Why We Picked It: A winter ale that was a bit different from the others.
What Blue Point Says About It: "Our Winter Ale is a hearty, robust amber ale. We use pale, Vienna, crystal and chocolate malts to create a balanced character of malt and hops with just the right amount of heat to warm you up during the colder months."
ABV: 7.7%
IBU: 30
FUN FACT: This is the brewery's self description:
"Where we’re from, the people are a different breed. New Yorkers want more than the status quo, they want you to skip the bullshit and give it to them straight. Yeah, we’ve got humble beginnings, but that’s just who we are. Hell, our founders tapped Blue Point’s very first keg in a parking lot.
At Blue Point, we brew beer that stands up to New York's standards. We know it’s good, they know it’s good, and if someone disagrees, fuck ‘em. We first and foremost brew beer that we want to drink. If there’s some leftover, we’ll sell it."
A nice job reinforcing the idea of obnoxious NYers and Long Islanders. Way to own it, I guess.
I have a lot to say today, so let's get to it.
ReplyDeleteFirst: Fun Fact? What's fun about that? Unless it talks about depression or Buffalo NY, there's nothing fun about it.
Second: Hey Blue Point, keep drinking. No one want's to buy your left over winter ale. Check out another Long Island brewer, Brooklyn Brewery (I'm drinking East IPA by them as I type), they make better beers than you :-P.
Finally, my review. OK, I was harsh, this beer is not that bad. I figure a bunch of beer drinkers from LI, NY can handle it. A little to carbonated for my taste. Besides that, it had good, solid flavor, but again, wouldn't buy it. Blue Point does make some other good beers though.
I give this beer a 2.5 Amityille Horror Houses.
The historical records indicate I last had this beer during the ill-fated blizzard of 2015 when I was stranded in Silver Spring for a night. Tasted better then. Tonight it's tasting very sweet. I'm not much of a malty guy and sometimes those malts get sweet and this is one of those beers. And as Theodore pointed out, it does have a strange fizziness to it. But I find most Lon Gislanders to be overcarbonated (not sure what that means and advanced apology to all Rueter spouses and in-laws who I just offended). Two out of five Bravo Summer House rose benders.
ReplyDeleteNice Bravo reference
DeleteI'd like to make fun of them more with that self description, but I really enjoyed this beer.
ReplyDeleteMay be it was just because I was wrapping presents and I just needed beer, but this was well balanced malty and sweet and just the right ABV. 3.5 out of 4 Lon Gislanders
Related note: If you get a gift that is slopy and torn and looks like it was wrapped like a 4 year old, it may have - in fact - be wrapped by me.
typical Long Island attitude! I've had their beers before and they were good. Maybe not this good though (don't tell them, it might go to their heads)
DeleteI was really pleasantly surprised by this beer. It is up there with my favorites in this set. I love the hoppyness and malt characteristics, and maybe it's the chocolate malt, but whatever it is, it ties it together perfectly. This is a winter ale made of just beer ingredients and they knocked it out of the park. This could be my cold (well, cellar temperature) beer for Christmas morning.
ReplyDeleteI had a blue Christmas with you
ReplyDeleteI'll be so blue just thinking about you
Decorations of red, on a green Christmas tree
Would taste better than this beer,
I'll be happier if you're not here with me