By Julia Burke, Beer Editor When beer enthusiasts rate a beer, they often talk about balance. Technical correctness. Drinkability. Good integration of flavors. Nothing out of place or over-the top. When hopheads rate a beer, they want one thing. Dank, sticky, resiny, more-bitter-than-a-tongue-scraper hops. Lupulin junkies don't necessarily want a "balanced" or "sessionable" brew. When the Brits learned that they could use hops as a preservative when shipping beer to the troops in India, the India Pale Ale was born. When the San Diegoans learned that they could take that idea and crank up the hop bill and alcohol past…
Posts Written ByJulia Burke
Three Heads Brewing Bromigo
By Julia Burke, Beer Editor Three Heads Brewing is on a roll lately with new releases, and Bromigo, their very first fall seasonal offering, is an interesting foray into flavorings: it's a smoked maple amber brewed with maple syrup. The nose is wonderfully complex for a fall seasonal — sweet and smokey, with full and thick maple notes backed up by toffee and vanilla and a firm roast. There's no aggressive alcohol to speak of, just the rich scents of a woodsy fall flannel-wearing, maple-syrup-tapping party. Bready malts and roast dominate the palate. It's not a thick beer, for the lushness of…
Jeff O’Neil to Join Peekskill Brewing Company
By Julia Burke, Beer Editor Award-winning brewer Jeff "Chief" O'Neil (pictured right) has announced that he is ending his nine-year tenure at Ithaca Beer Company to join The Peekskill Brewery as brewmaster, effective November 1. As Ithaca's brewmaster, O'Neil brought the Finger Lakes brewery national recognition with awards at the Great American Beer Festival and other major events; thanks to his fierce skills and flair for innovation, honed at the Siebel Institute of Technology, such Ithaca offerings as Flower Power IPA and the Excelsior! Line (most notably Brute, a 2010 NYCR Beers of the Year finalist) have become sought-after gems…
Horseheads Brewing Company Brings the Heat
By Julia Burke, Beer Editor Little Horseheads Brewing, located an hour from Ithaca in beautiful Horseheads, New York, might be the state's hottest brewery — literally. I made a visit for the first time last week after drooling for months over tales from my festival-going beer friends about an enigmatic “chili pepper beer” that was so balanced, so smooth, and yet so spicy it could please both session drinkers and spice fiends like myself. A sample at the charming brewery showed off Horseheads's brewing prowess, especially since it was just one of several oustanding beers on tap. The brewery’s low-key…
Views from a Southern Finger Lakes Beer Adventure
By Julia Burke, Beer Editor Over the weekend I headed to the southern Finger Lakes area to visit friends; as always, the trip was essentially a beer pilgrimage. Though I came seeking the enigmatic Ithaca Beer Company Brute (it was back on the tasting room shelves for a short time only; stay tuned for a formal review), I also got a chance to visit with brewer Jeff O'Neil and check out the beginnings of Ithaca's expansion to a larger facility. Naturally, I also stocked up on Flower Power, and my friend's sister, a breastfeeding mom, appreciated Ithaca's scrumptious root beer.…
Saranac Wet Hop IPA
By Mark Tichenor, Rochester Beer Correspondent It might not yet be a gold mine, but farmer Rick Pedersen of Seneca Castle, New York is definitely sitting on something. Pedersen Farms is one of the few in Western New York to fully embrace the craft beer revolution by cultivating hops. In doing so, they spur the resurgence of this once-ubiquitous New York State crop. This makes it possible for breweries like Saranac to brag that their new Wet Hop IPA is made with all-New York hops, a claim that, until recently, would have been untenable. Wet-hopping is basically adding fresh hop…
All Hail the (Southern Tier Brewing Company) PumKing
By Julia Burke, Beer Editor Conversations about pumpkin ale can be testy. Some can’t get enough of the style and will try every pumpkin ale on the market; some think it’s an overly spiced or sickly-sweet abomination among fall seasonals. Whatever the direction of the debate, the mention of one beer’s name is enough to silence critics and humble wannabes. “But what about PumKing?” somebody says, and the controversy is over. Southern Tier Brewing Company PumKing has single-pintedly done what precious few beers can: it has taken on a style — one that’s at best a niche market and at…
Beer and Beasts: An Ode to Pales, Pilsners and Meat
By Julia Burke, Beer Editor Rochester’s Old Toad Pub took its legendary beer pairing dinner tradition to new levels of decadence on Wednesday with "Beer and Beasts," a dinner devoted to all manner of tasty animals cooked in all manner of tasty ways. While many of Old Toad’s past dinners have featured high-alcohol monsters by breweries notorious for pushing limits — breweries such as Mikkeller, Dogfish Head, and Brewdog — this dinner was unique for its use of lighter and more delicate styles. Pilsners and pale ales don’t often get to shine in the beer world, but they’re arguably the…
Custom Brewcrafters Signature Series: Krysztoff
By Julia Burke, Beer Editor Baltic porter is a beer style with a little mystery. Made as dark as the North Sea and strong enough to withstand the journey across its treacherous waters during the Industrial Revolution, this style owes its lineage to both the milder English porter and the robust Russian Imperial stout. Traditionally done with lager yeast for a long, cold fermentation, this porter at its best is intense but smooth. I often find Baltic porters a little too sweet and thick for my taste, but I can never turn down a great porter, so I’ve kept trying…
NY On Tap: NYWCC Celebrates New York Beer
Julia Burke, Beer Editor Harvest is on the minds of New York winemakers and wine lovers these days, but let's not forget the other best part of fall: it's the best season of the year for beer! If you're looking for a sweet setting to try some new brews, the New York Wine and Culinary Center has announced a beer and food festival on September 30, from 7 to 10 p.m., called "NY On Tap." The event will feature beer from twenty New York breweries, paired with dishes by the NYWCC's executive chef and local food vendors, as well as…