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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 |
