Life and Limb 2

If you've been reading this blog for a while you'll notice right off the bat that I didn't put a brewery in front of the beer name. There's a simple explanation as there are two of them: Sierra Nevada and Dogfish Head. Two icons in the craft brewing industry came together back in 2009 and brewed the original Life and Limb. It sold so quickly that few people were able to get their hands on one including yours truly. It was because of that disappointment that I was excited to see they had decided to brew another batch of L&L for release and it was this last two weeks that it started to show up on the shelves.

L&L is an interesting brew in and of itself. As stated on Sierra Nevada's website, the life portion of the name comes from the living yeast cells in the bottle, so one knows this is a bottle conditioned ale. The Limb comes from the two syrups used, maple and birch.

The Beer: The beer weighs in at a hefty 10.2% abv and pours a very rich dark brown, almost black, with a thick taupe colored head. The nose is full of black malts, vanilla, oaky, honestly a little disappointed here. The beer doesn't have a powerful nose, and what is there is very subtle. That subtlety ends at the first sip. Its medium bodied, very malty, sweet, coffee, roasted malts, vanilla, syrupy. I don't think I have ever had birch syrup before, but there is an earthyness to the brew that I think comes from the maple syrup used. I don't get a lot of alcohol in the beer its easier drinking than expected. Some cherry notes as it warms, there is a chocolate cake quality to the beer. Its not overly sweet mind you, but its just what it reminds me of. This is a good unique beer, maybe not a home run, but a very solid brew that is worth looking out for if you can still find it around town.

Stone/Port/Green Flash Highway 78

In the last week Houston has received quite a few new beers, some completely new breweries to the area like Maui brewing (go try to the coconut porter!), others like this beer, new offerings from breweries that have been in the area for years. This particular brew is a collaborative beer from Port Brewing, Green Flash, and Stone, all from the San Diego area. A collaborative effort this Scotch ale was brewed at Stone. I found it ironic that 3 breweries who are known for some pretty hoppy beers, brewed a style with very little hops. In fact this one has around 30 IBU's. As with most scotch ales this one is brewed with some peat smoked malt. The Beer: The beer weighs in at 8.8% and pours a reddish brown with a thin head. The nose is smokey malts, raisins, figs, and a hint of coco. Rich and smooth on the mouthfeel, medium bodied. Smokey peat flavors. Dark dried fruits, plums, raisins, figs. Dry finish, with some sweetness up front from the dark fruits along with notes of caramel and toffee.. A sipper for sure, as its pretty rich, but not overly heavy in boozy notes. I liked this one and it gets a B+ from me. Folks on BA tend to agree with the assessment.

De Proef/Terrapin Monstre Rouge

Collaboration beers when done properly can be amazing, a fusion between multiple different visions, coming together to create a one of a kind elixir. In my opinion one of the more successful collaborative series has been De Proef's "Brewmaster's Collaboration". They have brewed with Lost Abbey's Tomme Arthur and the brewmaster from Bell's in Michigan among many others. They've been unique and more importantly very good. De Proef's latest collaboration is with the masters of rye Terrapin Beer. Monstre Rouge is called an Imperial Flanders Red Ale and is based off of Terrapins massively hopped beer "Big Hoppy Monster" but of course with a twist: Rye has been added to the recipe as well as some brett yeast.
The Beer: This one weighs in at 8.5% and pours a cloudy hazy hazelnut brown with a thick frothy head of foam. The nose is full of malts, lots of citrusy hops, some oaky vanilla and maybe its my imagination but just a hint of horsey notes comes through from the brett. The mouthfeel is medium bodied and my tasebuds short circuit momentarily from the layers of complex flavors. Once they come back on line I get hit by citrusy hops that leave a resiny finish, sweet fruiy malts, caramel, toffee, vanilla, and a dry oaky finish. Just a faint funky, horsey, barnyardy flavor, barely there. As I'm sitting there thinking I'd like the brett flavors turned up just a bit, I let the beer warm and it starts to come through even more. The more pronounced brett flavors start to meld with the more bourbon like qualities of this beer, then mixing with the resinous hops to create an explosion of flavors unlike many I've tasted before. A dry finish and this beer is truly one of a kind, one that I will love to see how it ages. The beer gets a resounding A from me. Folks at BA dig it, but not as much as I do.

Brewdog/Stone Bashah

In honor of last week's BrewDog tasting at Petrol Station I picked up this beer from my local Spec's. Not the cheapest 12 oz beer in the world, but cheaper than many other's BrewDog offers. It also got my interest for being a collaborative beer with Stone Brewing. This brew is a 8.6% Black Belgian Double IPA.
The Beer: Pours a pitch black with a quarter inch taupe colored head. Notes of chocolate, malts, raisins, citrus. Medium mouthfeel, coco, roasted malts, some mild hop bitterness on the finish. As I sipped it, I really didn't get much hop presence, it honestly tasted a bit like a stout. However as I work through it, the hop flavors build in intensity and once you are finished your surprised that there is a tongue coating hop resin left behind. Slight grapefruit bitterness mixed with coco, dark roasted malts, and raisins. Slightly disappointed at the lack of Belgian ale qualities. Yes there is some dark fruit here, but its not what I would have expected in a strong dark Belgian ale. Its a good beer, but missing some complexity. Although a collaboration, this beer sums up my issues with BrewDog. They are staggeringly inconsistent, and I believe that instead of producing high alcohol publicity stunts they would be much better served producing a solid line up of beers. The publicity stunts will only let you last for so long, after the hype is over, there is nothing to go back to. This one gets a C+ from me. Here's what the folks at BA think.

De Proef Van Twee

Now I've had a lot of experience with this brewery from Belgium, and I am a huge fan of their colloboration beers with America breweries. The first one I had was their partnership with Tomme Arthur, the second with Jason Perkins of Allagash. Well the good news, they have another colloboration beer out, this time with Bell's brewing out of Michigan. This one is an interesting beer, made with multiple yeasts, New Zealand Hops (Nelson Seuvin) and Michigan Cherries.
The Beer: This one weighs in at 7.5% and pours a rich dark brown with at thick tan colored head. Fruity and funky on the nose, notes of plum, grape, banana, horse blanket, yeasts. The mouthful is full and thick. Tangy from the brett that has been injected into the beer. Mild tartness, chocolatey, mild coffee, plums, gooseberries. All these many different flavors meld together incredibly well and leads to a smooth finish. My initial impression of the beer is a tart, tangyness and funk from the yeast then the dark rich fruits from the malts take over, before leading to a light fruitiness from the hops. It almost reminds me of a tart chocolate yogurt if that makes any sense. This one gets an A- from me. Here's what the folks at BA think.

Collaboration not Litigation

Its seems I've had more and more collaboration beers, those beers that offer a taste of a beer made by two different breweries. This beer Collaboration not Litigation is a joint effort of Avery Brewing and Russian River. This is batch 3.
The Beer: This beer weighs in at 8.97% and pours a cloudy brown with a tan colored head. The nose is fruity, yeasty, grapes. The mouthfeel is creamy, and is effervescent, white grapes, candied sugar, smooth, yeasty, biscuity with a slightly sweet notes. Pears and honeysuckle finish this beer out. Very good. This one gets a B+ from me.

De Proef Les Deaux Brasseurs

This is the second is a series of collaborations between the Belgian brewery De Proef and a US brewery. The first was with Tomme Arthur and Port Brewing. This one, the second is with Jason Perkins of Allagash. I've been a fan of this Portland, Maine based brewery for quite some time. They make some amazing Belgian style beers. We don't get much of their more unique offerings down in Houston, other than a couple of their oak aged beers, that I've had the opportunity to try.
This one which means The Two Brewers is an incredibly unique beer. Its a Golden ale fermented with two different strains of Brettanomyces, one from each brewery. It was also dry hopped with Czech Haas hops. Yes its unique, but how does it taste?
The Beer: This one weighs in at 8.5% and pours a rich hay golden color with a frothy thick white head. The nose is of sour yeast, pear, their is a sourdough funkiness here along with some white fruits. The mouthfeel is creamy and thick. Funky notes of hay and barn, but also fruity notes of pear and pineapple. Pale malts and a bit of floral hop notes show up. The funk is the king here, though. The strains of bret have created a monster, that can at times be distracting from the other fruitier flavors of the beer. I like it, not my favorite, but an incredibly uniquely fruity funky beer. This one gets a B from me. Here's what the folks at BA say.

De Proef Reserve Signature Ale Collaboration with Port Brewing

I picked this large Belgian beer up at Spec's for many reason's. The first is that I'm a big fan of brewery collaboration beer's. It's an interesting concept seeing two different brewers teaming up together taking their individual styles and entwining them into something new, and hopefully delicious.. One of the few that I have tried Collaboration not Litigation from Avery and Russian River is delicious so I'm always on the look out for more. The second reason is that this is a collaboration that involves Tomme Arthur of Port Brewing and Lost Abbey fame and so far this is the only way to taste anything he does in Texas. Lastly this particular collaboration is a limited time sort of thing. De Proef has decided to do a number of collaborations with American Breweries. This was their first I believe, and their second is with another California brewery, Alesmith (and yes I'm incredibly excited to try that one when its released). This particular beer is an ale made with American Hops and Belgian Brett yeast.
The Beer: The beer weighs in at 8.5% and pours a pale golden cloudy orange with a frothy white head. The nose has citrusy hops, with a barnyard sourness. White fruit. The mouthfeel is tongue coating, bretty, white grapes, apricots and grapefruity hops. Notes of lychi. Very yeasty and funky a very enjoyable beer. Very good with a barnyard funk, giving the beer a tart/tanginess to the mouth. Incredibly complex there's so much going on, I need another bottle to just sit, drink and contemplate. This one gets a strong B+ from me. The folks at BA love it.