BetterBeerBlog

Continuing the SF Beer Week goodness, Rose & Crown hosted a brewery night for Palo Alto Brewing Company and Firehouse Brewery. Firehouse Brewery is no stranger to BetterBeerBlog. If you’ve been here long enough, you know that I spend a fair amount of time there and it’s only natural that I’d be out to support Steve.

Palo Alto Brewing Company (PABC) is the relatively new kid on the block. Kasim, the owner of Rose & Crown, is also the man behind PABC. I had the chance to interview Kasim a while back regarding the Rose & Crown and PABC that I am, unfortunately, still transcribing. As soon as I get that done, you’ll be the first to know.

Why combine PABC and Firehouse into a single Brewery Night? The answer is simple: PABC brews their beers at Firehouse. Steve has the capacity to spare and Kasim has the desire to brew beer. To clarify, Kasim does brew PABC beers, he just happens to do so on the Firehouse system.

It’s a Monday night and by the time I arrive at Rose & Crown, I see a lot of familiar faces. I pull up a seat at the end of the bar next to the firkin, order a pint and start to enjoy my evening.

Firehouse Pale Ale, cask-conditioned and dry-hopped with Citra hops

This beer was served out of the firkin. The beer is a hazy, gold color with an off-white head. There is a pungent hop aroma with citrus and piney notes. The flavor of the beer is chock full of hops; fresh, pungent, citrus and slight pine. The mouthfeel is medium-low/medium with medium-low carbonation as is common for cask-conditioned ales. There is also a slight astringent quality.

I like the Firehouse pale ale already but I really love this cask-conditioned, dry-hopped version. The carbonation is not as prickly as the normal pale ale and I love how there’s much more hop flavor and character but not necessarily more hop bitterness. I’m gonna have to get on Steve’s ass to do more firkin/cask-conditioned beers.

Palo Alto Brewing Company Bourbon Barrel Aged Coconut Porter

Very dark brown beer with a tan/brown head. The beer smells like an Almond Joy; coconut with a dark chocolate character and light roast. The beer’s flavor echos the aroma. It’s like liquid Almond Joy without the cloying coconut sweetness but retaining coconut flavor supported by dark chocolate, and deep roast flavors without being astringent. There is enough hops for balance. This is a full-bodied beer with medium-high carbonation. The bourbon character comes through when the beer warms up.

What I find interesting with bourbon barrel aged beers is that sometimes coconut flavors and aromas come through via the barrel. In a beer like this that’s made with coconut, it’s difficult to tell if the coconut flavors are from the actual coconut or if they’re from the barrel. In any case, I really enjoyed this beer and wished I could’ve had more.

Palo Alto Brewing Company Cask-conditioned Straight Porter

Very dark brown beer, nearly opaque with a tan head. Pleasant roasted malt aroma with cocoa powder character. Flavor is similar with hints of dark chocolate as well. This is a medium-low/medium bodied beer with low/medium-low carbonaton.

The straight porter would make a great session beer; seemingly light while retaining a lot of flavor without being overbearing. While I found this to be a very good example of a real ale, I kick myself in the ass for having drunk the bourbon barrel aged coconut version first. The bourbon barrel aged coconut porter is such a bigger, more complex beer that it makes the straight porter seem bland by comparison. Still, it was a good beer.

Palo Alto Brewing Company Chocopeño

Hazy, caramel colored beer with an off-white head. Lots of Jalapeño pepper in the aroma that is reminiscent of the Jalapeño flavored Lays potato chips. It is the dominant aroma. Chocopeño is surprisingly sweet with noticeable Jalapeño flavor and enough heat to let you know it’s a pepper beer. Body is medium/medium-high with medium carbonation.

As you could’ve probably guessed, this was a beer brewed with both chocolate and Jalapeño peppers. People either loved or hated this beer. I fall more in the “didn’t like” category as opposed to straight hating. I didn’t really pick up on the chocolate aspect of the beer and felt like the Jalapeño character was a little too dominant. The resulting beer was a little unbalanced for my tastes. I think it’s interesting enough to buy a pint to share but I’d have a little trouble finishing the beer entirely.

Altogether, PABC and Firehouse Brewing was a great success. The turnout was pretty good for a Monday night and I felt both breweries had some really interesting things on tap. I’m looking forward to trying more PABC beers. I think Kasim’s doing a great job.

While attending BJCP John Watson’s birthday dinner at Firehouse Brewery & Grill, I was invited by Firehouse brewmaster Steve Donohue to swing by the brewery on Friday to help bottle his scotch ale that he’s been again in a bourbon barrel since October of last year. Initially it was going to be just the two of us but we were joined by Pete Slosberg and his son Alex as well.

I was supposed to have arrived at Firehouse by about 10:30am or so but due to some water issues I was having last week, I didn’t get to Sunnyvale until a little past 1:30pm. By that time, Pete and his son Alex had already arrived. Steve had all his bottles sanitzied and he was in the process of racking the beer out of the barrel and into a keg from which we would be bottling from. Racking from the barrel to the keg required a little bit of specialized equipement. Essentially, Steve used a bunghole tap (I don’t know what else to call it) to use CO2 to push the beer out of the barrel and into the keg.

Bottling the beers in 22oz bottles was not unlike how the average homebrewer would bottle his/her beers. Steve had put in some priming sugar and fresh yeast into the keg prior to racking the scotch ale into it with the bunghole tap. From there, we used a siphon, some tubing and a bottling want to fill up the bottles. Steve filled the bottles, Pete capped them, Alex pulled out empties for Steve while I gave them a quick rinse in peracetic acid to sanitize the bottles before putting them into their respective cases. When the cases were full, I moved them to another, dry part of the brewery. It took us about 1.5 hours to fill and bottle 10 cases worth of beer. Steve was surprised by how quickly and smoothly the process was.

I wasn’t quite sure what to have expected from bottling on a “professional” level. If anything, I was surprised by how low tech it all was. It was almost exactly like how a homebrewer would be bottling their own beers, just scale everything up to keg and barrel quantities. Other than that, exactly the same. I guess I was expecting to be bottling in the 750mL bottles with a cork and possibly a cage but the 22oz size is much more convenient for all present.

I am looking forward to trying these beers out in about a month when they’re been able to bottle condition. When I first tried this beer, it was right out of the barrel and flat. Should be interesting to see how my tasting notes will compare after the introduction of a little carbonation.

Sammy and I spent our Tuesday night celebrating the 50th birthday of our friend John Watson. John is a Grandmaster 2 level BJCP judge. What this means, simply put, is that John knows his beer. I first met John at the More Beer homebrew store up in Los Altos where he was teaching a BJCP prep/study group. Ever since then, we’ve seen him at the various Bay Area beer festivals and homebrew competitions. John is a soft-spoken man who loves his beer and gives back to the craft beer community by teaching others how to appreciate beer.

To help celebrate his birthday a group of us, mostly homebrewers, all headed toward the mean streets of Sunnyvale to Firehouse Brewery & Grill where we had dinner and threw back a few pints. Firehouse brewmaster Steve Donohue was there to play host to our little group of homebrewers and craft beer lovers. He was even kind enough to pour his Hops on Rye (HOR), Velles Baltic Porter (Velles being the name of the beer) as well as the last little bit of his Belgian-style tripel.

I’ve always stated that beer is a social beverage. The best beers often become that much better when you are able to share them with other people who can really appreciate them. It’s the truth. Even though it was his birthday, John was kind enough to whip out a vintage 2005 bottle of Samuel Adams much coveted Utopia beer. For those who aren’t familar with Samuel Adams Utopia beers, here’s a little background.

Weighing in at over 25% ABV (probably around 27%), Sam Adams Utopia beers hold the title of  “World’s Strongest Beer”. Utopia is a high gravity beer brewed with a wide variety of malts and hops with a “touch of maple syrup”. They then ferment the beer with two proprietary yeasts (one of which is a champagne yeast, I believe). The final product is actually a blend of different beers, some aged for up to 13 years, that came from bourbon, sherry, Madiera, brandy and Cognac. They didn’t mess around with this beer and at a MSRP of $100/bottle, you shouldn’t either.

Utopia, Samuel Adams, 27% ABV

To enjoy a Utopia is to enjoy all of it, especially the bottle. The bottle is copper colored and shaped to resemble a copper brew kettle. The “Sam Adams” name is on one side while a portrait of Paul Revere (why Paul Revere and not Sam Adams?) is hidden behind two “doors”. The bottom of the bottle lists what year it was bottled and what bottle number you have. The Utopia we had last night was from 2005 and was #01824. Beneath the lid is a crown cap.

Utopia pours out a light caramel brown in color with no head. The beer is too high in alcohol to even hold a head. Even before putting the beer to our noses we can already smell the alcohol. Despite the high alcohol level of the beer, the Utopia had the most amazing aroma. It was a mix of caramel with maple syrup undertones as well as some oak notes, vanilla, slight spiciness and a walnut-like sherry character. Because of the volatility of the higher alcohol, the aroma never faded and remained strong long after the last drop ws consumed. It’s hard to nurse a 1-ounce pour but we all tried our hardest. The Utopia had the most amazing malt flavor that was composed of caramel, brandy, slight bourbon, walnut and sherry. You would think that a 27% beer would be a hot beer but that wasn’t the case. Instead, I was treated to a luxurious and velvety smooth mouthfeel with a noticeable but not hot or harsh alcohol warming. As I said, the beer is flat and it was about medium-high in body.

Utopia definitely did not disappoint. I would purchase a bottle, or more, of this beer just to hold on to for special occasions. I think this beer is that special and I only hope the positive experience I received carries onto every bottle. While I could drink this beer alone, this is definitely a beer worth sharing with good friends who can understand and appreciate this beer.

Happy Birthday again, John! Thanks for bringing out the Utopia and sharing with us. There are more pictures from his dinner that you can see on my Facebook page. Won’t you be my friend?

I thought I’d try something new. I often go to breweries/brew pubs/brewery restaurants but I never get a chance to do any write ups about them. For starters, I’m usually busy drinking and that leaves me very little time to actually jot down some notes. Second, I’m there to have fun. As soon as I whip out the pen and pad to take notes, I start to have less fun and after a few minutes of “trying to be a serious journalist”, I give up and go back to drinking. Thankfully Faultline Brewery is just down the street from where I work and I was able to make a couple of trips in order to get this write up done.

It has been a week since I wrote about Faultline debuting their dunkelweizen. I was able to try that, their Belgian Trippel, and their India Pale Ale (IPA). The day before I was able to try their cask conditioned pale ale and their kölsch during lunch. I was only able to take notes on their cask-conditioned pale ale and dunkelweizen though.

For those of you who haven’t been to Faultline, they’re located in Sunnyvale, CA right off of Lawrence Expressway and Oakmead. They’re tucked in behind an apartment complex and a hotel in the middle of an industrial area. The brewery itself is a bit nondescript from the street. Luckily, they have a grain silo (I think) out front and their corner location makes them easy to find.

Located primarily in an industrial area, the Faultline’s building echos the industrial theme. There’s corrugated steel paneling on the outside of the building near what I believe is the grain silo (not sure if there’s really grain in there). The interior further echos the industrial theme with concrete floors, more corrugated steel paneling, beautifully exposed wood beams and visible duct work. Despite the industrial-ness of it all, the main dining area doesn’t feel cold at all. There’s a fair amount of light coming in from the huge windows and in one area of the dining area, you get a nice view of the artificial pond out back.

The brewery portion is showcased in an area directly behind the bar. It seems cramped but I’ve never been back there so I can’t say for sure. As many times as I’ve been there, I’ve only met the brewmaster once. From what I hear, he mainly works from Monday - Thursday. They make the majority of their money during the lunch hour and they pull in a fair amount during dinner. Being located in an industrial area means that the people who work around you are your biggest clients. As such, the brewery is closed on weekends but you can book them for private parties.

The first beer I tried was their cask conditioned pale ale. Most beers at breweries are forced carbonated, which means that carbonation is added artificially to the beer. Cask conditioning on the other hand is a beer that is allowed to go through a secondary fermentation to develop its carbonation naturally. The “cask” is simply the container the beer is allowed to ferment in a second time, usually a steel keg. Cask conditioned beers generally are less carbonated than their non-cask conditioned counterparts and are usually served slightly warmer as well. Cask conditioning is more of nod toward traditional brewing methods and some would argue that cask conditioned beers tastes much better than their forced carbonated counterparts.

I found this beer to have earthy, rustic hop aromas with a soft malt aroma compliment. I also noticed a little bit of funkiness to the beer reminiscent of cheese. Slight sourness in the aromas as well. The beer pours out a surprisingly clear dark gold-amber color with an off-white head that doesn’t last very long. The beer has a mild hop flavor and smooth hop bitterness, just enough to balance out the subdued malt flavors. Strangely, I am getting what appears to be lactic acid sourness in the flavor profile. As the beer warmed up, the sourness became more prominent. The cask conditioned pale ale was medium bodied with low carbonation. I got a slight puckering sensation from the sourness.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from a cask conditioned beer. Based solely upon the flavor profile, I think the brewer was going for an English style pale ale and when you look at the rest of the beers on tap, it makes sense. I’ve had some decent english pale ales that weren’t cask conditioned and I like the style. English beers tend to be well balanced, subtle and complex all at the same time. I was expecting all of that plus a little bit more character because of the cask conditioning. What I didn’t expect was the sourness, which for the style, is an off-flavor. The beer was served from an authentic beer engine so I’m guessing that the sourness didn’t come from dirty tap lines. The only other reason was the beer could’ve had an infection or may it was on the downhill side of good. Generally, cask conditioned ales have a shelf life of only a few days. I finished my pint but didn’t order another one. Maybe when it’s fresher this beer would’ve tasted much better but I think it was over a week old by the time I was able to try one.
The second beer I was able to take notes on was the dunkelweizen. Almost literally translating into “dark wheat beer”, the dunkelweizen is very similar to a hefeweizen. They have similar aromas and flavors but there are distinct differences. Malt characteristics should be noticeable in the aroma and flavor of the beer. As the name suggests the beer is darker in appearance as well. I enjoy this style of beer for the added complexity the malt brings to the table. After drinking lots and lots of hefeweizens, this is a pleasant, slight change of pace.

I’m not sure if they do this all the time for their beer debuts but when I ordered the dunkelweizen, we got a free pint glass for doing so. It’s nothing special, just a pint glass with the Faultline logo but I admit it was one of the reasons why I went. The beer pours out a hazy brown color with an off-white head. The aromas from this beer are a mix of fruity esters such as bananas and clove coupled with a subdued malt character. Generally speaking, most beers will taste very similar to how they smell and this beer was no exception. The banana and clove flavors are apparent but less so than a traditional hefeweizen. Those flavors are balanced out by a bready, grainy, Munich/Vienna malt character. There is very little (if any) noticeable hop flavor or bitterness. The traditional yeasty flavors round out the rest of the palette. The mouthfeel is medium bodied but could be experienced as thicker because of the proteins and yeasts still in suspension. I found my beer to be fairly well carbonated.

Overall, a very decent beer that is to style. It has a good level of drinkability and if you like hefeweizens I would recommend this beer to you. When compared to the traditional Faultline hefeweizen, the dunkelweizen has less of the fruity aromas and flavors but that is balanced out by the malt characteristics. I must say that I was expecting this beer to have more malt character than it did. I wanted more malt on the nose and in the flavors but that’s the beauty of beer! This beer is to style but it’s interpreted in the way the brewer finds most appealing. When it comes down to it, I’d order another pint.

Here’s a quick list of the other beers I tried with quick notes:

• Kölsch - Entry level beer. Closest thing they have to an American Pale lager. This beer could’ve had more fruity esters and more malt character to it for my liking. It is light, refreshing and easy to drink though. Like I said, it’s their entry-level beer. I don’t think I’d order another one unless it was blistering hot outside.
• Belgian Tripel - I enjoyed this beer. It’s a tripel which means it’s higher alcohol content makes this a sipper. The characteristic Belgian flavors are apparent and the fruit notes are more muted than in other versions I’ve tried. That being said, I found it to be one of their better beers. I’d order another glass.
• IPA - Good hop flavor and bitterness for an English version of the IPA. There’s a good balance between the malt and hops with an obvious favoring of the hop end of the taste spectrum. This beer is very much to style but don’t order it if you’re used to American IPAs because this will feel muted by comparison. I’d order another one.

In addition to the good beers, the restaurant portion of the brewery makes very good food. Having dinner here one time, I shared an entrée with my wife and the staff was kind enough to split it into two plates for us. I thought they had made a mistake as the split portions looked to be plates unto themselves. Generally I find the wait staff to be courteous and prompt and the location as a whole is well kept. They make most of their money during the lunch hour where corporate drones such as myself wander in for a pint before heading back to the grind. Dinner service features a simpler menu but the majority of folks are there for “happy hour” and mingle around the bar. It’s a very professional crowd of people.

If you’re in the area, Faultline is a very good brewery that specializes more in English variations of beer style. The result are beers of deceptive simplicity but restrained complexity and ultimately, easy drinkability. Being located in what is predominantly an industrial area may have had an effect on the beer philosophy of the place that touches all aspects from architecture to appetizers to beer. The beers are appropriately priced but the food ranges in the $11 - $25 range for entrées.

If you’re planning on going, let me know and hopefully I’ll be able to join you!