersey was affected in one way or another. Being someone that lives in a shore community in NJ, I saw the devastation first hand. The town I live in suffered massive amounts of flood damage and ncluded in this damage was my favorite local beer bar – Twin Light Taphouse

Twin Light Taphouse is a young beer bar / gastropub located in Highlands, NJ. It’s only been open for a couple of years, but has made an impact in the NJ Craft Beer Community. People have come from all over the tristate area to visit this place for its awesome tap list and delicious food. It’s also one of the few bars in my town that I visit frequently. The other bar that I visit in my town is a sports bar called The Chubby Pickle.

This past week the Chubby Pickle partnered with Carton Brewing to launch a benefit night for the staff of Twin Light Taphouse who have been out of work since the storm. At this event, the entire Twin Light Taphouse staff would be bartending and waiting on customers at the Chubby Pickle and keeping the proceeds. Carton Brewing helped with the efforts by releasing a couple of specialty beers only found at this event. One of the beers was appropriately named Sour Sandy.

A couple days before the storm, Carton Brewing brewed a beer on their pilot system with the intention to make a sour version of their Carton of Milk Stout. After run off, they were going to let it sit for a two day lactic rest. But, after Hurricane Sandy hit, the brewery lost power and as a result the lactic rest was extended to seven days at 40 degrees. Carton decided to pitch some yeast to see what would happen and ended up with a really tasty sour stout. This beer was called Sour Sandy and was the centerpiece for the event.

I got there a little early to get seating and was glad that I did. Only minutes after the event began, Sour Sandy was kicked. Another beer that Carton brought was called “Highlander Weiss” which was a version of their Berlinner Weisse Monkey Chased The Weasel, but without the mulberry flavoring. This beer was served in the traditional Belgian fashion with a different flavoring added after being poured. This was another tasty beer, and kicked pretty quickly too.

Some other Carton beers served that night were 07732, which is a version of Carton’s 077XX brewed specifically for Twin Light Taphouse using Cascade hops. They also had the fan favorites such as Pumpkin, Boat Beer, and BDG. From what I heard, they went through 14 kegs that night.

The entire event went really well and there were twice as many people as expected. Needless to say, the Tap House crew was pretty busy and worked hard to earn every dollar that night. Mark, the owner of Tap House got on top of the bar and showed his gratitude, thanking everyone for coming out to show support, and he received a much earned round of applause.

This event truly was a prime example of the immense support the craft beer community can have for one another. There were at least a hundred people who came out, drank great beer, and provided support to a small business when in need. Everyone in town misses the Twin Light Taphouse, and hopefully it’ll open again soon. But until then, I’ll be headed to The Chubby Pickle as my regular spot.

Twin Light Taphouse:
128 Bay Ave
Highlands, NJ 07732

http://www.twinlighttaphouse.com

Carton Brewing
6 East Washington Ave
Atlantic Highlands, NJ 07716

http://www.cartonbrewing.com

The Chubby Pickle
23 Bay Ave
Highlands, NJ 07732

http://www.thechubbypicklenj.com

Maine Beer Company: King Titus

I tried my first beer from Maine Beer Company a few years ago while in Boston at Extreme Beer Fest. I bought the bottle at a small bottle shop downtown really and didn’t know what to expect. The bottle artwork for all of the Maine Beer Company Beers is very underwhelming. They all typically have a Times New Roman or similar font with a very small picture on the front of them. But that’s perfectly fine and I prefer it that way. This brewery doesn’t need to sell their beer on flashy art or some type of gimmick. Their beer sells itself.

King Titus looks how a porter should look: dark brown with a healthy head that takes a few minutes to fade down, but never quite disappearing. There was a little bit of lacing left on the Hill Farmstead glass I drank it from.

This beer smells of roasted malts with hints of chocolate. There’s some sweetness to the smell and I can get a good idea of how this is going to taste before even drinking it. It’s what I typically look for in a porter. The burnt and roasted scent blends together and I’m sure that this is going to be a great beer.

Just as expected, roasted malts blended with chocolate. It’s not an in-your-face sort of beer though. Your entire mouth will be completely enveloped in chocolate, roasted malt and slight coffee, but there’s a bit of bitterness in the beginning that is short lived. The hops have no say in this beer and the stage is set for roast and chocolate.

Mouth feel for this is great. It’s incredibly silky and creamy. Although this is a full bodied porter, you know it’s a porter and not a stout.

Overall, this is another incredible beer from Maine Beer Company. I’ve been enjoying all of their releases and I’m sort of convinced that they can’t do any wrong. You should seek this out if you’re in Maine, NJ, NY, CT or MD. This beer really shows you never to judge a book by its cover.

Thoughts About the Craft Beer Bubble & Rapid Expansion

Over the past few weeks I have seen a number of different articles on various beer news websites discussing the craft beer bubble that is believed to be currently happening. Multiple influential figures in the craft beer industry feel that the intensely high increase of craft breweries popping up all over the country over the past few years could make this bubble pop. It all leads to asking whether this extreme growth is truly sustainable and what will the future be.

Taste in America has been changing gradually and people tend to be more open to trying new things. This change in taste has been especially true about beer. I’ve been able to find more stores selling craft beer, more craft beer on tap in bars across the country, and even more product placement in television. There’s no denying America’s new found interest. But even with this new found interest – How far can it actually go? I’d love for fizzy yellow water to be taken off tap in bars and a good craft beer put on, but it’s pretty unlikely that will happen any time soon.

In a perfect world, craft beer would have as much shelf space and acceptance to the general public as the big companies, but we all know that’s never going to happen. Although people are more open to change, old habits will die hard with most. Craft breweries work hard in order to get their beers on the shelves. They need to prove that there is a large enough interest in their beer and that it’s interesting/unique enough to knock another beer off the shelf. This has been a difficult task over the years, but it has obviously been done. However, with the sudden surge in new breweries, it’s doubtful that each new player will have the same opportunity and chance for shelf space as their older siblings.

The argument of shelf space which was once a battle against the giants of the beer industry could very well change into a battle between craft brewers. Established larger craft breweries that already have a cult following may find themselves stuck in the middle of a tug-of-war – competing with the large macro giants on one side and smaller newbie breweries on the other. This won’t be a problem in certain markets that in the infancy of the craft beer change. However, for markets that are already saturated with a large distribution base of different brands, adding new ones may be difficult for stores. Although the craft industry is a friendly one for the most part, there’s no doubt that things may change when new breweries try to get themselves into consumer hands.

Jim Koch from the Sam Adams brewery has recently made comments on the current bubble and the need for young craft breweries to offer something new that contributes to the craft beer industry in order to survive. The brewing veteran has a very good point. As the industry expands, it appears that there has been a surge of West Coast Style IPAs and high ABV Barrel Aged Imperial Stouts. How many of these two styles of beer can the market bear? When done well, these are some great beers and will typically take off depending on their quality or the amount of hype behind them (hype is a whole other topic). But when not done well, they just litter the shelves collecting dust, contributing little to no value. This is especially true in overcrowded market segments where the choices are much larger.

I feel that as the choices become larger and the market becomes more saturated, those breweries not offering something truly unique or of quality will tend to die out. It will be somewhat of a beer Natural Selection where only the strong will survive. This will also inspire those stronger breweries to continue to strive to make better beer and further push innovation and challenge the taste of the consumer. It sounds terrible to want to have a new place go out of business, but it may be for the best. If someone interested in trying craft beer has their first beer and it’s something mediocre, they may be turned off and go right back to drinking crap.

I guess we’ll see what happens over the new few years. Although I hope for the best for everyone, I will expect to see a lot of brewing equipment on Craig’s list within the next few years – and hopefully those who purchase it second hand will have better luck than the previous owners.

Please feel free to post your thoughts and opinions.

The Avenue Pub: New Orleans, LA

I recently took a trip to New Orleans – and although this is usually good for a Bud/Coors/Miller person, or someone who wants to see girls flashing their boobs for beads, it may be a little more worry-some for craft beer lovers. I was staying in the downtown area adjacent to Bourbon Street, and found it very easy to get lost in a random bar offering $6 32oz Abita Jockamo IPA’s, but after a week of doing this, I decided to take a trip to the Garden District and visit the legendary Avenue Pub.

Avenue Pub is located on St Charles street in the Garden District of New Orleans. It’s a part of New Orleans that doesn’t get as much attention as Bourbon Street, and appears to have a much slower, low key vibe. It’s my kind of place. The surrounding area is full of old houses, some of which being over 100 years old. The Avenue Pub is no different. It’s easy to drive by the pub, as it’s sitting casually on the corner. The architecture of the bar indicates that it may have been someone’s house at one point. The bar name isn’t very noticeable, so you’ll have to keep an eye out for it when trying to find it.

Upon entering, you’ll immediately notice that there are some smokers. Being from the NY/NJ area, I completely forgot what it’s like to have smoking allowed in bars, so this completely threw me off. The kitchen is located near the bar and is completely open and the food smells awesome. The atmosphere is casual and non-pretentious. I started a conversation with the bartender and he was not only friendly, but also knowledgeable about the beers he was serving. He gave me a menu and after scanning through it, was immediately impressed by the selection.

The tap menu was split into two separate sections – the first floor and the second floor. The bar has two floors which each offer different tap selections. The larger selection is on the bottom floor, but they’ll transfer your tab over to the top if you decided to rotate between the floors. The menu was heavy in Evil Twin, Clown Shoes, NOLA, and Stillwater. The also had some beers from the Brooklyn Brewery Reserve Series, Stone, and some seasonal beers. The bottle menu had just about anything you could imagine ranging from macro-lagers to geuze and from Miller Lite to Cantilion. Yes, Cantillion on the regular at a bar in New Orleans. I also noted that they will do growler fills of anything that they have on tap (a particularly good value for the Evil Twin and Stillwater beers).

I ordered an Imperial Biscotti Break from Evil Twin at the upstairs bar (I decided to venture upstairs because I’m not a fan of being in a smoky environment while trying to drink a beer). The bartender went into one of the refrigerators below the bar and handed me the bottle and a couple of tulip shaped glasses. Before I could even say “Thank You”, she explained that “the beer has been stored at the recommended temperature for stouts, and that it may feel a little bit warm”. I felt the bottle, and it appeared to be at a great temperature so I thanked her for the due care. She explained that they keep a few different refrigerators for the different beer styles so that they can all be served at the correct temps. You got to admire their attention to detail.

Although the bottom floor had a larger tap selection, I enjoyed the second floor a little bit more. October is a great time to visit New Orleans due to the lower humidity and temperatures, so I took advantage of that and sat on the outside balcony with some co workers to enjoy the night. We were so comfortable where we were, that we decided to order food from the bar and cancel our reservations. The day we visited was also a trivia night, so we got pretty wrapped up in the competition. The food menu isn’t very extensive, but it’s enough to satisfy most. It’s typical pub food (burgers, sandwiches, nachos) and my favorite part of their menu was their loaded fries.

Whenever going into the deep South I start to get worried about my beer bar options. Although the craft beer renaissance appears to be touching all parts of the country, antiquated laws in the South appear to be hindering some aspects of it in certain southern states. The existence of a beer bar of this caliber sets a new standard of what other bars in the surrounding areas should be doing. I was VERY happy to have visited this place and highly suggest it for all of those who long for more than just fizzy tasteless macro-lagers while visiting the Big Easy.

1732 St. Charles Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70130

http://www.theavenuepub.com