Peak Organic Brewing – The Tap Takeover

Draught Diversions: A Wishlist 6-pack for New Jersey

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…

Last week, the Brewer’s Association released two lists:
Top 50 Craft Brewing Companies
Top 50 Overall Brewing Companies

There is, of course, some overlap on the two lists as the Association’s definition of Craft Beer/Craft Brewery allows for such overlap. For example, much as I enjoy a Yuengling Summer Wheat, I don’t know that I (or many hop-heads like myself) would consider Yuengling a craft brewery in the same way (for example) Allagash or Treehouse are craft breweries. Be that as it may, it got me thinking. There are quite a few breweries on the Top 50 Craft list who brew a significant amount of beer and who don’t (yet) distribute into NJ. As a result, I’ve come up with a brief, relatively plausible, “wish list” of breweries whose beers I’d love to see on shelves in NJ bottle shops and liquor stores. Also, just to clarify, not all of my wish list breweries are on this list.

Like some of my past features, I’ll do this as a 6-pack. I could probably make a “case” (or 24) breweries I’d like to see distribute their beers into NJ, but for now, I’ll go with 6. These are breweries with some combination of iconic beers, beers I see friends from outside NJ checking into untappd, a brewery whose beers I had by chance, plus one brewery I visited many, many years ago. I’m not including smaller breweries like the Alchemist and Treehouse who largely sell their beers only at the brewery or within the state where they are located.

As with most of these types of posts, I’ll go alphabetical.

August Schell Brewing Co in New Ulm, MN

When the opening statement on the main website is “We are German Craft Beer” how could I not want their beers available to me? From what I’ve gathered (Hi Joe!), their Hefeweizen is extremely well-regarded. My favorite style, especially in summer months, isn’t the most popular of craft beer styles, so it would be nice to have a solid go-to of the style available consistently. Much as I love the German brewers traditional Hefeweizens I do enjoy a well-constructed homage to the style, too.

Bell’s Brewery in Comstock, MI

I’ve had two beers from the great, renowned Michigan craft brewery and loved them both. If they were both available here in NJ, I’d have them in my refrigerator regularly, especially Oberon Ale in the summer. I was lucky enough to get a couple bottles of Oberon’s Ale last year in a bottle trade with a former co-worker.

When I had Two Hearted Ale for the first time, it blew me away. I couldn’t believe how much I enjoyed the IPA. The other brews from Bells can be found here, those in the image above I cobbled from the beer images on Bell’s Web site look especially appealing to me.

I’m fairly close to the Pennsylvania border (about 30 minutes away) do I can probably grab some of their beer if I cross the Delaware river, but it sure would be nice to be able to go to my local Gary’s and grab a 12 pack of Oberon’s Ale in the summer.

Deschutes Brewery (Bend, OR)

Deschutes is one of the early American Craft Beer pioneers, founded in 1998 in Oregon, a state renowned for craft beer. Their flagship beer is one that is squarely in my wheelhouse: Black Butte Porter. Deschutes is also near the top of American Craft Breweries (#10 on the list of 50) so they are quite large and the possibility for their appealing brews appearing on NJ shelves is quite plausible. Especially since they are building an East Coast production facility in Virginia with beers set to roll out in 2021. I think I just need to be patient for these beers.

Peak Organic Brewing (Portland, ME)

Photo courtesy Peak Organic Brewing’s Facebook page

I’ve written about this brewery twice already and both times I lamented the fact that they don’t distribute into New Jersey. I’m not sure how a can of their Happy Hour snuck into Wegmans, though I suspect that may have something to do with Wegman’s being based in New York.

Having enjoyed three of their beers a great deal, I’d really love to try more of their lineup, including a Ginger Saison, Sweet Tart Blueberry Sour Ale, Super Fresh Pilsner, and a Maple Porter.

Pike Brewing (Seattle, WA)

Image courtesy of Pike Brewing’s Web Site

Pike is probably the most westerly of any brewery in today’s post. About 20 years ago or so, I went on a business trip to Seattle and I really adored the city. I liked the wharf area, the great seafood and I spent a happy hour or two at Pike Brewing and I remember really enjoying the stout I had, which was probably the Extra XXXXX Stout. I still have the pint glass from my visit. I suspect this brewery hitting New Jersey shelves might be the biggest longshot.

Three Floyds Brewing Company in Munster, IN

Bottle images courtesy of 3 Floyds Facebook page

Three Floyds is one of the most renowned craft brewers in the Midwest. Their Dark Lord Imperial Stout is a brewery only release and is one of the most well-received beers in the country. Of course, that specific beer would likely NOT be in distribution, but their Zombie Dust Pale Ale probably would be, as would Robert the Bruce, a wonderfully appealing Scotch Ale. I’d love to try Alpha Klaus, which is their winter porter.

Their beer labels are really cool, too. They appeal to the lifelong comic book/science fiction/fantasy/horror geek that I am. Not only that, a comic book series from Image comics was even published in honor of the brewery!

A quick look through their beers on untappd, has their full line-up of beers at a 4.03 bottle cap average and of the beers some of my unappd friends have had, I don’t think anything was below a 4.25.

Between these six breweries, I would have many beers to explore and enjoy. Take a moment and let me know in the comments (or email or twitter) what breweries I mention from NJ or the area you’d like to see and try.

Beer Review: Peak Organic Happy Hour Pilsner

Beer Review

Name: Happy Hour
Brewing Company: Peak Organic Brewing Company
Location: Portland, ME
Style: Pilsner – German
ABV: 4.7%

From the Peak Organic’s Landing Page for the beer:

Happy Hour is a masterfully designed pilsner. Built to be crisp, clean and crushable. This beer is easygoing and pairs well with everything, including another beer! With this new pilsner, it’s always Happy Hour.

Over the last year or so, I’ve come to appreciate the elegance of a well-crafted Pilsner. The style has drawn some bad rap because of mass-produced tasteless light/Lite beers. If you hear from brewers or some folks deeply entrenched in the beer community; however, great Pilsners are held in very high regard.

Peak Organic is based out of Maine and they don’t yet distribute into NJ. I had a couple of their beers (including a fantastic Pilsner) at the Philadelphia Bacon and Beer Festival last year, so when I saw a can of their beer in Wegman’s for a Mixed Six Pack, I knew I had to grab it.

I am glad I did. On the other hand, I’m a little frustrated, because (as I just said) Peak isn’t yet distributed into NJ.

Out of the can, the beer pours a bright golden yellow. If I’m going to be honest, then the aroma doesn’t stand out too much. I mean, it smells like a beer should smell and that just makes me want to drink it.

This is one of the lighter Pilsners I’ve had, but that doesn’t detract from the taste at all. If anything, this beer is full of flavor and wonderfully refreshing. Like the best Pilsners, the malt and hop blend nicely to give the beer a really consistent taste. The first sip is a pop of flavor that, when cold, is extremely refreshing. As the can says, this is a crushable beer, one you can throw back to refresh your thirst with a really straightforward taste with superb, clean finish. This is a beer you’re going to want to finish while cold.

If you want to think of it one way, Happy Hour from Peak Organic is almost an entry-level craft beer. Folks who are usually wary of craft beer because they associate “craft beer” with hopped up IPAs or boozy stouts should give this one a try. Especially given the name, this is a beer that is one you’d bring to a party to share with anybody and everybody. Full of enough taste to please craft beer drinkers, and approachable enough not to deter non-craft drinkers, Peak Organic’s Happy Hour is a winner regardless of how you cut it. As the old adage goes, this beer does exactly what it says on the can!

Peak Organic, as the name implies, uses organic ingredients in the beer and based on Happy Hour and the tastings I had of their other two beers, that freshness really shows. I just hope these fine folks are able to fully distribute into New Jersey.

Highly Recommended, link to Untappd 4.25-star rating.

Draught Diversions: Bacon and Beer Classic Philadelphia

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…

With the growing popularity of Craft Beer by drinkers and the proliferation of smaller/micro/craft breweries across the country, beer festivals seem to happen every weekend. At least throughout the New Jersey/Pennsylvania/New York area, I think it averages out to one beer festival per weekend through October. (While some weekends don’t have any beer festivals, there are multiple weekends where multiple festivals are held).

This past weekend, I (along with my wife, brother-in-law, and his girlfriend) attended the Bacon and Beer Classic in Philadelphia. This was held at the end of Philly Beer week (June 1 to 11). The B and B Classic is nationwide festival held in various cities, one is being held at Citifield in New York, Soldier Field in Chicago last October, and Safeco Field in Seattle a few months ago, among others. I’ve attended quite a few beer festivals (The Garden State Brew Festival for the past five years, a couple of others in Philadelphia), but this was the first that was more than beer. In the end, that uniqueness compared to the other festivals I attended was what set this one apart. I also really like the taster “glass” we were given, it looks like a red Solo Cup but is made of I’m guessing ceramic.

The festival was held at Schmidt’s Commons, sit of the old Schmidt Brewery. Urban Village Brewing Company, a brewpub that had opened it’s doors a week prior to the festival, is conveniently located at the commons. Dan Goldman, founder of the brewery, was pouring beer: Beach Day Belgian Blonde, which set the bar for the festival and a fantastic Oatmeal Stout. Dan also happened to be on Al Gatullo’s Craft Beer cast a couple of weeks ago.

Next up was the Iron Hart Brewing tent and boy was I surprised with Industrial Lager, the lager they were pouring. I can’t recall tasting a lager with such a pleasant malt/caramel profile. It still maintained the characteristics of the lager, but the higher malt was a nice balance. Also in that immediate area of the Commons was Shiner, pouring their Homespun Cream Ale which was very pedestrian. Root Down was pouring a style not many brewers are making – an Altbier they call 3 Legged Rabbit, which was a nice surprise. Their Pale Wheat, Slag was on the hoppy end for Pale Wheats.

Harpoon was one of the non-Pennsylvania breweries in attendance and they were pouring their UFO Witbier and Camp Wannamango, their Pale Wheat Ale with Mango. I’d had UFO plenty of times previously so passed on it to save room for other beers, but I did go for the Camp Wannamango only once before, so I wanted to give a try on draft. What a wonderful summer beer, the mango is a perfect addition for flavor and sweetness, but not too much sweetness. I need to stock my cooler with this over the summer.

Next to them was venerable PA brewery Weyerbacher, pouring the blonde Mellow Monks (which I’ve had before and enjoyed) and Line Street Pilsner which is a nice crisp pilsner well-suited to summer. Next to them was Green Flash Brewing, pouring an IPA (I passed) and Passion Fruit Kicker, a wheat ale with Passion Fruit. Sweet and tart, the beer borders on sour, but seems well-suited to warm weather.

I made my way to another non-PA brewery after that, Peak Organic Brewing Company from Maine. They were pouring two beers, Summer Session Ale and Fresh Cut. Summer Session Ale is similar to Founders’ All Day IPA but the wheat base cuts the bite of the hops, which is quite welcome. Fresh Cut is the brewery’s flagship beer, a wonderful Pilsner that I wish was available in NJ. It is everything a Pilsner should be for my beer drinking sensibilities, but with slightly less hop bitterness

Out in the center of the commons, Twin Lakes poured an IPA (I passed) and Caesar Rodney Golden Ale a slightly hopped Blonde. One of my favorite breweries, also a non-PA brewery, Great Lakes Brewing was pouring two beers, their Commodore Perry IPA and Turntable Pils, a tasty Pilsner.

Guinness was there pouring some of their staples, including a new Irish Wheat, which was a surprisingly tasty Witbier. I say surprising because their American Blonde is not very drinkable. The only NJ brewery at the festival was Forgotten Boardwalk, I had another try of their Funnel Cake a tasty, but almost too sweet cream ale. Lagunitas, from Californa, was pouring their Pils which is a passable Pilser, but like many of their beers, the hop profile is strong and doesn’t quite sync up with my taste buds.

There’s usually at least one cidery at most of these beer festivals and this was no different – Jack’s Hard Cider was pouring an Apple Hard Cider and Peach Cider. I can’t recall ever seeing Peach cider, but this was really tasty. The Peach was a nice sweet addition to the apple base.

I closed out my beer tastings with two from venerable Philadelphia brewery Saint Benjamin’s Brewing Company. I’ve had their Wit or Witout in the past, but during that session, they were pouring Franklin’s Abbey Dubbel, a Belgian Dubbel and quite good and Inca a cream ale. I think I’ll need to visit this brew pub on a future visit to Philadelphia.

One food guy was grilling up sliders which were great. Hormel, one of the main sponsors, was giving out what seemed to be all varieties of their bacon (about 6 or 8 in total) and some delicious pork belly. Some other bacon samplings included bacon wrapped hush puppies, bacon/fish tasters, fried bacon mac and cheese, and bacon topped waffles.

While I didn’t have quite as many different beers at this festival as I have at other festivals (over 35 at this past year’s Garden State Brewfest), the quality was very good across the 18 I did have. Also, plenty of bacon samples and bacon infused/dishes. I’d definitely give this one another try, maybe even in New York next year as the event is held in many locations.