A weekly review of Vas Foremost’s craft beer offerings.
If you read this blog regularly then you already know that on Sunday we did NOT publish any customer reviews. That is because WE DIDN’T HAVE ANY! This is worse than the time that you didn’t buy me any Christmas gifts! I know you are drinking beer, why else would you be reading this blog? Why not write down a couple of your thoughts and send them in? What have you got to lose?!
Instead of The Customer Review, we will do another entry in The Vas Review. Sit back and hold on tight. Be jealous as I take you through two excellent beers from the Maine Beer Company.
Way ahead of you.
Red Wheelbarrow
Style: American Amber Ale
ABV: 7.0%
Serving: 16.9 oz bottle
The memories we have as a child. Most of them are probably quite romanticized, but if there is one thing that reigns true in a young boy’s life, it is the moments you share with your father. I remember my dad needing help to bring chopped wood from the back of the garage to the house on an autumn’s Saturday. I would turn it into a contest with my older sister to see who could carry more. Turns out, she could. I was too busy tricking her into doing my work while I played basketball in the driveway.
Behold my kitchen
Red Wheelbarrow explodes out of the bottle into my glass. It is bottle conditioned (carbonated with yeast), so I should have paid attention. A dark copper ale with a monstrous head of foam awaits. Immediately my nose takes to the strong citrus flavor and the tickle of a morning biscuit. Keep tickling me biscuit, I swear I’ll drink you down.
In goes the beer and out comes the flavor. The hop presence from the nose has subsided a little bit. A perfume-like presence paired off with a slight metallic note and a slice of bread with jam. Space Jam. Red Wheelbarrow has a firm bitterness that is balanced quite well against the strong malty flavors. It ends with a fairly dry backend lingering with pine and fig notes.
10 seconds left on the clock, down by two. He makes a move left and then spins right. Foot behind the three-point line he squares up and shoots the ball just as the clock hits zero. The ball moves in slow motion towards the basket while the crowd rises to their feet….Wait, what? Sorry. I was too busy winning the college basketball championship in my driveway. So how was that beer Sis?
Do what’s right Spike…leave the beer alone.
King Titus
Style: Porter
ABV: 7.5%
Serving: 16.9 oz bottle
Can you keep a secret? Porter is one of my favorite styles of beer. I absolutely love the make up of a porter and sometimes nothing else can hit the spot the way a porter can. The first true industrial beer style, the porter was insanely popular in the 18th and early 19th century in England drawing its name from the working class “porters” of the time. It nearly fell extinct at one point but thanks to the American Craft Revolution, this style is back where it belongs….in my belly.
King Titus pours out the darkest of browns with a cinnamon colored head. The aroma greats you with a thick, river of chocolate as Willy Wonka sings in the background. Red velvet cake and a chocolate covered caramel candy.
The crazy part is, my kitchen does normally look like this.
Out shoots a moderate bitterness carried on the back of semi-sweet chocolate. It isn’t long before the bitterness subsides leaving behind a creamy, marshmallow like texture and taste. As soon as he is of legal drinking age, Augustus Gloop would be all over this beer. A very mild roast coffee blend fades into a finish of gentle bitterness and toasted notes.
If this beer was present in Wonka’s factory, I would have been out of the contest before I even signed my name. Come with me, and you’ll be, in a world of pure imagination…
Other offerings from Maine Beer Company available at Vas Foremost include: Another One, Lunch IPA, Mo Pale Ale, and Zoe Hoppy Ale.
Next week in the Vas Review: Snowboarding! That is where I will be for the next week. If we get some customer reviews in, we will publish those instead. If not, see you in a couple of weeks!
Steve Pasko is a Certified Cicerone® and the Beer Content Writer for Vas Foremost. Follow him on Twitter, Untappd or Instagram at Gardemybiere. Email him at Gardemybiere@gmail.com or Steve@vasforemost.com. Visit his other beer blog at gardemybiere.com.
George here – January is winding up. As February approaches, what is arguably the biggest of all American sporting events is on the horizon. I refer to the Super Bowl, of course. Ever since football managed to supplant baseball to become America’s national pasttime, the Super Bowl has become a continually bigger deal. I, for one, will never complain about this. Whether you intend on watching the game for the contest itself, or just for the commercials, the Super Bowl is a great excuse to spend a Sunday night drinking, eating, and hanging out with friends. Now, Budweiser is the official beer sponsor of the Super Bowl through 2014, but there are so many options besides this – and since the two teams playing are the New York Giants and the New England Patriots, I’m going to focus on beers from these places.