major beer tasting night

Last night I went to a beer tasting with Dan, held at a friend's house. We went through a ton of stuff, so while the memory is still fresh I wanted to say a few things about each of the beers we had.

We started off with a bottle each of Bell's Hopslam, a beer I've had a few times before and really enjoyed. It's a big IIPA with tons of hop character and a decent amount of bitterness. Later in the night I had this in a blind tasting with 3 other hoppy beers, and it didn't rank as well for me as I thought it would, but copious amounts of alcohol may have played a factor in that.

Next we divided up a can of Surly Abrasive Ale. This is another IIPA, and one that I had not had before. This one had citrus character in the extreme, and was quite tasty. I would definitely try it again.

We followed up Abrasive with a bottle of Hopus from Brasserie Lefebvre SA. I'm not sure how you are supposed to pronounce that "bvre" part, but sufficed to say it's from Belgium. In fact this is a Belgian IPA, a kind of odd style in which they put their own Belgian spin on the definitive American style. I thought this one was a bit sweet, without very much hop character at all. However I'm fairly sure this bottle was not fresh, so I won't judge it too harshly.

We moved on to a bottle of Russian River Redemption, a Belgian Pale Ale. This was a good lighter beer to break up the night a bit. It had a decent lemon and grassy flavor with just a bit of tartness.

We went the polar opposite direction at this point, opening a bomber of Victory Dark Intrigue. This is a bourbon-barrel aged version of Storm King, so it tastes about like you would expect. A very good stout base with the normal bourbon-barrel qualities.

We had a Terrapin Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout next. This was an excellent coffee stout with huge roast flavor. I think the bottle we had was from 2009, but it held up extremely well.

Following the Terrapin was BrewDog's Paradox Islay Batch 9 - Ardberg. Supposedly an American Double/Imperial Stout, we got lots of smoky flavors along with a medicinal smell and taste that none of us found at all appealing. We ended up dumping it because it was so bad, I'm assuming there had to have been an infection or something because there's no way anyone would enjoy drinking that.

We got the taste out of our mouths with Oude Boon Geuze. Despite its age and relatively low ABV, because of all the bugs in the beer it turned out well. Nice tart flavors, and explosive carbonation. The carbonation was a little much for me, but that was my only complaint.

Next up we had a Troegs Scratch #39. This is one of I believe 4 IPAs that Troegs is coming out with in the Scratch series. Each one uses a different hop profile in an attempt to refine a recipe that meets popular demand. I mentioned when drinking it that it must have been Simcoe in the beer because it smelled kind of "catty" (to put it politely), which it turns out is correct. It definitely wasn't my favorite hop profile, so I hope they don't settle on that recipe.

We had Hair of the Dog Fred after that, a Barleywine with big malty character and a good hop balance. I'm having trouble remembering the flavors in this one, but I do remember that it was good.

Our host broke out a bottle of Surly Coffee Bender next, a coffee brown ale. This is a spin that I hadn't had before, as normally coffee tends to be added to stouts. I really enjoyed it though, and with a relatively low ABV it would be a regular drinker if I could get my hands on it.

We then had our blind tasting of 4 IPAs. Our host gave us each 4 numbered glasses in order, and we tasted each and ranked them based on how we liked them. When the beers were revealed it turns out that I had ranked Founders Centennial IPA as the top beer, followed by Troegs Nugget Nectar, then Bell's Hopslam, and finally New England's Gandhi-Bot. I would like to try each of them again, but at the time I think I based my decision on how smooth the hop character in the beer was, and how bitter each was. I thought the Hopslam was more bitter than I liked at the time, and felt the Gandhi-Bot was even more bitter and lacking other hop character. Of course, this result again should be tempered by the amount of beer consumed at this point.

We cleansed our pallets a bit with a bottle of Sam Adams Infinium. I had not heard great things about this beer, but was still curious to try it for myself. It was dry, highly carbonated, and fruity. None of us really enjoyed the flavors, and ended up dumping it.

Dan and I finished off the night with a bottle of Portsmouth "BC Stout". I thought it stood for Black Chocolate, but apparently it's Black Cat. This beer was extremely good, with roasty and chocolate flavors in abundance. I would love to have this again some time.

- Adam

Ballast Point Victory At Sea Coffee Vanilla Imperial Porter

Besides Sculpin, I haven't had anything from Ballast Point. However, if you start throwing out words like "coffee" and "vanilla" and "imperial" my mouth just starts watering. Because of this, the Coffee Vanilla version of Victory At Sea sounded absolutely delicious. Some people will say that lately craft breweries have been throwing in extra ingredients just to make a normal brew stand out a little more. While there may be some truth to this, the idea of a coffee vanilla porter really works well for me since the flavors tend to blend well together.

Upon pouring the beer, I noticed a nice aroma of vanilla, with roast underneath. This carries through in the flavor as well, with a surprising amount of residual sweetness. The bitterness from the coffee doesn't come through in the same way that it does in a lot of coffee beers, instead it has a smooth quality to it. Although this makes it seem as if the coffee isn't as present in the beer as it could be, I found it to be well balanced and subtle. This isn't to say that there isn't a fair amount of bitterness to the brew, it actually has a strong hop presence to it. And despite the 10% ABV, the alcohol does not come through in the flavor at all, with just a bit of warmth in the throat.

Even though the flavors were a little unusual for a beer, I found that they blended well and provided balance to each other. The vanilla may have been a bit forward, but I like it in this beer. If you have an opportunity to pick up this beer, absolutely try it out.

- Adam

Photo-journal: Parti-gyle brewing

On New Year's Eve, Dan and I decided to try something a little different. We wanted to make a big Russian Imperial Stout with coffee, but that wasn't quite crazy enough. For this big brew day, we decided to do 2 split 5-gallon batches, as a parti-gyle brew. The idea of a parti-gyle is that you start with a huge grain bill, and all the first runnings become a single batch. You then sparge the grains, and these second runnings make up a lower gravity batch. We went really big with our batches, starting with a whopping 32 and a quarter lbs of grain, well above what a single 10 gallon mash tun could handle. In order to do this brew, we had to use both Dan's and my mash tuns, and both of our pots. It sounds good in theory, but we had to be very careful to split the grains and water evenly, as well as maintain the same temperature in both tuns to ensure good, predictable results. We used 10 gallons of water to mash the Imperial Stout, and got 6 gallons out after grain absorption. We then sparged with another 6 gallons of water for our smaller batch, a Brown Ale with coffee. After a few days of waiting for fermentation to start, it went crazy and needed a blow-off tube put in to keep from popping the airlock. Anyway, all that should give you an idea of what's going on below, now on to the photo-journaling.

- Adam

Competition Results Update

Well, everything is in from our second competition experience. As those of you who have been reading this blog for a while know, I have a tenuous relationship with the BJCP style guidelines at best, so for the most part I don't have much to do with competitions. As kind of a fluke, I put together a recipe for a stout trying to emulate what my original perception of the Rogue XS RIS, and came up with what turned out to be at the higher end (in gravity and IBUs) of an American Stout. We wanted to try to get some feedback on our Imperial Brown Ale again, and the fact that the prize for Best of Show was a 15 gallon stainless steel conical fermentor didn't hurt either. We decided to go ahead and enter the Brown along with the Stout I had put together, and just see what happened. You can read my original post with more details here.

We got some valuable feedback on both beers. The Stout ended up scoring a 44 out of 50 and taking first place in the style, with most of the comments being on how strongly roasty and bitter it was. One of the judges attributed this to the grain bill, while the other thought the bitterness came from the hops. I imagine it's a combination of both, since the hopping in this beer was really designed to add bitterness and accentuate the earthy flavors in the grain bill. Neither of them mentioned the smokiness that I had hoped to derive from the smoked malt I added, but it is very subtle in both the taste and aroma. As mentioned in my other post, this beer is moving on to the Master's Championship of Amateur Brewing, so I'll be sending out 3 bottles to that competition this week.

The Imperial Brown did not fare nearly as well, scoring a 29.5 out of 50 this time. In the previous competition it had scored a 33. Unlike at the National Homebrewer's Competition, we did get some valuable feedback on the beer itself, and didn't just get slammed for being out of style. Specifically we were told that there was too much alcohol heat, the malt wasn't balanced too well with the hop bitterness, and that the body may have been a little too thin. Our next step is to evaluate the beer based on this feedback, and to see if we like the beer the way it is, or if we think the suggestions will make an improvement. I imagine we'll take some of it and leave some of it, as our goal isn't to brew to style, but to brew the delicious beer that we want. The mouthfeel portion especially does seem to have merit to me, so the next time we do this batch we may try to up that a bit.

Either way, it is nice to get both recognition for something we did well, and feedback on how to improve what we did not. I considered this to be a much better experience than our first competition, and although most of our beers at this point wouldn't fit well in this kind of structure, I'll definitely be looking for ways in the future that we can get this kind of input on our beers from knowledgeable and experienced people.

- Adam

Le Saint-Bock Brasserie Artisanale Enigma

Every once in a while, you get a beer that just doesn't do it for you. I picked up this bottle at Capone's because I saw it had an A+ rating on Beer Advocate, and it was already aged. The bottle I picked up was labeled from 2008, although according to the label it was bottled 10/5/09. I was pretty excited about this beer, since it was so highly rated and cost $8 for a little stubby bottle.

When I poured it, it was a deep ruby brown, with no head to speak of. The smell was intriguing, with hints of vanilla and oak, along with tons of dark fruit. A bit of maple pokes through as well. There was a bit of strange tartness in the aroma as well that is hard to place, and an overall boozy feel to it.

It was when I first sipped the beer that everything fell apart. Initially it was fine, with some dark fruit flavors on the tip of the tongue, but as soon as it hits the middle of the tongue it just goes south. There's a sudden explosion of soda-syrup sweetness, combined with prune juice, maple syrup, and vanilla. The taste lingers on the tongue sickeningly, as the alcohol warmth takes over in the throat. There's no hop presence to speak of, and absolutely nothing to provide any balance to the beer. Caramel, maple, toffee, fruit, and other sweet flavors run unchecked through this beer, providing for me the very definition of the term "cloying."

This beer is lacking in the mouth as well, the substantial sweetness somehow still giving way to a thin feeling body, and a carbonation level that again is reminiscent of soda. The high presence of sugar and alcohol somehow sucks the moisture right out of my mouth, leaving it feeling dry despite the fact that this should be a fairly wet beer.

It's an enigma for sure, but definitely not the good kind. I feel almost like this is unfermented (and unhopped) wort from the taste, although the heavy alcohol presence makes it obvious that it is not. I would say that it either needs to be consumed younger or sit longer, but younger and the alcohol heat would make it unbearable, and as it sits the sweetness would seem to come out even more. I can only make two recommendations. First, to the brewer, all the flavors in this beer are normally pleasant, and I loved the complexity, but the sweetness is just too much. This beer needs balance, and the hopping rates have to be boosted even if just on the bittering side. Second, to the consumer I would say avoid this batch at least, if not the beer entirely. It was sickeningly sweet, more so than even soda. It's really a shame, as both Dan and I could only get through a few sips before pouring this one down the drain. So much for that $8 bottle.

-Adam

Dan's Best of 2010

Ok, so I'm coming in a little late with my list, but I've been going back through the hundreds of beers I've had this year, and trying to pick just 10 was really difficult. Thanks to a friend starting up a monthly beer tasting (beerthursdays.blogspot.com) and opening up his home and considerable cellar in the process, as well as my finding a great beer store near work (www.pinbeer.com), I've had a lot of beers I otherwise never would have gotten my hands on. So lets get to it. In no particular order (and probably leaving out some great ones that have slipped my mind) here is my top 10 of 2010.

Dark Lord - A massive Imperial Stout from Three Floyds in Indiana, this is a brewery only release. Jay, the host of BeerThursdays, attended Dark Lord Day 2010, and we've had a few vintage bottles to taste. This a big roasty and complex stout, a little alcohol on the finish when its fresh, but that goes away with age and the sweeter dark fruit flavors come out to complement the roast.

Super Friends - I was lucky enough to try this at beeradvocate.com's Belgian Beer Fest in Boston. This IPA, brewed at Ithaca Beer Co, is a collaboration with brewers from Ommegang, Captain Lawrence, Flying Fish, Southampton Publick House and Ithaca. It was made entirely with Citra hops and fermented with a blend of different strains of Brettanomyces.

Coffee Bender - This is Surly Brewing's Bender brown ale steeped with coffee (for 24 hours according to their description), and I think this is the closest a beer can get to tasting just like and iced coffee. It sort of became an obsession for the BeerThursday guys and I, and prompted the homebrew recipe I've currently got fermenting.

Hopslam - Bell's is a brewery I hadn't been able to get before this year, and this was the first of their beers that I got to try. Its a IIPA whose explosive bitterness and fresh citric hop character is hard to top.

The Abyss - This Imperial Stout from Deschutes, currently ranked #1 in the style on Beer Advocate, is thick, viscous and packed with roasty, brown sugar, and dark fruit flavors. I don't think I am capable of adequately describing how velvety smooth and rich this beer is.

Victor Francenstein - I attended a small forum with Allagash Founder Rob Tod and Head Brewer Jason Perkins during the Beglian Beer Fest, and this is one of the beers that we sampled. This cask aged Victor with added bacteria and Cabernet Franc grapes is tart and complex. It is truly indicative of the craft and artisanship (I made up a word!) happening at Allagash and so many other Craft Breweries across America. They also brought Larry, brewed just once, and a pair of beers (partigyle), Big Little Beer and Little Big Beer, brewed with the Alstrom brothers of BeerAdvocate.

The Angel's Share (Bourbon Barrel-Aged) - An American Strong Ale from The Lost Abbey in California, this is a whiskey drinker's beer if I ever had one. Rich, toasty malt, with vanilla and oak flavors are all cut sharply by a boozy heat. This is a sipper, folks, and a fine one.

Sculpin - How many citric, hop-forward IPAs can I put on this list? This is probably the most easily found of the three, and also Ballast Point's highest rated IPA. (It is also #1 on BeerAdvocate in the American IPA category, which I didn't notice until writing this)

Fisherman's Imperial Pumpkin Stout - I'm not one to go crazy over fall seasonals. I find Oktoberfests dull and most Pumpkin Ales to be overly spiced or too sweet. This offering from Cape Ann Brewing puts the thick creamy body that you get from pumpkin into a big Imperial Stout and add's just enough spice to make it taste like fall. ~ While I'm on the subject, I'm going to give an honorable mention to Heavy Seas Greater Pumpkin, and Bruery Autumn Maple, the only other Fall seasonals that stood out to me this year.

Brute - This Wild Ale from Ithaca sums up my 2010 well. It wasn't until this year that I really dove into REALLY wild and funky beers, and I went crazy for them. Adam already mentioned Supplication, which I probably would have chosen to credit with my love of sours, but I've put away a lot more Brute this year than the much more notorious Supplication.

So there you have it; My top 10 of 2010. Inevitably when I press Publish Post I'll think of 10 more amazing beers that I had this past year, and wish I could have mentioned them. I guess I'll just have to drink them again in 2011, so I can include them in next year's list. (and post more often so I don't have to try to cram a year worth of drinking into one little list)

-Dan

The Best of 2010

One of my favorite things to do every new year is go back and rethink everything I've had in the last year. It gives me an opportunity to decide what beers really stood out from the crowd, and what was truly (for me) a world class beer. As last year, I'm not even going to try to rank them, mostly because the beers are different styles with different perspectives, and every single one of them is worth trying if you can. Unfortunately, almost all the beers on my list this year are either limited releases or have limited distribution (especially to my area), so they could vary wildly in difficulty to obtain. There were some very hard choices this year as well, and some very good beers that didn't make the list. I've been pretty fortunate to have had a lot of amazing beer in 2010. Now on to the list.

1. Dogfish Head/Sierra Nevada's Life and Limb - This collaboration between two of the most popular craft breweries in the US was absolutely outstanding. If you didn't manage to get a bottle yet, good luck to you. Hopefully there's a re-brew of this beer somewhere in our future.

2. Stone 14th Anniversary Emperical IPA - This beer was an English style take on the standard American Imperial IPA, going back to the origin of the drink. I was very impressed with how they took a style that's done to death, and put a unique and delicious new spin on it. It's still around at a few places at least, so you can try to get your hands on a bottle.

3. Mikkeller Rauch Geek Breakfast (Beer Geek Bacon) & Beer Geek Brunch (Weasel) - I'm listing these beers together as they are both variations on the Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast, a smooth stout brewed with coffee. The first was made with rauch malt to add a meaty smoked flavor, and the latter was brewed with Kopi Luwak, the world's most expensive coffee (and made from the excrement of a civet). Both beers were excellent and worth mentioning, and it's hard to choose a favorite. I will say that of the two, the Rauch Geek Breakfast was the more obvious choice to me, but lost some points as I didn't feel like the rauch malt came through as much as it could have.

4. Russian River Supplication - A sour beer from Russian River, and if you're into that sort of thing it's fantastic. It's kind of along the lines of drinking a warhead or sour patch kids (although not as sweet). It is produced fairly regularly, but their distribution doesn't really come out to the east coast much so it can be a challenge to get.

5. Dogfish Head Zeno - This is sort of the wild card of the bunch. As a limited release from the Dogfish Brewpub, it was available only on tap at the pub over a few weeks in the summer. Strangely though, it's been one of the best things I think Dogfish has produced in the last year, beating out Bitches Brew and My Antonia for me. It was a saison, one of my favorite styles, although this version was more heavily focused on the fruity aspects of the drink and less on the funk. I actually made 2 trips down for this beer since it was so good, and I hope that Dogfish puts it into production.

6. Founder's Kentucky Breakfast Stout - Another breakfast stout brewed with coffee, this beer is aged in oak bourbon barrels for a year before being released. It's one of the best coffee stouts out there, so definitely try it out.

7. Russian River Pliny the Elder - This beer from Russian River is one of the top rated beers in the world, and one of the most sought after. For good reason too, this beer is sort of the official drink of the hardcore hop-head. We made a clone of this recipe a while back and it used 17 ounces of hops in a 5 gallon batch, where a normal beer would use 2-5 ounces. When I finally had the real thing, I was surprised at how close our clone actually was. Despite the huge hop presence in the beer, it's actually not overly bitter, but has a smooth blend of hop quality all the way through.

8. Stillwater Existent - I wasn't planning on adding this beer at all, I had already put the list together when I had it, but it was absolutely fantastic. As a black saison it's a bit of an anomaly, but has some very unique flavors that come out in the beer. There's a ton of earthy/funky flavors and aromas in this beer, which I absolutely love.

9. Spring House Planet Bean - Wow, another coffee stout. It's been that kind of year. This made the list as one of the most well thought out and flavorful beers I've had all year, and on tap at that. The Spring House brewery is up in Pennsylvania near Lancaster, and we've gone up there a few times now. If you can manage to get your hands on a bottle, it falls under their B-Sides series. You may be in luck though, since they have stepped up their bottling line recently and seem to be growing. Maybe it will be getting some wider distribution soon.

10. Fantome Saision - This beer is the top rated saison on Beer Advocate, and was sublimely delicious. I know I'm a little biased with this beer as I love the style so much, but it really is worth trying if you can get a bottle. It's a shame I couldn't do a side-by-side comparison, because I still felt as if I might prefer the Avec Les Bons Voeux from DuPont for it's infinite funkiness, but it's hard to compare a memory from a year ago with a glass in front of you.

- Adam