Ladies of Craft Beer

Posted By: Stevie Caldarola

This past weekend, Lee Williams of Hoptopia and I took a day trip to Philadelphia in order to (belatedly) celebrate his birthday. Lee used to live in Philly and wanted to show me the places that really encouraged his love of craft beer. I hadn’t been to Philly since I was little, so I was excited to experience the great craft beer scene I have heard so much about there.

We took the Bolt Bus to and from Philly (which, by the way, only costs $20 a person and includes power outlets and wi-fi). After a quick stop at Reading Terminal market, we headed to Nodding Head for lunch, where I had a beautiful hoppy black ale on cask called Marauder.

The highlight of our day was when we headed to Yards Brewing Company. Lee had actually never been before, so it was a new experience for both of us. Yards has a great industrial space right near the river. While it was a cold walk there from the subway, it was totally worth it. The front room of the brewery is a space with both an open and homey feel. It houses a beautiful bar made from refurbished bowling lanes, a pool table made decades ago from a local business, and a tabletop shuffleboard game, which is one of my favorite bar activities. The walls are full of either large and colorful chalkboards showing what’s on the menu (food, beer and merch) or with enlarged bottle labels. The servers were friendly and knowledgeable- even when the place got packed. The food looked amazing (although we were full from Nodding Head, so we didn’t get to sample it) and the flights were $5- Five Dollars!

Yards offers brewery tours on Saturdays from 1-4 PM. Tours are about 30 – 45 minutes long, and are a pretty fun ride. Our tour guide works as a packager in the brewery and told us lots of fun anecdotes along the way. Here are some pictures of our tour:

With the free tour came tastes of two separate brews (for us it was the IPA and the Thomas Jefferson’s Tavern Ale) and if you bought beer from the bar when the tour was starting, the bartender would give it to you in a plastic glass so that you could carry it on the tour. It was a great experience that I recommend for anyone visiting the Philly area.

After Yards we moved on to the South Philadelphia Tap Room. Wow- what a place. The food was amazing (and I only had the Chips and Dips starter) and the beer list- don’t even get me started. They had Lost Abbey Deliverance on their bottle list. I believe SP Tap Room is fairly new. The atmosphere was just the right amount of relaxed and busy. The only downside was that SP Tap Room was off the beaten path, but it was definitely worth the visit.

After the Tap Room, we ventured a twenty minute walk to Monk’s Cafe, but it was so packed that we couldn’t even fit in the door. Instead, we went back to Nodding Head and finished out the day exactly the way we started, which was a much better choice in my book.

Because of the vast amount of things related to craft beer to do in Philly, we’re taking another trip there in March. With the way this first visit went, I can’t wait to get back there and see some more sites!

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Originally posted 2011-01-17 12:02:27.

Posted By: Kim Riemann

While Bukowski's in Boston made the Draft magazine list, we always enjoy a visit to Lord Hobo too.

Draft Magazine came out with their list of 100 Best Beer Bars around the nation.  I don’t admire them this task (though it would definitely be fun trying them all out) because I think it might be hard for me to decide which of the many bars would be my favorite.  So I got to thinking, what criteria would I use to decide my favorite beer bar.  Here’s what I came up with:

1. First and foremost, I don’t care how many taps you boast, if you don’t have an interesting selection (i.e., 36 taps that contain products from AB, Miller or Coors just don’t cut it).  My local place, George Street Alehouse, only has 12 taps. One dedicated to either Miller or PBR (for the football crowd), one dedicated to Guiness and the rest switch so often, featuring things from Porters to IPAs, Belgian Strongs to cider that the number of different styles and beers I’ve tried since they opened a year ago has skyrocketed.

2. Knowledge.  I like a place where the bartenders and servers are knowledgeable about their products. They know what’s on tap, the style of beer, where it was brewed and if I describe the type of beer I like, they can make a good recommendation.

3. Friendly.  I love being a regular but I also love going to a new place, sitting at the bar and being made to feel like I belong by both the staff and the local patrons.  Basically, is it run and patronized by fellow beer geeks? Because if it is, you’re always going to meet interesting people, ready, willing and able to share their love of brew.

I’ve got some minor thoughts on the subject, things like food (not necessary but always a plus), television (I do like to watch football and baseball, decent soundtrack) but the above are my top three.

How about you all? How do you judge a good beer bar?

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Posted By: Julia Taylor

The holidays have arrived and, not only are there an overwhelming supply of cookies, cakes, and candies tempting us at every turn, but our favorite brewers are also releasing delicious, rich, and complex ales in honor the season, which only compounds the holiday spread.  Draft Magazine’s Beer Runner, Tim Cigelske, proposed a holiday beer run streak , where you  run at least one mile and drink at least one beer per day starting on Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day.  Unfortunately, my plantar fasciitis flared up on day 5, so my streak ended before December even arrived.  Luckily, a few days off my feet was all I needed to be ready for my upcoming beer running weekend to Virginia Beach and Williamsburg, Virginia for the Samuel Adams Surf-n-Santa-10 miler as well as tours of Beach Brewing and Willamsburg AleWerks.

Aside from the Dogfish Dash, the Surf-n-Santa  is one of my favorite beer runs;  flat course with ocean views, great swag, and the choice of light or dark beer (Boston Lager or Winter Lager) at the finish.  Before a race it is always important to carb load, so after picking up our race packets we headed over to Beach Brewing.  As the newest brewery in VA (Virginia) Beach, it has been open for 14 months and has become very popular with locals and tourists.  While the Tigershark Red is their best seller,  my favorite was the Hoptopus Double IPA with its balanced malt base, eight separate hop additions, plus a generous dry hopping with Amarillo and Simcoe. This hop goddess was very pleased. Unfortunately, we were a week early for the winter seasonal, a Belgian-style Tripel brewed with spices and rock candy and cranberries added to the secondary; but their Jolly Roger Pumpkin Porter was an excellent consolation with its roasted bitterness rounded with the sweetness of pumpkin pie spices.  We also got a sneak taste of their Anniversary Ale, a wheat wine fermented with Saki yeast.  The floral notes from the Saki yeast were the perfect complement to the wheat flavors and the perfect beer to celebrate this flourishing brewery’s first year.

After a quick dash through VA Beach and a Winter Lager, it was time to get ready for the rest of the beercation. I shimmied my skinny jeans over a pair of recovery tights, slipped my tired feet into a pair of cushioned flats, and was ready for the next stop to Gordon Biersch  to replenish my carbs. A mug of Winter Bock, a full-bodied lager with caramel and toffy malts and a hint of holiday spice, and a bowl of chili was the perfect recovery meal.

Fully fueled, it was time to head west towards Williamsburg.  I have been looking forward to visiting Williamsburg AleWerks  since first having their Bourbon Barrel Porter. If you haven’t tried it, I highly recommend you do, as it is one of the most understated and tastiest barrel-aged beers I have ever tried. After a quick tour through their direct fired brick-clad Peter Austin brew house, it was time to hit the tasting room. A solid line up of beers were on tap, from a refreshing wheat to roasty porter, but the Tavern Ale, an American Brown with a rich blend of  caramel, chocolate, and pecans, was my preferred choice until they pulled out the Pumpkin Ale.  We heard great things about this beer and all was confirmed with this taste, loaded with pumpkin pie aroma and flavor, this full-bodied ale also had the mouthfeel of a pumpkin pie. To further attest the quality of this beer, my conservative father not only paid $10.50 for a 6-pack, he went back later for a case.

Sunday arrived and it was time to head home, but first a stop at Mekong in Richmond, VA.   Mekong is known for their authentic Vietnamese cuisine and the area’s largest selection of Belgian and American Craft beers.  I was glad to see they had Hardywood Park  Singel, a Belgian-style Blonde, on tap since we unable to stop by their tasting room. Hardywood Park is the newest brewery inRichmond, and their Singel, a smooth ale with a complementing fruit and spice balance followed by a dry finish, is their only year-round beer.  Their plan is to focus on seasonal brews, and thanks to some good friends, I had a chance to try their Gingerbread Stout. The  imperial milk stout brewed with fresh local honey and ginger was exceptional, tasted just like a gingerbread cookie.

I hope everyone has plans to include some beer running in 2012, and remember, it’s easier to add distance when you’re counting beers instead of miles.

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Posted By: AWeller

For my 40^th birthday, my beloved husband told me I could go anywhere in the world. After briefly considering exotic locations like Morocco or Fiji, I decided I wanted to spend my birthday enjoying the beers of Southern California. It helps that I already have friends in the region and that I am an unrepentant hophead.

In planning the trip, I had a few criteria:

• I didn’t want to drive
• I wanted to be able to bring friends along
• The birthday tour should include Green Flash and Lost Abbey
• The final stop would be dinner at Stone Brewing

Angela Weller visits Green Flash Brewing

In my initial research, I found that the public transit in San Diego was going to be difficult to navigate given the distances between the various breweries and the general radial nature of the transit system in the city.

Luckily, there are several companies which specialize in beer tours of San Diego.  The most affordable was a public tour run by Brewery Tours of San Diego.  Their tours run daily and visit some of the more popular breweries in the area.  Since the public tour itinerary didn’t visit the breweries I wanted, I decided to look at private tour options.  As this was a birthday trip, I was shopping more for the perfect experience than for cost.  I was pleasantly surprised that the difference in cost between the public tours ($65-90) and private tours ($120+) wasn’t prohibitive.

We found that there are many tour operators which offer custom beer tours of San Diego.  They range from general tour companies which just organize a route and provide your driver to full-service beer experts who know the beer, breweries, and brewers.  We opted to go with Brew Hop based on the flexibility of itinerary and the positive reviews on websites like Yelp.

Brew Hop offers customized tours in both San Diego and Seattle.  After our first discussion with Summer, the owner, we knew it was going to be a great time.  Every aspect of planning the trip was perfect.  Summer listened to what I wanted and suggested an itinerary based on our timing and interests.  Given that we were organizing the trip from Canada and coordinating it with friends in Orange County and San Diego, this wasn’t the simplest group to wrangle.  When we had another couple decide to join somewhat last minute, they were accommodated and we were even upgraded to a limo (!!) for the day.  At high-noon on September 18^th, six of us headed out into the beer-y wilds of Southern California for a day of drinking and merriment.

Next post – So how was the birthday limo of beer?

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Posted By: Kim Riemann

I always say Walt Disney World is the happiest place on Earth, but visiting Walt Disney World whilst enjoying some good beer, well, that’s just Nirvana!  That’s what you can do during the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival.

I hear you though: it is called “Food and Wine”… nothing about beer there.  Yet, if you look (and not too hard), you can definitely find some opportunities to try some tasty brews, especially this year with the addition of the Craft Beer Kiosk.

For those that don’t know, from the beginning of October until mid November, Epcot hosts this festival where you can partake not only in small tastes of food, wine and yes, beer, from the standard participating countries, but they also add booths for other countries not normally represented. Last week, we (my husband Chris and I) headed to Orlando to partake in the 16th annual festival for a few days.

Our first day, we went straight to the Food and Wine Festival Pavilion where there’s a bar, some shopping and an area where various vendors come and hold seminars. It’s located in Future World just past Mission Space. We had seen online that someone from Sam Adams was going to be there at noon talking about and providing tastes of some of their beers. The online reservation system reported this seminar as sold-out but when we visited Guest Services we were able to purchase two tickets for $10 each.

That done, and with about an hour to kill, we headed over to the Craft Beer Kiosk, just inside the World Showcase to see what they had on tap. The list consisted of:

• Full Sail IPA
• Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
• Abita Purple Haze
• Red Hook Pilsner (sorry I forgot to return for a taste of this)
• Blue Moon
• Leinenkugel’s Berry Weiss
• Key West Sunset Ale (some patrons at World of Beer Orlando told us other than Cigar City, to stay away from Florida beer, but again, I’m sorry I didn’t give this a shot)
• Widmer Hefeweizen

Chris waiting in line for German beer

Beers poured in 6oz, 12oz or 22 oz at prices of $2.75, $5 ($6.25 for the Sierra Nevada) and $11 or you could get 3, 6oz pours for $8.

We settled on a Full Sale IPA out of Oregon. Chris is a big hop-head and he was pleasantly surprised by the grapefruit overtones.  We sipped this as we made our way over to Norway (and personally, that’s what I think is so cool – walking through the park, drinking beer, I love it!). We’re big fans of the Maelstrom ride – don’t ask me why, cheesy as it is – we do it at least once each time we visit.  Once done, we decided to celebrate with a bit of Carlsberg (the “local” Scandinavian brew)  as we walked back towards the pavilion for our Sam Adams presentation.

Here came our first disappointment of the trip, after waiting for fifteen minutes to be let into the seating area, and another 40 minutes for the presenter from Sam Adams, he never showed!  We did get tastes of Sam Adams Boston Lager, Oktoberfest and their Latitude 48 IPA but nothing equivalent to $10 worth of beer, especially as we were really there to hear the representative speak about the beer. This being one of only two “beer events” on the actual Food and Wine Festival schedule, I found it extremely poor form (especially later when a park employee told us this is the second year in a row the presenter from Sam Adams failed to appear).  We did get our money back though.

Kim, what's left of her beer, and the Viking

Which leads me to my second disappointment, the other beer event that I saw on the calendar entailed a pizza and beer pairing of Italian Beers in Epcot’s Italian restaurant, Via Napoli.  Unfortunately, by the time I found out about this event, it was sold out. Being a proponent of the Craft Beer Movement in Italy, I’m still upset by this missed opportunity.

No worries though, we returned to the World Showcase and continued our travels around “the world” sampling more beer (and to be honest, some wine too).  Over the next two days we tried Pipe Line Porter (bold and smooth all at once) from Kona brewing in Hawaii, more of that Full Sail IPA, all sorts of brews at the Rose & Crown pub (including a cider, though mostly their products came from AB InBev) as well as a few repeat visits to Germany.  There we thought the Braufactum Roog quite tasty, smoky yet not overpowering, the Altenmunster Dunkel from Allgäuer Brauhaussmooth and with a bit of caramel and the Altemuster Oktoberfest left us both feeling a little flat; it was a bit … bland.

After speaking with a representative from Disney as we waited for the no-show Sam Adams rep, I’m hopeful that they’re recognizing the “grown” craft beer movement in the country (let’s face it, we’re almost a tidal wave now), and will continue to expand the opportunities for experiencing new and different craft beers from our country and around the world at future Epcot International Food and Wine Festivals.  Who knows … maybe in a few years it will finally be the Epcot International Food, Wine and Craft Beer Festival.

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Posted By: Julia Taylor

As the days grow shorter and the nights become longer and cooler, flip flops are replaced with fuzzy sweaters, and wheat beers move way for malty lagers. The “unofficial” start of autumn began after Labor Day, but it does not officially begin for me until the surrounding trees have turned a collage of reds, yellows, and oranges. There is no better place to take in this abundance of color than the Blue Ridge foothills of Central Virginia. The Charlottesville area promotes some great leaf peeping opportunities like the Shenandoah National Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, and a stroll through the grounds of Monticello.

Blue Mountain Brewery

The area also pays homage to the hop and barley harvest, with a network of breweries that make up the Brew Ridge Trail. Most widely recognized for an abundance of wineries with thousands of acres of vineyards, the area’s award-winning small-batch breweries are showing that Virginia offers more than sour grapes. The Brew Ridge Trail celebrates the craft beer industry in Nelson and Albemarle Counties. The five breweries  that comprise the Trail offer award-winning beers in unique and scenic settings and can all be reached with 35 miles of total driving. Here’s a map to get you started.

Nelson County

Blue Mountain Brewery

Blue Mountain Brewery

From the panoramic mountain views to the enticing aroma of the Full Nelson (brewed with Cascade hops harvested onsite) and locally sourced pub fare coming from their scratch kitchen, Blue Mountain Brewery is a true sensory delight.  This casual farm brewery has taken a Gold (Sandy Bottom-American-Style Wheat) and Bronze (Kolsch 151-German-Style Kolsch) Award at the 2010 Great American Beer Festival, a Silver (Rockfish Wheat-American Wheat) at the 2010 World Beer Cup, and is reviving Virginia’s tradition of hop growing. They use the first 150 pounds in a 30 barrel batch of “wet hopped”  harvested celebration beer, while the remainder are dried and packaged and used in their flagship strong pale ale, Full Nelson.

Blue Mountain’s fall lineup includes the Humpback Oktoberfest Lager, a traditional Märzenbier; Imperial Pumpkin Ale, brewed with 11 pounds of roasted pumpkin; Lights Out Holiday Ale, a traditional strong ale with a bit of rye for spiciness; Black IPA; and the long awaited return of Dark Hollow, an Imperial Stout aged in freshly emptied charred American oak “Jim Beam Black, Double Aged” bourbon barrels.  The brewery will also be hosting the Grand opening of their restaurant addition on September 21 and their fourth Annual Oktoberfest Celebration from October 1-9.

Devils Backbone Brewing

Devils Backbone Brewery

Aside from having a desirable location at the base of Wintergreen Resort, Devils Backbone Brewery claimed the highest honor at the 2010 World Beer Cup-Champion Brewery and Brewmaster in the Small Brewpub category. They also received a Gold, Silver, and three Bronze medals at the World Beer Festival, as well as having five of their beers recognized at the 2009 and 2010 Great American Beer Festival. With an emphasis on keeping it local, the impressive brew pub was built out of salvaged material from the area and hosts a regular lineup of the region’s best musicians.  Devil’s Backbone also specializes in house smoked dishes including the best selling Bonedipper, Pulled Pork Sammich, and The Bonesmoker Platter.

Devils Backbone fall brews includes the Blue Ridge Hop Revival, 190 pounds of local “wet” Cascade hops was added to the brew kettle; Schwartzbier, black & roasty with a smooth lager finish; O-Fest, and an Oktoberfest lager utilizing a traditional decoction mash. The brewery will be starting Growler Girls, a ladies beer club, with a Ladies Only Beer Dinner on September 27 and special Brewer’s Dinner on September 19.

Wild Wolf Brewing

WildWolf Brewing

The biggest buzz in Nelson County is the anticipated opening of the Wild Wolf Brewing brewpub on 11/11/11. Currently, this mother and son venture is a nano-brewery and homebrew shop that opened in November 2010 and quickly became a popular stop for growler fills of their Smoked Scottish Ale, American Lager, American Stout, Hefeweizen, and signature “Alpha Ale.”

The Wild Wolf Brewpub will be located in a century old landmark building that was used as a high school from 1910-1939. The two-acre property will also feature a biergarten, and five restored tobacco barns will house the homebrew shop and other specialty shops. Wild Wolf’s brews will be paired with a menu that spotlights the best of local farms, from the best burger in the county to inspired main dishes. The brewery’s fall beers include a Pumpkin Ale made with fresh local pumpkins and a Double Saison.

 Albemarle County

 South Street Brewery

South Street Brewery

Located in a renovated warehouse building in downtown Charlottesville, old brick walls, hardwood floors and thick timber pillars provide a striking setting for the custom-built brewhouse. The impressive long copper bar is the perfect place to straddle up and order a deceptively smooth Satan’s Pony Amber Ale or the award-winning JP Ale, an American-style pale ale. The brewery’s commitment to quality fresh ingredients and creative recipes is also reflected in their menu, including nightly specials of Contemporary American, Asian-Pacific, Continental, Creole, Caribbean and regional Southern dishes.

If you are looking for a beer to challenge your palate with roasted barley and a generous amount of Columbus, Centennial, Cascade, Amarillo, and Simcoe hops, then go head-to-head in the Lupulin Stout. Bitter, hoppy, and black as coal…

Starr Hill Brewing

Boxcar Pumpkin Porter

One of the most recognized and widely distributed breweries on the trail; Starr Hill was founded in 1999 and won their first Great American Beer Festival Gold Medal the same year. The brewery’s year-round brews have 12 GABF and two World Beer Cup awards between them including Jomo Lager, a crisp, clean Southern German Lager with a noticeable hop aroma, balanced with a slight malty sweetness; The Love, a German hefeweizen distinguished by its extremely light body and flavored with hints of banana and clove; Northern Lights India Pale Ale, a balanced IPA brewed with Cascade hops; Amber Ale, with a rich honey color and smooth, caramel flavoring; and Dark Starr Stout, the most award-winning dry Irish stout in the country.

Starr Hill’s fall brew, Boxcar Pumpkin Porter, is a traditional English-style Brown Porter with pumpkin added to the mash, and their winter seasonal, The Gift, is a German-style Hellerbock with a few twists, will be available November 1^st – January. The Tasting Room is open Friday-Sunday and features special brews only available at the brewery.

Other notable stops in the area include Albemarle Cider Works for a tour and tasting of cider produced from local apples, and Beer Run, which features 15 taps and an extensive bottle list with local and regional craft beers.

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Posted By: Stevie Caldarola

(Featured image is of the Beer Spa in Prague)

According to their website, Brown’s Hotel in London, England has added “a new range of British Beer & Barley treatments to the menu of luxurious spa treatments in celebration of harvest time.  Guests can indulge in a blissful barley body wrap, a pale ale pedicure or a honey and barley facial at London’s most quintessentially British hotel…” Click here to jump to their website for more information.

What do you think of the beer spas popping up around the globe? Would you take a trip to get a barley body wrap or other beer-y treatment? Men, would you be more apt to visit a “beer” spa than a regular one?

(Thanks to @kristym809 for sharing this story with us!)

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Posted By: Jessica Rice

Anaheim Brewery wants to make beer for the local community, plain and simple. They aim to be an uncomplicated, straight-forward place to have great beer for people who want just that. Located in Anaheim’s Historic District, the tap room is rich with charm. The building is from the 1920’s and the vintage wooden bar paired with the seriously cool wooden stools makes for a fun and inviting place to sit enjoy the afternoon.

Anaheim Brewery 1888

I had the pleasure of going to Anaheim Brewery on a sunny Sunday afternoon and was pleasantly greeted by Brittany, a server, as we walked in the door. She came over and promptly helped us order some tasters. The tasters came with a delightful glass that you could take home and quaint wooden retro coins to cash-in for your next beer.  I loved the overall vintage feel of the tasting room and the big windows that peered into the brewery behind the bar.

The beer was effortless yet delicious. The flagship beers are: Anaheim Gold (4.5% ABV), Anaheim Hefeweizen, Anaheim Red, and the Anaheim 1888 (5.5% ABV). The Gold is a deep golden color that is very drinkable and has a slightly sweet aftertaste. The Hefeweizen pours clearer than expected and has a banana bread flavor. The Red has great color and a fantastic, almost smoky quality. The 1888 is a beer created to honor the style of beer brewed back at the original Anaheim Brewery in 1880’s. It’s a copper-colored more hoppy lager that is simply a good beer. I also got to try the Anaheim Tavern Ale (6.5% ABV) which was brewed for the grand opening a few weeks ago, which was also very good.

Barbara Gerovac of Anaheim Brewery

I did get a chance to meet Barbara and Greg Gerovac and have a private mini-tour of the brewery. They had previously brewed professionally in North Virginia and now opened the brewery in Anaheim. In retrospect after tasting their beer, I should have guessed that they lived in Germany for several years. The quality and undertone of the beer screams Germany for me. Overall I left happy with the coolest growler to add to my collection. The growlers are $20 and your first fill is $5 with the next fills being $15 each.

There are exciting plans for the open spaces around the brewery. Umami Burger will be opening a restaurant in the connected space next to the brewery. The owners of The Lab and The Camp in Costa Mesa purchased the land and has grand plans for an outdoor neighborhood market and things like: outdoor movies, concerts, retail shops, seasonal family activities, etc. The Anaheim Brewery is the first business to officially open the revamping of the Historic District and shows lots of promise for an amazing addition to the city of Anaheim. Hope to see everyone there!

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Posted By: Jessica Rice

When Newport Beach Brewing Company’s Derek Bougie told me there was a new brewery opening in Orange I was excited to have a new place to visit right in my backyard. Shocked that I hadn’t heard about it, I trolled the internet for some research to find OC Register had written an article about their grand opening here and decided I needed to stop by.

Old Orange Brewing Tasting Room

They are located right across the street from Santiago Canyon College’s Education Center off Batavia Street in Orange, CA in a nondescript business park. They have a small sign out front, and a relaxed atmosphere inside. There is tables and chairs for people to sit and taste their beer as well as a club-reminiscent lighted bar in the center of the room. I did like the fact that the bar was curved so you are more invited to talk to your neighbor than you would at a standard straight shaped bar.

The beers were way better than I had expected. There was only 3 different kinds on tap: Steet Fair Kolsch-Stle Ale (4.5% ABV), Old Dummy American Strong Ale (9.3% ABV), and Cannon Ball IPA (7.0% ABV). I got the tasters so I could try everything and I noted that the beers in general were exceptional. The Street Fair beer was clean and light, perfect for the summer. My favorite was the Cannon Ball IPA which had a nice hop flavor with a hint of grapefruit and citrus. The Old Dummy was a close second with its striking red color.

Cannon Ball

The most interesting thing was how clear the beers were. I said that to Co-Owner Jerry Nine who was bartending and he said that the system they purchased makes exceptionally clear beer. They eventually plan on having more beers on tap, and I can’t wait to see what they make next.

Overall, OOB is off to a great start. Nine said they have been packed on Fridays and Saturdays with lines out the door. I was lucky to stop by late in the day on Sunday when there was a smaller crowd and I had a chance to chat and hang out. I will be back soon, and next time I will get a growler fill.

Check out their Facebook page here!

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Posted By: Nellie Sanchis Wagoner

My husband informed me that we were headed to the “ugly part of Montana” for his family’s reunion during the 4th of July weekend. And while in my heart of hearts I knew that there really could not feasibly be an ugly part of Montana, I sort of believed him, if for no other reason than to perform some research on some extracurricular (read: beer related) activities.

Enter Carter’s Brewery in Billings, Montana. After an early afternoon of browsing the western outfitters stores (where naturally I bought a pair of badass cowboy boots- who can say no to RATTLESNAKE INLAY?!)  and amazing antique stores around the town of Billings, I convinced my accommodating and always loving in-laws Rich and Paulette, marvelous sister in-law Sarah and my patient husband Carl to take a jaunt on over to Carter’s Brewery.

We arrived at the brewery around 1PM to find the parking lot vacant. We poked around the building and peered into the windows where we saw a bearded fellow walking about. Then we saw the sign on the door that said “Open Monday-Saturday 4pm-8pm  Sunday 2pm-6pm”. Devastation! What now? Having no knowledge of the Montana Taproom Rule, but also having come 2,034 miles from New York City, I was hesitant to turn away, yet didn’t want to inconvenience the him by imposing our group on to his taproom. Finally it was Sarah who convinced me: “Just go in there and tell him why you’re here!”, she insisted. So I did. And this is what I found out.

Carter’s Brewery is named after Brew Master Mike Uhrich’s son, who was born in 2007, the same year that the brewery was founded. After I sheepishly stuck my head in the door and introduced myself, Mike was nothing but kind as he welcomed me and my family into his brewery and provided some background on his establishment. Originally a homebrewer, he made his debut in the commercial brewing business at Yellowstone Brewing Company in Billings and remained there for about seven years before opening Carter’s.

Nellie Sanchis and Mike Uhrich at Carter's Brewery

A relatively small yet welcoming space, the bar area shares real estate with the fermenters, mash tuns, heat exchangers and the other brewing equipment. Uhrich explained to me that he is a firm believer in the “learning by doing” method of brewing, in taking concise notes, and finessing a grain bill until you’re 100% satisfied with it. Mike’s passion for this craft is evident in his pride, prolific brewing, attentiveness to every batch, and in the joy that envelopes his face when he talks beer.

Even though he was brewing and had to keep one eye on his current batch, Uhrich hung around with us and poured out quite a few 5oz. samplers, one of which was an instant favorite: the Single and Celibate Trappist Style Single Ale. Uhrich does the monks proud by evoking hints of banana and crisp apple, with an aroma of sweet, grainy malt and a dry finish. The next sublime draught came to us in the form of another Belgian, this time an IPA. I fell in love with the Indulgence Belgian IPA for its yeasty nose, smooth hints of caramel and a hoppy, kicky finish. In short, we drank everything that Mr. Uhrich offered, and was never disappointed.

Fortified with two growlers for our trip deeper north into the Big Horn Mountains (Wyola to be exact), we left feeling satisfied and grateful for a proper introduction to the vast and varied wilds of beautiful Montana. Many thanks to Mike Uhlrich for his impeccable beers and warm hospitality!

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