The wait is finally over. After what seemed to be an eternity, the bottle of Root I ordered nearly 2 weeks ago arrived yesterday afternoon (Woohoo!) …and I’m here to tell you, it’s worth every single highly-anticipated second of that wait time. In fact, I cracked it open just as soon as I got home last night.

It’s probably because I’ve always had an affinity for the smell and taste of Root Beer that explains the excitement with which I opened this handsome bottle of liquor. Something about the smell of root-anything reminds me of the summer trips of my childhood to North Carolina, visiting my extended family and sitting out on the front porch looking up at the stars. Even now, during the occasional walk past the Home Brew section in our warehouse, I catch a whiff of our Root Beer Making Kits and it sends me back to those warm, homely thoughts of childhood summers.

Produced by Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (Art in the Age for short), Root takes us back to the pre-Temperance Era before Root Tea became the soft drink Root Beer that we know nowadays. That is, this baby’s got alcohol.

At 80 Proof, this deep reddish-brown, caramel colored liquor has a smooth flavor – just as root beer would (and should) if it had a kick. It is a well-balanced blend of natural herbs, spices and alcohol – without being overly herbal or overly boozy. Best of all, it leaves a wonderful after taste that is somewhat spicy, yet totally refreshing and very much root beer-like. Even the bottle seems to throw back to its days as an herbal remedy – which was Root Tea’s original, native purpose.

Popping the cork, the blended aroma of anise, cloves, orange and lemon peel, birch, cardamom, nutmeg and cinnamon wafted from the bottle. A wayward drop of Root soared into the air and came to rest on my finger, giving me my first taste ever… Delicious!

Nothing about Root, its flavor, packaging, or promotion says "pretense." Nor does it reek of effort – which is always a good thing in my book. Overall, this is pretty much a low-profile liquor that deserves every bit of the attention and spotlight it gets - and more.

If you’re lucky enough to have a liquor store near you that carries Root, I recommend you pick it up; otherwise, you’ll have to order it. See Art in the Age’s website for details.

TAGS [ ROOT LIQUOR | ROOT BEER LIQUOR | ROOT TEA | ROOT BEER ]

Belgian white ale, witbier, biere blanche, whatever you want to call it, was one of the first true styles of beer that I sunk my teeth into over a decade ago, after years of living off American macro lager (for those in Upstate New York, that meant Labatt & Molson). It was truly a training wheels beer for me, and has been for a lot of others. We’ve been feeling some serious hot weather in this neck of the woods the past couple of weeks (…cough…finally), so being in need of a great summer seasonal, here are my 5 that will fit the bill nicely.

The History of Witbier

Witbier is a very popular style today, but surprisingly enough at one point it almost vanished completely from the landscape. Its origins date back to the Brabant region east of Brussels in Belgium in the 1500s, where wheat beer had been brewed for hundreds of years. By the 1950s, it had all but disappeared, due to wars, the big movement towards lagers, and breweries being bought and sold or closing down altogether. In 1966, a man named Pierre Celis, one of the greatest and most influential minds in the history of modern brewing, established the De Kluis Brewery, next to his house in Hoegaarden. He made a beer that the town had once been known for, and the road to recovery was being paved; however in 1985, a fire forced its sale to Interbrew, and Pierre moved to Texas to start over. At that point, he started the Celis Brewery, and although it was eventually sold to Miller, thankfully the Michigan Brewing Company bought the rights and has resurrected the entire line of his beers, and his flagship white ale is and always will be in my top 5.

Witbier Characteristics

A moderate sweetness with light notes of honey or vanilla and spicy, fragrant wheat aromatics will be the nose that is an earmark of these beers. They’re very pale straw to very light gold in color, with a cloudiness from starch haze and yeast and a dense, white, mousy head with lacing that should be present until the last sip. Witbier has an incredibly flavorful, refreshing sweetness combined with a zesty, orange-citrusy fruitiness. Herbal, spicy flavors from the coriander will be ever present, but should not dominate the flavor of the beer. Like Hefeweizen, hop bitterness is low to medium-low. They’re medium-light to medium bodied with a smoothness and light creaminess from the unmalted wheat and occasional oats, with a dry, tart finish.

Witbier and Food Pairings

Witbier is an incredibly versatile style when it comes to pairing with food, and is a no-contest winner with salads. If you’re having brunch, take my word for it—it will replace the finest orange juice you can get your hands on. It’s also terrific with fish, whether it’s a light halibut or smoked salmon. A seafood dish prepared with citrus will be a match made in heaven. Mexican, Thai, or Indian food, as long as its not too spicy, will also pair wonderfully.

How to Enjoy Witbier

One last note on this style. It’s become incredibly trendy to have a glass of Witbier, especially in a bar, with an orange slice on the rim of the glass, or even dropped into the beer, a habit that I admittedly bought into in my early days of being a beer geek. From my experience, 95% of the time the bartender will add it, a lot of the time without asking me. I suggest the next time you have one, omit the fruit. I’ve discovered over the years that while the orange slice is nice you really don’t want it to interfere with the flavor of the beer. So here’s to beating the heat and to my Upstate New York friends, try and get your hands on one of these before the snow hits in a couple of weeks. Cheers!

Top 5 Witbiers

Celis White

Southampton Double White

Blanche De Namur

Brugge White

St. Bernardus Wit (Pierre Celis Signature)

TAGS [ WITBIER | WITBIERS | BELGIAN WHITE ALE | BELGIAN WHITE ALES | WITBIER HISTORY | TOP 5 WITBIERS | WITBIER AND FOOD PAIRINGS | BEER REVIEW | BEER REVIEWS ]

Summer is quickly escaping us. It’s getting darker sooner, everyone’s weekends are jam-packed with last minute getaways and the back to school commercials are hitting the airwaves. Another one has come - and it’s almost gone.

There’s still time to check out some of my favorite summer beers though! Get ‘em before they’re farther gone than your farmers tan.

Here’s my Top 3:

1. Flying Dog Classic Pale Ale (Doggie Style)
This pale ale is a favorite and I get a kick out of the name. An English style an American twist.

2. Goose Island India Pale Ale
Bottled sunshine. Oh IPA’s, how I love thee. Oodles of fresh hops that make their presence known.

3. Samuel Adams Summer Ale
A delicious wheat beer with a soft mouthfeel, lemon zest and what Sam Adams calls "grains of paradise" – whatever it is, it works.

TAGS [ SUMMER BEER | SUMMER BEERS | PALE ALE | PALE ALES | BEER REVIEW | BEER REVIEWS ]

The thermometer may not be representative of it, and I can count on one hand the number of days that the sun has been out for the majority of the daylight hours, but apparently, here in upstate New York, we’re nearing the middle of summer. So it would be a very appropriate time to discuss what’s universally heralded as the beer of summer: Hefeweizen.

In a nutshell, Hefeweizen is traditional, unfiltered wheat-based ale originating in southern Germany that is made especially for consumption during the summer. Always cloudy, always quirky, always spritzy, and most importantly, always refreshing.

Hefeweizen was first brewed in the Bavarian house of Degenberg, in the 1400’s. It started to get pretty popular, but due to some jealousy and feuding amongst the local royalty, it fell into obscurity until the late 1800’s where the Schneider Brewery did a fantastic job of resurrecting the style and modernizing the brewing process. Unfortunately, the brewery was a casualty of World War II, and it fell into obscurity once again. However, Hefeweizen refused to be denied, and in the 70’s it was rediscovered yet again. Nowadays, 30% of the beer made in Bavaria is weissbier.

Hefeweizen is pale straw to a dark gold in color, with a thick, mousy, long-lasting white head, which looks particularly pretty in those big, fluted glasses designed specifically for them. Due to the high protein content in the wheat, clarity is always a bit impaired, but a haze is somewhat variable. The aromas these beers give off are very phenolic (spicy); the two biggest culprits being clove and banana. There is little to no noble hop character, combined with a citrusy tartness, some vanilla, and some bubblegum.

The flavor you’ll be experiencing is a low to moderately strong banana and clove flavor, where sweetness and roundness should ideally be in perfect balance. Showing up in the background is a touch of that Pils malt character with very little hop bitterness or flavor. The finish will be very dry, setting your palate up for the next delicious sip of this beer. And one last thing – the mouthfeel should be medium light to medium, and never heavy. This is where the texture of the wheat imparts a sensation of a fluffy, creamy fullness with some spritz and effervescence. Thirsty yet?

Hefeweizen is one of the most versatile beers out there that you can pair with a variety of foods. Think scrubbing bubbles – lifting fat, cutting through starch, and balancing spice. Hefeweizen is dynamite with Indian, Mexican, and Asian food, and it can challenge a mimosa for the ultimate beverage with brunch. Light and refreshing, it’ll pair well with almost everything on the table, most of all with salads. It won’t overpower greens and the acidity of the beer will stand up to almost any dressing you can think of.

So, next time you’re out on the patio, ducking the rain and not having to remove your sunglasses off your head….whoops, that’s just here…..grab one of these, and cheers!

Butternuts Heinnieweisse

Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse

Sierra Nevada Kellerweis

Schneider Wiesen Edel-Weisse

Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier

TAGS [ HEFEWEIZEN | HEFE-WEISS | HEFE WIEZEN | TOP HEFEWEIZENS | BEST HEFE-WEISS | BEER REVIEW | BEER REVIEWS | SUMMER BEER | SUMMER BEERS ]

Last night, David and I took the opportunity to drink Duvel’s new draft product Duvel Green at Coles Bar and Restaurant. We had great time and both us enjoyed the new draft. I must admit that I really enjoy Duvel and have put back quite a few bottles of it in my time, so I was quite excited to try the new draft offering.

Duvel Green is a lighter, lower alcohol, draft version of regular bottled Duvel. The first thing I noticed when the beer was poured was the white, foamy head billowing up out of the signature Duvel glass. The beer under the beautiful cumulus head was a bright golden yellow. Green has a nice, lively mouth feel that was a little more prickly on the tongue than original Duvel. The biggest difference I noticed was that the spicy hops taste from the Saaz and Styrian noble hops was much more pronounced than I expected it would be. This larger hops taste comes from Green being single fermented versus the triple fermentation and aging process used in creating bottled Duvel, which allows the hops to mellow as the beer matures. All these nuances were explained to Dave and me as we sipped away on the Green by the very knowledgeable and friendly Tori, from Brewery Ommegang, which is owned by Duvel. If you’re interested, Beer Advocate has a great interview with Michel Moortgat, the CEO of Duvel Moortgat Breweries, explaining the process used to create Duvel Green.

Overall, I found it to be a great new beer, perfect for a whiling away a summer afternoon on a shady patio with friends. It is crisp and refreshing and, at 6.8% alcohol, it’s a better session beer than its bottled cousin at 8.5%. And Tori, if you are reading this, Dave apologizes again for having a Chimay.

TAGS [ DUVEL | DUVEL GREEN | DUVEL BEER REVIEW | DUVEL GREEN BEER REVIEW | BEER REVIEWS ]

Poor little English Pale Ale. You get such a bad rap. You’re not really hoppy. You’re not very malty. You weren’t brewed with Asian Pears, Spruce Tips, or a canned ham. You’re not aged in a bourbon barrel or served with a slice of watermelon. You just are. And you are delicious.

English Pale Ale was originally a draught ale served as fresh as possible under no pressure (by gravity or hand pump only), at cellar temperatures, i.e. cask or real ale. These beers originated in the city of Burton-On-Trent, and were created as an alternative to country-brewed pale ale around the start of the 20th century. Once brewers knew how to Burtonize their water (the water there was hard enough to build a structure on) they were able to successfully brew pale beers and they used crystal malts to add fullness and roundness to the palate. That hard water helped with clarity and enhanced the hop bitterness.

English Pale Ales have some malt aroma, with a touch a caramel. Fruitiness is mild to moderate, as is hop aroma. They’ll appear yellow to light copper in color, with good to brilliant clarity and a low to moderate off-white head. These are light to medium bodied beers with low carbonation, although bottled versions tend to have a bit more. Flavor-wise, these beers have medium to high bitterness, but low to moderate hop flavor with about the same amount of malt. Balance is often noticeably bitter, but it wont overpower the malt flavor.

If I’m hungry, and I have an English Pale Ale in one hand, I prefer to have a steaming basket of Fish and Chips in the other. Lots of other foods go great with these beers, especially grilled meats—pretty much anything with caramelization—you name it. The bitterness and the carbonation in the beer will lift the fat while cleaning your palate for your next bite. A great beer for lunchtime, it’ll also go well with a variety of sandwiches. And one other great pairing for these beers are pastas with cream-based sauces—I’m talking Alfredo, Gorgonzola, Primavera—the caramel sweetness in the beer picks up on these.

There are 3 reasons why this is a great, refreshing session beer: low gravity, low alcohol and low carbonation. Drinkability is a very critical component of this style; thankfully there are a lot of good examples out there and they’re a great first beer to attempt if you’re a fledgling homebrewer. Rumor has it that Fuller’s London Pride (and one of my top 5) was the late, great Michael Jackson’s (known as The Beer Hunter) preferred session beer. Hard to argue with that. So when you’re thirsty for a brew, and searching for simplicity, grab one of these. Cheers!

Morland Hens Tooth

Fuller’s London Pride

Tetley’s English Ale

Whitbread

Samuel Smiths Organic

TAGS [ TOP ENGLISH PALE ALES | ENGLISH PALE ALE | BEER REVIEW | BEER REVIEWS | ENGLISH PALE ALE REVIEW ]

Yah, typically in my beer reviews you get a nice photo, shot at home, complete with the beer poured into a glass for a better, more complete look, but I was swimming and I just wasn’t in the mood to dry off, find a pint it the pits of my mother’s kitchen, ready a shot, etc. So, you just get this picture of the bottle, this time.

This past weekend - Saturday, to be exact - I spent the day floating, flipping, jumping and sunbathing poolside (as many of my weekend days are spent in summer). I popped into the garage fridge at my mother’s and noticed she had surprised Fritz and me with some beer (thanks Mom!). There was a large case of my go-to-anytime-beer, Guinness (double thanks!) and a six-pack of Long Trail Blackberry Wheat, which I had never tasted before (and to be honest, wouldn’t have missed a thing if I never did).

This is not always the case for me with Long Trail beers. If any of you remember my Long Trail Double Bag post, which is an American Strong Ale, I was quite pleased and would most certainly buy it again. The Blackberry Wheat, however, is another story altogether (at least for my palate).

First off, the beer was one of the lightest yellow wheat beers I’ve ever seen. Of course, I may not be a huge advocate for wheat beers, but there are some I like and some times I feel they’re called for. The first thing I thought when I saw its color was, wow, this is what my "fizzy yellow beer is for wussies" was referring to! Its taste was so dull the beer aspect of it was nearly non-existent. And blackberry? Well, I guess I tasted a hint of something berry in there, but it certainly wasn’t anything like the Sea Dog Blueberry Wheat I’ve enjoyed in times past. It was more like those random "berry" malt beverages we used to get as teenagers, because we didn’t like the taste of beer. Ewe. On top of it all, the carbonation was so abundant that I really just felt icky after drinking one down.

I’ll leave the rest of that six-pack to Fritz to finish off (he’s more into light wheat beers than I am) and stick with the Guinness until we pick up another few cases to try.

TAGS [ BEER REVIEW | BEER REVIEWS | LONG TRAIL BLACKBERRY WHEAT | LONG TRAIL BLACKBERRY WHEAT REVIEW ]