Beer Review: Pretty Things Ale Jack D'Or

Last week Lobster and I were up in my home state of Massachusetts. We visited a number of liquor stores on the south shore and in Rhode Island and noticed a few bottles we'd never seen before. Upon further research into the Pretty Things Ale Project we found out a lot about this interesting company. Pretty Things is run by Dann and Martha Paquette, a husband and wife team from Cambridge, MA. While they have a line of beers, Pretty Things Ale, they do not in fact have a brewery. What they do have is an agreement with other brewing companies to lease space so they can brew their own beer. Currently the "gypsy" setup is being staged in a brewery in Westport, MA.

Pretty Things has a few beers, but Alien and I picked up their Saison, Jack D'Or to try from a Whole Foods for $7.99. After spending some time in the fridge, we cracked it open last night. Unfortunately I had not yet read this review in which Dan Paquette says before serving to "gently turn the bottle upside down to re-suspend the yeast ("You get more of the bitterness," Paquette explains), then slowly decant straw-gold Jack."

Details:
1 pt. 6oz. bottle
6.5% abv
Bottled 2010
Batch 16

Our results:

Lobster: No smell. Presents with full body, but is light. A perfect balance of bitterness and tastiness. Entirely drinkable. It's like perfect beer, unadulterated, delicious, distinct. Is orchestral-esque (by which Lobster means everything flows together just right and nothing stands out). "When I think of beer, this is what I want it to taste like."

Alien: Smells like beer. Not too frothy. Golden in color. Slightly hoppy. No weird flavors or spices. Rustic, and without any bells and whistles. Perfectly balanced. Not overly carbonated. Was still good even when warm.

Brewery Visit: Victory Brewing Co.

Victory Brewing Company is located in Downington, PA. Victory was incorporated in 1995 and began brewing in an old Pepperidge Farm bakery. Victory's founders Bill Covaleski and Ron Barchet had both worked for microbrewers in the past and studied and in Germany before opening up Victory in their home state of PA.

Lobster and I were too late to get a tour at Victory, but we were able to eat dinner there. We actually had a delicious white pizza and a sampler of five beers. I guess we were so in love with the taste of both the pizza and all five beers because all I have in my notes is that everything was delicious. I know for certain that we sampled the Prima Pils because we also picked up a growler of it to bring back to NY. Victory's growler process (see a video here) was quite a thing to watch. They have a machine which can fill over 15 different beers, evacuate the CO2, and seal the beer.

Lobster and I plan on making a return visit to Victory soon so we can give this brewery an actual real assessment. In the meantime Victory's Festbier is out. Listen to the brewery talk about it here.

Brewery Visit: Sly Fox Brewery

Sly Fox Brewing Company is another brewpub located in Phoenixville, PA. The location (not its original) is in a shopping center and is pretty easy to miss. Open since December of 1995, Sly Fox was a family run brewing company - even their original logo was made by a family member. The name Sly Fox was thought up at a family meeting and inspired by all of the fox hunting in the Chester County region. In 2004 Sly Fox opened another location in Royersford, PA. The Royersford location also has a bottling and canning line (The Sly Fox cans are excellent looking!)

As noted, Lobster and I sampled the beers at the Phoenixville brewpub. The interior was ugly and made it feel like we were drinking in the 19th hole of a country club in the 1980s. The decor was mainly wood and the color of kelly green with fox paraphernelia that looked as though it was found at a Christmas Tree Shop. We also got the feeling that everyone there knew each other, and that Lobster and I were screaming outsiders.

There wasn't a sampler to order, so I ordered a Royal Weisse Hefeweizen which was delicious. Unfortunately my notes consisted mainly of the decor.

Details:
Sly Fox Brewing Company
2 PA locations
brewpub, serves food

Brewery Visit: Iron Hill Brewery

Iron Hill Brewery is a chain of brewpubs in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Lobster and I went to the Phoenixville, PA location. The outside of the building was very clean and new looking. The same goes for the inside, but I'd also add the word sleek to the description. We took a seat at the bar and had a fantastic placemat with great typography that explained the brewing process. Our friendly bartender told us about OG original gravity (specific gravity measured before the beginning of fermentation) and IBU International Bitter Units (a measurement of bitterness) in beer. There were a number of beers on tap, so we went with a sampler.

Raspberry Wheat
Brewery: An American wheat beer with a touch of raspberry flavor and aroma.
Alien: This beer was a huge disappointment as Alien loves raspberry flavored things, especially beer and ice cream.

Pig Iron Porter
Brewery: Dark in color, medium bodied with a distinct roasted character and a well-balanced bitterness
Alien: Cannot be fair as Alien doesn't usually like porters.

Abbey Dubbel (seasonal)
Brewery: dark, Belgian-style ale with notes of cherry and plum
Alien: liked it
Lobster: tasted like it contained the essence of roadkill

Nut Brown Ale and Nut Brown Ale on Nitro (seasonal)
Brewery: English style brown ale with toasted nut accents and subtle fruitiness, and served on Nitrogen
Alien: both versions were not tasty. The version with nitrogen had tiny bubbles.

Details:
Iron Hill Brewery
various locations throughout NJ, PA, DE
brewpub, serves food, no tour (at least at Phoenixville, PA location)

Brewery Visit: Triumph Brewing Company

Triumph Brewing Company in Princeton, NJ was the first brewery/brewpub that Lobster and I visited together. We didn't take many notes, so this review isn't really thrilling. As a brewpub we would not recommend it. For lunch I had steak tacos which were decent and Lobster had terrible french fries and a cheeseburger. Along with our meal we ordered a beer sampler.

Honey Wheat
Style: American Pale Wheat Ale
Alien says: Lacks flavor, tastes like a Rolling Rock.

Amber Ale
Style: American Amber
Alien: This was one of the better beers in a sorry bunch.

Pilsner
Style: German Pilsner
Alien: Because it was touted as an award winner, Alien was very underwhelmed.

Coffee & Cream Stout
Style: American Stout
Alien: Didn't like this beer, but that's not surprising as Alien doesn't like stouts.
Lobster: This was Lobster's favorite of all the Triumph offerings.

Details:
Triumph Brewing Company
138 Nassau St, Princeton, NJ
brewpub, serves food, no tour

Welcome: An Invitation To Read Our Journals

Dear People Here on Purpose and Others Who Have Come Here Mistakenly,

Welcome to our beer blog. As you can see from our "About Us" section at the top of this page we are Alien and Lobster, 2 beer drinkers and best buddies. One of our favorite activities is visiting breweries and we've started this blog in an effort to record our visits and all the beers we've tasted. We're also going to begin homebrewing soon and wanted to keep a record of that. While the initial point of this blog was just to be a journal of sorts for Lobster and I, we understand that it's possible (though unlikely for anyone except our dads) others may find what we have to say interesting, entertaining or most likely infuriating. So if you've somehow found yourself here, happy reading. And, if you're a homebrewer located in the vicinity of New York City and you've found yourself here, we would especially like to hear from you as we may be in need of some tips and tutoring soon.

Fondly (We would close with "Cheers," but we hate cheers because it's stupid to hit a glass against another glass,

Alien and Lobster