02 September 2008

Custom BrewCrafters EPA (NY)

This is kind of exciting: Custom BrewCrafters has started bottling their beer. Located about a half hour's drive south of Rochester in Honeoye Falls, Custom BrewCrafters creates private label beers for many area restaurants and bars. Under their own name, they've also sold growlers at the brewery and a few other places. Only recently have they expanded their facilities for bottling.

This English-Style Pale Ale is "a well balanced amber ale with a smooth, dry finish," according to the label. Those expecting something like Sierra Nevada or Anchor Liberty will be disappointed. CB's brew leans more toward malt sweetness than hop bitterness, and the hops are herbal and floral. The malt base is slightly caramel or maybe toffee (and, admittedly, a touch watery), but the finish still pulls back dry. It's supposedly 5.1% ABV, but feels lighter. It's also quite low on carbonation by US standards (good!). This strikes me as a decent interpretation of the style, which isn't to say it's what American beer drinkers are yearning for. However, I like it, and am glad they went all English on us.

There's still the issue of the name. "Custom BrewCrafters" accurately depicts what the company originally set out to do, but is all wrong for a craft brewery. The label also calls it "CB's," which sounds like a forced nickname . But now that they're selling six packs, it's probably too late to change.

3 comments:

Beer Blokes said...

G'Day Buttle,
This is a bit scary. I was just running the spell checker over a post about American style Pale Ales and the differences betwen them and the EPAs and then I find this! Beer Karma! I hope more craft brewers (resisted the temptation to say CBs!)get on to the EPAs as they suit a time and a mood and as long as people realise that they are supposed to differ from an APA they should not be disappointed. The more styles and types that people can choose from,the better the beer world gets!
Cheers,
Prof. Pilsner

Buttle said...

I think a lot of US breweries are afraid to produce a pale ale that isn't loaded with Cascade hops (copying Sierra Nevada). After a while, just a change of pace is nice.

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