Hartford Brewing Company
Hartford, CT
One of three brewpubs in Hartford, The
Hartford Brewery is not only the oldest
brewpub in the state, but it's also the best
brewery in the Capitol area.
Unfortunately, if you want to sample their fine
libations, you'll have to
go the brewery, because they don't distribute.
However, if you just can't
face the fact that you can't buy the beer at your
local bar, they do
sell 2 liter growler jugs for you to take
home.
Hopinator Red Ale (1.054 OG)
Wow... for a couple of minutes I thought that I
was sitting in San Francisco
instead of Hartford, CT. This beer is a West
Coast Hop-Head's dream, reminding
me of a Stone Brewery Arrogant Bastard
Ale or a Prohibition Ale
from Speakeasy Brewing. The
color is a nice, deep russet red-brown
that would make the seasoned drinker believe
that this would be a simple,
mellow beer; but the nose of the beer
gives away its secret... hops.
Lots and lots of hops. So hoppy that they had
to increase the malt levels
to an almost bread-like level in order to keep
the beer balanced. This is
truly a big beer for big beer lovers.
Bag o' Bones Barley Wine (1.093
OG)
I'll be the first person to admit that I'm not crazy
about Barleywines. However,
I've sampled over 90 different barleywines
over the last few years, and I
can certainly tell what differentiates a great
barleywine from a mediocre
barleywine. For those of you who have never
had a barleywine, it's the equivalent
of a port, but made with the standard beer
ingredients: water, barley, hops
and yeast. They can be consumed while
young (1-3 months old), but a good
barleywine doesn't come into its own until it
passes the 6 month mark, and
a well made barleywine can age for 3-10
years. Watch out, though! All barleywines
pack a kick in the 10% (up to 25%) alcohol
range.
The Bag o' Bones was, unfortunately,
in the mediocre to poor barleywine
category. An incomplete fermentation left the
beer with a unfermented sugar
sweetness that tasted like acetone and
smelled like propelyne glycol. If
the alcohol level is strong enough, the sugar
taste can be masked, but this
beer was unbalanced and not up to the task. A
little more time in the primary
fermenter and a couple more months to age
could make all the difference for
this beer.
Arch Amber (1.048 OG)
Five malts and five hops create a very full
flavor, while the lower alcohol
content makes this beer more approachable
for a craft beer novice. The nose?
Malt. The taste? Malt. Tons of nice, grainy malt.
This is a great, refreshing
beer for the summer months, and would go
nicely with bar food or pizza. However
the lack of bittering hops could end up leaving
you bored by the end of the
pint.
Old Nag ESB (1.054 OG)
I feel truly sorry for the people that think that
Red Hook is a good example
of an ESB... because they're never going to
appreciate a great ESB like
Youngs ESB or this Old Nag.
Old Nag is an excellent ESB, with
a strong bitterness that isn't attributable to the
typical floral hoppy taste
that you would get in a similarly bitter IPA. As
is typical with a good Extra
Special Bitter, the malt taste is stronger than
the hops, but the nose has
that classic aromatic hops scent. Unlike the
Arch, this beer can stand on
its own, and this is the sort of beer that could
make for a truly enjoyable
night. (Avery Glasser)
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