Lost Abbey 2009 Gift of the Magi

Lost Abbey is one of those "cult" beers, beers that get folks all atwitter, especially some of their special releases, like Cuvvee de Tomme. I've had the opportunity to check their small brewery out, just outside of San Diego and tasted many of their outstanding brews. Unfortunately tasting their beers is a few and far between experience for me since they don't distributed to Texas. However they do to Denver so whenever I am in town visiting family I make a point to pick up something from them I haven't had. That's how I got this brew, their Christmas Seasonal Ale. The base of this beer is their Biere de Garde with Frankincense and Myrrh added and bottle conditioned with Brett.
The Beer: This beer weighs in at 10.0% and pours a gorgeous burnished amber with a quarter inch off white almost tan head. The nose is primarily of malts, with some mild barny notes, hops, lemony, and honey. Mouthfeel is chewy and dense. Malty is the first thing that comes to mind, then notes of honey, some citrusy grapefruit notes and a little bit of barnyness. But this barny taste is incredibly restrained and actually gives the beer a balanced counterpart to the malty sweetness. Sweetness is really what defines this beer, but there are notes of spice, clove, mustyness, candied fruit, cinnamon. All these other flavors, along with the addition of the Brett, really creates an outstanding counterpoint to the malty honey and caramel sweetness. Very drinkable, hides the alcohol very well. This gets a happy B+ from me. Here's what the folks at BA had to say.

Two More New Glarus Brews

This was a wonderful weekend in Houston. The weather was beautiful, and this ended up being a good beer weekend. As most of you know Anvil tapped a keg of wine barrel aged Real Ale Coffee Porter. I wish I could say it was earth shattering good, unfortunately it wasn't. It was still a great Coffee Porter, but I didn't (and neither did the 4 or 5 other folks I talked with) really get any barrel notes or wine notes. But alas it was a nice effort from the small brewery in Blanco Texas. I didn't get discouraged though, I had more New Glarus beers to try.
Hop Hearty: Claiming to be a Wisconsin IPA gets my attention right of the bat. Brewed with old and new world hops and additional dry hopping of Cascade and East Kent Goldings lends this to be a hybrid beer, between what one expects an American IPA to be and what an English IPA is. The beer pours an amber orangish color with a thick slightly off white head. The nose is of hoppy citrus, and caramel malts, some bready notes as well. The mouthfeel is medium bodied and hoppy. Citrus peel, earthy floral notes, caramel, breadiness, sweet pale malts. Very smooth and easy drinking, my hop headiness thinking this is more of a pale ale than an IPA, more British style, more restrained. Biscuity notes as the beer warms. A little more bitter than a traditional English pale ale, some more citrus-y notes. A good drinkable, dare I say sessionable beer. Gets a solid B from me. Here's what the folks at BA had to say.
Old English Porter: Having spoken to some beer folks about this beer, I have been pretty excited to try this one. This beer is brewed in what I imagine was a traditional sort of way. Per the website on the brew, their recipe is based on the research of one Graham Wheeler. The beer was made with multiple different malts including a small amount of smoked, half the batch went through a souring fermentation, then the whole beer was aged on wood. The beer weighs in at 5.5% and pours a rich brown with a quarter inch tan colored head. The nose was of richly roasted malts, oak, sourness and tartness, almost a tang to the nose. The mouthfeel is medium to full bodied, and the sourness hits you with a right hook. It's tartness right off the bat, then subtle notes of roasted malts, slightly burnt coffee, vanilla show up. This is exactly what I would have expected a Porter to taste like some 100 plus years ago. The sourness, tartness, and out right tanginess hit you up front, but the other flavors are what lingers giving you the impression that you are drinking two different beers. Notes of chocolate show up as well. It's almost like drinking slightly sour chocolate milk, except it tastes much better than that description. Amazingly done, and gets an A from me. Here's what the folks at BA had to say.

Brooklyner-Schneider Hopfen-Weisse

A couple years back two brewers came together from different parts of the world with different philosophies and traditions in brewing. One was Garrett Oliver from the great Brooklyn Brewery, home to Local 1, and Local 2 as well as one of the best Imperial Stouts around. The other was Hans-Peter Dresler from Schneider and Sons brewery in Germany, home to one of the best wheat beers around as well as Aventinus. They came together to make two beers, one made in Germany, the other made in New York at the Brooklyn Brewery, creating two very unique beers. This beer is the one brewed in New York packaged in a champagne like bottle. Its a pale-weisse bock fermented with the Schneider house yeast, and dry hopped with Amarillo and Palisade Hops.
The Beer: This one weighs in at 8.5% and pours a honey golden color with a thick pillowy white head, instead of dissipating the head seems to continue to grow up over the lip of the glass. The nose is banana, fruity esters, hops, cloves, it smells of hoppy resins. The mouthfeel is thick and chewy. Tons of spice, cloves, cinnamon, bananas, hops, citrus. Very effervescent. Has a very dry finish that has become a Brooklyn hallmark. Just a little alcohol. The finish is bitter, some from hops, some from something else that I just can't place. As it warms it becomes creamier, but that bitterness on the finish just doesn't subside. Its not the citrus peel bitterness of hops its something else that's not all that pleasant honestly. This starts as a great beer that finishes a notch below. It gets a B from me. Here's what the folks at BA had to say.

Odell Mountain Standard Reserve 09

Yet another brew from Odell that I picked up while in Denver. This one is an interesting take on an IPA. First the hops while not unusual (Chinook and Cascade) where they are grown is. Instead of coming from the normal places of the Northwest (or Europe) these come from Odell's back yard. While not literally, figuratively at least having grown on the Western Slope. It's also double dry hopped to create a more intense beer. All packaged in a beautiful bottle with a great green label and capped with a champagne cork and cage (picture courtesy of Odell's website). Now you know the background let's get to tasting.
The Beer: This one weighs in at 8.5% and has 54 IBU's. It pours a dark ruby read with a thick dense head of cafe colored foam. Nose is hoppy, grapefruit, citrus peel. Chewy mouthfeel, hoppy at all points of the palate, start, middle, and finish. Some balanced malt flavors come forward, caramel, floral, bready, malty notes, cereal graininess even. Notes of cherry, vanilla, spices, almost a bourbon quality show up as it warms. I check the bottle again, nope no barrel aging, but the flavors seem to be there. Some sweetness in the final sips as it finishes warming, molasses even.
Intense hop flavor, I can't believe this beer is only 54 IBU's it seems twice that. Yes its intensely hoppy, but it comes off balanced when all is said and done. Really great beer that gets an A- from me. Here's what the folks at BA had to say.

Coffee Porter is Everywhere!

UPDATED BELOW:
Well maybe not everywhere, but it will be served in a unique manner in two different places this week.

- First up, off of news from their Facebook page, Beer mecca, coffee house, and home of the Rancor Burger, Petrol Station will be tapping a keg of Real Ale Coffee Porter on Thursday March 4th. This isn't just any CP though, its a keg of wine barrel aged Coffee Porter! This sounds pretty awesome.

- But that's not all. The beer and cocktail place in Houston, Anvil Refuge and Bar sent out a press release over the weekend about a RA Coffee Porter Cask tapping this Saturday March 6th. Kevin Floyd and company will be tapping a fresh cask of the popular Coffee Porter aged in Oak Barrels.
UPDATE: Recieved an email clarification from the fine folks over at Anvil. The RA Coffee Porter being served on Saturday is the same that is being served at Petrol on the 4th: of wine barrel-aged coffee porter. These are the only two in the city, very rare opportunity to try this beer.



I must say I am pretty happy to see these two events being held in Houston. There are a couple of reasons why this is really good to see: 1) Simply put its great to see beer bars promoting traditional cask ale. 2) Its great to see beer bars offering beers that we are all familiar with, but served with a twist, 3) Lastly and probably most importantly, good beer and good beer bars are truly a symbiotic relationship. Bars like Anvil and Petrol support the local craft beer scene by putting Real Ale's, or 512, or Saint Arnold, or Southern Star on their tap wall, offering and discussing these beers with their patrons. In return though its nice to see some breweries offering special casks to these bars. This is something I've seen in other places around the country. Go look at the tap wall at Denver's Falling Rock, they get special one off casks regularly. Its nice to see this happening in Houston.

Two New Glarus

I mentioned this briefly before, but a buddy of mine from Wisconsin brought back a stash of beer from me when he was up there during Christmas. I ended up with about a mixed case of beers from New Glarus. NG is only available in Wisconsin so its quite a treat to try some of these beers. The brewery is run by husband and wife team Daniel and Deb Carey (if your remember my entry from my New Belgium tour, the brew equipment came from he CO brewery). Daniel Carey is not only the owner he is the brewmaster and helps turn out some of the best and unique beers in the country. In fact Mr. Carey has some strong brewing chops having been Production Supervisor for Anheuser-Busch prior to starting up New Glarus in 1993. New Glarus has won quite a few awards including Small Brewery of the Year in 2005, and Mid-Size brewery of the year in 2006. NOt only are they good, they are growing!
Because of the large stash of NG beer that I received, I'll be posting notes on a couple of their beers every once in a while, starting today.
Crack'd Wheat: This is a Pale Ale Hefeweiss which was all I needed to read on the label of the beer to get excited about it. It weighs in at 5.95% and pours a hazy golden yellow, bubbly with a thick white head. The nose is hoppy, citrus, bananas, and clove. The mouthfeel is full good carbonation. Hoppy, grapefruity, cloves, and banana, citrus peel bitterness. Slightly resiny on the finish. This is a wonderful beer and surprisingly combines the citrus-y flavors of a pale ale with the banana and spices of a hefeweiss. This one gets a B+ from me. BA thoughts?
Black Wheat: It makes me sad to know that this one is a retired beer from NG, but I'm glad I was able to try it. This is a winter style dark wheat beer that weighs in at 5.7%. It pours an almost pitch black with a thin white head. The nose is full of banana, clobes, spices, chocolate, bubblegum, and rich malts. The mouthfeel is chewy and full. NOtes of chocolate up front, along with the expected cloves, cinnamon, banana, spices. Oh the spices in this beer are wonderfully complex. Its hearty for such a low abv beer. Great spices, great chocolatey notes as well. Good solid beer that gets a B+ from me. BA's give it love as well.

Quick Hits: Upcoming Events Edition

Its a great time to be a lover of craft beer in Houston. There seems to be beer related events every week. Just last week we had the Petrol Station/Flying Saucer Stone RIS Vertical. There are even more events over the course of the next few weeks and months:

- Yes, I've knocked the idea multiple times, but it doesn't mean I won't try the beer. On March 17th, James Watt the brewer for Scottish brewery BrewDog will be at local beer institution Petrol Station serving to controversial Sink the Bismark.

- March 14, Rice Village watering hole and the original Beer institution of Houston Gingerman will be hosting a Texas Beer Tasting. Event starts at 3 pm.

- Speaking of Petrol Station, on March 29th they are hosting a Beer Vs. Wine dinner.

- Of course I've mentioned it before but Beer Camp II is coming up at the end of March. Unfortunately tickets are sold out.

Well thats a brief example of what's coming up in Houston. If you know of any other events, put them in the comments section and I'll post them on the Calendar on the right hand side.

Odell India Barleywine

This small brewery from Fort Collins is quickly becoming one of my favorites. We are unlucky enough to not get it here in Houston, however I try to pick up a couple of bottles of their beer whenever I am in Denver. Per Odell Brewing's website this is a cross between a barleywine and an IPA. I'll raise my glass to that.
The Beer: It weighs in at 9.7% and 65 IBU's. It pours a light caramel color with a thick dense head of off white foam. Very hoppy on the nose. Citrus peel, resiny, malty, toasty, caramel, malts. The mouthfeel is full, almost sticky, chewy, caramel, sweet, HOPS (yep capitalized), grapefruit marmalade, syrup. Super hoppy but with tons of deliciously sweet malty backbone. Gorgeous lacing along the glass, with plenty of patterning along the inside of the glass. There is an earthyness to this beer that brings to mind a good English barleywine. Notes of toffee, bread pudding. Jammy with bits of white pepper. One interesting thing I notice as the beer warms, the finish weakens. The up front flavor still tends to slap you across the face, but the finish is more watery, with just a bit of lingering hop resins. This one gets a B+ from me. Here's what the folks at BA say.

Well its not ending any time soon

A few days ago I asked the question "When will it end" in reference to the on going arms race to see who can create the highest abv beer. Well another salvo has been launched, this time by German Brewer Schorschbräu as pointed out in a reply in the above linked post.
Schorschbräu, in response to Brew Dog's "Sink the Bismark" beer weighing at 41%, has promised to brew one to 45% using the traditional Eisbockverfahren method of freezing the beer, removing the water, and thereby concentrating the sugar and alcohol levels. in their press release they even called out Brew Dog for cheating by using Whiskey barrels to increase the beer (James of Brew Dog points out there was no barrel aging for this beer unlike Tactical Nuclear Penguin).
My question remains the same though, WHY? Whats the purpose? To create something that tastes like whiskey? Why not drink whiskey then? Is it a pissing contest, see which ones bigger? Isn't that a tad childish? Also what about the taste? Which of course is the key? With all due respect to the brewer's I'm just not sure how either of these would actually taste, and taste like you know BEER! Or some semblance there of. You've seen this week I like big beers, but they still taste like beer. Why can't we appreciate beer for all that it is, instead of trying to make it something that it probably shouldn't be.
Of course if I had the opportunity to try it I would, but honestly I can't imagine it would taste all that good, I don't believe you can hide the alcohol in something that big. So of course the question remains "When will it end?" A collaborative 50% brew to make up between these two warring breweries?

Nogne Barleywine

Another day another post on a barleywine. Unintentionally this week's theme has become barleywine, and you know what I'm OK with that. This particular one is from the Nogne brewery out of Norway. Just like here in the states, home brewing interests inspired two friends to start their own brewery back in 2002. They are very proud of their beer, and each bottle is subtitled with the motto - "The Uncompromising Brewery." Nogne has become incredibly popular over on this side of the Atlantic for making some amazing beers, some unique, some strong, all very good. Unfortunately as of right now they aren't imported into Texas, but I was fortunate to get my hands on this bottle of theirs. Their barleywine as some interesting history. The recipe was used to celebrate Nogne's 100th batch, but it was only available in small batches. The brewer's noticed its incredible popularity and decided to release it commercially (lucky for us!).
The Beer: This one weighs in at 10% and 80 IBU's. It pours a very dark brown with a thick taupe colored head. The nose is figgy, hoppy, citrus, and really rich malts. The mouthfeel is rich, chewy. Loads of hops, citrus, earthy notes, figs, and raisins. Notes of warm dark bread, toffee. Creamy, bourbon like. Vanilla notes. Its warming, but not from the alcohol which is hidden pretty well. Tons of dark concentrated fruits like prunes, raisins, figs, hints of citrus peel. Citrus peel bitterness lingers through the finish. A wonderful barleywine that gets an A from me. Here's what the folks at BA think.

2009 Central Waters Bourbon Barrel Barleywine

A friend of mine is from the Wisconsin area and over Christmas he was able to visit some of his family. He is also a fellow craft beer lover (as well as an amazing home brewer), so he brought back a slew of beer to share with me. Most of those were New Glaurus beers (posts on those later I promise) but there were some from other WI breweries as well, including this one from Central Waters Brewery out of Amherst, WI.

The Brewery: Before I get to the beer, a couple of notes about the brewery. First just from the initial look at the website you can tell they are not just your ordinary brewery. Like many others (namely New Belgium) they have an intense interest in doing things environmentally friendly and have recently installed 1,000 sq ft of solar cells in addition to other environmental things that they do like radiant floor heating and energy efficient equipment. The brewery started in 1996 in an old Ford Model-A dealership, a few years later however the original owners sold the brewery to the current owners Brewer Paul Graham and a home brewer Clint Schultz. They worked hard to keep not only the solid list of beers already being brewed but to expand into some more interesting offerings. Their list of brew's looks pretty solid, especially the seasonal offerings. Some like the one today are aged in bourbon barrels, however I am unsure of which bourbon.

The Beer: This 2008 GABF Gold medal winner weighs in at 11.5%. It pours a rich amber brown with a medium sized tan colored head. Notes of bourbon, oak, vanilla, caramel, and some nice floral and earthy hops, along with figs, raisins, plums, oh my. The mouth is rich and chewy with little carbonation. Oaky, vanilla, slight notes of bourbon on the finish. Dark fruits like plums and figs. Charred oak is evident as well adding an interesting depth to the beer. Caramel and hints of alcohol show up after another sip. Very malty. As it warms the bourbon flavors become more pronounced along with notes of cherry. Warming it almost becomes sherry like. A wonderful beer that gets a very excited A- from me. Here's what the folks at BA had to say.

When will it end?

Recent news has set the beer blogosphere and beer forums like Beer advocate on fire. What's that news you ask? That an IPA weighing in at 41% abv (yes you read that right) has been made by Scottish brewer's Brew Dog. You may remember a few months back they received quite a bit of publicity when they created a beer Tactical Nuclear Penguin that weighed in at 38%. However shortly after the release of that beer, another brewery Schorschbrau released a beer weighing in at 40%. Before all of this there was of course Sam Adams Utopias weighing in at around 26-27% abv. Now why the controversy, why this post? Well, my question is in the title...where does it stop? When do we go back to brewing beer because it tastes good, because it has all the nuances that a great beer should, versus brewing beer for no other reason than get some cheap publicity (sorry but I truly believe that's all this is). Beer is NOT whiskey (yes I know beer from a certain point of view is the basis of whiskey), beer is NOT wine, beer is NOT cognac, beer IS beer.
Another issue I have is how are these brewer's getting this high in alcohol? Sam Adams has made no secret that they are using "ninja yeast," to get the alcohol that high. Basically a highly active champagne style yeast along with using other yeasts help create this beer. Both of the Brew dog's beer use a freeze distillation process. Some of you might say well its distilled so it can't even be counted as beer. Well this is where I actually do back folks like Brewdog. Freezing the beer, removing excess water leaving behind alcohol and solids has been going on for years in Germany (reference my recently reviewed Eisbock for some background). So just because they used a non standard brewing practice doesn't mean its not beer, but I still have some question as to whether or not using Eisbeer methods would get alcohol that high, what else are they doing and why?
Another argument in support of going as high as possible in alcohol is that its no different than other breweries adding tons of raspberries, or aging in whiskey barrels, or using brett in beers. Except for the fact that all those things were going on around the world for hundreds of years, its just that for the most part we (especially here in the US) have rediscovered these methods over the past few years. Never have brewers pushed the level of alcohol to the levels that folks are doing so today. Not to say that's bad, but to compare it to methods that were traditionally used and are just now coming back into vogue is nonsense.
My last point on this and honestly probably the most important, is that very few (if any) of these high octane beers taste good. Yes there are those that will swear up and down that the beers are good (but then if you look at BA some folks think Sam Adams Triple Bock tastes good), but there is nothing that's going to hide 41% abv, its not going to taste like beer. If you want whiskey, have a dram, if you want beer, have a pint (or snifter, or mug, etc). I don't mean to bash Brewdog, but wouldn't they be better served working on their beer, making all of their offerings better, working on distribution to the states (which I know they ARE starting to work on) to ensure their beer is better when it arrives? I've had a few BrewDog beers and I'm about 50/50 so far on what they've made and I hear about the same thing from other folks that I've talked to. So why not work hard and improve what you've got vs going out for what I consider a cheap publicity stunt? Many will compare BrewDog to Sam Adams Utopia, or Dogfish World Wide Stout. My response is that for the most part both SA and DFH have a pretty strong line up of beers, they have worked incredibly hard to improve the quality of their brews across the board, working on distribution issues, and then they have worked to release these high octane beers (and if you remember I wasn't a huge fan of WWS). My feeling is Brewdog can't compare themselves to DFH or SA for those reasons.
How far are we from a 50% beer that's been fermented with multiple strains of champagne yeast, triple frozen, freeze hopped, loaded in bourbon barrels, blended with alcohol, and someone tries to call it beer? Will folks still stand up and proclaim that it is? Where does it stop and when do we go back to enjoying beer for beer's sake and not trying to make it something its not.

Quick Hits

We'll call this edition of quick hits Good News, Bad News. First up unfortunately the bad news.

- Last week in the DFW area there was a horrendous snow storm (yes you heard that right, snow storm). Unfortunately it affected Fort Worth brewery Rahr and Sons, causing the roof to collapse. Worse still it looks like it coule be at least a couple of months before they are able to start up operations again. The only good news from this issue is that their distributor Coors, was able to get all bottled product out of the brewery and is storing it at their warehouse so they can distribute it. There are some good pictures and updates from Paul Hightower on his blog. Hopefully Rahr and Sons will be able to bounce back and continue the strong brewing of beer.

- A little late I know, but a unique vertical is occuring in the city of Houston this week. Bars Flying Saucer and Petrol Station are paring up to do a 6 year verticle of Stone's Russian Imperial Stout. Each night a different bar will host, tapping a different year of Stones RIS. They will also be tapping other different Stone brews. For example at last nights event they tapped Stones Cali-Belgique. For more details on how the tasting is going down head over to Ronnie Crocker's post about the event on Beer, Tx.

- Lastly, and a little more bad news for some is that Beer Camp II is coming! You may remember my write up on the original Beer Camp. Well the 2nd one has been announced for Mar 28th, unfortunately the tickets are sold out. They went in less than a day which at 50.00 a pop is amazing. I was out of town the day the tickets went on sale, but thanks to my wonderful wife I was able to score a couple of tickets. Here is a list of beers that could be available for tasting. As with last time I'll be posting my thoughts and notes on the tasting. If you want to be kept in the loop on all things Beer Camp, keep checking out the website, and follow beer camp on twitter.

Well thats it for now, back tomorrow with more tasting notes!

Dogfish Head Olde School Barleywine

Everyone knows I'm a huge fan of barleywine (and if you didn't the name of the blog should be a clue). I'm always on the look out for new ones, especially when I am out of town. This particular offering from DFH is one of those picked up outside of Houston. Unfortunately it's one of the few brews we don't get from this Deleware based brewery. As with most DFH offerings this one is big with a capital B.
The Beer: This one weighs in at a hefty 15.0% and pours an orangish color with a thick foamy off white head. The nose is of alcohol, hops, citrus peel, caramel malts. The nose is full and chewy, strong hop flavor up front. Notes of biscuits, marmalade, syrup, strong alcohol notes, but it doesn't ruin the flavor. This one unexpectedly is over the top, flavor wise. All flavors are intense, not just the alcohol. In the finish there is an unexpected smoothness that keeps this beer drinkable. A sipper for sure, but still something that over time gets better, smoother, like a good bourbon, which this beer has some notes of. Soul warming on a cold night. Great beer, really enjoyed this one and it gets a B+ from me. Here's what the folks at BA think.

Russian River Consecration

I had this beer back when I was in Denver over the holiday's. As I mentioned in earlier posts we had the chance to hit up a few breweries up in Fort Collins, on our way back to the city we stopped by the Oskar Blues brew pub in Longmont. This has place has some really great food, but it also has an amazing guest tap list and it was here back along the wall that I saw they were offering RR Consecration. Living in Texas I jump at the chance to have anything from Russian River and this day was no exception.
The Beer: Consecration is a dark Belgian style ale aged in Cabernet Barrels. It weighs in at 10.0% abv. It was poured into a 12 oz snifter. Deep dark ruby read with a thin white head. sour cherries, oak, vanilla all on the nose. The mouthfeel is shocking. Effervescence, sour, just mouth jolting taste bud slamming sour. Oak, caramel, tartness, incredibly wonderful. Something new that would shock BMC drinkers, it expands one's thoughts of beer. It makes you sit down and contemplate the meanings of things..meanings of beer, life, LOST, anything. Having said that, its a wonderful beer...in small doses, I couldn't imagine drinking more than the 12 oz that I had at one sitting, it would be just too much. A great beer that gets an A- from me. The folks at BA love it too.

Avery Sui Generis

Avery brewing out of Colorado has a growing reputation for not only their solid line of beers, but their exceptional special release beers. Beer's that I've enjoyed like their Anniversary Beers, Collaboration Not Litigation, and Maharaja one of the best DIPA's around. Recently they have gotten into barrel aging certain beers, the first of these was Brabant No 1, and exceptional brew aged in Zinfandel barrels and made with two strains of wild yeasts. Their second beer from this series was released during Great American Beer fest. Only 138 cases were made and they were only available in the Avery Tap Room. Unfortunately the release day was the day before I arrived in Denver for GABF, lucky for me though a friend from Houston arrived early and picked up a bottle for me. So what is this beer? It is a blended barrel aged sour ale. Ok so what does that mean? It's a beer brewed with 1 special yeast and two different bacteria including Brettanomyces, lactobacillus and pedicoccus, respectively different batches are aged in different barrels and then blended for the final product. 20% aged in Cabernet Savignon, 35% in Chardonnay, 13% in Port Barrels, and finally 13% in Bourbon barrels.
The Beer: It weighs in at 10.2% and pours a hazy orangish brown with a thick dense head of foam. The nose is funky, sour, tart, notes of vanilla and oak. This is a full bodied beer, tart, sour, oaky, vanilla, winish notes. Its all here, warming to oak and bourbon, sour cherries, slight portish notes. A predominant flavor is cherries its reminiscent of a Manhattan with the flavors of bourbon. Tons of lacing here. More flavors coming through, green apples, tart, bready, figs and port, wine and cheese, earthy. Wonderful beer that with each sip and each sniff more flavors are brought forward. Yes its sour, yes its tart, there is no doubt that this is a sour ale, but there is so much more that it becomes balanced to me, hiding the alcohol relatively well. This is an absolutely wonderful beer that gets an A from me. Here's what the folks at BA think.

Colorado Brewery Tours

Back in December I was in Denver visiting my in-laws. While there I did what any beer lover would do: visit some breweries. We spent one day up in Fort Collin, CO, home to New Belgium, Odell Brewery, and Fort Collins Brewery. It's two of these that I really want to talk about today.
The day we went up to Fort Collins, the first brewery we hit was New Belgium. I had been to this brewery about 5 or 6 years ago, but was excited to see it since I knew they had done some expansion in that time. New Belgium not only makes good beer, they are also a good company. We started the tour in the tasting room, before heading up stairs to see their mash tun, lauter tun, Pre-Run Vessel, and kettle. While here and sipping some Le Fleur Misseur the tour guide talked about the company. After working there for a year each employee gets a bike that they can ride to work (even though it was pretty cold this day, there were a lot of bikes out front), after 2 years they are offered ownership within the company. This last part is huge in developing a company that truly cares about the product. Secondly NB is one of the first (if not the first) to be significantly operated by Alternate Energy, whether solar, or wind powered. They have also developed complex system as part of their brewing process that reuses materials, or energy created in previous steps of the brewing process to help power later steps. To pay for the equipment it took to put this process together the employees agreed to forgo a couple of years of profit sharing which to me shows how much the company and its people care not only about what they are doing, but how they are doing it.
Its not all about the environment, its also about their growth. They are currently in 26 states, and they've got a new bottling line (the old one went to New Glaurus) that allows them to fill 700 bottles/min. Not only is NB bottling of course, they are also canning. I found out something interesting about the canning process of the ubiquitous Fat Tire. Unlike the bottled version, the canned version is "canned condition" which leads to a fuller taste. Unfortunately I have not done a side by side comparison to find out how they differ in taste, has anyone else?

From New Belgium we headed to a brewery that I had not only never visited I had never had any of their beer: Fort Collins Brewery. I had seen their beers in the Denver Stores, things like Kidd Lager, Z Lager, and 1900 Amber. None of these really ever excited me, and frankly their labels were pretty weak looking. Well I learned never to judge a book by its cover. The Kidd Lager is a delicous Schwarzbier, Z lager? A rauchbier, and a very good one at that. The IPA was very good as well. All of these surprised me in their depth of flavor and drinkability. FCB actually has a pretty good even unusual line up of standard beers (a raucbier and black lager standard who else does that?). They also had some brews on tap that were special. My favorite and the most unusual was a steinbier. Whats a stienbier you ask? The beer is brewed using heated stones placed into the boiling kettle. The addition of these stones heated the wort to boiling. In addition these stones acquire a layer of caramelized malts which when placed into a second vessel helps stimulate additional fermentation. Its an unusual process that created a beer unlike one I had ever had. It was a basic lager, but with some unusual undertones in the flavor. Caramel yes, but also stoney and minerally, very good, delicious. All in all my trip to FCB was one of my favorite, not because all the beers were amazing, but because it opened my eyes up to a brewery I had not tried. That right there is one of my favorite reasons to go to brewery tours: the opportunity to try and be surprised by something you otherwise wouldn't have.

Dogfish Head World Wide Stout

Wow, this year has really gotten away from me. Its February already and I have barely posted to the blog. Well the good news is, that stops now, and I have a lot to talk about. Posts on news in Houston, posts on tasting, and posts on brewery tours. First, let's get started with posts on tastings. This is a beer I picked up while in Denver over Christmas, it's one of the few beers from Dogfish Head that is not available in our fair state.
The Beer: To say beer is a stout is like saying the Empire State building is just a building. This one weighs in at whopping 18% abv. It's not for the faint of heart, this is not an introductory craft beer. It pours an incredibly inky black with no light shining through. A thinnish taupe colored head. The nose is unsurprisingly of alcohol, malts, raisins, dried fruit. Let me repeat that, lots of alcohol. The mouthfeel is oily, slick, viscous. Its not like liquid beer, more like beer syrup. There are notes of deeply roasted malts, dried fruits, lots of alcohol all throughout the taste. Notes of cherry cough syrup, notes of coffee. There is some amazingly complex flavors here, but it is so overwhelmingly covered by the alcohol its hard to find some enjoyment in the beer. I do think that this beer could be wonderful in a few years. As the alcohol notes lessen and the malt notes come to prominence this beer could really shine. My job? Keep a couple the bottles I have and try it in a few years and report back. For now? This beer gets a C mainly for the hope of what this beer could be. The folks at BA? Tend to like it more than me.

The Bruery Two Turtle Doves

The last year saw a lot of new breweries came into Texas, but if I had my choice, one of the breweries I would love to see make its way to this state is The Bruery out of California. I've had the opportunity to try their beers a few times before as my wife brought them back from her travels to California. In addition to their regular beers they have started a unique line of Christmas beers: The 12 days of Christmas. Every year they will release a beer styled after one of the lines of the 12 days of Christmas. Last year they released Partridge in a Pear Tree, this year they released the second beer, after the second stanza.
The Beer: A 12% brew made with cocoa nibs, toasted pecans, caramelized sugar and a lot of caramel malts. It poured a pitch black with a thick dense head of cafe colored foam with small streaks of red in it. The nose is full of chocolate, coffee, yeast. The mouthfeel is robust, thick, coco, nutty, yeasty, candied sugar, some sweetness of front, but finishes star tingly dry. Fruity yeasts, figs and raisins. The alcohol is not apparently strong, but the beer is definitely body warming. Creamy and rich. A wonderful Christmas beer that has me eagerly awaiting the next 10 and curious as to how they'll interpret each verse. This one gets a B+ from me. Here's what the folks at BA had to say.

Struisse Mikkeller Beer

As I've written in the last few days, I was in Denver for Christmas. Beyond visiting many breweries (I promise more write ups next week) I also made a run to a couple of liquor stores to increase by beer stash. One of the beers I picked up was a special beer from gypsy brewery Mikkeller. This beer was a collaboration brew between Mikkeller and De Struisse brewery out of Belgium. Oh yeah it has 130 IBU's!
The Beer: Beyond the IBU's it weighs in at 9.0%. It pours a hazy cloudy orange with a thick slightly off white head. The first sniff? Oh boy...there are hops yes, and maybe some pale malts, but there is something else...it smells sour, funky. A sip confirms, the beer has soured, oxidized...ITS GONE BAD! How did this happen I asked myself. I quickly went on line and checked out the Mikkeller website and found that this beer had been brewed once in 2007. So this information moves this post from being one about a beer tasting, to being about storage of beer in a liquor store. The store in question was Davidson's Liquor in Centinnial. I found the beer on the shelves, not refrigerated. Looking at the beer closer now, I can see the age in the bottle, the label is faded it looks almost as if the label had been sun faded. Now that I have all the information it doesn't surprise me that this beer could have gone bad. What irritates me is that Davidson keeps it in stock. I don't want to knock the store, in my many trips to Denver I've visited this place many times and have had great luck in beer (yes they keep their Pliny in the cooler). They've done a good job in the past, but here, they have failed considerably by keeping a beer for 2+ years. Nothing wrong with cellaring beer of course but its gotta be kept in the correct environment and this one was definetely not. Sad becuase it seemed like a beer I really would have enjoyed.

Dry Dock Brewing

One of my favorite things to do when on vacation is to try and visit a local brewery, this is no problem whenever I am in Denver since they are everywhere. I've visited many of them during my visits there, but I was pretty excited when my brother-in-law told me about this brewery in Aurora a suburb of Denver. Dry Dock Brewing has been around since 2005. It was started next door to a homebrew shop by the owner of said shop. The brewer came over from a "local brewpub chain" (I think CB Potts). The brewery has gained some recognition lately when it won Small Brewery of the Year at the latest GABF along with a couple of other medals for their brews.
When we drove up we didn't know what to expect as the brewery is in the middle of a shopping center. When we walked in we were somewhat surprised by the nautical theme, but I guess with the name dry dock we shouldn't have been. The set up is pretty small with just a handful of small fermenters. They have limited bottling and are mainly set up as draft only operation. As with most times I go to a brewery I picked up a sampler tray (see pic to the right):
7 Seas Double IPA - 7 hop varieties (each start with the letter C) 8.5% and 90 IBU's. This one was incredibly hoppy, tons of grapefruit peel, marmalade, chewyness, toasty biscuits, very well made DIPA.
Three Heavy - Wee Heavy weighing in at 9.5%. Very rich malty brew, with notes of figs, and raisins, dark fruity, sweet and malty, but not cloyingly so. Another solid brew.
Barnacle Brown - Brown ale, smooth, mellow, some coco notes, but not a lot going on here, was hoping for a little bit more complexity.
HMS Victory ESB - 5.8%, 49 IBU. A little nutty, caramel notes, with some nice earthy hop notes, coppery, malty, a very nice English style ale.
U-Boat Hefeweizen - Silver medal winner at GABF. This one was a great beer, bannana, cloves, bubble gum, full creamy mouthfeel. A really wonderful hefeweizen.
HMS Bounty Old Ale - Another award winner from World Beer Festival, some nice malty caramel notes along with raisins, figs, maltyness, port like, but again felt it was lacking depth.
I also tasted their pale ale that my brother in law had, that we both felt was incredibly lacking in flavor and depth, tasted really one dimensional.
After the sampling platter I did get a snifter of their Naked Vixen which is a 9.5% Belgian Golden Ale. This was a pretty good beer golden colored with a thick pillowy white head, notes of pineapple, white pepper, yeasty notes, fruity, very nice.

Other beers that our party had was a porter that we all found somewhat wanting as well as their Vanilla porter which was not surprisingly a bit sweet. Overall I found Dry Dock to be a very solid brewery, but left somewhat disapointed due to its winning Small Brewery of the Year.

What I did on my Christmas Vacation

Finally back in Houston, well actually I've been back for a couple of days, but this is the first time I've had a chance to sit down and write here on the blog. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years. I know I did. What did I do? you ask. I went to visit my wife's family up in Denver. If you know Denver you know its a great place to visit many breweries and drink good beer, and that's exactly what I did. I visited some breweries I've never visited, and others that I haven't gone to in a long time. Over the next couple of weeks I'll do some individual write up's of the breweries as most of them deserve their own entry, but here is a list of the ones I was able to visit:
Dry Dock Brewing - Recently won GABF Small Brewery of the year.
Odell Brewing
New Belgium Brewing
Fort Collins Brewing
Oskar Blues Brew Pub - Longmont
Wynkoop
Great Divide

I was also able to do a big beer run while in Denver and picked up quite a few beers not available in Houston, as I drink those, I'll post my thoughts as well.

Year End Round Up

Its hard to believe that the end of the year is just a few short days away, and with that I thought I'd join many folks in taking a quick look back at the year that was (don't worry no top 10 lists here). Looking back at the beer world in general, and this blog and Texas specifically it was a huge year seeing a ton of positives, and luckily only a few negatives.
- Currently 162 entries this year, my most productive yet. I was blessed enough to focus not only on a ton of beer postings, but news, beer dinners, and book and restaurant reviews.
- This year saw a growing list of establishments highlighting craft beer: Block 7, Anvil, The Drinkery, House of Taps, and many more. It seems all of these are packed, showing that Houston does have a great craft beer culture.
- Some big anniversaries hit Houston Institutions this year: Saint Arnold's 15th, Flying Saucer's 9th, Petrol Station's 4th.
- Speaking of Saint Arnold's they moved into their big new brewery not to long ago and maybe, just maybe this weekend they'll be able to support tours.
- While we are on Saint Arnold's some bad news: Another loss in trying to allow TX breweries the ability to sell their beer's directly from their breweries occurred. We can only hope that enough support is growing and next time it will pass.
- While we can't seem to get local beer's direct from the breweries, Texas is getting more beer than ever from breweries new to TX: Ska, Twisted Pine, Mikkeller, Moylan's, Harpoon, Otter Creek, and many others came into our great state. Many other's expanded like Brooklyn. A great year to be a beer lover to be sure.
- As many times as I've complained about it, there were more beer dinners this year. From small relatively inexpensive events like this one at Gingerman, to more expensive ones like Saint Arnold's one at Brennan's Steakhouse it's wonderful to see these occur.
- A little outside of Houston over towards Austin, we saw Real Ale not only celebrate their 13th Anniversary, but saw them start bottling more beer's beginning with their Coffee Porter.
- Our brewery up north in Conroe is growing as well, introducing their Pro-Am Saison, and hopefully at the beginning of next year their Buried Hatchet Stout in cans.
- Nationally, beer was in the news most notably by the "Beer Summit"
- We also saw a nationally distributed documentary on beer this year: Beer Wars.

Its been a pretty good year for beer. So what does next year bring? Well besides more posts from me? More beer books to be sure, although there were several good ones that came out this year. As much as things improved this year, I'm hoping for even more beer dinners and beer pairings from local restaurants and bars. I also think we'll see even more new beers to this state. Which ones I don't know but if history is any key, they'll be good. Some new things from our local breweries. More bottled beers from Real Ale, more anniversary beers from them as well, also it will be interesting to see how/if Saint Arnold's changes now that they are in the new brewery: What will their next Divine Reserve be? Some special release ales? Will we see more TX breweries join in on the trend of barrel aging their beers? These are just some of the questions I have heading into next year. What are yours?

Boulevard BBQ

It's BBQ time. From Kansas City no less. Nope not talking the meat kind, the beer kind, specifically Boulevard's Bourbon Barrel Quad. BBQ is based off of their well liked Quad, but only loosely based. They took the base recipe of the quad aged it on cherries and in multiple different bourbon barrels for various lengths of time. They then took the all the different beer from all the different bourbon barrels and blended them into the final bottled product. Sounds interesting right?
The Beer: This one weighs in at 11.8% and pours a dark orangish color with a thick off white head of dense foam. The nose is tart cherries, vanilla, toffee, and wood. The mouthfeel is medium to full bodied, lots of effervescence. Initial impact is that of tartness and sourness from the cherries, then sweet vanilla, before finishing with some oaky dryness. Some flavors of charred wood, bourbon, and toffee show up as the beer warms, as does some boozyness. Even with that boozyness it sure doesn't taste like an almost 12% beer, its very drinkable, although this one is best sipped slowly. Its very good complex beer, getting new flavors with every sip. This one gets an A- from me. Here's what the folks at BA had to say.

Christmas Gifts for your Beer Lover

There's still time left folks. If you are still looking for a gift for someone who is a lover of craft beer there is still time to get them a wonderful beer related gift.
For the Beer Reader:
You can go one of two ways here: Magazine Subscription or Book. There is a growing list of beer magazines out there and I've had a subscription to two of them and have regularly picked up 2 or 3 more. Of those there are two that I would highly recommend:
All About Beer: This is one of the original Beer Magazines and has a lot of respectable beer writers, including Rick Lyke, Charlie Papazian, Jay Brooks, Stan Hieronymus. Delivered every other month, yr subscription (6 issues) is $19.99
Beer Advocate: A relative new comer to the magazine scene, the website of course has been around for many years and has helped spread the word of good craft beer life few others have. A lot of the newer generation of beer writers show up here from time to time. Monthly magazine, 12 issues for $29.99
There are also a ton of beer books out there. One of the best this year that I have read and is easily accesible is Randy Mosher's Tasting Beer available at most books stores for 16.95.
Other book's to look out for are Garrett Oliver's Brewmaster's table, a must for any beer and food lover, and Dogfish's Sam Caglione's He Said Beer, She Said Wine is another wonderful food related beer book.

For the Home Brewer:
I am not a homebrewer really, although I have dabbled here and there, but I have seen some pretty neat gifts for them. One of the coolest are tap handles made of chalkboard material. Easy to install and great for the homebrewer to label their brews. These can be purchased from home brew shops, websites like Keg Works and even Amazon.com.

For the Beer Drinker:
Well I guess that's all of us but it also could be for that person that you want to get into craft beer. one of the best ways to do this is to create a beer gift basket. Many stores have these already built, or you can build your own. Central Market, Spec's, Whole Foods, and Hubbel and Hudson all do beer gift baskets. Various prices, but check with customer service.
Beer of the Month club - I've never participated in one, but I do know there are quite a few out there, with many different options. Some have a West Coast only option, or Belgian Only, or American Craft Beer option. An easy way to customize the type of beer you want to give. Here are a few that I have looked into, but again I can't speak on how well the service works:
Microbrew Club from Amazing Clubs
From Clubs of America the Microbrew Club
International Beer Club

Or if all else fails seeking out that special beer that you know someone loves is always a perfect gift.

Beer Camp: Excursion #1

This past weekend was the first ever Beer Camp (well at least the first in Houston). What's Beer Camp you ask? It was run by a non-profit group called Live It Big an organization that helps charities raise money. This event specifically was for Friday Harbor, a charity that helps house cancer patients and their relatives when they come to Houston for treatment. For this event, the folks at Beer Camp asked Kevin Floyd of Anvil Bar and Refuge to host and moderate the beer tasting. The tasting consisted of 20 beers, 70% of them were not available in Houston. Most of these are pretty hard to find, highly rated brews that make a beer nerd like me giddy. So of course I went and it was a really wonderful time. The beers we tasted are below with some very brief tasting notes (after that many big beers, my palate started to fail).
Ommegang Hennepin - A 7.7% Saison from Cooperstown, NY. Cloudy hazy yellow, citrus notes, specifically lemon, white pepper, citrus peel, a little alcohol, very dry crisp finish. A wonderful example of the style
Lost Abbey Red Barn - A 6.7% Saison from San Diego, CA, Not Available in Houston. Much darker golden color than the Hennepin, clearer not nearly the haze. Citrusy, breadier, slightly sweeter. Very effervescent.
Lost Abbey Devotion - A 6.25% Belgian Pale Ale, again not available in Houston. Golden color with just a bit of hazyness. Sticky and floral, a little fruity. Hoppy up front, much hoppier than the nose. Smooth finish, very drinkable.
Southampton Grand Cru - A 9.5% Belgian Strong Ale, although we do have some Southampton brews in Houston, this isn't one of them. Almost an orange color, cloudy with bits of yeast in the glass. Syrupy smell, alcohol, concentrated fruits, almost smells like an orange liquor. Full syrupy mouthfeel, spicy, some alcohol boozy notes, caramel, candied sugar.
Ommegang Three Philosophers - A 9.8% Quadrupel with Cherry Lambic. Caramel colored, notes of candied sugar, sour tart cherries, caramel, dark fruits, hides the alcohol relatively well. Surprisingly well balanced. I've always enjoyed this beer.
Ithaca Excelsior Brute - A 6.5% American Wild/Sour Ale from New York. Not available in Houston. A pale hazy straw color. The nose is funky, tart, horse blankety, yeasty, grape. The mouth is more of the same, with a startlingly dry finish due to the champagne yeast used in the beer. This is a good sour ale, but there is not much complexity, it hits you with a wave of sour and funk, the just finishes bluntly and crisply.
Weyerbarcher Riserva - A 11.5% American Wild ale with Raspberries from Pennsylvania. Not available in Houston. Pours a ruby color with notes of sour and tartness, funky notes. Slightly sweet, fruity, syrupy, very effervescent, almost like pop rocks.
Ommegang Rare Vos - A 6.5% Belgian Dark Ale. A burnished copper color with a nose full of residual sugar, caramel, dark fruits, raisins, figs. The mouthfeel is more of the same, candied brown sugar, slightly sweet, plums, very good.
Stone Vertical Epic 09.09.09 - A 8.9% Belgian Strong Ale. Has been available on tap, but not in bottles. Syrupy black with a thick tan head. Roasted malts, dark fruits, plums, raisins, coffee, and caramel. Thick and tongue coating, bitter malts, candied sugar. Very good and surprisingly smooth, want to try this again on 12.12.12.
Dogfish Head/Three Floyds PopSkull - A colloborative 10% American Brown Ale, not available in Houston. An old bruin aged in Palo Santo with Botanicals. I was really looking forward to this beer, but not only myself but most of the folks in the room, couldn't tell the difference between this beer and Palo Santo Marron, still a good beer.
Dogfish Head Burton Baton - A 10% IPA aged in Oak. Pours an orangy copper color with thick tan head. Orange peels, bourbon-y, hoppy grapefruit. Very nice, I love this beer.
Stone 13th Anniversary - A 9.5% American Strong Brown Ale. Chestnut rich brown color. Very hoppy, with notes of hazelnuts, roasted malts, almost syrupy. Very hop forward brown ale. Again I've enjoyed this on in the past, very good.
Alesmith 2004 Old Numbskull - A 11% aged barleywine from San Diego. Not available in Houston. Pours a burnished copper with a good sized off white head. Brandy notes, caramel, toffee, treacle. S mooth and rich mouthfeel, very malty, caramel, sweet, but not cloyingly. Wineish notes as well. Really liked this one, huge fan of Alesmith, was happy to try this beer especially an older vintage.
Mayflower Porter - A 5.5% Porter, not available in Houston. A nice reprieve from the higher alcohol beers. Poured a dark brown with ruby colored highlights. Coffee, robust roasted malts, good bitterness from the hops. Good beer.
Troeg's Java Head - A 7.5% coffee Stout, not available in Houston. Thick black syrupy. Some coffee notes on the nose, but it underwhelmed a bit on the taste. Good roasted malts, a really good export stout, but not a great coffee stout.
Southern Tier Moka - A 11% American Imperial Coffee Chocolate Stout from New York not available in Houston. I have to say this was probably my favorite beer. Poured a dark rich brown with ruby highlights, chocolatey and coffee on the nose. The mouth was like chocolate milk. Just an amazingly tasty, scary drinkable beer for 11%.
Southern Tier Iniquity - A 9% Black IPA not available in Houston. Very black beer, that didn't have a lot of roasted bitterness. There was some maltyness to the beer, but not burnt malts like the color would indicate. Good hoppy brew, but not overly so, and not as much as I would have expected from the alcohol and it being an IPA.
Smuttynose Russian Imperial Stout - A 10% RIS from New Hampshire, not available in Houston. Pitch black with a thick dense head of glass coating foam. Alcohol, roasted malts, dark fruits, raisins, notes of coffee. Tongue coating, some acidity, burnt malts, toffee. Very good RIS.
2003 Alesmith Speedway Stout - A 12% Imperial Stout, not available in Houston. This may have been a little past its prime. Its dark rich black, syrupy, concentrated, a little off.
Three Floyds Dark Lord - A 13% Russian Imperial Stout. This was the one I was waiting for, for those that don't know this one is incredibly hard to find, and is most definitely not available in Houston. It has a huge cult following and is one of the higher rated beers on sites like Beer Advocate. Its released once a year with the full expectation to age well over a long long time. It pours a very dark black almost like oil. Big huge nose of roasted malts, and syrup, toffee, coffee. The mouthfeel is very syrupy and thick, highly viscous, with lots of residual sugar almost cloyingly sweet. Lots of alcohol. There's a lot going on here, toffee, coffee, burnt malts, alcohol, dark dark rich concentrated fruits. Its definitely a sipper and honestly a bit over the top. Its a beer that right now I wouldn't rate that high, but one that I would have great expectations for in a few years.

Well that's it. It was a lot of beer and of course a lot of fun. It's always nice to drink for charity and I'm glad I had the opportunity to attend. The next event will probably be in March. Special thanks go to Kevin who did an outstanding job discussing the beers and answering any questions the attendees had.

Brooklyn Monster Ale

Brooklyn Brewery is known for making great traditional style beers. Brewmaster Garret Oliver strives to make old world style beers. From their East India Pale ale, to their Weiss beer, they represent great examples of traditional styles. Well this is not only true of their standard styles, but their seasonal beers as well, like this barleywine.
The Beer: This is Brooklyn's barleywine and weighs in at 11.0%. It pours a burnish copper color with a thin off white head that quickly dissipates into a thin line. The nose is malty, caramel, a little bit of alcohol, fruity. The mouthfeel is full and malty, with some alcohol notes. Caramel, raisins, apricots, brandy-ish. There are some metallic notes, something almost brackish to the beer. Not sure what it but its off putting. There are some strong alcohol notes here, that I hope will settle out as this beer ages. Right now this one gets a B- from me. Here's what the folks at BA think.

Anchor Our Special Ale 2004

I'm a known and unapologetic homer for Christmas beers. I love them for their diversity, complexity, flavor and although it may not be cold here in Houston, they always make me want to be next to fireplace. One of the best out there, year after year is the always slightly different Anchor Our Special Ale. Beyond being a great beer, it ages incredibly well, inspiring many to age them for years and then throw together a monumental vertical tasting. Well no vertical tasting, but due to graciousness of a fellow beer lover I did get my hands on a 2004 beer. Now some folks that are used to drinking Bud won't believe drinking a 5 year old beer, but I'm here to tell you, great beer, ages greatly.
The Beer: It pours a rich brown color with a thick dense head of chestnut colored foam. The nose is full of spices, ginger, cinnamon, malts, figs, spruce trees. The mouthfeel is full and creamy, molasses, figs, spiced bread cake, rich and nutty, toffee. It just reminds one of Christmas. Time has been kind to this beer, and surprisingly left the spices in this beer in tact and still quite powerful, but balanced well with the maltiness of the beer. This was my desert beer last night, paired with a wonderfully made ginger bread cake, made with fresh ginger and the current vintage of Anchor OSA. Truly a match made in heaven.

Van Steenberge Withches Brew

I was up in the Ft. Worth area for Thanksgiving and while wondering around one day came upon this beer, one of the few beers that I saw that we didn't have down here in Houston (I know there's more, but this was the only random one I saw). It's from Van Steenberge in Belgium, makers of Gulden Draak.
The Beer: The beer is a Strong Belgian Tripel ale weighin at yes a strong 9.3%. It pours a hazy golden color with a thick frothy white head. The nose is floral, notes of honey suckle, noble hops, and yeast. THe mouthfeel is crisp and slightly sweet. Notes of honey, crystallized sugar, citrus fruit. Floral notes, some earthy hop bitterness, white pepper spice, peaches. THere is a slight astringency in the finish that is slighty off putting. A good beer, not a great one. It gets a B- from me. Here's what the folks at BA had to say.

How Many Beers?

265 Beers. What does that number mean? Its the combined number of beers that two, yes two brewing companies own in part or whole. Beer writer Jay Brooks has put together a list of beers that are either owned or have distribution deals with ABINBEV and MillerCoors. The scary thing is, this list may not be complete. Jay is working diligently to update and correct this list. Also as take overs and mergers continue to happen this list will only grow. Why publish this list? Is it to knock all of these breweries? No, its for education. All of us should be aware of what we are buying and who we are buying from, these things should be and need to be transparent.
There are multiple reasons that people like me get into craft beer. For most it begins and ends with wanting something that tastes good, that's complex, that goes well beyond the industrial lager that not only this country but the majority of the beer drinking world is inundated with. However there is a small group of beer lovers like me that love craft beer not only for what it is (something delicious) but for what it isn't (owned by huge industrial companies of questionable business ethics). I won't get preachy, as that's not my purpose here, only to say, its good to support local, and in my mind its good to support small hand crafted goods over large industrially made ones. Its why I point out this list as I think consumers of all products (but hey this IS a beer blog) should know where their goods are coming from.

Saint Arnold: Divine Reserve 9

Over the course of the last few days we've had Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and yesterday finally Beer Tuesday. What's Beer Tuesday you ask? The day Saint Arnold's released their latest in the Divine Reserve Series #9. Just like shoppers did last Friday, folks around the city headed out early yesterday morning and began standing in lines, most congregating at the downtown Spec's, some arriving as early as 8:30 am (remember Spec's opens at 10 am). As time went on the line grew and grew, stretching around the building to other street. Me? I arrived at 9:15 am and found about 40 people already in line. For some pictures of the scene checkout Ronnie Crocker's blog Beer, TX. Finally once the store opened I was able to grab my 2 six packs..my only concern being: "Is it worth it?" Well before answering that question we have to answer what type of beer is it. Its an imperial pumkin stout. Yes you read that correctly. It was brewed with a ton of pumpkin (mostly if not all canned) and a bunch of spices.
The Beer: This one is definitely Imperial weighing in at 11%. It pours a rich dark brown almost black with ruby streaks throughout. Capped by a cafe colored head, dense with foam. Very aromatic, I could smell the pumpkin well before holding it before my nose. Wow, its pumpkin pie, there is nothing shy about this beer it is in your face. Pie spices of nutmeg, Cinnamon. Notes of coco show up as well. The mouthfeel is full, my first impression is of pumpkin pie, luscious creamy pie with all of grandmom spices. A malty chewiness is my second impression. Very strongly spiced, the back palate has more rich malts then the front of pumpkin. Surprisingly I don't get a lot of alcohol, which makes this easy to drink.
As it warms the flavors meld together: chocolate, pumpkin, spices all coming together wonderfully. Also surprisingly with all the pumpkin and chocolate notes, this beer is not overly sweet, its balanced in this respect very well.
There are some rough edges to this beer, at times the spices can be over the top and too much conflicting with the chocolateyness of the stout. This unbalance can create a harshness to the beer that can be unpleasant. With the alcohol hidden it has the potential to be easy drinking, but this harshness conflicts with that at certain points. It's an incredibly filling rich beer as well. I don't see myself drinking multiple pints of this in one sitting it would just be too much. I do believe that this beer will do amazingly well cellared and I'm glad that I have enough to do so. I want to try it in six months and then again next year for Thanksgiving.
Taking all this, both the positive and the negative I have to say that I am incredibly pleased with what Saint Arnold has done with this beer, and it may be one of the best beers they have ever made. Now it gets an A- from me, but stay tuned as it ages my grade may change going even higher. The folks at BA are already rating and here's what they are thinking.