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Saturday, January 22, 2011

Blue Point Brewery + World of Beer Lake Mary = Awesome Collaboration

Read it and weep baby!
So, as my first official blog posting, I'm bringing in a posting I did for my other blog responsibility with Gossip Beer. Basically, this past Thursday, at my favorite bar, World of Beer, Blue Point Brewery was highlighted as a special guest. The event featured four of their beers on tap, which I'll discuss in a minute, and if you ordered a Blue Point product, you got to keep a Blue Point pint glass! Free stuff! Nice! A quick history lesson, at one of my first trips to WOB, I ordered, along with a couple friends, the Blue Point Toasted Lager. What a delight that beer was. If you've never allowed your taste buds to enjoy this amber lager, you’re depriving yourself of a complex brew that is made up of six different malts! Not to mention that this beer actually gets toasted thanks to a direct-fire brew kettle technique utilized during the brewing process. It’s a full copper lager that is subject to the saying “don’t judge a book by its cover”. Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself here yappin’ about this lager.

The Blue Point Brewing Company was founded 1998 by a couple of buddies, and it is the only microbrewery in Long Island. Blue Point offers six different brews on a normal basis: the Toasted Lager I was gushing about a moment ago, Hoptical llusion, RastafaRye Ale, Blueberry Ale, Pale Ale and an Oatmeal Stout (which I’m dying to try). For the four seasons, Blue Point offers Spring Fling, Double Blonde (giggady), Summer Ale, Golden Ale, Oktoberfest, Pumpkin Ale, Winter Ale, Old Howling Bastard, and Sour Cherry Imperial Stout. Now for some reviews.   

For this particular occasion, I ordered the RastafaRye and my wife picked the Blueberry Ale. The Rastafa nails you with a 7.5% ABV, but with the flavors involved in this west coast style copper ale, you won’t be asking for help to get off the floor after just one. You will notice some fruitiness throughout the drinking process, but it’s nothing like drinking a Belgian wheat. Probably the best part about the Rastafa is that a portion of the sales that Blue Point receives from this beer is donated to a group known as “TOCO” (They Often Cry Outreach, http://theyoftencryoutreach.org/) to help underprivileged kids around the entire world. You can’t turn down a cause like that.

My wife’s beer that fine Thursday evening was the Blueberry Ale. I for one am not a huge fan of beer with little fruit floating around, but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with this Blue Point offering. While I only had a few sips, I wasn’t overwhelmed with blueberry power (Was there a blueberry Power Ranger? No?). If I wasn’t clear, there actually were blueberries inside of the glass, so I was a little cautious. Part of it reminded me of, naturally, blueberry muffins and blueberry pancakes. However, the golden ale held its own and kept its hoppy flavor throughout the drinking process. All things considered, this is a fruit beer that I wouldn’t mind having myself… in fact; I wonder how it would taste with a blueberry muffin. Hmmmm....

So in a nutshell, you have gotten schooled on not only the Blue Point Brewery itself, but a couple of the beers they so happily sell to us drinkers. Now, go to your favorite alcoholic packaging store, or pub, or restaurant, or friend who has more money than you, and buy some of Blue Points fine products! Tell them that Steve sent you, so even though you may not get a discount, maybe they’ll thank me for advertising their products. 

Welcome to GULP!

Hello internet world and beer drinkers! My name is Steve and you have found your way to the newest blog about beer, GULP! GULP! is my first blog creation, and I hope to fill the big shoes that currently exist throughout the net as it pertains to other beer bloggers. The focus of the posts will deal with craft beer, beer news, beers I find, and whatever other stuff I can get my hands on. Basically, if you like to read about craft beer, and enjoy the net, please continue to visit this blog! I'm going to try to update daily with beer information in the form of news, reviews, other bloggers posts, blah, blah blah. Whatever! So, thanks for coming here, and keep coming back! GULP!