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Duck-Rabbit Rabid Duck

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Slaying ducks. It's not quite like slaying Loons or whales (and certainly not .rar walez), but it'll do in a pinch:

Duck-Rabbit Rabid Duck

Duck-Rabbit Rabid Duck - Pours a deep black color with a couple fingers of fluffy dark tan head. Smells faintly of roasted malt, but oddly enough, a fair amount of fruit coming through in the nose as well as chocolate and caramel, really quite nice. That roast hits first and much more prominently in the taste, but a sweet sorta chocolate covered fruit flavor emerges in the middle leading back into some dark, toasted malt character and dry bitterness in the finish. The fruity character was unexpected, and there's some additional flavors floating in here and there, like maybe licorice or something (rabies-infested ducks? Needs more duck.) Mouthfeel is well carbonated, medium to full bodied but with a brightness from the fruity character that makes this seem lighter than it is. Overall, this is quite an unusual duck. Not like anything I've had before and though it's not really lighting my world on fire, I'm really happy I tried it. B

Beer Nerd Details: 10% ABV bottled (12 oz) Drank out of a snifter on 11/10/12.

I think I was expecting more out of a RIS from self-billed "dark beer experts" than what I got here, but it was fine. Still, it sorta pales in comparison to some recent tastings. Stay tuned for a tale of two bottle releases, coming tomorrow...

Novembeer Club

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Tonight was beer club, a meeting of beer minded individuals from my work who get together once a month to share good beer, a good meal, and good company! We typically congregate at a local BYOB to share all our brews and wines and whatnot. As per usual, much merriment was had by all, lots of beer and wine and good food. It ended up being a rather small gathering by our normal standards, but still plenty of fantastic beer shared by all.

Novembeer Club
(Click for bigger image)

For the sake of posterity, some thoughts on each beer are below. Standard disclaimers about the fact that I wasn't in a sensory deprivation chamber whilst tasting these, and in a lot of cases, I was only sampling rather small pours, but whatevers. Take these descriptions with a grain of salt if you're really concerned, but you really shouldn't be, because I'm pretty awesome. Or not. Whatever. Here's what I had (in order of drinking, not necessarily in order of the picture above):

  • Kaedrin Abbey Dubbel - My homebrewed abbey dubbel style beer seems to still be conditioning, though it's getting better every week. Right now, it's quite tasty, if a bit boozy, and the carbonation doesn't seem to have fully taken hold of the brew. This is actually somewhat expected, given that the brew came in much stronger than I had originally intended. I suspect this will be drinking fabulously in a few weeks or so... I wll refrain from rating right now, just cause I want to give it some more time to mature...
  • Turkey Drool Homebrew - A friend of a friend of a friend contributed this homebrew, which actually seemed to fall a little flat, especially when compared with other brews we had tonight. There didn't seem to be any off flavors, per say, but on the other hand, what was there was very subtle if not non-existent. From the ingredient list, I was expecting much more out of this. Again, not the worst thing evar and certainly drinkable, but also completely forgetable. C+
  • New Belgium Snow Day - A strange, but mostly enjoyable brew. BeerAdvocate classifies it as an American Black Ale, but I would say that it's more of hoppy red ale than that implies. Maybe some winter warmer base here, but quite a nice hop character to it. Overall, very drinkable stuff, a nice hop presence, but it's not going to light the world on fire either. B
  • Great Lakes Christmas Ale (2011) - Kaedrin friend Dana procured this last year, and has held on to it since then. Apparently a highly sought after beer, this is a very light colored winter warmer style offering, reminiscent of a deeper English pale ale that doesn't quite contain any of that diacetyl character I associate with it. Sweet, a very light spiciness, flavorful, but not quite blowing me away either. I can see why this is a prized holiday brew, but it's not something I go out of my way for... B
  • Westmalle Trappist Tripel - A classic, which I have already reviewed in detail. For the most part, it's as good as evar. On a personal level, I've cooled somewhat on the tripel style, though I still quite enjoy one every once in a while... A
  • Kona Pipeline Porter - Holy coffee, Batman! This is apparently a porter, but it's heavily influenced by coffel flavors all throughout, sorta light a lighter Founders Breakfast Sout. I'm not really a fan of coffee or porters in general, so it's pretty amazing that I didn't tink of this as the worst thing I've ever tasted. It's actually pretty solid and goes down easily. That being said, I don't think I'd ever really seek to try this again... B-
  • Weyerbacher Winter Ale - Another beer I've had and reviewed before. For the most part, my feelings remain unchanged. It's a fine beer, a pretty standard winter warmer, but I'd like to see more complexity and flavor out of this one. B
  • Monk's Café Flemish Sour Red Ale - One of my contributions for the night, this is one of those beers often recommended to sour newbies, and it actually did seem to go over really well with the beer club folks, even those who don't go in for normal beertastic stuff. A nice malt backbone and sweet fruit character followed by a very slight sourness that nevertheless cut through and made this one of the more flavorful brews of the night. Overall, definitely a nice beginners sour beer, something I'll probably try again at some point as well... B+
  • Nebraska Hop God - Reserve Series Aged In French Oak Chardonnay Barrels - Yet another of my contributions for the night, this one turned out to be interesting, if not quite what I expected from a beer called "Hop God". Hops certainly play a role in the flavor profile, but it's mostly defined by that oak Chardonnay character, with some booze peeking through as well. It's really quite nice, though I wish I had a better palate for white wine. B or B+
  • Victory Storm King Stout - Once again, we get a beer I've had before. It's a beer I've come to appreciate more and more over the years, but I still wouldn't rate it among the highest imperial stouts. Still a solid stout with a big hop presence. B+
  • Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout - My last contribution for the night, this is just as good as it was the last time I had it. Beer club peeps seemed to enjoy, though there were a couple that don't particularly enjoy those bourbon flavors, and thus didn't care for this. Me, I'll leave it at an A.
And there you have it. Another successful outing, as per usual. Alas, we didn't get to all the beers we brought (I was particularly interested in Lancaster's Winter Warmer, but I'm sure I'll catch up with it sometime). Already looking forward to next month and some more holiday brews...

Mikkeller Barrel-Aged Black Hole

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In anticipation of Red Wednesday, I figured it might be a good idea to check out some non-sour beers aged in red wine barrels. This one is part of a series of beers, all aged in different types of barrels. While the version aged in Scotch whisky barrels apparently represents a "scorching oral douche", all the other variations seem to be pretty well received, including this red-wine version:

Mikkeller Barrel Aged Black Hole (Red Wine Edition)

Mikkeller Barrel-Aged Black Hole (Red Wine Edition) - Pours a thick-looking, very dark brown (almost black) color with a solid finger of light brown head. Smells sugary sweet, dark caramel and roast malt aromas, something bright that I assume is the doing of the red wine, and that oak is adding a nice rich complexity to the nose too. The taste is... whoa... yeah, that happened. Starts off very sweet followed by a big wallop of oak, then a bit of those astringent red wine tannins kick in, finishing off with mellow roast and coffee notes. Each of those flavors hits at a discrete point in the taste. One flavor hits, then fades as the next flavor rides in, only to give way to another, and so on... It's like I'm drinking a boxing match. Fortunately, most of these flavors work well. Mouthfeel is full bodied and chewy, but not overwhelmingly so. There's an acidic tannin kick in the mouthfeel, presumably from the red wine, but it's not sour or even tart in any way (as expected). Overall, I'm really enjoying this unique, complex beer, though I don't know that it's something I'd hit up often. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 13.10% ABV bottled (375 ml capped). Drank out of a snifter on 11/9/12.

I am now officially excited for Red Thunder, as I think this sort of treatment might be better integrated into a slightly less hot base beer, but I guess we'll find out. I'm sure I'll pick up more of these Black Hole variations (in particular, it seems the Cognac version is popular) at some point, but I wouldn't expect to see that anytime soon. My cellar is becoming unruly again.

DuClaw Retribution

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Due to the inherent variability in aging beer, most barrel aged liquids are actually blended together before bottling time. Those angels are thirsty, but they don't drink equally from each barrel, not to mention that moron Randy from Accounting1 who is constantly trying to sneak a sample of your latest barrel aged brew.

This is generally the case with anything aged in barrels. Some of the complexity in Scotch comes from the fact that different barrel types and ages are blended together into the final product. Of course, there are beers that are all about the blend too, like Gueuzes, and there are others that are blends of completely different beers (a la Firestone Anniversary beers). But even your lowly, garden-variety bourbon barrel aged stout gets some blending love (i.e. the contents of each barrel are combined into one mass) before bottling, thus evening out the batch and ensuring some form of consistency.

Naturally, there are exceptions. I have a bottle of Balvenie 15 that is utterly superb, but that's a Scotch bottled from single barrels. No blending. They don't even claim consistency and actually use the variability as a selling point: "Each bottle is unique and unrepeatable." This appears to be DuClaw's strategy for Retribution, a single barrel bourbon aged imperial stout. Let's see how that turned out for them.

DuClaw Retribution

DuClaw Retribution - Pours a very dark amber brown that pretty much looks black once poured out, with half a finger of light brown head. Smells strongly of bourbon, with some vanilla, caramel, and oak asserting themselves. The taste is extremely sweet, with plenty of that bourbon and vanilla character, some caramel, a little chocolate, and plenty of sticky booze in the finish. Mouthfeel is sticky, medium bodied, boozy, a little light on carbonation (but just barely enough to make this palatable). Maybe a bit on the cloying side as I near the end of the bottle. Overall, it's a fine barrel aged beer, but not among the top tier. I wonder if it would have been better fresh (or if barrel 8 was a dud). B

Beer Nerd Details: 9% ABV?2 bottled (22 oz. bomber). Drank out of a snifter on 11/4/12. Label sez: Date in Barrel: 03/11/2011. Date Out of Barrel: 09/19/2011. Barrel No. 08 of 20.

So I like DuClaw and ultimately enjoyed this, but they're no Balvenie. Despite the assumed variability, I'm not sure I want to pick up other bottles of this, though I wouldn't mind sampling it if I ever end up in one of their brewpubs or something. Also, they apparently make something called Divine Retribution which is a blend of Retribution and their massive 21% ABV Colossus. Yikes.

1 - If you are reading this post and your name is Randy, I apologize. Obviously I don't mean you. No Randys were harmed in the composition of this post.

2 - The bottle I have in front of me right now sez 9% ABV, Beer Advocate and Ratebeer say 10.5%, and DuClaw's website clocks it at 11.5%. Perhaps barrel 8 really did suck and only came in at 9%, or this 2011 batch came in lower than expected or something.

The Oak Bolleville

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Picobrouwerij Alvinne is a relatively new and tiny (apparently several orders of magnitude smaller than a typical micro-brewery, which is pretty small by itself) brewery in Belgium. They make the typical Belgian styles (blonde, bruin, tripel, saison), but they seem to have garnered international attention by hitting up less common Belgian styles, like imperial stouts, and by experimenting with barrel aging and blending.

My initial experience with Alvinne was with The Oak Melchior, and it was a pleasant enough experience that I picked up another bottle from their oak series. Unfortunately, this beer doesn't quite live up to the promise of that first beer, even when it comes to the abstract stuff. It's named after an obscure commune in France (rather than after Biblical fan-fiction) and "The Oak Bolleville" just doesn't roll off the tongue as well as "The Oak Melchior" (no Robert Loggia impressions needed here). Unfortunately, what's in the bottle hasn't fared so well either.

On paper, it seems like it would be great. The base beer is a Russian Imperial Stout called Mano Negra which is aged in barrels formerly used to age Cognac for 10 years and Calvados (apple brandy) for 8 years. This is the same treatment that Melchior got, and I enjoyed the results of that one fair enough. The nose had a sour twang to it, but the taste took on some interesting oak character (without any real sourness). This was unusual, but I remember wondering what the same treatment would do to a bigger, darker beer. Alas, things did not quite turn out so well:

Alvinne The Oak Bolleville

Picobrouwerij Alvinne The Oak Bolleville - Pours a very dark brown color with beautiful ruby red highlights and minimal head. Smells a little on the funky side, that prickling sensation I associate with sours comes through clearly, maybe a little oak and booze along for the ride too. Taste is sweet, with the small amount of sourness peeking through. Unfortunately, that sourness cancels out most of the other flavor that I'd expect in a beer like this. It feels like all those constituent flavors are waging a war against one another and what's left in the end is mellow and a little vinegary. Mouthfeel is distressingly thin, only slightly carbonated, a little acidic, not at all what you want out of an oak aged stout, even a sour one. Overall, it's not the worst semi-sour barrel aged beer I've had, but it's not particularly accomplished either. C+

Beer Nerd Details: 10% ABV bottled (750 ml capped). Drank out of a snifter on 10/13/12.

Alvinne still seems to be producing some interesting stuff, I'd particularly like to try their Beer Geek Wedding, though who knows if any bottles of that stuff will make it over here. So I'll give them a mulligan on this one and hope the next fares better.

My Hands Are So Tired!

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Tired Hands Brewing Company continues to be the most interesting new local brewery around here, and it seems I'm not the only one on board. Apparently Tired Hands is in the frontrunner for RateBeer's coveted New Brewer of the Year award. Despite only having launched a few short months ago, Tired Hands' brews hold six of the top 10 spots on RateBeer's charts. Score one for the home team, let's have a look at some more of their beers:

Tired Hands Single Hop Saison Nelson Sauvin

Tired Hands Single Hop Saison (Nelson Sauvin) - The second in a series of beers showcasing different hop varietals and blurring the line between saisons and IPAs. Last time I was at Tired Hands, I was most pleased with the Simcoe version, and now I get to try the one made with New Zealand hops known as Nelson Sauvin. Pours a very light, cloudy straw yellow color with a finger or two of head... Smells utterly fantastic, bright citrusy fruit and some floral notes matched with a hint of bready, spicy yeast. Taste packs a whole lot of flavor, lots of that juicy citrus hop character and saison yeast spice come out to play, punctuated by a dry, earthy bitterness in the finish. The mouthfeel is a little low on the carbonation... It's still really good, but I wish there was a little more here. Easy enough to drink, and certainly a solid offering, but I enjoyed the Simcoe slightly more... on the upper end of B+

Beer Nerd Details: 5% ABV on tap (8 oz). Drank out of a wine glass on 10/13/12.

Tired Hands Hop Hands

Hophands - This is one of their sorta flagship brews, a rather light pale ale that's quite well balanced. Another straw yellow beer, slightly cloudy, finger of bubbly head. Smells of grassy, citrusy, piney hops, not quite as potent as the Nelson Sauvin Saison, but well balanced citrus and pine aromas with a bit of floral character. Taste is light and hop forward, again with the combo of citrus and pine and grassy hops, some low intensity bitterness in the finish. Mouthfeel is crisp and light, very easy drinking, downright quaffable stuff. Clocking in at 4.8% ABV, I could drink this all night. Overall, a really nice pale... that I should really try by itself some time. Provisional B+

Beer Nerd Details: 4.8% ABV on tap (4 oz). Drank out of a mini-pint glass thingy on 10/13/12.

Tired Hands/Stillwater ArtiSnale

Tired Hands/Stillwater ArtiSnale - A collaboration with Stillwater Artisanal and a most excellent local beer bar (if you read this blog, you've seen lots of pictures of beers from this place), Teresa's Next Door (which is really just down the road a bit from Tired Hands). This is a big stout brewed with... snale shells? Ah, I see what they did with the name there. Kinda riffing on oyster stouts, I guess. Pours a very dark brown color with a finger of light brown head. Smells of roasted malt and coffee. Taste follows the nose, lots of roasty malt and coffee flavors, but the finish takes a light, sweet, pleasant turn that I can't quite place. In RateBeer's newsletter, they mention that there's "a touch of salinity, likely from the usage of escargot shells" which is probably what I was detecting in the finish there. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, making this drink like a smaller beer, but that's actually very nice. Not my favorite beer evar, but very well crafted stuff and apparently the snales actually added something to the proceedings. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 8% ABV on tap (4 oz). Drank out of a mini-pint glass thingy on 10/13/12.

I apparently just missed out on Vampire, their Halloween-themed IPA brewed with blood oranges that seemed to be turning heads. Ah well, the joys of the small local brewpub - no way I'll be able to keep up with all their brews, but it's probably worth trying!

Bourbon County Brand Stout

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After my trip to the homebrew shop last week, I popped down the road to one of my favorite little beer bars in the burbs, Station Taproom. It's a small place, but they've usually got some good stuff on tap, and what to my wondering eyes did appear? Bourbon County Brand Stout, we meet at last. I don't get the impression that this is a super rare beer, but Goose Island only started distributing out here a year or so ago (I think) and I've never actually seen a bottle of this around.

I suppose it should be acknowledged that Goose Island is now owned by the great Satan, AB-InBev, but I've always cared more about what's in the bottle than anything else. As a general principle, Goose Island doesn't get a ton of love from us Kaedrinians, but only because there's just such a massive variety of beer available out there that I don't feel particularly obligated to try their stuff. But by all accounts, this beer is a classic and I've kinda been drooling over the prospect of trying this for a few years now. Apparently Goose Island started making it way back in... 1992? That can't be right. Is it? Holy crap, apparently that's true. Anywho, Goose Island has one of the largest (if not the largest) barrel aging programs in the country, and if those devils at AB-InBev are able to expand that without impacting quality (hardly a sure thing), who am I to complain? Alright, so let's get to it:

Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout

Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout - Pours pitch black color with a finger of light brown head. Very thick looking, like old motor oil. Smells strongly of bourbon and oak, with some vanilla and caramel coming out to play too... Taste has a ton of deep sweetness, lots of rich bourbon, caramel, dark chocolate, oak, vanilla, and just a hint of booziness (which is impressive for such a monster beer)... Mouthfeel is rich, creamy, thick and chewy, coating your mouth leaving those complex flavors to linger pleasantly on the palate. A little booziness and alcohol warming, but nothing overwhelming and actually pretty light for a 14.5% beer. It's reasonably well balanced for such a monster. Overall, superb. A

Beer Nerd Details: 14.5% ABV on tap. Drank out of a goblet on 9/27/12.

I'd love to get my hands on some bottles of these, as it's certainly one of the better big barrel aged stouts I've had. I can't say as though I'm going to run out and try other Goose Island beers, but I'll definitely be seeking out anything from the Bourbon County Brand series.

Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout

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North Carolina's Duck-Rabbit Brewery fancies themselves "Dark Beer Specialists", an interesting move in an industry that practically requires IPAs (they don't even do a Cascadian Dark Black IPA or whatever it's called). They're a small brewery with a horrible but somehow charming website and a growing distribution. My experience with them has been limited, but someone brought a couple of their staple brews to the last beer club. Their porter was, well, a porter. Well crafted, but not particularly my thing. We didn't get to the Milk Stout that night, but I managed to wrangle it on the way out, and it's been waiting patiently in my fridge ever since. So here goes nothin:

Duck Rabbit Milk Stout

Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout - Pours a very dark brown color with a finger of tight tan head. Actually smells pretty sweet, with a sorta chalky aroma I associate with milk stouts and it's a little light on the typical roasted malt character. Taste is again heavy on the sweetness, with the roast character emerging in the middle and intensifying through the finish, which has a surprisingly dry bitterness that doesn't quite fully balance out the initial sweetness. Mouthfeel is highly carbonated at the start, medium to full bodied, with a little sweet acidity. Overall, a solid entry in the style, but not something I'd go out of my way for... B

Beer Nerd Details: 5.7% ABV bottled (12 oz.) Drank out of a snifter on 9/21.

While neither beer particularly wowed me, I also haven't really had any of their bigger beers that would have been more interesting anyway. I'd love to try their Baltic Porter, Wee Heavy, or Rabid Duck (imperial stout). Heck, even their Schwarzbier or Duck-Rabbator (doppelbock) sound like they could be fun. All of which is to say, you'll probably see some more from these folks here on the blog someday.

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This page is an archive of recent entries in the Stout category.

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