Our pick of the week for beer of the week is an extreme beer from the Samuel Adams collection!

Samuel Adams partnered Felchlin, a renowned Swiss chocolatier, to develop a unique innovation, Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock. It is a complex selection of roasted malts combined with Noble hops. Brewed by using the Krausening brewing process, called Krausening, the brew is slowly aged on a bed of rare dark cocoa nibs. The resulting beer has a big, malty character that is combined with the subtle sweetness of chocolate, giving this brew a complex full-body taste with a velvety finish.

As the beer matured, the fruity, tart, earthy and chocolate aromas were released into the liquid to give the brew a complex, full -bodied taste with a velvety finish. A hint of vanilla was added to meld the symphony of flavors together.

Mike Rego, one of the founders of BeerEncounters.com, runs the Web site with three of his friends: Matt Zukowski, Jim Messier and Dan Archambault. The four travel all over New England to visit breweries, and they share their experiences on the Web site through stories, videos and photos.

“(We’re) a couple of beer enthusiasts who like to sit on our back porches or on each others couch and enjoy different beers,” Rego said.

Rego and his buddies have been traveling to a different brewery every month and documenting their experiences on the site for the last two years. The goal of BeerEncounters.com is to show viewers some of the best craft brews in New England, as well as to give New England beer lovers somewhere to go and connect with other beer enthusiasts.

Rego and his friends all have full-time jobs, but devote a lot of their free time to traveling to these breweries. They even have a map in their office that shows where the yet-to-be-visited breweries are located.

“You have to make time for the things you enjoy,” Rego said.

Rego and his friends have traveled to breweries outside of New England, but devote their site to this area’s breweries only.

“We’re all prideful of New England,” Rego said. “We believe that it has never been a better time in history to be a craft beer lover or innovative beer brewer.”

In addition to reviews on the local breweries, the site also features a Beer Blog, including useful information on brews, as well as videos to accompany their brewery reviews, all edited by Rego. BeerEncounters.com even has an interactive Brewery Map, where visitors can click on a state and see what breweries the guys have visited in that state. The site also has a weekly microbrew review, from breweries around the area, in addition to their monthly brewery reviews.

Rego admits that one of the main reasons he enjoys this hobby is because the owners and brew masters here are simply in the business to make and enjoy delicious beer and share their passion.

“It doesn’t matter what kind of beer they (brew); there is little competition with other local breweries,” Rego said. “it’s just about a passion for making a good quality product.”

BeerEncounters.com also gives viewers a more in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at local breweries that many people would never get on a guided tour. The guys normally send a destination brewery an e-mail or standard letter, and specify that they want to feature that brewery on their site. Usually, breweries are happy to oblige.

“We’re able to encounter the brewery on a much more intimate level,” Rego said.

The guys even host events, including their upcoming second annual Great Pumpkin Ale Beer Tasting & Halloween Party, so far sponsored by Magic Hat, Red Hook and Shipyard. The event takes place October 25 at the Holiday Inn at Nashua.

Rego, Zukowski, Messier and Archambault are just a couple of close friends that have a passion for good, quality beer, and they want to share their love with other beer enthusiasts. But don’t worry: Rego and his friends still enjoy an ice cold Budweiser every once and a while.

“We don’t hate on commerical breweries, we think that it’s either a good beer or not . . . quality is quality.

Week 2 calls for a little Northern Light Ale from our friends at the Sebago Brewing Company located in Portland, Maine.

Northern Light Ale is crisp light body all malt beer. It roots are that of a European Lager, however they use a special ale yeast to ferment it. The German hops balance the pale malt to give it great drinkablility. Brewed with American 2-row barley and Munich, Cascade, Saaz and Mt. Hood hops. Goods down nice at 3.8% ABV.

Only available only at any of the three Brewpubs. Northern Light Ale is well worth the trip.

Mayflower Brewing Company is a craft beer brewery that is located in historic Plymouth, MA. Pale Ale which is their flagship brew is our pick of the week.

This is a traditional English pale ale with a mild malt character and aroma offset by pronounced hop bitterness. The Mayflower Pale Ale offers a New World take on this Old World favorite. It combines a slightly sweet and toasted malt quality from caramel malt with floral and citrusy aromas from the finest quality English and Americangrown hops. The result is a well-balanced, highly drinkable ale. 4.9% ABV and 40 IBU’s.

Founded in 2007 by a tenth great grandson of John Alden, beer barrel cooper on board the Mayflower, we are dedicated to celebrating the history and legacy of the Pilgrims by creating unique, high-quality ales for the New England market.

And so October comes to close with a brew from Mercury Brewing Company out of Ipswich, MA. Stone Cat Octoberfest is our beer of the week!

This malt-accented, amber-colored lager is brewed in the Munich Festbier tradition with all Vienna maltfrom Germany and is the ideal brew for those crisp,
New England autumn days. At 5.9% ABV and 24 IBUs it’s a great seasonal brew that speaks to all the senses.

Hoptoberfest by Hops Grill and Bar located in Newington, Connecticut is our pick for the beer of the week.

This casual dining microbrewery restaurant offers excellent brews made fresh on location. Among these great beers is Hoptoberfest. It is a medium bodied, reddish-golden, classic Oktoberfest brew with a mild hoppy finish. Hoptoberfest Seasonal Brew is a lager style beer that was brewed with a blend of four types of barley, filtered water and hops.

Hoptoberfest is available during the fall to commemorate the German Oktoberfest celebration.

One of the best pumpkin ales around! Great Pumpkin Ale by Cambridge Brewing Company located in Kendall Square in Cambridge, MA lives up to the name!

This one is Cambridge Brewing Company’s most sought after seasonal beer, Great Pumpkin Ale flows from the taps all autumn long. Brewed with over 150 pounds of fresh, locally grown, organic sugar pumpkins are hand-carved and added to each batch.

This Great Pumpkin Ale has an appropriately orange hue, and the subtle pumpkin flavor is enhanced by a touch of traditional autumn spices. Only 4.2% ABV makes this one a great session seasonal selection.

Cambridge Brewing Company is very proud to support educational, non-profit, sustainable organic farming as well as local, seasonal beer and cuisine.

The beer of the week is The Big O “Oktoberfest” from the P[ennichuck Brewing Company located in Amherst New Hampshire.

It is a dark amber Oktoberfest style lager that pours with a lacey tan head, has aromas of Vienna malt and caramel which pair nicely with its slightly sweet & fruity palate. Hop character is very low and bittering is unnoticeable. Only 22 IBU’s in this seasonal brew. The Big O is brewed sing imported hops Czech Saaz, Hallertau-Hersbrucker, Nugget and Tettnanger.

The Big O has been a huge success in the New Hampshire marketplace having won a Bronze Medal last ear at the International Beer Festival held in Providence, Rhode Island.

As we begin October, and get ready for our 2nd Annual Great Pumpkin Beer Tasting Halloween party. What better beer to feature this week? Halloween Ale by Gritty McDuff’s Brewing Company out of Portland, Maine is our pick of the week.

The legendary Halloween Ale started it’s humble beginnings in 1990 as a small-batch seasonal in their Portland Brew Pub.

This robust brew has a deep amber color, a bold, malty palate and a well-rounded hop finish. This beer will sneak up on you at 6% ABV. This beer is so good, it’s scary.

It has grown to be one of the year’s most anticipated beer releases from the brewery.

Be afraid, be very afraid…of running out!

As September comes to a close we end with a nice Bock from Narragansett Brewing Company located in Providence, Rhode Island.

This traditional dark lager beer that delivers a uniquely delicious flavor experience. It’s a well-done dark lager with mocha and caramel notes that do not overpower your taste buds. The brewers at Narragansett have produced a well-balanced beer with a smooth finish. This Bock offers a delicious drinking experience 5.4% ABV and 18 IBU’s. Brewed with summit hops and six types of malts including chocolate malt, caramel malt and crystal malt. The beer does not compare with any other bocks, double or triple bocks that are out on the market. This bock is a highly drinkable and deeply flavorful dark lager with mocha and caramel notes that do not overpower your taste buds. producing a balanced, smooth finish.

The packaging includes elements borrowed from the 1940’s Narragansett Bock label. Among those elements is the gazing goat. Goats are iconic for this style of beer because “bock” is the German word for goat. The term was originally used metaphorically in old Germany to reference the strength of the beer, but it eventually stuck as the style name.