This month’s Boston Magazine has a great article about the craft beer scene in Boston. You can pick it up on newsstands now, or check it out online.

I personally think that some key beers/breweries are missing from the piece…Wormtown, Alchemist, Hill Farmstead to name just a few. That said, you all know that I’m the last guy that would ever says something like “your favorite list is wrong because it doesn’t have my favorite beer on it”. As I say all the time, there is no such thing as a wrong opinion when it comes to beer (or anything else for that matter)! I do concur with some of the beers in the piece; it’s great to see Pretty Things, Notch, Allagash, CBC and Maine Brewing represented. If you were generating a top 15 New England beers list, what would be on it?

I was interested in some of the story behind the article and so I did a brief Q&A with the associate food editor of Boston Magazine, Leah Mennies. Check it out below!

LIBA: What inspired this article?
Leah: Obviously, beer has long been of interest in the Boston area–we have Sam Adams and Harpoon as living proof of that. But what’s emerged much more strongly, in the past few years in particular, is the focus on hyper-local craft breweries like High & Mighty and Mystic Brewing, and even more recently Slumbrew and Night Shift. Pretty Things beer, one of our big winners in the feature, I think is partly responsible for this upswing– they have had success on a national level, and I think people have taken notice. We figured it was about time to give all of these fantastic brewers (and those in the local industry) their due!

LIBA: In Boston, what are some beer trends that you notice?
Leah: As a city, we’ve begun to pay very close attention to where our food comes from. It was only a matter of time before that extended to other things that we consume, like wine, cocktails, and of course, beer. A term that makes me shudder but I think is emblematic of this is “garden to glass,” something that’s being used to promote cocktails made with local produce and herbs.
Brewers like Notch and Peak Organic are certainly paying attention to this, and I’ve noticed that more and more they are using hops and malt from local farmers, like Valley Malt and Four Star Farms. Additionally, I think consumers have begun to pay more attention to the entire ritual of beer drinking–the glassware they drink out of, the food they pair it with, the stories behind the beer.
On the flip side, though, and something we didn’t really delve into in this feature in particular, is the rise of super-casual, cheap, canned, throwback beers. Genny Cream, Miller High Life, even Natty Light is being served at restaurants looking to inject a dose of fun to the menu. Narragansett has never been more popular–and I’m a huge fan of their basic lager. So great with anything fried!

LIBA: Why will my readers be excited to read this article in Boston Magazine?
Leah: I think your readers will be excited to read this feature because it is a hugely comprehensive guide to consuming beer in this town–there’s something for everyone. If you’re newer to buying local, there’s a guide to the 15 best local brews arranged by type of beer. If you’d rather go out than hit up a package store, there’s a chart detailing the best beer bars in town. If you’re more of a gourmand, there’s picks for awesome dishes that use beer as an ingredient. For the travel buff, there’s three different specially-designed local “beer-cations.” And, of course, let’s be honest: It’s about BEER! How can you not get excited?

-Lost

What better way to spend your Memorial Day weekend, to celebrate a graduation or to cheer on summer then to spend some time talking about women and craft beer!

Please join the Boston Area Beer Enthusiasts Society (BABES) as for the first Bay State screening of The Love of Beer, a documentary celebrating the women at the forefront of the Pacific Northwest beer community. A panel of women in the craft beer industry will follow the film. A total of 1,989 breweries operated for some or all of 2011, of which 1,940 were craft breweries. While the industry is expanding rapidly, growing 13% by volume and 15% by dollars in 2011, women within the industry are a vast minority.

When: 6:30 pm – 9 pm May 26, 2012
Where: Appalachian Mountain Club, 4 Joy Street, Boston
9:30 pm - After party at Stoddards, 48 Temple Pl, Boston
Cost: $10 per person. http://theloveofbeerboston.eventbrite.com
Twitter Tag: #loveofbeer

Panel:
Kelly McKnight – Brewer at Watch City Brewing Company, Waltham, MA
Caitlin Jewell - Marketing and Mayhem Director at Slumbrew, Somerville, MA
Cat Portner – Founder at Portner Brewhouse and + Craft Beer Test Kitchen
Andrea Stanley – Malster – Valley Malts, Hadley, MA

The goal of BABES is to introduce women to new beer styles, food and beer pairings, beer professionals and all things related to beer. We also support women in the beer industry and promote the positive image of women who enjoy beer. We take our beer seriously but don't take ourselves too seriously and overall have aim to have fun! Men who support women who love beer are welcome.

Yesterday was the Ecolissa fashion show. It went well. I helped out by playing pack mule and running the raffle prize drawings. Following the event, we went to the Horseshoe pub for dinner and drinks and then came back to our place for more beverages. Brandon and Norm came over and we had a jolly old time.

I decided to break out my gigundo bottle of Boulevard Rye on Rye to share. Norm had tried it before, so Brandon and I split the bottle. The Rye on Rye is a monster (11%) rye ale aged in rye whiskey barrels. It brings a few things to the table: BIG oaky flavors, rye, and a whole heck of a lot of sweetness. A good portion of the bottle surely would have gone to waste if I was trying to drink it on my own.

I’ve become aware of my homer reviewing tendencies lately on the blog, and was reminded this week that Port City isn’t the only quality brewery in town. Just across the Potomac River, DC Brau is doing a great – and often overlooked – job brewing beer in our nation’s capital.

I decided to throw DC Brau some love this week, and picked up a can of The Public, the brewery’s most popular beer. I’ve enjoyed this on tap at several high-quality District watering holes, but always love beer in a can. This is a classic American pale ale, and pours out a cloudy copper-wheat color with a frothy one-finger foam head. The Public’s got a very dry, hoppy sour aroma, very crisp and distinct.

The taste is pretty much an equal translation from the aroma. On the front, I get a very dry and floral hoppiness. Those hops stick around and get pretty bitter through the middle, especially toward the end. DC Brau touts semi-sweet malts on the end, but I didn’t get that at all. There are some citrus notes toward the very end, and you come away with a significant mouthfeel but no real end note.

Overall, I loved this beer, but that’s because I love hops. Unless you’re a serious hop-head, I suspect The Public may be a bit too bitter. However, if you love serious dry and bitter hops, this beer will truly curl your toes. The ABV is pretty low at 6%, so when you want to crush another one, you can do it without worry.

And, if you’re so inclined, here’s a video of the beer director for a group of DC-area restaurants reviewing The Public: DC Brau WTOP Beer of the Week

On Monday I posted a review of the book “Beer Cocktails – 50 Superbly Crafted Cocktails that Liven Up Your Lagers and Ales”. Tonight I drew the winner at random.

Congrats to Jon, who will soon have a copy of the book in his mailbox! For those of you who didn’t win, you can get the book on Amazon for only $10.

-Lost

It’s 8:35. 10 minutes ago I was slumped on the couch, watching absolutely nothing on TV and slowly falling asleep. Last week when my back was trashed I got into the habit of falling asleep on the couch at 8pm. It is clear that habit is spilling over into this week. Tonight I had to put on my big boy pants and pull my lazy ass off the couch, even if for nothing more than a beer review before crashing at 9.

Last week I received the wonderful surprise of free beer at my doorstep. Thank you Magic Hat! One of the beers they sent my way is this Elder Betty – a pale wheat ale made with elderberries. Sounds unique, so I’m excited to give it a go.

First off, mad props on the label – very cool. On to the pour I got very little head. It smells berrylicious! Taking a sip, the first thing I notice is a stinging carbonation…like soda water or champagne (borderline overkill on the bubbles). In the flavor department the brew blends a ton of fruity with a ton of wheaty. The elderberry comes through well and although sweet, the beer isn’t syrupy nor medicinal.

The over-carbonation definitely took something away here. Other than that, it’s a unique and fairly tasty seasonal offering from Magic Hat.

I’ve finally healed from my back-pain woes of last week. It only took 8 days for the pain to go away. Having not reviewed a beer in over a week, I’m definitely having beer blogger withdrawals. To get things going again, I’m reviewing Sierra Nevada Hoptimum. LIBA newcomer Vini reviewed this beer a few weeks back. Vini attended the LIBA Craft Beer Meetup and gave me a bottle of the Hoptimum to try. I figured we would compare notes.

Vini’s review is spot-on. The beer pours with a moderate head. It has a sweet floral aroma but the flavor profile is pine-tastic. The extraordinary level of pine is a bit much for my pallet. Vini loved this stuff, so if you’re a hop-head and love that piny bitter, this beer is for you.

What’s a beer cocktail? You take beer, and then you take booze, and then you mix them. Beer cocktails are growing rapidly in popularity and are all the rage among mixologists.

A few weeks ago I was contacted by the publisher of the book “Beer Cocktails – 50 Superbly Crafted Cocktails that Liven Up Your Lagers and Ales“. They asked that I take a look at the book, and if I liked it, to tell you folks about. Well, I like the book!

Beer Cocktails starts off with a crash-course in beer including:

• How Beer is Made
• Types of Beer
• Beer Styles
• Glassware
• Tools

The book then gets into the recipes.

There are recipes that include most major styles of beer. Chapter 2 is lager recipes, Chapter 3 is Belgians, Chapter 4 is stouts and porters, and chapter 5 is a catch-all for a bunch of darker beers (barleywine, dopplebock, etc).

For this post, I decided to make one of the recipes. HOWEVER, I was paralyzed with the amount of choices the book provides, so I asked my wife to pick one out. She decided on the Grapefruit Moon (recipe shown in the above photo).

The Grapefruit Moon sounded interesting to me. I love bourbon, grapefruit and stout separately…but would I love them together?

For the stout I picked up a can of Oskar Blues Ten Fidy Imperial Stout…one of my all time favorite stouts. For the bourbon, I used some Knob Creek. Finally, the recipe called for simple syrup or maple syrup. I went with the maple syrup because I thought it would add some additional character.

The Grapefruit Moon was easy to make and turned out delicious! I was surprised at how light and drinkable it is. Initially, you taste the bourbon and the stout, reminding me of a bourbon barrel aged stout. Quickly the grapefruit kicks in, accompanied by the sweetness of the syrup. In the end, you’re left with a unique mixture of bourbon, grapefruit and stout swirling in the aftertaste.

If mixing beer and booze sounds like a cool idea, I definitely recommend “Beer Cocktails – 50 Superbly Crafted Cocktails that Liven Up Your Lagers and Ales“. You can find it on Amazon.com for only $10.25 (Amazon Prime eligible!).

And as a special treat, I am giving away an ADVANCED COPY of the book to one lucky reader. To enter to win, simply leave a comment for this post…don’t forget to include some kind of contact info (e.g. email, twitter name, etc) where I can contact you if you win!  I will pick a winner at random at the end of the day Friday 5/11.

Good luck everyone!

Phew, I’m tired. Looong day of yard work for the kid today, including pulling up yards of weed blocker buried under several inches of soil and doing battle with a root that had pushed up a bunch of bricks in my back yard. The thing was a monster, but I had a hatchet, so I won.

Now, time to chill the hell out. On my way back from a Home Depot run, I stopped into Port City’s tasting room. I know, I’m a total homer and have reviewed pretty much all of their beers – but they had a limited edition stout brewed with oysters on tap, so picking this week’s review beer was kind of a no-brainer.

Port City’s Revival Stout is brewed with oysters from War Shore Oyster Company, another local outfit. They steep War Shore’s oysters in the brewing water to add minerals, and add the oysters plus their brine to the brew while it boils. Sounds awesome, right?

The Revival pours dark and thick. Literally no light passes through the beer, even if held up to a light, and the foam head was frothy and tall. There isn’t much of an aroma, but I got some indistinct blend of roasted malts and saltwater. My interest is officially piqued.

Taste-wise, this is an interesting brew. I don’t think I’ve ever tasted a stout brewed with oysters, but it comes across as quite mellow and balanced. I get lots of minerals on the front, a roasted malt backbone through the middle, and some briny smokiness on the end.

It sounds weird, but somehow it all works. Unlike lots of stouts, this is quite light and crisp, and eminently drinkable. It’s got a 5.5% ABV, so you won’t get banged up if you have a few…which is what I’m about to do.

If you’re in the DC metro region, check this brew out. It’s only available on tap at Port City or selected oyster houses in DC, Maryland, and Virginia, and five percent of all proceeds go to an environmental charity to revive oyster populations in the Chesapeake Bay. So, beer that tastes good and does good – a true win-win!

So no beer for me again tonight. I vow to keep you entertained though. Check out the pictures of beer cake that my wife dug up from around the internets!

I claim no rights to these photos. They are 100% ripped off.

The end.