Craft Beer NYC

Duck-Rabbit is celebrating their 10th anniversary this year.  Their mission is to focus on dark beers, which their founder Paul Philippon feels will allow them to carve out a special niche within the craft beer market.  They call Farmville, North Carolina home and currently only distribute to six states in the southeast, with Pennsylvania being the only one above the Mason Dixon Line.  I first tasted their Milk Stout and I'm a new fan.   Being a connoisseur of the dark ales, I applaud Duck-Rabbit's mission to break out as the dark beer specialists.   The Milk Stout is their top seller and mixes a great sweetness without being chalky or harsh with nice roasted grains to offer up a solid black color.   It comes in on the softer side of the ABV index for such a dark full bodied beer, but the 5.7% allows for indulgence and session style tastings for all. 5.7% ABV 9 out of 10 Bunny Quacks http://www.duckrabbitbrewery.com/beer What is a Duck Rabbit? http...

Celebrating their 30th Anniversary, the Ola Dubh is an innovative collaboration between Harviestoun and Highland Park Distillery.   This special limited edition "Black Oil" has been aged for up to six months in sherry butts formally used to age Highland Park's Single Malt Scotch Whiskey.  The casks add a very slight whiskey note to the ale, which already has hints of malted nutty chocolate and heavy spices mixed in with some sweet touches.   This puts a unique European twist on the oak aged barley wines coming out of the northeast.   Some would shy away from an extremely dark ale coined as "Black Oil", but for the adventuresome stout and porter gang this one delights.   Definitely a top pick of the year, I recommend you try to find some before it's all sold out.    At first taste I would have guessed this one was over 10% ABV, but the Ola Dubh comes in at  8% from the bottle.   The cask draught comes in a little higher in ABV at 10.5%. ...

This summer pilsener from Glendale, Wisconsin is a good interpretation of a traditional czech style pilsener.   It pours with a medium golden color and provides a nice mild hoppyness to go with its clean finish.  I was a little disappointed with the twist off bottle top, which when used instead of a traditional bottle top allows for the Co2 to slowly escape from the brewed ale over time.  This one is part of their seasonal series and only is available May through August and has been brewed since 2011.       5.0% ABV 6 out of 10 Golden Tickets http://www.sprecherbrewery.com/index.php

"Long before the ancients were eating chocolate they were drinking it," proclaims Sam in the Quick Sip video below as he gets excited about the results from his molecular biologist team.  Dogfish Head brings us another entry from their amazing ancient ale series, drinkable chocolate.   Theobroma is literally "Food of the Gods" with Aztec cocoa powder and cocoa nibs, rounding out the nose with an intense aftertaste of ancho chilies, honey and ground annatto.   Theobroma's body color is surprisingly light, compared with other chocolate inspired ales.    Based on documented findings of archeologists and chemists studying the Aztecs and Mayan, Sam and the team created a wonderful time capsule back to 1200 BC.  Take a look at some of the other occasional rarities in their portfolio of wonderful craft beers.  I had the honor of sampling Theobroma for the first time in the official tasting room at the Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, Delaware.  Since...

Dogfish Head brings us another seasonal favorite from their Delaware based brewery.  Originally created for the local Punkin Chunkin festival over 20 years ago it has now taken off as their best selling seasonal.  Produced and shipped by the first week of September, it's usually sold out before Thanksgiving across the northeast.  Now distributed in 27 states, you can find it in your area using the beer finder link below.  This ale has a full body of flavor and with nice hints of brown sugar and cinnamon.  The base is a bold brown ale which provides a full bodied ale that doesn't get overshadowed by the notes of spices.   Dogfish doesn't cheap out on the ingredients either, they use organic brown sugar and locally grown pumpkin meat (from the same farms that stock the Punkin Chunkin festival).   Unfortunately this fall will be the first time in 30 years where the championship doesn't happen due to permit issues with the county.   You'll have t...

The celebration of pumpkin inspired ales continues for this fall season all over New York.  Southern Tier has been brewing craft ales since 2002, in the region of New York State that borders Pennsylvania known as the southern tier.   Most city dwellers were not aware of the southern tier region until Whole Foods starting selling local produce and craft beer from this region in their NYC locations.  When I walked into the Whole Foods location in Columbus circle, I was overtaken by the local aisles with rows and rows of Southern Tier Pumking Ale lined up ready for the taking.  Their graphically eye catching and clever designed 22oz bottles with their spooky pumpkin king that looks under the magical spell of All Hallows Eve helps draw in the crowds.  Their Pumking Ale has a delicate nose of pumpkin pie and ideally is tasted out of a cinnamon sugar rimmed goblet.  This ale pairs well with deserts like pumpkin pie, but is a little on the subtle side and doesn't ...