BEAR-ly Getting Started 11.2 - Carrot Cake

Craig and Jason use this episode to talk about one of the highest-rated breweries in New York State, Mortalis. Everything from history to popularity, since 2017, Mortalis proves why they are world-know and elite in the state. Featuring Tears of The Goddess: Carrot Cake Sour IPA from Mortalis Brewing in Avon, NY. (Side Note: Watch out for the Mortalis x Magic Bear collaBEARation coming Thursday, May 29th.)

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Transcript

Jason:

The Buffalo Brews Podcast. Ladies and gentlemen, you are listening to Barely Getting Started, part of the Buffalo Brews Podcast. Craig and Jason here with you, and we're talking about drinking dessert.

Drinking desserts. That's right. Do you ever watch Grumpy Old Men?

I've seen like the movies, but I didn't see... So Burgess Meredith used to say that for breakfast he'd have bacon. Yes.

And at lunch he'd have a bacon sandwich, and then he would usually drink his dinner. Now we're not doing a bacon smoothie sour or something like that, but we are talking about delightful drinking desserts, and one of those is this one here. I never got a chance to get a hold of this, this season.

So this is, like we talked about earlier, this is out of circulation now for the season, it'll be back. But yeah, Mortalis Brewing Company and their Tears of the Goddess series.

Craig:

So yes, Mortalis, spoiler alert, keep your eyes out. Probably we'll be past this by the time this airs, or close to, I don't know, but our main collaboration this year will be with Mortalis. So I won't tell you the style, I won't tell you much, I'll just say keep an eye on social media for some spoilers, because we do have our April collab coming up this Friday, and then I'll announce the May collaboration.

Jason:

So we think in like the 23rd of May, or the 30th?

Craig:

It's a Thursday, so I think the 29th of May. So this will come out the week, this should come out the week before. All right, there you go.

So take a look, end of May, Mortalis and Magic Bear Collaboration Brew, exclusive.

Jason:

That was in the crystal ball, or is this the crystal goblet?

Craig:

Yes, that's part of the magic, you know, it's like the cauldron just bubbling and things coming out. Mortalis, I mean, global, globally known. I actually was on their Collaboration Fest team this past year, and got to know the owner Paul very well, one of the owners, but he's kind of like the face.

And he was talking about how much China takes their hydras. And hydra, and I, you know, sometimes I have to talk to people, and we go through how beer kind of is marketed, right? So hydra is one of the beers, I think they put Mortalis on the map, and it's their heavily fruited sour.

So hydra is a three headed dragon, or a serpent, or bad guys in the Marvel movies, yeah, I'll, you know, but definitely three with the hydra. So there's always at least three fruit in a hydra. But then, oh, do you have a Mortalis sour?

And I'm like, well, there's a lot of different types of sour, are you looking for, and their heaviest, the most heavily fruited is the hydra. But then there's Gemini. And I'm like, the base series is Gemini.

And then usually there's a different alcohol percentage, as well as Gemini only has two fruits usually, versus hydra having three. The twins. You know, and this, so this base series, so I'll tell people, the breweries Mortalis, the name of the series is Tears of the Goddess.

And in this case, we are drinking carrot cake, Tears of the Goddess, carrot cake. So it is, Tears of the Goddess is the sour IPA, and it's brewed with carrot cake natural flavors. So we'll have to, you know, kind of go put the cream cheese, which is usually indicative of the cream cheese frosting that goes with a carrot cake.

We'll pit that against the Peaches and Queen buttercream we've just had.

Jason:

A lot of frosting in this series.

Craig:

A lot of frosting, a lot of desserts. But again, another base style, right? So this is an IPA, a sour IPA base.

And to kind of just real quickly talk about what a sour IPA is, and Jason, you could tell us the callback when I'm done, because we did touch a, so sour IPA, some people take an IPA and have some sort of souring agent. So it, it tastes more like an IPA with some funk or some sourness to it, versus other people are using it more as, hey, IPA sells well, and it really just tastes like a fruited sour. There are some hops in it, because there's usually hops in every beer to balance it, as well as help preserve, but the take on a sour IPA, some can be just, you would think synonymous with a fruited sour, versus some are definitely like, whoa, this finishes like an IPA.

And if you have a Tears of a Goddess or especially this carrot cake one, it does finish like an IPA. You know, if you do not like IPAs and you just, when people bring this up and purchase it, and I don't think I have many cans of it left, then I definitely squirreled this one away for this episode.

Jason:

I would say so. I mean, they're right up there with like Heddy Topper when it comes to local, you know, Western New York Central.

Craig:

Yeah, when there's a release. You know, the brewery usually sells out pretty quickly, and then it's all the people that have it on the secondary market, or not necessarily secondary, that's more, when you... Buying and trading.

Buying and trading, it's more the retailers. So it gets wholesaled out, some goes direct to guests from Mortellus, and then some get to, you know, us bottle shops and some other places.

Jason:

I'm just imagining a world where it's just like, hey, you got any of that carrot cake? Yeah. Got some in the back of the van.

Craig:

Instead of like going to prison and getting tears tattooed on your face, it's tears tattooed because you're just, you're into carrot cake IPAs that much. What are you in for? Trafficking beer.

Yes. Too much Mortellus.

Jason:

Mortellus.

Craig:

But yeah, this was one. So this is a seven and a half percenter, so indicative of an IPA, right? IPAs usually six, six and a half to seven, seven and a half.

Double IPAs hitting that 8% mark. So Tears of the Goddess, it's like a teardrop if you look at the label, but then, you know, Mortellus does everything kind of metallic and as if it's a constellation, so to speak. This one kind of just looks like a diamond, a diamond dropping.

So the label does say carrot cake and it's actually a collaboration with them in Cheesy Eddie's, which I think they're in Rochester as well.

Jason:

It's a very popular bakery. Actually Cheesy Eddie's was, I believe they're the most popular takeout bakery in all of the Finger Lakes region.

Craig:

See? You learn something every day.

Jason:

You know, I just, I just knew it was a collaboration with them. Now I have to make sure. Right off of the 390 on Jefferson Road, like this little place.

And I mean, they make some fabulous stuff.

Craig:

Yeah. It's, it's one of those where A, if you're doing a collaboration, like that's why I'm pretty stoked to have a collaboration with Mortellus. Mortellus doesn't need to be doing collaborations.

They're selling beer. They're making good stuff.

Jason:

They're like Journey. They don't have to prove themselves.

Craig:

Yeah. They, they want a competition to start, you know, cause they brew in Livingston County. So they got some seed money.

But these guys, you know, and I got to know them cause I just brewed last week. I went and brewed that collaboration, but you know, mainly two guys that had a third that was helping them out. And then when they started to grow, they made that third guy.

They're like, listen, man, quit your job. Come, come help us out. And started pretty small.

And they're still pretty small. They're brewing in one location. And they'll do triple batches of some of their IPAs, but they don't, you know, they don't produce a ton and it goes, goes fast.

And you know, the other thing that we have to make sure we make note of is their barrel age program is second to none. So they, they have people that just line up for their, their stouts are fantastic. And then what they do barrel aging with their stouts and there's different versions of some sometimes.

So there's yellow wax, red wax, green wax, and those guys are highly sought after and usually can only buy one or two from the brewery and the brewery basically only has them available. They don't typically make their way out for retailers. So if you can get your hands on one, grab it, try it, especially if you're, you know, that'll be definitely drinking a dessert as well.

But in this case, instead of going with a fruited sour, instead of going with a stout because they would be definitely a drinking a delightful dessert for more talus. I was like, okay, I want to try and do four different, same thing with that 903. I could have went with one of the stouts I had, but I've got like a dessert style cream out.

Let's, let's do that. So here I've got this dessert style sour IPA and like I, you know, we already talked about it and what was the episode that you can go and you got that callback for sour IPA.

Jason:

For sour IPA. Yeah.

Craig:

Didn't mean to.

Jason:

No, no, no. That's okay. That's okay.

I like the fact that we were, that we bounced around and do it. So it's a barely getting started. Episode four.

It's a series 4.3 Buffalo Brews podcast. Episode 101.

Craig:

Look at this guy. You are, you are.

Jason:

Well, you know, I think what would happen was when we, we started talking about when did we do that? Oh, we did this. And then we started going like we did this and then we did these different series.

So I had to start memorizing them. I threw them on the computer so that I knew how to just do a search word, find what I needed and be able to go to the specifics because we featured stray light sour IPA from Hudson Valley Brewery.

Craig:

There we go. Yep. Oh yeah.

I do remember that one. A nice light white can and some blueberry lemon, I believe. So very, very good beer.

Yeah. Cause then we started talking and I was thinking that it was in the, cause it could have been in sour power or it could have been in the IPAs for days, but I think we did a milkshake IPA and the IPAs for days. So milkshake IPAs did kind of give way to the fruited sour because I think, you know, in the sour IPA as well, cause basically what kind of happened was I think it was Tired Hands and Omnipolo were the first to basically come up with this milkshake IPA, which was like, Hey, what did, what do we do?

We want to make it creamy like a vanilla milkshake and add some like, like a, some sort of fruit or deserty type note to it, but still have it as an IPA. And that was like a little fad and a trend and people are still making milkshake IPAs, but people really think that that kind of morphed its way into, Hey, we really like what's going on here, but enough people didn't like the bitterness or the IPA base and we're like, can we just like get rid of that IPA? So then it just became kind of like a, a fruited, creamy, sour, and that kind of made the fruited sour.

So then like full circle coming back, you know, with this, um, sour IPA, is it a fruited sour? Is it a sour IPA? So to me, this is almost like we're back to a milkshake IPA, but it's definitely more sour than the original milkshake IPAs were that were coming out.

So those are, you know, a couple of those newer styles that have come, gone, some are still here, but you don't see a ton of sour IPAs, you don't see a ton of milkshake IPAs. Um, and then there are these nuances between a milkshake IPA and a sour IPA, but it all comes down to the brewery, how they market it. And some people's sour IPA could be very much a milkshake IPA and vice versa.

Uh, but you know, we're barely getting started and I'm already, you know, my beer lost its head, but you had a good sustaining head for a little bit.

Jason:

I had to put that out for the, for the camera.

Craig:

So I do that.

Jason:

So let's make sure we do the cheers. Cheers. Yeah.

Craig:

I still think last one, we did two cheers, but I, you know, I could be, uh, under the weather. So I'm going to see again, icing carrot cake, not, not as prevalent. The other one was just, and again, milk sugar there.

The other, yeah, the, this is a 16 ounce can we drink and these are 10 ounce glasses. So we had split a 12 ounce. Now we're splitting a 16 ounce.

There was also more room in the glass. So sometimes a half pour, a true half pour, there's a little bit more aromas collect and these Belgian tulips kind of help you, uh, the aroma hits your nose. Yes, definitely.

Jason:

Some creamy sweetness, like I sound like dessert beers here. It's just, it's, it's a Roma. It's so inviting.

It almost makes your mouth water. Yeah.

Craig:

And then, you know, looking at the color, uh, this is definitely more yellow than how the, uh, peaches and Korean queen, uh, was peach colored. So I mean, this definitely looks like an IPA, you know, it's a hazy IPA. It's not one of those super opaque, like almost bordering white, the, uh, creamy look of it IPA, but this kind of just looks like you're, you know, hay burner or traditional American hazier IPA versus like a clear malt based West coast kind of IPA.

Did we cheers? We cheers.

Jason:

We cheers.

Craig:

Okay. Okay.

Jason:

Now I'm going to take this. We're going to have to have a cheers counter on the table or something like that. Just flip the cheers card once we cheers, you know?

Craig:

Yeah. Right. It's like cheers.

Checkmark green, red.

Jason:

And next thing you know, someone's coming by with meats on a slice and, and you know, what a comparison because it's, yeah, it's icing.

Craig:

It's the, I get the milk sugars, the biggest difference I get is not in taste or aroma. There's a mouthfeel. Yeah.

Like, and this is what, um, mortality as well. And, um, with speaking with them, they, uh, they don't use much lactose. Now they definitely like in their milk stouts, which basically call for lactose, they still are using some lactose, but they get a lot of their, uh, mouthfeel and stuff from, you know, the edit, the things they're adding to the beer.

But this, this has kind of like that creamy, much more creamy, uh, mouthfeel than the previous. And what's, what's really interesting when we compare this, like I definitely taste the difference between this is a cream cheese icing versus the last one butter cream. Like it's so weird how, when you do have top notch producers like nine Oh three out of Texas and mortality here in New York, like it's spot on with it's cream cheese frosting.

I'm tasting this and it'd be one of those, if you didn't know it was a carrot cake beer, you'd be like, what, what's going on? I thought I'm drinking an IPA and I'm like, what does it taste like? Like, I don't know.

But as soon as someone says the word of, um, you know, cream cheese, frosting, even cream cheese for that matter, you're like, Oh yeah, that's what I'm tasting now. I think that's what really drives the carrot cake vibe because, um, you know, if you think of carrot cake, it's not like you taste a ton of carrots, it's just, yeah, that's not what that is. Yeah.

It's, it's a, it's a sweeter cake that, um, you know, it's just not chocolate. It's not vanilla. It's just, it's got this kind of just, you know, cause I literally just had carrot cake for Easter, which is perfect timing for this.

And my sister-in-law, I even got a shout out, Jessica, I told her, I said, listen, I like a carrot cake. And it was, it was by far the best carrot cake I've had. Um, she didn't have any raisins or anything in it, which sometimes I like, sometimes I don't like, and sometimes you put coconut and I'm like, it was just traditional carrot cake, frosting, perfect, but just so moist and dense with that moisture.

Um, and I think, you know, the density is one of the things that comes with a good carrot cake, that, that carrot in there provides that extra sweetness, but it also provides a density. And this beer has got some density with the viscosity of that mouth feel.

Jason:

I like density and I like that balance of spice that comes with a, with a good carrot cake too.

Craig:

Yeah. And that's for the cake. I don't get a ton of like those spice notes with this, um, tears of the goddess.

I mean, it does finish IPA. Now it's not a, you know, sucker punch IPA where there's a ton of bitterness. It's definitely a, a hazy IPA vibe where it's nice cause it kind of balances the, uh, the sweetness to it.

This is more of a, I know I'm drinking a beer beer, like, especially if you're not into IPAs and the hot bitterness and some of the hot flavors that come with it, but I'm not really getting ton of like citrus or hop aromas. The carrot cake is front and center with that, but you get that, that finish of, oh yeah, this is, this is carrot cake with, with an IPA versus I couldn't tell you what the base beer was.

Jason:

Right. They, uh, just this past weekend I had one of their heavy, their heavy sours, which is the, um, or not heavy sours, um, they're heavy stouts, the, uh, peanut butter and marshmallow, um, I think is as, as above is below or something. So below, so I think it's a Pirates of the Caribbean reference kind of.

Um, yeah. Cause I'm, I'm thinking of like, uh, stranger ties or something like that.

Craig:

No, the as above, so below is like even it's astronomy, I believe they just, they talk about looking at the stars, you know, everything they do is with like Greek mythology and stuff with a thing. It's Greek. I don't think they're going for a Roman, but the, um, more tail, it's like all the names like with Gemini and stuff and, uh, Hydra, just a lot of Greek mythology, but as above, so below kind of meant if you look to the stars in the heavens, you know, um, what goes on up there.

So below kind of goes on at earth and it was actually, um, very intelligent guy that comes in off in a magic bear and just has a few beers and you know, if you just talk to him in passing, you wouldn't realize that this guy is very well read and he just said it one day I was talking about something and it was like just saying like it was like a, to sum it up was I was talking about the bigger picture and he goes, you know, Craig, as above, so below.

And I was like, and I thought he was referencing the more tailors beer. And then he just starts getting into like Greek mythology and astronomy. And I was just like, Oh, I was like, all right.

Yeah. I didn't realize. He's like, no, that's the saying for, you know, what happens in the heavens is replicated down here on earth.

Jason:

And I was like, okay, so now here's my chance to share that among, among, among the world's leading physicists there, there are some that believe that really what we're doing is just acting out a gigantic animation through the universe. It's just a painting, I guess, that's a living painting. Yeah.

We're just, uh, you know, entertainment, right.

Craig:

And you know, so is this beer, you know, this is one that gets you talking, get you enjoying. It's, it's, it's definitely a talking point beer. Yeah.

Jason:

You know, in more tell us has such a great history because the brewery itself has only been around since 2017, but a lot of people talk about their origins go long before that, maybe into the late nineties. And uh, I, one of their most famous beers, I mean, cause it there by no means they do wild stuff. They do fun, creative, and they bring great flavors to life just like this.

But I remember one of the things that put them on the map of all things was an everything bagel beer, which you would think would be what you're talking garlic. You're talking a little poppy, a little garlic, a little onion. But I mean, if you can taste a beer and it's good and it brings every one of those flavors to life in balance of subtlety and, and it triggers the memory that I think, I think it's a win win.

Craig:

Yeah. And that's, you know, that's one of those things where it's almost like breaking that fourth wall when it comes to theater and you know, you're kind of speaking directly to the audience. If you're being presented with something and it hits all those components, but then on top of the site, the smell, the flavor, the mouthfeel, everything about it, it triggers a memory or it triggers, you know, like when we drank these first two beers and I'm, you know, I'm still like that buttercream was like, I can't believe how much buttercream this exudes, like it's just such buttercream and this same thing, the cream cheese icing, like that is a hundred percent, like 10 out of 10 spot on with the cream cheese icing, the carrot cake aspect of this, like that cream cheese icing flavor then lets me like, it's triggering my memory of carrot cake more through that than anything else. But that then makes for a great carrot cake beer and the evoking of those memories and it just, it makes the beer or the beverage or whatever you're tasting, even when it's just a food item, your recollection and your memory of it then adds to the experience of enjoying it in the moment. And I talk about that a lot with my pairing classes and it's, you know, however you enjoyed it.

You know, if you grew up like my father-in-law, he's from Alba and they eat a ton of onions, onions, onions. He keeps talking about they were on an onion farm. He ate so many onions, he can't eat onions now.

And I'm like, all right, well, you're going to pull these onions out because I put onions in the deal. So you feel bad. I got to let them know every time there's onions in.

But you know, it's one of those things that that's a bad core memory versus, oh, you know, every time we spent the night at my grandma's house, she made, you know, oatmeal scotchy cookies. So like butterscotch cookies, just they have such a core memory. So people have this, you know, fondness and obviously it's going to taste better to them or at least, you know, bring on good memories that then add, you know, it has nothing to do with what we normally enjoy with a beverage or a food item between our senses of, you know, taste and smell.

And even just looking at it with sight, it's now, okay, how does it make me feel? And this is one of those beers that, you know, makes me feel like we just had carrot cake for Easter. So it's bringing up, you know, those thoughts in my brain.

And if you we were talking earlier off mic about our favorite desserts and how you really like creme brulee and my wife really likes creme brulee. And it's like if you have something that evokes that creme brulee memory, that's usually tied with desserts or another thing that are usually tied with like if you have a great meal and there's a dessert at the end, people often remember the desserts or special occasions are usually marked with dessert, especially like carrot cake. Carrot cake's a very much holiday or a very special occasion type of dessert versus jello.

You know, it's, it's one of those things that should evoke, you know, some really good memories and kudos to Mortalis and as well as 903 so far for bringing those core memories back.

Jason:

Mortalis just, just pulling out banger after banger constantly.

Craig:

There, yeah, there's, there's been some, some other breweries too, where it's like they gotta fail once in a while because you're pushing the envelope. And you know, I've had some beers from Mortalis that I've been like, I understand where you're coming from. Just not for me.

Yep. But almost every single thing, you know, that's why you got to get a flight when you go there. People are leaving, you know, they do tons of to go cause it's, it's one of those beers that you want to share with people, right?

You're just like, I had this beer there and oh my goodness, I bought a four pack because I just had to show everybody I know this beer.

Jason:

If people are coming into town, this is where you're going to get. And now, and then just now discussion just this past weekend with Jay, cause they have locations, their primary location is Avon, New York. They also, if you're ever in Rochester, the Richmond, which is this, this very famous like bar pub that they took over.

And so they serve exclusively Mortalis there. And then obviously the tap room that's on Niagara street here in Buffalo. So Jay, who had an opportunity to sit down with on Sunday after brunch, went in there and talked to him.

They just started doing mixed four packs. Nice. Just, just this past week.

So you don't have to buy a four pack of just one thing. Now you can mix it up.

Craig:

Yeah. And it's, it's one of those. Having four of these beers, like you wouldn't have four right in a row.

And you know, if you did, no judgment's in here, but it's one of those where you're not getting in a car. I want to give one to my dad because he loves carrot cake too. And it's such a unique beer and you're sharing, you know, it's a beer that you want to share.

But if it's also one of those, it's like, Hey, I'm not going to drink four of these, but would love to put two of them in a four pack or at least one in a four pack. You know, that is one of the things that's very novel here at magic bears. You could just make a mixed four pack.

And if you're able to do that, more tailors, it's like, Hey, I'm going to bring my flight home with me. And you're bringing a flight of beers, but they're, they're all 16 ounce pours, right? But if you haven't been more, tell us, make sure you check them out.

They are definitely a gem in New York state. And if you don't know now, you know, they're definitely one of the ones that, I mean, to this date. I mean, I have friends that have had a mortality beers that I've brought home and they're just like, can you get more of these?

I'm like, yeah, I sell them. I said, I own a beer store and bar and I know a guy, I will, you know, so they'll ask me to bring them a mixed four pack from time to time and they do a nice job. So whether you're into the sours, sour IPAs stouts, and they're also really well known for their I just IPA.

So they do a lot of double IPAs.

Jason:

And like you said, their barrel age selection is, it's literally second to none because it's, I've had so many like incredible collaborations and concoctions from them. They definitely dabble in the dark arts there.

Craig:

Yeah. I mean, to kind of wrap this up, there is one, like it's a coveted beer and we talked about this at the collaboration meeting I was at with them cause I wanted to just see his take on it. So there's this guy has a blog called don't drink beer and he's very educated guy, very cynical.

We'll just write these very long winded bashings of breweries and just, it's kind of like, you know, Hey, I liked beer 20 years ago, but he did a review on this barrel aged pear brandy barrel aged Lido, which is a almond cookie stout that they do and then they age in pear brandy barrels. So one of the reasons I bring this up is because it's one of the highest rated beers on our And if you know untapped, um, there are hundreds of thousands of beers that are in this database and almost everybody's given this thing a five and you know, an average score of four makes the beer fantastic. And I think this, this has to be 4.6 if not above, and I don't know if somebody sent it to him or if more Taylor sent it to this guy, but he, I mean if you get your hands on a pear brandy Lido, I mean they sell for, I don't know the going rate right now, but I know they were in the hundreds at one point and he rated this beer and he drank it and he started everything off like the entire first paragraph and a half sounded like he was ready to bash this beer and just say, this is nothing but hype and that. But he wrote it in this sense of, I want to hate this beer.

Um, everything about this mortalis is, seems to be hype boy, this, and just, it was like laying the foundation to just say like, okay, these guys are one trick ponies and it just hits this turning point rate at the, uh, and he's like, but I can't because this is a damn near perfect beer. And then he just goes into like this love affair with this beer. And I was like, how awesome.

Cause usually he just keeps just, you know, that's the compliment. Yeah.

Jason:

It's like, it's like the critic from ratatouille. Yeah. He's like, he doesn't have anything nice to say, but he's going to go in there and you serve him the most peasant dish and it reminds him of growing up.

And now all of a sudden he's like, yeah, there you go.

Craig:

You need to go to memory. But yeah, I was talking to Paul and, um, asked him about that and he was just, he said that was a pivotal moment in like one of those things where it's like, yeah, all of the ratings, all of the reviews, you know, the bank account all mean something. But when you start seeing stuff like that, you're like, all right, all right.

Like we are, we are doing it right. And a cheers more tell us they are doing it right. And, um, if you're hearing this, come check us out with our collaboration with them and definitely go show them some love on Niagara street, a fantastic beers and they've got small food menu, but definitely something to, uh, sustain you while, uh, enjoying there.

And then obviously at magic bear, we, uh, offer a lot of their beers, whether on tap or in cans and, and every now and then we'll bring in some, some of their stouts and bottles. So please enjoy. And, uh, don't forget to drink your dessert.

Jason:

That's right. You know, if it's, whether you go to their tap room on Niagara street or you take, uh, take in some of their selections here at magic bear, seven 99 Seneca street in Larkin ville. It's simple.

You sit down, uh, you pour a glass and we pour a glass and we say, cheers.