I don't want to sound snobbish but...

[FedoraDave]

We took some time off to have a bit of a get-away. Sunday we drove out to eastern Long Island, spent a little time at Sag Harbor, then crossed over to Shelter Island, where we had made accommodations. We stayed over through Monday, and left Tuesday morning.

Shelter Island is a special place for me, because it's where we vacationed every summer when I was a kid. We had family and property there, and I came to realize that although we've been out a few times for Columbus Day weekend, it's been too long since I had a summer visit. And I really felt I needed it.

And the place has changed, but after three or four decades who and what hasn't? I won't get into that. Here's what I'm posting about:

The Island now has a craft brewery. It's a real nano; tiny scale, but there it is, and I thought that was pretty cool. So I determined to stop by and have a flight. They had run out of three of their eight beers, and of the remaining five, I chose a wheat, a plum ale, their signature IPA, and a German IPA.

I'm sorry to say, I was kind of disappointed. The wheat was a pretty good summer session beer, but the plum ale seemed to be more of a wine cooler than a fruit beer, and didn't even have that much fruit flavor. The signature IPA was very hop-forward, which I don't mind, but there didn't seem to be enough malt backbone to help stand up to the hops. Even a little bit of crystal malt would have given it some more body and heft. The German IPA was better balanced, I thought. The sweeter Munich malt helped round out the hops and gave it more depth.

I wish them all the best. I think it's really neat that Shelter Island has it's own craft brewery. But with competition as close as Riverhead Brewing and Montauk Brewing, both of which are sold on the Island, they'll need to really step up their game.

This doesn't mean the beer was bad, and the fact that they'd sold out of three of their offerings says something (either that those beers are really good, and the weekend was profitable, or else that they're poor planners and didn't schedule their brews properly). But no business can stay afloat without meeting the competition's challenges.

[Tabasco]

Interesting. I noted that you mentioned hop forward IPA with little "malt backbone". Maybe that's why I'm "meh" on Great South Bay Brewery's "Hopsy Daisy". Never thought of it quite like that.

My wife and I will be camping at Cedar Point County Park next week ... it's a little east of Sag Harbour. Maybe we can hit Shelter Island one day and hit this brewery. Thanks for the heads up. If I do, I won't be setup for a letdown, heh heh.

Having been making beers for quite a while now, we've tested, tried and tasted many types of beer and ingredients and process combinations. We ain't dummies, so we got to figure what we like best. Yousa!

[FedoraDave]

I didn't try the pilsner, and, as I mentioned, three others were sold out, and for all I know, they were world-beaters. The only thing I know is what I tasted, and their signature IPA was not balanced. I don't mean equal parts malt and hops, either. A balanced IPA needs to have enough malt to stand up to aggressive bittering hops. Even a little bit of Crystal 10 would have increased the mouthfeel and given it more body and a little more flavor from the grain.


Enjoy your camping trip, Tom. That's a pretty area out by Sag Harbor and Montauk. Of course, I have a soft spot for Shelter Island, since it's part of my childhood. If you can, try the brewery. I'd be interested in finding out what you think of their beers, especially the ones I tried.

[Pudge]

A lot of craft beers these days are really ho-hum.

We had a couple of guys here locally launch a production brewery with a small taproom. Their beers are really middle of the road stuff (although the Helles they tapped this weekend is top shelf). They sunk a ton of money into a place that currently has beers on tap all across our area, but I don't know for how long.

I still feel there is a craft beer bubble out there that has yet to pop, but we're getting closer.