We are entertaining company later today. As is my habit, I stopped by the local beer and wine store, a Maryland fixture even in the beer inhospitable county in which I live. This beer and wine, just a few minutes from my house, has a very eager owner who does his level best to work with the weird distribution system here in the county to stock the best micro and craft brewed beers he can acquire. I am increasingly pleased with his success as it is making the variety of beers to sample wider and easier for me to access.
Today I picked up two brews to try.
The first is from Heavy Seas, formerly Clipper City, a home state brewery up in Baltimore. They have been producing a curious series of expressions, mostly new recipes, and bottling them in 22oz bombers. The series also bears the appropriately piratical name, the Mutiny Fleet.
The beer I grabbed is Siren Noire. From their web site:
An English style imperial stout, fermented and flavored with imported Belgian chocolate nibs. Smooth and easy drinking. Named for the Sirens who lured seafarers off course and ultimately to their demise.
I have enjoyed every Heavy Seas brew I’ve tried. This will be my first from the Mutiny Fleet and it looks like there are many more worth trying, both re-bottlings of old favorites and tempting new ones.
The other beer is not a brewery I had ever seen before. Meantime Brewing is a London brewery, I had no idea when I spotted the bottle in the cold case. The distinctive champagne style bottle and cork caught my attention as well as the subdued but classic label. The story related on the label for their London Porter piqued my curiosity even further.
George Washington was a big fan of imported English Porter, By 1769 he’d lost his taste for British beer. After all, it was keeping the Redcoats fighting. Our Porter is based on a recipe from 1750. We bring you the original aromas and flavours of the beer that made London the world’s brewing capital, flavours we know George Washington would have loved.
There is a staggering wealth of information about the brewery and the beer at their web site. I am a huge fan of the style so very much looking forward to trying this one. The store also had their IPA in the cold case so there is more to try if this one turns out agreeable.
I’ll post tasting notes after I’ve had each. I suspect either or both may make their way into the brew cast at some point, too. I could easily see doing a couple of the Mutiny Fleets for an episode highlighting Heavy Seas and both of the Meantime beers that are available as a London themed episode.
There is so much good beer and only so many hours in the day to share them.
