Beer Nut: Notch Brewing is a notch above

Notch Brewing is located in downtown Salem.

For a person who is amazed at the brewing process like I am, creating a great beer can almost seem like alchemy – or even witchery – at times.

Such was the case during a recent visit out east to Salem, Massachusetts, home of all sort of witch-related stuff. (You remember the witch trials, right?)

I’m not much for witchy history or mischief, but I was out visiting my old friend Cornelius who had recently moved back to Massachusetts after decades in the metro D.C. area. Since he now lives in the North Shore area, it was natural to head into the hopping little burg of Salem for some fun. For me, of course, that meant checking out some local beer offerings.

Fortunately, Salem has two breweries right downtown. Although my visit lasted only 30 hours (including a night’s sleep), we managed to cram in visits to both places: Notch Brewing and Eastern Brigade Brewing. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to really sample much at Eastern Brigade, so we’ll focus on Notch today. (But the quick beer I had at Eastern Brigade, a 3.8% session IPA named Billed for Speed, was tasty.)

I was able to sample two brews at Notch, a brewery name I was familiar with. The weather was warmish, so I went with two pilsners, a German one named German Afternoons and Czech pilsner named The Standard. Both were excellent.

German afternoons poured a clean, light golden hue, crowned with an almost three-finger head. The foam left a nice lacing on the glass. The nose was dominated by a bready malt aspect, with a faint floral hop aroma.

The first sips revealed a biscuit-like flavor and tickles of spice. The hops remain in the background, but are definitely present and add to the flavor profile. As the beer warms, the bready aspect blends well with emerging, yet soft, spice feature. The carbonation is perfect for the style.

As good as the German pils was, I have to say that The Standard was better. While it pours out with a nice head, it dissipated much more quickly than the frothy coif atop German Afternoons. But no matter, what landed both in the nose and on the palate was superb.

The aroma was a bit sweeter, but still had some peppery notes to balance things off. The flavor kicks off with a nice grainy taste, coupled with some hop citrus notes that peek out just enough to let you know they’re there. There also seems to be a subtle sweet aspect that I couldn’t place, but it was understated and worked the same way a sweet spread works on a piece of toast.

A smooth finish with a lingering taste of delicious dough put this one over the top. It’s 4.4% ABV, and since German Afternoons is 4.5%, these are two beers that you definitely want to seek out for summer sessions.

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