Hill Farmstead Trip....

So sometimes you just need to travel to a sure spot to go foraging for bottles.  Sometimes these places are not just in your backyard... what that means is a road trip !  What does a road trip consist of? First thing is find a co-pilot, pick a day and watch the weather. I spent the month of October doing this as well as alerting other bottle searchers in my local circle about the upcoming journey. That way not only would I be helping them snag some beer but with a little order fee I could alleviate the cost of gas and focus my hard earned dollars on BEER.  This particular journey was a small bounce through western Maine, over through the white mountains, across the green hills of Vermont and northbound to a little spot that is very quickly becoming the epitome of New England farmhouse brewing. Hill Farmstead.

Here is a glimpse of the trip.... through the eyes of my co-pilot.

and our final destination... 164 miles 3.25 hours.

Once there we stretched a bit and used the portapotty... there wasn't one last time!

Inside we found a packed house of about 10-20 people steadily marking down orders, sipping beer samples and watching Shaun Hill check his Iphone, mark down notes and help wash glasses. We ordered through our samplers and finalized the large haul that we prepared. Growlers and 750ml pours for myself and a large array of bottles for the Portland crew.

All in all it took 2.5 hours to grab some samples, work out a side order for another brewer friend and get everything loaded up and ready for the journey back into Portland.

We did make a quick stop in downtown Hardwick to pick up a few snacks a coffee and some Jasper Hill cheese. We also had to double check that we couldn't snag some Heady Topper from a spot that worked out last time I was in town.

Night fell as we weaved through the ominous white mountains... a quick stop at Moat Mountain for a little dinner and a Iron Mike Pale Ale. Then back to Portland to unload.

Total Haul:

Draft Fills

Growlers : 2x Abner

750ml Fills: 3xAbner, 1xSusan, 1xGeorge, 1xS&S #5, 1xEdward

26 Twilight of Idols

18 Arthur

17  Anna

6  Clara

4  Juicy

2Anchorage Bitter Monk

1 Jolly Pumpkin Noel de Calabaza

1 Grassroots/Mikkeller Wheat is the New Hops

*not including a hefty lil order by my co-pilot

As I type this Im cleaning up a 750ml of Society and Solitude #5.... looking at my calendar and figuring out the next road trip to the Hill !

the Goods from the Woods @ Oxbow Brewing Co.

This Saturday... dont sleep on it !

Gonna be a wicked time of beer, art and music in Newcastle, ME

More info here: the Goods from the Woods

and just posted on Oxbow's facebook page...

the limited edition glassware for the event !

See you there. Ill be behind the turntables with Geofferson representing Cognizant Sound with the very best in reggae music !

Lion's Pride "Guided Beer & Cheese Pairing"

Portland Beer Week

Beer & Cheese Pairing

@ Lion's Pride Pub

November 4, 2012

(Beers of Oxbow Brewing & a selection of Local Maine Artisanal Cheeses)

with the Oxbow brewers and Ruth Miller "the beer & cheese maven"

(photo courtesy of Amy Fowler)

What a way to kick off Maine Beer Week... My wife and I, along with a good friend and fellow bottle forager headed up to Lion' Pride Pub in Brunswick for this event ! Brunswick ends up being about a half hour from Portland and if you have yet to make it up to this pub I would urge you to do so. Its a little less hip than Novare Res and usually a little more subdued and relaxing. The food selection is a step up and the draft list is always changing with some of the best import and domestic craft brews available in the state of Maine. In fact the owners just happens to be Chris & Jen Lively who are also the owners of the famous Ebenezer's Pub in Lovell as well ! Anyhow... we strolled in with just enough time to say hello to Chris the owner, the Oxbow crew (Tim, Geoff, Mike and Jake) and Ruth the cheese monger who put the whole event together.  

The event was a great success with about 30 attendees exposing themselves to the flavors of some wonderful Maine cheeses, expertly paired with exciting brews from Oxbow. In fact one of the farms, Sunflower Farm, out of Cumberland, was in the house as well !  Everyone was seated and presented with a plate (pictured above) as well as a sheet listing the beers to be served and the order in which they should be enjoyed. As each beer was poured the Cheese Maven explained to the room the process in which each cheese was made as well as the flavor profiles and how they react to the current beer being poured. Then the brewers took the reigns and provided us a summary of the beers being served as well as the components each beer brought to the masterful pairings.

Here is the tasting menu:

Loretta- rustic blonde grisette brewed with raw wheat grown in Pittston.

Sunflower Farm "Chevre"- fresh goat milk cheese from Cumberland.

Farmhouse Pale Ale- american hops meet saison yeast

Hahn's End "Olde Shiretown"- english style raw cow cheddar from Phippsburg.                            

Space Cowboy- "house" country ale with nice earthy malts and noble hops

Hahn's End "City of Ships"- raw cow milk alpine style 

York Hill "Capriano"- cave aged goat milk tomme from New Sharon.

Oxtoberfest - farmhouse festbier featuring german malts and hints of smoke

Hahn's End "Ragged Island"- hard aged cow milk cheese from Phippsburg.

Funkhaus - custom blend for event, brettanomyces laced beer with tropical hop notes

Spring Day Creamery "La Vie en Rose" - washed rind cow milk tomme from Durham

(1st place 2012 American Cheese Society Competition - Washed Rind Category)

Freestyle #5- black wheat saison with three wheat varieties and noble hops

Spring Day Creamery "Spring Day Blues"- cow milk raw blue cher from Durham, ME

(2nd place American Cheese Society Competition - Blue Category)

What an event... keep your eyes open for other events with Oxbow, Lion's Pride and the Beer & Cheese Maven involved. You will be glad you did !

Cheers

A successful week of Foraging !

(Surly Brewing out of Minnesota)

(From Florida... Green Room/ St. Somewhere Collaboration and a couple Cigar City beers)

You may sit there and ask yourself... where did these beers come from?  Will the Bottle Forager ever divulge his foraging spots... 

Stay tuned for answers to all these questions.

But for now it is the WEEKEND, so call a friend, grab a few glasses and raise them up to the exciting fast growing world of craft beer!

Cheers.

Portland Beer Week !

It is Portland Beer Week... what events are you going to?

For a complete list and more info click HERE !

stay tuned for a review of the Oxbow Guided Cheese Pairing my wife and I attended on Sunday.

Cheers and let the foraging begin.

Blended Oxtoberfest Review

Brewers Notes:

Blended Oxtoberfest will be a varied blend of barrel-aged and fresh Oxtoberfest every year. 2011/2012: Barrel: Riesling/Time: 12 months Additions: mixed bretts, lactobacillus # of bottles: 398

the Bottle Forager's Notes:

Pours a rusty orange brown with a puffy three fingers of foam. Aromas are a little tart fruit, smoked malts, oak and a hint of herbal mint. On the palate its complex but nicely balanced with smokey malts, peat and some earthy rustic wood mixing with bright tart fruit and toasted vanilla notes. Quite an interesting beer thats different than anything Ive ever drank... bridges the gap between german sours and a traditional marzen. Yum !

Bottles are still available at the brewery... $20 ea and remember the new tasting room hours...
Wed-Fri 2pm-7pm

Go find some for yourself and your friends.

Cheers

"Where the Wild Biers Are" Rundown

Rolled into Novare Res around quarter to four and the bar and most of the seats in the place were full. The draft list was packed with some great selections that covered the map with choices from New England, Belgium, Italy, Germany and Switzerland.  The bar was packed with local brewers, distributors,  beer geeks and even Brian Ewing from 12% Imports was there !  

Notable highlights on the draft list were as follows

Cantillon Classic Gueuze

 Tilquin, Petrus Aged Pale, Allagash Old HLT,

Allagash FV13, Cisco Lady of the Woods, 

Cisco Monomoy Kriek, Smutty Brett & I.

Overall I went and had a great time catching up with some old friends and chatting with a few new friends as well. Its nice to see the popularity of sour beers is growing because of course where there is demand there will be supply.  Hopefully !  That being said, and I realize I may sound spoiled, but nothing on the draft list really made me go DAMN !  I understand the logistics behind what is available in the state of Maine and the legalities behind what is being poured... but I would have liked to see a little more rarity in the selections rather than a list that looked more like what could be thrown together in a couple of weeks with a few phone calls. Again, I will say I was excited and impressed with the event but when I hear about a stockpiled tower... Im thinking more about things I cannot find readily  available on the shelves of local bottle shops... and with the exception of the Allagash drafts and the older single batch Smuttynose Brett & I (which was delicious) I was expecting a little more.... I mean maybe the rumors are not true that Novare has a stockpile of vintage Cantillon in the basement... why couldn't a couple vintage bottles make it onto the menu for glass pours... or even a 4oz bottle pour sampler.  Why couldn't Novare get Shelton Bros. to send some barrels of anything but Classic. Im not looking for an answer I just wanted to give my honest thorough opinion of this event. Now that I have... its back to the search.  Keep up the good work Novare.

Cheers.

Oxbow Brewing Opens Tasting Room !

Oxbow Brewing 

Just Announced... the tasting room at Oxbow is now open for business.

Wed-Fri

2pm-7pm

with tour on Friday at 4:30pm

I had the pleasure of rolling up there tonight after the soft opening last night on Halloween. The tasting room is great and fits the farmhouse style to perfection. Think rustic, cozy and inviting and your just cracking the surface.  Lots of classy swag available and the best part, in my opinion, is they can now offer up to seven different selections on draught for growler fills ! The Oxbow crew as always is keeping it real and producing the very best farmhouse beer Maine has to offer. Stay tuned for much more exciting news about this brewery as they continue to produce phenomenal brews.

Here is a quick glimpse of the new tasting room:

Quaint ,welcoming and packed full of wicked provisions !

Had to sneak over to the brewery and see how clean up was coming along after a long day of brewing...

Clean up went well.

Now get  up there and see it for yourself.  Currently they have two new bottle releases  available and dont forget to help your friends out and refill their growlers while your up there !

Barrel Aged Farmhouse Pale Ale (Batch # 3)

Blended Oxtoberfest

Check back here for more about the contents of these exciting bottles and other fertile spots bound to hold some bottle scores.

Thanks Again OXBOW !