Shoveling is just one of those activities that requires a beer. And usually I try to go heavy or darker rather than light or IPA. Sometimes I try to be thematic like when I had Snow Tracks by New Trail. And I won’t lie, I once had Julius by Tree House for a shovel day beer too…. but still, typically, I try for darker beers. Stouts, porters, barleywines, wee heavies, dunkels, schwarzbiers, etc, etc. etc. There is just something about being out in the cold and shoveling that requires a darker, usually heavier, beer. Just like mowing requires a lighter, crispier, lower ABV beer, like pilsners, or wheat beers, or hefeweizens, etc, etc.

Shrug.

This came from the mix a six I had picked up at Breski’s Beverage back for the December snow storm that hit right after we went into our second shut down of 2021. I picked it largely because of two factors: 1) I love peanut butter in beers, and 2) Shaun of the Dead reference.

Snowstorms, beers, Shaun of the Dead, and Criticism

Firstly, I find this somewhat relevant and wanted to dive a bit into this before going into the actual review. So I hope you’ll allow me this slight divergent tangent before we head into the proper beer review. And by now, I’m sure anyone familiar with this blog knows I usually go off the rails a bit, on tangents, or rants, or side-notes and side-bars, and just completely random thoughts before getting to the beer review at hand. (But I do promise I always get to the review, have no fear.) I am currently finishing up a book called “How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read” by Pierre Bayard, and the final chapter is about an essay Oscar Wilde wrote about criticism, critics, and NOT reading the books you are to criticize and review and all that.

The main thrust of Oscar Wilde’s essay is actually that criticism, and critics themselves, are writing about more than whatever it is they are reviewing, and being critical of and providing criticism on. That they are actually providing more writing, more insight, and more thought on themselves than the actual product (in his case of discussion – books). I found this quite interesting as I sat down to write today’s beer review after some strenuous picture taking of a beer outside in the snow and preparing myself for some actual arduous work of shoveling.

By the way, this is probably an accurate depiction of me taking a picture of my beer in the snow, if my neighbors happened to be looking out their windows:

I think it would be great fun if there was a collection of pictures of the people trying to take the perfect pictures for Untappd and other beer related apps and sites. I know I’d be guilty of looking ‘quite the fool’ at times trying to take this perfect beer picture.

Now, lets discuss Shaun of the Dead real quick before getting into the beer review. Firstly, if you have not seen it, go about your business…. no….. I mean, drop whatever you are doing (its freaking snowing in Central PA right now anyway!) and watch this movie. You don’t need to be a horror fan or horror buff (though it will help) to appreciate it. Simon Pegg is fantastic and a great comedic genius. Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and World’s End are all fantastic. And any brewery hopper or pub crawler can appreciate World’s End immensely. Simon Pegg follows that fantastic British style of comedy and he has perfected it in a way that appeals to Americans greatly.

I won’t do a full breakdown on the movie, as I don’t think there’s a full need to do that here, but let me just say, its well worth your watching it. Worst case is, you start watching it, hate it, and you’re upset at some second rate beer reviewer on the internet (aka – me) and you vengefully take it out on me in the comments section. Shrug.

Moving on….

Great Barn Brewery

Before we dive into the beer, lets quick discuss the brewery. I think I’m going to make this a more regular section of the beers I review from now on. Devote a quick little heading and few paragraphs to the brewery of the beer itself. Instead of just a passing mention or something, I think this will be more helpful to people reading and not knowing the brewery in question (as often times I don’t even know the brewery before drinking the beer). And with the added features of subheadings on my new blog, this provides the perfect opportunity to discuss the breweries behind the beers we review here on The Beer Thrillers.

I have not yet been to Great Barn’s brewery location, but as a Pennsylvania brewery, and one within a two – to – three hour drive, its certainly on my list of places to visit. (Ah, who am I kidding, any brewery I haven’t been to before, no matter the distance, is on my list of breweries to visit…..). It is located in New Hope, Pennsylvania (Bucks County). According to the Great Barn Brewery’s Untappd page – they are a micro brewery from New Hope, with 61 unique beers. As of 2.1.21 they have 14,345 ratings with a global average rating of 3.51. Their Untappd description reads: “The Great Barn Brewery is located in historic upper Bucks County, Pennsylvania in Durham Township which is best known for forging cannon balls for the American Revolution and building the boat George Washington used to cross the Delaware in 1776. The brewery sits on a family owned farm that has been growing crops for hundreds of years. Our brewery’s founder, Stephen Ferguson, has owned the land for over 40 years and built its namesake barn by hand back in 1976, exactly 200 years after America’s Declaration of Independence. Now the 40 year old barn has been converted into a brewery to preserve this historic land as a working farm and bring the real flavor of Bucks County to life. Using grain grown right on the farm, Great Barn Brewery strives to brew beer that is uncomplicated, unadulterated, close to its source, and coming from the heart. The idea of simplicity is one of our basic principles. It’s about going back to the land and honoring the ingredients that naturally grow in abundance. It encompasses a fiercely independent spirit, like our forefathers before us, that is the complete opposite of mass produced products. Our philosophy requires that everything is handcrafted with extreme care and attention from basic raw ingredients. When it comes to making beer you need two things: great ingredients and great execution. By growing our own grain and sourcing local ingredients we ensure that our product represents the best of Bucks County.” For more information on them you can also check out their Facebook page here: Great Barn Brewery Facebook.

Beer Review: Dunkel Shaun

Beer: Dunkel Shaun
Brewery: Great Barn Brewery
Style: Dunkelweizen
ABV: 6.2%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (Blank)
Can Description: “A peanut butter and chocolate ale that tastes like a scrumptious creamy chocolate ice cream and peanut butter swirl. Bam! PA Preferred. Farm crafted. Brewed and packaged by Great Barn Brewery Kintnersville, Pennsylvania.”

Isn’t this just a beautiful looking beer and picture? Lovely brown – light brown – dunkel, bock, coloring. Brown to amber hue. Gorgeous off white to brown creamy foamy head with various and dispersed bubbles. Wonderful carbonation from the can. Transparent and translucent with no haze or sediment floating around.

This is a peanut butter beer straight from the smell. Much like Molly Pitcher’s Peanut Butter Porter, as soon as you crack the can you are hit with a “whooomphhh” of peanut butter aroma. Strong, heady, with some bready notes too. No smell of chocolate however.

This is a really ‘scrumptious’ beer – to steal a line from the can’s label. Its a beautiful looking beer, its clean looking, its an enjoyable beer. Before even sipping this you are hit with that wonderful aroma of peanut butter and then as you take that sip, your tongue is pummeled with the peanut butter just as your nose was. This is a very heavy peanut butter intense beer, which is fantastic and wonderful (if you like peanut butter beers – which I do – times a thousand); although here I’d like to point out that, unlike the can’s description, I didn’t taste a single bit of chocolate. Nothing. Not even a little smidgen of chocolate. Which is really ultimately fine with me, because the can label (minus that description) and title of the beer never implies that there would be chocolate in it, and I never expected it until I read that description. The flavor profile doesn’t exactly match of “peanut butter and chocolate ice swirl” but thats fine with me, I wasn’t expecting it, nor wanting the chocolate, and am happy with just the peanut butter. But marketing wise, I would likely drop the ‘chocolate’ mention on the can label, or do something different if you want to incorporate it, because I didn’t taste a single bit of chocolate in this. The beer is very nice, its not thick, its not cloying, it might be a slight bit on the watery and thin side, but nothing detractable and nothing that ultimately takes away from the taste. By the end of the beer, the peanut butter taste does taste as if its ‘flavor added’ rather than being natural ingredient throughout, but this isn’t really a super issue, its just something to note. I certainly enjoyed the beer, and it was well crafted and made, it has no off flavors, nothing astringent, no bad aftertaste, looked pretty, smelled great; all in all everything I look for in a well crafted beer.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.81 (as of 2.1.21)

Well, its now become 4:30PM and its looking like its time for some more shoveling as the snow keeps falling (which means the beers will now keep adding up). I might even re-watch the Royal Rumble (2021) from last night, which was an enjoyable pay-per-view if you are all interested in that. (No worries, I won’t spoil anything here.) And to be honest, this is really the only time I truly pay attention to wrestling anymore (from Rumble to Mania). But first, I’m off to do some more shoveling, and probably enjoy another beer – I’,m thinking Hummelstown Lager by Rubber Soul Brewing from here in Hummelstown.

Let me know what you’re drinking to get through this snowstorm in the comments. And as always, make sure to check out our other articles and posts here on the site, from beer reviews, to brewery reviews, to news, there’s tons of things to read. Be sure to stick around a while, and hit the subscribe and follow buttons to be notified of new posts, and follow us on our social media pages!

Cheers!

-B. Kline

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I will be forthright here now too…. I’m not the hugest fan of New Trail. Don’t get me wrong – they make wonderful beers. Actually, their IPAs are typically top notch IPAs…. but… here’s where my problem with them kind of lies; every New England IPA (which is practically every IPA they make) is pretty much indistinguishable from the last one. IF they set a sampler flight in front of you of ten different taster glasses of ten different New England IPAs from New Trail Brewing, and then told you, and then asked you to spot differences between them…. you’d be real hard pressed to do so. And then, swerve, they tell you that three of the ten were the exact same beers, and you need to pick which ones out of 1-10 were the same beers, and which seven were unique beers…. again, I think you’d be hard pressed to do so. And thats going off visual and aroma and taste.

This isn’t really a knock on them. They make great beers, and they are good beers. I’ve only had a few times where I’ve been ‘meh’ to them, and then thats usually the rarity. But when it is a ‘meh’ its usually a ‘meh’ out of…. wasn’t that the same as X beer they made? Not because its ‘meh’ bad, or ‘meh’ boring, its more out of the idea of ‘meh’ the same. Like Hallmark movies….

This. This above pretty much sums up New Trail IPAs to me. Could I tell you the difference between Goggles, Hammock, Broken Heels, and Neither Here Nor There, Double Broken Heels, Rocksylvania, or any of the other dozens of NE-IPAs they’ve done? Nope, probably not. Shrug. Maybe this is because its now 5:12PM, and I’ve shoveled, walked the dog, and worked through a few ‘Snowmaggeddon beers’ (a few of which were 10%+ stouts, like the Lickinghole Cookies and Cream); maybe its also me being grumpy old man shaking his fist at the clouds, but I dunno, they all seem so much the same, so much repetitive, but still very good.

According to Untappd, New Trail Brewing Co, has 190 unique beers. Of those 190 unique beers – 50 are New England IPAs, 30 are Double New England IPAs, and 5 are Triple New England IPAs. Of the remaining 105 beers, 11 are Milkshake IPAs, 15 are American IPAs, 2 are Double American IPAs, 2 are Triple American IPAs, and 1 is a White IPA. So thats 190 unique beers and a total of 116 are IPA variants. Leaving a remainder of 74 non-IPA variations in beer. Thats not the worst thing ever, and if you know your strengths, play to them. I agree with that. But, I want to be a fair reviewer, and I’m working my way through a good Snowstorm buzz, and drinking now my second Snow Tracks, so I am trying to be fair and impartial. I have enjoyed all of the IPAs and NE-IPAs I’ve had from New Trail, but, at some point, originality has to factor into the beer review, and I feel like after so many iterations of “Same Beer but with X hop changed” you have to ding them for it. Maybe I’m crazy, I dunno. Online, in Facebook groups, such as Breweries in PA, and others, they are constantly touted as being great. Their beer names lend to some great photo ops (see myself for being a hack, doing just that), with hiking photos, hammock photos, twilight sunset photos, and snow related photos, etc.

So, last night at Breski’s I picked up the 4 pack of Snow Tracks, as well as two mix a six packs, I had also stopped at 2nd and Charles for books (both for Christmas and for myself), and stopped at Rubber Soul for food for the night. Everything I got from Breski’s is pictured above, as well as some others, both from the cellar and the fridge. Working my way through these as I shovel, do indoor stuff, like reading, watching JoJo Rabbit, writing, and just working myself a good buzz. Isn’t it funny though, how much easier it is to drink when with company? When hanging out with my friends, I can kill a four pack in no time, but by myself at home, its a little bit slower. Am I alone on this?

Anyway, enough blabbering, lets get to the review, because I need to walk across town to my parents to shovel their driveway and sidewalk…. because god knows their not going anywhere for the next three days, but it needs done tonight while its still snowing an inch to two inches every hour……… onward review:

Beer: Snow Tracks
Brewery: New Trail Brewing Co.
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 6.7%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Snow Tracks is a Hazy IPA, brewed with light wheats and honey malt. Impressionally hopped with Ekuanot, Mosaic, & Sabro. Expect big citrus and fruity notes complemented with light tropicals and dankness. Follow your path, or don’t and go make your own.

Ok, lets start off with the obvious – it looks like a New England IPA. And this isn’t another ding on New Trail here. This is what its supposed to look like. Look at all of the New England style IPAs we’ve reviewed here on the blog, both my reviews, as well as Josh’s, as well as reviews on Beer Advocate, or just people’s pics on Untappd. This. Looks. Like. A. New. England. IPA. And. Thats. A. Good. Thing. Don’t know why I typed it like that, but I did, so enjoy. This is orange, its bright, its cloudy, its hazy, it looks dank, its opaque, it has a small minimal head, but its carbonated. So far, it looks like a New England IPA.

And it smells like a New England IPA. It smells hoppy. It smells piney, earthy, citrus, it smells honey, it smells wheat, it smells pretty tasty. So far, its looking like pretty good odds this is a duck – errr – a New England IPA — it smells and looks like a New England IPA; but does it taste like one?

Oh ho! It does! It does taste like a New England IPA. Huzzah! We got ourselves a duck everyone! A New England IPA Duck! It looks, smells, and tastes just like a New England IPA! Now. Let me be outright clear here – there is nothing, NOTHING, (shouts it for the people in the back of the room who have their hearing aids turned off) N-O-T-H-I-N-G W-R-O-N-G with that. ….Nothing wrong with that. Capiche? Ok? Ok. BUT…. now, lets be forthright and honest again…. there’s nothing AMAZING about that either. Especially if you’ve had a varied amount from New Trail. Maybe I’m just not enough of a New Trail fanboy? Maybe I’m not constantly singing their praises on Breweries in PA’s Facebook group, or the various other PA style Facebook groups, or even Beer Facebook groups en large, but, this tastes good, but it gets a ‘meh’ from me for originality. Is it a good beer? Yes – check. Is it a well made beer? Yes – check. Is it a good New England IPA? Yes – check. Is it pretty much the same as the last four New England IPAs I’ve had from New Trail? Yes – check. Now, your mileage may vary on this. Is that a bad thing? Is it a good thing? Is it a horrible thing? Is it worth writing a blog post or a beer review about? Eh. I dunno, debatable I suppose. Do I like this beer? Yes. Do I ding them for the lack of originality? Yes. Should I do that? Maybe, maybe not. This is where I probably come off as a pretentious hypocritical DBag. (Can you tell I watched a Bill Burr Netflix special this morning?) Do I rag on other breweries for lack of originality? No, and I haven’t yet, but if I get ten beers from Boneshire that are the same style and they taste the same, I should, and hopefully, I do so in the future. Same with Tattered Flag. Or Rubber Soul. Or Troegs. I want to try and stay impartial. But, this is my twenty fifth beer from New Trail (out of their 190 beers), and I feel like most are the same. But, I digress, and will move on. Lets actually discuss the beer itself.

This is a piney, with some citrus, flavored New England IPA. Its smooth, with no hop bitterness or hop bite. This is rich and creamy, and its relatively low ABV too (6.7%), and no booze or heaviness in that way. The pine makes this a nice ‘winter IPA’. Its tasty, its a nice juicy hop bomb with lots of flavor of the pine and citrus and a really well done New England IPA. Juicy. Piney yet fruity / citrusy. Nice flavor. Nice mouthfeel. Nice aroma. Nice texture. Nice appearance. Its a well crafted New England IPA, that I may or may not have had thirty times over by now, who knows. Shrug. I hate to make this beer review sound like a hate fest, but the originality does bug me, and I know some of ‘into craft beer but not fully into craft beer’ friends get a bit annoyed by it too. “So whats the difference between THIS New England IPA and THAT New England IPA? Whys the one 6.7% and the other 6.8%, they both look the same and pretty much taste the same….” etc. But, in all honesty, this is a GOOD, New England IPA, just a bit boring in the sense that its been done to death. Maybe I’m just over the fad of New England IPAs in general? Or maybe I just don’t buy into the New Trail New England IPA hype train? I dunno. Shrug. I’ve enjoyed all of their New England IPAs, just not been ‘wow’d’ or blown away or mesmerized by them, and they all taste so similar as to tell much apart from each other. Shrug. I do hope you at least try it, I do recommend it so far as that goes, if you like New England IPAs, you will like this. Hopefully your mileage will vary better than mine did on this. Again – double shrug.

My Untappd Rating: ***.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.97 (as of 12.16.20) (6:00PM)

Well, the snow is coming down a lot heavier now, and I’m bundling up as I write this, to prepare myself and Leela (my 11 year old boarder collie) for the trek across town just to shovel my parent’s sidewalk and driveway, knowing I will have to do the same thing in the morning again. Luckily, my hoodie from Boneshire has a bit in middle pocket to hold a can or bottle beer. Which I will need for this walk.

Cheers all! Stay safe in the snow and the pandemic!

-B. Kline

It is the end of January already, and I’m finally finishing this article. I started it up while waiting to finish the Mellow Mink visit blog entry, and I started it the day we got the small snow storm. (January 8th, 2020.) I’m just now finishing this up (editing, everything else was mostly written, except for this small introduction). Just got home from work, binging the final episodes of season 6 of BoJack Horseman while I finish this up, and ending my January sipping on some Pink Hippo by Boneshire Brew Works. If you’ve never watched BoJack Horseman, do yourself a favor, and immediately start doing it as soon as you’re done reading this blog. Or do both at the same time. But definitely check it out!

(And with that being the new stuff after editing this and inserting hyperlinks, I’ll now move onto what I had written back on January 8th.)

Whats better than having the day off? Shoveling on your day off! And no, its not a snow-day day off, this is my natural day off. It’d be one thing if it was a free day, a new day off, a snow-day day off. But nope…. just a day off where it snowed and therefore I have to shovel. *GRUMBLE GRUMBLE GRUMBLE*. But…. you know what does make it ok? And passes the time while shoveling?

….Beer…..Especially…. REALLY…. STINKING…. AMAZING…… GOOD Beer!

And that is definitely what this is. It is simply tasty and amazing, and one of the few Tree House beers I’ve had before this time (actually had it three other times before this.) This was part of the five-pack my good friend D. Arndt brought back from his trip up north with his fiance. The five pack he brought back was: Sap, Haze, Autumn, Julius, and Doppelganger. So far I have reviewed the first four (counting this one), and will soon have my Doppelganger review up.

I’m not super full tilt “haze craze” but I do love hazy beers. Then again…. I do like (well crafted) beers of all styles. This certainly meets the criteria of ‘well crafted’, and it also meets the definition of ‘haze’, and I do love it. Going back to when I first had this beer a few years ago, it was the first Untappd beer I gave five stars to. And my opinion of it hasn’t changed much either. Even with so many newer, more flashier haze beers, and so many new options to choose from, this is still a phenomenal beer.

So let’s break it down:

Beer: Julius
Brewery: Tree House Brewing Company
Style: IPA – American
ABV: 6.8%
IBU: 72
Untappd Write-Up: Bursting with pungent American hops, Julius – our flagship American IPA – is a bright, juicy beer filled with flavors and aromas of mango, peach, passionfruit, and a melange of citrus juice. A soft, pillowy mouthfeel and rounded bitterness ensure Julius will never tire the palate – a true joy to drink!

Bursting with pungent hop – is the perfect way to describe this when you crack the can open. Its like opening a bag of hops and taking a big whiff. This is just a powerful punch of hops right up your nose, like Mike Tyson put on hop gloves and has his way with your face. You get notes of mango, peach, citrus, orange rind, and a bit of pine (very subtle). Theres a zestyness to this that helps pack that punch as well. Though I’ve never picked up passionfruit from this despite the description.

Appearance is a beautiful orange. Hazy, unfiltered, dank, cloudy, murky, with a great retaining head. It leaves a wonderful lacing on the glass as you gulp and quaff and drink this one down – and by that, I mean, you’ll be drinking this down faster than you intend to. Its too beautiful, its too aromatic and inviting and smells so good, and more importantly – its too tasty!

Drinking this, I feel like it comes at you in waves. First sip – overall hop blast. Second sip, mellow mango, third sip fruity peach, fourth sip all kinds of citrus notes and zesty tastings that lead into the fifth sip that offers a bit of pine and hop bitterness, and then wraps it all back up as you then drink it more steadily. You get all that unfiltered, hazy, dank, joy mixing together, tasting amazing. You get the hop notes, the mango, the peach, the citrus, the zest, all powerful playing out as you drink. The melody of notes plays like a fine orchestra piece across your palate and is just simply amazing.

My Current Untappd Rating: ****.75
My Original Untappd Rating: *****
Global Untappd Rating: 4.51 (as of 1.31.20)

So the next up, and final Tree House (for now) will be Doppelganger. I’ve started that article and just need to edit / link it up / finish it and will probably do so in the next few days. I do have a whole host of beers to review yet; This Is The Way by Broken Goblet, Pink Hippo by Boneshire Brew Works, their latest stout for the 717 R&D, Revision’s beer I had at Pizza Boy, some of the Liquid Noise beers, and a whole host of other’s I’ve had in January.

I just sent a beer package this morning, and will be receiving some cans from California. All small local breweries from the Eureka area. So who knows what I’ll get, but I’ll do some reviews of them then as well.

Hopefully your January didn’t feel like a year already. February is shaping up to be a fun month here at The Beer Thrillers. We got the Tattered Flag / Breweries in PA beer / bottle share on the 8th, and much more. So be on the lookout and keep checking in regularly!

Cheers y’all!

-B. Kline