Sam Adams 2010 Longshot

Some of the biggest supporters of microbrewers is the homebrewing community. They as much as or more than others can really appreciate what goes into making craft beer. It also doesn't hurt that many a craft brewer started out as a homebrewer once upon a time. Conversely many microbreweries support the local homebrewing clubs. From allowing them to hold meetings, having brew days and allowing homebrewers to take some Wort home to brew beer to all sorts of things their is definetely a symbiotic relationship between these two groups. I think one of the coolest things that is done is the Pro-am contest held at the GABF every year. A home brew recipe is brewed by a craft brewer and entered into the contest. We have two local breweries that participate every year in Southern Star and Saint Arnold's, but the most famous of these is probably Sam Adam's Longshot series. Every year Sam Adams picks 3 winning recipes (one is always an employee, the other two are "at large" winner's), enters them into the GABF contest and releases them in mixed six pack's nationwide. It has to be pretty cool to go to your local store and see your face on a bottle of beer. Well this year's Longshot has shown up in my local Spec's so I picked up the six pack to see how they tasted. A couple of notes before I start 1) I had tasted these beers back at GABF, 2) In talking to the maker of DR8 (winner of the BBBB contest) I know that there are many things that can change between the small home brew batch and the larger batch released to the public.
Lemon Pepper Saison: Weighs in at 6.4% and brewed with lemon peel and grains of paradise this is the employee winner. It pours a pale golden yellow with a thin white head. Its spicey, yeasty, lemony with notes of vanilla on the nose. Very effervescent in the mouth, light bodied, citrusy, white pepper notes from the yeast I think. Very refreshing, and finishes dry. There is a slight tartness in the mid-palate maybe even some slight funkiness. A good beer that gets a B from me.
Mile High Barleywine: This one weighs in at a hefty 9.8% and is brewed with 6 malts. It pours a brownish ruby color with a quarter inch taupe colored head. The nose is hoppy, grapefruit, dark fruits, caramel malts. Full mouthfeel, very malty, rich, dried dark plums, raisins, figs, finishing with bitter grapefruit peel. Toffee. On the finish there is a metallic tang and astringency that is off putting. As it warms the alcohol becomes much more noticeable. This one gets a B- from me.
Old Ben Ale: This old ale weighs in at 9% and pours a dark reddish copper with a thick slightly off white head. Very malty on the nose, caramel, raisins, very little hop bitterness. Medium bodied a little lighter than expected. Fruity raisins, figs, grapes, sweet toffee, very caramel-y. Needs something to off set the sweetness. This one gets a C+ from me.

Quick Hits

Just a few short notes today from around the town in beer.

- First up Saint Arnold's has announced their 16th Anniversary Party will be held on June 13th. See below for details:
What: 16th Anniversary Party
When: Sunday, June 13
Time: 1 PM to 4 PM
Cost: $36
Includes: Barbecue lunch, special glass and the spectacle of the Saint Arnold Olympics
For reservations, please follow this link: http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e2wqozfc3ae386f9

- Next week on June 3rd there is a Saint Arnold's Dinner in Galveston at Fisherman's Wharf. Only $50 plus tax and tip. For reservations, call 409-765-5708.

- One other piece of news that's somewhat old but I hadn't got around to posting on them, well until now that is. A few weeks back Southern Star held their now annual Pro Am home brewing contest. Just like last year's winning beer Saison was brewed, kegged, and entered into the GABF Pro Am tour, this year's winner will be as well. The winning recipe was a Smoked Porter. Very excited about this beer. I was very sad to see SS's Smoked beer go the way of the dodo bird so I'm happy that they are brewing another one even if it's not their recipe. No word on when this one will be showing up at your local watering hole, but I would guess sometime around late August.

Dieu Du Ciel Peche Mortel

One thing I have learned as I increase my knowledge of craft beers is that almost every country has a craft beer culture. When folks think of Canadian beer most think of Molson, or Moosehead but there is so much more. Many are familiar with the greatness that is Unibroue from Chambly Quebec, but that is not the only craft brewer from the French Canadian province. Located within Montreal lies Dieu Du Ciel, a brewery that I've heard of, but never had the chance to try their beers. That all changed when I picked up a couple of their beers when I was in Colorado recently. The first one I didn't post on was called Rigor Mortis, an amazing Quadrupel that weighed in at 10.0%. Dieu Du Ciel has a reputation for making some amazing and unique brews, many of them are higher gravity. Additionally the artwork on the labels is incredibly eye catching, I don't know who the artist is, or the story behind the labels but they beautifully done. Peche Mortel, or Mortal Sin is a bottle conditioned Imperial Coffee Stout.

The Beer: This one weighs in at 9.2% and pours a pitch jet black with a thick dense head of cafe colored foam. The nose is of rich coffee, chocolate, darkly roasted malts and some citrus notes. The mouthfeel is full and creamy, black coffee with cream, roasted malts, slightly understated notes of bitterness. Very little alcohol. Chewy. It is reminiscent of iced coffee, slightly sweet. Some citrus acidity notes of lemon show up as well. Rich and smooth. Notes of alcohol shows up as it warms. Roasted malts, slight roasted bean bitterness shows up, but for the most part its creamy smooth. Figs, and raisins and other dried dark fruits show up enriching the flavor as the beer warms. This may be the best coffee stout I have ever had. This one gets an A+ from me. Here's what the folks of BA think.

Twisted Pine Hoppy Man

I love going to the liquor store and seeing a beer that I haven't seen before from a brewery that's new to Texas. That's not entirely true in this case as Twisted Pine has been in Texas for a few months with their basic line up of beer's, however last week was the first time I had seen their big bottle offerings like Hoppy Man. Twisted Pine is yet another brewery from Colorado (when on when will Odell's make it down here?!?), this one based out of Boulder. They do make some award winning beers, however my limited exposure to them has been of somewhat solid if unspectacular beers. I was able to taste many of their beers during one of my visits to Denver and a short drive up to their brewery.
This particular beer is a souped up version of their Hoppy Boy IPA. In other words an Imperial IPA.
The Beer: The beer has 3 different types of hops: Cascase, Chinook, and Simcoe, and weighs in at a hefty 10.5%. The beer pours a slightly hazy unfiltered orangish color with a thin off white head. The nose is of citrus hops, some piney qualities, and sweet caramel malts. Big hop impact on the tongue with the first sip, with slight caramel and toasted malts mid palate before plunging head first into a resiny hoppy finish. It was then that I got my first impression of the body of the beer which honestly was lacking. A thin mouthfeel, very little carbonation.
Other notes of caramel, toastiness, toffee, malts on the nose. Yes their is a resin-y finish, but there is also some sweetness mingling with the hops, a little too much sweetness for my tastes. Some spicey white pepper notes come out as the beer warms. An OK DIPA, with lots of hop notes, but with a little too much sweetness for my tastes. This one gets a B- from me. Here's what the folks at BA had to say.

BRC Gastropub part II

For a number of reason's I've been neglecting this blog for the past few weeks. The good news is that I have a few things that need posting, some are new beers that I've tried, other's are posts like this one about restaurants and bars. You may remember a few weeks ago I wrote my thoughts on Houston's new gastropub BRC. Well one of the things that I didn't focus on during that review was the beer. I thought then that it was a disservice to not talk about my thoughts on their beer menu, beer service and all points in between. With that in mind I headed (with my in-laws in tow) to BRC for an early dinner on Saturday and came away with some good news and unfortunately some bad news thoughts on this new establishment.
The Good news? Well, the food continues to be great. With a large party (6) we were able to try a few different appetizers. My wife, the lover of all things pickled ordered the amazing pickle jar again, while we also ordered the Crab Cake Beignets and the Boudin balls. Both orders were small (3 each) but we were able to split each one in half so everyone at the table got at taste. The Boudin balls were outstanding. They may not remind me of the ones I got in Louisiana, but they were crunchy on the outside and hot in the middle with great flavor. The Beignets were a little bit on the doughy side for my tastes, so the texture wasn't necessarily to my liking, but the flavor was spot on. For dinner I got the much talked about Dr. Pepper fried quail with blue cheese potato salad. Awesome. The sweetness of the Dr. Pepper, I mean you could taste it! It was really quite genius, just very very good. The blue cheese potato salad was mixes of blue cheese tangy explosions, celery crunch, and potato. A great wonderful combo.
Other good things? Well the beer for one. There were things on the draft wall like North Coast Le Merle, and while Bear Republic's Apex was gone it had been replaced with a Beglian IPA, Crazy Ivan from the same brewery. They are striving to have great beers on tap and so far are doing a pretty good job. I also noticed that they had expanded the big bottle list, one of the things I had asked for before.
Unfortunately there are two sides to this story which means there is some bad news to report and that's regarding the beer service and really all that encompasses. The first thing you notice when you open up the beer menu (yes the same one I lauded in my initial review) is there are a number of beers crossed out. Now this is bound to happen at a place that doesn't stock kegs and kegs of the same boring beer, but how does one know whats on tap? My first reaction of course would be to ask the waitress what was available that wasn't on the list, and here of course was the problem: She had no idea. She wasn't rude or discourteous exactly, but she just wasn't up to date with what all was new on the draft wall. So I walked up to the bar to get a look at the tap wall to see what I wanted (Bear Republic Crazy Ivan!), and got it poured into a frosty ice cold mug! What? If your restaurant is touting its great beer list and how it cares about craft beer, it shouldn't be pouring beers into what is essentially a frozen mug. Do they serve ice cold wine too? I doubt it, and that my friends is my biggest gripe. I want restaurants to care about beer service as much as they care about wine service. That doesn't mean I want to take beer to the sometimes over the top pretentious level that wine can be taken to, it means that I want folks to care about the temperature the beer and how the serve it. Is that too much to ask?
So where can BRC go from here? Like I said the food is outstanding, as is the beer they serve. However they need to do a couple of things that I think would really help them out: 1) Post updated beer lists as new kegs are tapped and old ones discarded. How do you do this? Well there are a couple of options here: a) go the Gingerman/Stag's Head way and print out a new beer menu when kegs are turned. Unfortunately this can get costly. b) Go the Petrol Station/Flying Saucer/Anvil route and post new beers somewhere like a chalkboard. This is relatively easy, although you need to do it somewhere that everyone can see it which would be difficult for the folks out on the patio. c) train the waitstaff to know what's on tap at all times. Again difficult to do if there are a lot of kegs that have been rotated since the last update to the menu.
2) Get rid of frozen glasses. As a sticker at a local bar says "frozen mugs are for wimps". Craft beer doesn't need them. At the very least choose what beers your going to serve in them, I can appreciate the appeal of an ice cold beer on a hot Texas Summer day while sitting on the BRC patio.
3) Get more beer glasses than just shaker pints. No, you don't need 16 different beer glasses, but all beer shouldn't go into shaker pints and a restaurant/bar is doing a disservice to the beer drinker if they serve their beers like that. This will be especially true if BRC gets big bottle formats of Beglian Ales.

I love what BRC is trying to do, combing good homey American food, with a great beer list. In the two times I have been there, Chef Jeff Axline has shown how much he cares about the food he is making. I only hope that they'll show the same care to the beer that they are serving. I don't want to be all negative, I'm incredibly impressed by the list of beers they are putting together, its by far one of the best of any restaurant in Houston, but if you are going to do it, do it right, that's what I am asking.

Camp Beer III

The next installment of Camp Beer is coming up quickly. For recap's of the previous 2 Camp Beer excursions, check out these posts 1 and 2. Camp Beer is hosted by Cathy Clark who founded the Live It Big organization after her good friend passed. The organization hosts events like Camp Beer, or Cocktail Camp to raise money for other charities. Yes you can drink good beer for a great cause. At Camp Beer, Anvil's Kevin Floyd hosts a tasting of around 20 or so beers, these beers are all highly ranked on sites like Beer Advocate or Rate Beer, and many of them are not available in Texas, so its a real treat to get to taste some of the beers. Check out my previous posts for all the beers we've tasted in the past, but to give you a quick example: Surly Darkness, Three Floyds Dark Lords, Smuttynose RIS, 2003 Alesmith Speedway Stout, Southern Tier Pumking, and Russian River Temptation. These were all served at one of the previous two Camp Beer sessions. I happen to know some of the other beers that Cathy has in her beer stash and while I don't know the exact line up for the next session I can guarantee that if you are a beer lover you want to be there.
So what are the details? Cathy announced yesterday that the next Camp Beer will be held on Sunday June 27th. Tickets will go on sale this Friday. If you want to know exactly when they go on sale follow Cathy on twitter, if you don't have twitter check our the Camp Beer website.

Russian River Supplication

During my recent trip to Colorado I picked up quite a few beers that I can't get here in Houston. I love going to Co for many reasons, but getting beers that are unique to Texas is near the top of the list for me. One of the beers I picked up is from California favorite, Russian River, maker of not only one of the best IPA's in the world (arguably one of the best beers period), but brewer of unusual Belgian style ales as well. They specialize in barrel aging and sour ales. That's a lot to pack in for a brewery, but RR does it all incredibly well.
Supplication is RR's Brown ale aged in French Oak that previously held Pinot Noir. Three strains of bacteria were added along with sour cherries. The bacteria added are Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, Pediococcus.
The Beer: The beer weighs in at 7.0% and pours a lightly beige almost pinkish with a dense head of off white head. On the nose its malty, sour cherries, oak, barnyard notes, hay, and horse blanket. The mouthfeel is medium, tons of carbonation. Funky, tart, sour, acidic are the first impressions of this beer. Notes of cherries, oaky, and dry finish. Vanilla and cherries. It gives me the impression of a cherry vanilla coke. Its not a sweet beer. Although there is a cherry sweetness up front the finish is dry enough that there is a great balance. Sour funky and barnyardy. Tons of sour cherries with undertones of roasted malts, caramel, even a nuttiness. This is such an outstanding beer. Every sip adds some new nuance to the flavor profile. I love it, this one gets an A from me. Here's what folks from BA think.

UPDATE: Experienced a mis-type in my entry. Brettanomyces is a strain of Yeast that was added to Supplication, Lacobacillus and Pediococcus are both different strains of bacteria. Sorry for the error.

Restaurant Review: BRC Gastropub

Ever since I first heard the rumblings about a restaurant that would be celebrating not only good simple food, but craft beer as well, I've been excited. Those first rumblings occurred back in September of last year and I've been following the goings on of BRC Gastropub since that time, waiting for it to open. Well that time has come. The newest 'B' restaurant (joining Branchwater Tavern and Block 7) on Shephard south of Washington Avenue is now open. BRC Gastropub is owned and operated by the same folks that brought you Glass Wall in the Heights. I spoke with Lance Fegan, chef of Glass Wall and co-owner of BRC, about his vision for the food at BRC:

simply put is 'its the type of food a chef would want to eat', it's easy to
understand, easy on the wallet, fresh everyday

Well that sounds good to me, but what about the beer? Well...it has a great selection of draft beers. There are about 25 taps with strong variety, and some Texas Representation in Saint Arnold's and Real Ale. You can get IPA's, Pilsners, Brown Ales, Porters, Belgian Ales... The bottle selection is similar; a very large selection with a few large bottle formats thrown in as well. Larger bottles like Stone's Smoked Porter are available for sharing with the table. All this I knew, but what I didn't know was how it would all come together. How's the food? Are the tap lines in good shape? How's the beer knowledge? I aimed to find out, and headed to BRC for dinner on Friday night.

The full parking lot was a good sign, as we pulled up to the smaller than expected building with the big red rooster out front (I guess this is as good a time as any to explain that BRC stands for Big Red Cock). We headed inside to a well appointed, but small, dining area crowded with tables and booths along one wall. Another wall houses a long bar behind which sits a couple dozen tap handles. Not seeing any tables free, the wife and I headed outside to the comfortable patio and were promptly seated. We were handed the dinner menu and beverage menu. The beverage menu got major bonus points for having the beer list up front with the wine in the back. The beer was well organized into draft, bottle, and large format bottle, with each section subdivided by category (brown, pale ale, IPA, etc...). I selected a Real Ale Devil's Backbone and the wife selected Avery's White Rascal.

Beers chosen, we now needed food. The appetizers looked amazing. Things like Dr. Pepper fried Quail and Blue Crab Beignets sounded awesome, but there was one thing that drew my wife's attention, and that was the Pickle Jar with house cured cucumbers and asparagus. For dinner, my wife ordered the State Fair Griddled Cheese, and I ordered the BRC Pub Burger with Fries. We also ordered a side of Mac and Cheese of the day and Seasonal Fresh Veggies.

The order was taken quickly, and it wasn't too long before our beers and pickle jar arrived. It was exactly as it sounds (and looks). A jar of pickles...crunch, sour, dill...simply awesome. These pickles were divine with sprigs of dill, and whole black peppercorns in the pickling liquid. There were easily 10 or so pickles that we devoured while waiting for our food. Relatively quickly after eating our last pickle, our food arrived.

My wife's griddled cheese sandwhich was stuffed with cheese, steak, and tomatoes. My burger was topped with thick slices of bacon, tomatoes, onions, and a special BRC sauce. My fries came in a neat little mini fryer-esque holder. Our sides were set on the table, and we started eating our way through the food.

Griddled Cheese Sandwich - Texas toast with cheese, sliced steak and tomatoes. A deliciously meaty and cheesey delight. This was well seasoned, not too salty, almost perfect. My only complaint would be that at times the sliced steak was tough to bite through so you would have to take a huge chunk of steak with a bite leaving a lonely pocket of cheese behind. Maybe if the steak was chopped instead of just sliced this would be perfect.

BRC Pub Burger - Tillamook cheese, tomatoes, Maple-y bacon, onions, MEAT, and a BRC special sauce all sandwiched between buns. The bread was creamy eggy deliciousness. The meat was well seared but juicy and just slightly pink in the middle. The bacon crispy. All in all an incredibly well made burger with great textures and high juice factor. I don't know what the BRC special sauce was, and in all honesty I'm not sure what it added, as it surely wasn't overpowering anything on the night I was there. The fries were well seasoned thin strings...simple with large crystals of sea salt and herbs. While they tasted delicious, some were a little too limp and after them touting the 'double fried fries' I expected them to be a little bit crispier. That was a small disappointment that didn't affect their taste.

Mac and Cheese - This dish changes daily depending on what the chef wants to do with his Mac & Cheese. While most times I'm easy to please with this dish, BRC's M&C was truly a treat. Baked with bread crumbs topping the dish, it was hard to tell what the Mac was made with until the first bite....bacon? yep that was there, but something else, something richer, something blue....yep it was blue cheese and bacon Mac and Cheese. This dish was one of my favorites. Yes it was rich, so I couldn't have eaten a whole side by myself but shared with the wife, we were able to do some damage. The crunch bread crumbs added a needed texture to the mac and cheese. It was pretty much perfect.

Seasonal Vegetables - This was probably the one disappointment of the night. A dish of sauteed vegetables. Mainly squash topped with some herbs and what appeared to be a marinara sauce. While it didn't taste bad, it felt like something I'd pick up at a cafeteria compared to the rest of this fabulous meal.

We finished our meals and beers with happy smiles; very content and excited about this new establishment. I didn't talk much about the service intentionally. BRC has been open for such a short period that it was obvious at times that service issues were still being worked out. While our initial orders were taken promptly and the food arrived quickly and hot; after the food arrived we didn't see our waitress much. In fact I didn't get to order a second beer due to her absence, and we had to waive down a busser to pay our bill. This was a hectic Friday, one of their first (if not their first), so for now in my mind its excusable as they get their legs under them. I'll be back for sure and I know that their service will improve (if it doesn't I'll state as much here on the blog).

Other things that I would love to see in the future at BRC:

1) Cask beer - Again I have spoken to Mr. Fegen and they have multiple Cask Engines on order so that should be forthcoming!

2) A larger and more diverse 'large bottle format'. I think this is a way for folks to share a couple of different beers. It can be better to get unusual beers in bottle format vs. draft where you have to worry about long term quality of the beer if patrons aren't buying it.

One idea I absolutely loved that BRC is doing is selling tasters of beers. The tasters were a few ounces and are perfect to give patrons the ability to sample multiple different beers, some that they may not be familiar with before purchasing. Simply a great idea.

BRC is something that I have been waiting for Houston to have for a long time. A place that celebrates not only good simple food, but great beer as well. There are not many places in Houston, if any, with the quality of food and the beer selection that BRC offers which is why it is working its way quickly into one of my favorite places in Houston.

My trip to Colorado

I stated a couple of weeks ago that I had the opportunity to head to Colorado for a special family occasion. However, while there I was able to visit a couple of breweries just as I always try to do when heading to CO. Instead of writing my traditional: this is what I did, this is where I went etc...I want to take this post in a different direction. I want to discuss the breweries I went to and what I saw, but I want to put it into context as a comparison of what is wrong with Texas law's and how its hurting Texas Breweries, the Texas Economy and yes, even Texas Tourism. The best part? Its an easy fix.

During my visit, I headed up to Boulder to visit some breweries. We hit two that got me thinking about this post, and it's those two that I want to discuss. Both are very different, but very applicable to the Texas brewery scene.

The first Brewery we went to was the great Avery Brewing. Before heading to the tour, we stopped by the tasting room. It was pretty full of customers on a Sunday afternoon. Some seem to be spending the day playing games, drinking one of the many beers on tap, and just hanging out. Others were, like us, there for the tour. It was here that I got a chance to taste Avery's new barrel aged beer Depuceleuse, aged in Zinfandel barrels (I was also able to pick up a few bottles). After a few more tastings and a pint for the road, it was off to the tour. The first stop along the tour was the Mash Tun and Fermenters. I was absolutely shocked by how small Avery brewing is. A single tiny mash tun and not that many fermenters; each much smaller than anything that Saint Arnold's has. When I asked our guide how big Avery was, they replied that they just passed Microbrewery status (15,000 bbls) and are now around 18,000. This is much smaller than I expected Avery to be, but am still pretty happy that we are able to get so many of their great beers in Houston. After the mash tun and fermenters, we headed to the bottling line. Again, this was a pretty small operation and, along with their labeling machine, is run by 2 or 3 people. After the bottling line we headed over to the barrel room. This was absolutely the highlight of the tour. The barrels were floor to ceiling with many different labels. Some originally held Rum, Whiskey (CO local Stranahan's), different types of red wine, and different types of white wines. Many of these barrels had white sheets of paper on the front that carried the history of the barrel and what had been in each one, along with owner, Adam Avery's, thoughts on the beer that was aged in side. It was also in this room that I received the inspiration to write this post. I asked our tour guide about the size of the brewery, and how they planned to expand since they were basically land locked in an industrial complex. The tour guide said that by using the money they make in the tasting room: proceeds from selling bottles, merchandise, samples, and tastings, they were going to be able to buy a place and custom build a brewery in the future.

Compare this situation with that of Houston's own: Saint Arnold's. How were they able to build a new brewery? Obviously not by tasting room sales of beer, but more than likely by their contract brewing agreement with BJ's Brew Pub. This contract has probably allowed Saint Arnold's a much higher in-flow of capital than would otherwise have been possible.

The second brewery we went to was brand new and very tiny: Asher Brewing Company, Colorado's first all organic brewery. Another small brewery tucked into an industrial park, but when I say small, I mean teeny tiny! When you entered the door you came face to face with the bar, a small sitting room to the right, a few taps behind the bar, and then a door leading to the brewery itself. I asked the brewerr, who happened to also be manning the taps, if I could take a step back. I headed through the door. I saw a mash tun and a couple of fermenters among other things, and that was it. No bottling line or anything. I came back to the bar, and ordered a sampler of their beers - A wheat, IPA, DIPA, and Green Monstah (strong Ale). While I wasn't a huge fan of the wheat beer, the other 3 were very good. Extremely hop forward, with the Monstah having a wonderfully balanced maltiness. After ordering a pint of the DIPA, I took a seat at the bar and spoke with the brewer for a little bit. Currently they are keg only, but are using the proceeds from their tasting room and selling to local bars to purchase a bottling line (which they were going to be doing in short order). This brewery is only 3 months old, and already were able to see a huge benefit from their tasting room. While I was there, 5 or 6 people came in to sit at the bar and drink, and a couple of folks came in to fill some growlers to take home.

Now compare this scenario with that of new upstart Austin Area brewery Jester King. These guys are making some killer beer, but to start their brewery up they had to raise tons of money. They couldn't rely on starting as small as Asher brewing and use things like a tasting room to build up funds.

So what simple things could Texas do to help our local breweries?

1) Allow breweries to operate like a bar. They don't have to serve food, but wouldn't it be great to stop by a brewery on the way home from work and have a couple of extremely fresh pints? If they wanted to, they could offer chips and nuts, but you don't need to do much more than that. Neither Avery or Asher did and I would say they were very successful in getting folks in for a pint now and again.

2) Allow breweries to sell their beer on site. Imagine being able to go to a tour of the brewery and pick up a six pack or bomber of special beer to go. This is something that has been in work for many years and hopefully this next attempt it will pass. Not only does this help the breweries, regardless of what you may hear, it doesn't hurt distributors for a couple of reasons: 1) The beer breweries sell is not at a discount. Just like wineries, they do not undersell their sellers. Ask CO, CA, or OR distributors and see if they have been hurt by breweries selling some beer on site. The answer is a resounding NO. 2) By not underselling their beers, the breweries are able to get a higher percentage of profit off of those beers, which increases profit margin.

3) Allow breweries to sell Growlers to go. This works similar to allowing them to sell six packs, but also allows a customer to get something that may be offered keg only. There are some breweries in Texas that are keg only, like Live Oak, that would benefit greatly from this for the same reasons as mentioned above.

By doing these thing's how does it help Texas? States that have a strong microbrewery culture also have a strong culture of beer tourism. By making it easier for craft breweries to succeed, you help the economy and tourism. For example, I can go to the Denver area and hire a Brewery guide that will take me to dozens of area breweries, allowing me to pick up some special beers along the way. The same goes for places like San Diego and Portland. Look at Austin! There are many area breweries and more (like Jester King) on the way. Imagine a beer bus type of touring van that took folks from out of state to local breweries, allowing them to buy some beers, take them back to their home state, and talk about how great Texas Beer is. This brings even more folks back into the state, starting the whole process over. Texas has done an outstanding job of supporting the wine industry, and wine tourism has brought a ton of money into this state. When the economy is hurting, and taxing things left and right isn't the answer, shouldn't the state stand by the craft brewer's and at the same time bringing more money to the state coffers?

Avery Black Tot

Boulder based brewing company Avery Brewing is widely known for producing outstanding beers. Not only do they have a solid line of beers available in six packs, but there big bottle series like the Reverend, Salvation, Hog Heaven, Czar, as well as their great beer they collaborated with Russian River on: Collaboration Not Litigation, are all top notch beers. In the last year they have developed a barrel aging program, releasing small batch beers, of differing styles aged in different types of barrels. Some of these barrels contained rum, zinfandel wine or whiskey. The first release of this series was the funky Brabant No 1, followed a few months afterward by Sui Generis. The next release was this ale dubbed the Black Tot, an Imperial Oatmeal stout aged in Giddings Rum casks (they've since released a 4th barrel aged beer).

The Beer: This one weighs in at 10.0% and pours a pitch black with a thick head of dense dark tan colored foam. The nose is of oats, molasses, chocolate, coffee, figs, and raisins. The mouthfeel is medium bodied, slightly thinner than expected. Notes of chocolate, coffee, espresso, some acidity at the finish. Vanilla, a light oakiness and some licorice notes. A very complex ale that starts to show some slight funky tanginess brought forth from residual bacteria growing the rum casks. This tanginess gives the beer a presence of sour cherries covered in dark chocolate. This is a wonderful beer, and might be my favorite of Avery's barrel aged line of brews. This one gets an A- from me. Here's what the folks at BA think.

Deschuttes Jubel 2010

Many brewer's these days put out special once a year ales. Most of these are anniversary beers like Shiner's 100, or 101 beers, others are special cult like ales that folks stand in line for hours to obtain (like Three Floyd's Dark Lord). However Oregon brewer has taken this a step further and has brewed a beer that is released in bottles once a decade. This ale dubbed Jubel has been made just twice, once in 2000, and now it has been released once again. However unlike many other special beers, this one while not easy to find, you didn't have to sell your soul to get. So whats so special about this beer you ask? Well Deschuttes takes their winter seasonal Jubelale, a dark strong ale that has some hops at 60 IBU's and weighs in at 6.7%. Above I mentioned that Jubel is bottled once a decade, however it is available on draft at Deschuttes brew pubs. To create this beer, they've brewed a stronger version of their Christmas ale and aged it in Oregon oak Pinot Noir Barrels.

The Beer: This one weighs in at 10.0% and pours a rich dark brown with ruby highlights and a thin line of taupe colored head. The nose is of rich malts, cherry, raisins, figs, plums, and coco. The mouthfeel is thick and chewy. Strong notes of alcohol. Dark Russian bread, fig compote, raisins, prunes, notes of coco, candied sugar, christmas bread, vanilla and oak all show up in the flavor profile. It's an incredibly flavorful beer, with concentrated dried dark fruits as it warms, sticky toffee. This beer is strong, tastes much more than the 10% it is. Alcohol becomes even more prevelent as it warms. Looking at the bottle there is a "best after" date. The date is next year. Glad I got a couple more bottles becuase this one should age wonderfully well.

Port Brewing Shark Attack

Back home after a few days in Denver visiting the in-laws (details and other thoughts on my visit in an upcoming entry, I promise). As always I picked up a stash of brew and if you follow my twitter feed there were even pictures! Last night after I returned home I cracked open a bottle that I had brought back. This one from San Diego brewer Port Brewing. Shark Attack is Port's Imperial Red ale.
The Beer: This one weighs in at 9.0% and pours a cloudy brown beige color with a thick dense head of slightly off white foam. The nose is hops, hops, and more hops, grapefruit peel, pine tree sap. The mouthfeel is medium bodied and much maltier than the nose. Creamy without a lot of carbonation. Malty up front, notes of caramel, toffee, biscuits, then it finishes with a hammer of hops across the tongue. Citrus pith, tongue saturating hoppiness. White pepper spice. Very good beer well balanced with hops and strong malt characteristics up front. This one gets an A- from me. Here's what the folks at BA had to say.

Boulevard Harvest Dance

It seems like a long time since I've picked up a brew from Kansas City brewer Boulevard, and what better way to get reacquainted then grabbing a beer from their Smokestack series. This Harvest Dance is a Wheat Wine. Now some of you may be going a what? I've heard for a barleywine, but what is this Wheat Wine you speak of? Well glad you asked.
Like a barleywine, Wheat Wines are strong ales, however they are relatively new to the beer scene where as barleywines have been around for a long time. However they also mix in the complexity of a Wheat beer with many of these wheat wines having upwards of 50% of their malt bill being wheat. I've never had a wheat wine, so this is something that I've been wanting to try for some time.
The Beer: This one weighs in at 9.10% abv and pours an orange copper with an absolutely ginormous pillowy slightly off white head. The nose is full of fruity esters, banana, cloves, bubble gum, spice, just like a great hefeweizen should. The first sips give the impression of a very full mouthfeel, alcohol, winish quality. Then those things part and you start to get the impression of a "heavier" wheat beer. Bananas, spices, cloves, then white grapes, honey suckle-ish quality. A dryness that reminds me of a trippel. Some astringency notes. As the beer warms one can get a "wheat-y" taste that's quite nice. Also much lighter in the mouthfeel than a barleywine is which is very nice. A bit boozy. If I had to sum it up in a sentence it would be like taking a Belgian Trippel mixed with a good Bavarian Hefe. An interesting beer that makes me want to delve deeper into this style. This gets a B+ from me. Here's what folks at BA had to say.

Magazine Review: Beer Connoisseur

A new magazine has joined the ever growing ranks of Beer publications. There is of course the great All About Beer (one that I have subscribed and can heartily recommend), Beer Advocate (the magazine version of the on-line community), DRAFT (I've heard problems about their subscription, but I've enjoyed picking it up at the news stands) and Beer (a beer magazine for the Maxim crowd). Well now there is Beer Connoisseur magazine one that is released quarterly. But how does it compare, and how does it make it self different than the others?
The first thing you notice when you see it on the newsstand is it's size. This is a large format magazine (think Wine Spectator, the old LIFE, etc) and it grabs your attention. The cursive type of Beer, the big block letting of Connoisseur, the beautiful photography on the cover it speaks to you. It was this that made me pick it up for the firs time a few months back. Now that they have released their second issue, I wanted to write my thoughts and tell my avid readers (I know there's a few out there....I hope I'm not just talking to myself) if it's worth a pick up. The first thing I did was see who was contributing to it. Its different than DRAFT or All about beer, both of which seem to share many writers and frankly many features. Some of the contributors include Stephen Beaumont, Shawn Connely (of Beer Philosopher.com), Martyn Cornell, Evan Rail, Lisa Morrison (aka the Beer Goddess). All of these have a pretty large following on the on-line beer community and many have written wonderful beer related books so seeing them contributing to this magazine gives it some credibility. The next thing I look for is the different features. One thing that they don't have is a "Whats going on in beer" feature. In AAB, DRAFT, or BA mags this the feature that goes over news in the industry, mergers, technology, etc. However, in this day and age of on line news, it seems unnecessary, so I have no issue with it not being in this mag. Its other normal features do include a Style Guideline section where Shawn Connely introduces readers to different styles each issue. These are usually informative, and includes info that you can also find on BJCP.org. The other features include a Travel piece (This month on Czech Republic), an interview (called the Innovator Series, this month with Garrett Oliver), Food and Beer, and of course Reviews. There are other things of course, this month has a very interesting piece on Green brewing and the Accidental Connoisseur discussing things outside of beer (thinks Scotch, Whiskey, etc).
Over all the features are all very well done, well laid out, very well photographed and well written for the most part. The beer and food section is probably the best of any beer magazine I've seen, with great recipe's, great photography, and really utilizes either beer (something more than Guinness or pilsner that many other beer magazines use) in the recipe or as pairings with the food.
The Beer Review section is done very well also and done a little differently than other magazines. For example they do not group beer styles or even state it within the review the style of the beer. I would like at least the latter (my personal favorite method for beer reviews is AAB). But each food pairing comes with a Food Recommendation both a complimentary and contrasting pairing which I think is a great idea. Each review pictures the beer poured into a brewery glass, the reviews are well written and in two issues I haven't found one that I strongly disagree with.
Another thing that separates this magazine from others is that it focuses much more on the south. While I feel that AAB and BA specifically tend to focus a lot of their attention on either the West Coast or north east, this magazine does have southern, and specifically south eastern influence going so far as to do a separate "Southeast Beer Review". Additionally Beer Connoisseur has a wonderful companion website that one can search for food & beer pairings, brewpubs, travel tips, etc, along with an excellent beer forum.
This review has been pretty positive so far, however there are some issues that I have. One is that there is a lot of space taken up by advertisements, honestly no more than other magazines, but its not something I'm a huge fan of (yes I understand you have to pay the bills). Secondly I do wonder if they are being too hoity-toity with the term Beer Connoisseur. Its a fine line between getting folks to respect beer and understanding that it deserves the same respect and place at the table that wine does, and trying to make beer an elitist beverage. I'm not saying that BC Magazine does this, but that they are walking a fine line, it will be interesting to see how they evolve over time. Lastly and maybe most importantly is the price for subscription. This is a quarterly magazine, so 4 issues a year and it costs $21.00, compare this to BA (12 issues/yr for $29.99) or All About Beer (6 issues/yr for $20.99). You can see that this magazine is probably way more expensive than it should be and honestly I think to really sell its going to have to lower prices.
There are a few other things I would love to see in this magazine. 1) Something that has not been done in any "national" beer magazine (but is done in other magazines), is to create a regional review section separate from the main review. So the south eastern US would keep the Southeast Beer section, but other regions would have Southern Beer, Mountain Region, Northwest, Northeast, West Coast, etc (and if they needed someone to review the Southern beer's I'd be more than happy to help!). There is precedence to this, for example Sports Illustrated does have some regional features especially for subscribers. Another thing I'd like to see is styles mentioned in the beer review section. You can see a beer reviewed and have no idea what style it is supposed to be. I think this is important when you also look at their outstanding section on Beer Styles. Lastly and I've mentioned before, they have to lower their subscription price. For only 4 issues the yearly subscription is just too high.
Now to answer the question? Is it worth picking up? Let me preface with this magazine is absolutely a wonderful addition to the line up of Beer related magazines, and along with their website a great addition to the on-line beer community. Taking into consideration it has the best photography of any beer magazine, great contributors, good reviews, good features, I will absolutely pick this magazine up on the newsstand. Will I get a subscription? Not yet, I need to see how this magazine grows, and as I've stated a couple of times already I think the price is just too high.

Lost Abbey Inferno

I've been extremely lucky as of late to try as many Lost Abbey beers as I've been able to due to my travels to Denver. I know that some in the past have had carbonation or other quality issues, but I have never experienced those and in fact been more than pleased with everything I've had from the. As with most brews Lost Abbey makes this one is another Belgian style ale, specifically a Belgian Strong Pale Ale (think Duvel).
The Beer: This one weighs in at 8.5% and pours a pale golden color with a thick head of bright white foam. The nose is of pale malts, noble hops, small grassy notes. Medium to full mouthfeel Crisp dry, grassy, pale malts, an earthy hop ting, minerally. Very dry. There is some sweetness up front, but as stated the finish is pretty dry. Good level of carbonation. Maybe a note of honey, strawy, hay, grassy, yeasty notes. Great food beer (as is Duvel). This one gets a B+ from me. Here's what the folks at BA think.

Real Ale Sisyphus

I always look forward to the release of Real Ale's outstanding Barleywine. So much so, that I immediately go out and buy a bunch of bottles so that one day in the future I can do a multi-year vertical and see how well these things hold up. But that tasting is for later, today we talk about the most recent vintage of Sisyphus.
The Beer: It pours an orangish copper with a good dense head of off white foam. The nose is hoppy, citrus, grapefruit, raisins, malty. The mouthfeel is full bodied, hoppy, grapefruit peel, balanced with strong caramel malty flavors. Raisins, vanilla, toffee, almost a bourbony quality. There is a slight metallic taste to the beer. Sticky. It works towards balancing hoppy with malty sweetness. I must say that this vintage is not my favorite, but I will be interested to see how well this holds up. This one gets a B from me.

Camp Beer: Excursion #2

Today was the day, a day I have been excited about since I received the announcement that Camp Beer II was going to occur. You may remember how awesome Camp Beer I was. Well Camp Beer II promised more of the same. The Camp Beer events are part of the Live It Big charity that assists small and start-up charities to grow by raising money for them throughout the year. They also host a Cocktail Camp. The Idea behind Camp Beer is to bring to the beer lovers of Houston, hard to find and very sought after beers, many not available in this city. The event is hosted by Kevin Floyd, beer man and co-owner of Anvil Bar and Refuge. He put together the list of beers for the tasting, organized it, and was in charge of telling us a little about each one, along with answering any questions the folks may have about beer in general. For this Camp Beer there were about 20 or so folks, getting the opportunity to taste 21 beers. Below are my notes on the beer tasted in the order we tasted them (unless stated otherwise these beers are not available legally in Texas).

Uncommon Brewers Siamese Twin: This first ale from a Santa Cruz California was our only beer to be packaged in a can. This was an unusual 8.5% Belgian Dubbel style ale brewed with keffir lime, coriander, Thai spices, and lemon grass. It poured an orangish color with a slightly off white head. The nose was of lime, spices, pale malts, and yeasts, even some lemon grass. The mouth was not as promising as the nose was. Medium bodied, crisp, clean, but sweetness, slight burn and grainyness. Some off flavors here that may be from the all the different spices not coming together in a cohesive manner.

Russian River Temptation: This was the first of 3 different Russian River beers we were able to taste. A blonde ale aged in Chardonnay barrels with Brettanomyces and weighs in at 7.25%. It poured a hazy blond with a good size white head. Sourness on the nose, oaky, yeasty, some wineish notes as well. Sour tart and effervescent on the mouth. Slightly acidic, finishes very dry. Really enjoyed this beer, as a wonderful example of what wine barrel aging can do to a beer.

Lost Abbey Duck Duck Gooze: Due to my limited contact with Lost Abbey beers this was one of the ones I was looking forward to the most. A gooze (essentially an unflavored lambic ale) that weighs in at 7.0% it pours a hazy golden color with a small white head. Sour yeasty smelling that was shockingly sour on the first sip. Medium mouthfeel, sourness of course, notes of white pepper, lemon citrus notes, good blend of light malts, some sweetness as well that along with the counteracting sourness creates a wonderfully balanced beer. Very enjoyable.

Southern Tier Pumking: The first of many Southern Tier beers we tasted during this session. This one is an Imperial Pumpkin ale that weighs in at 9.0%. It pours a bright orange color and smells of pumpkin, let me reiterate that, it smells of PUMPKIN! And pie spices, although from the label I can't tell that they used any or not, but it reminded me more of pumpkin bread than pumpkin pie. There is some alcohol here, but its not over the top, instead adding a nice pleasant brandyish flavor to the brew. Very enjoyable brew, that I hope I can find next fall.

Dogfish Head Fort: The first beer from Delaware's Dogfish head, is also the first beer that is available in Texas. A brew made with raspberries this one weighs in at a robust 18.0%. It pours an amberish color and smells of tart raspberries. The mouthfeel is medium bodied, but its very sweet, fruity, raspberries, tartness, strong notes of alcohol. This one is meant to age for 3 to 5 years and this one was about 2 years old and definitely needed some more time. This has never been one of my favorite DFH beers but it was interesting to try one aged.

Alesmith Anvil ESB: A huge fan of this San Diego area brewery, but never have had the chance to try their bottle conditioned ESB before. It pours a nice coppery color with a good creamy off white head. There is some caramel notes, earthiness, malts on the nose that leads me to believe this is definitely going to be a English style pale ale. The mouthfeel is way overly carbonated leading to me not being able to discern many more flavors, maybe some caramel, some earthy floral hops, but not any strong flavors. My tablemates and I wonder if the bottle is bad. I will look for this again to see if it was just one bottle or if this was what was intended.

Bear Republic XP Pale Ale: A second beer that's available in our city, this is an Exception Pale Ale that weighs in at 5.4%. It pours a light golden color with a thin white head. Citrusy hoppy nose, caramel, malts. Earthy hops, some citrus notes, some sweet caramel and malts on the tongue. Very smooth, tasty, and incredibly drinkable, almost sessionable.

Russian River Damnation: A beer that I am familiar with, I was none the less excited to try it again, this is Russian River's take on the well known Duvel. It weighs in at 7.75% and pours a pale golden color. The flavor is just as I remember it, light lemony scents, bready yeasts, grassy, candied sugar. Crisp, clean, oranges, spices, some corriander flavors from the yeast. Great beer.

Ise Kadoya Genmai Ale: This was a beer that I was extremely excited to try. The brewery is based out of Japan and after many years of making other things (soy sauce and miso mainly) they decided to get into brewing. This particular brew is a Pale Ale made with brown rice and weighs in at 5.0%. It pours a cloudy coppery with a thin white head. There is a brown rice hint to the nose and I wish that I could say it lived up to my admittedly unfounded expectations, but it did not. Both in flavor and smell myself and tablemates couldn't get over a wet cardboard or urinal cake smell to the beer. Disappointing.

Port Brewing Wipe Out IPA: Another brew that I was looking forward to, and this one did live up to expectations. Weighing in at 7.)5 the beer poured a pale golden color with a good white head. Grapefruit on the nose with very little malt backbone. Medium mouthfeel, this one is all about celebrating the hops. Great amounts of grapefruit and citrus peel, almost sticky. I could sit down a big bottle of this and be extremely happy.

Mayflower IPA: The placement of this beer in the tasting was an excellent choice by Kevin to highlight the differences between a West Coast IPA and an East Coast IPA like this one. Weighing in at 7.0% just as with the Wipeout its a completely different beer. Copper colored with an off white head, the nose is of sticky malty caramel, earthy floral hops. The mouthfeel is a little fuller, more malty, more balanced, but still achieving a slight hoppy resiny finish. Very good well balanced IPA.

Russian River Salvation: This was our last brew from Russian River, a dark Belgian beer. Weighing in at 9.0% its a rich dark brown beer with a white head. Malty, sour cherries, figs on the nose. Candied sugar figs and malts flavor this full bodied brew. Easier drinking though than I would have expected. Some sweetness, with figs and raisins, concentrated dark fruits. Good example of the style.

Three Floyds Moloko: This one is an 8.0% milk stout that pours a pitch black with a tan colored head. The nose is of dark roasted malts, some sweetness as well. The mouthfeel is creamy sweet malts, roasted coffee, coco, sweetness, very drinkable, hides the alcohol very well. A very drinkable beer.

Southern Tier Java: An 11.0% stout made with Blue Mountain coffee this beer pours a dense black with a good size head of cafe colored foam. The nose is of raisins, figs, coco, coffee. The mouthfeel is lighter than expected, creamy. Notes of raisins, figs, coffee, really great coffee flavor here. There is not a lot of burnt malt or burnt coffee flavors here that one has a tendency to get in a lot of coffee stouts. Done very well, maybe one of the best that I've had.

Foothills Sexual Chocolate: A coco infused Imperial Stout that weighs in at 9.75% abv 85 IBU's. Again pouring a pitch black with an almost reddish tinge to the tan head. The nose is of coco, malts, dark chocolate. The mouthfeel is thick and creamy. The brew starts off really well with dark bitter chocolate notes, roasted malts, espresso beans, but the beer finishes very acidic that I didn't really care for.

Southern Tier Hoppe: An imperial extra pale ale this one weighs in at 8.5% and poured a pale yellow. Very hoppy citrusy nose. The mouthfeel is medium bodied, flavors of green or fresh hops, pale malts, citrusy, bitter grapefruit pith. I'd call it a good IPA.

Southern Tier Creme Brulee: The last Southern Tier of the tasting. It weighs in at 10.0% and pours a very dark black with ruby red streaks. The nose...holy cow the nose, its smells of fresh baked cake, chocolate, vanilla, breadyness. The first flavor? Its LIQUID CAKE! Medium bodied, notes of vanilla, chocolate, creamyness. Its sweet, but its not cloyingly so. This would go so well with ice cream its ridiculous. Wonderful beer and after the ones I've tasted tonight I really need to get some Southern Tier beer.

Bell's Expedition Stout: This is my first run in with this Michigan brewery. Although I am familiar with their work, I've never had the chance to try their beers so I was pretty excited to do so at the tasting. This one weighs in at 10.5% and pours a very dark black with a cafe colored head. Dark chocolate, malts, raisins, on the nose. Full mouthfeel with some alcohol burn. Flavors of coffee, chocolate, raisins, roasted malts, creamy chewy goodness. A very good solid Imperial Stout I really enjoyed this one.

Great Lakes Barrel-Aged Blackout Stout: An oak aged stout weighing in at 9.0%? Yes please. This one pours a black with a taupe colored head, smelling of roasted malts, vanilla, oak. The mouthfeel is medium bodied, strong flavors of whiskey here. Although the label makes no mention of this being whiskey barrels that the beer was aged in, the folks at my table all agree, that there was. It was almost too strong, but still made for a pretty good beer.

Dogfish Head World Wide Stout: Another beer that I have had before, and frankly wasn't that excited about as my first time wasn't all that enjoyable. It pours a very dark brown almost black. Its portish on the nose, hints of vanilla, coco, raisins, malts, alcohol. Full bodied mouthfeel, raisins and figs, an almost sour tang at the finish. Sipping this, treating this beer like a port, I actually started to enjoy it this time around, which makes me happy that I have another bottle aging.

Surly Darkness: The last beer of the night, and of course the one I was really excited to try. I've heard lots about this brewery from Minesota, but never had the chance to try much from them other than quick tastes at GABF. This of course is their Imperial Stout that weighs in at 9.8%. It pours a dark deep black. The nose is of malts, chocolate, coffee, malts, smells like a package of whoppers. The mouthfeel is full, and it tastes like whoppers! Wonderful creaminess, chocolate, rich malts, vanilla. Rich, delicious, smooth, easy drinking for what it is. I really like this beer.

Another great event hosted by Cathy and her team at Live it big. Thanks to her and Kevin for an awesome evening of great beers. Can't wait till the next one. Not only are these fun for tasting beers, but they are great ways to meet fellow beer lovers in Houston. It was nice to meet all those folks today.

Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Fritz and Ken Ale

30 years ago this year a little brewery in Chico, California opened, their first beer was a shockingly (at the time) hoppy pale ale. That beer became a hit. The brewery of course is Sierra Nevada one of the pioneers in the craft beer movement and one that has made it through the good times and bad times of the movement with success. 30 years in the craft beer industry is just flat out amazing and is worthy of a grand celebration. In honor of their great birthday, SN is not releasing just one beer this year, instead they'll be releasing 4 different ones the first three collaborations or homages to other craft brewery pioneers. The four are as follows:
Fritz and Ken Ale: A beer guest brewed with Anchor Brewing owner Fritz Maytag, a strong stout. Release: Out Now.
Charlie, Fred, and Ken's Lager: Brewed with Home Brew pioneer and AHA founder Charlie Papazian, and beer writer Fred Eckhart, this one is an Imperial Helles Lager. Release Mid-May
Jack and Ken's Ale: Guest brewed with Jack McAuliffe the original craft brewer. Jack started New Albion largely credited as the first microbrewery in the country, unfortunately that brewery closed in 1982 but his legacy continues to live on. This beer is an American Barleywine brewed with 100% Cascade hops. Release: Mid July.
Brewers Oak-Aged Reserve: This one is a blend of SN's Pale Ale, Oak Aged Bigfoot, and Celebration and then dry hopped. Release: Mid-Oct.
The Beer: This stout weighs in at 9.2% and pours a deep dark black with a thick dense tan head of foam. The nose is of coffee, slightly burnt roasted malts, raisins, some alcohol, licorice. The mouthfeel is thick and creamy, almost syrupy, viscous. Notes of coffee, dark chocolate, licorice, raisins, figs, memories of dark chocolate covered espresso beans come to mind. Very little alcohol. My wife plants a small scoop of chocolate/chocolate chunk in to the last bit of beer in her glass and it seems a match made in heaven its so rich.
The beer IS rich, syrupy, but bitter with dark coco nib flavor. A delicious beer and worthy of celebrating this fine brewery. This one gets an A from me. Here's what the folks at BA think.

Beery Houston Happenings

30 MARCH UPDATE below!

There's a few things going on around Houston that I felt the need to point out.

- First up is a new note on Anvil Bar & Refuge. Fresh off an amazing anniversary party last Sunday, the crew there is continuing to give back to its customers. Starting this Saturday they will be doing half off all drafts starting from when they open at 5pm until 9pm. If it catches on with the customers, they may make this a weekly thing. So if you've been thinking Anvil's beer prices are too high, here is your chance to take advantage of some amazing beers at half off.
UPDATE: Spoke with Kevin Floyd at Anvil, they are continuing the Saturday Half off Drafts, however it is from 5pm to 8pm.

- A reminder that I'll be attending Beer Camp II this Sunday. Check out here for a list of the beers we'll be tasting. The ones that peak my personal interest? Lost Abbey Duck Duck Gooze, the Russian River beers, Southern Tier beers, Uncommon Brewery Siamese twin ale, and Surly Darkness. This should be a great event, one I've been prepping for (yep prep...its hard work!). I'll try and post my notes as soon as Sunday night on the event.

- Lastly another week another Saint Arnold's beer dinner. This time closer to where I live down in the Clear Lake Area. Local Houston Brewery has announced that next week on April 1 (nope its not April Fools!), Kemah restaurant The Flying Dutchman will be hosting a Saint Arnold's beer dinner. The dinner will be six courses, with beers paired with king crab cake, gumbo, shrimp and stuffed beef tenderloin, dessert will be bread pudding and Saint Arnold root beer. The cost is a very approachable $45. If you've been holding off on a Saint Arnold dinner due to the price then here is a great chance to go to one that is very reasonable. For reservations contact 281-334-7575

If anyone knows of other events coming up, let me know and I'll add them to the Events Calendar on the right hand side of the blog.

Brewdog/Stone Bashah

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