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| Blue Mountain Brewery Sign |
I went to visit Blue mountain brewery for dinner and enjoyed
a flight of 10 of their craft beers. I had only had 2 of their beers before the
visit so I was excited to try them and see what other beers I enjoyed. Included
in the visit was a brewery tour which will be discussed first.
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| Corie, Mark and I with the fermentation tanks |
Matt, one of the brew master’s at Blue Mountain, gave us a
tour and explained the steps on which he takes to brew these craft beers. The
first part was the various ingredients that are used in the brewing. The barley
is shown, toasted to different degrees, which can give the beers different
coloring and fullness. The last 2 jars are the Cascade hops. They have 2 fields
which they grow hops at and also get some from Oregon in order to make more of
their hoppy beers, like the Full Nelson. In one jar was the full hop, while the
next was a compacted version that looked like green rabbit food.
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| The Premium Malt and Hops |
These ingredients are put into the first stage which is a
split tank, which boiling water below and the ingredients are poured into the
top mash tun barrel through a tube and funnel.
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| Matt with the Mash Tun |
After the mash tin, the ingredients go into the brew kettle
where the ingredients are brewed and become hot. While this brewing process
takes place, the fermentation tanks are cleaned out and yeast is put in them.
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| Stage 2: The Brew Kettle |
Next the ingredients go through a heat exchanger to get the
grain water mixture down to 68° before entering the fermentation tank which
contain the yeast that would be killed if the boiling water can into contact
with them.
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| Fermentation Tank |
Then the tax determination tank which is essentially a giant
keg is used to hold the beer until it is ready to go. Also used is a filter on
certain beers while other beers go unfiltered and are bottle conditioned.
Whether the filter is used or not is determined by Matt based on what type of
beer is being brewed and the desired taste profile.
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| The Beer Filter |
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| The Final Stage: The Giant Keg |
From the tax determination tank, the beers are piped right
to the bar to go on draft.
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| Blue Mountain Taps |
Food:
For dinner, the BMB nachos were ordered for an appetizer and
were delicious. Included on the nachos were house-made tortilla chips topped
with our pepper jack nacho cheese, black bean and corn salsa, salsa rojo, sour
cream and jalapenos.
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| BMB Nachos |
For entrees, Corie ordered a veggie pizza which was topped
with cilantro pesto sauce, zucchini, squash, roasted mushrooms, caramelized red
onions, goat cheese, mozzarella and fresh cilantro. This was a loaded pizza
which was packed with toppings.
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| Veggie Pizza |
Mark ordered the BMB classic cheeseburger which was a 7oz
ground chuck burger infused with a BMB dark ale, served medium-well with your
choice of cheese on a bun from Goodwin Creek Farms (Nelson Co.) and topped with
fresh greens, tomatoes, red onion and our special basil mayo.
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| Mark with his Cheeseburger |
I ordered the smoked pulled pork barbecue which was
described as a slow-roasted Virginia pulled pork stacked high on a fresh roll
from Goodwin Creek Farms (Nelson Co.) and topped with our house slaw and melted
cheddar.
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| Pulled Pork Barbecue |
Brews:
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| The Flight |
The 10 brews included on the flight were the Classic Lager
through the Dauvaga on the listing. As you can see, the brews were broken up
between refreshing, hoppy, and seasonal. These beers were tasted in order
starting with the refreshing and ending with the seasonal. The classic lager is
a nice beer which I had had previously. As described, it is crisp and a mellow
brew depicting the traditional flavors of a lager. It was a bit crisper than a
Yuengling lager. The Kolsch 151 was an explosion of cherry in the palate. No
hops were detected as the sweeter fruity flavor was overpowering. In the
Wallonia Saison, the most prevalent flavor was the dryness and the breadiness.
This beer was light but the breadiness was a little too strong and wasn’t my
favorite saison. The last beer in the refreshing section was the Drink a Peach,
which was a sour brewed with hundreds of pounds of peaches. The sour peach with
the salt was an interesting combination. The peach was dominating the flavor
and aroma profile but the sourness of the peach mixed with the saltiness
created a rather unusual aftertaste. I myself wasn’t fond of this beer and
wouldn’t drink it again. Overall, I enjoyed the classic lager from this section
and didn’t mind the kolsch, but wasn’t crazy about the last two beers in this
section.
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| Mark and I with our Flights |
With all the experience I’ve had with beer, my favorites
have also been the hoppy ones so I was excited to try the next 3 beers. The
first of the three hoppy beers was the full nelson, a beer which I had tried before.
This beer is a nice pale ale, but does have a good bit of hoppiness to the
flavor which I really enjoy. This beer uses the homegrown hops which make it a
different pale ale than others around the country. The next beer on the list
was Red Zeppelin which a nice reddish amber color. This beer was dry hopped and
the pine notes came through in this one. The flavor had some spiciness but the
malt balanced in out. The final one in this section was the PR job, which was
medium bodied which a strong citrus aroma. The tropical hops made this a very
nice beer and one I recommend drinking. The ending was a bit bitter and drying
which complimented the mid palate.
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| Fields used to grow hops in Full Nelson |
The last set of beers which were tasted were the seasonal
beers. The Blauerberg Dunkel was the first on the list. This was a dark beer,
reminding me of chocolate. This beer had great balance with the malt and hop
balancing out to give it a notable smoothness. The earthiness is prominent. The
second one was the Hibernator. This beer had strong coffee undertones and a
dark brown color. This dopplebock had much more coffee flavor that Troegs Troegenator
beer, one I am more familiar with. The breadiness complimented the coffee
flavors nicely. The last one was the Dauvaga which was a porter. This beer was
a very dark reddish color and was very chocolatey. I don’t like chocolate very
much so I wasn’t very pleased with this beer. This was a smooth beer but had
big flavors and was a very rich.
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| Mark and I at the Bar |
Overall, this was a great brewery experience with a cool
tour, a wonderful dinner, and unique delicious brews. I recommend going to Blue
Mountain Brewery especially on a nice summer evening when the atmosphere would
be incredible.
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