Barleywine

Smarch Beer Club

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Due to a calendar misprint, the Smarch edition of beer club came later than normals, but we had it all the same. For the uninitiated, beer club is where a bunch of booze-minded folks from my work get together and sample beers and usually other beverages of choice. We always hit up a local BYOB and tonight, we didn’t even get banned! Good times had by all, and we got to drink some pretty good beer too:

Smarch Beer Club

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In accordance with tradition, I will henceforth record some disgruntled, freakish opinions on each beer below. You know, for posterity. Of course none of these notes are reliable because I wasn’t in a sensory deprivation chamber and didn’t chemically cleanse my palate after every sip, so read them at your own risk. In order of drinking (not in order of picture, and due to some tardy attendees, some are not even pictured):

  • Kaedrin Fat Weekend IPA – My homebrewed IPA, one of the last bottles at this point, seemed to go over pretty well. Again, I hope to do a more detailed review at some point, but in short, it came out super dank, very piney and resinous hop character dominates the flavor. A little overcarbonated, but I should be able to correct that in future batches. I’ll refrain from rating right now, but aside from the carbonation issues, I really like this.
  • Wagner Valley IPA – I’ve used this description before, but it’s perfect for a beer like this: It reminds me of the sort of thing you’d get in a John Harvard’s brewpub, circa 1998. Totally an improvement over most macro lagers, but not particularly accomplished either. C+
  • DuClaw Naked Fish – A beer we’ve had before (at beer club, even), and my thoughts haven’t changed much at all. It’s got a really nice raspberry and chocolate character mixed with a really low-octane stout base. Easy enough to drink, but it’s not going to blow you away. B
  • Ken’s Homebrewed Oktoberfest – New homebrewer Ken brought one of his first batches, an Octoberfest beer that probably still needs some conditioning time, but was drinkable as it was. It had some apple-like off flavors, but it was actually sorta pleasant anyway…
  • Magic Hat Pistil – Super light, flowery, herbal, crisp and refreshing, would make a great summer beer. Not something that will blow away jaded beer nerds or anything, but it was actually a nice palate cleanser and certainly a lot more pleasant than macro stuff. B
  • Flying Dog Lucky S.O.B. – A pretty straightforward Irish Red Ale. Not bad or anything, but not particularly distinguished either. Nice malt backbone, easy drinking stuff. B-
  • Kaedrin Stout – Another of my homebrews, this thing is about a year and a half old, and it’s actually drinking really well! Complex malt character, caramel, roast, dark chocolate, still packs a whallop of flavor and hasn’t really lost anything over the year and a half in my cellar. On the other hand, this has always been a beer that’s worked well in small pours. Still, I think I may revisit the recipe next year, perhaps amp it up a bit more, give it some more hops, get a higher attenuating yeast. It’s pretty good right now, but it could be great.
  • Boulevard Harvest Dance Wheatwine – It’s like a hefeweizen, only moreso. In my limited experience with big wheat beers, I’ve always gotten cloying, sticky sweet notes that just made it unpalatable. But this drinks like a slightly boozy hefeweizen. Huge banana and clove weizen yeast character in the nose, and you really don’t get that big boozy flavor until the finish, and even then, it doesn’t quite feel like a 9.1% monster. Still not my favorite style, but this was among the best I’ve had. B+
  • DuClaw Bourbon Barrel Aged Devil’s Milk – The regular Devil’s Milk is a wonderful little barleywine, this bourbon-barrel aged version makes a nice complementary offering. It’s a huge, bourbon forward beer, lots of caramel and vanila, much less in the way of hops than the base, but still an eminently drinkable brew. Would like to try again sometime, but I’ll give it an tentative A-
  • Weyerbacher Riserva (2012) – Picked this up at the release at the brewery this past weekend (will have a more detailed post later, stay tuned), even briefly crossed paths with Rich on Beer and fam on my way to pick up some Riserva and the last NATO beer (Zulu, which, again, will be covered in a separate post at some point). Anyways, Riserva is an oak aged beer made with raspberries. It’s going to be distributed, but as American Wild Ales go, it’s pretty solid stuff. It’s not a top tier Russian River killer or anything, but it’s got a place at the table, and I’m continually surprised at how well sour beers go over with the beer club crowd. Even non-beer drinkers gave this a shot and really enjoyed it. For my part, I found it to be a bit hot, but otherwise a pretty solid beer. Funky, intensely sour, but with a nice oak character balancing things out. A little astringent and boozy, but still really enjoyable. Not sure about knocking back an entire 750 ml of this, but I’m sure it will happen someday. B+

And that about covers it. Good times had by all, and already planning next month’s meetup, since this month happened so late.

Nebraska Reserve Series Fathead Barleywine

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Nebraska Brewing, out of, uh, let’s just say Nebraska, is a small brewpub operation that seems to have a bizarrely wide footprint when it comes to distribution. I suspect their strategy here is to send limited amounts of their reserve series brews far and wide in an attempt to pave the way for future expansion (which is on it’s way). Unfortunately, it seems like their tiny operation forces them to place rather high prices on those big bottles of barrel aged brews, which is on the order of $20-$25 around here, but I’ve also seen $30+. This is pretty absurd unless we’re talking about true world beaters, and the beer nerd consensus is mixed on that score.

This is especially troublesome when their brews sit on shelves collecting dust – the kiss of death for beers like Hop God, which costs an arm and a leg but is probably a stale shelf turd by the time you’re ready to risk the purchase. I do wonder if their new production facility and expansion will lead to some efficiencies of scale that will allow for more reasonable pricing. Lord knows that I’ve smashed past that that $20 a bottle mental barrier with a vengeance, but I’m usually rewarded with something unique and amazing. This beer marks the second time I’ve dropped a pretty penny on some swanky Nebraska booty that, to be sure, have been solid, but never quite face-melting (which is, uh, a good thing in my book). In fairness, this barleywine was probably sitting on the shelf a while before it sat in my cellar for a while, so it’s certainly not the freshest of brews. Still, I’d expect more from this. Pricing shouldn’t matter, but maybe it does… what say you?

Nebraska Reserve Series Fathead Barleywine

Nebraska Fathead Barleywine – Reserve Series Aged In Whiskey Barrels – Reserve Series Aged In Whiskey Barrels – Pours a deep brown color, burgundy tonez dude, half a finger of white head and actually a decent amount of lacing. Smells of fruity crystal malts, some booze, and a faint but still distinct whiskey barrel character of oak and vanilla. Taste follows the nose, lots of caramel, some brown sugar molasses character, that dark fruit character from the nose, and again, a faint but distinct barrel aged character. The finish has a surprising bitter note, as I don’t get much hop aroma or flavor out of this, but it’s clearly got a big hop component because of that bitterness. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, thinner than I’d expect, but smooth, and relatively dry in the finish too. Overall, a solid BA barleywine, but not mind-blowing and definitely too expensive. B (borderline B+, but I guess I wasn’t in a generous mood when I was drinking this stuff).

Beer Nerd Details: 11.3% ABV bottled (750 ml capped). Drank out of a snifter on 2/15/13.

These aren’t bad beers, but the pricetag does leave something to be desired. If their expansion leads to slightly lowered prices, I’d certainly hit up their BA Imperial Stout (if I can find it!) but I don’t know that I’d be willing to drop that $25 on an untested beer from them again…

Three Floyds and Mikkeller Risgoop

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Mikkel Borg Bjergsø, the famed Danish gypsy brewer who walks the earth, usurping excess brewing capacity at (or collaborating with) whatever brewery will have him, has also made his way through the U.S. on occasion. So what happens when he shucks and jives his way through Indiana and collaborates with one of our country’s finest brewers? We get a series of barleywines exploring different grains. The first four actually seem to all be variations on the Wheatwine style, Hvedegoop being a straight up Wheatwine, with successive releases incorporating other grains such as oats, rye, and even buckwheat. All variants use the “goop” suffix, which I’ll just go with because I don’t really want to know why.

This latest version focuses on rice as the key differentiator. As I understand it, rice is typically a cheap adjunct used to jack up the abv while not impacting flavor at all, the sort of process you typically find in macro breweries like Bud/Miller/Coors. But when you’re making a 10.4% ABV barleywine that is packed to the gills with hops, rice should help dry out the beer, keep the malts in check, and generally make it more palatable. Sounds good to me, so many thanks to Chicago trading partner Joe for sending my way. Let’s see how this one fares:

Three Floyds and Mikkeller Collaboration Risgoop

Three Floyds and Mikkeller Risgoop – Pours a hazy but bright orange color with a finger of white head, very IPA looking. Speaking of which, the nose is all hops. Grassy, juicy citrus, along with some pine and sugary sweet malt aromas too. Taste has a surprising malt backbone. Nothing huge, but enough to balance out the massive hop blast that emerges in the middle and intensifies through the finish, which strikes a good balance between sweetness and bitterness. Some booze hits in the middle and finish as well, but nothing unpleasant. I don’t smell or taste any rice, but I think you can probably tell that there’s some sort of sugar adjunct here because of the mouthfeel, which I wouldn’t call dry, per say, but which isn’t as thick or gloopy as you typically would get in a barleywine (or a beer with “goop” in the name, for that matter). Medium bodied, lighter than you’d expect, but with enough booziness that it doesn’t feel thin or disappointing. Overall, this is really nice, more reminiscent of a really big DIPA (or TIPA, I guess you’d call it) than a Barleywine, but that’s not a real complaint at all. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 10.4% ABV bottled (22 oz. bomber). Drank out of a snifter on 2/15/13.

So yeah, FFF and Mikkeller makes for a winning combo, at least with this particular beer (I have to admit, I’m not a huge wheatwine fan, though I suspect these two brewers could give the style a run for its money). Anywho, whilst drinnking this and perusing my twitter feed, I saw that DDB posted this video and when she sez “You know it’s good beer when it has a cork in it” I found myself wondering, so I performed a little experiment:

Corked Risgoop

I believe she was actually correct. After that point, the beer became redolent of corking.

Drake’s Jolly Rodger

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Historically, the Jolly Rodger is a flag flown by pirates to frighten their victims into surrendering without a fight. The most common said flag featured a skull and crossbones, obvious symbols of death (other variants included full skeletons and things like hourglasses, all symbols of death). Due to the decline in piracy in modern times, the symbol has shifted somewhat. After some prissy British Admiral described submarines as “underhanded, unfair, and damned un-English”, a bunch of wiseass British sailors fashioned themselves a Jolly Rodger after a successful mission, and thus the Jolly Rodger began its continuing career as a military insignia.

These days, the Jolly Rodger seems to have been taken up by incessant copyright infringers, making “Talk like a Pirate day” into just a bunch of discussions about where to download new releases. It also seems that the Jolly Rodger has been pressed into service to help sell beer, so there’s that too. It seems that Drake’s Brewing out in California has utilized the Jolly Rodger for their annual Holiday seasonal. Each year is a different style, and this year’s is a good ol’ fashioned American barleywine. Be still my heart. Thanks to Jay for sending this my way! Ok, that’s enough babbling, let’s fire up µTorrent, download some porn movies, sink a Nazi vessel, fly our Jolly Rodger, and drink some beer:

Drakes Jolly Rodger

Drake’s Jolly Rodger American Barleywine 2012 – Pours a dark amber brown color with nice robey tones and a finger of whitish head. Smells of piney, resinous hops, with some crystal malts and maybe a little vanilla. Taste is surprisingly bitter, plenty of those piney hops, light malt, some booze, and did I mention bitter? It’s not disagreeably bitter or anything, I just wasn’t expecting it. Mouthfeel is relatively heavy, but it goes down smooth. Bit of a hot boozy feel, but again, not disagreeable. Overall, it won’t sink Nazi ships or scare beer drinkers into surrendering, but it’s a solid American Barleywine, hoppy and bitter, and I likey. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 9.6% ABV bottled (22 oz. bomber). Drank out of a snifter on 2/8/13.

Drake’s has a pretty small footprint, so I probably won’t be stumbling across any more of their stuff anytime soon, but they seem to make some nice IPAs and they have this thing called a “barrel house” which sounds rather nice. In any case, I’ve got more trade booty coming, and, you know, local stuff too.

Tired Hands MotherAnimal and another Speed Round

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I have a bit of a dilemma when it comes to Tired Hands. They’re awesome, and they’re close, and it’s a fun place to visit, so I go there pretty often. Now, I’ve enjoyed covering the rise of the brewery these past few months, and I’m sure I’ll be posting more about them, but the strange thing about all this is that for the most part, they don’t make the same beer twice. They’ve got two house beers, HopHands and FarmHands, both quite tasty and only 4.8% too, but other than that, everything else has been a one off. Now, someday, I hope they will repeat some of their more interesting brews. Stuff like Zombie or FlavorAroma or Westy13 (which may be coming to bottles someday). But for the most part, I’m writing about beers that will not only never see the light again, but will probably only have been available for 2-3 weeks.

Is that interesting to read about? Heck, tasting notes in and of themselves aren’t all that interesting. I mean, I’ve found them personally useful, but why subject the rest of the world to them? I do try to use these reviews as a jumping off point for other discussions, but I still resort to pretty straightforward posts from time to time. And in most cases, even the rare beers I get are things that are made on a yearly basis. What about these one-offs? I suppose when the beer is something strange or otherwise special, it could warrant a post, but I should probably ease back on these posts. Or not. I guess we’ll see what happens.

Tired Hands Mother Animal Drawing

Today’s focus, though, is Tired Hands’ first barleywine, which just happens to be “conditioned on locally roasted coffee and Madagascar vanilla beans”. Given the emergent theme of coffee beers this week, I figured it was worth pushing this one up the queue and talking about it today:

Tired Hands MotherAnimal

Tired Hands MotherAnimal – Pours a gorgeous ruby toned brown color with a couple fingers of khaki head. Not getting a lot out of the nose, but there’s a sorta mellow coffee and vanilla character going on. Taste is very sweet, but it has a really well balanced blend of caramel, coffee, and vanilla going on here. The coffee is actually quite nice, not roasty or bitter at all, and it doesn’t overpower the other flavors while still making itself known. The vanilla sweetness is probably more prominent, but it works well. Mouthfeel is a little light on carbonation, but that just makes it feel smooth and velvety, with just the faintest note of booze. Despite that, you really can’t tell that this beer is as strong as it is, so I’d say the booze is hidden pretty well. Overall, really nice brew. B+ Would like to try again, possible A- stuff here.

Beer Nerd Details: 11.5% ABV on tap. Drank out of 8 ounce glass on 1/23/13.

This one isn’t really turning a ton of heads in the RateBeer/BeerAdvocate set, but I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It’s got a really uncommon array of flavors going for it, stuff you don’t normally see in barleywines, which I appreciated. Alrighty then, here’s a few more quick hits from Tired Hands, compiled over the course of the past month or so. I’m going to refrain from posting my full tasting notes for these, because like I said before, that might be overkill for brews that will never see the light of day again (and some of which are already long gone).

Singel Hop Saison, Motueka – A unique hop character, really bright tropical fruit, non-tart lemon, light saison pepperyness, and it works. This has been a really interesting series of beers, and I’d put this one a step above the Nelson Sauvin, but not quite the heights of the Simcoe (or, for that matter, the next one, listed below). B+

Singel Hop Saison, Amarillo – The perfect balance of citrusy Amarillo hop aromas and flavor with the rustic saison qualities of bready spice. A little light on carbonation, but its just so damn quaffable, it’s taking me longer to write these lame notes than it is to drink! Delicious. Not sure if its just that Amarillo hops are awesome, or if Tired Hands is getting better, but who cares? This is the best Singel Hop Saison yet. A

Falco’s Nerd Flight – All hops, all the time. Bright grapefruit citrus character with floral and pine notes, a strong bitterness throughout, and a great, crisp, dry mouthfeel that makes this easily quaffable. A-

Domo – Barrel fermented black rye saison, aged in a wicked combo of Chaddsford red wine barrels and old Weyerbacher Insanity barrels. Huge sour cherry notes, light oak/vanilla, maybe a hint of chocolate. I was lucky enough to sample this a couple times, and it just got better. Tired Hands sour beers tend to be rather sharp and abrasive, but they grow on me, and this is no exception. A-

California Über Helles – Tired Hands has occasionally been putting out some lagers, but I gotta say, this thing drinks more like a really well balanced IPA. Brewed with Falconer’s Flight hops, this shares that hop character with Falco’s Nerd Flight, though the hops are toned down considerably here. Still, really bright and compulsively drinkable. A-

Nigel – Probably more IPA than Black, but it’s delicious nonetheless. Very light roast, but big hop character, citrus and pine, you know the drill. A-

Whatever, Nevermind – A strong saison, it’s got a really nice lemon zest, light tartness to go along with the more typical spicy, bready saison yeast character. It feels kinda like Fantôme light, more approachable, but perhaps not as complex. B+

Well, that’s a lot of B+ and A- ratings. Another reason to ease off ratings for a bit, I guess, as this is just getting ridiculous!

Founders Bolt Cutter

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What do you do when your bank threatens to chain your brewery’s doors shut if you don’t make your loan payments? Well, the owners of Founders went out and bought a pair of bolt cutters. Fortunately, they didn’t have to resort to that backup plan, and the brewery has grown into one of the country’s most respected beer makers. To celebrate their 15th anniversary, they released a beer named after said backup plan, a whopping 15% ABV barleywine. It’s another blend, with some of the beer aged in bourbon barrels, some in bourbon barrels that were also used to age maple syrup (which, by the way, I’d like to get ahold of sometime), and some just straight up barleywine.

It’s part of Founders’ backstage series of beers that were previously only available on tap at their brewpub in Michigan, and as such, their was a fair amount of attention paid to the release by beer nerds. Nowhere near the shitstorm surrounding CBS, but not quite the resounding “meh” of Frangelic Mountain Brown (which I enjoyed well enough). So these showed up on shelves, but they didn’t last long at all…

Founders Bolt Cutter

Founders Bolt Cutter – Pours a beautiful looking bright orange/amber color (roby tones, so much clarity), with half a finger of quickly subsiding head. On the other hand, I’m getting some lacing and there’s a thin film of head that kind of retains itself all throughout the experience. Smells of rich caramel and vanilla, with some fruity malt character peeking through, some light citrusy, grassy hops, and maybe a hint of boozy bourbon heat. Taste is full of rich caramel, some fruity notes, with those citrusy hops taking on more of a flavor component than expected, a very light bourbon note hitting in the middle, and a surprising but welcome bitterness in the finish. Mouthfeel is much lighter than expected. Still on the upper end of medium bodied, but not as heavy or foreboding as I’d expect. Certainly not a quaffable beer, but not really a sipper either. Something you can take a swig of, but not quite a gulp (these are scientific terms here). As such, there’s a big warming alcohol component, maybe a little burn in the mouth, but I gotta say, it’s cold outside, so this is nice. A little stickiness in the finish, but it works with the tenor of the beer. Overall, this is really good. Not mind-blowingly spectacular, but close. Really strong, well crafted, complex, and tasty. Truth be told, it might be my favorite Founders beer… A-

Beer Nerd Details: 15% ABV bottled (750 ml capped). Drank out of a tulip glass on 1/4/13.

Another rock-solid offering from Founders. I don’t know what’s next for them. There’s supposed to be another Backstage release in April, but I don’t think it’s been announced yet (beer nerds are still salivating over the March release of KBS). Oh, and then there’s that bottle of Founders Breakfast Stout that’s been sitting in my fridge for almost exactly 2 years at this point (yes, I know, coffee is supposed to fade with time, but I actually didn’t care for the regular Breakfast Stout, so that will probably be a good thing in my book).

January Beer Club

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I’ve more or less run out of beer puns for beer clubs, so you’ll just have to deal with it. I know, you all love puns, so you’re all broken up about it, but you’ll just have to deal. Beer club is a meeting of beer minded individuals from my work who get together for a meal and lots-o-beer once a month. As per usual, this gathering is anchored by a core group of stalwarts, along with assorted return guest stars. So it was a solid turnout, lots of beer, good BBQ and just an all around good time.

January Beer Club 2013

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In accordance with tradition, my thoughts on each beer we sampled are recorded below for posterity. Standard disclaimers regarding non-ideal tasting isolation conditions apply, so all you pedants better stay frosty, as nearly all of this will be untrustworthy/awesome. Roughly in order of tasting (not necessarily the order in the above picture):

  • Crabbie’s Original Alcoholic Ginger Beer – Things started off on a bizarre note. It’s basically alcoholic ginger ale, which is fine for what it is, I guess, and definitely attracts the non-beer folk due to it’s high sweetness and ginger spicing, but I found it kinda poopy. It’s actually good that we had it in this sort of setting where I only had to try a tiny sample, but I’ll give it a D, because fuck ginger beer. Seriously guiz.
  • Belhaven Scottish Ale – Belhaven is supposed to be one of the top Scottish ale styles out there, but man, we must have gotten a bad bottle. It has that gross diacetyl buttery flavor that I get out of a lot of British pale ales and have grown to hate. I’m not sure if that’s just the beer, or if it’s the clear bottle, or what, but it felt kinda skunky too. Not totally undrinkable, but I was again glad that I only took a very small sample of the stuff. D
  • Abita Jockamo IPA – While a big improvement over my first two tastes of the night, this strikes me as being a fairly unremarkable IPA. It reminds me of the sort of thing you’d get in a John Harvard’s brewpub, circa 1998. Totally an improvement over BMC (or, since we’re talking about my college years, Natty/Beast), but nothing special at all. A nice hop aroma, but a taste that fell a little flat and bland. B-
  • Old Forge Overbite IPA – Ahhh, now that’s more like it. A really nice semi-local IPA, lots of that citrusy, floral hop goodness, maybe a little pine too, was a real breath of fresh air after the first three beers of the evening. It’s not a world beater, to be sure, but these guys are totally making a name for themselves in the Philly area, and this makes for a pleasant enough IPA. B+
  • Birrificio Del Ducato Nuova Mattina – Guest star Steve contributed this very nice Italian beer to the proceedings, a Belgian style pale with lots of sharp carbonation, sweet and spicy (lots of spices used in making this, and they contribute, but not overwhelmingly so), bready, with a touch of light fruit. Overall, it’s got a really nice rustic quality, an almost quaffable beer, really enjoyable. B+
  • Widmer Brrr – A totally solid winter warmer, pretty light on the spices actually, though it works well enough. It’s not the sort of thing that stands out in a tasting like this, but it’s totally serviceable and would probably get the job done if needed. B
  • Kaedrin Christmas Ale (2011) – A vintage bottle of my very own homebrew? It’s still doing pretty well, actually, though I do believe it has peaked and is now on a bit of a downward swing. It’s still retained that sorta creamy vanilla caramel base, and the spices are still there, particularly clove with a hint of cinnamon, though those are diminished from last year. It’s held up about as well as I could have hoped, though it’s not quite as fantastic as it once was. B+
  • Allagash Fluxus 2012 – Another of my contributions for the night, it’s a totally solid Belgian pale ale, actually quite similar to that Nuova Mattina beer, though with less carbonation. Still, a very nice Belgian yeast character, spicy and biscuity. Not especially a standout, especially amongst Allagash’s lineup, but a solid beer nonetheless. This could be tasting fatigue setting in, but I’ll go with min instinctual rating of a B
  • Traquair House Jacobite – Ah, now this is a Scottish brewery I can get behind. Of course, this is a slightly stronger style, but I like me some Wee Heavy/Scotch Ales, and this is a pretty superb example of the style. Big rich malt character, brown sugar, some fruitiness, a light booziness, and all of this is very well balanced against each other. Truly a solid beer, and widely available too, well worth checking out for the Scotch Ale fan and a contender for best of the night. A-
  • Lagunitas Imperial Red Ale – Once again, this might be tasting fatigue setting in, but I was expecting more out of this. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a totally good beer. Not very red in appearance, but it certainly smells/tastes like an imperial red, big, well integrated citrus and pine hops mixed with those crystal and red malts. Very nice, would like to try again in better conditions. For now, we’ll give it a provisional B+
  • DuClaw Sweet Baby Jesus – Perhaps the strangest beer of the night, but it worked surprisingly well. You could say it’s gimmicky, it being a “Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter”, but this is quite possibly the perfect beer for a tasting like this. Exclamations of “Whoa” and “It smells like peanut butter” all around the table. It tasted like peanut butter brownies that were perhaps a bit overcookied so that you got that roastiness. Kinda like the edge/corner piece (which, you know, I love). It worked surprisingly well in this setting. I have no idea how I’d react if I were to drink an entire bottle, but I’m feeling generous enough to hand it a B+ (though it’s probably more of a B)
  • Victory Oak Horizontal – Another of my contributions for the night, it’s just as good as I remembered it. The bourbon, while prominent, was not overpowering at all, which endeared it to some folks who don’t tend to like bourbon. Still an A- and a fitting end to the evening.

So there you have it. After a shaky start, things livened up quickly, and this sort of ratings distribution is actually quite nice. I mean, this isn’t the most exclusive of beer clubs, after all, and only a few of us a really huge beer nerds, but it’s a lot of fun and I always look forward to beer club. February’s meeting will come soon enough!

Holiday Beer Roundup

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Holiday beer season is my favorites, but I’ve been slacking a bit this year, so let’s catch up with a few of these suckers that I had in the leadup to Christmas. It turns out that most of these beers were shelf turds (meaning, they’ve clearly been sitting on the shelf, unsold, for a while), but I’m a big tent kinda guy, so I liberated these beer from their boring shelfish lives and put them to work, fulfilling their intended purpose. Things are also looking pretty international here, but again – big tent. We’re like that here at Kaedrin. Let’s get this holiday party started:

Baladin Noel

Birrificio Le Baladin Noël Baladin 2010 – I keep hearing things about these fancy new Italian craft breweries, so I figured I’d give them a shot. Fancy bottle, hefty price tag that was fortunately marked down, how could I pass this up? Pours a dark amber, almost brown color with visible sediment and half a finger of bubbly head. Smells of dark fruits – raisins in particular, with some light spiciness and maybe a hint of darker malts. Taste is also quite fruity, again with the raisins, plus a very light spiciness. Mouthfeel is surprisingly well carbonated considering how little head I got out of it, but it’s got a medium-ish body, thinner than I’d expect, with a relatively dry component. Overall, this is a solid Belgian style beer, but nothing to really write home about. B

Beer Nerd Details: 9% ABV bottled (750 ml capped). Drank out of a goblet on 12/22/12.

Hoppin’ Frog Frosted Frog Christmas Ale – The only non-foreign beer in the post, I suppose I could make an insensitive crack about Ohio, but I’m not a jerk (remember, big tent guy here). Pours a very dark amber color, almost brown, with half a finger of bubbly head. Smells strongly of traditional mulling spices, ginger, cinnamon, clove, etc… Actually smells a lot like a snickerdoodle. Taste has a nice, sweet malt backbone to match that spicy flavor profile, leaning more on the cinnamon here than in the nose. Mouthfeel is quite nice actually, medium bodied, well carbonated, but with a hint of stickiness. No real booze in here, which is nice for a reasonably strong beer. Overall, it’s a really solid winter warmer style beer, one of the better I’ve had this year. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 8.6% ABV bottled (22 oz bomber). Drank out of a tulip on 12/22/12.

Dieu du Ciel Solstice d hiver

Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel! Solstice d’hiver – These wacky French Canadians threw me a wicked curveball the last time I tried them, an utterly fantastic take on a Scotch ale, so I made preparations to try more. This Winter Solstice beer pours a cloudy dark brown color with just a thin layer of quickly disappearing head on top. Smells of caramel malts and fruit, with some hops peeking through as well. Taste is sweet, filled with that rich caramel flavor with the fruits showing up in the middle and finish. Some hop presence as well, but nothing overboard like a lot of American barleywines. Mouthfeel is full bodied, rich, and smooth, almost creamy. There’s just enough carbonation to make it palatable, so it’s smooth without being still, if you know what I mean. Overall, this is a very well crafted, balanced brew. Not as eye opening as with my previous Dieu Du Ciel experience, but a pleasant one nonetheless. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 10.2% ABV bottled (11.2 oz). Drank out of a snifter on 12/23/12.

Emelisse Winterbier 2011 – I’ve heard good things about these brewers in the Netherlands and have had some pleasant experiences with their brews first hand, so let’s try some more. Pours an amber brown color with minimal head. I inadvertently poured a big slug of yeast into mine glass, so this thing was cloudy as can be, with chunks o’ yeast floating all around. Fortunately, that didn’t adversely affect the beer, at least by my count. Nose is quite nice, fruity sweet with what could have been spice, but I couldn’t quite place it. I may be imagining things. Taste follows the nose, nice sweetness with ripe fruits and a note of brown sugar, finishing with a balancing bitterness. Booziness is apparent, but not overpowering. Mouthfeel has a low carbonation, perhaps too low, bit it comes together well enough. Medium bodied, a little booze. Overall, a solid wintery ale, but I think I’d rather have had a fresh bottle. Still, these crafty Netherlanders intrigue me enough that I’ll seek out more of their stuff… B

Beer Nerd Details: 9% ABV bottled (11.2 oz). Drank out of a tulip glass on 12/26/12.

A thousand pardons for the lack of pictures on two of these. I’d fire up MS Paint, but I’m no artist (read: I’m too lazy at the moment). You’ll just have to use your imagination. This, more or less, wraps up the holiday beers for this year, but don’t you worry, I’ve got plenty of facemelting stouts and barleywines on the way, wintery to their core, and perhaps a few IPAs and sours as well, just to keep things interesting. Stay tuned.

Victory Oak Horizontal

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Twas the night before my Christmas vacation, when what to my wondering eyes did appear, but a tweet from Victory and the promise of oak aged beer. I sprang from the cubicle, visions of caged and corked bottles dancing in my head, and dashed to the brewery in my horseless sled.

Uh, yeah, so a poet, I am not. And this isn’t even technically a Christmas beer! For shame. I beg the forgiveness of Clement Clarke Moore. But Victory’s Old Horizontal is a winter seasonal, a big, strong barleywine that’s perfect for the season. Due to capacity issues, Victory actually hasn’t brewed any of that base beer for the past couple years, much to my chagrin. This year, Victory “bribed” their brewers to put in extra hours and make up a batch, but instead of simply releasing it, they chucked it in Bourbon barrels for three months. This barrel aged version was dubbed Oak Horizontal, and it was released just two days ago.

Victory Oak Horizontal Boxes at the Brewery Store

Of Victory’s planned barrel aged brews, this seemed to be the most exciting, perhaps just because I tend to love me some Bourbon barrel aged barleywines. This was a quasi-stealth release, so like Red Thunder, there was no Sturm und Drang normally associated with bottle releases. Pretty much everyone I saw walking out of the brewery had at least a bottle or two, if not a whole case, so I’m guessing it’s all gone by now, though the clerks said it would be getting limited distribution in PA and NJ as well. They also said less of this was made than Red Thunder (presumably due to those capacity issues), so make of that what you will. Whatever the case, I’ve got my allocation, so let’s see how Victory did:

Victory Oak Horizontal

Victory Oak Horizontal – Pour a very pretty, dark, clear amber color (ruby tones, so much clarity) with a finger of light tan head. Smells of caramel, oak, and vanilla, with just a bit of bourbon and maybe some fruitiness too. Taste is filled with rich caramel and that vanilla oak character, with a well matched bourbon flavor and just a bit of fruitiness. No booze apparent at all. Server at the brewery sez it’s 14% ABV, but I cannot believe it’s that strong. The base beer is 11%, so this is certainly no slouch, probably at least 12%, but who knows? Mouthfeel is full bodied, but not overly chewy or heavy. Well matched carbonation, certainly not a gulping beer, but it doesn’t feel like a monster even if it is. Overall, this is a great beer. A-

Beer Nerd Details: ? ABV (probably somewhere in the 12-13% range) bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a tulip glass on 12/21/12. Bottled on 12/20/12. Bottle also sez: B15 1552 (batch and bottle number?)

I would put this beer on par with Weyerbacher’s most excellent Insanity, another barrel aged barleywine that’s got quite a following. Will be curious to see how the beer nerd community responds to this one. In other news, my cellar is growing unwieldy again, so I may need to chill out for a bit and drink some of that down. Lots of exciting stuff down there, though, so you’ll have some interesting reading/jealousy issues coming. But ohh, the BA Eclipse beers were just released. Dammit. And soon enough, Victory will be releasing White Monkey. Golden Monkey was one of those formative craft beers for me… it’s a beer I’m almost scared to revisit at this point… but I am curious to see what the white wine barrel aging will do to it. Perhaps a double feature is in order. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Olde School Barleywine

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Lately, it seems like all of Dogfish Head’s beers have gone off the deep end. I know they’re fond of “off-centered” stuff and strange ingredients, but a lot of that stuff doesn’t seem to pique my interest. I guess it’s interesting that someone is making beer with “an ancient form of wheat and loaves of hearth-baked bread, and it’s flavored with chamomile, doum-palm fruit and Middle Eastern herbs”, but I dunno, that’s just not revving my engine. Maybe I’m just a man of simple tastes. I tend to prefer Dogfish Head’s more normal takes on standard styles, like IPAs (made with far out ingredients like… hops!) and stouts. This barleywine offering straddles the line a bit, but it at least sounds like it’s beer.

It starts off as a rather big 13% barlewine, which is then dosed with dates and figs, bringing the final result up to around 15% ABV. And apparently the date/fig addition actually has some sort of historical basis in that the cellarman in Ye Olde English pubs would attempt to revive a flat cask beer by adding crushed up dates and figs to the vessel. The addition of sugars would revive the yeast, add carbonation, and freshen up the beer a bit. I don’t know how historically accurate this practice really is and I don’t want Martyn Cornell to cross the pond and break my legs for promulgating beer myths, so I’ll just say that I’m assuming some liberties were taken with the story. Still, a barleywine fermented with dates and figs fulfills Dogfish Head’s “off-centered” mission whilst still being something that sounds like beer. In other words, I bought one and drank it:

Dogfish Head Olde School Barleywine

Dogfish Head Olde School Barleywine – Pours a dark orange color with a finger of white head that fades quickly, but leaves a ring of head around the glass for quite a while. Aroma is filled with figs, sweetness, and maybe some piney, citrusy hops. Taste is quite complex. Lots of crystal malt up front, with some resinous hops coming out in the middle, and that figgy goodness hitting in the finish and asserting itself through the aftertaste. Booze hits in the finish too, but nothing overwhelming. Mouthfeel is full bodied, thick, and boozy, plenty of carbonation, but not something you want to gulp down. A real sipping beer. Overall, it’s a solid, complex barleywine with some interesting and uncommon notes. I’m quite enjoying it and would be curious to see how it ages, despite its relatively light color. Regardless, if you like figs, you should really check this out. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 15% ABV bottled (12 oz.) Drank out of a tulip glass on 12/8/12. Bottled in 2012B.

Label sez: “Directions: Open bottle, pour contents into two snifters. Enjoy. Or: Walk hand-in-neck into the middle of the woods. Use a shovel to dig a 2×2 hole three feet deep. Seal the bottle in a plastic bag. Place in hole & pack with dirt. Memorize location & leave. Return exactly one year later. Dig up bottle, open & enjoy.”

I suppose that’s a romantic notion. I have another bottle of this stuff, but I think I’ll just let it sit in my cellar for a while, along with some 120 Minute and World Wide Stout. Maybe I’ll crack another one of those in a year or two.