We are well into December and I promise that I will get into some dark and malty beer reviews soon, but I still have a bit of a back-log to clean out from the fall. My friends Tim and Amanda spent a good chunk of their free time this fall seeking out new-to-them breweries (these are the type of things you can do when you don’t have kids). When I saw Tim on our November guys weekend he passed along a selection of beers that they found in their travels and thought I would like to try. A few of these beers were from Beer’d Brewing in Stonington, CT. I actually lived in Southeastern Connecticut while I completed my post-doc (5-6 years ago), and it was a craft beer dead-zone at the time, very little quality local beer available. Now, like many parts of the country, it has a booming beer scene led by Beer’d, a brewery that is starting to build some buzz regionally. Two of the beers that my friends brought were DIPAs, Hobbit Juice which is brewed with Nelson Sauvin hops and Dogs and Boats which is hopped with Citra and Mosaic. Both beers are available on a rotating basis on draft and in 16 oz cans.
Beer’d Hobbit Juice pours slightly hazy light yellow with a solid white head. The scent is a mixture of floral and juicy hops. The flavor is also very hop forward, notes of white grape, pear, apple and grass along with a little bitter bite. The hop flavor is balanced by a bit of malt, touches of cereal and honey. Hobbit Juice is medium bodied and drinks incredibly easy for a beer with 9.2% ABV, there is no boozy flavor or burn. The finish is crisp and clean with some lingering hop flavor. This is a really solid DIPA, Nelson Sauvin beers can be a little hit or miss for me, but I enjoyed this one. Hoppy Boston score: 4.25/5.
Beer’d Dogs and Boats pours somewhat hazy light orange with a large white head. There is a solid hit of fruity hops on the nose. These hops lead the flavor too, notes of grapefruit, mango, peach and papaya along with noticeable bitterness. This beer has plenty of fruity flavors and aromas but isn’t a straight juice-bomb. The malt flavor adds some balance along with hints of crackers and bread crust. Dogs and Boats is medium bodied and dangerously drinkable for 9.1% ABV. Beer’d is clearly proficient at brewing big DIPAs that drink like much lighter beers. The finish is crisp and full flavored with plenty of lingering hops. This is another very good DIPA, worth seeking out for all of the local hop-heads. Hoppy Boston score: 4.5/5.
Hoppy Boston 
