Met The Brewer: Bolero Snort

I’ve been lucky enough to have met and interacted with cool beer people lately.  My latest encounter is with one of the founders of Bolero Snort Brewery, Bob Olson.  I had seen the name on twitter and became really curious about the beer. Bolero Snort is a young New Jersey brewery that has not yet been bottled.  This explains why I haven’t been able to get my hands on any.   Since I wasn’t able to find any, I did what any curious beer nerd would do….I asked where to get some.  I got a reply from Bob and he invited me to check out Bolero Snort and I accepted.

Bob invited me over to his home where the test batches are brewed.  He was kind enough to invite me over on a brew day as he worked on a test batch of StrawBully Snort Cake.  The test batch is going to be a cream ale which is made with strawberries. When I arrived, Bob was in full brewing mode.  He was like a wide-eyed, beer composer completely in his element, in the middle of a beer symphony.

While Bob brewed, I just watched and drank Bolero Snort beer.  We talked a lot about beer (obviously) and I tried to pick his brain as much as I could about homebrewing.  He told me about how his love for beer turned into a desire to start a brewery (along with a little motivation from his wife).  BS wants to provide sessionable beers to the people.  The idea is to make beer that makes you want to keep drinking, not grabbing you with a gimmick and knock you out with one high ABV beer.  I also asked how the name Bolero Snort came to be and it turns out it is an anagram of Bob’s name.

My introduction to BS was through Ragin’ Bull, their amber ale (sorry I didn’t take a picture of this one).  It was a great intro beer, really nice maltyness and easy to drink.  I was able to try two other BS beers; Blackhorn and There’s No Ryeing in Basebull.  My favorite (by a slim margin) was Blackhorn.  It could be because I have now entered an IPA phase or it could just be because it was a good beer.  It is a black IPA that has a good hop kick, both in body and aroma, along with chocolate notes.  It was a smooth beer with tons of character and one of the better black IPAs I’ve had. The hoppyness was just right and not too bitter, which would make it easy to drink a couple of these.

 

Lastly, there was There’s No Ryeing in Basebull.  It was a really good rye beer that is made to appeal to both casual beer drinkers and the more discerning beer connoisseurs.  It had a really good rye flavor and a little sweetness in the background.  It was one of those beers I did not want to stop drinking.  It was not overly complicated, but had plenty of flavor and an overall good beer.  It was perfect for what we (me more than Bob) were doing, just chillin outside on a beautiful day.  Bob told me the bottle that we split, was probably the last bottle in existence.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to meet Andrew, the other founder of BS, but I did have a great time hanging out with Bob and learning about Bolero Snort.  He’s a good guy; one of those people you can just tell loves beer and beer brewing.   Andrew and Bob are working really hard to make good quality beers and hopefully Bolero Snort will be hitting the stores sooner than later.  If you come across a bomber or see any Bolero Snort on tap give it a try.  Support your local brewers!