My Better Half is a limited seasonal release from one of my favorite Massachusetts breweries, Slumbrew. Don’t let my silly video fool you; the crew at Slumbrew are working their asses off to provide us with great beers and hopefully soon, they’ll be able to open up a permanent brewing space in Somerville.

Visit them at http://www.slumbrew.com

Hey guys. I’m doing some live-action reviewing right now. Like, I’m drinking this beer and typing how I feel about it. Isn’t this novel and exciting?

What we have here is Portsmouth Brewery’s Royal Impy Stout; a Russian Imperial Stout that is taking the place of the infamous and now defunct Kate the Great. It is 11.10% and bottled up in a cute little 11.16 oz. stubby bottle featuring a display of “Royal Russian Midgets.” Does Portsmouth Brewery believe in a resurrection of the czarist system? As of now, all signs are pointing to yes.

Initially, I was going to make this a video post, but here is what happened after I felt the camera’s critical eyes on me.

Here is what I meant to say – Impy looks very oily and heavy. It pours a deep brown/black with a tiny layer of mocha bubbles. The aroma is full of roasted malts, coffee beans, milk chocolate, toffee, with some boozy notes and a faint oakiness around the edges.

“Is this one of those icky candy bar ones?”, is how my boyfriend would approach this beer. It totally is; a very sweet base with tons of milk chocolate and fudge. You know that this is a highly alcoholic beer, but the crazy sweetness makes it more drinkable than it probably should be. Luckily the bottle size encourages moderation so you don’t wind up sexting sloppy half-dressed selfies to co-workers or fist-pumping to Bon Jovi’s “It’s My Life” – or whatever drunk people do.

You’ll taste a good amount of dark fruits and molasses, plus a light roastiness; though I would have enjoyed a more prominent roast presence to help balance out the sweetness. It is full-bodied with low carbonation and leaves a slick feeling on the palate.

There Kristie, that wasn’t so hard. I believe you can still find this on-tap and for sale in bottles at The Portsmouth Brewery. Definitely worth a try.

Portsmouth Brewery
56 Market Street
Portsmouth, NH, 03801

With references dating it as far back as 1366, and found prominently throughout the Viking and Medieval periods, the sahti is a beer that is sure to make all you mead-swilling, Renaissance Festival-attending, Odin-worshipping, Game of Thrones nerds quiver with a joy you haven’t felt since you won your Dungeons and Dragons fantasy jousting league.

This traditional Finnish beer is flavored with juniper berries, either on their own or in addition to hops. The mash would then be run through a kuurna; an old-timey lauter tun, and then strained through juniper branches to impart a deep earthy flavor. In the Samuel Adams sahti recreation, Norse Legend, the beer is aged on a bed of juniper berries to produce a similar effect.

In Norse society, beer was most exclusively brewed by women, being viewed as a sacred homesteading practice. In Scandanavia, two types of sahti’s were brewed, one for men and one for women. For the men, tupulisahti, a stronger strand consisting of the first brew-runnings, and for the women, jälkijuoma, a weaker version.

At the Boston branch of Samuel Adams, where most of the smaller batches and barrel-aged collections are developed, brewer Jennifer Glanville has been carefully crafting the sahti over the past 9 years. It has finally been released as part of the Sam Adams Small Batch Series. Check out some of our past reviews on other Limited Sam Adams; Cinder Bock and Merry Mischief.

A long-lasting off-white head rests atop a bright amber body with a light haze. You can appreciate the herbal properties right off the bat via the nose; juniper berries, spruce, pine, wood, plus a light caramel/sweet malt.

I was expecting a big farmhouse yeasty presence, but found instead, a very clean flavor. Sweetness levels are high. I get a bit of a cotton-candy sugar aspect, along with light smoke that briefly touches the palate. The flavor consists of bright pine qualities and grapefruit citrus, followed by earthy undertones of wood and cedar. The juniper berries invade all of your sensory receptors and though I know it was brewed with Hallertau hops, leaves me thinking gruit strong ale or maybe even an amber with added herbs.

This is a very malt-forward beer, relying heavily on caramelized malts and a toffee sweetness. It has a medium to medium-full body, with a heavy carbonation, creamy mouthfeel, and a sticky finish.

Enjoy it while listening to some Swedish doom metal.

Mayflower Brewery Tour

Funny how when you’re unemployed you have all this free time, yet no free money. Sitting around the house cleaning and blogging all day was relaxing at first, but I hit a point where I needed to start getting out of the house and finding something to do with my day. It was getting a little too 1950s housewife dedicating my whole day to planning and prepping an elaborate dinner for my dear old boyfriend to eat when he came in the door from work, kicked off his shoes, and sat back in his easy chair in a cloud of vanilla pipe tobacco smoke while I fetched him the paper, “I polished all the furniture today!”, “That’s nice dear.” Okay, so it wasn’t quite like that. But sometimes it felt close.

So, lucky for me, living in Massachusetts puts me in a prime location for doing my favorite free activity- brewery tours! So last week I ended up at Mayflower Brewing, a craft microbrewery in Plymouth, MA. Mayflower brews traditional year-round beers, along with seasonal brews that change with whatever New England has to offer at that time of year- be it Spring Hop, Summer Rye, or a Thanksgiving Ale. I was fortunate enough to be given a tour by Sarah Richardson, who also started the Girls Pint Night Out on Cape Cod, which we will be making a post about soon.

Keg of Mayflower IPA

Based on their name and location it should be no surprise that the founder, Drew Brosseau, is descended from John Alden, one of the pilgrims aboard the Mayflower and allegedly the first pilgrim to set foot on Plymouth Rock. I know everyone educated in Massachusetts public schools can recite the plight of the pilgrims like they can their ABC’s, but I bet what you didn’t learn in your elementary school Thanksgiving pageants is that the pilgrims landed here because of beer. Sure, we all learned that they were running low on provisions, but that provision was hearty ale, their main source of nourishment. It didn’t spoil and didn’t have the connotation that beer today has. When they first stopped in Provincetown there was no fresh water, but in Plymouth they found kettle ponds and fields cleared by the native Americans.

Mash and wort tanks

Mayflower brews two 620 gallon batches a day, with each batch filling up 20 barrels. Usually they brew their four year-round offerings: Pale Ale, Golden Ale, Porter, and their IPA. The pale malt, their most commonly used, is stored out behind the brewery in a huge silo, which connects to the grain room. The smell in the grain room was delicious, picture all the grains and barley you use for homebrewing, only magnified by thousands. Aside from their regular beers, they also do some limited beers in their Cooper Series. I mentioned earlier that the founder of Mayflower is descended from John Alden. Alden was the cooper on the ship, so it’s fitting that the limited barrel-aged beers are aptly called the Cooper Series.

Whiskey barrels for aging the limited beers in the Cooper Series

Their many offerings of beer are what draws people in. Sarah said that people often come on tours and say how they don’t like beer, but usually that’s because the only beer they’ve had is a cheap beer. Then once they try craft beer, they change their tune. And that’s what I love about craft beer, there’s something for everyone, even the self-proclaimed, “I don’t do beer” people.

Fermentation tanks

The whole grain to glass process takes about two weeks, one day to brew, two weeks to ferment and condition, and one day to bottle. All the beers are filtered before bottling except for the Summer Rye and some of the Cooper’s Series. They got a larger bottling line a couple of years ago, because Mayflower has seen substantial growth as craft beer continues to grow.

Bottles

Drew Brosseau said he always liked craft beer, he used to be a homebrewer in the early 80s and the first craft brewery opened up in his hometown. So when he “semi-retired” he decided to open a brewery and he wanted it to be fun. He said that over 30 years the interest in craft beer has been steadily climbing, and it’s finally reached a tipping point. “Now we are at a point where some generations have grown up with craft beer, people under 30 don’t know any different,” he explained. And it’s true, older generations of beer drinkers only had big name American lagers to choose from- Bud, Miller, Schlitz, Coors, and so forth. “Now macrobreweries may have the largest market share, but the trends are against them,” he said.

All that beer…apparently it’s much more full during the on season

All you have to do is take a look at Mayflowers numbers to see how much the interest in craft beer has taken off. Their first year they did 1,000 barrels, then 2,000 the next year, and by their 5th year they are up to 6,500 barrels annually. “We are the most successful brewery in New England if figuring that out by rate of growth,” Brosseau explained. Mayflower has moved up from the 37th largest brewery in Massachusetts to the 5th largest, and from the 120th to the 12th largest in New England. “We’re still tiny compared to the bigger ones in New England,” he said, “So it will be a while before we move to number four, or even number 11.” It’s an impressive rate of growth for a brewery, and reflects the passion people have for craft beer.

Porter labels on the bottling line

Craft beer drinkers are part of a broader trend reflecting an interest in local products and foods, and more flavors. “You see this in bread, coffee, chocolate, and beer. People want more flavor. It’s a shift away from homogenous market products,” Brosseau said. He left me with these parting crass, but true words showing that the movement is here to stay: “”For every Bud or Coors drinker who dies, a craft beer drinker turns 21.”

John Smiths 1616 New England map

We’ve been slowing down on the posts lately, and that’s because we’ve both been trying to figure out what niche we want the blog to fill, along with waiting on site redesign, business cards, and other ways of branding the blog. When we started Two Girls, One Beer, it was a fun way to review any beer that we drank. But that’s vague, and with so many different beer blogs we needed something to set us apart. We didn’t have an existential crisis per say, but instead realized we need to do some serious blogger soul searching, om…

So we decided to focus on local beers, specific to our New England region. We love beer, and we love the Northeast. That’s not to say we won’t post about beers from elsewhere if we have one we truly love (I’m currently working on a post reviewing Left Hand), but here we are living in a part of the country where microbreweries are springing up left and right, and where motivated individuals are sometimes working full-time jobs on top of running their beer start-ups. And that type of passion needs to be recognized.

The great part is that not just brewers, there are brewpubs, liquor store cashiers who are insisting on creating a craft beer section in their otherwise Bud/Miller store, and beer clubs meeting on a weekly basis now. Just on Cape Cod alone we have seen the start of Girl’s Pint Night Out, a home-brewers association, and a mug club at the BBC. And this is all in the slow off-season! The Seacoast region of New Hampshire is also experiencing a nano-brewery boom, with the arrival of Earth Eagle Brewings, Throwback, and Blue Lobster. And the only way the movement will grow is if it garners noticeable attention, and yes, money. So we feel that by sticking to local, buying local, and blogging local, we can help the craft beer scene keep going strong.

I know, I know, drinking local beers is so selfless and noble of us. It’s a hard job, but someone has to do it. So you can expect to see a lot more posts on local beers, brewery tours, and individuals who are working to promote the craft beer scene in our small New England towns. Enjoy!

I’ll be honest. I’m not sold on the whole Bye-Bye-Miss-American-Pie-Summer-of-Love-Hendrix-Experience bottle art. But then I considered Cody Brewing. Every time I’ve met them, either at festivals or tastings, they have been so enthusiastic/passionate about the beer their company is putting out, it’s inspiring. They have a solid year-round selection, plus eclectic seasonal/limited offerings; a carrot cake porter, for crying out loud. Thus, I gave the Hypnotic Tonic a chance.

Brewed with lemons, limes and an obscene one pound of honey PER GALLON, this beer is definitely pushing some limits. It looks like orange soda, with a thin layer of small bubbles, but no definitive head. And holy honey, the aroma is packed full of honey sweetness; like a cup of mead with an added citrus character (lemons, limes, clementines) and a floral hop aroma.

The honey and citrus blend nicely in the flavor, with the honey coating your palate and the citrus adding a not-too-tart depth of flavor. The hop bitterness lingers in the sweet finish. I was expecting a crazy alcohol presence, being 8.8% and medium-bodied, but it is surprisingly subdued.

It’s like an artisan kids beverage. “Dude, I just steeped this Capri-Sun in ginger, lemons, and orange peels for a month. Let’s get wild.” It is very sweet, but the distinct citrus qualities and fresh yeastiness make up for it. The carbonation is on the lower side, and makes for a very smooth mouthfeel.

Definitely pick this up if you are A) a college freshman who thinks the bottle will look killer in your shrine of picks from Dave Matthews Band concerts, Woodstock-era garbage and toadstool mushroom hemp jewelry or B) you’re looking for a unique and drinkable brew from one of Massachusetts’s best new breweries.

Fire in the Ham

One thing I love about the cold weather is that thick, smoked wood scent that sometimes hits your nose when you walk outside grey November day, and you jealously know that some neighbor is having a fire blazing in the hearth. Smells like bacon. And bacon scented air is one of the few perks of the cold weather. I mean with bacon mania having its own Wikipedia entry, I’m clearly not the only one with a developing passion for all things smoked.

Which brings me to the type beer I’m reviewing today- a Rauchbier, the German word for smoked beer. While this is now a harder style beer to find, at one point the smoked tastes and aromas found in Rauchbiers were common in nearly every beer.This changed in the 19th century when ways to dry grains changed, giving way to the beers of today, where the malts are crisp and dried without any added notes from the drying process.

I don’t know as much about this style beer as I would like, it’s hard to find, and something I didn’t fully like until recently. So when I saw Jack’s Abbey Fire in the Ham (5.4 abv, 20 ibu) on the shelf at the store, I figured it’s another Rauchbier that I could use to further develop my appreciation of the style. Brewed in Framingham, Massachusetts this beer is based off the smokey lagers found in Bamberg, Germany, this beer says that their malts were dried over beechwood, departing upon them the smokey aroma that is the base for this beer.

The beer pours honey colored, and is a little hazy with a one-finger white head that quickly went away. But the most noticeable characteristic of this beer was the smokey ham and bacon scent, reminiscent of the smell of campfire wood. The strong notes of pork and wood definitely made me think of a BBQ, and even though this beer is vegan, I could not shake the associations with meat. It was very prevalent.

I’m new to smoked beer for the most part, so tasting this was a bit of a challenge for me. It seemed well-balanced, despite the strong smoked taste you could still pick up the subtle hops in the background. The most dominant note though, however, was the smoked malts and at times I found it hard to taste the rest of the beer beyond that flavor, which is my biggest problem with smoked beers. I have a proclivity to get too hooked on the smokey meat flavors, which I suppose is what you are supposed to do with these beers.

Though I have lots to learn about this style, I’d try this beer again, paired with baked beans or some hearty cheese, in an instant.

Here’s our review of the limited Biere de Mars release from Cape Cod Beer. The label on the limited 750mL bottle was designed by the aptly named local artist Joey Mars, and the beer itself is a farmhouse ale, specifically a style brewed in Northern France.

This is our first video review, and let me tell you, it’s a lot harder to think about something and say it on the spot, as opposed to sitting down and taking notes, then being able to carefully write up your opinions.

Visit Cape Cod Beer here: http://www.capecodbeer.com/

I’m Hipster Brewfus. I bet you’re wondering what the hell is going on. Who is this dude writing on “Two Girls, One Beer?” Well, there’s a not so exciting story about how this came to be.

I asked, and they graciously accepted.

We also just finished a beer swap also, sending beers from our respective regions to each other. So I thought I’d review a beer from my region (Maryland) for these New England ladies (and you fine readers). Today is a rare one off from Flying Dog in Frederick, MD.

St. Eadman is a Belgian Dark Ale clocking in at a nice and heavy 10% ABV. It pours a beautiful mahogany , carrying tones of burnt amber and ruby. Think of those really nice, dark wood floors you see on HGTV sometimes. Its like those, but in liquid form. And it’ll get you good and drunk. I’d like to see floors do that. There is a dingy, off-white head. It’s fluffy, but gets the hell out of your way quick, leaving behind a whole lot of nothing.

I feel like I spent more time with my nose buried in the glass than I did drinking it. It could be true, the level of drunk I was when I finished told me that perhaps I drank it a bit too fast. There are loads of burnt sugars, interwoven with cherry, raisin and other darker fruits. It’s a sharp and tart nose, and I love it. The taste is a lot more complex than I would have thought initially. The front end reminds me of a kriek, the cherry and other lighter fruits are right there, which lead into the darker fruits I smelled in the nose. its almost “juicy” before the next wave smack you in the tongue and you get a mouthful of brown sugar, malt, and yeast. And rushing right in with that back end is the pang of alcohol. At 10% it’s hard to hide, but nothing unpleasant at all. This beer is heavily carbonated, leaving my tongue feeling weird after the first half of the bottle.

and be careful with the second half of the bottle-lots of sediment. Gross

And the bottle art is pretty awesome. Ralph Steadman famously does all the label work for Flying Dog. This bottle MIGHT take the prize for my favorite. It’s a pretty far out self portrait.

Flying Dog Brewhouse Rarity: St. Eadman

Smell: 3.75/5
Appearance: 4/5
Taste: 4.25/5
Feel: 2.5/5

Overall: 3.625/5

This beer pairs well with: Flight of the Conchords – The Most Beautiful Girl (In The Room)

I’d like to extend a HUGE thank you to Ashleigh and Kristie for allowing me to spew my word vomit, and annoy all of their readers. And to you, for reading it. I hope you don’t stop reading their blog on my account. And if your interest is the least bit piqued, you can find me saying all kinds of stupid stuff over at http://www.hipsterbrewfus.com/

Mary of the Marsh, Earth Eagle Brewings

The forest is still as the majestic earth eagle tears through the terrain, its mighty gobbler rustling in the breeze… Yes, the earth eagle is the turkey, but they also brew a damn good beer. Earth Eagle Brewings in Portsmouth, NH has certainly inched its way up as my favorite place to grab a beer (or six tasting-sized pours). Problem is, I’m not from Portsmouth so we have to make do with refilling our growlers every couple of weeks or so, and just ignore those yearnings for a gruit that spring up between visits, and placate myself with something else.

There’s something about having your beer be poured by one of the people who brewed it, who says, “Want to take our brewery tour? Look through that doorway there,” and gestures towards a room right behind the bar, with malts in the pot, and the second brewer hard at work. It’s a direct connection with your beer and brewer, and it’s really something to be able to talk with the creator of your food, much like forging a relationship with a farmer, the brewer helps you understand what you are drinking, and why it’s made the way it’s made.

My favorite beer from the brewery is Mary of the Marsh (5.7% abv), made without hops. This beer poured with no head for me, it had a head at the brewery, so that was probably my pouring skills coming into play. It’s nearly opaque, very cloudy, and a caramel/cherry color. There’s plenty of carbonation, however the aroma is the most noticeable thing about this beer.

The aroma of rosemary dominates this beer, with it’s savory scents becoming muddled with the malts, making my mouth water. I enjoyed this beer with a lemon-rosemary roasted chicken so it went with my meal perfectly. Under the rosemary are floral hints of other herbs, along with malts and slight esters.

The beer has a light/medium mouthfeel, with the malts providing a solid, earthy grounding for all of the other spicy and herbal flavors that the beer delivers. The rosemary is once again the most noticeable, with hints of less dominant herbs in the background. Something in this beer reminded me of lavender flowers as well. The yeast is very noticeable, coming in at the end of the sip with a tangy note, reminding me of plum or apricot. Unlike some gruits and herbal beers, there’s no bitterness. This beer is one of my favorites, there are so many complexities in the flavor that I couldn’t peg them all down in just one glass, and I can’t wait to fill up my growler this weekend and give Mary of the Marsh a go again.