House Beers at Farmer's Cabinet

Jo had some stuff to do this past Sunday, so I decided to head to the Farmer's Cabinet for lunch and to try some of Terry Hawbaker's new beers. I've mentioned him before, but if you don't remember Terry used to brew at the Bullfrog in Williamsport and moved to Philly to brew for the restaurant. While they had planned to create a brewery in the restaurant itself, it turned out to be impractical for a number of reasons and so the owners bought a brewery down in Virginia instead. Of course, the one they bought turned out to be a disaster, but Terry put a lot of work into cleaning it up and it's finally starting to produce results. Delicious results.

I started with a glass of the Roggen-Son, a saison brewed with rye.

Light rye nose, more sweet than spicy. Started with some rye spiciness, then a nice sweetness, and finished dry with a little bitterness. I really enjoyed the mix of sweetness and rye spice and thought this was pretty great.

Terrapin Wake & Bake

Terrapin Wake & Bake is another imperial stout made with coffee bu at least it has one of the best names.  Plus it has a turtle baking cookies and drinking a beer on the bottle.  What's not to love?

Smells like roasted black coffee with a hint of chocolate in it.  Yum.  First thing you notice in the flavor is the coffee with chocolate and a little roast following close behind.  Considering the aroma, I expected the coffee to overpower everything but it doesn't.  Just is kind of there throughout every sip in a good way.  Everything just blends really well and it's quite tasty.

Beer Tasting 2

I held another get together for a few people this past Friday.  This is the second time I've done this with the first in October.  They each brought a couple bottles of beer they wanted to try and I supplied some pizza and banana brownies.  Some bought based on the labels (one bought his bottles because there were dogs on the label) and others (me) bought because there were some beers they wanted to try but never get around to picking up.  Either way, we ended up with another fun lineup.

From left to right, we have: Why I Oughta IPA (Pete G's Double Black IPA), Ballast Point Victory at Sea, Troegs Flying Mouflan, Uintas Labyrinth, Terrapin Big Daddy Vlady's, and Cigar City Bolita.

Capone's!

To prepare our livers for our six brewery tour over New Years, Jo and I decided to head to Capone's for some lunch and drinks.  We haven't been there in a while and missed their delicious wings.  I also got a tasty cheese steak hoagie.

Once again, I started with a sampler of four great beers.

Two on Tuesday

I tried two new beers last night at the Urban Saloon.  Even though it gets kind of frat partyish on the weekends, this place is actually pretty nice at other times.  Their draft list is always decent and their food is good so Jo and I go there when we are looking for somewhere calm to go.

I started with Terrapin Moo-Hoo Chocolate Milk Stout something I've been wanting to try for a while.

The smell was all chocolate and very inviting.  First sip was chocolate up front followed by an almost milk shake flavor.  Super thick mouth feel.  Drinking more, the chocolate is a consistent presence and it continues to remind me of a milk shake.  The sweetness in it is great.  The only negative I could find is there was a weird, slightly chalky aftertaste which may be a result of the cocoa they used in the brewing.  It doesn't ruin the beer or anything, it was just odd.

After that I had a glass of Southern Tier Old Man Winter, an Old Ale.

I was surprised by how hoppy this one smelled.  I expected it to be a winter ale, sort of sweet and caramel, but with the hop smell I knew I'd be wrong.  Taste followed with some mild hops although no real bitterness.  Maybe I would have liked this more if I knew what I was getting, but as it is I just wasn't particularly impressed.  It wasn't bad or anything, just wasn't that good.  Felt like a dull IPA with a little bit more body.

I expect to have another post tomorrow morning and maybe something after Thanksgiving on Friday, but we'll see.  Otherwise, have a good Thanksgiving everyone!