December 2021 – The Tap Takeover

Drink Review: Cranberry Sauced from Sourland Mountains Spirits

Name: Cranberry Sauced
Brewing Company: Sourland Mountain Spirits
Location: Hopewell, NJ
Style: Craft Cocktail (Gin & Cranberries)
ABV: 8%

A delicious, refreshing, cocktail that is a perfect balance of flavors.

From the Sourland Mountain Spirits’slanding page for the droml:

Just in time for the holidays, our debut canned cocktail features a refreshing blend of our 12 botanical flagship gin, farm-fresh New Jersey cranberries, rosemary, honey, and lemon. Just chill, shake, and pour over ice. Each pack includes 4x 12 oz cans.

Tasting Notes: fresh cranberries, rosemary, honey, lemon

Let’s try something a little bit different, shall we? As much as I enjoy beer, I do enjoy spirits, too. Last year for my wife’s birthday, I took her on a tour and tasting at Sourland Mountain Spirits in Hopewell, NJ*. We had a fantastic time, our tour was lead by owner Ray Disch who also happens to be a co-founder of Triumph Brewing. We had a fantastic time, due in large part to Ray himself, who was entertaining, knowledgeable, and gregarious. Essentially, everything a small business owner should be as the public face. Sourland also makes some tasty spirits and cocktails.

*The distillery happens to be on the same farm Troon Brewing, which I didn’t initially realize.

Cranberry happens to be one of, if not, my favorite fruit (as I noted in recent beer review). NJ happens to be one of the largest producers of the fruit in the State of New Jersey. When my wife and I learned they released their first canned cocktail, which highlights the tart fruit, we wanted to give it a try in the spirit (pun somewhat intended) of supporting small business and a business we like a lot (despite Gin not being a spirit I typically seek out). Also, this is a perfect holiday drink!

One thing I learned on that tour about a year ago is that gin is the base, or starting spirit, for many other spirits, so it makes sense that Ray and his cocktail sorcerers would utilize gin in their first canned cocktail. Gin is also quite popular.

I don’t typically go for craft/canned cocktails, but “Cranberry Sauced” from Sourland Spirits might change that. Along with delicious and copious cranberries, this drink has honey, lemon, and rosemary mixed with their tasty gin. Per the directions on the can, I gave it a shake and filled up my glass with the cocktail.

That was a nice little kick! Again, gin isn’t a go to for me, but I do get that as a prominent element of the drink. My wife caught more of the cranberry, but she’s not into cranberry quite as much as I am. I gave the drink a splash of Cran-Mango juice and boy-howdy does that bring some nice balance to an already tasty adult beverage. If gin is your thing, then maybe a shot of gin could be added for an extra kick. Regardless, Sourland has crafted something really special with this drink.

Cranberry Sauced is a delicious, FUN, and refreshing drink and a nice change up from what I normally enjoy. This is a perfect holiday drink, given that cranberries are often associated with fall/winter holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s. I can’t recommend this tasty treat enough.

Highly Recommended. If this beverage were on untappd, I’d probably rate it at 4.25/4.5 out 5 bottle caps

Beer Review: Threes Brewing’s Vliet Pilsner

Beer Review

Name: Vliet
Brewing Company: Threes Brewing Company
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Style: Pilsner – German
ABV: 5.2%

A very tasty and refreshing Pilsner that displays all the elements of the style very nicely.

From the Three’s landing page for the beer:

Vliet (pronounced “vl-ee-t”) is our signature, award-winning Pilsner. From the Dutch for ‘minor stream’, the name is a nod to our flagship brewery in Brooklyn near the Gowanus Canal. Clean and aromatic, complex yet crisp, it defies expectations of what one might expect from a lager.

Who says Pilsners are only for summer? Fools, that’s what I say! So here I am with one of my last reviews of the year, during Christmas, and I’m reviewing a Pilsner. Why not? A Pilsner would be a perfect beer to accompany your meal on Christmas.

Threes Brewing is one of the many well-regarded breweries in Brooklyn and this beer in particular is one that is highly acclaimed and maybe the one I’ve wanted the most from this fine brewery.

Does Vliet live up to that anticipation?

In a word, yes.

But I’m not one to be brief, which is why I write reviews about many different things., including beer obviously

Just look at that beer. Seriously, look at it. That’s exactly what a pilsner should look like. Light gold-yellow with a fluffy head. I poured it almost completely vertically to somewhat emulate a slow pour. It isn’t as clear as I would expect, but it isn’t hazy. That’s not a problem either way, just what I’m seeing in the beer. I’m wondering if it was filtered because it looks a little cloudy. I’m fine with that, unfiltered Pilsners are underrated.

First sip…yeah, this is a pilsner and I’m happy. I get some hints of the bready elements from the malt. Maybe a little bit crackery, too. Clean and crisp, Vliet is exactly what I want from a pilsner, refreshing and tasty, with an overall flavor profile that lends itself to pairing with any food.

What I also notice on Vliet is a spicy, almost tangy, herbal and spicy finish. Maybe a hint of pepper? I’m not sure if those elements are from the hops (I suspect yes), but it is an interesting twist that sets the beer apart from some of the other recent pilsners I’ve had – in a good way.

Vliet is an extremely well-made beer. Threes Brewing has taken the core four ingredients of beer and crafted a delicious, on-point interpretation of the classic German Pilsner.

Highly Recommended, link to 4 bottle cap untappd rating check in.

Draught Diversions: Christmas Six Pack 2021

Draught Diversion, Style in Focus

Draught Diversions is the catchall label for mini-rants, think-pieces, and posts that don’t just focus on one beer here at The Tap Takeover. We hope you don’t grow too weary of the alcohol alliterative names we use…

Christmas2021Sixpack

All of a sudden, Christmastime is upon us. The weather in NJ hasn’t consistently indicated the Christmas season in 2021, with some days knocking on 60 degrees (normally, temps are in the 40s). However, the songs are in the air, the lights are on the houses, and the holiday accoutrements are in the stores to be bought. Since about October or so, the Christmas/Holiday/Winter beers have been on shelves. For me, I like to get through the celebration of one holiday before gearing up for the next. That’s not just beer, but I don’t want to see Christmas commercials before Halloween. I may have hinted at that a few years back in a post about seasonal creep of Pumpkin Beers.

TroegsMadElf2021 Christmastime for me has always been signaled by Santa Claus bringing up the rear of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The following week (first Saturday in December), truly launches the season – the Christmas Tree farm near my house opens for patrons to tag and/or cut their Christmas Tree and that day is usually when I crack open my first Tröegs Mad Elf of the season (probably my favorite Christmas beer). But you all visited to get some information on new/different Christmas / Holiday beers, I assume. Let’s dive into the 2021 Tap Takeover Six Pack of Christmas Beers. I’ve had none of these, although I’ve had beers from all the breweries, as well as variations on two beers I’ve highlighted.

Christmas Was Tomorrow | Stout – Imperial/Double | Bradley Brew Project | Bradley Beach, NJ | ABV 8.5%

I’ve had two beers from Bradley Brew Project, both of which have been lagers. I was extremely impressed with their Czech Dark Lager, and I’ve been wanting to try some of their stouts and darker beers. A few years back, the department in which I worked had a neat Christmas Party, participants were asked to bring a food that is emblematic of their culture or something traditional for their Christmas experience. One person brought the ingredients for and mad Horchata, and I enjoyed it. This stout looks like it could be a lot of fun.

Here’s what Bradley Brew Project says about the beer:

Horchata inspired stout with milk sugar, rice, almonds, cinnamon and vanilla

Jubelale | Winter Ale | Deschutes Brewery | Bend, OR | ABV 6.7%

Deschutes is one of the great Western American breweries. When I was in Vegas a couple of years ago, I was very happy to be able to get their legendary Black Butte Porter on draft (unavailable in NJ at the time), but they’ve recently begun distributing in New Jersey. I haven’t had a good, new-to-me traditional “Winter Ale” in a few years so I’m hoping this beer makes it to NJ shelves. Winter Ales were once a big staple of the Craft Beer scene, but they’ve seemed to fade to the back of the shelves, specifically “Winter Warmers.”

What Deschutes says about the beer:

Cozy up fireside with this festive winter ale full of spice notes and a robust malt character of toffee and dusted cocoa.

Special Cookie | Brown Ale – Imperial / Double| Free Will Brewing | Perkasie & Lahaska, PA | ABV 10.8%

Image courtesy of Free Will Brewing’s Facebook

Free Will has made a few appearances here at the Tap Takeover, they’ve got a “satellite” tap room not far from me in Peddler’s Village in Lahaska, PA. I’ve had some extremely good brews from them over the years and this beer is one of their long-time favorites which I’ve yet to enjoy. I like the updated can art for the beer and the mix of spices looks quite tasty especially for a Brown Ale.

About the beer:

Imperial Spiced Brown Ale with Vanilla, Cinnamon, Brown Sugar, Cardamom, Ginger, and Milk Sugar

Barrel-Aged Christmas Ale | Winter Ale | Great Lakes Brewing Company | Cleveland, OH | ABV 8.2%

Image courtesy of Great Lakes Brewing’s Twitter

Great Lakes Christmas Ale is one of the most iconic Christmas beers on shelves today. Like Mad Elf, it was a beer I’d get every Christmas Season. It doesn’t hurt that their distribution gets them in nearly every State, which I suppose is why this seasonal Ale is their most checked-in beer on untappd. For a few years now, Great Lakes has been offering a barrel aged version of this beer, but only at the brewery. This year (and maybe last year, I don’t recall), they bottled this in the old 22-oz bombers and sent a bunch out to distribution, so I may have to snag one to sample.

Flavor: A holiday ale brewed with cinnamon, ginger, and honey, aged in Buffalo Trace Bourbon barrels.

Candy Cane Mind Over Matter | Stout – Imperial/Double Milk | Magnify Brewing Company | Fairfield, NJ | ABV 8%

Image courtesy of Magnify Brewing’s Facebook

“Mind of Matter” is a series of Imperial Milk Stouts Magnify brews with various adjuncts, like this one with Candy Canes and chocolate. I’m guessing the intention here is to evoke that wonderful flavor of peppermint bark. I haven’t had peppermint bark in years (not sure I quite like mint the way I once did), but I imagine if Magnify gets the flavor profile on this beer as dialed in as they did for the Banana Bread version I reviewed this year, then the Candy Cane version will be outstanding.

What Magnify Brewing says about the beer:

Double chocolate milk stout with lactose, cocoa nibs and peppermint. Perfect beer for decorating the tree.

Ginger Bread Man (Imperial Stout) | Stout – Imperial / Double| NJ Beer Company | North Bergen, NJ | 9%

Image courtesy of NJ Beer Company’s Facebook

Lots of breweries are making Gingerbread inspired stouts, I may have recently enjoyed one and years ago, I remember enjoying Samuel Adams take on the holiday stout. I’ve been seeing NJ Beer Company’s beer on shelves for years, but for whatever reason, only had one years ago. This beer looks really appealing and seems pretty well received on untappd.

What NJ Beer Company says about the beer:

Rich, doughy, and simply unique. This stout is the perfect companion for the holiday season and beyond! A heavy dosing of molasses adds a sticky yet delicious chewiness, which is then rounded out by conditioning on ginger, and cinnamon. It’s 100% pure gingerbread cookie in a glass

Man…writing these posts about beers I haven’t had makes me want to remedy that situation and grab bottles/cans of all of them! Drop a note in the comments about a Christmas beer you want to try this year or maybe a past favorite.

Christmas2021Sixpack

Beer Review: Hardywood’s Bourbon Barrel GBS (Gingerbread Stout)

Beer Review

Name: Bourbon Barrel GBS
Brewing Company: Hardywood Park Craft Brewery
Location: Richmond, VA
Style: Stout – Imperial / Double Milk
ABV: 11.5%

An outstanding Stout that practically sings Christmas songs when you drink it.

From the Hardywood Park Craft Brewery’s landing page for the beer:

Hardywood Gingerbread Stout, described by BeerAdvocate as “freagin’ Christmas in a bottle,” is an imperial milk stout brewed with vanilla beans, cinnamon, fresh Casselmonte Farm baby ginger and Bearer Farms wildflower honey. Gingerbread Stout is then matured in Virginia bourbon barrels, where it adapts an incredibly mellow character with oak, caramel and bourbon undertones, and emerges 12 weeks later as Bourbon GBS. A festive blend of spice character laces this rich, chocolatey stout, which warms the palate and the soul.

For years, Hardywood’s Gingerbread Stout had been one of the most sought after Christmas beers and one of the most acclaimed for holiday enjoyment. Recently, the brewery began distributing some of their beers to New Jersey, including this amped up version of the renowned Gingerbread Stout aged in Bourbon Barrels. It also seems like this year, 2021, they shifted from bomber bottles for this beer to 4 packs of the beer, a much more consumable portioning of the beer.

What about the beer itself?

The beer pours a dark black into the glass, as one would expect a stout to pour. There’s a sliver of a khaki head on the beer, which is fairly typical for barrel-aged stouts. I typically don’t see big fluffy heads on barrel-aged stouts. The aroma is strong on the gingerbread and bourbon. Again that’s to be expected given the name of the beer, but it is still quite pleasing.

”Sweet Christmas!” That’s what I think when I have the first sip of the beer. This beer has a lot going on in its flavor profile, but the description can tell you that, too. Tasting it all is really enjoyable but let me unpack that.

I initially get hints of vanilla and the bourbon with the lactose providing a very creamy feel to the beer. The cinnamon and ginger come in at the end like the grand finale of flavor orchestra playing Christmas Eve/Sarajevo by Trans-Siberian Orchestra (A band I’ve seen live a couple of times, I highly recommend the experience).

I’ll be honest, initially, the ginger was a little overwhelming. I know, “gingerbread” is in the name, so that should be the most prominent flavor. But as the beer settled down, breathed, and warmed to room temperature the other flavors balanced out that pop of ginger. I can’t compare this (yet) to the non-barrel aged version, but I can say this is a deliciously crafted beer. The only reason I don’t put this at the top of my list of Christmas Stouts is because I’ve had Hardywood’s Christmas Morning (another variation on the popular Gingerbread Stout, with coffee as an another adjunct), which blew me away last year.

When it is all said and done, Hardywood Bourbon Barrel GBS is a beer well-worth seeking out. It has all the holiday flavors blended expertly with the bourbon barrel seeping in like a thick, comfy coat to warm the soul. Santa might prefer a glass of this to the standard milk and cookies. I’m pretty sure I would.

Highly Recommended, link to 4.25 bottle cap untappd rating check in.

Draught Diversions: November 2021 Six Pack

Draught Diversion, Monthly New Brews

Draught Diversions is the catchall label for mini-rants, think-pieces, and non-review posts here at The Tap Takeover. We hope you don’t grow too weary of the alcohol alliterative names we use…

2021_Nov_sixpack

November often brings darker beers and beers sampled and enjoyed during the annual birthday brewery tour on which my wife takes me. Of course, not all the beers in this month’s Six Pack were enjoyed on the day of that tour (I reviewed one of them recently, actually). There were plenty of new beers throughout the month outside of that birthday weekend. In fact, November 2021 proved to be one of the more difficult six packs to construct in recent memory, 38 different new to me beers. I could have maybe made it a 10 pack. A mix of styles for four of the beers and 2 Czech Dark Lagers.

Fields (Odd Bird Brewing Company) | Farmhouse Ale – Saison | 4.25 Bottle Caps on untappd

OddBird_FieldsSason

Little did my wife know I’d visited Odd Bird Brewing when she made this the first stop on the tour, but I was very pleased because they make really tasty beer. Especially after enjoying this fluffy and spicy saison. The aroma and flavors from the yeast shined through in a delicious way. Brewer/owner Adam is so dialed in with classic styles and few Belgian styles are as classic as the Saison. A superb beer.

Czech Dark Lager (Weyerbacher Brewing Company) | Lager – Dark | 4.75 Bottle Caps on untappd

Weyerbacher_CzechDark

Weyerbacher is one of the great Northeast breweries so I was very happy to visit on my birthday as I’d never made it across the Route 78 bridge to Easton to visit them. I saw a Czech Dark Lager on draft and knew I had to have it, despite the fact that Weyerbacher typically isn’t known for low ABV lagers. This beer was outstanding, maybe my favorite of the style and likely will be my favorite new-to-me beer of the year and maybe even the beer I’ve enjoyed the most from Weyerbacher. Yes, I’ve had Sunday Morning Stout a few times. I brought a crowler home and when I cracked it open 10 days after the canning date, it held up very nicely. Simply put, a superb beer I wish they’d bring into more of a regular rotation than a test batch

Utopias Barrel-Aged World Wide Stout (Dogfish Head Craft Brewery) | Stout – Imperial/Double | 4.25 Bottle Caps on untappd

DFH_UtopiasWWS

This beer is the love child of two of the most extreme beers from the Samuel Adams-Dogfish Head partnership. World Wide Stout is a boozy enough stout on its own, throw it in barrels from Samuel Adams Utopias (a 28% ABV beer), then you have something almost otherworldly. I’ve had Utopias a couple of times and that flavor is definitely prominent on the nose and all over the beer in a delicious way. This is definitely a beer worth experiencing.

Czech Mate (Bradley Brew Project) | Lager – Dark | 4.25 Bottle Caps on untappd

BradleyBrew_CzechMate

Another Czech Dark Lager? Hell yeah! This is only the 2nd beer I’ve had from Bradley Brew, but damn am I impressed. This beer, cleverly named “Czech Mate” hits all the style notes really well, bready/toffee and a slightly crisp finish. Extremely flavorful at 5%, I could drink this all day in the warmer months. As much as I enjoyed the Weyerbacher Czech Dark, this one is nearly aas good so I’m very pleased to see that it was available in 4 packs at one of my local spots.

Pound of Idaho Feathers (Icarus Brewing Company) | Pilsner – Imperial / Double | 4.25 Bottle Caps on untappd

Icarus_PoundIdaho

A visit to Icarus means at least one of their beers makes an appearance. I had a few different beers, but this is the one I enjoyed the most and of the “Feathers” Pilsner variants, this one is probably my favorite. The dry hopping doesn’t over power here the way it does in some of the other dry hopped pilsners I’ve had

Cranito (Last Wave Brewing Company) | Sour – Fruited Gose | 4.25 Bottle Caps on untappd

LastWaveCranito

I had three beers from Last Wave this past month, one at the start when I was out for dinner and two at the brewery the same day I visited Icarus. This is the standout for me, but as I pointed out in a recent review, I love cranberries and this beer is clean, tart, and very refreshing. My only regret is that there were no cans of this available for purchase at the brewery.

Birthday Brewery Tour: Clockwise: Weyerbacher, Odd Bird, Invertase, Böser Geist, Two Rivers

Good beers, indeed. A few stinkers throughout the month, but since I want to be positive, I won’t mention those beers. Although I will say on the birthday beer tour, we visited Odd Bird Brewing (Stockton, NJ); Invertase Brewing (Phillipsburg, NJ), Weyerbacher Brewing (Easton, PA); Böser Geist (Easton, PA), and finished with a delicious dinner at Two Rivers Brew Pub (Easton, PA).