BetterBeerBlog

It’s the day before Thanksgiving and I suppose I should write a post regarding the holiday. I got a comment on one of my posts the other day that linked to a great post regarding choosing the appropriate beer to accompany one’s Thanksgiving meal. Besides being a great read and having interesting pairing recommendations, it was much better than anything I could’ve ever done. Besides, my family doesn’t really celebrate Thanksgiving traditionally. Sure, we’ll have a pineapple-glazed ham and a smoked turkey but those will be surrounded by Korean BBQ ribs, garlic and ginger seasoned crab, shrimp skewers along, my wife’s Jahmmee chicken wing dish with, perhaps, a blood stew or bile soup. Unfortunately my family’s beer of choice, despite my repeated efforts, continues to be Heineken.

Besides, I have something way more interesting, and beer related, to write about.

Mondays suck. We all know this. The weekend is over and the work week begins. Thankfully this past Monday had two great things going for it. First, it’s the Monday in short, 3-day work week. Second, I was able to meet up with Pete Slosberg of Pete’s Wicked Ale fame. Third, I was able to go to Wine Affairs and sample their winter beer offerings. Ménage à trois don’t get much better than that. Okay, ménage à trois can get much better than that, Yvonne Strahovski and Olivia Munn better, but it’s not bad for what it is.

I was introduced to Pete Slosberg via email by Jessica, aka The Thirsty Hopster. I followed up with Jessica’s introductory email by asking Pete if he wanted to meet up at Firehouse Brewery and Grill in Sunnyvale for lunch. Thankfully, he accepted. For those of you who don’t know who Pete Slosberg is, let me do a quick recap.

Pete used to be an executive at companies like Xerox, IBM and Rolm. He was never a big drinker in college but took up homebrewing one day. Working with an associate who was also a venture capatilist, the two came up with a list of criteria they wanted their next business to have. While the exact details are lost upon me now, the business model that fit their needs happened to be a micro brewery. With limited cash flow, Pete decided to contract out the brewing of his beer to various production breweries. A common practice, many breweries start off this way before earning enough capital to open up their own facilities. At this point, it was 1986 and the craft beer movement was just gaining traction. Pete eventually sold Pete’s Wicked Ale and started Cocoa Pete’s-a chocolate company. As with the brewery, he sold this as well.

So back to the present. I am at Firehouse where I meet up with Steve, their brewmaster, and Pete. Pete is dressed very casually in a hooded sweatshirt and shorts with his “signature” beard as seen on the Cocoa Pete’s logo. In that sense, he reminds me of Billy Mays. Neither man, as long as they’ll be using their likeness in business, can never shave their beards off. But I digress. About halfway through my burger, Pete whips out a container full of homemade chocolates. Even after he’s sold off his chocolate business, Pete continues to make chocolate for fun. At this point, we do a mini-tasting between the chocolates he’s made and the beers currently on tap at Firehouse. As usual, my notes are crap. Here’s what I wrote down buffered with my equally shoddy memory:

Chocolates

• Milk chocolate
• Dark chocolate with almonds
• Dark chocolate with cherries
• Milk chocolate with ginger
• Brioche made with dark chocolate and a hazelnut spread

Beers

• Hefeweizen
• Pale Ale
• Belgian Tripel
• Porter
• OTIS (One Tun Imperial Stout)
• Scotch ale

Pete instructs us to take a small bite out of chocolate pieces and let it melt on our tongues before taking a sip of the beer. We would know right away if the pairing was awesome or if was just ehhhhh. It was a very informal pairing with the three of us nibbling on chocolates and sipping beers and talking about what we tasted. Here are my brief notes regarding the tasting:

• Milk chocolate with the pale ale. This proved to be a contrast of flavors that most people might not like but I found very interesting.
• Dark almond with the porter. This was an example of a harmonious pairing in which you couldn’t really tell where one ended and the other began.
• Dark chocolate with cherris paired well with the Scotch ale. The maltiness and slight alcohol qualities worked well to bring out and accentuate the fruit sweetness of the chocolate. An example of a complimentary pairing.
• Dark chocolate with ginger paired with the Belgian tripel. This was the most interesting pairing. By itself, the chocolate had hints of ginger. Likewise, the Belgian tripel may have had ginger-like phenolic qualities. The two of them together really brought out the ginger flavors. It’s different, yet tasty.
• The brioche (chocolate and hazelnut) worked well with OTIS, another complimentary pairing.

This was an awesome exercise and it really opened my eyes to a lot of things chocolate related. To say there was a revelation at this table would be correct and I promise to reveal it all after Thanksgiving. At the very least, I want to learn how to make chocolates. Pete’s homemade stuff tasted awesome and learning how to make your own things is always badass.

Brought around by wanting to provide a 10-minute training to servers at bars and pubs carrying Pete’s Wicked Ale, Pete created a generic “leave behind” that he used to teach servers and bartenders about beer. After he explained how to read the thing, I was very impressed with the level of thought and design that went into this piece of collateral. As a beer judge, this training material may seem a little too simplified a little too general. But from the viewpoint of a server or bartender, this is exactly what they would need to sell craft beer. The graphic designer in me marvels at the simplicity of the piece. There’s always room for improvement or addition of details but for the audience this was designed for, this is right up their alley.

Basically, here’s how the chart breaks down. Beer is the major category that is broken down into ales and lagers. Ales are fermented at a warmer temperature and have more fruit character while lagers are fermented cooler and are cleaner in flavor. This forms a horizontal axis. Supplementing the horizontal axis is color. Color has no effect on flavor whatsoever but to give a visual indicator of what to expect. Since ales and lagers share the same beer color spectrum, a major flavor characteristic has been assigned to each color to help simplify their descriptions. Gold=cracker-like, amber=nutty, brown=roasty while black=burnt. Beer, both lagers and ales, tend to lean on either the sweet or bitter side. This forms a vertical axis with sweet on one end and bitter on the other. Based upon this system, you could plot where a particular beer is on the beer spectrum and easily describe its flavor to a customer. What even more badass is that you would be able to describe a beer in relation to other beers. This is paramount when attempting to sell a craft beer to someone unfamiliar with craft beers. Just pick a beer they do like, plot it on the system and see where it stands against other plotted craft beers. Pick craft beers closest to the beer your customer normally drinks to ease them into craft beers. Brilliant!

Pete did a similar chart for chocolate but I’m not going into that one. I am blown away by how much this man knows and I can see why he is still revered in the craft beer industry.

Later on after work, I headed over to Wine Affairs for some beer. Diane, the owner, invited me to join their staff training Monday night as they tasted the new winter beers they would be serving on bottle. It seems counterintuitive to be going to a wine bar for beers but what can I say? I like their beer selection. Here is a list of their winter beers with my usual crap notes:

• Erdinger Hefeweizen, 5.3% ABV - This is an odd choice for a winter beer. In fact, it’s not very “wintery” at all. It’s characteristically effervescent with banana, clove and wheat malt flavors in nearly equal parts. Despite the range of flavors, it is a clean and easy to drink wheat beer.
• St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout, 5% ABV - Brewed in Quebec, Canada. Despite it’s average ABV content, this beer has a perfumey, alcohol-like initial aroma. Per the style, I pick up deep roast aroma supported by chocolate and coffee notes. While these characteristics are echoed in the flavor, I also pick up some molasses-like flavors. This beer is medium bodied with medium carbonation. Despite the addition of oatmeal, I felt that this beer was lighter in body than I expected.
• Meantime Porter, 6.5% ABV - Lots of coffee notes in both the aroma and flavor, very French roast. In addition, there’s a slight astringency that gives this beer a woodsy note. I can also pick up smoke in the aroma and flavor as well. There are slight nutty and chocolate notes as well. The beer is medium bodied with medium carbonation. It is clear, dark brown in color. Very English in nature, this is a restrainedly flavorful beer.
• Allagash Black, 7.5% ABV - What an interesting beer. All the typical stout characteristics are in this beer: dark brown, nearing black in color, deep roast flavors and aromas with hints of coffee and chocolate, full body with medium/medium-high carbonation. Yet, there’s a notable Belgian yeast character to this beer as well with a distinct phenolic quality that is spicy and peppery. They used a Belgian yeast strain to ferment the beers and each beer is bottle fermented. I would recommend this beer for adventurous drinkers.
• Jewbelation 12, 12% ABV - Even as a special anniversary beer, this beer is huge in many ways. Made with 12 malts, 12 hops and clocking in at 12% ABV, this beer is big. BIG. Jewbelation 12 has a complex and sophisticated malt profile. The aroma is sticky and sweet smelling like treacle, with a roasted and slightly toasted malt character supported by dark fruit esters like raisins and dates. The flavor is just as complex and echoes the aroma. This beer is full bodied, viscous with low/medium-low carbonation with notable alcohol character in the aroma and flavor. It is warm but not harsch. Despite its sweetness, this beer has an equal amount of hop flavor and bitterness that is lasting, yet secondary to the malt character. This is a very hard beer to get and Wine Affairs has it in stock currently. The wine people couldn’t stomach this beer, too big for them so I got to kill what was left in the bottle. Definitely a beer I would recommend, hell, buy a bottle to age as well. A sipping beer and definitely one to share with friends.
• Scaldis Noël, 12% ABV - I already reviewed this beer here but I suppose I could at least contrast it with the Jewbelation 12. Despite having a similar ABV, these two beers couldn’t be any more different. Whereas the Jewbelation 12 is big in almost every way, the Noel is softer, more well rounded and surprisingly easy to drink. The alcohol character smooth and less noticeable than in the Jewbelation 12. The Noel has complexity in flavors that I find excitedly appealing, every sip reveals something different and I find myself smelling and tasting this beer in an attempt to determine what those aromas and flavors are. By contrast the Jewbelation hits you on the head with it’s aromas and flavors and leaves little to discovery. In the end, both are great beers but I would choose the Noel over the Jewbelation 12. Blasphemy to some, you can pimp Jewbelation 12 on your own blogs.

After the tasting, I had another opportunity to talk with Diane. She is a wealth of information with regards to wine and while she isn’t as well versed as myself in the details of beer her palette is much better and her way of describing things more eloquent. The winter beer season is upon Wine Affairs and they do have some notable beers on bottle, particularly the hard-to-find Jewbelation 12 and Scaldis Noel. I would pay them a visit while they still have them in stock.

Tapped my Raspberry Wheat Ale yesterday at my sister-in-law’s baby shower. It ended up being a decent beer but different from the last time I made it. Sammy enjoys this version as much as the last version but for different reasons. She says the last time I made this beer, it was easier to drink whereas this time, it’s still good, just more complex in flavor. You can read about it here.

Made it over to Gordon Biersch last last night. I was trying to catch their brewmaster Dan Satterthwaite because I wanted to talk to him regarding some beer stuff. It’s all top-secret, hush-hush stuff that I can’t really divulge just yet. Just know that I have a few things in the works that I am very excited about.

Anyway, he wasn’t there. I’ll just have to catch him another time. While there, I asked our server what their latest seasonal beer is and she told me it was a rawck beer. I sat befuddled for a moment before I realized she meant rauchbier (sounds like rao-sch), or a German smoked beer.

According to the BJCP, a rauchbier is as follows:

Märzen/Oktoberfest-style (see 3B) beer with a sweet, smoky aroma and flavor and a somewhat darker color.

Now that you have an idea of what a rauchbier is supposed to be, here’s what I thought.

Gordon Biersch, Rauchbier

This beer is an opaque, caramel color with amber hues and an off-white head/beige head. Medium-level of smoke aroma that is reminiscent of smoked salmon and smoked bacon. Beneath it all, I am able to pick up slight Munich malt character. I can taste a medium-level of sweet, Munich malt flavor with an equal amount of chewy, smoke flavor that tastes like smoked bacon with hints of smoked salmon. The hop bitterness is medium-lo/medium. The rauchbier has a high level of carbonation and is medium bodied, yet the body seems a bit fuller because this beer is unfiltered. When compared to their regular marzen, the rauchbier has a fuller mouthfeel and, for lack of a better term, muddled flavors. The marzen is clear, the flavors brighter and clean.

In all honesty, this beer is not a good example of a classic rauchbier, it’s an “okay” example but not a good one. The biggest flaw in this beer is the lack of clarity. A classic rauchbier should be clear. Another flaw with the GB rauchbier is the flavor. While not bad by any means, the unfiltered nature of this beer give the rauchbier a “muddled” flavor, not really clean or distinct.

I’m wondering if this is a lagering problem or if it’s a filtration thing. During the National Organic Homebrew Challenge, one of the other judges ordered a pilsner and it was cloudy. Pilsners are supposed to be “brilliantly clear” but his looked more like a hefeweizen.

Brouwerij Van Steenberge, Witches’ Brew, Belgian Strong Golden Ale, 9.3% ABV

Witches’ Brew is a beer that I haven’t had before. Some friends of mine came over for dinner and they were kind enough to bring back a bottle of this beer. I have not heard of this before the Brouwerij van Steenberge sounded familiar and a quick Google search reveals that this company does make some beer that I have heard of, and tasted before, notably Gulden Draak, Piraat, and Celis White.

Witches’ Brew pours out a wonderful gold color that is cloudy with straw highlights and a white head. The aroma is sweet, slightly malty with moderate fruit esters reminiscent of pears and a spicy, peppery finish. The flavor of Witches’ Brew is very similar to the aroma. It is sweet, lightly malty, some fruit undertones and a spicy, peppery finish. When this beer warms up, a noticeable alcohol character is evident that reminds me of isopropyl alcohol in the aroma but thankfully, its effect on the flavor isn’t very harsh at all. Hop bitterness is medium-low. Witches’ Brew is medium-high/high in carbonation with medium/medium-high body.

When compared to the BJCP style guidelines for a Belgian Golden Strong Ale, I find that Witches’ Brew comes up a little short in some areas. The aroma of this beer when first poured hits all the high points for the style but as the beer warms up, the alcohol character starts to get a little solventy making it seem harsher than what it really is. Witches’ Brew also doesn’t have the long lasting, “Belgian lace” making head I would expect from the style. This could be due in fact to my glass not being “beer ready”. There may have been some soapy residue left on the glass that would’ve inhibited head retention

Overall, I find this beer to be a decent example of the style. All the aromas and flavors one would expect from the style are evident, just don’t let this beer warm up too much. My final critique would be that the overall flavor profile, while to style, seems a bit tame.

I really enjoy this time of year. I like this time of the year because of the impending holiday season. Some people find being around family to be really stressful but I, generally, like my families (immediate and in-laws). It’s a chance to gather everyone around and just be ourselves.

What I also like about this time of the year are the winter seasonal beers that breweries are releasing. Some beers are only available during the holidays, marking their rarity. Most of the time, winter beers tend to be maltier and higher in alcohol. Today I had the opportunity to visit Wine Affairs in San Jose where I was able to try two winter beers.

Deschutes, Jubelale 2008, 6.7% ABV

You’ll have to forgive my photos. Stopping by Wine Affairs happened to be a last minute, chance decision. As a result, the images I have were taken by camera phone. Anyone know of a compact, yet quality point and shoot digital camera for under $300?

Jubelale pours a dark brown with caramel highlights and a beige head. Sweet malt aromas, like toasty bread crusts, are supported by hints of chocolate, toffee, nuts, dark, dried fruit esters and a subtle spice character. The flavor of Jubelale is of sweet malt not unlike slightly toasted bread crusts with chocolate undertones and slightly nutty finish. Even though they told me on the label this beer was brewed with “bountiful hops”, I found the hop bitterness to be medium/medium-high in character that stays past the finish but is not harsh. The mouthfeel is creamy and smooth with a medium level of carbonation combined with medium/medium-high body. I get a very slight astringency in the finish but nothing harsh.

Overall, I found Deschutes’ Jubelale to be a decent winter warmer with good flavor and balance but somewhat lacking in depth. I let the beer warm up some and I was able to pick up some of the tertiary flavors but I had to work for them a little bit. Still, I would recommend this beer.

Scaldis, Noël, 12% ABV

This beer kept giving me the “sexy eye” from behind the glass refrigerator door like so many of the “working girls” in Amsterdam. Decked out in shiny, blue and red foil with a starry night and a picturesque, sleepy winter town, I heeded it’s call. I would’ve never known about this beer had I not seen it behind the glass; it wasn’t printed on the menu yet. I took a chance and ordered it.

Scaldis Noël is a seasonal winter beer from Brasserie Dubuisson Freres sprl… whatever that means. The descripion on the bottle calls this an amber ale but it’s more Belgian Dark Strong ale. This beer pours a mostly clear, caramel/amber color with a beige head. Sweet, toasted bread-like malt characteristics make up some of the aroma. I can smell what I think is Munich malt. These primary aromas are supported by slight floral and alcohol notes. The flavor of this beer is rich and complex. I am tasting bready malt flavors, dried dark fruit notes like dates, a hint of red apple, candi sugar and toffee. This beer has almost no hop flavor and very low hop bitterness. Noël is full-bodied with medium carbonation that lends to a smooth mouthfeel. Despite being a 12% ABV beer, the alcohol is subtle on the palette.

I am really loving this beer, which is good considering I paid a whopping $12 for an 8 ounce bottle. Yes, I am aware that I probably could’ve picked this up cheaper at a good bottle shop but this is a pretty difficult beer to come by. Imagine how disappointed I would’ve been if this beer sucked but I found this to be a spectacular winter beer. Diane, the owner of Wine Affairs, asked me what I thought about this beer as she bought it sight unseen and untasted. In fact, I think I may have been the very first person to have bought a bottle.

I still think that Wine Affairs is still the best spot in San Jose to grab a good, craft ale. I wish they’d put in some taps but I realize that the sign says, “Wine Affairs” and not “Beer Affairs”. Sammy and I managed to talk to Diane for quite a bit. In addition to being a sommelier, she has an excellent palette and picks some really great beers to carry on bottle. She has a great knowledge of wines, as one would suspect, but she’s also very knowledgeable about beers. I’m not going to say she’s all in-depth with brewing process and things of that nature but by her very trade, she has sharp palette and knows flavors.

Stop by Wine Affairs where the atmosphere is casual, the people friendly and the beers are good.

The good folks over at The Trappist are at it again with their Belgian Beer classes. This time around, they will be featuring Belgian Dark Strong Ales, one of my favorite styles of beer.

Here are the specifics:

Who: The Trappist, 460 8th Street, Oakland (map)
What: Belgian Beer School Session #4: Belgian Dark Strong Ales (hosted by Nicole Erny & Nathan Smith)
When: Saturday, November 22nd & Sunday, November 23rd at 12pm.
Why: Why not?
How: $30 per person. There will be 5 beers in this tasting and a full pour of anything they have on draft with hors d’oeuvres (I hate writing this word… damn the French and their triple vowel combinations, silent consonants and seemingly random apos’tro’phes!!!) at the end of the class.

You can view a .pdf of the flyer (or is it flier, hmm?) here but here is the beer list:

• Malheur 12
• St. Bernardus Abt. 12
• Rochefort 8
• Chimay Grand Reserve, and
• Gouden Carolus Grand Cru of the Emperor (isn’t that an impressive name? Sounds very Dune-ish)

To make your reservation, email Nicole at nicole(at)thetrappist.com. I’m sure you can figure out her email address, right? We are planning on attending the Sunday session as our Saturday has been booked weeks in advance. So much for resting on the Sabbath.

I think the last session I attended was their first, the Dubbels & Tripels session. I learned a lot from that session and I thought I already knew a lot about beer. Just goes to show that when you think you know what you think you know, you find out you didn’t know as much as you thought you did. Try saying that three times fast!

I you are able, have the time, money and curiosity, I suggest you sign-up for either day. You’ll learn a lot, taste some great beers and get to hang out at one of the coolest beer bars that I know of.

You would think that after tasting 12 different wood aged beers at the Bistro this weekend I would be tired of them. I thought I would be as well but I’m not. In fact, I have quite a few beers in the personal cellar that are wood aged but today, I will be reviewing Allagash Curieux.

Allagash is, in my opinion, one of the best brewers of Belgian-style ales in the world outside of Belgium. The great part is that they’re here in the United States. The bad part is they’re in Maine. Even though they’re thousands of miles away from where I am, Allagash is widely distributed and I picked up this bottle at my local BevMo.

Curieux is a Belgian-style triple that is aged in Jim Beam Bourbon barrels for 8 weeks in the Allagash cold cellars. After aging, the beer is moved to stainless steel tanks where they add another dose of yeast and candi sugar before bottling. The addition of extra yeast and candi sugars allows the beer to undergo a third fermentation within the bottle, carbonating the beverage naturally.

This beer pours out a cloudy golden color with a white head. Upon first opening, I detected what I thought was a slight brettanomyces funk but that quickly went away and didn’t return. Curieux has some fruit esters, such as pear and apple in the aroma as well as a peppery spiciness to it. Some sweet malt aromas are present as well but they’re buried beneath some wood undertones. As the beer warms, the alcohol becomes more apparent and a distinct bourbon character starts to rise through in the aroma that slowly becomes the dominant aroma. If you didn’t know, you’d swear you were holding a glass of watered down bourbon. Curieux has a slightly biscuity malt flavor with a peppery spiciness and fruit undertones. Slight vanilla flavors slowly creep into the show but the bourbon character from the JB barrels cannot be ignored. This beer has high carbonation and medium-high/high body.

Despite its lighter color, this is an 11% beer and should not be taken lightly. I honestly thought I would be able to get through an entire bottle and review the Firestone Walker 12 as well but, as I write, am still working on the first glass.

The Allagash Curieux sellsheet suggests pairing this beer with cheesecake or creme brulee, which I wholeheartedly agree. I would even go so far as to say this beer would pair well with cigars.

Curieux is as the name suggests; a curious beer. There is a lot going on with this beer on many levels and truth be told, it is not for the brew n00b or the unadventurous. I would suggest this beer to people who have an open mind and a love for distilled spirits. It is hearty, a definite sipping beer, and one to be enjoyed in the company of good friends. If this appeals to you, then go for it. Personally, I think I’ll be picking up another bottle to age for at least a year.

The Bistro is one of the great beer bars. In addition to having an outstanding tap selection that is constantly revolving, they have a decent Belgian beer selection on bottle. The Bistro is also responsible for the Double IPA and IPA festivals as well as the more exciting Wood-Aged Beer Festival. This year marks the 5th year the Wood-Aged Beer Festival. With over 57 beers on tap, having to choose which ones to try was an exercise in restraint.

Sammy and I got a very late start to our day and didn’t stroll into the Bistro until almost 4pm. The festival opened their doors at 11am and would close around 8pm. Surprisingly, arriving late didn’t have any adverse effects. Often with the Bistro’s festivals, if you arrive late, there’s a good chance that some of the better beers will be gone by the time you get there.

With some of the other beer festivals, attendance becomes a problem. There are often soo many people that it’s nearly impossible to walk around without bumping into someone. Lines are often long and it becomes an exercise in patience to get a beer. For whatever reason, wood-aged beers haven’t hit the mainstream consciousness the way IPAs and Double IPAs have. As a result, the Wood-Aged Beer Festival wasn’t too crowded at all and just about all of the beers were still available for tasting. I was surprised by this because the weather was absolutely beautiful. Can you believe it was in the high 70s on Saturday? In November? This is why I love living in California.

For $35, I received a souvenir tasting glass and 10 drink tickets. Without further ado, here are the beers I tried and my brief tasting notes:

• Port Brewing, The Angel’s Share 2006, 12.5% - This is an absolutely divine beer. I can’t believe I decided to have this beer first as it sets a pretty high bar for eveyone else to try and jump over. This is an English Barleywine aged in a bourbon barrel. I first had this beer at the “New American Mavericks” beer and food pairing event hosted by Pfiff! some months back. It is as good now as it was then. This beer pours a very dark brown with a tan head. The Angel’s Share has a sweet malt aroma reminiscent of brown sugar with spicy note, noticeable alcohol, bourbon, oakey note and slight chocolate. The flavor is sweet and complex with chocolate and oak notes with a spicy character. This is a full-bodied beer with medium-low/medium hop bitterness that is easily masked by the other flavors. The carbonation level is medium-low/medium.
• Halfmoon Bay Brewing Company, Old Tukey, 6.7% ABV - Brewed by Alec Moss and Kirk Hilyard, this beer was aged in bourbon barrels for 3 months. This beer isn’t listed on their website. What I can tell you about this beer is that it is reddish-brown in color. Their is a slight tartness in the aroma that carries into the flavor. The flavor is on the malty side with hints of wood and bourbon. Even then, I’m not finding this beer to be as complex or as enjoyable as the Angel’s Share I had before this one. Old Turkey kinda reminds me of a Scotch ale but I’m sure I’m wrong about that one.
• Port Brewing, Veritas 002, 8.0% ABV - Brewed by Port Brewing/Lost Abbey head brewer Tomme Arthur, this beer is an experimental beer that is a blend of a sour barrel aged beer and a raspberry mead. Right off the bat, I pick up some lactic acid sourness in the aroma as well as some soft wood notes. The flavor is of sweet malt with some dark fruit notes and a tart finish. The raspberry flavor is subtle, at best and I wish I had paid more attention to the body. Blending a beer with a mead tends to thin out the beer, something I’ve learned from personal experience. I was told this beer was going fast, which is why I picked this one up early. Sammy enjoyed this beer alot.
• Schooner Grille, Vindecation, 10.5% ABV - Brewed by Craig Cauwels, this beer is an oatmeal stout aged with Montmorency cherries in a brandy barrel for 12 months. Interestingly, this beer is an homage to Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing Company, a pioneer in the wood-aged beer scene. In fact, the name Vindecation is a contraction of “VINnie DEserves a vaCATION”. This  beer pours a nearly opaque black with a beige/tan head. The aroma is a mix of sweet, sour, wood with hints of brandy. Decidedly sour, this beer has a lactic acid tartness that is very forward with a woodsy finish. There is a slight fruitiness in the background that could easily be dismissed as the cherries but I found it to have a wine-like character.
• Sacramento Brewing Company, Old Pappy, 13.0% ABV - Sacramento (the city and area) isn’t really known for its beers but brewer Peter Hoey has a real gem on his hands with his Old Pappy California Wheat Wine. A Barleywine brewed with 50% wheat and fermented with an English Ale yeast, this beer was aged for 7 months in 23-year old bourbon barrels. Old Pappy has a sweet, malt aroma that reminds me of plum sauce with a slight spice in the aroma. This beer has some spiciness in the flavor as well as a plum-like dark fruit malt character. I also pick up some nuttines in the finish. This beer has medium/medium-high bitter hop flavor with an oakey finish. This beer is also slightly astringent. I was told to try this beer by BetterBeerBlog friend Dave (who also gave us some awesome beer tips for our trip to San Diego). I really enjoyed this beer and the complexity it had.
• Valley Brewing Company, December 12 Cuvee Special, 13.0% ABV - Brewed by Steve Altimari and Matt MacDougall, this beer is a Belgian-style Quadrupel aged in a 56 year old Gallo Brandy barrel. I’ve never heard of this place before this festival but based solely upon this beer, I now have a reason to visit Stockton, California. This beer is a rich, reddish-brown in color with ruby highlights. I smell sweet malt aromas reminiscent of dark fruits like dried dates and plums. The flavor is equally rich and complex with a sweet malt character of caramel, plums and raisins. There are wood notes in the finish. Low in bitterning hops. Despite the noticeable alcohol in the mouthfeel, this beer is smooove, and like the brandy barrel it was aged in, makes a great sipping beer.
• Russian River Brewing, Consecration, 10.0% ABV - The impact Vinnie Cilurzo and Russian River Brewing has had on wood-aged beers is groundbreaking. In a way, Vinnie Cilurzo is the Godfather of wood aged beers. Up until recently, everyone else has been playing catch up. Vinnie’s is from a wine-making background and that experience has served him well in the development of wood aged beers. Consecration is a dark ale brewed with currants that has been aged in cabernet savignon barrel for 6 months. Brettanomyces, lactobacillus and pediocaccus are the little critters that have given this beer (and many of his beers) it’s distinct flavor. This beer has a distinctly lactic tartness in the aroma with hints of brettanomyces character. Beneath the tart-forward flavor of this beer, you will find a sweet malt character with a hint of wood flavor. While sweet, the balance of this beer is decidedly sour.
• Verhaeghe, Ect Kriekenbier, 6.8% ABV - From the same company that brought you Duchess de Bourgogne comes Ect Kriekenbier. This is a Flemish Cherry Ale in which local sour cherries are added during the maturation process of their Vichtenaar. The final product is a blend of 1, 2 and 3 year old beers. This beer is a bright, fiery red color with a white head. The aroma is complex and layered; tart notes hit you initially but give way to a sweet maltiness balanced by hints of wood and followed up by the cherry notes. As with the aroma, the flavor is spectacularly complex. I am tasting slight tartness, dark fruit flavors, hints of wood with a lactic sourness. The best thing about this beer is that all these flavors are subtle, yet in balance. Unlike other sour beers where the sourness is nigh dominant, the tartness in this beer is in balance with the other flavors. If you can find this on bottle, I would highly recommend it.
• Hebrew, Bittersweet Lenny’s RIPA, 10% ABV - At the time of writing, their website is down. From what I understand, this is an east coast company and up until this beer, I haven’t had any of their beers before. They are available at the BevMo’s I’ve been to. This beer is a Rye IPA that had been aged in a Rye Whiskey Barrel for 2 months. This beer has an herbal spiciness in the aroma that Sammy likened to “Indian food”. Chocolatey malt flavors with woodsy notes, this beer is highly hopped, the hoppiest beer I’ve had today. Just like it’s namesake, this beer is both bitter and sweet.
• Fifty-Fifty Brewing Company, BART - Based out of Truckee, California, Fifty-Fifty Brewing Company’s BART is an oatmeal stout and barleywine blend aged in a Jack Daniels barrel for 6 months. The aroma of this beer is roasty with coffee notes and slight wood underneath. As with the aroma, the flavor is a mix of roasty malt flavors, chocolate, coffee and vanilla with hints of whiskey. The alcohol is noticeable but not harsh. Mighty fine beer and a great reason to stop by Fifty-Fifty on the way up to Tahoe or Reno.
• Fifty-Fifty Brewing Company, Imperial Eclipse Stout Vintage 2007 - Another great beer from 50/50. This beer was recommended to me by Rich of Beer and Winemakers of America homebrew shop. A great recommendation. This beer has roastiness and coffee on the nose. The flavor is of coffee and chocolate and hints of vanilla with caramelized sugar flavors beneath them. Full-bodied with medium carbonation. The bitterness has more of a roasted grain character, like you’d get from coffee, than from hops. Slightly cloying.
• Valley Brewing Company, Effingreat, 7.8% ABV - This beer is a two-year old strong alge aged in a brandy barrel for 24 months with a light dose of sour. Lactic sour notes, sweet malt aromas and slight brett character define the aroma. Mouthwatering lactic acid tartness is the dominant flavor with slight fruit flavors beneath. In talking with Gail and Steve from Beer by Bart, we agreed this beer was more “effing good” than great. As far as sour beers go, it wasn’t my favorite but it was still a very good sour beer.

It wasn’t until I finished writing up all my notes did I realize that Sammy and I tried a whole lot of beers that day. Despite having drunk 12 different beers, Sammy and I felt great as we took our time and shared each sample. Our pours were no more than 2 ounces per tasting, so with 12 tastings between the two of us, it’s an easily manageable number. Damn, that’s a lot of notetaking. I’m surprised I got any beer drinking done at all.

At every beer festival the Bistro throws, there is always a “People’s Choice” award near the end. This festival was no different. Here are the winners of the 2008 Bistro Wood Aged Beer Festival:

1. Schooner’s Grille - Vindecation (see above)
2. Valley Brewing Company - Effingreat (see above)
3. New Belgium - Eric’s Ale (La Folie and Peche blend), Firehouse Grill - OTIS (One Tun Imperial Stout), Valley Brewing Company - Wildcat Bourbon Barrel Sour Coffee Stout, Fifty-Fifty Brewing - BART (see above), Allagash - Curieux, and Glacier Brewing Company - Big Woody. Yes, there was a six way tie for third place.

It was nice to have run into Gail and Steve, the good folks from Beery by Bart. I initially met the two of them in my BJCP study class. Trying to find parking, Sammy and I happened to see them walking out of the Bistro and I thought we had missed them. Turns out, they were just taking a break from the festival to go and get some food as they had been there since 12pm. While I’ve seen Gail around at the different judging events and beer festivals, Steve has been MIA working on all the political election stuff. Now that’s all over, I imagine I’ll be seeing more of him around.

Before I end this post, I will add that I’ve made some updates to a past post regarding my Raspberry Wheat Ale and Milk Stout. I give you much props if you’ve made it this far down my post. I hope you can check those recipes out and leave any feedback.

It wasn’t until this afternoon that I took a look at this post again and I completely omitted any mention of me having tried Firestone Walker’s XII. Thanks to Nicole, I was able to sample a little bit of “12″ but I didn’t take any notes because I had bought two bottles. Speaking of bottles, I bought two at $30 a piece! Man… some of the things I do for beer. I have a feeling that most of the money was spent on packaging, the box was pretty nice. Anyway, I was planning on cracking one beer open tonight for dinner and aging the other bottle. Look for the full review on this beer in the near future.

I’ll be the first one to admit that I wasn’t planning on going to Toronado tonight. Even though it’s a mere 50 miles or so away, San Francisco is just a difficult place to drive up to in the middle of the week without a special ocassion. Luckily for me, Firestone Walker was unveiling their XII (aka “12″), their 12th anniversary beer that is a blend of several beers aged in wood.

Sammy and I made the drive up after work. It took us an hour to get to San Francisco because of the traffic. Even in the carpool lane, we were stop and go in certain places. To make matters worse, some shitfuckforbrains in an old ass Lexus (back when they looked like slightly nicer Corollas), kept high beaming us to move over to a lane to let him pass. First of all, we were going above the speed limit and faster than the so-called “fast lane”. Second, the dickweed had plenty of time to pass us if he wanted. When he did, he cut us off and then slowed down to below the fucking speed limit. What the fuck?! I mean seriously? You’re in such a rush to want to pass us and you pull this Mickey Mouse bullshit? At least we were going the speed limit. Mr. PantiesInABunch slowed down to 45 mph to make some sort of point? Hey, I drive a super old version of a high-end brand and I’m in a rush but not so much so I can’t be douche on the freeway.

Sorry, had to get that off my chest. Some people, really.

It didn’t help matters much when we arrived in lower Haight and couldn’t find parking. That’s the thing I hate the most about San Francisco, the lack of parking. Sure, we could’ve taken the train and maybe the buses but we choose not to. As a result, we’re driving around the neighborhood looking for a spot. Thankfully we were able to find a spot about a block away.

In the end, it was all worth it. When we go in Toronado, the first person we saw was Nicole from The Trappist. She quickly informed us that 12 was almost sold out. I made it a point to pick up a pair of bottles while placing our order. It took us a few minutes but at least we got our bottles. Toronado, unsurprisingly, was full but not so much so that you couldn’t get around. I order Firestone Walker’s Big Opal wheat wine to start off while Sammy orders Two Rivers’ organic Pomegranate cider. I’ll list the beers we had and my notes in a little bit.

Surveying the area, we see a lot of familiar faces. As I mentioned before, there was Nicole from The Trappist, Sean Paxton the Homebrew Chef and his father Zane, Rob from Pfiff, The Thirsty Hopster herself, Jessica and her “boss”, Firestone Walker brewmaster Matt Brynildson.

Shame on me for not noticing who Matt was earlier but even if I did, I don’t want to come off as some fanboy who’s all up on his nutsack. I got a chance to talk to Matt for a pretty good amount of time. Maybe it was a good thing that I didn’t know who he was as I was able to just chat the dude up. Matt is a really down-to-earth kind of guy. I found him supremely easy to talk to and friendly. What I found really surprising was that he was just kind of hanging out. Matt is a very accomplished brewer, his Pale 31 won Bronze at this year’s GABF while the Mission Street Pale Ale Firestone Walker brews for Trader Joe’s won Gold in the same category. His Union Jack IPA ended up taking Gold in the IPA category as well. With a resumé like that, you’d expect him to have quite a following.

When compared to Sam Calagione from Dogfish Head brewing, it’s like night and day. Sam is very much a rock star in the brewing world. It seems that he loves the attention and the spotlight. Good thing he is charismatic enough to be able to own his well deserved fame. Trying to talk to Sam during the Dogfish Head unveiling at Toronado proved to be a big more difficult as he was always surrounded by people. Granted, I found Sam to be an excellent host, friendly with a great memory but I could never really connect with him. I’m not saying that Matt and I are now best friends forever or anything but it was nice to have had a conversation with the guy.

In addition to meeting up with some “industry” people, it was good to talk to some of the “locals” as well. Sammy was having an interesting conversation with Todd, who happened to be sitting next to her at the bar. I ended up chatting up with Felice and Michael, a pair of Jessica’s friends. All three were great people to talk to and have actual conversations with. That’s what I love about beer, it brings people together.

Anyway, the experience was great and I am glad I made the effort to come out. The beers (which I’ll be getting to) were good and the company great. Sammy and I finished the night off at Memphis Minnies, a BBQ joint across the street from Toronado. We split a sampler plate consisting of (on the bone) ribs, sweet-smoked pulled pork, brisket, fries and sweet potatoes as our sides. Not sure if it was the beer talking or not but that was some good eats. With Memphis Minnies about to close, we bagged the rest so I could have some lunch tomorrow/later.

Here are the drinks we had with my notes:

• Firestone Walker Big Opal, wheat wine, 11% ABV - As the name would imply, Big Opal is a big beer. Weighing in at 9.5%, this is an unfiltered wheat beer made with premium two-row malted barley, wheat, torrified wheat, honey malt, honey and 100% Saaz hops. The resultant beer has a sweet aroma reminiscent of honey and creamed wheat with a white peppery spiciness and noticeable alcohol character. The honey aromas are most likely from the honey malt and not the honey as fermented honey tends to loose a lot of its aromas. This beer is full bodied with medium-low/medium level of carbonation. The flavor is sweet, like syrup with huge wheat character, hints of cinnamon and a peppery finish. This beer reminds me of a maibock on steriods.
• Firestone Walker Velvet Merkin - I feel both frustrated and honored to cover this beer. I’ve been trying to find more information about this beer but it’s been scarce. Not even Firestone Walker’s website has any information and for good reason: they’ve stopped brewing it. Here’s what I can tell you: this is an oak-aged oatmeal stout, somewhere in the 5-6% ABV range. In the dim lighting of Toronado, this beer appears dark, opaque. I’m picking up some roasted malt aromas, some bittersweet chocolate notes, some coffee and even vanilla? The flavor of the beer is fantastic. My mouth is enveloped in a rich, creamy, velvety blanket of roasted malt and coffee flavors with strong hints of chocoate and slight oaky undertones. This beer is medium bodied but low/medium-low in carbonation. This beer is on hand pump only and the creamy and velvety texture hides the fact it has a low level of carbonation. This is what Guinness tries to do with their stout on nitro but it’s hard to compete with the real thing. Another interesting thing about the name. I’m sure by now that the “velvet” part of the name comes from it’s texture. The “merkin” part is a bit more infamous. Despite what you may think it is, a merkin is actually a Victorian-age pubic wig. That’s right. Pubic. Wig. I’ll let you absorb that for a moment. Prostitutes used to shave their va-jay-jays clean when they’d get pubic lice. Unfortunately for them, being “so fresh and so clean” was a big turn-off back in the day. In order to get their customers back, they had to resort to the use of pubic wigs. Soo lucky for me this beer doesn’t taste like pube… not that I’d know what pube taste like or anything. Moving on…
• Ommegang Rouge, Flemish Sour Red Ale, 5.5% ABV - This is another beer I was having trouble finding information on. It’s not on the Ommegang website but I was able to find tidbits here and there. What I am able to tell you is that this isn’t a pure Ommegang beer, it’s a collaboration between Brewery Ommegang and Brouwerij Bockor of Belgium. “Authentically Belgian”, this beer was the result of spontanous fermentation and 18 months of oak aging. It’s hard to tell what this beer really looks like. Toronado is a horrible place for lighting (then again, full lights means it’s time to go home). The aroma has a noticeable, lactic sourness, more tart than anything. It’s somewhat representational of pickle juice but I think it’s a little bit like ketchup. I also pick up slight brettanomyces funk in this beer. The flavor is mouthwateringly tart, the lactic sourness permeates through all facets. I’m having trouble picking up any of the rich, dark fruit flavors and melanoidic qualities of this beer. Maybe my palette is fatigued, not sure. If you’ve had a bottle of Duchess de Bourgogne or Monk’s Kettle Flemish Red Ale, and you liked it, this beer is definitely for you. My one complaint about this beer, rather this style of beer, is the lack of consistency. The very first bottle of Duchess de Bourgogne I ever tasted was absolutely sublime. Now, it seems like I’m chasing a dream. While very in line with many of the sour beers I’ve tried in the past, I can’t help but miss that very first bottle of Flemish Red Ale with it’s complex malt character and tart finish. Still, this is by no means a bad beer, it’s very good actually. I was just looking for a little bit more.

On the heels of my last post, two of the bay area’s own beer bars are holding a few events this week.

First up, Toronado will be hosting a Firestone Walker “XII” or “12″ release party. “12″ is an anniversary beer celebrating the 12 years Firestone Walker has been in business. In addition to being a limited-edition brew, 12 is special in that this year’s batch is a blend of several barrel-aged beers. Here are some details from the Firestone Walker website:

Brynildson enlisted the help of Paso Robles area wine makers to assist in the blending of several barrel-aged beers into the finished product.  Parabola, a Russian Imperial Stout and Ruby, an Imperial Amber are just two of the beers making up the final blend.  Some of the component beers have spent over 2 years aging in a combination of retired bourbon, rye, and wine barrels.  This process contributes unique and one-of-a kind flavors not typically found in beer.

I wasn’t planning on going (it’s hard to drive up to San Francisco in the middle of the work week nowadays) but I think I just convinced myself to do so. Here are the details for the Toronado event:

Firestone Walker “12″ Release Party

Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
6PM+

Celebrate Firestone Walker Brewing Company’s release of their 12th
Anniversary Beer, “12″. Only 600 cases of this unique blend of barrel aged
beers were created (and only about 30 cases make it to San Francisco).
Components of this beer were aged over 2 years in rye, bourbon, and wine
barrels. Come try this unique beer (and pick up a bottle to go) from
acclaimed brewer Matt Brynildson of Firestone Walker along with Big Opal,
Walker’s Reserve, Ibarra Buzz, Velvet Merkin, Union Jack, and a surprise from
the FW cellar.

Speaking of barrel-aged beers, The Bistro in Hayward is having their 3rd Annual West Coast Barrel-Aged Beer Festival/Street Party this weekend. You can click here to view the detail on their website but I’ve posted them below to save you some time:

We are pleased to announce our 3rd Annual West Coast Barrel Aged Beer Festival / Street Party Saturday, November 15th.We wil be offering over 60 beers aged on wood, this is our most intense beer tasting event. Live music and BBQ all day, doors 11am.

I will definitely be going to this event. As always, if you see me, don’t be afraid to say, “hi”.

Came across and article on Digg.com today from Men’s Fitness titled “Pub Crawl: America’s five best bars for beer lovers”. You can peek at the article here but I’ll have you the time and publish their list:

• Freakin’ Frog, Las Vegas
• The Map Room, Chicago
• Kennedy School’s Courtyard Restaurant, Portland, Ore.
• Spuyten Duyvil, Brooklyn, N.Y
• Brickskeller, Washington, D.C.

I will readily admit that I haven’t been to any of these places. For all I know, they could be “all that and a bag of chips”. I’m just curious as to why these places are the best. What are the author’s criteria for choosing these places?

But what makes a bar a “best” when it comes to beer? Should it have a great selection of beers on tap as well as on bottle? Should the people who work there be knowledgeable about beers? What about the atmosphere? How about all of the above?

I guess I’m just a little surprised with the omission of some very notable California beer bars. Just in the San Francisco Bay area alone I can name three places worth your time and a drive: Toronado, The Trappist and The Bistro. The Toronado is one of the veterans in the Bay Area craft beer scene. They were serving craft beers before it was fashionable to serve craft beers. The Trappist, while relatively young, has a well-earned reputation of being faithful to the Belgian beer bar experience. If you’re a hophead, there are few places better than The Bistro.

While I believe that San Diego has it’s fair share of excellent bars such as O’Briens, Churchills and the San Diego version of Toronado, I’ve only been to each of those places once and can’t really say anything about some of the other aspects that should make a beer bar great. I will go so far as to say I did have a good time at each of those places.

I would love to hear from any of you about your favorite places to grab a beer. The selection has to be great, the people have to know what they’re talking about and the atmosphere appropriate for a bar. No sleek, boozhee (Bourgeois), Euro crap need not apply. This is beer we are talking about.

Almost the entire time Sammy and I were in Fort Collins, Mike and Bonnie kept saying how we could just pick this up and that up at Wilbur’s. By the way they spoke of the place, you’d think that Wilbur’s is just another corner liquor store in a small college town. You’d have thunk wrong.

Wilbur’s Total Beverage is probably the best bottle shop I have ever seen. They are huge, easily surpassing BevMo in terms of square footage as well as selection. In the better BevMo’s, you will find maybe 4 aisles of beer with most of those beers on shelves. At Wilbur’s they have one aisle; one, very, long aisle. An aisle as long as the the store is as deep. And it’s refridgerated. Refridgerated! They also have another “standard” (standard as is relative to aisles in their store) that has some imported beers from Belgium and England as well as Belgian-style beers from American craft breweries.

In my awe, I forgot to take a picture. I was like a kid in a toy store; eyes big as platters with a grin to match. I couldn’t believe such a place existed. Great beer selection? Check! Great beer selection refridgerated? Check! Man, I could’ve easily spent hours and hundreds of dollars in there.

In the end, Sammy, Bonnie, Mike and I created a “mixed six-pack” to drink back at the house. Here are my reviews for the beers we drank. Keep in mind that we didn’t go through all six but here are the ones we did go through:

• Wilburfest, Ft. Collins Brewery - This beer was specifically brewed for Wilbur’s Total Beverage by Fort Collins Brewery. A märzen/oktoberfest style beer, Wilburfest pours beautifully clear, caramel in color with an off-white head. European hop character, slightly earthy with a toasty malt aroma. Slightly sweet with a toasty malt character, this beer has medium-low/medium hop bitterness. Very clean, low esters.
• Major Tom’s Pomegranate Wheat, Ft. Collins Brewery - Ft. Collins Brewery was the one brewery we didn’t make it to while in Ft. Collins. We just ran out of time. Brewed with pomegranate concentrate and lightly filtered. Major Tom’s pours out blonde/straw color. Light malt aroma - light sweet taste, medium-low hops. (Reviewed by Sammy).
• Wet Mountain IPA, Il Vicino Brewing Company - Sweet malt aroma and flavor characteristics with a citrus and floral hop aroma and flavor. The bitterness is medium-high/high but not long lasting. While I thought this beer was fairly good, this beer reminded me of those perfume knockoffs that get sold to tourists. They smell just like the brands they’re supposed to be but don’t last nearly as long. Same with this beer. It has all the right notes but they just don’t play the song for very long. Il Vicino is a wood over pizza joint with mulitple locations but it seems that all their beer is made at a single location that gets distributed to their other locations.
• Rocky Mountain IPA, Ft. Collins Brewery - Strong floral hop characteristics with sweet malt underneath. Sweet malt flavors give way to floral hop flaovrs and a high hop bitterness. Medium-high body and high carbonation.
• Nectar of the Hops, Redstone Meadery - Bonnie has been asking us about the bottle we brought over for some time now and this was as good as a time as any to crack this baby open. This sparkling mead was sweet smelling with slight hop aromas. The flavor is crisp, clean, sweet with hop undertones and a slight caress of hop bitterness. Not big fans of mead, Mike and Bonnie took a liking to this mead mainly because of it’s sparkling nature.

Yes, I do realize the irony of my review. I talk up on how awesome and diverse Wilbur’s is and then all I do is pick up Ft. Collins Brewery beers. I didn’t really realize it until I wrote the post. What can I say? We missed visiting Ft. Collins Brewery and picked up some of their beers instead. I just wish we picked up more of their beers. In any event, if you are ever at Ft. Collins, Colorado, give Wilbur’s a try. Let me know if you walk away just as impressed.