Pint Journal

🍺Temperance

📍Wild East Brewing Co. (Brooklyn, NY)

🥇94/100

⚖️It may be March, but Pint Journal is still finishing up our New York State Beers of Holiday Cheer. This time I’m drinking Temperance, a dark mild ale brewed by Wild East Brewing Co. It pours a beautiful coppery brown color. It’s mostly clear and the light bouncing through the beer is really captivating. This is a fantastic example of the sessionable ales served up in British pubs. It has a light body and lower carbonation so it doesn’t fill you up, along with a 3.5% abv so you can knock back a few without feeling guilty. Where does this beer not show any temperance? In the flavor! The caramel notes are full throttle in both the aroma and flavor. The beer’s slightly sweet, bready malt flavors make for a comforting and delicious ale that I’m definitely going to put into my regular rotation.

🍺Blood Of Gods

📍Strong Rope Brewery (Brooklyn, NY)

🥈84/100

⚖️Day 17 of the New York State Beers of Holiday Cheer is Blood Of Gods, an American red ale from Strong Rope Brewery. It pours a clear amber color with light tan head comprised of tiny, tightly grouped bubbles. The malts bring toffee and caramel notes to the nose. The sweet caramel and toffee are present in the flavor as well, with a strong toast flavor in the finish. It’s light to medium-bodied and sticks to the inside of your cheeks as you drink it. Not a lot of breweries put out red ales anymore, but it’s really nice to get one that’s well-crafted and showcases the style.

🍺Wintertime Spice

📍Brewery Ardennes (Geneva, NY)

🥇97/100

⚖️After a short break, here we are with the 16th beer in the New York State Beers of Holiday Cheer! This time we have Wintertime Spice, a Belgian Inspired Spiced Ale, or winter warmer style, from Brewery Ardennes. Wintertime Spice pours a stunning clear ruby red in the glass. The aroma is perfect for a winter warmer with nutmeg, clove, and allspice coming through. The beer is medium-bodied and easy to drink, which I love. The nutmeg, allspice, and clove are all pleasantly present in the flavor, in addition to some welcome notes of cinnamon. This winter warmer really shines and would easily be paired with a book by the fire. That said, this beer is so well done that I would be happy to drink this in any environment I happen to find myself!

🍺Brunch Crusher

📍Big aLICe Brewing Co.(Long Island City, NY)

🥈87/100

⚖️Day 14 of New York State Beers of Holiday Cheer presents Brunch Crusher from Big aLICe Brewing Co (was this beer named after me!?). This sour ale pours a hazy orange-gold color. The aroma is fantastic with both the pineapple and tangerine distinctly coming through. Brunch Crusher is deliciously fruity; pineapple juice is the main flavor, but the tangerine is just strong enough to prevent the flavor from being one-dimensional. It’s a pretty sweet beer, which balances some of the sourness, but it definitely would be a delight with Sunday brunch!

🍺Multiple Infinities: Peanut Butter

📍Artisanal Brew Works (Saratoga Springs, NY)

🥈88/100

⚖️ Day 11 of the New York State Beers of Holiday Cheer is Multiple Infinities: Peanut Butter from Artisanal Brew Works, a local brewery for me in New York’s Capital Region. It pours an inky black color with light brown head. The aroma is enticing with strong chocolate and raw peanut notes. It’s a medium-bodied stout with a creamy mouthfeel. It is sweet, but avoids going overboard, featuring flavors of roasted coffee, milk chocolate, and peanut butter. Peanut butter stouts are some of my favorite beers and this one is right up there with some of my favorites.

🍺Interpretation

📍Underground Beer Lab (East Syracuse, NY)

🥈85/100

⚖️Day 10 of the New York State Beers of Holiday Cheer is rung in with Interpretation Belgian Pale Ale from Underground Beer Lab! Made with Belgian yeast strains and Simcoe, Idaho 7, and Mandarina Bavaria hops, this beer looks gorgeous in the glass. It’s a hazy golden color with foamy white head topping it off. The first thing I smell is bubblegum, but I picked up more and more guava in the aroma as the beer sat. The flavor is also strong on guava, just a whisper of banana, and then pepper in the finish, making for an intriguing drink. It’s medium bodied, soft on the palate, and on the dry side. I have been loving the variety of styles in this series and this beer is yet another that brings me back to a style that I haven’t had in a while, but probably should explore more again.