Wednesday Whiskey err Beer and Cigars

 

A special Wednesday pairing post.  While I drink more whiskey than beer these days, I still enjoy a good beer and cigar pairing.  As with most things, some beers make much better pairings than others those are usually darker, barrel aged beers.  This particular beer is one of those great cigar pairing beers, but it is so much more than that. This beer celebrates Houstons own Saint Arnolds 30th Anniversary.  30 years brewing craft beer is a tremendous feat, especially when you look at how many craft breweries have either shut down recently, or sold out to a a Macro brewer, or even tried to combine forces with other smaller craft breweries.  Saint Arnold has stayed true to its roots, and has stayed independent throughout it all.  While I haven't been in Houston for all of Saint Arnolds existence, I started visiting the brewery back in 2002 when they were in an un-airconditioned warehouse. Summers were fun.  I've written about them many many times in the past on this blog, even getting the opportunity to interview the owner Brock Wagner.  I am very happy to toast Saint Arnold and their 30 successful years with this outstanding beer.

The Beer

The beer is called a Grand Cru, which has no real meaning, but for Saint Arnold it means taking their imperial stout Commitment, aging it in bourbon and whiskey barrels for 2-4 years, then finishing it in Tokaji, Madeira, or Port barrels before blending it all together to create something that is incredibly unique.  The beer pours a dark opaque brownish black with a thin quickly dissipating copper colored head.  Bourbon, booze, oak, and vanilla spice on the nose.  The mouthfeel is viscous, thick, heavy.  Rich and creamy, wine like on the palate.  Notes of port, dried fruits, slight oxidation.  Cherries, tobacco, chocolate, slight acidity.  Damn this is superb.  It's been a long time since I have had a beer this complex, and enjoyable.  Outstanding job by the Saint Arnold team.

The Cigar

When I smoke a cigar, I don't always want something that is going to last me an hour or more.  Sometimes, I want something that is a shorter smoke, I am not in the mood to have a long sit down.  When I am in that mood, I usually reach for a Nub, a small short stubby brand of cigars from Oliva Cigar company of which I have spoken about many times before.  Nub makes a fairly wide range of small stubby sticks, in various shapes, but all are thick gauged.  This particular stick is from their Nuance line, specifically their Single Roast.  This is one of the few flavored type of cigars I have smoked as it is infused with coffee flavors and has a sweet cap on the wrapper.  An Ecuadorian wrapper with Nicaragua filler, and very thick gauged this is not a harsh smoke at all. This is a creamy milk chocolate bomb, with a slight spice and cedar plank finish.  It worked well with the beer, but I could have actually used a little more robust cigar I think to play off of the beer.  Something I will have to try in the future.

New Beer Thursday: Jolly Pumpkin Weizen Bam

A day late, but not a dollar short.  This week's entry into New Beer Thursday comes from a brewery that I am incredibly excited is now in Texas, the great Jolly Pumpkin brewery out of Michigan.  Jolly Pumpkin is known far and wide for making awesome barrel aged sour and wild ales.  They've been doing it for a long time, well before it became THE thing to do.  Not only that, they do it extremely well.

This particular beer is a traditional farmhouse hefeweizen made with local wild and sour cultures and aged for a time in oak barrels.  Now a traditional German Hefeweizen pours a cloudy yellow, with a thick thick white head, and has notes of clove and banana on the nose and palate.  So with that in mind, I poured the beer.

It pours a bright golden sunshine color, not very cloudy at all.  Its capped by a thin white head that quickly dissipates into a thin film covering the surface of the beer.  The first whiff of the beer brings a hint of cloves and banana, the second brings a souring tartness, hints of barnyard, that one should expect from a beer like this.  The mouthfeel is thinner when compared to a traditional hefeweizen.   Good amount of carbonation, very bright flavors, tart, sour, barnyardy.  Some white pepper, and other spices appear as the beer warms.  Maybe cloves?  No banana.  This is a good beer, very enjoyable and drinkable, but what hurts it for me is calling it a hefe.  Right or wrong I have some expectations when I hear that, and this beer as good as it is, doesn't meet the definition of a Hefe for me with its flavors.  Good sour beer though.

Odell Brewing Sabateur

I know I've said it before, but I am a huge fan of Odell Brewing out of Fort Collins, CO, and nothing makes me happier than a rumor going around that they may be coming to TX in 2013. One can hope. Not only does Odell have an outstanding regular line up of beers, but their line of barrel aged beers is some of the best in the country in my opinion. One brew in particular that I have been looking forward to trying is the Sabateur. Odell brewed an outstanding higher than normal ABV Brown Ale, then added Brett yeast and aged it in American Oak barrels. Got your attention yet?
The Beer: This souped up brown ale weighs in at a very unsession like 10.0% and pours a very carbonated dark rich nut brown color. In fact this beer poured so overly carbonated that I was very concerned that the beer was infected. The first whiff gave no indication though that anything was wrong. There were sour notes on the nose to be sure, but I chalked it up to the brett and oak aging. Some mild barnyard notes as well. Then the first sip confirmed that nope, this beer was not infected. The beer was surprisingly smooth, very much the character of a brown ale. Slightly sweet malts, but then undertones of vanilla, pineapple, before finishing extremely dry. There are some wine like qualities to this brew that add a level of complexity. There is a hint of barnyardiness that helps add to the complexity. Many different layers to Sabateur, that gives it a quite amazing character. Rich sweet brown ale up front, before finishing dry and almost wine like. Another top notch offering from this small Fort Collins Brewery.

Fight Night Beers

This past Saturday was Fight Night, which means its a good night to sit down and have a couple of beers. Unknowlingy there was a theme to the beers I had on Saturday.
Sam Adams Griffon's Bow: The second beer I've had from Sam Adams small batch series, this one is an oaked blonde barleywine. Notice that its oaked and not barrel aged. It weighs in at a hefty 11.5% and pours an orangish golden color with a quarter inch of just off white head. The nose is perfumey, notes of honeysuckle, pineapple, toasted malts, and maybe just a hint of oak. The mouthfeel is medium bodied, a good level of carbonation, slightly sweet up front, almost but not quite cloyingly so. Honeysuckle, melon, but finishes dry. Some alcohol, white grape juice flavors, an oaked white wine characteristic. There is a lack of depth to these flavors though that keep it from being really really good. Instead its ok, something worth picking up, but not one I would go out of my way for again.
North Coast Grand Cru: A new beer to the Texas market from a brewery that we've had in the state for a long time and one that makes some outstanding beers. This is a bourbon barrel aged beer made with agave nectar and weighs in at an even heftier 12.9%. It pours a hazy pale golden color with a thin white head. The nose again is perfumey with notes of honey, melon, pale malts, more oak on this one then the last. There are more phenolic notes of alcohol in this beer than the last as well. Great level of carbonation and again sweet up front, melons, honeysuckle. A rich beer, but its very bright, nothing is lost in its richness. Effervescent almost. This has an almost ice wine character to it. It finishes very dry. As it warms notes of peaches, vanilla, nectarines, even a slight tartness that rounds its character out. There is so much depth to this beer its unbelievable. I really enjoyed this one, and I think this is what the Sam Adams beer was trying to be. They are both very similar styles in certain respects, Sam Adams version was almost there, North Coast's was there and then some.

Deschutes The Stoic

Deschutes is one of those breweries that has a good line up of regular beers and seasonals that are available in six packs. Then, however, they take things up a whole other level with their special releases. Their Abyss Stout is top notch and one that is considered a "must have" for beer nerds. We are lucky in Houston in that we not only get their six-pack line up but we are starting to get most of their special beers as well. We've been getting their Bond Street (named for the street where their original brew pub was on) series of beer (you may have seen Hop In The Dark, Hope Henge among others). Now we are getting their really special beers like Abyss, Black Butte anniversary, and the subject of my post today, The Stoic.
This one is an usual beer to be sure, before my tasting notes, here are the stats: A quadruple style (which really isn't a true style so call it an American Strong Ale if you want), fermented with pomegranate juice and then portions of the beer are aged in used oak wine barrels, and used oak rye whiskey barrels. Oh yeah it weighs in at 11% abv.
The Beer: The beer pours a light orange color with a thin white head. There is notes of oak, pomegranate, vanilla, fruity esters. The mouth is medium bodied, very fruity, notes of white wine, oaky, spicey, very small hints of pomegranate flavors. Some alcohol burn is present as well. A tartness starts to show up as the beer warms. I keep going back to sweet, almost cloyingly so, with no counter. Sure there is a hint of oak, and some alcohol flavors, but its just a little sweet. If it was dialed back just a bit, and maybe some more oak or even whiskey (which I didn't get at all) it would be a balanced better beer. Its a beer to try as it's not ridiculously expensive, but one I don't know if I'd go out of my way for. This one gets a C from me.

Fight Night Beers

A little late in posting this, but a week ago last Saturday was Fight Night, and as I'm likely to do, I sat down watched some fights and had some great beer. A local beer, and English Beer, and a barrel aged beer made it a good night.
Real Ale Phoenixx: First up is a local beer, a juiced up version of an English ale, this is Real Ale's Double ESB. The beer weighs in at a very un-English 7.2%, but made with English Malts and English Hops including Phoenix. Phoenix is a high alpha hop that is similar to Challenger. This beer pours a cloudy chestnut brown with a thick taupe colored head. Plenty of caramel malts, on the nose along with earthy musty notes and light on the hops. The mouth is much more hop-centric, medium bodied, with some caramel malt undertones. Earthiness, but some tongue coating resin. Let me repeat, highly resinous. Lots of caramel malts, this one is a great beer, that highlights some great English Ale flavors on steroids. A very enjoyable beer.
Kernel S.C.C.A.NS: Next up the English Ale, this one a version of an American brew. An IPA weighing in at 6.9% hopped with Simcoe, Centennial, Chinook, Amarillo, and Nelson Sauvin. The beer pours a bright golden yellow with a thick white head. Lots of sediment in the pour, but thats OK. All hops on the nose, bright, big hops. Citrus, grapefruit peel, some piney noes, and just a hint of toasty pale malts. Medium body, but the tongue is met with an explosion of hops, tongue coating resinous hops. Like biting into a grapefruit peel and all. There's more, and its hard to pick out all the flavors but this unique blend of hops creates a very complex flavor profile. There is spicy pepper notes along with citrus and earthy notes. A great beer that really shows some of the amazing beers that the English Microbrewer's are producing.
Central Waters Bourbon Barrel Stout: We end he night with a the barrel aged beer, Bourbon barrel to be exact. This is Central Waters Imperial stout. It pours an incredibly rich dark black with a thick taupe colored head. The nose is heavy on bourbon and vanilla notes, chocolate, roasted malts, charred oak, some caramel sweetness. The mouthfeel is thick, chewy, luscious is a good word to describe it. Lots of bourbon and vanilla and chocolate up front. Some booziness that would mellow with age (which this beer should do beautifully). If I had to compare this beer to food I would say Chocolate vanilla bread pudding with a bourbon sauce. Don't get me wrong though it's not sweet, but there it is rich. Very creamy, milk chocolate is also there, and more bourbon notes as it warms. A great beer, I've really enjoyed the Central Waters beers I've had so far.

Vertical Abyss

In the beer nerd world, top of the line imperial stouts are some of the most sought after beers around. More so when they are limited release. One of the great imperial stouts comes from Oregon brewery Deschutes called Abyss. Released each year to much anticipation it comes in black wax dipped 22 oz bottles. Each year Abyss is made with licorice and molasses 33% of it is aged in bourbon barrels. At 11% these beers are meant to be aged. Unfortunately unlike other Deschute beers Abyss has not been available in Texas, well this changed this year. To celebrate coming to Texas I wanted to do a Vertical of Abyss to highlight just how well this beer ages. Lucky for me (and thanks to Monsters of Beer) I just so happen to have Abyss 06-09. With a friend of mine scoring an early bottle of Abyss (I just grabbed a couple today) all was set to do a 5 year vertical this past Sunday. Me and 5 other beer nerds gathered to taste, here are my notes (as well as comments made by others).
Abyss 2006 - This is the original, the first release by Deschutes. As expected it poured a dark brown almost but not quite black, good carbonation is evident in the pour. The nose is of dark fruit licorice, anise. Many at the table were surprised by how apparent anise was on the nose. Some vanilla and bourbon were also there. The mouthfeel is amazing, rich silky. Some roasted malt bitterness not only from the black patent malt but some hops. Very little if any oxidation. Tongue coating and rich with dark fruits like raisins, prunes and figs. At 5 years this is ridiculously good and if well cellared has many years left.
Abyss 2007 - It pours a dark brown with a thick head than the 06. More boozy notes on the nose, but otherwise its not as strong an in your face as the 06. Around the table we agreed it seemed much younger than the 06. We confirmed our initial thoughts upon drinking the beer. It wasn't nearly as complex as the 06, more dryness, less astringent. Lots of roasted malt, but very little fruit characteristics. I mentioned to others at the table that there were more coffee notes in this version and most agreed comparing the bitterness in the beer to over extracted coffee. There was a staleness to this beer. Not bad, but the 06 blew the 07 away.
Abyss 2008 - This was more like it. The nose here is much bigger than the 07, closer to the 06, a little sweeter some residual sugar on the nose. More oak and bourbon on the nose as well. Good mouthfeel, chocolate, some citrusy notes as well as some dark fruits. Lots of roasted malts here some coco as well. None of the licorice notes that we got from the 06. There was a weird graininess that many around the table mentioned. Not that there was sediment in the bottle it was more a feeling of it. A great nose to this beer. While I am not sure how much longer I would age the 07, I think the 08 has many more years to go.
Abyss 09 - This one was the one I was least looking forward to. Unfortunately I had heard many stories that this beer was infected and had soured. As soon as we opened it up the storied I'd heard proved true. While it poured a beautiful black color, the darkest so far with a wonderful head, the nose gave truth to its nature. Sour cherries, lots of sour lactic notes. Strange as it was, it was drinkable. Some (me) liked it more than others. To me it tasted like milk chocolate covered sour cherries. Others got a metallic like astringency almost vinegary taste. Its not bad, but it's a shame this occurred as I can't imagine that this is cellar worthy due to its defect.
Abyss 10 - We end our vertical with the newest of the bunch. It pours dark, darker than all the rest. A rich deep coal black with a thick tan colored head. The head is actually not as dark as others for whatever that's worth. The nose is full of rich vanilla and oak and bourbon flavors. The mouthfeel is dry, so. very. dry. A heavy dose of alcohol as well, and very little fruit flavors. Fruity esters and toasted oak are the big players here. This is drinkable, but definitely needs some age to help mellow things.

As we finished the vertical we kept going back to the 06 and how incredible that beer was. By far it was our favorite and if we had to rank it the order would probably go: 06, 08, 10, 07, 09. What amazed many of us was how different each beer was. There wasn't a gradual transition from one beer to the next. Some were very heavy with dark fruit, others heavy on licorice and malts, and yet others were heavy with oak, vanilla and bourbon. Deschutes has done a wonderful job with this beer and its definitely cellar worthy material. If you can pick up a few bottles of 2010, drink one, and keep the others to try in 5 or 10 years. I want to thank Dave and his wife, Chris, and Casey and his wife for participating the vertical and for bringing other beers to the gathering. It was a wonderful time.

The Tale of Two Ruffians

If you've read this blog any amount of time you know I have a soft spot for Colorado beers. This is mostly due to my wife being from there and me having had a chance to taste a lot of beers from that state, including some that aren't available in Texas. This is one of those days, where I'm comparing a version of a beer that we get in the state against one we don't. Old Ruffian is Great Divide's barley wine.

09 Old Ruffian: The specs: 10.2% and 90 IBU's, bottled Dec 10 2009. This pours a brownish color with a thick dense head of taupe colored foam. The nose is full of malts, toffee, treacle, caramel, and hops along with a bit of alcohol. A creamy mouthfeel, malty up front then slammed with citrusy hops at the finish. With the next sip you get notes of toffee, caramel, raisins, before finishing even more resinous, sticky. Lots of grapefruit notes, hops are very prevalent but there is a strong malty presence here that does bring some balance. This one gets a B+ from me.

09 Bourbon Barrel Aged Old Ruffian: The Specs: 10.0%, 90 iBU's aged in Stranahn Whiskey Barrels. Hand numbered and I have bottle 375 of 1188. The beer pours a dark cloudy brown with a much thinner head of taupe colored foam. Malts and treacle, toffee, with undertones of oak, vanilla, and bourbon. Hops are very subdued here. Creamy mouthfeel, very little carbonation, some notes of wet cardboard that indicate some oxidation of the hops. Lots of caramel, vanilla, oak and bourbon, again very little hop flavor here. A little boozy. A little disappointing. I was really hoping for a bit more of hop flavor, but the hops have mostly left. A good beer though that gets a B from me.

Avery Depuceleuse

Avery is one of my favorite Colorado brewers. They make great standard beers available in six packs, great large bottle higher abv beers, and lastly they have started releasing an outstanding series of barrel aged wild ales. The first of these was released almost a year and a half ago. In Houston it was only available in bottle at a bar (you couldn't buy them at stores like Spec's). Since then all the other ones have been available at your local craft beer carrying store. Each of these beers are incredibly unique, aged in different barrels, different base styles, etc. The latest of this series Depuceleuse,(say that three times fast)is an ale brewed with 100% Brettanmyoces, sour cherries and aged in Red Wine barrels.
The Beer: This one weighs in at a hefty 9.5% and pours a ruby reddish brown with a thin white bubbly head. THe nose is sour, tart, oaky, funky, with some almost wine-ish notes. The immediate impression is an effervescence with a dry finish. More sips reveals a sour funky barnyard flavor, sour cherries, vanilla, sweet malts. With the good level of cabonation one can imagine a funky cherry-vanilla cola. At times its mouth puckering sour but at the same times it's not completely over the top. As it warms you get notes of tobacco, dark fruits. Throughout it all it hides its alcohol very well. Its sour, its funky but there is a nice balance to it that makes this beer appealing. This one gets an A- from me. Lots of love from the BA folks as well.

A pair of Fight Night Beers

As I do from time to time, I settled down Saturday night to watch some fights on TV. Nights like this are also a good excuse to pop open some new beers (well at least new to me) and last night was no different. Two breweries I'm very familiar with, but beers that I'd never had.
New Belgium Eric's Ale: Now I have actually had this beer, well at least a sample of it waaaay back in 2008 at GABF. This is part of New Belgiums ever expanding Lips of Faith, beers that are usually oak aged, and focus on traditional Beglian brewing methods. This one in particular is named for NB's brewer and is an oak aged sour made with peach juice. It weighs in at 7% and pours a pale pinkish color with a thin bubbly head. The nose is of the barnyard, hay, sourness, peaches, white fruit, grapes. The mouth is effervescent and medium bodied. Tart and sour, notes of cherries, vanilla, oak, reminiscent of a Cherry Sprite. Barnyard notes, hay, funky horse blanket. Peaches, peach bellini. The label says this is a sour beer for those that don't like sours and a fruit beer for those that don't like fruit beers. I gotta say I really dig this one. I do like sour beers but am not a huge fan of fruit beers and this has me wanting more. This one gets a strong A from me.
Boulevard Tank 7: Next up was this farmhouse ale from Boulevard brewing one of their outstanding Smokestack Series of beers. This one though is made with a ton of American hops which raised my eyebrows in interest almost immediately. It weighs in at 8.0% and pours a cloudy straw honey color with a thick dense head of white foam. The nose if of pale malts, grapefruit, and bready yeast. The mouth is vibrant, medium to full mouthfeel. Hoppy, full of grapefruits, pale toasted malts, bready grain, yeasty, chewy, slight peppery notes. Very yeasty, can a beer be doughy? Its good, but I want a little more oomph in this one. This one gets a good B+ from me.

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.

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.