BetterBeerBlog

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.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 16th, 2008 at 11:23 pm and is filed under Beer Bars, Beer Festivals, Beer Styles, Brew pubs, Breweries, Craft Beer, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.