Beers in Review: They are making beer in my hometown, Part 2 (More Black Cap)

In writing my last post, I feel like I may have given the impression that I was lukewarm on Black Cap's beers. I assure you, this is very much not the truth. Regarding the three beers I reviewed on Monday, the Cream Ale is intentionally a fairly basic ale, and Saisons are not necessarily at the top of my list for preferred beer styles. Of the two Saisons, I liked the Rye better than the seasonal Saison de Gui.

Today's final two Black Cap beers are really quite excellent, including a Porter that may have been the best beer I had while I was up in Pennsylvania. But we begin with an IPA.

The Hop Scramble IPA matches my own personal palate very well. It is a clean IPA, with moderate bitterness from dank hops, a bitterness which tended to hang around in my throat as I continued to drink and/or the beer got warmer. This wasn't a bad thing, but it's not something I experience often. I was also getting some spicy or perhaps pepper notes. Overall, a very good IPA that doesn't go overkill on the hop bitterness.

The final beer from Black Cap is the General Gates Porter. As mentioned above, I tasted more than a dozen local microbrews during my time in Pennsylvania, and this was probably the best I had. The beer is straight forward with lots and lots of chocolate and cocoa notes that make it truly a delicious beer. Other tasting notes include a hint of coffee and roasty and maybe somewhat smoky malts. Nice body to this beer, as well. Overall, very well done.

I also had a chance to taste their Imperial General Gates Porter. While I tried some side-by-side comparisons, I didn't really have enough of the Imperial to make a lot of judgments, other than notably increased boozyness.

Beers in Review: They are making beer in my hometown, Part 1

So, I return to my old home of York County, Pennsylvania to see the family, and the whole damn place has apparently become a microbrewing hot bed! A rural-suburban county (population: just over 400,000) about an hour north of Baltimore, just on the PA/MD border, the county boasts at least a half-dozen commercial microbreweries!

The first brewery I experienced with my parents (hi, guys!) was in my hometown of Red Lion (population: 6300). The folks at Black Cap Brewing Company converted the old post office downtown into a brewery and small brewpub, and through the power of flights, I was able to sample most of the 8 beers they have on tap. I'll cover 3 of their beers right now, then 2 with some additional notes later on this week.

We'll start with the Cream Ale, the most basic of their selections. The goal is to play to the macrobrew crowd with something better, and they do a nice job achieving that. The Cream Ale is a crisp, clean pale lager-type that has significantly more flavor (most notably some mild fruity notes) than what you'll find in the macro pale lager category.

Next up is the Rye Saison. The Belgian-style sweetness is obvious from the outset, along with some hints of fruit. There are also some spicy and crackery/grainy notes coming from the rye that blend with the peppery notes from the style. Saisons aren't quite my thing (despite 2 in this review), but this one was pretty enjoyable.

Finally, another Saison, their Saison de Gui. This is their Christmas seasonal, and I found it to be very ambitious. The added ingredients to this beer served to make the standard Saison aspects get cranked up to 11. The ginger is subtle but certainly present, and adds an additional bite to the peppery quality. Cloves and honey added to this Saison almost made it a tad oversweet, but I got used to it as time went on. The use of those ingredients, especially the honey, almost invoked a mead-like flavor for me. There was a whole lot going on in this beer.

Later this week will feature a couple more from Black Cap, including a very good IPA and an excellent porter.