F.A.T. Podcast Episode 54 – IPA Tasting with Joe Bean
On this episode of the Food About Town podcast, Ben Turiano and Jim Lake from Joe Bean Coffee stopped by to taste a selection of beers from the New England region. Both are practiced at tasting and I was happy to have them join me to go through these eight IPAs from highly regarded breweries in Vermont and Massachusetts.
The first beers we tried were from the Trillium Brewing Company in the Fort Point area of Boston. The day I stopped in I was able to grab the Double Dry Hopped Fort Point (American Pale Ale), Congress Street (IPA) and the Scaled Up (Double IPA) in cans. For most of the canned beers at Trillium, you can walk out with up to a case of each but keep in mind that their prices are slightly higher than the other breweries I’ll be mentioning. Of course their locations are in and around Boston so that is to be expected and the price is one I’d be happy to pay again.
This as a good a time as any to mention to those that haven’t been indoctrinated yet that cans are now the preferred packaging method for light and hoppy beers. This is a marked change from the old days where cans contaminated the beers with metallic flavors. Now with proper lining, the can prevents light from damaging the beer and keeps it fresher longer. Hoppy beers still deteriorate over time but this does allow them to last longer than ever before.
From there we moved on to Haze, a double IPA from Tree House Brewing in Monson, MA. Tree House is one of the flavors of the moment in craft beer and on many days you’ll find lines of multiple hours long for growler fills and cans. On the Thursday evening we went, we got a bit lucky and were able to walk in and get a few four packs. I’d recommend trying this method if you aren’t too picky about what you get. We also tried Sip of Sunshine which I grabbed from the Beverage Warehouse in Winooski, VT just outside of Burlington. Beverage Warehouse is one of the finer beer stores I’ve had the chance to visit. This offering from Lawson’s Finest Liquids is a tropical fruit bomb and worth making the drive for.
The final three we sampled were from the new Alchemist Brewery in Stowe, VT. I took a side trip from the Adirondacks to fill up my cooler with Focal Banger, Heady Topper and the Crusher which were the three offerings at the time. Heady was one of the beers that got me into the craft beer scene and coincidentally Ben was the guys that gave it to me. I still adore the smoothness of Heady Topper but I think the Crusher is my new Alchemist favorite.
This was a great way to finish up our tasting and thanks to my friends from Joe Bean for suffering through these fantastic beers and recording with me!
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