Summit IRA Release Dinner At Tracy’s Saloon

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In the third of three events held on consecutive nights at various locations around the Twin Cities, Summit Brewing Company celebrated the release of India Rye Ale, the newest of the Unchained Series beers last Friday at Tracy’s Saloon in Seward. Summit Founder Mark Stutrud and India Rye Ale brewer Mike Lundell were on hand along with a small coterie of other Summit representatives. Tracy’s offered two-for-one Summit pints and $4 house-cured Tasso ham sandwiches all night long and a lucky few got to partake of a delicious six-course tasting menu paired with Summit beers prepared by Chef Joseph Madigow and Sous Chefs Robyn Carley and Sean McDonald. It was a loud night at Tracy’s and everyone seemed to be having a good time. I observed several pints of the new beer being consumed.

There was a loose theme of rye and cured meat running through the six-course tasting menu, appropriate for the release of the new rye ale. The variety and complexity of the menu was far more than I expected from Tracy’s, which I usually associate with good bar food. The best dishes and most successful pairings in my view were the first two. The meal started with a bouillabaisse crudo of bluenose and opah fish on rye flatbread with a rouille sauce. Paired with India Rye Ale, the flatbread was a perfect complement to the rye toast flavors in the beer while the spicy sauce and the light meatiness of the fish added contrasting flavors and textures. The second course offered rabbit meatballs with eggplant vermicelli in a roasted red pepper vinaigrette paired with Summit Pilsner. The meatballs were a bit tough, but the eggplant was outstanding and paired nicely with the pilsner.

The next three courses included a soup trio that was the most interesting presentation of the night, a potato stuffed ham hock on a bed of rye with a rich parsley and garlic butter sauce, and a baked oyster topped with a Summit IPA Sabayon. These were paired with Summit Horizon Red Ale. An octopus carbonade made with Summit Pilsner was the hit of the soup trio, with little bacon-like bits of grilled octopus floating in a smokey, Dijon mustard flavored broth that smacked of cured meat. It was tasty, but also salty, a trend that continued for the rest of the meal. While I expected the ham hock to be salty, the saltiness of the sabayon on the oyster overpowered the sweetness of the oyster meat and the tarragon in the sauce. I found myself craving a Summit IPA to accompany these dishes.

A most intriguing pre-desert plate consisted of tiny bites of house-cured pork fatback and aspic with a streak of tart cranberry sauce. The aspic had a nicely sweet floral green tea flavor and the combination of the fatback with the cranberry sauce was to die for. Summit Great Northern Porter ended the meal paired with a rye éclair filled with hazelnut cream and topped with a porter ganache.

Following the dinner I led a Q&A session with Mike Lundell and Mark Stutrud. It was interesting to me to learn just how brewer-centered the Unchained Series is. It originated from a suggestion by the brewers and they have total control over it, with neither Stutrud nor the sales department having veto power over the beers that they create. As Lundell said of the process, “I was totally on my own.” Lundell has been working at Summit for thirteen years. He started as a bottler and worked his way up to brewer. He reported that he spent a lot of time tasting ingredients during the recipe formulation process, but said, “In the end I really didn’t know what it was going to taste like. I tasted it every couple days and then all of a sudden at about six weeks I tasted brown sugar. I ran around telling everyone, ‘I taste brown sugar. I taste molasses.’” In answer to the question “why rye?” he answered, “Rye not?” Lundell said that he is thrilled to have his beer celebrated at these release events, but gestured to those in attendance as he added, “It’s not really my beer. It’s all of theirs. I made it for all of them.”

[EDIT] Also check out Alli Wade’s write-up of the event on the Heavy Table with additional photos and menu descriptions.

Session #37: When to Drink the Good Stuff

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This is my first time participating in The Session, a first-Friday event in which a number of beer bloggers all post on the same theme. I’m a day late. So what. It’s just a beer blog. Next month I’ll try to be timelier. This month’s Session was hosted by The Ferm, with the theme of The Display Shelf – When to Drink the Good stuff.

Last summer I attended a BBQ at the home of the owner of my favorite local beer store. Of the actual party, no more will be spoken. Trust me, it’s for the best. However, I DO remember that we made several trips into the basement of his humble abode to survey and sample from the beer cellar. Atop what should have been a workbench were a collection of small refrigerators filled with beer, a fact that apparently caused his spouse some consternation. (Who hasn’t experienced that?) But I think my friend’s explanation to his wife perfectly sums up the rationale for the beer geek’s beer cellar. “The beers upstairs are the beers you drink. These are the beers you don’t drink.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Anyone who is at all serious about beer has a collection of “beers you don’t drink.” I myself have a good supply of saving beers stashed safely in the basement. There’s the vertical collection of Lee’s Harvest Ale from 1997 through 2009, the miscellaneous crusty bottles of Samuel Adams Triple Bock, and a couple of 1999 Thomas Hardy Ales to name just a few. And that doesn’t even count the cases of homebrewed barleywine, bretty imperial stout, and sour beers that I intentionally drink only very slowly.

My problem is not the “beers you don’t drink.” I’m fine with those. I don’t even worry particularly about finding the right occasion to open one. They are after all the “beers you don’t drink.” My problem is the sizeable collection of beers in my cellar that I never really meant to save. These are beers that I bought fully intending to drink that instead found their way to the basement only to be forgotten in the stacks of cases on the shelves. Some of these beers will age just fine. There are barleywines, imperial stouts, and a full case of sours among them. Some of them though were never intended for aging and won’t necessarily benefit from the passage of time. I’m talking about saisons, hop-heavy double IPAs, and the bottle of 2007 Left Hand Goosinator Smoked Doppelbock with the quarter inch of sediment on the bottom. With these beers it isn’t a question of finding the right occasion to drink them; it’s more a matter of finding any occasion. I simply have too much beer in the cellar and I’m constantly buying or being given more beer. I periodically impose beer-buying moratoriums on myself, but they never last. What am I thinking? I can only drink so much and the beers are piling up. I’m being buried in beer.

I realize that to some this might not seem like a problem. Perhaps I shouldn’t see it as one either. Perhaps I should start viewing these beers as experiments, controlled (or maybe not so controlled) explorations into the effects of ageing on beer. How long will a bottled hefeweizen last before it becomes undrinkable? What is the half-life of hop flavor? Can oxidation ever benefit a Belgian wit? Perhaps my cellar can yield valuable information that will forever change the way craft beer is packaged and stored. Perhaps I’ll go down in history as the one who finally cracked the code on this recently rediscovered practice of cellaring beer…

Or maybe not. While waiting for future beer writers to define my legacy I guess I’ll just have to keep plugging away. I think I’ll start bringing one beer a week up from the archives to be consumed and enjoyed. As someone said (I no longer remember who it was), “A beer not consumed is a beer wasted.” I don’t like to waste beer.

Summit Unchained #3: India Style Rye Ale

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Summit Brewing Company is celebrating the release of the third beer in their Unchained Series this week with events all over the Twin Cities metro. Following up on the success of the first two, German Style Kölsch and 90/- Scottish Style Ale, the third release is an India Style Rye Ale created by brewer Mike Lundell. According to Summit Founder and Brewmaster Mark Stutrud, “Mike’s India Style Rye Ale is a perfect addition to the Unchained Series and really speaks to Summit’s joy in knocking out bold, yet balanced flavor profiles.” I had the opportunity to taste it last night and will confirm that it is both bold and balanced. It upholds the high level of quality that has marked the Unchained Series so far. Here’s my notes:

India Style Rye Ale
Summit Brewing Company, St. Paul, Minnesota
Style: India Rye Ale
Serving Style: 12 oz. Bottle

Aroma: Malt balanced aromas of grain, bread crust and toast with hints of chocolate. Just the lightest kiss of caramel sweetness. Like rye bread without the caraway. Light lime/citrus hop aromas in the background. Clean, very low yeast-derived fruitiness.

Appearance: Dark amber and crystal clear. The full, fine-bubbled, off-white head collapsed fairly quickly into a fine film on the surface of the beer.

Flavor: Balanced with intense malt backed by a relatively high hop and roasted malt bitterness. A complex malty blend of flavors allows the spicy rye to shine. Toasted bread crust. Light chocolate and caramel. An assertive bite of roast in the finish. Caramel coffee notes become more pronounced as it warms. The roasted malt bitterness and rye spice complement the 60 IBUs of hop bitterness. Highly bitter but not so much as to overwhelm the malt. Hop flavors are restrained with just a very light citrus coming through. The well attenuated finish lingers on roasted rye and caramel.

Mouthfeel: Medium body. Medium carbonation. Dry and crisp.

Overall Impression: The bottle says that this is an India Style Rye Ale and rye is indeed king in this beer. From the spicy flavors of the malted and flaked rye to the roasted notes of the chocolate rye this beer shouts and screams rye. And that’s a good thing. I was expecting a typical hop-bomb American Rye IPA. I am happy that it was hopped with a light hand, achieving a beautiful balance. If I were looking for a flaw it might be that the roasted character seemed a bit heavy, particularly as the beer warmed. But that was a minor problem in what is otherwise another brilliant addition to the Unchained Series line-up. Well done!

Disclaimer: I will be moderating a Q & A with Mark Stutrud and brewer Mike Lundell tonight at Tracy’s Saloon as part of the release festivities. I received samples of the beer from Summit and will be attending the tasting dinner at Tracy’s as a guest. This did not influence my evaluation of this beer.

Beer and Appellation

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I speak a lot in my beer tasting events about the differences between beer and wine, one of which is appellation. So much about wine is determined by the earth in which the grapes are grown and the climate of the growing region. This is true down to the micro level with grapes on one slope making different wine from grapes grown on a nearby slope. This so-called “terroir” doesn’t hold true for beer. While there are differences in malt and hops from different regions, even when the same hop varieties are grown in different countries, pretty much any brewing ingredient is available to any brewer anywhere in the world, even homebrewers. If a brewer wants to make a traditional English ale with all English ingredients, they can. They can even alter the chemistry of their brewing water to mimic that of a particular city.

The only beer where the idea of terroir might truly be important is Lambic. Spontaneously fermented with the natural airborne yeast and bacteria from the area around Brussels, a traditional Belgian lambic cannot be exactly recreated anywhere else in the world. However, a bevy of American craft brewers have begun making their own spontaneously fermented brews. The question now is whether these beers can rightfully be called “lambic” or should they instead be called “lambic style.” Is Lambic an appellation or a brewing process?

Beer writer Steven Beaumont posted an interesting article about this question yesterday on Blogging at World of Beer. Check it out.

De Proef Signature Ale

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A couple of weeks ago I wrote about collaborative beers on my Hoppress blog over at Ratebeer. While somewhat suspicious and critical of this trend in brewing, I remain intrigued by these beers. What happens when great brewing minds get together? What magic might occur? One of the most interesting series of collaborations for me has been the Brewmaster’s Collaboration beers from De Proef Brouwerij in Belgium. Dirk Naudts started De Proef in 1996. His small-scale, high-tech operation has been churning out a whole line of great beers that are the product of the marriage of cutting-edge brewing technology and traditional brewing methods. Since 2007 he has been collaborating with leading American brewers to create the unique beers of the Brewmaster’s Collaboration series. I have previously written about Van Twee, the collaboration with Bell’s Brewing, and Les Deux Brasseurs, the collaboration with Jason Perkins of Allagash. Until recently I had not had the opportunity to taste Signature Ale, the first in the series brewed in 2007 with Lost Abbey’s Tomme Arthur. It has recently been re-released. Last week I walked into a Kansas City liquor store and there it was. So here’s my notes:

Signature Ale
De Proef Brouwerij, Lochristi, Belgium with Tomme Arthur of Pizza Port/Lost Abbey
Style: Something like an American IPA with Brettanomyces
Serving Style: 750 ML Bottle

Aroma: Floral notes dominate. Huge fruity brettanomyces character. Very little horsey funk at the beginning, but it becomes stronger as it warms. Light grainy malt sweetness fills in the background. Highly spicy like Indian food, floral coriander and cardamom. Hints of citrus. Very intriguing.

Appearance: Rich and creamy off-white head that lasts forever. Light copper with slightly pink highlights. Light haze.

Flavor: Most unique. East Asian coriander floweriness with deep pitchy resinous notes. A bitter bite at the end that sticks. Huge fruitiness – peach, pineapple, berries, tangerine candy. The full-flavored supporting grainy malt sweetness backs up the bitterness and gives the whole mélange of flavors a soft bed on which to rest. Light caramel touch. Like some kind of exotic Indian masala. Lingering sweetness in the finish that increases with warming.

Mouthfeel: Medium body with medium carbonation. Light bitter astringency. Somewhat creamy.

Overall Impression: Drink this with Indian food. An English IPA with American-like hops and funky wild goodness. All the contrasting flavors and styles balance out into a most interesting blend of flavors. Huge floral notes invite sip after sip.

Specialty Beer or Just Plain Beer?

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I was nearing the end of a long, snowy drive home from Kansas City the other day. I hit a spot where I couldn’t pick up NPR and clearly needed something to occupy my brain. I passed a billboard advertising a liquor store somewhere in southern Minnesota. The sign bore the proud declaration “Specialty Beer.” At that moment this sight filled me with mixed emotions. On the one hand I was happy to see a small town store advertising and selling better beer, although I have no idea what kind of selection they might actually have. On the other hand I found myself wondering how long the craft beer industry will be saddled with labels like “specialty” and “craft.”

Think about it. When you go into a liquor store they don’t have a separate section for wines that don’t come in a box. They don’t put a special label on the single malt scotch to suggest that it is anything other than scotch. I don’t believe I have ever seen a store, even those selling small artisanal labels, advertise “specialty vodka.” Wines and spirits may be organized by type, region, or even price, but seldom is the better stuff called “special.” Contrast this with beer where it is not uncommon to see the “beer” section brimming with twelve-packs of pale lagers and a physically separate “specialty beer” section with its rows of 22 oz and 750 ml bottles. I found myself wondering if this segregation was a good thing or a bad thing for the industry.

In the short term labels like “craft” or “specialty” draw attention to better beer and let consumers know that it isn’t the same old pale, tasteless brew that they may think of as beer. In the long term, however, I think it may serve to scare people off. Segregating craft beer from the rest of the beer universe makes it easier for those who haven’t yet stepped up to say, “Oh, that’s too dark for me” or “I don’t like that strong stuff.” It serves to alienate potential craft beer drinkers from a product that they may very well like. Or it might lead some to see it as something to be consumed only on special occasions. Separating it physically in the store from other beers certainly makes it easier for the casual beer drinker to overlook. I would bet that there is a whole set of beer customers at a store like Surdyk’s or Zipp’s in Minneapolis who are totally unaware that there is a special aisle for specialty beers.

If you think about it, the majority of craft beers available today are simply beer as it was up until about World War II when resource rationing and changing palates began the slide to the corn and rice lagers of today. In other words, it’s just beer. A pilsner or Munich dunkel in Germany is just beer. A bitter in England is just beer. Bottled versions of each would sit on store shelves alongside other beers without need of special categorization. I wonder how long it will take for Americans to see domestic craft beer and better imported beer as just “beer.” How long will it take for Lagunitas Pils to take its rightful place in the cooler somewhere in the vicinity of the other light-colored lagers instead of being relegated to the short-bus ghetto of the specialty aisle? When will we normalize the consumption of quality beer in the same way that we have normalized the consumption of fine wine and spirits?

The Saint from Crispin Cider

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A few days ago I posted about a Crispin Cider dinner I attended at A25. One of the highlights of that event was a pre-release sampling of The Saint, the new artisanal reserve release from Minneapolis based Crispin. I enjoyed it that night, but felt I should give it a proper tasting before writing more formal tasting notes. I know this is a beer blog, but many beer fans also like cider and this one is fermented with trappist ale yeast. Seems appropriate to me. Here’s my notes:

The Saint
Crispin Cider Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Hard Cider with Trappist Yeast and Organic Maple Syrup
Serving Style: 22 oz bottle

Aroma: Fresh fruit. Tart apples and pears. Hint of bready yeast. Light cotton candy/herbal Belgian yeast phenolics.

Appearance: Color is light straw and quite hazy. Be sure to rouse the yeast off the bottom of the bottle before you pour this one. Forms a light head on pouring that dissipates immediately into nothing.

Flavor: Sweet red apple skins with hints of pear as in the aroma. Tart apple rides the sides of the tongue in the middle. Towards the end the maple kicks in and lasts long after the swallow. The maple sweetness balances the tart apple. The flavor is there but not overwhelming. Throughout the Trappist yeast gives very pleasant marshmallow/herbal/vanilla notes. Light alcohol.

Mouthfeel: Gently sparkling. Medium body but with a mouth-filling roundness. Smooth and drinkable.

Overall Impression: Quite delightful. An easy-drinking mix of tart apple and maple sweetness. Intriguing yeast-derived flavors set it apart from other commercial ciders. Puts me in mind of some of the funkier French ciders, but not quite. If you like cider and Belgian ales then give this a try.

Brewdog/Schorschbräu Beer War Continues

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The silly battle of the booze continues.

Having seen their 31% Tactical Nuclear Penguin shot down by Schorschbräu’s 40% eisbock Schorschbock 40 and suffering the additional humiliation of Schorschbräu’s email offer to sell Brewdog the secret to achieving such stratospheric alcohol levels, the boys at Scotland’s Brewdog announced that their retaliation would be swift and severe. They have come back with a new WORLD’S STRONGEST BEER, a 41% IPA called Sink the Bismark that is reported to be brimming with American hops. Not known for subtlety, they have announced their triumph in this video from their blog.

Sink the Bismarck! from BrewDog on Vimeo.

Brewer Collaborations

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Collaborative brewing is the new big thing in the craft brewing world. American craft brewers are partnering with others both foreign and domestic to create some unique (and some not so unique) new beers. I talked to brewers here and abroad as well as consumers to get to the bottom of the trend. Read the results in my latest article at the Ratebeer.com Hoppress.

Beer 101 at the U of MN

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That’s right, a beer class at the University of Minnesota!

I’ll be teaching a course called A Perfect Pint: The Basics of Beer Tasting and Appreciation for the Compleat Scholar program at the College of Continuing Education. The course meets four consecutive Wednesday nights starting April 7th. Classes will be held at the University Club of St. Paul. Tuition is $160 and there is a $40 fee for beer. Follow the link to register. Here’s the course description:

Most people readily accept the notion that wine is a beverage worthy of contemplation and consideration. Recognition of the subtleties of varietals and terroir is firmly established. After 50 years of a market dominated by light lagers, the same cannot be said of beer. For most people beer is a pale-yellow, fizzy liquid with very little flavor and hopefully even fewer calories. But good beer never went away and is currently enjoying a worldwide renaissance driven by the emergence of small craft breweries throughout the United States. Well-crafted beer rivals wine for flavor and complexity. Join the instructor, a certified BeerCicerone, or beer adviser similar to a wine sommelier, for a course on the basics of beer tasting and appreciation. During each session you will learn about beer styles, ingredients, brewing processes, and history through presentations and tastings. You will gain an understanding of how ingredients such as hops, barley, and yeast contribute to the overall character of particular beers, as well as how regional, historical, and economic forces contributed to the emergence of particular types of beer.