Silicon Valley Sudzers

Beer Blog [ADD A NEW ENTRY]

04/01/2010 | WIPEOUT!!!
Author: Ron Knapp

Finally, we can get some Port Brewing beers here. Whole Foods, Cupertino, has four 22oz bottles from them for sale.

Wipeout IPA, which always wins awards at the IPA Festival at the Bistro in Hayward, $4.29
Malts – Two Row, Wheat, Carapils and English Crystal Malts,
Hops – Amarillo, Centennial and Simcoe
Yeast – White Labs’ California Ale
Original Gravity – 1.064
Terminal Gravity – 1.008
ABV – 7.0%

Shark Attack Red, $6.49
This is a classic West Coast-style imperial red ale brewed with medium crystal malts, centennial and cascade hops.
Original Gravity – 1.088
Body – Full
Hops – Centennial and Cascade
ABV – 9.5%

Old Viscosity, aged in bourbon barrels, $6.49
Malts – Two Row, Wheat, Domestic and English Crystal, Carafa III and Chocolate Malts
Hops – German Magnum
Yeast – White Labs California Ale and Proprietary Yeast Strains
Original Gravity – 1.092
Terminal Gravity – 1.014
ABV – 10.5%

Midnight Sessions, Black Lager, $4.29
Original Gravity – 1.052
ABV – 5.5%

PS. Whole Foods also has Anderson Valley Hop Ottin' IPA on sale at $7.99/6pack

04/01/2010 | Auburn Ale House
Author: Ron Knapp

On the way up to Tahoe for skiing, I stopped at Auburn Ale House, just a couple of blocks off the first Auburn exit on I80. What a great place, with many beers on tap. I had the Gold Digger IPA, of course. If you are coming to the beer meeting of 4/2, I am bringing a growler you can try. Otherwise, here's a list of the beers I found.
Auburn Export Lager, 5.0%
Pilsner, 5.0%
Pale Ale, 5.6%
Brown Ale (Session Ale), 3.8% roasted chocolate and crystal malts, fresh English hops
Gold Digger IPA, 6.2%, Pale and crystal malts: Summit, Simcoe, Chinook hops, Dry hopped
Fools Gold Ale, Double IPA, 7.8%, Pale malted barley, 'ton' of fresh Pacific NW hops
Shanghai Stout, 4.8%, Roasted coffee malt, mashed w/100+ lbs. oats, served on Nitro
McFords Irish Red, on Nitro
Some other guest beers
Growlers are $12 refill, $16 ($4more) with jug
Kegs: 15.5g $115, 5g $55

02/24/2010 | Derek in the news
Author: Ron Knapp

Sudzers member Derek Wolfram is in the news on the front page of today's Mercury News. As a Librarian, he is quoted in an article about the homeless and unemployed using County libraries.
http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_14456697?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com
"A library today is so much more than a simple repository of books," said Derek Wolfgram, a deputy librarian for Santa Clara County.

01/14/2010 | Joseph James Brewing, Las Vegas
Author: Ron Knapp

Just returned from Las Vegas where it's hard to find decent beer. Most bars have the regular stuff, like Sam Adams, Bass, etc. There are a couple of gems, however. Right at the entrance to New York, New York at the top of the escalator is a bar named Pour24. They have 24 taps and are open 24 hours. But they have the best collection of beers that you won't find anywhere, that changes from time to time. Last week they had Dogfish 60 min IPA, Stone Ruination, Stone Arrogant Bastard, Rogue Dead Guy Ale, Rogue Imperial Stout, Alaskan Amber, and a bunch of other excellent beers. Las Vegas is the only place you can order a beer "to go" in a plastic cup. You get a couple of good beers, then go to any of the other restaurants in the hotel, or even across the street on the footbridge connecting to the MGM, to eat lunch or dinner where they may have crappy beer. Pour24 is also an excellent place to watch sports on TV with several flat screen TVs with good sound. Also in NYNY is ESPN Zone which is wall-to-wall TVs plus about a dozen decent beers on draft, including maybe Longhammer IPA.

Anyway, I found another gem. At the back of Monte Carlo, adjacent to NYNY used to be a microbrewery, which closed a couple years ago, and all the equipment was removed (idiots). Now there is a bar called The Pub (www.montecarlo.com/restaurants/restaurants_the_pub.aspx). Mounted on the front of the bar is about 6 regular crappy beers. However, all along the back bar extending the length of the huge bar is a line of 59 taps of amazing microbrews. Besides some good ones like Stone IPA, they were featuring the beers of Joseph James Brewing (www.foxbrews.com). The beers on tap include Alpine Wit (Belgian White Ale), Freakin' Frog Apple Ale, Red Fox (Russian Imperial Stout), Joe's Root Beer, and my favorite, Hop Box (Imperial IPA) with Cascade and Simcoe, 8.2% Alc., and 90 IBU's (that's ninety!) Their beers are a bit pricey, $8 for Alpine and Apple, $10 for Stout and IPA, but worth every penny after you've been forced to drink Heineken and Corona at the buffet. If you look at their web site, they also have a gluten free IPA, Fox Tail, 8.1%, 80 IBUs.

Another gem I heard about, but didn't have time to check out is the Yardhouse, located at the extreme South end of the Strip beyond Mandalay Bay in a shopping center next to Fry's. It's the last stop on the "Deuce" (Strip double-decker bus). Buy an all day pass for $5, good deal. According to the bartender at Pour24, they have 160 beer taps.

10/21/2009 | SJMN article about Great American Beer Festival
Author: Ron Knapp

If you didn't read today's paper (Wed, Oct21), there was an article in the Mercury News about the Great American Beer Festival last month in Colorado. They list the 39 winners from California, including Blind Pig (bronze), behind Ballast Point (silver) and Firestone (gold) IPAs. You can read the whole article at the link, below. Otherwise, search Jay Brooks, columnist, or the title, "California Brewers get 39 medals at festival". Here's a sample:
Bay Area gold medalists:
Racer 5 IPA, Bear Republic Factory Five, Cloverdale (American-style strong pale ale) Sara's Ruby Mild, Magnolia Gastropub & Brewery, San Francisco (English-style mild ale) Pt. Reyes Porter, Marin Brewing Co., Larkspur (robust porter)

http://www.mercurynews.com/food-wine/ci_13569080?nclick_check=1

09/17/2009 | Nettle Beer - A Beginning
Author: Dean Brundage

Nettle tea helps promote kidney function, reducing the risk for kidney stones and gout. I get attacks of gout when I am not careful what I eat and many of my family members have kidney stones. I do not drink a lot of tea, and rather than changing my habits (putting me dangerously close to sounding old) I thought it more appropriate to get nettles elsewhere. Enter homebrew.

Read the rest at the Midnight Hour Brew-blog:

http://midnighthourbrewery.blogspot.com/2009/09/nettle-beer-beginning.html

09/16/2009 | Lagunitas Taproom Now Open
Author: Ron Knapp

I went up to Lagunitas this week and found a lot going on there. There's major remodeling and construction for a new Taproom and "Beer Sanctuary". The front office is moved to the adjacent office building, while the old office is being transformed into a bar with several multi-tap kegerators. In the area between the front office and the factory, they are building an outdoor patio with several long picnic tables.

They were handing out flyers announcing that it is now open during construction, Wed-Fri 3-9, Sat-Sun 1-7, with live music every day. All this is welcome change, since Lagunitas was never open on weekends. I didn't find anything on the web site about it (www.lagunitas.com), but keep an eye out.

06/25/2009 | Nugget and Breakfast Stout along with AHA Conference
Author: Pete Czerpak

I went to the American Homebrew Association Homebrew Conference late last week over in Oakland and it inspired me to write up a blog on some recent beers and some cool things I saw and tasted there. I actually only made it to "Club Night" which is pretty much a festival atmosphere with open taps and a social time. Similar to NCHF, each club (maybe 30 or so), had a booth and between 6 and 30 taps flowing. There were some real interesting bar setups with beer engines, Randalls, hop-filled espresso machines, and even gravity poured casks. There were occasional secret bottles poured also if you had the beeriness to ask for something special.

Cool beers and sights of note were a 100% Simcoe hopped black IPA and brett finished saison from MTC in the East Bay, a hoppy pale ale served through a Randall packed with Amarillo hops, a three beer doppelbock decoction experimental series run by some Washington state brewers (I guessed beer C as decoction), beer taps attached to an old El Camino (I had the drivers side rear bumber tap with the London Pride bitter clone), and beer served from a urinal.

On to some beers that aren't homebrews. They are two opposite sides of the spectrum and both are extremely reputable regional breweries that are unobtainable here in CA and probably west of the Mississippi as well.

Nugget Nectar (Troegs Brewery, PA)

7.5%ABV and 93 ibu brings this into the world of bastardized IPA, imperial amber, or something in that realm. Its a pretty pale amber color with a brilliant white foam atop the bottle poured glass with the appearance of an octobrefest. Reported grain bill is pils, vienna, and munich malts which is similar to the malts reportedly used in Victory Hop Devil, which also comes across as pretty nicely balanced in the malt to hops arena - maybe its the germanic Pennsylvania heritage that both brews have or the desire for more complexity beyond thick hoppy bitterness.

The nose wows me with its floral hugeness - its not the pine and citrus of more straightforward simple IPAs. More grass and field and herbal - Troegs says they use four hop additions plus a massive hopback along with dryhopping to get this all into the bottle - Nuggets, warrior, Tomahawk, Simcoe, and Palisades are the cones of choice and probably why the layers of fresh hops just roll out of the bottle and the glass so nicely. Its not a huge bitter punch but much more like the hops in the 90 Minute IPA where the layering effect does it all. As the glass sits, mint seems to be noticeable as well. Look past everything so obvious and maybe some finely toasted malt emerges in the aroma to surprise you which is another hint that the grains aren't so simple and do more than just hide in the background here.

On tasting, the malts and the hops seem to merge together so perfectly making this beer just swallow so easily. Its based off Troegs Hopback Amber but with extra everything and I'd even liken it to a super-sized Boont Amber if one did exist, but a heck of a lot more hoppy. I need to request another bottle from some friends with more easy access to this stuff.

Breakfast Stout (Founders brewing, MI)

The complete opposite side of the spectrum from the hop nectar mentioned above, is this chocolate and coffee infused massive oatmeal stout. Anchoring all the flavors together is 8.3%ABV so it sits solidly as a lightweight imperial stout.

Immediately apparent on opening it is the sharply acrid and rich coffee aroma. Its sharper smelling than either fresh roasted coffee beans or brewed coffee. I'm wondering if it is due to the cold alcohol extraction of the oils and the carbonation induced release of these notes.

The head quickly disappears on pouring into a brandy snifter glass while the liquid color is close to pure black. I think the combination of dark grains and then roasted coffee really pulls any hope away to see through the beer, so I don't even try. Swirling the glass helps to make some mocha and chocolate notes appear along with the still overwhelming coffee superiority. Its a beer with a coffee superiority complex for sure.

Well balanced dark grains and smooth malty notes are in the taste. None of the coffee or real dark grain acidity that I was expecting based on the overwhelming nose. Mouthfeel is medium and just about right - not so sweet as to make it a sipper, not so weak as to make it taste thin and wimpy. The smooth roast aftertaste hangs around pleasantly for awhile as well reminding me of how much I could use some further samples of this stuff to share with some friends who love brew and who love coffee. The chocolate notes in this are less sweet and more bitter than seen in more marketted imperial stouts like the Rasputin or the Stone greatness.

If you're ready for a knockout punch of coffee aroma, open another one of these up soon.

cheers and hopefully we'll get the pictures working again soon so you can see some of the beauty of these beverages in the glass rather than just in word.....

04/21/2009 | Alcohol tax
Author: Ron Knapp

Read my comments I posted on the Mercury New Forum in response to a outrageous alcohol tax submitted to the State Assembly. I encourage all of you to write letters, blogs, and comments to oppose it, too. I'm always amazed at how easy the public votes for tax increases, like there aren't enough taxes already.
Ron (SJMN Forum ID rknapp)

http://forums.mercurynews.com/poll/is-raising-fee-on-alcohol-by-about-10-cents-a-drink-a-good-idea

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12186881?nclick_check=1

03/29/2009 | Two New Posts
Author: Dean Brundage

I have two new blog posts at http://www.midnighthourbrewery.com/

Building a grain mill hopper

Brewing an altbier

--Dean

03/18/2009 | Two from the Wood
Author: Pete Czerpak

Belgianized beers by an American brewery are a pretty varied lot. You get your American hops sometimes and other times its barrel aging or wild yeast used in beverages other than lambics or just off the wall nonstyles made with care and for our tasting pleasure. I’m often surprised with how excellent some of these flavors go together – some of them have to be derived from first thoughts of just pouring two beers together to get an idea of the blending of the various components and whether they clash or honestly just make each other that much better.

Jolly Pumpkin is a brewery out of Michigan that makes a decent array of beers without style. All are barrel aged with interesting nonbrewers yeast and I think all are open fermented. Nothing too standard right there. I’ve enjoyed their flanders red multiple times and their strong golden as well. Basement earthiness tends to come through nicely in many of them.

”Madruguna Obscura (Dark Dawn Stout)” (Jolly Pumpkin, MIchigan)

I’m pouring it on a rainy Sunday afternoon in SF as the light is starting to fade to evening. The bottle has been left to warm for over 90 minutes just to let all the interesting flavors spring forth just right. They cap their bottles so no futzing with corks either – yes, capped 750mL Belgian bottles that don’t look like champagne bottles – they have square shoulders.

As soon as I open the bottle, you know its fermented different than a regular beer and even different than a “regular” belgian-style beer – it’s a very sour, acetic acid (vinegar for the nonchemists) tang that puckers your nose like a good vinagrette. Raspberries and chocolate appear as its poured into a chalice for swirling and serving. It’s a dark black color with thick brown espresso like foam of exceptionally fine bubbles. The middle of the foam just collapses slight but the edges hang in 1/2 inch thick for hours it seems and keep right on coming back.

Dark roasty dryness is where this big stout excels. Its not that typical flavors of prune, chocolate, and dark fruit you get in many imperial stouts. The 8.1%ABV alcohol is completely well hidden and you’d swear beyond the exceptional funk that you’re drinking a well crafted but slightly big Guinness stout. maybe even the foreign export type that you can find in the Caribbean or Belgium. Body seems low and is probably such due to the strong appetites living in the wood in the JollyPumpkin barrel area. Unfortunately, the dryness of the beer really seems to clash a bit with the roasted grains in the front of the roof of your mouth. Very tannic dryness and maybe the wood tannins are coming into play here as well.

Batch 23 Damnation (Russian River Brewing Co, Santa Rosa, CA)

Ok, its actually batch #46 but I missed the first batch 23 that was released. The story is that every 23 batches Vinny plans to release this hopped (not as in hops, but souped) up version of Damnation that brings it into the area of trippels and then oak ages for a bit on fresh oak chips.

I’ve had it draft recently and also had it now in the bottle – boyyeee, the bottle is so much nicer. A lot of the elements in there must really get amplified on bottle conditioning. It almost makes me want to bottle condition some Belgian beers or even other beers rather than keg them all.

This one is cork closed and immediately you can smell the oak on opening it. It’s a real fleeting oak shot though and then some vanilla comes through. And then they’re gone and I can’t really find them again. In the glass, the nose is all citrus and spice with some cloves thrown in to really spice it up. The citrus is more in the neighborhood of orange rather than lemon or tropical fruit.

Batch 23 is nicely orange in color where I remember the standard Damantion to be more in the deep golden hue. Foam is thick and light beige in color and forms these incredible pillows on the surface in the glass. There is a tingly carbonation that hits in the first sip so I guess RRBC has the carbonation down about right for a Belgian. Too low and it would be too flabby of a beer. I get great bready malt in the first sips along with the really mouth walloping phenolics and cloves later in the sip. The fruit is still coming through as oranges and I’m wondering whether it’s the yeast or the hop choice in this or whether they pushed the ferment to higher temperatures than Vinny is typically known for. Whatever it is, it would be cool to taste in an IPA as well.

The spiciness and phenolics are much more obvious than in any other beers from Russian River and exceptionally well-presented. MOuthfeel is medium and I’m getting some sweeter alcohol taste as it warms up. After resting for a bit, the glass seems to throw some rose-like notes. I’m surprised to not really find any oaky dryness or taste of wood in this after such a oaky start with the cork popping episode. Alcohol is at 10.75%ABV so this may be the biggest beer from Vinny – I don’t recall what his ‘Tion-Fest quad weighs in at.

Cheers petec

01/20/2009 | Stone IPA at BJ's
Author: Ron Knapp

I ate at BJ's in Cupertino (next to Apple) last week, and they had Stone IPA on tap! Get it while it lasts.

01/13/2009 | A Trio of Hearty Imperial Stouts
Author: Pete Czerpak

Darkness in the early morning quickly sinks to darkness in the early evening. Times of darkness means times to enjoy some rich imperial stouts to keep the blood running and the psyche enthused to be awake. I've been busy trying three out lately.........

"Black Albert" (deStruise Brouwers, Belgium)

The bottle describes it as a royal stout with 13%ABV and 100 IBU. So its a real whopper in terms of bang for the buck and bitterness. This one just started appearing in the Bay Area and its pretty famous in terms of report card.

Sadly, I dropped one bottle coming into the house and it rolled down the hill and violently burst spewing royal stout all over the sidewalk - it was quite the show. The sidewalk stout stain is still there too, to mark the spot.

I opened this one up on December 15 just before leaving for Christmas holiday. Already crossed the Atlantic Ocean pent up dark baking chocolate powder is what the room smelled of after popping the top from the bottle. A moderate carbonation hiss directly followed it. The
beer is a deep dark black color with a dark brown foam like an espresso crema. In the glass, the nose is tarry and reminds me of burnt coffee residues in the bottom of the coffee pot.

The beer foam is thick and seems to hang forever. Mouthfeel is moderate and not too thick into the barleywine region or too thin like some belgians can be with all their simple candi sugars. I'd judge it to have a mild alcohol burn that doesn't give aways its potenticity.

I served it into a 13 oz tulip glass after letting it warm to cellar temperature for 60 minutes from refridgerator temperature. Taste is very pleasant dark roast and not at all acrid like the color might suggest. Later notes of toasty esters come into play. The aftertaste is smooth and creamy like some belgian dubbels and quads have. Perhaps candi sugar has a role in this attribute?

The beer is bottle conditioned judging from the sediment and is comparitively less aggressive than the continental US imperial stouts of Rogue and Stone which are classics in my book for the style. Its more smooth, less in your face roasty, and more schwartzbier-like. Some fruity belgian esters seem to creep out during the taste but
nothing at all clove-like.

I also tried their Tjeesses holiday beer (almost trippel style) and immensely enjoyed the crazy, complex Pannepot 2007 before returning to SF in late December. Supposedly, most of their beers feature use of various spicing combinations.

"Bourbon County Brand Stout" (GooseIsland Brewing, Chicago)

Incredibly messed up holiday flights care of Delta Airlines pushed me to have this on Christmas eve following a dinner of Chinese food as we tried to figure out how to head east at the last minute. This bottle also declares 13%ABV and explains 3 months of aging in bourbon barrels
as a reason to be enthused. Atleast Santa brought what I needed in this stout.

Without even pouring the bottle, I was noticing soy sauce and thick tarry notes in the holiday air. In the glass, this stout from the Midwest looked black, black, black (did I mentioned dark colored) but sadly had pretty low carbonation and a fastly fading foam head.

Sitting in the glass, rich espresso notes also played out.
My first taste was a bourbon smackdown - huge vanilla bourbon taste. So much that I could taste scarcely anything else. This brew is real rich and huge in the bourbon area, that you had better really enjoy bourbon or you'll be passing off the other three bottles from the 4
pack to your friends.

Its alcoholic for sure and doesn't have the refined taste of the Black Albert or the big roasty, roast taste of Stone's Russian Imperial Stout. Some chocolate notes are there if you really look but its pretty tough to get beyond the big "B" it advertises so heavily.

"The Abyss (2007 release)" (Deschutes Brewery, Oregon)

Its been almost a year since the 2007 release of The Abyss made it to NOrCal. At that point, I squirreled away a few bottles for future tasting after the first one came across as over the top alcoholic - see my blog from last January. Its time has come and I've sat on it for nearly a year. Also, the new 2008 release just came out a few weeks back but I have't even given it a shot yet.

Last week was my first week back to work after nearly 2 weeks of vacation. NOt being able to tough it out, I pulled out my dusty Abyss bottle and thought about the year that had passed and where I'd been in that time.

Pouring the 2007 release on january 9, 2009, I found it to have matured immensely in a wonderful way. The bottle was allowed to warm slightly for 70 minutes and then poured into a big snifter type glass. As I poured it, Cocoa Pebbles kids cereal (maybe big kids eat this too) and
soy sauce evolved into the glass's headspace and were nicely concentrated. Full thick chocolate flavors were the chief taste. The once high alcohol tones had mellowed nicely with barely a notice in taste or nose. This hid the 11% ABV pretty well and made the beer pretty easy to raise and sniff or drink without concerns.

Abyss was a deep black color with a very nice dark brown lasting foam on it with good stability. Some light bourbon notes came into the mix if you poured the beer from teh bottle into the glass trying to aerate it. Mouthfeel was medium and helped to enhance its quaff. Balanced between malt and hops was about right with no massive sweetness and also no massive drying hoppiness. When my glass sat for a while as I let it warm, a real thin lacy bubble film formed and sat on the black surface for the longest time.

I'm thinking this new found description of soy sauce may be from use of mollasses in brewing or something related to oxidation from barrel aging. Maillard reactions seems to be a source also. It seems that a classic soy sauce ingredient is licorice so perhaps that is the key as well.

The bottle was nicely wax sealed with a classy basic black and is really seeming to mature and hold up nicely. Glad I have atleast one more left in my stash from this vintage. Time to think about checking out the new stuff too.

Cheers. pete

09/23/2008 | 2 new belgians and 1 real old one
Author: Pete Czerpak

One east Coast brewed belgian style, one West Coast brewed belgian style, and one that went wrong and is real old to boot.

Ommegeddon (Brewery Ommegang, NY)

Brewery Ommegang is located roughly in central NY just outside of the town housing the Baseball Hall of Fame. I was lucky enough to participate in a 5K running race that either starts or ends at Ommegang on alternating years. Thankfully, the year I raced, it ended at Ommegang with their Belgian-only styled ales. Ommegang was originally partically owned by Duvel but I think its now fully Duvel owned. At the time, it was still fairly small and distributing really only locally. They now are reasonably large with quite an array of belgian styles including the usuall dubbel, saison, some blends, a sour, and some chocolate beers. Yes, belgian chocolate beer. They always had belgian chocolates and even mustards in their tasting room.

I tasted Ommegedddon last summer at a friends "post-wedding almost beer festival" in Chicago and it was lackluster and almost devoid of the brett-sour character
that it advertised. Fast forward to about a month ago (August 19, '08), and I'm now tasting Batch#2 brewed in March 2008. I think they got the funk right finally.

The beer starts off looking (or rather sounding) pretty dang belgian - big solid cork pop off the 750mL wired on cork so plenty of great carbonation. Its a deep gold color with a thick big bubbled head of pure white foam. Great clarity so she's well aged at 5 months and the yeast (or funk) cake is undisturbed on the first pouring into my glass atleast.

The aroma comes off first as earthy and herbal and then moves more in the estery direction of tropical kiwi-fruit. The first sip tastes of earthy sour. Hops creep in immediately afterwards making me think of a hybrid - crossing Duval rootstock with some Orval rootstock - really drying hops. The hop bitterness is really big and
crisp mint-like. Tons of bubbles keep emerging as I drink and they really help to enhance the dryness and hop bite of of Ommegeddon. I'm not noticing the traditional citrusy sour I get in some blond sour beers so I'm wondering if its the brett strain or just the hops blocking those notes. 8%ABV as well so its one of the
stronger brett beers I've tasted. Most of my homebrew bretts are down around 6-7%ABV.

Vertical Epic 08-08-08 (Stone Brewing, SoCal)

Every year, another beer, and they're never the same in the Epic line-up. I'd really like to see some repeated, but the cool thing is, that Stone Brewing publishes a
recipe every year for the Epic that they just released. Pretty cool, I'd say. I've even used one of the recipes, 06-06-06, as a basis for my own Belgian Strong Dark ale. Go check it out for the ones you've enjoyed. The commentary is great and I think they even give beer ideas and music selections to assist with the brewing ambience.

2008's release weighs in at 8.6%ABV so right up there in trippel or belgian strong golden land. Whats the difference in taste you say - personally, I consider BSGs to be lighter in color and less huge in alcohol and sweetness than trippels.

Its a mint nose this time around so I guess Stone is using hops typically big like they usually do. Antanum hops reportedly are tossed into the whirlpool after the boil is
all but done. A taste reveals some apricot-fruit so I'm guessing some Amarillo hops also in the hop bill. Vertical Epic pours out with a fast fading foam and fills the glass with a brilliantly clear and pale gold belgian-styled treat. There is no fuselly burn so I'd say you could drink it all now without any further aging. But save one or two just for sharing when another release becomes available. The malt really comes across nice and clean. I'm catching some real small spicy bits but not big huge
blasts of phenols or cloviness. Its easy to sip more as the mouthfeel is low and just perfect for a really drinkable belgian beer. The mint that I noticed originally is all but vanished on checking later.

Stone gives away that the yeast is the Duvel strain and that they use 7% sugar in the recipe ,so its clear why the palatability is great. 65 IBU of hops are part of the
balancing to the alcohol as well.

V10 Series - Ruby Richness (Victory Brewing, PA)

First, let me mention this was brewed in fall 2002. My second mention is that the entire batch was actually recalled by Victory because of contamination issues with a
first run on the new (now old) bottling line at Victory. 6 years later, its still in my cellar, so what the heck, lets try it out since it's had 6 years to do it's thing aging and souring and whatever else it does. I guess its a funk brew now - just not purposely.

Taking precautions, I open the bottle in the sink. No gusher, yeah!!!!! How bad could it really be contaminated if it doesn't gush?

Cautiously, I brought my nose to the bottle top. No foam in the nose thankfully and the bottle is dank and sour cherry in aroma. 6 year old carbona dioxide also visibley floats off into my kitchen almost like a blown smoke ring. Using a huge tulip shaped glass for the pour to let all the aroma out, I pour it to find a deep garnet red beer. From its name, its true. The clarity is extra sparkling clear like some real old barleywines show off where tannins and sediment are left compacted in teh

ancient bottles. Beige foam rises quickly on the pour and then fades off.

Like walking into real cold water for a swim, I go for my first taste of recalled V10. The nose is true telling of the taste - tangy sour cherry fruits. Its very raisin-like and almost winey in taste. Definite focus on the fruit side of things with no room for cloves or belgian spices. Hops are nil. Sour apple Jolly Ranchers is another description I'd use. Its not lambicy and its not acetic like Rodenbach either. I guess the combination of many things including the 10% ABV might have kept it from
getting totally out of control crazy. Granny Smiths apples come through later as well.

For all my concern, it was truely enjoyable in unique characteristics for folks with an appreciation for experimental beers with nontraditional fermentative species.. I finished the whole bottle no problem. You probably can't find it anywhere but I thought I'd share the fun since I only had it last night. The cellar does give up the interesting half-dozen year old beer every once in a while.

cheers,pete

08/07/2008 | Duck-in Cooler Update
Author: Dean Brundage

I have an update on my fermentation cooler. Read about it here:

http://midnighthourbrewery.blogspot.com/2008/08/duck-in-cooler-update.html

06/19/2008 | From Mom's Kitchen into your Glass
Author: Pete Czerpak

"Choklat Imperial Stout" (Southern Tier Brewing, Lakewood, NY)

Southern Tier names their darkest series of ales, the Black Water Series. Novel concept to do a bunch of limited release imperial stouts and huge porters with some cool ingredients. This one weighs in at 11%ABV and reported 27degreeplato to start, so a very hefty boy. Into the mash tun go: 2 row, crystal60, flaked barley, and chocolate malt. During the boil, both Chinook and Willamette hops are used for a good combo of harsher pine and more flowery notes from the W-hop. Bittersweet belgian chocolate helps gives the Choklat, its namesake.

Freshly-baked brownies in my moms kitchen rips out of the bottle top as you pop the cap on the bomber. Like the smell that invades a house so nicely and makes you want to go to the fridge and pull out a big carton of milk for the upcoming desserts. If you let the bottle sit for a bit airing off, yeah, kinda like a young cabernet from Napa or something, some vanilla and caramel notes follow along in the cascade of dessert smells. Wow, 3 desserts in one beer!

Pour it out into a glass and the color is black, very black. A medium, thin brown head emerges from the pour and quickly disappears into the depths. Maybe the chocolate is pulling it back down? The brownie aroma is still there after pouring and not seemingly going away. Milk anyone?

If you can bring yourself to stop all that olfactory dribble, and not leave any nose hairs in the glass, its time to see what all that brownie smell tastes like. Well, I let my bottle warm up for quite a while and its probably at cellar temperature. I'm getting liquid-brownies all across the palate. the dark malts are really smooth and chocolate-like. That traditional big stout coffee taste isn't making even a hint of an appearance. I'm thinking that use of only chocolate malt for the dark grains really makes a difference. An underlying hop bitterness helps to round out the alcohols and chocolate notes. Hop aroma seems well-hidden to completely lacking. I think you'll find some of the 11% alcohol in there but it seems well-integrated and assisting the complexity of this beer.

Most traditional imperial stouts usually have less obvious chocolate presence and more roasted and coffee notes along with some darker fruits like prunes. 'Choklat" is nicely balanced with the roasted grains used and the alcohol level and maybe compared to a bigger more balanced Youngs Chocolate Stout that can still probably be bought in nitro cans. I'm thinking some of that extreme smoothness is maybe from a bunch of flaked barley in the grist.

Even after drinking this one to the bottom of the glass, the cocoa powder notes continue to hang in the interior of the glass. Yes, high potency belgian bittersweet chocolate.

Friends in high places certainly have good access to some great beers. My long time cycling buddy from Boulder, Colorado occasionally passes along some truely great beers from nearly a mile high in elevation. Denver is mile high but I can't remember about Boulder - which is home to the long-time brewing and but boringly named, Boulder Beer Co. When I was finishing my degree at CU, I remember getting a jalapeno pepper seed stuck in my gum at the brewpub and suffering all night while trying to dislodge it gracefully. Beer did not cool down the heat either.

"Killer Penguin barleywine" (Boulder Brewing, Boulder, CO)

Having to slice through a wax sealed bottle is always a PITA, but a pretty cool presentation thing. There's even a hot stamped wooden vintage date emblem pressed into the hot wax - 2007. The bottle speaks of 12 month aging before release for this single yearly batch of 50 barrels.

Strawberries and summery fruits are the initial wave of scents after opening the bomber size bottle. I'm pouring into a big belgian snifter type glass and the deep garnet red color of KillerPenguin is very obvious. Clarity is just about perfect and fine bubbes of beige foam form the long standing head that coats the glass and any nearby mustaches. Rarely have I seen this red color in beers. I need to figure out how they do it.

The glass nicely concentrates the fruity aromas into caramel and cotton candy. A very well-balanced malt to hops barleywine lights a smile on my face. Anchor's Old Foggy is similar but maybe a bit more on the raisiny dark fruit sided balanced barleywine. The Penguin has some interesting caramel, full malt, and light raisin flavors mixed in. Bitterness is moderate with pine-like hop flavor in the mid-taste and maybe even some apricot notes from some Amarillos. Citrus nose isn't bursting forth like many fresher examples of barleywines. The mouthfeel is extremely smooth and medium with a well attenuated fermentation. A cask-like aura is noticeable and perhaps from that real long aging prior to release. Carbonation is spot on for a barleywine just lightening it up slightly while leaving the creamy smoothness and no aftertaste.

Its almost quaffable in smoothness and a real sneaky one at 10%ABV. Maybe consider going back to school in Boulder just for the good beers location.

04/25/2008 | Monks Kettle in SF
Author: Pete Czerpak

Last November, two new Belgian style bars opened in San Francisco. Monks Kettle is located in the Mission area on 16th Street. I've been meaning to get there for the last few months but haven't found the time. That and the reported difficulty in finding a stool or table didn't help with enthusiasm level. BUt I finally went last night and was glad that I did.

They have about a dozen 4 person tables, a bar seating maybe two dozen, and then a back bar styled area with another few stools. Rows of belgian glasses are stacked behind the bar and the mirrors make the place seem bigger than its actual narrowness. i was actually surprised to see the TV on the wall in the front corner with the baseball game on. 24 taps fill out the bar area.

I had just come off a earlier evening run and then the mile and a half walk so I was thirsty and hungry. MonksKettle makes a big deal about locally sourced and happy meals although with belgian-style beers, they're
not all locally sourced obviously (and thankfully). So I went with a big ol' hot german pretzel to start. It was easily a foot across and nicely hot. The dough was chewy with a decent brown crust and exactly correct amount of salt. A little buttery was my only complaint. Good peppery thick mustard to accompany it along with a less desireable cheese and ale sauce that could use some spicing up for its mellowness.

My rehydration beverage of choice was a Bernadus "Abt12". Dark, rich, and smooth and poured into a nondistinct wide mouthed pinotnoir styled glass. I followed this with a new beer from Moonlight in SantaRosa, 'Working for Tips' served in a tulip style glass. WfT was brown in color and used no hops. Brian instead uses freshpicked redwood tips for "hopping". I really liked it. It wasn't over the top evergreen in flavor or nose and just tasted like a beer that was regularly hopped. Very nice.

My burger entree came out nicely timed and just as desired with my pretzel urge fulfilled. Burger was done just as asked which doesn't seem to happen all that much anymore unless you ask for welldone due to foodborne concerns. Good tasting and fresh roll and the right amount of mushrooms and cheese piled on top. I needed something rich to work with the burger so I went for a classic, not belgian at all, Stone Russian Imperial Stout in a tulip glass. The bartender was especially proud to relay that it was one of 2 kegs in NorCal so I guess its a bit limited. I had actually had a bottle of this last week and knew it would be a stellar beverage. Very dark, plenty of roasted grain, and suprisingly well crafted alcohol. I'd have had a second if I wasn't eyeing one other beer to finish up the night.

The beer list was pretty impressive. Rodenbach Grand Cru on draft along with BarleyWineFest winning GnarlyWine from Lagunitas. Lots of cool bottles. They had the full RRBC bottled beer line including all recent releases of the barrel series., Supplication, Beautification, and the blond sour that I don't recall. LaFolie was on the bottle menu as well although I recall a steep looking price on it. American brewed beers on draft were well priced at $4-6 and belgian imports on draft hit the $8-12 range. Pour sizes varied but were listed on the menu. The menu was divided up similar to their website, by style for the bottle selections, making it easy to pick if you had a feel for what you wanted.

It was headed for the ninth inning of my evening out so I need to finish up with a bang! I had overheard the bartender telling someone they were out of the 'DoubleDaddy' Imperial IPA but had something else in its place. This info along with the Avery tap handle I noticed, left my hop loving mouth watering - Avery Maharaja Imperial IPA!! On tap and knowing full well that I had enjoyed a bottle several weeks ago and probably wouldn't see it draft again locally, pushed me for yet another nonBelgian beverage. Big fruity ale esters and lots of hops practically leapt from the tap across the bar area. The draft version seemed more carbonated and better balanced than the slightly sweet tasting bottled version I mentioned. I was very happy with my choice to end the evening. And it was served by the full pint if you want it - no fancy glass needed.

Here is the seating scoop by the way so you could plan arrival time before being disappointed in challenging seating...... I walked in at 830 on a thursday to barely find standing room behind the bar. By 915, a bunch of stools cleared out. By 10, you could get a table. Sadly, the kitchen is only open until 10ish but you can get food at the bar so you needn't wait for a table.

My bartender for the evening turns out to be an ex-Philadephia beerguy. We chatted about DFH and Victory and he put in his request for a bottle of ApriHop for a trade since I'm heading east next week for travel.

Go check out MonksKettle! and have the pretzel too.
pete

04/01/2008 | The water here in Bryan, TX is soft, but stinks of chlorine. I finally decided to put together a water filter for my growing brewery. I got the specs from the January 2007 issue of Brew magazine. They have yet to put that article online, so here it is. I built it for about $40, but you can probably do better. Read the rest here: Cheap Simple Water Filtering
Author: Dean Brundage

The water here in Bryan, TX is soft, but stinks of chlorine. I finally decided to put together a water filter for my growing brewery. I got the specs from the January 2007 issue of Brew magazine. They have yet to put that article online, so here it is. I built it for about $40, but you can probably do better.

Read the rest here:

http://midnighthourbrewery.blogspot.com/2008/04/cheap-simple-water-filtering.html

03/11/2008 | Two Plus Two = Four (Judgement Day)
Author: Pete Czerpak

2+2 = Four (Judgement Day Quad)

This is one of those year round selections made by Lost Abbey. Of course, I hadn't had it until recently (February 19, 2008 to be exact), but I'm sure our friends in SoCal have been drinking it for months. Now, Lost and Found is a terrific US dubbel style made with raisins. The Judgement Day steps it up a notch and adds more alcohol and again, using some raisins as extra fermenting sugars. Per the bottle, Judgement Day rolls in at 10.5% ABV in the style of Belgian Dark Quad. I'd actually like to see VinnieC at RRBC throw down his own version of Quad especially now that he made his Damnation Batch #23 trippelistic jump atleast once. I am a huge fan of that Salvation and if he went ahead and 2X'd it - most excellent!

"Judgement Day" (Lost Abbey, San Diego) opened initially with a strong bittersweet chocolate aroma straight out of the bottle. It has a really deep brown color with a dark brown head.

No red highlights typical of dubbels atleast to be seen when held to the light. Sadly, the foam disappears quickly with the strength of this brew. The quad smells of fruity belgian esters once its poured and displayed properly - spiced pears is what I found. Light hints of alcohol are there as I began sipping. Smooth and dark toasty malt emerge. Its very palateable and no major roasted grains in the foreground. Malt flavor is full of those biscuit-like notes from probably sizeable usage of munich and other belgian caramel type malts. JD finishes nice and creamy with a pleasant smooth aftertaste. Its almost doppelboch with a sizeable belgian estery touch. Tingles of carbonation hit the palate in later tastes. Anise emerges also so perhaps some carafa roast grains are hanging around in there. Atleast this is what I found when combining them with belgian yeast esters in my own version of Belgian Quad. My glass finished up as I was starting on some Indian takeout for dinner. It appeared to bring forth further flavors of figs and also chocolate (finally). How the chocolate didn't emerge until the end after leading out with this in the first nose hits, I don't know.

I'm glad to have a few bottles of this now stashed away. Looking forward to RRBC being the northside distributor for Lost Abbey. Hopefully it'll help keep the cellar more full of Tomme's good stuff. Find some and stash it yourself. It should age nicely like those wintery Bigfoots.

cheers.

01/17/2008 | Don't Miss the Abyss
Author: Pete Czerpak

Journey to the depths of "The Abyss"........ I visited Portland, OR last summer in search of tasty brews at the Oregon Brewers Festival as well as local pubs and shops. A buddy asked me to pick him up some very unusual and rare imperial stout from the same cats who bring us Mirror Pond Pale, Black Butte Porter, and Obsidian Stout. I've been a fan of the Obsidian for probably as long as its been available in NOrthern California. I now sadly have to purchase this fine beverage in Truckee while up there skiing, but atleast it can be found. Back to Oregon, no luck finding this rarity called "the Abyss" last summer - it was long gone for sure.

While in NY on Christmas holiday, I had one of my cellar aged Victory Storm Kings. Nice and roasty. Plenty of balancing bitterness and alcohol. NOt too sweet. A fine reminder of what winter brings.

So on to the rare imperial that was just released locally and will probably sell out soon. Its a great beverage for unpacking books and installing shelving - just stay away from the saws-all power tools. Unless you are using one to open the wax-sealed cap.

"the Abyss" Deschutes Brewing (Bend, OR)

Per the label, "The Abyss beckons". This was how I felt. Several were thoughtfully liberated for my basement and one even placed in the chiller for my arrival. I left it to warm for an hour as I considered all the nice imperials I've tasted - Yeti from great Divide, Rasputin from NorthCoast, Stone RIS, Rogue Imperial, P2 from Bass Musueum, various incantations from Mountain Sun during Stout Month (probably just coming up soon in Feb), as well as a few real nice homebrewed ones.

The bottle is nicely wax capped - black of course. 11%ABV it reads along with mentioning the crazy ingredients and procedures of licorice, molasses, and oak aging of 1/3 the contents. I think the old Rodenbach sour was about 1/3 old oak aged also so maybe that is the magic proportion.

I popped the cap after sawing away the nifty thick wax seal. Aromas of intensely rich coffee, almost burnt, came forth. The color is deep, deep, deep rich black with a fantastically brown head that doesn't stick around for too long. But it sure did stick to the sides of the glass along with a real nice island in teh middle of the belgian style glass that never seemed to sink. The pour brought out some earthiness and almost some basement. Not like a sour beer but probably from barrel oxidation and maybe even the interesting extra ingredients mentioned above. I
think I read somewhere that 9 months of barrel aging were done. The final sniff before I found my lips to the glass was ale fruit and mollasses.

A thick coating knowledge followed my tasting. It was not overly sweet but just right and you could tell it was a hefty beer in both grain content and fermentability by those great yeasts.

So not many excessive residual sugars that would make you want to pause before another taste - instead it pulled you to have more. The alcohol heat or perhaps leftover bourbon barrel notes was noticeable in the background. Maybe some real slight hints of acidic roasted grains for really pushing the envelope to get lots of roast character in there. The color is still truely impressive and very black. I don't think I could see hints of brown or hints of red - just solidly black.

The roasted character in general was solid and really present and smooth. I'd like to know the dark grain blend they used for this one. Malt character was spot on. The bitterness was there and balancing with the roast. No obvious hop character besides the earthy aroma notes. So probably not a lot of big "C" american hops in the recipe. The oak itself isn't so noticeable. I was hoping for a bit of vanilla but just never found it.

Very good and very limited for a fair price. I'd love to try it alongside the Speedway from Alesmith. Although the next day would require plenty of coffee beans for the wakeup call.

cheers pete

01/09/2008 | Where the Fuck Are My Hops Kölsch
Author: Dean Brundage

First brew-day in Texas! There is no LHBS in B/CS so I ordered a Kölsch and a Bitter from Northern Brewer. I figured Kölsch is a good way to ease any megaswill-drinking new friends into good beer.

Read the rest here:

http://midnighthourbrewery.blogspot.com/2008/02/where-fuck-are-my-hops-klsch.html

10/28/2007 | Kill Ugly Radio
Author: Nick Osborne

As you probably know, Lagunitas founder Tony Magee obtained the permission of the Zappa Family Trust to use original album art to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of Zappa's albums.

"Freak Out!" was the first, and was released last year. His second album was "Absolutely Free". However, Zappa wanted to call it "Kill Ugly Radio", but the record co wouldn't go along with it. But Kill Ugly Radio artwork was featured inside the album. To honor Zappa's wishes, Lagunitas named their second 40th anniversary tribute beer "Kill Ugly Radio", and it is currently available.

"This highly bitter slightly cynical brew pours a bright copper color with little head. The flavor and aroma is big on the hops with a large citrus pine component with only a hint of malt. Light in body and crisp in flavor makes this a hop lovers dream."

Yes, but where could one possibly find it locally on draft??

At my house!!

Being, (temporarily - I hope), a gentleman of leisure, John Watson, Gary Beal, and I headed north to Lagunitas last Wednesday. Stephanie took us on a tour of the brewery and shared their expansion plans with us. They are currently brewing 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week, and are still having difficulties keeping up with demand. So a huge new mash tun is on its way along with additional fermentation tanks.

Then we headed to the tasting bar............
After (very) generous tastings of Kill Ugly Radio, Hop Stoopid, Imperial Red, Russian Imperial Stout, (and some Belgian style stuff - I think), I left with a keg of KUR, and Gary staggered out with 3 cases of various brews.

Time for lunch, so we stopped at Moylans, had our picture taken with Brandon, chatted with Denise Jones, the Brewmaster, ate our fill of fish and chips, washed down with one of the finest IPA's, and headed home.

Stop by for a pint of "Kill Ugly Radio"!

Cheers,
Nick

10/25/2007 | Beerfirsts - "W12"
Author: Pete Czerpak

"Westy" or Westvleteren is a Trappist brewery that we speak in hushed tones about. Its hard to get and not likely to get any easier to find. They're not interested in expanding commercially so they produce what they want to for noble survival. I had my first Westvleteren 12 (W12) last night and it wasn't even in a dream of beergeekdom.

Beer-firsts, they're funny things. First microbrew other than Sam Adams - Pete's Wicked Brown Ale in the early 90s - liked it. First german hefe-weizen - mid90s - didn't like it. First batch of homebrew - 1995 - turned out OK using Eroica bittering hops. First GABF attended - 1996. First Oregon Brewers festival attended - 2001 - very good time. First trip to Belgium - 2002 - 37 beers between 2 people in 4 days (good time in case you couldn't tell). First sour brew done in the Rodenbach style - 2005 - still a dozen 750s left for sampling.

Now first Westy12 - 2007 - here we go......

W12 sat for 4 days settling down in my cooler. Believe me, it was a tough 4 days to wait, looking in on it every day, wondering if it was too fresh or something else would disappoint me.

10.2%ABV is a lot of alcohol even in a fine Belgian beer. Plenty from Belgium wander down in the 6.5% to 9% category but very few break that 10% barrier since they get a bit tougher to palate and so very costly to brew.

My cap was dated best before 29.08.10. A very fresh bottle indeed from a late August bottling. The bottles are simple with no label but a embrossed trappistbier lettering in the bottle neck. I'm still wondering if it was too new and I should sit on it for a few more months. No way!

Without further ceremony, I popped the cap, took a quick sniff and poured W12 into a shallow chalice thankfully from one of Westvleteren's brethren. A pint glass is in no way appropriate. The first thing I noticed is that even with a couple day long rest period, there was still a decent amount of bottle sediment. I stoppped pouring just as it emerged leaving a previous half inch of W12 in the bottle all muddied up. I'd have the vitamins later and keep my first glass clear and free of yeast bits.

The nose was of deep malt similar to that of the first runnings of a doppelbock. It almost reminded me of cola probably due to some interesting belgian yeast caused spiciness interacting with some carmelized sugars. Mild cocoa appeared also, especially with broader inhalations. No obvious clove notes or apple pears like you might see in the tripels and strong goldens. Very different nose than the Rochefort 10 from last week.

Beer color was of the deepest auburn and mahogney. Certainly not black. But some real good red highlights when held up to natural light. The foamy head was a medium beige color with the bulk of it fading quickly thanks to the 12 designations high alcohol. However, a thin veil of finely sized bursting bubbles kept recovering the surface of the beer with a great everpresent thin head. The foam ring left after a taste easily clung to the glass walls never sliding back into the liquid.

Alcohol notes were my first impression. Certainly not a subtle introductory taste to W12. CReamy maltiness, powdered mocha like you see in the coffee shops, and some lighter espresso came through the palate. Its very rich in layers. No sharp acrid roast flavors. Mouthfeelwise, its a much bigger tasting quad than the Rochefort offering #10 from last week. Probably a lot fresher too so this one may fade to a finer drink in passing months. Some spices left in the aftertaste along with pleasant malt and some alcohol remaining in your nasal cavities.

As my glass is nearly empty, the nose reminds me of a maple sugarhouse during production where they are boiling off all that water and concentrating the sugars from the sap.

Concentrated intenseness would be a fair statement about W12.

What a beer, I'm ready for a second after some more aging time when further layers reveal themselves and the alcohol blends more fully. Or perhaps after I find a W12 glass that has the branding.

cheers to those rare firsts in beer, pete

10/15/2007 | Smoke Signal and Foam Everywhere
Author: Pete Czerpak

I'm a huge fan of smoke beers. Especially while sitting around a campfire. Or, anywhere else..... My first exposure was in the late 90s to Alaskan Smoked Porter and the Rogue Smoked beer. I'm still a huge fan of the Alaskan and put some away every winter season. The vertical tasting of them several years ago at the Toronado was excellent and showed real taste differences beyond just the smoke strength between something like 10 years of vintages. The standard Stone Smoked Poter isn't my favorite due to the peat smoked malt used. I like the alder wood grains from Alaskan, the beechwoood stuff from Weyermanns, and the apple and oak (I think) and others for the Vermont Pub and Brewery's Smoked Porter.

I've brewed a small share of smoked beers myself including an amber style with nearly 50% beechwood smoked grain and a smoked porter with maybe 20% smoked stuff in it.

While up in Portland in late July this summer for the Oregon Brewers Festival, I got to make a little side trip to a great little (but chock packed) bottle shop. Along with a neat "method-champenoise" Double IPA that I picked up, I also found something from Oregon Trail in Corvallis, OR called "Smoke Signal".

"Smoke Signal" sits at 7.3% ABV on September 13. The first sniff is a very malty beady aroma with just a wee hint of pleasant smoke. Not bacon, but more like campfire from the night before lingering in the woods around the tents. Its almost a doppelbockesque nose really. The label mentions ale though, rather than lager. We'll see how fruity it stands to be.

In my glass, the color is deep amber with brilliant clarity. No haze or yeast sediment to be seen. The head is beige and unfortuantely doesn't stick around long. Carbonation is moderate so perhaps the reason for the low key head retention.

I willingly dive into this bit of camping to find what appears to be a nifty German grain bill. The malt backbone is huge and not beaten down by hops or too much offensive smoke. I'd call it a medium level of smoked grain. Not too sweet and the flavor still holds to some malty germanic roots. Mouthfeel is medium and expected with the alcohol level. The smokiness comes through real nicely in the late palate. I'd question the mention of ale but perhaps its one of the labelling mysteries about alcohol levels rather than style definition that the rest of us think about.

The alcohol levels appears well-build without any fusels kicking in. I'm real psyched with this one and am raring for the release of the 2007 Alaskan Smoked Porter now. Bring on the smoke!

Another great brew I found in Oregon comes from its PNW far-away sibling of Alaska. "Epluche-Culotte" makes it south from MIdnight Sun Brewing in Anchorage. A real light-weight at 9%ABV in the style of belgian trippel. I left my bottle to warm up slightly for maybe an hour, but the pop of the cork and the pour got a bit crazy. Foam everywhere but the ceiling in my kitchen. Its always a disappointment to see this happen. Whose fault - mine or the beers? This time around it may be a bit of both since the beer was in fine condition otherwise - no wierd funk had taken over. So, perhaps just some real good high volumes of carbon dioxide carbonation and the warmer serving temperatures inability to contain all that gassy goodness.

Anyways, the poured aroma was peaches and passion fruit esters along with some barely noticeable cloves. Slight alcohol comes out in the first tastes with a sweet and fruity malt-like flavor of almost traditonal easter breads. Just before your swallow is complete, its creamy and gentle in mouthfeel. Probably some wheat in the grainbill - I'll toss out for you to contemplate grainbill construction of belgian trippels.

The body comes across as not too thick and not too thin. I'm sure the alcohol is helping out here. When looking at the beer and not tasting it or wiping it from the table or ceiling, the color is a light orange with a slight yeasty haze. Duvel would be slightly lighter in color for comparison even though thats a strong golden stylewise. When the foam isn't pouring everywhere, its a tiny bubbled off-white color. Perhaps the travels from Alaska on the potholed highway weren't so gentle for this one. However, it was still excellent and didn't have the carbonic acid bite I'd guess given the flowing foam.

cheers and enjoy the occasional well-carbonated belgian bottled brew. pete

08/11/2007 | Day Two In St Michaels
Author: Dean Brundage

Day two in St Michaels. This year I discover that my uncle Ron's taste beer is more sophisticated than most. Delighted, he tells me of the ales at the C Street Pub on the main street (the one and only street in town). There is even an English-style ale there, which makes me salivate. My wife wants to spend the morning shopping with Aunt Dottie.

Read the rest:
http://midnighthourbrewery.blogspot.com/2007/08/day-two-in-st-michaels.html

08/10/2007 | Fordham Lager
Author: Dean Brundage

We just arrived at my aunt and uncle's weekend getaway (soon to be retirement) home in St Michaels, Maryland situated in an area known as the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. A sleepy town on the surface but all around there is a quiet bustle of boutique shoppers and vacationers. The area is beautiful, my aunt and uncle's place an exemplar of subdued extravagance.

Read the rest here:
http://midnighthourbrewery.blogspot.com/2007/08/fordham-lager.html

08/06/2007 | On Vacation, Tasting Beer
Author: Dean Brundage

The weather report says 55% humidity, but it lies; the air feels much heavier. When we left the house, the reading indoors was 70% and I'd wager it is closer to 89% outside. A moist haze, unlike California smog, mingles high with threatening cumulous giving the sun an indistinct outline. I am escaping the ninety degree heat at one of the best Washington DC metro area's best Irish pubs – The Old Brogue. Situated in Great Falls, VA it lies a mere twenty minute walk from my grandfather's home and stables. We drove, however. It's hot. The pub is a typical Irish pub; picture Molly McGee's or O'Flaherty's. Dark wood everywhere, green accents, a tiny raised stage, and decent selection of pub beer.

Read the rest at the URL:

http://midnighthourbrewery.blogspot.com/2007/08/weather-report-says-55-humidity-but-it.html

Midnight Hour Brewery Blog

07/18/2007 | Retry on Collaboration Not Litigation, Again
Author: Pete Czerpak

Happy summertime!!

A beer 'cellar' or more properly closet is something that is really nice to have. Its a place to stash those great bottles that would otherwise call your name a bit too frequently if stored in your food refridgerator. Mine has a few cases of random onesy-twosy bottles of various vintages of all sorts of treats. Barleywines, Stone Epics, Cantillon sours, Alaskan Smoked Porters...... It gets to a point every year where I actually break down and drink one every few days. No special occasion needed even.

Here are some of those special bottles over the last few months.

Old Viscosity (tasted July 2):
Port Brewing has become a bit more available here lately. They brew an impressive mix including crazy belgians and big west-coast style ales. I'm not sure if they're made a lager yet. This is advertised at 10% ABV and partially aged in bourbon barrels. A moderate carbonation hiss escaped on opening the bottle cap. Its not a cork finished brew. The first sniff revealed an impressive espresso nose. A liquor like espresso nose along with cotton candi esters jumped out as I poured it into a nifty glass. It had a thick and rich black color. The head is
unfortuantely short lived which perhaps agrees with my notes on the carbonation level. OV tastes of black roasted grains although it seems pretty smooth. Some charred and tar notes definitely come through the alcohol also. The soft mouthfeel is large as well but not sweet. Kudos to Tomme on that for such a big beer. As it warms up in the glass, those nice caramel and nougat notes pop into the air around the rim of the glass. Hop bitterness is nicely high and in balance with all the crazy complexity. I'd like to taste it side by side with Old Rasputin for a taste-off.

Avante Guarde (tasted June 20):
Another treat from Port/Lost Abbey. The labels are almost artwork and I'm ready for a t-shirt when they become available. The bottle says 'farmhouse style' so I'm expecting something spicy and saison-like, perhaps with maybe some farmhouse funk from the compost or the fruit trees. The cork pops solidly like all good belgians should. I appreciate everyone going to the effort to bottle with corks and reyeast rather than bottle artifically with tanked carbon dioxide. Nicely compacted lees (reported a mixed strain - both primary and bottlings) stay in the bottle bottom during the first glass. Its a nice clear deep gold and almost orange color with an ivory foam head. The head sticks around and hangs off the glass walls with some good tension. Orange marmalade are my first thoughts of the rising scent. The taste is a soft and pleasant balance of hops and malt. The mouthfeel is medium and not at all dry like a SaisonduPont. The flavor also lacks that farm fresh field smell that some saisons seem to have. Further tastings reveal a classic belgian fruitiness towards cloves and earth notes. Later aromas of apricots pop forth - maybe some Amarillos were used in the hopping schedule. Also, I'm finding some roses and cream soda/vanilla at barely noticeable levels. Originally, I didn't find the bittering too high but these thoughts changed as the brew sat in my glass longer and properly aired out.

Musette (tasted June somethingth):
Allagash is a brewery in Maine dedicated to solely making initially belgian beers and more recently interesting barrel-aged experimental stuff in the lines of no styles needed. Originally you couldn't even gets their beers with a crown cap or in smaller bottles than 750mL. Now, its a different story and their barrel experiments are getting around. Musette was a good 6 months in the bottle when I released it into my glass. Supposedly, another 10% ABV beer with only 515 cases made per the bottle label.. Wow, only 6,000 bottles making there way around the world. My thoughts at first were smooth and well-lagered uber-octoberfest. Yep, a real big huge octobrefest. Malt and toasty notes galore. The bottle opened with a nice strong pop and poured with a nice amber color like a strong black tea. Layers of belgian lace built as the foam rose up from a nicely aged bottle. The finish is really pretty dry without the usual alcohol sweet. Perhaps those barrel aging ideas help out with this. MOuthfeel seems belgian-like so I'm thinking some other form of sugar than just malted barley was used. Its not a huge and cloying beer and is quite pleasant for the strength. Eventually, the alcohol notes move closer to the front and I can find just some really tiny traces of roast or smoke late in the swallow of a mouthfull of Musette. Taking my time, there is also a bit of astringency or bitterness too. Soft flowing malt goes across your palate. All the usual traces of oak aging are absent - no wood or vanilla. After the bottle has sit for about 60 minutes in the house after a long fridge stay, its a tasty one to have. I'd guess about 25 IBU but little in the way of flavor or aroma hops. Probably classified as a belgian wee-heavy or something of that nature.

Old Guardian 2004 (tasted April 24):
A nice dusty bottle from my stashes of early arrival in the Bay Area and ease of access to Stone's more limited beverages. A cyclist pal visiting from upstate NY is reason enough to break this out and see what its got left for us. On opening the cap, a definite hop blast is still felt on inhaling. Some caramels wash by also with almost a brown sugar and cinnamon spice note to it. My glass has a heavy alcohol nose dominating with that nice cinnamon toast quality. Some creamy vanilla or slight maple bits can be found also. Its a bright and clear orange color with a moderate duration deep beige head that clings nicely. Sips reveal it to be smmoth and alcoholic regardless of the strong alcohol scent with light crystal malts obviously used. A strong bitterness is there with a nice moderate hoppy middle. No grapefruit or flowery hops notes, so probably no Cascades or Centennials in the hopping schedule. A medium mouthfeel with a slight carbonic bite lingers after your glass leaves your lips. The Old Guardian still has a great bitterness after these years of maybe not so careful aging. Some settled out hop
tannic haze does emerge as the bottles level heads more towards empty. The label mentions munich malt, Amarillo hops and 2 row pale. 10.06%ABV so that where the intense nose comes from. Harry remarks on it as "heady and sinus expanding, no obvious alcohol, nice fruit overtones, and a noted spiceness". Sounds pretty good, ehh?

A last thought, I had a bottle of Collaboration from our buddy Vinnie and Adam at Russian River and Avery Brewing. Mucho better than the tapped sample I had at Toronado during 'Tion Fest in April. None of the excessive fusel and cloves that I noticed in the draft. I really enjoyed this bottle that I picked up over in the East Bay during a major beer purchase afternoon some months ago. To all that haven't tried it, go get some. I'd be up for trying it again just to make sure it's still cool - bring one by and we'll check it out.

cheers pete

06/17/2007 | Sam Adams Treats Us Right
Author: Dean Brundage

This month I judged at the Sam Adams Longshot Competition. It was an awesome weekend. Sam Adams put me and my wife up in the 5-star Hotel Nikko in San Francisco. They paid for meals, parking, rounds at the bar and provided beer (Sam Adams of course). In total the hotel bill was $12, only because I used their gym on Saturday morning. All they wanted was my opinion on some beer.

Read the rest....

http://midnighthourbrewery.blogspot.com/2007/06/sam-adams-treats-us-right.html

05/25/2007 | Start of the summer outdoor tasting season
Author: Pete Czerpak

Impromptu beer tastings are soooo nice. People bring their extra special library beers that have been gathering dust and waiting for a special occasion. The key is always that people search out and find the most interesting ones they can find for their contribution to the evening. Sometimes they are gathered on road trips, carried on flights, sent by friends. And other times they are homebrewed. You must bring your own gold-rimmed glass though!

Recently one of these gatherings occured in South San Jose. In attendance were beers from Weyerbacher and Victory out east, some english and belgian goodies, some Lefthand Colorado brew,some 4 year old SoCal Stone beer, and a really excellent homebrewed american stout with a heavy hop dose. And a great South Indian cucumber salad was served as well with the Lefthand brew.

Weyerbacher Prophecy is an oaked aged belgian trippel style. The oak came through nicely with some vanilla notes. Notes of pear and passion fruit were obvious in the nose. Just a hair over 9%ABV.

V12 from Victory in PA rates 12%ABV. Its a quad or a belgian strong amber (new style). I thought this was a bottle from my original stash from the 2001 timeframe but apparently I picked it up last year. Very smooth for all the alcohol in it.

Pendle Witches Brew tastes like the English beer that it is. A nice estery, fruity nose along with some toffee notes. Did they make this one in a square fermentor?

Stone Vertical 03-03-03 has rested for 4 years mellowing into a delicate Belgian feast. That nice aroma of old belgian with light esters and cloves. Really soft mouthfeel. I wish we had more of this still kicking around. Its seemingly an abbey style atleast with the age. Stone calls it a spiced dubbel from the alligator
pepper in it.

HopStoopid is a new IPA or doubleIPA from Lagunitas in Petaluma. I'm really excited to get their new Saison one of these days. Reportedly only hop oils are used in this beer - its sickly hoppy even without the natural hops in it. The nose is pine-like as well as apricots. Bitterness is solid and a solid hop flavor is there throughout your taste.

A 90 IBU monster with some rye in it is the Lefthand Twinsisters IIPA. Cork finished and everything. A stellar beer hand carried back from a trip to Colorado. This went really well with the spciy cucumber salad.

Now to the homebrewed American stout. It was bottle conditioned and packaged in summer 2005 and I think even won a medal at a local competition. The hops had faded remarkably and left a creamy smooth stout that almost tasted barrel aged from some combination of the caramel malts used and the bottle conditioning. Wow, I love it and want the recipe. Almost a MilkyWay candy bar taste in a bottle.

Get together with some friends for a beer tasting this summer. And bring your best stuff. SN Celebration vertical tastings can be fun.

cheers pete

05/07/2007 | Funk 'Tion on Lower Haight
Author: Pete Czerpak

Belgian Beer Month finished up at SF's Toronado last week with a gathering of funkola beers from Vinnie and Natalie at Russian River. And what a gathering it was. I recall hearing the bartenders crying of 'frustration' with the similarity in beer names and the fact that numbers had been assigned to the beers without telling them. Demands of "write the beer names down" were met with glares and thirsty looks. Many sodden pieces of napkin and scrawlings passed back and forth between patron and servers behind the bar. I should have written my beverage demands on the pizza box sitting in front of us. Us would happen to be myself and RJ from the Sudzers who is a huge sour beer fan of the n-th degree.

Our early arrival enabled a choice set of two seats at the bar enabling easy flagging down when new beers were needed. We ordered 3 or 4 at a time to keep the selections fresh and enable them to not get too warm between samplings. As we actually arrived before the officials pourings began, RJ warmed up his taste buds with a lovely LaFolie that wasn't from RRBC but is still a spectacularly sour beer with Colorado roots. I had one earlier in the month but it was my first LaFolie sighting in 2007. And I think the same for RJs 2007 tastings.

On to the Funk'Tion - beers made with grapes, sour cherries, plumcots....... beers made with brett from the beginning...... beers made with brett at the end..... old spicy beers made with brett..... hoppy beers even made with brett.......... really all sorts of cool stuff including the RRBC/Avery blend dubbed Collaboration (but without funk influence).

Supplication has funk plus sour cherries and a long aging in red wine pinot noir barrels. Its color was a deep amber. The sour fruit was intense. Cherry notes emerged after letting it sit and breath for a while. Get some in 375mL bottles since you actually can.

Depuration is funk plus grapes. The score was three to zero with guesses that the grapes were chardonnay. The beer was a hazy gold with no head at all. Grape notes were kinda dull initially but increasing with time. Sourness was quite pleasant and not overpowering. It was rumored to be the last available keg around per Mr. RRBC.

Compunction is funk plus a fruit that is a apricot/plum hybrid. I've never eatten one of these fruits but I guess I've now had it in beer. Visibly, its a light amber color with a nice tangy sour. Obvious fruit presence has completely fermented away.

Deification is hops plus funk. Standard pale ale with brett finishing it off at the end. Definite hoppy notes in the aroma. The bitterness of the beer is decent. It finishes with a pleasant lactic acid based sourness. Color is quite pale and I think the bitterness balances quite nicely with the sour. You can tell this was a bastardized pale ale.

Sanctification uses 100% brett fermentation from the get go. Yupp, no normal brewers yeast in this one. I have my own brett only beer sitting at home now and ready to go to kegging.

Sanctification is a pale yellow brew with a great basement-like nose. Musty and almost mildewy canvas like an old tent stored in your parents basement since the 1970s. Mouthfeel is actually pretty full. Bitterness flavors are pleasant and not obstructed with completely sour notes. Some people feel that 100% brett only beverages don't have that intense sour tang that developes when sour ales are only finished with brett at the end of fermentation. It could have to do with cell count, growth rate, and byproducts of fermentation.

Erudition was a hidden gem of an old beer with brett. A saison to begin with and you can certainly taste the correct background flavors. It was a pale yellow color and had some seemingly wit-like fruity notes. I noticed orange and citrus in the nose. Lastly, the sour is an afterthought punch. After resting this one, late spice notes start to emerge in the nose. Also, some nice flowery aromas pop up in the secondary. This beer has an impressive clarity probably since it was brewed back in 2005 and has sat slowly dropping out beasts and phenolic haze chemicals.

Beatification starts with a perfect nose of sour and basement. Musty plus acidity to let you know you aren't going to be quaffing any normal beverage. It was batch #2 and spontaneously fermented with naturally occuring bugs from the Sonoma region - there are certainly plenty of vineyards and fruit potential for the natural funk to live and breed on in the fields around Santa Rosa. Vinnie wasn't passing any hints on this yet until he feels he has it figured out and stable. The beer was minimally carbonated with a light gold color. The flavors were lemon and sour like the gueze and lambic from Brussels. It was tangy and nice without the huge sour of LaFolie. I'd call it nicely balanced to the sour side. When is batch #3 happening - or has it already?

Temptation gets a long chardonnay barrel aging. And you can certainly tell. Oak qualities were pretty huge in the taste along with the sourness. The color was a pale and hazy gold. Pear notes seemed to appear as the beer sat for a while and I focused on other things.

Collaboration, a beer made between RRBC and Adam Avery from Boulder, Colorado. Each brewery had a belgian beer called Salvation. To avoid legal battles, they commissioned this one together in honor of the matched naming. Its not a funk beer and wasn't my favorite of the evening of 'Tions. On pouring, it was dark amber with a decent foam head. All the sour beers seemed to lack foam for certain. Not sure if its related or not. Anyways, my nose immediately noticed higher fruity alcohols and cloves. These don't normally seem to occur in the Salvation from RRBC atleast. Some bananas in the flavor once you begin drinking it. Also, I noticed a raisiny and almost oxidized dark fruit character as well. Perhaps an overdose of special B in the grain bill.

It was a pretty crazy night on the lower Haight for certain. And RJ did miss his trainride southward home. They did have the other non-funkola RRBC 'Tion beers, but I'll leave them for you to try at your leisure.

cheers pete

04/18/2007 | 120 Minutes of IPA from DogfishHead
Author: Pete Czerpak

Dogfish Head beers are an ellusive collection to find or get in Northern California. In 2003, you used to see their "60 minute IPA" in Trader Joes. No longer, now that East Coaster peoples needs far outweigh the distribution time to get it westwards. DFH does hops nicely. They do wierd ingredients like molasses, basmati rice, and peaches. Crazy variety of really interesting beers....

Between DFH from Delaware, Hair of the Dog up in Portland, New Glarius in the Midwest, and Russian River Brewing quite closeby in Santa Rosa, a whole bunch of brewers really pushing and breaking boundaries with radical ingredients.

Here we go with "Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA" as I promised so many months ago.

My bottle of DFG "120 minute IPA" was bottled in March 2006. I picked it up in NY for something like $8.99/12 oz. I bow my head in front of the bottle reflecting on all the hops, malt, and specialized brewing techniques that go into a beer of this size. It sits for more than 30 minutes after removing it from the cooler so that I might better enjoy all its crazy nuances. Ice cold would be such a wasted effort. On opening the bottle, tawny caramels and butterscotch rum notes first hit my nose. The carbonation is spot on for such a big beer. Too little and the alcohol would be overwhelming. I think the carbonation acidity really helps to balance its hugeness in ABV.

As the beer is poured, some vanilla floats off the rising beer level in my glass. Alcohol breaks free next and you can feel its strength. Finally, the nose is butterrum candies once and for all. Its sits a brilliant light amber color with no haze. Strange to have a beer with so much hops and still no haze. Hops oils perhaps? A firm beige fine bubbled head crowns this pour like a Belgian ale. Its long lasting with a film of foam that climbs the sides of the glass defying gravity. Supposedly this beer is dry-hopped every day for a month however, I still can't find hops in the aroma. Not to worry though.....

Thoughts of my first sip are creamy, hoppy, alcoholic warmth. A luscious, creamy mouthfeel helps distract you from the strenght of this beer though. Its something over 18%ABV and rumored in various vintages to push 20ish%. The hop bitterness is balancing with loads of fresh hop flavors. They're flowery and citrusy with maybe some visions of mango or apricot also.

The Avery Demon series pushes the high alcohol boundaries also and I find them so much more sticky sweet than this example of DFH 120 minute IPA. Its mouthfeel is heavy but its not sweet. Some serious recipe tweaking was done in Delaware to make this drinkable but not quite quaffable. A nice series to do is 60, 90, and then 120 minute IPAs with declining size glasses of each. For the 120, only a taster is needed.

As this beer (is it really a beer) continues to warm, brown sugar, malt, and more alcohol found their way out of its depths. Good to find this and have it. Hope you can too.

One member of our brewclub puts together a selection of Christmas beers almost every year. Depending on the number of participants, the number of beers varies. Most are California and PNW based and they give you a good sampling on what to buy larger amounts of at the store. This year it was two six packs of unique Xmas beers. The variety of flavors is always pretty cool - some are spiced, some are more normal, some are highly hopped. Here is Anchor Xmas 2006, Snow Plow Milk Stout from Widmer, and Full Sail Wassail. I tasted these just after the New Year started in early January.

"Wassail" (Full Sail Brewing, Hood River, OR)

HOppy nose. Spicy secondary aroma is evergreen and spruce-like. The color is brown mahogney. Very clear in clarity with a medium beige head of short life. It tastes of soft malt and roasted flavors. Not sweet or like a doppelboch though. Almost a brown ale with a firm malt backbone. 6.5%ABV. Medium mouthfeel with a creamy aftertaste. the bitterness is nicely balancing and just a bit forward of the maltside of things. It tastes similar to a Anchor Xmas but softer and more enjoyable. Use of roasted malts is discernable in the taste. All the color isn't just from munich and caratype grains. Some biscuit notes in the taste also.

"Snow Plow Milk Stout" (Widmer Bros, Portland, OR)

Roasted grain aroma on decapping. Head disappears quite quickly unfortunately. Black color with some red highlights like a Guinness stout. Beige foam briefly seen when poured into the glass. Aromas of ale-like fruitiness esters combined with roasted grain from the glass. Caramel and dark grains in taste. Moderate to large body which is expected for a milk stout. The aftertaste is slightly sweet and almost porter-like. Mouthfeel isn't creamy as I'd wish for. More carbonation would seem to enhance this beer by slightly drying it out. Hopping appears moderate and doesn't quite balance the sweetness. An oily thickness is noticeable on further warming. No roasted dryness in the amount of dark grains used. They appear balanced with plenty of crystal malt or lactose sugars.

"Our Special Ale 2006" (Anchor Brewing, SanFrancisco, CA)

Its the 32nd release. Carbonation is moderate on opening. Spruce notes in the aroma before I even pour it. Historically, I have a hard time drinking Anchor Xmas release during the season of release from the strong spicy qualities. On pouring, its an almost herbal nose. Allspice, like molasses cookies, sweet spices. No cinnamon though. Thick and deep beige foam with fine bubbles. Dark, dark reddish brown color in bright light. Body is low to moderate with a slight dry astringency in the finish probably from some spices. Its almost a bit watery. The flavor is spicy and dry malty. Its drinkable at the moment unlike Xmas of years past. NO aging is probably needed. Further increased body would probably enhance this. As the glass warms, some caramel notes appear in a background of sweet spices. the body seems to build as it warms and the carbonation level eases. Also, some more spruce and traditional porter notes in the aroma blossom out too.

cheers,
pete

01/16/2007 | Toronado and "Old Ruffian"
Author: Pete Czerpak

There was a pro-basketball game on the TV and progressive rock band Rush playing on the jukebox last friday evening when I walked into the Toronado. It was crowded but I eventually managed a place at the bar in front of Johnie as he poured and pulled beers for patrons. Plenty of weisbier, lager, and BigDaddys being served up. 4 songs later, the Rush onslaught ended. I'm not sure who started playing them but they obviously only wanted Rush. Older Rush at that....

Drakes "IPA" was on cask. A great starter beer for me. "None the Wizer" (Drakes) was also there and on tap. It was a clear golden color. White foam. Mellowed out belgian character and clean. I didn't know that Drakes was doing Belgian styles now too. Not a lot of clove or bubblegum for sure. I only had a taster. Next up, something I hadn't heard of from St. Bernadus called "Celis Grottenbier". Johnie said its a blended beer so I buy a whole glass. Its the dark color of mahogney. Nose is dubbelesque with a slight note of sourness. Tasting is a very pleasant complexing sourness mixed with toasty and malty flavors along with some light chocolate. Excellent choice here! I finished up with a Old Foghorn from our friends at Anchor Brewing. Whats there to say about that?

Moving on to a beer I secured while visiting Austin, TX this past summer for some work. They're in the beer powerhouse state of Colorado and make the Yeti Imperial Stout which I've mentioned before as well as Hercules with its mounds of hops added.

"Old Ruffian" (Great Divide Brewing, Denver, CO)

Tasted on 1/11/07. No alcohol mentioned on label but its a barleywine so get ready. 85-90 IBU advertised as well.

My bottle opened with a slow but quiet hiss of carbonation escape. The smell from the newly opened bottle is caramels and malt. Some strawberry-like fruitiness from the ale yeast and malt selection combination as well. Uhh-ohh, no hops in the aroma either atleast from the newly opened botle.

A short beige head covers the deep amber brew when poured. There is a slight haze in the barleywine when poured but this isn't atypical of english style ales with MarisOtter malt or hoppy beers with plenty of hop oils and other hop chemicals. No rising bubbles after the pour so carbination does appear on the low side.

The first taste is above moderate sweetness with an underlying bitterness. The bitterness appears slightly harsh on aftertaste and almost black peppery. The beer finishes malt forward for sure. It appears a bit rough and unrefined at cooler serving temperatures atleast when compared to classics like SN's "Bigfoot" barleywine. The bottle remarks "big body, succulent sweetness, and massive hop character". It appears to be right on 2.5 out of 3.

As Old Ruffian warms to conclusion, the alcohol seems well blended and not obvious, fruity ale character is certainly there, and you can find that moderate hop backbone. Some higher carbination levels may help to dry it out a bit so the malty sweet doesn't takeover so much and impact the flavor.

Thanks for listening. Upcoming Blog notice - DFH 120 minute IPA.

cheers pete

01/04/2007 | One Barleywine from the Pacific Northwest
Author: Pete Czerpak

"Dicks Barleywine Ale" (Dick's Brewing Company, Centralia, WA)
tasted Dec 19, 2006

This barleywine poured a deep crystal clear copper color with a low head of light beige foam. By its appearance, carbonation was low to moderate. Very little hop aroma was to be found however some low aromas of sweet malt and fruity esters were there. 9.9%ABV with a medium body and slightly sticky aftertaste round out the package.

On tasting this strong ale, its quite smooth, perhaps from extensive aging in the bottle. The balance is certainly to the malty side and probably has about 50 IBU of bitterness with not much in the way of aroma hops. No nose of grass or grapefruit or clean herbs or spruce. Any crystal malts used are probably in the 20 to 60 lovibond color area since no harsh and heavy caramel character can be noticed. Ale-like fruity flavors are present and similar to fresh strawberries. No oxidized character is present from old age so its aged gracefully.

A real pleasant brew that is almost doppelbockish but with more esters and ale-fruit. Dick's Barleywine appears to fit best as an english-style barleywine regardless of its Pacific Northwest roots, especially when compared to hopbombs like Old CRusty from Rogue with atleast twice the bitterness. The contained alcohol is smooth as well from the well balanced malt and hops and probably a nice clean, low temperature fermentation. Some OldFoghorn might be a good parallel comparison from around these parts.

cheers and make plans for the Barleywine festival coming up in midFebruary in san Francisco.

pete

12/11/2006 | Tomme's imaginative beer crusade in SoCal
Author: Pete Czerpak

Months ago, I heard rumblings around the Califronia brewing scene that Tomme Arthur was working on something new and tasty. It turns out this would become the new venture, The Lost Abbey. A brewery dedicated to their first proclaimed commandment, "the most imaginative beers are our crusade". This would truely be a righteous quest and they'd be producing them out of the old Stone Brewing facility just outside of San Diego who had also been a beer limit pusher in terms of both tasty and literal (on the labels) imagination.

I had sampled Old Viscosity a few months ago while sipping fresh hopped beers at the Toronado. It was quite the contrast to the IPAs and such seen with the fresh dripping wet hops that day. Black as could be. BIg mouthfeel. Smooth but present alcoholic warmth. Big roasted coffee, dark chocolate tarry goodness.

On saturday, with rain pending in the bay Area, I slipped into the City Beer Store which I hadn't been to before. Excessively large bottle selection. Friendly and intelligent owner. Atleast 4 taps pouring nifty brews. The Xmas seasonal from Moonlight was the sample I tried that day on draft. No spices that I could find. A nice browne ale for the holidays I'd say. While there, I picked up several big bottles from The Lost Abbey to check out how TommeA was doing.

"Red Barn Ale" (The Lost Abbey, San Diego)

Wheat and oats are major conponents in this farmhouse-saison styled beer. Its a 750 mL corked bottle with a nice fine layer of yeast compacted on the bottle bottom. The label looks to be almost artwork, I'd like it framed on my wall - rolling field, old farmhouse, babbling stream, a good place to set down for a picnic and a nap.....

After letting this warm up for nearly an hour from the cold, it poured a light orange color with a huge soft pillowy white foam head. Great stability like the best weizens. Clarity was excellent and surprizing given the oats and wheat components. I thought the carbonation sounded a bit on the light side when pulling the cork and this appeared confirmed once the tasting began.

I detect hints of perfume and flowers on that first breath in. Its almost a slightly lemony citrus too. God love the combination of saison yeast and spices.

The taste is soft malt and almost sweet. NOt at all dry like many belgian brewed saisons tend to be with their chalky, dry, and peppery character. Interpretation and moving forward is where american brewers continue to move (aka - no stylistic boundaries for some brewers). Hops are decidedly restrained for a beer coming out of an old Stone facility. Wouldn't there be traces of those Chinooks from the Arrogant ghosts or something. I think the moderate carbonation enhanced that feeling of sweetness. Hopefully time will continue to improve this facet as well as the medium to med-high body.

As my glass is consumed, I notice a slight alcoholic warmth for a relatively low alcohol beer at 6.7%ABV. I know that many folks tend to advertise using high fermentation temperatures to help dry these beers out as well as contribute spice notes with restrained actual spice additions. For spiciness, I'm tasting notes of coriander maybe, along with some black pepper and ginger. Later sips reveal a certain toastiness and even vanilla in the flavor.

I have a bottle of the abbey/dubbel variety - "Lost and Found" set aside for a day of contemplation. Perhaps this will happen before the holidays are over.

cheers,
pete

11/01/2006 | WetHopFest and Pils from Bend
Author: Pete Czerpak

September brings the end of summer and the hop picking season. That means that fresh/wet hopped beers start to become available in October. What exactly is a wet hopped beer - its a beer that uses hops right off the vine without being dried. Hops are normally dried to removed water (more than 75% of the wet hop weight) and increase the shelf life. Wet hops can't be stored too long.

I missed Vic's FreshHopFest at the Bistro in Hayward this fall but I did make the Toronado FreshHopFest last weekend. At the Toronado, even if you get strained by all the hops, there will always be something else to clear your palate with. There were about 15 wet hop ales available (wonder what a freshhop imperial pils would taste like though?). Standouts were Moonlight Brewings "Green Bud" of two varieties - one being solely chinook wet hops and the other being cascades. Personally, I liked the cascades better. "Hoptime" from Vinny at Russian River was also excellent tasting of hopjuiciness. Finally, PizzaPort Carlsbad and San Clement both sent exceptional brews. "Riptide" from SC was slightly hazy with a low head and had well rounded earthy hops of not mentioned strain. "Springtide" from Carlsbad was more clear with a beige foam and a more aggressive hoppy flavor and bitterness from centenial and cascades. Unfortunately, some minimal # of the other beers in the fest were tainted with diacetyl or not quite enough hops.

I cleared my palate with something from the new PortBrewing in SanDiego which is the old Stone facility. "Lost and Found" on tap appeared to be a dubbel variety of amber color. Nose was distinctly belgian with fruity esters. Lots of plum and fig in the flavor probably from special B and a pretty complex grain bill. The body was medium sized with a nice creaminess. I couldn't find much cocoa or chocolate notes though. Definitely worth getting some more of....

Last night was Halloween and I broke out a bottle of Deschutes Brewing "18th Anniversary Pilsner". Its from the Bond Street Series and packaged in 22oz bombers. 5%ABV per the label and also of german pils stylistically. The label is pretty cool with a handdrawn brewery interior scene including the numerals "1" and "8" in it from various brewing equipment pieces.

Noble hops pop out at me soon as I pop the cap, a real good sign already. Carbonation sounds moderate as well. Using my pilsner glass, tall and tapered, this lager is a brilliantly clear bright pale yellow. Clarity is extremely perfect with a nice white foam to cap off the glass. Putting my nose into the glass but not the beer, noble hops again and clean malt. Maybe more on the malt prevalent though.

This tasted of crisp lager. Very clean with no ale fruitiness. Maybe a bit of slight hop astringency and maybe a tiny hint of sulfur or sour tang. Sour could maybe have been from acidity from elevated pils carbonation levels. There is a good solid backbone of bitterness. Not much hop flavor in the middle. Its a delicate lager just like you'd hope for. Definitely crisp on the palate.

Later aromas of excellent clean maltiness come out. Its not toasted dark malts like an octoberfest though. More light and bready. Some belgian lace hangs nicely in the glass from this well constructed lager.

I guess its lager season with the weather turning cooler outside. No need to lair the lager now?

pete

10/19/2006 | Spiceness with no added spices
Author: Pete Czerpak

February 2,2002; March 3, 2003; April 4, 2004; May 5, 2005; June 6, 2006 - these are all release dates for the Stone Vertical Epic line of beers from the Southern California brewery. In my home and on my windowsill, I have old empty bottles of Epic 2004, Epic 2005, and in storage I may even have some of the 2003. Each is crazy different with some belgian characteristics usually present. Not many other Stone brews head in this interesting European direction. Most others are hoppy, alcoholic, and neutral in the yeast arena. The Epics are definitely not, with Stone Brewing always pushing the bounds and heading towards PeterB of New Belgium Brewing and Rodenbach fame of "no styles in Belgium".

The 06/06/06 was released earlier this year and supposedly no spices are used in it. The yeast is reportedly the Chimay strain (also used in the 2003 and 2005 Verticals) and used in the lower temperature regime to give less bubblegum notes and more of the earthy spicey stuff. The notes on the bottle mention cedar and anise and 8.66%ABV. Let just say that is all true. Here I go ..... pouring the beer into an appropriate chalice shaped glass.....

06-06-06 Vertical Epic (Stone Brewing, san Diego, CA)

Immediate cedar scent as the bottle is opened. Moderate pressure release saying that more time is needed to develop further bubbles or that perhaps the yeast are pretty pooped out with the high alcohol - only time will tell. Toast and spice in the aroma as the contents are poured out. The head is brown and the beer near black, but not quite there yet.

A distinct Belgian fruityness on first sip. Slight alcoholic burn in the the back of the throat. Smooth stickiness of alcohol also on the inside of the your mouth. On second tasting, its a complex thick and malty strong ale. Lots of spices start to come out as it continues to breathe and warmup more. Phenols, cinnamon, cloves....

Medium to full body for a Belgian ale. Is this from the use of 2 row malt instead of the more traditional pilsner malt used in Europe? Or perhaps the still developing carbonation? Smooth mouthfeel also.

Some vanilla appears as it warms further. Black licorice (aka. anise) too! As the beer approaches cellar temperature, the fruitiness changes to prunes, boisenberries, dark cherries and almost mulled spices. Bittersweet dark chocolate makes the last curtain of the shwo also.

Give this beer a hand. Many changing costumes.... Get some if you can. I tasted this one on August 7.

pete

09/26/2006 | Canned Brew from the 4 Corners
Author: Pete Czerpak

Beer in cans? No, CRAFT beer in cans!

Metallic you say? BMC (BudMillerCoors) you say? Cheap? Nope, none of the above (including not cheap). It seems that canned microbrew is all the latest rage (what's the next rage?). And canned beer nowadays is nothing like canned beer from decades ago.

I've been drinking the Dales line of brew from Colorado for a few years now and they make a nice wee heavy and a great pale ale that are canned. Friends always bring them on ski trips since we can drink them post-skiing while sitting in a hottub without worrying about broken glass. Just earlier this year, our local 21st Amendment Brewing in San Francisco started canning their Watermelon Wheat and their IPA. Unfortunately, the can sealing process wasn't completely perfected and my cans leaked both beer and carbonation giving me some really expensive flat tasting watermelon wheat. I guess thats what I deserve drinking and buying beer made with fruit.

I was just out visiting friends in the FourCorners section of the country in Durango, CO and there is a great brewery there also canning some brews. Their regular lineup has a great IPA but unfortunately this isn't canned yet. The brewery is Steamworks and the canned brew is "Steam Engine Lager". You can still race the actual steam engine train in a bike race every summer. My buddy did this last year and just barely beat it.

"Steam Engine Lager" (Steamworks Brewing, Durango, CO)

This lager pours a deep copper color and fully brilliant with no hints of haze or yeast. A low to medium beige head tops the glass (guess you can drink this straight from the can too). The label says amber lager so the color is spot on as is the lack of cloudiness per a long lagering period.

Breathing in deeply, the aroma is toasty malt sweetness. No floral hops, just toasty. And maybe a slight bit fruity (of course my cans travelled 1,000 miles in a FedEx truck along with my mountain bike) so maybe they were a bit mistreated, OK just a bit.

Flavor is completely malt forward - really pretty similar to an o'fest from Germany. Alcohol is moderate at 5.1%ABV and just perfect for having after a long bikeride at 10,000 ft of elevation when you're hungary for BBQ but waiting for everyone else to finish the bike ride. Low bitterness present and right to style for a malty lager. The body is medium and slightly big in quaffing factor. Creamy smooth finish..... If the carbonation were higher, the mouthfeel might be right where I'd love it.

Glad I have another 4 or 5 cans to pass around to can-lovers locally. Now to get that IPA canned up and I'd really be grateful.

cheers
pete

08/15/2006 | Searching for the Yeti
Author: Pete Czerpak

Once in a while, its really nice to taste a brew that is not quite "in-season". Its summertime so we're all drinking IPAs, pils, some lighter-colored belgian beers, and such. The darker porters, imperials of many varieties, and even barleywines are easier to find as the days grow shorter and cooler. NOt cold atleast here in the bayArea but cooler.

Oak aging is something I've toyed around a bit with while brewing. I've done some oak aging of a Celebration-like IPA where it was bastardized with a sugar addition to bring it closer to an imperial IPA. I've also tried some oak aging with a flanders red. Oak is tough - too much goes a long way. Too little and you're wondering why you bothered with the hassle. After a year of mellowing, the Celebration-plus brew had a nice background of oak. Prior to a year, you really knew it was there.

Here's one from Denver that is more on the mellow side of oak. Plus its a nice big beer for summertime drinking after you mow the lawn and before you find that hammock.

"Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout" (Great Divide Brewing, Denver, CO)

I had big hopes for this beer from its label. Oak aging (yes!), 75 IBU (yes!), and 9.5%ABV (guess its a big one then). Where's my glass. I let this warm up for half an hour before pouring.

An oily blackness flows from the bottle as its tipped up. I can smell some alcohol and practically feel the heat of the 9.5%. Some vanilla notes also but more in subtlety. The foam is deeply brown from all the dark grains in this beer. And it sticks around nearly forever. Hefeweizens have some foam stability but this foam just hangs and hangs which is surprising with all that alcohol complexity contained within. Cocoa and black currants also permeate the room as my nose dips closer to the foam.

My tongue is thoroughly coated as I fill it with imperial stout. Sweet maltiness with a wonderful big roasted flavor. Alcohol as well so I guess the label is correct. Its not hiddden though which might be its one flaw. The good news is that its aroma is stronger than its flavor. The mouthfeel is thick and heavy as one would guess for a big beer like this.

Smoothness becomes more apparent as it continues to warm up and breath. Should I have decanted this? Oak is not obvious so perhaps it helps with the smoothness atleast. I would like to try the regular old Yeti to see how the oak improves it. Or not.

Hoppiness is definitely still very present with a big agreeable bitterness to go with everything. Some creaminess in the mouthfeel with intense burnt roasted coffee and toffee brings me to the bottom of the bottle.

Jump to a bit lighter beer..........................

Every summer I tell myself I'm going to make the long drive up to Bend., Oregon to sample the beer at Deschutes Brewing right at the source. And maybe do some mountain biking or flyfishing as well. The Bend area is great albeit a decent drive from here or even Portland. I drove there from Portland once after OBF in a wicked downpour.

Deschutes has recently been turning out a line of seasonal limited release beers in bomber bottles. Additionally they are still making the 6 packs of larger release seasonals that we're used to seeing. I happen to find a great session beer a few months back while beer searching near Lake Tahoe. I tried my last bottle of it last night while brewing.....

"Buzzsaw Brown Ale" (Deschutes Brewing, Bend, Oregon)

Apparently Bend, Or had its roots in the lumber industry like much of the PNW. This beer pours a deep amber color with a slightly low head of beige foam. As I popped the bottle cap off, some interesting biscuity notes and light caramels wafted by. Lowering my nose to the glass, the aromas merged with some maltiness and ale-like fruit as well. 4.8% ABV leaves this as a great session beer for those really thirsty days or when you have the time to have a few. Bitterness is nicely highlighted on tasting it with the previously smelled fruit and maltiness as well. My glass sat as I worked the mash tun and as this beer warmed up, some caramel and toffee notes also sprung free. the fruitiness is reminescent of the many english styles compared to the somewhat bland taste of the chico style yeast used by so many american craft brewers.

cheers, pete

08/09/2006 | trappist dubbels plus one
Author: Pete Czerpak

I visited Belgium 5 years ago and was unfortunately not able to get away from Bruges or Brussels enough to get to sample some of the Trappist ales at or near their sources. My favorites Trappist styles are the darker ones like dubbels with their moderate alcohol (by relative standards), complex maltiness, and all over the palate spiceness and dark fruit flavors.

Westmalle Dubbel is a classic and easy to find with 7%ABV. Rochefort 8 is slightly bigger at 9.2%ABV and tougher to find. The Toronado even had a recent gathering for the increased availability of Rochefort on the west coast earlier this year. Many chalises of Rochefort were raised for this.....

I did a comparison tasting between these two as well as a two year old homebrewed dubbel on draft.

It seems almost required to warm these after pulling them from the fridge.... so 30 minutes seemed about right based on thirst level and desire to not freeze off my tastebuds. And no drinking them out of pint glasses either - proper belgian glassware is needed.

Appearances...........

Westmalle:
This poured a nice deep mahogney color with red highlights when held up to a light. A deep beige head of foam topped off the glass.

Rochefort:
Again a mahogney color only with brown highlighst in the light. Very creamy head of a lighter color than the Westmalle. Long lasting head and really nice belgian lace on the glass.

homebrew dubbel:
Darker color brown than the commercial examples. The trappist version seem more a deep amber in comparison. Also, had the brownest foam of the bunch similar to a porter or stout foam.


Aroma............

Westmalle:
mild fruit and spice, fairly clean for a belgian yeast

Rochefort:
malt and chocolate, some leather notes, fairly clean for a belgian yeast

homebrew dubbel:
cocoa and dark malts, fruity esters, maybe some notes of oxidation


Taste..........

Westmalle:
obvious fruitiness but not overwhelming, creamy mouthfeel, not heavy or cloying, dark malts not very obvious, alcohol is well-hidden, mild in terms of belgian character, very subtle marks of a dubbel style, smooth and mellow

Rochefort:
medium mouthfeel with creamy sensations, smooth malt flavors, mild notes of chocolate, some toffee as well but merged nicely

homebrew dubbel:
fruitiness prevalent, almost a tang to it, less smooth than trappist versions, some dark bitter chocolate and raisin as well.


These were tasted together on June 21.

I guess that maybe some bottle conditioning could improve the draft homebrew dubbel and allow it to age more gracefully. That and better control of fermentation temperature to reduce the fruitiness.

cheers, pete

08/03/2006 | Synthetic cork in a belgian beer!!!
Author: Pete Czerpak

I just finished reading Farmhouse Ales by PhilM from Southampton Brewing in NY. It covered biere de garde and saisons. Classically they both were really broad in many stylistic aspects. After several great homebrewed saison examples over the past year, I just last night brewed a Dupont-like beast. All pils malt, Styrian Goldings hops, and the WhiteLabs saison yeast. Hopefully it'll smell like fresh cracked pepper and flowery hay in the brewery tonight.

What I learned from the book is that the styles can be broad and that some examples even have some sour characteristics due to early brewery sanitization and cleanliness issues. Modern day Fantome can have some of this sourness with extended aging.

I found an imperial saison, a so-called super saison, while beer shopping last weekend in SanFrancisco looking for some beverages to consume while working on my bicycle. I saved it until last night when I brewed my saison and it showed off all the stylistic characteristics I had read about.

"Saison Imperiale" (De Proef Brouwerij, Belgium)

The bottle reads "mixed fermentation" so I wonder about the souring character mentioned above. 8.5%ABV - certainly beyond the refreshing you'd expect from a traditional saison after a day in the fields (your farmerworkers would be worthless after quenching their thirst). I pop the cork to find a medium carbonation, much less than the pop after a Duvel or other highly carbonated belgian ale. A slight acidic tang in the aroma passes by my nose. Going for another sniff, I don't smell it again. Is it real or imagined after reading the "mixed ferment" on the bottle? Ohh yeah, the bottle is corked but for the first time that I've seen, using a synthetic cork!!!

My glass is filled and on pouring the aroma is fruity with some light malt. No sour though (was the first sour a fleeting glimpse due to the pent up sourness being released?). A beige head on a nice deep copper colored brew. Good clarity although the amber is dark enough to make it challenging to see through anyways.

My first taste is of toffee and soft thick maltiness. Exactly what most biere de gardes are tasting of and not a sticky sweet thankfully. I go back for another drink and this time I notice some spices and maybe even some hop aroma or chamomile use or something vaguely flowery. By taste and color, I'm thinking BdG by the BJCP categories if you have to place it somewhere - not at all dry like a saison dupont.

As the glass continues to warm and I near pouring the dregs of the bottle, more spices are popping out. Some of those traditional peppery flavors from the saison yeast. And yes, as the beer finds cellar temperature, that very slight pleasant sour fruit tang emerges to help chase the remainder of the bottle down.

Hmmmm, complexity of malt, spices, and sour tang (plus the added synthetic cork for bottling).

Some further brewing details from the Pacific Northwest Brewing News:
"OG = 1.072, coriander for spices, 30 IBU, 2 yeast strains."

cheers,
pete

07/26/2006 | Spice, shutdown, and perfectly soured
Author: Pete Czerpak

HOT! HOT! HOT! Not exactly great weather for brewing beers unless you bust out a saison or happen to be aging some belgian-style ales. Or happen to have a "lager-lair" like the Sudzers have obtained in the form of an additional lagering refridgerator to keep the fermentation temperatures down.

Saisons seem to be becoming all the rage. PizzaPort does some interesting variations on them in sunscreen lingo, "SPF##". A newer Central Coast Brewer, farmHouse Brewing (aka. CoastRange located in hot, hot Gilroy) also makes one they call "Saison7". Here's some thoughts on it as the mercury peaks and seems to hang near 100......

"Saison 7" (farmhouse Brewing, Gilroy)
A reasonably strong alcoholic level of 6.8% ABV pushing the upper bounds of the style. The aroma of clove and really interesting spicey esters blast out at first opening the bottle. Its bottle conditioned as evidenced by the slight layer of settled yeast at the bottle bottom. However, the yeast is fully crashed out after several days in the cold so the clarity is perfectly brilliant with a straw yellow color and nifty bright pure white foamy head. On pouring into a glass, a wonderful perfumy aroma (almost slightly flowery) wafts away with notes of wheat also. Wow, smells great so far and just like you'd hope for in a saison. In taste, a pleasant wheaty flowery taste in total agreeement with the aroma from before. MOuthfeel is very soft probably from the wheat content. Alcohol is well hidden and not at all fusel-like. As this beer warms, spices certainly emrge in the taste. Some hoppiness or perhaps even peppery bitterness is lingering. Do they use black pepper or aligator pepper, as I think Stone Brewing calls it, in this batch? Great effort at a saison with plenty of complexity. The flowery softness is spot-on. Tasted June 20.

We now jump to a somewhat humorously brewed beer from Lagunitas. It seems they ran into a little problem with the law a while back and were temporarily closed from an infraction for 20 days. On the bottle its described as an "especially bitter ale" (EBA). To me this means pretty hoppy with probably a dose of alcohol thrown in to drown your bitterness in. How did it come across?

"Undercover Investigation (Shutdown) Ale" (Lagunitas Brewing)
The bottle reads IBU=unrepentent, OG=unforgiven as I pour my glass after warming this for a while. The 9.9%ABV made me want to warm it up slightly so I can taste all the hidden goodies in a beer like this. Fruity cotton candy-like esters escape from the glass. Its a medium copper-amber color with a thich beige foam filling the last 1/2 inch of glass. A good clarity shows filtration as likely. On second smell, you can find some spicy floral hops if you really pay attention. Perhaps Amarillo? On drinking it, first a big huge hop flavor and some low lovibond crystal. There is a moderate background bitterness but not enough to dry out your tongue like Pliny the Elder. The bittering and flavor hops appear to be spruce-like while the finishing aroma hops are not. based on taste and numbers, its somewhat between an imperial IPA and lighter bodied barleywine. The body is medium thick and creamy and easy drinking. Bitterness continues to emerge as this EBA continues to warm. Tasted June 20.

A long, long time ago in a bar in Boston I had my first taste of a Rodenbach beer (on draft!!!). It was the esteemed Rodenbach Red (i thinks its called) which was a blend of Rodenbach that was aged on cherries for a period of time. Wonderful combination of the sourness of typical aged Rodenback with the fruity cherries. For a period of time, Rodenback availability of any style in the US dropped off quite a bit probably due to their purchase. There were concerns about the brands survival. Well, last Xmas after hearing rumor of East Coast availability again, I picked up a bottle for the lofty sum of $7.99 for a 750mL. A proverbial steal!!!! I hand carried it back to California and looked at it every few weeks when considering when to try it out. The month of June arrived and I was planning another east coast trip so drink it I did with the thoughts that I would get more if I liked it. Well, it did not disappoint. And more was available, and hand-carried back here again. Perhaps you can convince me to crack one open in the future.

"Flemish Sour Ale" (Rodenbach, Belgium)
75% fresh Rodenbach beer and 25% multiple year oak aged Rodenbach are blended together for this masterpiece. The old provides vivid sourness while the younger provides a malty sweeter balance. Together, a great blend along with the oaky hints from barrel aging. 5.1%ABV means you can drink plenty of this without keeling over in the heat of a Flemish summer. As I uncork the bottle, a strong pop is found much like champagne. I smell the bottle to find tart fruit and excellent pleasant oak. I pour it not into a pint glasss, but a tulip shaped belgian glass to help concentrate the aroma and flavors. This time the smell is sour malt. In the glass, this sour ale is a light brown amber color of great clarity with a thick long lasting beige head probably from extensive use of vienna or munich malt. An acid tang with a tongue puckering sourness (no hiding this, ehh) on tasting the beer. Just like you'd expect and hope for especially after having tried some of the USA bastardizations of this style - Rodenbach pretty much defines the styleguidelines. The mouthfeel seems to be medium due to malt and acidity. Sourness is not as excessive as some versions of LaFolie from NewBelgium which appears with regularity at the Toronado in SanFrancisco on tap. I find some moderate acetic-acid but its not extreme on the vinegar side of things. Some minor chocolate or darker roasted notes are there but very well hidden. They could be barrel toast notes perhaps also. Finally, Rodenbach is very pleasant as it warms through cellar temperatures. Yes, I'm glad to have dranken this before heading east - 2 new bottles now sit in my cellaring area.

cheers and enjoy the heat.
pete

06/21/2006 | "Wish they all could be California... Hops!"
Author: Matthew Shoup

It goes without saying that West Coast beers represent some of the hoppiest beers present in today's American Craft Brew industry and perhaps on the planet. Some might even go as far as saying that San Diego is THE beer Mecca for the west coast. I'm inclined to believe this, outside of Russian River and a few "hop" spots in NorCal such as the Bistro and the well rounded Toronado. I recently had the pleasure to re-visit the SoCal area for my sister in-law's graduation at UCSD this past weekend -- and what's a trip down to San Diego without a bit of beer hunting.

My mind drifted in bitter-sweet hop thoughts as my plane landed in San Diego early on Friday morning. The weather, nice and cool in the morning as the marine layer slowly burned off turning humidly pleasant into the afternoon with highs in the 80's. Hot enough that I was ready for a thirst quenching beer, but you're not reading this for the weather report so on to the beer...

Between all of the mandatory "family" activities slated for the weekend, it was my number one objective to squeeze as much SoCal beer as I possibly could into the visit. As a result, the first night we were in town I felt it was best to hit up a must visit spot -- none other than the infamous Pizza Port in Solana Beach. http://www.pizzaport.com

As usual, the line for food and beer was out the door and down the street and there was no seating in sight. It always amazes me that their brewing area is about the size of a shoe box and it's not behind any closed glass or separated from the rest of the dinning area. I can only imagine what wonderful smells waft out into the dinning area when their equipment is in full force! Brewing with the wonderful aromas of Pizza. MmmmmmBeer and Pizza. To say they are maxed out of space in this place is an understatement. Let's just say the wait paid off.

To name a few beers on their tap list:

California Honey Ale, Shark Bite Red Ale, Hot Spot Hefeweizen, Swami's IPA, Grandview Golden Ale, Ponto Pale Ale, Amigo Lager, Junk 'n da Trunkle Dunkle, Hop 15, Doc's Pale (On Cask), Port's Porter (On Nitro), The list goes on..

And of course a variety of quality guest beers were also available ranging from Drakes IPA to Stone's Pale and Ruination to Sierra's Pale that I didn't get to.

First on the list (in order of tasting):

California Honey Ale - A golden ale and the first beer I even tasted at Pizza port from my last trip that had inspired me to make a homebrew recipe. I wanted to taste this beer again to see how it stood up against the beer I had brewed in its honor. I found the originally to be slightly more bitter and hoppy than the recipe I had formulated and very refreshing! Slight honey accents meshed with delicate malt complimented the Mt Hood and Liberty hops that resonated in the long bitter finish. Delicious! Dare I say the best beer of the night for drinkability.

Hot Spot Hefeweizen - Their seasonal summer brew. Banana and clove flavors were present however leaning heavily to the Banana end of the spectrum. I thought the beer lacked the carbonation and head retention for style but was pleased to see they did not include the so often fu fu lemon slice with the beer. Granted when you compare this with the other amazing selections it was probably my least favorite beer of the evening however it was extremely quaffable indeed.

Port's Porter (On Nitro) - Wonderfully creamy porter. Almost stout like in quality with bittersweet coffee and chocolate notes. Apparently they brew this beer with Kiln Coffee Malt. In the top three.

Doc's Pale (On Cask) - For all those cask lovers this is one not to miss. Soft and delicate in mouthfeel in much of an English Bitter sort of way that only handpumped cask ale can provide yet assertively hoppy in true American pale ale style. A true hybrid between English Style and American Flavor. The second best beer of the night.

Hop 15 - A double dose of American big-C and piney hops to go with their award winning Double IPA. Darker in color than most double IPAs and with more malt than I expected. You can't drink too many of these without getting in trouble as they serve them in full pint glasses.

Junk 'n da Trunkle Dunkle - Finally I decided I would break out of my comfort zone and finished the night with this catchy named Dunkle. Dark and complex melanoidal malts accompanied by a slight roastiness and toasty notes that dominated over the banana and clove weizen characteristics that played a supporting role to this tasty brew.

Did I mention the pizza? Hands down the best Pizza I've ever had or maybe that was just the Hop 15 talking. Either way, one thing I've noticed about San Diego is that they really do have the Pizza and Grog down to a science. If you've never been to Pizza Port, it is a must! Recently Pizza Port has taken over the old Stone brewery. I can only guess that they are gearing up to distribute bottles. Let's hope some of these beers finally make it up our way.

The next day we were searching for a place for the celebratory post-graduation lunch. I was pleasantly surprised to see that my sister in-law had selected a brewpub for our dinning pleasure (could that have been residual effects from the Hop 15?). Although I had never heard of the La Jolla Brewing Company I held my breath in search for open-minded new beer experiences. Sometimes when you haven't heard of a particular brewery it's for a good reason. We arrived at the brewpub only to find that all the tables had been reserved for other parties. Can you say reservations, please sis? It took us 10 minutes for the bartender to even notice us so we could ask if they could squeeze us in and the place wasn't even crowded. Needless to say the service was horrible, and we hadn't even ordered a beer yet! It didn't take me long to notice they only had 5 house brews and served various macro swill bottles the likes of Budweiser, Heineken and Corona. I may be stretching a bit on this one, but in my mind this is a certain red flag for trouble. If you can't support your business with your own beers and are forced or willingly serve the macro swill to please your customers, I'm willing to bet your beers aren't that good. Luckily enough, we left in search of a new location before I could disprove my theory. I'm glad she didn't make the reservations after all. :D

Around mid afternoon after lunch at a less than mediocre Mediterranean joint (that shall remain nameless to protect the innocent and to stay positive), I was itching to wet my whistle with some local beer and I convinced everyone we needed to stop at Karl Strauss Brewing. http://www.karlstrauss.com

This place is a lot like a Gordon Biersch in it's atmosphere and service but without the corporate franchise-ness and their beers prove it with the run of the mill brewpub regulars of golden, hefe, pale, amber, stout, Vienna lager, and IPA. We ordered two samplers to share at the table and although they were not as beer-geekily interesting as some of the others of the trip, I found them to be very well made, clean and enjoyable. My favorites were the Vienna Lager, A delicate helles styled lager finishing with Vienna malt complexity and their Stargazer IPA. Although I thought their IPA was a bit heavy on the malt and a bit light on the hops it was still very tasty. Of course, maybe that was the Hop 15 talking again..

It doesn't end here folks! For all of you still reading this, beer with me. I have two more locations to talk about and I'll try and make it brief.

Our last day in town I decided to check out Oggi's Pizza and brewery. http://www.oggis.com

With over 12 locations in the San Diego area alone it took a bit of work to find the closest one to our hotel. The atmosphere was pleasant and sports-bar like and had a very friendly staff. We opened the place @ 11am and as usual we ordered their sampler in search of their best. I have two words for you.... "HOP JUICE". A pure representation of a West Coast Double IPA. The hop resins and bitterness stuck to my tongue almost as if I had put an ounce of centennial and simcoe hops in my mouth and sucked on them. "First Mouth Hops". I couldn't taste whether this was a single or a double IPA due to it's lovely and powerful hoppiness. Serious hoppage and no Randal required. Elaine took one whiff of the glass and decided she wasn't even going to attempt it (more for me!). I give this beer the "GuyPA" stamp of approval as it was the hoppiest beer of the trip! With so many hopped to the hilt beers down here in San Diego, this is by far no easy feat. Needless to say, "HOP JUICE" wasn't just a clever name.

No trip to San Diego is complete without a visit to O'Briens Pub and it was our last stop before turning home. http://www.obrienspub.net

Dubbed "An American Pub" and "The Hoppiest Place on Earth", the atmosphere is modest and comfortable not to mention OBrien's has the most extensive tap and bottle list I've seen outside the Toronado. I was disappointed to see they were fresh out of the Night Rider Imperial Stout served on cask. Doh! It didn't hurt that they had the Spain vs. Tunisia game on a huge HD LCD display and the place was buzzing with energy and vibe. Wanting to try two final local brews, it took me several minutes to decide on the correct hop choice and ordered a "Pure Hoppiness" brewed by Alpine Brewing. Not as hoppy as I had remembered from the Bistro's IPA Fest in Hayward but a very well made IPA with citrus grapefruit and orange notes that complimented its drier finish. Lots of hops were present -- needless to say that it seemed a bit small for a double IPA especially after Oggi's "Hop Juice". I thought I would change it up again and the final beer was to be Alesmith's Grand Cru. It's not everyday you get to try such a true San Diego masterpiece, let alone on tap. A lovely full bodied Belgian styled ale that arrived from the tap to my mouth in a tulip glass. Dark caramel and molasses notes wafted from the glass I suspect from dark Belgian candy sugars. The almost clear dark copper beer had very little to no head or carbonation probably due to the amount of alcohol it contained. Complex dark fruit of raisin and plum dominated the flavor that were accented by delicate Belgian yeast qualities finally dissolving into a warm and sticky-sweet almost cloying finish. As I drank the beer my taste buds adjusted to it's finish and away from the hop centric qualities of the others for the day. In contrast to all the hoppy beers I had this trip this one was a change in latitude for sure.

For those of you who are still reading this I must apologies for the length of this blog entry. There's just so much to squeeze into this blog. My spell checker can't seem to find "hoppiness" in its dictionary -- time to change that! And for all those planning to attend our June meeting, who knows what might make an appearance. Hope to share a little piece of SoCal's Beer Mecca with each of you then!

Cheers,

Matthew

06/16/2006 | imperial-uber sticke alt
Author: Pete Czerpak

Germany may the country with most "appelation" specific beers. Helles in munich, kolsch in Cologne, alt in Dusseldorf - in addition to a few others. I'm been pretty successful brewing kolsch-style ales the last few years. The thing I like about them is their delicateness. Similar to some lagers, mistakes are a challenge to hide in them. Many of mine turn out more "sticke"-style which is something that I have adopted from the alt terminology meaning that my kolsch-style beers are slightly bigger and hoppier than those traditionally found in Cologne.

Alt on the other hand is something I have barely dabbled in and really enjoy drinking. I had my first tastes of it in 2002 at the great british beer festival in London where the german sales rep convinced me of the proper pronounciation of the brand, Z.U.. YOu can get the Dusseldorf brewed Z.U. brand in some bottle shops here in CA. I've found it in SanFran, but not at BevMo. Dave at Magnolia on Haight makes a great version as well which he served from authentic glassware to make it even cooler to drink.

While traveling for work last week to Austin, TX I came across Victory Brewing (PA) version of Alt which they call "tenth Anniversary Alt" to celebrate their birthday in 1996 and their roots in German brewing through education, inspiration, and cooperative brewing as their careers started. Victory makes some awesome brews across all the style lines , HopDevil IPA, Storm King Imp Stout, Old Horizontal Barleywine, Golden Monkey Strong Golden, and manyothers that you can only get on the east coast or at their brewery on tap. My moms favorite is the Golden Monkey.

Here are some thoughts on their "10th anniversary alt" which I liked enough on initial tasting to purchase a 6-pack of for bringing back to the bayArea.
- tasted June 14 after a 2 hour phone call to Japan
- described on bottle label as "amped up take on the 'sticke' version" - I'd describe it as an "imperial sticke" stylewise
- nice really malt aroma as soon as bottle was opened
- deep toastyness almost doppelbockesque on pouring
- no sulfur in aroma, more fruity malt-like with not so obvious mild hop aroma, no hints of roast grain use
- medium amber color with beige head
- little harshness at first sip in the back of the tongue, maybe its the combination of high noble hops and extrememaltiness or perhaps signs of Victory pushing the decoction mash a bit hard for some astringency
- medium to full malty mouthfeel, hoppy aftertaste
- big hop bitterness and hop flavor too, not floral or citrusy though
- excellent toastiness coming out as it warms through cellar temperature
- overall impression 9/10 due to slight bit of astrigency
- good example of "uber-imperial-sticke- style of alt

My own homebrewed version of alt is slightly less hoppy than the Victory and a darker tint of amber. My malt bill was mainly pils with a generous helping of munich plus a handfull of roasted grain for color assistance. We'll see how it tastes after several weeks of cold lagering now that its kegged. Ohh yeah, I used german ale/kolsch yeast.

cheers,
pete

06/02/2006 | BJCP Class Session 1 Tasting Notes
Author: John Watson

Here are some of my thoughts on the beer styles we tried last night.

Remember next week we are tasting Amber Lagers, Dark Lagers and Bocks, so if you have any homebrewed examples of those you like to have tasted, let me know. Cheers, John

BJCP Class Session 1 Tasting Notes

1A Lite American Lager:
Coors Light (Grocery Outlet) First time I think I've ever bought a "Lite" beer. It was just as watery and tasteless as I remember from visits to friends houses, who drink nothing other than this kind of beer. I was surprised at the color/appearance. I expected a Bit more lighter, more watery LOOKING beer. But side-by-side comparison, it was not really possible to tell it from the Standard or Premium.

1B Standard American Lager:
Budweiser (Albertsons) What can you say? The classic example of the style. Surprisingly good after the previous weak watery beer. Why would anyone ever buy a "lite" beer is beyond me, especially when "standard" and "premium" versions of the same brand are forsale at the exact same price.

1C Premium American Lager:
Miller Genuine Draft, Michelob (Albertsons) Did not really "get" that much of a difference between the Premium and the Standard. Perhaps because of the difference brands, means we're comparing apples to oranges.

1C Matt Shoup's Homebrew:
Nicely homebrewed example of a American Lager. Head was a bit weak. Clarity was excellent. Probably the biggest "minus" was it had flavor! :-) Actually when I first had it I tasted it side-by-side with a Fosters Lager, and it seemed to have a lot more hop flavor than that one. But then the next night went I tasted it next to the Bud and Miller above, it didn't seem as flavorful. Maybe more equaling them. The first night I would have said it was approaching a "Classic American Pilsner" (sans corn) in style. But the second night, my opinion had changed more toward it being more within the guidelines of the Standard American Lager.

1D. Munich Helles:
Hofbrauhaus Original (BevMo) First time I've tried their version in the US. I had a big stein of it at their brewery a few years ago when I was in Munich. It seemed like it had a higher hop bitterness (IBU) than a typical Munich Helles, that I recall other examples having (Spaten Premium is one that I tend to have a lot of ...). To me, the hop bitterness of this style should be more subdued, so the malt sweetness it more evident.

1E. Dortmunder Export:
Ayinger Jahrhundert (Beltramo's) Biggest disappointment of the night. Hard to believe that this was an Ayinger product. Perhaps it had just gotten stale with old age or something. That doesn't explain why it was hazy, however. The worst thing was I ran all over the place looking for a classic example, and the one that I finally found was this one (the usual old stand-bys were not to be found: i.e. DAB, Dortmunder Union, Gordon Beirsch Export). Export Helles is really not that different from Munich Helles, so it was sort of like trying two of the same style, and having a very good one, and a sort of poor one.

2A. German Pilsner (Pils):
Spaten Pils (Safeway) I thought it was a prefect example. Just the right high hop bitterness, fairly fresh tasting. German Pilsners should have a fairly hight hop bitterness (I remember having one in Germany what was so bitter it made my teeth hurt ... well, almost). Perception of high hop bitterness, and more germany hop flavor, is what distinguishes this style from Bohemian Pilsner (below).

2B. Bohemian Pilsener:
Pilsner Urquell (Safeway) The main difference in the Bohemian Pilsner and the above German Pilsner style, is the percieved hop bitterness in a Bohemian Pilsner is less. This is because a Bohemian Pilsner has a bit darker, more complex sweet malt character with balances it a bit more toward the malt. The other main difference is the use of Saaz hops, which I always think of as having a peppery character. Seems like we were a bit rushed, trying to finish on time, so we didn't get as much time to discuss this one. Pilsner Urquell is THE classic. I thought this was a pretty good example. I think I've had fresher versions in my life, but this one was pretty good. The bottle I served came out of a case, so I knew they had not been "skunked", which is a common problem wheh this beer when buying it from any supermarket. You only buy bottles that have not been exposed to any light.

05/16/2006 | nicely drinkable sour brown from RRBC!
Author: Pete Czerpak

My first visit to Russian River Brewing Company was actually when it was still part of Korbel Cellars/Champagne. We sat on the patio and ate nifty fancy sandwiches and rather than taste champagne, I had Pliny the Elder on draft. I was forever hooked on the hoppy excess of this beer and how it strips your tastebuds right off your tongue.

RRBC's newer adventures into barrel aging and funked out brews also carries high interest for me, especially after speaking with Vinnie at last years artisianal ales tasting in San Francisco where so many funked out beers were presented by both Vinnie and others that are really pushing the limits of american brewing techniques.

In addition, I did prepare a really great Damnation brined grilled eggplant over the weekend for a Mothers Day BBQ.

It is one of Vinny's funked out brews that I tasted last night on a day that reached towards the 90s in temperature. Supposedly a brown ale aged in pinot noir barrels with additions of cherries, brett, lacto, and pedio funk! You can check the RRBC website for fermentation details on their barrel aged brews and this one was fermented with the Orval primary strain which reportly finishes quite low and dry. It was barrel aged for one year and then bottled. I bought the bottle in fall 2005 after it was in the bottle for nearly 6 months and then yesterday it was consumed, 7 months later again. So this beer was over 24 months old when I finally tasted it.......

"Supplication" (Russian River Brewing Company, Santa Rosa, CA)
- tasted 5/15/06 after 30 minutes of warm up, in a tulip shaped glass
- 7% ABV
- an aroma of tangyness, sour cherries, and vinegar
- foam climbs out of the bottle in less than 30 seconds
- orange to red color with a nice beige foam and slight haze
- second aromas of sour citrus
- in taste, sour cherries and fruit, not aggressively tart or sweet though
- well-balanced sourness and easy to drink
- some mild caramels and malt as well
- no obvious pinot noir or oaky hints

I was a bit surprised at the color. Not quite a browne ale. I'd better describe it as an amber. In addition, very little chocolate was noticeable in the taste, perhaps the long aging drops this out. The foam rising out of the bottle as I took my first smells. Those crazy beasts just keep on fermenting and chewing up the normally infermentable sugars over time. What surprised me was the very drinkable quality. It was never too sour and also never too sweet. Compliments to the brewer!

I look forward to again tasting my flemish sour red now that the summer in underway and its probably better carbonated than 3 months ago.

05/02/2006 | Doppelbock, fruit, and hops
Author: Pete Czerpak

When company visits, you bring out the best malt and hops you have stashed way back in your cellars. You take them to the best beer bars and breweries around. And even occasionally, they bring the best brew they have from their home location. My buddy, Harry, visited from the East Coast a few days ago and we did not disappoint in finding great beer and tasting well stored or long carried varieties.

On a drive north on 101, we stopped at Russian River Brewery in Santa Rosa. They had just recently been awarded gold medals for their Pliny the Elder and also their Blind Pig IPA. So what did I order for my BJCP judge friend but a pint of Pliny. You have to have a gold medal winner..... plus the hops are so forward that its lovely and refreshing while being nice and aggressive so that you know its an IPA. He didn't quite pound it down but slowly savored its hoppy beauty. I had the Blind Pig and enjoyed it as well for its almost balance atleast when compared to PtE. A bunch of us also stopped on the way back south and we had pints of all three IPAs they were serving at our table as well as the new "lapDance" pale ale which was really nice and so easy to drink.

Another evening we stopped in SF at the Toronado to see what was available..... Alaskan Smoked Porter - during the spring/summer no less!!!!! Excellent, excellent, excellent! I need to stop back and see if its still there for more tastings as I only had a half-pint of it.

One of the evenings we tasted a broad spectrum of beers out on my porch. Here's a combination of our notes.....

"CFI lager" (CFI = colorado fourteeners initiative) Steamworks Brewery (durango CO)
- bright golden straw color
- scant, slow carbonation with short lived head
- slightly fruity aroma, lagerish nose
- tastes of biscuit malts and just a slight bitterness prior to finish
- creamy mouthfeel with slightly elevated body, not crisp and dry

"Bock" Anchor Brewing (san fran)
- moderate lasting dark white head
- deep copper to mahogney color with hints of red
- charry, rummy character to nose
- molasses and sweet malt with dry roast licorice
- moderate bitterness
- obvious toasted notes
- not as smooth as german bock style for sure
- some dark fruit/old ale characteristics
- medium body and fine carbonation but not distinctive in terms of smoothness

"2003 Transatlantic Kriek" New Belgium Brewing (fort collins, CO)
- 6.3%ABV
- color of Trader Joes CHerry juice, bright red and brilliant clarity after 3 yrs aging
- low and soft carbonation
- bright white head
- aroma of sweet marachino cherries and fruit
- sour cherries in flavor
- hints of some toasted malt
- might be better at higher carbonation levels
- no huge lactic, pedio character, pretty clean taste
- more sour cherry than sweet cherry in character
- pleasantly smooth

"Double Daddy Double IPA" Speakeasy Brewing (san fran)
- 9.5% ABV
- smooth hops and alcohol in aroma
- good clarity with orange to amber color and bright white head
- smooth hops and malt in taste too
- hops seem herbal and not citrusy
- not as crisp and aggressive as some double IPAs
- well balanced with lingering bitterness
- alcohol well blended but still slightly warming
- way too easy to drink

We also finished off (different night though) a liter of doppelbock called "Liberator" from Troutbrook Brewery/Thomas Hooker that my guest hand-carried from CT. Here is what Harry thought:

- light tan, durable head, fluffy with some interspersed larger bubbles
- brown and fairly opaque
- heavy malt aroma
- slightly sweet malt in flavor, some licorice or maybe burnt molasses
- full bodied and creamy with nice soft carbonation
- easy to drink with vague finish in the back of the pallet encouraging a fresh drink

My notes read:

- brown, almost black color
- no hops or fruit in aroma = GOOD and to style, some caramel though
- liquid bready at first taste, very slightest hints of smoke flavor
- roasted grains a bit heavy in later sips
- medium to full body
- enjoyable on a cold damp no sun type of day
- great long lasting head!!
- well hidden alcohol even in aroma

happy sunshine to all. PJC

04/12/2006 | Good people drink good beer!
Author: Pete Czerpak

Wow, its been nearly a month since my taste buds were assaulted and carressed by a steady stream of funked out flemish sour red and brown ales at the last Sudzers meeting. Our weather continues to resemble Belgium in the spring however. Damp, cloudy, rain, mud......

I've even managed to taste some great nonblogged ales while enjoying the snow that all the rain produces in the higher country. I would recommend Alesmith Speedway Stout from down in sanDiego, FullSail imperial pilsner from up north in Hood River, OR, and HopHenge IPA from one of my favs in central Oregon, Deschutes Brewery. A personal complaint against Deschutes is their continued inability to bring Obsidian Stout into the Bay Area. They used to... The market is large for foreign export stouts.... Why the heck not??

A nice thing is that I have found Old Rasputin imperial stout (NorthCoast Brewing) available on draft in Truckee at OBs pub. What a nice way to remember the good skiing of days past.

On to some beer reviews........

Its kinda still winter time. What happens in winter? duhh, water freezes..... so here we have eis-bier.

Aventinus Weizen Eisboch (Germany)
- 12%ABV, 12 oz bottle tasted after 30 minutes warming up on 4/6/06, brewed 2004
- upon opening, aroma of toasty and bready malt
- strong whisp of carbonation also
- clear mahogney in color with yeast bits when poured to far (yes, bottle conditioned)
- quickly fading head, gone completely in 30 seconds
- sweet fruit and malt aroma at pour
- mildly spicy aroma too, no obvious cloves or bananas though
- moderate alcoholic heat on first sip
- malty sweet taste in not sweet like underattenuation
- similar to a very alcoholic doppelboch like Spaten, Paulener
- definitely smells like liquid dark, fruit bread
- as it warms, alcohol much more obvious

We all like to imperialize everything... stouts... IPAs..... weizens..... porters....

Gonzo Imperial Porter (Flying Dog Brewery, Colorado)
- 12 oz bottle tasted at cellar temp on 4/6/06
- on the label "good people drink good beer", great bumper sticker material there
- strong carbonation on opening along with hop aroma release
- nice brown head with big open bubbles on pouring
- color = black brown with no highlights of red
- aroma is slight bit of fruitiness, roasted grains, and even alcohol (yes, imperialgoodness!)
- tasting shows a very pleasant roast, not harsh and aggressive at all
- mouthfeel is medium and not heavy showing good attenuation even for the gravity
- alcohol appears to be fairly well hidden with dark grains and hops, not superhot
- probably more on hoppy/balanced side of porter (fairly dry, not sweet)
- roast character is more gentle chocolate/light coffee, not astringent heavy coffee or charcoal
- as bouquet opens, you can find more alcohol
- doesn't appear to be brewed baltic porter style with lots of vienna or munich, more robust english style with lots of pale malt
- was it imperialized with sugar, not malt - may explain nice mouthfeel
- tastes somewhat similar to Deschutes Obsidian Stout I'd guess

Excessive rain and clouds lately. So drink something from a brewery full of excess. Hops, alcohol, malt, attitude.

Old Guardian 2006 (Stone Brewing, San Diego)
- 11.3%ABV, 22 oz bottle after 30 minutes of warmup on 4/10
- bottle explains same recipe as 2005 but first special release from new Stone brewery
- light caramel aroma on bottle opening
- nice carbon dioxide fog accompanies a moderate pssst of carbonation
- when poured into a pint glass, brilliant orange/red/amber color with nice beige foam
- apricot and zero to minimal flowery hops in aroma (WHAT????)
- very, very balanced for a barleywine, too balanced in fact
- not as heavy dark caramel forward as Old Foghorn
- not as hop forward as BigFoot
- notes of cotton candy and light tropical fruit. No lemon or grapefruit.
- medium to light mouthfeel with some alcohol, not cloying, low final gravity I'd guess
- more in the realm of a double IPA but slightly more colored and less dry
- almost the "fat-tire of barleywines" - too not aggressive with alcohol almost too well-hidden
- I'd like more bitterness and aroma hops
- nice long lasting bubbles in the glass clinging to the glass sides, very fine sized too
- some solids in the bottle even though probably not bottle conditioned, hop phenols or poor filtration?
- more caramel notes as it warms for sure after 60 minutes
- great looking beer when swirled, nice one-quarter inch beige foam

Hood River is a town on the Columbia River Gorge. the winds blast through there across the water making for fun times on a windsurfer or fun times if you have both car windows open. Just tie down all the loose stuff in your car if you do this. Full Sail Brewing has been around for a long time. I think they are employee owned which is also something special for a larger brewery.

Equinox ESB (Full Sail, Oregon)
- 5.7% ABV, 22 oz bottle, Brewmasters Reserve 2006, warmed to cellar temperature, tasted 4/11
- not bottle conditioned, clear and brilliant pour
- lemony aroma on bottle opening, not really cascades-like though
- medium copper color, fine beige bubbles, exceptional clarity
- firm bitterness with herbal notes
- moderate caramel in taste
- somewhat bland and unexciting - glad I'm not the Brewmaster this represents
- low to minimal hop aroma
- no fruity ESB-like notes, nothing like a Fullers ESB or even an americanized hoppy ESB
- maybe some harsg toasty flavors
- I'm not too psyched about this one.
- I'd like some flowery hop notes besides the herbal bit if you really search well

03/20/2006 | March Madness
Author: Pete Czerpak

The weather has been stormy lately. On these types of days, I walk around my local bottleshop looking for some beers I had heard about and hadn't tried yet or had never heard about,yet sounded interesting.

Drakes Brewing - its a local place making some splendid beers. They're known to always seem to have a great entry in both the double IPA and IPA Festival. Supposedly their friday night tours and tastings are excellent as well (I've never made one yet unfortunately). Rodger and Melissa continue to churn out some excellent brews. I even patterned my imperial stout off their imperial stout from several years ago which lists their grain % on the swingtop-style painted bottle label. Also in these bottles is the weeheavy style ale.

Here's an interesting and crazy beer that goes back to pre-Melissa days.......

Brandy Barrel Barleywine (Drakes)
- 6 oz bottle, noting 14.7% ABV and barrel aging started December 2003
- tasted 3/12/06
- slight gas hiss as moderate carbonation escapes on bottle opening
- deep, deep brown color (probably matches some brown porters in color)
- beige head quickly gone in 5 seconds, residual bubbles do hang on the sides of the glass for the enirety of the tasting
- aroma of caramel and alcohol initially
- when swirled, beer shows a very viscous, thick appearance (wonder what the FG/terminal gravity) is?
- sweet taste, smooth, not completely cloying as some high ABV beers can be
- some char in the taste (maybe from brandy barrel aging)
- deep malty and big caramels maybe from 120L malts
- further warming shows plum and fig in taste with some biscuit or overtoasted dark whole wheat bread
- slight hints of smoke as the glass bottom nears along with brown sugar and very light notes of vanilla
- I was surprised that the barrel character was as minimal as it seemed for such a well-aged beer

This week also starts the countdown to the Sudzers March meeting covering sour ales. In preparation for that, I did my duty and tracked down two commercial sour ales to check out. I remember them in many years past as being tart, vinous, good clarity, and puckering. Its been a great while since I had them on draft either. For homebrewers, my sour ale aged for almost 8 months on some oak and getting small amounts of oxygen. It grew a nasty looking pellicle cap also. Hows it now? Warm conditioning next to me as I type..... untested as of yet in the bottle.

How did the sours I liberated check out compared to what I remembered? here goes.....

"Duchesse de Bourgogne" (brewery Verhaeghe Vichte)
- 11 oz bottle, 6.2% ABV, warmed 40 minutes
- tasted 3/8/06
- strong whisp of carbonation, no yeast sediment seen in bottle so its filtered now
- strong whiffs of brett, lacto and sour funk on opening the bottle
- deep amber to red color with dark beige head
- on pouring, aromas of fruit, candy, and sourness. some sour cherries also.
- on second smell, aroma of toasted oak
- fairly sweet taste, like chocolate and strawberries at once
- unfortunately to my preferences, not tongue puckeringly tart or dry
- full mouthfeel
- I did feel a bit disappointed in this one.... its too dumbed down for the masses
- definitely oak, toast and fruit notes on further warming
- smooth too but too sweet, no really refreshing
- has this gotten less sour and less dry recently or was that due to poor aging and evil travelling conditions across the pond?

Petrus Old Brown (brewery Bavik)
- 11 oz bottle, 5.5% ABV
- tasted 3/9/06
- fairly strong carbonation on opening
- aroma of caramel and bright sour fruit
- color similar to DdB although amber to dark brown, beige head
- aroma of sour tang, fruity, and somewhat winey (not just normal blend of funk maybe for winey portion)
- sharp vinegar aroma upon resting in the glass for a bit
- more crips and dry than DdB
- acid tang is more in the nose than the taste, is this due to blending process or something different
- brown portion of the ale is not very chocolate assertive
- in taste, malt is fairly pronounced
- much more pleasant to drink than DuchessedB.

02/23/2006 | Vino de malted Barley
Author: Pete Czerpak

I went to my first Toronado Barleywine Festival in 2000. I remember it as
excessive. It rained and we arrived early and found the lack of relaxation
room outside meant for a busy (and FULL) barroom. I remember my date
going for a walk outside and getting lost in the rain as her Thai dinner
awaited her while the rest of our group ate. She eventually turned up to find
me continuing my exploration of the Toronado hop water.

I don't always get there on the first day anymore. This means the best
and awarded beverages are often kicked and unavailable. This year I waited
until wednesday night of the festival week. There were about 1/2 the
selections still available which is pretty dang good for a starting
list of about 50. Yes, fifty barleywines in one frickin' place. Such is
heaven for the hop and alcohol crowd! It was moderately crowded and people were
still working their way through the numbers. A list of dead barleywines
existed on the blackboard.

I sampled in two rounds of three barleywines so I could keep them
straight and also so I didn't cover the entire bar surface in my glasses. My
first round (all mediums) was a #14, 19, and 35 - to those unable to decode
these, OldBoardHead, Hops on Rye, and Sisyphus. All these were recommended to
me by a fellow hophead.

I only wrote a couple notes for each:

OldBoardhead (Full Sail) - big, big caramel and some hops
Hops on Rye (PizzaPort) - head lasts forever, nearly brown color, spicy
rye obvious

Sisyphus (Real Ale Brewing) - more hops and alcohol dominate

Next up, slice of vegggie pizza from Mystic Pizza to clean the palate.
yes, I know its sacriledge to not have something from Rosamundes next door.

Nothing left on my sheet of suggestions, so next choosing method.....
OK, final round of smalls (yes, what a wuss) was #2, 7, and 25. All of
these were random and based on some of my favorite breweries. I've only had
one in the past in bottles and probably even have some old ones laying
around from 2003 and 2004. They were Doggie Claws, Yo, and Old Guardian. The
OG I've had fairly regularly over the years in bottles as I mentioned. I
need to break out the 2003 vintage one of these days.

DoggieClaws (Hair of the Dog) - bit of tang (sour, really, maybe just
its old) and caramel

Yo (El Toro) - heavier caramel than Stone
Old Guardian (STone) - cotton candy sweetness and bit of alcohol

I was surprised that 2,7, and 25 all looked very similar - a nice
medium amber color and not perfectly clear.

Some fine ales were again filling the rest of the taps and handpumps
where the barleywines were kicked.. I tried a pint of Moonlight Cask "Saint
Humulus pale". certainly a fine selection with full but soft hopping.
A nicely pulled pint as well by Mr. Johnny behind the bar.

My favorite for the above six barleywines: Hops on Rye! The citrusy
hops worked so well with the rye plus the mouthfeel from the rye was
impressive.

For best hoppiness, I liked the Sisyphus. The bad news is that the keg
emptied at 6PM on wednesday about 15 minutes after I had my sample of
it.

Did I mention I had a Cantillion Kriek for february 14 since I got
locked out of the house?

Happy Hops!
pete

02/10/2006 | No DIPAs yet
Author: Pete Czerpak

Its less than 24 hours to the Bistros Double IPA Festival and here I am
yammering on about some saisons and pale ales and even some normal IPAs
(where are the HOPS you say). I was home and not skiing a few weeks
ago and did some tasting as I prep my palate for the hop onslaught soon
upcoming.

Maybe I'll be able to report back on that at a later date.....

Everything I tasted was from the West Coast. Beers from big brewers
like Sierra and small brewers like GreenFlash. Hops bursting from the seams
and aromas like you spilled your spice rack on the floor. Simple malt
characters and nifty subtle oak aging with vanillalin. Unique brewing
systems like the Burton Union used at Firestone Walker. Cool painted
bottles with listed ingredeints like John Maier uses. And just plain
costly like the sunblocking "SPF" series (darn worth it too).

"SPF45" PizzaPOrt Brewing Solana Beach

6.7% ABV, tasted 1-27-06, $15.99 for 750mL bottle at Ledgers in
Berkeley beautiful bright amber color, excellent clarity, more orange than brown
amber slightly beige colored head, generous and long lasting on glass sides
lots of rising bubbles from fairly high carbonation
aroma of spice, peppercorns, and roses
fruity belgian aroma too, almost weizen-like, with some passionfruit
sour tang on the first taste
next taste is orange/citrus and tart-tangy
refreshing tatsing like a mild lambic or berlinner weisse
no one single spice dominates but definitely a "spiced beer"
slightly smooth and creamy mouthfeel as it warms with spice tingles
not particularlt light in body by sour tang nicely cleans the palate
some malt complexity might improve it, not a dry DuPont saison
spice aroma really assaults the nose like hops in a DIPA
some wit character, maybe from wheat or flaked oats in grainbill
bottle conditioning evident only during last pours of the bottle, very
compact cake of yeast
listed ingredients: barley, wheat, flaked oats, ginger, coriander,
orange
peel, black pepper, grains of paradisse, chamomile flowers
style - uber saison

"DoubleBarrelAle" Firestone Walker

5%ABV, 22oz bomber, supposedly 1000th batch special bottling of 100%
oak
ale, foil over cap, tasted 1/27/06
deep reddish amber mahogney color
short lasting beige head
aroma of vanilla and malted milk balls, bready and toasty aromas too
mild caramel taste and fruitniess similar to Fullerss ESB (fruity
english
yeast influence?)
malt and light vanilla hints in flavor too
some balancing hops but really towards malt
taste of honey sweetness also like Fullers ESB (Lyles golden syrup?)
style - english pale or best bitter

"Festive Ale" Rogue

tasted 1/30/06, 650mL bottle, 14.5degP, 18 IBU, warmed for 45 min from
fridge chilling
solid release of high pressure when uncapped
poured a clear, bright orange amber color
fast breaking with slight and short lasting beige foam
lots of quickly rising bubbles
spicey aroma, maybe a little carbonic acid burn from CO2 offgasing when
sniffed
ginger or myrtle leaves in aroma
more like an ale with spcies than actual saison - not particularly
flowery
or soft in mouthfeel
slight harsh bitterness maybe from gingers or grains of paradise (kinda
peppery)
some citrus in flavor
seemed to soften when warmed further and swirled to drive out the
carbonation
bottle conditioned with yeast on bottle bottom surface
more malt complexity desired
listed ingredients:2 row pale malt, saaz hops, grains of paradise,
mrtyle
leaves, bitter orange peel, ginger root, saison yeast
style: saison

"IPA" Sierra Nevada

6.9% ABV, 12 oz bottle warmed 15 minutes, tasted 1-30-06
very light copper brilliant appearance
white to cream colored head, minimal rising bubbles in glass
clean initial aroma, no hops and no malt in aroma
moderate to strong hop bitterness and medium hop flavor
similar to an overhopped SNPaleAle, would like to compare side by side
for
appearance atleast, not Celebration colored for sure though
somewhat too neutral and dry
little bit of crystal 20L or carapils appears as it warms
more malt complexity could help
crisp SierraNevada bitterness and flavor
flavor and aroma not assertive like cascades though
probably 50-55 IBU by taste
nicely lasting belgian lace that sticks to the glass
style - xtrapale ale

"West Coast IPA" GreenFlash Brewing, San Diego
7%ABV, 12 oz bottle, warmed 20 minutes prior to tasting for 1/30/06
tasting
medalled during Bistro IPA Fest in 2004 or 2005 (by memory)
awesome hop aroma pooping the cap off the bottle
light amber, brilliant color
slight beige head of medium sized long lasting bubbles
obvious aroma of grass and flowers, not grapefruity or sprucey
nice blend of aggressive hop flavor and crystal malts
bitterness not dry and aggressive, well rounded hops throughout
lots of hop aroma and flavor
nice low lovibond crystal even in aroma as it warms to showcase and
frame in
the hops as well as some fruitiness
I'd love to brew this as my "session IPA"
I do have their nutbrown ale but haven't tasted it yet

01/18/2006 | "poor richards and a trip to Magnolia" trip report from wednesday Jan 18, 2006
Author: Pete Czerpak

Poor Richards Ale has been described in the recent beer writings of Zymurgy as well as other industry newspapers. It was brewed for Ben Franklins 300th b-day and was formulated through a nationwide contest with over 100 entries for best historical representation (someone in CO won and the recipe is printed in Zymurgy last month). It has a serious corn component as well as use of molasses. Pretty high alcohol and low hopping to round out the description. Locally, Magnolia (haight Street), 21st Amendment (near the ballpark), and 1/2 Moon Bay (near the surf spot) have brewed their own batches. It was released on Jan 17, Bens actual birthdate.

I visited Magnolia on January 18 to taste theirs and then try some other beer and their special wednesday fish-n-chips special as well as get my dad some cool birthday beer-glasses for his collection. Magnolia prides itself on offering beverages in not just the standard american or british pints and half pints but also uses german glasses and belgian glasses for special styles as well.

The Magnolia Brewery is on Haight Street and themed with GratefulDead/Jerry Garcia painted motifs on the walls. Its been there a while. Friendly bartenders keep the iPOD music going lightly and there are a fair amount of typical Haight locals there. Always someone to chat with sitting at the bar. Always, people just stopping by for a pint. Tables can be tough to come by but you can order and eat full dinners at the bar. The brewery is small and downstairs in the basement but makes some excellent british and german styled beers. I've been on a special tour in years past and its impressive. They usually have several casks available on handpump. Now, gravity cask would really be exceptional. In order I tasted - kolsch, alt, PoorRichards cask, PoorRichards draft, and finally IPA.

Here's my notes:

"Kalifornia Kolsch" (4.8%ABV)
served in narrow 9 inch tall "stange" glass holding 9 oz
straw gold in color, brilliant clarity
1/2 inch of pure white but short lasting head
bready, almost yeasty lagerish aroma similar to pils
bready, malty but not sweet taste
crisp and balanced in bitterness
hint of sulfur in teh nose as it warms
easy to drink but distinctive for the discerning kolsch/cologne fan, not a standard pub golden/light ale which are kinda wimpy

"Ashbury Alt" (no ABV listed)
served in more squat 6 inch tall special glass, I forget the german name,
holding 9 oz deep amber to copper color with brilliant clarity
short lasting beige head
slightly fruity aroma but initially not much aroma at all actually unless you really sniff for it
toasty malt taste, again not sweet
bit of chocolate in taste too but not at all like a brown ale or porter, not overpowering or particularly distinctive, probably for color only at like 1%
fairly clean, no off tastes, or lagerish yeasty flavor not as crisp as the kolsch little bit of a harsh astrigency in the back and side of the mouth - hopping level?
very pleasant to drink and nice to session I bet

"Poor Richards" (cask, 6.1%ABV)
served cask and in full british pint glass
very dark, porter to stout color
beige to brown long lasting head, very firm and belgian looking
aromas of molasses and muscavado sugar
soft and smooth molasses cookies in favlor
very smooth and creamy mouthfeel
Wow!
dark caramel or dark whole wheat bread
not very hoppy
"old aleish" in style no obvious dark roasted or dark bitter grains by taste, most of color from the molasses?
awesome, I really liked it. The molasses is obvious but a great addition to this beer. It makes it really unique and noteworthy. Glad I made the trip from the SouthBay.

"Poor Richards" (draftversion)
served in 1/2 brit pint glass
same dark color as above
short lasting head
more sharp tasting and porter-like than the cask version which is more oldale-like
molasses is still very evident
I like the cask version so much better! Less sharp, less harsh, less carbonic bite.

"Proving Ground IPA" (7%ABV)
served in 1/2 brit pint glass
they only had the keg version although I really love the cask from past visits
light copper color with a light beige head
fairly grassy hoppy aroma
well hidden alcohol
hoppy flavor and nice obvious bittered but restrained bitterness as well
BIttering hops are not harsh and aggressive (very nice) contributing to the drinkable quality
it has a nice merging of the english and american IPA qualities
I like to drink this and get it every visit here that I make

My fish and chips were good. 3 pieces of nicely battered and cooked what I imagine to be cod. Chips were plentiful. 12 bucks for the plate.

If you want seriously good fish and chips in the SouthBay though, hit up Rose and Crown (pub) in downtown Palo Alto. Very best around in my opinion with nice Fullers ESB and Drakes IPA along with others on draft. Plus free jazz music on sunday nights post 8PM. Brit or american pints available.

I think I want to make some of that cask PoorRichards, pete

01/05/2006 | Biscuits and Fresh Hop Pillows
Author: Pete Czerpak

December is a time for holiday celebrations for many. In this respect, I try to go out and purchase a few beers that I have seen from time to time, but have rarely sat down to taste and ponder over. These beers stretch over the West Coast from San Diego to Oregon. They range from moderate and balanced to flowery hoppy. Alcohol is controlled. No strange yeast characteristics are noticeable. Plain and simple good tasting beers that would agree with most. Both were available from Bevmo atleast before the Xmas holiday got underway.

"Anvil" by Alesmith (san Diego)
Alesmith is a SoCal brewery known for its hoppy beers and also known for being able to brew it all really well. From hop-filled IPAs to Belgians to balanced english styles, they pull out all the stops. Their bottles and labels are quite attractive with printing direct to bottle in multiple colors similar to Rogue. Their stronger beers have foil seals. I haven't been there ever but have quaffed many of their beers. Anvil is a bottle conditioned ale in the ESB style. It poured a deep copper color with a slight haze from yeast present or english grain used. The head is light beige in color. After the bottle was warmed for nearly an hour from the fridge, it had a gentle soft carbonation upon opening. Aroma of mainly malt and a tiny hint of fruity esters were shown. Warm bread and especially biscuits are obvious. Upon tasting, hops and malt are finely balanced but slightly towards the malty side. Its not sweet though. Little to no hop aroma is evident. Its an easy to session drink for sure and the 22oz bomber went down quickly. Anvil isn't as butterscotchy as Fullers ESB but is still quite tradiitonal tasting in a british sense - I find Fullers a bit atypicaly and over the top sweet. Anvil is not an american style hopped up ESB at all. As it warms further, some caramel is released in the palate.

"Hop Trip" by Deschutes Brewing (Bend, Oregon)
Deschutes is located in the nifty mountain-desert town of Bend in central Oregon. Surrounded by skiing, cycling, and fishing territory, Bend has more than its share of outdoor enthusiasts ready to drink a pint after a long day on the trail or the river. I visited Deschutes in 2001 and ate every meal for 3 days there with the exception of breakfast. They have fine beers available that never make it to bottle as well the bottles that I love to find like Obsidian Stout. They don't really do Belgian but hit every other variety more or less including ESB, IPA, foreign export stout, porter, american pale, kolsch. HopTrip is Bend's celebration of freshly picked hops. Its a bomber that oozes flowery hop aroma and taste. Upon opening, an intense flowery hop aroma fills the immediate area. Just like sticking your face in a bag of freshly picked hops. Much different smelling than an imperial IPA or barleywine though. The color is brilliant copper and completely haze free. Deschutes appears to probably filter it unless it just clears really well with the hop flower phenols agglomerating. My hoppy beers always seem to carry a haze after dry hopping. The beer foam is brilliant white. In flavor, you can find a little bit of pine as well as some grapefruit. All characteristics of those fine hops grown in Washington and oregon. Wow! - I say as the soft hoppiness envelopes my mouth and nose. Lots of hop aroma and flavor but no harsh bitterness at all. A nice medium caramel taste is balanced in the taste as well. As my glass drains, the fresh hop flower aroma continues to stick around. I wish my car could smell like this. What a beer. Great for people who like hops but not harsh hop bitterness.

Cheers and get brewing!

06/06/2005 | Belgium, Bicycles, and Bathrooms (lack of)
Author: Pete Czerpak

Anybody else who hasn't been home on the weekend in a serious amount of time? My hand certainly gets raised to fit into this category. Last time I was home for a weekend was sometime in February and it conveniently occurred just as the Double IPA Festival was starting in the East Bay city of Hayward.

Well, I was home this past weekend and I just happened to be home for the day of the Bistro's Belgium Beer Festival. Close your eyes and picture windmills with green grass and people strolling, bike paths along canals, smoky bars with yellowed walls and white molding and rack after rack of highly individualized glasses with fancy brewery logos and shiny metallic rims. Now envision, lifting one of these said fancy glasses to first your nose and then your mouth. Complete assaulting of the senses is the best way to describe. Fruit, spices, oka, vanilla, cloves, chocolate, tobacco, lemon, vinegary, dank basement, and bready are some of the things smelt and tasted.

Now, back to the festival. Owner Vic and his wife put on several beer festivals every year, some of which keep coming back and back. IPA Fest is August. Double IPA Fest is February. April is the freshhop festival where you can even buy your own hops to bring home and grow. They do a great job finding excellent examples of beer and then offer them out of a small cafe venue with usually a band and some good snacks. For BelgiumFest the snacks are fancy artisanal cheeses, two of which were from belgium and the Chimay-brand brewery where the beer and cheeses are monk made (and cheese is beerwashed before aging). tasting notes (in order of trial) and gratuituous descriptions follow............


"La Folie" New Belgium Brewery

The former brewer at Rodenbach was hired by NBB several yrs ago after his brewery was bought out by a conglomerate, causing decreased production of their line of funky sour ales. Fortunately his new environment is open to his experimental belgian sour beer trials. Hazy amber color with minimal white foam. Tiny fine bubbles at glass rim. Aroma of sweet vinegar and acetic acid when lifted to the nose. Tangy and tart on tasting. Hints of strawberries and sour fruit. During sips, lemons dig deep into my nose. Some dank basement as it warms also. Not a 'normal beer'. Brings me to belgium. Or Colorado. I love it. 6.0%ABV.

"Erudition" Russian River Brewing

Another fine beer in the traditION of VinnyC beers. Many beers ending in "ION" including such fine examples as "perdition", "sanctification", "temptation" and the like. He also makes "Pliny the Elder" Double IPA as well as "Pliny the Younger" (so-called triple IPA) for the hop-heads out there. Great brewery in Santa Rosa that is still on my to-visit list. Hazy yellow. Tight short bright white head. Hoegarden like aroma and tastes. Spicy and fruity (oranges). very refreshing - yardwork anyone? Slight taste of bready and yeasty as it continues to warm. 6.1%ABV

"Trippel" Marin Brewing Company

Straight from the birthplace of mtnbiking, Marin is less wellknown for their belgian series than it is for their line of regular brews (which are quite good). Orange in color. Rim edge only white foam. Some cloves to find if you dig deep. Plenty of phenolics and banana. vanilla. Tiny bit of sourness maybe from yeast, maybe from infection. Typical tastes and aromas of belgian trippel/strong golden style. Alcohol only slightly evident and well balanced with esters and malt. 10.1%ABV.

"Abt 12" St Bernardus

Finally, a belgian beer actually from Belgium. Typical belgian brewer beer strength or alcohol are given rankings like 8, 10, 12 or 10, 12, 14. With this brew an "Abt 12", it's fairly moderate from the monks at 10.0%ABV. A 14 is in the neighborhood of 12% usually with the lower levels at 7-8%. Very few monk beers less than 7% except for the ones they consume at lunch or during fasting. Color of beautiful mahogany. Even before I taste and smell, I know I'll like it. Guess what? Yes, I was right. Dark fruity flavors including maybe raspberries. Slight beige head. Yeast seems a bit funky. maybe intentional or dirty taps or something different entirely. Bready and chocolate as it warms nicely. malted milkballs. Let it warm and it keeps on giving. Belgium, here I come. "Temptation" Russsian River Brewing Vinny brought 2 beers to the fest. This is the second one. AND I REALLY LIKE IT. He plays with all sorts of normally nasty bacteria in his brewery to impart some very non-American, non-Brit, non-German characteristics to some of his brews. However, bring him to some places in Belgium and his beer would be welcome as the highly regional beers like flemish red from Roselaire and lambic from brussels area. Hazy yellow, aroma of lambic funk - think tart and sour and musty and wet dirty socks in a gear bag. Crisp mouthfeel. Not as puckering as La Folie. Hello Brussels! Sour lemons. Acetic in the taste, aroma, and aftertaste. Lemon grass. Herbal. 7.0%ABV

"Grand Cru" Abbaye des Rocs

Another beer actually from Belgium. Hmmm, nothing to mention of note about the brewery since I don't know anything about them, so on to the beer..... Hazy and amber. Again, minimal head. Light of fruitiness. Alcohol well-hidden. Only a bit of belgian yeastiness. Body full and big. Balanced to the more hoppy side. Peppery/spicey at swirling. Honey sweet aroma. maybe a good intro beer for the non-Belgian non-funky crowd. Except for the 9.5%ABV. But it's well-hidden!

"Three Philosophers" Brewery Ommegang

Off to the east coast of the USA and well-hidden in that baseball town of Cooperstown, Duvel helped to start a belgian only brewery more than a half dozen years ago. How did they do? Amazingly well! This beer was actually part of a writers contest to describe the ultimate beer with Ommegang tasked with brewing it as per described. 2 years ago after Duvel bought out the remainder of the brewery, I think a motion was made to add some form of fruit to this beer. Not sure if this still continues as I couldn't find it as I smelled and tasted. try some and let me know. Thick yellow beige head. Mahogany color with red highlights. maybe even some blonde highlights too. malty chocolate. Biscuits warm in the oven. Would be even better as its lasted long enough for warming. Some vanilla and slight cloves. Light fruit of black and boysenberries.

"Scaldis Special" Dupont

Belgian brewery especially known for their saison-style ale which is peppery, spicy, and just lightly fruity. This is neither peppery or spicy. Bright clear (no haze) and orange in appearance. Typical taste of belgian trippel style. Yeasty in aroma. maybe almost infected. Not super dry in final mouthfeel. Vanilla and cloves. 12.5%ABV.

"La Chouffe" La Chouffe Brewery (I think)

No interesting tidbits on this belgian brewery. Last beer tasted with notes taken.......... golden. firm long lasting white head. Clear almost filtered appearance with no haze at all. Vanilla and cloves.

Title explanation- I was only at the Festival for just over an hour after having biked 40 miles in the morning and then having to leave the Belgian tasting for an art showing in the later afternnoon. Upon catching the train towards Berkeley for the artshowing, I missed my first train only to have to jump out one stop from my destination for duty-calling at the portajohn. I smacked my shin on the curb level bike rack and then arrived in Berkeley solidly 40 minutes late with a sore shin (still bonebruised). Top three beers for me: LaFolie, Temptation, Abt12. Yes,only one actually made in Belgium. Go American Brewers with Belgian ales!!

12/31/1969 | First Brew-In
Author: Dean Brundage

Weeks in advance the word went out through Craigslist, Facebook and TexAgs, trickling through emails from friend to friends. When brewday about 20 people showed to share beer, make beer, talk beer and have a good time. Three people brought their gear and we made 20 gallons of beer.

Read the rest here:

http://midnighthourbrewery.blogspot.com/2008/04/first-brew-in.html

12/31/1969 | This is Proof My Wife Loves Me and Wants Me To Be Happy
Author: Dean Brundage

Three weeks ago I started working on a walk-in cooler that could accommodate both my fifteen gallon conicals.

Read the rest here:
http://midnighthourbrewery.blogspot.com/2008/04/this-is-proof-my-wife-loves-me-and.html

12/31/1969 | Rye of the Hurricane
Author: Dean Brundage

Wish I could be there with you for NCHF this year. Hope it turns out great.

Made some beer today. Find the write-up here:

http://midnighthourbrewery.blogspot.com/2008/09/rye-of-hurricane.html

12/31/1969 | Alt Two -- From Midnight Hour Homebrew-blog
Author: Dean Brundage

My second try at an Altbier turned out better than the first.

Read the rest at the Midnight Hour Homebrew-blog:

http://midnighthourbrewery.blogspot.com/2010/03/alt-two.html