On the Thursday of my first week out in America, we drove (I say we, my girlfriend was the one doing the driving) up to Erie in Northern Pennsylvania. Whilst there, we paid a visit to the Erie Brewing Company.

When we arrived we walked into the shop area to find no one around. We went back out and pushed the bell outside the door and were greeted by Mike, who proceeded to be one of the nicest, and fun, guides I’ve ever had the privilege to meet.

I told Mike that I was there to try the beers, and I was told to buy a tasting glass for $5. Mike then proceeded to work through the beers that they sold.

The first was Presque Pilsner, which seemed much more like a Pilsner than the My Antonia that I had drunk the evening before. It seemed smooth and light, and just right for the hot humid weather there was those few days.

We followed this with Misery Bay IPA, which following a failed attempt at ordering an IPA in another bar, was actually my first American IPA of the holiday. There didn’t seem to be much aroma, but it was wonderfully bitter, and exceedingly tasty.

The third beer I tried was Derailed, a 5% Black Cherry Ale. The beer had a feint cherry aroma, and a strong cherry taste, followed by a slight biscuity aftertaste. Essentially, it was a good dessert beer.

Railbender is a 6.8% Scottish style beer, which “exists to enjoy, but doesn’t provoke words”. This was followed by Oak Aged Fallenbock, which had been aged using oak spirals. I found it to be rather good for a bock beer.

After exhausting the taps they had, we moved on to some bottles. Mad Anthony’s APA (which had run out on tap) wasn’t the best in the range, but was still entirely drinkable and enjoyable. The real fun came with the Ol’ Red.

Ol’ Red Cease and Desist is a 10.1% Wee Heavy Ale. We first opened a bottle from the latest batch, which we were told was made with odd yeast, and so didn’t taste how it should. Saying this though, it was still a very nice, rich and flavoursome beer. Halfway through drinking this version, Mike went out and came back with a two year old bottle, made with yeast that hadn’t gone wrong. This version prompted the words “wonderful, wonderful beer”. It was.

We finished off with a blend. taking two parts Misery IPA and one part Ol’ Red, to create a mix that Mike called Old Misery. It didn’t seem to be greater than the sum of it’s parts, but it’s good to see people experimenting with mixing beer.

I didn’t take any notes walking around the brewery. They were bottling at the time, so it was rather loud. The one thing I do remember though, is Mike telling us that Fuggles is one of his favourite hops. With all the criticism it seems to get from some circles, I was initially quite surprised. Thinking about it though, it’s probably more a case of saturation.

Mike’s clear enthusiasm for the beer and the brewery helped us to enjoy the experience and the beer. He also helped us with where to go after we left, suggesting several venues in the area with large selections of beer on tap. We chose Jekyll and Hydes, which served good burgers, and a nice selection of beer.

Contrast the enthusiasm of Mike to the more rigid scripted tour style that we experienced at Great Lakes in Cleveland the following day, and it’s clear what leaves more of an impression.

One more America post to come from this trip, in which I’ll be covering the beers I haven’t done in the first two posts, and anything else that may come to mind…

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So, I’m now back in the UK after almost two weeks in Western Pennslyvania and Eastern Ohio with my wonderful girlfriend, who drove me around to many bars and breweries. A fair bit of beer was drunk over that period, and much griping about the lack of smaller measures in some places, especially when it came to beers of certain strengths. I didn’t really want to be drinking a whole pint of them, especially when there were others I wanted to try as well.

Enough moaning however, and on with the beer. To make things easier, I’ll be splitting my notes into several smaller posts, with this one focusing on the Dogfish Head beers I drank whilst in Pittsburgh.

Dogfish Head is a brewery I’ve wanted to try more of for some time. I managed to try at least seven different beers that were new to me, and reaquaint myself with 90 Minute IPA. There were some odd beers, some very welcome beers, and one that was nice, but didn’t really do anything for me.

The week started with Midas Touch, a 9% Ancient Ale made with ingredients found in the drinking vessel of King Midas. I’d say that this was an acquired taste. The first impression is that of a rather musky aroma, and the taste is quite dry at first, but a sweetness comes through in the aftertaste. This isn’t a beer I’d rush to drink more of, but perhaps it would work better paired with some food.

The same night I shared a bottle of My Antonia. My Antonia is an Imperial Pilsner, which has been continuously hopped. As a result, the aroma reminded me a lot of 90 Minute IPA. In the 90 Minute IPA, I think that the continuous hopping is a good thing. I like how it tastes and smells. In My Antonia however, I found it to be too much. It wasn’t how I expect a pilsner to be. I liked it, but as a pilsner, I wasn’t a fan.

The next beer came in the shape of Chicory Stout, a good enough stout, though I’m not too sure what happened to the chicory. Saying that though, I’d still drink it whenever the opportunity arose.

On the Saturday Evening we shared a bottle of Bitches Brew, Dogfish Head’s beer brewed in honour of the 40th anniversary of the Miles Davis album. My notes have just two words by this beer, “wonderfully tasty”, and it was. My girlfriend was asked to perform at a show that evening, which turned out to be longer than she had been told, and the second worst show she had performed in. By the time we got back, I think any beer would have been “wonderfully tasty”. We have another bottle which is being saved for my return in November. Hopefully it will still be “wonderfully tasty” then.

For Memorial Day we returned to Pittsburgh, and once again I raided the beer shelves of the Shop and Save, this time picking up the Victory and Dogfish Head versions of Saison Du Buff. Saison Du Buff is a collaboration beer between Victory, Dogfish Head and Stone, first brewed at Stone in 2010, and then replicated at the other breweries using the same ingredients. The beers have been brewed again this year, and the Dogfish Head version isn’t bad (I’ll say one word about the Victory version, soap.), there seemed to be a malt base that the Victory Saison was lacking, which gave the beer a much better overall taste.

A return in the other direction to Columbus brought with it another return to the Shop and Save, and this time a four pack of Burton Baton, Dogfish Head’s IPA flavoured with oak spirals. I found it to be a rather nice IPA that gives way to oakiness in it’s after taste. I’ve left two bottles behind to see how it ages. I think it could go well.

As well as all of these bottles, I also got the chance to try Urkontinent on tap at McGrogans Taphouse in Canonsburgh (a place I’d like to be taken back to in November, due to it’s nicely sized bottle selection). It’s a nice little beer, which really came good once it had warmed up to it’s optimum temperature, and the flavour started coming out. I didn’t think to take notes when I was drinking it, I just enjoyed it. After all, that’s the whole point of drinking beer, isn’t it?

As well as this lot, I also bought back with me bottles of Sahtea and Black and Blue, which I’ll be drinking when the right time comes. With the amount of Dogfish Head I drank you could easily be mistaken for thinking I was in Delaware rather than Pennslyvania or Ohio. I was though, and beers from those states will be coming up soon…

Pictures will come later, when I can actually upload something.