May 9th, 2007
NERAX – Day 2
We purchased our tickets in advance and planned to attend Thursday and Friday evening. Thursday, Ian was available to attend and Friday, Ryan was able to attend. Thursday night was awesome and we were glad that we choose to go twice.
Amber and I went to the event with Ryan (Thirsty Beard) and Allan (from my office). Allan is a home brewer and quite excited for the event.
Upon arrival to the event, the parking was a little more difficult to locate, but wasn’t too hard. We walked up to the door, not seeing a line, and realized that there was a hefty line inside the lobby. Once again, we were happy that we had reserved tickets and wasn’t going to sit in a line for an hour or two.
The beer board was full with beers and proudly announced that there were 50+ beers being offered. There were a couple of additional beers available vs, Thursday (45 vs 50+)… Many of the Thursday beers were still available. We were very happy to see the Black Gold still on the list. OH BOY!!… There were about 20 or so new beers on the list. We were excited and decided to start off the evening with Black Gold.
Here is a list of the beers that we tried:
– European Offerings –
Bank Top, Burton upton Trent, Staffordshire, England
* Gold Digger (OG 1042, ABV 4.2%) (Sean)
* Volunteer (OG 1042, ABV 4.2%) (Sean)
Eastwood and Sanders, England, West Yorkshire, England
* Nettlethrasher (OG 1044, ABV 4.4%) (Amber)
Fuller’s, Griffin Brewery, Chiswick, London, England
* Discovery (Allan)
Hop Back, Downtown, Salisbury, Wiltshire, England
* Summer Lighting (OG 1049, ABV 5%, IBU 38) (Allan)
Millstone, Mossley, Greater Manchester, England
* Valemill (Amber)
Oakham, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England
* Asylum (ABV 4.5%) (Sean)
RCH, Truro, Cornwall, England
* Pitchfork (OG 1043, ABV 4.3%) (Allan)
Theakston, Masham, Ripon, North Yorkshire, England
* Old Peculiar (OG 1057, ABV 5.6%) (Amber)
Cairngorm, Aviemore, Inverness-shire, Scotland
* Black Gold (OG 1044, ABV 4.4%) (Amber, Ryan, Sean, Allan)
Kelburn, Barrhead, East Renfrewshire, Scotland
* Carte Blanche (OG 1048, ABV 5%) (Sean)
Gwynt y Ddraig, Pontypridd, Mid Glamorgan, Wales
* Fiery Fox (ABV 7%) (Ryan)
* Haymaker Medium (ABV 7%) (Allan)
– American Beers –
Cambridge Brewing Company, Cambridge, MA
* Tall Tail Pale Ale (OG 1058, ABV 5.8%) (Allan)
Concord Brewing, Lowell, Ma
* Concord Junction Porter (OG 1072, ABV 5.5%, 32 IBU) (Amber)
* Extra Pale Honey Ale (OG 1045, ABV 4.5%, 11.5 IBU) (Allan)
Gardner Ale House, Gardner, MA
* Face Lift IPA (OG 1053, 6.2%, 67 IBU) (Ryan)
Gritty McDuff’s, Portland, ME
* Best Bitter (OG 1048, ABV 4.8%, 35 IBU) (Allan)
Harpoon Brewery, Boston, Ma
* Harpoon Session Brown (OG 1051, ABV 4.3%, 18 IBU) (Ryan, Sean)
* Harpoon Ale (OG 1056, ABV 5.9%, 25 IBU) (Sean, Ryan)
John Harvard’s (Brewpub), Cambridge, MA
* The Softest Bullet Ever Shot (OG 1040, ABV 4.0%, 30 IBU) (Ryan)
* A Spoonful Weighs a Ton (OG 1038, ABV 3.5%, 20 IBU) (Ryan)
Pennichuck Brewing Company, Milford, NH
* Engine #5 (OG 1048, ABV 5.0, 25 IBU) (Allan)
Rock Bottom Brewing Company, Braintree, MA
* North Star Amber (OG 1048, ABV 5.0%, 28 IBU) (Sean)
Shipyard, Portland, Me
* Prelude (Ryan)
* Old Thumper ( OG 1060, ABV 5.8%, 34 IBU) (Sean)
Willimantic Brewing Company, Waltham, MA
* Autobahn Mail Alt (OG 1056, ABV 5.4%, 28 IBU) (Sean)
Comments:
* The Volunteer was the first offering that I tried from Bank Top Brewery. When carrying it back to the group, I smelled it and was a little worried. Upon the first sip, all I could smell was the sent of a went horse barn. I wasn’t too excited. Ryan, Amber and Allan tried and it agreed that someone must have milked a weasel for this beer. Thinking that both offerings couldnt be that bad, I decided to try the Gold Digger. Guess what, it tasted the same.
* Allan liked the Summer Lighting.
* The Asylum was very tasty and well balanced.
* Yes, the Pitchfork had a nose of wet hay.
* We’ve had the Old Peculiar before and it was tasty on cask.
* When Ryan tried the Face Lift IPA, his first words were “Honey, pack up the car, we are going to Gardner”.
* Ryan and I decided to get a 1/2 pint of the Harpoon Ale and a 1/4 pint of the Brown. After comparing the Brown and the Ale, we regretfully thought that we should have switch the quantities. The Brown was very tasty.
* Ryan was impressed with the two offerings from John Harvard’s.
As you can see, many good beers were enjoyed. During the evening, Amber spotted “Jason”, the brewer from Shipyard, from across the room. We went up to Jason and asked him where da gold was at. He remembered us and we had a good time chatting with him. We also say Byron, from Portsmouth Brewery, at the event.
By the end of the evening, many beers were wiped from the list. The cop is telling us to leave, so it must be time to go home. Bye bye Nerax. See ya next year.