We have a nice bit of deep, dark lusciousness on the Windowsill today!
Can you imagine a world without beer from Vermont’s The Alchemist? Well, back in 2011, their brewpub in Waterbury—this was long before the beautiful new facility in Stowe—was completely devastated by a flood. According to the Waterbury Record, the floodwaters “destroyed nearly everything in the Alchemist basement. A walk-in cooler, compressors, computers, the malt, beer, food, recipes—all were damaged beyond repair.”
Facing basically being out of business, owner John Kimmich was able to save two beers. Heady Topper and Luscious. Four days after the flood, Kimmich opened a temporary cannery. The Luscious and the Heady Topper helped save the company when it was released for 11/11/11. You can imagine why this beer holds a special place in Kimmich’s heart.
Like the label says, this one was truly luscious.(Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)
Well, now it holds a special place in my heart, too. I picked up this can all the way back in June, when I visited for @itsmeitsbmd1085’s bachelor party. This was my last can leftover from that trip. As bittersweet as that is, this beer definitely had no bitterness to it at all. Just luscious, sweet deliciousness. It’s a British-style imperial stout with a good kick and some great flavor to boot. One interesting note about this version that separates it from the ones brewed before 2017 is that Alchemist now works on a five-week-brewing cycle. Previous versions of the Luscious was often aged for 8, or even 12, weeks.
The ones you’re getting at their Stowe location these days are much younger. You can have them fresh, or age them a while. Mine spent almost seven months in the fridge, and it was still incredible!
Check this one out on Instagram, now! Be sure to like and follow Beers on Windowsills!
One from the back of the fridge on the Windowsill today!
The Double Dry-Hopped Stillings Street is named after one of the streets surrounding Trillium Brewing Company’s Fort Point Boston location. This is nothing new to any of you who are familiar with the Boston-based brewery. Their “Street” series includes several different New England-style IPAs, all named after streets in the area: The Sleeper Street, the Summer Street, the Congress Street, the Melcher Street, the A Street, the Farnsworth Street and the Pittsburgh Street. I think it’s a great way to pay homage to your home, don’t you?
You can see the respect Trillium has for its city of origin in the map that adorns this label. (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)
For this beer, Trillium took its Stillings Street IPA and, you guessed it, double dry-hopped it with New Zealand’s Nelson Sauvin hops (to go along with Columbus and more Nelson Sauvin already used in the kettle). What else can I say about this beer? Once again, Trillium has knocked it out of the hazy, juicy ballpark. The smell and flavor are knee-shakingly delicious. I’m only disappointed that I left it in the back of my fridge for so long!
What about you, Windowsillers? Do you have any goodies in the back of your fridge?
As always, head over to Instagram for more great craft beer now!
Did you ever wake up dead? I thought I did this morning, but it turned out I was just hungover from celebrating New Year’s Eve at Barcelona Wine Bar in Fairfield, CT. It’s something my wife and I have done a few times now, and it’s always a blast. We typically start with dinner at the restaurant, where they do pretty incredible Spanish-style tapas and entrees. Our favorite tapas are definitely the Sweet & Sour Chorizo & Figs and the Potato Tortillas and the very best entree is the Vegetable Paella. The best part? It’s attached to the Hotel Hi-Ho, so we just rented rooms. No drinking and driving. All drinking and partying!
This is definitely a badass label design. Love it! (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)
It’s the hotel that I have to thank for today’s Windowsill. You can even see the Barcelona Wine Bar sign in the background. Beautiful! As far as the beer? It’s a Nitro Imperial Russian stout from Left Hand Brewing Company named Wake Up Dead. It’s brewed with a slew of delicious malts, including Pale 2-row, Munich, Crystal, Chocolate, Roasted Barley, Black Barley and Flaked Oats. Magnum and US Goldings hops make up the rest.
I love Nitro everything. I don’t care if it’s coffee or beer. Today, it’s beer, and the creamy, cascading head from the nitrogen carbonation works beautifully with this stout. It’s chocolately with hints of dry fruit. I really loved it. Got my New Year’s Eve rolling! Plus, that can art is awesome! Hope you all had a wonderful New Year’s Eve, and that your 2019 includes a lot of great beer—on a windowsill if possible!
Head over to Instagram for more great craft beers in 2019!
Sometimes, collusion amongst friends leads to very good beer.
Despite the fact that today’s beer is named No Collusion, it’s very much a product of collusion… without the deceptive part of the word’s meaning, though. It comes from a partnership between Vermont’s Lawson’s Finest Liquids (makers of the Sip of Sunshine) and Mad River Distillers (a Vermont-based maker of fine spirits).
The process is detailed on the bottle, but just in case you can’t read it, it’s basically this: First, they started with Mad River’s “Hopscotch” Vermont Whiskey barrels. After the whiskey was emptied, Lawson’s filled those barrels with a maple imperial stout. One year later, the barrels were tapped and the beer inside was harvested for sale.
No fancy frills for this bottle. Just the facts, and the beer. (Credit: Martin Stezano / Beers on Windowsills)
The next collusion that led this beer to my Windowsill, is one amongst friends. My good buddy Brian, and his new wife, had themselves a house warming party. Another good friend of the Windowsill, Alex, brought this bottle to the party and shared it with all of the guests. Collaboration at its finest, all around!
What else can I say about this beer? It was so good, that I couldn’t stop thinking about it for a few days! I still remember it fondly! Chocolatey, mapley, whiskey goodness. Although, I must say, I didn’t realize it was aged in whiskey barrels until I saw the label. The beer itself was ultra smooth. The rest of the night got away from us a bit (Bourbon County and Pumking made appearances), but the Lawson’s really stuck in my mind. Incredible. I really hope they decide to make more some day.
Head over to Instagram to like and follow me for more great craft beer!
The Windowsill is simply out of this world for Stout Season today!
Have you guys heard about the Russian Revolution? No, not the Communist one back in 1917 that I covered in my post about The Czar from Avery Brewing Company. I’m talking about the Russian craft beer revolution! Back in 2014, the Russian currency collapsed, making many things unaffordable for the Russian people. One of those things was foreign beer. But, from a tragedy, arose a great thing. When they couldn’t afford to get outside craft beer, many Russian people just decided to make their own. Over the last five years or so, the Russian craft industry has boomed, and there are now over 100 craft breweries in the country. That boom is partially why we got today’s Windowsill brew—the Space Soyez Sauce.
Back in 2015, Brooklyn’s Other Half Brewing Co. teamed up with Moscow’s Zagovor Brewery. Zagovor is the Russian word for “conspiracy,” and the brewery bills itself as a provider of “craft beer from the deep end of the Moscow underground.” There’s no conspiracy behind today’s beer, though. It’s phenomenal.
Another classy bottle from Other Half. The contents inside were even better! (Credit: Martin Stezano / Beers on Windowsills)
I can honestly say that the Space Soyez Sauce is one of the more unique beers I’ve ever tried in my life. The base beer is a really solid imperial stout, but the two breweries put out three other varieties as well. All three varieties are aged in red wine barrels with Ararat brandy-soaked birch staves thrown in for good measure. One of them went to market just like that, but the other two are special. One is also aged on cherries and vanilla. The one I got, that you see in the photos, is aged on raspberries and cocoa nibs. I love nibs!
This variant is phenomenal. Every flavor is palatable. The rich chocolate, the red wine notes and the raspberries all shine through. The base stout is also quality, smooth and delicious despite the high ABV. When i first poured, the lack of thick head kind of made me pause, but the nose and flavor knocked it out of the box for me. Sadly, it’s not in production anymore, so you’ll have to dig to find it. I got my Space Soyez Sauce at Decicco & Sons!
You know what to do—check it out on Instagram! Follow, like and tell your beer-loving friends!
Is it too late for a Christmas post on the Windowsill?
I don’t know, but it’s definitely been too long since I had a SingleCut Beersmiths selection on the Windowsill. For those of you unfamiliar with the Queens, New York brewery, y’all better get familiar. Whether it’s their array of hoppy, hazy, juice IPAs or their collection of delicious stouts, everything they make is awesome. Also, their brewery, and all of their beers, are named in reference to something related to classic rock.
This beer lived up to its name. Absolutely electric! (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)
Owner Rich Buceta specifically loves himself some David Bowie, which is where the Electric Blue name comes from. In 1977, Bowie released his 11th studio album, “Low.” Although it wasn’t embraced initially by critics, it is considered one of Bowie’s best, and most influential, outputs. The first single off of that album was a little song called “Sound and Vision.”
It’s a bit of a somber tune in which Bowie sings the following lines: “Blue, blue, electric blue / That’s the colour of my room / Where I will live / Blue, blue.” According to Genius Lyrics, the song is about someone who is depressed and bound to their room, with only the light of their black and white TV to brighten their existence. Super sad.
The beer itself is a Double Dry-Hopped IPA that SingleCut refers to as Weird & Gilly’s slightly bigger brother. As with most of their beer recipes, I couldn’t find the exact hop bill for this one, but the Electric Blue did taste very similar to to what I remember Weird & Gilly tasting like. Super juicy and delicious. Extremely hoppy and hazy. Solid IBU, too. So good! I definitely wasn’t blue after sipping this one on Christmas Day.
Feeling blue? Go over to my Instagram page to check out more great craft beer!
Slide. Slide. Slippity slide… on the Windowsill today!
I’d like to thank the bartender/bottle shop guy at @deciccosbeer for recommending today’s Windowsill brew. He told me it would be delicious, and he did not lie. Have you guys been to DeCicco & Sons? There are a few locations in the Westchester County, NY area, but my go to is the location in Armonk. It’s your typical grocery store, but the craft beer selection is out of this world. Downstairs, there’s an entire row of fridges dedicated to cans. That’s all well and good, but the real main event is upstairs. That’s where the bottles live… not to mention an entire full service bar with food. Yep. A full bar inside a grocery store. Crazy! If you’re near the area, you have to visit!
Come along. you know you want to! (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)
The Fantastic Voyage is an imperial milk stout at hear—creamy and strong with a roasty base. The special ingredient is the “heap” of dried coconut that’s added in the whirlpool. Tastes like coconut, chocolate sweetness and loveliness. It’s a massively good beer from the St. Louis-based Perennial Artisan Ales. They’ve been around since September of 2011, but this was my first beer from them. I’m definitely thirsty for more.
Final review: If you have a chance to try this beer, do as the great Coolio once said to do: “Come on y’all, let’s take a ride / Don’t you say shit just get inside!”
Had to include this for you guys… It’s much better than Lakeside’s original jam… no disrespect meant!
Slide on over to Instagram to check this one out. Like and follow!
For the first time ever, we’ve got a wine on the Windowsill today!
How did we get here? It’s a quick story, really. A few days ago, I received a follow from Exitus Wine. I was intrigued by their product, so I followed back and reached out to see if they would send me a sample to try and review for you Windowsillers. To my surprise, they responded right away and asked me for my address, so that they could send me something. Very cool!
So, what is Exitus wine? It’s a blend of Zinfandel, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon that is fermented in American stainless steel. What makes it special, and what caught my eye to begin with, is that it’s then aged in Kentucky bourbon barrels for three months. Are you intrigued yet?
Now that’s a classy label! (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)
The brand was launched in 2018 by O’Neill Vintners & Distillers, family-owned and operated wine producer based in California. They own several nationally-known brands of wine and spirits, and the bourbon-barrel aged win is their next foray. Exitus is the latin word for departure, which is a bit of a metaphor for what this wine is. It bucks tradition. As Exitus boasts, it’s wine without rules.
I’ll be the first to admit that my knowledge of wine is extremely limited. There’s a reason I do Beers on Windowsills, and never—until now—Wines on Windowsills. That being said, I actually liked this wine. I didn’t get a ton of bourbon in the flavor, although I did get some subtle notes of it, but it was pretty fruity and tasty. One thing, it was very dry. I’m not typically a big dry wine kind of guy, but I liked it. This is a terrible review, I know! But I thought this company treated me very graciously, and I wanted to shout them out, and tell you guys to try their product if you’re interested. I enjoyed it… in all of my wine ignorance.
Established in 1979, Boulder is known as Colorado’s first microbrewery. It was started by two physics professors, Randolf Ware and David Hummer, and their associate, Alvin Nelson. At the time it was established, it was only the 43rd licensed brewery in the United States. For context, there are now at least 41 in just Colorado, according to wikipedia. The company has undergone several name changes, from Boulder Brewing Company to Boulder Beer Company to Rockies Brewing Company and then back to Boulder Beer in 2005.
The Killer Penguin, of which I have two different bottles on the sill today, is their Barleywine Style Ale. It’s a limited small-batch release which, according to Boulder Beer, is a “dark garnet red in color with a candied-fruit like aroma and flavor.” Boulder says it’s big and smooth, and “perfect to share among friends.” It’s one of their most rare and sought-after bottled beers. The 2009 bottle says they only brewed one 50-barrel batch per year. Not sure if that still holds true, though.
Look at those badass labels! (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)
The first bottle you see is from 2009, and was gifted to me by great friend of the Windowsill, @one_ill_tom. He bought it on a trip to upstate New York, from a random bottle store that had a cellar sale. Aside from the coloring of the label, you can also see that this Killer Penguin was part of BBC’s Looking Glass Series of more experimental brews.
By the time the 2014 bottle came around, things got different. The label is darker and more menacing, and, frankly, better drawn. You can even see the Penguin’s other eye. The Looking Glass Series label is also gone… guess that branding was no longer being highlighted.
I’m not sure if I am going to open these, or try a little harder to collect more from other years, but whenever I do open them, I’ll definitely do a vertical tasting and let you guys know!
Head over to Instagram to check out more my great craft beer!
It puts the lotion on its beer, or else it gets the hose again!
You know me. I love to fill my sills with beers that have creatively-inspired names. The Chrysalis into Beauty from New Paltz, NY-based Foreign Objects is inspired by, as the can says, “one of the greatest literary characters of all time”… Hannibal Lecter. If you haven’t seen Silence of the Lambs, spoilers are a-coming. Although, to be fair, it’s nearly 30 years old, so just go watch it.
In the movie, young FBI agent Clarice Starling is on the hunt for a serial killer named Buffalo Bill, whose calling card is stuffing a Death’s Head Moth cocoon down the throat of his lady victims (and also skinning them to make a suit for himself). Bill’s motivation for all of this was transformation. Transforming himself, and transforming his victims.
What does this have to do with anything? Chrysalis. Chrysalis is the hard shell that surrounds bill’s moths (and butterflies and other insects that use cocoons to transform), ushering their transition to beauty. Chrysalis into Beauty! Do you see?
That label art is also inspired by the movie. Do you all remember Buffalo Bill’s Dance scene? You know… the tuck? Bill says a little something while applying his lip gloss… it’s what the can says… but it’s not “drink.” It’s another word that ends with K. We’ll keep it clean for you Windowsillers, though!
Love the backstory behind the Chrysalis’ name! (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)
OK, now for the beer. Untappd says the Chrysalis into Beauty is an Imperial IPA, but Foreign Objects calls it a New-American Hoppy Ale. It’s brewed with Simcoe, Centennial and Mosaic hops. If you know your hops, you know that’s a killer combo. Whatever you want to call it, I really enjoyed the aroma and taste of this beer… even more than fava beans with a nice chianti.
Check it out on Instagram! Be sure to follow Beers on Windowsills for more great beer!
