Recently in Lost Nation Category

I don't know why I called this a "Yuletide" beer club except that 'tis the season and I am a bit tipsy (alas, none of the beers we tasted were particularly festive). For the uninitiated, Beer Club is a monthly get together amongst friends and coworkers (and former coworkers) to share some beer and partake in general revelry. We have been woefully neglectful of late, and indeed, after just barely sneaking a September meeting in at the very end of that month, we did not manage a meetup in October or November. But we're back on track and managed a pretty good showing.

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For the sake of posterity, some thoughts on each beer are listed below. Standard disclaimers apply, we were at a sushi place, not a sensory deprivation chamber. Notes are below, in order of tasting, not necessarily in the order pictured.

• Fat Head Trail Head Pale Ale - It's like a toned-down version of Fat Head's Headhunter, dank, piney hops, tasty, a decent start for the night. B
• Lost Nation Gose - Yup, a beer we've had many times here, and it's a nice, light, tart beer that works well as a warmup beer.
• Rubber Soul Dropout - A super fresh crowler from this brand newish (less than 6 months old) Maryland brewery that is rather obviously comprised of Beatles Fans. This is a pretty solid DIPA, nice citrus and pine hop presence, and a decent amount of bitterness too (this will come into question later in the tasting). B+
• Trinity Red Swingline - Was not expecting much from this beer named after an Office Space reference, but it wound up being one of the better of the night, super funky and earthy, with a decent amount of hop presence, and only a hint of sourness. One of these days, I'm going to buy a waxed beer that will totally lead me astray, and I thought this might be it, but I guess not. Also of note, the wax job was rather weird, like they dipped it once, realized that wouldn't be enough, so they dipped it again, and then just said "fuck it" and dipped it a third time because why the hell not. This is important, and I am totally justified in writing more about the wax job than the beer itself. B+
• Free Will DC Cranberry Farmhouse - I picked this up at the semi-local Free Will release on Sunday. A pretty nice little saison number, but it's more subtle than the beer we just drank, so I think it suffered a bit from the comparison. Still, it seemed pretty darned good. B or B+
• Pretty Things Jack D'Or - Thus begins a little, informal tribute to the sadly now defunct Pretty Things brewing company, this is a little more sweet and raisiny than I remember, but it's still relatively dry and a great match for the sushi we were eating at this point. B
• Pretty Things Hopfenpop! - This was not a fresh bottle and you could sorta tell, but it was nevertheless pretty good and held up pretty well. I would have liked to have tried this one fresh, but for this, I'll give it a B
• Stone Double Bastard In The Rye - This wound up being a sweeter take on the Double Bastard (as compared to, say, Southern Charred or even the base beer), but the hop character survived and tries its darnedest to counteract the sweetness. Still one of my favorites of the night though, and pretty fantastic. B+ or A-
• Troegs Impending Descent - The Scratch beer that keeps on giving, I managed to get up to Troegs this Black Friday and pick up some of this solid imperial stout, perhaps not as great as their initial vintage, I still love it.
• Pretty Things Fumapapa - A very nice imperial stout with all the standard notes and an additional and very complementary smoked malt character that manages to make itself known without overwhelming anything (or making you wonder who put their cigar out in your beer). Very tasty, and damn, I'm going to miss these guys. A-
• Dogfish Head Hoo Lawd - Yes, this beer's premise, brewed to 658 IBUs (apparently the highest confirmed measurement ever, despite some others with higher "theoretical" IBUs), is gimmicky and such things tend to be hit or miss, but this was indeed an interesting beer to try. It pours a jet black color (i.e. not very IPAish), has a nice hoppy nose, dank citrus and pine, and the taste starts off just fine, like a malt-forward IPA, then the bitterness starts coming in towards the finish and building through the aftertaste. It's kinda like when you eat a hot pepper and you're all this isn't so bad and then 10 seconds later your mouth is on fire and 10 seconds after that you think you might die. Alright, so it never quite approaches fear-of-death levels of bitterness, but it is very bitter, which isn't that unusual, except that this lingers for much longer than normal. I'm really happy I got to try it and would recommend getting a sample if you see it, but the smallish pour I got was plenty, and it's not something worth really hunting for. Interesting though and one of those things that makes it hard to rate. B

After the Hoo Lawd, we opened a couple of "palate cleansers" that were IPAs that basically tasted like water, so I won't really go into detail on those. The Rubber Soul Dropout fared slightly better, but still didn't taste bitter at all. Go figure. So that wraps up this beer share, look for more in January, I hope!

In keeping with the recent thawing of my relationship to lagers and in particular, pilsners, we've got another offering from Vermont's wonderful Lost Nation brewing. The name Vermont Pilsner initially inspired some speculation on my part as to what would make this worthy of a Vermont appellation. It could just be that Lost Nation is in Vermont, but maybe it means that they'd apply a liberal dose of American hops (the way Switchback did). Well, no, it's just that it's made in Vermont.

They wanted to create a "Franconia-style" Pilsner, which basically means a German take on the style. I'm no expert on Pilsners, but my impression is that the German Pilsner is a somewhat looser style (harder water and any noble hops will do) than the original Czech Pilsner (soft water and almost always Saaz hops). I bought a 4-pack on Operation Cheddar IV, and I think it's a sign that they're all gone, so let's take a closer look:

Lost Nation Vermont Pilsner - Pours a clear, pale straw yellow color with a couple fingers of fluffy, bubbly head that sticks around for a while. Smell is earthy, grassy hops, clearly a traditional pils nose, but there might be a hint of something like Cascade peeking in (certainly not dominant, and there's not much citrus, but the more earthy or floral notes could certainly play a role). Taste is very clean, again with the earthy, grassy hops, almost spicy at times, some pleasant bitterness in the finish. Mouthfeel is crisp, light bodied, and refreshing, a lawnmower beer for sure, and quaffable too. Overall, I've never been much of a pils guy, and while this doesn't light my world on fire, I find it refreshing and it does make me want to drink more lagers. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 4.8% ABV canned (16 ounce pounder). Drank out of a willibecher glass on 8/7/15. Canned 06/18/15.

Another winner from Lost Nation, a brewery that's made quite an impression in a rather short period of time (for me, at least). I look forward to returning there during Operation Cheddar V, whenever that may be (and not just for the beer, their food is amazing too).

So we know how much I enjoyed Lost Nation's flagship Gose, a perfect summer beer. What happens when you take that, dry hop it with Citra, and add some grapefruit to the mix? You get The Wind, once a limited draft-only brew that they have recently started bottling. Tilt those windmills, we've got to deal with The Wind:

Lost Nation The Wind - Pours a cloudy straw yellow color with a finger or two of fluffy white head that resolves down to a small cap of head that has pretty good retention. Smells wonderful, that dry hopping coming through strong with citrus and floral notes, but the underlying brackish and spicy Gose character is still there and plays well with the hops. Taste starts off more Gose-like than the nose, sweet, salty, spicy, with a zesty, lemony, tartness emerging in the middle and intensifying through the finish. Mouthfeel is light bodied, well carbonated, tart, and relatively dry, making for a very quaffable glass. Definitely more intense and layered than the base Gose. Overall, I'm rating this higher but it's hard to call this "better" than the base beer because it's quite different, but it is more complex and intense while still being very well balanced. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 4.5% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a tulip glass on 6/27/15.

Lost Nation has quickly emerged into a must-visit stop during Operation Cheddars. This represents that last of my Operation Cheddar III cache, but fear not, I stopped in again last week and restocked with a couple new ones. You will be seeing more from these guys in the near future.

Look at any crowd-sourced list of top beers in the world, and you'll basically find an accounting of the best Double IPAs and Russian Imperial Stouts in the world. On Beer Advocate, you have to get to Fou' Foune at #15 before you reach something that's not a DIPA or RIS. Ratebeer isn't quite as bad, with only 7 imperial stouts in the top 10. The commonality here is high alcohol, which generally means intensity, which generally makes more of an impression than a delicate, nuanced pilsener or something. Heck, I'm as guilty as anyone, and the A level archives of this blog are littered with high alcohol brews (though I do seem to have at least a little more variation in terms of style, even if there are plenty of DIPAs and Imperial Stouts). This is a drastic simplification for effect, of course, but the point is that beer nerds love them some high alcohol brews.

Which is why it's kinda funny that Lost Nation doesn't really make any of those. They're from Vermont, so they do have some hoppy beers, but they tend to be lower alcohol IPAs like Lost Galaxy (which I'd probably term a straight up Americal Pale Ale, but still), clocking in at 4.8% ABV. Their flagship Gose hits the same ABV. Indeed, their highest ABV beer is the one we're reviewing today, Lamoille Bretta, with a whopping 6% ABV. And yet, it's a beautiful, flavorful beer, and while it might seem like Lost Nation is bucking a trend, it's also something of a beer nerd trend. Session IPAs are all over the place these days (again, they're kinda just APAs, but still) and Gose's soaring popularity partly due to it's easy drinking nature. Once Americans realized how much they could annoy their British friends by claiming that a 4.6% ABV beer was a session beer, it just took off even further. But seriously, it turns out that not every beer has to melt your face, and more and more people have been coming around to that notion. Revolutionary, I know.

Anywho, this is Lost Nation's straight up Saison Lamoille that has been dosed with Brettanomyces and it's a pretty damn good attempt:

Lost Nation Lamoille Bretta - Cork nearly took off my hand, I hadn't even finished undoing the cage when it exploded out of the bottle. Was worried about a gusher, but no, thankfully all was fine. Pours a nice yellow gold color with several fingers of fluffy, large bubbled head that sticks around for quite a while (I could see this coming and poured extra slow, so as to prevent a glass consisting mostly of head). Smells beautiful, starts off with dusty, musty farmhouse funk, with some more traditional spicy Belgian yeast, followed by a nice fruity kick. Taste hits that musty farmhouse funk early on, some earthiness, Belgian yeast spice, followed by some more fruity esters coming out to play, lightly tart fruit. Not hugely funky, but a well balanced amount. Mouthfeel is highly carbonated, effervescent, crisp, and very dry. Light to medium bodied, just enough to offset the massive amounts of carbonation. Overall, this is pretty special stuff, an improvement over the base, and something I need to try again. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 6% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a charente glass on 6/26/15. Bottle: 441 - B5.

This has been my favorite Lost Nation beer yet, and there's sadly only one remaining (and even more sad, I already drank it! I will get to it soon enough). I'm excited to return there and purchase more of their gloriously low ABV beer (also, apparently some proper glassware, as they keep informing me on twitter).

Can it be that I've never actually reviewed a Gose? Or is it that I was just too lazy to actually add the category and that's why I can't find it? It's pretty obviously the latter, but in my defense, they've only been in posts like beer clup recaps or epic Tired Hands roundups. All of which is to say that Gose is the new hotness and while I've had a few in my day, I've been woefully neglectful of this trendy style.

So what's the big deal? Well, it seems like some old-timey German rebels gave the finger to Johnny Reinheitsgebot* and brewed a wheat beer with added salt and coriander, inoculated the abomination with lactobacillus (though I'm guessing this was more of a spontaneous fermentation than an addition, at least in the early days of brewing), and targeted the 4-5% ABV range. To my heretical American palate, it feels related to something like a Berliner Weisse or Grätzer, and it also seems like the style appeared out of nowhere in the past couple years. Indeed, it had been laboring under obscurity for several decades and has only recently seen a revival, both in Germany and elsewhere. Like, say, Vermont!

This example comes to us from our new friends at Lost Nation brewing, and it appears to be their flagship beer, which is a pretty good indicator that the revival of Gose is in full swing...

Lost Nation Gose - Pours a pale yellow color with a finger of white head. Smells a little brackish and spicy, hints of fruity esters. Taste has that same brackish quality, slightly salty, a little bit of spice, coriander, maybe hints of clove, and a nice slightly lemony tartness. Mouthfeel is where it's at, well carbonated, light bodied, quaffable, refreshing, pleasantly salty. Overall, it's a perfect summer beer on a really hot night, crisp and refreshing, tasty but not ridiculously overpowering. I didn't really pair this with anything, but I imagine it going well with seafood, crabs, perhaps especially oysters... B+

Beer Nerd Details: 4.8% ABV canned (16 ounce pounder). Drank out of a tulip glass on 6/12/15. Canned: 05/23/15. Can also sez: IT'S A TRAP, whatever that means (batch code?)

Man, I regret not getting more cans of this (I split the 4 pick with two other people, and only got this one lonely can). Anywho, I've finally added the category to the blog, and I think you can expect to see a few more of these in the coming months... Indeed, I've even got another Lost Nation variant that I had a taste of before... look for a review soon enough! And maybe my next trip to Lost Nation will yield more yummy goodies.

* Supposedly there was some sort of exception for "regional specialties" and it could also be that something about the water used for the beer gave it the salty character. Or something. Johnny Reinheitsgebot must not have been as bloodthirsty as previously assumed.

During previous sorties into Vermont, I liked to play a little game I called Vermont Beer Roulette* wherein I would grab bottles of beer from a Vermont brewery that I'd never heard of before and try them out. This is how I discovered obscure breweries like Switchback, Foley Brothers, Bent Hill, and Crop Bistro.

So far, the most eye-opening random discovery of Operation Cheddar III: Cheddar Harder has been Lost Nation. The founders got their start at Von Trapp Brewing, then set out on their own with Lost Nation in 2012, releasing their first beers in 2013. They focus on "lesser known European beer styles" like Gose (a beer we'll get to soon enough!), but this is Vermont we're talking about here, so they have some hoppy offerings as well. This is a 4.8% Session IPA (a style I will forever call American Pale Ale) brewed with wheat and presumably hopped generously with Aussie Galaxy hops. I get the impression these are limited cans only available at the brewery, hence the nifty but clearly improvised can labels (Alchemist did something similar with early batches of Focal Banger), let's go in for a closer look:

Lost Nation Lost Galaxy - Pours a very pale, clear yellow color with a finger of fluffy whitehead. Smells strongly of citrus hops with perhaps a note of slight spice to it, those nose certainly makes a nice first impression. Taste starts with those citrus hops, moving into a light spice (not belgian/saison spicy or anything like that, but something light and earthy) and a biting bitterness in the finish. Mouthfeel is very light bodied, almost watery (in, like, a good way), well carbonated, and quaffable. Should have sprung for more cans of this (I elected to split a 4 pack of this and the Gose with friends), as it's quite drillable. Overall, it's a great little session beer, light but tasty. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 4.8% ABV canned (16 ounce pounder). Drank out of a willibecher glass on 6/7/15. Canned on 5/22/15. Can also sez: HEY MAN, presumably another batch code or perhaps they're just saying hi.

I am fortunate enough to have several other rather exciting beers on deck from Lost Nation and have indeed already cracked open my lonely can of Gose and taken some notes (which I may or may not get to this week - I'm behind on reviews for some unfathomable reason). I will most assuredly be returning to Lost Nation on the next Operation Cheddar trip, which may be happening sooner rather than later...

* A variant on my earlier game, Belgian Beer Roulette, where I simply find a Belgian beer I never heard of before and try it out.

Not long ago, in a watering hold not far away, a few friends mentioned that they might be taking a trip to Vermont to visit a few breweries and squirrel away some bottles for rainy day (or just regular day) fun. As a veteran of two invasion campaigns (Operation Cheddar and Operation Cheddar II: Sharp Cheddar), I was fully on board. As it turns out, there was a secondary operation to this trip which took us to Boston for the American Craft Beer Festival and other wanderings. I shall dub this portion of the trip Operation Chowder and cover it in more detail tomorrow¹.

Unlike the surgical strikes of Operation Cheddars I and II (single day affairs, with only a few tactical maneuvers), part III was a more extended campaign, stretching out across three days (with some travel time embedded in the first and last day) and reaching a more varied list of targets. It turns out that Vermont Beer is more than Hill Farmstead, Lawson's Finest Liquids, and Heady Topper. Not that we didn't partake in that holy trinity as much as possible, just that we hit up other places as well:

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First stop was Fiddlehead brewery, before we even arrived at our hotel. It's a pretty small little tasting room for filling growlers and selling cans, but alas, no cans of the fabled Second Fiddle were available. We partook in some small samples and snagged a 4 pack of something else (covered below). There is also an attached pizza place, which a friend in Boston mentioned was better than the grand majority of pizza available in Boston (he also mentioned that this was not a particularly high bar - moar on Boston pizza tomorrow), though we did not partake as we wanted to get to our hotel, which was the Best Western just north of Waterbury.

When I mentioned my trip to Vermont on twitter, VT beer peeps came out of the woodwork to provide recommendations and planning for our attacks. The Vermont Beer Bros mentioned that we were near the fabled Waterbury triangle, a series of bars in "downtown" Waterbury arranged as the picture above shows. It was a bit of a lengthy walk, but totally doable (and honestly, I find walking a bit before and after drinking to be a good thing and enjoyed the walks, though my friends were a little less excited, especially at the big hill near the hotel). The first place we went was the place I'd heard the most about:

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The Prohibition Pig is a bar that has a little brewery attached in the back. They serve their own beer, but also a pretty fantastic selection of local VT beer. It turns out that there was a Waterbury-wide Hill Farmstead tap takeover the previous weekend, so while we missed out on some of the more limited brews (we shall meet someday, Flora), there were a bunch of things we hadn't had on tap. Not to mention some Lawson's (Sip of Sunshine and Super Session IPA), amongst others. I sampled some of Pro Pig's brews too, and would recommend Bantam, a DIPA that holds its own against the other stuff I was drinking (the other stuff I had was not as successful, but still nice). Also of note, Pro Pig has a rather fantastic Bourbon selection:

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BTAC, Pappy, and lots of other stuff you don't see too often (at least, around here!) I was on the fence, but when the bartender mentioned that Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve 15 was on its last pour and didn't quite have a full 2 ounces left so he'd charge half price, I was on board. It was fantastic, rich and spicy, silky smooth and didn't drink at all like a highish proof bourbon... but I don't think it's really worth the $48 pour (and while I'm glad I tried it, $24 was still a bit much for the 1.5ish ounces I got, though obviously much more manageable). I can see why the hype is there, but that doesn't make it any less overhyped. This basically represented my only non-beer drink during the trip, and I was pretty glad I chose it.

Of the other bars in the Waterbury Triangle, the other one that really stood out was the Blackback Pub (the one in the center of the triangle). The taplist was great (if similar to Pro Pig and the Reservoir), but we made immediate friends with the bartender and scored some beer that wasn't available at Pro Pig either (more on this in a later post!) Also of note is that the Blackback has some pretty good food, and as a Philly native, I was very tickled to see their emphasis on using Amaroso rolls (Italian rolls that they somehow get delivered up to them). It's a great bar, a little smaller, but seemingly more lively, perhaps because we were chatting with the bartender for a while. The Reservoir was also pretty great, comparable beer selection, though we never ate there (but they seemed like they had a decent menu). The Blue Stone was the only one we didn't really get much out of... we were actually planning on grabbing some pizza there, but by the time we got there (around 9 or 9:30), their kitchen was closed (!?) so we didn't really stick around (and headed over to the Blackback for some snacks). Next time, Blue Stone!

Ultimately, staying in Waterbury was a fabulous idea, and as there's plenty to do and it's a pretty central location when you start to visit breweries, etc... Recommended!

Day 2 started off at a little supermarket and a rather fantastic bottle shop called Craft Beer Cellar (right across from Pro Pig), where we picked up some cans of Heady and Sip (more on that later), amongst other miscellaneous beers:

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What we have here are some Jack's Abby Framinghammer Baltic Porter, Barrel Aged Framinghammer, Vanilla Barrel Aged Framinghammer, and Saxonator. Also some Switchback Citra-Pils and Foley Brothers Fair Maiden. Super excited for pretty much all of this! Next stop, that old chestnut:

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Not much to say about Hill Farmstead. The beer is excellent as ever, and seemed more plentiful than the last times I made the trip (though it appears we missed out on more limited stuff like Flora the previous week... and dammit, this week too - poor timing, I guess). As for the haul, I got some Dorothy, Arthur, and Grassroots Brother Soigné bottles, and growler fills of Susan, Harlan, and Double Citra. Quite a successful sortie. Next up, Lost Nation:

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It was starting to rain at this point and we were hungry, so we decided to get some lunch here and holy crap, that was the best decision ever. They have some fantastic food here. I had a smoked lamb flatbread thing (with some sort of garlic feta aioli) that was out of this world good. Definitely a recommended stop! I was driving, so only had a couple sips of beer, but it seemed good enough to snag some bottles/cans.

Not far away from that is Rock Art, which had a little tasting room and lots of other bottles and general stuff for sale. Once again, I was driving, so I didn't really drink much beer, but snagged a few bottles:

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So the haul from those two breweries begat us a few bottles (cans covered somewhere below), including: Lost Nation Lamoille Bretta and The Wind and Rock Art Bourbon Barrel Aged Russian Imperial Stout (Smugglers Notch Barrels) and Bourbon Barrel Aged Scotch Ale. Another successful sortie, and thus day 2 closed with another trip around the Waterbury triangle (already covered above).

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Day 3 began with a trip to one of my favorite little VT stores, The Warren Store. Got some nice cans and the requisite breakfast sandwich (fantastic, as always, eaten outside on the deck by the creek).

We also managed to pop over to the Burlington to hit up a couple of breweries, Zero Gravity and the Vermont Pub & Brewery. Alas, we ran out of time and had to begin the trek to Boston before I got a chance to stop at some of the other Burlington targets, particularly Four Quarters Brewing. Ah well, next time.

All in all, a pretty successful trip, and here are some more of the beer we picked up:

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What we have here is some Lawson's Sip of Sunshine, Alchemist Heady Topper, Fiddlehead Tejas Marron, and some cans of Lost Nation Lost Galaxy and Gose. On the end there, two lonely cans of Night Shift Morph that are actually from Operation Chowder, but included here as a bonus or something.

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The glassware haul turned out well too, with Pro Pig, Lawson's, and Blackback Pub glasses, which I guess you'd call snifters, though they're also kinda tulip-ish. Whatever they are, the VT breweries seem to love them, because everyone had one like that, and most restaurants had them in several sizes...

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I also bought some things that were not beer. Astounding, I know. What we have here is some VT Maple Syrup aged in Bourbon Barrels (hnng), some VT Habanero hot sauce, and some sort of weird beer jelly stuff (from Rock Art). I also snagged a couple of tshirts, not pictured here because come on, this post is long enough and we still have to cover our final Vermont stop:

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Per a recommendation from our bartender friend Eric from the Blackback Pub, we stopped at Worthy Burger on our way to Boston for some lunch. As you can see, it's another fabulous tap list, and they have this great wood burning grill where they cook their burgers, which are rather fabulous:

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Quite tasty! Once again, I was driving, so I partook in some local root beer, which was also rather nice. Oh, and we shared a strip of heavenly deep fried bacon as well (let's just say it was good). While a bit out of the way of most other VT beer stops, if you can make it work, it's worth a trip...

Well, this trip was quite a bit more eventful than previous Operations Cheddar, but totally a good time. Stay tuned for the slightly more tame Operation Chowder, wherein we actually managed to snag some of the VT beer we missed out on in our travails above!

¹ - I named this Operation Chowder despite the fact that no Chowder was actually consumed at any point in our Boston wanderings (not exactly Chowder weather). We did, however, get a fair amount of Lobster, but I'm saving Operation Lobster for the inevitable Maine invasion, should that ever happen.