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Beers that have been rated A-, A, or A+

Tired Hands Second Anniversary

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It’s hard to believe that it’s only been two years since Tired Hands arrived on the scene and started melting faces with their amazing saisons and quaffable pale ales, amongst other strange and beautiful beers. To a beer nerd like myself, having a brewery of this quality and with these specialties even remotely close to my home has been a Godsend. Two years of fantastic beer, and the future is looking rather bright.

Like last year, the second anniversary celebration yesterday was a total madhouse, and given what they were pouring, totally worth it! I was fortunate enough to snag a seat at the bar rather early on, and my neighboring bar sitters were a lot of fun, which was great. For the sake of posterity and to instill jealousy in you, my valued readers, some half remembered thoughts (based on hastily entered notes jotted into Evernote that I’m trying to decipher right now) on what I had are below.

The Emptiness Is Not Eternal

The Emptiness is Not Eternal – 7% ABV Oak fermented Sorrel & Dandelion Saison – The Emptiness series of collaborations with rockstar farmer Tom Culton continues with this beautiful oaky sour beer, a little more herbal and floral than previous incarnations (all of which were fruited, to be sure). Someone was saying that this resembled Hill Farmstead Vera Mae, though I feel like this is an entirely different beast (in particular, I think the oakiness of this separates it considerably, though the emptiness bugs that bring the funk are also distinct from whatever HF is using). That’s all academic though, as they’re both great beers. As Emptiness beers go, I think I prefer the fruited versions, but this is still fantastic. A-

St.Twoer

St.Twoer – 6% ABV Citrus IPA – Brewed with clementines and a wicked combo of Galaxy, Simcoe, and Motueka hops, this greatly resembles St.Oner (though this one has less notes of pun). Beautiful juicy IPA, lots of bright fruit and citrus hops, the $4 pint deal on this was well worth it.

Handfarm – 5% ABV Barrel Fermented Saison – At this point, I think I’ve had some of every batch of Handfarm. I’ve always loved it, but I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen it on tap and hmm, I think I might like it slightly better that way. A nice vinous and fruity funk character with a more balanced oak presence, I could have probably drank this all day. Still an A- in my book.

Tired Hands Only Void Garlic Cask

Only Void – Garlic Cask – 11% ABV Imperial Stout Cask Conditioned on local black garlic (!?) – Tired Hands has made some weird beers and done some wacky cask conditioned stuff before, but this one really takes the cake. Their description on the draft list they handed out: “Wweeeiiiiiiirrrdddddddd!” This is pretty accurate. The garlic comes through very powerfully in the nose, and much less so in the taste. This is a good thing. The nose is actually really interesting, almost like… pizza? Yeah, kinda like that. Roasty chocolate pizza? Er, not sure. It’s perhaps not something I would seek out again, but I’m very happy I tried it because it is a billion times better than it sounds. One of those beers that’s just fun to experience. No idea how to rate, so I’ll just slap a B on it and be done with it.

American Youth – 5.5% ABV APA collaboration with Half Acre – One of two Half Acre collaborations on tap, this one was a quaffable pale ale that is basically comprised of a blend of Daisy Cutter and HopHands, with the result being a very aromatic, very light bodied and refreshing beer. I seem to be saying this about a lot of these beers, but I could have drank this all day. A-

Geodesic – 6.5% ABV Hoppy Spelt Saison – Alright, so I’m not afraid to say that I was pretty far gone by this point, so my memory here is a little hazy. That being said, it was a very nice funky saison, almost sour (but then, my palate may have just been completely wrecked at this point). This was the last beer of the day for me, so take this with a grain of salt, but instinct sez rate it a B+

Alright, so now we get to the weirdest thing of the whole event, which was the Parageusia Bar. For the uninitiated, Jean has been posting cryptic comments about some dude named Christian Zellerfield, described as the “talented Future Rustic contract-brewer”, for a while now. No one really knew what was up with this guy or these Parageusia beers we kept hearing about, and the research department here at Kaedrin turned up almost nothing about them (other than Jean’s cryptic pronouncements on social media). So at the Anniversary, you could buy two (very pretty) pieces of glassware, which would entitle you to a fill of each of the beers available (Parageusia1 and Parageusia2) at a little popup bar they set up in the tiny little second floor office. Only two people were allowed in at any given time, the room was all dark and moody, and the whole thing was very hush hush. When we got in there, we asked what was up with the beers, and the Euro-accented “representative” (who was not Christian Zellerfield) gave us the skinny: Cabernet Franc Barrel Fermented sour ales, one at 6.5% ABV, the other at 8.2% ABV. We asked where this guy was, and honest to God, his answer was that he was traveling in space, but that he had chosen Tired Hands to be the one place to distribute his beer in the Milky Way Galaxy (to me, this implied that other galaxies were awash in Parageusia beer, but the representative was evasive when I tried to press him on that).

So the rumor is that Jean is basically fucking with us, and this whole thing is an elaborate ruse. Or that Parageusia is real, but basically brewed entirely by Jean and his crew, and this Christian guy is the one who is yanking our chains. Whatever the case may be, it doesn’t really matter, because both of these beers were spectacular. And that glassware is beautiful too…

I do not remember how to spell this awesome beer

Parageusia1 – 6.5% ABV Cab Franc Barrel Fermented Ale – Wow, this is an amazing beer, rivaling the best of Tired Hands’ output. Very sour, beautiful oaked character, funky, vinous, fruity, absolutely delicious. This was probably my favorite beer of the night. A

This one too, it is para-something

Parageusia2 – 8.2% ABV Cab Franc Barrel Fermented Ale – A slightly darker beer, a little more intense on the sour end of things, perhaps not as great as the Parageusia1, but still really wonderful in its own right (and really close in terms of the flavor profile). A-

The word Parageusia is apparently the medical term for a bad taste in the mouth, which could not be further from the truth. I don’t know what the future plans for these beers are, but Jean has teased that bottles are coming, so I will most definitely be keeping an eye out for that. Or whatever this crazy space traveling brewer brings to us in the future (or, perhaps, from the future?)

All in all, it was a fantastic day, though I will note that I was happy I took the train to get there! The only thing I didn’t get to try was Negative Creep, an oak fermented Kiwi sour ale (it had not tapped as of my departure around 5 pm). Congrats to Tired Hands on two years of spectacular beer, and things are only looking up from here. The next year should see a new brewery and a corresponding increase in output, which is most exciting. Stay tuned, I plan on continuing to make you jealous.

Stone Fyodor’s Classic

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Given the size of Stone Brewing Company (a top 10 craft beer brewery in terms of volume), I’ve always been surprised at the relatively tiny size of their barrel program. If you troll their BA page, you’ll see lots of examples, but from what I can tell, you’ve got a lot of DONG* beers and limited bottle runs in the low hundreds. In the past few years, though, they’ve really stepped up their efforts, implementing what they call their Quingenti Millilitre (they come in 500 ml bottles, hence that fancy name) series. Last year, they released 9 different varieties, but no imperial stouts. Their previous attempt to bottle a barrel aged IRS in 2010 wound up horribly infected, so everyone was wondering if they’d try it again. Well they did, and holy hell am I glad I got a hold on one of these bottles, because it is nothing short of spectacular. Bottle counts seem to be in the 3000 range, which is nothing to sneeze at, but given Stone’s size, it still seems small. Hopefully their meteoric rise will extend to their barrel program in future years.

Take a batch of 2013 Stone Imperial Russian Stout, age it in Kentucky Bourbon Barrels for a whopping 12 months, and you’ve got Fyodor’s Classic. Why they decided to name this after Fyodor Dostoyevsky, I do not know, but here are some tasting notes from the underground:

Stone Fyodors Classic

Stone Fyodor’s Classic – Pours a very dark brown, almost black color with a minimum of head, just barely a cap of brown head that quickly resolves to a ring around the edge. Smells deeply of bourbon, with some caramel, oak, and vanilla joining in as well. Taste is full of that rich caramel, oak, vanilla, and bourbon, very faint hints of roast and chocolate, but this is clearly dominated by that bourbon barrel. It opens up even more as it warms, and it just keeps getting better. Mouthfeel is full bodied, rich, and silky smooth, surprisingly little heat given the high ABV, though you get hints of that in the finish and a bit of a warming sensation if you drink quickly. When I saw the head (or lack thereof), I was a little worried about the carbonation, but while low, the carb fits very well with this beer. The 500 ml packaging is just about perfect for this sort of thing too. Overall, this is a phenomenal Bourbon barrel aged stout, absolutely world class. My face melted right off (that’s, uh, a good thing). A

Beer Nerd Details: 13.9% ABV bottled (500 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a snifter on 5/25/14. Bottled: February 2014. IBUs: 38.

There is a version of this beer that also included Ryan Bros. Coffee. That variant is more popular with the general beer nerd population, but while I’m sure I’d enjoy it, I can’t say as though I’m that disappointed as I’m not a huge coffee guy (he says, as if he hasn’t said it a gazillion times before). Fyodor’s Classic is my sweet spot, and I will be hunting this sucker out again for sure.

* Draft Only, No Growler. Aren’t acronyms fun?

Crooked Stave Origins

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This is labeled as a Burgundy Sour Ale Aged in Oak Barrels, and digging into matters, I see that batch 1 was a blend of beers aged in French Oak barrels, some for 2 years, some for 1.5 years (I assume this bottle of batch 2 had a similar provenance). Were these old Burgundy wine barrels? Or is the Burgundy just a reference to the color? Perhaps a take on the Flanders Red style? Maybe I should just drink this stuff and worry about it later? But it is later, what now?

Interesting (or lame and pedantic, take your pick) sidebar, I recently saw something that claimed the Flanders Red style was known as the “Burgundy of Beer”. Given the above conundrum about why this beer is called a Burgundy Ale, I thought I should check this out. After an exhaustive 2 minute search, I found that the Burgundy of Beer could be: the beers of Bavaria, dubbels, Lambic/Geuze, and yes, Flanders Reds (with Rodenbach Grand Cru generally garnering the title). There’s probably a case to be made for all of these (some better than others), but seeing as though I have no real experience with Burgundy wine, I’ll just not assume what I heard on the internets is true.

Once again, I’ve fallen down on the job of emailing brewers and asking pedantic questions that have no real relevance other than the fact that I really enjoy these beers and don’t want to rely on internet hearsay. But the show must go on, and here we’ve got another solid brew from our friends in Denver:

Crooked Stave Origins

Crooked Stave Origins – Pours a deep, dark amber color, almost brown (dare I say: burgundy), with a finger of off white head. The nose is beautiful, lots of oak, vinegary sour twang, vinous fruits, cherries, and the like. The taste follows the nose. Lots of vinous fruits, tart berries, and cherries, some light oak and vanilla, and a nice, tart sourness that is bracing but doesn’t overpower. Mouthfeel is surprisingly light on its feet, not as big as expected but there’s enough substance to hold the sourness in check, well carbonated, a little acidity playing at the edges of my mouth. Overall, this is a very good, maybe even great sour. Teetering on the border with B+, but I’m feeling generous so we’ll go A-

Beer Nerd Details: 6.5% ABV bottled (375 ml waxed cap). Drank out of a flute glass on 5/24/14. Vintage: 2013/Batch 2.

Not quite a world beater, but it’s close, and some of the variants sound absolutely wonderful (Cherry Origins anyone?) Jay has recently sworn off sours and the likes of Cantillon and Crooked Stave, which is liable to get him branded a monster in some circles, but me, I’m just happy there’ll be more of this stuff to go around.

Boulevard Imperial Stout

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Another day, another barrel aged imperial stout, only this time the barrel aging only accounts for 40% of the finished beer (with the remaining 60% being freshly brewed). I’ve pondered the mysteries of barrel aging on many occasions in the past, and this represents a bit of a wrinkle in the typical formula. Obviously you can’t just take any old beer, throw it in a barrel for a while, and expect great results. But on the other hand, is a 40% blend enough to really bring that barrel presence? Or are you just looking for a hint of complexity rather than a sledge hammer of booze and oak? Is it a way to incorporate barrel character, but still have a high yield in finished product (i.e. the lower the BA percentage, the less barrels you need)? Deschutes also seems partial to these partial barrel aged brews, with the recently covered Mirror Mirror and The Abyss both incorporating some barreled beer into their respective blends. I think I feel a pedantic email spree coming on. If only I had the foresight to do this earlier, I could be reporting actual information here rather than hearsay and speculation. Instead, I’ll just let you in on this rather solid imperial stout:

Boulevard Imperial Stout

Boulevard Imperial Stout – Pours a deep, dark black color with a little less than a finger of brown head, very pretty stout here. Smell has some roast up front, but it quickly yields caramel, oak, vanilla, whiskey, and maybe even something approaching a fruity note. Taste has a well matched roasted malt character that doesn’t get lost at all in all the caramel, oak, vanilla, and whiskey that joins the party in the middle. The barrel character adds complexity without dominating the taste, though this base beer could clearly stand up to such a full bore barrel treatment (and I would honestly love to try that). Mouthfeel is full bodied, rich, and chewy, well carbonated, smooth, a little bit of boozy heat. Overall, a very well crafted Imperial Stout with a little barrel complexity for extra crunchy goodness. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 11.8% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a snifter on 5/10/14. 2013 Vintage. Batch Number: S13310-2. Best by date: 11-2015.

Another solid effort from the Smokestack Series, I am still hoping to snag a bottle of Saison Brett one of these days, but it always seems to elude me… Someday, it will be mine.

Pappy Van Winkle Big Black Voodoo Daddy

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Every time I pull out one of these Voodoo barrel room selections, I wonder what the hell took me so long. The last one I tried, the Buffalo Trace Big Black Voodoo Daddy didn’t quite blow my mind, but it was a worthy beer and certainly an improvement over the base. Of course, that was aged in lowly Buffalo Trace bottles; what I have here was aged in that most hallowed of Bourbon barrels, Pappy Van Winkle (ermegerd!) I’ve already gone over this sort of thing in the past, so I’ll spare you the nerdy wrangling about why these barrels are so prized. Suffice it to say, the clouds parted and an angelic choir heralded the opening of this beer, and it was good.

PVW Big Black Voodoo Daddy

Voodoo Brewing Pappy Van Winkle Big Black Voodoo Daddy – Pours a deep black color with a cap of brown head that quickly resolves into a ring around the edge of the glass. Smells of rich caramel, a hint of roast, and a heaping helping of bourbon. Taste follows the nose, rich caramel, tons of bourbon, booze, and a hint of roast emerging in the finish. Mouthfeel is on the lower end of full bodied, rich, and creamy. Low but appropriate carbonation, some hot booze, but it’s actually pretty easy going for a monster beer. Definitely a big improvement over the Buffalo Trace variant, but still not as great as Pappy Black Magick. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 12.5% ABV bottled (22 oz waxed cap). Drank out of a snifter on 4/19/14. Bottle #284. Bottled: 12.14.12.

I think I’ll crack open one of the Lairds Apple Brandy variants next, and I’ll try to make it snappy too. None of this waiting 5 months anymore. Anywho, after two relatively quick barrel room releases, things look quiet on the Voodoo barrel front. I assume they’ve filled it up again, but their website does not appear to have been updated and I haven’t heard any news on upcoming releases. Here’s to hoping they do another Philly release at some point!

Allagash Double Feature

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This past Saturday, one of my favorite local beer bars celebrated its fourth anniversary. It’s a tiny little place, but they had a rather spectacular tap list for the occasion, so I made my way over there, arriving just a little after opening. It was a total madhouse and took me a while to get anywhere close to the bar, so during this time, I reprioritized the order of desired beers, placing ones I’ve never had at the top of the list. Insanely crowded bars are not really my thing, and a friend I was going to meet was running way late, so we just called it quits and met up later in the day somewhere else.

That being said, I managed to snag a rare Allagash sour while I was there, and was really happy that I got to try this (there was a brewery-only bottle release not too long ago, but thankfully a keg made its way down here…) Avance is a strong sour aged on Strawberries in bourbon barrels for a whopping three years. Strawberry is not a particularly common fruit used with beer, so I was pretty stoked to try this out. Realizing that I’ve not been particularly attentive to Allagash’s sour and wild beer program, I also cracked open some Midnight Brett that I had laying around; it’s a dark wheat beer fermented with Brett. All in all, this was quite a nice Saturday!

Allagash Avance

Allagash Avancé – Apologies for the craptacular picture, but I was lucky enough to be able to extend my hand that far in this place, which was pretty obscenely crowded. Nice bright orange brown color, with a finger of bubbly head and great retention. Smells of oak and fruit berries, with the strawberry actually coming through rather well. Big sour twang in the nose too. Taste hits with a massive wave of sourness up front, tempered by oak and jammy fruit in the middle, the strawberry character less here than the nose, but still present, then returning to an intense sourness in the finish. Mouthfeel is well carbed and very acidic. This is very intense, and reminds me of high ABV sours like Consecration or Riserva (and yep, now that I know this is 10.8% ABV, that makese a lot of sense. I thought the board said 8% when I ordered it, but it turns out that I neglected to notice the “10.” ahead of it!) Really nice stuff, intense, oaky, delicious… perhaps just a hint too intense, but it’s still great. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 10.8% ABV on tap. Drank out of a goblet on 4/19/14.

Allagash Midnight Brett

Allagash Midnight Brett – Pours a dark brown color with amber highlights and a couple fingers of tan head with great lacing and retention. Smells of musty, funky brett yeast along with a fruity, vinous aroma that suits it well. Taste has a very Belgian dark feel to it, dark malts but not a lot of roast, maybe some chocolate though, definitely spicy, fruity Belgian yeast that is offset by some earthy, musty, fruity funk. An almost chocolate covered cherry character that really suits this well. Mouthfeel is highly carbonated and effervescent, smooth, and almost creamy. A little bit of tartness and acidity, but very low on that scale. It’s a very nice tweak on the Belgian dark style, and a very worthy beer. B+ but very close to an A-

Beer Nerd Details: 7.3% ABV bottled (375 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a tulip glass on 4/19/14. Date Bottled: Oct. 16, 2013.

So there you have it. I’ve never been supremely impressed with Allagash’s wild beers before, but I also haven’t had many of them. Both of these are significant improvements over something like Confluence, though of course, you’ll have to pay for the privilege (Allagash is great, but their prices are on the high side).

The Emptiness is Eternal

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For 40 days or so, I pretty much gave up beer, mostly just to see if I could. There were a couple of preconceived exceptions to that, but for the most part I was busy expanding my horizons to bourbon, wine, tea, and the like. I really enjoyed all that and my pleasantly reduced waistline thanks me, but I have to say, nothing quite satisfies like beer. Not even a Snickers.

One of the things I missed most during my mini-hiatus from beer was trips to Tired Hands. This was exacerbated by the fact that they’re absolutely tearing it up of late, and they’ve had plenty of newsworthy events in the past month, including the announcement of a new production facility and brewcafé (“we will soon have room for hundreds of oak barrels” – music to my earballs) and two, count ’em, two bottle releases. Of course, I attended these because I am a glutton for punishment, but when I finally got back into the beer drinking swerve, I knew I had something special to start with.

This is the third beer in the Emptiness series of barrel fermented saisons made with various fresh fruits from “rockstar farmer” Tom Culton (in this case, we’ve got Hachiya persimmons). So for my triumphant return to beer, I cracked a bottle of this stuff and experienced a Highlander-style quickening (fortunately, my electronics are hardened against such disturbances). I’m sad to say, the emptiness of this particular bottle will now be eternal:

Tired Hands The Emptiness is Eternal

Tired Hands The Emptiness is Eternal – Pours a beautiful, hazy but radiant straw yellow color with a finger of white head. Smells of oak, fruit, berries, and funky, musty yeast. The taste is perfectly balanced between sweet, bright, and tart fruit, berries, oak, and finishing with a puckering sourness. Mouthfeel is well carbonated (perhaps the highest carbed Tired Hands beer I’ve ever had!) with medium bodied, a beautiful oak character, and a well matched dry acidity. It’s crisp and refreshing, bright and damn near quaffable. This may well be Tired Hands’ best sour since the superb Romulon, and is certainly playing with the big boys of farmhouse sours (Hill Farmstead, Sante Adairius, etc…) This beer is awesome, in the true sense of that word. A

Beer Nerd Details: 7% ABV bottled (500 ml waxed cap). Drank out of a flute glass on 4/18/14. 400 Bottle Release.

This will be a tough act to follow, but then, I said that about the last Emptiness series beer… So It Goes? We’ll find out soon enough. In the meantime, I had some interesting Allagash stuff this weekend, and dipped into my cellar for another wale that we’ll cover later this week. Stay tuned. In other news, I have to get my ass to Tired Hands sometime this week. Godspeed, uh, me.

March Beer Club

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I won’t lie, this was a really good night. I went a solid week and a half without beer before completely falling off the wagon this past weekend (as planned, to be sure) and drinking a bunch of beer (and bourbon, and moonshine, and other stuff) during Fat Weekend (a gathering of portly individuals from across the northeast, and some points west, for drinking, fun, and fatness). Now here I am a few scant days later, drinking more beer (again, as planned). For the uninitiated, beer club is a gathering of beer-minded individuals from my workplace who get together once a month for beer and revelry at a local BYOB. This time around, we returned to a classic Beer Club venue, Jimmy’s BBQ. Lots of smoked meat, dirty corn, beer, and fun was had by all:

March Beer Club

(Click for larger image)

Meat induced thoughts on each beer are below. This is for posterity, so I will be sure to be honest, though you might want to take this with a grain (or giant block) of salt, as this BYOB wasn’t a hermetically sealed isolation chamber that is ideal for precise tasting notes. Caveats aside, here we go, in order of drinking, not necessarily in order pictured:

  • Kaedrin Fat Weekend IPA – This year’s batch finally got that Simcoe and Amarillo loving that I’ve been trying to get for a few years. My only issue is that I’m still getting a handle on this kegerator operation here, so I feel like I frittered away a significant amount of aroma in the process of trying to get the carbonation and pressure right. I think I’ve figured out this process well enough that I won’t ruin future batches, and it’s not like this one turned out bad or anything. Indeed, just a few of us housed 3 whole growlers during Fat Weekend (we would have done so on Friday night if I didn’t insist we save one for Saturday). So yeah it was good, and it compared somewhat favorably to tonight’s IPA lineup, which was considerable. I’ll give it a B for now, though I think it could easily go higher with some slight tweaks to recipe and kegging procedure.
  • Dogfish Head 90 Minute – The old standby, I feel like the last couple times I’ve had this, it hasn’t been quite the mindblower it once was for me. Still a rock solid brew, though I might downgrade it to a B+
  • Maine Lunch – One of my contributions. In case you can’t tell by the first three beers of the night, we overcompensated for the past couple of beer clubs and brought a shit ton of IPAs this month. Not that I’m complaining, as they were all pretty damn good (to spectacular). This one was a really nice citrus and pine take of the style, in competition for my favorite Maine beer. B+ (though it might go higher outside of this setting)
  • Petrus Aged Pale – Nothing like a sour to cleanse the palate, eh? A very nice oak aged sour beer, something I’ve had before, and one of those things I’d use to help convert the heathens to the world of sours/good beer. B+
  • DC Brau On The Wings Of Armageddon – Many thanks to Dana for rocking the DIPAs tonight, including this rarity (at least, to us PA folk), which turns out to pretty much live up to the hype, a super piney, dank take on the DIPA, nice body, really well rounded and delicious beer (along the lines of those Pipeworks IPAs I had a while back). Really fantastic, and I hope to someday snag a few fresh cans of this for myself. A-
  • Sixpoint Hi-Res – Alright, so we’re getting to a point where specifics about given IPAs are starting to blend together in my head, but I my thoughts on this one are that it comported itself very well in this rather strong lineup of IPAs and DIPAs, actually better than I was expecting (though I’m not sure why, as Sixpoint has always been a pretty solid brewery for me). We’ll go with B+ and leave it at that.
  • John’s Homebrewed Porter – A relative newcomer to beer club, John made his first batch of beer in about 20 years recently. He went with a pretty straightforward porter that, to be sure, turned out well. But he’s working on some interesting stuff in future batches, including a port wine soaked oak beer, possibly even a wile beer, so I’m quite looking forward to it. B
  • Alchemist Heady Topper – Yeah, we’ve already beaten this one to death before on the blog.
  • Bell’s Hopslam – Another one we’ve covered before, but I certainly ain’t complaining, as I do really enjoy this beer and this is the first time I’ve ever had it out of a bottle. Thanks again to Dana, who brought a crap ton of DIPAs tonight.
  • Ken’s Homebrewed Coffee Porter – No real coffee added, but it used some sort of special coffee malt. Not sure if that’s malt soaked in coffee or something like that or if it’s just roasted to a point that it gives off coffee character, but whatever, it came through well in the beer and did not overpower it at all. Granted, coffee porters aren’t really my thing, but this seemed to work reasonably well. B-
  • North Coast Pranqster – A nice little Belgian pale ale, very sweet for it’s relatively middling ABV, but still well carbonated enough that it works really well. I enjoyed, and it fit after all those IPAs. B+
  • Widmer SXNW – It came in a fancy box, so it has to be good, right? Well, it’s made with Pecans, Cacao beans, and Green Chiles, so I was fearing another hot pepper beer, but it turns out that the dominant character came from that cacao. Huge chocolate notes in the nose, with a corresponding taste. The chiles are there, but in the background, just providing some complexity. Overall, it’s an interesting beer, though not one I’d really seek out again. B
  • Humboldt Black Xantus – So I didn’t realize this when I bought it, but this is apparently one of them barrel aged Firestone Walker beers, even if it’s bottled under the older Nectar Ales brand. That barrel aging comes through loud and clear, and it’s quite nice, but there’s also apparently a coffee component that also shows up, though it’s not as dominant as, say, BCBCS. One of my favorites of the night, though not quite Parabola levels awesome (but still regular beer levels awesome). A-

So there you have it, an enjoyable night had by all. Already looking forward to the next installment of beer club…

The Bruery Mash

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I’ve made no secret of the fact that I don’t drink coffee and thus am not a huge fan of it in beer. Indeed, longtime readers (all three of you) are probably rolling their eyes right now, as I probably mention my apathy towards coffee too often. While I do feel like I’ve come around a bit on coffee beers and have had several that I really enjoyed, I usually still find myself wondering what it would be like without the coffee. Fortunately, that option is actually available most of the time, and in this case, the Bruery came up with an interesting experiment.

I imagine the process of infusing coffee flavors into beer to be a complicated one with many variables that are difficult to control. What coffee are you using, how does it match with the base beer, when in the process are you adding the coffee, are you using the beans, the grinds, or actual brewed coffee (or some combination thereof)? Each one of those questions has a lot riding on it, so when the Bruery went to make a coffee-infused barleywine, they did some pilot batches and played around with a bunch of factors, but ultimately decided to release two beers: one unsoiled without any coffee at all (called Mash), and one with a very, very powerful coffee component (called Mash & Grind), the idea being that Reserve Society members will get bottles of each beer, open them at the same time, and blend them together to find their ideal level of coffee.

I’m pretty sure that my ideal blend wouldn’t be a blend at all, just Mash – the bourbon barrel aged 12.5% ABV English style barlewine, all by its lonesome. So I was pretty happy to see this in a LIF haul a while back (and that I got this one and not the “Grind” version) and have been hankering for a taste every since. The Hulk would totally smash this, but I’ll just mash with it:

The Bruery Mash

The Bruery Mash – Pours a murky brown color (dirty penny) with half a finger of white head that sticks around a bit at the start. Smell is nearly the platonic ideal of a bourbon barrel barleywine. Rich caramel and toffee, fruity malt, figs, coconut, a little booze, and a well balanced bourbon, oak, and vanilla kicker. And amazingly, the taste lives up to the nose (though maybe Platonic ideal was a bit overkill, eh?). Lots of rich malt character, molasses, caramel, and fruit coming through strong, coconut, raisins, and figs in the middle with the bourbon, oak, and vanilla pitching in towards the finish. Mouthfeel is well carbonated, but smooth, very rich, a little boozy bite towards the finish. Extremely well balanced. Overall, this is superb and absolutely delicious. A

Beer Nerd Details: 12.5% ABV bottled (750 ml capped). Drank out of a snifter on 2/28/14. Bottled 05/24/13.

Not to beat a dead horse, but I’m really glad there was no coffee in this. I’m sure that if there was, I still would have enjoyed it, but it would been a “It’s good… for a coffee beer” kinda situation. In any case, it wasn’t, and I loved it, so there is that. Anyone want to be my Bruery Reserve Society proxy? It’s a long shot, but I’m sure I could make it worth your while.

Crooked Stave L’Brett d’Or

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We’ve already established that Chad Yakobson is a mad scientist who makes all of his beer using various strains of Brettanomyces. He’s a fan of wild yeast, and apparently also a fan of Luis Buñuel’s surrealist films from the 1930s:

The idea spur for the name of this beer came from a 1930′s Surrealist film L’Age d’Or by Luis Buñuel and written by himself and Salvador Dali. In the opening scenes footage of scorpions are shown from a short science film. During this are captions in French talking about 5 prismatic articulations which finally culminate in a stinger.. For this reason we chose to use 5 prismatic strains of Brettanomyces for our surreal golden sour and name the beer L’Brett d’Or “The Golden Brett”.

The movie is on YouTube, if you dare. Lord knows I’ve not seen enough Buñuel, and there’s no time like the present.

So primary fermentation with 5 strains of Brett (picked to emphasize “citrusy type characteristics”), then a dose of Lactobacillus (a bacteria that produces sour flavors in beer) and a lengthy nap in old Napa Chardonnay barrels. Sign me up:

Crooked Stave LBrett dOr

Crooked Stave L’Brett d’Or – Pours a yellow color with half a finger of fluffy white head that nonetheless sticks around a while. Smell is pure funk, earthy, fruity Brett, and a light but well matched oak note. Taste follows suit, lots of funky Brett, some earthiness and oak up front, followed by a strong tart fruit sourness. The oak is a really nice presence throughout the taste and helps keep that sourness in check. Mouthfeel is a bit light on the carbonation, but it still works very well. It’s bright and refreshing, with a pleasant acidity. Overall, this is yet another fantastic effort from Crooked Stave. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 6% ABV bottled (375 ml waxed cap). Drank out of a tulip glass on 2/28/14. Vintage 2013/Batch 2.

It’s pretty amazing that a brewery can sustain itself by brewing only wild beers, and I’m definitely going to be on the lookout for more from them. In fact, I have another of their beers just sitting on the shelf, ready for drinking. We’ll get to it soon enough.