Summertime 2011 Part 3: Yuengling Brewery

When we were planning our summer vacation to Philadelphia I insisted on going to Pottsville to take the Yuengling tour. I'm glad I did, it was a classic old brewery. This is a very small hilly community in coal country, and while the beer is sold in many eastern states, this brewery is rather quaint and hometown-ey. I was first introduced to their beer by Pittsburgh friends, who wanted me to know that there was beer in Pennsylvania that wasn't Rolling Rock or Iron City.
Yuengling is America's oldest brewery, but I can't buy it here in Illinois since it has a rather limited distributorship. I usually only get it when someone is traveling to the states that do sell it, or if I am on vacation there. The good news is that it is spreading west, and will be available in Ohio soon, so at least it is a little bit closer. Everything is very old and looks like it can't support a ton of brewing, which is why there is another brewery nearby and another one in Tampa to support all its customers.
The tour was informative, they took us through the old kegging area where we were given our own bung to keep, and to the caves, like in the Miller Valley, that beer was kept cool year long in the old days. The brewery is spread out over a few buildings, to include all the warehousing and bottling and canning. The end of the tour leads us to the little tavern where we were given 2 samples. Specifically two samples only. They were very precise about that.
Since I have had many of their beers already I tried two that I hadn't yet had, the Porter and their Premium Lager. They sell a classic lager that is an amber and delicious and is really their flagship brew. But they also sell one that they call their Premium but it sells for less and is not considered a top of the line beer by many, plus it isn't available everywhere like the Classic Lager. They brew a Black and Tan, which is a mix of the lager and the porter, which I have had (have some in my home fridge as we speak), that is really good too, so I wanted to try the porter to see for myself. Here are the reviews:
Yuengling Premium Lager: crisp, no bitterness, smooth and served very cold: 3.
Porter: Thicker and maltier, slightly bitter and rich: 4.
Can't wait to go back.

Summertime 2011 Part 2: Rahr Brewery

When on vacation in the Dallas/Fort Worth area I went to the Rahr Brewery, which brews a limited number of beers it sells all over the DFW area. It is good beer, and they offer tours twice a week, which is a good way to sample what they offer. The interesting thing is that its tours are offered, but there is not much of a tour since the warehouse, bottling area, and brewery are all near each other. There is a short explanation about the brewery, and a brief description on how beer is brewed, and the rest if the time is spent enjoying three beers in the glass they give you for walking in the door. They have a food stand available selling bar food, and a band entertaining us, and that is about it. They offered three of their beers, which I tasted, and found them to have their own interesting taste differences from other brands making the same styles of beer.

These guys started up this brewery in the tradition of their ancestor who opened their brewery, the Eagle Brewery, in Wisconsin, over 150 years ago. The original guys changed their direction to malting, and all this time later the latest Rahr, Fritz, opened up the Fort Worth brewery 7 years ago. It is only available locally but has a pretty good output for a microbrewery. It is so hot there I bought coozie that is made to hold a pint glass. Kind of a cool idea.

Now for the beers: The first, Stormcloud IPA, upon the recommendation of the pourer, was a good tasting ale, slightly bitter and piney. Strong too, which surprised me that I would like it so much, since it is so hot down there. Compares well with the better IPAs.
Rating: 4.
Next I tasted only about 4 oz of the Blond. Unfortunately I have not been much of a Blond Ale fan, and I found it to be much like what I expected in a blond. Kind of a funky taste at the end.
My Rating: 2.
Finally I tasted the Ugly Pug, which is a Black Lager similar to Shiner Black, but with a little more chocolate edge and a lot more malt than other lagers. I found it really good and worthy of another, which I had. It is their biggest seller, and nice for a brewery to sell so much of a beer that is not just an ordinary ale or lager.
Rating: 5.

This was a fun afternoon, sitting at a picnic table in kind of a hot warehouse, but everyone was having a good time and the beer and food were good. They must have good distributors because they sell it in the local Kruegers plus all the liquor stores all over that part of Texas.

Summertime 2011 Pt 1: Great Crescent Brewery

It had been a while since I have been traveling to taste beer, other than local bars and restaurants or breweries already commented on.

Ohio Beer Drinker Tim took me to a small corner of a building in Aurora IN, where they brew fresh beer in really small quantities and sell it on the premises. We were not allowed to drink it there, except for the small quantities that are distributed after their tour. But I thought it was an interesting visit, because you can see how a really small beer maker works, and the beer is truly their own. I had rarely tasted anything like it before.

The brewery is in downtown Aurora, in view of the Ohio River, and was named out of respect for a brewery that has gone away a long time ago. They have a little shop in the front of the plant, where they sell their packaged beer in 1/2 quart cans, kegs or growler pours. The facility is really tiny, and is managed by their brewmaster, who does everything but run the shop.

They gave us a tour, and it was interesting to see their make-shift equipment, from a boiling kettle fashioned out of two older kegs welded together, to a refrigeration unit that had a thermometer cable running out of it so the temperature can be monitored on the outside.

The beers we tasted were strong, rich in malt and with a slight hop presence, and they were brewed with some imagination with the ingredients. They do not use bottles, so they only needed a canning line or pour into kegs. It was an interesting visit, and one we enjoyed later when we consumed the pint cans the next day at Indy. Plus, Tim purchased a growler of the Bourbon Barrel Stout which he agreed was some of the best of that style he had.

Unfortunately the reviews I can give are only about the one pint I drank, with just a mention for the tasters that were keg drawn.

Great Crescent Mild Ale: Darker Amber Color, rich and nutty tasting, without being too sweet. Mostly a malty flavor and not too much hops. Drinkable in the can and with character. Rating: 4.

GC Witbier: Belgian Style White: sharp tasting and fruity, retaining much of the malt with very little hop. Rating: NETJ (not enough to judge).

GC IPA: Slightly bitter but very dark, reminds me of those Black IPAs that are coming around now. A fair IPA, missing some of the piny and spicy effects I expect from an IPA. Rating: NETJ.