New Glarus Snowshoe Ale and Old English Porter

Another quite night at home so just having a couple beers this evening.  I decided to continue my you can't buy that in the Quad Cities series by drinking and writing about a couple of beers from New Glarus Brewing Company http://www.newglarusbrewing.com/.  This is another brewery that does not distribute beyond it's home state's border, because they have all the customers they need in Wisconsin and those of us that are lucky enough to travel into Wisconsin.

First up Snowshoe Ale, they call it a Red Ale.  On pouring it it is an medium amber color with a off white head.  The aroma is a rich mixture of caramel and toasted bread with little or no hop aroma.  Flavor wise it does have some fruity esters mixed with a bready slightly caramel taste.  It is a medium bodied beer that finishes crisp with a slight hop bitterness snap.  As the beer warms it becomes rich as the caramel flavor becomes more pronounced.  Checking it at 5.4% ABV it is a fitting winter seasonal as they meant for it to be.  Another fine beer from New Glarus.

Next up Old English Porter, pretty much you can figure out from the name what it is.  A little bit of a background on this beer it is in their "Unplugged" series, in which they make beers outside of their normal realm and just have fun creating it.  This beer is a recreation of the brown porter that a porter in 1870s London would of drank.  This beer was intentionally soured and aged on wood, oak to be exact.  So this is not your average brown porter of today's vintage.  If you enjoy sour and wood aged beers this is a beer for you.

Upon pouring OEP you see that is is a medium brown in color and has an off white head.  The aroma is predominately sour, almost vinegar like with a noticeable of roast and chocolate.  The flavor is a glorious mixture of the aroma roast, chocolate and vinegar-like sourness, so it is yummy!  It is a medium bodied beer with an interesting mouth puckering tartness in the back of the mouth.  This beer is not your average introductory beer, this is for advanced palates!  The beer checks in at 5.5% ABV and is surprisingly drinkable and refreshing even though it is such a sour beer.  I can understand why the porters along the  wharves of London drank a beer like this.

I find extreme pleasure in being able to find beers in my travels that I can not purchase here in the QC, with that said I greatly enjoy drinking them as well.  When I have quite evenings like the last three I enjoy the opportunity to drink those beers and now I can share my enjoyment with other people by blogging about the beers.

A couple of notes for tomorrow night and Saturday.  Tomorrow night I will be in Des Moines and finding a good beer place to eat at and write about.  A reminder about Saturday, it is Big Brew Day and will be held at Great River Brewery staring some where between 9 and 10 AM.  So if you brew or just want to see someone brew come on down for a visit.

QC Beerguy