I got up bright and early on Saturday morning after a good night's sleep and prepared a healthy breakfast of scrambled eggs, home fries, and turkey bacon. I always find its good to have a full belly prior to a day of drinking. It sounds like a no-brainer, but you'd be surprised how quickly you can get f'd up on an empty stomach.
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| Outside Dew Point in Yorklyn, DE. |
Our first stop of the day was Dew Point, a three-year-old brewery situated in Yorklyn, DE. We arrived about twenty minutes prior to opening time, so we decided to take a quick stroll around the perimeter. Turns out the brewery inhabits one of the buildings of an old, historic snuff (i.e. chewin' tobacco) factory called Garrett Snuff Mill that operated until 1954. The complex includes fourteen contributing (mostly brick) buildings built between 1846 and 1901. It served as a cool, scenic backdrop for the brewery itself.
The Tasting Room is situated on the second floor of the building, above the brewing facility. Dew Point also boasts a sprawling beer garden area with outdoor stage for live entertainment as well as cornhole boards, a horseshoe pit, disc golf, and more.
It was refreshing to start off the day at a brewery whose beer menu wasn't comprised of 75% IPAs. Obviously, we were the first patrons of the day since we rolled in right at opening time (actually, we were a minute early). Fran, the bartender, was super-friendly and talkative, and didn't hesitate to tell us about the history of the brewery and its story (which you can read all about at Dew Point's web site).
The environment was cool - lots of wood including a bar constructed of pinewood and built by Fran himself, as well as original floorboards and ceiling beams. Even the music was awesome, also apparently curated by Fran (care of his iPod). While we were there, I heard old school Metallica, Zappa, Blue Oyster Cult, and even one of my personal favorites, the criminally underrated King's X. Even the view from the tasting room overlooks the dilapidated buildings of the old snuff factory, which adds to the ambiance. Turns out the beer here is great too!
We opted for our own sampler flights, each featuring four different beers.
- Sippin' on a SIPA 2 - saison/IPA hybrid hopped and dry-hooped with multiple hop varieties to elicit tropical, citrus, and passionfruit flavors and aromas. This one came across as almost a sour IPA, with lots of spicy, earthy notes from the saison yeast to complement the citrus-forward hop profile.
- Rubick's 3 - Bière de Garde with honey, peaches, and apricots. My favorite of the lot! The honey really stands out in this beer, sweetening the pot quite a bit as well as propping up the juiciness of the fruit. Gotta love them peaches!
- Mexican Standoff - Brewed with cacao nibs, vanilla beans, and cinnamon sticks, this stout offers a Mexican standoff between the three ingredients as well as traditional notes of roast and coffee. Surprisingly, the base beer was a < 5% ABV dry Irish-type stout. Typically, these "Mexican" stouts are quite a bit beefier and boozier. Despite being a tad thin, the flavors were well-balanced.
- Old Spinster - Two-year aged English barleywine features complex malt richness and vinous character with hints of dark fruit, caramel, and toffee. Very smooth for a beer teetering at almost 10% ABV. It was a bit on the sweet side, but it also had ample viscosity and a nice underlying dark caramel note.
All in all, this was a great way to kick off our little overnight adventure. This little place is churning out some well-executed, thoughtful beers that aren't just run-of-the-mill offerings. I loved everything about this place, and we look forward to a return visit sooner than later.
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| Pleeps tangled up in a Mexican Standoff. |
OK. Onto the beer. For whatever reason, I wasn't in an IPA mood. After a quick perusal of the beer menu, one selection jumped out at me not only for its name, Mr. Owl, but also for its description: a kettle-soured black ale conditioned on red raspberries before a second fermentation in oak barrels on our house sour mix for about 4 months. Sold. This turned out to be one of those rare beers on which Brewslut and I didn't see eye to eye. As a matter of fact, we were on completely different ends of the spectrum with this beer. I really enjoyed it for its moderate tartness and flavors of raspberry jam, tobacco, and oak. The finish was kind of funky, but not too crazy or overly complex. Let's call it a hint of barnyard. Brewslut, on the other hand, wasn't diggin' it. She felt something was off in the flavor, and might have even commented something along the lines of "magic marker," which drew me back to one of my favorite early blogs, The Anomalous Olfactory Anecdotes of Brewslut. Honestly, I was quite surprised she didn't like it. To me, it straddled the line of a Flanders Red and oak-aged dark Belgian sour. I was pretty impressed.
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| Pleeps with Mr. Owl. |
Meanwhile, Brewslut ordered a beer called Lemon Berry Blue, a tart wheat beer conditioned on raspberries, blueberries, lemon zest and fresh-squeezed lemonade. It wasn't terrible, but unfortunately it came across as a flat shandy. We weren't too jazzed about this one. Overall, it was a little too sweet and lacking complexity. More enjoyable was the plate of fresh-cut fries with beer cheese we noshed on to hold us over until dinner. Can't go wrong with loading up on additional carbs whilst imbibing!
We decided to try a third beer, so I suggested something dark and malty. Brown Sugar Beerunch Stout is a variation of Argilla's Beerunch Stout with the addition of brown sugar and Sumatran coffee beans. This one sounded a little more appealing on paper. It wasn't bad per se, but the body was considerably thinner than I like for the style, and the brown sugar dominated the coffee flavor, unfortunately. Still, it was a decent attempt at something a little off-kilter, which I can appreciate. The clear winner for me here was Mr. Owl, and it was one of the more memorable beers of the trip for me. Brewslut disagrees, and she is unanimous in that decision.
I settled on Newark State of Mind Redux, a slight variation of its flagship imperial IPA. Super-dry with a slight hazy flare, the beers features a hazy IPA yeast from Mere Tenacity to add the mysterious "special sauce" as it were. Brewslut opted for - and I knew she'd order this based solely on its name - Incredulous Stare. This one is a West Coast-style IPA brewed exclusively with Idaho Gem hops, which linger on the palate with a spicy, citrusy flavor profile. We decided to share and compare notes. I was definitely digging the Newark State of Mind a bit more. Since we've spent a lot of time drinking in San Diego, I'm pretty jaded when it comes to West Coast IPAs. Incredulous Stare, while decent in its own right, had left me unconvinced. We decided to go the route of one-and-done for the next few places, as we still had several to hit.
Just up the street is Midnight Oil, a young brewery that won't celebrate its 2nd anniversary until February. I was hoping for a beer named "Beds are Burning" or a bald bartender with a weird Australian accent, but no such luck. Though not quite as many beers on tap as its neighbor a few doors down, there was still plenty of variety in the eight offerings on the board. After weighing our options, I went with Lucid Dream, a Dortmunder Lager, while the lady opted for Vampire Sunburn, a Gose with guava puree. I was surprised she didn't go for the cherry Berliner Weisse. After all, it's her favorite beer style.
Also referred to as "Export" lager, Dortmunders hail from Dortmund, Germany, and take inspiration from pilsners. I find them a tad bit grittier and earthier than pilsners, which come across as considerably more crisp. At least that's how this one struck me. I hadn't had one in quite a while (to my recollection, anyway), and this one fell somewhere in the middle. The wife's gose was a little more interesting (and tasty, too). Speaking of her gose, it seems as though the use of guavas in brewing has picked up considerably with the preponderance of tart fruit beers in the last few years. A common tropical fruit in Mexico and Central America, guavas elicit a lemony fragrance and bring together tropical flavors of papaya, banana and light pineapple.
The tasting room is dog friendly, and there was a little black lab-looking cutie bopping around whose name was Charlie. He was wearing a little bandana around his neck. However, he was very tentative and shy around most of the people. I was lured toward the end of the bar area opposite where we were sitting by the sight of a Galaga arcade game. Turns out it was a free play multi-game cabinet with lots of old, classic favorites! I snuck in a game of Frogger (one of my best games in a while, too), while Brewslut caught up with some reading on her phone.
The beers here pretty solid, but we decided to stick to our one-and-done routine again. After a quick time check, I realized we were way ahead of schedule, so I decided to consult my trusty Brewery Maps web site. Turns out we were mere miles away from not only PA, but also Maryland, and - lo and behold - there was a brewery located in nearby Elkton, MD. Audible! To quote Hannibal, "I love it when a plan comes together."
So it was off to Valhalla, Elkton's first microbrewery. We decided to also eat there since the food sounded good and it was getting to be dinner time. The name of the brewery is derived from Norse mythology. Valhalla is a majestic hall inhabited by slain warriors who live there blissfully under the leadership of Odin, the god of... well, lots of stuff, including wisdom, poetry, death, divination, and magic. Odin seems to have a lot on his plate, eh? In mythology, Valhalla is depicted as a splendid palace, where warriors drink liquor from the udders of - you guessed it - goats! Now we're talkin'!
Unfortunately, our beers didn't quite measure up to the same awesomeness as the majestic hall after which the brewery borrows its name. My beer, Flannel Szn, is a Winter Lager brewed with winter spices, orange peel, honey, and cranberries. The first sip revealed dreaded off-flavors of slight sulfur and sewer pipes. It was definitely one of the off-flavors I learned about during quality control and sensory panel training at the brewery. Thankfully, the spices did their best to mask the underlying flaw of this beer, which I'm fairly certain was Hydrogen Sulfide. It was either that or Mercaptan (i.e. ethanethiol), which I actually had difficulty detecting during the training. Some palates simply can't detect Mercaptan... and that's a good thing, because it elicits flavors of rotten vegetables, dirty drain water, sulfur, and rotting garbage. With descriptors like that, I can't believe that anyone's tastebuds would be impervious to Mercaptan. The first sip was definitely a shock, but the winter spices emerged a bit more as it warmed up, rendering it at least drinkable.
Brewslut's Mimosa Sour also did little to impress us. It was flat, lifeless, and didn't come across like a mimosa at all. It was extremely under-carbonated, and I'm honestly surprised they were even serving it. I had one sip and that was about enough for me. A sour has got to have a bit of prickly carbonation to bolster the tart notes. Plus its appearance was murky and unappealing. This one just wasn't cutting it.
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| View from our barstools at Valhalla. |
Our final brewery stop of the day was Stewart's Brewing Company. Established in 1995 - during the Mesozoic era of craft brewing - Stewart’s is New Castle County’s first brewpub. It's located in a shopping plaza at Governor Place in Bear, DE. When we pulled into the parking lot, I sensed it had the potential of being packed. We quickly shuffled in, as it was raining outside, and I discovered my instincts were correct. Alas, there was a pigskin-tossing-and-kicking contest on the television that had them out in droves.
Inside, the spacious brewpub offers a 150-seat full service restaurant with a large, wrap-around 30-seat bar. Stewart's also has secured ten GABF medals between 2001 and 2013, which adorn its walls. We were fortunate to snag two seats way in the back at the very end of the bar near the kitchen entrance. I was actually surprised to see so many people out at an old-school brewpub on a Saturday night. I suspected the TVs were probably helping bolster attendance. After all, the team everyone loves to hate, The Patriots, were playing the Titans. Despite checking out the tap list in advance, I'll admit that I didn't have high hopes for this place. We'd been to a number of 90's-era brewpubs in our travels, and most of them simply stop trying (or caring), instead opting to bank on die-hard, long-time customers or tourists looking for a place to enjoy a beer while on vacation. Turns out I was pleasantly surprised.
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| Pleeps patiently waiting for a beer. |
As soon as I eyeballed a Smoked Porter on the draft list, I'd made up my mind. The fact that this beer was also a two-time GABF medalist helped seal the deal. An English-style porter brewed with beechwood smoked malt, this robust dark, malty beer features smokey highlights and a roasty malt backbone with traces of coffee and tobacco. Nicely done, Stewart's!
Upon further inspection of the tap list, I noticed a Barrel-Aged Winter Warmer . The term "barrel-aged" caught my attention, but it was the "aged in Bulleit Rye Barrels" that ultimately sucked me into the vortex. I'd recently been getting really into bourbon and rye over the last two years, and Bulleit Rye is one of my regular go-tos. This particular winter warmer ale was aged for nearly a year in a Bulleit Rye Barrel. This one boasted a dominant boozy rye presence with a hint of vanilla sweetness and a touch of spice.
By this time, we were having a fun conversation and watching all of the football fans react to the game, so we decided to share something. I inquired about the cask selection, and it turned out to be an IPA called The Line of Muggability. This American IPA, brewed especially for Stewart's mug clubbers, is dry hopped with Mosaic and Columbus for a dominant citrus fruit character with grapefruit at the forefront. Once I saw it was on cask - and served in a 20oz imperial British pint glass - it had to be done. Some of my favorite IPA experiences of all time have been beer engine pours (Town Hall's Masala Mama and Selin's Grove's Olde Frosty immediately come to mind). The first time I had Nugget Nectar dispensed from a hand-pulled beer engine, it was a religious experience. So yeah, I have some history with cask-conditioned beers. My top bucket list trip of all time is to travel to the English countryside, rent a car for two weeks, drive around and visit as many small pubs as possible and indulge in some serious "real ale." This beer went down all too easily, and with that it was time to bid farewell to Stewart's and retire for the evening.
But the night wasn't over quite yet. Rather than have one more beer at Stewart's, we decided to head back to the hotel and check out the bar. Although the tap selection consisted of just three beers, they all were craft. I went with Body & Soul from Delaware's Blue Earl Brewing. I'd only just learned of this brewery earlier in the day during our visit to Dew Point. Fran mentioned it was a newer place that brewed some good stuff. I didn't care what style this beer turned out to be; I was ordering it anyway. Turns out it's a Scotch Ale. Scotch Ales are strong ales, also known as Also known as "Wee Heavy," Scotch ales traditionally go through a long boil in the kettle, which caramelized the wort, producing a deep copper or brown coloration. The beer shares its name with the 1930's jazz standard, and the brewery itself is steeped in the blues and early American music such as jazz, our country's contribution to musical genres. At 9% ABV, this was a smooth, malty treat to put a cap on a fine day of Pour Traveling.
Stay tuned for the conclusion of our weekend in Delaware as we head to nearby Wilmington to hit a few more new-to-us places. Until next time...
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