B

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

Decembeer Club

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Tonight was beer club, a meeting of beer minded individuals from my work who get together for a meal and lots-o-beer once a month. Tonight, we wondered why we don’t do this more than once a month. We had a strange turnout this month. Lots of people, but really only 4 of us were drinking lots of beer (other folks bring wine or don’t drink at all). Still, a good time was had by all, and we had a pretty nice selection of beers:

December 2011 Beer Club

(Click for bigger image)

For the sake of posterity, some thoughts on each beer we tried are below. As usual, conditions were not ideal, so take it all with a grain of salt. Actually, no. It’s the final word on the subject. In order of drinking (not necessarily the order in the picture):

  • Harpoon Winter Warmer – A pretty straightforward winter warmer style beer. Not quite as dark as I’d expect, lots of holiday spices in the nose and taste. Decent, but nothing special… B-
  • Achouffe N’Ice Chouffe – Achouffe’s holiday beer brewed with spices turned out to be a bit disappointing. Pours a nice brown color with a bunch of head and a nice Belgian aroma. But the taste is filled with sweet raisiny character that doesn’t always work well for me. It got a little less powerful as it warmed up a bit. Very sweet and raisiny. A decent beer, but I expect more out of Achouffe… B-
  • Great Lakes Christmas Ale – It’s got all the standard winter warmer characteristics, but it’s also brewed with honey, and you really get that additional honey character in the taste. It makes this a somewhat unique brew, and it’s actually well balanced. That being said, I’ve never been that big of a honey person, so it’s still not knocking my socks off. B
  • Leinenkugel’s Fireside Nut Brown – I’ve never been one for Leinenkugel’s beers, and I don’t think this was anything special, but it’s a reasonably well executed brown ale with a nice nutty flavor. Not something I anticipate trying again, but it wasn’t repugnant either. B-
  • Rogue Santa’s Private Reserve Ale – I actually reviewed this last year and my thoughts on the beer have changed very little. A decent beer, but not something I’d go out of my way for…
  • Dixie Blackened Voodoo Lager – My least favorite beer of the night, this one wasn’t really offensive so much as it didn’t really have much going for it. Flavors seemed a bit muted (especially considering the context of a beer tasting) and while it was crisp and clean, it just didn’t do much for me. C
  • Goose Island Christmas Ale – ZOMG! It’s a beer mostly owned by Anheuser Busch. I have a reflexive dislike for that, but then, this was actually one of the better beers of the night. A really well balanced and tasty winter warmer style beer. Hop flavors of pine and spruce dominate the palate, but it’s not particularly bitter either, which is an interesting combination and everything is rather well matched. B+
  • Heavy Seas Yule Tide – A Belgian style tripel, this one doesn’t really have much in the way of holiday spirit, but it’s a decent strong pale ale. Typical Belgian yeast flavors are there, but it is extremely sweet. This worked fine for the limited portions of beer club, but to be honest, I’m positive this would become overly cloying if I tried to drink an entire bottle of the stuff. B-
  • My Homebrewed Christmas Ale – I’ve been trying these ever since I bottled it, but this particular bottle seemed a bit under-carbonated. My regular 12 ounce bottle sseem to be fine (I’m sipping on one right now, actually), but this 22 ounce bottle seemed a bit light on the carbonation. Not sure what to make of that, but it should hopefully work itself out by Christmas…

A few of the beers in the picture were not actually opened. We ended up using them as a sorta Holiday beer exchange/white elephant style gift for each other. Overall, we all had a good time and I’m already looking forward to the January edition of beer club. Until then, expect a whole slew of additional holiday beer reviews!

Anchor Christmas Double Feature

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Every year, the craft beer pioneers at Anchor Brewing put out a special Christmas ale as the holiday approaches. It’s apparently quite the beer dork tradition, and while I’ve only started drinking these last year, I was excited for this year’s installment. The recipes change with each iteration (as do the labels), so it’s only natural that folks save a few from previous years and compare them. Since the recipes are different, it’s not technically a “vertical” tasting, but I thought it would be a fun exercise and besides, I had totally forgotten about the 2010 bottle that was sitting in the back of my fridge. So on one cold evening, I threw on a couple of Holiday horror movies (both of which were rather unremarkable) and popped my two Anchor Christmas vintages (both of which were rather good) for a comparative tasting, starting with the 2010.

Anchor Christmas Ale 2010

2010 Anchor Christmas – Pours a very dark brown, just a hint of ruby red when held up to the light. About a finger of tan head. Aroma is quite nice. Very sweet smelling, maybe brown sugar and vanilla in there with a faint hint of dark fruit (raisins?). Taste has some spiciness to it, and that brown sugar character is there too, but there’s an overarching flavor I can’t quite place and a strange bitterness that settles in the finish. There’s an aftertaste that isn’t particularly pleasing. Mouthfeel is still quite nice, even after a year, though perhaps a bit on the light side. Here’s the strange thing – I like this beer and I think it might even be better than it was last year, but I’m rating it lower than I did last year. I definitely overrated this last year, but I’m really glad I retained this bottle. B

Beer Nerd Details: 5.5% ABV bottled (12 oz.) Drank out of a tulip glass on 12/2/11.

Anchor Christmas 2011

2011 Anchor Christmas – Also pours a very dark brown, though not quite as dark as the 2010 variety, and more reddish colors show through when held up to light. Aroma is very spicy – cinnamon is clearly apparent. It smells sweet, but with none of that brown sugar or dark fruitiness from 2010. The taste seems much spicier (again with the Christmas spices of cinnamon and nutmeg, etc…) with a complex arrangement of malts. On the other hand, the bitterness here is much more subdued and better matched to the beer, leading a nicer finish and less of an aftertaste. The mouthfeel is again nice, though again a bit lighter than expected. As the beer warms, it seems to get more complex and ever more drinkable. Overall, I think it’s a small improvement over last year, and quite a good beer. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 5.5% ABV bottled (12 oz.) Drank out of a tulip glass on 12/2/11.

I actually really like some aspects of the 2010 beer (a fantastic aroma coming off that thing), but I do believe the 2011 to be a more balanced brew. This was fun – I’ll probably save a few of the 2011 bottles and do the same thing next year. I’ve also been cracking a few of my homebrewed winter warmers lately, and I’m happy to report that they compare favorable to the Anchor beers (which were the basic inspiration for my recipe).

St. Feuillien Cuvée De Noël

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Not quite Belgian Beer Roulette, as I’ve had St. Feuillien’s Saison before (a solid beer, that), but I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this either.

St. Feuillien Cuvee De Noel

St. Feuillien Cuvée De Noël – Pours a medium dark brown color with a couple fingers of tightly knitted off-white head. Aroma is full of raisins and Belgian yeast spice. Taste is extremely sweet up front, with some Belgian yeast spiciness and those raisins coming in full force in the middle. The finish surprisingly dry for such a sweet beer (not super dry, but much moreso than I would have expected from the initial taste…) Mouthfeel is medium to full bodied with lots of carbonation and a slight warming character due to the alcohol. Overall, a nice beer, but perhaps just a bit too sweet. B

Beer Nerd Details: 9% ABV bottled (11.2 oz.) Drank out of a tulip glass on 11/26/11.

Certainly not at the top of my Holiday beer list, but I’m glad I tried it…

Victory Baltic Thunder

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Beer styles are strange beasts. There are a lot of stories surrounding the origins of many beer styles and they’re often vague or conflicting. Take the Baltic Porter style. In my 5 minutes of research, I come away with a number of unanswered questions. Did the style originate in England? Or did it originate in the Baltic states (like Finland, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, etc…)? What’s the difference between a Baltic Porter and a strong English Porter? Is the difference that Baltic Porters were brewed with lager yeast (rather than the traditional ale yeast)? Come to think of it, what the hell is the difference between a stout and a porter?

Near as I can tell, the style originated in the Baltic states as an attempt to imitate the English Porters, but perhaps because they’re Baltic, they amped up the alcohol. The British were exporting their beers throughout the Baltic region and Russia, so I guess the locals enjoyed the beer so much that they tried their hand at it. There are some sources online that say many of the Baltic breweries switched to lager yeast and processes later, which would certainly lend a different character to the beer (and it makes sense that brewers in the frigid Baltic region would gravitate towards processes that required lower fermentation temperatures), though I also get the impression that many breweries continued to use ale yeast. All of this is still rather fuzzy though.

Ultimately, when you see something at the beer store labeled a Baltic Porter, what you can expect is a porter with a higher than normal alcohol (in the 7-9% range). It’s basically the Porter’s equivalent of the Russian Imperial Stout. Today’s example comes from local brewing hero Victory, who collaborated with Tom Baker from the now defunct Heavyweight brewing to create the beer:

“We were always fans of Tom’s beers, his Baltic porter in particular. After he chose to close his brewery and his Baltic porter vanished from the shelves, we were left thirsty for that beer. So, to quench our own thirst and that of consumers, we worked with Tom and shared his notes and thoughts on the style.” said Bill Covaleski, president and brewmaster of Victory Brewing Company.

Though inspired by Heavyweight’s Perkuno’s Hammer, this beer has a slightly different recipe (apparently they wanted to use the same Perkuno’s Hammer label, but the local beer distributer objected and Victory thus came up with the Baltic Thunder name). It’s also apparently one of the lagered varieties of the Baltic Porter, though I didn’t really pick out any of that character in the beer. Speaking of which, here’s what I did pick out in the beer:

Victory Baltic Porter

Victory Baltic Thunder – Pours a dark brown color with just a hint of amber highlights and minimal head. Aroma is full of chalky roasted malts, maybe just a hint of fruitiness and chocolate. Taste is nice and sweet, with the caramel and roasted malt character coming out in the middle and lasting through the finish. Really well balanced mouthfeel; nice full body, but the alcohol is well hidden and it still goes down easy. Overall, this is my kinda porter. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 8.5% ABV bottled (22 oz. bomber). Drank out of a tulip on 11/5/11.

So I’m still mopping up some old reviews, after which you can expect the Holiday beer review deluge to begin.

Allagash Fluxus 2011

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A couple years ago, just as my beer nerdery began flourishing in a big way, I picked up a bottle of Allagash Fluxus 2009. This is a series of beers where the gloves come off, and Allagash’s brewers feel free to push the limits of beer. Fluxus comes from the latin, meaning “continuous change”, and so many of these beers represent odd mixtures of style or beers with uncommon ingredients. The recipe is very different from year to year. The 2009 version that I had was a saison brewed with sweet potatoes and black pepper. This seemed absurd to me at the time, but it really knocked my socks off. The 2010 variety was apparently an imperial chocolate stout. I never did manage to catch up with one of these (though it was certainly available, I just found myself pursuing other beers at the time). Here in 2011, I see it the beer described as a French-Style Farmhouse Ale (and also as a Biere de Garde). I generally find this a favorable style, so I picked it up:

Allagash Fluxus 11

Allagash Fluxus 2011 – Pours a medium amber brown color (copper?) with a finger of light colored head that sticks around a while, but doesn’t really leave much lacing. Aroma is strongly influenced by noble hops – earthy and floral, with just a hint of sweetness, maybe even candi sugar or caramel peeking through. It’s almost like the nose of an… Oktoberfest beer*? Not what I was expecting at all. The taste has some of that same character, though perhaps the yeastiness is adding complexity too. There are some kinda toasty notes here as well, maybe even some nutty flavors, further lending credence to the Oktoberfest hypothesis. Mouthfeel is actually quite nice. Well balanced carbonation and medium body. Not a quencher at all, but easy to drink and it hides the alcohol well enough. It’s a strange melding of styles here. We’ve got the hopping of a Euro-lager with the spicy yeast character of a French or Belgian ale. A most unusual experiment with an intricate blend of well matched flavors, probably very much in line with the goal of the Fluxus line of beers. Unfortunately, I’m not sure it’s really my thing. Hey, this happens from time to time. It’s a very well crafted and complex beer, and I’m glad I tried it, but I find myself appreciating it more on an intellectual level than with my taste buds. Perhaps if I was more of a Euro-lager kinda guy, this would rock my world. Alas, I am not that guy. B

Now, I usually try to write my reviews based solely on my initial tasting of the beer, but with beers that come in 750 ml bottles, I tend to try accompanying the second glass of the beer with something to eat. This combination of flavors sometimes produces unexpected results** and sometimes even improves my feeling on the beer***. Usually, this is a snack of cheese and/or crackers, but this time around, I opted for an unconventional accompaniment. For whatever reason, I associate nuts in the shell with the holidays, and I recently picked up some. Given the Oktoberfesty nature of this beer, I thought the toasted, nutty character of the brew would go well with the mixed nuts, so I broke out the nutcracker, and yes, it did indeed match up****. It actually made the second glass from the 750 ml magnum a more enjoyable experience than it normally would have been. I don’t think I’d increase the rating of this beer because of this, but I did want to mention it because I found the combination interesting.

Beer Nerd Details: 8% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a tulip on 11/25/11.

Ironically, this is probably the best Oktoberfest beer I’ve had all year (not that I’ve had a ton, but still). It’s not one of my favorite styles, but this one worked well enough, and I loved the unconventional holiday feeling I got from drinking the second glass.

* According to Allagash’s website, the beer is hopped solely with “Alsatian Brewers Gold”, which is not technically a noble hop, but it apparently is a very European variety that is used in German lagers, and often appears on Oktoberfest beers. So I’m not crazy. Or rather, I’m not crazy because I detected these aromas/flavors in the beer. I may or may not otherwise be crazy.

** And sometimes it does not. Matching beer with food can be difficult due to the depth and breadth of flavors possible in beer.

*** I think a large part of how I came around on stouts is that I managed to match it well with various cheeses and meats. In particular, I find that Havarti cheese goes well with stouts, and of course, any grilled meat goes well with the roasty flavors. Beer Advocate usually has some suggestions on their sidebars for each beer, though I think it’s all based on style and not the specific beer. Nevertheless, I’ve found it helpful.

**** And now my floor is covered in nut shrapnel.

Oak Aged Double Feature

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Continuing the Oak Aged posting this week, here I’ve got two big Oak Aged beers, matched with gorgeous but flawed films. First up, Tarsem Singh’s Immortals, a horribly scripted Greek mythology story that is nonetheless worth watching for some wonderful, stylized action sequences and Tarsem’s trademark visual style (a feast for the eyes!) Next, I watched Terrence Malick meditative The Tree of Life, a non-narrative fever dream, again gorgeously photographed and mesmerizing, but going on for way too long and, odd as it may be to say this, too much dialogue (and there’s not really much dialogue in the movie, but what’s there is kinda insipid). Very pretty movies, both, but also flawed. The beers I drank to match were big and flavorful.

Founders Backwoods Bastard

Founders Backwoods Bastard – Does the backwoods bastard pictured on the label look like Gandalf the Grey to anyone else? No? I’m the only nerd here? Great. Anyway, you don’t see this style of beer, a Scotch Ale/Wee Heavy, aged in barrels very often (or, uh, ever – this is the only one I’m aware of*). This beer actually starts out as Founders’ year-round brew, Dirty Bastard, which is then aged in old bourbon barrels, bringing up the ABV and imparting the usual complexity of bourbon barrel notes. Pours a dark, deep brown color with very little head. Aroma is full of bourbon and oak, with some of that underlying scotch ale character coming out. Taste starts with sweet malts, followed by a big wallop of boozy bourbon and oak. Ends with a surprisingly dry finish (well, not super dry, but more dry than I would have expected). The mouthfeel is medium to full bodied – not as heavy as I was expecting, which makes this very easy to drink. I wouldn’t say the booze is hidden, but it’s not as powerful as the ABV would suggest, which is interesting. Overall, a really good beer, something I’d like to try again, but also something that could probably use some additional aging to marry the flavors together a little more. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 10.5% ABV bottled (12 oz.) Drank out of a tulip on 11/12/11.

Avery Samael Ale

Avery Samael’s Oak Aged Ale – Back in the day, when I first started posting things on the internet, message boards were all the rage. Along with that came the use of handles, basically online nicknames people took for themselves. I’ve since grown out of that fad**, but there are still some folks I met back in the 1990s message boards that I think of by their handles, rather than their real names. One such person is my friend Roy, who I always knew as Samael (which is also apparently the name of the prince of demons, but whatever). As such, during my recent Texas excursion, I saw this beer and had to have it, despite not being a native Texas beer (it’s not something I’ve seen around these parts though, so it’s still something mildly ungettable for me). So I got one and greedily smuggled it back to PA***.

It pours a deep brown color with minimal head. Smell is full of dark fruitiness and caramel, with just a little of the vanilla oak flavor. Caramel flavors dominate the taste, along with a heaping helping of booze. The oak and vanilla is there too. As it warms, dark fruity notes emerge. Really complex stuff here, though not particularly well balanced. Mouthfeel is full bodied and rich, with a sticky finish. A really big alcohol presence here, a little on the harsh side. Overall, it’s a very good beer, but like the Backwoods Bastard, I’m thinking this one would benefit from some aging in order to let all the intricate flavors to balance each other out. When it’s this young, it’s a little too hot to handle, maybe even a bit cloying towards the end, though still enjoyable. B

Beer Nerd Details: 15.31% ABV bottled (12 oz.) Drank out of a tulip on 11/12/11. Bottles released in April 2011 (batch no. 7)

A theme seems to be emerging from a lot of barrel aged beers I’ve had lately, which is that they could probably use some more time to mature. The complex marriage of flavors that makes a barrel aged beer great seem to be difficult to balance, though when it’s done right, it’s a big revelation. That being said, I generally enjoy even these young versions, so it’s not like you won’t be seeing any more barrel aged beer reviews (indeed, one more already in the pipeline, and several more in my basement that I might just let sit for a while). I’m also really interested to see how Dark Intrigue matures, given that it seemed pretty well balanced to me on its first day of release…

* Not that I’m an expert on the style, but still.

** My handle was tallman, a reference to a cheesy but cherished 70s horror film that I was in love with at the time (and still am, to a degree). And no, I’m not very tall.

*** Using the same giddy packing techniques I did for that Wytchmaker beer. I’m still amused at the prospect of becoming a bootlegger.

Double Feature: Documenting IPAs

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I recently lamented my lack of double feature posts, a fault more of circumstance than anything else. I’ve been drinking more of a variety (which does not always lend itself to the comparative nature of double features), and some styles just don’t lend themselves to this type of post. One style that’s always been a boon to double features is the IPA. It’s a style of tremendous variety, yet you can often come away from drinking one particular example feeling that it tasted kinda the same as any other IPA. So pitting two examples of the style against one another and comparing the differences has always been illuminating. This double feature was a bit odd, for a few reasons. By total coincidence, they were both 7.2% ABV, lending a nice sense of stability to the proceedings. But then, one of the beers tasted nothing like an IPA, despite being labeled as such.

To match with my beers, I undertook a filmic double feature of two Errol Morris documentaries. Gates of Heaven was Morris’s first film, and it’s one of those documentaries that proves that you can make almost any subject interesting. It follows the ins-and-outs of pet cemeteries, including the folks that run them and the people who have opted to bury their pets there. It’s not quite riveting, and there is a sorta low-budget, bare-bones vibe to the production, but Morris is able to glean a lot of interesting stuff from an obscure subject. Morris’ latest film is Tabloid, a bizarre tale of a former beauty queen who is charged with kidnapping a Mormon missionary. It’s an amazing story, pure tabloid gold, but told in a way that made me think a lot about the nature of media and how stories can unfold in the news. I won’t ruin it, but there are many revelations and the old British tabloid reporters are an absolute riot (one of them particularly loves the phrase “spread eagle”, even verbing it at one point). Certainly one of the best films of 2011 (so far) and highly recommended. Now, onto the beers:

Troegs Scratch 49

Tröegs Scratch Beer 49 (Fresh Hop IPA) – This is from Tröegs’s experimental series of small batches where they are able to play with strange ingredients or non-traditional brewing techniques. In this particular case, we’ve got a Fresh Hop IPA. Also known as a Wet Hop beer, this is basically a style that utilizes hops that were picked within 24 hours of brewing the beer. Most hops are dried, concentrating and preserving the various flavors and aromas. They’re often processed even further into pellets or plugs, which generally helps preserve their potency. But a lot of breweries will ask their local hop providers for some fresh hops so that they can brew something with them, and thus we get fresh hop beers. They’re also called wet hop beers because their water content is 80-90% of their total weight (these will go bad if you don’t dry them out or use them right away). I’ve actually had a few fresh hop beers this year, and there is something different about them, though I’m not entirely sure I could pick them out of a lineup.

This one pours a clear golden color with a finger of white head. Smells fantastic. Very citrusy sweet, with a twang of something else in there. Perhaps an earthy herbal or medicinal aroma, but in a good way, and it becomes more prominent as the beer warms up. Whatever it is, it comes out in full force in the taste. Much less citrus in the taste, which heavily favors an earthy or maybe grassy bitterness, especially in the finish and aftertaste. Mouthfeel is somewhere around light or medium body. Just enough body that it isn’t quite quenching, but not so much as to be a heavy sipper either. Overall, a decent beer. Nothing I’d go crazy for, but it is very different from your typical IPA, which is certainly a plus. B

Beer Nerd Details: 7.2% ABV bottled (12 oz). Drank out of a tulip glass on 11/4/11.

A solid beer, but like a lot of offerings from Tröegs, it didn’t blow me away. I thus turned to my local, hometown brewers’ latest creation:

Boxcar India Pale Ale

Boxcar Brewing India Pale Ale – Pours a darkish golden orange color with a finger or so of bubbly white head. Aroma is musty and just a bit spicy (you can really tell they used a Belgian yeast with this), with not very much of an earthy hop aroma and maybe just a hint of citrus (but you have to look for it). Taste is very sweet and spicy, with a little fruitiness and a nice dry finish. Again, very little hop character or bitterness here, at least, nothing like an IPA. Mouthfeel is quite nice, very well carbonated, a little of that harsh Belgian feel (which I always enjoy). Overall, it’s a very nice beer, but it’s not really an IPA, which makes it hard to rate. Ultimately, I really enjoyed it, so I’ll give it a B, but it should probably be marketed as more of a Belgian Pale Ale (or even a Belgian Strong Pale)…

Beer Nerd Details: 7.2% ABV bottled (12 oz). Drank out of a tulip glass on 11/4/11.

The Boxcar beer kinda threw me for a loop. I feel like the lone review on Beer Advocate is pretty unfair, as it’s a D+. When you read the review, it seems he’s docking points because it’s not really an IPA. It’s a fair criticism, but then the rating says under it “Avoid”, which is pretty unfair, as it’s a pretty good beer. I agree that it’s not really an IPA, but I don’t really know how that should play into its rating. It seems more like a criticism of the branding or marketing of the beer than the beer itself. But on the other hand, it’s branded/marketed wrong! Weird. I suppose I should also disclose that this is an uber-local brewery (right down the street from me, basically in the dude’s garage), and I’m a total homer, so I’m inclined to cut them some slack. But I suppose if you’re really looking forward to an IPA and you open this, you’d be in for a big surprise. What say you?

Jester King Wytchmaker Rye IPA

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During my recent trip to Austin, I actually stopped at a grocery store to pick up a couple of beers to smuggle back home. I’ve never done this before, so I was a little worried about confiscation or broken bottles. So I put the bottles in ziploc bags, wrapped them in clothing and made sure they were in the middle of my bag. Fortunately, it all worked out in the end, and I got me some Texas beer:

Jester King Wytchmaker Rye IPA

Jester King Wytchmaker Rye IPA – Jester King is a pretty small brewery based in Austin, TX, but they’ve been making a name for themselves with their big imperial stout and some barrel-aged offerings (and bitchin’ label designs). They’ve also been in the news lately for trying to fight Texas’ asinine beer laws (ever see a sentence on a lager that says “ale in TX”? That’s because Texas law requires brewers to call lagers above 4% ABV an ale – i.e. Texas law requires brewers to lie about their beer. And that’s just one example.) This beer is a relatively straightforward beer, except for the inclusion of Rye in the recipe. I’ve had a few beers with Rye, but I can’t say as though I have a really good palate for picking it out. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this beer muchly…

Pours a very pretty dark amberish orange color with tons of slowly disappearing head (seriously, took forever for it to go away) that leaves copious lacing as I drink. Smell is filled with sugary sweet hoppy aromas. Typical citrus and pine here, but also something else, perhaps that rye? Taste starts sweet, with a nice, well balanced bitterness coming in towards the finish. Not quite refreshing, but it’s not extreme either. Mouthfeel is extremely smooth and compulsively drinkable. Overall, a really nice IPA with well matched flavors. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 6.8% ABV bottled (750 ml capped). Drank out of a tulip glass on 10/22/11. Hops: Warrior, Cascade, Centennial, Amarillo, Simcoe. O.G.: 1.062.

Certainly a good first impression and a favorable rating amongst the various Texas breweries I became acquainted with during my vacation. Here’s to hoping they get distribution up here in PA someday. Hey, Jester King? We have horrible beer laws too! You should send beer up here so that we can commiserate together…

Novembeer Club

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Another month, another beer club! For the uninitiated, beer club is just a monthly gathering of friends from work for dinner and, of course, lots of beer (and often other alcoholic wonders). We had an average turnout, but still lots of fun and we had so much beer that we couldn’t even get to all of it… A transitional period in terms of seasonal beers. Some leftover fall seasonals, some holiday beers, but the majority of beers were regular offerings:

beerclub-nov11.jpg

(Click for bigger image)

For the sake of posterity, some thoughts on each beer we tried are below. As usual, conditions were not ideal, so take it all with a grain of salt. Or as sacred scripture (as I’m sure you do with all my other posts). The choice is yours. In order of drinking (not necessarily the order in the picture):

  • Tröegs DreamWeaver Wheat – A very solid Hefeweizen from semi-local Tröegs. I’ve actually had this a few times before, but there’s nothing particularly unique about it. A really nice example of the style though. B
  • Amager Julebryg 2008 – Dark color, with a wonderful aroma that is filled with crystal malts and caramel flavors (and maybe some subtle spicing). Taste is a little more roasty than I was expecting from the nose, with some coffee and maybe a little chocolate apparent. Full bodied but smooth, a really nice beer. It feels more like a solid stout than a holiday beer, but it’s good either way (Beer Advocate calls it a dubbel, which sorta fits, but I probably wouldn’t have guessed that from the beer itself). The bottle sez it was spiced, and it was certainly complex, but nothing particularly stood out (this is actually a good thing). Brewer Amager warrants further exploration. B+
  • Guinness Black Lager – This feels like a more crisp, carbonated version of Guinness’ famous dry stout with less roastiness. It’s an easy drinking beer, but the flavor seems oddly muted (perhaps because of the other brews of the night). Nothing wrong with it, but not a particularly special beer either. C+
  • Abita Turbodog – A great name for a beer that turns out to be a standard brown ale. Certainly nothing wrong with it and a solid example of the style, but not particularly special either. B-
  • Wychwood King Goblin – According to the bottle, this beer is only brewed under a full moon. It’s got that typical Wychwood style label which is fantastic. Unfortunately, the beer doesn’t quite live up to the branding. Lots of head and perhaps as a consequence, a little too light on the carbonation. Not quite flat, but it wasn’t a good mouthfeel at all. Taste was hoppy, but not in the typical American pale ale way – perhaps this is more of an English pale ale (BA has it pegged as an English Strong Ale). Not a horrible beer, but not something that I could really connect with either. I don’t know, Wychwood beers seem to be hitting me the wrong way lately… C
  • Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale – An interesting example of the style as it seems to emphasize the pumpkin more than the spices (which are still there, but not anywhere near as prevalent as they typically are in pumpkin ales). Smooth, tasty, and easy to drink. Nothing revelatory, but a good example of the style. B
  • Ommegang Cup O Kyndnes – One of my contributions for the night, this is a really interesting combination. Basically a Scotch ale brewed with Belgian yeast, it features the hallmarks of both styles. Unlike a lot of style mixtures, I think these two styles complement each other well. Very sweet and malty, with that typical Belgian yeast character coming out in a prominent way. I actually have another bottle of this sitting around, so look for a full review at some point…
  • Fegley’s Brew Works Rude Elf’s Reserve – Another beer I’ll probably review separately, but I will say that this is a hugely alcoholic (10.5% ABV) spiced beer. Kinda like an overspiced pumpkin beer without any pumpkin (I had one of these earlier, along with a pumpkin ale, and found this one sharing a lot of the pumpkin spices)… Look for a separate review sometime this holiday season…
  • Dana’s Homebrewed Dubbel – A nice dubbel style beer, only recently bottled, so it could probably use some more time to condition, but it’s still pretty good. Nice traditional Belgian yeast character with a medium body. Easy to drink.

We didn’t get to try a few of the beers in the picture, including Troegenator, Hoptober, and Amish Four Grain Pale Ale. All in all, another successful outing for the beer club. I’m already looking forward to the next installment, as we will most likely be drinking all Holiday beers (aka, my favorite seasonals).

Black Damnation III

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I don’t know much about Belgian upstart brewers De Struise, but they certainly seem to enjoy a pretty good reputation. Unlike a lot of Belgian breweries, De Struise seems to have a wide and varied set of beers, including limited editions and barrel aged beers and the like. They also seem to do a lot of collaborations (indeed, my only exposure to De Struise thus far has been their collaborations with Stillwater). In this particular case, we have another beer aged in Islay Scotch casks (let’s hope this goes better than last time), so yeah, lots of smoky, peaty, almost medicinal flavors will be present. This time the base beer is De Struise’s Black Albert, a Russian Imperial Stout (there’s apparently a whole series of Black Damnation beers that put the Black Albert beer through a bunch of different treatments). Will it be able to stand up to the powerful Scotch flavors? Only one way to find out:

de Struise Black Damnation III

De Struise Black Damnation III – Black Mes – Aged on used Caol Ila barrels, the beer pours an opaque black color with a finger of creamy, light brown head. I’m not getting much out of the nose (probably a more a function of the full glass and bar atmosphere than the beer), but the taste is full of peaty Scotch flavors, finishing with a warming alcohol burn. The dark roasted malts are able to stand out a bit against the onslaught of peat, but it’s clearly a background character as opposed to something that is assertive in itself. The mouthfeel is not quite as rich as you’d expect, but it’s still quite full thanks to all that alcohol. Overall, it’s a good beer, but it is just a tad overwhelmed by peaty Scotch character. If, perhaps, I had a bottle of this, I have to wonder if it would mellow out after some aging… A worthy experiment, and something I might try again (if it’s ever made again and if I can afford it!) B

Beer Nerd Details: 13% ABV on tap. Drank out of a goblet on 10/8/11.

It was a bit expensive, but I’m glad I got to try this. I’m actually quite looking forward to the bottle of De Struise’s Pannepot that I recently acquired as well.