I can't remember what Vermont beers were famous prior to the past couple years. Were there any? Magic Hat, maybe, but they were not necessarily respected. Now we have three breweries that are making a claim for that small state to be a major brewing center. A recent thread on BeerAdvocate.com asked what the IPA capitol of the world was and so many were calling for Vermont to be the winner, based on the single output of The Alchemist (Heady Topper), and the many IPAs from two breweries, Hill Farmstead and Lawson's Finest Liquids. The average, day-to-day beer consumer would have no knowledge of these breweries, without paying close attention to the lists of the highest ranking beers on the beer geek websites.
In that previously mentioned thread about this IPA capitol, one BA member admitted that he had not had any IPA from Hill Farmstead, but nominated it's city as the Capital of IPAs based on other BAs reviews. Because of one brewery, which has incredibly limited distribution? And only gets around from trader to trader?
And now I hold in my hand a bottle from Lawson's of Warren, Vermont. I got this when I offered up a rare Surly Darkness glass to a BA member, in exchange for some bottle of goodness. He went back to his car, and brought the bottle, asking me, "Do you like Lawson's?" Well, honestly, I don't know, I've never tried one, and I would never had, if I weren't a trader…which I currently am not. I am so out of touch with the beer world. So shameful. Why am I not tracking down every over-hyped IPA that all the hypers are hyping about? All those old IPAs that the old breweries released so long ago are just old, old, old...
Nonetheless…let us open it up and see what we can see…
Blackest blackness…voluminous head, large and lacy, sending tannish tendrils hither and yon…lovely looking beer.
Aroma: we have some grassy hops here, lively and citrus-y, with dark, black malts below. Just so sweet, and a smattering of bitter. well done. Very nice. Good and hoppy.
Taste: Here we have it, again. All that bright, forward, grassy hop character, just hanging above. It's a drinker, not too strong (5.9% ABV), plenty drinkable. Some roast, some toast, but hoppy bitterness more than that, rising far above the black malts. No real cocoa or caramel, just your basic dark malts. (I'm saying this without knowing what the ingredients are, just guessing.)
Tasty stuff, good integration, excellent balance. This is the "Black IPA"/ "Cascadian Dark"/ Black Ale done right. It's all good in the neighborhood.
Here are some words from the label" "With this beer, I raise a toast to an original brewing pioneer, Greg Noonan. Brewed with the finest pale malt, toasted barley, toasted rye, de-bittered black & where malts, along with layers of dank earthy hops. I hope you enjoy this dark hoppy delight.--Sean. 5.9% alc/vol." Straight from the Green Mountains to your head."
Every bit as good as all the best Black IPAs out there. As this is the First Lawson's brew I've had, I still haven't the slightest clue whether their output is worth all the hype. Hey, if you could trade Dave's BrewFarm beers as easily, maybe folks would say the same about them.
Actually, the better question would be If They Brewed IPAs, would the beer geeks beat the untrodden, snowy path to their backwoods door? What if Lawson's, or Hill Farmstead, or The Alchemist, never brewed an IPA? Would we have heard of any of them? If they only made Belgian Styles, or English styles, and didn't traffic in hops? Would they have made any impact with their kolsches, and amber ales, and bocks?
I wonder….
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