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de Garde Double Feature

February 13, 2017 by Mark

One of the most interesting breweries to open their doors in the past few years, Tillamook, Oregon’s de Garde brewing has been making waves in the beer dork community. I got my first taste of their wares at a share last year, their Yer Bu (one of many Berliner Weisse inspired variants) was incredibly nimble at just 2.3% ABV and yet turned out to be one of the highlights of the night. Since then, I’ve heard enough about these folks to know that they make beer that’s worth seeking out.

What makes them so special? While some breweries have worked with spontaneous fermentation (notably Allagash and Jester King, amongst others), it appears that de Garde is the only U.S. brewery to rely solely on spontaneous fermentation for their beer. And what does that mean? They don’t use laboratory cultured yeast, they simply cool wort in a coolship, which is basically a huge, wide pan that exposes the wort to naturally occuring yeast and microflora, after which the wort is dumped into oak barrels of varying sizes and left to slumber until ready to be blended. As Pat’s Pints opined, “the brewers at de Garde pitch yeast with the same frequency that the Trappist monks in Westvleteren have sex.”

I’ve had discussions with wine-loving friends about terroir in beer, and while I usually point towards hops in said discussions, I think this sort of brewery deserves mention. It turns out that the year round temperate climate mixed with a mess of rivers and estuaries leading into the nearby Tillamook Bay has created conditions ideal for spontaneous fermentation. Indeed, they even experimented for over a year in trying to find a location for the brewery:

So we took wort and exposed it in different areas up and down the coast and tracked fermentation circuits over the course of a year or more. We narrowed it down to a few places and proceeded to do more trials to see if there’s consistency. Finally, we narrowed it down to Tillamook for the most viable opportunity. In the US we don’t have the benefit of a long history of this truly wild and natural brewing. So it took this extra exploration to see what works.

Tillamook: it’s not just for cheese. Anyway, that’s some serious dedication there, and from what I’ve seen, it’s paid off. I’ve had small pours of a few beers from them (all uniformly excellent), but these are the first I’ve managed to procure for myself. They aren’t the most prized releases and indeed are among the offerings that take the least amount of time to produce, but they’re quite nice nonetheless and someday I hope to procure the more lambic-like releases (which they seem to be gravitating towards anyway). For now, we’ve got saisons!

de Garde Saison Facile – A wild farmhouse ale aged in an oak foeder – Pours a clearish honey gold color with a finger or two of fluffy, medium bubbled white head that leaves some lacing as I drink. Smells nice, big waft of musty Belgian yeast spice, a little earthy funk, some fruity notes. Taste hits the sweet, tart, lemony fruit notes much harder than the nose would imply, but that yeasty spice and light funk are still there, with a light sour bite in the finish. Mouthfeel is well carbonated, crisp, and effervescent, not quite dry but the carbonation lends that impression, with low to moderate acidity. Overall, a rock solid foudred saison. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 7% ABV bottled (750 ml). Drank out of a teku glass on 2/3/17.

de Garde Petit Blanc – A tart farmhouse ale aged in oak with late harvest Riesling grapes – Pours a clear golden color with a finger of fluffy, dense head that quickly dissipates. Smells nice, lots of spicy Belgian yeast, a little oak, plenty of vinous fruit. Taste is sweet, vinous, fruity, with some spice in the middle, followed by oak and a little tartness emerging in the finish. Mouthfeel is well carbonated, medium bodied, less dry than the Facile but quite nice. Overall, another great saison offering. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 7.1% ABV bottled (750 ml). Drank out of a tulip glass on 2/10/17.

Must. Get. Moar. Would love to try their more lambic-inspired beers. Alas, those seem quite prized (see: The Broken Truck) and until production increases, I’m guessing it’ll be saisons and Bu variants for me. I know, boo hoo, poor me.

A Trip to La Cabra Brewing

February 9, 2017 by Mark

Longtime readers (all three of you) may remember a couple of posts (a review and an interview) from back in 2013 about an up-and-coming brewery called La Cabra. Well, they finally opened their doors last summer and I figured it’s high time I write about them. I’ve been there a few times at this point, and I’m looking forward to watching this brewery grow.

Located in Berwyn, PA, the brewpub has a great, spacious feel without feeling at all corporate or bland like all those old-school, turn-of-the-century brewpubs. Two floors with sizeable bars and some cozy nooks and comfy couches and whatnot. Also darts! And goats! Eclectic decor fits with La Cabra’s goat-like attitude which brewer/owner Dan Popernack describes as “independent, rugged, and endearingly crazy”.

The beer is quite nice and has been getting better over time. Brewer/owner Dan Popernack has been brewing for quite a while and has done a good job dialing in his standard offerings. I haven’t taken a lot of formal tasting notes just yet, but highlights include Leo (a standard but tasty IPA), Coquette (a 3.5% Brett beer with mixed berries), Grace (a Brett saison with a touch of oak aging), and Bantlers (A most welcome weizenbock, a style I wish more brewers would tackle. Great weizen yeast character, dark fruit, esters, cloves, spice, sweet warm malt, complex but balanced and true to style. Might be my favorite thing from them yet, off the beaten path. B+ or A-)

Bantlers!

Coquette

To pair with the beer is a full menu of “Latin-inspired gastropub fare” that is absolutely fantastic. Everything I’ve had from them is delicious, like their Duck Fries, Fois Gras Pierogies, and Chimichurri Flank Steak.

Duck Fries

Fois Gras Pierogies and Grace

All in all, this is a promising start to a brewery that I know is capable of putting out some true face melters. I’m quite looking forward to trying Brettophile again (it’s one of those beers that will really put La Cabra on the map), as well as continuing to sample new brews as they come. It’s a good addition to the local scene and I’m sure it will thrive.

Fantôme Strange Ghost

February 6, 2017 by Mark

Explicitly calling this “Strange” may seem a bit oxymoronic. I mean, we are talking about Fantôme here, right? But even among Fantôme’s eclectic fare, this beer does indeed stand out. That’s a bold statement, to be sure, but one the beer lives up to. As per usual, what sets this apart is difficult to determine (the official description just sez that it’s brewed with “spices and herbs”) and judging from reviews, it seems like this most recent release is different from previous releases (which supposedly had a more minty, herbal component). It’s labeled a saison because lol, style doesn’t matter when it comes to something like this, might as well call it saison:

Fantôme Strange Ghost – Pours a deep, rusty amber color with a finger or two of fluffy, off-white head. Smells sweet and spicy, maybe some fruit zest, hints of that characteristic Tome funk. Taste hits that spice pretty hard, not really sure what it is actually, but it’s tasty. Some darker malt presence, though again, it defies precise identification. It gets a bit of tart fruit juice and funk towards the middle and finishes with a tangy, not-quite-sour bite. (Update: I saw someone mention tamarind in reference to this beer, and that feels kinda right for part of the taste, but who knows? It’s not like I have tamarind all the time, so I’ll just leave this as an aside written after the original tasting notes.) Mouthfeel is highly carbonated, effervescent, light acidity. Overall, it is indeed strange (even for a Tôme) and it took me a while to wrap my head around it, but it’s quite pleasant. A- or B+. Take your pick. I don’t even know anymore.

Beer Nerd Details: 8% ABV bottled (capped and corked). Drank out of a tulip glass on 2/4/17. Vintage: 2016.

I love digging into new Tômes. Always a pleasure. I don’t have anything new in the immediate pipeline, but I’m always on the lookout for different releases.

Oude Mûre Tilquin à L’ancienne

January 30, 2017 by Mark

Tilquin was the beer that made a believer out of me. Ever since that first fateful Tilquin Gueuze, my regard for lambic (and sours in general) has only increased. At the time, you could reliably find bottles of Tilquin out and about, but these days, they seem to have gone the way of Cantillon and 3 Fonteinen. You can still find them on occasion, but they don’t normally sit on shelves for very long. Not bad for a Gueuzerie that only opened their doors in 2011.

Since the beginning, they had a fruited variant made with plums, but that offering didn’t make its way to the US until a larger batch was produced in 2013, whereupon beer dorks like myself declared it a success. (Funny, at the time, I marveled that this stuff was still available on shelves…)

Now we have a second fruited variant, this time using German “Lock Ness” (aka Rubus fruticosus) blackberries (aka Mûre in French) and blending with small amounts of 2 and 3 year old lambic. I always knew I wanted Mûre Tilquin:

Oude Mûre Tilquin à L’ancienne – Pours an orange crimson color with half a finger of white head (maybe some pink tonez). Smells very funky, earthy, a little unidentifiable but tart fruit. Taste starts off sweet, hits some earthy funk notes in the middle, then moves into jammy tart fruit territory (not obviously blackberries, but something clearly there) with a sour kick. As it warms, it feels a bit richer and the oak comes out a bit more. Mouthfeel is light to medium bodied, well carbonated, moderate acidity. Overall, this is great, complex, jammy, stuff. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 6.4% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a charente glass on 1/27/17. Best by: 05/01/2026.

Excellent stuff, as you would expect. Up next on the Tilquin front is a Pinot Noir variant that should be making its way to the US in 2017. Fingers crossed that Kaedrin’s beer acquisition team stays on top of it.

Victory Red

January 24, 2017 by Mark

In the dim and distant days of 2012, Victory did a Q&A culled from comments and emails. One asked about sour beers, and the ultimate response was this:

I can tell you that Victory has begun the process of making a sour beer. But we will not release just any sour beer. We are doing small-scale experimentation so that when we do have a sour beer for you, it will be a beautifully balanced, refreshing Flemish-style sour beer. Unfortunately, we are years away from a final product, because once we figure out how to do it, a commercial size batch will be produced and could take more than three years to be ready to blend with younger sour beer.

Cut to four years later, and Victory quietly releases Red, a Flemish-style red beer. Well, they did say it could take more than three years, and indeed, Red is comprised of beer aged in oak barrels for three years and blended with younger beer. It wasn’t a big event like the Java Cask releases, but I’m quite happy I grabbed a bottle of this:

Victory Red – Pours a brilliant, clear golden amber color with a finger of white head. Smells fabulous, tons of oak, vinegar, tart fruit, sour cherries, and the like. Taste follows the nose, is also fabulous, lots and lots of oak, a little tart fruit and vinegar, light on the sourness which is balanced by the oak. Mouthfeel is perfect, medium to full bodied, rich, light acidity. Overall, I tend to like my Flanders style beers oaky, and this one really pulled that off. It’s wonderful. A

Beer Nerd Details: 5.5% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a charente glass on 1/21/17. Bottled on 18 Nov 2016. Released on 15 Dec 2016.

Always nice to see Victory continuing to expand their horizons, and I look forward to seeing what they do next with this sort of thing. If you’re local, you may still be able to snag a bottle of this (even though it was released in late December), well worth the effort.

Lawson’s Apple Brandy Fayston Maple Imperial Stout

January 12, 2017 by Mark

Presumably because my limited sorties into Vermont have all occurred in summer months, most of my acquisitions have been IPAs or Saisons. Obviously the hop fetish is a year round thing (that isn’t particularly limited to VT either), but it seems that the colder months of the year are accompanied with some bigger, heavier, darker beers. Aside from Hill Farmstead’s Everett (of things labeled “porter”, I’d probably put this at the top of the list) and their Society & Solitude #2 (another contender for best in style, this time the waning Black IPA), my exposure has been limited. Until now!

Lawson’s Finest Liquids makes a big, burly imperial stout using almost two gallons of VT maple syrup per barrel. This base beer has been given a variety of barrel-aged treatments, and what we have here is the Apple Brandy variant (no provenance on this bottle, though previous releases have specified Lairds or the more local Mad River Malvados). The base is presumably named after the town of Fayston, VT, itself honoring the Fays, a family that figured prominently in the founding of VT. The label sez this beer is “Made for sub-zero nights and pairing with decadent desserts.” Well, it was around 19°F when I drank this, so that will have to do (though, come to think of it, that does translate to -7°C, so take that, pedants!)

Lawson’s Finest Liquids Apple Brandy Barrel Aged Fayston Maple Imperial Stout – Pours black with a half finger of brown head. Smells of roasted malt, vanilla, oak, and maple syrup. Taste hits some rich caramel notes up front, leavened with roast in the middle, oak and vanilla, hints of booze (not bourbon, but not really recognizably Apple Brandy either), maple syrup and roast finish. As it warms, it gets a little sweeter and the maple comes out more. The brandy emerges more too, though I’m still not getting any specific apple notes. Mouthfeel is full bodied, rich, and chewy, low to moderate carbonation (appropriate for the style), a bit of booze. Overall, this is fantastic! A

Beer Nerd Details: 11.1% ABV bottled (375 ml). Drank out of a snifter on 1/7/17. Bottled November 2016.

This was a Christmas present from an awesome person, so thanks Adam! Lawson’s Finest Liquids continues to impress, so I will most certainly be seeking out more from them, hopefully sooner than later…

Vintage Victory

January 10, 2017 by Mark

So I’ve been aging beer for a while now, both intentionally and unintentionally, and it’s often an interesting exercise. However, it’s also pretty rare for a beer to get better over time. It’s usually different and sometimes worse than fresh, but better is, again, rare.

In general, my advice continues to be to drink fresh. If you can only get one bottle of something special, drink it fresh. If you can get a second bottle, it’s a fun exercise to age it, but seldom does a beer age incredibly well. At least, not for very long periods of time. Lots of beers can get better or be just as good over a few months, but not many will last over a year and the ones that can last 5 years are even more rare. Of course, there are many variables. My “cellar” doesn’t exactly have ideal conditions, so you may have better luck. Bottle variation exists, especially when it comes to wild ales. Some people don’t like harsh booziness and time can clear that up sometimes. And so on.

Since Victory is local, I’ve stockpiled plenty of their offerings over the years. Readily available, not too pricy, and quality beer – they make good candidates for aging experimentation. Let’s see if this patience has paid off:

Victory V-Twelve (2011) – This is a special one. I loved it fresh back in the day and squirreled this away to see how it would age. High alcohol, darkish beer, I thought it would do well. Naturally, I haven’t thought too much about it in the intervening time, especially as my tastes evolved over the years. In a recent attempt to drink down a bit of my cellar I noticed something curious. The bottle sez “Should be enjoyed within 5 years” and the bottling date was Nov 11 2011. So of course, I popped the cork on Nov 11 2016. Nailed it.

Pours a murky amber orange brown color with just a cap of off white head. Smells nice, lots of yeast-driven, rich, dark fruit, brown sugar, maybe even a little floral aroma, toffee too, hints of spice. Taste is rich and sweet, ample malt backbone, dark fruit, raisins, dates, yeasty esters, a little oxidation definitely showing, but nothing overwhelming, sherry, toffee, brown sugar, finishing with hints of Belgian yeast spice and a bit of booze. Mouthfeel is full bodied, rich, and chewy, a sipper for sure. Overall, this is still fantastic. I haven’t had it fresh since, oh, 2011, but it’s holding up pretty darned well. A high B+ (I originally rated this an A, but taking into account ratings inflation puts this about on par with my feelings on it fresh.

Beer Nerd Details: 12% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a tulip glass on 11/11/16. Bottled: Nov 11 2011. “Should be enjoyed within 5 years” (Nailed it.)

Victory Java Cask (2015) – The story on coffee beer is that the coffee tends to fade over time and hoo boy is that the case here. For the coffee ambivalents like myself, that’s not a huge deal, but this was a huge coffee bomb when fresh, and while the coffee character is still there if you look for it (or if you’re particularly sensitive to it, ahem), the bourbon barrel stout character is now the majority of this beer. It’s actually quite pleasant, but then, I’m one of the aforementioned coffee ambivalents, so I would be like that. I’m still hoping that Victory will put out a non-coffee version of this same beer someday, but that’s not in the cards this year (FYI, this was written in November 2016 – ed.). We’ve got a Rye barrel variant this year, as well as a rebrew of this, but I hold out hope. Still, I’m quite enjoying this and won’t even drop the grade. Again, coffee-heads will be disappointed by an aged bottle of this stuff (and anecdotally, I’d say most of the dropoff had occurred within 6 months). A-

Beer Nerd Details: 14.3% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a charente glass on 11/8/16. Fucking election day. Enjoy by: 10 Nov 2016, cutting it close.

Victory Otto (2011) – A smoked dubbel? Not your common style, and at the time, the smoke completely overwhelmed any Belgian yeast characteristics. Pours a dark amber color with a finger of almost white head. Smells of belgian yest, raisins, and just a bit of smoke. Taste goes similarly, the smoke has really mellowed out over time (fresh, the smoke was potent and overpowering, now it’s barely there). Proooobably held on to it too long, but it’s held up much better than your typical dubbel. Will try the Bourbon Barrel version next (it was a massive improvement over the original). B- (Update, I brought Otto in Oak to a share recently and it has fared a little better, but is also well past its prime. Solid B material.)

Beer Nerd Details: 8% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a tulip glass on 11/1/16. Bottled: Sept 21 2011 (I think that’s what it sez)

Victory Old Horizontal (2013) – No fancy stories here, just realized it had been about 3 years, which is plenty for a beer like this. Turns out, I think it could probably stand up to more, but I’m still really glad I opened this when I did. Pours a dark amber color with a finger of white head. Smells of caramel and toffee, hints of dried, candied fruit. Taste also has that rich caramel and toffee character, sweet but not cloying, some modest hop character too. Some oxidation present, but nothing overwhelming and it ends up adding complexity. Mouthfeel is full bodied, rich, moderate carbonation, hints of booze. Overall, this has aged very well, would do again. I still have a couple of Oak Horizontals laying around, so I should probably strap one of those in next. B+ or A-

Beer Nerd Details: 11% ABV bottled (22 ounce bomber). Drank out of a tulip glass on 5/22/16. Enjoy by Oct 25 2018. (deduced bottling date: October 25 2013)

So there you have it. 5 years probably too long, even for something like V-Twelve. Three years, though, seemed fruitful. Stay tuned for more vintage drinking, including one that was 7 years old (and still drank incredibly well).

Firestone XX

December 28, 2016 by Mark

Alright folks, you know the drill: Blah blah blah, blended, barrel-aged, Voltron-esque super beer. Blah blah blah, collaboration with local wineries. Blah blah blah, delicious. We’ve covered each edition of this beer since XV, so while there’s lots to be said about the process here, I’ve pretty much already wonked out on everything worth wonking out over.

Each installment in this series of Anniversary blends varies considerably. Some veer towards the Barleywine components, like XV and XVII, others hew closer to the dark side, like XVIII and XIX. XVI went for more balance between those two poles (as a result, it might be my least favorite, actually). So what does the XX blend look like?

40% Parabola (13% ABV) Russian Imperial Oatmeal Stout. Aged in New Oak and Bourbon Barrels.
20% Stickee Monkee (12.3% ABV) English Barley Wine. Aged in Bourbon and Brandy barrels.
17.5% Velvet Merkin (8.5% ABV) Traditional Oatmeal Stout. Aged in Bourbon barrels.
12.5% Bravo (12.9% ABV) Imperial Brown Ale. Aged in Bourbon Barrels.
10% Helldorado (13.5% ABV) Blonde Barley Wine. Aged in Bourbon Barrels.

So this is one of the more stout-like blends out there, with 70% hitting the dark side of the force. In any case, any blend consisting of 40% Parabola has to be pretty good, right? Let’s take a closer look:

Firestone Walker XX Anniversary Ale – Pours a very dark brown color with half a finger of light tan head. Smells beautiful, rich caramel, vanilla, oak, boozy bourbon, hints of roast and chocolate. Taste hits those rich caramelized malt notes hard, hints of roast, plenty of bourbon, oak, and vanilla. Mouthfeel is full bodied but nimble, not a beast like most imperial stouts of this ABV, well carbonated, a little pleasant booze in the finish. It feels like the barleywineish components of this blend have lightened the body and hidden the booze a little more than normal for a beer this big, a neat little trick. Overall, yes, it’s another winner for the Anniversary blends! A

Beer Nerd Details: 13% ABV bottled (22 ounce bomber). Drank out of a tulip glass on 12/20/16.

There’s just no stopping Firestone Walker’s barrel program. I look forward to this release every year, and it has never disappointed. Indeed, pretty much any of their barrel-aged, boxed beers are fabulous and I’m always on the lookout. Lately, more of their wild ales have been showing up in the Philly area, like Agrestic and Lil Opal, so here’s to hoping for more of that in the future too.

Oskar Blues Barrel-Aged Ten Fidy

December 19, 2016 by Mark

One of Oskar Blues’ claims to fame is their popularization of using cans to package their beer. So I guess their pioneering status makes it ok that they started packaging beer in bizarrely proportioned “Stovepipe” (aka “Royal Pint”, 19.2 ounces) cans. Not quite the innovation that I’ve speculated about in the past, but I’ll take it. Especially when the can contains a bourbon barrel-aged version of their 10.5% ABV imperial stout, Ten-Fidy. Even if the beer’s name now makes no sense – maybe this should be called “Twelve-Niner” or something (get it? It’s 12.9% ABV people, keep up). Aged “through four seasons”, it only survived about a week in my fridge:

Blues Barrel-Aged Ten Fidy – Pours dark as night with a pretty finger of brown head. Smells fabulous, rich caramel, oak, and vanilla, boozy bourbon, a little roast and dark chocolate. Taste follows the nose, sweet caramel, oak and vanilla up front, some roast kicking in towards the middle, maybe some chocolate, finishing with a balancing bitter hop bite and some boozy bourbon. Mouthfeel is rich and full bodied, tightly carbonated, just a little boozy heat. Overall, yes, this is really great. A high A-

Beer Nerd Details: 12.9% ABV canned (19.2 ounce stovepipe can). Drank out of a snifter on 12/9/16.

It’s been a while since I got to try a new Oskar Blues beer, so it’s nice to see they’ve still got the touch. There are some other variants of Ten-Fidy, but they seem to be brewery-only releases, so I’m not holding my breath. Then again, I’m pretty sure BBA Ten-Fidy wasn’t distributed far and wide until this year, so maybe I should. I can hold my breath for a year or so, right?

Brasserie Dunham Assemblage Numero 1

December 15, 2016 by Mark

Brasserie Dunham is located southeast of Montreal, near the Vermont border. You know how dorks like me make the pilgrimage to Vermont to get good beer? Well, I have some Vermont friends who’ve raved about making the pilgrimage to Dunham. This certainly speaks volumes. As such, when I saw their beers showing up on shelves in the US, I pounced.

This beer is first in a series of blends (it’s an assemblage or “assembly”, eh). This entry is composed of a 50/50 blend of Propolis (a saison made with wheat, honey, and citrus peels) and an American-style pale ale; the blend is then spiked with Brett and aged in Zinfandel barrels. My kinda rustic, lets dive in:

Brasserie Dunham Assemblage Numero 1 – Not a gusher, but it started foaming a bit and would have overflowed if I wasn’t careful. Pours a murky golden orange color with a finger or two of white, fluffy head, good retention, a bit of lacing. Smells great, earthy funk, Belgian yeast spice (cloves, coriander), a little vinous fruit. Taste is sweet and spicy, funky earthiness kicking in during the middle, finishing with a bit of a dry, bitter bite. Mouthfeel is highly carbonated and effervescent, medium bodied and dry. Overall, the pale ale adds perhaps a bit too much bitterness, but this is really quite nice nonetheless! B+ or A-

Beer Nerd Details: 5.5% ABV bottled (750 ml). Drank out of a charente glass on 12/10/16.

Definitely a brewery to watch out for, and I’m certain I’ll be seeking out more of their stuff soon enough. It’s been a while since a Canadian beer has made it to the blog. I’m glad these folks helped me remedy that, and let’s hope I can keep it up…