Central State JEM

An interesting take on a Flanders Red Ale.  Subdued sweet tart with wine and oak flavors. Easy drinking.

Rating = 4 glasses. 

Toppling Goliath Pompeii

Pompeii is an American IPA and the best hazy hop bomb I've ever had. Tons of mango and citrus flavor coats the mouth and tongue like a mango-orange-pineapple hopsickle. The flavor lingers forever. 

Rating = 6 glasses. 

Beer Porn Aug. 2019

Here's my haul from Indianapolis.

1. I bought two beers from Toppling Goliath. The brewer has many beers in the top 250 on Beer Advocate. 
1. Pompeii is a big hazy IPA. currently it is the 23rd highest-ranked IPA on beer advocate and 677 overall.
2. Pseudo Sue is ranked # 5 American Pale Ale and 122 overall.
2. I bought two beers from Great Lakes.
1. Edmund Fitzgerald is the #6 American Porter and 983 overall.
2. Oktoberfest is the #3 Oktoberfest/Marzen and 3,098 overall.
3. Trappistes Rochefort 10 is a old favorite. It is #2 ranked quadruple and 90 overall.

Chimay Premier

Premier is an easy-drinking Dubbel with subtle hints of brown sugar, plums, and clove. As I drank I thought that it might be my favorite Dubbel. However, I fear that my preference for the style is well under control. Too much clove perhaps.

Rating = 4 glasses.

Russian River Pliny the Elder

Wow. Wonderfully balanced. Simultaneously bitter and subtle. The bitterness coats the tongue and mouth and lasts for what seems like forever. My favorite double IPA.

Rating = 7 glasses.

Birds Fly South Weatherman

Another interesting beer from BFS. Do they pitch yeast in addition to "locally sourced bacteria" and Brettanomyces? Surprisingly easy to drink. A peach-cherry smoothie? Less sour and tart than I expected.

Rating = 4 glasses.

"A mixed-culture Biere de Garde brewed with locally sourced bacteria and a healthy dose of Brettanomyces to produce subtle notes of cherry. This award-winning Belgian Ale is aged a minimum of three months in our Cognac Foedre."

Pale Fire Lucille Oatmeal Stout

Eh. Lacks body and complexity.

Rating = 2 glasses.

Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA

A fine IPA.

Rating = 4 glasses.

Birds Fly Sout Rustic Sunday

Rustic Sunday is an interesting rye forward saison with sour notes. Uses Solera, mixed fermentation, Sauvignon Blanc puncheons, and rye. I don't know if the mixed fermentation comes from the puncheons or if the brewers pitch critters. Does puncheon = barrel or stave? I know that Solera involves blending beers of different ages but don't know exactly how BFS does it. Do they blend just before bottling of mix ages while aging?

My first taste on draft in Atlanta was yummy. 

I have had several bottles since then. 

BeerAdvocate rates it as Outstanding, the 7,187th best beer overall, and the 305th best Belgian Saison.

Rating = 6 glasses.

Goose Island Goose IPA

A decent IPA. Rating equals at least 3 glasses.

Goose Island Summertime

This is a nice Kolsch. A tiche sweet and easy drinking. Rating equals 3 glasses.

Pacifico on draft @ Mexico

My favorite macro lager? I enjoyed it with $1 tacos. Would buy again. Rating = 2, maybe 3 glasses.

Easter treats

Hardywood Bourbon Barleywine
An English barleywine with notes of bourbon barrel aging. Flavorful without being intense.The bottle had aged at least 10 months. I'll look to buy some of the 2015 release. 
Rating = 5 glasses

Blue Mountain Sour Banshee
A little sour, a little bourbon. Nothing intense. Alex like it. I wanted more sour.
Rating: = 3 glasses

Duchesse de Bourgogne
The classic Flanders Red Ale. A flavorful and easy drinking blend of sweet and tart. 
Rating = 4 glasses (at least).

Some good beer tonight

Duclaw Devil's Milk is a nice barleywine. BA calls it an American barleywine but it drinks more like English. Nice and flavorful. Of course, it was after 2 Singels and 5/6 of a flight. I liked it.

Rating = 4 glasses, at least

Alpine Super IPA is a nice double IPA.

Rating = 4 glasses, at least

Allagash Interlude is an interesting wine-barrel aged Saison with some 
Brett. Rating is tough - the taste was different.

Rating = 4 glasses. I need another taste.

Vanderghinste Oud Bruin is a sweet version of Flanders Oud Bruin. I 
liked it

Rating = 5 glasses.

Hardywood Singel is a Belgian Blond Ale, even if BA calls it a Pale Ale. 
Nice, easy drinking, and flavorful. Given its distinctive taste,

Rating = 5 glasses.

Smuttynose Finest Kind clone

Homebrew 3 is a clone of Smuttynose Finest Kind IPA, my favorite IPA and one of my favorite beers. Put in the fermenter this morning and a CO2 bubbles emerge from the air lock every 3 seconds 11 hours later. I am excited.

Stone Lucky Bastard

Lucky Bastard is a blend of Arrogant Bastard, Oak-Aged Arrogant Bastard, and Double Bastard. It is a hit! Lucky > Double > Arrogant. Smoother than the other too and still packed w/ flavor.

Rating = 6 glasses.

Stone Double Bastard

Double Bastard is a big Strong Ale. Lots of malt and lots of hops. Barleywine-ish but with a rougher edge.

Rating = 5 glasses. Down from 6 glasses.

Some reviews of Budweiser's ad at the BIg Game.

Bud made heads turn with an ad that differentiated itself from craft beers.

Click here to see what The Atlantic said.

Click here to read an even more harsh review from Paste Magazine. The comments indicate that the ad is a copy of an earlier ad for Carthartt.

Funny picture

Click here to see a tap line for Bud.

Homebrew 2 - Duvel clone

My second batch of homebrew is in bottles. I used a clone of the recipe for Duvel, a classic Belgian strong pale ale and one of my favorite beers.

The yeast was active; krausen  clogged the air vent and then the pressure blew off the lid to the fermenter. CO2 bubbled for 2 weeks. Then I racked to secondary fermenter and left the beer in the crawl space @ 50 degrees for two weeks. A week back in the fermetorium and CO2 again appeared at a slow rate.

Emily helped both to make the wort and to bottle the beer.

My tastes during the bottling tell me that the beer has promise. I plan to give it 3 weeks to condition in the bottle and then see what has happened.

It is darker than I wanted and expected.

What's in the cellar?

Click here to see the inventory in my cellar

Blue Mountain Long Winter's Nap

Blue Mountain describes Long Winter's Nap as a blonde tripelbock. It is big, malty, and tasty.

5 glasses

Foothills Hoppyum IPA

Hoppyum is a nice IPA with a good bite. I tasted drafts the last two Fridays.

5 glasses.

Home brew: Shakespeare Stout

I brewed my first beer. I had assisted ML several times. My main job was to drink beer. After she started using all-grain recipes I decided I wanted to take the lead. My daughters bought some good equipment for me and I finally pulled the trigger. I wanted a stout for the cold weather ahead and followed a recipe for a clone of Rogue Shakespeare Stout that I found online.

I am pleased. The beer looks beautiful. It is really dark and a nice head forms when poured. It has flavor, lots of smoke, some charcoal, and a blast of hops. I fear that it is not balanced, the hops are too much for the malt. Perhaps it will mellow some as it sits. I may want to tweak the recipe if I follow it again.

3 glasses, maybe 4

Update: 22 Jan. Getting better. Rating = 4 glasses. I would brew again in a heartbeat.

Recent good beers

Drie Fonteinen Intense Red Oude Kriek
Drie Fonteninen has blended great lambics and are now brewing their own. I think that this was a one-off to celebrate their entry into brewing. It is a fantastic Kriek. It is darker and fruitier than most Krieks and packs a powerful sour punch.

6 glasses, at least. I want another bottle before going to 7.

Russian River Consecration

Another fabulous wild ale from Russian River. This one is aged in Cabernet Sauvingnon barrels and contains currents. The wine flavor was a little too strong imho. Otherwise, 7 glasses

6 glasses

Hardywood The Great Return
My favorite double IPA. Nice hops and not too sweet.

6 glasses

Williamsburg Alewerks Lover's Greed

This is a nice Wild Ale. Its flavor falls between Gueze and Flanders Red Ale, a nice blend of tart and sweet. I'll buy again.

5 glasses. 

Bear Republic Cafe 15 Racer

A really nice IPA. Easy drinking with some grapefruit and bit. 5 glasses.

Sierra Nevada Harvest Single Hop IPA Brewed with Equinox Hops

Nice but not great.  3 glasses.

Rodenbach Caractère Rouge

Rodenbach Caractère Rouge is a special one-off version of its famous Flanders Red Ale, made with fresh cherries, raspberries and cranberries.. It is good, interesting, and expensive. I like Grand Cru better.

4 glasses given the price.

Rodenbach 2011 Vintage

Rodenbach 2011 Vintage is a one-off Flanders Oud Bruin. It is fantastic. 7 glasses. Tart with flashes of sweet. Better than Grand Cru. Better than Caractère Rouge, a more expensive beer. Shared with Alex. We both liked it a ton.

gluten free

Click here to learn how to make gluten-free beer.

Bruery White Oak

I had the Bruery White Oak tonight at Mekong and was quite impressed. I was ready to give it a 6-glass rating until I read my first review. It is a wheat wine with lots of oak (and maybe a little bourbon) flavor. It is too easy to drink. I thought the result was really good tonight.

Rating = 5 glasses.

Cantillon Saint Lamvinus

Wow!. St. Lamvinus is a fruit lambic. It is wonderfully tart with a musty slight sweetness from grapes. It resembles Kriek, but uses grapes instead of cherries. Here is the description of the beer from Cantillon:

"The grapes, of the merlot and cabernet-franc varieties, are soaked in Bordeaux barrels containing two to three years old lambic. The beer is not blended before the bottling. The foam is caused by the addition of a liquor which starts the fermentation.

It was rated on BeerAdvocate.com as one of the 100 best beers in the world on 29 December 2005, 01 March 2007, and 09 October 2013. 

Rating = 7 glasses.

Firestone Walker Double Jack

Click here to read an update.

Strangeways Phantasmic East Coast IPA

Strangeways Phantasmic East Coast IPA is a nice beer of good quality. The hop profile missed my mark a little, more of a hoppy pale ale with a tiche of sour flavor, but the lacing was fantastic. 3 glasses. Might merit 4?

Update on Imperial Stout (Founders)

Click here to read more.

Update on Hennepin

Click here to read more.

Heady Topper

The Alchemist Heady Topper is a wonderful double IPA. The hops accentuate grapefruit and are intense without being intensely bitter. The beer is so easy to drink that you might think that it is a session beer but the ABV will hit you quickly. The malt backbone is present as a supporting actor but big enough to make the beer so easy to drink. The reviewers on BeerAdvocate recently rated it as the best beer in the world. The beer earns it accolades. I am giving it 6 glasses and may upgrade to 7 after drinking the last one in my frig - I am reluctant to give 7 glasses on one evening of drinking. Many thanks to Mary Lou for bring some to me from Vermont.

18 August 2013

Bell's Oarsman: A solid 4. Simple, tart, and easy drinking. 

Boulevard 80-Acre: A hoppy wheat ale. Simple and a little watery. 2 glasses.

Allagash Tripel Reserve: I am liking this more and more. Upgraded to 6 glasses.

Visit to Mekong

I ate at Mekong Restaurant tonight and sampled 5 beers. One beer was interesting and not my cup of tea. another was good, two were very good and one was fantastic.

Boulevard Saison-Brett is a nice saison with a touch of sour. Good but paled somewhat with the beers that followed. Downgraded from 6 glasses to 5. Click here for previous review. 

BFM Brasserie Des Franches-Montagnes Square root 225 is a delightful funky saison. It is tart enough to be a sour. I asked An for a recommendation and he gave me a glass of this, telling me it was better than Saison Brett. He was correct. 6 glasses.

Firestone Walker Double Jack is a big Double IPA. It is nice and hoppy and not too malty. I only had a small portion because my order blew the keg. Darn. 

Update on 1308. Had a full glass and was not as impressed. Good  but I missed something in the hop profile. Downgraded from 6 glasses glasses to 5 and thought about 4.

The Bruery White Oak "is a blended beer-- 50% wheatwine aged in Bourbon barrels (we call it "White Oak Sap"), and 50% Mischief (our Golden Strong Ale)." It was nice and interesting and not my cup of tea. 3 glasses.

BFM Brasserie Des Franches-Montagnes Bon Chien (2012) is a fantastic beer. Sour with oak and smoke and tons of complexity. 7 glasses.

Recent beers

21st Amendment Hop Crisis is a complex Imperial IPA. The web site says, "We made the biggest, hoppiest IPA we could imagine and aged it on oak for good measure." It is one of the better barrel-aged IPA's I remember. The aging muted the hops but give a wonderful complexity to the beer. 5 glasses.

The Bruery Hottenroth is a pleasant Berliner weiss. Slightly tart and acidic with a touch of lemon, it is easy drinking and light.Still three glasses.

Trappistes Rochefort 8 is a fantastic example of Strong Belgian Dark Ale. The last bottle I pulled from my "cellar" had been aging for about 5 years and it was yummy. Easily 6 glasses and I am thinking about 7. It is complex, flavorful, and easy drinking.

Bell's Third Coast Old Ale is another beer that is improving with age. The last bottle I pulled from my cellar was about 5 years old. It had evolved into a caramel, butterscotch brew that resembled an English Barleywine. It continues to earn 6 glasses. 

Lindemans Gueuze Cuvée René

0803: Nice, apple cider w/ lemon and vinegar. Good value for gueuze. 6 glasses

1304: More sour and less tart. A slight rancid metallic taste. Downgraded to 5 glasses and thought about 4 glasses.

Russian River Supplication

Brown Ale aged in used Pinot Noir barrels from local Sonoma County wineries. It is aged for about 12 months with sour cherries, brettanomyces, lactobacillus, and pediococcus added to each barrel. Flavors from the cherries, Pinot Noir and oak balance each other nicely with a little funk from the brett (URL).

Good but not great. A little like wine added to a beer. Tart and compex. 6 glasses.

Hardywood Baltic Porter with Bacon and Maple

Oh no! Hardywood missed on this one. Massive and dense but not what I want to drink. 1 glass.

Bell's Special Double Cream Stout

Had a bottle at Happy Hour at Cafe Catura. The grilled shrimp tacos were boffo. The beer was not. It does not hit my sweet spot. A review from April 2008 gave the beer 2 glasses and said, "OK. A little cream, a little chocolate, and a little smokey bite but a little thin. Better @ room temp. May rate a 3." The beer is crafted well and I am moving the rating to 3.

NPR on Big Beer

This story on NPR talks about the dominance of ABInBev and MolsonCoors and ABInBev's attempt to acquire Modelo.

Beer and Civilization

This note in the New York Times claims that beer played a vital role in creating the type of civilization we enjoy today.

Beer Quotes

http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/favorite-beer-quote-of-all-time.72843/

If the Four Horsemen Arrive, Offer Beer

http://www.peakprosperity.com/podcast/80011/john-michael-greer

Caledonian Newcastle Winter IPA

I paired my Pho Sate w Newcastle Winter IPA tonight. It is easy to drink and pleasant. As advertised it is an English IPA, with mild hops.

I am giving the beer a rating of 3 glasses.

Edit. I just finished the six pack. The more I drank, the less I liked. Downgraded to 2 glasses and thought about 1.

Smuttynose Winter Ale

I succumbed to a stack of Smuttynose Winter Ale on a visit w Lisa to Kroger's today and bought a 6-pack. I thought it was a wittier. I tired one tonight because I thought it would be a a nice aperiti. Well, surprise!  The ale is actually a winter warmer reminiscent of a Belgian style dubbel. Beeradvocate classifies it as a dubbel. I think that I will group it w winter warmers. The brewer states that the beer contains no spices.

The beer reminds me of Great Divide Hibernation Ale and Anchor Old Jubilation.  It is nice and malty with some caramel and spicy sweetness. Pleasant and Christmassy.

I give it 4 glasses. Upon further examination I may move the score to 5.

Business Week

Here is a good article on the effects on the beer industry of the InBev's acquisition of Anheuser-Busch to form AB InBev. The article does a nice job describing some of the real or potential tradeoffs between cost efficiencies and quality.

Three recent wonderful experiences

I have tasted three wonderful beers recently: North Coast Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, Bell's Third Coast Old Ale, and Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barley Wine Style Ale.

Old Rasputin is what the name says, a big Imperial Stout. Nice chocolate and smoke flavors with a touch of charcoal. Thick and smooth. I purchased this bottle in November 2011 in Mathews; it had aged at least 1 year. Yummy. I discovered that I left an inch or so in the glass overnight and drank what was left in the morning. Still good. I liked the beer so much that I went out this week and bought 3 new 4-packs. I moved its rating from 5 to 6 glasses and thought about 7. Previous review.

Beer Advocate classifies Third Coast Old Ale is an American Barleywine. Bell's bottled this 6-pack on 4 Dec 2008, making it about 4 years old. The taste was all brown sugar and malt. I want to buy and age more. Yummy. It continues to earn its 6-glass rating. Previous review.

Tonight I took a 2010 vintage Bigfoot out of my cellar. Malt and hops and wonderful. Still 7 glasses. Previous review.

J. W. Lees Harvest Ale Matured in Calvados Casks

The beer continues to earn 7 glasses.Sweet, thick with a dash on apple brandy melded to a fantastic English barley wine. The brewer brewed this bottle in 2005 and I purchased it in April 2008 from West Park Wine and Beer. I am sad that West Park closed.

I paired the beer with pecan pie for a late night treat.

Previous Review.

New Reviews yet to be Posted

Weyerbacher Riserva - 5 glasses
Bruery Three French Hens - 5 glasses
Troeg's Mad Elf - 2 glasses (an upgrade)
Sierra Nevada Hoptimum - 5 glasses
Clipper City Heavy Seas Loose Canon - 4 glasses (a downgrade)
Steenberge Piraat - 4 glasses
Ommegang BPA - 3 glasses
BFM Brasserie Des Franches-Montagnes Abbaye De Saint Bon-Chien - 7 glasses
Steenberge Bruegel - 3 glasses
Steenberge Bornem Triple - 4 glasses
Hanssens Lambic Experimental Cassis - 3 glasses
Highlands Black Mocha Stout - 4 glasses
Lagunitas Little Sumpin' Sumpin' - 5 glasses
Steenberge Bornem Double - 4 glasses
Ballast Point Sculpin IPA - 5 glasses
Highlands Oatmeal Porter - 4 glasses
Steenberge Augustiin - 3 glasses
Alesmith Old Numskull - 5 glasses
Avery Joe's - 4 glasses
Move Chimnay to 6
Move Sculpin to 6
I have fallen behind