And like a revived corpse...

..the Upstate Brews guy emerges from the blogosphere's graveyard.


Over the past month or so, I've tried several Upstate wonders, including:

• CB's Jack (a CB Scotch Ale that's been aged in bourbon barrels, giving it a lovely, smokey, whisky-like flavour)

• War of 1812 Amber Ale (brewed by Sacketts Harbor Brewing Company; I've only been able to find this at Scotch & Sirloin and Beers of the World but it's well worth the effort to find it).

• Ithaca Beer Company's CascaZilla (lots of fresh hops in a light ale which reminds me of the springtime)

• CB's Christmas Ale (served way too cold at a sports bar; given the time to acclimatise, it was actually pretty nice, kind of like a Christmassy malt loaf in a glass)

• CB's Caged Alpha Monkey (CB's brand new IPA - I know I've gone on about hating hoppy IPAs on this blog, but the hops were so fresh-tasting in this one that it may have changed my mind.  I think they must have gone light on bittering hops and heavier on the finishing hops).

I've also been busily working on my first batch of homebrew, thanks to my wonderful in-laws (who bought me all the equipment as a Christmas present).  It'll be the subject of my next post, so for now all I'll reveal is that it's a dark ale named Code: Frankenstein.  Appropriate, don't you think, given my recent reanimation?