March 2022 – The Tap Takeover

Beer Review: Four City Brewing’s La Baie Noir

Name: La Baie Noir
Brewing Company: Four City Brewing Company
Location: Orange, NJ
Style: Sour – Fruited
ABV: 6%

A superb fruited sour from a NJ brewery who has shown ample talent across nuanced styles.

From the untappd page for the beer:

Sour fans can rejoice! La Baie Noir (French for “the black berry”) is our dark sour brewed with blackberry puree. Tart with a sweet finish, this beer will be a springtime favorite!.

I’ve been eager to try more of Four City’s beers since I visited the brewery during my 2020 Birthday Brewery tour. The people were really chill and the beer impressed me. I was very pleased when a liquor store I frequent started carrying their beer (per my untappd notifications), so I visited and landed on this beer to try, I wanted something a little different. Since I like blackberries this one called out to me quite loudly.

A rather fancy looking can, the beer name in script with a vine of hops on one side of the name, with blackberries on the other. Yup. That tells you what you’ll get.

The beer I pour into the can is quite dark, slightly translucent. From a distance, it looks black, but under the light there’s a purple tint. As dark as this beer is, there’s no mistaking it for a stout or porter. Aroma is potent blackberries, but there’s an underlying funk I’d expect from a sour ale.

My first sip follows the nose. An initial funkiness, which is what I expect from a sour beer. The blackberries come in and take over as the primary flavor element. A balanced amount of blackberries, though. While a this beer probably has ample amounts of blackberry puree, there’s still the underlying sour/tart and funky elements to keep the “backbone” of this adult beverage in the beer category.

The few beers I’ve had from Four City include beers that aren’t the easiest to make and styles that illustrate a brewery’s/brewer’s skill: Belgian Dubbel, Belgian Quadrupel, and this one. Many breweries are making Sour Ales, but many of them are throwing lactose (or cream cheese!) into the beer and overloading the beer with extremely large amounts of fruit or other “non-traditional” adjuncts…smoothie sours that barely resemble beers when poured in the glass. This beer, La Baie Noir, is showcasing great flavors with fewer components and it shows – there’s not much room to hide mistakes and the sour elements and blackberries shine.

I haven’t had too many dark sour beers, especially recently since I’ve come to enjoy sour beers more. I recall one from Carton Brewing and one from New Belgium, but bothe beers were consumed a good handful of years ago so comparing La Baie Noir to those beers isn’t exactly apt. What I can say is that Four City’s Blackberry Sour is an outstanding beer that should please many craft beer drinkers. It isn’t face-puckering sour, but sour enough to establish itself as a sour beer. The blackberry flavor is wonderful. A nice dessert beer, for sure.

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

Untapped badges earned with this beer:

Fruits of Your Labor (Level 19)

It’s been a long day and now it’s time for a reward. Crisp, tasty and refreshing, enjoy that delicious fruit beer! That’s 5 different beers with the style of Fruit Beer, Sour – Smoothie / Pastry, or Sour – Fruited (Gose or Berliner Weisse).

Beer Review: Lumberjack Sap from Readington Brewery and Hop Farm

Beer Review

Name: Lumberjack Sap
Brewing Company: Readington Brewery and Hop Farm
Location: Neshanic Station, NJ
Style: Dark Ale
ABV: 7.1%

An interesting, fun beer from one of New Jersey’s newest breweries.

From Readington Brewery’s Instagram post for the beer:

Ale created entirely with sap tapped from the maple trees on our property.

When a brewery opens up less than 2 miles from your front door, that’s a good thing. What’s even better is that each time I’ve visited and sampled the beer at Readington Breweryand Hop Farm, I can taste improvement. They’ve had traditional styles like Pilsners, Dunkelweizens, and IPAs, but the brewery has also had some playfully crafty styles like this beer made with Maple Syrup.

The beer I’m given looks like maple syrup, which is not a shock. There’s a slight maple aroma, again, that’s expected.

First sip is a delight. There’s a nice malty element, but the maple is the most prominent flavor component. I’ve had issues with some beers that feature maple syrup, some have been far too overpowering and cloying or even an unpleasant sour taste. This beer, Lumberjack Sap, has a wonderful balance. The maple flavor is omnipresent, but not over dominant, if that makes sense. Through and through, this is a beer.

I really like how the sweetness from the maple sap plays with the carbonation. It is pleasant and makes you to keep drinking more, and that’s important. Of course the “wants to make you keep drinking it” is important. Also important is the fact that, carbonation is a main characteristic of beer and the carbonation here proves that yes, this is indeed a beer.

If I can level any criticism at the beer is that it felt a little thin on the body. For 7.1% ABV, I’d expect the beer to have a bit more thickness to it.

This beer is called a “Dark Ale,” which is a rather wide descriptor. It isn’t a stout by any means, nor is it a porter. It isn’t hoppy enough to be considered a Black IPA or Cascadian Ale. Regardless of what this beer style is, the flavors are delicious.

I’ve had Readington Brewery’s Pilsner, Dubbel and others and they’ve all been quite tasty. This beer is unique and interesting and the kind of one-off / small batch beer that makes visiting a brewery so much fun. You’ll likely always find something interesting like this beer and I hope to enjoy fun one-offs (as well as many other beers on their tap list) like this in future visits to Readington Brewery and Hop Farm.

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

Beer Review: Burlington Beer Co.’s Beekeeper

Beer Review

Name: Beekeeper
Brewing Company: Burlington Beer Company
Location: Burlington, VT
Style: IPA – Imperial / Double New England/Hazy
ABV: 9%

My first sampling of a Burlington Beer Co beer is a delicious, sweet hoppy IPA that should have wide appeal to craft beer drinkers.

From Burlington Beer Co.’s landing page for the beer:

Beekeeper is a New England style Honey Double IPA brewed with an absolutely absurd quantity of Vermont Honey. Heavily hopped with Simcoe, Cascade, and Amarillo to provide flavors and aromas of Dank Weed, Ripe Peaches, and a bouquet of Fresh cut Flowers.

Cans of Burlington Beer Company started appearing on shelves in coolers here in NJ over the last 6 months to year, the majority of which are their IPAs. I’ve been looking to sample one of their beers since then, but was looking for something slightly outside their main/flagship IPAs. When this beer, brewed with an “absurd” amount of honey, showed up at one of my local liquor stores, I found the one to ry.

The first thing that stands out to me is this really cool can art. It fits with what seems to be the branding for Burlington Beer Company; the complementary colors of yellow/gold and blue, really pops out.

Out of the can, the liquid that fills my glass could easily be mistaken for orange juice shaken vigorously just prior to being poured in the glass. In other words, it fits the mold of a Hazy IPA. I breathe in the beer and get mostly hops on the nose. Again, pretty much what I expect.

I finally take a first taste/sip of the beer and my palate is greeted with bold hops of the tropical nature. Maybe peaches like the description says, but more of a mélange of juicy flavors. There’s some thick dankness to the beer, too. I’m pleased there isn’t a strong bitter finish, which is probably from the abundance of honey that coats the entire flavor profile. It isn’t too sweet, rather it is quite delicious.

Burlington calls this a “Honey IPA” and I can’t argue the name. Beekeeper is undoubtedly an IPA with all the hoppy goodness one would expect, but the sweet honey flavor is in harmonious balance with the blend of the Simcoe, Cascade, and Amarillo hops. Simcoe is a hop that will call to me if I see it as a predominant hop in an IPA, it strikes a nice balance between the piney/bitter West Coast IPA, but also has some nice tropical hints that work well in the Hazy/New England IPAs.

All told, Beekeeper is a damned fine beer. It is the type of IPA that will appeal to beer drinkers who have some aversions to hop-forward beers, but is hoppy enough and has a strong enough IPA profile to appeal to die hard hop heads.

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

Beer Review: Ashton Brewing’s Shore de Garde

Beer Review

Name: Shore De Garde
Brewing Company: Ashton Brewing
Location: Middlesex, NJ
Style: Farmhouse – Bière de Garde
ABV: 7.8%

A fantastic take on a relatively obscure Farmhouse Ale demonstrates the high quality beer I’ve come to expect from Ashton Brewing.

From Ashton Brewing’s landing page for beers:

The 2021 Motown MASH Best of Show winner, Erik Shore, created this delicious country ale. It is a Bière de Garde, which is a French Farmhouse Ale. This beer is malty, clean, dry and smooth. Truly a keeper.

I’ve been really enjoying the beers coming out of Ashton Brewing over the last couple of years, regardless of style. I happened to stop in recently and saw this beer on draught, a style I don’t see often – Bière de Garde, a French Farmhouse Saison-type of ale which translates as “beer for keeping.” Whereas a Farmhouse Ale of the Saison variety is lighter in color, like straw, a Bière de Garde is a little more malty and darker in color. As such, I don’t have too much to compare Shore de Garde against, with the exception of Two Roads’s tasty Holiday Ale.

Before getting the full pour, Donna (one of the owners) kindly allowed me a sip/small taste of this beer and the Saison/Farmhouse they had on draught that day. Both were good, but this one was different enough that I wanted the full pour.

The beer I’m given is a relatively clear golden-burnt umber color. It looks relatively unique, which is enticing. Aroma…I didn’t get anything out of the ordinary on the aroma portion of the show, so I dive in for my first sip.

First taste…is both unique and somewhat familiar. I think the yeast elements give the beer some familiarity, kind of what I’d expect from a Saison or Farmhouse Ale. But the malt character…that’s what is unique, at least what I expect in this style of beer. There’s a sweetness that is rather different from most Farmhouse Ales I’ve enjoyed. The fruitiness is more earthy, maybe figginess and dates? Whereas the Saison side of Farmhouse evokes more of a banana flavor.

This is a very surprising, pleasant beer. The more I drink, the more I enjoy it. It is a fun beer in many ways, in terms of trying to determine what flavors are coming from the yeast and malt combination, and quite delightful.

As the description calls out, this beer is a product of MASH. As I noted in my Brewery Spotlight for Ashton Brewing, Steve is a member of MASH (Morris Area Society of Homebrewers) and I think this is the second beer (at least) that is a product a MASH contest and it is a damned fine one at that. Donna mentioned to me that the batch on draught that day was essentially a test batch and that it did well enough that Ashton will be canning this beer with the next full batch. This is a unique style, a flavorful, well-crafted ale that is worth seeking out.

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

Draught Diversions: February 2022 Six Pack

Draught Diversion

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…

Sixpack_2022_Feb

Another Six Pack that was somewhat difficult to construct. For one reason, I had multiple beers from a couple different breweries so deciding which beer from those breweries would be represented made the list of “new to me” beers I had this month somewhat long. I also had a vast range of styles this month, with multiple Belgian styles part of the overall group. I settled on a very tasty six pack with a pretty decent variety of styles even if at least one of the breweries in the pack will NOT be a shock.

Without further adieu, here is the February 2022 Six Pack…

Barrel Aged Bullhala (Bolero Snort Brewery) | Porter – Baltic | 3.75 Bottle Caps on untappd

Bolero_BA_Bullhalla

It has been quite a while since I had a new-to-me Bolero beer, but this one called out to me. I’ve been seeking out Baltic porters and this beer, aged in Bourbon barrels, hit the spot. Good flavor profile, the bourbon was more potent than I’d expect from a beer with a 9.5% ABV. On the other hand, it was a little thinner than I’d expect. Despite those two slights, the beer was still quite tasty.

Evermore (Readington Brewery & Hop Farm) | Wheat Beer – Dunkelweizen | 4.25 Bottle Caps on untappd

Readington_Evermore

Here’s a first for the lineage of the Six Pack posts at The Tap Takeover…back-to-back months featuring Dunkelweizens! I made a second visit to Readington Brewery and Hop Farm, the newest brewery in my area (less than 2 miles away) and was very pleased to see an improvement in the beers. Not that they were undrinkable that first visit, but needed some work. I was very impressed with this Dunkelweizen, Evermore, which was dialed in quite nicely to the style. I wouldn’t be surprised if Reading Brewery will be appearing in the six packs in the future.

Wolfe’s Neck (Maine Beer Company Brewery) | IPA – American | 4.50 Bottle Caps on untappd

MainBeerCo_WolfCreek

Maine Beer Company makes outstanding IPAs and Wolfe’s Neck is another delicious example. A fantastic blend of hops with a dialed-in hop flavor, great malt character, and overall, perfectly balanced. This is one of the cleanest IPAs I’ve ever had, completely dialed-in and elegant.

Decimate (Icarus Brewing Company) | Lager – Japanese Rice | 4.25 Bottle Caps on untappd

Icarus_Decimate

A visit to Icarus means I had a few new Icarus beers from which to choose for this six pack. I went with the new Lager they canned (although I thoroughly enjoyed their Altbier, Thee Points). Decimate is a Japanese Rice Lager, where the Rice makes up a significant portion of the grain bill. Into that, Jason and his crew of brewers added Lemongrass for a nice refreshing finish. Another example how awesome Icarus Brewing’s low ABV lagers are.

Jovial (Tröegs Independent Brewing) | Belgian Dubbel | 4.25 Bottle Caps on untappd

Troegs_Jovial

I’ve said it before (or at least hinted at it), but Tröegs might be my favorite Pennsylvania brewery. They brew across every style and do so with impressive quality. This Dubbel, originally brewed for co-owner Chris Trogner’s wedding, is a year-round release and a damned fine interpretation of the classic Belgian dark ale. Wonderful sweetness, hints of raisin and bananas makes this as good a Dubbel as you’ll find from even a brewery from Belgium.

La Trappe Tripel (Bierbrouwerij De Konigshoeven) | Belgian Tripel | 4.25 Bottle Caps on untappd

LaTrappe_Tripel

One of my favorite meals (Pork Chops marinated/brined in Tripel) is from this cookbook, Cooking with Beer. Not a lot of the Tripel is required so I was delighted when I saw a 750ml bottle of this in one of my local bottle shops since I love La Trappe Quadrupel. Their Tripel, this beer, is almost as good which is to say that it is a world class, outstanding beer. Perfect elements from the yeast imparting sweetness and fruitiness, just a perfectly rounded beer.

There you have it, the February 2022 Six Pack.