Yearly Archives: 2009

Rate Beer Hop Press

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Hop Press by RatebeerBeginning this morning, Ratebeer.com is launching a new feature called The Hop Press. The Hop Press brings together a confederation of twelve well-known beer bloggers from around the country and around the world each contributing weekly columns about beer. I am happy to say that I am among them. I’ll be posting every Monday, so please check in regularly to check out my Perfect Pint Hop Press articles.

Every day the Hop Press will feature new articles from one or two of these talented beer writers. You’ll find insightful writing on a range of beer-related topics including vertical tastings of aged beers, homebrewing, beer styles, the beer industry, beer school and much more. I’m excited to start writing with this group of people. Come see what’s happening at the Hop Press.

Summit 90/- Scottish Style Ale

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Summit Brewing Company of St. Paul gave a sneak preview last night of the second beer in their Unchained Series. For those who don’t know, the Unchained Series beers are intended to showcase the skills of individual brewers at Summit. The brewer has complete control, shepherding their beer through the process from recipe formulation to packaging. These beers aren’t the result of the brewmaster’s imagination, they are created by the folks who actually make the beer.

The second beer in the series, a Scottish 90/- brewed with heather, is the creation of brewer Eric Blomquist. The odd symbol in the name of this beer is the old sign for shilling. Back in the day in the UK, beers were taxed based upon their strength. In the case of Scottish beers there were 60/-, 70/-, 80/- and 90/-, beers. These tax designations eventually just stuck as the colloquial name for each beer. Scottish ales evolved as malt centered beers featuring sweet caramel flavors and hints of roast. This was in part because hops cannot be grown in Scotland. It is also due to the fact that the English taxed the hops that Scottish brewers imported. Fewer hops meant less expense to the brewer and sweeter more malt focused beers. The heather in this beer is a traditional ingredient for Scottish ales. In the days before hops became widely used, brewers used a number of herbs, heather among them, to bitter their beers.

Here’s my notes:

Summit 90/- Scottish Style Ale90/- Scottish Style Ale
Summit Brewing Company, St. Paul, Minnesota
Style: Strong Scotch Ale
Serving Style: 12 oz. Bottle

Aroma: Toasted pumpernickel bread with caramel sweetness. Light coffee roast. Notes of brown sugar and raisins.

Appearance: Moderate and creamy off-white head with good persistence. Maintained a film on the surface. Deep ruby/mahogany and crystal clear.

Flavor: Slanted to sweet malt, but balanced with more bitterness than I expected. The hops have a spicy/herbal character that melds with and accentuates the intense herbal flavors of the heather. Together with the sweet caramel and brown sugar malt it reminds me of spiced molasses cookies or maybe the horehound stick candy that I ate as a kid. The same toasted bread flavors from the aroma carry over to the flavor. Hints of dark fruits and orange. The finish is crisp and lingers on roasted malt and molasses.

Mouthfeel: Medium body with medium carbonation. Smooth creaminess.

Overall Impression: The folks at Summit are stepping up their game with these Unchained Series Beers. Like the Kölsch, this one is really well made. The bready, roasted, and caramel malt flavors are all well articulated. It’s on the sweet side, as it should be for the style, but the level of bittering balances it nicely, keeping it from becoming cloying. The heather gives it additional layers of interest. Not overly strong, but still works as a snifter sipper.

Van Twee

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De Proef Brouwerij is a brand new entry into the Minnesota beer market. The brewery was founded in 1996 by brewing engineer and professor Dirk Naudts, who’s nickname is “The Prof”, or “de Proef” in Flemish. For the last few years Naudts has been creating wild-fermented collaboration beers with well established brewers in the US, including Signature Ale created with Tomme Arthur of Port Brewing/Lost Abbey and Les Deux Brasseurs with Jason Perkins of Maine’s Allagash Brewing. The newest release brings the Brewmaster’s Collaboration Series closer to home. Van Twee was brewed with John Mallet of Bell’s Brewing. They describe it as a “mash-up of the porter and dubbel styles blended with sour cherry juice from Michigan and brettanomyces in the secondary fermentation.” Here’s my notes:

De Proef/Bell's Van TweeVan Twee
DeProef Brouwerij, Lochristi-Hijfte, Belgium in collaboration with Bell’s Brewing, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Style: Porter/Dubel Mashup with Cherry Juice and Wild Yeast
Serving Style: 750 ml bottle

Aroma: Chocolate and cherries with a good dose of barnyard funkiness. Some dark fruits dance in the background.

Appearance: Dark red and clear with a thick, creamy, persistent off-white head.

Flavor: The malt character is like malted milk balls. Lovely dark chocolate with some caramel. Dark crystal malts also add a huge dose of plum fruitiness. This plays well with the cherry that is the second most pronounced flavor. The brettanomyces funkiness is noticeable, but not overwhelming. A nice background barnyard and light sour that supports the cherry. Some nice clove notes and hints of the Belgian cotton candy character round the flavors out. Medium-low bitterness.

Mouthfeel: Velvety. Creamy. Medium body. Moderately high carbonation.

Overall Impression: OMG! This beer doesn’t market itself as a Christmas beer, but the combination of fruit, spice, and chocolate would certainly qualify it as one. This was beautiful from start to finish. Great right from the refrigerator and still great warm at the bottom of the glass. I will need to pick up another bottle. Note to the Perfect Pint Beer Club, this might be on our holiday beer list. I had this with a home-made fennel risotto and it was a splendid match.

Widmer Bros. Cherry Oak Doppelbock

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Widmer Bros. Cherry Oak DoppelbockCherry Oak Doppelbock
Widmer Brothers Brewing, Portland, Oregon
Style: Oak-Aged Doppelbock with Cherries
Serving Style: 22 oz. Bottle

Aroma: Lightly toasty melanoidin malt character dominates with faint earthy smells and a background of dark cherry. No oak to speak of.

Appearance: The low, off-white head did not persist. I managed to raised a bigger, more creamy head with a more aggressive pour. Dark mahogany with ruby highlights. Clear.

Flavor: Lightly toasty caramel malt with raisins and hints of chocolate. Very light background cherry notes. Light alcohol, but not boozy. Background rummy flavors. The Oak doesn’t have much to say. Cherry flavors come in most strongly in the finish as lingering cherry pie. Finish is a bit sweet, less crisp than expected from a lager.  Cherry and vanilla oak become somewhat more pronounced as it warms

Mouthfeel: Medium-full body and creamy. Some warming alcohol. Low carbonation

Overall Impression: This beer was a bit of a disappointment. When I first heard about it I was intrigued. Cherry, oak, and doppelbock sounded like a great combination. Unfortunately the cherry and oak play such a minor role that all one is left with is a reasonably good doppelbock. If I had wanted just a doppelbock I would have picked up a Salvator or a Celebrator.

Holiday Beers & Winter Warmers

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The November meeting of the Twin Cities Perfect Pint Beer Club.

Holiday Beers & Winter WarmersWhen: Saturday, November 21, 2009
Cost: $25
You must be a member of the club to attend. Go to the Twin Cities Perfect Pint Beer Club to join and RSVP.

We just did fall beers, but Halloween is over and ‘tis the season to start making merry for the yuletide. Thanksgiving is all that stands between us and the Christmas shopping season. Every year at this time brewers around the world release their special holiday offerings. Spice and spruce are the order of the day, along with sumptuous malt and elevated alcohol to warm you up as the winter winds howl.

For the November meetup we will taste our way to holiday festiviousness by sampling eight of the season’s jolliest offerings. We’ll try a bit of everything from the ancient (for American craft brewing) tradition of Anchor Christmas to a big ‘ol Belgian fruitcake in a bottle and maybe a slightly funky Danish beer to round it all out.

If people are willing to pony up, I will try to score a bottle of Sam Adams 2009 Utopias, the strongest beer in the world.

A Thought on Pairing Beer and Cheese

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A while back I was pitching a beer and cheese pairing class at a local cooking school. The person I was pitching to was clearly a wine connoisseur and somewhat protective of the wine/cheese relationship. She challenged my intentionally provocative assertion that beer is a better pairing with cheese than wine. She highly doubted that this could be the case. While that debate was carried on in fun, it did get me thinking. Here’s my take on it.

What is cheese? It starts as grass. This grass is broken down into simple sugars by an enzymatic process. The resulting product (milk) is fermented with various naturally occurring microflora to create cheese. What is beer? It starts as barley (a grass) that is broken down into simple sugars through enzymatic processes. The resulting product (wort) is then fermented by various naturally occurring microflora to create beer.

Beer and cheese are kindred souls. Why wouldn’t they go well together?

Surly Darkness 2009

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For those who don’t know, Darkness is the limited release Imperial Stout from Surly Brewing Company in the Twin Cities. It is one of those beers that has acquired cult status in the beer geek world, inspiring people to line up more than 800 deep at the brewery on the day of its release, an event known as Darkness Day, in the hopes of being one of the lucky ones who get to purchase a six-pack of 22 oz. bottles. It’s a beer world phenomenon that I have never understood, but whatever.

I have tried Darkness every year that it has been released and have never really been a fan, a heresy around these parts. Imperial stouts are not my favorite beer style to begin with, and Darkness has tended to be bigger and thicker than most, in other words more of what I don’t like about the style. But every year I get myself into a bar where this cult-ish elixir is on tap to give it a try. You really can’t be a beer connoisseur in Minnesota and not do so. This year I was pleasantly surprised. While in the past I have either not been overly fond or needed the entire pour for the beer to start grow on me, this year’s iteration was delightful from the first sip. Here’s my notes:

Surly Darkness 2009Darkness 2009
Surly Brewing Company, Brooklyn Center, Minnesota
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
Serving Style: Draft

Aroma: Rich roasted malt and sweetness with assertive pine resin hops. Dried fruits underneath.

Appearance: Pitch black with a creamy and persistent tan head.

Flavor: Huge chocolaty roasted malt, but smooth, not a bit of the acrid, burnt, or bitter flavors that can come with this much roast. Nice dark fruits. The beer has ample sweetness but is well balanced by assertive bitterness and minty/piney hop flavors. A high level of attenuation dries the beer out, leaving it remarkably drinkable. Alcohol is apparent, but not excessive.

Mouthfeel: Thick, velvety, and creamy, but not heavy. Very drinkable. Save for the alcohol, one could drink a few of these. Carbonation medium-low. Nice warming alcohol.

Overall Impression: This was a lovely beer. Not as viscous and heavy as previous years. Rich malt is well balanced by the bitterness. Resinous and minty hop flavors are a nice complement to the chocolate. Well attenuated. I have had my annual taste of darkness. I may just need to have another one this year.

Autumnal Ales Recap

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Continuing on the fall beer kick, the Twin Cities Perfect Pint Beer Club met on Friday night to enjoy some of the best beers that autumn has to offer. Eleven of us gathered at the home of club member Loren to sit by the fireplace and sample nine great brews, including a good number of local and regional selections.

Furthermore Fallen AppleThe night began with Fallen Apple, the quintessential autumn offering from Furthermore Beer in Spring Green, Wisconsin. Light and refreshing, but surprisingly high in alcohol, this tasty, tart, cider/beer blend was loved by all in attendance. One member reported that while she didn’t like cider, Fallen Apple tasted enough like beer to overcome that. It was one of her favorites for the night.

Next up was Wisconsin Amber from Capital Brewery, another regional brew from Wisconsin. Capital specializes in German style lager beers. Wisconsin Amber is a smooth, balanced Vienna style lager. The sweet, toasty malt is dominant, but is well balanced by spicy German hops and a crisp lager finish. A couple of the more beer-knowledgeable members commented that they had always passed this beer up with the thought, “Wisconsin Amber…how interesting could that be?” They won’t be passing it up any more. Wisconsin Amber was the second favorite beer of the night overall.

From there we went for another essential autumn beer, pumpkin ale. We had two examples to sample and compare, Ichabod from Michigan’sDogfish Head Punkin Ale New Holland Brewing Company and Punkin’ from Dogfish Head in Delaware (thanks Stephanie). Ichabod is a session pumpkin beer, more beery than pumpkin, with rich caramel malt and nutty butterscotch flavors supporting subdued pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice. The offering from Dogfish Head is more intense. Higher alcohol, full-bodied caramel malt, and an explosion of pumpkin and spice make this a more interesting beer overall, but one that you may not want to drink more than one. Both were tasty. In the end it comes down to whether you want a nice session beer or a high-intensity pumpkin experience.

The KaiserFor Oktoberfest, we dispensed with the traditional and went for the tweaked. The first of these was Surlyfest from Surly Brewing. Surlyfest has the toasty, caramel heart of a traditional Oktoberfest cranked up with spicy rye malt and higher levels of hopping for a sharply bitter/spicy bite. This was another crowd favorite, which was a surprise to some who did not expect to enjoy a bitter Surly brew. The other Oktoberfest was The Kaiser Imperial Oktoberfest from Avery Brewing in Boulder, Colorado. This 9.3% ABV bruiser of a beer received a mixed reception. While some liked the intensely sweet malt, others found it offensively boozy and perhaps a bit overly sweet.

You can’t talk about fall beers without a wet-hop IPA. For this, I selected Harvest Ale from Founders Brewing. Unfortunately I selected and purchased this beer for the event before trying it. You can read my review below. While a couple members enjoyed it, most did not. The general consensus was that “this was not so much a hoppy beer as straight-up unsweetened grapefruit juice.” Even the usual hopheads among us had difficulty with this one. It was the only beer to remain untouched during the “free-for-all” following the formal tasting.

The remaining two beers were Autumnal Fire from Capital Brewery and Chestnut Hill from the local Lift Bridge Brewing. Capital calls Autumnal FireAutumnal Fire a “doppelbock based on an Oktoberfest personality.” I have no idea what they mean by this, but the beer makes a mighty fine doppelbock in my view. It’s a smooth and malty brew with a bit of alcohol warmth and loads of raisiny dark fruit flavors. Some felt the raisin was a bit too intense. Others liked it precisely because of the intense raisin flavors. Lift Bridge’s Chestnut Hill was the nearly unanimous favorite of the night. One of my Autumn Brew Review top five picks, Chestnut Hill is brown ale for those who think that brown ale is synonymous with boring. Packed with toasty, nutty, caramel malt, balancing spicy/herbal hop flavor and bitterness, and just a hint of nutmeg and cinnamon spice, this is one delicious brew. It’s only available on tap and the supply is running out. You will need to get it soon if you want to get it at all…unless the Lift Bridge guys can be convinced to make more.

If you want more information about the Twin Cities Perfect Pint Beer Club go here and request to become a member.

Founders Harvest Ale 2009

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As a follow-up to my last two posts about autumn beers I offer these tasting notes for one of the beers mentioned in part one, Founders Harvest Ale. Let me preface this by saying that I have absolutely loved everything I have tried from Founders Brewing. I frequently pour their Centennial IPA and Porter for clients at Perfect Pint tasting events. (Sigh…) I knew they couldn’t be perfect. Here’s my notes:

Founders Harvest AleHarvest Ale 2009
Founders Brewing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan
Style: Wet-hop IPA
Serving Style: 12 oz. Bottle

Aroma: Bright citrus hop character. Luscious, succulent fruit, orange, grapefruit, pineapple, and apricot. Massively fruity. Some grainy sweetness lurking around underneath. Bold aromas, but delicate at the same time. Clear, crisp, and bright.

Appearance: Dark golden and crystal clear. Fluffy white persistent head that Leaves some lace on the glass.

Flavor: If only it tasted like it smells. A hard hitting slap of bitterness up front, gives way to a mouth-puckering, astringent middle and a dry, throat-burning finish. Hop flavors are grassy and resemble grapefruit rind more than fruit. This grapefruit rind flavor lingers long after the swallow. Fresh hay mixed with grapefruit pith. The malt is thin and watery, not nearly enough to support this level of hopping. Some…any…residual sugar would be welcome. What malt is there is lightly sweet with just the faintest hint of toast.

Mouthfeel: Light body and thin. Astringent. Medium to medium-high carbonation.

Overall Impression: I could have smelled and looked at this beer all night. Unfortunately it got in my mouth. If you are a real hophead this could be the beer for you, as there is little else there. Hop tea would be an apt description. I talk a lot about balance in beer. This brutal brew will have none of it. The grassy, astringent hops have beaten the feeble malt into submission.