Day of Three Floyds

Three Floyds is a brewery located in Indiana.  Their distribution area is very small, mainly only available in three or so states around Indiana.  Apparently they used to be available in Philadelphia but it stretched them too thin so they pulled out of the state a few years ago.  Right now you're probably asking yourself why the heck is Rich talking about a random brewery whose beer I can't even buy?  Well, shut up, that's why.  I'll get to the point when I'm good and ready.

Recently I visited DeCicco's in Ardsley, NY to buy myself a Captain Lawrence gift pack (see cellar sidebar for beers in it) and decided since it seemed to be popular that I'd find someone interested in trading some Three Floyds stuff for one.  After getting my wife's permission (stop looking at me like that), I posted on BeerAdvocate about it and ten minutes later I had everything set up.  I was primarily interested in Dark Lord, a Russian Imperial Stout only available one day a year from the brewery, and so I left it up to my contact, Adam, to provide me with that plus a few other bottles from Three Floyds that he'd pick out.  I ended up with Dark Lord, Moloko, an oatmeal milk stout, Black Sun, an Irish Dry Stout, Dreadnaught, a double IPA, and a bottle of the guy's homebrew Smoked Porter.  So this past Saturday I got together with two friends of mine, Greg and Kevin, to try them all and finally see why everyone loves Three Floyds so much.

Victory and Yards

Jo and I were going to head out to Lancaster brewing and Spring House brewing, but our plans changed so we instead went to Victory brewing and Yards brewing.  First we drove out to Victory and then we circled back to go to Yards.

The last time we had been to Victory was before they renovated their brew pub and we couldn't believe the difference between now and then.  Before, it was like a creepy school cafeteria and the food was only okay.  Now, the brewpub had really nice atmosphere, the tables looked really comfortable, and the bar was really inviting.

I had read about the renovations to their brewpub but I was not expecting such a significant upgrade.  Now, I'd totally be willing to bring people to the brewery whereas before there is no way I'd suggest it as a place to visit and this is just based on first impressions and has nothing really to do with the beer.

Saturday in Lee, Massachusetts

Spent the weekend in Lee, Massachusetts so that means a trip to Moe's! Moe's is a bar on Main Street in Lee and it's as good as any beer bar you can find. It has about 10 different rotating taps and the owner Josh brings in as many interesting beers as he can.  He had Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout last weekend for example. Any time I go to Lee I make a point of going there just because I usually find something good to drink there. On top of that, his bartenders are willing to talk to me about beer and know their stuff.  Plus who am I to say no to a trip to a beer bar? So if you're ever around exit 2 on the Mass Pike and want a beer, head into Lee and check out Moe's. If Josh is around, tell 'em Rich sent you.

Yesterday I got to have Sierra Nevada's Jack & Ken's again plus Gritty McDuff's Black Fly Stout. The Jack & Ken's was amazing again. (I talked about it here.)  That is such a great barleywine. After that I had a glass of Gritty McDuff's Black Fly Stout.

First, stouts on nitro are so freaking pretty.  The nitro tap and a proper pour is what gives that great foamy head.  This is a Dry Irish stout same as Guinness but way better.  It has way more flavor and it's just way more creamy.  This style is very easy drinking and this was no exception.  The Black Fly was just a little more bitter, but it was still really good.  Totally a nice way to cap off my visit to Moe's.

After that, Jo and I went back home where I decided to try two of the beers that my sister-in-law brought me from California.  One I asked for and one was a surprise.  The first was a Swedish beer named Oppigards Winter Ale.

It poured a brown color with a small amount of bubbly white head.  Had a mild fruit smell to it.  Not strong like a quad, just really mild and pleasant.  It tasted slightly spicy with a decent amount of sweetness.  I really didn't know what to expect from this but it was very good.  A really nice surprise since I didn't ask for this.

The beer I asked for was New Belgium's La Folie.

Unfortunately New Belgium isn't available in Philadelphia so this was a real treat for me.  La Folie is part of New Belgium's Lips of Faith series.  It's their Flanders Red Ale and they claim it's aged in barrels for 1 to 3 years.  It poured a dark brown color with zero head.  It's the sort of pour I'm learning to expect from this style of beer.  Great, super unique smells from this.  I smelled tart, sour notes with hints of vinegar but balanced with some nice lemony, citrus edges.  I was really psyched to try this out and my interest bore fruit with hints of caramel, slight vinegar and a nice tart end.  La Folie was really well balanced and I had no problems getting through the whole glass.  On top of that the bottle was super cool looking which is fun.

All in all a good weekend.  I got to go to Moe's and to try some more new stuff.  Plus I got this bunch of bottles (two of which I already drank) so I have a whole bunch of great stuff to try in the future.

From left to right it's: Deschutes Jubel 2010 (super psyched about this one, thanks Sean!), Russian River Temptation, Oppigards Winter Ale, Russian River Pliny the Elder (another fun surprise) and New Belgium La Folie.

Also note that I'm headed to Las Vegas tomorrow so there may not be any blogs this week until Friday or so.  We'll see though.