Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Growth of craft beer

Excellent growth in the craft beer industry...keep drinking good beer everyone!  Read the article

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Peeper Ale from Maine Beer Company

Peeper Ale is my first experience with the up and coming Maine Beer Company.  Their uncomplicated labels and limited distribution area got me interested.  The numerous positive reviews I've read of their brews sealed the deal.  You also have to love a company that uses only wind power, donates their spent grains and yeast to local farmers and donates 1% of their profits to environmental non-profits.  OK, I guess you don't have to, but I do.  While still on the search for their heralded Lunch IPA, Peeper Ale had been described to me as an incredibly drinkable beer.  So, here I am.

As you can see in the photo, this is a very light, golden-colored ale, with an almost comically fluffy white head.  Stick your sniffer above the foam and you can smell the citrusy hops.  This is not going to be a hop bomb, by any stretch of the imagination.  At 5.5% a.b.v., it's not going to knock you on your butt either.  Yes, I'm not describing the kind of beer I normally drink, bold flavors and body, but I'm an equal opportunity beer lover.

Now, the taste.  The taste is pretty much what I expected.  It's a very tasty, average bodied ale with a nice, slight hop bite.  I can see why people like this.  This is a very sessionable beer (i.e. I could drink it all night long...if I had more).  It has enough bite and flavor to keep your taste buds interested, but not so much that they get tired.  Don't expect lots of complexity here.  It's as advertised...a craft brewed American ale.  But, for what it is, it's done quite well.  With this being their most basic beer, I definitely look forward to what else they pull together.

I would highly recommend Peeper Ale, if you're in an area that carries it (most of New England and PA I believe).  I think this would be great on a nice summer day.  I give it a solid A-