Thunder Hole Ale: Bombers vs 12 oz. bottles

VS

By now you've heard that Bar Harbor Brewing Company was sold and moved from its prior location (Tod and Suzi Foster's place) to a new location in Bar Harbor. You may have also heard that the bombers that were rather limited in supply are no longer being produced. Bar Harbor Brewing Company is now contract brewing three of their beers at Geary's in Portland for sale in six-packs. 

Since there are a lot of fans of the BHBC beers that are concerned about the taste and quality of those beers they've grown accustomed to, I present my personal comparison of the "old" to the "new" Thunder Hole Ale. 

Looks like...

Bomber (old) - Pours a nice deep brown with a large fluffy tight head. The head is thick and lasts and lasts...

12 ouncer (new) - Pours a very dark, almost opaque brown with hints of ruby redness. The head is about a finger's width in thickness and dies down rather quickly leaving some oily foam on top with and a ring around the color of the glass. Something else I notice is the amount of carbonation bubbling up from the dark depths.

Both beers look great in a glass. 

Smells like...

Bomber (old) - Smells sweet, malty with small hints of hops. This just smells like a solid beer.

12 ouncer (new) - Smell is sweet caramel and burnt sugar, dark rich maltiness and some roasted coffee. There is also a hint of smokiness like burning wood. 

Both have a nice rich smell of dark malt and caramel.

Tastes like...

Bomber (old) - A flood of malty sweetness with a bit of hoppiness and a sugary sweet finish. This is a really enjoyable brown ale. I really like the smoothness of this beer and the fact that its a full bodied brown and not at all watery and free of that sharp astringency that some browns have in the finish.

12 ouncer (new) - Taste is sweet dark malts with a dry astringent aftertaste and lots of bubbles on the tongue. The coffee notes come out quite strong after a few more sips. The roasty smoky taste is a lot weaker than the smell might let on. One thing that I notice with this one is a syrupy after taste that is a bit cloying. Not sure how to describe it, kind of like a diet soda aftertaste or something. 

Overall...

Definitely some comparisons to be made. Both beers look good in the glass thats for sure. The bomber is a richer, darker brown beer with a bigger, fluffier head. The 12 ouncer has some ruby notes that are more apparent. Smells are both quite strong and sweet. Its hard to notice a lot of difference. Taste is a big comparison obviously. The 12 ouncer has a bitter cloying taste that stays with you and dries your mouth out a bit. The bomber was rich and malty with none of that aftertaste. Besides a bit of difference in carbonation levels, that aftertaste is what I really notice most. I'll go in search of some bombers that may still be floating around and try and get my fill before they're gone for good...

If you happen to see the bombers grab one and grab a 12 ouncer and do your own comparison. I'll try and do the same for the Cadillac Mtn. Stout and the Harbor Lighthouse Ale (which I think could end up being one of the best six packs of "light" beer available in Maine).

"New" Thunder Hole Ale (Bar Harbor Brewing Co.)

There are definitely a lot of things going through my head as I pour this beer. Why the new label? Why the contract brewing? Will it taste the same? Afterall, its the "same" beer but with new yeast, new water and it comes from a whole new brewery. I don't want to pass too much judgement since the beer itself will speak volumes and hopefully answer some of my questions about whether or not its the same beer.

Pours a very dark, almost opaque brown with hints of ruby redness. The head is about a finger's width in thickness and dies down rather quickly leaving some oily foam on top with and a ring around the color of the glass. Something else I notice is the amount of carbonation bubbling up from the dark depths. 

Smell is sweet caramel and burnt sugar, dark rich maltiness and some roasted coffee. There is also a hint of smokiness like burning wood. Pretty good smelling beer.

Taste is sweet dark malts with a dry astringent aftertaste and lots of bubbles on the tongue. The coffee notes come out quite strong after a few more sips. The roasty smoky taste is a lot weaker than the smell might let on. One thing that I notice with this one is a syrupy after taste that is a bit cloying. Not sure how to describe it, kind of like a diet soda aftertaste or something. 

This is a decent brown ale but its unfortunately not the same as the original bombers brewed up in Bar Harbor. That would have been near impossible to recreate. 

BEER FACTS

Name: Thunder Hole Ale ("New")

Style: Brown Ale

Brewery: Bar Harbor Brewing Company

Location: Contract brewed at Geary's in Portland, Maine, USA

Container: 12 oz. bottle

Malts: ?

Hops: ?

ABV: 4.8%

IBUs: ?

Brewed in Maine

Palo Santo Marron (Dogfish Head)

Palo Santo means "holy wood or tree"  in Spanish. The tree itself is native to the southern region of South America and has been used to ferment wine in Paraguay. Its also got quite a few medicinal qualities as well. Dogfish Head got pretty damn creative, once again, and imported a bunch of it and built some pretty massive tanks in which to ferment and age this very strong brown ale. 

The label reads:

"An unfiltered, unfettered, unprecedented brown ale aged in handmade wooden brewing vessels. The caramel and vanilla complexity unique to this beer comes from the exotic Paraguayan Palo Santo wood from which these tanks were crafted. At 10,000 gallons each, these are the largest wooden brewing vessels built in America since before Prohibition. It's all very exciting. We have wood. Now you do too."

Pours dark, thick, very viscous and pretty much black in color. Reminds me very much of an Imperial stout. At 12% its hard to imagine still having a brown color for this ridiculously strong and complex "brown ale". The head is miniscule and quick to go away. While it does last its a nice coffee color with big loose bubbles. After settling its a very thin lace of off white hugging the top of the glass.

Smells of rich malt, dark roasted coffee, alcohol, and burnt sugar. I really don't know what to look for when it comes to the smell of Palo Santo. That is a bit of a mystery and I hope it is unraveled when I pour some of this into my mouth. 

My god that is good stuff. Sooo smooth and instantly warming! I love it. Tastes of dark toasted malt, bitter coffee along with some tangy sweetness. I definitely get the alcohol kick at the back of my tongue. Its got some qualities that are similar to a red wine, its a hearty strong beer with a bit of a dry fruit flavor at the end of each sip (this is definitely one you'll want to sip). 

Dark, rich and mysterious. Palo Santo Marron is a hell of a strong and complex beer. At 12% its a beer that you'll want to savor and enjoy all its different elements. Cheers to Sam Calagione on another amazingly unique beer from Dogfish Head!

Check out the video made about the first full-production batch of Palo Santo Marron by going HERE!

BEER FACTS

Name: Palo Santo Marron

Style: "Holy Tree" Brown Ale

Brewery: Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales

Location: Milton, Delaware, USA

Container: 12 oz. bottle

Malts: ?

Hops: ?

ABV: 12%

IBUs: ?

Bar Harbor Real Ale (Atlantic Brewing Co.)

I didn't actually know that this was a brown ale for quite some time. I guess when I think "Real Ale" I think of a golden colored ale. This is a great beer on tap and I'd love to find it on cask somewhere in Maine. I am sure that would be pretty amazing.

Pours a nice deep brown with a very tall, fluffy head. The fluff doesn't last long and before I get a sip its down to a quarter inch clinging to the sides of the glass.

Smells heavenly. Very toasty, malty with some molasses and coffee notes. 

Taste is rich. I get a lot of toast and sweetness along with some nice juiciness in the finish. This is a very tasty brown ale. I've still yet to have an Atlantic beer that has left me wanting more. You can't go wrong with anything this brewery puts out.

BEER FACTS

Name: Bar Harbor Real Ale

Style: Brown Ale

Brewery: Atlantic Brewing Company

Location: Bar Harbor, Maine, USA

Container: 12 oz. bottle

Malts: Pale, Crystal and Black 

Hops: Target and Whitbread Goldings

ABV: 5.2%

IBUs: ?

Brewed in Maine

Wolaver's Brown Ale (Otter Creek Brewing Co.)

Wolaver's is a line of Certified Organic ales produced by the Otter Creek Brewing Company. They've been around since 1997 and were some of the first organic beers produced in the US. 

When I first saw Wolaver's years ago I kind of wondered to myself what the big deal was, but now that the organic food trend has snowballed I can see they were ahead of their time. Wolaver's is now a leader in the organic beer market here in New England. 

The Brown pours a lighter shade of...well...brown. Its also got some nice little bubbles flying upwards to produce a rather thin head. A nice clean looking pour. 

The smell is sweet caramel, some baked apples and raisins and nice, rich maltiness. This beer has a lot of great characteristics even before its touched my tongue.

Taste is toasty malt, more caramel sweetness with a nice touch of bitterness at the end. I smell a lot more of the hops once I've jammed my face into the glass for a sip. The carbonation is nice on this one as well, it makes for a very easy drinking and delicious beer. 

I am really impressed by this beer. Regardless of whether or not its organic, this is a great brown ale. If you are into the organic thing, this is where you should turn for your brown ale fix. 

BEER FACTS

Name: Wolaver's Brown Ale

Style: Brown Ale

Brewery: Otter Creek Brewing Company

Location: Middlebury, Vermont, USA

Container: 12 oz. bottle

Malts: Caramel, Munich and Chocolate

Hops: Tettnang, Hallertauer and Liberty

ABV: 5.7%

IBUs: 21

Sour Brune (Portsmouth Brewery)

I bought a bottle of this at the little retail store next to the Portsmouth Brewery. It cost me $4. The whole transaction and process of acquiring this beer was extremely simple. To enjoy it, all I need to do is pop the cap and pour it in a glass and let my ingrained beer drinking skills take effect. Now, brewing this beer, that is a different story. Below are brewer Tod Mott's brewing notes:

"All of the sourness in the flavor comes from the process of souring the mash. To create the ideal mash for souring we doughed in at 164°f. The mash eventually stabilized at 149.5°. We then proceeded with saccrification, followed by a vorlauff to clarify the turbidity of the mash. Once the extract was clarified we brought the temperature of the mash down (using the heat exchanger) to 130°. We added a handful of unmalted wheat to the top of the mash bed and floated a "bed" of Argon gas over the mash for about a half hour, displacing the oxygen in the mash tun and creating an "inert gaseous zone," making the atmosphere anaerobic. Then we left the mash to do its thing over the weekend. We arrived to the smell of pineapples and weird esters I had never encountered in a mash tun. We then ran off the extract as usual and brewed the wort, hopping it lightly and adding some malto-dextrin and lactose to sweeten up the wort, knowing the final product would be quite sour and might need some balance. That is how we made the sour mash Brune."

Ready for the quiz? Basically, this process can easily lead to some off flavors and smells and takes a great amount of brewing skill to master. Anytime you are making beer and "Argon" is involved, you know you are waaaaaaay past brewing a pale ale in your kitchen.

The Sour Brune pours a dark brownish, reddish color. Its got lots of little tiny bottles floating up to the top, almost like a glass of champagne. The head is slightly fluffy and dissipates quickly. The smell is not overly strong and there is not a sourness that would in any way be a turn off. Instead its sort of combination of malts and slight sour notes. A little bit of sour cherry and other fruits as well as a faint bit of vinegar. Its interesting, you can pick up lots of different subtle smells.

The minute this stuff hits your tongue you feel the sourness. Even before your taste buds kick in, your tongue is telling you that its something special. Its a nice tart dry taste along with enough sweetness to balance it perfectly. It has some citrus tastes to it and the same response from my mouth as when I drink real grapefruit juice. It also has a similarity to a red wine. This is by no means a strong beer despite its complexity. Its very, very drinkable.

I really enjoy sour beers. Some other beers like this are Flanders Red Ales or Sour Browns like Rodenbach and Duchesse de Bourgogne. Both are excellent and if you've never ventured into Sour Beerland, its a great place to visit!

BEER FACTS

Name: Sour Brune

Style: Sour Brown Ale

Brewery: The Portsmouth Brewery

Location: Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA

Container: 22 oz. bottle

Malts: ?

Hops: ?

ABV: ?

IBUs: ?

Indian Brown Ale (Dogfish Head)

This is one of those beers that could confuse a person with strict beer style morals. What is an Indian Brown Ale anyways? What kind of weird, yet delicious, crossbreed did Sam Calagione come up with? According to the Dogfish Head site, the Indian Brown Ale is:

"A cross between a Scotch Ale, an I.P.A., and an American Brown, this beer is well-hopped and malty at the same time. It is brewed with Aromatic barley and caramelized brown sugar."

Personally, this is one of my favorite Dogfish Head beers. Don't get me wrong, I love the 60 Minute IPA. This beer however has grown on me over the years and has become a go to six pack when I can't find anything new to try. I guess, for me, its the great mix of styles that keeps bringing me back time and time again.

Pours dark and earthy brown with a nice head that looks like it was born on the top of the beer. Its a great looking head on a very perfect looking glass of beer. The smell is very strong coffee and dark toasted malts. Its a smell that is very inviting. There is not a lot of hop in the nose but the malty sweetness and dark roasted smell is a great combo.

Tastes sweet, malty and with a nice hop bitterness at the end. There is a bit of a sweet brown sugar taste that really stays with your taste buds. I also get the same taste that I get from a cup of very dark coffee that has sugar collected at the bottom. Don't get me wrong, this is not a bad thing. I really enjoy this beer. Its a unique style that I think works very well.

If you see it, pick some up!

BEER FACTS

Name: Indian Brown Ale

Style: Strong Hoppy Brown Ale

Brewery: Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales

Location: Milton, Delaware, USA

Container: 12 oz. bottle

Malts: Aromatic Barley and Caramelized Brown Sugar

Hops: ?

ABV: 7.2%

IBUs: 50

Thunder Hole Ale (Bar Harbor Brewing Co.)

Bar Harbor Thunder Hole Ale sure has a nice label. There is a lot of of Maine type things going on! I put a better shot of the label below this post so you its a little easier to see it. It is good example of just how nice the area around Bar Harbor is.

Speaking of nice, Thunder Hole sure gets nice reviews. According to their website, this is also "The brown ale that beat Newcastle, Sam Adams, Sam Smiths' and more, at the World Beer Championships in Chicago." 

Pours a nice deep brown with a large fluffy tight head. Smells sweet, malty with small hints of hops. This just smells like a solid beer. Actually all of the Bar Harbor Brewing Co. beers that I've had have been solid. I really need to get up there and pay a visit. I know the brewery was just sold, hopefully that won't affect the character and integrity of their beers.

First sip is a flood of malty sweetness with a bit of hoppiness and a sugary sweet finish. This is a really enjoyable brown ale. I really like the smoothness of this beer and the fact that is a full bodied brown and not at all watery and free of that sharp astringency that some browns have in the finish. Definitely the type of beer I could get comfortable with. Too bad it doesn't come in six packs! (update: boy did I put my foot in my mouth with that line!) The gold medal is well deserved. 

BEER FACTS

Name: Thunder Hole Ale

Style: Brown Ale

Brewery: Bar Harbor Brewing Company

Location: Bar Harbor, Maine, USA

Container: 22 oz. bottle

Malts: ?

Hops: ?

ABV: 4.8%

IBUs: ?

Brewed in Maine

Old Brown Dog Ale (Smuttynose Brewing Co.)

Old Brown Dog Ale, brewed by Smuttynose Brewing Company in Portsmouth, NH, is your quintessential American Brown Ale. It was first brewed 20 years ago this year so this beer is time tested and almost legally allowed to drink itself!

It pours a nice dark brown color (like a brown ale should of course) with a nice creamy head. You can always tell a quality beer from the way the head of the beer is. This one is pretty much perfect as it slowly dissipates. I'm a sucker for Smuttynose beers, I've really never had a bad one and this one is solid (and its my wife's favorite so we tend to have it in the house quite a bit). 

The taste is nice and rich and at 5.7% its not your typical low alcohol "session" brown ale. Its got a lot of malt taste with a hoppy tanginess that comes through at the finish. Like I said, this is a solid brown ale and another great year-round release from Smuttynose.

Smuttynose also released a Very Old Brown Dog Ale in their Big Beer Series, in honor of the dog on the label (Olive) who had aged a few years since that picture was taken. It was appropriately an Old Ale and came in at 7% ABV.

Sadly, Olive passed away last year close to her 16th birthday. Her legacy lives on with this kind and gentle beer. Cheers to the memory of dogs everywhere that are running free and eating infinite amounts of meat in dog heaven. 

Beer Facts:

Name: Old Brown Dog Ale

Style: Brown Ale

Brewery: Smuttynose Brewing Company

Location: Portsmouth, NH, USA

Container: 12 oz. bottle

Malts: Pale Brewers, Munich, Crystal 60L and Chocolate

Hops: Cascade and Willamette

ABV: 5.7% 

IBUs: 15

Read more about the infamous history of Smuttynose Island HERE!

Check out the other Smuttynose beers HERE!