New Brew Thursday: 'Nite Lite' from Night Shift Brewing

The other weekend when I was in Boston I stopped by my old liquor store, Brookline Liquor Mart, and said hello to some friends and picked up some beer. One of the beers I grabbed was Nite Lite from Night Shift Brewery.

Nite Lite is a light lager does not skimp on the flavor and is infinitely better than any light lager I have ever had. Now my affinity for lagers is nothing new here and when I first heard about this beer it was something that I just had to try. It pours just like you atypical beer and like most lagers the head disappears within a few minutes.

The best word to describe this beer is crisp, as from top to bottom it is just that. The smell is crisp, the taste is crisp, the finish is crisp, and the mouthfeel is (and you'll never guess this one) very light and crisp. Night Shift on their website states that they made this beer to combat the notion that a light lager can't be both flavorful and drinkable. This beer is both of those things and is absolutely perfect for the tailgates, the summertime, or whenever you feel like something light and refreshing.

New Brew Thrusday: 'Thank You (2019)' from Maine Beer Company

Years ago when I was working at a liquor store in Boston, Brookline Liquor Mart, I would typically work on Thursdays when some of our new beer would come in and I would try to buy something new that I had never had before in the name of exploration and to better serve the customers. I still carry on this tradition in order to push my own horizons and to keep exploring the world of craft beer. However, I often buy new beers all the time and now I try to save them for a Thursday rather than just buying them on Thursdays. Now, I share that tradition with you and start with the appropriately named Thank You from Maine Beer Company.

Thank You 2018 from Maine Beer Company is a very, very nice IPA that I purchased at the brewery a few months ago. It is a very floral and piney smelling IPA with the taste to match it. It also has a very bitter finish that will linger on your tongue for minutes afterwards. It's got a fairly light mouthfeel as well and is a relatively simple and non-complex taste for a very good east coast style of IPA. On Untappd (profile on the right) I gave it a four out of five. A beer I would definitely recommend because while it is not an overpoweringly hoppy IPA if you like an IPA with a good, solid hop taste that is a little boozy (7% and it does not taste like it) this is a solid bet.

My Favorite Beer

I routinely talk about most beers/breweries in the terms of them being "one of my favorites." However,  I have always said that my absolute favorite beer is 'Heavy Mettle' from Trillium. I have said before that IPAs are my favorite style and this double IPA is everything that I love in an good IPA. I love everything there is to love about this beer. I love the artwork on the can, I love the way it pours in a glass, I love the way it looks in that glass, I love the way it smells, and I love its mouthfeel. I love this beer and every time Trillium brews it and posts it to their Instagram it makes my day. 

The artwork on the can is clean and simple, the same logo that also appears on the 'Mettle' cans on the far left with the name prominently displayed in the dead center of the can. It pours into the glass almost like a nitro beer as it cascades down the glass with the head that is white as fresh snow. Its bright-yellow, hazy appearance in the glass that really showcases the dry-hopped Galaxy hop look that is a thing of pure beauty. Then when the can is rolled and the sediment at the bottom of the can is poured into the glass and gives the beer a darker, yellow hue while keeping the bright-white head. The incredibly sweet, citrus notes it gives off to entices you to take a sip like a cartoon pie on a windowsill and then that first sip. Even though it has an ABV of 9.3%  the mouthfeel is amazingly light and does not suffer from an overly heavy and boozy that most IPAs with that percentage do. The initial taste that really showcases those Galaxy hops so full of citrus with an incredibly bitter finish that can only come from the Amarillo hops that lingers on your tongue long after the beer is gone. However on that next sip you still get that full hit of Galaxy with the same light mouthfeel but the bitterness from the Amarillo, the bitterness from that previous sip, just amplifies each time. It it THE definitive pallet wrecker. 

If you like devastatingly hoppy  IPAs with a bitter finish then this is your beer. What is your favorite beer? Let me know below. 

Stout Day

Happy (belated) Stout Day everyone and sorry for the long gap in posting. Sometimes the 'Lawyer' part of the title gets in the way of the 'Drinking' part. I was able to celebrate properly with one of my favorite stouts, 'Blackjack' from Tilted Barn. This pumpkin stout is made with pumpkins that they grow on their farm. I was first able to try it last year out of sheer curiosity, I never was (and still are not) a fan of pumpkin beer but a stout brewed with freshly grown pumpkins was something that I just had to try. Roughly one hour and one four pack later I had my prize and was excited to try it.

Most pumpkin beers really dial up the pumpkin flavor resulting in an overly sweet, spiced, overpowering taste with the notes to go along with it. 'Blackjack' does not. The pumpkin adds a level of sweetness to this amazingly robust stout and the batch this year does not disappoint. Unfortunately, the cans have sold out and there is likely only a limited amount left at the barn for the year so I would recommend strongly going down there for a pour ASAP.

What's in a name?

It is a question often reserved for men and roses that can equally apply to beer. I mention this because this past week saw the release of one of my favorite line of sours from Proclamation Brewery, the 'Alpaca Magi' series. Now a few years ago I did not like sours but over time I began to acquire the taste and now sours are one of my favorite styles and the beer that really jump-started my love of sours was 'The Unyielding Wrath of the Alpaca Magi' an American Wild Ale. I first tried it when I was at the Second Annual Ocean State Beer Fest. I was at the Proclamation table trying their beers and after striking up a conversation with one of the brewers he had asked if I liked sours and when I replied that I did they mentioned that they had a bottle of their sour that they were going to open and that I should try it if I were interested... I was. Then I asked what the name of the beer was and once I heard it I just had to try it. The beer was the perfect American Wild Ale, a devastatingly sour beer with a great light mouthfeel. 

This year's 'Alpaca' is called 'The Tropical Excursion of the Alpaca Magi' and it is quite good. While I do like the other ones better it is still a very good sour. Proclamation has an amazing sour program and an even better job with their names for their sours. The other night I had split a bottle of another one of their sours 'Breathing Life into a Dead Ghost' a name so interesting, so awe inspiring, that upon hearing it you have to know what a beer with that name would taste like. This beer is much more crisp and lighters than an 'Alpaca' beer but it was still well worth it.

This lead me to a more philosophical question about the name making the beer or the beer making the name. If you're a brewer and you brew an amazing beer with a somewhat lackluster name will the beer live up to its full potential? Or if you are a brewer and brew a somewhat lackluster beer but give it a stunning name will it make the beer better? I tend to think that a good beer will always shine regardless of the name but with that being said though, you name your beer something weird/funny and it is a guarantee I will try it.

Lager Kick

I have briefly touched on the fact that my favorite style are IPAs, it's been that way ever since I first started to get into craft beer when I was *cough* 21 *cough* with Harpoon's flagship IPA. However every so often I will go on a 'kick' and only seek out beers of a certain style and recently that style has been lagers. Lagers have always had a special place in my heart simply because for a period of time you would only seem them in the domestic macro breweries and imports. Craft lagers are few and far between and typically even before this kick, whenever I see a new craft lager either on tap or in the liquor store I like to reward the brewer and try it out. But now I find myself seeking this style out more.

Recently I was at Narragansett Cafe in Jamestown and they had a lager on tap from Ragged Island Brewery called Black Hog* and it was awesome. Very crisp with a good light mouthfeel and a clean finish. It was exactly what I wanted as soon as I heard it listed as a draft offering. The funny part about ordering the beer was the reaction from the bartender. She actually recommended one of the IPA offerings they had then offered me a sample it and then was surprised when I commented on how much I liked the beer. It was exactly what I wanted.

Then, a few nights later I was at Square Peg in Warren. Not only was the food quite good but as luck would have it they had a house lager on tap. This amber lager was light and crisp with a more of a heavier mouthfeel but on a night where it was hot and humid it was the perfect choice.

So the next time you're in the mood for something light and refreshing and you see a craft lager, give it a chance. I hope you're not disappointed.



*The bartender called the beer from Ragged Island 'Black Hog' but I cannot find it on their website and I created the posting on untappd. Either way it was a damned good lager.

Ocean State Beer Fest

Yesterday was the Fourth Annual Ocean State Beer Fest and it was an absolutely amazing. I was lucky enough to attend two years ago and this year's was just as good. You can see my full samplings on Untappd but let me give you the highlights:

Best Beer: Inside Job, Buttonwoods Brewery. This was one of the first beers I wanted to try because 1. I love Buttonwoods and 2. it was listed as a creamsicle sour IPA. It was exceptional. Just the right amount of tart and hoppy that tasted like a creamsicle ice cream bar and my judgment was pretty spot on because of how fast it ran out. I was told that it was only brewed for this event but I hope they do this one again.
Honorable mentions: Fermented 4, Tilted Barn; Barrel Aged Wild Ale - Saison w/ Cherries, Grey Sail; Pineapple Vango, Foolproof

Best Brewery: Grey Sail. Always near the top of my list when I start talking about RI breweries. They really stepped up because they brought six different beers, two of which were at the top of my list and one was a cask (always a BIG fan of cask ales). I was able to try all of their offerings and neither myself nor my friends were disappointed. Already planning my day trip out to Westerly.
Honorable mentions: Tilted Barn, Buttonwoods, Foolproof, Taproot

Biggest Surprise: Taproot. Before yesterday I had never heard of this brewery before as they are not listed on the official Rhode Island Brewers Guild passport. I walked by and saw that they had a porter and was instantly curious. I struck up a conversation with their brewer Kevin and instantly heard his passion for brewing and while I was enjoying just how good the beer was. They also had a New England IPA that was brewed with Hefeweizen yeast that gave the beer this amazing banana taste that blended perfectly with the hops. I will definitely be making the trek out there as soon as possible.
Honorable mentions: Apponaug Brewing, Providence Brewing Company, Ragged Island

Most Unique Beer: Cereza Amarga, Providence Brewing Co. Listed as a MexiCali Light Lager this beer was described to me as a lager infused with tequila. It was actually brewed with cherries, guavas, and lemons that were sitting in Anejo Blanco for a couple of months but that drove the point home. This was a crisp, clean lager that finishes with a slight bite of agave. Definitely worth a trip to try it out.
Honorable mentions: 2 legit to frit, Proclamation; Fruits of Labor, Taproot; Kingston's finest, Shaidzon Beer Co.; Crimson Ghost, Long Live Beerworks

Most Disappointing: Newport Craft Brewing & Distilling Co.. This one hurts to write as an avid fan/supporter. Newport Storm was the brewery that first got me excited about Rhode Island beer but their offerings at the festival just did not do it for me. Rhode Rage is far too malty for me, Comfortably Unaware did not have the same flair as the other New England IPA offerings and 1639 was pretty good but not great. I expected them to pull out all of the stops and bring something truly unique but alas, I was disappointed.

So that was the fourth annual Ocean State Beer Fest. I cannot wait for next year to see what new things the brewing community will bring. Did you attend? If you did how would you fill out your list of best beer, brewery, biggest surprise, most unique, and most disappointing? Comment below.

Hello

Hello world, my name is Nick and just as the title of the blog suggests I am an attorney who very much enjoys craft beer. While spirits (scotch primarily because of obviousness) was something i was always passionate about,  craft beer is something that I have always loved. This is because of how approachable and universal it is, how the different style can be blended together, how beers from different regions can incorporate ingredients from other areas to improve their product, and how all beers from the largest macro-brewery to the smallest home brew tell a story. While that last one is cheesy as hell it is something that I do believe and hope that in the coming weeks, months, and maybe even years you all can join me as I reminisce about old trips and get to make some new memories too. Let's have some fun together!