When you think of the top wine producing regions in the world, you’re probably thinking of somewhere in France, Italy, or California. You’re almost certainly not thinking Southeast Pennsylvania. And yet, here is Va La Vineyards, smack dab in the middle of mushroom country.
Indeed, for all you terroir nerds out there, Va La Vinyards’ 6 acres are neighbored by a mushroom farm. Supposedly the farm’s compost lot generates a steamy fog that drifts over the vinyard, providing a temperature-leveling effect that is good for grape growing. Said fog is referred to as “the ghost” by the Va La workers, who attribute part of their success with difficult wine grapes to their phantasmic friend.
Anywho, Va La is not a large producer and their wares are mostly available only at the winery itself (and maybe some restaurants). After reading about it at PA Vine Co, I decided to pop down and take a flier on local wine. To be quite honest, I was not expecting much, so imagine my surprise at recognizing that this was probably the best wine I’ve had all year. (Granted, I’m a beer dork and only really dabble in wine, but still…)
This particular red wine, Va La Mahogany, is made from a field blend of northern Italian grape varieties: “barbera, malvasia nera, petit verdot, charbono, carmine, lagrein, sagrantino, etc” (gotta love the grace note added by that unassuming little “etc” at the end there). It’s quite a production:
The grapes were harvested by hand on the mornings of October 4 – 6. The wine was aged in barrels sourced from Burgundy & central Pennsylvania forests for ~ 28 months, and then aged 12 months in bottle before release.
They recommend an extended decanting time and note that it’s well suited for aging. I will most certainly be revisiting this in years to come during the annual beer slowdowns…
Va La Vinyards Mahogany – Pours a very deep, dark red color. Smells of dark, jammy fruits, lots of cherry and blackberry, some oak and vanilla with earthy aromas in the background, chocolate, leather, spice, and the like. Taste starts sweet and fruity, those cherries and blackberries coming out to play, moves into funky territory, chocolate, a hint of spice, maybe leather or tobacco pitching in, finishing with a hit of acidity. Mouthfeel is full bodied, concentrated, bright, with moderate dry tannins underpinning the whole affair. This is complex, I keep discovering new notes, but incredibly well balanced and harmonious. Look, y’all know I’m no wine expert, but this is good wine. A- or maybe an A
Wine Nerd Details: 14.5% ABV bottled (750 ml corked). Drank out of a Bordeaux Wine Glass on 3/19/22. Vintage: 2017. Bottle No. 3250
I am very much looking forward to having this again, and to exploring more of Va La’s wines during future breaks from beer. Certainly recommended for wine nerds who find themselves in the area.
I’ve dabbled in the realm of mead in the past, but it’s never really become a go-to replacement for beer. Last year’s sampling of Schramm’s fruited meads left me feeling interested, but I’m still not convinced that meads will be able to fill the void when beer is unavailable (the way that wine or bourbon can). At its best, mead has filled the role of “interesting change of pace” or “I’m glad I tried that 2 ounce pour at a share,” and I don’t think that will change in coming years, so take what follows with the appropriate asteroid of salt.
Arizona’s Superstition Meadery seems to be a well regarded producer of fine meads, and I’ve actually had their most popular mead, Peanut Butter Jelly Crime, at a share before. It was good enough that when this year’s annual break from beer came along, the Kaedrin procurement department put in an order.
One thing they had plenty of that I was curious about were barrel-aged meads. The treatment doesn’t seem to be particularly common at other meaderies, and I was curious to see if the process would add that curious x-factor that seemed to be missing for me when it comes to mead. And, well, let’s just say that, despite the enticing novelty of pretending to be a viking or Beowulf, I won’t be investing in a fancy drinking horn or any other such mead accoutrement.
Superstition Aphrodisia Bourbon Barrel Aged Mead – Mead made with Arizona wildflower honey and Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes (this formulation is referred to as a Pyment mead), aged in bourbon barrels for 12 months. Pours a clear, deep, dark ruby red color. Smells very sweet, honey, lots of dark fruit, maybe vinous but it’s honestly less prominent than I’d expect, I don’t get much barrel at all in the nose either. Taste is rich and sweet, the vinous fruit comes out a little more here than the nose would imply and there’s a hint of tannins balancing out against the sweetness of the honey, a little booze and oak, but I’m not entirely sure I’d have pegged this as BBA in a blind tasting. As it warms, the barrel character comes out more, or I convinced myself that it did or something. Mouthfeel is rich and full bodied, but not as syrupy as some other meads I’ve had, even if it’s still sticky sweet. Overall, it’s a strange little mead – it’s really good, but I don’t get all the wine/bourbon barrel notes I’d expect in something like this and even 375 ml seems like a bit much. B+
Mead Nerd Details: 15.5% ABV bottled (375 ml corked). Drank out of a snifter glass on 3/22/22. Batch 1. Bottle #415 of 770.
Superstition Aphrodisia Rum Barrel Aged Mead – Very similar to the BBA version, only it was aged in rum barrels for 12 months. It’s still a little light on the barrel, though I dunno, maybe the brown sugary rum notes come out a bit more here than the bourbon did in that version? I had these about a week apart, so whatever. Ultimately, it’s really good stuff and it’s well crafted and I’d totally take this over some other meads I’ve had, but I was still hoping for more out of that barrel… B+
Mead Nerd Details: 14.5% ABV bottled (375 ml corked). Drank out of a snifter glass on 4/4/22. Batch 2. Bottle #298 of 350.
Superstition Safeword Mead – Made with Belgian Dark Candi Syrup in addition to the honey, and aged in oak. Pours a dark brown color with an amber highlight, no head, completely still (which, like, it’s supposed to be, was I trying to make a joke when I originally wrote this?) Smells nice, sweet, caramelized sugars, a hint of dark fruits in the background. Taste is also quite sweet, more of that honey character than caramel coming here, though you get hints of caramel and oak in there somewhere. Mouthfeel is rich and full bodied, but again not syrupy. A little boozy burn, but nothing outrageous. It’s nice! I like the idea, but once again, the oak isn’t transforming this the way I’d expected. The 750 ml packaging is way too much, but the swing top works well – I drank this over the course of about a week, and while it wasn’t the same at the end, it was still fine. B
Mead Nerd Details: 15% ABV bottled (750 ml swing top). Drank out of a snifter glass on 4/1/22. Vintage: 2021.
Superstition Lagrimas De Oro Mead – Traditional mesquite honey mead aged in a bourbon barrel. Pours a striking, crystal clear, very pale yellow color. Not getting much on the nose, just a faint, vague sweetness. Taste hits that sweet honey hard, and there’s a boozy bite to it, with the bourbon and oak coming through moreso than the above examples. Mouthfeel is not quite as syrupy as the others, but it’s still very sugary sweet, with a boozy heat to it. The balance seems a bit off here, with the barrel coming through well enough, but not as well integrated as happens in beer (or even wine). Overall, it’s fine, I’m probably just not as much of a mead/honey guy as I’d hoped. B- or B
Mead Nerd Details: 13.5% ABV bottled (750 ml swing top). Drank out of a flute glass on 4/10/22. Vintage: 2022.
Beer Nerd Musings – One interesting thing about Superstition’s barrel aged offerings is that they have actually used bourbon barrels that previously held beer (i.e. 3rd use barrels), and in at least one case, a specific beer. The aforementioned Peanut Butter Jelly Crime has a barrel aged variant that was aged in Bottle Logic Fundamental Observation barrels. According to my Untappd, I’ve actually checked into that mead, though I don’t remember much about the barrel impact (at the time, I may not have known much about Fundamental Observation either) – I suspect it wasn’t huge, as with the meads in this post. Still, it’s an interesting approach.
So there you have it. I’m clearly not much of a mead guy, but I tried to be fair in my ratings. I do have at least one beer/mead hybrid coming up soon, but I suspect I won’t be going out of my way for meads in the future…
For the past 8 years, I’ve taken an extended break from beer. There are numerous reasons for this, but one of the more fun ones is that I still explore other realms of beverage glory. One particular thing I kept meaning to try out (but was continually stymied by, for years) was Pétillant Naturel (aka Pét-Nat) wine.
Pétillant Naturel translates to “naturally sparkling” and is a sorta funky version of Champagne. I’ll leave it to the experts to get into the distinctions between Pét-Nat and other sparkling styles, but from a beer dork’s perspective, it seems like simple bottle conditioned stuff. It’s even bottled with a crown cap, like beer is (presumably due to the pressurization that can occur). Various descriptions of these wines kinda reminded me of Belgian beers. Maybe not as funky or earthy as Gueuze, but more like a Belgian Strong Pale Ale.
Despite the frequent proclamations that Pét-Nat is an emerging hipster trend, I had trouble finding bottles in PA. Maybe I’m not hipstery enough, but my guess is that, frankly, like a lot of good beers out there, you have to want it. So it took me a few years to actually procure a bottle. What can I say: the Kaedrin procurement department is obsessed with beer, not as much with wine, but they’ll come through if you give them enough time (and the requisite bribes).
Anyway, this appears to be a generally well regarded example of the style. I did leave instructions for the procurement department to seek out white wine varietals, as the notion of a sparkling red didn’t really seem like a good place to start (anecdotal evidence from a wine nerd friend indicates that my instinct was the correct one). This particular Pét-Nat is made with Chardonnay grapes, and it was pretty much everything I hoped it would be.
Donkey & Goat Lily’s PétNat – Pours a clear, very pale straw yellow color with a finger or two of tight bubbles, very pretty. There is a small amount of sediment, but keep in mind that wine dorks would probably be horrified by the amount of sediment that appears in some unfiltered beers. There’s maybe a slight haze, but none of the murky, muddy character some beers can have, nor are there tons of chunky floaters when you pour out the last of the bottle. Smells of musty yeast with some citrus zest, pears, honey it feels almost like a hybrid of a Belgian pale ale and Chardonnay. Taste starts off with some sweet vinous fruit, a little of that sort of musty, dusty yeasty funk, but quickly transitions into the more Chardonnay grape, pear, apple flavors, finishing dry, a hint of lemon zest. Mouthfeel is high carbonated and crisp, starts dry, gets a little sweet in the middle, finishing dry. When I say “dry”, I don’t mean like tannic dry, more in the way of little residual sugars (which the carbonation accentuates well). I really like this. It’s playing in the middle of a triangle consisting of Belgian Strong Pale Ale, Chardonnay, and Sparkling Wine. A-
Wine Nerd Details: 11.2% ABV bottled and capped. Drank out of a flute glass on 3/25/22. Vintage: 2020. “502 unfined, unfiltered cases made” Region: Anderson Valley, CA
Food Pairing: I paired this with a reasonably high grade nigiri sushi plate, and I think the carbonation, and relatively dry nature of the Chardonnay went really well with the dish. A go-to beer pairing for that meal would be a Belgian Strong Pale Ale, Saison, or Gueuze, and this fits comfortably in that space. I suspect it would work well with turkey or roast pork loin too.
Beer Nerd Musings: As already mentioned, this sits comfortably in the middle of a triangle consisting of Belgian Strong Pale Ale, Chardonnay, and Sparkling Wine. I do wonder if other white wine grapes would get even closer to the Belgian Pale styles. Perhaps due to my (relative) familiarity with Chardonnay, it still felt a lot like wine, even if I could see some overlap with beer. Interestingly, almost every beer/wine hybrid that I’ve had has utilized red wine grapes. I’m actually having trouble thinking of a beer/wine hybrid that uses white wine grapes. I’ll have to keep an eye out for that. I’m sure The Bruery, which does a lot of wine-forward takes on beer/wine hybrids, has done something like this.
This is definitely a winner. It’s a bit pricey, but not overwhelming and I’ll most certainly be seeking out more Pét-Nat wines in the coming years.
A welcome trend, as typified by Westbound & Down’s bourbon barrel-aged line, is to package high alcohol brews in smaller than normal packaging. Lord knows I’ve solo domed my share of bombers or Bruery 750s that are probably better shared, but it’s actually fun to tackle one of these adorable 8 ounce cans and not get completely sloshed. The trend towards ever-thicker brownie-batter style stouts also benefit from this approach. Such beers are absolutely delicious, but can get to be a bit heavy and cloying after a while. 8 (oz) is enough. Until it isn’t (12-16 ounce packaging seems to be the genuine sweet spot).
It turns out that the quantity of liquid imbibed can have a big impact on your experience. I used to go to Tired Hands Brew Cafe nearly every week, and I suspect on of the reasons I kept going back wasn’t just because the beer was good (it was!), but because the grand majority of what I drank was in 4 or 8 ounce pours. The generally sweeter NEIPA character just pops a little better at that size. I know 16 ounce cans are the norm these days, but one of the reasons I never really got into the line-life at Tired Hands was that 16 ounces of a Milkshake IPA is maybe too much. Oh sure, I’m also a novelty junkie and would rather 16 different 4 ounce pours than a 4 pack of 16 ounce cans, and also I didn’t want to wait in line for 5 hours under the confused but harsh glare of Ardmore locals anymore.
Anywho, the other thing that comes to mind when it comes to this sort of thing is New Coke. I wrote about this before a while back:
Why did Coca-Cola change their time-honored and fabled secred formula? Because of the Pepsi Challenge. In the early 1980s, Coke was losing ground to Pepsi. Coke had long been the most popular soft drink, so they were quite concerned about their diminishing lead. Pepsi was growing closer to parity every day, and that’s when they started running these commercials pitting Coke vs. Pepsi. The Pepsi Challenge took dedicated Coke drinkers and asked them to take a sip from two different glasses, one labeled Q and one labeled M. Invariably, people chose the M glass, which was revealed to contain Pepsi. Coke initially disputed the results… until they started private running sip tests of their own. It turns out that people really did prefer Pepsi (hard as that may be for those of us who love Coke!). So Coke started tinkering with their secret formula, attempting to make it lighter and sweeter (i.e. more like Pepsi). Eventually, they got to a point where their new formulation consistently outperformed Pepsi in sip tests, and thus New Coke was born. Of course, we all know what happened. New Coke was a disaster. Coke drinkers were outraged, the company’s sales plunged, and Coke was forced to bring back the original formula as “Classic Coke” just a few months later (at which point New Coke practically disappeared). What’s more, Pepsi’s seemingly unstoppable ascendance never materialized. For the past 20-30 years, Coke has beaten Pepsi despite sip tests which say that it should be the other way around.
So what happened? Why did New Coke fail and why is Pepsi also terrible? Malcolm Gladwell uses this example and the aftermath in his book Blink:
The difficulty with interpreting the Pepsi Challenge findings begins with the fact that they were based on what the industry calls a sip test or a CLT (central location test). Tasters don’t drink the entire can. They take a sip from a cup of each of the brands being tested and then make their choice. Now suppose I were to ask you to test a soft drink a little differently. What if you were to take a case of the drink home and tell me what you think after a few weeks? Would that change your opinion? It turns out it would. Carol Dollard, who worked for Pepsi for many years in new-product development, says, “I’ve seen many times when the CLT will give you one result and the home-use test will give you the exact opposite. For example, in a CLT, consumers might taste three or four different products in a row, taking a sip or a couple sips of each. A sip is very different from sitting and drinking a whole beverage on your own. Sometimes a sip tastes good and a whole bottle doesn’t. That’s why home-use tests give you the best information. The user isn’t in an artificial setting. They are at home, sitting in front of the TV, and the way they feel in that situation is the most reflective of how they will behave when the product hits the market.”
Dollard says, for instance, that one of the biases in a sip test is toward sweetness: “If you only test in a sip test, consumers will like the sweeter product. But when they have to drink a whole bottle or can, that sweetness can get really overpowering or cloying.” Pepsi is sweeter than Coke, so right away it had a big advantage in a sip test. Pepsi is also characterized by a citrusy flavor burst, unlike the more raisiny-vanilla taste of Coke. But that burst tends to dissipate over the course of an entire can, and that is another reason Coke suffered by comparison. Pepsi, in short, is a drink built to shine in a sip test. Does this mean that the Pepsi Challenge was a fraud? Not at all. It just means that we have two different reactions to colas. We have one reaction after taking a sip, and we have another reaction after drinking a whole can.
Have you ever had a small pour of something at a beer share and loved it, but then drank a whole bottle/can of the stuff at some later point and found yourself disappointed? This might be the culprit. Weirdly, the more intense or flavorful a beer is, the more likely that drinking a lot of it might not be the best of ideas. Unless, of course, you’ve got an 8 ounce can.
Colorado’s Westbound & Down seems like an almost under-the-radar type of brewery. Not of lot of hype around their stuff, but I’ve always heard good things. I was just reading comments about them, and someone was praising the prominence of “clear” IPAs, which I think is funny (clearly the West Coast IPA is poised for a returning pendulum swing since everything got hazy in the past few years). Anywho, this is a pretty straightforward imperial stout aged in Blanton’s, Weller, and Dickel barrels. Interestingly, this is the second time I’ve had a beer aged in Blanton’s barrels that have leaned heavily on fudgey chocolate notes (the other being last year’s BCBS Reserve). Go figure. Let’s take a closer look – just watch ol’ “Bandit” run:
Westbound & Down Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout – Pours a black color with almost no head. Smells sweet, a hint of roast and fudge, with the caramel, oak, and vanilla typical of the BBA treatment. Taste is very sweet, that roasted malt character makes itself known, with lots of fudge, caramel, oak, and vanilla. Mouthfeel is full bodied, rich, and chewy, low but appropriate carbonation, thick, almost syrupy stuff. Not quite at the Cycle fudge stout levels of viscosity and attenuation, but in that ballpark. Overall, it’s a great little BBA stout and the adorable little 8 ounce can is perfectly suited for this… A-
Beer Nerd Details: 14.9% ABV canned (8 ounce). Drank out of a snifter on 8/20/21.
I have since had another one of these little BBA stouts called Western Justice, very similar, so maybe that fudgeyness isn’t entirely the result of the Blanton’s bourbon barrel… Whatever the case, I’ll be on the lookout for more Westbound & Down in the future – I’ve got my eye on a fetching little BBA barleywine called Louie. Stay tuned.
East End Gratitude is one of those storied, old-school, American-style barleywines that throws new money tickers for a bit of a loop. The original vintage in 2005, the now infamous paper-wrapped crow label with a red waxed cap, was certainly well received and those of you old enough to remember stuff like Beer Advocate Top 100 lists and the vaunted White Wale list know what’s up, but the new guard will question the liberal use of hops (what is this, a malty IPA?), the low-ish ABV (only 11%?), and the conspicuous absence of barrel-aging.
Oh sure, Pittsburg’s East End Brewing eventually broke down and started releasing barrel aged versions, but the mystique of those original paper-wrapped, non-BA vintages lives on, even to this day. I’ve managed a few tastes of the stuff over the years (including a decade old taster of the 2009 that had held up remarkably well), and I’ve always enjoyed it. When I finally got a bottle to myself, I was surprised at how well that throwback character suited me. Don’t get me wrong, a BBA English-style Barleywine is a thing of beauty, but there’s a place for this sort of thing too, even if (or perhaps because) we don’t see it’s kind very often anymore.
I didn’t get one of them swanky paper-wrapped versions – as far as I know, this pandemic-infused batch didn’t get that treatment – but it’s still got the violet wax and purple birdie on the label. They’re different every year, though this looks to be a repeat of the 2013 vintage look.
This is just your basic, no nonsense American style barleywine. First made in 2005, I’m guessing liberal use of old-school new-world hops like Cascade and Chinook. This is one of the few hoppy beers that actually manages to age well, but it drinks with a nice bitter kick when fresh. I suspect the 10 year old Gratitude I had a taste of a while back was a bit over the hill, but the faded hop character actually suits this beer (my instinct is that it drinks great, maybe even better than fresh at 3-4 years). Let’s look at a fresh one:
East End Gratitude – Pours a medium brown color with amber highlights and half a finger of very light tan color head that sticks around for a bit. Smells sweet, with a heaping helping of piney, resinous hops, a hint of citrus, candied raisins. Taste starts off with waves of rich caramel and toffee, raisins and figs popping in for a fine hello in the middle, with those hops only making themselves known towards the finish, with that same piney, resinous character and balancing bitterness. Mouthfeel is full bodied, rich, and chewy, well carbonated but tight and appropriate for the style, not exactly dry, but the bitter hop finish does a good job balancing things. Overall, the best non-barrel-aged barleywine I’ve had in a long time, maybe ever. A-
Beer Nerd Details: 11.2% ABV bottled (22 ounce, violet wax). Drank out of a snifter on 9/26/21. Vintage 2020 (but they date vintages from brew day, it was released on June 26, 2021).
You’d think that I’d have made the trip out to Pittsburg for Gratitude Day at some point and gotten ahold of them vintage paper wrapped birdies, but I’ve never managed it. One of these days I’ll snag a vintage bottle and review it for you. In the meantime, I’ll just have to content myself with this cellar full of barrel-aged English-style garbage.
I still remember my first trip to Victory Brewing Company in Downingtown, PA. I was already a big fan of Hop Devil IPA* and Golden Monkey, but a visit to the brewery promised all sorts of new, unfamiliar beers to explore. I distinctly remember looking up their taplist online and running that up against ratings on Beer Advocate. I know, I know, ratings are dumb and the people who rate things on the internets are dumb and only dumb people think they are meaningful and I’m the worst, but this was like, well over 15 years ago and I didn’t think a bunch of pseudonymous strangers from the internet would steer me wrong.
Anyway, it looked like the best rated beer that was available on tap during that first visit was Prima Pils. I was incredibly disappointed. It tasted kinda like the dreaded Bud/Miller/Coors that was an anathema to beer dorks of the time. Obviously everyone hates the corporate behemoths for their size and abysmal business practices, but at the time, it was even just the flavor of their bland fizzy yellow stuff that people didn’t like. It was a sorta (over)reaction to the ubiquity of these bland macro lagers. Not that Prima Pils is bland, which is where we’re headed here, but there’s a reason the craft boom was fueled by IPAs and other flavorful brews.
Since then, I’ve had that lager revelation and no longer associate that sort of flavor profile with the BMCs of the world. Prima Pils and Braumeister Pils have become some of my favorite go-to pilsners and probably the sort of thing people in this area forget about too often. In other words, way back when, a bunch of strangers on the internet actually did steer me to the right beer, I just couldn’t recognize it at the time. We all live and learn.
Last year, Victory ran a series of small batch beers, and among them was a Dry Hopped version of Prima Pils, using Motueka, Vic Secret, and Galaxy to put a new spin on an old beer.
Victory Dry Hopped Prima Pils – Pours a clear, almost radiant bright straw yellow color with a few fingers of fluffy white head, good retention, and lacing as I drink. Smells nice, the dry hopping contributes IPA-like aromas of tropical fruit, mangoes, pineapple and the like, a hint of the more underlying herbal, floral character too. Taste features more of that pils base, but it’s got a bit of that bright citrus character from the nose too. The normal bread and cracker pilsner character is there, but this has certainly got the hoppy bite of a pale ale or IPA. Mouthfeel is light bodied, crisp, and refreshing, certainly quaffable stuff. Overall, it splits the difference between Pils and IPA in a way that doesn’t make me wish I was drinking one or the other, which is the real accomplishment here. It’s an interesting spin on an old favorite (or rather, a beer that has slowly grown into a favorite over time, but whatever). A-
Beer nerd Details: 5.3% ABV canned (16 ounce pounder). Drank out of a tulip glass on 8/21/21. Canned on: August 2021
Yes, I’m working through a backlog of reviews here, glad you noticed. Moar to come.
* Hoo boy, those old posts from 2010 are something else, aren’t they? Witness the awful pictures, the shaker pint glasses, the use of the word “smooth” in the tasting notes! I won’t claim to be the best (as has amply been established, I’m the worst), but I have improved over time, I think.
As sour beers took off in the United States, most breweries took to using cultivated wild yeasts and bacterial beasties to generate a more controlled approach. However, a few breweries attempted to harken back to Belgian roots of spontaneous fermentation. Allagash set up a coolship and started building up their house style, De Garde went so far as to rely solely on spontaneous fermentation for all their beer, and then there’s Jester King.
They make lots of good stuff, but they do seem to really appreciate the traditional lambic approach, to the point where they actually defined a generalized certification for what they call “Méthode Traditionelle.” The idea was to make a mark that could be placed on any brewery’s beers that were made according to a specific set of rules. Big surprise, this didn’t go over too well with just about anyone. Belgian Lambic producers objected to their original name (“Méthode Gueuze”) because the terms Lambic and Gueuze refer to beers native to the Senne Valley in Belgium, so Jester King compromised to “Méthode Traditionelle.” Then American brewers objected, claiming that the whole thing represented a gatekeeping attempt and was blatant rent-seeking or something.
None of which really matters anymore, because people seem less interested in these complex beers patiently crafted over several years in favor of kettle sours made with so much unfermented fruit that they no longer resemble beer at all, and oh, if you leave them unrefrigerated they’ll explode, spraying juicy shrapnel all over your house.
Um, anyway, Spinning Away is one of Jester King’s spontaneously fermented beers. Made in collaboration with a local Texas winery, they basically just dropped off their coolship at the winery, dumped some wort in there, left it out overnight, then trucked the inoculated wort back to their brewery, where they put it in barrels for a couple years. The resulting blend is pretty fantasic:
Jester King Spinning Away – Pours a hazy golden yellow color with a finger or two of fluffy white head and good retention. Smells great, lots of earthy barnyard funk, hay, tart fruit, lemons, and the like, plenty of oak, very Geuze-like. Taste starts sweet, stone fruit, lemons, hits some sour notes, and then the oak and funk bring it home, finishing on that tart note again. Mouthfeel is well carbonated, light bodied, crisp, and refreshing; well balanced too. Overall, this is a very nice take on American not-lambic lambic. A-
Beer Nerd Details: 4.5% ABV bottled (750 ml corked and capped). Drank out of a flute glass on 8/20/21. Blend 1 – March 2021.
Jester King Spon Three Year Blend – This is basically American not-gueuze gueuze. A blend of three different vintages (2018, 2019, and 2020) of 100% spontaneously fermented beer. Wheat in the grain bill, aged-hops, basically the same method (Méthode!) as Belgian counterparts. And it tastes pretty fantastic. You get the complexities of aging, oakiness, it’s tart but with plenty of earthy funk. This isn’t something that will melt your teeth enamel, so it’s well balanced and a great pairing with sushi. I didn’t take formal tasting notes, because I already bored you to tears with the previous tasting notes that I wrote half a year ago, so you just get me rambling about this beer here. Which, like, has to be more interesting than tasting notes, right? How many ways to say that this is tart, earthy, tasty stuff, right? Really good, worth seeking out, would buy again. A-
Beer Nerd Details: 5.4% ABV bottled (375 ml corked and capped). Drank out of a flute glass on 2/11/22. Blended on July 14, 2021.
Wow, I’ve really been slacking on these posts, haven’t I? This one started in August of last year, and while I’ve been assiduously working on it since then, it really shouldn’t take this long. On the other hand, by “assiduously working”, I mean that I opened the post tonight and stream of consciousnessed the whole thing (with extensive research thanks to my assistant, Google). Anywho, more to come. Hopefully we can average more than one post every few months.
It’s been quite a while since travel has been advisable at all, let alone travel specifically for the decidedly unhallowed purpose of beer, but I figured it would be fun to reprise the Operation Chowder trip to the Boston area that was quite enjoyable a few years ago. There was no beer-related event or centerpiece that precipitated the trip, just a desire to get away for a few days.
First stop, on the way, was a sortie on Tree House Brewing. We’ve long been a fan of the brewery here at Kaedrin, so it was nice to finally visit the brewery. That said, the NEIPA (or Hazy IPA or whatever you want to call it) has become common enough (if not ubiquitous) such that while Tree House is undoubtedly one of the better purveyors of such styles, you could probably also find a world class example closer to home (unless you live near Treehouse, duh). Definitely worth visiting if it’s on your way or something, but maybe not worth a trip unto itself.
It’s quite a large operation at this point, and they’ve got the whole ordering process down pat. Beautiful brewery and good beer, not much else to ask for… Some of these have detailed tasting notes and were drunk after the trip, others just have vague thoughts (as a lot of stuff in this post will have, since I wasn’t taking detailed notes while on the trip).
Tree House Trail Nelson – Solid little pilsner with an extra dose of Nelson Sauvin hops. While the non-traditional hops are there and make their presence known, it’s still primarily a pilsner (i.e. this doesn’t feel like an IPL or something, as some hopped up pilsners can). Easy going and quaffable stuff. It doesn’t quite hit top tiers of pilsner-dom, but it hit the spot. B
Beer Nerd Details: 5.1% ABV on draft. Drank out of a mug on 8/26/21.
Tree House Free to Roam – Helles lager that spent some time conditioning in a horizontal oak foeder, reminiscent of Hill Farmstead’s Poetica series. Pours a clear golden yellow color with a few fingers of fluffy white head, good retention, and lacing as I drink. Smells nice, bread, crackers, noble hops, floral and herbal, maybe a faint hint of vanilla and citrus. Taste hits those same notes from the nose, but perhaps not as complex here. Mouthfeel is light bodied and crisp, with slightly lower than normal carbonation (it’s certainly there, but not as much as you’d expect from this type of beer). Overall, quite enjoyable. B+
Beer Nerd Details: 5% ABV canned (12 ounces). Drank out of a tulip glass on 8/30/21. Canned: 7/24/21. AND WE WILL.
Tree House Very Green – Amped up version of Green, one of Tree House’s flagship beers. Pours a cloudy, murky pale yellowish color, almost brown depending on lighting (look what you need to know here is that it’s not green, ok?), with a couple fingers of fluffy white head. Smells very sweet, candied tropical fruits, citrus, something floral in the background. Taste follows the nose, sweet, tropical fruit, and a balancing bitterness in the finish. Mouthfeel is medium to full bodied, well carbonated, balanced, and and almost dry note in the finish. Overall, ayup, pretty great stuff. A-
Beer Nerd Details: 8.3% ABV canned (16 ounce pounder). Drank out of a tulip glass on 9/3/21. Canned on 08/25/21.
Tree House Queen Machine – Amarillo – Part of a series of beers based off of a Juice Machine base, and using that to explore concentrated lupulin pellets (in this case, Amarillo pellets). Similar in appearance and character to Very Green, but this is less tropical, more like orange or grapefruit, a little bit of floral, very nice. Would be curious to try other editions of Queen Machine at the same time to get the hop distinctions – many of these NEIPAs can get to feel a bit… samey, so it would be an interesting exercise. That said, if you’re going to make a bunch of beers that taste similar to this, you’re not exactly doing bad work… A-
Beer Nerd Details: 8% ABV canned (16 ounce pounder). Drank out of a tulip glass on 9/6/21. Canned on 08/11/21. THE QUEEN HAS ARRIVED.
Tree House Cobbler – This is basically Julius conditioned atop freeze-dried peaches. Another murky chicken broth looking thing, but man those peaches just explode in the aroma. The taste is perhaps less, er, explosive, but that actually works in its favor. The base Julius is there with just some added peachy notes. Same well balanced mouthfeel as Julius too. Great stuff here, probably the highlight of my purchases from Tree House. A
Beer Nerd Details: 6.8% ABV canned (16 ounce pounder). Drank out of a tulip glass on 9/10/21. Canned on 08/23/21.
Tree House Mega Treat – A hopped up rendition of Super Treat, which is itself, an amped up version of Treat. It definitely has that sweet, candied hop character that the name would imply, though I think these were the oldest cans I bought (and despite my normal OCD recording of canned on dates, I seem to have misplaced that info this time, yikes), and that NEIPA character does tend to fall off over time. I suspect this would have been better fresh, though it’s no slouch now. B+
Beer Nerd Details: 8.7% ABV canned (16 ounce pounder). Drank out of a tulip glass on 9/18/21.
So Tree House: worth stopping in and excellent as always. Once we arrived in Boston proper, we made our way to Fenway for a baseball game. In checking out the local environs, we did spy a brewery called Cheeky Monkey right across from the field. Let’s not dwell on it, but they did not impress, both in terms of beer and customer service (mistakes were made). My guess is that they can get away with this due to their location.
Fenway itself is always fun, and a member of my fantasy baseball team hit a home run in my presence, which is nice. There may have been higher end beer options somewhere, but the best I found was Lord Hobo’s 617, a tasty but standard NEIPA (named after the area code for Fenway, and it’s naturally 6.17% ABV).
The next day we made our way up to Salem for some witchery, which had some appeal, but the highlight of the visit was Notch Brewing. A nice little place right on the waterfront, they had a wonderful selection of low octane lagers and deeply unsexy European ales (to be clear: in this world of hazebros and pastry stouts, “unsexy” is a high complement.)
Notch The Standard – Double decocted Czech pilsner hopped with Sterling. As the name implies, this is a pretty standard pils, but it’s one of those beers that could set that standard. Crisp, quaffable, tasty stuff. B+
Beer Nerd Details: 4.4% ABV on draft. Drank out of a mug on 8/27/21.
Notch Ungespundet – Apparently the name of this beer translates to “unbunged” in German; a reference to a specific fermentation strategy that regulates the amount of natural carbonation. Or something like that. Clean, malt forward, bready with a light toast character, reminiscent of an Oktoberfest (though still distinct). A-
Beer Nerd Details: 4.5% ABV on draft. Drank out of a Willibecher glass on 8/27/21.
Notch Altbier – I have some coworkers who live in Düsseldorf, and they’re always telling me I need to visit and drink Altbier, which is a specialty of that city. I’ve had a few American takes on the style, and this might be the best I’ve had. Dark bread, toast, a hint of caramel and vanilla, but with a well rounded bitterness. Really tasty stuff.
Beer Nerd Details: 4.5% ABV on draft. Drank out of a Willibecher glass on 8/27/21.
And well, well, well, I just noticed that Notch delivers to PA. Will wonders never cease. You’ll be seeing more from Notch on this here blog. They were probably the highlight of this trip, so it’ll be nice to get my hands on more of their stuff.
There were naturally lots of other activities and bars visited upon the way, including some Freedom Trail shenanigans and a couple of standout bars, like The Plough and the Stars (minor taplist but good live music) and Bukowski Tavern (decent tap list, fun not-quite-dive-bar atmosphere!)
While this is the second Operation Chowder, I must admit that the most distinctive foodstuffs consumed during the trip were probably more lobster-related. However, the name “Operation Lobster” has been reserved for the inevitable trip to Maine that will materialize someday. In the meantime, I will leave you with the note that I did manage to procure some of this operation’s namesake during the trip. Prost!
The Bitter is a English style of beer that’s a little confusing. It shares an ancestry with pale ales and IPAs and indeed, the term “bitter” emerged as slang for newfangled pale ales in Victorian England. Since the development of these styles, things diverged a bit, and naturally those cheeky Americans had to get involved and throw their whole bombastic spin into the mix.
I’m no historian and I’m not exactly an expert in British pub culture, but I actually find that current era hop obsession helps differentiate the Bitter from a normal Pale Ale. While hops naturally still play a big role in the Bitter, the focus seems to be more on balance, subtlety, and sessionability. Light bodied and relatively dry, they aren’t quite as assertive as Pale Ales, which tend to be bigger and bolder. And that’s even before Americans started hopping the crap out of them and exploring the extreme boundaries of the human palate. That being said, Bitters are stilly tasty and well suited for long sessions of drinking. They’re a favored style for cask conditioning as well, but you’ll probably find that more in England than here in the U.S.
But some U.S. breweries will take a swing at the style, even if it’s not going to be a hot seller. I’ve always enjoyed Victory’s take on the style, and one of my favorite discoveries of the past few years has been Bonn Place Mooey. Heck, I even made a homebrewed Bitter quite a while ago and it turned out great…
In my continuing efforts to provide extra support for local breweries during this pandemic, I recently spied local fave Forest & Main releasing two different Bitters at the same time. Intrigued, I picked them both up (along with a couple of others, which I’ll also include below as bonus reviews.) How different could the two beers be? On paper, they sound similar enough, but it turns out that they are indeed quite distinct:
Changing Tides Bitter – A bitter style brewed with Maris Otter, crystal malt, and golden naked oats, hopped with Goldings and Grungeist – Pours a dark orange, maybe auburn color with a solid finger of off white head. Smells of bready malt, maybe a subtle note of toast, a bit of noble hops rounding things out. Taste hits those bready malt-forward notes, again a subtle toastiness, and a well balanced hop bitterness in the finish. Mouthfeel is light bodied, crisp, and highly quaffable. Overall, ayup, this is great. A-
Beer Nerd Details: 3.9% ABV canned (16 ounce pounder). Drank out of a tulip glass on 5/29/21. Canned
Raised Beds Bitter – Brewed for Forest & Main’s anniversary, this is made with malt from Deer Creek Malthouse (a small local establishment), and hopped with Goldings and Wolf (presumably both Styrian varieties.) – Pours a clear golden color with a finger of fluffy, bubbly white head, very pretty. Smells of herbal hops, earthy noble hops, with a bit of bready malt in the background. Almost like the mirror image of Changing Tides Bitter above. Like a mirror for your nose where malt and hop aromas are reversed? Yeah, that. Taste follows that trend too, more hop than malt focused, and even a bit more bitter. Mouthfeel is still light bodied, but moreso than Changing Tides; still crisp and quaffable stuff though. Overall, this is really good, but I think I prefer Changing Tides. B+ or A-
Beer Nerd Details: 4.2% ABV canned (16 ounce pounder). Drank out of a tulip glass on 5/30/21. Canned
Emerging DIPA – DIPA brewed with an addition of oats and hopped with Galaxy, Columbus, Mosaic, and Mandarina – Pours a cloudy golden yellow color with a solid finger of white head that sticks around for a bit. Smells nice, floral with lots of tropical fruit, mangoes, pineapple and the like. Taste starts off sweet, hits some of that juicy fruit character in the middle, with a bit of a balancing bitter bite towards the finish. Mouthfeel is well carbonated, medium bodied, a little flabby, but quite easy going. Overall, rock solid DIPA. B or B+
Beer Nerd Details: 8.3% ABV canned (16 ounce pounder). Drank out of a tulip glass on 5/31/21. Canned
Blank Stare Blonde Barleywine – Made with Golden Promise malt and hopped with British Progress and German Grungeist, this kinda occupies something closer to a TIPA than a barleywine, but the focus on old country hops does lean more towards bw territory, but your mileage may vary.
Pours a clear golden color with a finger of dense but still fluffy white head. Smells sugary sweet, candied citrus fruit, a little pine, maybe like pineapple. Taste is sweet up front, biscuity, with citrus and pine American hops pitching in, well balanced finish. Mouthfeel is medium to full bodied, a well balanced moderate carbonation, just a hint of stickiness in the finish. Overall, it’s a nice little beer, it feels like more than just a TIPA, so mayhaps the barleywine moniker is appropriate. B+ or A-
Beer Nerd Details: 10% ABV canned (16 ounce pounder). Drank out of a tulip glass on 5/29/21. Canned
In order to tell a coming of age story set in 1950s Texas, Terrence Malick decides to start his movie with the now-grown-up character experiencing a flashback… to the dawn of time itself. Stars form out of celestial explosions, orbiting planets emerge, oceans and continents are formed, life on said planets evolve, die out, redevelop, and the cosmic ballet marches inexorably towards… the birth of a child in the mid 20th century America. It’s a bravura, if bizarre, way to open a very deliberate movie that’s mostly about a kid growing up with daddy issues. It’s been a while, but as I recall, the ending of the film returns to that elegiac realm, but only briefly.
That film is called The Tree of Life, and I suspect it would be incredibly divisive if anyone but cinephiles watched it. Personally, I kinda love the audacity of the opening and wish there were more of it, because the bulk of the movie doesn’t do a whole lot for me. Others have the reverse issue. They love the coming of age and loss of innocence stuff, but are thrown for the loop by the strange metaphysical gambit in the beginning. Of course some people love it all, and I suspect most normal folks would hate the entire thing. A semi-autobiographical film that shows the emergence of the entire universe as an excuse to tell the story of a boomer growing up? Oof.
Anyway, this beer is a barleywine that is partially bourbon barrel-aged, which puts me in a similar mindspace. Like the small amount of time the movie spends on trippy cosmic imagery, only a small portion of this beer is barrel-aged. If you’re reading this, you probably know I love barrel-aged beer and as with the movie, I wanted more of that. I suspect a similar divisiveness could arise here. Purists hate the idea and want unvarnished barleywine, others love the blend, and plenty of folks just plain don’t like the style. I know, I don’t get them either.
Whatever the case, it’s always nice to drink a Tree House beer that isn’t a hazy IPA or a coffee/pastry stout. For some reason, those tend to be the most memorable, even if it’s not their wheelhouse. Let’s see how they do with life #BiL:
Tree House Tree of Life – Pours a deep, dark brown color with amber highlights and almost no head at all, barely a cap of off white head. Smells very sweet, dark fruits, figs, some nutty notes. Taste is sticky sweet, that dark fruit from the nose is prominent, figs, plums and the like, plenty of well-integrated booze, maybe a hint of oak and vanilla lurking in there, but this isn’t a barrel-forward thing. Mouthfeel is full bodied and almost creamy, sticky sweet but not cloying, low but appropriate carbonation. Overall, this reminds me a little bit of… Samichlaus? I was not really expecting that, but I do like me some Samichlaus, so there is that. B+
Beer Nerd Details: 11.8% ABV bottled (12 ounces). Drank out of a snifter on 2/14/21. Blended Batch #2
Always nice to visit with Tree House, and there may be a trip to the brewery in my near-ish future.
