Flying Saucer 9th Anniversary

As I've mentioned quite a few times lately, yesterday was the 9th anniversary of the Houston Flying Saucer. Saucer, along with Gingerman I think really helped introduce craft beer to Houston. Since then many others have joined in the call and are helping to turn Houston into a craft beer city. Yesterday though, was a day to celebrate the Saucer and that's just what I did, spending the major portion of my day there, tasting quite a few beer.
Allagash Curieux: A Belgian Style Triple aged in Bourbon barrels from Kentucky. Served in a tulip shaped glass full of hazy orange liquid capped by a thick white head. The nose was orange and citrusy a bit of honey and a bit of oaky. The mouthfeel is creamy, a little alcohol, oak, a bit of bourbon, but mostly the crispness, citrusy, honey, and floral notes that I expect in a good triple.
Real Ale 13th Anniversary: Not part of the Anniversary Taps, but I had to try it. This one is a hybrid Belgian style amber. It's toasty, caramelly, effervescent in the mouth. Biscuity. Very easy drinking, but complex as well. This is not a hop bomb, but instead a toasty, biscuity beer a sipper that makes you think.
Harpoon Leviathan Big Bohemian Pilsner: I was a HUGE fan of Harpoons Leviathan IPA so I was pretty excited to try this one. Weighs in at 9% and poured a clear bright yellow with a thick white foamy head. Bready, toasty, cereals and grains, some hops. The mouthfeel is light for such a big beer. For whatever reason I expected lots of hops, but they really weren't there. Its just a big pilsner, and that's a good thing. Big cereals, and grains, toasty, apples, grapes even. A great pilsner.
Monks Cafe: A new sour ale from Belgium, this one weighs in at 5.5%. It poured a dark reddish brown with at thick dense white head. The nose is sour cherries, vanilla, yeasty, and some funkyness. Lots of carbonation, sour cherries, yeasty and bready. Notes of vanilla, that brings an interesting sweet, sour combination. This was a really good beer, an easy drinking low alcohol sour session beer.
Moylans Moylander Double IPA: Finally Moylan's brewery is in Texas! And its beers like this that make me happy they are. This DIPA weighs in at 8.5% and poured a cloudy orange with a thick white head. Hops explode on the nose grapefruit, marmalade, toasty. The mouthfeel is chewy feeling like I have a mouthfull of hop cones. There are notes of marmalade, grapefruit rind, some biscuity flavors, white pepper. Its sticky and resiny across the tongue keeping that hoppy bitterness in your mouth long after you finished the beer.
Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout: Brooklyn's Imperial Stout that weighs in at 10.6%. Not surprisingly this one pours a deep dark chocolate black with a cafe colored head. Raisins coffee, espresso and dark chocolate are all on the nose. The mouthfeel is creamy and dense. Notes of licorice, toffee, chocolate, burnt beans, espresso. There is also an acidity to this beer, that gives it an almost wine-y dry finish. Very good, a little alcohol on the finish, but a fine sipping beer. I hope this comes to our fair market in bottles this winter.

All in all this was a wonderful day to celebrate the Saucer's Birthday. The crowd was pretty enthusiastic and a lot of people just came and went throughout the day. Although some made it from 11:30am to 9:30 pm (not me). I got to meet not only some folks from the Saucer, but a few other "beer folks" around Houston. So to those that I did meet, it was great seeing you.