Paul's Amber IPA

Still trying to work out the timing for writing more posts, but we'll see what the new year brings. To start things off, I'm going to talk about my buddy's first attempt at homebrewing. I could have chosen something more available, I guess, but what's the fun in that? Paul called it an Amber IPA mostly because of the recipe he followed.

Masking tape label and nothing else, so homebrew. In all seriousness, the tape came off easily so it's a perfect label as it makes the bottle quickly reusable. As for the beer, it was, well, definitely a first attempt at homebrewing. Still, I wasn't upset to drink it. Pretty sweet caramel nose with a hint of chocolate. Pretty thick body, almost a little syrupy. Body was sweet caramel with no real bitterness to clean it up. Basically it just felt a bit under attenuated aka not fully fermented. The thick body with the very sugary flavor kind of implies that. Funny enough, though, this was still better than the majority of beers Jo and I had at Amherst Brewing Company a while back so go Paul!

Ballast Point at Capone's

With the first day of Philly Beer Week under my belt, my wife and I planned some errands around stopping at Capone's for lunch for the Ballast Point event. I knew this would be the only day I could get out there and how could I have a beer week without involving Capone's?

We arrived around 12:15 and while there were a few people, it wasn't too crowded. Apparently the Hill Farmstead event the day before was ridiculous as a bus full of beer geeks showed up so that would explain that. Even though this was the Ballast Point event, I noticed Hill Farmstead Fear & Trembling was still on draft and decided to start with that instead. This was brewed with some smoked malt then aged in some sort of red wine barrels if I remember correctly. There are a bunch of different versions of it on BeerAdvocate but I think it was the Cabernet version.

Nugget Nectar vs. HopSlam! Fight!

Last Friday I decided to see how Troegs Nugget Nectar compared to Bell's Hopslam.  I recently had Hopslam at Jose Pistola's and Nugget Nectar at Kite & Key but figured the best way to get a decent comparison would be to have them both in one night. 

I started with the Nugget Nectar thinking that since it wasn't quite as strong it would make a better beginning.  Thanks for leaving a couple bottles behind Greg!

Troegs Nugget Nectar

Nugget Nectar is another seasonal that took the BeerAdvocate trading forum by storm for a couple weeks just like Hopslam.  I've been looking to try it and got my chance yesterday at the Kite & Key, a nice little bar on Callowhill near 19th street.  Nugget Nectar is an Amber Ale although it's 7.5% so it's a bit stronger than most.  (See, Andy, finally an Amber!)

It had a very earthy smelling nose.  It's made, reasonably enough, with nugget hops which apparently impart an herbal and spicy flavor to beers.  I can see that.  On the first sip, bitter hops give way to a little sweetness, finishing with a bready flavor that is reminiscent of the style to me.  Some lingering bitterness that built up as I drank more.  Reasonably good and a change of pace from the more citrusy double IPAs.  I can see why it's popular.  I think I preferred Hopslam but they aren't totally comparable considering the base style differences.  Along with Nugget Nectar, Troegs has another amber called Hopback Amber and the Flying Mouflan has a similar hop profile.  Be interesting to try all three in one night and work the way up the strength and bitterness scale just to compare the differences.