Category Archives: Tasting Notes

These are my thoughts about various beers that I taste. Not as thorough as a review, but more than just casual drinking.

Summit Brewing Company Meridian Session Ale

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“New sells.” is the response I got from one Minnesota brewer when I asked about the plethora of new brews our legacy brewers are pumping out. Indeed, in today’s market it’s not enough to stand on your laurels. Innovation is the key to staying relevant.

Enter the Union Series from Summit Brewing Company. Union Series beers will be released “every so often” according to the brewery’s press release. For this series the Summit brewers are exploring the innovations being made in other sectors of the industry – malting and hop farming. Each beer will make extensive use of “new (and sometimes rare) hops and malts.”

Meridian Session Ale is the first beer in the series. As concocted by Head Brewer Damian McConn, it is a Belgian-style single (think a sessionable version of a Belgian tripel) that is brewed with Concerto malt and Meridian hops. Concerto is a pale malt from Norfolk, the prime barley growing region of Southeast England. It is said to deliver bready and toasty qualities. Meridian hops were discovered accidentally by an Oregon hop grower attempting to resurrect an older sister variety to Willamette. They are said to bring flavors of lemon and fruit punch.

Here’s my notes:

Meridian Session Ale
Summit Brewing Company, St. Paul, Minnesota
Style: Belgian Single
Serving Style: 12 oz. bottle

Aroma: Full-bore nose emphasizing grainy and sugary malt and yeast blend with tantalizing toasted notes. Malt dominates, but hops lend a wisp of lemony citrus and herbs, underscored by hints of stone fruits.

Appearance: Deeply golden with a slight haze. Dense head of fluffy, white foam that sticks around and around.

Flavor: A delicate balance of malt, hops, and yeast. Malt gives sugary sweetness and dry toast. Bitterness is moderate, but accentuated by the desert-dry finish. It tarries a while after swallowing. Hop flavors stress lemon zest. Tropical fruit punch comes in the middle and it really does taste like fruit punch. Belgian-yeasty, cotton-candy character and spicy black pepper rounds things out. Sometimes each flavor stands out alone. Others times they all meld into one.

Mouthfeel: Light body. Medium carbonation. Slight astringency.

Overall Impression: Very refreshing, but with intriguing depth. Will be a nice springtime beer if spring ever arrives. If I had any criticism it’s that it could maybe stand a touch more carbonation. This is a great beer to pair with spring veggies like asparagus and ramps.

Summit Unchained #12: 100% Organic Ale

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Gabe Smoley is one of the newest brewers at Summit Brewing Company. Unchained #12: 100% Organic Ale is his first entry into the Unchained Series. He went all out to make a certified, 100% organic brew. Says he, “Most USDA certified organic beers on the market are about 95-99.9% organic because it is extremely difficult to find ingredients like organic yeast. This beer is made with 100% organic ingredients including malts, hops and yeast. Summit microbiologist James Fetherston and I worked together to create our own certified organic yeast strain to do this, as there are virtually no organic strains available from laboratories.”

The aim was to craft a light, yet bracing beer appropriate for spring; a move away from the heavy beers of winter, with a hoppy kick to mimic the lingering cold. Drinkers who are too tied to the style guidelines may take issue with calling this an IPA, but they do say “sessionable IPA.” Just drink it and enjoy it for what it is, whatever that may be.

100% Organic Ale launches this week with meet-the-brewer events at bars around the Metro.

March 12: Release Party/Meet the Brewer – House of Pizza, Sartel, 5-7 pm
March 13: Meet the brewer – Brasa St. Paul, 6-8 pm – Brasa St. Paul and Minneapolis will also feature Unchained 12 food pairings from 5-9 pm
March 14: “Hoppy Meals” pairings – Republic Uptown, 4-6 pm; Republic Seven Corners, 7-9 pm
March 15: Firkin Friday with Organic Ale cask – Grumpy’s NE, 4 pm
March 21: Meet Gabe and sample Organic Ale – Four Firkins, 6-8 pm
March 28: Flight Night at Ginger Hop featuring Organic Ale. Flights include four Summit beers total.

Here’s my notes:

Organic-Ale-BTL-web2Unchained #12: 100% Organic Ale
Summit Brewing Company, St. Paul, Minnesota
Style: “Session” IPA
Serving Style: 12 oz. bottle

Aroma: Big aromatics from a fairly small beer. Hops hit the nose first – floral and citrus. Biscuity malt comes in shortly to offer support. Nicely balanced between the two. An undercurrent of candied fruit throughout.

Appearance: Dark golden color and clear. The off-white head is full, creamy, and very persistent. Settled after a long while to a sustained film on the surface.

Flavor: Light and refreshing. Very dry with pithy bitterness that lingers well into the finish. Floral and lemon-lime citrus hop flavors carry through from beginning to end. Some peppery spice in there as well. The malt fills in lightly underneath with a biscuit character that brings a vaguely English flair. It offers enough sweetness to temper the hops, but not quite enough to balance.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light body. Medium-high carbonation.

Overall Impression: This one leans a bit more to hops than I would like, but then that’s kind of the point of the beer. It’s close, but a hint more malt to back up the bitterness would have been welcome on my palate. Brewer Smoley says to drink this around 40°F. I would suggest a higher temperature to bring out more of the malt. While style-sticklers will have issues with calling this an “IPA,” it fits the brewer’s description of “sessionable IPA” quite nicely; light like a pale ale, but with a bigger hop load.

Professor Fritz Briem Grodziskie

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Once upon a time “white” beers were brewed across the European continent. These wheat-based brews encompassed a great breadth of flavors. Some remnants still exist – Hefeweizen, Belgian Witbier, Gose, and Berliner Weiss – although the latter three are styles that very nearly went extinct. Another white beer style to be recently resurrected from the dead is Grodziskie, also called Grätzer.

Grodziskie is a tart and smoky wheat beer from the Polish town of Grodzisk (Grätz in German) that is thought to have first been brewed sometime in the 1400s. It was once popular across northern Germany. Although the style survived into the late 20th-century, the last brewery producing it closed in the mid-1990s.

Sometime around 2007 a Polish businessman bought the brewery and began making the beer again using the original yeast strain that had been preserved by the brewmaster. Since then the style has seen a comeback as several American and European breweries have begun producing it. Locally, Pour Decisions Brewing Company in Roseville makes a rather tasty example on an occasional basis.

Grodziskie is a low-alcohol brew in the range of 4% ABV that is brewed from oak-smoked wheat malt. While it is agreed by all that it is a top-fermented beer, there is disagreement on whether or not there was some sort of lactic fermentation involved. Some reports that I found reference a sour-mash process, which would have introduced some lactobacillus to the mix for a bit of yogurt-like tartness. Others make no mention of any sourness at all.

The Fritz Briem version is reportedly brewed according to an historic recipe. It uses barley malt and wheat malt smoked with beechwood instead of oak. A sour mash is employed for some smoke-cutting acidity.

Here’s my notes:

Fritz Briem GrätzerGrodziskie
Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan, Freising, Germany
Style: Grodziskie or Grätzer
Serving Style: 16.9 oz. bottle

Aroma: Aromatics are low. Smoke is dominant, but doesn’t dominate. It’s a woody smoke, not the meaty smoke of a Rauchbier. Crackery wheat stays just below the surface.

Appearance: Deep golden with a slight haze. Nice head of rocky, white foam that dissipated relatively quickly – surprisingly quickly for a wheat beer.

Flavor: Sharp wheat and smoke come in on almost equal footing. Smoke is subtle compared to a Rauchbier, and more woody than meaty. Bitterness is relatively high and accentuated by the well-attenuated, crisp, dry finish. It leaves a cooling feeling at the back of the throat. Spicy hop flavors play nicely with the smoke. Light lactic acidity leaves an impression of lemony citrus. I get a slight saltiness mid-palate. The taste of wheat lingers after swallowing.

Mouthfeel: Light body. Medium-high carbonation.

Overall Impression: A refreshing and unique wheat beer that manages to be feather-light and deeply complex at the same time. The smoke is nicely balanced with the wheat and not at all overpowering. Lemony, lactic tartness cuts through them both. Nothing overwhelms. Like a well-prepared dish, everything can be tasted on its own, but it all hangs together as a piece.

Magic Hat Ticket to Rye IPA

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For the last couple of years Magic Hat Brewing Company has been releasing a string of one-off, seasonal IPAs in what they call the IPA on Tour series. I’ve tasted several of them and honestly I haven’t been that impressed. Some were too bitter for my taste. I prefer the juicy/earthy/floral flavors and smells of hops’ essential oils over the tongue-scraping effects of alpha acids. Others have just not been all that interesting.  The newest one, Ticket to Rye, is different. For one thing it has rye. I like rye. It also has an interesting malt profile. I like malt.

Here’s my notes:

Magic-Hat-Ticket-to-Rye-IPATicket to Rye
Magic Hat Brewing Company, Burlington, Vermont
Style: Rye IPA
Serving Style: 12 oz. bottle

Aroma: Flowers and grapefruit. Resiny notes come in as it warms. Loads of toffee malt to support the lighter components.

Appearance: Dark amber with a mild haze. Voluminous, off-white head. Creamy-rich and very persistent.

Flavor: It has a very English character. The first thing that pops out is toffee and caramel malt. Luscious and slightly sweet. Stony bitterness hits mid-palate. It’s modest for an IPA, but it lingers long after swallowing. Orange citrus notes that seem to come from both yeast and hops give a delightful candy-like character. The earthy spice of rye is subtle, just enough to add a bit of depth.

Mouthfeel: Medium body with some creaminess. Carbonation is medium-low.

Overall Impression: The toffee presence of the malt and that orange marmalade overtone give this beer a very English character. It’s malty for an IPA, making it more like an amber or red ale. That’s a-okay for me though. It puts it right in my wheelhouse. I found this to be a most-tasty beer. I’d pick up a sixpack of it.

Lucid Brewing Duce

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Lucid Brewing has recently released two new big-bottle beers. The first is Craig’s Ale, number one of their homebrewer collaboration beers. The second is a 7.5%, oak-aged, imperial red ale called Duce. It’s pronounced doo-chay, like Il Duce, the name given to Italian National Fascist Party leader Benito Mussolini who ruled the country before and during World War II. I’m not sure about that as a name for a beer, but whatever. I had a chance to taste this woody brew.

Here’s my notes:

Lucid DuceDuce
Lucid Brewing, Minnetonka, Minnesota
Style: Oak Aged Imperial Red Ale
Serving Style: 750 ml bottle

Aroma: Caramel malt and woody oak. The wood dominates but malty sweetness offers some balance. A touch of herbal – almost minty – hops in the background.

Appearance: Dark amber/red color and crystal clear. Voluminous, beige head that is creamy-rich and very persistent.

Flavor: Woody oak dominates, presenting some cabernet-like tannins. Caramel malt sweetness offers some support, but not enough to overcome it. The balance does even out some as the beer warms and the caramel comes more to the fore. A faint touch of roastiness adds a bit of interest to the malt. Bitterness is medium-low. There are some low-level herbal hop notes. Dig deep and you will find dark fruits in there as well. Alcohol is there, but not offensive.

Mouthfeel: Super creamy with a medium-full body. Medium to medium-low carbonation. Warming alcohol.

Overall Impression: To my palate, the wood comes on a little strong in this one. This is a shame, because it obscures what seems like a darn tasty base beer. I’m not sure if this is 100% oaked beer, but that would be my guess. A bit of back-blending with some un-oaked beer would have delivered better balance and a better beer.

Summit and Smashburger Team Up for Beer & Burger Pairings

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Summit Brewing Company and Smashburger are pairing up to bring beer and burger pairings to the Twin cities. The collaboration could be seen as a partnering of pioneers in a way; Summit an original in Minnesota’s better beer scene and Smashburger the leader in what they call “better burger” restaurants.

Actually the Denver-based burger franchise has introduced some interesting innovations to fast food fare. They use all Angus beef, for one thing.  Their menus allow for regional inspiration. While there are some standard sandies across the chain, each location creates special burgers tailored to local foodways, such as the Twin Cities burger with garlic-grilled onions reflecting the regional love-affair with the onion. I didn’t know that we had a love affair with onions, but that’s something I learned during a special media tasting prior to the pairings launch. In terms of the beer and burger program, the company is working with a different brewers in every city to create pairings that are unique to the market.

Smashburger takes its name from their process of smashing the burgers onto the griddle while cooking them. This creates a caramelized crust on one side and seals in the juices, according to founder Tom Ryan. They do make a juicy patty. I’m not sure how innovative the burger smash is. It seems to me Steak & Shake has been smashing since the 1930s. But Smashburger does it with a patent-pending, cookie-cutter-like gizmo as seen in this video of Mr. Ryan making a burger.

Ryan worked with Summit Head Brewer Damian McConn to come up with eight pairings for the Twin Cities stores. How did they do? Well, let’s take a look.

Classic Burger & Summit EPA

Classic Smashburger & Extra Pale Ale: A pairing of classic with classic. This one didn’t do much for me. Both beer and burger are good. I’m a big fan of EPA and I like a plain ‘ol burger, but together they were just sort of “meh.” I also think that the burger overpowered the beer a little bit and made it seem bitterer than normal. Maybe it was the smash sauce – a combination of mayo, mustard, relish and lemon. I’ll say this though, the burger had ketchup on it. I hate ketchup and always have. It didn’t really taste like ketchup. Nice!

Mushroom Swiss Burger & Great Northern Porter

Mushroom Swiss Burger & Great Northern Porter: This was lovely. The combination brought out an earthiness in each part and there was umami on top of umami. Caramel malt spoke to caramelized beef crust. This was probably my second favorite combination. I was happy to learn that the mushrooms are crimini mushrooms, sliced fresh for each order.

BBQ Bacon and Cheddar Burger & Horizon Red Ale

BBQ Bacon and Cheddar Burger & Horizon Red Ale: This is the best pairing of the bunch. The caramel and citrus in the beer play very well with the tangy BBQ sauce. The pairing emphasized the hops in the beer, making it seem almost IPA-like. And again there’s that caramel to caramel handshake. And who doesn’t love bacon and beer?

Avocado Club Burger & Summit Pilsner

Avocado Club Burger & Pilsner: This was one of two pairings that were described as difficult to deal with. That’s because they really needed Summit Hefeweizen, which has been discontinued. The sliced avocado, smoked bacon, and ranch dressing on the burger would have been splendid with a hef. The pilsner brought out the bacon and cut through the fat, but spicy hops clashed a bit. It was the best pairing with the Summit lineup, but it wasn’t quite wonderful.

Twin Cities Burger & Summit EPA

Twin Cities Burger & Extra Pale Ale: Between caramelized onion, caramelized meat crust, and loads of cheese, this is one rich burger. The EPA did the job cutting right through it. All that caramelization brought out the maltiness in the beer, giving a more balanced impression than with the Classic burger. This pairing really worked.

Spicy Baja Burger & Saga IPA

Spicy Baja Burger & Saga IPA: Do hops amplify or dampen chili pepper heat? That’s the age old question in the beer-food pairing biz. I happen to think they do both; amplify first and then clear away. This burger is all about peppers. The heat of pepper jack cheese, chipotle mayonnaise, and raw jalapeno slices gives it a real kick that is tempered a bit by creamy guacamole.  Saga IPA was up to the task and the hops did just what they do. The citrusy flavors offered a nice contrast to the savory and spice of the burger. My mouth was left with a nice level of lingering heat.

Cucumber Goat Cheese Chicken Sandwich & Summit Pilsner

Cucumber and Goat Cheese Chicken Sandwich & Pilsner: This was the other sandwich that needed the hefeweizen. Let’s face it – chicken, spinach, goat cheese and cucumbers – a hefeweizen would have been great with every element of this sandwich. Pilsner again was the best choice from the Summit lineup, but it just didn’t quite do the trick. This was one of my favorite sandwiches though.

Crispy Buffalo Chicken Sandwich & India Pale Ale

Crispy Buffalo Chicken Sandwich & India Pale Ale: Spicy buffalo sauce and blue cheese paired with a balanced, English-style IPA. The beer is bitter enough to stare down the buffalo, but ample caramel malt keeps the combination from overheating. And blue cheese with English IPA simply can’t be beat. This was my third favorite pairing of the night.

Worthington’s White Shield IPA

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For those wishing to know what India pale ale was in the 19th-century, Worthington’s White Shield might be the best hope. It originally appeared as Worthington’s East India Pale Ale in 1829. According to a former brewer, “it has remained pretty much unchanged ever since.” While changes in ingredients and brewing systems over the years make it impossible to recreate a beer from 200 years ago, White Shield at least offers a singular, continuous connection to the heyday of the Burton pale ale brewers.

I had heard much about this beer before it became available locally. British beer writers that I read and respect, including the late Michael Jackson, have penned thousands of words of praise. Hyped beers are always suspect. Will they live up to the talk?

Here’s my notes:

Worthington's White ShieldWorthington’s White Shield
MolsonCoors/White Shield Brewery, Burton-on-Trent, England
Style: English IPA
Serving Style: 500 ml bottle

Aroma: Aromatics are mild overall. Nutty, grainy malt is the dominant note with some English biscuit overtones. Hops are light, giving an herbal/orange impression that is supported by subtle fruity esters. Maybe the lightest touch of earthy Brettanomyces. There’s something earthy way back there anyway.

Appearance: Copper colored with a slight haze. Pours with a full, fluffy, off-white head that stands tall atop the glass and sticks around forever.

Flavor: This is a super-balanced IPA. The malt is delightful – rich caramel, biscuit, and toasted cereal notes. I get the sense of oats even though I don’t believe oats are part of the mix. Moderate sweetness is balanced by stony, pithy bitterness. It’s bitter, but not excessive. Hop flavors blend with fermentation esters to bring lemon and orange marmalade with touches of herbs and earth. Again there is a suggestion of earthy Brett. This well-attenuated beer goes out with a dry finish. Bitterness hangs pleasantly after swallowing.

Mouthfeel: Medium body and medium carbonation. Very well attenuated but smooth. I get that slick sensation of oats again.

Overall Impression: I have heard much about this beer from respected beer writers. Beers with too much hype generally make me nervous. They so seldom live up to expectation. This one does. The flavors are extremely well articulated and layered. You taste everything. A true English-style IPA, it’s not all about hops. Balancing malt is equally important and it is exquisite. It’s also only 5.6% ABV. Although it probably won’t satisfy American hopheads, this just became one of my favorite IPAs.

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.