Saint Arnold's Octoberfest

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to try the Sam Adam's Octoberfest beer and rather enjoyed it. However I was very excited when Houston's own Saint Arnolds released their version this week. I have gone over the style of beer in an earlier post.
The Brewery: Saint Arnold's is located on the north west side of Houston. I love this brewery and have made many a travel up on a Saturday for their tastings. The brewery was started by Brock Wagner and Kevin Bartol on June 8, 1994. This is a small operation of 17 people and having talked to many of the employees including Brock its more of a family and not a business relationship. Brock began as a homebrewer, his day job being a financial analyst in downtown Houston. After realizing he would rather make beer than work in finances he worked with Mr. Bartol to create Saint Arnold's the patron Saint of Beer. Mr. Bartol is no longer involved in Saint Arnold's (nope nothing sinister). All of Saint Arnold's beers are not pasturized creating beers of greater depth, taste and complexity.
The Beer: It pours a nice dark amber with an inch or so of light tan head. The head dissipates into a thin line with ample lacing. On the nose, malt is the highlight, plenty of caramel and roasted flavors with just a hint of floral hoppy bitterness. The mouthfeel is heavy, smooth malty sweetness more of that caramel and roastyness with some underlying toffee flavors coming out. The sweetness is noticeable but not cloying. A bit of bitterness at the end. Nice carbonation in the beer. As the beer warms up it develops a little bit of spicy undertones adding some nice complexity to the beer. Very nice beer, I'd grade it above the Sam Adams version. Here's what the folks at BA had to say.

Independence Pale Ale

In my efforts to try and taste more local Texas beer I picked this up at the Central Market in downtown Houston.
The Brewery: The little brewery located in Austin Texas is owned and operated by Rob Cartwright. Rob got his start home brewing in his native Canada due to the incredibly high beer taxes. He came to Austin to attend the University of Texas and in an effort to save money he brewed his own beer. However as any college student knows he needed to earn money so he started brewing at the Copper Tank a nice brew pub. After working at the brewpub for a couple of years Rob realized he wanted to create his own style, his own beer. Independence Brewery is the culmination of his dreams.
The Beer: The beer pours the typical pale ale color, an orangish brown. There is almost no head in this beer and minimal lacing. There is a nice amount of hoppy bitterness in the nose, but in the mouth it seems to have disappeared and it not nearly as apparent. Limited malt notes in the beer and the mouthfeel was somewhat watery. I'd rate this beer a disappointment. Heres what the folks at BA had to say.

Shipyard Pumpkin Head Ale

As I mentioned in my previous post on Fall Beers, Pumpkin spiced ales are some of my favorite. They have such a unique blend of spices, malt, and hops to create an incredible experience. This weekend I picked up my first six pack of the season. This from Shipyard Ale.
The Brewery: Shipyard Brewery is the largest brewery in Maine, based out of Portland. The brewery began in 1992 by master brewer Alan Pugsley and businessman Fred Forsley as Federal Jack's Restaurant and Brew Pub in Kennebruk Maine. Eventually demand outgrew the location and Shipyard was set up as an independent operation in April of 1994. As stated above it is the largest brewery in Maine and last year shipped over 770,000 cases to over 30 states. This is not a Microbrewery anymore, but it is a top notch Craft Brewery.
The beer: It pours a bright orange in the glass with a quarter inch head that quickly dissipates into a thin line with some (not much) lacing. The nose is full of pumpkin pie spices, hints of nutmeg, cinnamon and of course pumpkin. The mouth is much of the same. This is liquid pumpkin pie, exactly what I was hoping for, which just a bit of hoppy bitterness on the aftertaste. I do have some minor complaints as the mouthfeel is not as thick as I would have liked, its almost a little watery feeling, but still a pretty good beer. It seems that most of the folks at BA didn't enjoy it much.

Oktoberfest and Fall Brews

This time of the year is one of my favorites. Leaving August behind and welcoming in September brings a good many things to the table. The tease of cooler weather, the beginning of the end of Hurricane Season, fall fruits and vegetables begin showing up at the markets, things like butternut squash, apples, sweet potatoes and of course pumpkin. This time also brings us some of my favorite style of beers. These beers can be broken down into two main categories: Traditioal Oktoberfest Beers, and American Fall beers, two very distinct styles, but both incredibly enjoyable.
Oktoberfest beers are the traditional style of beers that were at one time brewed for the Oktoberfest in Munich that takes place in late September. The tradition harks back to around 1841 when a Viennese brewer created a high malt beer. This beer was the basis of Gabriel Sedlmayr's (he of Spaten Brewery in Munich) beer that he named Marzen (or March). These traditionally strong beers were made in March, then stored in ice filled caves until the next fall. Marzen style beers became linked to Oktoberfest and some beers still call there brews Oktoberfest Marzen (think Spaten's version).
American Style fall beers are either the above Marzen style ales or what I call Spicy ales. In my experience these beers use fall spices, (think nutmeg, cinnamon, etc) to create a unique experience. My favorite of these are the Pumpkin ales that many a Craft brewer makes.
Over the next few weeks I will be tasting and reporting on as many of these beers as I can get my hand on.

Abita Update

I found a good article today in the Fort Worth Star Telegram about the Louisiana Brewery Abita. Abita is located across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans. Like most places in that area Abita suffered mightily from Katrina, and while its been a struggle, they are doing pretty well, in fact their production will increase this year, from 52,000 barrels to 60, 000. Not to shabby for this small brewery in Abita Springs. I have a special place in my heart for Abita. As a college student in Louisiana it was Abita's Turbodog and Purple Haze that got me away from the Miller and Bud that I had been drinking. This was my introduction to good beer, and it was quite an introduction. The dark smoky liquid that is Turbodog shocked me with my first sip, I didn't realize that beer could have this coffee flavor, honestly, at first I wasn't even sure I liked it...till that second and third sip. Then I had their Purple haze and that about jolted me out of my shoes. The taste of wheat and the vibrant electricity of the raspberries, I wasn't sure what to think, but I knew I had to try more. This was my introduction to good craft beer, and what an introduction it was. Abita has been around for 20 years now and it has released a very nice 20th Anniversary Pilsner, I haven't had it yet, but it will be around till the end of the year, so I have some time to pick it up.
The sad part of this article is the demise of another local New Orleans Brewery Dixie Brewing. While not a huge fan of their ubiquitous Dixie Brew which is basically no different than any other old school regional pilsner (think Pabst), their Blackened Voodoo beer was enough to get anyone's attention and it will be sad day if this is the last we have seen of it.

Great Beer Article

Alan over at A Good Beer Blog found a really wonderful article on 'handmade' beer that was written back in 1989, but its a fascinating read and I encourage anyone to take a few minutes and read it.

Allagash Tripel Reserve

A few weeks ago I tried a couple of craft brew Tripels. I decided to pick up another one this week and give a try, comparing it to the other two, continueing to try and find out if that great Belgian beer transititions over to American Craft brewing. I spoke about the Tripel style here.
The Brewery: Allagash brewery sold its first batch of beer in 1995. The brewery based in Portland, Maine is owned and brewed by Rob Tod. In the early nineties, Mr. Tod, a lover of craft brewed beer looked around the American Beer scene and saw a lot of German and English styles of beer. What he didn't see was Belgian style ales. So using traditional Belgian techniques and ingredients he set out to create Belgian style beers in the states. He started out with a traditional wit beer before moving on to the Reserve Collection made in the traditional Methode Champenoise. Releasing the beers in 750 ml Bottles corked and 'living.' The 'living' means that these beers go through a second fermentation in the bottle (as does Champagne). While Allagash has branched out into other styles they stay true to their roots continueing to make great traditional Belgian Ales.
The Beer: As mentioned above this is a Big Beer and weighs in at 9.0%. The beers pours a bright golden straw color with a thick pillowy cottony white head, that eventually dissipates into a thin white line with plenty of lacing. The nose has some alcohool, bannana, spices (pepper), maybe some citrus and a bit of bitterness fleshing it out. The mouthfeel is thick with creamy banana flavors, some bitterness and a hint of alcohl at the very end. Nice complex beer that I thoroughly enjoyed sipping. Here is what the folks over at BA say.

Sam Adams Octoberfest

The first Octoberfest beer of the season. Yes I know its only August and its hard to think of fall when its still in the upper nineties here in Texas, but Octoberfest in Munich is only a month away so the Craft Brewers the world over will be getting out their Octoberfest beers. Traditionally a Marzen style ale, it has now evolved into a Fall Seasonal beer that may be traditional or may be pumpkin spiced ale or other fall style beers.
I won't go into the brewer since most everyone knows Sam Adams and founder Jim Koch.
The Beer: The beer weighs in at 5.4% which makes it a nice session beer. The beer is made with Two Row Pale malt, Munich-10, 2 Row Moravian, and Caramel-10 malts. The hops are a blend of Tettnang Tettnanger and Hallreta-Mittlefruh hops. The beer pours a nice Brownish Amber color with a thick pillowy head that dissipated into a consistent quarter inch cap of foam that stayed there for the first few drinks of beer. Nice hints of malt, caramel specifically showing up along with some roasted characteristics. In the mouth there is more caramel, and some toffee coming out. A slightly lighter mouthfeel than I would have liked, and some abundant carbonation were some of the weaknesses in the beer, but overall I enjoyed it. Here's what the folks over at BA say.

Wet Hop's

Anyone that knows me knows that I am a Hop Head, I love the bitterness, the floral scents that this plant creates in Beer. Recently there was an article in the Wall Street Journal and the Pittsburgh Post Gazette about a new Trend in Wet Hopping. As the article states, think Beaujoulais wine, this is using the freshest hops and making beer with it, which creates a completely different taste then the use of hop pellets that most Craft brewery's use. This is a really great article in that its gives some really useful information on the Hops, their implementation and the great beers that take it to the extreme. Anyone that wants to learn a little more about Hops I urge to read this article.

Real Ale Brewhouse Brown

In my quest to taste more Texas Beers than I have in the past I picked a six pack of this Brewhouse brown from Real Ale. Packed in a unique six pack...a simple cardboard container only enclosing the tops of the neck's leaving the lower part of the bottles expose.
The Brewery: Real Ale is located in Blanco Texas, outside of Austin. It has been in business for 10 years, in fact they celebrated their anniversary on June 24th. Like most small breweries they are dedicated to the local community helping as much as they can with community service projects. To brew their beer they use a 15 barrel stainless steel brewing system to create their handcrafted beers. This is the epitome of a small brewery, but they make 4 regular beers, and 2 seaonals, a Barley wine and a Shade Grown coffee Porter that I would love to try.
The Beer: The beer is a light 5.4% and pours a deep rich brown, with streaks of red in the glass. A nice quarter inch tan head settles in, staying a while before finally dissipating to a constantly thin head and plenty of lacing. This is a very malty beer, with hints of chocolate, caramel and roasted malts in the nose. The mouthfeel is very nice, dry, slightly sweet, with the same caramel, roasted, and chocolate malts. This beer is made with four different types of malts, I can get 3 down, not sure what the other is though. My only complaint is the total lack of hoppy bitterness, which reminds me more of a English Brown ale not an American one. Not asking for a lot, just a bit and this would be a great beer. As it is, its a very smooth brew that I thoroughly enjoyed and would pick up again. Here's what the folks over at BA say.
Food for thought: I had this with grilled turkey and hatch chili pepper burgers and it went incredibly well. The sweetness of the malt helped over ride the spiciness of the burger and roasted and caramel malts fit in with the char of the grilled burgers. A very nice match.

Tupper-Wine Party?

Sorry for the unusual name of the post but I was reading an article on the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram web page and this is the best I could come up with.
The gist of the story is that people are having tupper ware style Wine Tasting parties in their house. The scope of these events is getting a Wine Educator to come to your house and teach you and others that you may invite about wine. These classes can be as simple as a 'Wine 101' to one that revolves around Spanish Red's. Since most of the Wine educators either work for or have an affiliation with a wine retailer, after the party, the attendees may purchase some of the wines they tasted to be picked up at the aforementioned wine retailer. Its a pretty interesting concept especially for those that can be intimidated by a more formal setting. These events allow people to be in a comfortable setting and decrease the likelihood of pretentiousness that occur in some other style classes. Its a good idea that will open up new avenues of wine education and create new wine lovers.

St. Peter's Old Style Porter

I have written up on St. Peter's before when I tasted their very good Cream Stout. I saw another of their unique bottles and decided to pick it up and give it a try.
The Beer: It pours a nice dark brown almost opaque with a creamy off-white not quite tan head. It initially looks very carbonated as the initial CO2 is released. The nose shows plenty of coffee, chocolate, and caramel. In the mouth there is a nice level of malty sweetness but not cloyingly so. There are those same flavors of coffee, chocolate, caramel, with some toffee now added in. The carbonation has dissipated so the beer is smooth sitting in your mouth. As the beer warms it gets even smoother and richer tasting. I found this beer very enjoyable and better than many porters I have had in the past. Here is what the folks over at BA say.

Avery The Reverend

This Big Beer is the last of the beers that I picked up a couple of weeks ago at the downtown Super Spec's. I have posted a couple of times about Avery beers in the past so if you want to know about more of their beers you can look here and here.
The Style: This beer is a Belgian style Quadrupel Ale. As with most Belgian ales this is a trappist brew with greater strength than its dubbel and trippel siblings. Usually a darker beer, full bodied with rich malt flavors in abundance. Can be a little sweeter with low bitterness and often higher in alcohol.
The Beer: As mentioned before this came in a Big beer format and is actually named for one of the Avery Brewer's grandfather who was an ordained Episcopal preacher. The beer contains Styrian Goldings hops and various amounts of Malts: two row barely, cara 8, cara 20, caramel 15L, caramel 20L, and Belgian special B. The beer weighs in at 10.0% so its definitely a sipping beer. As is typical I used a chalice shaped glass for this tasting. It poured a reddish copper color with a nice thick head that after a bit of dissipating tended to stick around. Some floural and banana scents in the nose. A nice malty balance in the mouth with low hop bitterness and some more of those banana flavors throughout with a tang of citrus peels. A slight burn of alcohol in the aftertaste, but I don't tend to mind that much as long as its not overpowering which this wasn't I find it adds a little complexity to the aftertaste. There are also hints of spice maybe coriander type flavors. I really enjoyed this beer, here's what the folks over at BA had to say.

More on Organic Beer

I have written a previous post on the Rise of Organic beer, but after reading this article in the Ft. Worth Star Telegram I wanted to revisit it as it brought up some interesting points. The first part of the article reports that the Ft. Worth area actually does have a brewery that specializes in only Organic Beers, Healthy Brew that was incorporated in 2003, along with the usual Whole Foods and the State local HEB Central Market, that area up north has a pretty decent organic beer selection.
However its later in the article that the more interesting point is made in how hard it is to find good organic ingredients local to the states. New Zealand does grow a lot of Organic Hops due to fact they have no indigenous Hop Pest, but still thats NEW ZEALAND! not exactly local. Of course there are some other American Organic Beers, some from Goose island and others from North Coast Brewery in California. The issue is that organic products are expensive since they aren't made in high quantity and some are not that good, however that may change. As a lover of Craft Beer I am no friend to BIG Beer, but they may end up doing some good. As they are getting into Organic Brew (see my earlier post) it will cause farmers in the states to grow Hops and barley in an organic fashion to produce the quantity of products that Big Beer requires. This can end up helping the little guys as well since finally there will be enough organic ingredients to keep cost down and make, making organic brew not so economically difficult.

Rogue Chocolate Stout

As you read through some of my reviews on this site you may come to realize that I am a huge fan of Stouts. I love their coffee bitterness, and their thickness and amazingly for what some would think a beer too rich and dark, their affinity for good food.
I have spoken in the past about Rogue brewery here.
The Beer: Again I used a chalice shaped glass, something that I tend to prefer when doing tastings. The beer is black as coal, pouring a thick creamy tan head, that once it dissipates only serves to make the beer creamier. There are bitter scents along with cocoa, maybe some burned coffee or esspresso. There is a thick mouthfeel to this beer, you know you are drinking something, thats not water. A low carbonation so the beer just sits in your mouth letting you experience the flavors. These flavor is a feeling of a rich dark chocolate melting in your mouth. There is flavors of chocolate covered esspresso beans. I really enjoyed sipping this beer, it was desert unto itself. Here is what the folks at BA say, most seem to agree with my assessment of this really fine beer.

Dogfish Head Midas Touch

This beer is one of my last few that I picked up at my recent run to the Spec's Superstore. I have had this beer a few times in the past, but before I began putting up tasting notes on beer on this blog so I thought it was worth buying again just for the experience, and of course sharing.
The Style: This is a pretty unique beer. The style is a spiced beer, but this particular one is much much more than that. This beer is based on an ancient recipe, actually the oldest known beer recipe that was found in King Midas's tomb. Using some modern ingredients the ever Extreme folks over at Dogfish created this Golden Elixir. Its an amazing piece of work that started as a lark, but became one of their year round brews.
The Brewery: I love Dogfish Head. I am fortunate to leave in an area that gets most of their regular year round selections which makes me very happy as I have tried all of the beers I can get a hold of. The brewery started out as just a Brew Pub by one of the more creative Brewers in the States Sam Calagione in Rehobeth Deleware. In some of the books I have read he has stated that he does not make beer for beer drinkers instead he makes them for Wine Drinkers. This creates some contravened since a lot of his beers don't taste like well....beer, leaving some traditionalists upset. I disagree as I love his 90 minute IPA and think his 60 minute IPA is one of the best every day beers you can have. I love the seasonal Aprihop, and India Brown Ale and of course the first beer I had by Sam raisin d'etre, made of course with real raisins.
The Beer: This beer fits in the aforementioned category of trying to make beer for wine drinkers. The ingredients of this ancient beer are barley, juniper, White Muscat grapes and Saffron. This is a complex beverage to say the list. The beer comes in a four pack and is not that cheap. I used a chalice shaped glass to show off its complexity. It pours a very bright golden orange with a thick white head that dissipates into plenty of lacing. There is some orange spice and hoppy bitterness in the nose. There is a very nice mouthfeel, with spicey and fruity notes jumping out on my tongue. As the beer sits in your mouth you do get the feel of the Muscat grapes coming through adding another level, then coming out at the end is some floral hop bitterness. The aftertaste has a bit of alcohol burn, which at 9% abv I guess I was a bit surprised by. I really enjoyed this beer, however not everyone agrees. Here is what the folks at BA had to say.
Food for Thought: I think this is pretty much a sipping beer but if your going to serve it with food I would go for a strong hard cheese like asiago or a good aged Parmesan.

Rahr and Sons Blonde Lager

In my effort to try and support more Texas Breweries I picked up a six pack of this beer from Ft. Worth's own Rahr and Sons. I wrote up a full entry a while back on this new brewery that you can read here.
The Style: The Blonde lager mentioned here is the German Pale Helles Style. Helles was originally Munich's Spaten brewery's answer to the Czech Pilsner beers that were being made in 1894. Helles was a shade lighter than Czech Pilsners and were more malt heavy versus the hoppy Czech versions. Helles is usually around 4.5% and more fuller bodied than other Pilsners. While it has not been widely made in the US by craft brewers it is still a very popular beer in Germany and is brewed throughout the country. Its no wonder the traditional Rahr Family would make this style of beer.
The Beer: It poured a nice golden straw in a Pilsner glass with a thin head that dissipates into a fair amount of lacing. In the nose there is some grass, and yeasty biscuit notes with maybe a little spiciness. In the mouth there is low bitterness initially with smooth maltiness. Some hops show up on the aftertaste. There is a good amount of carbonation that makes this beer very food friendly. A really nice easy drinking beer. Here's what the folks at BA have to say.

Random Beer News

Surfing the internet this morning and found a few interesting tidbits that I thought I'd share.

An article about trying to overcome the low brow reputation that beer has accrued. Not the biggest fan of the article as it attempts to put the blame at other places when two biggest proponents of beer's bad image is the media in how they portray beer drinkers and of course the Big Beer companies and their commercials.

A sad article I think about Young's selling their Ram Brewery in England, coming two months after Young Announced they would be leaving their South London Home where they have been since the 16th Century. All Young's beers are now being bottled in Bedford.

Finally, a Company in Dallas is recalling their barley. Specifically the Elsa Kolo Roasted Barley because it may contain undeclared peanuts.

Avery Samael Oak Aged Ale

Again another brew that I picked up at my run to the Big Spec's Superstore. I have mentioned the Colorado brewer Avery in other posts. So I will skip my usual review of the brewer.
The Style: This is an American Barley Wine. Traditionally Barley Wines are high alcohol wines that are incredibly complex. Full of malt flavors it was originally called Malt Wine in London. They have been called everything from October Beers to Malt liquor (no its not what you think), however by the early 1800's the term Barley wine stuck. In the old world sense a barley wine is top fermented ale with an alcohol content somewhere between 8 and 14%. These are age worthy beers, beers that can be laid down in the cellar for a few years. Of course American Barley wines are slightly different than their old world counterparts. Usually Barely wine is made as a special brew (think Winter Warmer). Most American Barely Wine is not as age worthy as their British counterparts, but instead are much more drinkable at an early age.
The Beer: On to the good stuff. The beer is packaged in a single 12 oz bottle (no six pack here) with a black label and a menacing winged demon on the front after all as the label says Samael is the prince of Demons. The beer weighs in at a very HEFTY 14.5% alcohol. It pours a goldenish brown in the glass with a thin line of foam that quickly dissipates and minimal lacing. Little carbonation as is traditional. There is some floral scents and some malty sweetness in the nose along with some oak as this beer is aged with oak chips. In the mouth there is plenty of alcohol (maybe too much). Not a lot of balancing bitterness, just a lot of malty sweetness and alcohol. The fruitiness of the malt adds some complexity though. As it warmed it reminded me of a cognac in its complexity. While not my favorite beer due to the incredible sense of alcohol in the mouth, I can appreciate the art of the brewer in the making of this beer. This is what the folks over at BA had to say.

WBW # 25 Announcement

Yep, its that time again.....The announcement for the 25th Wine Blogging Wednesday has been announced. I have had the opportunity to participate in 4 of these events, and every month I anticipate the challenge of the theme. This month is hosted by Sam over at Becks & Posh. The theme this month is Champagne. NOT sparkling wine but Champagne, which means it has to come from the Champagne region of France. The challenge, go out and get a bottle of Champagne, at whatever your budget can afford and give it a taste. I have an affinity for Champagne so this one excites me a bit. The due date is Wednesday 13 September, so come back and check out the results and how everyone stacks up to the challenge.

Greene King Olde Suffolk

This is one more beer from my recent travel to the Big Spec's up in Houston. Such a great store, great wine selection and a really good selection of craft and import beers. This beer is a first for me as I have never tried this style of ale before.
The Style: Old Ales, formerly called Stock Ales, are blended ales. This does not mean blends of two different types of beers like a Black and Tan, but instead of age. Similar to the tradition of blended whiskey or scotch, two ales, one usually over 2 years of age, the other just brewed are blended together to create an incredibly unique beer. These beers usually present high malt flavors and are dark in color. This is a very traditional English ale with a long history.
The Brewery: Greene King is located in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk in England. Over 200 years ago it started as a brewer and Pub. It has grown into a large corporation that runs both breweries and pubs around the UK. The Greene King brewery is still very traditional and continues to create Cask ales. They also export one of the more popular British ales...Old Speckled Hen.
The Beer: This beer came in a 16.9 fl Oz bottle. As is tradition this is a blended ale. The first called Old 5X is aged in giant oak casks for 2 years, the other named BPA is a fresh ale. Neither of these are ever bottled separately. It pours a dark reddish brown almost opaque in the glass. A thin tan head. The nose is full of sweet malty flavors with a mild bit of floral hops. In the mouth there is a hit of sweet malts, with some coffeeish bitterness. Undertones of caramel show on the afteraste. The mouthfeel is somewhat light for my tastes, almost watery. This is not a 'thick' beer. The beer is a reasonable 6.0% alcohol, however I consider this a sipping beer as to me this is a very rich beer, maybe due to the Maltiness, I can't see myself drinking more than one of these in a night. Again since I am not the biggest fan of Malty beers, I felt this was ok. I can appreciate the work that goes into creating a beer of this complexity but not my favorite. Here is what people at BA say.

WBW # 24: Loire Whites Roundup

Alder over at Vinography, and host of this months Wine Blogging Wednesday has posted the roundup for this month's events. In this month's edition of the web's first and maybe only virtual wine testing the theme was Loire Whites. Alder received 27 entries from North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia, which shows you just how wide ranging this event is becoming. You can read all the entries on his roundup post, and as a reminder you can read my full entry on the 2005 Laurent Gregoire Domaine de Beauregard Muscadet Sevre et Maine Sur Lie. Enjoy the reading, and I'm sure that next month's event will be announced in just a few days.

Rahr & Sons Brewery

I have stated before that one of the reasons I like drinking craft beer is that it gives me the opportunity to support local businesses, that have interests in the community. So I thought I would take some time today to discuss a somewhat local craft brewery (its in Texas), Rahr and Sons. Texas only has about a half dozen breweries and maybe a couple more brew pubs, which is disappointing in a state this big. Rahr is the newest having started just over 2 years ago so it was nice to see this very well written article in the Fort Worth Business Press. Rahr is of course based out of Ft. Worth and is located in the downtown area. The brewery is owned, operated and marketed by Fritz Rahr. He has an interesting story in that his family founded the Rahr Malting Co. on Lake Michigan (its where he still gets his malt from). He began as so many Craft brewers do. He loved to make beer, and didn't like his current job, so one day his wife asks him what he wants to do, his reply? "I want to make beer" and the rest is as they say history. Rahr and Sons is a pretty small brewery, it brew about 2000 barrels this year having grown from 1600 in 2005 which was its first full year in existence. The brew's mostly reflect Rahr's German heritage, German lager's and a new German wheat beer that is their summer seasonal. They are growing in esteem as well, this year they were named by Zymurgy as the fifth best commercial brewery in the US and 4 of their beers made the lists top 50 beers, which is pretty impressive for this new brewery. Its exciting to hear Mr. Rahr's dedication and passion about brewing beer. I can't wait to watch this Texas Brewer grow.

Caracole Nostradamus

As I mentioned earlier this week I made a recent excursion to Spec's on a beer run of sorts. Tonight I decided to pop open one of these beers that I have never tasted.
The Style: The style of Nostradamus is a strong Belgian Brown Ale. This is a high alcohol beer with lots of complexity, most likely high in malt and low in hop bitterness with some sort of spiciness usually associated with the palate.
The Brewery: The brewery Caracole was founded in 1990 in the heart of the Ardennes mountains in Falmignoul which is a small village in the South of Belgium. All of Caracole's beers are made in the an 18th Century copper kettles. All ales are bottle conditioned and double fermented.
The Beer: This is by far one of the most unique ales I have ever tasted. I bought it in a four pack of smaller beers not a BIG beer. It pours a nice deep russet brown with streaks of red and nice tan pillowy head. The smell is of sweet fruity malts, and some spice. Initially when I tasted it, I felt only the high alcohol with an underwhelming sickly sweet malty flavor. However as the beer warmed in the glass I could taste the complex sweet malts and cinnamon aftertaste and caramel undertones. This is a s malty beer, the antithesis of American IPA's and their superleaded hops. Unfortunately I am an avid Hop head, so I didn't exactly fall in love with this beer. The first 15 minutes or so I thought I was going to hate it, but I ended up liking it, if not thoroughly enjoying it. At 9.5% alcohol this must be a sipping beer and maybe that's where I initially mess up trying to pair this with some food. Here is what the folks over at BA had to say.

The Cyclops Duality

As craft brews continue to gain ground among consumers, brewers are trying to determine how to broaden their appeal even further. One of the issues that some brewers and craft beer drinkers deal with is expressing the taste of their beer to other people. This is not dissimilar to what wine tasters have been dealing with for years. As with wine, beer is incredibly complex and some feel that there needs to be a way of expressing the tastes of beer in a simple form that won't scare new drinkers away. In some ways the wine world has done this in forms such as the famous wine wheel that matches up broad scents such as Fruity or earthy, then below that has more specific connotations such as Grapefruit, or wet mossy soil. So you knew it wouldn't be long before craft breweries of some ilk would try and do the same. The shock of it is the people behind it, and the method they chose.
However, before I go into details there are two other really good blog entries on the subject over at Realbeer and A Good beer blog that you can check out as well.
The very respectable CAMRA or the Campaign for Real Ale, based out of England has joined with 14 real ale brewers (also from Great Britain) to 'demystify ale.' The program is somewhat ridiculously called CYCLOPS, yes that one-eyed beast of mythology who had is eye poked out during a drunken rage. The gist of the initiative is to break down what real ale should look, smell, and taste like. The taste and smell portion is where I have issues, its one thing to say what style head or basic color a beer should have, its quite another to break the smell and taste down into only two things, sweet and bitter. While these two things are important, the sweetness of malt and bitterness of hops, beer is so much more complex than this, to pigeon hole themselves is absurd. The other issue is that you can't tell people how to taste, we all have different strengths and weaknesses when it comes to tasting and smelling things. One person may taste sweet chocolate, another may taste bitter esspresso in a stout. Who is right who is wrong? Well neither is wrong, because that's what they taste. People shouldn't depend on others telling them what to expect when they take the first sip of that pint. They should experiences it themselves, heck that's half the fun of experimenting with new beers.

2005 Laurent Gregoire Domaine de Beauregard Muscadet Sevre et Maine Sur Lie

Welcome to WBW # 24 hosted by Alder over at Vinography. For those that don't know Wine Blogging Wednesday occurs on one Wednesday every month, hosted by a fellow wine blogger and is a chance for a virtual tasting of whatever the month's theme is. This month its Loire Valley Whites. While some think of Chenin Blanc or Sauvignon Blanc I went in a different direction.
The Grape: The muscadet grape is a small white grape that creates wines that are usually perfect companions to shell fish. Within Loire valley, the Muscadet grape grows in 4 different areas with Muscadet Sevre et Maine being the most important. Specifically around the city of Nantes and the granite soil that creates the unique flavors in this wine.
The Winery: Unfortunately I couldn't find much about the winery, but the importer is Weygandt-Metzler who imports various wines from France, Italy, Spain, Austria, and Australia.
The Wine: The wine pours a nice light honey gold in the glass, with a seemingly slight effervescence. In the nose there is some citrus fruit and anise aromas, some light honeysuckle notes. In the mouth you feel the effervescence in this crisp clean wine. There is some good acidity to go along with the citrus and honey flavors. The wine weighs in at 12.0%. This is a pretty nice wine that I'd grade a B.

St. Peter's Cream Stout

Well I tried this beer tonight with dinner. One of the beers I picked up at my recent jaunt to Spec's. I won't go much into the style of stout since I think most people are familiar with what a stout is if from nothing else than Guinness. However I will say something briefly about a Cream stout. Basically a stout that has some Milk sugar in it, to give a slight sweetness.
The Brewery: St. Peter's is a microbrewery from England. The brewery was built in 1996 in the Norfolk region of England. The brewery was custom made and started in March of 96, with the opening on 21st of June, the Summer Solstice. This is a very traditionalist brewery. All water comes from the breweries own well, and is naturally filtered through a layer of chalk in the soil giving the water a nice balance of minerals. St. Peter's brew's traditional British beers, all ales from bitters, milds, porters and stouts, to fruit beers, and traditional cask ale that they serve in their London Pub the Jerusalem Tavern.
The Beer: First the beer comes in one of the neatest containers, a flask shaped bottle which they state is a replica of one made in 1770 fir Thomas Gerrard of Gibbstown. The beer pours almost opaque in the glass with a nice tannish head that dissipates into some thin lacing. There are notes of esspresso, burnt coffee, and cocoa. The mouthfeel is thick, with the same esspresso and chocolate on the tongue. This is silky smooth, with a nice layer of maltiness and hop bitterness. I still like the Coopers Extra Special Stout, but this isn't bad. Here is what the folks over at BA say.

Victory Ten Years Alt

Well I recently made a trip to Spec's and picked up a plethora of beers that I have either wanted to try for a long time, or some that I hadn't heard of but looked interesting. The first beer is from the brewery in Downington, Pennsylvania (more on them here and here).
The Style: Altbier (Alt means Old in German) is traditionally brewed in only three cities in Germany, Dusseldorf, Hanover, and Munster. Just as in other cities in German such as Cologne and their Kolsch beers, these cities primarily drink this brew and nothing else. The other unique thing about Altbier, is that in the land of Lagers, this is an ale, top fermented at that. The ale is similar to Belgium and English ales, but it has its own very unique German style.
The Beer: The beer pours a cloudy reddish brown with a thin cream colored head, that dissipates into a thin line, with a small insignificant amount of lacing. In the nose there is sweet malt flavors, low hoppiness but some citrusy yeasty breadiness in there. In the palate there is a nice full mouthfeel A little caramel flavors and some tangy malt flavors that finish with a whack of hoppiness that doesn't overpower the roasted maltiness. At a low 4.5% this is easily something that you could stick with throughout the day. Its a very interesting unique, unlike anything that I have had. Here is what the folks over at BA say.

American Hops

America has a long history of growing hops, both wild and farmed. From the ubiquitous Cascade hops that now grow in abundance in Oregon to the American Saaz, the brethren of the Czech variety that helps to make such great Pilsner. A hundred or so years ago most of America's hops grew along the upper East Coast, however due to a downy mildew blight, it moved to the west where it now resides in places like Idaho and the aforementioned Oregon. However, that may soon change thanks to one man that saw a Budweiser commercial. Retired mechanic Rick Courcy bought about 90 acres in Maine, and couldn't decide what to grow until he saw a beer commercial and decided on hops. He has since imported stalks from England and is in the first year of growth where they are already have grown to 10 Ft which is pretty amazing in the first year. Another key to his endeavor is that they are grown organically, no pesticides, no chemicals. Its definitely good to see that hops farming is moving back to its origins and it will be interesting to find out how they grow and what flavors they add to the end product....Beer.

Victory Golden Monkey

My second stab this week at a Belgium style Trippel ale. This one from Victory brewing. I spoke briefly on the Trippel style the last time when I had the New Belgium ale, so I'll skip that tonight.
The Bewery: Victory Brewery is located in Downington Pennsylvania. The president and brewmasters of Victory are Ron Barchet and Bill Covaleski who both trained in Germany. You can definetely see evidence of that in his Prima Pils and other seasonal Lagers that he creates. They have a wide varieties of ale and lagers, which is somewhat unique for an American Craft brewery where ales are usually the key.
The Beer: Made of 2 row German Malt, European Hops and Belgian yeast this beer ways in at 9.5% alcohol. I used a similar chalice to the one I tasted the New Belgium to keep for a similar experience. The beer pour a nice orangish color, with a quarter inch foamy white head that slowly dissapated. There was a nice amount of lacing until the beer warmed slightly (this is a sipping beer!). There is a nice level of spiceness and orange scents in the nose along with a breadiness. In the mouth there is a nice level of yeastiness, citric sweetness, hop bitterness and spiceness. Plenty of carbonation as this is bottle fermented. I really enjoyed this beer, and would rank it above the New Belgium Trippel. Here is what the folks over at Beeradvocate say.

Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout

I am taking a breather from the Trippels today, more on that tomorrow. Tonight I decided to crack open one of my big beers for a taste....
This tasting note will be somewhat shorter in length, but I have spoken about Great Divide here, and Imperial Stouts here.
The Beer: Great Divide does have a very popular regular Imperial Stout, the YETI, this is an oak aged version, using toasted oak chips. The beer pours an opaque black, no light shining through here, with a thick foamy darkly tan head. After a while the head dissipates, creating a creamier beer with plenty of lacing against the glass. In those there is an oaky toastiness with plenty of coffee and a slight floral hoppy scent along with some raisins. In the mouth there is plenty of esspresso bitterness but not as much chocolate as I was expecting. There is a nice level of bitter hops on the palate and the mouthfeel is heavy and creamy. As the beer warmed up a bit the hints of toffee and some chocolate began to come through. This was a very silky smooth beer that belied its alcohol at 9.5%. This would be a great beer to sit in your cellar and check out in a year or two. I thoroughly enjoyed this beer and here is what the folks over at Beer Advocate say.

New Belgium Trippel

This week I have the opportunity to try two different Trippels. The first that I tried tonight a friend of mine gave me to try, the other I picked up from Spec's and may try it out tomorrow.
The Style: Trippel ale is a Belgium style ale. While this beer does not mean that its three times as strong as a regular Trappist ale, instead it is related to the XXX that marked the casks showing that this was the strongest of the three trappist ales. Tripels are actually notoriously alcoholic, much more so than dubbels, however the best hide this warmth, making them sipping beers. Trappists ales were traditionally brewed by Monks in Belguim, however many American Craft breweries are taking up this trappist tradition, putting of course an American spin on things.
The Brewery: Ahh yes New Belgium, that maker of the ubiquitous Fat Tire, that has given them nation wide or almost nation wide recognition. New Belgium, started by a young Electrical Engineer Jeff Lebesch, who after biking his way through Europe and becoming enamored with Belgium brews got into brewing beer at home. His first two ales were the famous Fat Tire and his Abbey ale. In 1991 he and his wife Kim decided to open a brewery in Fort Collins, CO. I have had the opportunity to visit the brewery on a couple of occasions and its an exciting place as they always have a surprise beer on tap that you can only get in the tasting room. Also New Belgium practices susatainablitly in many ways and they are one of the largest breweries that use Wind power to help run their facility.
The Beer: I used a chalice style glass to help it give that more Belgium feel. The beer is made using Saaz Hops and an authentic Belgium Yeast Strain. The beer is also bottle fermented. The beer pours a nice light orange in the glass, starting with a thick head that quickly dissipates into a thin filmy white strip. The bottle fermentation gives the beer a nice level of carbonation. There are nice flavors of banana and bread with some citrusy undertones. However, although the bottle says there are plenty of hops, I didn't get that overpowering hop bitterness that I was looking forward too, neither did I get any of the alcohol warmth, which at 7.8% (although somewhat low for a trippel) I didn't feel. I would call this beer ok at best, but here is what the folks at Beeradvocate say.

Random Wine Links of the Week

Some random wine news from my perusings through the web.

The growth of the China Wine Market. The next frontier for fine wine?

British Champagne??? Well not quite, but it sounds interesting.

A new Winery in the Finger Lakes region of New York.

Friday Beer Links

Random beer news from around the web......enjoy at your leisure

Happy 18th Birthday Deschutes. Deschutes Brewery out of Oregon turns 18.

The Greatness that is Head. Why pouring beer into a glass is better then swigging it out of a bottle.

The fun of attending a local beer festival.

And finally a great article about the the great combination of Beer and Baseball.

The Rise of Craft Beer

While not exactly earth shattering and of news that will be widely reported throughout similar beer blogs as this, a financial report by a Merrill Lynch analyst has been published regarding beer sales. The kicker of course is that volume has fallen somewhat significantly for SABMiller (5.7%), A-B (1.9%), and Molson Coors (0.3%), while at the same time volume of Micro or Craft Beers has grown 12.5% in JUNE! That is amazing growth and shows that as people's palate's grow, and as American's turn away from the over produced food products of a Fast Food Nation and Bud, they turn to good food's and good beer made with good products. It will be interesting to see the spin that Big Beer puts on this, but one thing is for certain, they will be worried, and that's a good thing for drinkers and makers of Craft Beer.

Coopers Brewery Best Extra Stout

A few weeks ago I mentioned Coopers Brewery as winners of a British Pub's World Cup of Beer. The beer that won it was their Sparkling Ale. Well, as I was visiting my local Spec's I came upon not just the Sparkling ale, but their Best Extra Stout. I was feeling in the mood for a stout so I picked this one up. I wasn't disappointed.
The Brewery: Coopers Brewery is based in South Australia, and is the largest family owned brewery in Australia. The brewery was started by two brothers Thomas and John from England in 1862. At the time SA was only 26 years old so these guys were obviously pioneers in many ways. Thomas Cooper first created beer from an old recipe that was supposed to act as a health tonic, but it turned into their now famous Sparkling Ale and their Extra Stout. These days the brewery is in the good hands of Dr. Tim Cooper and Glen Cooper, who over saw the development of a new $45 million brewery. All their ales are top fermented using a yeast strain they purport to be over 90 years old and all are naturally bottle fermented.
The Beer: Dark almost complete opaque with streaks of reddish brown. A nice finger thick tan head sits on top. When you pour it out of the bottle, leave a bit in the bottom, swishing around the loss sediment before pouring the last bit into your glass. In the palate there is a thick viscous mouthfeel. The taste reminds me of those chocolate covered esspresso beans. Nice layers of thick malt, with just a twinge of that esspresso bitterness coming out on top. This is a VERY nice stout, one that I will definetely come back to again and again. At 6.3% you wouldn't want to have too many in one night, but as smooth as it is you sure could. Great beer.
Bonus: Makes an absolutely incredible Stout Float. A little bit of vanilla ice-cream in the glass....an amazing desert.

2003 Opolo Vineyards Nebranillo

The more I discover unique flavors in my beer, the more I appreciate the amazing jobs that vintners perform when blending grapes into wine. It is one thing to blend two grapes from the Bordeaux region, becuase lets be honest, Merlot and Cab were made for eachother. Its quite another to blend two grapes that are traditionally from very different parts of the world, and create a suprisingly good wine.
The Winery: Opolo Vineyards is located in Paso Robles, off of Peachy Canion road. All of Opolo's wines are estate grown, giving the opportunity to gain more control over the final product. When a winery chooses to have estate grown grapes, it allows them to truly have total control on what grapes are grown where, pruning methods, harvesting methods, and of course, when to harvest.
The Wine: A unique blend of two very different grapes. The Tempranillo, a tradiational Spanish grape from the Rioja region and Nebbiolo a traditional Italian variety. Blended 48% to 52%. Both variatals were fermented sperately, then aged 20 monhtes in 30% new American Oak. Finally just prior to botteling the two wines were blended. The wine weighs in at a hefty 14.8%. In the glass it pours a nice bright red cherry color. In the nose there is cherries, vanilla, oak, and a slight white pepper note. In the mouth there is that nice sharp cherry vanilla with toasty hints of oak. There is a sharp dryness here with a residual warmth from the alcohol. Plummy afternotes. There are some tannins, either from the grapes or the oak I can't tell, but it does dry out the mouth a bit. Still a very nice wine I'd grade a B.

WBW 24

Yep its that time of the month. The great Alder over at Vinography has announced that he will be hosting Wine Blogging Wednesday this month. Actually its the 2 year anniversary of this great, unique virtual wine tasting. The theme this month is straight forward. Loire Whites from any appellation, any variedly and any year is what he is asking us to try. The great and tasty Chenin Blanc of quality you will find no where else or Sauvignon Blanc are the two biggest white wines of the regions, although there are others. I will definitely be participating, so if your interested come back on Aug 2 and see how it went.

Saison Dupont

Up until recently I had never heard of a Saison style ale. I knew nothing about it, that it is a old style Belgian Farmhouse ale, I didn't know its roots, let alone had I ever actually bought a bottle and tried it. That changed this past week as I opened the cooler at my local Spec's and decided to try it out.
The style: Traditionally produced by small breweries in a the Belgian province Hainut. Saison means Season in French and it refers to the season of Winter (although now produced year round thanks to modern brewing techniques). This was a beer that was brewed in March, but was consumed throughout the summer and into the fall months until the Winter, when the brews started up again. It was a strong beer that was brewed to be robust enough to withstand the warm months and not spoil, but brisk and drinkable during the hot summer months.
The Brewer: The Brewer Dupont (or Brasserie in French) is located in Hainut near the French border. Still a family run brewery it is probably the most popular and famous Saison in the states. The Duponts bought this brewery in 1920 and it has remained in the family ever since. Dupont is not only a brewery but a farm as well offering artisanal cheeses and breads.
The Beer: The beer imported by Vanberg & DeWulf comes in a green Champagne style bottle complete with a wire cage and a pop cork. It pours a nice orange color in the glass with a thick cottony white head, there are hints of yeast and bread in the nose along with citrus, pepper, and an earthy undertone. In the mouth you get that same yeasty citrusy bready taste along with a startling carbonation, similar to champagne, that gives it some palate cleansing power to whatever food you may be enjoying at the time. Although it weighs in at 6.5% you don't feel it in the mouth. Made with East Kent Golding Hops. Here is what the guys over at the Beer Advocate say.

The Rise of Organic Beer

Time for another trend it seems. There are numerous articles including this one from the Boston Globe, touting the increase growth of Organic Beers. This articles all specifically state A-B's release of two Organic beers, Wild Hop Lager and Stone Mill Pale Ale as evidence of its growth. Don't get me wrong, I support organic growth. I think eating more things that have less chemicals and articial flavors is a good thing and something that we all should stand up and applaud. My issue is, that with the exception of the big boys, most beer is pretty much organicly grown. Most of the micro-brews we all know and love are made with malt, barley, hops and water...thats it, nothing artificial, no other chemicals, nothing but pure goodness. Maybe by going back to the root of beer making the big boys will realize what they have been missing with the corporate crap thay advertise as beer.

Rogue Imperial India Pale Ale

I am a self proclaimed Hop Head. I love the strong scent, the strong bitterness of a hoppy beer. In my younger days, I couldn't stomach it, but over the years I have developed a taste for, well yeah, Bitter Beer. One of the most hoppy beers is American India Pale ale, so when I saw this one at my local Spec's I had to pick it up.
The Style: The IPA style has its origins in Britain, and like Imperial Stout was created due to the need to preserve the beer during shipping. In the late 1700's the British were well established in India, but due to the high temperatures, brewing in India was near impossible. Since beer was a staple in the British household and many a British soldier was paid partially in beer it was necessary to ship British Pale Ale to India. The only way to do so and keep it from spoiling was to add an insane amount of hops, this helped preserve the beer and gave rise to a new style of brewing. This could have remained forever linked to beers shipped to India if it wasn't for a shipwreck in 1827 in the Irish Sea that was bound for India and full of the robust Pale Ale. The barrels washed ashore and once the people tasted it, they clamored for more and as they say the rest is history....
The Brewery: Rogue Brewery is based out of Newport Oregon, most famous for its Dead Guy Ale, it makes a variety of beers, both available in six packs and as Big Beer. The brewery was founded in 1988 first as a brewpub then as a full fledged brewery, making a wide range of beers in a wide range of styles.
The Beer: All I can say initially is WHOAAA. This is one hoppy beer. The beer is unfiltered and aged for 9 months and is brewed with two-row Pipkin Pale malts, Saaz, Cascade and Northwest Golding hops. It pours a bright amber almost orange in the glass with a nice quarter inch foamy head. There are citrus flavors in the nose and mouth, but the king here is the hops. It almost burns the nose and there is an overwrought bitterness, but somehow the beer manages to balance it all out. Its a sipping beer at 9.5% alcohol and with the high hops you definitely wouldn't drink more than one. But for a night at the pub or at home of quiet drinking this is a really nice beer. Your taste buds are all but dead after this, so you wouldn't go from one beer to another, but its still very nice for those Hop-Heads out there.

World Cup of Beer

I admit, I am not the biggest fan of Soccer (Football to all you non-American's), but I have watched most every game of the World Cup this year, some of that due to the fact that I have a friend over from Germany and he has had a vested interest in the cup. I gotta say its been exciting and a great event (if only the official beer wasn't Bud). When the Cup started Chris Scott over at 'Hail the Ale' started a World Cup of Beer competition where whoever played that day he would match up beers from those countries. It was pretty interesting, but unfortunately he got busy with other things and didn't finish it off.......However this article reports that a British News Magazine actually did hold a World Cup of Beer Competition. Essentially a pub in Britain pitted 32 beers from all the countries that participated in the Cup. And the Winner?
Not a beer I am familiar with but the winner was South Australia's Cooopers Brewing Sparkling Ale. I have actually seen this beer at my local Spec's, but haven't ever tried it out....well I think that will probably change, I think I will have to check it out see if its worthy of the Cup.

2000 Pretty Smith Cabernet Franc

Cabernet Franc is a wine I have wanted to try for a long time, usually the long forgotten third partner of Bordeaux it is not often made into a variatal wines, outside of places in New York or Germany. So this wine is actually my first 100% Cab Franc wine.
The Grape: Cab Franc is actually one of the parents of the more popular Cabernet Sauvignon. Cab Franc is a thin skinned varital and early rippining variety. It is also somewhat frost resistant when compared to its offspring. The thin skins also means that this is a less tannic grape.
The Winery: Not much informatin on this winery unfortunately. What I could find is that it was started by Lisa Pretty and Victor Smith who purchsed it in 2000. The estate has about 45 acres of grapes and is located in the Paso Robles region of California.
The Wine: It pours a nice Garnet red in the glass. Hints of smoke, coco, earth, acidity, oak and sage in the nose. There are tastes of sour cherries, black chery, hints of chocolate and oak. There is a nice biting acidity here which the Oak helps level out somewhat since there is an abscence of high tannins. There is a good balance between the acidity, oak and alcohol at 14.1%. A nice wine that I'd grade a B.

Left Hand Imperial Stout

Forgive my recent obsession with Colorado Breweries. I have found that although other states have great breweries...Texas has St. Arnold, New York has Brooklyn Brewery, Deleware has Dogfish Head Ale, etc, for my money Colorado has the pot of gold when it comes to the abundance of great breweries...heck maybe it IS the water, and people trying to show that Colorado Beer is much much more than the just the Silver bullet.
The Style: Imperial stout has one of those great histories that some beers have. It all starts waaaaaay back with Catherine the Great, who happened to be a big fan of the Stout style of beers from a trip that she took to England. However when she had some shipped to the Russian court it spoiled on its way to the Baltic Ports. So too appease the Queen, who was none to happy that her favorite drink had ruined, Barclay Brewery in London created a strong bitter stout that they hoped would be sturdy enough to withstand the long journey to Russia. Well they were right and so was born the style of Imperial Russian Stout. Over time the nomenclature Russian dropped from its name and we were left with Imperial Stout a much stronger version of what we think of as Stoute, ie. Guiness. Guiness usually weighs in at no stronger than 4 or so percent, whereas an Imperial stout can be over 10%.
The Brewery: As I mentioned, I am having a obsession with CO breweries of late, and this is no different. Left Hand is from Longmont, CO, which is outside of Denver. I love this place, I was able to visit the brewery a couple years back during a trip to Denver with my girlfriend and its a great place. They make quite a few brews from ales, to pale ales, to a great milk or cream stout, all available in six packs. They also make what I call BIGS...this Imperial Stout being one, but they make seasonal as well. The brewery started out as a lot did back in the 90's. A home brewery got the bug and went insane......Originally incorporated as Indian Peaks Brewing Company in 1993, they changed their name to Left Hand in 1994. and have been growing ever since. 2 years ago you couldn't find any Left Hand in Texas..now, you can find them in Spec's, Central Market, Whole Foods, and some local grocery stores.
The Beer: WOW.....as I mentioned it comes in a BIG, pours a nice dark black/brown in the glass with a small whimsy white head. The nose is full of coffee chocolate, some sweet toffee notes and Malt, lots of Malt and hops. In the mouth you get a full robust roasted esspresso, that went perfect with the dark dark chocolate I had with it, undernotes of cocoa, and a nice level of carbonation. It was incredibly well balanced with hops and malts although on the aftertaste it was all hops. It weighed in at 10.4%. This is a sipping beer, and here is what the guys over at Beer Advocate say

The Growing Texas Wine Industry

An interesting article from the The Daily Texan out of Austin regarding the growth of the Texas Wine Industry that has occurred over the past few years . The article reports that Texas has grown from 45 wineries in 2002 to 85 this year. Although most of the wineries are labeled boutique (producing fewer than 15,000 gallons/year) Texas still ranks fifth in the nation in wine production. Nothing to shake a stick at. However, what I find most heartening is in this sentence from the article:

"These wineries experiment more with blends and varieties because they're
not competing for shelf space at a liquor store"

That is music to my ears. I have longed for the time when Texas Wineries would realize that what grows well in California is NOT necessarily going to grow well in Texas, and I'm glad to see that some wineries are experimenting, taking on that rebellious curious spirit that makes Texas great. We need to find the varietals that grow well in Texas, not try and force grapes to grow here, that will only produce marginal wine at best.

Avery Thirteen Weizen Dopplebock

I was sitting around this Saturday afternoon, watching the World cup and decided to open up one of my BIG BEERs that I have, and try something new. I had a small plate of cheese and one of these "special beers." A nice respite on this rainy Saturday watching Soccer.
The Style: Weizen Dopplebock is basically a wheat double bock. This unique style combines the dark toffeish color and flavor with the citric and biscuit flavors of a wheat beer. A normal weizenbock is a complex beer of malt and hops flavors that blend together and are usually of higher alcohol content. The dopplebock doesn't necessarily double these attributes, but it definetly adds to them.
The Brewer: Avery Brewing Company is located in Boulder Colorado, and was incorporated in 1993 by owner and chief brewer Adam Avery. This is a company that started with only serving beer in Draft form or Big Beers until 1995 when they started selling their beers in six packs. They are a true microbrewery making incredible artisan beers, an amazing White Rascal Witbier (or Whitebeer) with a mix of wheat, hints of orange and corriander to their seasonal New World Porter a beer of smooth chocolate goodness. Even though they have a relatively wide distribution they are still a relatively small operation, but they are constantly growing just having added somewhere around 20,000 sq ft of space.
The Beer: This beer celebrates the thirteenth anniversay of Avery Brewing Company that occurs in early August. You don't offten see a wheat doppplebock so this a was a treat. In the glass it purs a dark black with plenty of bubbles, and when poured right a nice quarter inch head. The head wasn't creamy and quickly dissapaited. The smells was of citrus and biscuits. From their website the beer is brewed with Rocky Mountain water, malted barley, malted wheat, imported German specialty grains and hops, and one unique German yeast. In the mouth its got quite nice carbination that helped clear the cheese from the palate. Its also got a unique combination of overt Hoppiness with a high maltiness flavor. A really wonderful beer, but at 9.5% alcholo its a sipping beer only and not something that one would drink a lot of in one nigh. Heres what the folks at BA say

Supporting your local brewery

I think that one of the best things about drinking micro brewed beer is that you can support local commerce. Instead of giving money to some huge global conglomerate who could care less whether they have you as a customer or not, you can choose to give your money to business with direct ties to your community. These businesses usually support local causes, so why not support them back. The best example I have is the great St. Arnold's brewery here in Houston. Every year they support a huge biking team for the MS150 a bike ride between here and Austin that raises money for MS. Its a great cause and St. Arnold's does a lot to promote it. So in the effort to give some love to our local Breweries I have started a list of links on the right side of the page of Texas Breweries, from St. Arnolds to Shiner and Real Ale. If anyone knows of others let me know, and whether your from Texas, California, Colorado, or New York, take some time out to support your local brewer, because you KNOW they appreciate your business.

Beer Quote of the day

" Whoever makes a poor beer shall be tossed into the town dung heep" - 13th Century German Beer law.
Anyone else think that A-B, Miller, and Coors, are happy they make beer today and not back then?

The Health of Beer

Much has been made regarding the good health impacts of wine, some of it made here on this blog. However this article touts the good influence that beer can have on your health. According to a UC David professor ( and A-B adjunct professor) beer contains valuable nutrients such as B vitamins, such as B12, folic acid and niacin, as well as antioxidants, such as polyphenols and ferulic acid. Beer of course also contains fiber, something wine does not. A short but good article that gives one more reason to lift up a pint to good beer.

2004 Foffani Tocai Friulano

From my recent visit to Italy I have learned to love Italian white wines...not the typical Pinot Grigio that is so familiar here in the states from Eco Domani to Santa Margarita, but others that are more unique to Italy. One of those whites is Tocai Friulano.
The Grape: Tocai Fruilano comes from a vine that was imported from Hungary in the 1800's. This is not the same grape that creates the incredible Hugarian desert wine. It is also believe to come from Sauvignon Vert, but the name is derived from the local Italian wine for the smal juice-style glass that is used to serve wine in Friulian taverns and restaurants. Most wines made from this unique grape are made to drink young and COLD....(in fact that was an instruction on the bottle).
The Winery: Owned and operated by Giovanni and Elisabetta Foffani, the winery produces a total of 100,000 bottles a year of red and white varietals. They create quality wines using traditional methods. Giovanii started out in international finance but his heart has always been in wine making. For 20 years he has devoted time to his farm. He follows the technical side of the business. Elisabetta is the front person, creating and devloping the relationships between with the customers. Their two sons are now in the business helping create better wine with their parents.
The Wine: The wine poured a nice yellow, with almost a hint of green. The nose is incredibly aromatic, with hints of peaches and limestones, pinenuts or almonds. On the mouth there is a nice level of acidity and crispness. Apples with lots of grapefruit fill the mouth. Its a balanced wine between the acidity and the alcohol at 13.0%. A VERY nice wine that I'd grade a strong B.

Great Divide Old Ruffian

What better way to post my first review of a Beer than for that beer to be a Barley Wine. I am a HUGE fan of Colorado micro brew's (and not just becuase my girlfriend is from there), but they have such a wide range of brewers there all doing something seemingly different.
The Beer: Ahh yes Barley Wine, that beer that is so unlike other beers, but at its heart is nothing else, but a wonderful combinatino of barley, malts, hops, and water. This typically high alcohol beer is different from any other beer in my mind, a cross between a port and an ale. Heck, aren't served in pints, they are usually served in snifter shaped glasses that allow the aromas to pen up. The first barley wine in the states was brewed commercially by Sierra Nevada in California. It should be obvious why I like Barley wines as they are the closes beer to wine, both in alcohol levels and in complexity. Its a powershouse for sure.
The Brewer: The Great Divide brewing company is located in Downtown Denver. A typical story for a micro brew, Great Divide started about 12 years ago by Brian Dunn, a home brewer that took a HUGE chance and started up a brewery near the birth of the Denver beer scene. They are known for their unique six pack beers, but the awards come in for their line of "Really Big Beers" which include the Titan IPA, Hibernation Ale, Hercules Double IPA, YETI imperial Stout and of course the Old Ruffian Barley Wine.
The Taste: Using a snifter like glass I poured the beer in, and it was a nice caramel color, deep and rich smelling of caramel, sweet and hoppy. In the mouth there was an explosion of hops and fruit. As it sat in the glass the beer opened up even more as I sipped it and a creamy mouthfeel came out with specific hints of citrus on the palate. A truly wonderful beer and at 10.2% alchol you only need one, but it is amazing.

Great....Watery liquor

Just what we need, bad liquor. US Beer giant Anheuser-Busch is suggesting that they may get into the liquor industry. Meaning distilling. Whiskey, among other things. So we get to look forward to them putting the same effort in liquor as they do their bee (that's not a good thing). An interesting note from this article is the fact that the "beer industry has lost five points of U.S. market share since 1995 to wine and spirits." Now overall this may be true, but what this article doesn't point out is that total sales of micro brewed beer are at an all time rise, in fact beating out the increase in wine consumption. When will Bud realize its not shrinking beer consumption its the fact that their beer sucks. If they strived to create great beer, I'd just about guarantee that their market share wouldn't be shrinking. If you have the choice between a great glass of wine or Bud, what are you going to choose? If you had the choice between a Pyramid Curveball or a Bud, what are you going to choose? Its the beer stupid......not the marketplace.

Times are a changing

Yes things have changed for the better I think. I love wine, always will, but I also appreciate a great beer. Now not those water clear non tasting beers of the so called "big three" but the amazing complexity of a micro brew such as Left Hand, St. Arnold's, Sierra Nevada, Dogfish Ale, etc, or the greatness that is German Beer from Kolsch to Munchen beers and everything in between. The uniqueness of a Belgium Beer that can rival some wines for the alcoholic potency and are just as complex. There is a world of beer out there that many wine drinkers have turned their nose up at. Likewise there is a world of Wine that beer drinkers have avoided thinking it too "hoity-toity." I hope this blog, can bring the two worlds together to show how much they have in common. As always more to come.

Evolution

Change is in the air. As we grow and as we experience new things we change, our tastes change and the way we want to do things change. So, this website will be changing....for the better I hope. There will still be entries on the news of wine and as many tasting notes as I can handle, but there will be another dimension added, combining two of the things I love into one place. Enough of my cryptic ramblings....all I can say is stay tuned.

2002 Spelletich Cellars Zinfandel

Its been a couple of days since the WBW roundup and I decide to go in the complete opposite direction. For WBW we experienced wines of an alcholo percentage lower than 12.5%...this wine? Weighs in at a hefty 15.5%. Its a BIG difference.
The Winery: Spelletich Cellars is a small Bonded winery in Napa Valley, with only 2 employees. The winemaker Tim Spelletich and his daughter Kristen. Tim gained experienced in fine wine while working in a small inn and restaurant outside the Asti region of Italy. After working at fine restaurants in New York and Philladelphia he made it to Napa in 1994 where he was the manager and wine buyer for Tra Vigne. His wife Barabara also has a long history in the wine business and in 1994 Spelletich Vineyards had its first harvest. They are a winery that tries a minimalist approach letting the grape speak for the wine.
The Wine: The grapes for this Zinfandel (Spelletich makes two different versions of their Zin) are harvested from Tim and Edies Vineyard in Shenandoah Valley. It spends 12 months in equal parts French and American oak. It pours a nice dark inky Rubish red in the glass. Scents of chocolate and rasberries, leather and a hint of tannins. In the mouth there is a toasty dryness from the tannins and oak. Rasberry and black berry jam are opulent once the wine has opened up. This is a very nice Zin, one I would grade a B+.

WBW 22 Roundup

Tim over at Winecast has posted his roundup of WBW 22, Lite Red's. You can see my entry below, but for quite a few more good low octane Red's go check out the roundup. Suprisingly there were quite a few below 12.5% not just at the limit. There were even some New World Cab's and Australian Shiraz's!!!!
Surpising, but it was a fun Challenge.

WBW 22 Entry

My second time to participate in Wine Blogging Wednesday, I used to taste one of the wines I brought back from my recent trip to Italy. A 2001 Pojer i Sandri Pinot Nero, and yes at 12.5% it meets the requirements set forth by the folks over at Winecast.net. I actually picked this wine up at a local wine shop in Trentino after I explained to the proprietor in a mix of my broken Italian, his broken English, and my girlfriend's broken French, that I wanted to try an Italian Pinot Nero, he pointed me to this wine.
The Grape: Pinot Nero an unusual name for a grape that most people haven't heard of. Never fear, as different as the name sounds the grape is familiar. Pinot Nero is nothing other than the Italian version of Pinot Noir the great grape of Burgundy, France.
The Winery: The winery Pojere i Sandri is located in the alpine hills above Trentino. It was started by two men, Fiorentino Sandri who inherited some vineyard land, and Fiorentino Sandri who had just obtained a degree in enology at a nearby school. Most of the grapes for the winery grow in the hills of Faedo between Adige and the Cembra valley. The winery makes an amazing award winning Mueller Thurgau, and Chardonnay along with this red wine.
The Wine: The vineyard where these grapes are obtained are between 300 and 500 meters above sea level. The soil consists of sandstone, silstone, loam rocks, limestone, and dolomite. This wine is an IGT wine, which basically means its not as specific as a DOC or DOCG (similar to France's AOC) but covers a larger area in this case the Dolomiti region. It pours a light Garnett in the glass. Strawberries and Cherries with hints of earthy mustiness on the nose. In the mouth there is a nice acidity with the same strawberry and cherry flavors with a hint of more sour cherry at the finish. A very nice wine to go with foods, especially lighter fare. I'd grade it a B+.
Remember to check back on June 14th for a complete round up of the latest Wine Blogging Wednesday.

Alternative Fuels

No this is not an entry about how we need to turn away from gas and oil and that everyone needs to start driving hybrids and biodiesels (although its not a bad idea). There have been numerous stories from Australia to Europe of countries over producing grapes, creating a glut of the produce and leaving no idea of what to do with it. Well the EU has come up with a solution. Turn that wine into fuel. The EU will take about 510 million litres of surplus wine from Italy and France and turn into bioethanol that can only be used as biofuel or industrial alcohol. A unique solution that kills two birds with one stone. It helps however minutely to decrease the dependence on traditional gas and it helps do something with the surplus of grapes that would otherwise be dumped into the market place or simply tossed away. The EU will pay these wineries somewhere in the neighborhood of 130m Euros. Last year when they started this program EU paid around 150m Euros. Its definetely and interesting solution to the larger problem of why the wineries are continually ovreproducing grapes.

2004 Lange Pinot Blanc

This was the second wine I had, one red, and now a white.
The Winery: Owned by Don and Wendy Lange two Californians who moved to Williamette Valley Oregon in 1987. The winery specializes in Pinot Noir, which should suprise you as Williamette valley is known for producing near Burgundian quality Pinot's. The winemaker is Don Lange who is a former song writer, and actually created 3 albums. They have had the winery long enough that there children are now getting involved and Don's son Jesse is involved in the winemaking process. While known for its Pinot Noirs, it is raising the bar for Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay.
The Grape: Pinot Blanc is an interesting variety as it is a genetic mutation of Pinot Grigio which is actually a clone of Pinot Noir. And last but not least the leaf structure is so similar to Chardonnay that there are some vinearyds where the plantins are interminguled at one time there was mis-labeling of grapes as "pinot chardonnay" Overal Pinot Blanc is known for its high acidity and low armoacy. It grows extensively in Italy (maybe why I liked it), Germany and Austria. This is a cold weather white grape.
The Wine: As I mentioned grown in Williamtte valley it weighs in at 13.9% alcohol, opened with an aritificial cork no chance of getting a 'corked' wine here. The color of light straw in the glass. Very Subtle hints of apricots, almonds, and apples in the nose. In the mouth the apples were the most pronounced flavors filled out by a little bit of toastiness, and very crips acidity that balanced the alcohol very well. This to me is a very food friendly wine and one I'd grade a B.

2004 Novy Syrah

This was my first wine from the states after I got back. I'm glad that I decided to drink this one, because for me at least it emphasised the big difference between some of the Italian wines I tasted and the wines from California.
I won't go into miniscule detail on Novy as I have in the past when I tried their Grenache, but needless to say this is the same couple that owns the great Pinot Noir winery Siduri.
The Wine: Formally called 2004 Novy Syrah Susan's Vineyard Santa Lucia Highlands, it weighs in at a powerful 15.2%. Much higher than anything I had in Italy, as probably the highest alcohol content was around 13.5. It pours a nice dark purple/red in the glass. Very little feel of the alcholo on the nose, hints of blueberry and whitepepper. I love hints of blueberry in a Syrah. With the bready nose I also got, it almost reminded me of a warm blueberry tart. In the mouth there was nice long fruit tons of blueberries and that bready yeasty flavor. However it was on the finish that I could feel an alcohol burn in my throat. It was stilla very nice wine, that maybe with a little aging would lose a bit of that burn. I'd grade it a B+.

WBW 22

Well the latest Wine Blogging Wednesday has been announced. This week the folks over at winecast are hosting the event. The theme this month is lite red's. What this means is any red wine with an alcohol level under 12.5%. Now in this day and age of wines that are pushing well over 15.0% on a regular basis this won't be easy. Some suggestions are wines from the Loire Valley, Northern Italian wines, German Red's, etc. I.e. Not your typical red's. Of note winecast gives special kudos for finding a typical high alcohol wine like Shiraz, Zinfandel or California Cab that meets the above requirements. Come back on June 14th to see the results. It will be interesting I promise.

WHEW what a trip

Well it was certainly a world wind vacation. Amongst spending some time with my girlfriend I also got to experience some really interesting wines from Italy. To give you some background we left Frankfurt, Germany on May 20th, drove down through Switzerland and into Italy. We stayed in Cinque Terre, a group of five towns built on cliffs in the middle of the Italian Riviera. They produce a lot of wines here, most white, but there are some reds. We hiked through the region in the midst of vineyards and Olive Tree and Lemon Tree Orchards (this is after all the home of Lemoncelo). While I wasn't able to visit any wineries while in Cinque Terre, I did of course go out and experience as much of the food and wine as I could. One of the best whites I had was an exotic Vermintino from the region with some grilled squid salad and pasta. We also had a few glasses of red Frizzante. Frizzante wine is partially sparkling i.e. frizzy instead of the bubbles we are used to seeing in most Sparkling wines and many times Frizzante is Red and not white.
After 4 days in Cinque Terre we drove up to the Parma region where we stopped for some Parma Ham and of course Parmersian cheese. To go along with this picnic we grabbed a bottle of 2004 Vignette Cal Zetti, Colli Di Parma Rosso. To me this was a great example of what a Frizzante can be. Very fruity, but not sugary sweet. Well structured and really complimented the bite of the cheese. I would grade it a nice B.
After Parma we drove up to Trentino which is in the middle of the Alto-Adige wine region of Italy. Miles and miles of Vineyards and we were lucky enough to visit the Rotari MezzaCorona winery. According to our tour guide this is the largest Wine Co-op in all of Europe. And it was HUGE, they get grapes from all over Italy and have smaller wineries in Sicily and Chianti where they do local wines. We were able to tour their sparkling wine facility which was extremely interesting as I have never seen the process that sparkling wines take. Here we were able to taste a wonderful sparkling Wine made in the Champenois Method (or Classical Method), known in Italy as Spumante (very different from Proseco). Rotari Arte Italiano Cuvee 28 Trento DOC 90% Chardonnay, 10% Pinot Noir. It poured a honey golden color with tiny microscopic bubbles. Toasty with hints of Apple, dry with hints of sweetness. Chardonnay is the overpowering presence. I'd give it a B+. One of the last things while in Italy was visit an absolutely fabulous wine shop in Trento called 12 Grado. This shop had everything, from obscure California wines to big French Chatau's. I was able to pick up a really nice bottle of Vin Santo and a Pino Nero (local name for Pinot Noir). In my travels I picked up quite a few wines that I can't wait to pop the cork on and taste and post here, so if you are interested in some unique Italian wines stay tuned as I will be tasting and posting my experiences here in the next few weeks.

Over the Pond I go

Well after a couple of weeks of tasting Italian wines here in the states and a couple of months of being without my Girlfriend I figured I would resolve both issues. So, tomorrow I will be heading over seas to meet my girlfriend in Germany where she is living and after a day's drive through Germany and the wine country there I will be heading to the Piedmont region of Italy for some spectacular Nebbiolo based wines (I hope!).
Stay tuned as I will try to update this blog while I am over there and give everyone reviews of wines and even some restaurants.

2003 Bogle Phantom

Since I discovered wines outside the cheap box wines and white zin of my college years I have been a fan of Bogle vineyards, specifically their Petite Sirah which I think is one of the best wines in the world for the value. So when I was in Napa last year and I saw this Phantom Wine I was intrigued. I didn't pick it up then and have regretted it ever since. However the other day I was visiting my local Spec's on Bay Area and saw this wine calling me, so of course I picked it up.
The Winery: The first vineyards were planted by the father and son team of Warren and Chris Bogle in Clarksburg, Ca in 1968. The family had been into all sorts of farming since the mid 1800's, but it took those two to create the Bogle Vineyards that we know today. They have over 1200 acre's of vines along the Sacramento River. Bogle vineyards is known for creating one of the best values of California wine. From the afore mentioned Petite Sirah to their Syrah and Zinfandel, the wines are always a great 'bang for the buck'.
The Wine: While not as cheap as other Bogle wines (about 17.00) this was still a pretty decent value. The wine weighs in at 14.6% alcohol and is a blend of 59% Petite Sirah, 34% Old Vine Zinfandel, and 2% Old Vine Mouvedre. It pours a nice dark ruby red in the glass. There is smoke cherry, and chocolate with hints of spice in the nose. In the mouth there are tastes of blackberries, black cherries, cocoa, and black pepper. This is a very good wine for a pretty good price. I'd grade it an A.

2002 Caparzo Rosso di Montalcino

In my latest installment of Italian wines I went to the classic region of Montalcino. This wine is the little sister of the great Brunello di Montalcino made with 100% Sangiovesse grape. Montalcino is a region in central Italy in Tuscany. While the Brunello version is aged 4 years in oak the rossi version is only aged a minimum of 1 year. A great wine to experience young.
The Winery: The Caparzo is named after Ca' Pazzo or Madman's house. The estate was founded only in the late 70's by a group of businesseman, not one single vintner. Caparzo is known throughout the world as one of the best Brunello's and well Montalcino's values in the world.
The Wine: This wine weighs in at about 13.5%. In the glass it pours a beautiful red color in the glass. A subtle nose ofcherry, wood and oak. In the mouth there is a light cherry oak flavor. Not an outgoing flavor profile. A nice wine that I'd grade a B.

2005 Dr. Loosen Bernkasteler Lay Reisling

This is a special wine. My girlfriend who is living in Germany right now shipped this over to me. When I opened the box I was worried that the wine may have gotten to warm (some chocolate she also sent was semi melted). However I let the wine rest for a week or so and opened it up with some good Asian food this weekend. What a WINE!
The Winery: Dr. Loosen, world famous for their great German Riesling wines. Originally started 200 years ago, the winery has stayed in the same family and is now run by Ernst Loosen since 1988. The Loosen estate extends to the States where they have a joint winery in Oregon named Eroica with Chateau Ste. Michelle. The Bernkasteler Lay is a vineyard that is situated between a town of the same name and the Dr. Loosen estate. Lay, pronounced LIE is an old dialect term for Slate, which of course is what the soil mostly consists of.
The Wine: The wine weighs in at a very nice 12.5%, and pours a golden honey almost effervescence nectar in the glass. On the nose there are hints of peaches, melon, honeysuckle and slate from the soil. In the mouth you can taste the over the top acidity eased by the peaches, honey dew melon and the hints of slate that permeate through. This is what makes Riesling the white wine for food pairing. This wine would go with most anything, and it is such an example of why Riesling is one of my all time favorite wines. I'd grade it a very strong A.

Where Texas Ranks

We Texans like have a superiority complex like there's no tomorrow. I mean we DO live in the greatest state, and we don't ever hide that fact from anyone. We do think that we are the best at most everyting......
Well not to knock us down a peg or two (although we sometimes could use it), but a nice blurb from the Ft. Worth Star Telegram and where the great state of TEXAS ranks in the world of wine:

Texas is the fifth-largest wine state in the nation, farming over 3,100 acres and producing about 8.7 tons of grapes. The Texas wine industry contributes about $170 million a year to the state's economy and supports 1,600 jobs.

WE ARE ONLY FIFTH!!!!! Texas Wine Makers, YOU CAN DO BETTER!
Seriously its great to see the growth of the Texas wine industry and things are only going to get better as we learn what grapes grow best wear and get smarter in our techniques both in the vineyard and in marketing.

2001 Barbera D'Asti Guasti Clemente e figli

As I have mentioned earlier I am getting into Italian wines more and more. In Italy there are two BIG regions for wine, especially Red Wine. Their is the world of Tuscany which produces the so called 'Super Tuscans' along with Chianti, all made primarily with the grape Sangiovese. In the northern region of Italy you also have the Piedmont region which produces mostly Nebbiolo based wines. Along with Nebbiolo however is the Barbera grape. Approximately 15 times MORE Barbera than Nebbiolo is actually grown with in the Piedmont region. Within the Piedmont region one of the best places to get Barbera is where it is thought to have Originated....Asti. In Asti, Barrique aging, or aging is small French Oak barrels, for many years is popular.
The Grape: Barbera is popular with growers due to its vigor and reliability in a wide variety of soils. The grape itself is high in acid, but low in tannins which create wines of deep purplish black in their youth that tend to brown in their old age. The oak that most vintners use helps stabilize the color. Barbera can make wines that range from racy and tart to spicy and rich.
The Winery: Guasti Clemente e Figli is a small winery that produces about 1200 hectolictres of wine. They are located in Nizza Monferrato a town in the province of Asti. They are family owned and family run.
The Wine: Nice bright red in the glass, not the typical deep dark purple. Nice dose of acidity in the nose with some earth, mustiness and earthiness, with hints of BRIGHT red fruit. In the mouth its much thicker than I expected, with nice levels of acidity, fruit, soil, tartness and hints of oaky vanillan from the barrel aging.
A really nice wine to go with food, something I always appreciate. I'd grade it an A-.