Style

Almanac Farmer’s Reserve Pluot

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If you’ve been following along, and you should be, you’d know that the tiny San Francisco brewery Almanac has been doing this local Farm to Barrel thing for quite some time now, incorporating uber-fresh locally sourced fruits and produce into their barrel aged sours. They’ve steadily been picking up steam and many an admirer – including me, even though I’m about 3000 miles away.

This one is made with Pluots, that unholy crossbreed of plums and apricots. Chuck several varieties of that mutant fruit (each of which has a fantastic, evocative name: Dapple Dandy, Honey Punch, Flavor Queen, Black Kat & Dapple Jack) into some old wine barrels along with Almanac’s house “Dogpatch” sour culture (a mix of American and Belgian yeasts, along with some other critters, like a San Francisco sourdough starter). The result is quite a fine sour ale, if I may say so:

Almanac Farmers Reserve Pluot

Almanac Farmer’s Reserve Pluot – Pours a cloudy but bright, luminous straw yellow color with a finger of white head and good retention. The smell is very funky, some oak, lots of fruit, and something I can’t quite place. The taste is beautiful, lots of tart fruit character, peaches, plums and the like. Some oak in the middle, finishing up with a fruit juice spritz. The sourness is there, especially in the finish, but it’s far from overpowering. Mouthfeel is highly carbonated, juicy, light and crisp, with a small acidic note from the sourness. Overall, this is a fantastic little sour beer. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 7% ABV bottled (375 ml capped). Drank out of a flute on 6/14/14. Batch FR-P. Bottled 031414.

This is my favorite Almanac beer yet, not that I’ve managed to wrangle that many of them. I am, however, fortunate enough to have another waiting in the wings, so you’ll be hearing more about Almanac soon enough. Indeed, I’ve been on something of a sour jag of late, a consequence more of availability than anything else, but I ain’t complaining.

BFM Abbaye De Saint Bon-Chien 2012

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Bon-Chien is French for “Good Dog”. Naturally, it refers to… a cat? It turns out that Bon-Chien was Brasserie des Franches-Montagnes (BFM) first cat, and to honor its passing, they attributed three miracles to her, conferred saintly status, and brewed this beer. Rather oddly, they claim primary fermentation is achieved via wine yeast. Then they aged it in a variety of barrels, where the juice picks up the various souring bugs and funky yeasts. Over the years, these barrels have ranged from Grappa, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Bourbon, and Scotch, to Champagne or obscure barrels previously used for stuff that even the internets don’t seem to know about (anyone know what Kumasamasansa is?) The standard Abbaye De Saint Bon-Chien is a blend of all the barrels used in a given year (usually only a few different types), but the individual barrel beers are also released with the Grand Cru designation (remember: Grand Cru means almost nothing in the world of beer).

The 2012 vintage, which is what I had, seems to be comprised of beer aged in Champagne, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and the mysterious Kumasamasansa barrels. I feel like these beers have become more widely distributed in the US over the past few years, and what’s more, you can often buy older vintages (if you’re willing to pay, and these suckers aren’t cheap, though apparently this ages very well). As monster 11% ABV sours go, this is actually a pretty approachable beer, effortlessly complex, rich, and only moderately sour. Let’s take a closer look:

BFM Abbaye De Saint Bon-Chien

BFM Abbaye De Saint Bon-Chien 2012 – Pours a dark amber brown color with a finger of off white head that fades but leaves a bit of lacing too. Smells very nice, with tart, vinous fruit, cherries, tannins, oak, vanilla, and vinegar. Taste is very sweet, maybe even sugary. Fruity, berries, sour cherries and the like, some oak and vanilla, with a well matched, almost mellow sourness (two words that don’t normally go together). Mouthfeel is smooth and velvety, not nearly as much carbonation as expected, but still enough. Medium to full bodied, which is rare for a sour. I get the impression that the attenuation is low here, which perhaps offsets the sourness a bit, and it coats your mouth considerably, leaving a long finish. It’s a little boozy, but not at all unapproachable and it handles the ABV much better than a lot of other high octane sours. Overall, this is a really nice, heavy duty sour beer. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 11% ABV bottled (750 ml) Drank out of a goblet on 6/13/14. Vintage 2012. Blend 5.

The label sez “Recommended with fine food!” so I paired this with a pepperoni pocket pie. Not my brightest move, but hey, it actually kinda worked. Though I will say that, like a lot of darker sours like this, it actually matches very well with good dark chocolate. Also, if I can afford another bottle of this, I may actually try it with their recommended pairing of pan seared duck breast deglazed with Modena balsamic vinegar. But then, that sounds like a lot of work (for both me and my wallet).

Hair of the Dog Fred

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There’s an old saying in the wine world: “There are no great wines, only great bottles of wine.” Once a wine is put into a bottle, there are any number of things that could influence the taste when the bottle is opened. How old is the bottle? Where was it stored? What was the temperature? Did you have it shipped during the summer? What kind of light exposure is there? Even if you assume all that was fine, there are also cases of cork taint and other such unlikely occurrences. There’s natural variation in bottles, and no one even pretends that different vintages are supposed to produce the same result. There’s a million things that could lead to a bottle being great or a total bust, and that’s before you start talking about subjective matters of taste and context.

If this sounds a little naive, that’s because I don’t know that much about wine. But I do know beer, and I know that the same thing applies here (as well as with other tipples, like whiskey). Many of the same caveats apply, some even moreso than in wine (for instance, because of compounds in hops, beer tends to be more susceptible to light than wine). Bottle conditioned beers can change significantly over time. Funky beers with Brettanomyces and other critters are wildly unpredictable (we could get into the whole consistency debate, but I’ll have to save that for my next Fantôme review…) Highly hopped beers can taste differently from week to week, even if they’re stored properly. Read about hops, and you can see that crops change significantly from year to year (and I’m not just talking about yield here, things like Alpha Acids and oils that drive aroma can vary from year to year).

This sort of pedantry can manifest in annoying, stupid ways, such as the continual insistence that this year’s batch of Pliny the Younger/Hopslam/Black Tuesday/whatever is not as good as last year. They often aren’t identical, to be sure, but such utterances seem driven more by hype or rarity or ego than anything more reliable. Likewise, I often see some folks who finally land that white whale beer, only to find that they don’t care that much for it and wonder Did I get a bad bottle? Because surely a bunch of strangers on the internet couldn’t be wrong, right?

But every once in a while, you will run across a genuine bad bottle. A “sick” bottle of Fantôme, an old IPA that was sitting in sunlight, or maybe a beer that has some off flavors (metallic or tinny beer, soy sauce stouts, overwhelming diacetyl, etc…) Some of this may be poor QA on the brewery’s part, others might be a problem with shipping or storage. It’s tempting to hold a grudge against a brewery or a particular beer if you’ve had one bad experience with them, and it doesn’t help that we are so awash in great beer from all over right now because why try a beer you didn’t like before again when you can just grab something new?

All of which is to say that I had an issue with this Hair of the Dog beer. I was wary from the moment I opened the beer to a practically nonexistent puff of carbon dioxide. When the pour produced absolutely no head whatsoever, I knew I was going to have a problem. I’m perhaps more sensitive to carbonation issues than most folks, and to be honest, I’ve been wrong about low carb levels before. However, in looking at other reviews of this, it seems that most reviews mention “ample” or “above average” carbonation levels. I got what I felt was a flat beer. So… bad bottle?

Hair of the Dog Fred

Hair of the Dog Fred – Pours a pale orange, light brown color with no head whatsoever. Almost no pop when I opened it either, which does not strike me as a good sign. Smells very interesting though, sweet, boozy, biscuity malt, maybe rye, some fruity hops, almost like a pastry with booze. Taste has a sticky sweetness to it, lots of hop character built on top of a biscuity, bready malt and well integrated. Alas, the Achilles heel is the carbonation, which is practically nonexistent… It feels medium to full bodied, a little syrupy and sticky, definitely boozy but not overwhelmingly so. If it were even a little carbonated, this would be a much better beer. Oddly, from looking around, it seems that this does normally have a medium to high carbonation factor, so I don’t know what’s up with this bottle! Aside from the carbonation, it’s obviously a well crafted, interesting beer, and I can drink it, but this is ultimately disappointing. B-

Beer Nerd Details: 10% ABV bottled (12 oz). Drank out of a snifter on 6/13/14. Batch 93.

Looking at the reviews a little more carefully, it seems like there is some variation between the batches. A couple of other people have gotten practically “still” bottles like mine, but most seem to indicate a higher degree of carbonation. So not a great first impression, but I’ll have to give Hair of the Dog another chance someday…

June Beer Club

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Tonight was beer club! 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 an Indian/Thai restaurant and despite a medium turnout, had much in the way of fun.

June Beer Club Lineup

For the sake of posterity, I’m documenting my nearly incoherent thoughts on each beer below, which is my way of saying that you should not trust any of these ratings because as we’ve established recently, I’m the worst. In order of drinking (not necessarily the order pictured above):

  • Red Star Zingerbuch Kombucha – So the first beer of the night… was not beer! This is some sort of bizarre fermented tea concoction with ginger and hibiscus. It was very aromatic, flowery, and ginger aley. It was not exactly my bag, but this is the perfect setting for weird crap like this. No rating because I don’t even really know what this is.
  • Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale – Basically a palate cleanser, and a beer I’ve already covered before. B+
  • Founders All Day IPA – So the new trend is to call pale ales a “session IPA” or something like that? Ok, whatever, this is a pretty solid example, and I could probably drink a bunch of these with no complaints. Nice hop presence, but light and quaffable. B+
  • Surly Furious – Ah, now this is an IPA! Surly does not distribute to PA… except during Philly Beer Week. One of our attendees tonight was fortunate enough to attend a Surly event and snag a few cans, and generous enough to share with the rest of us. I’ve heard so many great things about Surly that I was afraid they wouldn’t live up to the hype, but this is indeed a really fantastic IPA. Citrus and lots of pine and resinous hops, but exceedingly well balanced stuff, lots of hops and enough crystal malts that it didn’t feel super bitter despite being 99 IBU. Probably the best beer of the night. I’ll leave it at A- territory for now, but I definitely want to get some more of this (it could warrant an upgrade).
  • Kaedrôme Saison – Dammit, this still has not carbonated as much as I’d like, but it is still a tasty beer, light on the funk, but still a nice peppery saison flavor. I’m guessing that if it hasn’t carbonated much by now, it’s not going to get much better… which is fine, since I probably only have 6-12 bottles of the stuff left. B
  • Ken’s Homebrewed Chile Beer – Made with chile peppers and smoked malt, this sucker was spicy but flavorful. Not really my thing, but it’s an interesting beer, and certainly not the abomination that Cave Creek Chili Beer was…
  • Lost Abbey Carnevale – A Brett does saison? Sign me up, this was one of my favorites of the night. Nice fruity, earthy funk pervading the whole thing, a pleasure to drink. It’s no Logsdon or anything, but it’s really nice. A high B+
  • Southern Tier Compass – Perhaps it was just because we opened it towards the end of the night, but this felt exceedingly bland to me, with the only real dominant note being the flowery aromas and flavors. Not really my thing. C
  • Brooklyn Wild Streak – A belgian strong pale aged in Bourbon barrels with Brett? Well ok then. The Brett has a minimal, but still detectable presence. But the taste is more dominated by that pale ale aged in bourbon barrel character that never really works as well for me as it does for stouts or barleywines. It’s fine for what it is, but it’s not really my thing. B-
  • Kaedrin Bomb & Grapnel (Blend) – The imperial stout is doing quite well. This blend has faint hints of the bourbon and oak, but nothing like a BBA stout. That being said, it’s delicious and only getting better over time. I’ll still leave it at a B+

And that is all for now. We will probably return to regular blogging next week, so stay tuned.

Philly Beer Week Recap

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As per usual, I did not have my act together for this year’s Philly Beer Week, and thus only went to a few events. For whatever reason, this week always seems to sneak up on me and I’m always caught unprepared. I’m the worst. That being said, I did manage to snag a few pretty interesting beers, so here’s a quick recap. First stop was the venerable Philly institution Monk’s Cafe:

Monks Cafe

The event was all about collaborations, most of which involved Monk’s very own Tom Peters… First up was the next entry in the whole PNC collaboration series (last year’s collaboration yielded Firestone Walker PNC, a most spectacular beer). This release comes to us from Maine’s Allagash brewing, and this beer actually began its journey over four years ago (“Brewed in April 2010 & racked into oak barrels on May 25, 2010”). In a nice touch, the little beer menu actually included details of each barrel (including a couple that were marked as “DO NOT USE”, heh). Click for a larger version:

Allagash PNC Broken Elevator Barrel Details

Allagash PNC Broken Elevator

Allagash PNC Broken Elevator – Dark pour, fluffy tan head… darker than I was expecting, but when you look at the barrel details, that makes sense. Smells oaky, almost chocolaty and very sour, I can almost feel the sourness in my jaw (and I haven’t even tasted it yet). Taste is bracingly sour, tart puckering fruit with some dark, chocolaty notes, almost a chocolate covered cherry feel. Mouthfeel is surprisingly full, not like a chewy stout but very big for a sour, which is an interesting feel. Extremely acidic, biting, but still nice… Overall, this is a really interesting, complex, unique, and very sour beer. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 8.1% ABV on tap. Drank out of a wine glass on 6/7/14.

So after that, I sampled a few other brews, including another small glass of Firestone’s PNC stout (still exceptional, no change from my initial review):

Dock Street Trappiste Style Pale Ale – Inspired by Orval, this is obviously not a clone or anything, but it’s nice. It’s got a very dry feel, lots of peppery yeast notes, and some earthy funk in the finish. It’s a fine beer, but not quite lighting the world on fire. I heard that this beer was actually made for last year’s PBW, so perhaps it was better fresh? Not that it’s terrible now or anything… B

Beer Nerd Details: 8% ABV on tap. Drank out of a wine glass on 6/7/14.

Dilewyns Philly Tripel – This is the official Philly Beer Week Collaboration orchestrated by Tom Peters, where one local brewer travels to Belgium to collaborate with a brewery there. This year it was Justin Low from Dock Street who went and collaborated with Anne Catherine Dilewyns from the relatively young Dilewyns brewery (they make Vicaris labeled beers) in Belgium. The result is a relatively straightforward tripel, with some small twists. Pale colored, sticky sweet, lots of honey flavor and fruity esters, less in the way of Belgian yeast spice. This is perhaps not my preferred take on the style, but it’s nice. B

Beer Nerd Details: 8.5% ABV on tap. Drank out of a wine glass on 6/7/14.

De Molen Rook and Leer

De Molen Rook & Leer – The weirdest, most unique beer of the night, I’ve never had anything like this before. So get this, we’ve got an Imperial Smoked Porter base that was aged in whiskey barrels with brettanomyces and Rodenbach yeast. Oh, and it clocks in at 11.5% ABV. Um, yeah, ok. The more amazing thing: It actually works. Neither the smoke nor the sourness dominates, leading to an extremely complex beer. Usually high ABV sours don’t work so well for me, but this one is just very well balanced. It’s certainly odd, and I think the fact that this was originally brewed in 2011 has helped the flavors mesh together (and perhaps even mellow out some). It’s a weird beer to rate, but I’ll give it a A-, but maybe I was a bit far gone at this point.

Beer Nerd Details: 11.5% ABV on tap. Drank out of a wine glass on 6/7/14.

By this time, I was doing pretty well, so I slowed down a bit, got a table with some friends and ate some dinner. I did have a glass of Pliny the Elder, which was great as always, though I’m starting to see where the contrarians are coming. Naturally, I had some mussels, and as usual, they were fantastic. We also got a plate of Frog’s Legs, which were basically a lot like chicken wings (I’ve had Frog’s Legs before, but never like this).

At this point, we took our leave of Monk’s and headed over to the Good Dog Bar & Restaurant, which is a great little place about a block over from Monk’s. Well worth a visit if you’re ever in Philly, and they also have great food (I’m pretty sure they’ve been featured on one of them Food Network shows at some point). They were having a Firestone Walker event and included this rarity, which I assumed would never make its way out East:

Firestone Walker Helldorado

Firestone Walker Helldorado – So you know how Firestone does that Anniversary blend where they invite a bunch of local winemakers to their brewery and set them loose on a bunch of barrel aged beers? Many of the component brews are available in bottled form, but most seem to be relative rarities, and Helldorado is one of those. I was shocked to see it at this event and immediately got myself a glass of the stuff. Alas, this is perhaps not my favorite style. It’s described as Blonde Barleywine brewed with Honey, and boy can you really tell. It’s extremely sticky sweet, with that honey coming through strong. It’s supposed to be brewed with El Dorado hops, but I get almost no hop character out of this, so I’m guessing it was a light touch (or just used to balance out that intense sweetness). It’s definitely a big, boozy bomb of a beer, and it’s got a full body. However, something about the way light colored beers react in bourbon barrels is just not as exciting to me as when you get a darker base beer (the picture above makes Helldorado look darker than it was, though it wasn’t super pale either). I mean, it’s good, I’m really happy I got to try it, and everyone else who had it seemed to love it, so maybe this is just me, but I’ll leave it at a B+ and go from there.

Beer Nerd Details: 12% ABV on tap. Drank out of a wine glass on 6/7/14.

Firestone Walker Lil’ Opal – Now this, on the other hand, was way better than I was expecting. It’s a toned down (“lil'”) saison that’s been aged in barrels with Brett and blended with various vintages, and it’s fantastic. Granted, this is right up my alley, but I really loved this beer, a great funky saison, fruity, earthy, spicy, almost quaffable (even at this point in the night). It was a refreshing beer to have right after Helldorado, and it totally stood up to those intense flavors as well. Obviously, I was a little far gone at this point, so I’ll conservatively rate it an A-, but I need to find me some more of this someday.

Beer Nerd Details: 5.9% ABV on tap. Drank out of a wine glass on 6/7/14.

Firestone Walker Agrestic Ale – Firestone has always been known for barrel fermenting and barrel aging, but they always stuck to non-wild styles, and they apparently greatly feared infections and the like. But when they opened up a completely separate facility, that allowed them to play with all sorts of sour bugs, and we’re starting to get the fruits of that labor now (Lil’ Opal also came out of that program). This was a really nice, light bodied sour, it reminded me a little of brighter Crooked Stave Origins. Again, I was a little far gone at this point in the night, but I really enjoyed this. I’ll give it a B+, but I’d really like to try it again sometime.

Beer Nerd Details: 7% ABV on tap. Drank out of a wine glass on 6/7/14.

Phew, it’s a very good thing I was taking the train home, and while the above does seem like a lot of beer, it was spread out over quite a long time. Again, I need to better prepare for Philly Beer Week next year, so we’ll see what happens. That’s all for now. Stay tuned for Beer Club tomorrow! (No post on Thursday though, as I didn’t really drink much else this past weekend, for obvious reasons!)

Round Guys Fear Of A Brett Planet

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I’ve noted before that I’m not particularly good at coming up with names for beers. Thanks to Tired Hands’ freewheeling attitude towards naming beers, I’m getting better at it and have a few names saved up for upcoming homebrews, but I only need to spy a name like Round Guys’ Fear of a Brett Planet to feel woefully inadequate in this department. I don’t know how much to read into that name (are the Round Guys saying that Brettanomyces is a minority and that brewers are afraid of organization and empowerment in the yeast community? I don’t think I really want to go there (but you just did – ed.)), but it is a spectacularly awesome name for a beer.

So this is a local can of 100% Brett fermented pale ale. Kinda, sorta like what Stillwater originally wanted to do with Premium/Classique, except the base recipe is more like an APA, what with the hops and all that. So let’s fight the power and see how this turned out:

Round Guys Fear Of A Brett Planet

Round Guys Fear Of A Brett Planet – Pours a golden yellow color with a couple fingers of fluffy, eggshell white head that sticks around a while. Smells beautiful, Belgian yeast spiciness, clove and the like, a little fruity funk with a hint of earthiness, and maybe some American C hop goodness (but it’s not super powerful). The taste has a nice bready base to it, with the yeast not quite as prominent as the nose would have you believe, but it’s there with its spicy notes. Some hoppy citrus and pine come to the party, but they’re not throwing their weight around much, just adding to the complexity. More earthiness and plenty of hop bitterness appears towards the finish and lingering into the aftertaste. The funky Brett notes are there, but they’re a light touch. Mouthfeel is light, crisp, and dry, well carbonated, quaffable stuff. Overall, this is a very nice, well executed, easy drinking pale ale with well incorporated Brett. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 5.1% ABV canned (12 oz). Drank out of a tulip glass on 6/6/14.

I’m pretty sure I’ve had Round Guys’ Berliner once, but I’ve otherwise been neglectful of this local(ish) brewery. I should really check out more of their stuff.

Cisco Pechish Woods

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I’ve observed on many occasions that my eyes are bigger than my liver, and thus I have a lot of beer laying around the house. As such, when friends stop by, I’m more than happy to throw open the fridge and drink whatever they want. I’m always glad to share, until I get to a beer like this, and I realize that my generosity has truly failed me! I suspected as much as soon as I saw what was in the fridge. I know from previous experience that Cisco’s The Woods series are fantastic, and of course it was the brew chosen. I wrangled a solid 8 oz pour, which was certainly enough to know that I really wanted those other 16 ounces (I pretty much know from the first sip, actually). Sharing is caring, but sometimes that backfires.*

Cisco is a fine brewer, but the beers in The Woods series are far and away the best things I’ve had from them. Both examples that I’ve had have been spectacular. This one, a sour ale aged in barrels with peaches added, is no exception. I really must snag some more of these beers when I can…

Cisco Pechish Woods

Cisco Pechish Woods – Pours a clear, bright golden color with a finger of white head. Smells amazing, vinous fruit, peaches, oak, and vanilla, very beautiful. Taste follows the nose, lots of tart fruit, peaches, a well balanced sour character, with some tempering oak. Mouthfeel is well carbonated, crisp, bright, refreshing stuff. A little acidic, but extremely well balanced. Overall, an utterly fantastic beer. A

Beer Nerd Details: 4.88% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a tulip glass on 5/30/14. Vintage: 2013.

Keep an eye out for The Woods folks, I know I will, and they’re worth the stretch.

* I am, of course, being facetious here. While I would love to drink more of this beer, I was really happy I got to share it with friends.

Anderson Valley Huge Arker

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So what exactly is an “Arker” and what makes this one of the “Huge” variety? My first thought was to go Biblical, and assume it was a reference to one who bulds an ark, and a Huge Arker would be like a fat Noah. The real answer lies in an esoteric jargon invented in the late 19th century by the residents of Boonville, CA, right smack in the middle of Anderson Valley. It’s called Boontling and there are differing stories of its origins, though they all seem to come down to a series of word games played by the residents of an isolated farming community. The one that struck a chord with me sez that the children of Boonville created the language as a means to speak freely in front of their parents without being understood. Speaking as someone who has partaken such endeavors when I was a little one (albeit, on a much more limited scale), I can see that sort of thing being more widespread.

In Boontling, “ark” means “wreck” and as a natural extension of that, “huge arker” basically means “bomb”. Or something like that, it’s not like I’m from Boonville or anything. At any rate, clocking in at 13.5% ABV and aged 6 months in Wild Turkey Bourbon Barrels (interestingly, it seems that Anderson Valley has exclusive rights to Wild Turkey barrels, which I guess is good for them, but a loss for the rest of us, as Wild Turkey does have a distinctive distilling/aging process where the juice in the barrels tends to be lower proof than other Bourbons and I’d love to compare that to other treatments, like FiftyFifty does with Eclipse series beers. But I digress.), Anderson Valley’s Huge Arker seems able to live up to its name:

Anderson Valley Huge Arker

Anderson Valley Huge Arker – Pours a dark brown color with a finger and half of tan to light brown head. Smells nice, some bourbon and oak, but also some chocolate, almost milk chocolate, and a faint hint of roast. Taste is full of rich sugary flavors, not quite caramel, some well incorporated bourbon, oak, and vanilla, lots of chocolate malt, kinda like milk chocolate, and hints of other dark, roasty malts. Mouthfeel is full bodied, rich, and chewy, well carbonated, lots of residual sugars (this feels like a high FG). While clearly barrel aged, the bourbon is not as prominent as it is in a lot of other BBA beers. Of course, I tend to prefer that bourbon barrel character, but this one strikes a decent enough balance that I’d think some who don’t normally love barrel aged stouts might enjoy well enough. This is not a perfect beer, but it’s a well executed bourbon barrel stout with a big chocolatey kick, and well worth checking out. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 13.5% ABV bottled (22 oz bomber). Drank out of a snifter on 5/30/14. Vintage: 2014.

Hard to believe that this is my first reviewed Anderson Valley beer, though I know I’ve had a few of their seasonals before. Interestingly, it looks like the other beers in their Wild Turkey Barl (presumably Boontling for “Barrel”) Seris are lower ABV offerings (in the 6-7% range), which could be really interesting. I will be keeping an eye out for those… as I didn’t realize what a Bahl Hornin’ (“excellent pub”) they were.

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?