So last night, a few of us at the Blast Furnace headed down to the Rock Bottom to sample on some award winning home brews. They were showcasing the Three Rivers Alliance of Serious Homebrewers annual competition winners, including the Best in Show winner, a Saison, and the East End award winner, a Scottish 60 Schilling Ale.
Promptly at seven they began to hand out a sample of each brew to every person in the bar, which was itself enough of a reason to have gone.
We started with the Saison, which I don't think any of us were particularly crazy about. Not that there was anything wrong with the beer, the type just wasn't necessarily up our alley. It had an overall sweet taste and, almost like a wine, had lots of subtle flavors, rather than a strong taste of anything specific like you typically find in other types of beers. I've had Saisons before, and this one was as good as any other one I've ever had, but, generally, I think it's more for true beer snobs, rather than novice beer snobs such as ourselves.
Next up was the Scottish 60-Shilling Ale. 60-schilling refers to the traditional price charged for the beer, 60-schilling being at the lower end. That meaning has evolved now to refer to the weaker end of alcohol content relative to other Scottish Ales and this one checks in at 3% alcohol. And that pretty much sums up the experience of drinking this one. I liked it a good bit just for being a Scottish Ale, but I prefer the stronger maltiness and alcohol from other Ales out there. That said, if I ever do get into home brewing, I'd be damn proud to make something like this one.
As for the night itself, it was definitely a cool experience. You could tell most of the people there were fellow home brew enthusiasts who came to support the award winners. The East End Brewery owner was also on hand, though being in his element as he was, he was being pulled in too many directions for us to try to get a word in with him, but hopefully we'll rectify that soon with a visit to his facility.
One last note, they had about the lamest bar trivia night ever going on. It had too many easy questions, too many 50-50 questions and involved submitting answers via paper.
I would have to agree with the evaluation of the beers. The Saison had a strong starting taste and I had that string taste in ny nouth all day Friday. I am not a fan of wheat beers and the Saison remineded me too much of a wheat beer. The Scottish Ale was my preferred drink of the two.
ReplyDeleteThe trivia seems to have lost it's luster. With the advent of the smart phone I really wonder how many people answered the questions correctly just from their own knowledge.
Next up... East End Brewery.