New England Brewing Company Tower Takeover at Prime 16

The NEBCO Tower Takeover  at Prime 16 took place on 01/27/2011. We arrived around 6:00 pm since we wanted to grab some burgers for dinner (the NY Steakhouse burger is superb). There was already a pretty decent crowd and the list of NEB beers was already up when we arrived. Lots of great stuff was up on the chalk boards. Gandhi-bot DIPA, Wet Willy Scotch Ale, Gold Stock, Double Oaked Gold Stock, Alphaweizen, 2005 Three Judges Barleywine, Sea Hag IPA, Citra Sea Hag IPA, Elm City Lager, Imperial Stout Trooper, and casks of Coffee-infused Imperial Stout Trooper and Cherry Vanilla-infused Imperial Stout Trooper were all being poured. Some of that list was being held back until 8 pm, but there were plenty of tasty NEB choices until that time.

The first thing I went after was the Goldstock. Goldstock might be my favorite beer made by NEB. Lots of english hops that creates a really nice, intense grassy and herbal hop experience. It is a pretty unique beer and I hope they end up canning this at some point. I ended up trying the double oaked Goldstock as my night cap. It was pretty interesting as well. There was a subtle oak flavor that smoothed the taste out nicely. The hop profile was the same, but the oak flavors added a level of complexity. I think I prefer the regular Goldstock, but the double oaked version would be great for the times you may not want such a strong hop punch and I can never complain about an interesting variant of an already great beer.

We finished dinner (which was accompanied by a personal favorite Sea Hag) right before 8 pm, when all the special taps were going to be poured. By this point the bar area was the fullest I've ever seen it. They even had the row of tables across from the bar removed. There were 4-5 rows of people behind the people sitting at the bar. 

The staff started pouring the casks of IST pretty promptly at 8 pm. There was no real organization to getting the beers out which I think would have made things move a little more smoothly. Maybe no seating at the bar or a serving station with some sort of line would help in the future. Overall this was a really crowded event, but the staff handled it well and my complaints are just nit-picking. The bartenders were continuously busy the entire time I was there and they did a great job getting the beers out as fast as they could. I hope they had a bit of fun doing it! 

Sarah and I shared a coffee IST and cherry vanilla IST. Both are VERY good variations of IST. The cherry vanilla IST has a strong cherry vanilla aroma that compliments the roasted and chocolate malt aromas of the IST very well. The cherry vanilla flavors take total control in the taste. I was impressed by how well the cherry and vanilla flavors could come through such a heavy flavored base beer. In all honesty I was glad to be sharing the 10 ounce pour with someone. The first few sips were really good, but after awhile the sweetness from the vanilla became too much for me. This was is definitely a slow sipper and nice to try, but 5 ounces was enough for me. The coffee IST was the highlight of the event for me. There was a pleasant coffee aroma that mixed with the chocolate and burnt malt aromas of IST. It came off a more subtle than the cherry vanilla variation. The flavor was outstanding. Strong, distinct coffee flavor that wasn't overpowering and was a great compliment to the base beer. It wasn't like drinking a totally different beer that shared the IST name, but it was more of an extension. The bitter coffee flavor worked well to balance the strong roasted malt flavor of the IST. Coffee-infused IST is one of the best coffee beers I've ever had. Hopefully more of it shows up in the future and I'll keep my fingers crossed that it will one day show up in bottles. 

This was a really fun event. I'm looking forward to the other brewery tower takeovers at prime 16 in the future. They had a list up on the one blackboard and off the top of my head I remember Allagash on March 31st and Sierra Nevada. There were 3-4 others as well, but I'm blanking on them right now. NEB had a really great selection of beers on tap and on cask last night. I consider myself lucky to be living so close to a great brewery.