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Beer Reviews |
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Édition 2004. 10.5%. Unibroue, Chambly, Quebec.
This beer, from one of the consistently good brewers in North America, is simply splendid. The brewer (in an e-mail to me, requested because there is no info in the web site about this beer) describes it this way: Edition 2004 is a refermented double, 10.5% alc./vol., amber with orange It is one of those beers that you should buy if you see it in its corked bottle. I tasted it at a lunch with a friend and found it very fruity and malty, with hints of orange. It exudes alcohol after the head has dissipated, which takes a while. This brewer makes wonderful Belgian-style beers “on lees” (on yeast), including the white Blanche de Chambly and the superb Fin du Monde, among many others. I would recommend going through their beers one by one. NOTE: Unibroue now has an Édition 2005 in stores. Édition 2004 will probably become a rarer find. We will review the 2005 version when we have the opportunity. As of February, 2006 they have not put this beer on their web site. Goose Island January, 2006 Beer Academy: Winter Warmers I attended this event on Wednesday, January 25. It was billed as the “Winter Warmers” tasting, formerly known as the Barleywine tasting. Since the beers ranged all over the style map, and since all of them were 7% abv or above, the proper title for the event would be “The Strong Beer Tasting.” All ten beers were domestic products, so the event belongs here on the North American Beers page. I can say with assurance that it was a very good thing that my friend Rob and I had something substantial to eat before the event; and that it was a very good thing that I was using the Chicago Transit Authority El for transportation. By the way, Goose Island’s mussels appetizer, which was one of the things we had, is superb. Here’s the menu entry: One pound of black mussels steamed with our 312 Urban Wheat [Ale], andouille sausage, red potatoes and onions. Served with freshly baked [and garlic-buttered] sourdough bread. But we digress. The Beers. The notes in quotes are from the Goose Island description sheet. The numeric ratings are on a scale of 1 (worst) to 10 (best). 2005 Brewmaster’s Reserve (Anheuser-Busch, St. Louis, MO) - 8.5%. “Originally a celebration beer available exclusively to A-B employees, it is now available to the public [the company web site does not acknowledge this beer’s existence]. This beer is made from first runnings of wort from the ?? brew.” The question marks indicate a piece of information that A-B would not disclose - that is, whether it was a Budweiser, Michelob, or other brew it came from. In tasting, I found this beer not discernibly higher in gravity from the standard A-B fare. It had a nice lager flavor but the taste was not particularly distinctive. Like most mass-market beers, it had not a hint of hop. Even with the high abv, not a hint of alcohol could be found in the initial nose. It comes in a very nice special presentation box and a Grolsch-type 1 quart, 14.5 oz. bottle. A decent effort that I grade at 5. Inaugural Brew Grand Cru (Stone Cellar Brewpub, Appleton, WI). 7.4%. “A Belgian-style ale donated by the brewmaster, Steve Lonsway, down from Appleton, WI to see the Bears lose. . . It is brewed each year for the brewpub’s anniversary and won a silver medal at the ‘05 NABA [North American Brewers Association Awards].” The beer is not mentioned on the brewpub’s web site. This was a tasty, relatively high-gravity beer with a spicy background flavor and enough sweetness to suggest the use of a candy sugar. I had hardly enough to get a good lengthy taste, but found it a very good effort. I grade it a 6.5. Blitzen (Rock Bottom Brewery, Chicago, IL). 11+%. “A Belgian-style strong ale from the Brewpub Shootout winning Rock Bottom downtown. This winter warmer was brewed with white candy sugar and orange peel.” The beer is not mentioned on the Chicago Rock Bottom llocation web site. The beer had an initial aroma of orange and alcohol was wafting off it (no surprise). It had a wonderful flavor - sweet, spicy and orangey. The high gravity of this beer is easily detectable. The brew crosses the palate with multiple flavors - wine, orange, great strong malt. A superb beer. Peter L Crowley, the RB-Chicago brewmaster was present at the tasting. According to Crowley, the beer was “fermented out forever.” He said, “It’s more like 12% than 11%.” I rate it 8.5 Double Red (Goose Island Brewery, Chicago, IL). 8%. “A winter version of our Celebration Red Ale [a stock ale from the brewery/bottling company]. This special version was aged an additional 6 weeks with toasted applewood chips and [dry hopped with] whole Cascade hops.” Simply a beautiful beer. Very strong hop aroma - could smell the hops from a foot away - and a drift of alcohol off the top of the beer. Clearly a high-gravity beer, sweet, great hop flavor (I belched hops, so that will tell you something). The applewood leaves a discernible flavoring of its own. It is both dry and sweet at different locations in the mouth (according to the brewer, the applewood dries it). I grade it a 9.5. Widdershins (Left Hand Brewing Company, Longmont, CO). 8.8%. Note that at this date the company’s web site is being re-designed. The old web site is still available, and a description of Widdershins is on it. “An oak-aged barleywine from Longmont, CO. This 2004 version was aged in wine barrels for 9+ months. 5 hop varieties were used to balance big malt.” The web site says that this beer comes in at 70 IBUs (International Bitterness Units), which is quite believable. It has a very fine flavor, a sweet aroma with lots of alcohol drifting off of it. It carries a strong flavor of the wine cask both front and back of the tongue. A very complex combination of malt, wine and high hop characterize it. Just an incredible panoply of flavors. It is hugely malty, but nicely balanced. Very sneaky potion. I grade it 9.5. “Widdershins,” by the way, is a lovely descriptive that means “In a contrary or counterclockwise direction.” Dragon’s Milk (New Holland Brewing Company, Holland, MI). 9%. “This is part of the High Gravity Series from the brewery in Holland, MI. Aged over 100 days in bourbon barrels.” Of the High Gravity Series the brewer says this: “Four style of beers in our High Gravity Series are released in a given year, each a celebration of our love of beer. This series is an opportunity to showcase the artistic talents of our brewers. And they can express themselves without regard to cost of materials or popular public taste. Each batch contains a minimum of twice the ingredients of our regular brews, ages in our cellar for at least six times as long, and is significantly more complex to brew. We think you'll like what our brewers produce! High Gravity Series beers are produced in very limited quantities, so grab some while you can.” The beer has a very strong malt nose. At first taste it is both sour and sweet - a splendid combination. This is a very heavy gravity brew with great complexity. The alcohol is noticeable both in favor and aroma, even after tasting. One can taste the bourbon-barrel flavor as well. According to the brewer (to whom our host had spoken), they didn’t brew it into a category, they just brewed it. Its specific gravity is somewhere in excess of 1.100. The brewer says to “expect a complex ale with a soft, rich caramel-malt character intermingled with deep vanilla traces.” What he said. I rate it a 9.0 Back to Top
“A barelywine-style ale from Denver, CO. Brewed with Perle, Northern Brewer, and Cascade hops, this high gravity brew should cellar nicely.” According to the brewer, “Horn Dog is a dark, and malty beer that is aged for a minimum of three months before being packaged. Like a fine wine, as long as it is kept at cellar temperatures this beer only gets better with age.” The brewer states that its original gravity is 1.100 and it has 44 IBUs. It has a strong malt and alcohol (as you might expect) nose and a very strong malt flavor profile. No hop in the initial taste, but a very strong hop follow. It leaves a sweet after-tasted that lingers. An excellent beer. Grade 9.0. Winter Ale (Mendocino Brewing Company, Hopland, CA) 9%. “This brew is an Imperial I.P.A. [India Pale Ale] brewed with Cascade, Amarillo, and Simcoe hops. Though the original brewpub was established in the Califormia town of Hopland, the beer we get is brewed in NY [at Olde Saratoga Brewing Company in Saratoga Springs].” The brew has a medium hop nose, then a huge hop front-end in the tasting. The hops almost overwhelm the strong malt of the beer. It is a very good tasting beer, not especially complex. It’s really an IPA. Grade 8.0 Imperial I.P.A. (Goose Island Brewery, Chicago, IL). 9%. “One of the most popular beers in the Reserve line of beers. Though targeted for 100+ IBUs, there are 75 in the finished product (1/3 more than the IPA).” This beer presented with a very strong hop nose and high alcohol aroma. The front end was almost all hop (what else would it be?), but had a nice and subtle malt background. A very good, though not complex, beer. Their standard I.P.A. is 5.5 % abv with 57 IBUs. On this one the brewer said they “pushed hops to the limit.” Grade: 8.5. Imperial Pilsner (Samuel Adams/Boston Beer Company, Boston, MA). 9%. “A winter warmer brewed with an “almost reckless amount” of whole hops from the 2005 harvest in the region of Hallertau, Germany.” The brew presented with not much of a hop aroma, but with a huge hop front end in the taste. Very malty, with a lovely complexity across the palate. A really good beer, a truly hoppy winter warmer. Grade: 8.0 Also from Goose Island Clybourn Brewpub (same day, but before the tasting) . . . The hand-pulled, cask conditioned brew of the day was Russian Imperial Stout (ca. 9% abv), brewed occasionally at the pub and always excellent even out of the regular taps. This one was served warmish, of course, what with being hand-pulled from a cask sitting under the bar. It was served in a snifter (because of its high alcohol content). It has the flavor one would expect from a chocolate stout malt, but it was rounder than most stouts and had a lovely balance between sweetness and hoppiness. If you happen to be around when this beer is on tap, get it. Then get more of it. Sahti - 6.2%. This is a beer worth the annual pilgrimage for when it arrives at the taps. The brewer describes it this way: “A very unique and authentic beer of Finnish and Estonian origin, Sahti is traditionally prepared for the holiday season. Made using a large percentage of rye malt along with pale malt and oats that are spiced with juniper "beeries" to add a distinct fruity flavor. The perfect beer to celebrate the holiday season. Served in a tulip glass for $5.” Not too many beers are brewed with rye malt to begin with (it’s a touchy grain with which to brew, given the malt’s tendency to high viscosity and stickiness), but a rye malt adds a distinct flavor to the beer. Oats aren’t all that much brewing fun either, but also add distinctive flavor to a beer. Sahti is one of the great beers that the Goose brews for the holidays. It is quite complex, very malty (as you might expect) and has the taste of juniper in the place of hops. This beer is one of the reasons one can call Goose Island one of the great places on our earth. Poor Richard’s Ale - 6.5%. John Hall, Goose Island President, was instrumental in getting this beer brewed by 100 breweries and brewpubs nationwide. Here’s the story: “This beer was brewed at breweries nationwide for the 300th anniversary of Benjamin Franklin’s birthday. With a recipe of molasses and locally grown corn, it is a beer that resembles one that Ben himself might have brewed. It is moderately strong with an inviting copper hue, and has a complex aroma with a pleasant malt character and a slight molasses spiced undertone. Served in a Pint glass.” New Holland Brewery in Holland, MI, was one of the breweries that participated. Their take on it: “During January, New Holland Brewing Company joins 100 brewers in 35 states in honoring Benjamin Franklin's 300th birthday by serving Poor Richard's Ale, a beer specially brewed for the occasion. Formulated to resemble a quaff that Franklin himself might have enjoyed, Poor Richard's Ale offers the perfect beverage for toasting a man some call "The First American".” This ale is unusual for 21st century drinkers in that it is completely unhopped (since one of the distinctions in Colonial America between ale and beer was that ”ale” was unhopped and “beer” hopped). It is as described: a malty, sweetish molasses aroma and quite a malty flavor. A very nice addition. And beyond Goose Island . . . Silver Jubilee Belgian Style Farmhouse Ale (North Coast Brewing Company, Fort Bragg, CA) 7.3%. Unfortunately, no info on this beer at the web site. It describes itself on the label: “Silver Jubilee 25th Anniversary Ale is a rustic ale, pale in color, inspired by the rich brewing traditions of the Flanders region. Abundant hops and a Belgian yeast strain contribute exotic aromas of tropical fruit.” We’ll trust the writer about the inspiration and attest to the truth of the rest of it. I bought the beer at Whole Foods (about which, with respect to this brewer, more below) only because it was a corked pint bottle and I wanted something different but not a whole lot of it. I uncorked it and immediately got a very nice whiff of something quite fruity. It poured (into a Duvel glass) with a great tight head that dissipated very slowly, leaving some “Belgian lace,” a good sign. The first taste was, well, excellent: very malty and yeasty with a subtle but clear hop background. The second taste showed it to be a substantial beer, nice gravity, and a treat all the way across the palate. It is one of the best tasting farmhouse ales I’ve ever had. Some of them tend to be, for whatever reason (probably mostly how they’re handled and shelved), musty and a bit harsh. Not a bit of that here. One caution: the beer is quite pricey - $7.99 for the 16.9 oz. Further information on Silver Jubilee: I wrote to North Coast asking about this beer, lacking web site info, telling them how much I liked this beer and asking for additional G2. I got a reply from Mark Ruedrich, President and Brewmaster. The salient part of of his reply is: The Silver Jubilee was commissioned by Whole Foods Market to commemorate their 25th Anniversary. We produced about 2200 cases only as a one-time deal. It's not on our website because alcohol laws in certain states forbid us from advertising for a retailer (free goods). It's complicated, sometimes ridiculous, and varies from state to state. Glad you enjoyed the beer. Although we have brewed a number of Belgian inspired beers over the years, including our PranQster, this was our first beer produced with this particular yeast. We like it, too. My thanks to Mark. Good info. See below for more on the North Coast - Whole Foods relationship. Now, as for Whole Foods - here’s the news North Coast has posted on their site: Whole Foods Markets has chosen North Coast Brewing to produce two new private label beers for sale in their stores across the U.S. The beers have received the coveted Whole Foods AFA designation marking them as coming from authentic food artisans and having passed some very tough Whole Foods tasting panels. The beers are terrific. I will be on the lookout for these beers. So should you be. Link Blanche de Chambly (Unibroue, Chambly, Quebec) 5.0%.
The brewer says of this beer: In the spring of 1992, Unibroue marketed its first beer on lees [with yeast in the bottle], the Blanche de Chambly. It contains 5 percent alcohol and is produced from an interesting blend of unmalted Quebec wheat and pale barley malt, to which spices and natural aromatics are added, along with a light hopping. It is a fine white ale, very reminiscent of the lost and lamented Celis White. The beer pours with a nice head that takes a while to dissipate. Its aroma is orangey and yeasty, and this carries over into the first taste. It is, indeed, cloudy and whitish in the glass. This is perhaps the best North American example of a white ale. Excellent. Raftman (Unibroue, Chambly, Quebec) 5.5%.
The bottle says: This full-bodied beer, brewed from deliciously smoked whisky malt, offers a subtle bouquet and a delicious lingering aftertaste. Brewed in memory of those bygone masters of the forest who were always amenable to settling their differences over a beer and a shot of whisky. And the web page says: Launched in March 1995, Raftman is a beer with a coral sheen that is slightly robust. It contains 5.5 percent alcohol and combines the character of whisky malt with the smooth flavours of choice yeast. It has a subtle and exceptional bouquet that creates a persistent smooth feel. It pours with a head that leaves some lace behind. It is light in color and cloudy with an initial apple-wood flavor (identified by my beer companion, Rob Cannon) and lots of yeast in the brew. It has a yeasty and smoky follow. This is a very complex beer, worth savoring to pick up the multiple flavors. Oatmeal Stout (Breckenridge Brewery, Denver, CO) 4.95%.
A very dark, creamy stout, about which the brewer says: Rich, round and roasted, our stout is satisfaction in a glass. It's a bold, smooth-bodied concoction that oozes dark-roasted coffee aromas and flavors of espresso and semi-sweet chocolate. We round out these heady pleasures with a dose of flaked oatmeal for a creamy body and a semi-dry finish; and of the flavor, Chocolate coffee maltiness, round oatmeal mouthfeel with very slight hop character. It does, in fact, have a very chocolatey taste, with a slight hop background. This is one of many available oatmeal stouts, and one worth finding. from a visit to Goose Island Clybourn Brewpub prior to the February, 2006 Beer Academy The folks at Goose Island are people I really like. So I don’t want to be overly critical of what they do - honest, yes, but not carpy. I do, however, have a complaint. When my friend Rob and I visited for the previous Beer Academy, we decided to have three appetizer to split, since they were 1/2 price. We happened to choose the Ale Steamed Mussels as one appetizer. They were, to say the least, heavenly. This version of them had bits of sausage cooked into the sauce, an addition, it turns out, that made them so good. How do I know? When Rob and I again ordered three appetizers for this month’s pre-Beer-Academy repast, we were VERY disappointed by the mussels. Someone had, without customer authorization, removed the sausage from the sauce. They have gone from heavenly to emphatically average. Mussels are almost always at least emphatically average unless the cook turns them into rubber bands. The cook has not done that. But the cook has spoiled a perfectly good dish for no reason we can discern. BRING BACK THE SAUSAGE, WE SAY! Now, here are the beers I tasted prior to the Academy. Little Abe - 3.8%. The pub’s story on this brew: A “small beer” made from the second runnings of our “Old Aberration Barleywine”. A light malt character with a centennial hop middle and a clean dry finish. An “AbeNormally” drinkable brew. Served in a Pint glass. The beer has a slight hop flavor and finish. It’s a very decent pub ale that is not particularly distinctive, but a good quaffing beer. American Pale Ale - 5.4%. An American version of an I.P.A. The menu says: Our A.P.A was inspired by the hoppy pale ales of the Pacific Northwest. This brilliant gold colored ale is medium bodied with a touch of sweetness. It uses lots of U.S. Cascade hops for a citrusy floral aroma and flavor without being too bitter. West Coast taste made here in Chicago. Served in a Pint glass. It’s a very tasty, hoppy beer with a floral nose, as described, and a “Sierra Nevada Pale” character, but, naturally, fresher. Very good. Goose Island February, 2006 Beer Academy: Stouts NOTE: a few of the beers reviewed here are not “North American” beers, but are here because they were part of the Stouts tasting. I have copied the reviews of these beers to the “Other European” page as well. This academy/tasting, held once again at the Clybourn pub in the Siebel Institute of Technology main classroom and library, consisted of stouts, stouts and more stouts. If you know anything about stouts, this Academy would prove to you that you don’t know much about stouts. The score sheet handed out to participants says The term “Stout” essentially refers to a beer black in color from the use of roasted barley. According to Dr. Michael Lewis, the author of the classic beer styles book, Stout, the term “stout” referred to a stronger and darker version of ordinary porter, and beers such as Guinness West Indies Porter later gave way to Foreign Extra Stout. In current terms however, this is not the case. They range from thin to full-bodied; from bitter to sweet; smooth to astringent; and from low in alcohol (3%) to extremely potent (11%+) The brewmaster at the Clybourn pub, our host Will, noted that generally speaking, use of a simple chocolate or dark malt will make a porter, while use of a heavily roasted barley will make a stout. We had three styles of stout at this Academy:
And a note on Guinness Stout. Guinness is very secretive about their brewing process. Greg Hall, Goose Island’s Master Brewer, believes that Guinness uses a lager yeast in Guinness Stout, since none of the estery flavor that would come from an ale yeast is detectable in Guinness Stout. The Stouts Beamish Stout (Beamish & Crawford PLC, Cork Ireland). ?% (Beamish isn’t saying). “From the City of Cork (also home to Murphy’s). This city in the southern part of the country produced most of the stout in Ireland up until the 20th century.” It is very like Guinness in consistency. Our portions came from the usual Irish tall cans with the nitrogen widgets for creating a draft-like head (which never works, and didn’t in this case either). Grade 5 (same grade I give Guinness, by the way). Goose Island Dublin Stout. 3.5%. “Our Seasonal Dry Irish-style dry stout.” Very strong coffee flavor, and slightly bitter. According to Will, this stout is brewed with a lager yeast (see Guinness notes above). It is very “roasty,” with a strong chocolate after-taste. It has a fruity background, which is what really distinguishes it. Grade 7. O’hara’s Celtic Stout (Carlow Brewing Company, Carlow, Ireland). 4%.
“An award-winning stout from one of the few microbreweries in Ireland. Due to pressure from larger stout producers in the country, Carlow Brewing has turned to the U.S. market for a large portion of its sales.” The award, according to the brewer’s site, is the 2000 “Champion Stout in the International Dark Milds, Stouts and Porters competition in addition to the Gold Medal in its own category for beers between 4.2-6.9% abv” A very different start flavor - oaky, even discernibly pruny. It crosses the palate becoming darker, if you will, then simply slowly fades. A new stout flavor that is worth looking for. Grade 7.5. Goose Island Oatmeal Stout. 4.7%. “A year round bottled product, and available on draft a few times a year at the pub. One of the lighter bodied stouts that we produce.” Above average. Sweet, but not distinctive - not a surprise, since I have never found an oatmeal stout to be “distinctive.” Will noted that brewers’ myth holds that oatmeal added to the beer “smooths” it, but that actual studies show that too much oatmeal makes the beer astringent and anything but smooth. Grade 6.5 Young’s Oatmeal Stout. 5.2%. “From the Ram Brewery in London, England,” touted as England’s oldest continuous brewery (since 1581). This standard has a sweet front end, a bit of a raisin flavor, with a toffee middle and a constant tartness. The beer has an unusual character at some point in the tasting: it “opens up” kind of like a small revelation, then quietly disappears in the follow. Grade 7.0. Goose Island Rye Stout. 5.8%. “This seasonal stout is one of the hoppiest we produce at the pub. Roasted barley and chocolate malt provide the color, while Styrian Goldings provide the fresh hop character and bitterness.” At the front this beer is quite malty, but hops take over very quickly, combining with a strong chocolatey flavor. It is a very dry, fresh brew. Grade 8.0. I had a short discussion with Will about brewing with rye. He confirmed why one sees few rye-based or rye-augmented beers: it’s a “bitch” to brew with it. It makes a very sticky concoction and can overwhelm the beer flavor if not used correctly. The Brewing Techniques web site has some good information about brewing with rye, and it’s clear why it might be more popular with home brewers (who have the time to work with it and the willingness to spoil whole batches of beer). Samuel Smith’s Imperial Stout. 7%. The web site says:
This brew has a molasses-flavored beginning that is quite strong and pleasant. It goes across the palate sweet and spicy with no discernible hop accent. It remains on the palate with a winey follow. Grade 8.0. Caution! A really nice stout, but one needs to be quite careful about how and where one buys it. Merchant du Vin, the importer, insists for marketing reasons on having the American versions of this and most of the Samuel Smith beers packaged in clear bottles. If they sit on a store’s shelves for any time at all, the ultraviolet from the store’s fluorescent lamps will very quickly destroy the beer. Buy only beer that has remained refrigerated in unopened cases. Goose Island Imperial Black Cat Coffee Stout. 7.4%. “Whole beans were added to the finished Russian Imperial Stout for its fragrant coffee aroma and dry java flavor.” And, one might surmise, to allow the ordinary drinker to be on the ceiling while completely buzzed. Anyway, the beer is aged with Intelligentsia Black Cat Coffee beans. It has a very strong espresso nose and flavor at the start, with a great and pleasing malt base - sweet, no hop character at all - terrific!. Not available to the public yet and very little is available. Will used part of a Russian Imperial Stout run for this beer. He’s also aging some RIS in bourbon barrels for 3 to 6 months. Hmmmmm. Grade for the Black Cat: 9.0. Bell’s Cherry Stout. 8.5%. This is, like all Imperial stouts (and unlike dry stouts) a high-gravity beer that deserves the descriptor “heavy,” as Guinness, Beamish and most of the Irish stouts do not. It has a strong cherry/fruity nose and flavor which overwhelms the “stoutishness” of the brew, no matter its specific gravity. It also has a hint of the alcohol in the nose, no surprise given its high abv. This beer would be an acquired taste. It is very good for what it is, but is not one that I would go looking for. Grade 7.0. Rock Bottom Raspberry Bourbon Oatmeal Stout. 8%. “The base beer is a past Gold Medal winner at the Great American Beer Festival. It was aged in a keg with real [whole] fruit. It has a raspberry nose and the raspberry flavor is very strong at the front, but with noticeable and tasteful stout background. This is a truly different take on combining fruit with a strong coffee-type malt. Another beer that is good for its type but that I would not seek out. Grade 8.0. Oak-Aged Yeti Imperial Stout (Great Divide Brewing Co., Denver, CO) 9.5%. From the web site: Crack open Yeti Imperial Stout’s sophisticated sibling – Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout. Although these beers come from the same clan, they have entirely different personalities. Aging on a blend of French and toasted oak chips infuses a subtle oak and vanilla character into Yeti’s already intense chocolate, roasted coffee malt flavor and hugely assertive hop profile. Who says you can’t tame a Yeti? Very smoky, oaky flavor at the start, with a chardonnay aroma. It has a quite malty middle with a very nice hop background, no surprise given its IBU level. Grade 8.5. World Wide Stout (Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Milton DE). 18.0%.
Samichlaus, the wonderful Christmas beer that ages for a year and is released at Christmastime, had, for many years, the title of “world’s strongest beer” at roughly 14% abv. Several brewers, especially craft brewers in the US have experimented with techniques that allow considerably higher alcohol levels. World Wide Stout is one of the results. Dogfish Head releases this beer on November 1 of each year and says this about it: YES! The world's strongest dark beer. Dark, rich, roasty and complex, World Wide Stout has more in common with a fine port than a can of cheap, mass-marketed beer. Brewed with a ridiculous amount of barley. Have one with (or as!) dessert tonight! It has a very prominent alcohol nose and a most remarkable sweet starting taste with a strong malt middle. According to our host, the additional fermentable sugars are added after the original fermentation to get it to 18%. A great beer. Grade 9.5. Thus ended the February, 2006 Beer Academy: Stouts. The Academy Awards Mini-Tasting My friend Dennis Mason and his wife Rhea invited me to their house to view the Oscars last night. I was only too happy to accept, what with having my wife in the hospital for the past several days recovering from a life-threatening abdominal infection for which she needed surgery. Dennis is an independent consultant. He and Rhea travel by car all over the eastern half of the US seeing clients, going to trade shows and speaking engagements, and visiting family and friends. Dennis loves to stop in local beer stores to buy whatever the nearby microbreweries have concocted or to pick up items that we don’t find here in Chicagoland. They just returned from a trip to Florida and came back through Ohio. In Cincinnati, they found a store that had what Dennis described as “a wall of microbrews,” which included local beers and some not so local, but not so common back home. He bought several samples. We tasted three of them while watching the Academy Awards show. Here’s the report. Salvation Belgian Style Golden Ale (Avery Brewing Co., Boulder, CO). 9%. The Avery web site says of this beer: Beer Style: Belgian Strong Golden Ale A really lovely beer with a lemony, spicy sweet aroma. Its first impression is oaky and malty with a subtle hop background. A yeasty flavor emerges quickly. It walks across the palate leaving all of those flavors and finishes with a lingering sweetness and hop taste. It’s one of those Belgian styles in which it is obvious (and pleasant) to discern the candy sugars. An excellent beer. Grade 9.0. Twelve - Anniversary Saison Ale (Avery Brewing Co., Boulder CO). 7.6%. The web site says of this brew: Beer Style: Belgian Saison It has a most wonderful spicy/malt/candy aroma. Its start is very spicy and citrusy, and makes you want to go back and start all over again. The background across the palate is that typical Saison mustiness (which is quite pleasant) combined with an abiding sweetness through the follow. It’s one of those beers that has an end tasted that pops like a bubble and quietly disappears. This is a great beer. Grade 9.5. Heresy Imperial Stout (Weyerbacher Brewing Company, Easton, PA). 8.0%. The Weyerbacher web site tells us this about the stout: This incredibly intriguing Imperial Stout is made by aging our Old Heathen [their winter warmer/Imperial stout] in some very famous Oak barrels that were used for aging bourbon! What do we have when we are done? A stout whose very essence has been enhanced. A stout whose complexity has been increased. A stout with notes of Oak, whiskey and vanilla melding together to create a new sensation. Have we gone too far this time? We don't think so. Heresy is a step above and a leap beyond the extraordinary. Taste it and see what everyone is talking about. Having tasted multiple stouts recently, I wasn’t reluctant to taste this one, but wasn’t really enthusiastic about it etiher. My error. What a terrific stout these folks have made for themselves! It has a very strong chocolatey nose and across-the-palate flavor. There is absolutely no hop character discernible in this brew. It remains sweet and, as my friend Dennis said, extremely smoooooth. A lovely Imperial stout, one of the best I’ve ever tasted. Grade 9.5. Goose Island March, 2006 Beer Academy: Brown Ales & Porters NOTE: a few of the beers reviewed here are not “North American” beers, but are here because they were part of the Brown Ales & Porters tasting. I have copied the reviews of these beers to the Belgian and Other European pages as well. Brown ales and porters are top-fermented beers brewed using darker malt roasts. As our Academy guide tells us, “Brown Ales get their color from the use of roasted malts that can impart a variety of flavors from nutty to caramel, chocolate, etc. They can range in malt character from dry to sweet, and light-bodied to full-bodied and intensely malty.” Porters “are generally seen as falling between Brown ales and Stouts in terms of color and roasted malt flavor and intensity. They are often separated into two categories, Brown and Robust, with the latter having more malt character and darker (black) color.” In other words, as is the case with Stouts, Brown Ales and Porters can be low-gravity lighter (not “liter”) brews or higher gravity heavier beers. We won’t get into the business of recounting the many accounts of where Porter came from or how it got its name. A most interesting article about this can be found here if you wish to read it. The beers are not listed completely in the order in which we tasted them (generally, in order of increasing abv), but rather in the main groupings “Brown Ales” and “Porters.” The Brown Ales A note: I generally do not like Brown Ales very much. I find them generically blander than Stouts and Porters, and this tasting confirmed my impressions, which is why my grades for them tend to be lower than those for other styles. Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown Ale. 4.8%.
An ale “from the independent brewery in Tadcaster, England, where they have traditionally fermented their beers in slate squares since 1758.” The web site says:
Unfortunately, this beer is very bland with not much across-the-palate flavor. It is very “mass-market.’ It seems to have suffered from light exposure in its clear bottle (see Samuel Smith Caution in Stouts discussion above). Grade 4.5 Goose Island Nut Brown Ale. 5.0%.
“Once known as ‘Hex Nut,’ our English-style brown ale is available year round on draft at the brewpubs and in bottles at stores. Brewed with chocolate malt for its chestnut hue and Fuggle hops.” This is a middle-of-the-road, nice beer with a good malt front end, but very little hop in the flavor profile. Grade 6.0 Lost Coast Downtown Brown. 5%.
“From the Lost Coast Brewery in Eureka, CA. This is a medium-bodied Nut Brown ale brewed with Chocolate and Crystal malts. Established in 1990, they continue to expand production and are now up to 30,000 bbl/yr.” A satisfying chocolate, dry flavor across the palate with hardly any hop character at all. A good beer. Grade 6.5 Samuel Adams Brown Ale. 5.0%. The Boston Beer Company, Cincinnati, OH. This beer is not listed on the Samuel Adams web site. “This Brown ale is said to ‘satisfy the soul yet doesn’t overwhelm the palate’” Far from “overwhelming the palate,” this is a bland brew with little malt character and just the slightest bit of hop. It is a mass-market brown ale. Grade 6.0 Goose Island Naughty Goose. 5.1%. Listed seasonally on the Clybourn page of the web site. “A seasonal American Brown ale brewed with a blend of 7 malt varieties, and well-hopped with Horizon, Cascade and Willamette.” Wil Turner, our host and the Clybourn Pub brewmaster, once brewed a brown ale called “Naughty Monkey” for a brewer in California, now out of bushiness. That beer won a silver medal at a beer competition. Naughty Goose won a gold medal at the same competition recently. This beer has a very strong chocolate nose, a strong malt front end, good hop in the middle of the palate, and a different hop flavor in the follow. A very well done brew for this style. Grade 7.5. Vondel Flemish Brown Ale. 8.5%. Dentergems Liefmans Breweries, Wontergemstraat 42,
“An example of the slightly sour Flanders Brown ales coming to us from this brewery in the Northeastern region of Belgium.” A beer with a sour/acidey aroma. It is made for the Belgian mass market (according to a Belgian beer expert working this tasting with Wil). It used to be made in wood barrels, like Rodenbach, but now is made in standard kettles and injected with lactic acid to impart a “false” sourness. It does have a nice flavor - Belgian-malty, somewhat sweet behind the sourness. A good beer. Grade 7.5. Goose Island -ED. 9.2%. “This beer is our award-winning Imperial Smok-ED Brown Goose [aka “-ED”] recipe brewed with 42% beechwood smoked malt. Our barrel-aged version has been in the cellar for 5 months.” Unbelievable. Great smoky nose with an absolutely terrific smoked malt front and middle. Sweet, very malty all through. Lots of alcohol off the top. This was the most complex beer of the evening (but see also Rock Bottom Bourbon Porter below). Grade 9.5 The Porters Sleeman Porter 68. 5.5%. Sleeman Breweries Ltd., Guelph, Ontario.
“A Canadian brand established in 1834 . . . This Porter is created from an original family recipe dated February 1. 1898.”] Their web site says: John Sleeman Presents Fine Porter In the tasting it has some chocolate at the front end and in the nose, with a steely/metallic base to it. Good flavor, with no hop until the aftertaste. A good drinking beer. Grade 6.5. Atlantic Brewing Coal Porter. 5.2%. Atlantic Brewing Company, Bar Harbor, ME.
“A newer offering to the area from a small [Maine] brewery (~3,000 bbl). A Robust Porter with lots of chocolate malt used.” Their web site tells us that Coal Porter is:
A beer with a most strong chocolate, smoky nose. It has a great front end - a chocolatey/coffee flavor. “Robust” is the word. It is all middle, with no follow at all. Grade 7.5 Goose Island E.M.P. (English Malt Porter). 5.3%. “A rich, malty Porter, brewed with a blend of imported malts, with Crystal and Black malts being the main source of color and flavor. Wil’s favorite!.” (Not listed on the GI web site) Curiously, despite a prominent chocolate front end, this beer has no nose at all. It has a very good across-the-palate flavor of chocolate, in fact, with a substantial malt follow, but no hop discernible. Grade 7.5. SKA Ten Pin Porter. 5.48%. SKA Brewing Company, Durango, CO.
“From another craft brewery making good beer and continuing to expand, the SKA crew uses Love as an ingredient - along with Caramel 80, Chocolate, Black and Wheat malts. Perle and Willamette hops are used as well.” It has some chocolate nose and a mild chocolate palate with some wininess. Almost no follow. This is a decent but not outstanding beer. Grade 6.0. Sierra Nevada Porter. 5.8%. “A Robust Porter from our friends in Chico, CA (think it’ll be hoppy?). Brewed with Chocolate, Caramel and Black malts, and hopped with Willamette.” From their web site: Dark and rich, Sierra Nevada Porter is a delicious, medium-bodied ale with a creamy head. The Porter’s smooth flavor (malty with hints of caramel) comes from a blend of deep-roasted barley malts. Not much nose, but a very good chocolate front end, and a strong malt middle, where the hop emerges. Surprisingly, it is not as hoppy as one might expect from this brewer. It is quite well balanced. Grade 8.0.
An example of a Baltic Porter. These beers developed as a result of an appreciation of Russian Imperial Stout. This can be seen in the color and alcohol content - but they are often brewed with a lager yeast. Okocim was founded in 1845 by a German brewer named Jan Goetz in Okocim in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire, later to be part of Poland. According to the corporate web site, Following a merger with Denmark's Carlsberg in 2001, Carlsberg Okocim Group (currently Carlsberg Polska) was founded, with a 14% market share. Okocim Brewery became the largest brewery of the Carlsberg Polska group and a key plant for Carlsberg Breweries A/S in Europe. Strong chocolate nose with alcohol off the top. Sherry-like, sweet, very stoutish, with a heavy chocolate middle. Has a very nice balance. Grade 8.0. Rock Bottom Bourbon Porter. 6.5% (Pre-bbl abv). From “Uncle Pete” (Peter L. Crowley), the master brewer at the Chicago Rock Bottom Brewery. “This Porter has been in the barrel for 7 months.” Wow! A stunning beer with a strong bourbon background and a cabernet wine flavor. Lots of alcohol in the taste (this is clearly higher than 6.5%), and sweet. It has a great nose, and a nearly melon-flavored follow. This is a very complex beer, difficult to describe fully. It must be tasted. This brewer, clearly a madman, is also a genius. Grade 9.5. Thus ended the March, 2006 Beer Academy: Stouts session. Beers Between Goose Academies - March and April, 2006 Arrogant Bastard Ale. 7.2%. Stone Brewing Co., San Marcos, CA.
This beer isn’t available everywhere. Why? Some states find its branding offensive, the fuckers. This beer in its 22 0z bomber bottle was brought to me by Correspondent Dennis Mason. I drank it as soon as I could. It is, as you might expect, an aggressive beer. It is quite hoppy both in aroma and in the taste, but the background is strongly malty. In other words, it is a beer of big character. It is amazingly well-balanced. It is one of those beers that at first taste seems like it will be too “noisy,” and a chore to finish, but very quickly its intensity grabs you and puts a smile on your face. Grade 8.0. Two Brothers Incinerator Blonde Doppelbock. 8.2%. Two Brothers Brewing Co., Warrenville, IL
The web site says: Incinerator Dopplebock is our take on a classic German lager. The bottle says: Incinerator is one of a series of special limited-run beers in styles that are more extreme or unusual. This beer is intriguing because of its subtle flavors. It is not what I’d call “blonde,” unless the blonde had darker hair. Its aroma is quite fruity, even citrusy. It has a malty taste throughout its profile, with a slightly noticeable hop background (no surprise at the lack of hoppiness, since it is a 32 IBU beer). The pepper is only a hint at the end. A most enjoyable shot at this style. Grade 7.0 Two Brothers Northwind Imperial Stout. 8.5%. Two Brothers Brewing Co., Warrenville, IL
This beer is intended as a winter warmer. The web site says: Northwind is a deep dark robust Imperial Stout. This velvety stout I had this beer after going through the Goose Island Beer Academy on Stouts, which included a number of Imperial Stouts. This stout would stand up well against many of the stouts that night, but not as an Imperial Stout. It has a lovely chocolate nose. Its flavor profile is chocolate also, though not a heavy, lasting one. The hops are noticeable (45 IBU) particularly in the finish. Despite its not having the robustness and gravity of most Imperial Stouts, it does indeed qualify as a very good winter warmer. Grade 7.0 New Glarus Uff-Da. 7.3%. New Glarus Brewing Company, New Glarus, WI.
The web site says: Here is a Bock brewed to appease the Gods of Winter. Hearty and full-bodied this is a “Big” bier. Brewed in the Reinheitsgebot tradition, our Bock comes by its mahogany hue naturally. This is one fine bock - and given its gravity and abv, it’s really a doppelbock. It pours with a lovely dark color and a fine head. It has a malt nose and a very deep malt start; sweet all the way across the palate, complex, makes you want more. It is a real pity that it is no longer sold in Illinois (the brewer got mad at the nastiness and vagaries of beer distribution in the state). ONe can obtain it across the line in Wisconsin, of course, and it’s really worth the trip. By the way - “uff da” is a Norwegian phrase that means anything from “Oy, veh” to “Yipes” - and beyond. For an explanation of the phrase, go here. from a visit to Goose Island Clybourn Brewpub prior to the April, 2006 Beer Academy Beer partner Rob Cannon and I had dinner prior to this month’s Academy, spent some talking with John Hall, Goose Island’s President and with Wil Turner, the Clybourn pub brewmaster. We had some very good appetizers as our dinner and tasted some pre-Academy brews. Goose Island 18-Year ESB (Cask Conditioned). 6.5% What a beer to start with! This beer commemorates the 18th year of the Clybourn pub. The bar had no printed description, but Wil provided us with a handwritten one. It said: A rich flavorful American ESB. We used the same malt as 17 Yr, but 18# of whole hops (Glacier & Cascade) at the end of the boil (12# lst year). It is also dry-hopped with Glacier in the cask. This beer was hand-tapped, of course, and relatively warm, like most cask-conditioned beers. It has a beautifully complex flavor character: somewhat sweet, but balanced by all the hops, which become prominent mainly in the follow. It is, indeed, “richly flavorful.” Grade 9.0. Goose Island Best Bitter. 4.8% The April Clybourn menu says: A medium-bodied British style Bitter brewed with imported Maris Otter, Crystal and Brown malts producing a copper hue and a slightly sweet malty palate. Our Best Bitter is dispensed with a nitrogen / Co2 blend for a softer mouthfeel and a thick creamy head. It is both sweet and bitter (kind of like the ESB), but with a deeper malt character to it. This is a great drinking beer. I don’t usually like beers termed “bitters” because they usually aren’t and often lack other flavor as well. Like most GI beers, this one is very nicely balanced. Grade 8.5. Goose Island Pivo. 5.2%. Another one off the April Clybourn menu, which says of this one: Pivo, the Czech word for beer, is a Pilsner-inspired ale. Imported Saaz hops provide a bold hop start, a floral middle and a clean, crisp bitter finish. Medium body and mouth feel come from the use of German Pils malt. With refreshing fruit notes coming from our own ale yeast, this beer is a nice interpretation of the old classic. With a very strong hop profile from nose through follow, this is the beer for hop-heads. The floral hop jumps off the top. It is not quite puckery. It is a very refreshing beer. Recommended. Look for it each Spring. Grade 7.5. Goose Island Matilda. 6.9%. This is a superb Belgian-style ale. The menu says: Gold Medal Winner 2005 Great American Beer Festival Silver Medal winner 2006 World Beer Cup Brewed with Pilsner, Munich and a touch of Crystal malt, this Belgian strong ale is a golden hoppy delight. What makes it special is the yeast strain used in this brew: it produces a mellow tartness to complement the complex malt character. Styrian Golding and an abundance of Saaz hops add to the crisp flavor. It has a taste that is simultaneously tart and sweet. It isn’t as “strong” as the true Belgian beers or the head-hammers that Unibroue makes, but it is still a great beer. Grade 8.0 Goose Island April, 2006 Beer Academy: German-Style Bock NOTE: a few of the beers reviewed here are not “North American” beers, but are here because they were part of the Bock tasting. I have copied the reviews of these beers to the German page as well. Lots of myth surrounds the bock style. The word means “goat” in German, but how that word got attached to this style is lost somewhere in the deep past. Is it because the beer kicks like a goat does? Is it because it’s a Spring beer that accompanies the rutting season for all us animals? Or is it because the style originated in Einbeck in Bavaria, and the town name morphed into “Einbock”? Whatever the derivation of the style name, the beers generally are “strong, malty, bottom-fermented [like all lagers] all-malt [meaning barley malt] brews of German origin. They can range from golden to almost black in color, and are traditionally seasonal beers,” according to the Academy cheat-sheet, which also tells us these factoids. Maibock/Hellerbock - Helle in German means light-colored, and Mai is May. Thus it denotes a pale-colored bock that is traditionally served in late spring. They range from 6& to 8% abv. Traditional Bock - Range in color from deep copper to dark brown. They too have malty character with roast malt flavor and low hop levels (6.3% to 7.5% abv). Doppelbock - They are generally darker than Bock and stronger (6.5% to 8 % abv) with dominant but not cloying sweetness. They are often denoted by names that end in -ator [following on the naming of the first Doppelbock, Salvator. brewed for Easter by the monks of the St. Francis Paula monastery, later to become Paulaner Brewery, and named to honor the Salvator, the Savior]. Weizenbock - A beer of bock strength, but brewed with a traditional Weizen (wheat) malt and yeast. The style exhibits the malty character of a bock, with the fruity/ester complexity of a Weissbier (wheat beer) (6.9% to 9.3% abv). Eisbock - A stronger version of doppelbock. The beer is frozen, and the ice is removed to concentrate the beer. The malt character can be very sweet, and the alcoholic strength is very high (8.6% to 14.4% abv). The Bocks Hofbrau Maibock. 7.2%. Hofbräu München, Munich, Germany.
“Munich’s first Maibock, originally brewed in 1614,” according to our Goose Island hosts. “The brewery and the beerhall are both State owned, and the Hofbrauhaus is probably the world’s most famous pub. The brewer’s web site says: By tradition, the first barrel of Maibock is tapped in the Hofbräuhaus in the last week of April, in time for the merry month of May. The success story of Munich's oldest bock beer goes back as far as 1614. This “original” has a fine malt nose with alcohol detectable off the top. Strong malt opening, sweet, with some hop background. A high-gravity beer with a lemony palate, darkish in color (despite its being called “light” by the brewer). Grade 7.5 Goose Island Myebock. 6.8% “Our German-style Maibock was brewed in March to ensure proper maturation. This year it was made with 25% malted Rye for a touch of spicy malt complexity and a deeper golden-orange hue.” GI’s web site Clybourn menu said: Maibock is traditionally a rich malty, golden-colored lager. It is a bridge between strong winter beers and lighter summer brews. This year ours is made with the addition of 26% Rye Malt (Thus the different spelling), which adds a unique spicy character. Master brewer Wil Turner said, once again, that brewing with rye malt is “horrible,” and that it’s much easier to work with wheat malt, which many brewers find unpleasant. This beer had a decent malt nose and a spicy start. It is toasty, with a strong malt flavor across the palate. It has some hop, but not much. Its color is a medium red to orange. Grade 7.0 Capital Blonde Doppelbock. 7.5%+. Capital Brewery, Middleton, WI.
“A Bronze award winner at the 2006 World Beer Cup in the German-style Heller Bock/Maibock category.” (The Dark Bock won a Gold Medal) From the Capital web site about this beer: A deep golden color leads one to an extremely flavorful, yet very drinkable beer of great character. Treat this malt monster with respect! [Note that the site entry also has two recipes for Blonde Doppelbock Cheesecake!] It has an estery nose, and a very sweet taste all across the palate. It is also quite fruity, with slight hop in the background. A fine beer. Grade 7.5. Einbecker Ur-Bock. 6.5% Einbecker Brauhaus AG, Einbeck, Germany
“The Original. Brewed in the Saxony region of Germay (in the North) in the town of Einbeck. They were known for brewing stronger beers that could travel well. They brew 2 other types of bock - Hell and Mai.” From the Einbecker web site: "The best drink known to man is called Einbecker Beer ." The great German reformer Martin Luther praised the "Ainpöcksche Bier" (old German for Einbecker Beer) with these words in front of the Worms Reichstag in 1521. [Note that the site includes a lot of very interesting history. Note also that “Ur” in German means “First” or “Original.”] The beer has no nose at all, and a very nutty, even estery, front end. It is quite malty. It’s a very balanced beer, sweet. Excellent. Grade 8.5. Stieglbock. 7.2% Stieglbrauerei, Salzburg, Austria.
“Brewed in Salzburg and imported by Glunz here in Chicago. Many of us have long enjoyed their Pils.” From their web site: Original Stieglbock Zutaten Original Stieglbock: Another bock with no aroma off the top - but with a very nutty front end and a sweet middle with a dryish follow. Quite different, has great balance. Grade 8.0. Goose Island Traditional Bock. 6.8%. “This bock was on draught at the pub back in March. It has nearly the same starting gravity and alcohol as the Myebock, but made with German Carafa malt for deeper malt aroma and color.” Again, no discernible aroma. It has a strong malt start, slight hop, sweet finish with alcohol popping off it at the end. Wil had it on tap in March and kept some for this tasting. Grade 8.5 Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock. 5.5%. The Boston Beer Company, Cincinnati, OH. “A Boston Beer Co. limited edition brew aged with a blend of Scharffen Berger chocolate.” The tag that comes with each bottle says: For centuries, the world’s finest brewers have created rich, complex dark beers know as bocks. The best bocks, like Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock, display many layers of luxurious flavors. For our bock, only hand-selected hops from the world’s oldest growing area are combined with a complex selection of carefully roasted malts and a centuries old brewing process. Finally the beer is slowly aged on a bed of rich chocolate that is specially blended by he master chocolatiers at Scharffen Berger Chocolate. This aging on special chocolate creates a flavor like no other.” Wil Turner says that SA uses the cacao nibs - the almost raw form of chocolate - in the brew. Here’s some information from Scharffen Berger on their process and on what “nibs” are: We begin our chocolate making process by sourcing and importing raw cacao beans, giving us control of quality and taste from start to finish. We are one of only 12 companies in the United States which manufactures chocolate in this way. Very strong chocolate aroma and a VERY chocolate taste, and very sweet. Like eating a chocolate bar from a bottle. Actually, a very good beer. Grade 8.0. Ayinger Celebrator. 6.7%. Brauerei Aying, Aying, Germany
“Located in the town of Aying on the outskirts of Munich, where they malt their own locally grown barley. Not one of the recognized big Munich breweries, but they do have a beerhall downtown.” From their web site: Celebrator One of the great beers of the world. A very balanced brew across the palate. Slightly estery at the start (“astringent” one person called it), with a strong malt middle. Some hop. A nice malt follow. As they say on their web site, not at all sweet. Grade 8.5. Paulaner Salvator. 7.5%. Paulaner Brauerei GmbH & Co. KG, Munich, Germany.
“The first Doppelbock. It was originally brewed by monks in the 17th century to hlep sustain them during Lent - “liquid bread.” It is ceremonially tapped by the Mayor of Munich 3 to 4 weeks before Easter each year.” It was named “Salvator” (the Savior), starting the tradition of naming doppelbocks with the suffix “-ator.” The web site says: The Paulaner Salvator with its strong,typically malty taste is the original Paulaner. The bottom-fermented Doppelbock-Bier unites the finest hops and dark barley malt. The Paulaner monks served Salvator as a replacement for food at Lent. Their most famous brewer was Brother Barnabas, who was the head of the Paulaner monastery brewery starting from 1773. Its original recipe is today almost the same as it was in Barnabas' time. In order to protect the original recipe, Paulaner had the trade mark "Salvator" patented in 1896. Additional interesting information about the beer’s history can be found here. This is a most malty beer, and very sweet across the palate and quite consistent all the way.. Some alcohol off the top. In some ways, a bit too sweet. Grade 7.5. Goose Island Aviator 2005-06. 8.5%. “We bulked up our Doppelbock a bit this year compared to 2004 (7.6%), but with the added 4 months of age, it should be mellow for its strength.” Terrific malt start. Brewed in 2005, served in 12/05, and preserved just for us! A high-gravity brew, not too sweet, with a good hop background. A very, very good beer. Becomes fruity the more you taste it. Grade 8.5. Eggenberg Urbock Dunkel Eisbock. 9.8%. Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg, Eggenberg, Austria.
“Another Austrian brew, from the town of Eggenberg. The bottle cap indicates that this is a beer of high, but not extreme, starting gravity (23’ Plato).” This brewer is the one that took over the brewing of what used to be “the world’s strongest beer,” Samichlaus The beer is frozen to remove water, which incrases the alcohol content. It is a very sweet beer all across the palate. It has a rather odd metallic background - possibly an artifact of age. Grade 8.0 Thus ended the April, 2006 Beer Academy: German-style Bock 2006 New Belgium Fat Tire Amber Ale. abv unknown. New Belgium Brewing Company, Fort Collins, CO.
The Fat Tire web site says of this ale: Like the ageless delight of pedaling a bicycle, Fat Tire Amber Ale’s appeal is in its feat of balance: Toasty malt flavors (sorta like biscuits just pulled from the oven) coasting in equilibrium with crisp hoppiness. Delicious stability - in the world of sometimes-precarious beer flavors – is perhaps what prompted one consumer who wrote us to say, “this beer just makes you smile.” The bottle label bruits this as the “2006 Chicago Inaugural - The First Fat Tire Ale Served (legally) in the Second City.” It has a yeasty/malty nose and is, as described, “toasty” in the tasting. It has a decent hop balance. I remember this beer from the first time I tasted it some years ago. My memory of it is that it was rather more malty in the past. As it is, it is a good ale. I had it with correspondent Rob Cannon at one of our favorite places for a great lunch, Amitabul, a very good Korean vegetarian restaurant on the far Northwest side of Chicago. On this occasion, rather than order off the menu, as we usually do, we asked our waiter Dave, one of the owners, if he’d just have his brother, the restaurant chef, cook for us. He did, and the meal was superb: two dishes, each with its own variety of noodles, each with different nuts, one with tofu - both beautifully spiced. The spiciness really brought out both the malt and the hop of the Fat Tire (Amitabul allows patrons to bring in their own wine or beer, and we always bring a bottle either of whatever we are drinking or something else interesting for the chef). Against the food, Fat Tire became a more interesting beer and a very good complement for the food in this restaurant. It’s a good beer, nice for quaffing, but not as good as I remember it being. Grade 6.5 Link Chambly Noire. 6.2%. Unibroue, Chambly, Quebec. No web information available on this beer (web site under construction). The package describes it as a “Dark ale on lees - Bottle Refermented” and says: Chambly Noire is a smooth and creamy dark beer with a beige and persistent head. Its torrefaction aromas and slight bitterness enable it to perfectly accompany various fish dishes, strong cheeses and chocolate desserts. This premium dark beer honours the brave soldiers of the Carignan-Salières Regiment and their traditional black hats. In 1665, the Regiment is dispatched to New France by King Louis XIV to settle hostilities with the Iroquois.. Strategic forts built along the Richelieu River, including Fort Chambly, lead to peace and prosperity for the colony. Today, most French Canadians are the direct descendants of these intrepid ancestors. First, torrefaction in this instance refers to heating the malted grain quickly and briefly to a very high temperature, imparting a special toasty aroma and flavor to the malt. Second, the beer itself is quite dark in color. It pours with a very strong head and has a malty nose (I must have been torrefacted without knowing it all these years). There is, surprisingly, some alcohol off the top. It has a sweet start - no hop at all - and is yeasty across the palate (it’s dem lees). The flavor intensifies in the middle and fades at the finish. A very good beer. Grade 7.0. Ommegang Three Philosophers Quadrupel Ale. 9.8% Brewery Ommegang, Cooperstown, NY.
The Ommegang web site says first, in explanation: The term Quadrupel signifies something extraordinary, even by Belgian brewing standards. They are usually strong, malty, and, like a fine wine, pack in flavors so dense and complex that they mature with cellar aging. Then, more descriptively: Cynics can't believe it, Epicures hail it a sensation, and Pythagoreans just can't add up what makes this luscious blend of rich malty ale and cherry lambic so delightful. It might be the flavor of dark chocolate and cherry cordials; it could be the way it acquires wisdom and grace in the cellar. Maybe it's a conundrum. What's your theory? And they recommend the beer as: a delightful accompaniment for roasted meats, rich cheeses, desserts, and for after dinner sipping as with a fine port. Ommegang, which brews the best Belgian-style corked-bottle beers in the US, started out as a collaboration between some Belgian brewers and Vanberg and DeWulf, an importer of Belgian beers. They built a “farmhouse”-style brewery in Cooperstown which began with marketing the eponymous Ommegang. Brewery Ommegang now is pretty much under the control of Belgian brewer Duvel; interestingly, though V & B is right next door to Ommegang in Cooperstown and was a founding partner in the enterprise, since Duvel assumed essential management, the V & B web site makes nary a mention of Ommegang or, for that matter, Duvel, on their web site - one of those things in life that makes one say, “Hmmmm . . .” By the way, one of the great things about Ommegang’s 25.4 oz bottles is their price, often between $4 and $5. But I digress. Three Philosophers is an American/Belgian quadrupel. defined by Beer Advocate this way: Inspired by the Trappist brewers of Belgium, a Quadrupel is a Belgian style ale of great strength with bolder flavor compared to its Dubbel and Tripel sister styles. Typically a dark creation that ranges within the deep red, brown and garnet hues. Full bodied with a rich malty palate. Phenols are usually at a moderate level. Sweet with a low bitterness yet a well perceived alcohol. The beer pours with a very stiff head. It has a strong, fruity and malty nose, with lots of alcohol off the top. It is a blended beer, as noted (a tradition with lambic brewers in Belgium). It is quite complex: malty, sweet, no hop at all, fruity, with a vanilla hint. The kriek (cherry) is not noticeable until the follow, where it teases the senses. The beer gets better as it warms, and that’s saying a lot, since it’s excellent to start. It acquires some fleeting flavors in the warming: a slight mustiness, like a Saison has, and a coffee flavor among them Now, this might seem sacrilege, but friend Rob Cannon and I were sampling it at Graziano’s Restaurant at 5960 West Touhy in Niles, IL (who let us bring it in without the corkage fee that they usually charge). We drank it with, well, pizza - terrific pizza, by the way. Our waiter was quite intrigued by the bottle and by the beer itself. At one point, we noticed people at several table staring at us; and finally two waitresses came over to ask what we were drinking - in part because their patrons had asked. So we told them, and described the beer. Upon hearing that it was a Belgian-style beer, one of the waitresses exclaimed, “Oh! I just love Hoegaarden. I’d love to try some others.” So we referred her to The Map Room and to Hopleaf, two great Chicago bars that serve multiple Belgian draft beers. Three Philosophers: one superb beer. Grade 9.5. |
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