We’ll keep it brief for you Friday Instagrammers, but I wanted to give a quick shout out to BAD SONS Beer Co. with this photo that somehow got lost in my archives. Their top notch taproom is located in Derby, CT, and has only been around since the summer of 2017. Despite its short time in business, the brewery has always impressed me with the quality of the brews it puts out. If you’re looking for solid beer in CT, you can’t go wrong with BAD SONS!
Unfortunately, I don’t have too much information about the Big Whoop. It’s a pretty hefty double IPA that, at 9.0% ABV, packs quite a punch. That being said, it’s still very juicy and smooth, which makes it a little dangerous. I didn’t know it was so potent until I stood up after I drank it!
BIG WHOOP comin' in hot to the taproom this Friday 3/16! Limited Can Release starting at noon. Can I get a Whoop Whoop!?! #DIPA #newbeer #canrelease #ctcraftbeer
Ever since I first heard about Beer’d Brewing Company, I’ve been itching to get them on my sill. I liked everything I read about them, from the quality of their beer to the kickass logo and can designs. When I found out that the Stonington, CT-based brewery had expanded its distribution, and was now showing up on the shelves of one of my local liquor stores, I got my wallet and jumped in my car.
You like ‘a dis label? Yeah… you like ‘a dis labe! (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)
Before I get to the You Like ‘A Da Juice, let me tell you a bit about the brewery. Beer’d opened its taps in 2012, making it a relative old bearded man in the Connecticut craft game. The brewery was opened by beer-loving power couple Aaren and Precious Simoncini, and still uses a humble 7BBL system to make their delicious drinks. I love their philosophy on beer, too. Their site says:
“Our aim is to reincarnate the days gone by when beer was produced by someone on your block rather than a multinational corporation. We are obviously not concerned with economies of scale and we think that shows in the quality of our offerings!”
That sounds pretty awesome to me. That’s why I’m hoping to visit next month!
OK. Now for the brew, which is why we’re all here! The You Like ‘A Da Juice is a double dry-hopped IPA that started as an experimental batch—Episode 8 in Beer’d’s Next Episode Series. People Like ‘A-ed it so much, that now it’s a permanent part of the lineup. I certainly Like ‘A da hop bill. It’s made up of Eukanot, Mosaic, Galaxy and Citra—both in pellet and lupulin powder form during the double dry hopping. I Like ‘A Dis Juicy Beer!
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My Milkshake has brought you all to the Windowsill today! Damn right!
So what’s a Milkshake IPA, anyway? According to Denver Westword, it’s an IPA made with milk sugar and lactose, which gives it a creamy, milkshake-like mouthfeel and appearance. The style also typically includes “the kinds of sweet treats you would find in a Milkshake: strawberries, peaches, chocolate, vanilla, mangoes and the like.” Most milkshakes are also spinoffs on New England-style IPAs, because they’re inherently tropical and low on bitterness. The exact inventor of the style is hard to nail down, but Westword says that Milkshake IPA, a 2015 collaboration between Tired Hands Brewing Company and Omnipollo, is often credited as the first.
The reaper’s having a beer with us! (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)
Cut to four years later, and milkshakes have been popping up all over the place, and in great abundance. The one on my Windowsill comes from Massachusetts’ Clown Shoes. They bill it as a Tropical Fruit Smoothie IPA, but a milkshake by any other name, is still a milkshake. This one is made with guava, mango and pineapple puree. Solid fruity flavors and good mouthfeel to boot. I enjoyed it very much!
In case you’re wondering about that badass label art, it’s designed by Michael Axt and depicts the following, according to Clown Shoes: “The Grim Reaper has grown weary of being Death. Here we find him festive, semi-retired, and at the beginning of a craft beer journey.” We’ve all been there, Grimmy. Welcome to the craft beer community!
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Why show one, when I can show two? (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)
This is the first Stout I’ve ever tried from Trillium, and I can absolutely guarantee you I’m going to be looking for more of them when I go to their Canton location in February. It’s brewed with cold brewed coffee, which, in my opinion, is way better than regular coffee brewed hot. Why? First of all, it contains more caffeine than regular coffee. It’s also easier on your stomach, as the heat used in brewing a regular cup of Joe can add to the drink’s acidity.
Enough about the Java though. The PM Dawn is divine. The nose hits you with some solid earthy, roasted coffee and chocolate. The flavor follows suit with more chocolate, vanilla and rich and creamy coffeeness. One thing I like in my stouts is a heavier mouthfeel and, although it’s not quite motor oil, the PM Dawn is fairly heavy and thick. Very balanced, and just plain awesome.
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Once again, we have a delicious IPA from SingleCut Beersmiths on the Windowsill today. The Mo’ Shuggie Double Dry-Hop IPA! This one comes courtesy of my neighbor Jesse. He told me this was his favorite beer from SingleCut, and that I had to try it. Let me tell you, I was not disappointed!
As usual, the Mo’ Shuggie gets its name because of SingleCut owner Rich Buceta’s undying love for obscure classic rock lyrics and artists. That’s not meant as any disrespect towards Johnny Alexander Veliotes, Jr. aka “Shuggie” Otis. But I, like many casual music fans I’m sure, had never heard of Otis before I started researching this beer. So who is he? Only one of the best guitarists of his day, of course. He’s a cult legend who was once asked to join the Rolling Stones on tour, and was approached by Quincy Jones to produce an album. He turned both down!
I’ll let you guys do your own research on this guy, but check out his song “Strawberry Letter 23.” Although Shuggie didn’t make this a hit, it became a hit when the Brothers Johnson covered it in 1977, and it has been sampled to high heaven in the decades since. Watch the video below!
None of this matters if the beer’s no good, right? SingleCut originally released a beer called the Shuggie Mini Soulbender IPA. It was a session IPA named after Otis, and a type of guitar pedal used by musicians like him for sound distortion. Several months later, they released the Mo’ Shuggie Soulbender IPA—a bigger version of the beer. Finally, in 2018, they double dry-hopped the crap out of the beer. Even Mo’ hops. Even Mo’ malts. Even Mo’ Mo’ Shuggie.
The result is a beer that’s deliciously hazy and hoppy. Great aroma, wonderful flavor. Great usage of those New Zealand hops! Just plain awesome. Go get some!
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You guys liked the DDH Stillings Street so much, that I dug up another Trillium Brewing Company brew from my lost photos archive for you: The Permutation Series: Number Fourteen!
There’s nothing quite like a big ol’ bottle of delicious Trillium beer. (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)
Have you heard of Trillium’s Permutation Series? Well, any good brewery worth its salt makes sure to do a lot of experimentation. You mess with recipes, ingredients, boil times and styles. If something sticks, or turns out really well, you give it to the people. Trillium describes their Permutation series like this: “Permutation is our experimental series of small batch offerings, showcasing the unique visions and innovative concepts developed by our brewing and cellar crew.” Thus far, there have been over 70 of these limited brews.
The Fourteen is an American Wild Ale brewed with apple juice from Lookout Farm in Natick, MA. It’s brewed with several types of malts and grains—Valley Wheat, Valley Triticale, Maine Grains Flaked Triticale, and Maine Grains Flaked Rye—and US Goldings hops. Flavors of apple and white wine really shine through on this funky, sour, wild brew. A solid experiment, for sure!
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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!
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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?
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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!
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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.
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