Beer!

This stuff is amazing. I had never heard of it before. Normally I’m not a big fan of sours but this a very subtle sour. It has amazing complexity. The only downside side is that I only bought 2!

 

I'm all about the lagers and pilsners. In the lane of "boring" German beers, one of my all times favorites is Andech's Helles Lager. It's just an all around well executed and nuanced beer. It's not everywhere, but not too hard to find in the states.

https://www.andechs.de/en/monastery-brewery/product-range/andechser-hell.html

 

In the late 2010s, I was far more into beer than I was into headphones. While traditional pilsners and lagers are my go to - spontaneously fermented saisons are my all time favorite. In the late 2010s, Hill Farmstead was my all time favorite brewery with their focus on farmhouse styles saisons. This is a style that’s very hard to get right and you don’t see it too often. Other domestic brewers that come to mind here are de Garde and Suarez Family Brewing.


Over the past few years, I’ve mostly stopped drinking beer and haven’t kept up with what’s new, but I haven’t been able to find something in the Pacific Northwest that satisfied that spontaneous fermentation saisons until now. (Holy Mountain and de Garde could get close.) I haven’t been on the hunt, but grabbed a couple of cans from Fair Isle Brewing from the grocery store, knowing nothing of the brand. Since then, I’ve bought three of the Fair Isle beers from the grocery store and all three come at the top of my list for favorites beers that I’ve over the past five years. These three beers compete with or are better than the best that Hill Farmstead has ever put out.


If spontaneous fermentation saisons are your thing, you need to hunt this brand down. The tasting room is 30 mins from my house, so planning a trip there soon.


https://fairislebrewing.com/about-our-beer/


Here are two of the three I’ve tried:
https://shop.fairislebrewing.com/product/lorenzo/

https://shop.fairislebrewing.com/product/madame-r-galle-bottles/

 

I really miss having @jacq on around. She’s the queen of beer, especially when it comes to these styles. In 2018, we took a backpacking trip to The Netherlands and Belgium. I had some of my all time favorite beers on the trip. Jacq knew all of the best places and how to hunt down the best beers.

Dropping some of those spots for y’all here.

In the Netherlands, we went to In De Wildeman, which has wild bottle lists. Check the “Fresh, wild, and wicked” and “wild cellar secrets’ sections…

https://www.indewildeman.nl/bierkaart



In Belguim, we went to In de Verzekering Tegen de Grote Dorst, which has been rated by Rate Beer as the best bar in the world. Only open on Sundays, it’s worth planning around.

https://beerandbrewing.com/love-handles-in-de-verzekering-tegen-de-grote-dorst/




We went to Cantillon in Belgium, which is another place worth checking out.



And a couple extra photos:

https://imgur.com/a/vsffO26

Will post my favorite places in the Northeast US next - dated about five years back, but will cross reference for today.

 

I lived in the Northeast for a few years and drove about 30k miles per year in the area while living there. This is definitely not an exhaustive list, but these spots come to mind from my time living there.

I haven’t had Hill Farmstead in about four years, but in 2017, it was the shit. I won’t say it’s the best brewery, but their style spoke to my tastes more than any brewer in States, possibly the world. I used to drive to the brewery in Vermont from Connecticut regularly. The bar I hung out at with my friends would hand my $300 in cash straight from the register every time I ran up. I’m not sure how great they are today, but I’ve spent many years in the sensory professional world and still work in that area today. My colleagues with trusted palates in this space have told me they aren’t what they used to be, which really saddens me to hear.
https://hillfarmstead.com

Oxbow Brewery - A great brewery for farmhouse style beer to check out if you’re in Maine.
https://oxbowbeer.com

Suarez Family Brewing. - These guys are in the Albany, NY area and the brewer comes from Hill Farmstead. I haven’t had them in a few years, but they look like they’re still putting out good beers.
http://www.suarezfamilybrewery.com

Waterbury, VT - Just pick a bar at the main intersection and call it a day. Wander over to the five other bars next door and across the street. They’ll all have some of the best beer menus in the nation. Blackback Pub comes to mind and I always get their nachos to go.

Schilling Beer Co - Littleton, NH - This is out in White Mountains and I wandered in here randomly while exploring the area on a weekend. They have great German and Belgian beers and great Napolenta Pizza.
https://schillingbeer.com/location/tasting-room/#on-tap

Proclamation Ale Co. - Rhode Island - These guys specialize in IPAs and are the only company of this category on here. Good Belgian, German, and farmhouse style beers, too.
https://www.proclamationaleco.com

Foam Brewers - Burlington, VT - I lied. These guys specialize in New England IPAs. Their beers are what Treehouse would be if Treehouse made good beers. (Fight me!) They have great sours and lagers, but you go here for the IPAs even if you aren’t much of an IPA person. The brewery is right on the coast of Lake Champlain.
https://www.foambrewers.com

Kent Falls Brewing - Kent Falls, CT - Cool, with good beers, but most of their beers aren’t in the same class as the rest of these breweries. Their brewery is neat and worth checking out of you're in the area.
https://kentfallsbrewing.com

The Alchemist - Vermont - I didn’t want to put this brewery up here, but they’re worth talking about. Folks in the Northeast hunt down Head Topper like it’s gold. Heady Topper’s good, but compare it to most beer in the PNW and it’s simply decent. However, it is hard to find beer with this quality of this style in the Northeast. Their new brewery is nice and the employees are great.

Don’t Go - OEC Brewing - Oxford, CT - These guys seemed to have a legendary reputation in the community, but you’ll don’t see many locals there. The employees and brewers are very pretentious and it never seems to be a comfortable environment. Over 95% of the beer is acetic garbage. However, the 5% of the beers they get right are world class and are a treat.