This week’s What Ales You column reports on Bull Jagger’s upcoming release of their 2nd beer, a Baltic Porter.
The Baltic Porter, which I tasted before it was carbonated, is an intense beer, with quite a bit of sweetness and notes of chocolate, coffee and toffee, and had just a bit of bite at the back of the palate from the rye. I liked it a lot, and expect it will be even better once it is bottled and carbonated.
Today’s What Ales You Column in the Press Herald reports on Allagash’s new products and a recent expansion in brewing capacity.
The bunker was designed so two more of the tanks can be added when business warrants, Perkins said. As of now, Allagash brews about 25,000 gallons — about 800 barrels — of beer a week.
Allagash also will be adding a new bottling line this year. Its bottling system handles both its 12-ounce bottles and 750-milliliter cork and cage bottles. The 375-milliliter (12.7 ounce) bottles used for the limited-release beers sold only at the brewery are bottled by hand.
The article also reports that both the new batch of Coolship Resurgam and the new honey beer Saison Mihm are both due out soon.
Both Novare Res and The Great Lost Bear have made it on to Draft magazine’s 2012 list of America’s Best Beer Bars.
Today’s Press Herald includes a Eat & Run review of Borealis Bistro,
The panini comes on your choice of bread, and you’ll have a large variety of choices, because all the bread is made right on the premises. The sandwich we tried consisted of a couple of slices of rosemary bread filled with real scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese (your choice of cheese) and sausage links (meat costs extra) that had been sliced in half and grilled. The sandwich stayed piping hot all the way to the office, and was large enough to share.
and a What Ales You column about the honey-based beers for sale at The Honey Exchange.
The favorite honey beer among my tasters — and they varied over the past month from a crowd of seven to just me — was Brooklyn Local 2, a strong, dark Belgian ale with 9 percent alcohol that cost about $8.50 for a 750-milliliter bottle.
The honey was just a background in this fruity, spicy and complex beer with a wonderfully thick body. The Belgian dark candy sugar combines with the wildflower honey. Seven people tasted this one, and they all loved it.
This week’s edition of the What Ales You column suggests a few brewery alternatives to Champagne for ringing in the New Year,
Curieux, an ale with 11 percent alcohol aged in bourbon barrels, is the first Allagash that comes to mind. It’s available year-round, it’s won all sorts of awards, and Allagash sells as much of it as it can make. The cloudy, golden color would be nice for a midnight toast.
The Press Herald has published a review of Moran’s Market.
Here’s another way to judge a market: If it prices food by the pound instead by some predetermined serving size, you know you can bulk up. At Moran’s, the hot bar costs $4.75 per pound. I loaded up a pound-and-a-quarter of some of the best home-cooked food you can find for this price anywhere in Portland.
Today’s paper also includes the latest edition of the What Ales You beer column.
For the third and final podcast in their series on Maine Beer Week, the Maine Culinary Podcast has posted an interview with chef Paul Dyer from the Porthole and Jay Silevinac, the brewhouse manager at Shipyard.
Beer columnist Tom Atwell relays some of his tasting notes from this past weekend’s Maine Brewers Festival.
I was surprised by the complexity of the Honey Rye from Kennebec River Brewing Co. in The Forks. When I have had their beers, both at their pub while on fishing trips and in bottles, they have been good middle-of-the-road brews. But the Honey Rye had a wonderful sweetness upfront from the honey and an absolutely dry finish. I could see this as a superb beer for warm days.
The Press Herald has published a review of Artemisia Cafe.
Artemisia Cafe continues to stand the test of time as one of my favorite lunch spots. I don’t go there nearly enough, but every time I do the food is sensational, and this visit with a friend was no exception.
Today’s paper also includes a preview of this weekend’s Maine Brewers Festival.
For the 6th episode of the Maine Culinary Podcast, host Dan Bodoff interviewed Jay Villani, owner of Sonny’s/Local 188, and Dan Kleban, co-owner of Maine Beer Company. They discuss plans for the upcoming Maine Beer Week and the experience of scaling up from a home brew set to a commercial operation.
Additionally, Villani lets the cat out of the bag on Bunker Brewing, a new brewery being set up by Villani in Bayside which will initially be sold at Local 188 and Sonny’s.