Alaskan Brewing Company Imperial Red Ale

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I really don’t want this blog to be all about tasting notes. They aren’t that interesting and there are a million other sites doing them. But I’ve tasted so many great beers in the last couple of months. I have a desktop full of notes that I haven’t had the time to post. When Garrett Oliver was in town a while back to plug the Oxford Companion to Beer he said that working on a book takes over your life. It’s true. Working on two at once is just plain stupid. Anyway, I’m trying to get caught up on some of these tasting notes, so please bear with me. Hopefully you enjoy them.

Alaskan king crabs can weigh as much as 24 pounds and stretch 5 feet from tip to tip. Who knew? These giant, red crustaceans were the inspiration for Imperial Red Ale, the winter release in the Alaskan Brewing Company’s Pilot Series. While many winter seasonal beers are malt-forward, this 8.5%, West Coast style, red ale loads on the hops.

Here’s my notes:

Alaskan Imperial Red AleImperial Red Ale
Alaskan Brewing Company, Juneau, Alaska
Style: Imperial Red Ale
Serving Style: 22 oz bottle

Aroma: The lead-off is mostly hops; bight citrus – Lemons, grapefruit, and tangerines. The hops lay on a bed of caramel with shades of brown sugar and toffee. Dark fruits linger in the background as the beer warms up. A bit of alcohol comes in too. This is a sniffer.

Appearance: Beautiful to look at. Jewel-like ruby red and crystal clear. Fine-bubbled, long-lasting stand of ivory foam. Lots of lacing on the glass.

Flavor: Malt takes charge here – caramel, some toast, melanoidins – but it is amply balanced by the hops. There’s fruit. Some raisins or re-hydrated prunes. Dark cherry. And is that just the lightest touch of roast peeking around the corner? Maybe a hint of alcohol. The bitterness is assertive, but stops short of aggressive. It hangs around for quite a while in the finish though. Hop flavors are resiny, piney with lemon, citrus, and chamomile overtones. Bracing but balanced.

Mouthfeel: Medium-full body. A bit creamy, but roughed up by hops. Medium carbonation. Some warming.

Overall Impression: This beer made me want food. It would be great next to dark-meat duck or roasted pork with some sort of chutney. It could work with tomato sauce dishes; cheesy manicotti or Chicken parmesan. It would also work with spicy though. Southern Indian potato curry, anyone?

Courage Imperial Russian Stout

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In the 18th-century the English brewers had a lucrative trade exporting strong, dark beers to the Baltics and Russia. Courage Imperial Russian Stout was first brewed in 1795 at the Thrale’s Brewery in London for the court of Catherine II of Russia. Thrale’s was purchased by Barclay Perkins, which was in turn bought out by the Courage Brewery. Courage Stout was brewed continuously according to the old recipe until 1982. In 2007 the Courage brands were bought by Wells & Young’s. They revived this historic and regal brew in 2011. I’m not the biggest fan of imperial stout, but this is what imperial stout is really all about.

Here’s my notes:

Courage Imperial Russian StoutCourage Imperial Russian Stout
Wells & Young’s Ltd, Bedford, United Kingdom
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
Serving Style: 275 ml bottle

Aroma: Chocolate milk shake. Luxurious chocolate, cocoa, and mocha aromas. A bit of caramel. Subtle notes of pear. Lightly herbal and licorice. Lovely.

Appearance: Opaque black. The head is a billowing, creamy, tan froth. It lasts forever.

Flavor: This tastes black. The first sip is a bitter surprise, but it smooths out from there. It starts with some sweetness like caramel dripped over cocoa powder and coffee. Mid-palate that strong kick of roasted bitterness comes back and lingers to the finish. It hangs around long after swallowing. What a swelter of flavors in between – burnt, smoke, chocolate, licorice, vanilla, mint, black strap molasses, raisins, pears. There’s a bit of black malt acidity. Alcohol is definitely there, adding a spirituous vapor to the mix. Black licorice and molasses intensifies as it warms. The finish is dry and bitter, tannic almost. There is no lingering sweetness.

Mouthfeel: Creamy-smooth. Robust, but high attenuation leaves it surprisingly light bodied (medium-high) for such a big, black beer. A bit of astringency, but not unpleasant. Warming to be sure.

Overall Impression: This is a beer to sit and sip. Put it in a snifter or a tulip and enjoy slowly. Sharply bitter, this is not the overly sweet brew that so many American RISs have become. At 10% ABV it’ll mess you up, but like with the Belgians you won’t know it until you stand up. Serve with chocolate brownies or lava cake. I think mint chocolate cookies could also be good. Or just enjoy it by itself. Top rate – this is an RIS that I want to wrap my head around.

Brau Brothers Rye Wyne

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The Brau Brothers are located down south in tiny Lucan, Minnesota. They are moving to Marshall later this year because Lucan can’t handle the volume of waste water they produce. They make a big barleywine with a lot of rye in it and age it in Templeton Rye Whiskey barrels. They call it Rye Wyne. That’s all I have to say. Let’s get to drinking some.

Here’s my notes:

Rye WynBrau Brothers Rye Wynee
Brau Bros Brewing Company, Lucan, Minnesota
Style: Barleywine
Serving Style: 750 ml bottle

Aroma: Whiskey, vanilla, and Cocoa. Dried fruits like prunes and raisins sweeten things up a bit. Alcohol is there, blended with some herbal overtones.

Appearance: Dark ruby/mahogany and just a touch cloudy with some chill haze that cleared as it warmed. The head is full, creamy, beige, and very long lasting.

Flavor: So smooth – velvety. Caramel takes the lead with vanilla as backup – like a vanilla Brach’s Milk Maid Caramel Royal; the one in the blue wrapper. Whiskey is lighter than in the aroma, but it’s still there. Milk chocolate makes an appearance as do molasses and dried fruits. Alcohol adds floral overtones. Rye malt character is subdued at first, leaving only a sharp, dry bite in the finish. But it comes in more strongly to slowly take control as the beer warms up.

Mouthfeel: Full body. Creamy and viscous. Medium-low carbonation. Warming alcohol.

Overall Impression: I just want to keep drinking it. Just one more sip. Always just one more sip.

2012 Samuel Adams Utopias

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Samuel Adams Utopias is one of those legendary beers. It’s one of the original extreme beers – that is if you don’t include the earlier Sam Adams offerings, Triple Bock and Millennium. It’s not the booziest beer in the world, but it is the highest-alcohol, naturally-fermented brew. Getting a beer to ferment up to 29% is no small feat. Those others – the Tactical Nuclear Penguins and Schorschbocks of the world – cheat with freeze distillation. Part of the Utopias legend is rarity and cost. They make only 15,000 bottles and each 24 oz., brew kettle-shaped bottle retails in the neighborhood of $180.

Utopias is a blend of liquids. High-test brews from many different barrels – some of which have been aging for nearly 20 years – are brought together to complete the final brew. Some of that original Triple Bock from the 1990s is reportedly part of the mix. The result is an uncarbonated, spirituous elixir that is more like cognac or port wine than beer; a brew to sip from a special glass, two ounces at a time.

Utopias has been released in odd-numbered years since 2003. There was a batch in 2001, but they called it something else. Because it is a blend, every edition is somewhat different from the others. Somehow I have been lucky enough to sample every year’s release including 2001. While all have been extraordinary and luxurious, some have been better than others. I remember 2003 as a particularly standout year, though it’s been too long ago to remember why. 2009 was a lesser year; extra boozy and extra sweet as I recall.

Although it was an even-numbered year, Sam Adams released Utopias in 2012. It was the 10th-anniversary edition. The iconic kettle-shaped bottle remained, but this time it’s black instead of copper. The surface is etched with roots, “a metaphor for the 20+ years of complex history and aging of the liquids that make up this final brew.” So says the press release. For Samuel Adams Utopias, 2012 was a very good year.

Here’s my notes:

2012 Samuel Adams UtopiasSamuel Adams Utopias
Boston Beer Company, Boston, Massachusetts
Style: Strong Ale
Serving Style: 24 oz. decanter

Aroma: Every time it comes to my nose there is a different sensation – some extremely pleasant, some less so. Maple. Caramel. Butterscotch. Wooden barrel – very woody in fact. Old musty cedar. Vaporous alcohol.  Mineral spirits. Dried cherries and raisins. Chocolate comes in as it opens up. Really, there is so much going on that all I can do is list.

Appearance: Beautiful. Deep chestnut-mahogany. Brilliantly clear. No bubbles.

Flavor: Lip numbing with the first sip and the alcohol warms all the way down. It even stings a bit. Let your saliva blend in to mellow it out. There is so much fruit here; a surprising amount. It starts with bright, sweet/tart cherries. That gives way to darker fruits – plums, prunes, dates, and raisins. But that cherry never quite lets go. Rum and maple linger all the way into the finish. As it opens up in the glass some tootsie-roll chocolate note appear and hang on long after the swallow. Combined with the cherry it give the impression of tart and boozy chocolate covered cherry bon bons.

Mouthfeel: Viscous and smooth. Very warming.

Overall Impression: 2012 is really a very good year.

Kings & Spies from Sea Cider Farm & Ciderhouse

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Sea Cider Farm & Ciderhouse in Saanichton, British Columbia has become my latest obsession. This small, artisanal cider-maker is certified organic. They press their own heritage apples using the traditional rack and cloth method and ferment them with champagne yeast for a delicate sparkle. In their orchards they grow old-school cider apples – not the eating apples you get in the store – with names like Bill’s Red flesh, Brown Snout, and Winter Banana. They make awesome cider!

Really. This is some of the best cider I’ve ever had.

Four varieties are currently available in the Twin Cities – Prohibition, Pippins, Wild English, and Kings & Spies. Wild English uses a wild yeast fermentation for an earthy, funky profile. Pippins is light, bright, and tart. Rum-barrel-aged Prohibition is a strong cider with deep brown sugar and rum notes. You can read my notes for Pippins and Prohibition here.

Kings & Spies is the last of the bunch for me to try. It’s made primarily from Kings and Northern Spies apple varieties that the bottle says yield “a fruit-forward, Italian-style sparkling cider.” Making it even better, proceeds from this cider support Lifecycles, a Victoria organization that promotes local food security.

Here’s my notes.

Kings & SpiesKings & Spies
Sea Cider Farm & Ciderhouse, Saanichton, British Columbia
Style: Off-dry, Sparkling Apple Cider
Serving Style: 750 ml bottle

Aroma: A fruity nose full of red and green apples and hints of pineapple. It’s light and bright, but darker notes of raisin and brown sugar provide a suggestion of something deeper. I even get a skosh of oak, although I don’t know that this cider ever sees a barrel.

Appearance: Brilliant clarity with a light golden color.  Forms a foamy, white cap when poured, but it dissipates immediately. Small bubbles rise in the glass.

Flavor: A juicy sweetness up front that dries up in the finish, leaving behind a lingering tartness. Fresh red and green apple flavor, but with a wild edge, like the crab apples I used to eat off the tree as a kid. Lots of interesting fruity highlights – oranges and lemons, pears. The fruit finds a contrast in tones of earth and herb. Vague hints of brown sugar and raisin.

Mouthfeel: Light body with moderates bubbles.

Overall Impression: Another OMG-good cider from Sea Ciderhouse. A delight to drink from the start to the end of the bottle. Light enough for patio sipping in the summer, but deep enough to satisfy me on a cold January night.

Leuven from Funkwerks Brewery

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Fort Collins, Colorado is one heck of a beer town. The official population as of 2011 is just 146, 762. Yet there are currently something like 12 breweries in the city. There are breweries of all shapes and sizes; Anhueser-Busch and New Belgium on the big end, Odell and Fort Collins Brewery in the middle, and places like Funkwerks on the small side. And to top it all off, in addition to being beer heaven Fort Collins is just a great place to be.

If you ever find yourself in Fort Collins, Funkwerks Brewery is a must-visit. This tiny operation took over the space once occupied by Fort Collins Brewery when that beer-maker expanded. Funkwerks specializes in saison. That’s all you will find there. They make several varieties of saison, from straight-up, old-fashioned DuPont-like versions to ones made with green tea or Brettanomyces. Tasting your way through the rather generous sampler flight is an adventurous treat.

On my last visit there after the 2012 GABF in October, they had two “experimental” beers on tap that proved to be the best of the bunch. Nit Wit was a cross-style mashup of Belgian witbier and saison. Lueven fell somewhere between saison and Berliner Weiss. Both were good enough to convince me to shell out $25 a bottle and check my bag for another $20. Nit wit I just drank. I do that sometimes. I took notes on Leuven.

Here’s my notes:

Leuven
Funkwerks Brewery, Fort Collins, Colorado
Style: Saison/Berliner Weiss
Serving Style: 750 ml bottle

Aroma: Wheaty sharpness and lightly sweet. Hints of cotton-candy Belgian yeast phenolics and esters. Herbs. Apple cider.

Appearance: Light straw colored with a slight haze. Great big, fluffy, long-lasting, white head.

Flavor: Cracker wheat with a touch of sweetness. A bit of lactic tartness that brings a pucker in the finish. Green apples. Herbs – oregano and thyme. White pepper. Finishes dry and crisp.

Mouthfeel: Light body. Thin but with a wheaty fullness. Spritzy carbonation.

Overall Impression: So pleasant. So refreshing. Just the right balance of everything – sweetness, acidity, yeasty phenolics, herbal notes. Perfect for a summer afternoon. But then it was pretty perfect on a snowy winter night in Minnesota, as well.

2012 GABF Interview with the New Beer Geeks TV Host Michael Ferguson

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Beer Geeks TV debuted last year. Using a Diners, Drive-ins and Dives format, the Beer Geeks team visited local breweries,beer bars, and other brew-related venues to give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the local beer scene. The show won rave reviews and a couple of local Emmys. But big changes are in the works.

This year producers Matt Sandell and Ed Bremer announced that the show had been picked up by the producers of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives to go national. Resulting shake-ups of personnel raised controversy on the interwebs. Perhaps the biggest dust-up came from the replacement of Emmy-winning host Jeff Angell with master brewer Michael Ferguson. While the transition has no doubt caused some painful personal rifts, I believe it is a good move for the show.

Ferguson is the Director of Brewing Operations and Beer Training for the BJ’s chain of brewpubs. He might be known to fans of the Brewing Network where he raised some listener hackles by suggesting that extract homebrewers weren’t actually brewing. Ferguson has been in the business for decades and knows brewing and the brewing industry inside and out. This gives him an advantage as the host of a show that attempts to get inside the heads of brewers as they ply their craft. He knows what questions to ask. As an educator, he also knows how to bring the mysteries of beer making down to an easily understandable level. Ferguson is also a natural in front of a camera.

You can watch a trailer for the first episode here. In the meantime, enjoy this interview that I did with Ferguson at the 2012 Great American Beer Festival.

2012 GABF Interview with Tim Nelson of Fitger’s Brewhouse

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Shortly after interviewing Dave Hoops in the Fitger’s booth at the GABF, I ran into the ebullient brewer again on the festival floor. This time he had Brewhouse co-owner Tim Nelson in tow. They confided that they had information to share about new doings at the Duluth brewpub. How could I pass up this opportunity?

The first bit of news was that Fitger’s had purchased an historic building in Canal Park. The plan is to renovate the old train depot and open a third “tied house” like Burrito Union and Tycoon’s Ale House, which the brewery already operates. This news has since been reported in other places.

The more exciting news is the possibility of a second Fitger’s brewery. The brewhouse has been in possession of a large warehouse building for a number of years. The plan is to eventually build a larger and more efficient brewery in the space to increase capacity. If you have ever been to the Fitger’s Brewhouse in Duluth, you know that the brewery is crammed into tiny spaces on multiple floors. Having followed Hoops through a brew day, I can tell you that it is not an efficient system.

A warning; toward the end of the interview there is some confusion about exactly which new operation is being discussed. I ask about a timeline for the new brewery. Nelson answers with a timeline for the Canal Park pub.

2012 GABF Interview with Matt Potts of DESTIHL

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With locations in Normal and Champaign, Illinois, the Destihl restaurants take the brewpub idea and step it up a notch, adding a casual fine-dining flare to the familiar concept. From the food to the décor it feels familiar, but just a little bit higher class. The fish tacos aren’t just whitefish, they’re swordfish. The pizzas are wood-fired and feature unique combinations like asparagus, bacon, and herbed goat cheese with a balsamic vinegar glaze. House beers are served alongside high-end wines and spirits. The dining room has the brewpub-standard motifs, stone veneers and dark wood, but given a contemporary, industrial-arts twist.

Destihl beers have pulled in multiple awards in national and international competition. Brewmaster Matt Potts has received some high praise from beer-lovers and fellow brewers for his barrel-aged, sour beers. I had the opportunity to sample several at the Normal location and the congratulations are well deserved. Except for a fantastic Flanders Red Ale, most of these tart treats are soured versions of the brewery’s regular offerings, like Blond or Dead Head Red. They are all unblended, single-barrel vintages. The sour beer du jour is listed on the menu as St. Dekkara Reserve.

Business has been so brisk that the company is building a production brewery in Bloomington, Illinois in order to meet demand. The new brewery will handle most of the core beers for both brewpub locations as well as packaged beer for off-sale. The brewpubs will continue to produce the specialty beers, one-offs, and sours.

2012 GABF Interview with Solemn Oath Brewery in Naperville, Illinois

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In the race to open the most breweries in the shortest time, Chicago is giving Minnesota a hard run for its money. I count something like 13 breweries that have opened in the Chicago Metro alone since the beginning of June. And there is a whole gaggle of them just weeks away from making beer. When I moved from there in 2002 there wasn’t much going on beer-wise in the city, but in the intervening years Chicago has become a sort of beer-brewing Mecca.

One of the more interesting Chicagoland newcomers is Solemn Oath Brewery. Solemn Oath is located about 45-minutes west of the Chicago “Loop” in the town of Naperville. Tucked into a non-descript, industrial strip on the west side of town, the brewery is unassuming on approach. When you enter the taproom you find yourself practically in the center of the brewery. As owner/brewer Joe Barley told me, “If someone holds your chair you can reach out and touch our hot liquor tank.”

Solemn Oath is making beers with some interesting flavor profiles. My favorite when I visited was Sweet Sweet Whisper Kisses, a 9% saison brewed with honey. One of their flagship beers is called Khlörost, a Belgian witbier infused with coffee of different origins. A witbier with coffee sounds like a bad idea, but it works. If you’re in the Chicago Metro, a visit to Solemn Oath is worth the trip out to Naperville.