Evolution brewing – The Dogs of Beer

I first stumbled upon Evolution Brewing while doing a beer run in Maryland for a friend’s party. Always wanting to try something new and local I picked up a couple of six packs to see what this new brewery had to offer, and to confess, that initial meeting wasn’t all that. While there certainly wasn’t anything wrong with any of the beer, there wasn’t anything in those bottles that got me exciting like some things do.

Oh, you are sooooo funny. I was talking about beer, fur ball. You know what happens to naughty editors this time of year, don’t you?

That’s right, they get nothing in their Christmas stocking.

The cat? Yeah, I guess you could blame the cat – if we actually owned one, couch licker. Now if you don’t mind…

But it was when I attended a tap take over at Two Stones Pub and sampled a cross section of their other brews, some that are usually only available at the brewery’s tasting room, that I really got an appreciation for what this brewery was doing. Their Lot #6, a draft only DIPA that you can normally find outside the brewery, is very good especially if you’re lucky enough to find it on cask. One of their Menageries, which is a series of beers that they play around with some bourbon barrel aging techniques, was quite tasty. And their Morning Wood, an oatmeal stout with coffee aged in bourbon barrels, I liked a lot more than I should considering I’m not a big fan of either of those flavors. But it was about another beer, their Secret Spot, that I wrote:

From what I gathered this is a tap only winter beer. Pity, because this malty beer with a light floral hop ending was very good! I hope one day it will make its way into bottles, because I’d take it to some Christmas parties for sure.

Well Evolution must have read what I wrote because this year they’ve released Secret Spot in bottles. Will I enjoy it as much now as I apparently did back then? Let’s taste.

THEM: The brewery has not put Secret Spot up on their website yet, so there aren’t to many specifics I can give. I can tell you that the beer has 40IBUs and clocks in at 6.3%ABV.

ME: Secret Spot pours clear amber with a layer of lace across the top. The beer has a nice level of carbonation which keeps the lacing pretty stable throughout the drink. The nose is light with slight hints of caramel and hops. The flavor echos the aroma with caramel, notes of biscuit, and hops, with the later coming across as an herby/spiciness which is light on the tongue. The finish is clean, with a slight bitterness that leaves your mouth watering after each sip. To say the finish builds up as you make your way through the bottle would be an over statement, but it does leave your mouth with a little touch of sweetness to remind you of the experience. As I was getting to the bottom of the glass, I as actually getting an “ice tea” vibe out of this beer, which I though was funny since it’s a “winter ale”.

I found Secret Spot to be a very nice, drinkable beer and found nothing in the bottle to change my initial assessment from when I had it on draft last year. I’ll definitely be bringing it to some Christmas parties this year.

Time for another beer.

Evolution Board — The Tap Board at Two Stones - Evolution Heavy!!

On January 4th Two Stones Pub continued its tap take over series with Delaware’s relative newcomer, Evolution Brewing. Evolution sprang up in Delmar, Delaware when Tom and John Knorr brought in Boston brewmaster Geoff DeBisschop and quickly built up a brewing line that produces about 3500 barrels a year according to their website. On this evening, Tom Knorr showed up to hang out with craft beer lovers and showcase 12 of Evolution’s finest. And the dogs were there. Chuck and I arrived around 5, with The Beer Goddess and Tracey joining us shortly after. After a bit we were joined by Patrick from Beer Delaware and the evening got rolling.

I started with a mug of Lucky 7 porter. I love porters, and this is a nice one with its chocolate tones. Next I had a Secret Spot. From what I gathered this is a tap only winter beer. Pity, because this malty beer with a light floral hop ending was very good! I hope one day it will make its way into bottles, because I’d take it to some Christmas parties for sure. Next up was Menagerie #3, a scotch ale blend where part of the blend is aged in bourbon barrels for 6 months. You should know by now that I’m not a fan of the whole “bourbon barrel” craze. Mostly because I feel a lot of brewers are heavy handed with it. But if any beer style was meant to marry well with a touch of bourbon sweetness and smokiness, I believe that it’s scotch ale – and this was a nice one. The bourbon flavor was evident amongst the maltiness of the the ale which included some nice vanilla notes. After that it was time to switch up a bit so I ordered a glass of what Evolution brought on cask – Lot #6, dry hopped with Williamette and Chinook hops. This can only be described as a mouthful of hops, and it indeed cleaned my palate of the dark beer I’d just had. Next up was Morning Wood, an oatmeal stout with coffee aged in bourbon barrels. Yes, there was those damn barrels again and coffee, another flavor I’m not fond of. But this was pretty tasty. All the flavors balanced well together and brought out the best of each other. I’d have this again. Maybe bourbon beers are growing on me. Nahhhhhh.

When talking to Tom Knorr it was obvious that he was proud of his product and happy to see Two Stones packed with craft beer lovers enjoying Evolution’s line of beers. When I asked him about the brewery’s up coming move to Maryland, Tom didn’t seem too phased by the prospect. “We’re just moving down the road a bit,” he said with a sly smile. Sounds good Tom, as long as we can still get your beers here in Delaware.

Time for another beer.