Past Newsletters
Vol. 10 No. 8
This Month's Featured Beers
| Brewery | Beers Featured |
| Casco Bay Brewing Company | |
| Casco Bay Brewing Company | Pilsner |
| River Horse Brewing Company | Winter Ale |
| River Horse Brewing Company | Amber Ale |
Casco Bay Brewing Company
The Casco Bay Brewery first opened on the Portland coast of Maine in Spring of 1994 with a capacity of 6000 barrels annually. Within 6 months, capacity quickly had to be increased to meet the striking increase in demand. The owners were already well respected home brewers and served as judges at the Great American Beer Festival. In fact, one of them even founded the largest homebrew club in Maine, the Maine Ale and Lager Tasters (M.A.L.T.). Their line of Katahdin Beers quickly became big sellers and soon found their way into an impressive distribution network. In early 1995, one Bryan Smith joins the brew-ery as a part time bottler. But it seemed that he had bigger plans in mind than working a few extra hours a week on the bottling line… Within five months, Smith had worked his way up to brewer (we’re impressed!). In September of 1997, Smith left the brewery to attend American Brewers Guild brewing school located at UC Davis - California. While he already had over two years working experience in the brewery, he needed to learn the biochemistry and micro-biology side of brewing. He be-comes versed in recipe formulation, brewery management, and regulatory issues as well as many other helpful skills. And the plan is thus set in motion…
In January 1998, Smith, Alex Fisher and Stew Maloney bought out half of the original ownership team, with Smith taking over all brewing operations (the latter two fellows are also the founders of Planet Dog, a retailer of dog toys and products based in Portland). In May of the same year the brewery introduced their Casco Bay Pilsner - it is the first beer under the Casco Bay brand name. Thus begins the new line of Casco Bay Brews, and their commitment to producing the world’s finest beers continues with renewed fever. With the introduction of Casco Bay Lager a few months later, they became the only brewery in northern New England committed to brewing year-round lager style beers. By the end of the year additional renovations were necessary and capacity was increased yet again.
In early 1999 all Katahdin beers were dis-continued, however one of the strongest, the Katahdin Red Ale, undergoes a slight recipe “tweaking” and is reborn as Casco Bay Riptide Red Ale. About a year later, Casco Bay bought the brand rights to Carrabassett beers, an already popular line of beers. This acquisition mandates that capacity be immediately increased from 8,500 to 11,000 barrels per year!
In March of 2002, Smith, Fisher, and Maloney bought out Bob Wade, the remaining half of the original ownership pair. Since then, the new team has been hard at work streamlining production and enhancing their now famous line of signature ales and lagers.
The Casco Bay Brewing Company has certainly gone through a lot from
the time when we first featured them years ago. We’re proud
to say that they have since grown to become the 3rd largest brewery
in Maine. For more informa-tion about the brewery, check out their
web site at: http://www.cascobaybrewing.com/, or pick up that funny
little thing with the buttons on it and press these numbers:
207-797-2020.
Casco
produces one of the best Irish Red Ales we've had the pleasure of
evaluating. Very few examples of this style are available today although
"red" beers have always been pop-ular with U.S. micros.
Riptide Red Ale is brewed with a combination of two-row pale, Munich,
Caramunich, special-B and chocolate malts. The darker malts, which
are imported from Belgium, give this ale its distinctive deep red
color and rich, malty flavor. Casco uses a top fermenting ale yeast
and conditions this ale like a lager (longer than usual) to produce
an ale that is very clean, crisp and complex. This tasty red ale is
hopped with cluster, cascade and crystal hops. Look for a big malty
hop nose with hop spice evident as well in this full-bodied deep reddish
ale. The body is packed with flavor, balanced wonderfully and quite
complex. Note a lingering sweet malty finish. Overall, one of the
best red ales produced in the U.S. today. We loved it. So did the
judges at the 2000 World Beer Cup - it took home the Gold medal in
the Irish-style Red Ale category (no small feat, considering that
the World Beer Cup is considered one of the top two beer competitions
in the world!) The brewery suggests pairing it up with beef, spicy
foods and inclement weather.
Serving Temperature: 45-50 F
Original Gravity: 14.25 Plato
Final Gravity: 4.0 Plato
Int'l Bittering Units: 23
Alcohol by Volume: 5.4 %
Unfortunately,
today's mass-produced Pilsners offer only a bland imitation of the
original delightful balance of fine malts and hops offered by classic
German Pilsners. Not the case with Casco Bay. The brewery's pilsner
is brewed with a combination of two-row pale, Carapils, and Munich
malts. The brewers hop it up fairly well with German Tettnang hops
to create a classic interpret-ation of the style. Note a pale maltiness
and hop spiciness in the nose of this light amber-colored, medium
bodied lager. We found it to be crisp, full of flavor and offering
a slight bitter finish. Overall, the brewery has done an exceptional
job of delicately balancing the hops and malts to produce a truly
great lager. We recommend you enjoy it with spicy foods or, ideally,
some fresh Maine lobster at dinner this month with your favorite Valentine
(oops! You didn’t forget the big V-day did you? Fear not, we
can help! We’ve got plenty of amazing gift ideas that can be
shared! -check out our website at www.monthly-clubs.com or call 800-625-8238
and our gift coaches will be glad to help you select the perfect gourmet
gift for family, friends, or that special someone!)
Serving Temperature: 38-43 F
Original Gravity: 12.0 Plato
Final Gravity: 2.5 Plato
Int'l Bittering Units: 28
Alcohol by Volume: 5.0 %
River Horse Brewing Company
Ahhh, New Jersey—home of innumerable diners, the mob, and a
resident accent that sounds nearly as intellectual as Frenchie’s
from Grease. These may be a few of the features that you associate
with “Joy-zee,” but the Garden State is, perhaps surprisingly,
home to a number of great microbreweries*. But it hasn’t been
easy for entrepreneurial microbrewers to get their delicious beverages
delivered to the eager locals, as rather restrictive laws have hampered
their ability to disseminate their creations (it seems that the mob
wasn’t the only lingering element of prohibition). Luckily for
those locals, and for the members of our Beer of the Month Club, these
laws have softened up recently. Thanks to the talents of residents
who have grown
up with a slightly hardened and always determined edge, microbreweries
that have diligently fought the battle to give consumers what they
have longed for can now in fact deliver - umm, legally that is. One
such group of residents just happens to be, purely by coincidence,
from this month’s featured brewery (truth be told, this “coincidence”
was not really an accident, we just made it look that way).
The River Horse Brewing Co., located in Lambertville, New Jersey,
is housed in an old brick building that once was an oyster-cracker
factory. Located alongside the bank of the Delaware River, the brewery
is one of New Jersey's oldest and fastest growing breweries. Incident-ally,
"River horse" is a nickname for the hippopotamus. "So
what", you say? The ancient Egyptians believed in the beer god,
Seth, who appeared in the image of a hippo-potamus. Pretty neat, huh?
Another quick tidbit for your next round of impromptu “I’m
a beer connoisseur and I’ll prove it, you uncultured swine.;”
beer is believed to have been first brewed in ancient Egypt. While
being a slave laborer indentured for life to build the great pyramids
at Giza couldn’t have been easy, it seems somehow less grueling
a task when you consider that those fellas may have had a chance to
grab a cold one from time to time! The River Horse brewery began production
in 1996, and they currently have a capacity of 5,000+ barrels per
year. A barrel, just in case you aren’t familiar with the lingo,
contains about 31 gallons of beer (which is about twice the size of
a standard Keg). OK everyone, put on your math caps and figure out
how many 12-oz. servings of beer are in 31 gallons… that’s
right, about 330! This means that these folks can churn out approximately
1.65 million 12-oz. beers per year. So, if you like what you’ve
got in front of you now, there’s plenty more where that came
from.
In addition to the Special and Belgian Frostbite Winter Ales featured this month, the brewery currently makes three other beers: Hop Hazard Pale Ale, the newest addition to the River Horse family, this is an American pale ale brewed with five hop varieties and dry-hopped with domestic cascade hops; a traditional Lager, which is fermented and conditioned with German brewing tech-niques; and a Summer Blonde, light and simple, like the season ought to be. With this assortment of finely crafted malted nectars made in the heart of Jersey, we’re pretty sure you’ll agree that our expert panel has made you an offer you can’t refuse.
For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (609) 397-7776
*Other NJ breweries include the Flying Fish Brewery, the first microbrewery founded exclusively on-line (check out newsletter volume 9, no. 11, available on-line at www.beermonthclub.com for more info on these guys), as well as a much larger fish, Anhueser-Busch (not likely to appear in any of our newsletters, ever.)
Extra Special Bitters (ESB) possess medium
to strong hop qualities in aroma, flavor and bitterness. The residual
malt sweetness of this richly flavored, full-bodied bitter is more
pronounced than in other bitters. River Horse’s is brewed with
a combination of three barley malts including Two-Row, Caramel, and
Carapils, as well as three hops: Cluster, Fuggle, and Cascade. Immediately
note a big malty rich nose with traces of floral hoppiness evident.
Look for a sweet, rich, caramel-heavy malt body and ample hop bitterness
in the body, true to style. A tasty, smooth inter-pretation of one
of our favorite styles, this is nicely paired with a well-done steak,
roast, or even duck.
Serving Temperature: 40-45 F
Original Gravity: 11.7 Plato
Final Gravity: 2.2 Plato
Int’l Bittering Units: 19
Alcohol by Volume: 4.5%
The
cold bite of winter is upon us… well, some of us. But even if
you haven’t hadto endure the sub zero wind chills and accum-ulating
feet of snowfall, you can still enjoy a little bit of winter with
this Ale. And if you have dealt with the elements, take a well earned
break from the shoveling and settle in with one of these ales. You
might have noticed from the stats above the rather high alcohol content,
which comes in handy for passing the winter hours by the fire (don’t
get too close, you might spontaneously combust, depending on how many
winter ales you’ve got in ya). Fortunately, this brew is so
master-fully created that the alcohol content isn’t as prominent
on the palate as one might expect, still if you do catch a small bite
from it, it will happen at the finish, as it ought to. The nose is
very pleasant, wrought with candy sweet-ness but balanced, you’ll
notice, with a yeasty, oat-tinged malt. Expect a smoky, dry hop finish
that will go well with an earthy cheese appetizer (don’t have
any you say? Well, “hop” on over to www.cheesemonthclub.com
and check out our Gourmet Cheese of the Month Club—we’ve
got incredible offerings every month!)
Serving Temperature: 45-53 F
Original Gravity: 17.0 Plato
Final Gravity: 3.0 Plato
Int’l Bittering Units: 25
Alcohol by Volume: 8.0%
For Members Only
Give Your Friends FREE Beer, Wine, Cheese, Chocolate,
Cigars & Flowers!
Through our Customer Appreciation Program
Your name has real value to your friends, co-workers, and family members! Every time a friend, family member, or anyone else you know joins any one of our clubs, [or gives a gift] for 3 months or longer, we'll give them 50% off of their first month, but only when they mention your name. And we'll also give you 50% off your next month too which can either be applied towards your current membership or you can try one of our other Clubs out! (We can add one more month to your order at 50% off for prepaid memberships!)
The Fine Print: Members giving gift memberships do not qualify for referral credits and you can't give yourself a gift to qualify! This Program is mutually exclusive of any other promotions.
Membership Q & A
Q: What can I do if I'm having difficulty receiving my shipment
at home?
A: You should consider having our discrete box delivered to
your work location or to a neighbor 21 yrs. of age that can receive
it for you. As your shipment requires and adult signature to receive,
it's always best to ship it to a location where someone will be there
to receive it for you. The box is brown corrugated cardboard and doesn't
say "Beer" on it anywhere.
Q: What should I do if I'm moving or want to extend my membership?
A: Please call us prior to the 5th of the month to make all
account related information changes such as address changes, membership
extensions & terminations, or gift accounts desiring to continue
their memberships. Address changes made after that time may require
a repackaging and re-shipping charge of $12.00. Additionally, if your
box is re-routed by UPS from an address different than what was originally
specified, you may incur a $5.00 re-routing charge.
Q: What happens if my shipment is damaged?
A: If your shipment arrives damaged, please call us immediately
toll free at 1-800-625-8238 and report the incident for a prompt resolution.
Q: What happens if my credit card is declined?
A: We will send you a courtesy notice asking you for an alternative
payment method and your order will be temporarily suspended until
we hear from you.
Q: What happens if I join under a special incentive program
and don't stay a member for the entire term committed?
A: Not a problem. Although we want to do everything we can
to keep you as a member, we will allow you to cancel your subscription
early; however, you will be responsible to pay for the item that was
given to you as part of the promotion. If you received a discount
based on a specific term, the amount discounted will be charged to
your card.
