Eric's Beer Blog

Beer Lists

2009-03-09T17:03:00.004-04:00

I've been thinking a lot about beer lists lately. Since I dream of one day opening my own bar, I spend a rather large percentage of the time I'm at bars thinking about what the bar does well, what it could do better, what I'd do differently, etc.

One of the things I come back to over and over again in my musings is the beer list. I'm really talking about two different things here: first, the physical list (what information is given? how is it presented?), and second, the content of the list (what beers are on it? where are they from? how were they chosen?). I've decided to get down some thoughts about these subjects here.

The physical list:

As far as I'm concerned, a good beer list should be similar in appearance to a wine list. That is, it should have categories (geographical, style, or some combination thereof), and it should have descriptions. What kind of restaurant or bar would have a wine list which threw together whites and reds in one big unformatted list?

If I know that I'm in the mood for, say, an IPA, I should not have to scan through a long list of lagers, stouts, or Belgians to find the 2 or 3 IPAs on offer. Likewise, if I know I want to try something local, it should be easy for me to find the offerings that fit the bill.

As for descriptions, again, it just stands to reason. If there are some beers I'm not familiar with, I should be able to read a bit about them: where are they brewed? what style are they? what are the basic outlines of their taste profile? possibly even what foods would they go with? These things are all pretty standard on wine lists, but they are lacking for beer lists at even some very good restaurants and bars.

The beers on the list:

I'm a big advocate of local beer. It doesn't hurt that I live in an area with a superb beer scene-- I'd put the Twin Cities' local beer scene in the top 5, certainly the top 10, in the country. But in any case, local beer is better, and bars should support local beer. Here's why:

-local beer is generally going to be fresher, and thus taste better, than beer that has traveled a long distance.
-supporting local businesses is a good thing to do in general. It also makes business sense for a local bar (which is competing against national chains like Applebee's) to encourage its customers to think locally
-local beer is one of the unique things a local bar can offer. When I travel and go to a bar in some other part of the country, I'm much happier to see local offerings on tap, at least some of which I've never had before, than to see the same old beers everywhere.

All things being equal, therefore, a local bar should have at least a substantial number of local (and regional) beers available. For a Twin Cities bar, it's pretty simple: we have several wonderful breweries in the metro area, and more in greater Minnesota. Of course, there are even more great beers to be found in neighboring Wisconsin and yet more in the larger region of the Midwest.

My next criterion is variety. A good beer list should have a variety of styles to suit a variety of tastes. There's just no good reason to have, say, Heineken AND Corona. They are essentially the same (usually lousy) beer. It is for this reason that very long beer lists don't impress me much. The longer the beer list, generally speaking, the more space is taken up by duplicate beers. (And don't get me started on the greater difficulty of keeping a larger number of taps fresh and clean...) Nothing bugs me more than to see a restaurant with a small number of taps, most of which are virtually identical (and usually not very interesting) beers. I get that many people love them their American Light Lager. I have no beef with a bar or restaurant having some of these beers available. But will a Bud man's experience truly be ruined if he has to settle for Miller?

If a place has 5 taps, why not have one American Light Lager (Bud/Miller/Coors), perhaps a European Lager (Corona/Heineken/Amstel), maybe a nice local IPA (nearly every part of the country has a local/regional example of this style that is decent), something light and refreshing (a Wheat?), and something dark and complicated (porter, stout, a Belgian). Even for a place which is not catering to beer geeks like me, this seems like a reasonable list.

If the place is more of a beer bar and has a substantial number of taps, I'd like to see a good proportion of them taken up with local and regional beers, a few nationally available craft brews, and an import or two. There's no need for a huge number of imports-- the days when Americans had to feel bashful about our place in the world of beer are over. Most beer experts will tell you that the #1 country in the world for interesting beer is right here in the U S of A.

Of course, a bar gets major extra credit in my book if they regularly have cask-conditioned beer available. This beer is usually local, very fresh, and terribly yummy.

OK, enough about the criteria of a good beer list. Future posts will examine the lists of local bars and restaurants with a critical eye. If you've actually read this far, I'd welcome your comments and feedback.

Oktoberfest reviews, part 1

2008-09-05T11:41:00.003-04:00

So I picked up a sampler 6-pack of Oktoberfest beers from my favorite local liquor store.

I really love Oktoberfest beers, so I've managed to drink all of them in a couple of days. Here's the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The good: Hacker-Pschorr. Always a favorite. Wonderfully malty and sweet, but clean and dry-finishing.

So-so: Paulaner. I was a bit disappointed in this one, since it's a classic example of the style. But it left me underwhelmed-- too little malt on the aroma, and too little in the flavor as well. Just not enough there there.

The surprisingly good: Schell's. A local brewery, most of whose beers tend toward the mass-market American light lager, or the mass market pseudo-microbrew. But this was very good. The best of the locals (in this batch).

The just-OK: Redhook? I think that's what it was. It was so forgettable, I've actually forgotten what brewery it was from (and I've already recycled the bottle). Just not great.

The boring: Leinenkugel. See comments under Paulaner, but even more so. This tasted like a regular light lager with a dash of Oktoberfest....

The bad: Really, really bad, that is. Lakefront. A Wisconsin brewery, so you'd think they might know a thing or two about German style beers. Yikes-- a big blast of diacetyl (fake movie popcorn butter) right up front in the aroma, and unfortunately, persisting all the way through the bottle. Also, the malt profile is all wrong: more biscuit than toasty. I probably should have poured this one out, but I kept hoping it might get better (and I've only poured out a couple of beers in my lifetime..).

More to come!

Homemade Limoncello

2008-08-06T14:57:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago, I saw a recipe in the paper for homemade limoncello. I don't think than anyone who knows me would be surprised that I immediately began planning to make my own batch!

I was very curious to see how it would compare to the limoncello we had in Campania and elsewhere in southern Italy last year (where limoncello was invented), and also to the limoncello I've had at a fine local restaurant which makes its own. (The picture at the top is from a wonderful restaurant in Basilicata, Italy, in the town of Aliano-- I asked for some limoncello after lunch, and they brought me the whole bottle!)

The recipe is pretty simple. Start with 2 pounds of lemons (I used organic lemons).

Zest the lemons (phew!).

(We used the leftover lemons to make a big batch of lemonade. Yum!)

Soak the zest in a quart of vodka for at least 3-5 days, stirring frequently.

I used 2 kinds of Minnesota-made vodka. Mostly this one, which is new and happens to be organic!

And a bit of this one, after I ran out of the other one...

I steeped for about 10 days, after which I was sick of waiting. Next time I might try to do it longer.... It says the zest should turn white when all of its flavor has been extracted-- mine never did....

Strain out the zest. Meanwhile, add 2 1/2 cups of sugar to 6 cups of water and heat over low heat till dissolved and clear. I used slightly less than 2.5 cups of organic sugar. Next time I think I will use even less.

Once simple syrup is at room temp., mix with vodka. Strain through coffee filters and bottle. Chill. The recipe says to strain through "several changes of coffee filters," but I just did it once. Again, I'm impatient. It's pretty clear but could be clearer....

I made up some labels, got some nice bottles at the local homebrew store, and voila!

Limoncello, a.k.a. grown-up lemonade. It has a lovely pale yellow color, a nice lemon aroma, and a delightful taste. It's a bit sweet for me, but I think it's right about the same as the "real" stuff we had in Italy. I just might prefer a bit more lemony pucker.

Avery Maharaja

2008-04-08T19:22:00.003-04:00

Other members of my beer class had mentioned this beer, and I hadn't had it in a while. So I picked one up today. I will review this beer as if I'm judging it by the BJCP guidelines for an Imperial IPA. It's Maharaja Imperial India Pale Ale from Avery Brewing Company, Boulder, CO.

Aroma: some piney/resinous notes, followed by a hint of pineapple. It's really almost all hops here-- just the slightest suggestion of malt. 10/12

Appearance: light copper with slight orange tint; crystal clear; rocky head is off-white and persistent; occasional thin lace. 3/3

Flavor: puckering (grapefruit) hop bitterness punches you right up front; lingering sweetness at the end; resiny hop flavor is prominent; as it warms, the malty sweetness comes more to the fore (thus explaining some of the comments I just read on BeerAdvocate about it being sweet, comments which at the time I thought indicated insanity on the part of the reviewer); alcohol is noticeable only in its effect, not its taste. 17/20

Mouthfeel: medium to medium-heavy body; moderate carbonation; slightly creamy. 3/5

Overall impression: hoppy enough for any hophead to enjoy; while there is a substantial malt backbone, it is perceived more in the body and alcohol than in the actual flavor, which tends overwhelmingly towards hop bitterness and hop flavor. This is, according to the label, batch 7, brewed in February 2008, and 10.54% alcohol by volume (2 decimal places? is that really necessary?). I'd like for there to be a more complex hop aroma and more of a malt backbone. It also seems to me that it's a bit thick in mouthfeel for the style ("medium-light to medium body"-- this is definitely heavier than that). But there are no egregious faults in this beer, and it's very drinkable. 8/10

I scored it a 41/50, which puts it right in the middle of the "excellent" range (2nd highest) on the BJCP guidelines. I could be persuaded to go a bit higher than that (and initially did). A very nice beer.

Long time, no post

2008-01-10T17:58:00.001-05:00

It's not that I haven't been drinking beer lately, just haven't blogged about it. I'm going to try to get into a regular posting habit, especially since I just started my BJCP class. For those who aren't beer geeks, BJCP stands for Beer Judge Certification Program. The class runs for 12 weeks, at the end of which time I will take the exam. If I pass, I will become a Certified Beer Judge. One can then advance, earning points for each competition judged, and become a Grand Master and all kinds of other fun and geeky titles. Anyway, the class involves lots of beer tasting and beer evaluation. I'll learn lots of fun jargon and, more importantly, refine my palate and practice describing what I taste. So I plan to use my blog to practice some of the stuff I'm learning on beers I find.

Here's my live-blog (written as I go along) tasting of a new (to me) beer:

Tres Blueberry Stout, Dark Horse Brewing Company, Marshall, Michigan.

Appearance: inky black, utterly opaque; brown head appears and quickly leaves; incredibly thick as it pours

Aroma: pronounced blueberry aroma hits you even as you pour the beer; more typical stout aromas are present too (dark roasted malts).

Taste: a definite blueberry flavor blends seamlessly into the malt; a surprisingly high amount of hop bitterness; if you didn't smell the beer, I'm not sure you'd be able to identify blueberry, but it's definitely there. Quite interesting. Hints of spice, perhaps some chocolate and coffee.

Mouthfeel: doesn't taste as thick as it looks, but it definitely ain't thin. Hop bitterness lingers, blueberry doesn't: it's all on the front end and the nose.

Overall: a nifty beer. I've had blueberry beers before, but they've always been light. A blueberry stout is a new one for me, though I'm not surprised that it hasn't been done more. The blueberry really goes well with the stout flavors. Add this to the list of good fruits to blend with stout (I've had cherry and raspberry stouts that were superb).

My Favorite Beers

2007-08-22T18:37:00.001-04:00

I am really bad at favorites. "What's your favorite movie/book/food/beer/etc." is one of my least favorite questions, because I have a terrible time coming up with anything other than "ummm." I can come up with a list of favorites, but not a single favorite anything.

So, since I am often in the position of being a "beer authority" (i.e., I've drunk more beer than most people I know), I am relatively often asked about my favorites. Here's my attempt, more or less off the top of my head, to list some of them.

5 Favorite Breweries:

Bar Harbor Brewing Co., Bar Harbor, ME. Three words: Cadillac Mountain Stout.
Dogfish Head Brewing Co., Delaware; all of their many beers are interesting, most are amazingly good, among them Aprihop, 60-, 90-, and 120-minute Ales, World Wide Stout...
Bell's Brewery, Kalamazoo, MI. Two-Hearted Ale, a variety of incredible stouts (including the inimitable Cherry Stout), various crazy seasonals.
Three Floyds Brewing Co., Munster, IN. All of their beers are fantastic-- Alpha King (pale ale), Robert the Bruce (Scottish, natch), Alpha Klaus (Xmas porter)... if only we could get them here in Minnesota!
Surly, right here in the Twin Cities. Bender and Furious, their first two beers, are both delicious. Their first anniversary beer, One, was astounding. And I've heard that their seasonal imperial stout, Darkness (released at Halloween) is something special.

5 Favorite Brewpubs:

Minneapolis Town Hall. I'm not just being biased because I live so close by. It is legitimately one of the very best in the country. Their Masala Mama IPA is nectar from heaven. Their insane seasonals (Cabernet Stout? c'mon!) make each visit exciting.
McNeill's, Brattleboro, VT. Really the first brewpub I visited, and still one of my favorites. The beer is all very good, but the atmosphere is what sets it apart. The closest I've ever seen in this country to a real neighborhood pub-- there are usually kids, dogs, and all kinds of people sitting around the long tables, playing darts, and enjoying a pint.
Bosco's, Germantown, TN (now relocated). This was my regular place for the 5 years I lived in Memphis. I'm not just being sentimental, either-- their beer was excellent, and the atmosphere superb. Amazing bartenders who treated regulars like royalty-- free drinks and/or food, first-name service...
Amnesia, Portland, OR. The latest one to get added to my list. Great beer, great atmosphere (complete with a brewhouse dog).
Great Dane, Madison, WI. Incredible number of beers available, and all of them excellent. Great service. A lovely place... and thank goodness it's not too far away!

Also in contention: Franklin's, Hyattsville, MD; Magnolia, San Francisco, CA; Dogfish Head (the brewpub), Rehobeth Beach, DE, Three Floyd's (brewpub), Munster, IN.

Five Favorite Beer Bars:

Toronado, San Francisco, CA. We've only been there once, but any bar that has a barleywine festival with approximately 50 barleywines ON TAP... well....
Rich O's, New Albany, IN. Actually also a brewpub and a fine one at that, but they also have an amazing selection of other beer. And good atmosphere.
Michael's Bistro, Charlottesville, VA. A small but fabulous and ever-changing beer list. Introduced me to some of my favorite beers...
The Saloon, Washington, DC. Again, a small list, but with stuff you don't ever see elsewhere (Urbock?), and a wonderful atmosphere, amazing bartender, great regulars...
The Happy Gnome, here in St. Paul. Excellent list, changes often, and regular casks. We need to go here more but we usually end up at their sister establishment the Muddy Pig (also great list, but no casks).

Also in the running: the Map Room in Chicago, but too crowded; RFD in DC, tremendous selection but crappy service and no atmosphere; Racer's in Baltimore, MD, only been there once, but it seems like a great place (and Geoff would agree).

5 Favorite Beers Not Mentioned Elsewhere in This Post:

Anchor Liberty Ale, Porter, and Our Xmas Beer (Anchor is too big to really be a microbrewery, but darned if everything they make isn't incredibly good)
Weyerbacher Raspberry Imperial Stout-- doesn't it just sound delicious?
Victory Storm King Stout-- Victory's beers are all good, but this one is world class.
Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout-- seems I've gotten on a bit of a stout kick...
Tilburg Dutch Brown Ale-- the only non-American beer I'd cross the street for. Frequently in our house as a great session beer.

Did I miss any?

Drinking locally

2007-08-22T17:44:00.001-04:00

(cross-posted at The Menagerie)

Daniela has written about the "Eating Locally Challenge" in which we're participating this month. She mentioned in one post that we're trying to drink locally, too, so I thought I'd expound on that aspect a bit.

Drinking locally is quite easy here in the Twin Cities. We have Summit, one of the larger "craft breweries" (they say they're too large to be considered a microbrewery these days) around, whose beers are available just about everywhere-- even at the Metrodome (home of the Twins and Vikings).

Then there's Surly, which Beer Advocate recently named the best brewery in America. I'm not sure I'd go quite that far, but Surly is undeniably very very yummy stuff.

Just this year we've also added Flat Earth, a brand new brewery operating here in St. Paul. I just had their Angry Planet Organic Pale Ale and found it to be very tasty.

Minnesota also has a number of old breweries which somehow survived the massive consolidation of the 20th century-- Schell, Grain Belt (actually now brewed by Schell, but still), Stite, Gluek, to name a few. These breweries generally make beers in the American light lager category (ala Budweiser), but at least they're local! Then there are the micros located outside the Twin Cities metro area, like Lake Superior (Duluth).

And last but not least, included in the "local" category are beers from nearby Wisconsin. That means that even the crappy bar with nothing but lousy beer might have something local (Miller, anyone? or Pabst, or even Leinenkugel, though they're better than the other 2). Milwaukee was recently named America's drunkest city, (Twin Cities were #2!) and there's no shortage of beer made in Wisconsin. Putting aside the bad stuff, there are some great micros from the Cheesehead state too-- New Glarus, Furthermore (whose interesting smoked stout I'm drinking as I type), Sprecher, and Viking, to name a few locally available ones.

All in all, I'd guess that outside of the Pacific Northwest or northern California, we're probably in the best area for beer in the country. Or right up there... (if only we could get Three Floyds beer here, I'd have no problem with the previous statement)

Portland, Day Five

2007-07-05T16:04:00.001-04:00

I planned to do three quick stops on Day Five. Unfortunately, I arrived at my first stop, Roots Organic Brewing Company, only to find it closed until 3:00. I was there at 11:30, needing an early start and planning to eat some lunch and drink some beer! 3:00... geesh...

Fortunately, stop 2 was right around the corner (this happens frequently in Portland-- brew pubs practically on top of other brew pubs!)-- the Lucky Labrador. I ordered some lunch, which was excellent, and had a sampler of beer.

Another good-looking pub, a beer-hall atmosphere-- high ceilings, a piano, dartboards-- with a large patio (as the name suggests, it's apparently very dog friendly). Besides the great food (I had a delicious lentil soup and a half sandwich), this place has good beer. Of the samples I tasted, my notes say, "all good, none revelatory." That about sums it up. I tasted their Magnolia PA (IPA), Rose City Organic Red, Black Lab Stout and Stumptown Porter (liked these two the best), Super Dog (hoppy pale ale), Crazy Ludwig's Alt on cask, and Goat Rocks Maibock.

I hopped a bus to head to stop #2, my first foray into the McMenamins chain of brewpubs. Starting from a single brewpub in 1983, the McMenamin brothers have now opened more than 50 pubs and "gathering places" in Oregon and Washington. Perhaps the most unique among them is the Kennedy School. They bought this abandoned elementary school and turned it into a hotel, pub, and movie theater, while retaining much of its school building character (for example, many of the hotel rooms have chalkboards!). They even kept the elementary-sized water fountains:

It's a gorgeous building with beautiful grounds. I headed to one of the bars (called the Detention Bar and the Honors Bar) for a beer and some freedom fries.

I had an IPA (when in Portland...). It was good but not outstanding. But the atmosphere of the place was pretty neat... Would be a fun place to stay, I imagine, though it's not an especially convenient location.

That evening Daniela and I headed to yet another brewpub for dinner. Laurelwood NW Public House is a converted house and specializes in organic beer and locally sourced food. I didn't take notes, but I recall that the beer was (again) good but not mind-blowing, and the food was good as well. We had some excellent gelato for dessert at a litte place nearby...

And that was the end of my beer tour. I managed to visit 8 brewpubs and 1 beer bar in 5 days... not too bad, I suppose. My one major regret is that I didn't make it to Hair of the Dog's brewery. Next trip!

Portland, Day Four

2007-07-05T15:38:00.000-04:00

I decided to keep my plans modest for Thursday, following the difficulties arising from trying to do too much on Tuesday. So I had only 2 destinations: Widmer Brothers and Amnesia.

I took the light rail train to Widmer Brothers. This brewery is famous for its Hefeweizen, which one can find even here in Minnesota (saw it at the Xcel Center while we were there to see The Police!), but I wasn't about to waste my time on wheat beer. Nothing against the style-- it's just not my thing.

But I figured Widmer has been around a long time (est. 1984, I believe), so they must have some good beer. There was a promising beginning: as soon as I stepped out of the train, I could smell beer. Brewing beer. It's a delightful smell, and immediately confirmed that Widmer actually makes their beer at this location. The brewpub is plush and pleasant. I drank a nice pint of Broken Halo IPA, a solid if not thrilling example of the style. Given that I was not overwhelmed by my first beer, and that none of the other beers on offer seemed like one I couldn't live without, I decided to move on.

My next stop was a slightly less than 1 mile walk (made slightly longer by the fact that it was almost entirely uphill!) to Amnesia Brewing. You can read my review of the place on Beer Advocate here, but I'll repeat here as well: this is the best place I visited in Portland, and that's saying something.

It wasn't just the beer, though it was very good-- I especially liked The ESB, with lots of nice biscuity malt flavor, and the Copacetic IPA, exceedingly bitter with stunning grapefruit flavors. I also tried the Dusty Trail Pale Ale, Desolation IPA (darker and more alcoholic than Copacetic-- and gotta love a place with 2 IPAs on tap!), and Slowtrain Porter (yes, I had a sampler).

But it was also what an old drinking buddy of mine calls "the beer experience." Another place where the smell of brewing beer was quite strong-- as you can see in the above photo, the bar is mere steps from the brewery, with big bags of malt stacked next to the restrooms. The pub appears to have been a warehouse or garage of some sort.

There is a resident dog (above, named Leslie), and there were numerous other dogs outside, where a big tent covers a large seating area. There's also a big barbecue grill (in picture below, on the right), which is the only kitchen in the place-- they serve locally made sausages and burgers which smelled great, though I didn't try any.

All in all, a great neighborhood bar in what seems like a great neighborhood. This would be the place I'd want to live near if I lived in Portland....

Portland, Day Two and Day Three

2007-06-15T13:23:00.000-04:00

Since Day One was the day I flew into town, I didn't do too much. But Day Two was my first full day, and I had big plans. I decided to begin with a Portland institution, Rogue. They actually brew their beer in Newport, Oregon, but they have a nice pub in Portland, not too far from my hotel. Since the weather here has been beautiful all week, I set out to walk there.

I was not expecting to stay too long at Rogue-- after all, I've had most of their beers, since they're distributed nationwide, and while they're reliably good, I've never been blown away. I decided to order a sampler of the draft offerings. I started off with Dad's Little Helper, a malt liquor clearly meant to be a boozier version of a lawnmowing beer. Fairly light in color and not terribly complex in flavor, it packs a good alcoholic punch (7% or so). I should mention that the nice bartender actually started everyone who walked in with a free sample of this beer. So my actual sampler followed. Brutal Bitter, not so brutal, really; Kells Irish Lager, couldn't remember having tried this before, eh...; Imperial Red Ale, clearly lots of alcohol, a good dose of hops, tasty; and Shakespeare Stout, a classic, dark and thick and yummy.

What made me stay longer at Rogue than I had originally planned, besides the very friendly bartender, was the previously-unknown-to-me presence of Rogue microdistilled liquors. Turns out that Rogue's rums are made right here in Portland, upstairs from the pub, and that they offer a sampler of each of the liquors, and that there was a tour coming up about an hour after I arrived. So I ordered the sampler and stayed for the tour.

Rogue makes 4 spirits: a white rum, dark rum, hazelnut spice rum, and spruce gin. The bartender told me she wasn't sure how much she was supposed to pour for the sampler, so I think I got a bit more than Rogue would like. All were very good. I've had Dogfish Head's spirits at their microdistillery in Rehobeth Beach, Delaware, and loved them. It seems clear to me that microdistilling is the next great thing in American drinking, and that microdistilled spirits are to regular stuff what micro beers are to Bud. I especially liked the hazelnut spiced rum-- it has ginger as well as nuts, and it has a lovely earthy quality. Very nice. The gin is also quite good and would make an awesome gin-n-tonic, I imagine. The guy who gave the tour said that they're in the process of gaining distributing rights in Minnesota, so I'll keep my fingers crossed for this stuff to be available back home soon.

I rolled out of Rogue later and tipsier than planned, and walked to my next stop: BridgePort. This is another Oregon institution, calling itself Oregon's oldest craft brewery. It's a huge building, featuring a large bakery as well. They make a lot of beer, so I again ordered a sampler. I inquired whether the cask ales I had seen advertised were available on a sampler, and the bartender replied that she could put them on. I figured that I'd get 5 or 6 beers, including the casks. But no-- the sampler came out on a big tray with 13 beers! I had my work cut out for me...

I had the Haymaker Extra Pale Ale, Blue Heron Pale, ESB (draft and cask), Ropewalk Amber, Beertown Brown (also draft and cask), Hop Harvest (a seasonal), Old Knucklehead (barleywine), IPA (draft and cask), Black Strap Stout, and I guess one other.... it goes without saying that my notes were failing by this time. I liked the ESB, especially the cask version, the Hop Harvest, and the IPAs. And I had some great conversation with a man who sat down next to me-- about beer, books, politics, and other stuff. Mostly books and beer.

I really overdid it a bit on this day-- I was not feeling so well that evening, or even the next morning. So I took it easy on Day 3 to save energy for Days 4 and 5!

Day Three

As I mentioned, I was a bit out of sorts this day, so I did some reading in the morning and early afternoon and relaxed.

Then in the afternoon I did make it to one brewpub: the New Old Lompoc (odd name, the story of which you can read on their website). I had 2 pints here: the IPA, made with Centennial hops (just OK-- there are high standards for IPA in Portland, after all), and the LSD, or Lompoc Strong Draft. A cute name and a good beer-- 6.9%, quite dark, made with some smoked malt to give it a pleasant smokiness and a good bit of complexity. The owners or brewers of this place are big Red Sox fans-- they advertise that they have every Red Sox game available on TV and there were a group of Sox fans watching while I was there. So I relaxed with my beer and watched the baseball... unfortunately the Sox were getting beat.

Portland, Day One

2007-06-14T13:33:00.000-04:00

Beervana USA
Eric’s Tour of Portland
Day One (Monday)

I arrive while Daniela is in class, midafternoon, so I begin my tour straight away. I consult BeerAdvocate.com to see if I can find a bar or brewpub reasonably close to the hotel. I succeed. Henry’s 12th Street Tavern is a few blocks away, and incidentally, close to Powell’s World of Books (one of America’s greatest bookstores, don’tcha know). Henry’s is housed in a large brick building-- I discover later that it used to be the Henry Weinhard brewery. I take a seat at the nearly empty bar and am presented with the beer list (can be seen as a PDF here). It contains over 70 drafts. Wow. Nearly all of them are West Coast beers, and in fact, the vast majority are from Oregon. This means that almost all are new to me-- and anyone who has been to a beer bar with me knows that this is a rather rare occurrence. The only problem is that Henry’s, for reasons surpassing understanding, offers their beer in chilled pint glasses, even setting them on a little shelf of snow on the edge of the bar. This results in beer which is much too cold, and I spend a good bit of time with each of my first 2 pints grasping the glass with both hands and warming it up as best I can. Before my 3rd pint, I ask the bartender if I could get a non-chilled glass, and he readily complies.

I have a good time, drinking my beer and thinking about what I’ll order next-- so many choices! The list is full of breweries I’ve never even heard of: Amnesia, Elysian, Terminal Gravity, Mac & Jack’s, Laurelwood, Ninkasi, Indian Pelican, Skagit River, Walking Man, Eel River... A few I have heard of but never had: BridgePort, Full Sail, Deschutes. And just a few I know: Dogfish Head (the only East Coast brewery with more than 1 beer on the list; both 60- and 90-minute Ale are here), Victory (Prima Pils), and a few macro beers for the tasteless-- Bud, Bud Light, Bass...

All the beers I drank were on the “seasonal” part of the list-- I figured they were ones I’d be less likely to find elsewhere in Portland. I began with the Amnesia ESB. Amnesia is a Portland brewpub/micro and one I’d hear more about as my tour went on. It will merit its own stop later in the week. A nice ESB in the English style-- not too hoppy, lots of fruity ale flavor, drinkable but suitably complex. The hops emerge a bit more as the beer warms up from its arctic chill. A good start.

Next up was the Elysian Avatar Jasmine IPA. Yep, apparently it’s brewed with jasmine, which gives it some interesting exotic flavor and smell. Also not very hoppy-- I am on the West Coast, aren’t I?-- but a nice beer for summer drinking.

Third was Widmer Brewmasters’ Release W’07. My bartender explained that this is an annual brew made by Widmer Brothers which is made in a different style each year. Apparently the top brewers assign a style to the junior brewers, who then come up with a recipe which is tweaked by the top brewers and then brewed. This year’s is a Pale Ale made with all Cascade hops (that's what the bartender told me-- turns out he was lyin'..) It wasn’t a very pale Pale Ale-- I believe it was the darkest of the beers I had. Nice hop flavor and a stunning grapefruit bouquet right at the outset, with a hint of pine too. The beer tastes more balanced than the smell suggested. A good beer.

Day 2 was much more beer-filled than day one, so stay tuned!

A new Belgian to try...

2007-05-06T22:33:00.000-04:00

Lots of beer goings-on here in the Twin Cities. I knew when we decided to move here that there was a good beer scene, but I certainly didn't know it was this good.

A very good brand new brewery in St. Paul? Check.

Continued expansion of a wonderful 1 year old brewery outside Minneapolis? Yep.

Great beer festivals where all the local breweries and brewpubs show up? Uh huh.

And amazing beers at the local brewpub, like Cabernet Stout? You betcha.

But one also has to drink beer from other places. On my most recent trip to my favorite beer store, I noticed a Belgian beer that sounded interesting. I picked one up to look at it, just as the beer guy of the store walked into the cooler. He said that they had just received this beer and that it had only been in the store for 3 hours. I decided that I would have to be one of the first customers to try it.

It's called Urthel Hop-it, and according to the label it's a "Superior Hoppy Blond Ale."

The back of the label tell us this: "Following a visit to American Northwest in January, 2005, Hildegard returned to Belgium enthusiastic about all of the different IPAs she had tasted. With her passion for barley, hops, and yeast, she knew that she wanted to brew an IPA of her own, but it had to be special, with a real Flemish touch. Her touch!

Urthel Hop-It, Superior Hoppy Blond Ale, is a full and heart warming blond special ale. It's [sic] very hoppy, spicy, and fruity character makes Hop-it a desirable ale for Special Ale-passionate people."

Well, count me in as a Special Ale-passionate person. This is yummy beer. It has the typical lovely Belgian blond nose, with a hint of hops. The taste is similar, though the hops are even more prominent (especially as it warms). Sweet Belgian flavors mingle with bitter American-style hop goodness. It's quite the combination.

Twin Cities Beer

2007-01-27T16:37:00.000-05:00

It's been a long time since I last posted on this blog.... but there has been a lot happening lately, and some of it even relates to beer.

Since moving to St. Paul, I've been steadily sampling the multitude of beer newly available to me. The excellent beer culture here in the Twin Cities is (I kid you not) one of the reasons we chose to live here. Since moving here, I've discovered more about the beer scene, and all that I've found out has confirmed my favorable beer opinion about the Cities.

So.

On one of our first days here, we had lunch and drank some beer at the Muddy Pig (website apparently coming soon). This is a fine beer bar, with a lovely tap list and a good bottle list too. I didn't manage to steal a copy of the list, and it's been several days now, so of course I've forgotten what they had. I can't even remember what I had... ugh.

Within a week or so of moving, we also made our first trip as residents to the famous Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery, an amazing brewpub near downtown Minneapolis. I love this place. Their beer is incredible, especially the much-lauded Masala Mama IPA (the #1 American IPA on Beer Advocate). They also have a great selection, with 5 or so regulars (including the IPA) and 3 or so seasonals. Oh, and a couple of cask beers. We happened to go on a Tuesday night. Their special on that night is that every time you order a pint, you get a chance to win a free growler of your choice of beer. On my second pint, I won! I took home a growler of their Wee Heavy seasonal, a yummy high alcohol treat. Warms you up on those cold Minnesota nights... We'll be back to this place, many, many times.

We've also been to St. Paul's downtown brewpub, Great Waters. It was better than I remembered from previous trips. But next time, we won't go on a night the Minnesota Wild (our NHL team) are playing at home, or at least we'll go after the game has started...

I've been to a couple of liquor stores so far (since Minnesota does not allow alcohol sales in grocery stores) and bought some local beer. I knew about St. Paul's Summit Brewery, and have enjoyed some more of their beer, but I have only recently gotten to know Surly Brewing. It's located just outside the Twin Cities and is available on tap in lots of local bars, and in big cans. Yep, cans. I love it. They have two main beers, Furious, a well-hopped IPA, and Bender, a nice malty brown ale.

Today, I was at another Twin Cities beer bar, the Happy Gnome, and they had Surly One on draft. This is Surly's first anniversary beer. It's a strong lager (9 %) with candy sugar. Very dark, very sweet, raisins and fruit flavors, very very good. Speaking of very good, the Gnome's beer list is one of the best I've seen. Great variety, lots of local and regional stuff, seasonal... just about perfect. My only complaint is that my beer was rather too cold. When you're serving beer that appeals to beer nerds, you don't need to serve it at Bud temperatures. I'm just sayin'.

And yesterday I volunteered to help out at the Upper Mississippi Mash-Out, a huge homebrew competition sponsored by the Cities' two homebrew clubs, the Minnesota Home Brewers Association and the St. Paul Homebrewers Club. There were over 900 entries in the competition. Yikes. Next year I hope to enter and to be a judge.

That's my first 10 days of beer drinking in the Twin Cities in a nutshell.

Alpha King vs. Two-Hearted Ale

2006-11-04T16:43:00.000-05:00

After another long hiatus here at the Beer Blog, I've decided to do a side-by-side tasting I've been planning for a while.

It features two of my favorite pale ales, both of which happen to be made here in the midwest. In one corner, we have Three Floyds' Alpha King. In the other corner (pint glass, that is) we have Bell's Two Hearted Ale.

I'm doing this tasting "live," which mainly means that there's not any time lag during which I can not get around to writing up my observations.

I'll start off with the brewers' own observations. Two Hearted Ale's label says: "An India Pale Ale style well suited for Hemingway-esque trips to the Upper Peninsula. American malts and enormous hop additions give this beer a crisp finish and an incredibly floral hop aroma."

Three Floyds has this to say about the Alpha King: "A classic American pale ale with a bold citrus hop character-- Three Floyds flagship beer. The slight haze in this bottle is from bottle conditioning, where yeast is added to the bottle for a secondary fermentation."

Since I poured the two beers, the head on the Alpha King has nearly disappeared-- I didn't rinse the glass, so I can't say for sure that it's the beer's fault and not mine, but it's disappointing nonetheless. (I then had to take a break for a few minutes-- it's now probably been at least 30-45 minutes since I poured them, and the Two Hearted still has a lovely head!)

Color: Alpha King is quite a bit darker (I need a color wheel!), an amber color with a good bit of red. The Two Hearted is a light orange color, with pleasant bubbles rising up at a steady pace.

Aroma: Indeed, both have pleasantly floral hoppy aromas. Both also have a good malt aroma to back them up-- a real plus for me. Both aromas are definitely more floral than citrusy.

Taste: Of course, they're both very yummy. The Alpha King definitely has more malt behind all the hops, which to my mind is a very good thing. Both have lots of hop flavors and are none too bitter, another real plus-- too many American IPAs are overwhelmingly bitter, with less of the hop flavor and malt backbone.

Just checked Beer Advocate's rankings... Both of these beers appear on their list of the top 100 American beers, with Two Hearted at 44 and Alpha King at 50; on the style-specific rankings, Two Hearted is 5th for IPAs, and Alpha King is 1st for American Pale Ales. Interesting that they're in different categories... These are both truly outstanding beers made by masters of the brewer's art. The Alpha King may well be the finest pale ale/IPA there is (in a bottle, at least). The Two Hearted is awfully darned good as well. They both clock in at 6% abv, so one could easily drink a few at a sitting.

In short, since my beer-describing abilities seem to be at a low ebb right now, both of these are superb, but I'd choose Alpha King if forced.

Catching up...

2006-09-18T14:41:00.000-04:00

We've been on the road so much lately that by the time we get home, the last thing we want to do is blog about our travels.. this leads to a backlog (backblog?).

So:

Way, way, way back in May we went to Chicago to see a Cubs game. Of course there was a beer component to the trip. On the way to the Windy City we stopped in Munster, Indiana, home of Three Floyds Brewery (and not a whole lot else). But oh, the beer. Three Floyds makes some of the very best beer there is-- Alpha King, Robert the Bruce, etc., etc. Now I had hoped while there to try some of their legendary Dark Lord Imperial Stout, which had recently been released. But alas, I discovered that they sold out in about 4 hours. 4 hours. For.the.year.

No matter, I did get a Dark Lord t-shirt (pretty cool looking, I can tell you) and got to sample several beers at their cool pub which they don't sell elsewhere. I tried the Alpha Khan, similar to the Alpha King but even hoppier (and more citrusy), Brian Boru (a hopped-up version of Robert the Bruce), and I think Daniela had the Rabbid Rabbit (a saison). Great pub, amazing beer, really a must for any beer lover who's anywhere near Chicago.

Not long after that, in June, I went to Wisconsin for a wedding. You might know that Milwaukee was just named America's drunkest city. I did my part by drinking quite a bit of beer while there. But I also had to make a side trip for beer purposes only-- to Madison, Wisconsin, home of the University of Wisconsin and, I had heard, some great beer.

Yep.

I only went to one place (though I've heard and read about many other great ones), which Beer Advocate members seemed to agree was the best in town. That place was the Great Dane pub. Now, people who know me know that I like brewpubs and have been to quite a number of them. This may well be the best I've ever found.

On the day I visited, they had 17 beers on draft, including one on cask. You read that right-- 17 of their own beers.

I had my work cut out for me... I sampled nearly half of the offerings and all were outstanding. There was the Extra Pale Ale on cask, a lovely example of what kind of beer to have on the hand pull for maximum effect: wonderful cellar temp, beautiful hoppy nose, fruity and delicious.

There was the Tri-Pepper Pilsner, with habañero, poblano, and jalapeño peppers!

There was the Dark Mild, a great session beer with roasty flavors but light body.

There was the Vintage Ale, a sweet tripel type beer.

There was the "New Peculiar," an homage to the venerable Thackeson's Old Peculiar.

It was amazing... I could have spent days there.

I also went to several good bars in Milwaukee, but nothing to compare to this place....

Almost caught up!

Oktoberfest, Part 1

2006-09-15T17:51:00.000-04:00

Tonight's tasting:

Hofbräu vs. Paulaner. (can't find my "beer journal," so I'm just typing as I taste!)

Hofbräu tasting notes: unfortunately, the initial aroma is that green bottle skunkiness. Fortunately, it seemed to dissipate quickly enough and leaves a pleasant enough smell: a hint of malt, a sort of lager cleanliness.

The color is a (in my wife's words) shocking yellow. A hint of amber, but mostly straw-colored.

It tastes good. These folks have been at it for a while (since 1589, according to the label) and they know what they're doing. It's a clean, crisp, smooth beer, with that malty sweetness one looks for in an Oktoberfest beer, though it's not quite as malty as I prefer these beers to be. Quite fizzy as German beers tend to be, but not annoyingly so.

Paulaner notes: These johnny-come-lately's (only since 1634, the rookies) put their beer in the much-preferable brown bottle. The beer is a whole lot darker than the Hofbräu, with a much more intense aroma of toasty malt. It's a nice amber color, with very good lace and decent head retention.

Quite a bit more malty, and definitely a darker malt flavor. It's still well-balanced and clean, as you'd expect a German lager to be. Maybe even a bit more carbonated than the previous beer-- that aspect of German beers can get old if you're drinking a few...

The darker malt and overall malt profile is more hinted at than delivered, and leaves me wishing for more. At first whiff I thought I was going to really love this beer, but let's just say I'm still on the market for that perfect Oktoberfest.

I bought several more singles at the store today, along with a bunch of pumpkin beers and the odd fall seasonal, so there should be more to come.

My lovely wife likes the Hofbräu better, she says....

Beer trip: Washington

2006-05-07T18:01:00.000-04:00

We went to Washington for the Nationals' home opener (got to boo Dick Cheney as he threw out the first pitch, quite ineptly). Of course we went to our favorite Washington restaurant, Dukem. It's Ethiopian cuisine, one of our favorite types of food, and it's the best in the area (though there are many who would disagree, Washington having dozens of fine Ethiopian and Eritrean restaurants). As far as beer goes, if you haven't tried Ethiopian beer, you'll want to do so. My favorite is Hakim Stout, a really good export stout, though the Harar lager is worth tasting too-- it has a nice hint of honey.

But before dinner we had to go to my favorite D.C. bar, The Saloon. It's on the rapidly gentrifying U St., near Ben's Chili Bowl. The Saloon does not have the most impressive beer list in DC (that would probably be the Brickskeller or its cousin R.F.D.), though it's very good and contains beers not to be found anywhere else in town (like Urbock).

What the Saloon has is atmosphere. Not to mention the best bartender I've ever known, Robert. There are lots of regulars and they are very friendly. There are no TVs at the Saloon and the music is not loud. It's all about chatting, with Robert, with Commy the owner, with fellow patrons. This is a place with a character all its own. Witness the following aphorisms, all of which can be found on the main page of the Saloon's menu:

"We do not sell any martini's" (large, in bold face!)
"If for some reason you do not like beer... try our Hot Spiced Wine or Wine Breeze."
"Good Company for a beer: German Apple Schnapps" (and indeed, it is.)
"Please, No Beer for an Empty Stomach: Pistachios $3.00"
"Have a few sips before you order your food-- you might make a better decision." (Commy is quite serious about this, and will generally not allow you to order before you've had half a beer or so)
"Speak softly: Others might not be interested in what you are saying."
"No standing at the bar please."

There are also similar signs around the bar and the rest of the place. It's a unique place.

The beer is generally German (on draft; there is an extensive selection of Belgian beer in bottles) and often stuff you don't normally see elsewhere. The food is standard pub fare, though if you're lucky, the owner might bring you some ethnic specialties.

I miss the Saloon....

Next up: next weekend we're going to Chicago, with a stop first at Three Floyd's Brewery!

Beer trip: New York and Indianapolis

2006-05-07T17:35:00.000-04:00

In trying to find the Brooklyn Brewery, which it turns out doesn't have a brewpub and thus was closed when we went there (on a weekend), we ended up at Mug's Ale House, a very fine bar. I can't remember all the beers we had, but most were local stuff-- despite New York's deserved reputation for not really being a good beer town, there is more and more locally made beer in the metro area. The Brooklyn Brewery makes a lot of very fine beer, and several of the other beers we tried at the Ale House were very good. I should have taken notes....

We then went across the street to a fine Polish restaurant, where we enjoyed kielbasa and pierogies for cheap-- entrees at this place were 7 and 8 dollars (with side dishes included). Crazy!

We flew from New York back to Indianapolis. The next day, we were to fly to Washington, D.C., for the Nationals' home opener. So it didn't make sense to drive back to Bloomington for 1 night. We got a hotel room at the airport and went out to dinner at our favorite Indy restaurant-- Brugge Brasserie. A Belgian restaurant and brewpub in Indiana. Hard to believe, eh? But not only does it exist, it is very very good.

The food is great-- especially if you like mussels (I don't). I do enjoy the pommes frittes, which you get with your choice of delicious dipping sauces. And the crepes are excellent ('course, it's hard to mess up crepes).

And then there's the beer. All Belgian style beers. All very good. When I went for the first time, I was disappointed that there weren't more beers available. No such worries this time. The new ones for me were: first, The Black, a dark (duh) beer, great head retention, a big winey, fruity nose. Daniela smelled blackberry jam, I thought I noted chocolate notes. A wine-like, intense, thick and delicious beer.

Next, Saison d'etre, Brugge's take on the catchall Saisson style. A nice cloudy straw color, lots of banana in the nose, along with (Daniela put her finger on it) fresh asparagus (!). You might think that such a scent would be unpleasant in a beer, but it wasn't out of place in this one. A fairly sweet, light, and pleasant beer.

Then, finally, the Quadripple (the name a takeoff on Brugge's Broad Ripple neighborhood ). This beer is alleged to be 11.5%. Some anise in the nose, along with evident alcohol. The alcohol is not overwhelming on the palate, however-- the malt sweetness masks it well. My notes are a bit foggy by this point, though I reported not being too blown away by this beer. The Black was definitely our favorite.

More beer travels: Maine

2006-05-07T17:08:00.000-04:00

As I sit here sipping a Dogfish Head Aprihop Ale (truly one of the sublime delights of the season), I'm catching up on my recent beer travels. At the beginning of April, we went to Maine, Connecticut, New York, and Washington, D.C., in a span of 2 weeks. Just prior to that, I had gone to Atlanta and Macon, Georgia, for a weekend.

First, let me dispense with the Georgia part of the trip. As is the case with Memphis, Georgia is not generally thought of as a beer mecca, but there are things worth seeking out there. Of note are the Sweetwater Brewing Company in Atlanta, makers of damned fine beer and awfully nice folks (I've spent several days "working" there in exchange for beer, a practice which in their earlier days was probably more widespread than it is now), and Manuel's Tavern, an historic bar near the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library (see this).

After a hellish trip back from Atlanta (flight delays), we set off for Maine, to do some wedding planning. Of course, no trip to Bar Harbor would be complete without a visit to our friends at the Bar Harbor Brewing Company, Tod and Suzi Foster (no relation). Suzi happened to be in Europe while we were visiting, but Tod was kind enough to chat for a while and to let us taste his two newest beers, which will be released this summer. I should mention that those who are coming to our wedding will have the chance to taste all the goodness that Tod and Suzi produce, since Bar Harbor Brewing is the sole provider of beer at our wedding reception.

I've somehow lost my tasting notes on these beers, so I'll have to go on my month-old recollection. The first new beer is a blueberry ale. It's almost mandatory for Maine brewers to have a blueberry beer (though Sweetwater in Atlanta makes what may be the best one I've ever tried), so it was not really a surprise that BHBC decided to wade into this market.

Their blueberry beer is based on the Harbor Lighthouse Ale, an English mild which also forms the base for their ginger and peach flavored ales. Blueberry beers don't especially excite me, but this is a very nice one. The blueberry flavor is subtle and the beer is not too sweet. It's light, refreshing, and will taste very good on a hot summer day.

Then there's the as-yet-untitled "special amber." This beer was envisioned as a barleywine, but apparently it didn't quite end up with high enough gravity. But the finished product was yummy and Tod liked it. So "special amber" it is. It is about 8% alcohol as I recall, and one certainly notices the punch, though not so much as to be unpleasant. It has a very lovely deep amber color and lots of malty sweetness. Despite only coming in the trademark large bottles, it's definitely a sipping beer.

Of course we also had some of the out-of-this-world Cadillac Mountain Stout, the best selling and most acclaimed beer BHBC makes. I've written about it before. It is the beer I'd most like to be stranded on a desert island with. In fact, if I could be guaranteed a lifelong supply of it, I'd volunteer for desert island stranding, I think...

A few pictures of the Maine trip can be found on our other blog.

Memphis Trip (from March)

2006-05-07T16:39:00.000-04:00

Ugh. I tried to post some stuff regarding our trip to Memphis two months or so ago, but my web browser repeatedly crashed. After 2 or 3 attempts where all my beer writing disappeared into the ether, I gave up. But in the spirit of spring cleaning, I'll try to clean up some beer related clutter.

First, Memphis. Memphis is not really known as a beer town-- Elvis, yes. Barbecue, you bet. But you'd probably imagine that the non-Budweiser beer selections would be pretty slim. And for the most part, you'd be right.

But Memphis, where I lived for 5 years, does have its redeeming beer qualities. And foremost among them is Bosco's. Bosco's began with one brewpub in Germantown (a suburb of Memphis), though it now stretches from Nashville to Little Rock and has 3 locations (the original Germantown one having closed down).

What has always really impressed me about Bosco's is that it really created a market for good beer in Memphis. When Bosco's first opened (a few years before I moved to Memphis) it served mostly what I call "entry-level" beers-- a cream ale, a lager, an amber, etc.

But as time went by and it built up a clientele, the beers became more and more serious. A fine IPA. A porter. Stouts of various kinds. Scottish ale. Wee heavy. 90 schilling ale. And so on. In the fullness of time Bosco's began to feature cask-conditioned ale occasionally. Now each location taps a cask every weeknight at 5:00. All bar patrons for the hour or so before get raffle tickets with each pint of beer. At 5:00 a Cellerman is chosen by lot. The Cellerman helps tap the cask, gets a commemorative glass, and enjoys a free first pint of the cask. Then each year there is a Cellerman of the Year party for all the previous year's winners. One lucky cellerman gets an all-expense-paid trip to the Great American Beer Festival.

It's a great idea that more brewpubs should adopt.

Anyway-- no trip to Memphis would be complete without spending some quality time at Bosco's. It happened to be St. Patrick's Day when we were there, so we drank some yummy Irish style stout. I also tried just about all of Bosco's other beers-- a couple of great IPAs, a Scottish ale, maybe a porter. My memory was a bit hazy the next day, and now nearly 2 months later, it's hard to recall. But a good time was had by all.

Bosco's practically had a seat with my name on it for a number of years. And it's always good to visit, even if all the bartenders I knew have moved on.

Oh, and by the way-- we ate a lot of Memphis barbecue while we were in town. The Rendezvous, Corky's, the Cozy Corner, the Germantown Commissary. Yum.

Shallo's in Indy

2006-03-21T22:43:00.000-05:00

My boss took Daniela and me to Shallo's Restaurant and Brewhouse, located just outside of Indianapolis, before the John Prine concert (which was amazing).

This is a damned nice place. The food was good. The beer selection was outstanding. Daniela had some Bell's Porter and Young's St. George's English Ale.

I'm having a hard time remembering what I had-- it was a while ago now. I believe I had some sort of IPA, perhaps from Founder's, on draft. Also Arrogant Bastard on draft, a beautiful thing. And I had some Flying Dog Gonzo Porter in a bottle. The Gonzo is a truly lovely beer. It's 9.5% ABV, it's dark and deep and luscious. It's a limited edition. I bought the last big bottle of it that was available in Bloomington (or so the guy at Big Red Liquors told me). It's now available in regular sized bottles, and you'll want to pick some up if you can.

After that, things start to get a bit hazy. But suffice it to say: if you're in the neighborhood, you'll want to go to Shallo's. It's a good place.

Founder's Breakfast Stout

2006-03-09T21:18:00.000-05:00

I bought this beer because I loved the name. I've had mixed experiences with Founder's, a brewery in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Their beers are fine, but I've never really been blown away by one.

This seasonal offering clocks in at 8.3%, a heavy hitter to be sure. It's gotten some great reviews (Beer Advocate has it rated the 9th best beer in the world, #4 in America; 22 and 15 respectively on RateBeer).

It is a very interesting beer, but I can't quite muster the enthusiasm of the larger beer rating community. Perhaps my standards for stout are higher... After all, I've drunk more than my share of the inimitable Cadillac Mountain Stout, which Beer Advocate ranks only #27 in America, but which is the perfect beer in my book. I'm also a big fan of the Victory Storm King, Bell's various stouts, and the Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout. And I should mention here that I'm already counting the days till I get to try Dark Lord Super Imperial Stout (April 29th) from the geniuses at Three Floyds. Dark Lord is a 13% abv monster, and since I'm on a bit of a ratings kick, I'll mention that Beer Advocate has it as the 3rd best beer in the universe.

But back to the Breakfast Stout. Its name comes from the fact that it's loaded with coffee-- Sumatra and Kona, so they say. There's lots of dark roasted coffee in the nose, and it also makes up the biggest part of the taste. I get some nice bitter chocolate and a little malty sweetness as well.

I guess what makes it less than perfectly satisfying for me is a certain lack of balance (just too much coffee-- and that's saying something coming from me) and a slightly thin mouthfeel.

Don't get me wrong: it's a good beer and ambitious. But it's not something I'll go looking for.

Anderson Valley Winter Solstice

2006-02-20T13:49:00.000-05:00

What a great beer-- another super seasonal and another superb offering from Anderson Valley.

Gorgeous amber color, crystal clear (it's almost too pretty to drink), nice creamy head-- some hop aroma, nice malt notes, some spice.

The beer is very well balanced, with flavors of hops, malt, and quite exotic spices. Vanilla for sure and some wood. Some others I have trouble identifying.

Yum, baby. Very yum.

Avery Old Jubilation

2006-01-25T13:43:00.000-05:00

Here are my first attempts at beer photography... This is Avery's Old Jubilation. In my favorite beer glass. I bought a six-pack of this stuff on a whim recently, and I have to say it's one of the better purchases I've made. This is a truly superb beer, especially for the price. It's absolutely gorgeous to look at, which is why I was inspired to photograph it. I think the results are mixed, but hopefully you get some idea-- it has a lovely mahogany brown color, and pours with a nice tan head. The nose is mostly malt, with a touch of alcohol (it's 8%, so I suppose it figures) and a hint of spice.

Malt, malt and more malt: that's what you get from this beer. It's not particularly boozy (once you get past the nose) and not especially thick in mouthfeel. But the complexity of malty flavors is quite nice. And it improves substantially as it warms (a benefit of my beer glass is that one doesn't have to wait too long for this to happen). A great winter beer.

Trip to Nashville, Tennessee

2006-01-20T12:44:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we took a roadtrip to Nashville-- the one in Tennessee was our destination, though we passed through Nashville, Indiana, too. About a 4 1/2 hour drive-- not too bad.

We went to see a Bela Fleck and the Flecktones show. If you don't know me well enough to know (both of you out there), the Flecktones are my very favorite band. This was an interesting show, featuring the Nashville Symphony. First the symphony played some pops tunes, then the Flecktones came on and played some by themselves, then they played a few together, then some Flecktones, then more together. Not all the songs were signficantly improved by having a backing symphony, but several of them sounded really great. Now the countdown is on till the new 'Tones album is released...

But.

More to the point of this blog, we had dinner Friday night at Bosco's in Nashville. This was a great walk down memory lane for me. While I lived in Memphis, Bosco's was my regular bar. The Memphis place was the original Bosco's. They then opened a brewpub in Nashville, then another one in Memphis, then they closed the original one, and finally they opened another location in Little Rock.

Bosco's is a remarkable place. They opened a brewpub in Memphis when most people there had never heard of microbrewed beer. They started out making fairly basic beers, including a very marketable "Flaming Stone Beer," based on a very old extinct brewing method.

They built up a following and then gradually expanded the palate of their customers, making more and more bold beers. They now make a lot of very good beer, including a lovely IPA and a great Scottish-style ale. They also have cask-conditioned beer every weeknight. The cask is tapped at 5:00 by a lottery-drawn cellerman, who gets a special glass, the first pint, and an invitation to an end-of-year party. This is a great promotion that more brewpubs should copy-- starting with my current regular place, Upland.

So I drank several cask-conditioned IPAs. Delicious. Also had a Wee Heavy Ale, which is an amped-up version of their regular Isle of Skye Scottish Ale. Oh, and the food is pretty good too.

Latest batch of homebrew...

2006-01-11T20:41:00.000-05:00

I tried a bottle of my "imperial porter" tonight-- first one I've had in several weeks.

I think it's improved substantially since the last one. This beer was brewed with a rather large amount (1/2 lb.) of molasses, and initial tastings found the molasses flavor to be very prominent, if not overwhelming. I hoped then that with some aging the molasses would blend in a bit more.

My hopes have been realized. The beer looked great (very nice head, good color), smelled excellent (some hops, even a bit of coffee?), and tasted nice. Still molasses, but much better balanced with good malt flavors and some hops. Smooth. I'm very happy with the way this beer has turned out.

Here's the recipe, for those who beer geekiness extends that far:

3.3 lbs. Light Malt Extract, 3.3 lbs. Amber, 3.3 lbs. Dark
1/2 lb. 60' L Crystal malt
1/4 lb. Cara Vienna Malt
1/4 lb. Carafa Malt
1/2 lb. molasses
3 1/4 oz. Saaz (boil)
1/2 oz. Saaz (finishing)
White Labs High Gravity Ale yeast (2 pt. starter)
O.G. 1.076
F.G. 1.027

Brewed 11/13/05, bottled around 12/1.

Trip to Indy

2006-01-07T20:11:00.000-05:00

Just got back from a short trip to Indianapolis, where we visited (for the 2nd time) Buffalo Wild Wings downtown. Now if you're not an Indiana beer geek, you might be wondering why one would go to such a place looking for beer. I didn't manage to take home a menu, but here are a few of the beers I remember them having on tap today:

Bell's Double Cream Stout (hand-pulled, no less)
J.W. Lees Harvest Ale, aged in Sherry Casks (also on the hand pull-- more on this below)
Bell's Two Hearted
Bell's Sparkling Ale (Bell's calls it an American Triple-- I've had it in bottles and it's pretty interesting)
Three Floyds Robert the Bruce
Three Floyds Alpha King
He'brew Jew-belation (holiday ale-- very yummy)

Well, you get the idea. They have about 40 taps all together, and they're mostly like the ones I've listed (only a few crap beers).

They also have a bunch of bottled stuff, including several different "vintage" beers, like Bell's stouts from 4 or 5 years ago.

Now don't get me wrong-- the place looks just like you'd expect it to look (with the exception of all the taps behind the bar). It's thoroughly chain-restaurant, sportsbar, blech. But the beer. Oh, my, the beer.

They even serve their beer at true beer geek temperatures-- not too cold for the regular drafts, and positively cellar-temperature for the casks.

That JW Lees Harvest Ale is truly sublime-- creamy, tons of wood, some definite sherry flavors, ridiculously complex and smooth. It's worth the trip all by itself.

I also had Robert the Bruce (that's what I'm drinking in the photo) from the amazing folks at Three Floyds. It's a Scottish style ale, but like all Three Floyds beer it has lots of hops. Not sure I've had it on draft before. I definitely enjoyed it.

Then of course I stole samples from my drinking companions (my fiancee Daniela and our friend Ingrid). The Jewbilation was excellent (I'd had it this year in the bottle but it was definitely different on draft)-- lots of butterscotch, dark and rich with great complexity. And the Bell's Double Cream Stout was marvelous on the hand pull-- as the name might suggest, it's plenty chewy, outrageously malty, lots of crystal malt and other dark toasty roasty yumminess.

What a great place....