I had this at Not Your Average Joe’s on Monday night and  need a 2nd keg since we’ve been crushing the BBC Gold Spike Ale.  It’s a solid beer and I’m thinking about making Wachusett Brewery my next brewery to try and serve every one of their beers.

This is an American Pale Ale with 5.0% ABV – so basically we have two great session beers on tap at the moment.  It’s rated a “B” on BA and the brewery writes,

• The best selling ale in Central Massachusetts
• First brewed 1994
• Available year round

Our original brew crafted by Ned, Kevin and Quinny in the early 90’s with super drinkability.
American two row pale with Crystal malts Cascade, Willamette and Cluster hops.

Keg #35
Tapped 5/13/10.
Kicked 6/8/10.

Categories: Past Brews, Wachusett
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This is it – the last beer made by BBC – excluding their seasonal offerings -  to be served on tap.  I’ve had all ten, plus the Floor Malt Pilsner, which was apparently a one-time offering.  It sounds like the perfect beer for this early-summer we’re having.

Berkshire describes the beer as;

This German Kölsch uses an authentic yeast strain brewed true to style. A pale golden ale, light in body featuring a crisp, clean malt flavor, Gold Spike is the perfect quaff for a warm day. 4.2% v/v, 17 IBU

Tapped 5/7/10.  Kicked 5/14/10 (to become the fastest kicked keg!).

Overall: great beer – I loved it.  It was a nice session beer that was light enough ABV so you could enjoy it without getting into trouble.  Well balanced, refreshing – the perfect summer beer.  I’d certainly order this again and plan to once we finish the rest of the queue.

Categories: Berkshire, Past Brews
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I’ve been looking forward to getting this on tap for quite a while now.  It’s taken some work to track down but I finally have a log of Belfast Bay’s “Lobster Ale” on order.  It has a “B” rating on BeerAdvocate which I consider underrated.  Maybe I’m bias since I associate this beer with being on a boat in Maine but who cares, it’s good stuff.  The tap handle (a giant claw) is perhaps my favorite tap handle I’ve seen.

Belfast describes this beer as;

Lobster Ale is a dark copper “Red” ale with medium hop bitterness, flavor and aroma.  It offers the drinker subtle levels fo fruit-ester flavors and low caramel character.  Slight yeast haze and chill haze gives this ale a clear foamy rich head.  Belfast Bay Brewing Co. is near the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia where just about every brewery makes a red ale, unlike in the United States where red ales are not well known.  When my wife suggested that a brewery from Maine should make a beer called Lobster Ale, a red ale seemed to be the perfect brew.  Unlike our highly hopped neighbors beers, we decided to brew Lobster Ale to be very “user friendly”.  We cut down the hops and added slight amounts of black and dark crystal to the brew.  The result is a medium hopped, medium flavored, very drinkable red ale.

Check out their website; BelfastBayBrewing.com (Just make sure to turn your speakers down as their site is not very user-friendly)

Tapped 4/2/10 – Kicked 4/25/10.

This was a great beer – people loved the tap handle (the lobster claw) and the beer just missed the Top 5 fastest consumer beers, which is quite impressive considering the keg didn’t see a significant number of visitors coming by.  I might need to order another keg of it.  It’s a great light-to-medium bodied beer with decent flavor and a nice balance of hops & malt.

Categories: Belfast Bay, Past Brews
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In my quest to serve every BBC product, we’re down to the 2nd to last non-seasonal beer (there are four seasonal beers as well).  BBC’s River Ale has a “B+” rating on BA.  I’ve never had it before but a dark ale with malty flavor sounds good to me.

BBC says;

A medium bodied dark ale which contains a portion of wheat malt. River Ale has a slightly sweet malty, nutty flavor and is delicately hopped to provide a unique and pleasing taste. 7.0%

Tapped 3/26/10.  Kicked 5/04/10.

Categories: Berkshire, Past Brews
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Tapped 3/5/10

BBC says:

A full bodied dark ale which is a blend of our Berkshire Ale and Drayman’s Porter. It combines the caramel malt flavor of the pale ale with the chocolate roasted taste of the porter. Shabadoo is a complete and delicious ale. 6.3%

10% of the proceeds go to the Western Mass Food Bank in honor of Joe, the creator and our good friend.

Kicked 3/26/10 (after 21 days).  Good beer but not the best BBC beer I’ve had though.  It had a sweet hoppyness to it that I wasn’t a huge fan of – sort of like a spiced IPA.

Categories: Berkshire, Past Brews
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Berkshire describes this beer as, “A Traditional Pale Ale with a deep copper color, a caramel/malt flavor and a very rich hop aroma and flavor. Available on draft, 64oz. growlers and 22oz. bottles (Ale for two). 6.3%”

I’ve only had a couple pints from it but like it a lot.  It has a hint of spice that could almost make it a light winter beer.

Tapped during the Super Bowl, 2/7/2010.  Kicked 3/5/10.

Categories: Berkshire, Past Brews
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