Gives a whole new meaning to 'low-gravity'.

Australian brewery makes beer custom-designed for space travel.

I wonder if Virgin Galactic is planning to have this as part of their on-board drinks service? 

Southern Tier Brewing Company - Phin & Matt's Extraordinary Ale

Tonight we're venturing to the southwestern corner of Upstate, to the town of Lakewood, NY.  This is the home of Southern Tier Brewing Company, a microbrewery that's been with us since 2002 and produces a wide variety of beer styles.  In addition to their year-round offerings, they produce seasonal beers such as a wheat beer, ESB, an Old Ale named 'Old Man Winter' and 'Pumking', an extra-strong pumpkin ale which I'll have to review when the time comes.  (I tried it last year and it's damn fine, let me tell you.)

This is the time of year when all those lovely, fresh springtime beers really come into their own.  The microbreweries start to release their Summer Wheat varieties and the world starts to shake off the burdens of wintertime.  American-style Pale Ales are a great style to complement the season, and Upstate has some really good ones for you to try.  Starting off with tonight's review, Phin and Matt's Extraordinary Ale.

Appearance is light golden - fairly clear, perhaps a slight chill haze but it has an impressive clarity.  Head was not initially apparent, but upon agitation a moderate white head developed with decent lacing. 


Aroma was great for a Pale Ale - clear, fresh hops with some biscuity specialty malt discernible underneath.  Some apricot-like fruit scent was detectable as well.  Surprisingly complex for such a light beer - and I do mean that in a positive way.  The freshness of the hop aroma suggests that the brew might have been dry-hopped.

Flavour - the hop bitterness is definitely present, but it's not overpowering and is excellently balanced by the malts used (including, as I mentioned above, a definite biscuity malt flavour).  Some fruity esters discernible, and the finish is a delightful mix of bitter hops and good, clean malts.

Mouthfeel - the beer's got a medium-light body, with moderate carbonation, and finishes very smoothly.  It definitely leaves you wanting more.

Overall, this was a really good Pale Ale.  The brewers boast that this beer uses 3 types of hops and 3 types of malts - they've obviously worked hard to choose varieties that complement each other well, and the result is a thoroughly enjoyable, eminently drinkable brew. 

Now for the scores:


Appearance - 4/5
Aroma - 4/5
Flavour - 4/5
Mouthfeel - 4.5/5

Overall, 4.125/5.  A great session beer for the season!

Ithaca Beer Co CascaZilla

First off, a disclaimer: I don't own the fantastic image you see to your left.  I got it from the Ithaca Beer Company website, as I sadly didn't get a picture of my own bottle and glass of this brew.

I've already talked a bit about Ithaca Beer Co.  One neat thing I learned about them recently is that their brewery doubles as a local homebrewing supply - it's great that a commercial brewery is supporting the hobby, I really commend them for that.

Their Cascazilla beer is a bit of a double-entendre: it's a pun on the Cascadilla Gorge in Ithaca, and also a reflection of the plentiful amounts of Cascade hops lavished on the beer, making it a bit of a hop-monster.  Ithaca doesn't explicitly state the style of the beer, though it's got some elements of Red Ale and IPA.  I guess it could be considered a Specialty Beer - Red Ale with the addition of extra Cascade Hops.

Some sweet caramel malts are detectable under the hops in the aroma, but really it's the floral cascade hops which dominate. It's pleasant, to be sure, but readers will know by now my preference for malt over hop dominance. 

The appearance of the brew is a deep red, almost copper, colour, which pours with a decent head off-white head and is slightly cloudy (that could just be chill haze, though).  The carbonation level is respectable but moderate.

The bitterness of the hops hits you when you take the first sip - it's not unexpected, but it's hard to discern much of the malt underneath it all.  The lingering bitterness and an aftertaste of the Cascade hops is overpowering if you're not prepared for it.  Certainly one for the hop-lovers. 

When I first tried this beer, it was directly after I'd had a fruit beer (probably a bad idea, as my palate was ill-prepared for the hop-monster).  It wasn't totally to my taste, though it's technically a really well-made beer (reminded me a bit of CB's Caged Alpha Monkey, actually).  A few days later, my wife and I had made lentil soup to use up some of the produce in our fridge, and I was totally surprised to find that Cascazilla made a brilliant complement to it.  With the balance of the soup, the bitter aftertaste was no longer overpowering but pleasantly refreshing, and the flavours interacted in a way which totally altered my experience of the brew. 

I mentioned in my last post that I was planning to slightly revise my system.  I'm going to score this beer on four dimensions: appearance, aroma, taste and mouthfeel. 

Appearance: 4/5
Aroma: 3/5 (not sure what to make of the overpowering hops)
Taste: 3.5/5
Mouthfeel: 4.5/5

Mean score: 3.75 out of 5.

A couple of good books

I thought I'd take this opportunity to recommend some really good and informative books on beer and homebrewing -they've been really helpful to a lot of beginning homebrewers including myself, so if you're thinking about starting out with the hobby you really ought to get a hold of these. 

Charlie Papazian's Complete Joy of Homebrewing is a standard textbook which countless homebrewers have relied on for years.  It'll introduce you to all the basic concepts, guide you through your first few batches, and it'll also have you chanting the mantra every homebrewer needs to hear: Relax, Don't Worry, Have A Homebrew.  So true! 

Papazian takes a really balanced approach to homebrewing, and unlike a lot of brewing hobbyists he doesn't assert the absolute supremacy of all-grain.  Rather, he very diplomatically assures beginning brewers that excellent beer can be made using any of the methods available to us - extract, partial mash or all-grain. 

Dave Miller's Homebrewing Guide is what reignited my interest in homebrewing, about 5 years after I left the UK for graduate school.  Before that I'd been helping my dad brew a few batches of British bitter, and had really loved it, but didn't have the time or resources to do it in school.  On a trip to the Genesee Country Village (about which I'll probably be writing very soon - well worth a visit!), I picked up Dave Miller's book and immediately the homebrewing bug returned.  Miller deals with pretty advanced techniques (most of the book is devoted to all-grain brewing, which I'm really not ready for at this point), but the wealth of knowledge he presents regarding the chemical, biological and engineering aspects of brewing is nothing short of staggering.  There's a lot of advice in there for correcting off-flavors (he even goes into great detail as to what chemical reactions cause each problem), and it's basically a great read if you want to get beyond the basic instructions that came with your first homebrew kit, and actually understand what goes on in your brewing bucket. 

Well, there you have it.  Should be enough to get you started.  By the way, it you enjoy reading Upstate Brews and want to see more beers reviewed, why not buy me a pint through the Paypal button at the top right?  Thanks for helping me meet the costs of this blog - I really appreciate it.

New and Improved Beer Reviews!

Greetings, readers!

It's been a couple of weeks since my last update, but a lot's been going on, particularly on the Upstate Brews front.

First of all, I've now discovered the BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program)! This is a brilliant way to get to know beer on a more intimate level. One of the most impressive aspects of the BJCP is its Style Guide, which lists (pretty accurately, if the British styles are anything to go by) tasting guidelines on all the major beer, mead, perry and cider styles in the Western world. It's available as a PDF, a booklet, or as an app on your smartphone, and it'll greatly broaden your horizons on beer appreciation.   

The BJCP also holds training and examinations for members to become Certified Beer Judges (as the name suggests).  I'm seriously considering training, I think it'll be a great thing for this blog if I can be a bit more articulate in my reviews.  One thing I've noticed about my earlier reviews is that they're a bit vague about certain details in the aroma and flavour of the brew under my beady eye.  

I had the opportunity last weekend to be involved with the UNYHA homebrewing competition.  In addition to submitting my latest homebrew, I was privileged to help out with judging some of the styles - effectively putting into practice what I've picked up from the BJCP.  It was tremendous fun, I highly recommend getting involved with local homebrewing associations and competitions - you'll learn a lot. 

So, to sum up - expect my future reviews to be a bit more specific and detailed.  I'm not going to give a full BJCP-style review, but I'll probably refer to the Style Guide and revise my scoring system.

Look out for some more reviews coming very soon!

Ithaca Beer Co Apricot Wheat Beer

I haven't had a chance to visit Ithaca yet - I've driven through a couple of times though, and it's a beautiful place.  What I do know is that it's a small college town (population of around 30,000, according to Wikipedia), home to Cornell University and Ithaca College, with lots of natural beauty in and around the city.  It's in the south-eastern section of the Finger Lakes, about halfway between Syracuse and Elmira.  A cursory glance at some of the images of the city and the surrounding area makes me desperately want to spend more time there and discover more of the culture and countryside in this region - I really need to get out of the city more often.

Ithaca's also got one of the more prolific craft breweries in the area, appropriately named the Ithaca Beer Company.  They produce a wide range of brews, from the usual suspects like IPA, Pale Ale and Nut Brown, to less common varieties like Gorges Smoked Porter, CascaZilla (an aggressively-hopped Red Ale) and Ground Break (an 'American Saison').  They also carry the Excelsior Line, a series of premium-quality craft beers which come in 750ml bottles.  Can't wait to give those a try when the wallet allows...

Today we're looking at their Apricot Wheat, a familiar style which becomes really popular as the weather warms up.  'Winter warmer' beers lose their appeal for many and give way to easy-drinking, light-bodied, gently-hopped styles.

Ithaca's Apricot Wheat is a pretty good example of the fruit-beer style, it's got enough of a body that the fruit flavour doesn't totally overwhelm the experience, but it's definitely and unmistakably got that fruity hit that makes these beers so enjoyable.  Here's the breakdown:

Appearance - Like most wheat beers, this is pretty cloudy.  This was pretty cold from the fridge so there may have been some chill haze too.  No head to speak of, and only mild carbonation.

Aroma - the apricot esters come through in the aroma, but don't overpower the senses.  No major hoppiness, mild grainy aroma from the wheat.

Taste - the apricot flavour tasted ever so slightly artificial (I noticed it's brewed using 'natural apricot flavour' rather than fresh apricots).  The underlying wheat beer was detectable, with the grainy goodness and low bitterness you normally associate with that style.  Finished fairly dry, with the mildly plastic-like apricot flavouring lingering.

Mouthfeel - mildly carbonated, with a good medium body.  Pleasant, easy drinking beer.

Overall, this was a pretty good fruit beer.  I would definitely drink it again, especially as the weather warms up and I aim for something a little lighter.  I'm giving this a 3.5 out of 5.

I've got more reviews on the way, including Ithaca's CascaZilla, a locally-brewed British style beer, and my second homebrew batch.  I also have some exciting developments in the pipeline - watch this space!

My first homebrew batch, Code: Frankenstein

My in-laws bought me a Maestro Homebrew Beer Equipment Kit for Christmas, and the ingredients for my first homebrew batch.  I've promised a write up of this, and it's long overdue, so here goes!

First, here's the equipment I used:














 Muntons Malt Extract, Dry, Amber , 3-Pound Bags (Pack of 2)

6-quart stockpot for the boil

B-Brite cleanser


Though the link shows two 3-lb bags of dry malt extract, I only used one 2-lb bag.

First off, all the books I've read are very clear on the importance of cleanliness - which makes total sense.  If you're going to be producing what is ultimately a living product, and letting it sit at room temperature in your home for several weeks before drinking it, you certainly don't want it infected by any bacterial nasties.  Everything that touches the brew (particularly after the boil) has to be sanitised - the cleanser B-Brite was included with my kit, and it seemed to work well.  However, it turns out this wasn't actually a sanitiser, and in order to properly sterilise your equipment you need to use a product like Iodophor Sanitizer for Brewing or Wine Making or Star-San.  This wasn't included with my homebrewing kit. 

I started off with a boil - mixing about a gallon of water with the can of liquid malt extract and the dried extract.  When you first add the ingredients, the mixture kind of foams up violently and you have to keep moving it away from the heat until it calms down.  Eventually it settled into a steady boil, and looked like this.

At this point my tiny kitchen smelled absolutely amazing - wort has this incredible and unique aroma which is really hard to describe.  It's a bit like oatmeal, or a rich fruitcake - makes sense when you consider it's made of basically the same stuff.

After boiling the wort for about 45 minutes, it was ready to go.  I'd added some cold water to my fermenting bucket, so I poured the mixture on top and topped up to the 5-gallon mark.  Then I sprinkled the yeast (which came with the liquid extract), let it sit on top of the bucket for 10 minutes, then stirred it in and firmly sealed the lid, adding an airlock.

About 2 weeks later I bottled it into 6 growlers and 12 500ml flipper bottles, mixing in the corn sugar to carbonate it, then very, very patiently waited until it had conditioned and aged perfectly...well, alright, maybe I had a couple of glasses before it was ready - patience may be a virtue but it's not a skill I've yet mastered.

Sadly I don't have pictures of the final product, but I can describe it as a dark, almost black ale with a medium body - it wasn't a stout by any means.  ABV was approximately 5-6% - I forgot to take an OG reading so I couldn't tell for certain.  It wasn't aggressively bitter, but had a pleasant caramel hint in the aftertaste which was extremely satisfying.  As it was my first experience of bottle-conditioning, I under-filled several bottles which resulted in insufficient carbonation and zero head, but the growlers turned out better as they had a 'fill to here' line that was pretty foolproof.  Overall, I was impressed by my handiwork - it goes to show that even beginners can make fine homebrews that compare very favourably with commercially prepared beers and ales.

Homebrew batch # 2 - a Belgian ale named The Muscles from Brussels - is due for bottling tomorrow and I'll have a write-up in a few weeks, once it's ready to drink.