From Publick House to Private Tavern

Christmas was great, and filled with much good beer. And here is the good news- Aaron suggested that I get a beer journal, which I did, so I can actually go back weeks later and still write accurate reviews of the beers. See, I learned from Thanksgiving!

The inaugural use of the beer journal came the day after Christmas when I went with Aaron, Jeremy and Brant to the Publick House in Boston. Aaron tells me that this is one of the top places for beer in Boston. They had a Chimay sign hung out front, definitely a good "sign." Upon entering the establishment, we were greeted with warmth (Boston is cold in the winter) and a hostess who asked for a cell phone number to call us when a table was ready. I had never seen that before, but I think that is neat. Saves them the money of having to maintain those stupid coaster pagers that just get in the way. Does anyone ever actually use them as a coaster??

This place was set up primarily as a restaurant, but did have a reasonably sized bar for all their taps. We waited near the bar, as all the seats were taken already. It was a bit awkward being huddled in a little circle with our jackets on next to tables of people eating while we sipped our brews and waited for a table. But I guess in a place like Boston were the real estate is limited, you just can't have a big bar/waiting area.

At the bar I decided to order a belgian. Since I am still developing a taste for the belgians I like to start with them, and then finish with something I know I will really like. I went with the Allagash Curieux, an 11.5% belgian ale from Allagash Brewing in Portland, ME ($6). Part of the reason I picked it was because it was from a New England brewery, so I thought it might not be available back home in GA. I have since learned that Allagash is a fairly large company, and can easily be obtained in most decent beer stores in GA. But hay, thats fine, a good beer is still a good beer, even if it is readily available.

The aroma of the Curieux was just want I have come to expect from belgians. I don't really seem to be able to notice any differences between the different brews in this regard. The taste started semi smooth, transitioning nicely into the characteristic sweetness of a belgian. I believe that this distinctive sweet taste is from the belgian candy sugar used in the process, not from the yeast, but I could be wrong on that. The finish on the beer was nicely bitter. I assume that this is the hops, but it is subtle, and definitely not an American IPA style hops. Overall this was a decent beer, although I can't say I could really differentiate it much from other decent belgians like the Unibroue or the Sweetwater Creeper that I have had. I enjoyed it for sure, but I was looking forward to an old ale or an IPA with my dinner.

We were seated after I was about a third of the way into my Curieux. Getting to take off my jacket and settle in certainly help me enjoy the experience more. After sitting down, it appears that I got one of the better chairs. Aarons chair was particularly well used looking, and I think Jeremy was just on a stool or something. I have to admit, I did pick my chair because it looked comfy, and I remember being not so comfy at the Brick Store a week or so earlier.

For dinner I ordered the burger and fries. When I finished my Curieux I ordered a MoJo IPA, a 6.8% IPA from the Boulder Brewing Co. in Colorado ($5.50). The initial aroma was a classic American IPA smell of piney hops. On tasting I found it to have a distinct hoppy flavor, but very well balanced into a smooth flavor. The hops were piney, but nicely blended with a maltyness that I found very reminiscent of a Double IPA like the dogfish head 90 minute IPA. Dinner was decent, but the burger certainly was not as good as the one I had at the Brick Store. I decided to put some extra salt on my fries (yum!). After having the extra salt, however, the hoppy characteristic of the IPA changed dramatically. To my post salted palate, the hops became the most paramount flavor, overriding the smooth maltyness I had tasted previously! This is something to remember for the future. Aaron also mentioned later that the hardness or softness of the water you use to make your beer has a big difference on the taste. I can see why; adding the salt ions really changed the way my palate tasted this beer. If it had been made with hard water that included the ions, the harsh hops would be inescapable. Very interesting. Overall I thought the Mojo IPA was great. Definitely would get this again some time.

Brant got some beer that I do not remember the name of, but he let me try a sip and it definitely had an old ale/barleywine flavor to it. From then on all I wanted was something else from this vein. unfortunately I did not get any that night.

After we finished dinner, we planned to head over to a decent beer store and see what they had. However, as we were going to cross the street we noticed a beer store on the corner name "Publick House Provisions." Interesting. Very interesting. We did not pass up the opportunity to check this place out. The store was fairly small, just a long checkout counter on one wall, coolers down the opposite wall, and a single island of shelves in the middle. However, they only carried top notch beers! They didn't even have any of the common craft brew stuff here, they reserved all their shelf space for seasonal specials and other hard to come by beers. I got a Brooklyn Brewery Local 1, which Aaron had previously recommended. I also got a Great Divide Hibernation Ale, and best of all I finally found a Dogfish Head 120 IPA! A beer not available in GA, and one I have not seen anywhere else. The down side was price. They didn't have any prices obvious on the beers, and they were not cheap. But all and all, an excellent find.

With my wallet empty, we headed back to Aaron's house. Aaron offered to let us look through some of his beer stash and have another beer. We headed down into Aaron's basement where the beer fridge is to make some selections. While down there we also managed to convince him to let us drink the beers in the comfort of the semi finished, and nicely warmed local. Beals' Tavern 1.0 as some might call it. The Beals' Tavern certainly has some room for growth and improvement. They apparently can only have either bottles OR taps, but not both. On this day they were sporting bottles. Also, they don't have an actual bar to sit at, so the seating is a little hap hazard. However, the selection is excellent, and the atmosphere is warm and cozy. Sitting around with friends you just get that comfortable "home" feeling. If this place was closer I would make this a regular hangout spot of mine, especially on C's game nights. I believe that carry the away games on the radio. We ignored the single protester who felt that the Tavern was too run down and should be closed off to visitors.

At the Tavern I had a Heavy Seas' Peg Leg Imperial Stout, an 8% brew. This beer poured a nice dark color like you would expect a stout to be. The head was fairly small, but I tend to expect that from bottled beers these days. The taste was primarily the classic stout flavor- dark beer, some chocolate/coffee hints. It had a solid maltyness to it as well, but it didn't have a whole lot of body. It was certainly not a big "meal" type consistency that people often describe stouts as being. It was a little heavier than a Guiness, but really not to heavy. String taste, but crisp, and not lingering. The aftertaste was a little bitter, as expected from a dark beer like this. Overall, a good beer.

This night was pretty much the pinnacle of my Christmas beering experience. I did get some really good stuff at Trappeze at the very end of the break, but I think this night wins out overall because of the friends I so rarely get to see, and the acquisition of the 120 minute IPA.