Monday, September 1, 2014

Finger Lakes Beer Tasting

Shortly I will be reviewing the 16 breweries we checked out along the Finger Lakes. But first I want to discuss the fun tasting we had the day I returned. We traveled from Buffalo down to Horseheads, to Seneca Lake, to Keuka Lake and lastly through Canandaguia. The scenery is fantastic and some breweries were a hit while others were a miss. I grabbed the beers I thought best impressed us. You can see them all below including 4 growlers:
First off the growlers were all IPAs.  The lightest was Two Goats Session IPA. It was the winner of the night! Citra and Amarillo hops, was very drinkable and a great beer.  The next was Naked Doves IPA.  Unfortunately it was better at the brewery for me.  It had an amber color and was a little thick, but it was still a nice IPA.  Third growler was Horseheads IPA. Another darker colored IPA but it was better than the previous. Last growler was another Naked Dove beer but this time a Double IPA. At 9.2% it was better than their IPA but again was an amber color, thick and drank like a stronger beer but had a good hop flavor.
Onto the bottles.  Peace Bomber by War Horse is a Riesling Ale made with Riesling..hence the name. Very unique beer and really tasted like a glass of Riesling with the carbonation of a beer.  Next up was Lieutenant Dan IPA from War Horse also.  Solid IPA, nothing jaw dropped but great name, great label, decent beer.  Next up was a black IPA by Horseheads called Black Horse. Great black IPA, and one of the drinkers who is a big black IPA fan even said it was their favorite they've ever had.
Next up was Three Heads Tropical Kind. We like their other beers, The Kind, Too King and Tres Kind so I assumed we would like this. And we did, excellent beer! Probably the #2 beer of the night.
Upstate Brewing's LPW was next.  This was a mix of an IPA and a wheat beer. It is smooth and easy to drink. No overpowering hop flavor but an all around good beer.
Keuka Brewing IPA was next. Not much to say here..decent beer but basically forgettable.
Gunny Mac was up next which is made by War Horse and is a Black Lager. It drank like a light stout or porter type beer. It was good but didn't blow our minds.
Last is the Watermelon Wheat by Finger Lakes Brewing.  I couldn't drink a lot of this, but for a watermelon beer it's top in it's class!

No comments:

Post a Comment