Draught Diversions: November 2021 Six Pack

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…

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

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 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

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

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

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

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.

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).