| Who Started This? For BeerNexus.com It’s Friday Happy Hour!! Always a good way to end the week! There’s usually five of us that show up on a fairly regular basis, one who we usually only see on Tuesday and a few others we know as they are fellow Leaf regulars. The Leaf has a lot of very loyal customers and when you’ve been going there for a while you wind up meeting and sharing beers with many of them. I saunter in and I’m the third of our group. Julia, who we’ve gotten to know during last summer and fall is our server. I decide to go with today’s $3.00 beer, the Cape May Honey Porter on Nitro. It’s a nice beer from one of Jersey’s best craft breweries, definitely good for a starter and a deal at $3! The Leaf usually has a $3 beer; basically, it signifies something they want to move so they can add something else. The Leaf only has 25 taps, typically with four regulars and twenty- one rotating, not a huge keg cooler and yes, some beers are not as popular as others, may have been on for a while or maybe they had a half keg of it, which equates to quite a few more drafts than a sixtel. As I’m waiting three others have joined us and we’ve got a full table of six. Bummer, Julia comes back and the Honey Porter just kicked; I’ll bet my two comrades who got there before me got the last two!! Okay back to the draft list; I settle in on a Ramstein Winter Wheat from High Point Brewery, one of the oldest NJ breweries established in 1996. Their Ramstein line of lager and wheat beers all follow the German Purity Law so they only contain four ingredients; malt. hops, water and yeast and three of the four are imported from Germany. I’ll let you guess which one isn’t. Their Winter Wheat is a Weizendoppelbock; it’s got a creamy head, good mouthfeel, some subtle aromas, smooth malty finish and is well balanced for a 9.5% ABV. I usually like to start at a lower ABV but I’ve had this before and it’s definitely a good starter if I then decide to move to an IPA. Since I was busy during the day and haven’t had lunch, I also order the large hot pretzel. It’s comes with two mustards and cheese for dipping and with six of us we can all have some to soak up the suds. The pretzel comes so we start to dig in as we’re doing the usual catching up on the last few days, discussing things we’ve seen or read and engaging in a little banter when the opportunity arises. My Ramstein is disappearing so I grab the draft menu to see what will entice me to order next. Humm, this isn’t an exciting list, that’s not to say there aren’t a bunch of very nice beers on it, but in these days of Covid with less clientele allowed in, the drafts don’t move as fast as they used to (here’s to the good old days!) and I’ve had quite a few of these already. Additionally, it’s winter and there are a fair amount of heavier and higher ABV imperial stouts, which I might do one as a closer but I’m not up for two of them. I decide it’s time to peruse the bottle/can list to see what they’ve got. When I’m out I always look to draft first as I don’t have a kegerator at home so it’s always a can or bottle at home. The list is long and The Leaf has been getting a fair amount of different and interesting beers in since Covid temporarily shut down indoor dining and the bar. All of sudden there it is: Bissell Brothers The Substance Ale!! Damn, they were founded in 2013 and I’ve heard a lot of good things about their beer but never seen them in NJ. They’re up in Portland ME, which I haven’t been to in a while and haven’t come across them in any of my travels. One of our group has had it and says it’s good and now I am excited about the next beer I’m getting, with some tasting glasses as I’ll be sharing with the others. I guess my excitement piqued some interest as the “Judge” is looking at the list and proceeds to order two cans; Hoof Hearted Key Bump XXXtra Powder and Three Floyds Arctic Panzer Wolf DIPA! Here comes my Substance, I crack it open and begin to pour; nice golden color and I am not disappointed, it is delicious. Substance is Bissel Brothers first beer and they hit a home run. It’s a NE IPA at 6.6% ABV; it’s slightly dank but not the overly hazy cloudy you see with others like Heady, bright, citrusy and very enjoyable. Everyone else seems to think highly of it also, which sometimes a hyped beer has trouble living up to its reputation, but not The Substance! Next up was the Key Bump. I don’t think I’ve ever had, much less heard of Hoof Hearted before. They’re taproom is in Marengo, OH which is a SMALL village of 342 about 35 miles northwest of Columbus, which is actually where they started in 2011. The XXXtra is a triple IPA with El Dorado, Mosaic, Motueka & Simcoe hops coming in at 10.5% ABV. This is a clear winner, lots of nose and tropical juiciness. It’s only got a few reviews on both Beer Advocate and RateBeer but everyone seems to really like it. Can you guess they love making hop forward beers with crazy names and labels? We’re 2 for 2 and next up is a Three Floyds, usually not a bad choice, and keeping right in style this is an Imperial IPA at 9% ABV. It’s tastes good and has a lot of great reviews but of our three it’s coming in last, which isn’t to say it’s not good, just our consensus not as good as the others. The “Judge” likes the Hoof Hearted the best; of course, it was the highest ABV. While we’re tasting another of our group ordered Burlington Beer’s Stainless Forest. A NEIPA hopped with Amarillo and Simcoe at a respectable 8.2%; and hey they’re a VT brewery so they must make a delicious NEIPA (okay maybe I’m generalizing a little bit here). I’ve heard of Burlington Beer but again not remembering anything I’ve ever had from them even though they’ve been around since 2014. Logically with thousands of breweries there is a lot of competition so they need to make good beer to expand into other markets. Pours with a light hazy golden color, great nose and wow, even better taste; this is delicious and keep in mind this is the fourth taster we’re having. Another brewery that likes interesting labels; they’re colorful and catchy, you could describe them as alien like or native American/Southwestern. I’m thinking if you drink a four pack and stare at the label long enough your mind will take you somewhere…I don’t have a clue where but you’ll know it when you get there. I’ve been scoping the can list again and Julia is back at our table, which is now covered with beer cans, glasses and a three-quarter eaten pretzel so not wanting to win the prize for having the messiest table of all the servers that day asks if she can clear some of it, which we’re happy to oblige since we need room for more. As one of our more esteemed members looks at the table he states /questions, “Who Started This?” No, I don’t blurt out it was me; they know I ordered the first can, but our tasting doesn’t happen if they don’t follow along and start ordering others off the list; oh yes, you probably could see a slight grin on my face. He’s right this is not one of our “normal” happy hours or afternoons of beer; once started we took off on a beer tasting adventure…and the best part, it’ s not over yet. I noticed two Toppling Goliaths on the list neither of which I’ve ever seen before; another very good brewery which I’m remembering I first tried on a trip to Milwaukee. I order the TG Sosus, a DIPA, a single hop Mosaic coming in at 7.8%; how will it stand up after trying four others, three we really liked? What I notice first is the label is a little different from their usual style. They say it’s a tribute to the elegant works of mosaic art created by Sosus of Pergamon…who? Okay I have to look this up, Wiki to the rescue; Sosus of Pergamon was a second century BC Greek mosaic artist and the only mosaic artist whose name was recorded in literature. How about that, craft beer continues to expand my knowledge base. One thing we do know for sure is he wasn’t working with mosaic hops… Enough about the can and the name let’s try it! Pours a golden hazy color, nice citrusy nose and a nice bitter taste despite all the juicy flavors; wow this is another winner, really delicious and it’s our fifth taster! Our BeerNexus creator and owner, sitting to my right, peruses the list and sees Neshaminy Creek Pineapple Shape of Haze to Come, an 8.5% DIPA. He is a HUGE Shape of Hops to Come fan so figures we should try this variation. He is slightly disappointed when the can arrives as he thought it was Pineapple Shape of Hops to Come, but it’s Haze to Come. It’s a proven fact we many times read what we want or expect to see rather than what’s actually written, then again, the menu is small print to get everything on and we’ve been there a couple of hours… I head to their website to determine what the difference is and there it is; the Shape of Haze series is an unfiltered East Coast sibling to their West Coast mainstay Shape of Hops to Come; there’s always a logical explanation (or when it comes to IPAs another variation as that’s what IPA is all about). This is double dry hopped with Mosaic and Citra and then conditioned on a boatload (their phraseology not mine) of pineapple. As I research further, I gather their first venture was conditioned on mango. This is a limited batch of 150 cases initially available February 15th, so this is pretty fresh! Pours nice, smells nice and again another tropical and fruity DIPA with hints of pine and subtle bitterness. Oh, baby what an afternoon! We really broke out of our mold and thoroughly enjoyed tasting many new (to us) really good beers. And obviously hats off to The Leaf as they procured all these delicious beers. At this point we’re about ready to call it a day but I’m thinking we’ve got just enough room for one more. I remember the other Toppling Goliath, ZeeLander, a 6.2% IPA so I order it and surprisingly enough no one says they’ve had enough and walks away. ZeeLander features Nelson Sauvin hops, known for their earthy flora and grapefruit flavors, which I absolutely love. The name pays homage to New Zealand where Nelson Sauvin is grown. Unfortunately, we should have had this one much earlier in our tastings as we’ve had so many much bolder beers there’s not much to this one. I’ll have to try it again with a much fresher palate! We all settle up and head out having had one of our best and surely (please don’t call me Shirley) different Happy Hours! Glenn DeLuca writes about beer and culture of drinking. He may be reached by writing thebigG@beernexus.com. *** *** *** |
Glenn DeLuca
Outtakes from a life of beer.
beernexus.com presents
| Big G's Beer Beat by Glenn DeLuca |
| BeerNexus is proud to welcome beer writer Glenn "Big G" DeLuca as a contributor to the site. A widely traveled beer hunter, Glenn is a leading advocate for the growth of craft beer. |
| More from the BIG G The complete index of all Big G's Beer Beat HERE |
click to enlarge pictures
 |
| |
 |
|
| |
|
-
--
--
