June’s top beers are mostly centered around my trip to New York, but I had some great beers in Charlotte too. Burial Beer also opened in CLT in June so it was a struggle to not list every one of their delicious beers that I had on tap! My top beers over the past month are listed below in no particular order:
Ultrasphere from Hudson Valley Brewery in Beacon, NY
Ultrasphere is a Sour IPA with raw wheat, malted oat, milk sugar, raspberry, vanilla and hopped with Citra & Mosaic. Hudson Valley is best known for their Sour IPAs so when I visited their brewery I knew I had to get a good selection of them. Ultrasphere is slightly sweet but not in an overpowering way and very easy to drink.
Peach Pink and Green Saison from Homage Brewing in Pomona, CA
This is a dry hopped, barrel aged Saison with falanghina grapes, masumoto peaches and Sabro hops. Homage was one of my favorite breweries I had at Green City, Other Half’s festival. This Saison was perfectly balanced and refreshing—I could easily drink a whole lot of this brew.
Salmagundi Vol. 1 from Weaver Hollow Brewing in Andes, NY
Salmagundi is Weaver Hollow’s series of blended farmhouse ales. Volume 1 is a blend of a barrel-fermented Saison brewed with a single European malt and single European hop, aged for 6 months; and an herb beer brewed with hibiscus, lemon verbena, and kaffir lime leaves, which was fermented in stainless and aged extensively in French oak. Weaver Hollow is always a delight and I was thrilled to see the selection at Beer Street, a fantastic beer bar in NYC.
Bone and Throat from Root and Branch Brewing in Copiague, NY
Bone and Throat is a dry hopped Double IPA from Root and Branch. After having a plethora of Root and Branch beers in cans it was very exciting to get to finally try their beers on draft. Root and Branch makes some of the most consistently delicious IPAs in the country.
All You Know For Certain Is That You Know Absolutely Nothing At All collaboration beer from Burial Beer in Asheville, NC and The Eighth State Brewing in Greenville, SC
This is an Imperial Stout with pecans, toasted coconut, Thai banana, rum barrel aged orange zest, cinnamon, nutmeg, maple syrup, and Vanuatu vanilla bean. When Burial and Eighth State team up you know it is going to be something wild, and that is exactly what is happening here. Somehow all of the adjuncts come together perfectly to create a delectable, thiccc Stout that leaves you wanting more.
Saison Bernice from Sante Adairius Rustic Ales in Capitola, CA
Saison Bernice is a Farmhouse Ale with multiple yeast additions, including Brettanomyces, and is further aged in the bottle. This was my second favorite beer at Green City, after Homage’s Saison. Saison Bernice is always a true pleasure to get to try—it is a perfect beer in my opinion.
The Beer formally known as La Tache from The Ale Apothecary in Bend, OR
The Beer Formerly Known as La Tache is a Table Sour made of malted barley, wheat, Goschie Farms Cascade Hops, honey and house lactobacillus culture. It then spends 3-9 months fermenting in barrels prior to a month-long dry-hopping in oak barrels. Everything The Ale Apothecary makes is unique and funky, and this was no exception. I was taken aback by just how fantastic this was.
