New England Beer Hit List

Next weekend I'll be driving up to Providence, RI and Boston to first visit friends, and then second, drink all their (good) beer. It's been a about 4 years or so since I pulled up a stool in this neck of the woods, so there's plenty of work to be done. Here's a few of the brews that'll be on my radar.

Berkshire Brewing Co. Lost Sailor IPA
Frankly I'll be trying to get my hands on anything and everything from BBC. And luckily, it appears most craft beer bars are ready to help me out. This English IPA has actually been on my want-to-try list for years, as I love this seldom-brewed (in the US) style.

The People's Pint Extra Special Bitter (ESB)
While I can't decide if the brewery name is more socialist, populist, or democratic, I'm pretty certain this beer will eb mighty tasty. This is also another favorite style of mine that I find particularly pleasant if I'm having a couple beers. In fact, I'll be having an ESB tonight with dinner.

Element Brewing Co. Dark Matter
Being classified as an "American strong ale" means this beer could be just about anything except boring. I can be fairly certain it will be good, but hope to be surprised by how the beer does it.

Mayflower Porter
Mayflower Brewing opened back in 2008 and I've heard nothing but praise for this traditional American craft brewery. That, and I love a good porter.

Haverhill Leatherlips IPA
I really only know two things about Haverhill. One, all their labels have pinup girls on them. And two, they only make tasty, tasty brews. I'll start by looking for their flagship beer and work my way through the rest of the lineup if possible.

Clown Shoes Black IPA
Any brewers with balls big enough to name their brewery "Clown Shoes" had better know what they're doing. My research indicates they do, and that this beer rocks.

Oregon IPA

It's business time. In conjunction with a project on Oregon beers with Oregon-grown ingredients I'm working on for the International Association of Culinary Profesionals, I've made my own Oregon-centric beer. I couldn't get my hands on Oregon barley, but Jim at Indie Hops send me a pound of Centennial hops. I also used Oregon-cultivated yeast with Wyeast Labs' American Ale II yeast, a relative of the famous Sierra Nevada yeast strain.

I've haven't been this excited about a homebrew in a while. It's going to be f'ing awesome. Having the pound of hops sit out in my kitchen (see below) smelled amazing - I had a room full of hoppy goodness.

Hiphopapotamus
5 Gal Batch
Est ABV: 8%
IBU: 100+

10# Marris Otter Pale Malt
2# Vienna Malt
.5# American crystal 20L
.5# Cara-Pils
Wyeast American Ale II

Mash @ 152, OG: 1.073

2 oz. Centennial (10.5% AA, First Wort Hop)
1 oz. Centennial (10.5% AA, 45 min.)
1 oz. Centennial (10.5% AA, 15 min.)
1 oz. Centennial (10.5% AA, 10 min.)
1 oz. Centennial (10.5% AA, 5 min.)
1 oz. Centennial (10.5% AA, 0 min.)
2 oz. Centennial (10.5% AA, dry hop)

UPDATE 3/23/10: Transferred to secondary and added the dry hops. Tastes amazing with huge blend of spicy citrus flavors but need more aroma. There's even a little hint of the malt in there. Current gravity is 1.013 to put the beer at 7.8%.

Hops Before:


Hops After: