Pumpkin Ale from Saranac Brewery

We purchased a bottle of this beer in September of 2013 and allowed it to age for about 6 months. (In other words we forgot about a handful of beers sitting in the corner for 6 months, and this is one of them.)

Color:

medium red with golden hues, almost orange-ish, SRM ~15

ABV:

5.4%

Smell:

very mild pumpkin and clove, almost no smell at all

Taste:

In general this is mellow with very mild tastes of pumpkin and spices. With the 6 months of aging it really only retained the pumpkin flavors and none of the beer flavors. Not really malty or hoppy. It had a slight hoppy aftertaste, not acidic, not floral, maybe slightly earthy. It had a light mouthfeel and was almost watery in a way. There were no bold flavors, which can be attributed to the aging process which mellows out flavor in general. The head was a light cream color and very thin almost completely gone within several minutes of pouring the beer.

Rating:

I have read that this beer has a strong cloves taste, but in general after the aging it is very mellow and almost flavorless. Not that it didn't have flavors but it had no strong overpowering flavors. There were just very mild mellow hints of pumpkin and spices. When autumn arrives we will probably grab this beer again just so we can taste it fresh for a comparison post.

Root Red from Otto's Pub and Brewery

Root Red is part of Otto's Pub and Brewery's Cork and Cage Series. It is made with seven different root plants including: Dandelion, Burdock, Licorice, Ginger, Sarsaparilla, Spikenard, and Yellowdock. It comes in a 750 ml bottle available only for consumption in the pub. Ours arrived at our table opened and with the head cresting above the top, but not overflowing. The first pour of it came out with a lot more head than the subsequent pours.

Color:

dark red, nutty brown hues, SRM ≈ 20

ABV:

7.7%

Glass:

wine glass

Smell:

earthy, malty and slight floral smell

Taste:

I was expecting an overpowering licorice taste but there was just a hint of licorice, almost as a secondary taste. Overall it was very earthy, as a primary taste, and slightly floral and dandelionish. It had a slight sourness to it that was interesting with the earthy tones. It was slightly bitter, but not a hoppy bitter, more like a floral, rooty bitterness. It had a very full, heavy mouthfeel to it, but not like dinner in a bottle like Guinness. It had a decent head and the carbonation wasn't overpowering; it wasn't effervescent. The carbonation was very smooth perfect for something so earthy.

Left: no flash. Right: with flash. The color of the beer is hard to see because of the dim light. We were in the far back corner of the pub, so about the darkest place we could have been.

Rating:

This beer had a great earthy taste, not overpowering like drinking manure. When I say earthy, I mean earthy, not barnyard. I could taste each of the roots and none of them overpower the other. I usually dislike licorice but I didn't mind the taste because it wasn't overpowering. I would definitely purchase this again if I was in the area. This series is definitely one to try.

Otto’s Pub and Brewery

We decided to take a trip to State College on Tuesday to see one of my friends give a polymer physics seminar. While there, we were able to meet up with some friends for dinner at Otto's Pub and Brewery (Otto's). They have moved to a larger location since we've lived in State College and we've been to the new location once before, shortly after it opened in 2010. We arrived at 6:30 pm and didn't have to wait to be seated (though it was a Tuesday). Otto's is newer on the beer scene having been around since 2002. Even though they are newer, they have become a State College staple.

Service

The service was very good and quick. The waitress was very patient with our group even though one of my friends is not the easiest (and by 'not the easiest' I mean kind of a pain in the ass) person to serve. The place was pretty busy though as said before not so packed that we didn't get seated immediately. We got an appetizer while we waited for our two friends to show up. The pretzel came before my friends got there so we had something tasty to eat while drinking our beer and waiting. As we've been here before, we can easily say that this is their normal level of good service.

Food

The food was pretty good, though they have a different chef now so the food is different. They are trying to source all their ingredients locally. We started with a giant pretzel and mustard. The mustard had a some kick to it; to me it was the perfect mixture of spicy and sweet, that made me thirsty. I got the bean burrito with chicken and Dave got a Reuben. They have changed their recipe for the burrito and I am not too fond of the new recipe because, it had a bunch of sweet bell peppers. They also don't offer steak anymore as one of their meat choices. It would have been perfect without all the peppers, it wasn't bad I just wasn't a fan of the sweet taste it had. Dave says the Reuben was a good. “You can’t go wrong with a good Reuben and this one certainly fell into that category.” They have a lot of different types of food including pizza.

Atmosphere

Otto's is pretty modern and spacious with both booths and tables. They do trivia on Tuesday nights. They have a good sized bar and multiple dinning rooms. The atmosphere is really pretty modern though dark. Not dark like Stewart's with dark walls and low light, but just low lighting. The walls were a pale pistachio color, but looked darker due to the lighting. They have beer based artwork hanging up around the dinning room. The atmosphere is definitely a lot more modern than the "traditional" pub feel. They have a nice outside glass area where they have the brewing equipment. We didn't feel packed in too tight like the tables were too close together. They have a “Pub Club” which is your basic mug club with discounts on kegs, cases and food. They also tap a firkin every Friday at 5:00 pm, so a nice treat for the end of the week.

Beer

We decided to get a one of Otto's specialty Cork and Cage series beers. These are only available in 750ml bottles and must be consumed on premises, they aren't available to take home. They have 3 beers being served in this line currently. We got the Root Red, a beer infused with 7 different root plants. We'll skip the beer rating for now and just tell you to look for a full review of it coming soon. Otto's distributes beer in cases and kegs throughout the central part of PA. Their distribution area doesn't go as far as Pittsburgh and reaches on as far east as Lancaster. Also several other bars in the State College area serve the beer on tap.

Overall

We've enjoyed Otto's every time we've been there. They produce a lot of great basic beers and a few really interesting standouts that you need to try. I suggest trying out Otto's if you’re in the area and I know it gets packed on football weekends so get there early if you are making a trip.

Irish Stout Soap

Sorry this post is a day late. We were traveling yesterday and didn't get time to finish a post. The good news is that the travels included a stop at a brewpub that we will be reviewing soon (and of course some of their beer). For now, enjoy this post about how we used some of our homebrew leftovers to make some soap.

For this recipe I used the spent grain and resulting beer from our homebrewed batch of Irish Stout. The base is emulsion soap which you can get at a craft store.

Heat 5 small cubes of emulsion soap in a microwave until it is fully melted.

Then add ¾ tsp of crushed (dried in the oven 250°F then pulverized using a blender) spent grains (used as an exfoliant).
Stir in the grains until they are fully mixed in.

Then add 3 tsp of flat Irish Stout (this can be increased if you want more of that smell).

Stir until the solution is fully mixed together.
Then pour the mixture into a mold (I used a Celtic knot mold, basic PE or PP, you can get these at a craft store in the soap making area).

Then wait till the soap is cooled to a solid (you can place it in the fridge to speed up the cooling but don't leave it in for too long, otherwise the moisture will ruin the soap).

Then push the soap out of the mold and wrap in plastic wrap or tissue paper to stop the moisture from getting to it.

Now you have soap that smells faintly of Irish Stout.

Dogfish Head Beer Tasting

This isn't going to be a full review of every beer we drank, just a quick overview of each of the beers as well as a basic ranking of them. Sorry that there are no pictures for these but we weren't planning to do a full review of every beer we drank just our top beer of the day.

Hellhound – It was very hoppy and bitter with some lemony taste. It was okay but to me it was very bitter.


Noble Rot – This was amazing, I have never had a beer like it before. It was dry like wine but very obviously like a pilsner beer. It had an almost sour tart-like taste to it. This was our top beer of the day. We purchased 2 bottles of this before leaving. You can keep an eye out for a future full review of this one.


World Wide Stout – Smooth and malty, almost roasted, with a super high alcohol content 15-20%, definitely saved for a special occasion.


Chicory Stout – To me it has a strong licorice, and coffee taste, I am not a huge fan of coffee stouts so it’s not really my cup of tea, but it was Dave's.


Sixty-one – This had a delicious taste a mix of IPA and grapes which is exactly what it is, smooth and sweet with just a hint of dryness.


120 minute IPA – For an IPA, it wasn't bitter at all, it was smooth with a great hoppy taste, not a bitter over the top hoppy taste, especially for the amount of hops used in the beer.


Burton Baton – It had a great smooth taste to it, vanilla, woody but not overly wood just a nice almost sweet flavor.


Palo Santo Marron – Smooth and strong with nice woody notes, almost sap like. Very malty and smooth with some hints of vanilla and maybe caramel. The Palo Santo wood adds notes that I couldn’t quite place.


Aprihop (with fresh Simcoe Hops) – Amazing, I thought it would be ultra hoppy due to the extra hop addition but it was aromatic and flavorful. It is definitely worth trying some beer that's been enhanced by Randall The Enamel Animal.