Our January meeting took us into new (for us) territory: a winery.
Our gracious host for the evening was Ray Iannucci, owner of Valor Wines in North Haven. Ray makes a broad array of wines and ciders, all of which are available at the tasting room. We sampled all the ciders and many of the wines and can attest to their quality. Ray treated us to a tour of the facility and answered our many, many questions with patience and humor.
The tasting room is lovely, full of interesting odds and ends. There appears to be an outdoor patio as well, with a large firepit. Definitely worth a return visit. No one remembered to take any pictures, but we assure you that it looks like a fun place to hang for an afternoon.
After our tastings and tour, we got down to business judging homebrews. It quickly became obvious that we’d never get through all of the homebrews people brought. (Perhaps there was a backlog due to no judging in December?) So some of the meads and ciders were withdrawn, to be judged at the February meeting instead.
Tasting notes:
- Ordinary Bitter, Andy T: Floral, earthy hops. Dry, bitter finish. Malt flavor lingers forever. Just a wisp of DMS. Damn near perfect. 11/3/17/5/8 = 44
- Czech Pale Lager, Andy T: Green apple and fruit. Not enough malt. A bit thin. 6/3/10/4/5 = 28
- Oaked English Ale, Paul B: Earthy hops and oak. Clean and inviting. A bit hazy. Fresh and drinkable with great oak balance. Pierre was especially fond of it. 9/3/17/4/8 = 41
- American Pale with Tangerine, Cameron: Fruit overwhelms the beer a bit in the aroma, but flavor is perfectly balanced. Complex, with notes of honey and sweet orange peel. Dry, bitter finish with plenty of tannin. 7/3/16/4/7 = 37
- Double IPA, Pat H: Very malty. Almost no hop presence. Presents as a barleywine, not an IPA. Undercarbed. 5/1/10/4/5 = 25
- Weizenbock, New Andrew: Vinous and a bit boozy. Not bready enough. Complex, with notes of bananas, raisins, caramel, grapes, molasses. Needs more bubbles. 7/3/12/3/6 = 32
- Foreign Extra Stout, Pat H: Green apple, melon, molasses. Not enough roast. Something “off” about the flavor. No numeric score.
- Wheatwine, Andy T: Full-bodied and luscious. Hides its 14.7% abv dangerously well. Lovely to sip. Warming. Not quite as complex as the one judged in November. No numeric score.