Support Your Local brewery

There is a new grassroots organization focusing on Beer laws called Support Your Local Brewery (SYLB). SYLB is organized and run by the BA (Brewer's Association). It is not just for brewers, but for home brewers, beer enthusiasts, distributors and other trade professionals. Their goal is to protect the legislative and regulatory interests of small, traditional and independent craft breweries. Since this is something near and dear to my heart as my favorite local brewery Saint Arnold's is fighting with the Texas State Legislature I wanted to give them some pub. Check their website out and remember to support your local brewery because they will support you.

Beer Quick Hits

Its been a while since I've had the chance to sit down and talk news around the beer world so I thought I'd use a Saturday morning to through some newsy updates out there.
First off a couple of Saint Arnold's updates:
- BJ's Restaurant and Brewery has announced that it has moved into Florida. Like the deal that BJ's made in Texas, Saint Arnolds will be contracted to brew all the beer for BJ's in Florida. Just another great way for Saint Arnold's to expand capital, and hopefully expand their operations.
- Its Baseball Season and Saint Arnold's has announced their first ever Bus Trip to the Astros Game. Everyone will meet at the brewery for some pre-game refreshment, pile into a bus and go to the Astros Game. This is a great idea, and I'm so happy that Saint Arnold's has started this. Great idea, and I can't wait to go!
- A couple of stories here, and here about how good Beer is for the economy! No surprise here, as microbrewer's as I have talked about in the past, are more likely to give back to their communities and as shown at New Belgium have incredibly low turnover.
- A sad note here, in that A-B wins again, this time over in the old country, Hungary specifically where they have earned the right to market their beer as Budweiser, causing the original Budvar to be marketed under a different name.
- Beer and Math? Hey its how I got through University. An article from the BBC detailing how a math formula has helped to solve the question of how to make that head last longer.

Dogfish Head Burton Baton

DogI had seen this beer at both my local Spec's and Central market a while ago, but then it dropped off the face of the earth before I could grab a four pack. So I was extremely excited to see it back on the shelf this past weekend.
The Beer: The beer is a blend of an oak aged English Strong Ale and Dogfish's 90 minute IPA, and weighs in at around 10% alcohol. Using a chalice shaped glass, the beer poured a bright amber, orangish color capped by a quarter inch foamy cream head, the soon dissipated leaving behind thick streams of lacing. The nose was full of hop bitterness, citrus peel, oak, vanilla, and surprisingly what I could only compare to as sour cherries. Not that it was bad, just surprising to me. The mouthfeel was thick, with good but somewhat mellow carbonation. Grapefruit and some alcohol burn were prevalent at the beginning with just hints of cherry and oak, but as the beer warmed in the glass the grapefruit flavors subsided and the cherry and oak flavors came forward expressing themselves in tastes similar to a cherry vanilla coke with out the overbearing sweetness. An extremely complex ale, and maybe I am a sucker for oak aging, but I really enjoyed this one. Here's what the folks at BA had to say, and it seems as if most agree with me.

Book Review: Beer & Food An American History

A few weeks ago I went on a bit of a book shopping splurge and bought a few pieces on beer. Hopefully over the course of the next month or so I'll finish them all and write up a couple of reviews. The first book that came was the newest by Bob Skilnik titled Beer & Food: An American History. Before getting into the book, a little about the author. Mr. Skilnik has written a pretty well reviewed book in the past, Beer: A history of Brewing in Chicago. Chicago being near and dear to his heart as that is his residence and where he earned a degree in brewing technology from the Siebel Institute. So he has some pretty good credentials, and as I am fan of beer and food pairing, I was eager to crack open the book.
The basic premise of the book is looking at how beer and food have evolved over American History, both in pairings, but more specifically as an ingredient. I think that the author does a good job of meeting the premise, in an authoritative and entertaining manner. The author does covers much more range than Maureen Ogle's book, starting back in the Colonial days. He starts out showing how the women that brewed the beer used it in their dishes, and stews, sometimes using them as preservatives, due to the use of hops. But more prevantly the author shows how people had to make do using other non traditional ingredients for beer in the new frontier than their British Homes were used to. This manner of showing the state of beer, then food, then giving a smattering of beer infused ingredients continues throughout the book, up until Prohibition, where instead of using beer, ingredient pamphlets were created by struggling brewers emphasizing the use of their Malt extracts. Fascinating if not entirely appetizing approach. The book ends with the craft beer movement and recipes from a good selection of craft brewers using their own beers in various unique ways.
Overall I think this is a good introductory book to beer and food. Some of the recipes were redundant, (sometimes that may have been the authors point) I mean how many stews or Welsh Rarebit recipes does one need? The real treat here were some of the current recipes utilizing today's craft beer's as they seemed to be very thought out.
My recommendation is, if you are interested in beer and food as ingredients, this is a good start, if you are more interested in Beer and food in pairings, seek out Garrett Oliver's much more thorough effort.

Allagash Musette

I am always on the lookout for new and unusual beers. Not necessarily extreme beers, but beers that are made in an usual way, beers that show craftsmen ship. The other day in Spec's I found it in this beer from Allagash. Now, I have had an Allagash beer before and been impressed, so when I saw this one I knew or at least hoped I'd be in for a treat.
The Beer: The beer comes in a big bottle with a wire cage closure, its aged in oak barrels, and according to the label was bottled on December 2006! This is one of 518 cases bottled and finally the beer weighs in at 10% abv. The beer pours a cloudy dark amber, capped by a thick white foamy head. The nose is full of sweet malts, raisins, figs, and a hint of burnt wood. The mouth has smoky, oaky, slightly vanillin notes, and caramel. The oak brings out flavors like a good oak aged wine, this beer is dry in that vein too. Very smooth. As the beer warmed more vanillin notes started to pop out creating a beer of incredible depth. Very nice. Here's what the folks over at BA had to say.
A couple of other notes, according to Allagash this is a Scottish ale. The oak hides some of this, but I do see it. For more info check out their page dedicated to this great beer.

The Session #3 Announcement

Yes the announcement has been made. We have had a blast with the first two Sessions, that I am pleased to announced Jay over at the Brookston Beer Blog has announced the latest installment.
For those new to The Session, belly up to the bar, its easy. On the first Friday of every month, beer bloggers around the world gather for a virtual tasting, directed toward a specific theme that is supplied by that month's host. Well we know the host is Jay, the theme? Well its Mild Beer. Some out there may be saying 'Huh' I know, but its a pretty popular beer over across the pond in London, so popular in fact that CAMRA has named May The month of the Mild. So what is mild? It is usually a darker beer, slightly sweet, with toasty malts, a bit of hops, but relatively low alcohol, weighing in at around 4.5 to 5% sometimes lower. For more information, check out this sight. It will be challenge for me to find a good Mild to taste, since there aren't many American Craft Brewers making them, and I don't know if I get any of the ones imported. But hey challenges are part of the fun. Plus I am exceedingly happy that Jay chose this as I think it will open a lot of people up to a style they have not tried before. As many beers as I have tried, I have never had a mild, so this one will be new to me, and that's always exciting. So join in, and come back on May 4th for the results.

The Session #2

Wow.....the first session was a great success, this time it might be even better.

Head over to A Good Beer Blog and check out the plethora of Dubbels.

The Session #2: Dubbels

The day is finally upon us, The Session #2 has arrived. The first session was a blast as the theme was "Not your Father's Stout". For those new to the discussion The Session is a virtual Beer Tasting held the first Friday of the month. All the beer bloggers, the world over, do tasting, write up and the host posts every one's tasting in a round up a couple of days later. This month the host is Alan over at A Good Beer Blog, the theme is Dubbels. My foray into this months discussion is Ommegang's Abbey Ale.
The Style: The Dubbel style has its roots in Trappist brewing, although many American Craft brewers are making Abbey ale, which for the most part are Dubbels. These beers are of moderate strength around 8%, but always less that the more robust Trippels. These beers are dark, malty, spicy, with low hops.
The Brewery: Ommegang is based in Cooperstown, New York, was founded in 1997 and is renown for creating some of the best Belgian Ales in the States. Simply put they are Belgian ales. They use traditional Belgian style malts, spices, and brewing methods to create a small collection of reportedly amazing Belgian Beers. Among other things they also promote the greatness that is Beer with Food, something I am passionate about.
The Beer: I searched a long time before selecting a Dubbel that I wanted to taste. At first I was going to go for a Belgian Beer, but most of those I have been lucky to taste, either here, or when I was in Brussels last year. So I decided to search for something new, something I had never tasted. Lucky me then that Ommegang brewery has just started distribution to my fair city! I had heard nothing but raves about this brewery so when I saw their Ommegang Ale on the shelf of my local Spec's I knew this was THE BEER!
The beer came in a large bottle with the words 'Bottle Conditioned' printed on the front of the colorful label. The beer weighed in at a nice 8.5% and poured a deep amber with just small streaks of red flashing through when held up to the light. There was a nice thick, dense quarter inche taupe head capping this amber nectar. The nose was fruity, musty, raisins. The mouth showed good carbonation, smooth, with notes of coffee, dark chewy raisins, concentrated dark grape flavors, leaving a crisp long finish. A bit of espresso bitterness showed itself right at the finish. As the beer warmed the dark fruit flavors showed up even more prevalently, expressing itself in what I would call a thick beer. I really enjoyed this beer and am glad that Ommegang has made its way down here. Can't wait to try their other beers. Here's what the folks at BA had to say.
Now go over to A Good Beer blog and check out the other Dubbel Posts.

MOJO Risin Double IPA

Beyond going to a couple of Brew Pubs this past weekend while in Colorado, I was also able to pick up a beer that I have been trying get my hands on. Unfortunately Boulder Beer Co, doesn't distribute to Texas, or at least not down to Houston so my only other previous experience was during this past years Great American Beer Festival. So, when I went into a local Denver Beer store and saw this beer, it called to me, a big bottle, big beer, double IPA! Sounds good to me!
The Brewery: Boulder Beer Co, was Colorado's first microbrewery which is pretty telling in a state that has quite a few. The brewery was started in 1979 by a couple of professors from the local university CU. There first beers were a Extra Pale Ale, Porter, and a Stout, but I dare say now they are more famous for their MOJO IPA and their Hazed and Confused (a fresh hop infused IPA).
The Beer: This particular beer is part of the 'Look Glass' Series, of which the aforementioned Hazed and Confused is the flagship and comes in a big bottle. The beer weighs in at a potent 10% alcohol. It pours a deep copper color with a nice quarter inch frothy head. Floral hop bitterness with some citrus peel in the nose. The mouth is full with nice carbonation. Its like biting into a grapefruit, skin and all, but the nicest thing is that it ends with a bit of malt sweetness that helps balance the beer and not making the beer unbearable, which it comes close to, but never goes over the edge. I couldn't drink more than one of these massive beers, but its quite nice for being an extreme hoppy beer. Here's what the folks at BA had to say.

My weekend

I know its been a few days since my last post, but I do have a good excuse. This past weekend I headed up to the land of beer and mountains, Denver Colorado. My fiance and I were doing a little wedding planning, but since Denver and the area surrounding Denver are infested with Microbreweries I was VERY happy. Amongst the planning we were able to stop by two craft breweries, Estes Park Brewery, and Oskar Blues and have a sample of their fine brews.
Estes Park Brewery is of course located in Estes Park across the lake from the Stanely hotel (the creepy hotel in the Shining). The brewery is a Brew pub serving ok food, and pretty good beer. When we got there we headed to the tasting bar for a few short glasses of beer (since these were small pours I won't be grading the head):
Estes Park Porter: Dark, ruby colored, coffee notes, creamy, smooth with a light bitterness at the end, very nice.
Estes Park Renegade: This is their IPA, oranges, bitter, fruity, balance the bitterness with some malt, good carbonation. Pretty good.
Estes Barleywine: Very nice at 13%, raisins, Roasted sweet malts, chewy, dark fruit. Could use some aging, but already very good.
Estes Tripel: Weighs in at 8.8%, fruity, golden in color, white grapes, like a Riesling, honey suckle, melons, Extremely smooth, no alcohol flavor.
Estes Park Oatmeal Stout: Flavors of roasted malts and chocolate, a tad bit of oaty flavor. Some esspresso notes, with only a bit of mild bitterness. An ok attempt.

Oskar Blues of course is that small brewery that has become famous for serving their beers in cans, something not many craft brewers do. The brewery is a small venture in a Lyons Colorado. They serve food, but we didn't get any, instead we sat down on a Sunday afternoon and ordered a sampler tray of 6 beers:
MoneyShot Cream Ale: Light, lemony, cloudy, crisp, and tart. An ok beer, but I don't have much experience with a Cream ale.
Gordon Strong Beer: Big hops here, no malts, orange peel notes, a little much, but not to bad.
Dale Pale Ale: The flagship beer. Poured cloudy, nice smooth hops, well balanced, refreshing, Very nice.
Bitching Creek ESB: A guest beer from Jackson Hole, that they were pouring. Bitter, some chocolate notes, smooth cocoa-y, very nice.
Old Chub: Another one of their popular beers a Scottish Ale. Dark brown, sweet dark raisins, dark cherry notes, smooth a little bitter, but very nice.

Avery Mephistopheles

Avery is known for making some pretty extreme beers, and they usually make a series of them. From their Dictator series to their Demons of Ales they make uniquely great beers some that I have tasted before. Mephistopheles is part of the Demons of Ales beer, along with The Beast, and Samael (which I tasted previously). This particular beer is an Imperial Stout.
The Beer: The beer weighs in at a stout (no pun intended) 16.03% and pours an inky jet black capped by the darkest brown foamy thick head that I have seen. The nose is of raisins, rum, hops, coffee and just a bit of astringent alcohol. The mouthfeel is thick and chewy, good carbonation, toasty and oaky, coffee, chocolate, raisins, with a bit of that rummy taste showing up as the beer warmed. Not much of that espresso bitterness that I was hoping for though, but on the upside not an overt amount of alcohol taste either. If I could compare it to one thing it would be a dense double dark chocolate coffee cake. Pretty nice beer, here's what the folks at BA had to say.

Collaboration Not Litigation Ale

I first heard about this unique beer while reading a review of it over at Hedonist Beer Jive. By unique I mean that this ale is not one beer, but actually two different beers blended together. This of course is where the name comes in. There are two craft breweries with a Salvation Beer. One is from Avery and is a Belgian Golden Ale, the other is from Russian River Brewing and is a Strong Dark Belgian beer. The litigation portion of the story goes that instead of filing a law suit over who is the true Salvation beer the two beer makers joined up and created a unique blended beer. Brewed and bottled at Avery, the Russian River Brewer flew out to Colorado, brewed his beer there just as he does out in California.
The Beer: The beer comes in a big bottle format and weighs in at a nice 8.99% alcohol. It pours a cloudy brown hazelnut color with a thin taupe colored head. Raisins and spicy fruit on the nose, yeast breadynessPublish. A creamy thick mouthfeel, bananas and bread on the tongue. Low carbonation causes the beer to sit and coat the tongue. Very smooth, with very little alcohol flavor showing up. Very rich, very nice. Jay over at HBJ gave the beer a 8.5 out of 10, I'd say that's about right, here's what the folks at BA had to say.

North Coast Old Rasputin - Imperial Russian Stout

Ever since the recent Session on Stouts, I have been thinking about trying some more since its one of my favorite styles of beer. Last week I was reading Rick's post on Tuesday tastings featuring stouts and got even more of an urge to try some more stouts. So it was with great happiness that I picked up this four pack of stout from North Coast Brewery one of my personal favorites.
The Beer: The beer weighs in at 9% (thats the Imperial) pours a deep dark brown with a thick cappuccino color head. The nose has that same cappuccino creamy bitterness, with some coco, and roasted malts. The mouthfeel is thick, sweet and bitter. A wonderful beer with just a hint of the high alcohol at the end. I really like this one, here's what the folks at BA had to say.

Saint Arnold's Lawnmower Ale

I am on a quest of late to find a good session beer. A beer that one can drink a couple in a sitting and not feel completely wasted. Its hard to do that sometimes with craft beer as everyone seems to be moving towards Extreme. Extreme Hops, Extreme flavors and extreme alcohol. A week or so ago I picked up a six pack of the incredible Victory Pils. This week its a six pack of the local Saint Arnold's Lawnmower Ale.
The Beer: The beer is Kolsch Style, so that obviously got me excited as I feel a bit of an expert on the style since my recent trip to the land of all things Kolsch. Having gone to a few of the wonerful Saturday tours at Saint Arnolds I have quite a few of their tasting glasses which are basically Kolsch style glasses, so thats what I poured this beer into. This version weighs in at 4.9% slightly higher than the typical Kolsch which is usually closer to the 4.5 mark. The beer poured a pale golden straw color capped by a typical thick white head. Plenty of tiny champagne bubbles rising to the top. So far so good with Kolsch Comparisons. Sweet malt and floural hops on the nsoe. The mouth was full and bubbly, more sweet malts being the predominant flavor with a nice crips hop bite from the Hallertauer variety used. If I could compare it to anything I had in Cologne it would be Pfaffen. A bit sweeter than the typical Kolsch but still a very fine example. Here's what the folks at BA had to say.

Beer that's Served Too cold

Americans in general are now learning that they have been serving their wine at the wrong temperature, their red's to warm, the whites too cold. I keep hoping that we are moving towards that trend in serving beer, as for the most part we serve beer way too cold. It may be one thing to serve tasteless swill at ice cold temperatures, freezing your taste buds so you don't realize what you're drinking, but its quite another to do that with a fine craft brew. Just when I think its safe to go back in the water comes news of a new restaurant in the Dallas/Fort Worth are 29 Degrees. Their stchick is that they serve all beer at an ice cold 29 degrees (that's Fahrenheit folks). Now I as much as anyone can appreciate the need for an ice cold brew every now and then, but below freezing! This is so far beyond ridiculous and the way the proprietiers (owners of the Bennigan's chain) are touting this as what the people want is ridiculous. I don't think anyone, regardless of the beer they drink wants their tongues frozen. At the very least they would like to taste their food (hmm maybe the owners ARE trying to hide something).
Whats really interesting in this article are the quotes from Beer manufactures and at what temp they think their beers should be poured at. Even the boys from A-B get in it stating that serving their beer below 36 degrees leads to a "slow pour and little head, less cloudy and little flavor" (no comments please). Jim Koch of Boston Beer company seemed perplexed that anyone would want to serve his ubiquitous Sam Adams Lager at the temperature, but hey that's the plan. The fact that the owners are unapologetic and love touting that their beer is served the coldest in the area further shows their ignorance of what beer and beer drinking really is. It is not about freezing one's taste bud's even in the heat of a Texas Summer, but sitting down, with friends, enjoying good food, and good beer (it would be nice to actually TASTE the beer wouldn't it?)

North Coast Brother Thelonious

In perusing the shelves of my local Central market I sometimes look beyond the sixpack's of quality craft beer and seek out a beer in the Big bottle format, one that can be shared amongst friends and ejoyed. The other day I found just the bottle, one that I had heard about for a while, but had never had the opportunity to try, North Coast Brother Thelonious Belgian Style Abbey Ale. Ahh the reasons why I wanted to try it are numerous: I have really liked the North Coast Beers I have tried in the past (especially their Imperial Russian Stout), its named after a famous jazz musician (Thelonious Monk) and $2.00 of every case goes to the namesakes Institute of Jazz. All very cool, very enticing to me.
The Beer: The Beer weighs in at 9.4%, pouring a nice cloudy amber. Smells of sweet malt, slightly toasted toffe, and hops. The mouth is not that full, but tastes of those same slightly roasted toffee notes, a bit of fruit and a bit of hop bitterness at the end. An ok beer, but something was missing to bring it over the top. Here's what the folks at BA had to say.

Saint Arnold's Divine Reserve #4

Success! After having failed three times in the past I finally scored a six pack of Saint Arnold's elusive Divine Reserve. #1 I never tasted, #'s 2 and 3 I was able to taste only at a local bar, it wasn't until this time that I finally got my own to try at home. #1 was a Barleywine, #2 was a Quadrupel, #3 was a Double IPA, and #4 is a Wee Heavy Scottish Ale. I don't have much experience with Wee Heavy's so I don't have a wide frame of reference when tasting this beer, so I won't be comparing it to other's of the same style, only to if its a good beer.
The Style: Wee Heavy is a reference to its strength. Scottish Ales are the Scottish version of a Pale Ale. A Wee Heavy is a Strong Pale ale which will have a stronger alcohol content. Wee Heavy's traditional are sweeter beers, heavy on the malt, with a full body.
The Beer: The beer weighs in at 9.6%. Pours black as coal, with streaks of red flowing through, and capped by a quarter inch coffee colored head. The nose is full of sweet roasted malts, raisins and roasted coffee beans. The mouth is more of the same, Very Full flavored, with raisins, espresso, roasted malts. If I could equated it to something it would be those candies you get at the movies, Raisenets (chocolate covered raisins) drizzled in espresso. The nice thing about the beer, is I really didn't taste the alcohol. A heavy beer, and nicely sweet, this would make a great desert beer. Here's what the folks over at BA had to say.

The Session: #2

I like to think we all had a blast participating in the first ever Session, an online virtual Beer Tasting. The theme then was "Not your Father's stout." So it has been with eager anticipation that I have waited for the announcement for April's Session Theme (thanks to Alan for the slightly updated version of the Session Logo). Well Alan from A Good Beer Blog has made his announcement, Dubbels. An interesting choice, but a good one for the season. So I'll be going out hunting for a Dubbel that I'd like to taste. Due Date: April 6th.

New Belgium Springboard Ale

I am a pretty big fan of New Belgium. Outside of their Fat Tire, which has become a little less of a beer than it once was, I find their beers wonderful. So when I saw their new spring beer on shelf at my local Central Market I picked it up.
The Beer: The ingredients include wormwood (yes that mystical ingredient used in the elixir absynthe), Goji Berries, and Schisandra. Pretty exotic to say the least, and it piqued my interest. The beer weighs in at a robust 6.2%. The beer poured a cloudy golden color reminiscent of the Belgian Golden ales. Capped by a puffy white head. The nose was full of tartness, and fruit. The mouth was full, with low carbonation so it coated the tongue. White berry flavors showed up first with little bits of hops at the end. There is some sweetness but it is not from malt. There is another flavor that I just couldn't put my finger on what it was. This is a nice refreshing beer, somewhat complex, but missing anything that would make it great. Here's what the folks over at BA had to say.

The Session: Roundup #1

Well it was a fun time, and Appellation Beer has posted the roundup of the first virtual Monthly Beer Tasting. Lot's of really great stouts were tasted, so go check it out.