Ellicottville Pantius Droppus (NY)

I noticed that Beerjanglin' gushed over this foray into big beer from Ellicottville Brewing Company (EBC), so I figured I'd give it a try. Pantius Droppus is an Imperial Pale Ale --  not an Imperial IPA. I wondered what that distinction meant, and then recalled that I didn't even like EBC's grapefruit rind pale ale.  So would this be just more of a bad thing? In addition, it's claim of a "robust Cascade dry hop" made me think I knew what I was getting into, nothing particularly original.

But then there's the sour, enough so that I wondered whether my bottle had gone bad. It turns out, others have noted the sour notes as well, so I'll assume it's intentional. Here's the thing: I have yet to "appreciate" sour beers, but I like Pantius Droppus a good deal. The sourness isn't overwhelming, but stands on top of other aspects of the beer: citrus and sweet-leaning malts, slight grapefruit bitterness underneath. The high alcohol doesn't comes through. It still leans more to sipper than gulper, but isn't oppressively heavy. 

About $7.50 a bomber for 22 ounces of 11.5% ABV isn't a bad price at all, and I greatly appreciate the uniqueness of Pantius Droppus, a beer that Biggus Dickus would have loved.

Hair of the Dog Ruth (ORE)

Now you're messing with a sonovabitch. Oregon's Hair of the Dog must be viewed as one of the quintessential  American boutique microbreweries. Well, boutique might not be the right word, but they make only a handful of beers, mostly big alcohol, not huge batches. Ratebeerians drool over things like the 29% ABV Dave with its super-selective release. 

Ruth is only 4.5% ABV and predictably not as highly rated. An American Pale Ale, it claims, but it's also unfiltered and not at all in the Sierra Nevada style. It looks like a hefeweizen and tastes like fresh grapefruit juice. Seriously, drinking this blind I'd probably guess carbonated grapefruit juice as easily as beer. It's good: not bitter canned grapefruit juice, or pith or rind. It's more fruity and a bit floral. Not a lot of hop sharpness for a West Coast pale, nor a bready malt backbone, just some combination of Crytsal hops, light grains and yeast. 

It's unusual and refreshing, I think, but a little too pricey on this side of the country to be properly drunk as a warm-weather session ale. Still, I'm sure I'll drink this again.

Four from Lakefront Brewery (WI)

To me, Lakefront Brewery is known for two things: for New Grist, their gluten-free beer, and for being arbitrarily sued last year by a guy who was hit on the head by a can of Schlitz. As their beers are newly available to my area -- we seem to be getting a lot from Big 10 country all of a sudden -- I figured I'd try to learn more about them.

I bought their unusual 8-by-1 variety pack from my local retailer. It's a nice package for those who want to try as many beers as possible, although I'd prefer at least two of each. Thankfully, New Grist is not included. Instead, there are a surprising four lagers in the box, perhaps a sign that this Wisconsin brewery embraces it's German roots.


Cherry Lager: This is the seasonal in the pack, and an out of season one at that (my variety pack seems to be from late August). The last fruited lager I had was the crummy Wild Blue. Cherry Lager is much better, although still not great. It pours with a pinkish hue and really nice head. The cherries aren't really prominent, but at least if you didn't know you could guess they were there. There's only a light cherry tartness to it, and some proper fruitiness. The beer finishes dry with rough hops (Mt. Hood, the website says), which maybe clash a bit. Overall, I'd say this is pretty good for a fruit beer in that it doesn't have that no-calorie seltzer flavor that so many others do.

Klisch Pilsner: Klisch is the family name of the brothers who run the show. Their pilsener is pretty ordinary: straw-colored, light-bodied, fizzy, without much of a hop kick. There's an unfortunate faint sourness to it. In the summer, I might applaud it for being thirst-quenching, but now there isn't much to recommend.

Cattail Ale: I should point out that I don't like the label designs on any of these. Cattail is categorized by Beer Advocate as an English pale mild. I don't know what Ratebeer says; they're down again. The ale is a hazy golden brew, light and fizzy, not too distant from the pilsener. Again, there's a slight sourness. Is this a problem of lack of freshness? There aren't many hops here, nor even much in the way of malt body. Cattail probably works best fresh in the summer as a sessions beer at just over 5%.

Oragnic ESB: This may be the best of the bunch. It pours more amber has more heft to it than Cattail, with biscuity malts and earthy hops. The website says "cascade hop flavor" but I don't detect that. Also, it really isn't all that bitter, even by English standards. It's a style I like though, and a solid attempt.

Not a blockbuster start for the eight-pack, but the beers are to follow are darker and more to season right now. I enjoyed the ESB the most but would probably order the Cherry Lager if I had a choice, if only that it's just about the only one of its kind out there.

Three from Saranac (NY)

Saranac really makes a lot of styles, so many that I can buy their variety six-pack and find no beers that I've reviewed (though I've had a couple of these before).

Adirondack Lager: The good news is that this isn't a bland lager. The bad news is it doesn't taste quite right (at least not to me). Clear, light amber color, light hop aroma. It's made with both Hallertau and Cascades, and you can kind of taste both of them battling it out. However, some of the taste gets buried beneath heavy carbonation (not uncommon for this brewery). There are also somewhat sour, metallic elements appearing. Maybe just a bad one-off for me, but this wasn't good.

Pale Ale: Much better. This might be considered their signature beer, and it's all over the place around these parts. "Classic English Style," it says on the label, and it uses Fuggles and EKG hops to prove it. I think I sense some US-style citrusy hops in the nose, but those don't really appear. In stead, it's a good balance of malts and fruity, herbal hops. Softly carbonated. Great sessions brew.

India Pale Ale: The label says "American I.P.A." and boasts of "generous amounts of Cascade hops." This is a tough style to crack for a place like Saranac. Do you try to appease the hop-crazed elements of the craft beer community? Or do you tone it down a notch to appeal to a larger crowd? A bit more of the latter, I'd say. The citrusy hops come through against the malt background, but neither is huge. A bit light in both body and bitterness. The last IPA I had was Great Lakes, to which Saranac can't hold a candle. Still, if you forget about others of the style, you'll find a fairly tasty beer, and maybe a good first IPA.


Not a bad half a six pack (you only get one of each). Their Pale Ale may be my favorite of the brewery, but sometimes I think its more fun to drink things like Caramel Porter and Mountain Berry Ale and Chocolate Amber Lager, even if they don't all work. That's what Saranac does best: crank out the styles.

Flying Dog Doggie Style Pale Ale (COL)

A third one from the Flying Dog variety pack. The brewery's beer information sheet says this is dry-hopped with a "shitload of Cascade hops." Ah, there's that American craft brewery in-your-face attitude.

Indeed, the Casacde's citrusy aroma comes through clearly. This is also a very pretty pale ale, with its clear amber body and lasting head. Flavor wise, I have to say, it isn't anything exceptional. The malts are fairly sweet with a touch of caramel, and there's some hop bite, but not as much as I was expecting. Possibly my bottle wasn't fresh enough (I can't decipher the label date). It's 35 IBUs (the dry hopping doesn't boost this), which is about the same as Sierra Nevada's. I don't really like the malt flavor as much as Sierra Nevada (a beer I'm crazy about).

I don't want to sound too negative, as this is a good pale ale. It's not something I'm likely to seek out.

He'Brew Genesis Ale/Messiah Bold (NY)

Conceived in San Francisco, brewed in New York. Shmaltz Brewing Company takes a decidedly shticky, Borscht Belt inspired approach to marketing that is quintessentially American. The marketing pitch has grabbed the attention of the Jerusalem Post. The brewery's website features a photo of Lewis Black. The beer is kosher, although I'm guessing almost all beer would be if anyone bothered to pursue certification. At some point, the Old Testament puns become tiresome, but by then you've already tried the beer, which is all they are asking.

Genesis Ale and Messiah Bold are described as Light Brown and Dark Brown ales, respectively, on their labels. The former is in fact a pale ale.

Genesis Ale: Hazy, coppery-orange with a fading head. It's made with Centennial and Cascade hops, as well as Warrior, Fuggles and Willamette. It definitely has a west coast APA aspect to it, although it hasn't the biggest hop kick you'll find. I'd rank it somewhere in the middle between bitter grapefruit/pine excess and the English style. The body is a bit light, but that's okay. "Smooth and distinctive," claims the label, but I'd say the former is more true than the latter. Good APA for those who accept the American style but aren't competitive about IBUs.

Messiah Bold: This too seems to have a bit of a Northwest hop aroma (Cascade is still there). It's opaque, probably more thanks to turbidity than to dark color. The malts are roasty and chocolatey, but the hops are still there. I'm not sure it melds together completely, though. The body is still on the light side, and it isn't as "rich and robust" as promised by the label. Still, this is a pretty good brown ale.

These are both intended to be everyday brews, so you shouldn't expect them to blow you away. Which one I'd prefer probably comes down to style. Right now, I'd take another Genesis Ale. He'Brew also makes some big ones (including a pomegranate ale @ 8%) which may provide a better test of the brewery.

Cooperstown Old Slugger Pale Ale (NY)

Knowing this brewery, I wasn't expecting a Sierra Nevada clone, and I didn't get one. Ringwood yeast makes itself apparent right away with a slightly butterscotch aroma. The beer is a nicely clear copper, but the head dies quickly. The carbonation that caused the head, on the other hand, sticks around, and is sharp and prickly.

I made the mistake of swigging this along side some garlicky food, and the effect was almost painfully spicy. Even after cleansing my palate, the hops came across as spicy/earthy. But Old Slugger doesn't lean too far in one direction between hops and malt (slightly fruity, twangy). The finish is almost musty.

Overall, it reminds me vaguely of Pride of Milford, but that bigger beer has more interesting messiness than this one does. Old Slugger isn't a weak pale ale, but it isn't a polished one either, and I know some won't like it at all. It isn't high on my list of re-purchases.

Santa Fe Pale Ale/Nut Brown Ale (NM)

New Mexico! I don't know if I've ever seen beers from there. Santa Fe Brewing is the state's oldest microbrewery. I'm guessing they just started distributing to my side of the country. In fact, their website claims availability only in the Southwest. Anyone else see this in the Northeast? I paid $2.25 for singles, but I'm guessing about 50 cents of that is travel costs.

Pale Ale: Their flagship ale claims it is "anything but a typical American Pale" that is "as full bodied as its most robust English counterparts." It is English in its restrained use of hops. This isn't an IPA wannabe. I don't know if it's quite full-bodied though. Biscuity malts with a slight apricot undercurrent, but this isn't Magic Hat #9. Maybe four parts Sierra Nevada and one part Magic Hat. Anyway, it's a fine pale ale for non-hop heads.

Nut Brown Ale: This too is more England than America. Alas, it's disappointing. I like the nuttiness and don't mind the lack of hop bitterness, but this comes across as too light to me. The hops do pull it back from finishing too sweet, but I would have like to see some richness here, and more complexity. Maybe it's better freshly poured.

These are both basic brews from Santa Fe. More highly regarded appears to be their Chicken Killer Barley Wine, a year-round concoction that I saw in the store in bombers. I didn't buy it because I'm not in the mood for barley wine when it's warm. I suppose in New Mexico, you can't think like that. But this reminds me that The Session for June is drinking anti-seasonally.

Left Hand Jackman's Pale Ale (CO)

Another selection from Colorado's Left Hand seems like a good choice at the end of an abnormally hot April afternoon.

This one's a looker, nice and clear golden with an off-white head. The brewery says they used Cascade and Centennial hops, and dry-hopped with Mt. Hood. This would suggest a mixture of citrus and floral, I think, which is pretty much what you get. It comes across as mild, but not in the sense of being tasteless. Instead, it's a blend of hop flavors rather than the dominant grapefruit bitterness present in some APAs. Jackman's is also slightly grainy and sweet. This is a solid APA, nice and crisp, but not what some would want from the style. On a warm day, I'd rather drink this than the brewer's pilsener, but their darker beers seem to be better.

Samuel Smith's Organically Produced Ale (ENG)

Beer Activist is hosting The Session in March and chose organic beer as the topic, which is a departure from the usual style-oriented topics. I liked the two organic beers I've reviewed already: Samuel Smith's Organic Lager and Orlio Black Lager. For The Session, I chose the Tadcaster brewery's other organic offering.

This ale pours clear golden with a fluffy white head. It has that Samuel Smith's texture that I love: fairly full, restrained carbonation, creamy. The flavor is on the subtle side, at least compared with American takes on the style. Slightly bitter hops are accompanied by lemon and somewhat acidic notes. The finish is mostly clean. It's a fairly good beer, but in some respects, I was more pleased with their organic lager. I suspect this has to do with my expectations. As an American, I expect pale lagers to be flavorless pale ales to be hop-laden. This isn't really fair to Samuel Smith's, I'll admit.

As far as the politics of organic go, I'm more likely to jump on the "local" side of the local vs. organic debates (of course, SS is organic but not local). Some of this is because I have more confidence that the person at my local farmer's market is really local than I do that the food labeled organic is really organic. When I read that Wal-Mart is trying to make a dent in the organic market, I cynically assume they'll just try to lower the standards for the category. But my foodie leanings trump both local and organic considerations. There's a local natural foods store that is loaded with dreck such as organic canned mac 'n cheese that I wouldn't eat with your tongue. Of course, in many cases, organic, local and tasty coincide.

Will this be the case for organic beer? It's hard to tell. Remember, the brewer may not be trying to appeal to craft beer fans, but to organic shoppers who are merely looking for a more socially-conscious version of Miller Genuine Draft. I guess we'll see. Anyway, check out SS's Organic Ale if you'd like, but I'd rather steer people toward Orlio Black Lager, which is less well-known but a good beer, IMO.

Southern Tier Harvest Ale (NY)

This is a fall seasonal, and I had assumed it was ST's Oktoberfest lager (though I guess it says "ale" right on the label). The website calls it a "classic English style Extra Special Bitter of the highest order."

Slightly hazy glden in color, it produces a lasting pure white, lacy head. Harvest Ale proves to be a fairly hoppy APA, but it isn't all bitterness. There's some citrusy hops to be sure, and secondary sweetness. But there's also an unusual bite to it that isn't the bitterness or the sharp carbonation. Overall, it tastes very fresh (though it isn't fresh-hopped like some other harvest ales).

This is another good beer from Southern Tier, better than Phin & Matt's but maybe not as nice as their IPA.

Southern Tier Phin & Matt's Extraordinary Ale (NY)

Another one from Southern Tier, Phin & Matt's is in fact a pale ale. As mentioned, the brewery's balanced IPA isn't any kind of hop blast, IMO, and their summer wheat beer (Hop Sun, which I have yet to review on this site) is actually a fairly hoppy concoction. So what space does that leave for Phin & Matt's?

It isn't a bitter pale ale. The aroma suggests grapefruit, but there wasn't all that much of that in the taste. It seems lemony to me, and somewhat sweet. It's less bitter than nearly all of the other pale ales I've reviewed so far. Balance is the name of the game. The biggest positives may be the attractive lacy head and the crisp finish. This really should be drunk in warmer weather.

More ordinary than extraordinary, but it's nonetheless a decent beer.

Sackets Harbor Thousand Islands Pale Ale (NY)

Fortunately, this isn't named after -- or made with -- salad dressing. The brewery is located in the Thousand Islands region of New York near the eastern edge of Lake Ontario. It has been around for about a decade and is apparently expanding rapidly, but this ale was introduced only last year.

It pours an ochre (copper-orange) color with a white head with some lacing. This is a pretty hoppy pale ale, unsurprisingly more in the American style than the English. It's citrusy, but without the dry, grapefruitiness that others have. I sense some malty sweetness. The finish brings a pretty good shot of bitterness to it. It's also pretty high ABV at more than 6%, and I think I can taste that at the end.

I'd rank this fairly highly, close to Smuttynose Shoals Pale Ale, which is one I like. Comparatively, the Sackets Harbor either has more dimensions to it, or is too loosely constructed, depending on how you look at it. It's worth a try.

Smuttynose Shoals Pale Ale (NH)

This is a better pale ale, IMO. I drink this fairly often (never had it on tap, though). It's a bit more copper-colored than the Ellicottville, and seems to have more going on in taste -- maybe oranges. It still has a grapefruit juice aftertaste. I don't homebrew, but I understand that's a sign of Cascade hops.

According to their website, this was originally thought to be a pretty hoppy beer, but the hopheads ascended and demanded more. Shoals Pale Ale is listed at 30 IBUs, their IPA at 65, and Big A IPA at 120. That sounds overbearing to me, but those numbers can be misleading. I've got a Stone Ruination IPA in my cellar, and that's over 100. We'll see how that goes.

Ellicottville Pale Ale (NY)

"Brewed & bottled by Southern Tier Brewing Co., Lakewood, NY." Contract brewing is fine, but this beer isn't. Yellow/orange color looks nice, though the head doesn't last. It's kind of thin. My main problem is that it tastes too much like grapefruit. I don't dislike grapefruit, but it needs to be balanced with something else. I hate to slag off on a small brewer from my neck of the woods, but I wouldn't drink this again (although the raters at Ratebeer and Beer Advocate seem to like it.)

Note: apparently, this used to be called Two Brothers Pale Ale.