Tag: NEIPA

What’s Dom Drinking Now?

By on • ( 1 Comment )

There’s been one brewery on my mind ever since I checked out their new taproom two weeks ago: Aslin Beer Company. Many people in the Boston area may not be familiar with these guys; I certainly wasn’t when I first moved to the DC area. Once I did move, I kept hearing the name Aslin again and again when trying to find the best brewery around.

Image result for aslin brewing logo
Aslin Beer Co. houses their original location in Herndon, VA. Recently they opened up a second, much larger facility in Alexandria, VA that will house the bulk of production one it’s fully functioning.

Lucky for me, they just opened up a new taproom 15 minutes away from my apartment not even a month ago, and I was quite impressed. They make NEIPA’s as good as anyone actually in New England, mouth-puckering sours that leave you making faces well into the fourth and fifth sips (a sign of a great sour in my opinion) and some downright killer stouts. When it comes to what grabs your attention in the beer world these days, those three boxes are all you really need to check to stand out.

Image result for aslin beers
Although the new location doesn’t have a ton of can stock, I do like their labels.

The top rated beers from Aslin are almost exclusively IPA’s and stouts, no surprise there. If you can get your hands on them, Single, Double and Triple Orange Starfish, Master of Oranges, Master of Karate and Mind the Hop are some of their highest rated beers on Untappd, but it seems like every IPA they make has above a 4 rating on the app. For stouts, they have a bunch of amazing styles featuring all sorts of flavor additives, while their line of sours beers does the same.

Image result for aslin beers

So what do I actually recommend? Here’s a quick run down:

–Glamping Imperial Stout– Probably the best stout I’ve ever had. Made to mimic a s’more, this beer features marshmallows, graham crackers, chocolate, and the added bonus of…peanut butter! This is the first beer with peanut butter I had where I could really smell and taste the PB. Incredible. Oh yeah, it’s 15% alcohol and drinks like it’s less than half that, so watch out.
–Pisghetti Western Stout– Another 15% imperial stout that doesn’t taste like it, this is conditioned on chocolate, hazelnuts, coffee, vanilla and cinnamon. I thought this had a touch too much cinnamon, which accentuated the heat from the alcohol just a bit more than I preferred. However, all the other flavors are delicious, and it’s still a great beer.
–Master of Oranges DIPA– It’s pretty hard for me to be impressed by IPA’s these days. NEIPA’s can easily disguise off-flavors or a weak malt base by adding more dry-hops, more citrusy hops, more more more. On top of that, most people use the same four or five hops, so the difference from beer to beer is minute. That being said, this beer was fantastic, easily the best IPA I’ve had in DC. This beer is a combo of Double Orange Starfish and Master of Karate, and it blew me away.
–El Frutero Sour Ale- A light, easy going sour at first taste, every sip seems to pack more flavor. Brewed with watermelon, lime, habanero peppers and salt, this beer is a perfect pairing for fish tacos. As a matter of fact, I would actually prefer this beer with food because the habaneros really punch you in the tongue.

Image result for aslin elder scrolls
I don’t play the games, but anyone who is a fan of Elder Scrolls will be excited to see Aslin came out with an entire line of beers to celebrate 25 years of Elder Scrolls games.

I really only have one beef with Aslin to this point, and it has nothing to do with the beer. The new spot is tinkering with the food menu, and we found out the hard way that it is overpriced. Much to our chagrin, the $8 deviled eggs we ordered was actually one egg, cut in half, with a sliver of jalapeno and a fried oyster on top. Considering all over Boston you can find $1 oysters and I can go to the grocery store and buy an 18-pack of Nellie’s Free Range Eggs for $5.69, that price is a rip off. I was assured they would be changing that, so I now have nothing more to complain about.

Although they don’t make it up to Boston, I highly recommend anyone traveling down to DC or Virginia stop by their locations and drink up. You won’t be disappointed.

What’s Dom Drinking Now?

By on • ( 2 Comments )

My first two editions of WDDN were both cocktails. As it happens, this is a change a pace for me as I typically prefer to drink craft beer. I am always on the lookout for something new and exciting, and try as many different brews as I can get my hands on. Luckily for me, I was able to get a job doing a variety of things for 3 Stars Brewing. So, it should come as no surprise that I’ve been drinking a lot 3 Stars beer!

3 STARS BREWING

Since 2012, 3 Stars has been making super-drinkable and excitingly unique beers in the northern part of DC. Unfortunately, the brewery is still relatively small and distribution limited, with only DC, Virginia and Maryland receiving regular shipments. Boston and Delaware also receive monthly shipments, while New York City has seen a few offerings as well.

What should you be looking to try? Honestly, I like all the beers we make. I’m not just saying that, either. Before I started working for 3 Stars, I thought the few beers I had tried from them were solid. Nothing special, but still well-made. Now that I’ve had the chance to try them at their freshest as well as had a wider variety of the lineup, I’ve really started to dig them.

Related image
I’m hoping one of my ideas for a pilot batch makes it into the taproom this summer. I’ve been pitching a sour beer modeled after the Palomas I’m so in love with, so we’ll see how that turns out.

We’re not talking about over-the-top IPA’s like Trillium or Treehouse. This isn’t that kind of brewery. They can definitely make high quality juice bombs that seem to be all the rage these days, but those beers are relatively boring to make. Come up with a decent malt bill, then add as many hops as you possibly can. From there, just change the hops. This provides the illusion of innovation when really you’re only changing one ingredient. At 3 Stars, the brewers like to experiment with more than that.

As for the beers, here are the ones you can find in Mass:

  1. Peppercorn Saison:

    This easy-drinking Belgian style ale is brewed with 3 different types of peppercorns for a light spice on the finish. It doesn’t have the bubblegum yeasty thing that some Belgian styles can have, so for me it’s a porch pounder despite being 6.5%. PS is the beer that first put 3 Stars on the map, as it was originally a home-brew recipe before the owners were pushed to bottle it and sell it by their friends.
  2. Diamonds are Forever:

    Although the 16oz option is only available at Nationals Park, you can find the 12oz beers more readily. For the NEIPA fans, this is the beer for you. A sessionable IPA with a ton of juicy citrus flavors and a touch of bitter resin, this is as good if not better than any session IPA I had while running a beer department up north. This is the newest addition to the core lineup, and in my opinion the biggest crowd-pleaser.

  3. Southern Belle:

    This is another one of the beers they made when first launching almost 7 years ago. Southern Belle is an imperial brown ale brewed with roasted pecans. Soft, smooth and nutty, this is my preferred beer pairing for a burger. I have noticed a slight variation of flavor from batch to batch, but this is a killer beer for cooler temperatures and fans of darker styles.

  4. Ghost IPA:

    This is my least favorite of the core lineup, but that’s not to say I don’t like it. Like almost all of our beers, this one is brewed with a large percentage of white wheat malt, which is why it was originally labeled as a White IPA. However, the only citrus you pick up is a modest dose that comes from hops, unlike what you’d expect out of a traditional white ale. The bitter/resiny quality is a little much for me, but I’ve found most people around the brewery will go to Ghost for their “on-the-clock” beer.
Related image
This new event space is huge. It should be finished by the end of the summer, so I’ll at least be able to take advantage of that.

I really love how 3 Stars likes to push the envelope and come up with as many new and strange styles as they can think of. We recently bought out a huge space connected to our current brewery, so when all of the renovations are said and done we’ll have two to three times as much space. This includes a new 470-person event space, an enlarged Funkerdome for sours, triple the size for cold storage, and room for more brewing tanks. Unfortunately, I will be gone by the time it’s all done, but I’m excited to see where the company goes!