Heartland Brewery Not Tonight Honey Porter

For Valentine’s Day, the other half and I got tickets to see “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” with John Cameron Mitchell in it. We decided to grab a bite to eat before the show at Heartland Brewery. They have a new restaurant next to the brewery that is basic burgers and snacks. Every time we’ve been to Heartland, I find that it’s always a solid choice and the food is always decent. I ordered this beer along with our snacks.

ABV: 6.5%

Style: American Porter

Trivia: According to the brewery website, “This American porter is ebony with a subtle garnet hue. Rich chocolate malt is highlighted by notes of fresh clover honey and blackstrap molasses. Its strength imparts a dryness that complements the long, nutty finish. A very satisfying beer.”

Random: The snow is melting now and our apartment complex is now filled with giant puddles. This made it even more fun when taking the garbage out.

This beer poured with half a finger of tan head that dissipated quickly and left some lacing on the glass. The body was a dark brown with moderate carbonation visible. The nose had roasted malts with light smoke and milk chocolate too. The taste was pleasant with dark malts, milk chocolate and significant smoke, more than the nose hinted at. There was also slight sweetness from the honey. It had a thinner than expected body with high carbonation. It had a long finish with chocolate and smoke. This was a pretty good that I would have again.

Untappd Rating: 3.5/5.0

Heartland Brewery Black IPA

This was the last beer that I had at Heartland. One thing that I learned from Heartland is that some brewpubs are making quality beer. I’ve been to a few brewpubs where their beers are worse than my first homebrew. Heartland’s beers on balance are solid and well-done. Let’s see if the last one is as good as the other ones.

ABV: 6.5%

Style: American Black Ale

Trivia: According to wikipedia.com, “First opened in 1995, Heartland Brewery now has 7 locations in New York City. However, all Heartland’s ales and lagers are brewed at their facility in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Heartland Brewery’s first location was in Union Square.”

Random: The Eagles play on Monday night. It’s rough for me because now I have to be at work at 5 AM. I think it will be worth it to be exhausted on Tuesday though and they really need to win.

This beer poured with a half a finger of cream-colored head. It was slow to dissipate and left some lacing on the glass. The body was a dark brown color with light carbonation. The nose had a lot of coffee and roasted malts and not much hops. The taste was like fresh brewed espresso with slight pine and grass at the end of the sip. This black IPA was malt-forward with the roasted malts and chocolate being very apparent. I didn’t get any booze warming on it either. It had a thick, chewy body with moderate carbonation. It had a long, coffee finish. This wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t amazing.

Untappd Rating: 3.5/5.0

Heartland Brewery Smiling Pumpkin Ale

First pumpkin review of the year! I’m excited. I am definitely going to review more pumpkin beer this year than last. If you’re counting, I need more than 7 to break that record, which should be pretty easy given how much pumpkin beer I’ve purchased recently. I’m very excited to try some of those as well. This beer is a seasonal offering at Heartland and was the beer that Val ordered. She was nice enough to let me have a few sips for “research” purposes.

ABV: 5.5%

Style: Pumpkin Ale

Trivia: According to the brewery website, “Our famous autumn colored beer is made with honey-roasted pumpkins and simmered with ginger, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg. A sweet and spicy harvest treat that goes down smoothly.”

Random: I liked the glass on this one too. It was very cute.

This brew poured with a quarter of a finger of white head on top of a dark copper body. It had heavy carbonation visible and left a nice amount of lacing on the pint glass. The nose was filled with nutmeg and cinnamon with some pumpkin. The taste was much of the same and pleasant. It had a decent amount of spice with cinnamon and nutmeg and allspice. It had nice pumpkin character with some yam thrown in too. It had a medium thick body with very high carbonation. It had a quick finish with pumpkin spice. This was a good beer to start the season off with. The flavors were nice and it was very drinkable. It wasn’t the best pumpkin beer that I’ve had, but it was solid and I would have it again.

Untappd Rating: 3.5/5.0

Heartland Brewery Imperial Saison

So, we left Barcade and walked a few blocks to Heartland Brewery. I had been there once before and liked it. We went to the one right by Union Square and they were having some sort of pet adoption festival there. We didn’t go to it, mostly because I would want to come home with another meow. Anyways, this was the first beer I tried there.

ABV: 8%

Style: Saison/Farmhouse Ale

Trivia: According to the brewery website, “When Heartland Brewery opened New York’s first American-style brewpub on Union Square in 1995, our city was not the hotbed of brewpubs, beer bars, and evolved beer drinking it is today. Heartland quickly established itself as a pioneer of the craft beer movement in New York City. Since then, Heartland has consistently brewed New York’s freshest craft beers, including six classic brews and a wide range of seasonal ones.”

Random: My meow is knocked out on the ottoman while I watch a documentary about Hitler’s secretary. The life of the meow…

This beer poured with half a finger of white head that dissipated slowly. It left some lacing on the glass. The body was a hazy yellow color with moderate to high carbonation visible. The nose was light with a bit of citrus and Belgian yeast. I got a lot of orange on the nose. The taste had even more notes of fresh oranges along with coriander and Belgian yeast. There was also a touch of sweetness at the end too, which was like a really light honey. The alcohol was well hidden with moderate carbonation. It had a long, spicy finish with yeast and coriander. This was another nice saison…two in a row, in fact.

Untappd Rating: 4.0/5.0