The Craft Beer Exchange

Volume 1 Issue 5 October 20, 2011 Note from the editor: CBE5 fell 8 days short of the first time we made our inaugural trip to Brewers. The round of beers that were selected this time are some of our best to date, and will definitely not let you down as much as Philadelphia Sport Teams have over the past few months. This issue includes the regular commentary of all eight selections, a thorough appendixes of all of the beer that CBE has introduced us to over the past twelve months, an new fall inspired clipart image for the first page, and some updates for our next CBE. Comments, suggestions, and any other relevant exchange of ideas are always welcome. Unless you are @NotCBEOfficial, then please leave me alone. Yours truly, @TheCBEOfficial The Editor.

Selections: Ellies Brown Ale From the Website - This beautiful, deep russet brew has the sweet and somewhat nutty character of Adam Avery's late (1992-2002) Chocolate Lab, for which it is named. Crystal and chocolate malts give this beer a brown sugar maltiness with hints of vanilla and nuts, while subtle hopping gives it an overall drinkability that's second to none, just like Ellie!

also probably relevant to point out that this is his second selection from Avery (see spreadsheet,) as he also picked up Old Jubilation as a seasonal pick in the past. Dude, we get it, you like Colorado. Ellies is a brown ale thats not afraid to have some roasty characteristics as well, Averys doesnt just put out a plain old sweet brown ale. The following is however one of the many reasons why CO is awesome. Averys Website has a link to a rock climbing gym that has a black light. Enjoy [Link]

Next up is Dark Horse Crooked Tree IPA. This is another one that Ive had, and think very highly of. I think our hop leaning group will enjoy this one pretty thoroughly. It was a pain in the ass getting the label from the web. The Crooked Tree website looks like it was put together by a 6 year old, and apparently they are updating their labels. For fun, Ive included the new label as well as the old. You can choose which one you like better, but as long as they keep putting the same beer into the bottles, I dont really care. From the antiquated website - Inspired by West Coast I.P.A.'s, but brewed with Michigan style. The Crooked Tree is heavily dry hopped to give it a big aroma of pine and citrus. The flavors are big, yet very balanced between fresh hops and malt. Often described as "grapefruit" our hops give this beer an

I have a pretty solid appreciation for this one. Its not over the top, but its one of the best examples of a Brown Ale, and has a picture of @G_o_o_d_y s dog on it. Its

excellent fruit flavor that finishes dry, crisp, and clean. It will pour a nice deep copper color with a bit of haziness. Because of our almost patented "Intense Transfer Methods" our Crooked Tree has won several medals in the India Pale Ale category.

I would suggest that with the new label, they change the name to Crooked Bonzai!!! They would need to include all of the exclamation points.

Apparently the new labels are not quite in full effect yet. The one above is the old label, that we have, and the one in the next column is going to be the label going forward.

The Great Lakes Website is phenomenal, and if anyone from Dark Horse is reading this newsletter, you should definitely get in contact with whatever firm put it together.

The site had tons of little snippets for our next beer, Nosferatu. Like this one for example: Name Origin: Like vampires (most especially, the notorious German vampire from the 1920s film era), this beer has a bit of a reputation as the Beer with the Bite. And this Style Origin: American red ale has its origin in the earliest days of the American craft beer revolution. Faced with a dearth of traditional English ingredients, brewers had to use American ingredients. Imperial or double red ales grew out of this medium-bodied style and emerged with intense hop bitterness, flavor and aroma.

Apparently, this is the big brother to Great Lakes Burning River Pale Ale. A fall release from Great Lakes, it is quite a juxtaposition to most of the spiced/pumpkin/Marzen/Oktoberfest seasonals that are usually out around this time of year. Everyone and their sister seem to be raving about it on the World Wide Web, so Im definitely putting one in the fridge so I can see what all the fuss is about. Any way you look at it, this one is a highly touted seasonal release, and another one that should fit pretty easily into our hop forward group.

The CBE has only had one Fall exchange. There were no pumpkin beers on the docket that day. But fear not closet pumpkin beer fans, weve got one this time, and it has some pretty good word of mouth. From the Williamsburg Alewerks Website: This amber colored ale is loaded with Pumpkin pie aroma and flavor. It actually does taste like Pumpkin pie! At 7.3% ABV, it will keep you warm on a cool Autumn eve.... This Website was not as bad as Dark Horses, mostly because it seems to be an advertisement to visit Virginia. It sucked me in, apparently they have a Movie Tavern there, a cheese shop, and a place called Sals Pizza. I can get behind a Website that promotes other local businesses and what looks like every bar that serves their beer in a 100 miles radius. Williamsburg can be

picked up at @WFM_PlymouthMtg and Ill be keeping my eyes out for it moving forward.

consistently puts out a phenomenal Harvest ale year after year, and since CBE loves our IPAs, Im pretty sure this bitter shoe will fit. And if you want, you can get some pretty sweet Founders Athletic Socks fro their online store for the low, low price of $12.00. That will definitely make the shoe fit, wokka wokka wokka.

Next in line, we have another highly sought after Harvest Ale from a Michigan brewery thats kind of a big deal. This is another solid Website, and offers the following for Harvest - This liquid dream pours a hazy golden orange straw color with a white, two-finger head. Your first sip of this beer rewards you with a super juicy hop presence bursting with citrus, then finishes to introduce toasted malt undertones. I personally love to be rewarded when Im drinking, so Im going to throw one of these bad boys in the fridge for the time being as well. Seems the Web thinks that Founders

In CBE2, we ended up not having a beer from Lagunitas. That was the only CBE in which this brewery was not represented. This time, we have an interesting offering, only bottled in 22 oz bombers; the Hop Stoopid. As usual, the LAH-GOO-KNEE-TUSS website can provide some witty commentary, while Im only able to throw out sock jokes. Save the newsletter Lagunitas Website - For those mornings when you have to cut right to the chase, this is the one. Sure to blast through just about anything still lingering from the night before, this mouthful of Hops and huge rich Malt has a guarantee built right into the name!

When you need a laugh, check out the Lagunitas Website. There are a ton of ridiculous stories, videos of just about every single one of their beers, and lets face it, at this point this is one of the CBEs go-to breweries.

Next up is Mad River Brewing Co. Steelhead Double India Pale Ale; or MRBCSDIPA. The Website kind of sucks, but had this to offer Maltier, hoppier and more robust in flavor than regular IPAs, Double IPA is dry hopped with Amarillo hops for a fresh citrus flavor and aroma. Goes great with red meats and life in general. Does not go well with driving or machinery.

Apparently Steelhead is changing their labels too. Couldnt find a picture of the one that we got, but hopefully its recent and we got the new ones. I havent had this before, but people definitely seem to like it, and again, this group hasnt been presented with a hoppy beer that has been panned yet.

Finally, we get to the Dogtoberfest. No offense to Flying Dog, they brew some great beers, but I made a Panic Pick at Brewers this week. With a fall/winter seasonal, no winters out yet, and pumpkin beer off the table, I kind of went in thinking Oktoberfest/Marzen would be a nice change of pace. Unfortunately, just like we were early for winter beers, we were a bit late for Oktoberfests. I hope this one is good, as usual the Flying Dog label art is pretty cool. The Website is good, unless you want to copy and paste stuff.

And that concludes the wrap up of CBE5. Below and on the back pages youll see where most of the work went this time. The spreadsheet of beers is actually pretty impressive. What started as a way for us to try a handful of different beers has evolved pretty wildly into a beast of nonsense. Put some thought into how we evolve next, @TheCBEOfficial is definitely up for a venue change as well as a happy hour to incorporate a celebration for an entire year of existence.

I really have to work on a signature sign off for these newsletters.

The Back Pages Below I have compiled a list of all of the brews that have been enjoyed by the CBE over the past year. Ive also included Rate Beer and Beer Advocate scores (member review scores, not style or Brother scores.) Please enjoy, and take a look at the different breweries, styles, and origins. It took forever and a day to get through everything. Please dont mind some of the shorthand, I was trying to keep it to two pages. Also of note is a suggestion for the next CBE. From @G_o_o_d_y we should arrange next CBE as an evening event, instead of going to brewers, stop at the Beeryard in Wayne and then have a happy hour at Teresas Next Door. I think this is a great idea, and as two of our members have already been purchasing their beer from the Beeryard, it may not be a bad idea to go check it out and give them some of our business. Their website is here [Link] After a very quick pole, it looks like the next CBE will be in between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We will start throwing dates out in a couple weeks, and find something that works for everybody. Selection process for next CBE. We should start to at least think about this. It will probably be late November, early December, so there will be plenty of good Winter/Holiday seasonals. Review the spreadsheet below, and maybe we should take a look at specific brewers, areas of the US, styles outside of IPAs, etc. Im sure we can put together a varied list. For those of you that havent, please stop screwing around and join twitter already. Seriously

CBE5 Selection Sheet: Brewery Great Lakes Mad River Founders Avery Lagunitas Dark Horse Flying Dog Williamsburg Alewerks Beer Nosferatu Steelhead Double IPA Harvest Ale Ellies Brown Ale Hop Stoopid Crooked Tree IPA Dogtoberfest Pumpkin Ale CBE Member @Mitch295_ @gang_greeny DC @G_o_o_d_y @stavypapa RA @SKJ131W8th @Grifo79 ABV 8% 8.6% 6.5% 5.5% 8% 6% 5.8% 7.3% Ba Avg Rating AB+ AB+ AB+ B ARate Beer Avg Score 99 94 99 90 100 96 62 95

The All Inclusive CBE Spread Sheet CBE 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 Brewery Lagunitas Long Trail Bear Republic Avery Terrapin Breckenridge Flying Fish Weyerbacher Speak Easy Founders Bells Green Flash Dogfish Head Delirium Troegs Dogfish Head Rogue Victory North Coast State/Country California Vermont California Colorado Georgia Colorado New Jersey Pennsylvania California Michigan Michigan California Delaware Belgium Pennsylvania Delaware Oregon Pennsylvania California Beer Maximus Double Bag Racer 5 Old Jubilation Hopsecutioner Vanilla Porter Exit 4 Harvest Ale Big Daddy Breakfast Kalamazoo West Coast Raison Detre NOL Mad Elf 90 Minute Santas Pr Resv Yakima Glory Old Rasputin IPA Stickbier IPA Winter Strong Ale IPA Porter American Trippel Wet Hopped IPA IPA Stout Stout IPA Belgian Brown Ale Belgian Strong Ale Belgian IPA Red Ale Dark IPA Imperial Stout Style CBE Member @Mitch295_ @gang_greeny DC @G_o_o_d_y @stavypapa RA @SKJ131W8th @Grifo79 @Mitch295_ @gang_greeny DC @G_o_o_d_y @stavypapa RA @SKJ131W8th @Grifo79 @Mitch295_ @gang_greeny DC ABV 8.2% 7.2% 7% 8.3% 7.3% 4.7% 9.5% 6.2% 6.5% 8.3% 6% 7.3% 8% 10% 11% 9% 6% 8.7% 9% B+ B+ AB+ B+ BB+ B B A AAB B+ B+ AB+ B+ A 98 93 99 97 97 75 95 83 93 100 100 99 96 97 94 100 93 98 100

3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

Victory Wychwood Anderson Valy Heavy Seas Lagunitas Flying Fish Franziskaner 21 Amndmnt Long Trail Victory Lagunitas Terrapin Flying Dog Great Lakes Mad River Founders Avery Lagunitas Dark Horse Flying Dog Williamsburg Alewerks
st

Pennsylvania England California Maryland California New Jersey Germany California Vermont Pennsylvania California Georgia Maryland Ohio California Michigan Colorado California Michigan Maryland Virginia

St Victorious Hobgoblin Winter Solstice New Dogtown Farmhouse Hefe-Weisse Hop Crisis Belgian White Sunrise Censored/Kronik Rye Pale Ale Raging Bitch Nosferatu Steelhead Harvest Ale Ellies Brown Hop Stoopid Crooked Tree Dogtoberfest Pumpkin Ale

Doppelbock ESB/Bitter Spiced Pale Ale Summer Ale Hefeweizen Imp/Double IPA Belgian White Weissbier Red Ale Rye PA Belgian IPA Imperial Red Ale Double IPA IPA Brown Ale Double IPA IPA Marzen Fruit

@G_o_o_d_y @stavypapa RA @SKJ131W8th @Grifo79 @Mitch295_ @gang_greeny DC @G_o_o_d_y @stavypapa RA @SKJ131W8th @Grifo79 @Mitch295_ @gang_greeny DC @G_o_o_d_y @stavypapa RA @SKJ131W8th @Grifo79

7.9% 5.2% 6.9% 7% 6.2% 4.6% 5% 9.7% 4.7% 5.7% 5.9% 5.3% 8.3% 8% 8.6% 6.5% 5.5% 8% 6% 5.8% 7.3%

AB B+ B+ ABAB+ BB+ B+ B+ AAB+ AB+ AB+ B A-

94 66 92 88 95 56 96 99 47 93 90 92 98 99 94 99 90 100 96 62 95

Small Crft Wrnng Imperial Pilsner