Ride a Pack of Dogs

Coffee has its roast monkey and artisanal brewing has its gypsy. The concept behind Stillwater Artisanal Ales is actually quite cool. Two guys in Baltimore decide to start brewing together but a conventional brewery, even a small one, requires a lot of start up capital. Rather than go through the mind melt these guys rent available brew space where ever they can to get crazy with their brews. Get a little more on them from this nice little piece in the WCP.

Stillwater's Farmhouse Ale comes in a beautifully labeled bomber. This beer is like good, old fashioned, in your face rock n' roll. You can take it at face value and really enjoy it but your better off listening to it over and over to really understand the groove. On its face, Farmhouse is a very good beer. Pay attention to the details and it only gets better. 

You can smell the wheat right off, which is a strong indicator of the performance of this beer.  By and large you know what you're getting. It's crisp, light, and savory. The subtle undertones are there if you care to pay attention. We mentioned the wheat aroma but there's a hint of musty, white grapes too. It almost smells old, which is awesome. The flavor is fruity but earthy. It's in the saison family but is not really a normal saison - the spice pallette is not quite there, which is fine. The best thing about this bomber is that we have another one in the basement.

These guys always have Stillwater Ales in their tour rider.