BetterBeerBlog

Trader Joes is an extraordinary place. They are a microcosm of good things. I don’t go there enough, simply because there are no locations close to where I live. That being said, when I do go, I always find something interesting. In this case, I picked up a couple of bottles of Mission Street beers; their brown ale and their hefeweizen.

The Mission Street Brown Ale is brewed by Steinhaus Brewing Company based out of Paso Robles. While I have no “smoking gun” so-to-speak, I suspect that Firestone Walker Brewing Company contract brews many of the Trader Joes beers; the Mission Street label being one of the most decorated. It is not uncommon for other breweries to contract brew for other companies. Trader Joes not only uses Firestone Walker to make some of their beers but Gordon Biersch as well (for their Joseph Brau Brewing label).

At the 2008 Great American Beer Festival, Firestone Walker won both gold and bronze in the American Pale Ale category for their Mission Street Pale Ale and Pale 31 beers respectively. One of these days, I’m going to have to try both those beers in a blind side-by-side to see if I can discern the difference between the two beers. I think it’s awesome that Firestone Walker took both gold and bronze but I think it would’ve been more hilarious if it was the same recipe that won gold and bronze.

Steinhaus Brewing Company (aka Firestone Walker Brewing Company), Mission Street Brown Ale, 5.7%

Mission Street Brown Ale pours out a relatively clear, very brown ale with slight ruby highlights and a beige/tan head. The aroma has a toasted malt quality with a chocolate undertone. Once the beer warmed up some, I picked up slight caramel and alcohol aromas. The flavor is more roasted malt than toasted malt. There is still some chocolate notes in the flavor as well as some nutty and caramel character. Hop flavor is low, hop bitterness is low. This beer is medium/medium-high in body with matching carbonation with a “wet” mouthfeel. I can taste a slight alcohol flavor in the finish.

With several brown ale styles around, I am not sure what to compare this beer to. So I won’t. I will say that when compared to the English brown ales I’ve had in the past, this Mission Street Brown Ale is much more fuller bodied with a more complex flavor profile. I purchased a 22oz bottle and this was a size you could easily share with several friends, especially if all you wanted to do was taste the beer.

There is a wide range of flavors in this beer and I can see this being paired with a variety of things. That being said, I can easily see this being a dessert beer. There is a bit of malt sweetness, along with nutty, caramel and chocolate flavors a chef can play with.

Here’s the absolute best thing about this beer: I paid less than $4 for it! (Well, the flavor is probably the best thing but the price is pretty damn good as well).

It’s all downhill from here. Today was the Summer solstice; the longest day of the year. If I have any regrets from the year so far, it is that I haven’t been able to hop on my bike and go for some rides. At least I can take some comfort in that summer has officially started and there’s still some time left.

On the heels of Brian’s previous post, I decided that Brian and I should meet up today at Faultine Brewing in Sunnyvale to try their beers out. Many of their beers did medal at the California State Fair Pro-brewing competition and I thought it would only be fair to head over there and give them a shot. While I have been critical of Faultline in the past, my latest experience there was a good one. I was curious to see if that trend would continue.

Kölsch, 4.7% ABV

Brilliantly clear gold with a thin, white head. Aroma has a hint of fruit character and a slight sulfur note in the background. The beer has a slightly sweet pilsner flavor, with a little bit of grain-like sweetness followed up by a med-low hop bitterness for balance that doesn’t linger long on the palette. This is a medium bodied beer with high carbonation and a dry finish.

Out of all the beers I had this long evening, this was the only one I ordered a full pint of. I had walked to Faultline from work and by the time I found myself a seat in their bar area, I was sweatier than anticipated. The kölsch went down smooth, crisp and refreshing. Great way to start the evening. I let the beer warm up a bit to see if any off aromas or flavors would develop but I was greeted with more kölsch goodness.

Hefeweizen, 5.2% ABV

Cloudy gold color with a white head. Very aromatic; lots of banana, a bit of lemony citrus, slight clove notes and even a little bit of bubblegum. The flavor echoes the aroma; I initially taste the fruity/banana portion, followed by slight lemony/citrus flavors, then a slight bit of spicy, clove-like flavors with a little bit of bubblegum in the finish. This is a medium-low/medium bodied beer with a spritzy carbonation and light astringency.

I actually like this hefeweizen, well, there’s no “actually” about it: I like this hefeweizen. There’s a lot going on, especially with the fruity ester just radiating in the aroma and the body feels fuller than it really is with all the yeast floating about. Many places will do an American style hefeweizen but this is a decent German style hefeweizen. If I have any critique about this beer, it may be that it’s not as balanced as the European styles I’ve tasted as the character leans towards the fruitier side but then I’m not sure if I’d like it as much.

Pale Ale, 5.1% ABV

Clear amber colored beer with an off-white head. Balanced beer; toasted malt aroma with a light roasty charcter and a bit of caramel sweetness. The beer has a medium-low/medium level of hop bitterness. The aroma echoes the flavor. Medium bodied with a prickly carbonation, the beer finishes dry and is slightly astringent in the mouthfeel.

If you’re looking for a big, hoppy American pale ale, expect to be disappointed if you order this beer. It’s not that this beer is poorly made, it’s just that this is an English Pale Ale. The result is a more balanced beer with a more complex malt profile and, when compared to it’s American counterparts, subdued hop profile. So far, these three beers have been a hit and just what the doctor ordered for this warm summer evening.

Belgian White, 5.5% ABV

Cloudy as the hefeweizen but with a white hue to its color and matching head. Some initial fruit flavors, pear-like (?) with some peppery yeast flavors and a sweet, wheat malt present in the finish. Hop bitterness and flavor are both low. This is a medium-low/medium bodied beer with an effervescent carbonation and slightly dry finish. I let the beer warm up some before I took notes on the aroma and I found the aroma to have a predominantly yeast/sulfur character with light fruit and yeast-derived spiciness.

After three good beers, this one was a little bit of a let down. Such a pity as it looked like what a witbier should be. In particular, the aroma was a little unsettling; I expected fruity, citrus, wheat and spice but got more sulfur instead. The aromatics were there, just overpowered. The flavor was solid but I didn’t pick up any of the citrus or corriander character this style is known for. Even though I’m being kinda critical of this beer, it wasn’t bad, just not as good as the ones before it. If you’re a fan of Blue Moon, then you would like this witbier.

Batch 1000 - Oak Aged English Amber, 5.5% ABV

This beer was brewed to commemorate the 1000th batch of beer brewed at Faultline. That’s one helluva milestone to reach. 1000, as I’ll call it, poured out a slightly hazy brown color with amber highlights and an off-white head. Toasty, almost roasted malt flavor with bits of caramel and oaky flavors… maybe a hint of whiskey as well. The aroma follows the flavor closely. This was a medium bodied beer with high carbonation and an oaky astringency.

For a milestone beer, I thought it was solid; it didn’t “wow” me but it had an interesting flavor, no noticeable flaws and was drinkable. I’m happy that they still had this beer around as I wanted to stop by last week to give it a shot but just couldn’t make it. It worried me that it was no longer on their website but when I walked in, there it was. As the beer warmed up, I found it a little harder to finish. I will be the first to admit that this could’ve been because I reached my limit; it could’ve also been palette fatigue. I pushed through and finished it anyway.

Overall

The first three beers were solid while the last two stumbled a bit. Yet I left Faultline not only pleased but encouraged with what I found. These beers continued an upward trend went a long way to restoring my faith in this brewpub. My first few visits left me wanting and now I can say that I want no more.

Keep in mind though that many of the beers brewed here, perhaps all of them, are brewed in a European style. What does that mean? Well, it means that the beers are going to be balanced and not too bitter. In an age defined by, “Bigger. Better. Faster. More”, it is a pleasant surprise to find a brewpub making sessionable beers. The strongest ales we had tonight topped off at 5.5%, which bode well for my ability to stay up and write this post.

The other thing I really love about Faultline is that you can order “smalls” of their beers. Instead of a full pint glass, you received a smaller pour, maybe about 3-4 ounces less. While they may not be cost effective, I was able to try 5 beers altogether without feeling too drunk to work. At this stage of my drinking “career” if you will, I receive more enjoyment out of trying a wide variety of beers as opposed to a lot of a single, type of beer.

For food, we ordered the fried calamari and the blueberry crème brûlée. The calamari was “okay”; pieces were a little big and not as flavorful as others I’ve had. The crème brûlée was pretty good but didn’t go well with the Belgian White we were drinking at the time. The service started off well but there was a point where my glass stayed empty for about 15 minutes. <sarcasm>The nerve!</sarcasm> Well, in a way the level of service did drop off in the later part of our stay but that just allowed me to process all the beers prior; a blessing in disguise if you will.

While I didn’t review it, I did try their cask-conditioned IPA and found it to be fantastic. It’s an English IPA so don’t be expected a huge hop bomb but the aromatics reminded me of guava. Gotta find out what kind of hops they used for this as I think it would’ve complimented the lychee pale ale we’re currently brewing.

In any event, we had a good time at Faultine and I’m looking forward to coming back.

Mario, from Brewed for Thought, and I have a semi-regular collaborative blog post called Hopinions. In each of these posts, we take turn picking a topic to discuss. We usually discuss whatever craft beer/brewing topic that is on our minds at the time and last week, we discussed the containers craft beer is shipped/sold in. One of the containers we spoke about was the DraughtKeg. I’m sure you’ve seen these before, they’re like mini-kegs that hold 5 L of beer that you can tap and serve at parties. For the most part, they’re single serving but my local brewpub, Faultline Brewing, uses a slightly modified version as growlers.

A few weeks prior, I received an unsolicited email from the PR firm that markets Newcastle Brown Ale here in the United States. They offered to send me a DraughtKeg and Geordie Schooner glass for review. Being a sucker for free beer, I said yes. Coincidentally, I received this email just after attending the Morland Beer Dinner at the British Bankers Club. It would seem the fates had conspired to bring me English ale to drink.

A package arrived for me a few, swift days later; two packages actually. Within I found a few door hanger thingies, a “Walk the Dog” t-shirt (that seems to have shrunk en route to me at it was a wee bit snug), a single bottle of Newcastle (chilled and drunk soon thereafter), their nifty new glassware called the Geordie Schooner, a CD about the Geordie Schooner (which I have seem to have misplaced) and a 5 L DraughtKeg of Newcastle. Obviously 5 L is a lot of Newcastle to drink (5 L is a lot for any beer, really) for any single person, so it took me a while to find the proper opportunity to tap that keg. Fortunately for me, my good friends held a bonfire and BBQ party at their place over the weekend and I brought the DraughtKeg to share.

I chilled the DraughtKeg in my refrigerator first, and then in the refrigerator at the party, to try and get the beer at the proper serving temperature; which, according to their website, is about 38° - 40° F. Their website also mentions not serving their beer in frosted mugs (score for them, at least they’re trying). The DraughtKeg has all the components necessary to serve the beer once it’s chilled: there’s a rounded handle of sorts that is connected to a support/adapter that clicks into place atop the center of the DraughtKeg. You then rinse out the plastic faucet (I use that term very loosely) in running water before you press it into place. You don’t have to really press it into place as it sort of slides in; in fact, if you press the faucet in too much, beer will start to pour. To serve the beer, simply position your glass below the faucet and lift up the rounded handle. In case you forget to print out this paragraph, the DraughtKeg comes with easy to follow graphical instructions.

Newcastle Brown Ale, 4.7% ABV

Newcastle pours out a clear, brown color with a tan head. Roasted malts dominate the aroma with a hint of caramel sweetness. The flavor echoes the aroma; roasted malt flavors with a light malt sweetness and low hop bitterness and flavor. Newcastle is medium-low bodied with a creamy, medium-low carbonation and has a slightly dry finish.

This is a beer I drank to excess in my youth. I’ve avoided it in recent years because I discovered hops. Still, what goes around comes around and I find myself gravitating towards this beer again. There are so many big beers and hop bombs in my stash that I need a nice, easy drinking, low hopped, sessionable beer and this one fit the bill quite nicely during the party.

Geordie Schooner

Custom beer glasses seem to be all the rage now (nevermind that the Belgians have had custom glassware for a long, long time already). Sam Adams came out with their own glass, New Belgium came out with one soon thereafter and now, Newcastle has one of their own: the Geordie Schooner. According to the Newcastle website:

Originally called the Wellington, the glass was popular with the locals of Newcastle, England (nicknamed Geordies). In fact, the glass was such a common sight among the thirsty residents, it quickly became known as the Geordie Schooner. While this glass has always been admired around Newcastle, it’s newer to the States. So be on the lookout at your local watering hole for this esteemed drinking vessel.

The Geordie can hold one bottle’s worth of Newcastle, or about 500 mL. If you look closely at the bottom of the glass, you’ll see the Newcastle star etched in the bottom; this allows for nucleation to occur. In simpler terms, the etched star is a place for bubbles to form. The theory is that a beer that is slowly, constantly bubbling is releasing more aromatics into the air thus enhancing the flavor of the beer.

I tried to take a shot of a beer in the Geordie Schooner illustrating nucleation forming right on the etching but was unable. I used (drank) two homebrews and split a bottle of Belgian ale with Mrs. BetterBeerBlog (all in the name of science) to try and capture this phenomenon but was unable.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, I though the Newcastle served out of the DraughtKeg tasted as it should; I didn’t detect any noticeable off flavors. If you plan on drinking 5 L worth of beer, picking up a DraughtKeg of Newcastle (or whatever beer really) is the way to go. The solid metal container assures you that your beer will not be lightstruck. Also, because the keg is metal, your beer will actually chill faster than if it were in glass. The novel pouring mechanism is easy to install and use and because you control the pour, you can pour yourself as little, or as much of the beer as you want.

What I am unsure of is once tapped, does the DraughtKeg expose the beer within to the atmosphere? If so, then this you’ll need to drink all the beer within a single session as exposure to the air will oxidize it. If not, you can potentially tap this keg and the beer will stay fresh for as long as you are able to keep it cold. I am also unsure as to how the beer gets poured out. The DraughtKeg growlers pictured above rely on gravity to pour the beer out, which is why the spout is at the bottom. The Newcastle DraughtKeg has its faucet above, which leads me to believe the DraughtKeg is either under enough pressure to continually pour 5 L worth of beer or there’s a widget-like contraption within that supplies the pressure needed to pour the beer out.

In any event, I find the DraughtKeg delivery system to be just as interesting as the beer itself, if not more so. Hopefully more craft breweries will adopt this system as there are a lot of positives to the product. Besides, who wouldn’t want 5 L worth of Utopia (that would be a $1200 draughkeg, approximately)?

So, it’s American Craft Beer Week and I decided to do my part to support the cause by paying my local breweries a visit. A year ago, I decided to support American Craft Beer Week by paying Tied House a visit. Unfortunately when I arrived, the doors were shuttered and there was a huge, gaping hole in the building where they took out the brewing equipment. This year? Fully open doors and a bustling dinner crowd.

There are a variety of events happening in junction to American Craft Beer Week. The Tied House in Mountain View brewed up an American Red Lager for the event. Well, sort of.

Tied House, American Red Lager, 5.0% ABV

This beer pours out a clear, deep brown color with amber highlights and a thin, short lasting white head. The American Red Lager is primarily malty; it is slightly sweet with a toasted malt component. The aroma is similar. The beer has a medium-low/medium body with a medium level of carbonation. While I didn’t pick it up initially, new BetterBeerBlog scribe The Rabid Brewer, pointed out the beer had a slight DMS note in the form of corn-like flavors. Overall, this is a malty, drinkable beer.

The American Red Lager is one of those style-defying beers. In fact, there is no style category for an American Red Lager in either the BJCP or the Brewers Association. Or I just didn’t look hard enough. As a homebrew, I can only speculate that this beer may have started off as an American Red Ale that ended up fermented with a lager yeast. Since the brewing staff wasn’t in house at the time I was there, speculation is all I got.

Tied House, “Rock Out with your Bock Out” Maibock, 7.5% ABV

The Tied House Maibock pours out a pale brown/amber color with honey-colored highlights and a thin, short lasting white head (I’m starting to see a pattern here). The aroma of the beer is slightly sweet, estery with spice notes. The flavor is sweet, with a moderate toasted quality. The hop flavor takes a back seat to the malt quality of the beer but it’s there for balance. There is also a noticeable spice character that I can be attributed to either the types of hops used in the beer, the alcohol or both. The Maibock is medium-full in body with a medium carbonation level. Even though the beer rings in at 7.5% ABV, it’s not overwhelming or hot. Despite being slightly out of style, this is a good drinking, flavorful beer.

It’s great to see the Tied House make the effort to support American Craft Beer Week. As a community, craft breweries are much stronger when we have a unified front supporting a common cause. Since the Tied House is one of the older breweries in the Bay Area, I almost expect them to take a leadership role in supporting causes like this. No pressure guys, no pressure.

Every year, there are time tested signs that let us know Spring is here. Plants begin to grow and flower, while allergies begin to rage. The sun starts to set a little bit later each and every day and the NBA playoffs are in full swing. Most importantly breweries begin to brew Maibocks, a lighter colored bock strength lager usually debuting in May, that signify the arrival of Spring. A few weeks ago, Gordon Biersch released their Maibock at their tapping party. Firehouse Brewery in Sunnyvale has since followed suit.

Meaghan’s Maibock, Firehouse Brewery, 7.5% ABV

The Firehouse Maibock pours out a brilliantly clear deep gold/pale amber in color with an off-white head. The flavor is primarily malty with light toasted malt character and a hint of caramel. The hop flavor is low; hop bitterness is low/medium-low. The aroma echos the flavor. This is a medium-high bodied beer with medium/medium-high level of carbonation. Despite the 7.5% ABV, I don’t particularly notice the alcohol in either the aroma, flavor or mouthfeel.

I found the Meaghan’s Maibock to be a very good drinking beer. It is malty without being cloyingly sweet but has enough alcohol to keep you warm during our unseasonable cool early Spring nights. I complimented Firehouse brewmaster Steve Donohue on the clarity of his beer and he admitted that he filtered his beer. While filtering is unnecessary in the brewing process, it is probably the quickest way to get your beer bright if you didn’t want to lager it for an extended amount of time to allow the yeast and other sediment to settle naturally. Donohue also said that this may be his strongest Maibock to date. “The great thing about seaonal beers,” Donohue says, “is that they don’t have to be consistent because you only brew them once a year.”

The Maibock was recently tapped last Thursday so get some at its freshest. While there, also look for the other Firehouse seasonals: Cluster Fuggle (English Mild) and Brendan’s Irish Stout.

Plumbing issue resolved! I was originally supposed to judge a preliminary round of the World Beer Cup homebrew competition but home maintenance calls. I’ll just say when you only have 1 toilet in the house, anything that goes wrong with it is a major deal.

Luckily I was able to get the leak fixed in time to make it downtown to Wine Affairs for the tail end of their End of March Beerfest. It’s not a true beerfest in the way Fairfax has their beerfest more than it is an inventory depletion-type of thing. Regardless, Wine Affairs is slowly improving their craft beer selection and it’s good to support your local businesses.

We purchased a couple of bottles to take home with us, one of them was incorrect, but we did try a Lost Abbey beer there. It was soo good that we purchased a bottle to bring home with us. Here’s the review.

Red Barn, Lost Abbey, 6.7% ABV

Red Barn poured out a hazy, pale, straw color with a white, moussey, meringue-like head. The aroma is pleasant; a mixture of light spice notes with lemony-citrus character. The flavor echoes that of the aroma but with a suprisingly, noticeable hop bitterness that is about medium-low/medium in intensity. The mouthfeel is on the dry side with a spritzy carbonation.

Sammy enjoyed Red Barn so much she decided to purchase a bottle to bring back home with us. As far as saisons go, it’s a pretty good one. Not as yeasty, funky or estery as some of the examples from Belgium but it’s a very good beer nonetheless. If it wasn’t we wouldn’t have picked up a bottle.

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.

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 have always wanted to do video for this blog. I had a couple ideas but nothing came of them. Part of this is because, outside of animated stills, I don’t have much experience with video. It doesn’t help that I don’t have a video camera as well. The video feature on my point-and-shoot digital camera is serviceable but not ideal.

In comes Jeff. Jeff is one of Sammy’s friends from way back in the day. Jeff likes beer. More importantly, he majored in video while in college.

In case you wanted a quick rundown of what we thought in all it’s bullet pointed glory:

• Morimoto Soba Ale - Lighter than we expected, noticeable but balanced grain flavor.
• Hazelnut Brown Nectar - Brown ales are kinda boring styles but this is a really good tasting beer. Lots of hazelnut character without being overpowering. Sweeter than expected as well.
• Dry Hopped St. Rogue Red - Three for three. We liked this beer as well. Very, very nice, citrus/piney hop aroma and balanced flavor for the style.
• Brutal Bitter - Very well balanced beer. There’s an aromatic hop character and assertive hop bitterness that is supported by an equal intensity malt sweetness.
• Chocolate Stout - This was the dessert beer, you’ll see what we mean in the video. Hearty, rich, roasty, chocolaty beer that would be great by a campfire in a cool California winter night.

Basically, we were all surprised by Rogue Ales. We thought that we would like most of the beers but were pleasantly surprised that we like them all.

This is the first attempt at a Better Beer Blog Show. We apologize for the blurry video at times, but we were using a cheap camcorder and this will be resolved in episode 2. Let us know what you think. For maximum enjoyment, we recommend sipping on some of Rogue’s fine beers while you watch. Just to let you know, we actually filmed this a few weeks ago and I finally had the opportunity to post this after Jeff worked his post-production magic on it.

*Sigh*

The day job has been taking its toll on the night job. As a result, the night job (aka, BetterBeerBlog) has been suffering. Thankfully, there are some new beers in my near future as well as another beer festival that we’re stretching out into a long weekend. In addition to all the work piling up, I am attending the first ever Twitter Conference this week. So far, I have mixed feelings about the conference. The slant is developer-based but there are a few things consumer/marketing that look promising. I can tell you this, the Twitter community is very passionate about Twitter. You’ll see a lot of “twittiquette” posts here and there talking about the “proper” ways to Twitter and they’re all a load of crap. Use Twitter the way you want to, it’s as simple as that. Anyway, this is not a Twitter blog but a beer blog so let’s get to the beers.

Moinette Belgian Pale Ale, Brasserie Dupont, 8.5% ABV

Brasserie Dupont is a Belgian Brewery out of Tourpes Leuze. They make many a good beer but I think they might be best known for their Saison Dupont, a Belgian farmhouse ale. Most of their beers are bottle conditioned making them real ales. Depending on what link you click on when you run a Google search, this beer will either be a Belgian Blonde Ale or a Belgian Strong Pale Ale.

Moinette pours out a cloudy, dark gold color with a lasting, creamy looking off-white head. The beer has a sweet-ish malt aroma with a very pleasant fruit component. I can also detect slight honey notes as well as the alcohol. The beer is pretty well balanced. There is a noticeable hop flavor that is slightly spicy while the hop bitterness is much more than what the aroma would have you believe. Even then, it’s only about a medium hop bitterness. I can also taste hints of fruit. Moinette is highly carbonated with a medium/medium-full body. The beer is also a little dry on the palette. Even though this beer is 8.5% ABV, it hides its alcohol well.

This is a most excellent beer. Despite my the clinical nature of my review, this beer has a surprisingly depth and layering of flavors that is unexpected. Then again, I really shouldn’t be surprised by anything the Belgians do with their beers. I should just have faith, I’ve never been let down yet.

Note: I took these photos using the built-in webcam on my computer. It shows. I just wanted to try something different and actually have my mug in the pics. At least I’m not doing some sort of strip tease on the webcam. Be thankful for that!