The Beer Tap

The Third Beer of Christmas

The third beer of my Christmas vacation is Rip Tide by BrewDog Brewery.  BrewDog is a relatively new brewery in Scotland that I first learned about through a collaboration they did with Stone.  They have now appeared in Florida with their full collection of bottled beers and this is my first opportunity to give them a try.  The cooler weather always gets me in the mood for a stout and a Russian Imperial Stout is always a nice way to unwind.  According to the brewer, Rip Tide is a "contemporary Scottish take on an age old Russian classic style originally brewed for the Tsars. Our interpretation brings together hops from both sides of the Atlantic, amazing flavoured malts and dark sugars."  At 8% ABV this beer is smaller than many of the RIS's being brewed here in the US.  BrewDog also adds muscavado sugar to this brew which is a first for me with this style.  This type of sugar is a natural form of brown sugar made from sugarcane juice and has a noticeable molasses flavor.  With the roasted and coffee flavors typical of stouts this could be a nice addition.

• Package: 660 mL bottle, batch 94 best by 12/12/09
• Appearance: Dark black; little to no foam and appears to be flat (may be low carbonation combined with being too cold from the refrigerator.)
• Aroma: Roasted coffee and chocolate combined with some sweetness
• Taste: Starts with a roasted sweetness with some caramel flavors that fade and give way to a heavier roasted flavor; Alcohol not as forward as normal with this style; Muscavado sugar is hard to pick out on its own as the sweetness I taste could also be from dark caramel malts
• Mouthfeel: Low gentle carbonation level which I am guessing is intended and is to style; Slightly creamy but now as full bodied as I prefer in a RIS
• Finish: Roasted grains and hop bitterness at a pleasant level

Overall this beer was enjoyable even if not to style or to my expectations of a RIS: It certainly was balanced and without any major flaws.  I look forward to trying more beers by BrewDog to get a better handle on the craft scene across the pond.

Play Ball!

Over the weekend, I made it to my first baseball games of the season.  My brother, nephew and I road tripped to Chicago to see the Reds take on the Cubs at historic Wrigley Field. An absolutely amazing experience in all respects...except for the beer. In my family, baseball games are a three hour mixture of a classic American sport and eating. When I was a kid, my dad would always pony up for peanuts, Cracker Jacks, coney dogs, frosty malts, etc. As I reached the legal drinking age, beer also became a part of the experience. Of course at this point in my life quantity and value often out weighed quality when it came to beer. I was content to drink economy beers from the big three.  But now that I have gained an appreciation for fuller flavored craft beers, I have to admit that I am disappointed with the beer experience in most ballparks these days.  At Wrigley, my choices were Bud, Bud Light, Old Style, and Old Style Light.  Not exactly a line up that will knock your socks off!  I went with Old Style since Bud is one of my least favorites of all time.  This got me thinking....are there ball parks that have embraced the changing tastes of Americans?  Can I enjoy baseball with an American brewed craft beer in hand?  I know that there are a few places in the US where you can enjoy a craft-style beer during the game.  Here are the ones I know from personal experience:     

• Boston: Sam Adams

• Los Angeles: Gordon-Biersch

• San Francisco: Gordon-Biersch

• Houston: Saint Arnolds

Atlanta and Cincinnati also both offer a custom brewed beer that provides slightly more flavor, but each of these still falls within the German lager family.

Are there any parks out there with a large selection of crafts on tap?  If not, will MLB owners make a shift as more and more Americans trade up?  I am certainly hoping so.  I understand the need for a cool refreshing beer on a summer afternoon, but there are many other beers out there that can easily accomplish this task with much better flavor.

If you know of a ballpark with a great beer lineup, be sure to comment so that I can add those parks to my list.

Brew Years Eve!

I was over at the Brewer's Association website the other day (www.beertown.org) and discovered that they are helping to put together a night to celebrate the repeal of Prohibition.  The great failed experiment and creator of the mob!  On the evening of April 7th, establishments across the US will be celebrating the return of beer on that date back in 1933.  Some of the first beer shipments on that date went right to the White House as Roosevelt had campaigned heavily of bringing back alcohol as a legal drink.  So head out and toast a few beers to FDR!  Be sure to follow that with one to Jimmy Carter who legalized homebrewing back in the 70's where many of today's craft beer pioneer's got their start.

To find events in your state check out this link on the Brewer's Association site.

Fort-ified

I was at a wine/beer store over the weekend and found another Dogfish Head seasonal, Fort, that I had not yet tried.  I was intrigued since the bottle says "Flavored ale fermented with over a ton of fresh, pureed raspberries.  This flavored ale was made to age with the best of 'em."  My first thought...this must be a strong one.  The price of $16.99 helped confirm this thought although I must point out that it is a larger format (1 pint 9.6 fl oz). 

And while it might have been brewed to age, I had no intention of waiting.  Here are my thoughts:

• Aroma - very natural, sweet raspberry; no hint of that artificial chemical like smell found in some fruit beers
• Flavor - a very nice balance of sweetness and the tartness of the raspberries; not really any hop bitterness; a very clean finish that leaves you ready to take the next sip

Overall, this might be one of my favorite fruit beers of all time.  I am not a huge fan of overly sweet fruit flavored lambics.  They are often similar to drinking Kool Aid with an extra cup of sugar.  Fort, however, was just sweet enough to over come the tartness from the berries.  I had no problem finishing the bottle...or did the bottle finish me?  I have not been able to find the alcohol content but I think it has to be on the higher end.  Maybe 7% or so? [Update...it's 18% according to grove over at http://blog.geirove.org/ See his comment] And while the price tag was a bit high, I think that it was worth trying.  I may even go buy another bottle to age to see how the beer matures.

Off to San Francisco this weekend so I hope to have some new West Coast beers to review next week.   

Big beer = flavortastic

I came across this article in the Akron Beacon Journal today at work and thought it was a good read.  It talks about how craft brewers are continuing to develop beers with big flavor and often a lot of alcohol as well.  I enjoyed the quotes from industry experts and thought you might also.

Click here for the link to the story.

Also...they included a list of beers recommended by a number of the people interviewed in the article.  Nice to see what they recommend outside of their own beers.  Click here for the list.  It includes suggestions from:

• Luke Purcell, brewer, Great Lakes Brewing Co., Cleveland, OH
• Fred Karm, owner/brewer, Hoppin' Frog Brewing Co., Akron, OH
• Greg Koch, chief executive, Stone Brewing Co., San Marcos, CA

• Andrew Tveekrem, brewmaster, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Milton, DE

IPA Update:  The IPA I brewed a couple of weeks back is now in a keg carbonating.  Of course I tasted it warm and flat to get an idea of how the final product will fare.  I think it is going to taste great and prove to be popular with guests...not overly sweet, a nice balance of hop flavor and bitterness, and a cascade aroma that you begin to smell inches away from the glass! 

"I am the Yeti!"

The second big beer of the weekend was Yeti Imperial Stout by Great Divide. There have been Bigfoot sightings in the woods of Wisconsin over the last few weeks and with all of this snow, he may now be a Yeti.  Imperial stouts were exported to the Russian Czars back in the 1800s, hence the name "Imperial Stout".  In order to survive the long trip, this style was brewed at a higher alcohol content.  Today, American craft brewers have revived this style and taken it to new heights.  And by heights I mean "how much alcohol can a beer have and still taste good?"  The Yeti clocks in at 9.5% ABV and still manages to taste great!

• This beer is as black as night and pours thicker than your average beer.  GD's website uses the word "viscous" and I think that is a good choice.
• Like many higher alcohol beers, the head was small and quickly faded.
• The aroma is sweet and alcoholic.  My mouth is watering in anticipation!
• The flavor is sweet up front, followed by roasted flavors that linger on the tongue without any harsh bitterness or astringency.
• This is not a wimpy beer!  I can tell the alcohol is there, but all of the flavors seem to balance out nicely.  I can tell why Yeti has won a good number of awards.

Drink a 22 oz of this beer and you too may believe that you ARE the Yeti!

And then there was snow...and beer!

It is officially winter now.  I woke up Friday morning to many inches of snow.  By the end of the day we had somewhere between 9 and 12 inches.  After a long day at work, the roads were still bad so I made the decision to hit the beer store to try and find a few "big" beers to help warm me up.

One of the beers I found was a single batch seasonal by Bells, Hell Hath No Fury.  The pink label and six pack holder were visible from across the store.  Once I read the label, I knew I had to try it.  Here's what is says:

A brew that gives you either sympathy for the devil or the courage to face him. Goes especially well with your favorite lost my girl/truck/dog/trailer song.

I think there must be a good story behind this beer!  There wasn't any label on alcohol content, but since it was an "American Dubbel" I knew it had to be in the 6-7% range.  The Bell's website confirmed that is comes in at 7.7%. 

Here are my thoughts:

• This beer is very dark.  Almost as dark as a porter or stout.  A nice creamy head that lasts to the bottom of the glass.
• With a beer this dark, you would expect a combination of roasted and bitter flavors.  HHN is very smooth with a focus more on sweet caramel flavors and typical Belgian flavors imparted by the yeast.
• You don't notice the high alcohol content of the beer.  You get a hint at the alcohol in the aroma, but its not apparent until after the third beer.  That's when I realized it!

Overall...if you like Belgian beers, I think this is a must try.  I think it is similar to 1554 made by New Belgian, but it has been a while since I have had that.

More snow-bound, big beers to come later this week. 

Winter...my favorite beer season

While we are still a month away from the official start of winter, I think winter as a beer season has arrived.  Today I went to Whole Foods and saw my first 6 pack of Sierra Nevada Celebration.  This is one of the two Sierra Nevada winter beers, with this one specifically for the holiday season.  It also happens to be one of my favorite beers!  A few years back I made a homebrew version of this beer which is now part of  my regular rotation.  Of course mine has never been spot on, so I always look forward to tasting the real thing each year.  Celebration is an IPA and if you like Sierra's Pale Ale, you should definitely give this one a try.

I am drinking one as I type this blog so here are my thoughts on the 2006 version:

• 6.8% ABV - I'm not sure how that compares to past years but I am sure it is in the same range.
• A big hop aroma but not over powering like some of the super IPAs out there now.  The signature Cascade hops shine through but are balanced by the other two hop varieties as well - Centennial and Chinook.  I also notice some sweet malt aromas.
• Bitterness and hop flavor balance nicely with the malt, but make no mistake about it...this is a bitter beer.  The bitterness and hop flavor linger long after you take a sip.  And just to clarify...bitter does not mean bad!  Many people associate bitter with bad.  It can be if not balanced with other flavors, but the sweetness of some beers allows for a good dose of bitter.  If you worry about "bitter beer face"...maybe you should check out a beer by Coors.  They make some very mild beers that even bragged about the lack of bitterness in commercials back in the day. 

Overall another great beer by S.N.  Now I can start the countdown until February when they release Bigfoot, their barleywine.  Luckily I have some Celebration and a whole host of other great winter beers that are soon to be released.  I'll review each of those as well. 

And now if you will excuse me...time for my second Celebration! 

Braveheart in a bottle

Its been a while since I have posted, so hopefully I have a few readers left out there!  Starting a new job has taken up much more time than I expected.  Today at work included a beer tasting which guilted me into hitting up the beer store to find a beer to review.  Tough work, eh?

Three Floyds Brewing Co. is located in Munster, Indiana east of Chicago.  I have tried their Alpha King Pale Ale before and was delighted to see another of their beers on the shelf.  Especially a Scottish Ale!  Fall, and in some cases winter, is here and a cool day calls for a full bodied, malty beer.  So here are my notes on Robert the Bruce:

• A nice dark brown beer with a twinge of red that supports only a small head
• The aroma jumps out of the glass and you can tell that this beer is going to have a great roasted malt flavor
• RTB is extremely well balanced with just enough hops to ensure that it isn't too sweet
• The roasted flavors and sweetness hide a good amount of alcohol very nicely.  It wasn't until I went to their website that I realized it was 7.2%!
• The beer finishes very clean with and after taste that fades nicely on the tongue
• With all of the malt flavors, it is never overly sweet.  I could drink several of these in one sitting

If you get the opporunity to pick up RTB or any of the Three Floyds beers, I highly recommend  it.  I know that I have seen them stocked on shelves throughout the Midwest and in CA.  So paint your face blue, put on that kilt (yes that means you, Mook!), pop Braveheart into the DVD, and start drinking.  Just remember that this beer packs a hidden punch.

Beers for Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend…the last official weekend of summer and the official start of college football.  Whether you are outside enjoying time with friends and family or are firmly planted on your couch, this is a weekend that calls for a nice, easy drinking beer.  You could very easily run to your local grocery store and pick up a case or two of Bud/Miller/Coors.  The big three make a very consistent, lower alcohol, smooth American Lager beer, but I urge you to venture out and try something new this Labor Day. 

• The New Belgium Brewing Company offers a summer seasonal called Skinny Dip (4.2%ABV).  NB has officially released their Fall seasonal, but you still should be able to find 6 packs of this beer in any store that carries the flagship beer, Fat Tire.  The beer has seen mixed reviews among customers, but I happen to like it.  The aroma reveals both Cascade hops and malt without either being too overpowering.  The beer starts with a mild bitterness from the hops and finishes with a toasted bread or biscuit like flavor.  This is definitely more complex than B/M/C, but the flavor of the beer does not linger for a long time like some other craft style brews.  I think this is a good starter for those looking to try different beers outside of their standard American Lager.  

• My second recommendation for the weekend is an American Lager made in the tradition of beers brewed before the worst political decision of all time, Prohibition.  Session (5.2% ABV) is brewed by Full Sail Brewing Company without any corn, rice, or other adjuncts…just malt.  It also comes in a cool 11 ounce, stubby bottle that is sure to be noticed by others.  This tastes similar to import lagers you may have tried, but without that distinct Heineken flavor many people do not like.  Session is brewed right here in the US so drinking this beer is a great way to celebrate labor here in America.  Plus I think you will find it very enjoyable and easy to drink.