BetterBeerBlog

A week ago Sammy and I were invited by the south bay homebrew club Worts of Wisdom to join them on a San Francisco Pub Crawl. The idea was to take the Caltrain up, drink a lot and get home safely via the train. The invitation was also opened up to the other south bay homebrew club Silicon Valley Sudzers. Since Sammy and I were late arriving to the original meet up point in Sunnyvale, we wouldn’t know how many people were going to be on the pub craw.

I have only taken Caltrain once prior to this pub crawl. It was to a Giants game. I don’t remember if they won or lost but we took the last train out of town that night. Sammy had never been on the train before so this was an experience she spent the last 30 minutes asleep. Good times.

21st Amendment Brewery Cafe, 563 2nd Street, San Francisco, CA 94107 map

Within walking distance from the Caltrain station, 21st Amendment was the first stop of the day. By the time Sammy and I arrived, the majority of the people going on the pub crawl were already there. I didn’t take a formal count but there were around 15 - 20 of us at the table. I found the staff there to be friendly and accommodating. Even though we ate sandwiches on the train, we ordered a salad to snack on while there.

Monks Blood, 8.3% ABV

Sweet beer, I can taste the dark candi sugar they used to make this beer. I can also taste some dark fruit notes, especially fig, as well as some oak flavors and hints of vanilla. The beer was cold when it arrived but once it warmed up, the aroma was similar to the flavor, just heavier on the sweetness and fruit character. Monks Blood is a dark brown color with a tan/beige head, medium-full in body with medium-high carbonation.

This beer is one of the newest additions to the stable of 21st Amendment line of beers and there have been select, retail locations that have been fortunate enough to stock 4-packs of this beer. Monks Blood is part of the Insurrection Series of limited edition beers that 21st Amendment is brewing up and canning to rise up “in revolt of what canned beer should be”. Mighty fine beer, if I must say so. Gotta find a 4-pack of this someplace. Here’s a link to the Monks Blood spec. sheet (it’s a .pdf).

Noir de Blanc, 4.8% ABV

Very dark brown beer with an off-white head. Aroma is a combination of corriander, floral notes and some wheat malt. The flavor is slightly sweet with noticeable wheat malt flavors, some spice character with hints of citrus and a surprising dark chocolate component. It is light in body with medium-high carbonation.

Noir de Blanc is an oxymoron in a glass as it is a dark/black witbier. Were I blindfolded, I would’ve drank this beer and told you it was a witbier as Noir de Blanc pretty much hits all the major points that define a witbier but it’s not at all what I expected when I looked at this beer. The interesting dark chocolate notes I picked up are a result of the TCHO chocolate used in brewing this beer.

Rogue Alehouse, 673 Union Street, San Francisco, CA 94113 map

Most of the other homebrewers arrived at Rogue Alehouse via Muni but we hitched a ride. This location is the southernmost boundary of “Rogue Nation”. They don’t brew any Rogue beers here, this is just a bar. With a 40-tap count, Rogue not only carries many of their beers on tap but has a pretty decent guest tap selection as well.

Other than being an outlet for Rogue beers, there is not much outstanding about this location. Well, it is a great place to get beer on draught. You can also pick up many of Rogue’s beers on bottle here as well. Other than that, it’s a straightforward bar. The “beer garden” in the back is also roomy and I can see how nice it would be out there during one of San Francisco’s mild summer evenings.

Juniper Pale Ale, 5.2% ABV

Clear, pale amber colored beer with an off-white head. There is a balance between the biscuity, slightly toasted malt flavors and aroma with the citrus/spicy, slightly pungent character of the hops. Hop bitternes is about medium. Since I’ve never had Juniper berries before, I can’t really comment on whether or not I can taste them. This is a medium bodied beer with medium carbonation.

I had also wanted to try Yellow Snow IPA but didn’t get around to it. Truthfully, I wasn’t impressed by Juniper Pale Ale. I thought the biscuity malt character was an interesting way to go but overall I found the beer to be a little dull. Maybe if I knew what Juniper berries tasted like I could appreciate it more.

The first time I went here was for a beer & cheese pairing event a couple of years ago. I don’t think this will be my last time here but I’m not in any rush to get back. It’s not that Rogue Alehouse sucks or anything it’s just that there are better places in the city to get beer at. Speaking of which…

La Trappe, 800 Greenwich Street, San Francisco, CA 94113 map

Almost a stone’s throw away from Rogue (more like two blocks, unless you have a really good throwing arm) sits La Trappe Cafe. By day, it looks like an unassuming cafe but by night, it still looks like an unassuming cafe. The real treat is to go on in and take the spiral staircase downstairs to the bar.

Even in broad daylight, you feel as if you’re in a cave. The bar is low lit for ambiance while the exposed brick walls add to the othercountry feel of place. As one homebrewer said, “Gentlemen, welcome to Belgium”. You can pull right up and grab a seat at the bar or at any one of several tables spread throughout. In the back area of La Trappe is a very dimly lit “hole in the wall” that is another seating area. We fit most of our group there and from that location, you have good views of the place.

Gouden Carolus Noël, Brouwerij Het Anker, 10.5% ABV

Very dark brown beer with a beige/tan head (I think, it was pretty dark in La Trappe). Very rich and complex flavors consisting of caramelized malt, figs, dates, raisins with some pear and slight clove phenolics. The aroma is similar to the flavor. This was a full-bodied, medium/medium-high carbonated beer with low-no hop bitterness. It is pretty sweet and definitely malt forward.

I love “Noël” beers for a variety of reasons, primarily because they taste so damn good. This beer was no exception to that as the only thing I could think of was “Wow”. Luckily for me, this would not be the only “wow” beer of the evening.

Avec les bon Vœux de la brasserie Dupont, Brasserie Dupont, 9.5% ABV

Gold-ish color with a white/off-white head. Lots of yeasty, phenolic character in the aroma such as pears and clove as well as a spicy, peppery note. The flavor echos the aroma with the addition of a pils-like malt flavor. This beer has aa medium-lo hop bitternes. Generally speaking, this beer has a lot of “white flesh” fruit character. Avec les bons Vœux is medium/medium-full in body with medium-high/high carbonation.

The beer’s name, Avec les bon Vœux de la brasserie Dupont translates into “With the best wishes of brewery Dupont”. This beer was originally brewed to be given as gifts to the brewery’s best clients but demand started to exceed the seasonality of the offering that Dupont started brewing this beer in greater volume. Listed as a “Christmas Saison”, I felt this beer was a very solid saison regardless of the season.

Saint Lamvinus, Brasserie Cantillon, 6.0% ABV

OMFG!!! Wow. This beer was shared by BJCP judge and fellow homebrewer Matthew. I felt guilty when after finishing my taster Matt poured me more. This is definitely a “must try” beer and one worth sharing. The flavors are just too intense to keep to oneself.

The beer pours out a clear-ish, red-brown (more red than brown) with a white/pink-white head. The aroma is full of brettanomyces character, lots of barnyardy, horse(blanket) character with some fruit notes. The flavor is completely unlike what the aroma teases you with as it’s primarily tart throughout with just enough residual sweetness to prevent this from being a sour bomb. I can also taste red wine flavors and slight oak notes as well. My description is woefully inadequate, just try this beer if you can.

This lambic is unblended with merlot and cabernet-franc grapes added to the beer while it is aging in Bordeaux barrels.

Vigneronne, Brasserie Cantillon, 5.0% ABV

Vigneronne is another OMFG beer, the second of the day. This beer was “on the house”. While we were enjoying Saint Lamvinus, the bartender opened this bottle and poured a little bit in several glasses. Thank you, La Trappe.

This beer pours out a clear gold with a white head. The aroma has a lot of fruit character to it not unlike white wine with a tart note. The flavor is also tart but there’s a lot of fruit in this beer. Again, woefully inadequate description. If you can find this, definitely give it a shot. Unless you don’t like sour beers in which case, pick it up and mail the bottle to me. As with the Saint Lamvinus, this beer was also brewed using grapes. In this case, hand picked white Italian grapes.

With about 19 taps and a beer list in the 400s, this is one of the better places I’ve been to grab a beer and definitely a reason for me to brave the parking disaster that is North Beach.

Toronado, 547 Haight, San Francisco, CA 94117 map

What can be said about the Toronado that hasn’t been said before? Their bartenders can be rude, the place is tiny but dammit if they don’t have a great beer selection that is constantly rotating in new things.

N’ice Chouffe, Brasserie La Chouffe, 10.0% ABV

The holiday offering from Brasserie La Chouffe. This is a full-bodied, malt-forward beer with a rich and savory malt character. Sammy likened the body of this beer to a coconut creme with spices. I just found out I have a 750mL bottle of this beer in my refrigerator that I’ll be reviewing in greater detail.

The other reason I don’t have a full review is because my notes suck at this point. Rereading them strongly implies that I may have been (read: no doubt about it) drunk at the time and scribbled something in my notepad to satisfy my inner sense of needing to write something down when in reality I probably just didn’t care at this point.

Christmas Ale, Brouwerij Sint Bernardus, 10.0% ABV

Sorry to disappoint yet again but this is another suck-ass review due to bad notes. In retrospect, I’m surprised I even got this far with the note taking. For your reading pleasure, my notes, verbatim:

Smells like tortillas, hints of fruit character, spices, pear…

Fritz, 581 Hayes St, San Francisco, CA 94102 map

The group was originally supposed to dine at Suppenküche but with 15 of us, the wait would’ve been about 2 hours. Hungry and running low on patience, the group decided to make a break for someplace else. Being a little too hungry, Sammy and decided to stick around and have dinner at Fritz.

Sammy and I first heard about this place while watching the Malou Review with Malou Nubla. As their name would imply, the house specialy at Fritz would be their fries. Nothing more than french fries, Fritz separates themselves from other places with a wide variety of dipping sauces for their fries. In addition, they also serve savory crepes as well as dessert crepes. Surprisingly, they had a poor Belgian beer selection. I would’ve expected a place specializing in Belgian-style fries to have a a decent Belgian beer list selection but they didn’t. Here’s a link to their menu (it’s a .pdf).

In case you were wondering, here’s what we had for dinner:

• Arles Belgian Mussels - shallots, butter, parsley, garlic and white wine. Note that not all Belgian mussels are available at all locations.
• Fritz - regular order of fries with balsamic mayo and smokey honey mustard.
• Duchamp savory crepe - mushrooms, rosemary chicken, fresh spinach and swiss cheese.
• 2° Below - Winter warmer from New Belgium Brewing Company.

Long story short, the dipping sauces for the fritz were too cold to really appreciate but between the two, we finished the smokey honey mustard. The fritz themselves were nothing to write home about, flavor wise, but they did have a great crispness to them. The Arles Belgian mussels were very good. Simple ingredients but very satisfying and “home-like”. I liked this so much I slurped up as much of the steaming liquid as I could. The Duchamp was just “okay”. I found it to be satisfying but simplistic in its flavor profile. Then again, chicken is a neutral meat that, in my opinion, requires a lot of work to get really flavorful if served sans skin. Lastly, we were pretty beered out and only drank a small portion of 2° Below. To try and give it some sort of review would be unfair.

The train ride back was not the best of experiences. A little tipsy, Sammy and struggled with slight nausea and headaches on the ride back. If I could’ve fallen asleep, I would’ve. As with many other trips, the ride back seemed to go much quicker than the ride up but it still wasn’t quick enough for me. Still, beats driving drunk any day.

The success of this little outing has inspired me to try and organize my own beer train/pub crawl type of event. I’d like to thank Worts of Wisdom for organizing this event and for welcoming us along for the ride.

Firestone Walker just released their Quercus Alba Thirteen (XIII). XIII is their fourth barrel aged beer release and, as the name would strongly suggest, it is their thirteenth anniversary beer. Firestone Walker’s barrel cellar topped off at 120 but only 53 of those barrels were used to make XIII. Here is a very quick breakdown of XIII’s components:

• 39% - Parabola, Russian Imperial Oatmeal Stout aged in bourbon barrels, 13% ABV
• 24% - Bravo, Imperial Brown Ale aged in bourbon (50%) and brandy (50%) barrels, 11% ABV
• 15% - Velvet Merkin, Traditional Oatmeal Stout aged in bourbon barrels, 6% ABV
• 6% - Opal, wheat wine aged in rye barrels, 11% ABV
• 6% - Rufus, Continental Imperial Amber Ale aged in rye barrels, 11% ABV
• 6% - Double Double Barrel Ale, Double English Pale Ale aged in retired Firestone Walker union barrels, 10.9% ABV
• 4% - Saucerful of Secrets, Belgian Strong Ale aged in bourbon barrels, 9% ABV

For a complete picture of XIII’s components, download a .pdf of Firestone Walker Brewmaster Matt Brynildson’s notes here.

Here’s a video of Matt talking about XIII from YouTube:

Last year, Sammy and I drove up to Toronado in San Francisco for the Quercus Alba XII release party. We missed it this year because it happened to fall on the same night as my Mom’s birthday. To make up for it, we decided to take the short drive up to Palo Alto where Rose and Crown was selling it for $28/bottle. Joining us were BJCP Grandmaster-level judge John Watson, Jen and Joey from Wet Your Whistles, Travis, Dean (510 Brewing) and their wives as well as homebrewer Jeff. I had no idea so many people were going to show up at R&C but it’s all good as there’s nothing like having good beer with good people.

So what about the beer?

Firestone Walker, Quercus Alba XIII, 12% ABV

Firestone Walker XIII poured a very dark brown, almost black color with a brown head. I picked up lots of oaky aromas initially followed by toasted coconut, some vanilla, a slight deep roasted malt notes and dark fruit character. The flavor is very similar; XIII has a malt sweetness that is like a deep, nearly burnt caramel with some roasted malt notes. I picked up some toasted coconut, vanilla while the dark fruit came through more in the flavor. This is a complex beer that seemed to get better as it warmed. XIII has a medium level of carbonation and is full bodied, with a light syrup viscosity and warming alcohol quality. This beer weighs in at 12% ABV. What a great tasting, layered beer.

As if XIII wasn’t enough of an experimental beer, Rose & Crown also had the Sierra Nevada/Dogfish Head collaboration beers Life & Limb/Limb & Life on tap as well. The story of Life & Limb is an interesting one. Instead of paraphrasing it, let me just copy it directly from their website:

Life & Limb is a collaborative effort, the brainchild of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. and Dogfish Head Craft Brewery. Life & Limb is a 10% ABV strong, dark beer that defies style characteristics- brewed with pure maple syrup from the Calagione family farm in Massachusetts and estate barley grown on the Grossman “farm” at the brewery in Chico, CA. The beer is alive with yeast-a blend of both breweries’ house strains-bottle conditioned for added complexity and shelf life, and naturally carbonated with birch syrup fresh from Alaska.

Collaborative beers seem to be the beer du jour nowadays and it’s great to see a craft beer trailblazer like Sierra Nevada teaming up with a leading edge brewery like Dogfish Head. In a way it feels like a passing of the torch moment but Sierra Nevada is still going strong releasing well made and interesting beers like Torpedo and Kellerweis.

Limb & Life is the other side of the coin. This is a “small” beer made from the second runnings of Life & Limb. Once again, copy and paste to the rescue:

Limb & Life is a ’small’ beer, made from the second runnings of the larger brew, Life & Limb. Limb & Life has a roasted malt flavor reminiscent of dark roasted coffee and toasted bread, combined with a pronounced hoppiness from the use of bold and aromatic American hops.

Limb & Life is an easy drking ’session’ beer - an antidote to the heavy sippers, and a beer that begs for another glass. It is balanced yet flavorful, hoppy yet not without strong malt, and drinkable but still complex.Limb & Life will be an extrememly limited draft-only release.

Sierra Nevada/Dogfish Head, Limb & Life, 5.2% ABV

We tried the small beer first. Served in a pint glass Limb & Life poured out a clear, dark brown in color with what looked to be an off-white/beige head. This was a hop forward beer that smelled overwhelmingly of pine, think spruce. The assertive hop character continued well into the flavor, dominating with a hop flavor I can only describe as piney/spruce that is not unlike the flavor of new growth evergreen tips. Any malt character was on the slight roasty side and played second fiddle the entire time. Despite all the hop aroma and flavor, the hop bitterness was on the medium-low side. Limb & Life has a medium level of carbonation and is very light in body, nearly watery.

I found Life & Limb Limb & Life to be a little disappointing. Sure, there’s a great hop character about the beer but I find it mainly to be unbalanced; it’s almost all flavor and aroma with not enough bitterness or malt character to make it a really enjoyable beer.

Sierra Nevada/Dogfish Head, Life & Limb, 10.2% ABV

Served in a snifter, Life & Limb pours out a very dark yet clear brown, nearly black color with a beige/tan head. This beer had a lot of alcohol in the aroma, almost hot, that seemed to dominate. The flavor of the beer was more promising than the aroma vaguely hinted at. Life & Limb has a complex malt character that has bits and pieces of dark, roasted malt, molasses and syrup/sap-like flavors. Maybe it was carryover from XIII but I thought I tasted a slight oak/woodsy note. The hop bitterness, about medium-high in level, was enough to provide balance to the sweetness of the malt. This beer was medium-high in carbonation with a medium/medium-high body.

I found Life & Limb to be a very complex beer. There were a lot of things going on, interesting things, but nothing in particular jumped out at me. This was a well-balanced beer, maybe a little too balanced. In any event, if I can find bottles of Life & Limb, I plan on picking up a couple of bombers to see how well this beer ages. Should be interesting. At the very least I’ll have good beer to drink when the world ends in 2012.

Overall I think I tried some very interesting beers. My favorite was the barrel aged XIII. There’s just something about the oak that adds such a complexity to the aroma and flavor of a beer that I thoroughly enjoy and find difficult to satisfy. Methinks I need to start experimenting more with wood in my homebrewing.

While Life & Limb was all about complexity tempered with balance, Limb & Life seemed to be a one-note wonder. Don’t get me wrong, it played that note really well but I think the experience as a whole would’ve been much more enjoyable with more balance.

It’s been a while since Sammy and have been to Rose & Crown. It was great to see so many people come out on a chilly, late fall California evening (well, as chilly as it gets for California) to hang out with us and drink some interesting beers. If I could afford it, or not feel guilty about doing so, I’d have purchased additional bottles of XIII to see how aging would change it’s character. Still, I can’t complain as I did have the oppportunity to try it. By the way, the mushrooms and fish & chips at the Rose & Crown are pretty damn good. The fish tasted fresh and the mushrooms moist and delicous. While not the ideal pairing for the beers we had this evening, they certainly hit the spot.

The 2009 4th Annual Barrel-Aged Beerfest is hands down my favorite beer festival for many reasons. First, I really enjoy the intimacy of the festival. Unlike some of the Bistro’s other beer festivals, this one is not yet mainstream and so the people who attend this festival do so because they really enjoy craft beer. Second, because it’s not mainstream, it’s not overly crowded. Third, I am really learning to enjoy the flavors barrel aging brings to a beer: from sour to vanilla to coconut to bourbon to wine to oak… love these flavors. Lastly, the variety of beer being barrel aged is increasing every year. Instead of being bogged down by a single style, there’s such a variety.

The price for this year’s Barrel-Aged Beerfest was $40 plus commemorative glass plus 10 drink tickets. You can purchase additional drink tickets for $2 each. Last year’s commemorative glass was a mini-snifter, which I though was pretty cool in itself but this year we picked up a mini-tulip glass. The tulip glass is fast becoming my favorite beer glass because it’s bulb shape allows you to warm the beer up with your hand, not unlike a snifter, but the flared upper portion allows the aromas to collect. Lastly, if you wanted your beer to stay cooler, just hold the glass by the stem and it’ll stay a cooler a littler longer. Everyone I talked to loved the glass.

This year there were 65 beers on tap for this festival. If you planned ahead and came with a group of people, you could almost sample every single beer there. With just Sammy and I, we were only able to try about 12-13 beers with a couple of them repeats because they tasted so good. I don’t have photos for all of them for various reasons so I hope the descriptions do them justice.

What was particularly cool this year was the great people I was able to meet and hang out with. I got the chance to meet up with some blog readers and other beer bloggers in addition to the soon-to-come owners of 510 Brewing Company. Sammy and I have met so many cool people because of craft beer and we’re thankful for each and every relationship we’ve fostered because of it.

Deschutes, The Abyss, aged in French Oak, 11.0% ABV

Lots of oaky aroma with dark roasted malt character. The Abyss is sweet with a flavor similar to the aroma but with a touch of licorice. When I first tried this beer years ago, I loved it. At the time of the festival, the beer seemed toned down from what I remember.

Avery, Voltron, 2 Chardonnay 2 Port, 1 Cabernet for 12 months, 9.0% ABV

Just as it’s namesake, Voltron is formed from 5 different pieces. This was probably the most infamous beer of the entire event as I kept hearing from various people how the Bistro had the very last keg of the beer in existence. I half expected the beer to be finished in a couple of hours but when we left, there was still some available.

Strong brettanomyces character in the aroma. Very pungent, barnyardy with an undertone of what I can only describe as public restroom. Despite the aroma, this beer has a wonderful flavor that was slightly sweet with a dry, tart finish.

Fifty-fifty Brewing Company, Imperial Eclipse Stout 2008, Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon, 12 months, 9.5% ABV

Toffee, chocolate, licorice aromas with a deep, almost burnt caramel aroma. I picked up chocolate, vanilla, coconut flavors all in a layered balance with slight alcohol notes. This was one of the most memorable beers at the festival for me. Fifty-Fifty is quietly brewing up some fantastic beers over in Truckee and it’s good to see they’re getting some well deserved recognition.

This beer won bronze at the 2009 GABF.

Fifty-fifty Brewing Company, Concentrated Evil on Jack, Jack Daniels, 8 months, 10.0% ABV

Unlike the 2008 Imperial Eclipse Stout, Concentrated Evil had more subtle aromas that featured date-like qualities with a noticeable alcohol character and slight whiskey notes. I noted light brown sugar flavors, some Jack Daniels whiskey notes in a lightly sweet beer that warmed the throat on the way down.

This beer is a Belgian strong dark ale made with raisins and exotic sugars.

Glacier Brewhouse, Oak Aged Glacier Eisbock, Used American Oak Wine Barrel, 7 months, 10% ABV

The aptly named Glacier Brewhouse sent in kegs all the way from Anchorage, Alaska. This beer has an oaky aroma with savory, caramelized malt notes and dark fruit undertones. The flavor is very similar to the aroma with the addition of some vanilla and coconut flavors. Some alcohol warmth.

The higher alcohol content of an eisbock is a result of the icing process with a portion of the water is frozen and removed from the beer.

Bear Republic Brewing, Trebuchet, 100 year old cognac barrel, 18 months, 9.8% ABV

First of all, where the hell does one get a 100 year old cognac barrel? Seriously! Mad props to Bear Republic for lucking themselves into that barrel, what a find.

Trebuchet has a perfumey, spicy aroma full of fruity esters and a noticeable alcohol quality. The flavor is mellow, some spirit character with a dry, white wine-like finish, oaky astrigency and a touch of almond flavors.

Sierra Nevada, “54.5″, Glengoyne Scotch, 7 months, 9.4% ABV

I affectionaly call this beer “54.5″ because it ended up being a blend of the two Sierra Nevada beers that were at the festival. Upon asking for beer #54, the Sierra Nevada Scoth on Scotch “wee heavy”, the volunteer picked up the pitcher of Porter on Scotch (#55) which still contained some Porter on Scotch and started to pour in some Scoth on Scotch instead. The resultant blended beer was poured into my glass.

54.5 had a lot of deep roasted malt character with oak aromas. The flavor is similar with the addition of an oaky astrigency. This ended up being a very good blend.

Drakes, George Brett Triple, Pinot Noir, 2 years, 8.8% ABV

Very funky brettanomyces aroma with a lactic undertone. This beer is slightly sweet with an earthy/funky brettanomyces-based character and a mild, tart, lactic finish.

Drakes, Pine Tar Barleywine, Grenache, 18 months, 10.0% ABV

Drakes kept getting very good reviews from all their entries. This beer has an estery fruit-forward character with brettanomyces funkiness and wood aromas. The initial flavor is malty but unlike other beers I’ve had so far today, this one had an assertive hop bitterness and astrigenty woodsy finish.

Valley Brewing Company, Bourbon Barrel Old Inventory Barley Wine, Heaven Hill Bourbon, 4 months, 12.5% ABV

Lots of coconut and vanilla aromas on the nose with sweet malt and tofee aromas as well. Flavor has spicy alcohol notes, lots of bourbon flavor with coconut & vanilla notes as well.

Allagash, Interlude, French Merlot and Syrah Oak, 2 months, 9.5% ABV

Floral, estery aromas with oaky notes and noticeable alcohol character. Flavor is a good balance between a slight malt sweetness, brett character, fruit esters and alcohol character.

2 yeast strains were used to make this beer. The first was a Belgian farmhouse yeast while the second an Allagash “house” brettanomyces strain.

Black Diamond, Imperial Porter, Tenzing bourbon barrel, 9.0% ABV

Dark chocolate dominates the aroma. Dark chocolate is the primary flavor along with deep roasted malt flavors coming in secondary.

This beer was brewed with Scharffenberger cacao nibs and vanilla beans.

Moylans, Wet Hopsickle, Girard Chardonnay Medium Toast French Oak, 9.2% ABV

Pungent, citrus/piney hop aroma. Flavor is op forward, slightly garlicy, pungent and assertive hop bitterness.

Their XXXIPA was the base for this beer and it was brewed with fresh, organic, hand-picked wet hops from Lake County. Won a silver medal at the 2009 Chicago Wood and Barrel Aged Beer Fest.

Bear Republic, Clobberskull, Medium Toast French Oak Cabernet, 100 days, 10.5% ABV

This beer was giving a lot of people a bunch of different things. Sammy picked up Red Vines in the aroma as well as a syrupy note. I thought I picked up a low level of nuttiness. The flavor had a lot of fruit character, like pear, as well as a sweet malt flavor with noticeable alcohol quality. If anything, this beer put me in the mood for split pea soup.

An English estate October beer brewed with 10% raw wheat and 10% split peas.

Mysterious Sour, Bourbon

This beer smelled like pickled wet rag. The flavor has a light roastiness, slight acetic sourness and musty quality.

This was a leftover, unmarked keg from last year’s festival.

Correction: I was informed by Gail from Beer by Bart that the barrel aged beerfest at the Bistro is their 4th, not their 6th as I had originally written.

If you’re a craft beer lover living in the Bay Area this weekend, you’re in for a real treat. There are two beer festivals happening this weekend and even more fortunate, they’re on separate days so you can go to both. Here are the details in order of appearance:

What: 6th 4th Annual Barrel-Aged Beer Festival, official site
Where: The Bistro, 1001 B Street, Hayward, CA 94541 map
When: November 14, 2009
Why: Why not? If you’re a barrel aged beer festival, then this is the event for you. This year, expect over 70 beers on tap, live music and BBQ. What I enjoy most about this festival is the variety of beers available. There are sour beers, beers aged in spirit barrels and good ol’ fashioned wood aged beers. We went last year, had a great time and are looking forward to this event.
Cost: To be completely honest, I don’t know how much the festival will be this year. I will call the Bistro and get a firm number later today. Last year it was $35/person and that came with a tasting glass and 10 tasting tickets. You can always purchase more drink tickets at the event. Keep in mind that The Bistro no longer accepts credit or debit cards so bring cash.

What: BevMo! Holiday Beerfest, official site
Where: Fort Mason, Herbst Pavilion, dowtown San Francisco map
When: November 15, 2009
Why: BevMo! is putting on a beer festival. Nice! Here is what the beerfest is in their own words:

Holiday, Seasonal & Special Beers, (some are called Winter Warmers), date back thousands of years. Brewers today hae continued the ritual with either very old recipes or new fangled ideas using spices, fruits, herbs, coffee & chocolate. These unique brews will bring a smile to your lips and a glow to your spirit.

Also on the menu will be food from the Culinary Center of Monterey California and music by Patt Casion and her band. There will be over 125 beers so this figures to be well worth the price of admission.

Cost: $35 advance purchase (online), $45 at the door, cash only (if not sold out). Ticket includes all of your tastings for the event. Nice!

So there you have it, a weekend full of beer events. I’ll definitely be at the Bistro this Saturday so don’t be a stranger, come up and say hello. As always, drink responsibly and remember to savor the flavor (I’m sure I pulled that line from somewhere but I just can’t remember where).

This weekend, the awesomeness that is The Trappist will be transformed from Belgian beer bar to Beer School. Up on the cirriculum: Dubbels and Tripels. BetterBeerBlog friend, and Trappist bartender extraordinaire, Nicole Erny will be hosting this class along with local homebrewing phenom Nathan Smith. Here are the details:

Location: The Trappist, map
When: Saturday, September 12, 2009 @ 2:00pm OR Sunday, September 13, 2009 @ 4:30pm
Cost: $35 per person. Reservations Required.
RSVP: nicole@thetrappist.com

What are Dubbels and Tripels? This is one of the most frequently asked questions at the Trappist, but the answer is not so simple. I hope you can join us on September 12th or 13th to explore the origins of these classic Belgian styles.

Belgian Beer School is a Series of tasting sessions led by Nicole Erny, bartender at the Trappist, and Nathan Smith, homebrewer extraordinaire. Each class features 6 generous samples, a full pour of any of the 25 beers on draft, snacks, and a wonderful afternoon of beer!

To reserve your spot, please send an email to Nicole@TheTrappist.com with your name, the date you prefer, and the number of people in your party.

We will be there on Sunday. Hope to see some of you there!

With only 23 days left until the Great American Beer Festival (GABF), things are heating up. We already have our tickets and accommodations set and our growing sense of anticipation and excitement is building. In addition to being the showcase for American craft beers, the GABF also plays host to the Pro-Am Competition. The Pro-Am Competition is when a professional brewer teams up with an award-winning homebrewer to brew up the homebrewer’s award-winning recipe. In addition to being entered in the GABF Pro-Am Competition, the resulting beer is also on tap of the host brewery. Pretty cool, huh?

California is home to quite a few Pro-Am entries, 8 total I believe. Thanks to the good people at the Trappist, you will be able to sample 6 of them this week. The details are below, hope to see some of you there:

Event: Pro-Am Beer Night
“6 regional entries to the Pro-Am competition at the Great American Beer Fest”
What: Bar Night
Host: The Trappist
Start Time: Thursday, September 3 at 7:00pm
End Time: Friday, September 4 at 12:00am
Where: The Trappist map

Come to the Trappist to taste 6 regional entries to the Pro-Am competition, a competition of collaborative beers brewed at a professional brewery by an amateur brewer. There will be a sampler of all six available to purchase. The event will feature beer brewed at Russian River by Mike “Tasty” McDole, 21st Amendment by Richard Brewer-Hay, Triple Rock by Nathan Smith, Sacramento Brewing Co by Mike Mraz, Blue Frog by Michael Frenn, and Fifty Fifty by Alex Drobshoff. Hope you can join us!

Short post this time. Wine Affairs in downtown San Jose is having a Back to School Beerfest. I’ve copied and pasted their email below, it’s complete with all the details:

Wine Affairs Back to School Beerfest
20+ Beers, up to 50% Off
Tue, 8/25/09, 6-9pm

Abita, TurboDog, LA
Buffalo Belgian Stout, Belgium (750ml)
Coney Island, Albino Python, NY (22 oz)
Cucapa Obscura, Mexico
Dogfish Head Aprihop IPA, Delaware
Dogfish Head Midas Touch, Delaware
Erdinger Hefe-Weizen, Germany
Green Flash Hop Red, San Diego CA
Hacker Pschorr Hefe-Weizen, Germany
He’Brew Origin Pomegranate Ale, NY (22 oz)
Hofbrau Munchen Original Lager, Germany
Hofbrau Dunkel-Weizen, Germany
Humboldt Hemp Ale, Arcata CA
Leinenkugl Sunset Wheat, WI
McAuslan Stout, Montreal, Canada
Paulaner Premium Pils, Germany
Rogue Shakespeare Stout, OR (22oz)
St Bernardus Witbier, Belgium
Stone Brewing IPA, San Diego, CA
Stone Brewing Ruination Imperial IPA, San Diego
Triple Karmeleit, Belgium (330ml)
Weihenstephaner Hefe-Weizen, Germany
Weihenstephaner Original Lager, Germany
and More

Stop by and say, “Hi” and I’ll have a surprise for you.

“Supplemental” is kind of a silly word to use to title a blog post but I’m not sure what else to call this. You see, I’ve already devoted quite a few words to the Double Jack Imperial IPA release party at Toronado over at the Beer Connoisseur. You can see the post here. Sure, I did put in a lot of work on that blog post but I didn’t want to just reuse existing material. That would be lazy. At the same time, I didn’t want this blog, my original blog, to suffer because I’m contributing someplace else.

So I came up with the idea of the “supplemental”. Because this is my own personal blog, I am free to write how I like, when I like, about what I like. If I attend an event I am writing about for Beer Connoisseur, you can expect a more formal post there. Here though, you’ll get the “behind the scenes” stuff. Well, as “behind the scenes” as I can get it anyway. If you can think of another word or phrase besides “supplemental”, I’m all ears.

Unlike other Toronado release parties, Sammy and I drove up with a third: BJCP Grandmaster Judge John Watson. In the short time that we’ve known him, John has become a friend not only to the blog but to us. So when he asked us for a ride up, there was no hesitation.

When we finally arrived at Toronado, it was full as always. Not Barleywine Festival full but full nonetheless. Luckily the three of us are able to find a little piece of Toronado to stand around and call our own for the time that we’re there. Once some real estate opens up, you’d best get on it as people tend to linger around the bar for hours at a time.

Looking around, I was able to see a lot of familiar faces. There was Jesse from Beer & Nosh, Mike “Tasty” McDole, Randy Griggs (EJ Phair/More Beer Homebrew Stores), Nicole (The Trappist), Justin Crossley (The Brewing Network) and our newest friend, Gabi (21st Amendment). At one point, I look over my shoulder and there’s a mini-brewer summit happening with Matt Brynildson (Firestone Walker), Arne Johnson (Marin Brewing) and Sean O’Sullivan (21st Amendment). The Beer Chef, Bruce Paton, was also on hand to discuss a future event with Matt.

On a slight tangent, Bruce Paton actually remembered my name… mine and Sammy’s actually. I’ve only seen him a few times around the various beer events and you can count the total number of minutes we’ve actually spoken on one hand. So I was thoroughly surprised when he remembered who I was. While I am an admirer of his work with the beer dinners, embarassingly, I have yet to attended one. Either he’s been reading this blog and found me somewhat interesting or I’ve written something to piss him off. In either case, having someone you respect know who you are is pretty cool.

I was surprised to learn that Gabi from 21st Amendment reads this blog. Even though I have Google Analytics installed on this blog, the numbers I get are anonymous and I have no idea who’s actually reading. It’s always cool to meet my readers face to face. I’m always down to meet with new people, have a few beers with them and hear what they have to say about beer, the blog and life in general. It makes me feel good to know that what I write and post doesn’t go unnoticed.

But what about the beer? I guess I can’t escape the “copy” and “paste” thing afterall. Here are my notes from the Beer Connoisseur blog:

Double Jack Imperial IPA, Firestone Walker, 10% ABV, 100+ IBU

Double Jack is a well balanced and crafted beer. There’s a rich, malt flavor that has caramel notes and some toasted bread character that is tempered by an assertive hop bite that is neither harsh or long lasting. The hop flavor has piney and citrus notes and is pungent on the nose. The aroma is similar in character to the flavor of the beer but more subdued. Double Jack wasn’t as aromatic as i thought it would’ve been. This is a ridiculously smooth and easy drinking beer that hides it’s alcohol well. Double Jack is medium/medium-full in body with medium-high carbonation.

Available only on draft at some of the finer beer bars, this beer won’t last long and I would recommend you try a pint of this while there are still pints to try.

Pale 31, Firestone Walker, 4.5% ABV (approximately), Cask-Conditioned

While this beer is widely distributed and available at many locations, you’d be hard pressed to find the cask-conditioned version of this beer. Pale 31 has a huge hop nose coming off the beer that is bright, citrusy and piney. Like the Double Jack, this beer is balanced for the style. The malt flavor is sweet with caramel notes while the hops have a piney/citrusy flavor and a smooth, hop bitterness. Pale 31 is a medium-low/medium bodied beer with low carbonation (as is common for the practice).

Duvel Green, Duvel, 6.8% ABV

Duvel Green, also known as Duvel Draft, is essentially the same beer as regular Duvel. The main difference is that Green is not refermented in the bottle, it is filtered and kegged.

Duvel Green is brilliantly clear, gold in color with a dense, foam-like, white head. The aroma is definitely yeast driven; i can smell hints of pears, slight peach, slight apricot with a mild spicy phenolic note as well. The flavor is malty sweet, pils-like with a low/medium-low hop bitterness. The fruit esters in the aroma are echoed in the flavor albeit subtly. Green is medium-bodied with high carbonation. The beer has a slight crispness to it.

If you’re a big fan of Duvel, you’ll definitely enjoy Duvel Green. As with all the beers I will review, I encourage you to drink them and come to your own conclusions.

Not much else to write about. I missed my opportunity to interview Matt Brynildson because I was too busy drinking his beer and hanging out with friends. Such roadblocks often present themselves whenever beer is involved. As much as I would love to do more “in-depth” coverage, this is something I do for fun. If people write to me and ask that I get more “in-depth” stuff, I’ll do my best to oblige. Until then, enjoy the rest of the pics from the evening.

Firestone Walker will be having their Double Jack Imperial IPA release party this Wednesday. In addition to being able to drink this beer, Firestone Walker brewmaster Matt Brynildson will be there as well. Sammy and I plan on being there to try this beer out as well as chat with Matt for a little bit. Here are the details:

Firestone Walker Double Jack Imperial IPA Release Party

Location: Toronado, 547 Haight, San Francisco, California map
Time(s): 6PM+
Admission: no charge
Contact Phone: 415.863.2276

To wet your appetites for this beer even more, here’s a video that came out a few weeks ago with Matt Brynildson talking about the genesis of Double Jack as well as all the good, beer geeky stuff brewers like to hear. I hope to see some of you there!

It’s a little late but I’ve been swamped on all fronts. Here are a handful of events coming up this week, tonight actually, that you may be interested in:

Gordon Biersch SommerBrau Tapping

Gordon Biersch has tapping events, quarterly it seems, and while these beers may have already been available on bottle they’re finally going on-tap in the brewpubs. The Gordon Biersch (San Jose) location is having their tapping from 6pm - 8pm tonight. From what brewmaster Dan Satterthwaite told me last I spoke to him, they should have about 4 draft lines going to avoid the long lines and long wait from their last tapping event. Here’s more information.

BJs Belgian Beer Dinner

This dinner is only at their Cupertino location so I don’t think you’ll find it on their website. I’ve posted the information for this event before so click here to see the full menu (scroll to about halfway down the page). Here are the specifics though:

Who: BJs in Cupertino
What: Belgian beer dinner
Where: 10690 N. De Anza Blvd, Cupertino , CA 95014 map
When: June 23th @ 7pm
Why: Why not?
Cost: $30/person

Mayfield Brewing Company

MBC is having a tasting of their beers over at La Folie in San Francisco. Owner/brewmaster John Alderete will be there to answer any question you may have regarding the Iconoclast line of barrel aged beers. While they do serve food at La Folie, this is not a beer/food pairing event. I spoke with John yesterday and this may be your last chance to try their beers as they are nearly sold out. The 2008 vintage is still weeks away so get ‘em while they’re hot. Not sure why he won’t say but MBC beers did very well at the California State Fair with all three beers winning medals. Great job John! Additional event information if you need it.

Who: Mayfield Brewing Company
What: Beer tasting event
Where: La Folie, 2316 Polk St., San Francisco, CA 94109 map
When: June 24th, 5:30pm - 8:30pm
Why: Because they’re good.
Cost: Purchase individual bottles.

Hopefully I’ll see some of you at a couple of these events! Speaking of events, if you’re planning/hosting a beer event, shoot me an email and I’ll be happy to post the information. Leave our contact info in the comments section below and I’ll get back to you.

Cheers!