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.

As part of the SF Beer Week events, Rose & Crown in Palo Alto is having a brewery night featuring  the beers from Mayfield Brewing Company (MBC). This is an especially rare treat in that MBC does not sell their beer in draught format, only in bottles. So if you’ve never had the opportunity to try MBC beers before, I hope you were able to make it and give them a shot.

Owner/brewmaster John Alderete is the “man” behind the one-man show that is MBC. His beers differ from many other breweries in that all his beers have been aged at least 12 months in wine barrels. If you’d like to pick them up, they are available in many Whole Foods but you can also purchase them from him directly. Currently there are 3 award-winning beers in the MBC Iconoclast series: Aurora, Eclat and Nocturna. Here are my notes.

Aurora – Altbier aged in American Oak California Zinfandel and Cabernet wine barrels

Aurora pours out a light caramel in color with amber highlights. The beer is primarily malty with some roasted notes. Hop flavor and bitterness are low. The aroma echos that of the flavor. Aurora is a medium bodied beer with medium carbonation. Surprisingly, there’s a slight tartness in the finish.

When I first had this beer in the bottle, I wasn’t very impressed with this beer. I found it to be a little underwhelming. I can tell this beer has changed slightly since that very first vintage I’ve tried and it’s for the better. It’s been sometime since I’ve had this beer in the bottle so I can’t really make any comparisons to the draft version.

Nocturna – Imperial Stout aged in French Oak Port Wine barrels

This beer is very dark, nearly black and opaque. The aroma exhibits some oxidation that comes across in the form of soy sauce. The aroma is also sweet. The flavor of the beer is primarily sweet with coffee, chocolate, molasses and syrup notes. Low to no hop character at all. Nocturna is full bodied with medium-low carbonation.

Of all the MBC beers, Nocturna remains my favorite. Darker, higher alcohol beers tend to hold up to barrel again well and Nocturna is no exception. Normally oxidation is considered a flaw in many beers but the type of oxidation exhibited, soy sauce, some sherry, I consider pleasant. The big caveat, of course, is that those oxidized notes are balanced with respect to the beer.

Eclat – India Pale Ale aged in American Oak California Zinfandel and Cabernet wine barrels

Despite being an IPA, the beer’s overall flavor profile is malty. The malt flavor his slightly on the caramel side. The hop flavor and bitterness is lacking for what one would expect for an IPA. The aroma has a slight grassy hop aroma and a low level of fruity esters. Eclat is a medium-low/medium bodied beer with medium low carbonation.

Out of the entire Iconoclast series of MBC beers, Eclat is the most controversial of beers. The main reason for this is because of the lack of expected hop character. Whenever you come across an IPA, you expect the beer to be a showcase for the hops. The aroma should be bursting with hops while the flavor should have a tongue-numbing bitterness. This is distinctly not the case for  Eclat. In the true sense of an IPA, this is where an Eclat fails to meet expectations. Despite this, the resulting beer is interesting on its own merits.

What I can say though is that Eclat’s bitterness is improved from the initial vintage. In speaking with John Alderete, he has told me the hop character of the beer drops off significantly during the barrel aging process. I am a big fan of enjoying a beer in the original manner the brewmaster intends. In the case of Eclat, that includes aging an IPA until the hops have nearly dropped off. What I am curious about though, is trying Eclat before it enters the barrel. I’m interested in seeing just how much the hops drop off while in the barrels.

One thing I will note is that I didn’t pick up the woodsy/oaky notes in these beers that I normally am able to pick up from bottled versions. John did mention that these beers were racked right from the barrels to the keg but maybe some of those woodsy notes were lost in the carbonation process.

Imperial Common Collaboration Beer, San Francisco Brewers Guild

In addition to the MBC beers, I had the opportunity to try the Imperial Common Collaboration beer brewed by the SF Brewers Guild just for SF Beer Week. The Imperial Common pours our a dark brown with amber highlights and a beige head. The aroma has pungent and piney hop notes with the malt character in the background. The flavor is similar, tasting like a more alcoholic Anchor Steam, only slightly less bitter. This is a medium/medium-full bodied beer with medium-high carbonation.

Collaborative beers are the latest thing with breweries. In this instance, the members of the SF Brewers Guild appropriate have teamed up to brew an Imperial Common. Thanks to the efforts of Anchor Steam, the California Common is the indigenous beer of San Francisco and it only made sense that the first collaborative beer would be a California Common.

It was great to see Rose & Crown organizing events for SF Beer Week. There was a lot more participation this year from the south bay breweries Rose & Crown did a fantastic job lining up Brewery nights for almost the entire run of SF Beer Week. I’m looking forward to seeing what they have lined up in the near future and for next year.

A week ago, Sammy and I attended a Belgian Beer Dinner at the Duck Club at the Lafayette Park Hotel. The event was hosted by Nicole Erny from the Belgian beer bar, The Trappist. It was a fun night filled with great beer, great food and good conversion.

You can read the full review of the event on Beer Connoisseur.

Last night, Sammy and I made the long drive up to the Pyramid Alehouse in Berkeley to try their “vertical” tasting of their winter seasonal Snow Cap. It really wasn’t much of a vertical though as they were only pouring the ’08, ’09 and a third dubbed “Super” Snow Cap. Call it more of a taster.

Beer may have been the excuse to drive all the way up to Berkeley but the real reason for making my way was to attend my very first tweet up. A tweet up is basically a gathering of folks organized through Twitter. The term is a derivative of “meet up”. In attendance were @BrewSugar, @D_e_a_n_o, @MrTrav, @bisonbrew and @TripleRockBeer. With a line-up like this, how could I not go?

All in all, it was a fairly mellow affair. I had fully expected us to be rocking the bar area but by the time everyone showed up, the bar was filled so we were pretty much forced to be at a table. Since Sammy and I ate before driving up to Pyramid, we just ordered a basket of sweet potato fries (came with an interesting curry dipping sauce) while everyone else ordered more robust fare.

I had the opportunity to talk with Rodger Davis, the brewmaster at Triple Rock. I first “met” Rodger a couple of years ago during the Boonville Beerfest when he hung out at our campsite and talked shop with New Belgium beer rep Jeremy. Since then, I’ve seen Rodger at multiple Bay Area events for months now but never had the opportunity to speak to him at any length until tonight.

While nothing revolutionary came from the conversation, I can say I’m trying to help out with a future beer-related project regarding SF Beer Week. The idea, suggested by Firehouse brewmaster Steve Donohue, was for each participating brewer(y) to brew up a “Bill Brand” beer in honor of the late beer journalist/advocate who tragically passed away during the inaugural year of SF Beer Week. I think this is a great way to remember the man who did so much for craft brewing here in the Bay Area and I’m happy to help in any way.

Anyway, I was up at Pyramid for their beers so here’s what I thought of them.

Snow Cap 2008, Pyramid Brewing, 7.0% ABV

The 2008 Snow Cap pours out a brilliantly clear mahogany color with a beige head. The beer has a sweet, caramelish flavor with a deep, toasted barley flavor and slight roasty notes. The hop character of the beer is muted. The 2008 Snow Cap is more of a malt forward beer. The aroma is similar to the flavor. The beer is medium bodied, lighter than I had expected but with medium-high carbonation. There’s a slight alcohol character in the aroma.

When talking to Rodger, he comments on how he feels Snow Cap would make a very good barrel aged beer. He can see Snow Cap aging very well in bourbon, brandy and port barrels, just to name a few.

Snow Cap 2009, Pyramid Brewing, 7.0% ABV

For all intents and purposes, the 2009 Snow Cap looks identical to the 2008. The difference between the two lies in the hop character. Since this is the freshest version of this beer, the hops come through moreso than in the 2008. The hop aroma is slightly fruity and floral while the bitterness is about medium intensity. The malt character of the beer makes Snow Cap seem less bitter than it really is. Snow Cap is also medium bodied with medium-high carbonation and a slight alcohol aroma and astringency.

Super Snow Cap, Pyramid Brewing, 9.0% ABV

I never did get to ask the bartender what made this beer “super”. I suppose it has a lot to do with the fact that has 2% more alcohol by volume than its counter parts. Super Snow Cap is a hazy, dark caramel in color and is virtually opaque with a thin, beige head. Lots of stuff, most likely yeast, in suspension. This beer has a muddled, sweet malt flavor. Unlike the other beers with a clear, distinguishable malt character, Super Snow Cap’s flavors are all mixed together with nothing jumping out at me as the dominant flavor. This beer has a very low hop character. Super Snow Cap is medium-high in body, medium-low carbonation and a slight warming feeling as it goes down my throat.

Hum Bug’r, MacTarnahan’s, 5.3% ABV

To finish the night off, I order Hum Bug’r seasonal porter from MacTarnahan’s. MacTarnahan’s was purchased by Pyramid Brewing some time ago and now makes their beers as well. Hum Bug’r has chocolate flavors as well as a deep roasted malt character. There’s not a lot of hops in this beer, just enought for balance. The aroma is similar to the flavor. Hum Bug’r is a very dark brown color, nearly black with a tan head. It is medium-bodied with medium carbonation.

Out of the three Snow Caps I tried this night, my favorite was the 2009 iteration. I found it to have a bright, clear flavor and more balanced because I can taste the hops. I found nothing super about Super Snow Cap. I felt its flavors were all muddled together with nothing jumping out at me. Hum Bug’r was an enjoyable beer as well, I ordered this in a pint that I finished.

Seeing as their distribution is pretty wide, having to drive up to Berkeley for 3 tasting size samples of Snow Cap might not seem worth it. As always, the beer is just an excuse to get out of the house; the real treat is getting to meet fellow craft beer enthusiasts and professional brewers.

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.

To comply with the new FCC guidelines, I received a sample of The Hangover Cure (THC) for free. Whoever manages their Twitter account contacted me and sent me a sample soon afterwards. I had wanted to document my experience with this product a little more thoroughly but it didn’t quite work out that way.

Our good friends have decided to “own” Halloween. This is the one holiday they put a lot of work into and it shows. They always have a great turnout and just about everyone is in costume. The Mrs. and I have been making our costumes for the past two years and this third year was no different. Yes, we’re that couple who dresses up in a couple’s costume. Long story short, we showed up, partied hard, I drank too much and passed out by the firepit.

I woke up the following day with a horrible hangover. Instead of going towards the acetaminophen, I remembered about the THC sample I got and went for that instead. THC comes in a thin, black, plastic container reminiscent of the package mini M&Ms come in. A look at the label shows that THC is a mixture of a variety of vitamins and minerals. Vitamins C, B6 and B12 are the most significant ingredients, each comprising 1000%, 500% and 417%, respectively, of your daily requirements.

I grab a pint glass and slog over to the water cooler to fill it up. I crack open the container and pour the powdery contents into the water. The water turns into a grapefruit-pink color. There’s some effervescent/Alka Seltzer-like action going on. I’m in bad shape and don’t even bother to completely dissolve the powder into the water.

As I’m chugging down the liquid, it’s a little sweet, smells slightly of malt (think Whopper candy), there’s a lot of citrus character with a slight acidic tang. The drink is a little on the fizzy side. By the time I get to the bottom of the pint glass, there are small chunks of undissolved powder still at the bottom. I refill it enough to loosen the powder and throw the rest of the drink back.

According to the directions, THC works better if you drink it before you go to sleep. Obviously, I didn’t do that. Instead, I lie down on the couch, watch football and wait for my hangover to be cured. Two hours later, I get up and vomit. It tastes like THC.

Sammy is kind enough to make me a light lunch. She doesn’t finish her bowl of soup so I put it away. About 30 minutes later, I find myself hunched over my toilet and drenched in a cold sweat. I pass out again on the couch.

I don’t feel better until dinner.

In my experience, THC did not work for me. My headache persisted, my aches remained, I puked twice and generally felt lousy for the entire day. Granted, I didn’t take the product as recommended but I must say that I didn’t feel nauseous until after I took THC. Not trying to lead you to any conclusions, just explaining my own experiences.

In any event, if any of you dear readers have tried this product and have had success, I’d love to hear from you. Better yet, if you have a suggestion for hangover cure, let me know. Just leave your suggestions in the comment section below.

By the time Sammy and I pulled into our parking space, it is 15 minutes past the time Mayfield Brewing Company opened their doors. A select few of us had been invited to Mayfield to be one of the very first people to sample their 2008 vintage of beers from their Iconoclast series. It may seem odd that I’m using the word vintage to describe a line up of beers but that’s exactly what they are.

Unlike the vast majority of breweries, the Iconoclast series of beers from Mayfield Brewing Company (MBC) are all barrel aged beers. In a time when the sight of stainless steel fermentors and mashtuns are the industry standard, barrel aging a beer is a return to traditional brewing techniques. It’s easy to forget that brewing, the vast majority of alcohol production really, got its humble start within the confines of a barrel. Nowadays, it is not uncommon to find that a brewery is barrel aging a beer or two but the three Iconoclasts beers that make up the entire portfolio of MBC’s products are all barrel aged, in wine barrels no less. So yes, vintage is an appropriate term.

I have long lamented the wine industry’s lack of consistency in their product. I have always disliked the fact that certain vintages of wine were worth much more than others. Yes, yes, I am aware that certain years will yield a much better crop of grapes than another but it seems insulting that I should be charged a premium for good weather. Consistency is one of the reasons I am a beer guy. I feel confident enough to walk into any reputable bottle shop and pick up a sixer of Sierra Nevada tomorrow and know that it will pretty much taste just like the sixer I’ll pick up 5 months from now, which will taste just like the sixer I will taste 8 months from then. Consistency is comforting.

You can throw consistency out the window when it comes to barrel aging a beer. As if brewing a beer wasn’t complicated enough with having to juggle at least four key ingredients, a fifth is introduced when you add the flavor you get from wood; in this case, the barrel. I could even argue that it’s an ingredient and a half when the brewer chooses to use a second use barrel, or a barrel that once used to house something else such as a distilled spirit or wine. To barrel age a beer and come out with something palatable is a success unto itself. To barrel age a beer and have the resulting beers taste phenomenal, well that’s a testament to the brewer’s skill.

I first tried the 2007 vintage of MBC beers at the Boonville Beerfest earlier this year. Thanks to fellow beer blogger Mario from Brewed for Thought for the initial introduction. I can tell you this, the new line up of 2008 Iconoclast beers have addressed some of the issues the 2007 vintage had.

Iconoclast Aurora, Chardonnay barrels, American Oak

The Aurora is brewed as an altbier. The issue I had with the 2007 Aurora was that I felt it was a little lackluster. It wasn’t a bad beer, it just wasn’t memorable. The 2008 Aurora is a much better iteration of this beer with more noticeable wood and fruit character, Chardonnay flavors, floral notes, a hint of tartness and acidity, with a moderate sweet finish. What was once my least favorite of the trio is now a much more interesting beer.

Iconoclast Eclat, Zinfandel/Cabernet, American Oak

Brewed as an IPA, the 2007 Eclat was an interesting beer with it’s noticeable oaky flavor and malt sweetness but once I knew it was an IPA, my impression of the beer was lowered because a key flavor was missing: hops! The 2008 vintage has remedied this issue for me. The beer has a malty, caramel-ish nose with subtle fruit notes and noticeable hop aroma. The flavor has a similar profile with caramel flavors hitting my tastebuds up front, a slight tartness in the middle and a moderate hop bitterness in the finish. If you’re a hop head, you’re not going to be confusing this beer with any of the aggressive West Coast hop bombs we’re used to drinking. Hops change drastically when barrel aged and it’s good to see a noticeable hop character in this vintage.

Iconoclast Nocturna, Zinfandel/Port, French Oak

As the name would imply, this is a stout dark as night. I was a big fan of the 2007 Nocturna as the beer had an unexpected tartness in the finish that I found to be both interesting and tasty. The 2008 version we tried, uncarbonated, had all the flavors you would expect from a stout: deep roasted, nearly burnt malt character, enough hop flavor and bitterness to balance, with coffee and chocolate notes thrown in for good measure. Someone in the tasting room that day even noticed hints of tobacco flavors. This was a sweet beer. In talking with the brewer and others in the tasting room, all agreed that it was a good tasting beer but would end up being much better once it was carbonated with the carbonation balancing out the sweetness. Gone was the tartness I found so appealing with the last batch but MBC brewer John Alderete assured me that additional aging will bring those flavors back in.

Vintage. I will freely admit that I am still torn by the concept. Still, here I am eschewing its virtues in the craft beer world. If I step out of my own ego and ignorance for a moment, I’d be able to recognize the many things the wine industry is doing right that craft breweries can apply to their own businesses. While MBC is not the first company to be barrel aging their beers, they are the only brewery I know of that is doing so with all of their beers.

Be warned that MBC beers are not cheap. If you are nearby, I fully recommend visiting the brewery itself and picking up a bottle directly from them. It’ll set you back $30 per but it’s a savings from buying it retail where select Whole Foods sell it for $43 a bottle.

I have lived in the Bay Area for all the important years of my life and I hadn’t heard about Jack’s Brewing up until, maybe, last year. I found them through The Beer Mapping Project website about a year ago when researching what breweries and/or brewpubs I could visit that were in the East Bay. You’d think that I would’ve heard about them through advertising or by word of mouth but it never happened. I promised myself that I would eventually visit the place and do a review.

Interview with Will Ericson, Jack’s Brewing Company brewmaster

When Sammy and I pulled into a parking spot near the entrance of Jacks, I noticed a solitary figure sitting out in their patio space. For whatever reason, I had a feeling that person was Will Ericson, brewmaster at Jacks Brewing. Not sure what it was that gave him away: the laid back demeanor, the copy of Celebrator magazine in his hand, the Jack’s Brewing t-shirt or perhaps the hostess pointing towards him when I asked, “Is Will around?”. I suppose I will never know.

Background

Will comes to Jack’s Brewing with a wealth of brewing experience. Upon receiving his formal brewing education from the Brewers Guild, he cut his teeth working at Butterfield Brewing Company (now Sequoia Brewing Company), Golden Pacific Brewing, Mammoth Brewing Company, Great Divide Brewing and, most recently, Moylan’s Brewing Company. Will even did a stint at Ironstone Vineyards. Not unlike Vinnie Cilurzo, Will took the position at Ironstone because they had expressed interest in opening up their own brewery. Things didn’t work out the way Will had intended because Ironstone ended up purchasing another winery.

Will started working at Jacks on May 1st of this year. Prior to Jack’s, Will worked at Moylan’s Brewing Company. While he had nothing but good things to say about his experience at Moylan’s, Will jumped at the chance to be the head brewer at Jack’s because there’s nothing like the challenge of being the head brewer. Moylan’s, he says, is pretty much set on their beers. Everything is dialed in and there’s not much creatively a brewer can do. Will’s marching orders were pretty simple: brew great beer and brew enough for two locations. Wait… what? Two? I’ll get to this in a minute.

Brewing Philosophy

Will’s brewing philosophy can be summed up with the phrase complexity through simplicity. It’s not too difficult to add $20,000 worth of hops to a beer and call it complex. The true challenge, Will believes, is to take a few, high-quality ingredients and brew up something deceptively sophisticated and nuanced. The complexity lies in the brewer’s skill to coax out as much from the few ingredients he is using. In fact, this is something he kept coming back to, the idea of simplicity. It struck me as going against the grain. Many brewers I’ve had the chance to speak with are all about adding things to their beers, which isn’t a bad thing. Who doesn’t want more hops in a beer? Who isn’t interested in a barrel-aged Russian Imperial Stout? Will is the first guy to have said he wants to keep things simple and use just a few, choice ingredients.

Challenge was another things Will kept bringing up when talking about his brewing philosophy. He seemed like the kind of man who relishes a challenge; whether it be becoming the head brewer of a small brewpub or coaxing the most out of his recipes. He spoke a lot about wanting to brew lighter colored beers because of their inherent difficulties. As any brewer can attest to, brewing a good light colored ale or lager is difficult because there’s no place to hide. If the brewer has messed up, you’ll know right away the brewer messed up.

Personally, I am excited to hear about this. His minimilist brewing style piques my interest and I am looking forward to tasting his latest brews to see if they stand up to his vision.

Future Plans

The owners of Jacks are expanding. In addition to their current Fremont location, they will be opening up a brew pub in San Ramon. The brew pub will have the facilities to brew beer on-site but the majority of the brewing will still be done in the Fremont location. The San Ramon location will have their pilot brewery, where their special and seasonal beers will be brewed.

Regulars (and non-regulars) of Jack’s Brewing should be excited to know that Will has been hard at work tweaking Jack’s current recipes. It will be a gradual change so as not to shock long-time fans but change is coming. In addition, Will is already planning an Anniversary beer for Jack’s that will be either a barleywine or doppelbock. The two beers couldn’t be more different but it both cases it sounds like it will be a big beer. Fans of barrel aged beers should take note as well. Will has purchased a couple of bourbon barrels from Heaven Hill Distillery for a future barrel aged beer. He didn’t give me a timeframe on when this would be brewed, let alone ready, but he has them. At this point, getting the San Ramon location up, running and self-sufficient is the priority. Finding a place for the barrels is second. I did offer my garage as a storage space but I don’t think that’s going to happen.

Currently Jacks has a 10 BBL brewhouse built by Bohemian Brothers. Wrapped in beautiful copper, the Bohemian Brothers brew system was designed to be compact and work in smaller spaces. Will is limited in his production by the 4 fermentation and serving tanks. He would like to make more and different types of beer but having 4 taps is limiting his production.

Speaking of beers, here is a list of the beers Jack’s currently has on tap: IPA, Boys of Summer Wheat*, Apricot Mango, Hardwood Pale Ale, Grid Iron Amber Ale, Extra Special Bitter (ESB), Penalty Shot Porter and Hefeweizen*. The IPA was surprisingly easy to drink, showed balance and had an adequate amount of hop character, flavor and bitterness. The Pale Ale was also easy to drink and balanced. The Apricot Mango beer had a great aroma but could’ve been a little more complex in it’s flavor, while the Penalty Porter has a deep, roasted malt flavor and aroma that was reminiscent of coffee and dark chocolate. Overall, their beers are good but now that I have a base, I am looking forward to seeing the changes Will has in mind for some of these beers.

Lastly, I would like to congratulate Travis from www.sudsorduds.com for his new gig. I may be spoiling things a bit but Travis will be working at Jacks Brewing in Fremont as an assitant brewer. It’s a career change for him but he has a passion for beer and that will only help him in his new career. Second, I’d like to thank Travis for hooking me up with this opportunity. Because of his newfound Jacks Brewing connection, I was able to visit Jacks Brewing and get an interview with their new brewmaster Will Ericson. Lastly, a good number of the photos in this post were taken by Travis.

“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.

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?