Yearly Archives: 2010

Blue Nile’s Battle Belge 2010

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Last night was the first night of Battle Belge 2010 at the Blue Nile Ethiopian restaurant in Minneapolis. Bar manager and beer maven Al McCarty matched Belgian and non-Belgian versions of popular Beligan beer styles in head-to-head combat. Styles include saison, strong dark ale, Flemish sour red, tripel, dubbel, and strong golden ale, with two example of each to compare. Ten dollars buys a flight of four 4-ounce pours.

I only did straight comparisons of a couple of the styles, opting instead to sample mostly those beers on the list that I had never tried. The few direct match-ups that I did try showed that while the non-Belgians make some fantastic beers, they generally don’t quite stand up to their Belgian brewing counterparts.

Surly Cynic stood up reasonably well to Dupont Vielle Provision, but it’s hard to go up against the benchmark of the style. Both Unibroue Trois Pistoles and Gulden Draak strong darks were tasty, but the Gulden Draak had more depth and dimension when compared side-by-side. Tripel Karmeliet crushed  Nøgne Ø Tiger Tripel, which was by far the most anticipated and disappointing beer of the night. Tiger Tripel was a murky, muddy mess of a beer that made my doubts about that Norwegian brewery even stronger.

The one category in which the Americans bested the Belgians was strong golden ale. Weyerbacher, a Pennsylvania brewery that is brand new in Minnesota, brought it strong with Merry Monks and took the wind out of Delirium Tremen‘s sails.

The overall winner of the night, and going strong as my best beer of the year for 2009 and 2010 was Cuvee des Jacobin Grand Cru Rouge, better known in this country as Ommegang Rouge. While making comparisons between styles is like comparing apples and oranges, in my opinion nothing else in the line-up came close. Next to Rouge, New Belgium’s La Folie, a beer that I love, seemed overly sour and clumsy. Al bought up all the kegs of this great beer in Minnesota. Sadly the last one blew last night. If you missed it, it’s gone.

Battle Belg continues tonight (Sunday, June 6th) starting at 4:00 PM. Be there!

Boulevard Zōn

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If you want a great summer beer you can’t go wrong with a wheat beer. One of the lightest, most refreshing, and maybe tastiest of these is the Belgian Witbier. The white beer style, once popular in various forms all over Europe, nearly died out. The last witbier brewery in Belgium had closed in the 1950s. That changed when Pierre Celis opened the Hoegaarden Brewery in the 1980s and singlehandedly revived this almost lost beer. Now several breweries both in Europe and the United States brew the style.

Witbiers are brewed with a large percentage of unmalted wheat, giving them a fresh cracker and white bread malt flavor and a cloudy appearance. The starch haze is accentuated by yeast that stays suspended in the beer, adding fruity and spicy notes. The real character of a wit comes from the additional flavoring ingredients. The traditional ones are bitter orange peel and coriander, but enterprising brewers have used other spices like chamomile and lavender.

Zōn (Flemish for “sun”) is Boulevard Brewing Company’s summer seasonal interpretation of the style. Here’s my notes:

Zōn
Boulevard Brewing Co., Kansas City, Missouri
Style: Belgian Witbier
Serving Style: 12 oz. Bottle

Aroma: White bread and yeast. Banana and clove character of a German hefeweizen with subtle orange and citrus character. Very light coriander floral way in the background.

Appearance: Light straw-colored and cloudy. Fluffy white head that was moderately persistent.

Flavor: The flavor very much follows the aroma. Bready wheat malt with banana, clove, and yeast flavors rounding it out. Nice orange and lemon citrus notes with only the slightest hint of flowery coriander. Low bitterness. The dry finish lingers lightly on wheat and citrus. Light and refreshing.

Mouthfeel: Light body, but with the mouth-filling richness that wheat and suspended yeast bring to a beer. Spritzy carbonation.

Overall Impression: This is a solid representation of the witbier style. Light and refreshing, it invites another bottle. I like that the coriander character remains subtle, allowing the yeast and orange flavors to shine. I had this with dinner and it brilliantly complemented my garlic scape and asparagus pasta with white wine butter sauce. Really a great pairing.

Beers of the British Isles

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The June Meeting of the Twin Cities Perfect Pint Beer Club

When: Friday, June 11, 2010
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.

Great Britain has a long and storied beer history. Its brewers invented porter and then made it the first mass produced industrial beer. It is the origin of IPA. Baltic Porter and Imperial Stout were both born here, as were Irish stout, milk stout, and oatmeal stout. And what would life be like without the traditional Bitters? And its beer culture is still going strong today in pubs across Britain, where real ale is still pumped from casks the old-fashioned way.

English ales were the original inspiration for the American craft beer movement and the reason many a craft brewer on this side of the ocean began brewing in the first place. Most of them still include at least one traditional English style beer in their line-ups.

For this meeting we’ll sample our way through the beers of the British Isles from subtle bitters to big imperial stouts. We’ll taste the wares of brewers from over there and from over here. We might even do a blind tasting or two to see who does it best.

Cheese & Ale at Cooks of Crocus Hill

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Last night was the Cheese and Ale class at Cooks of Crocus Hill. Fromager Ken Liss and I took guest through a varied course of six beers paired with six artisan cheeses. There were some expected brilliant pairings and some pleasant surprises as well. And as always, there was Ken’s “secret ingredient” that I will talk about later.

As a welcome beer I poured Flat Earth’s Sunburst Ale, an apricot infused Belgian Pale Ale that turned out to be one of the favorites of the night. Other beers were Lagunitas Pils, Saison Dupont, Meantime IPA, Aecht Schlenkerla Märzen Rauchbier, and Deschutes Black Butte Porter.

Ken brought a wide range of cheeses including Brillat Savarin cow’s milk brie, Le Cabrie goat’s milk brie from Wisconsin, Colliers Powerful Cheddar, the Italian sheep’s milk cheese Pecorino Ginepro, Saenkanter aged gouda, and Cashel Blue, a creamy blue cheese from Ireland.

Some of the pairings were obvious. IPA and cheddar are made for one another and the Meantime IPA and the Colliers cheddar was a perfect match. The beer’s fruity and grassy notes complemented herbal/grassy flavors in the cheese while the bitter hops cleared the creamy cheese off the palate. The IPA also paired brilliantly with the blue.

The light pilsner was a perfect match for both the cow’s milk and the goat’s milk brie. Floral saaz hops complemented light floral notes in the cheeses and the pils malt added sweetness to these otherwise salty, creamy bries.

Like IPA and cheddar, porter is made for blue cheese. The Black Butte and the Cashel Blue bore this out as bitter black malt and chocolate notes blended brilliantly with the creamy, pungent, and spicy blue cheese.

The most surprising pairing for me was the Brillat Savarin brie with the Black Butte porter. I would have expected the full-flavored porter to overwhelm the much lighter cheese. Instead, the buttery cheese brought out a creaminess in the beer while the cheese’s saltiness balanced the roasted malt bitterness in the beer such that the cheese not only stood up to the bigger beer but complemented it beautifully.

The match made in heaven for the evening was another pairing with the Brillat Svarin. Paired with the Schlenkerla Rauchbier, this was a match to make the angels sing. The salty brie was perfect with the bacon flavors in the beer. Think canapés with brie and cured meats. Ken’s “secret ingredient” further enhanced this pairing. A bit of smoked salt sprinkled onto the cheese pushed it into cheese and beer bliss. This was another pairing that I would not have expected.

Sam Adams® Latitude 48

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Sam Adams is launching a new beer this summer, an India Pale Ale called Latitude 48. The beer takes its name from the northern hop growing region located around latitude 48°. The press release for the beer touts a blend of German, English, and American hops that create a “distinctive, yet not overpowering, hop character” balanced by a sweet honey malt blend. I am unclear whether this means they used honey or honey malt. [EDIT: They used honey malt, not honey.] Here’s my notes:

Sam Adams Latitude 48
Boston Beer Company, Boston, Massachusetts
Style: India Pale Ale
Serving Style: 12 oz. Bottle

Aroma: Citrus and grassy hops with undertones of sweet berries and pineapple. Lightly sweet and biscuity English-style malt. English yeast fruitiness opens up as the beer warms. Balanced.

Appearance: Amber and crystal clear. Moderate off-white head that persisted only moderately.

Flavor: Kicks off with medium-high bitterness that lingers long into the finish. This bitterness first had a harshness that smoothed out as the beer warmed. Hop flavors present an interesting mix of earthy, floral, and spice, with hints of lemony citrus. Sweet caramel and biscuit malt balances the hops and claims top placement mid-palate. Finish is dry, lingering on hop bitterness and flavor that sticks around long after swallowing.

Mouthfeel: Medium body with medium carbonation.

Overall Impression: An interesting take on a classic English IPA. The malt character and yeast fruitiness definitely reflects the English style. The hops present a blend of European, English, and American flavors that lend the beer some interest. Not the best IPA out there, but definitely one I would be happy to drink again.

Cheese and Ale at Cooks of Crocus Hill

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There is still room to sign up for the Cheese and Ale class at Cooks of Crocus Hill.

Cheese and Ale: Pairing Beer and Cheese
With Fromager Ken Liss
Monday, May 17, 6 – 8 PM, $55

Join Fromager Ken Liss and Cicerone Michael Agnew for a satisfying session of sipping and nibbling. You’ll start with fromage fundamentals – types, textures, flavors, shopping, storing and serving – then discover how to choose beers that complement each cheese. Includes cheese and beer from around the world.

I’ve worked with Ken before. He is the former owner of Premier Cheese Market at 50th & France. He has taught numerous classes on cheese and cheese pairings at Cooks of Crocus Hill, The Four Firkins, and other places. He knows his stuff and knows how to present it with passion. You can sign up for this class or learn more about the classes at Cooks of Crocus Hill here.

Furthermore Beer at Vine Park

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The table full of exotic ingredients in the bottling area of St. Paul’s Vine Park Brewing hinted that something interesting was about to take place. Around twenty-five people milled about surveying the little baggies of cardamom, coriander, fenugreek, cilantro, and black pepper, anticipating the brewing adventure that awaited us. This was the scene on Monday morning at Vine Park’s second Brew with the Brewmaster event featuring Aran Madden and Chris Staples, the two-man team that is Furthermore Beer.

The idea of the Brew with the Brewmaster events is to give beer enthusiasts an opportunity to interact with professional brewers. Brewers create recipes and then work with guests to actually brew those beers on Vine Park’s brew-on-premise system. It’s an opportunity to see firsthand how brewers work and to witness the minute-to-minute adjustments that brewers make during a brew session. And best of all, after two weeks each participant gets to take home bottles of the beers they brewed. “This is fun.” said Vine Park co-owner Daniel Justesen of the Furthermore event. “It’s been interactive. It’s been exciting. It’s been recreating things on the fly and adapting to the environment. That’s what makes brewing fun, taking things from here and there and turning it into something that’s hopefully going to taste great. And it sure smells great in here.”

As Furthermore brewmaster Aran Madden explained it, the theme for this brew was “taking India Pale Ale back from the colonizers.” Each of the six beers was a unique take on the pale ale or India pale ale style using pungent Indian spices as flavoring elements. “I’m pretty excited about the beers. I think that this ‘real ales of India’ could be a thing.” said Madden. “It’s just funny that for us as a beer culture, it’s not just that it’s a style; it’s the dominant style in craft brewing right now. And nobody seems to think about the fact that India pale ale originates in something that the British did to India. And there’s so much that India has to offer.”

Participants were split into six groups, each group responsible for making one of the beers. My group brewed a beer called The History of Non-Violence. It is a reasonably bitter, low-alcohol IPA featuring tamarind, coriander, candied ginger, and cilantro.

With multiple beers coming together at once, the atmosphere was a bit chaotic. Justesen laughed, “This is exceedingly crazy, more than usual. Normally we’ve got a bit more control over the whole process.” And Madden said, “Brewing six beers at once is hectic. It’s really hectic. Especially since most of the beers were developed over the last couple of days.” But the craziness also presented him with an opportunity. “It’s really gratifying to be able to do all of this in one day. This would take me a year to get around to buying ingredients, and test batching, and getting stuff from a fermenter into a corny keg, and carbonating, and all that stuff. So six beers in one fell swoop is fantastic.”

In the end, chaos included, I believe everyone had a great time. Vine Park regular Cory Reiman summed it up this way, “Free lunch, great beer, and recipes that no one, including the master brewer, has tried? Come on. How often do you have access to a master brewer to pick their brains? Even if you’re a novice you can come here for the whole experience that most people would never have. Even if you’re fully knowledgeable, to be able to pick the brain of a master brewer is a great opportunity.”

I can’t wait to try the beers.