Williams Brothers Brewing Company - Grozet

Scotland, specifically Edinburgh, has long been at the top of my traveling "wish-list" for the past couple years. This affinity to has ballooned thanks to a friend, we'll call, Bob. Bob's maternal family is from the northwest coast of Scotland and has told many tales of hiking, fishing, and "real ale". I cant wait for time when my wife and I are able to live out these tales.
The perfect place to begin living these tales would be at the Williams Brothers Brewery where I believe Bob's triumvirate of Scottish tales are both born and told. Williams Brothers Brewery specializes in real ale or cask ale in various Gruit styles. Gruit, an ancient beer made with herbs and spices before the introduction of hops, is indigenous to Scotland and the Williams Brothers are revitalizing this style of ale both within Scotland and abroad in the United States (Bruce Williams has appeared multiple times on Beer Sessions Radio promoting cask ales).  

Recently, I noticed a Williams Brothers product, Grozet that I had never seen before. Upon further inspection, this gooseberry infused ale sparked my interest so I decided to indulge. The beer was much lighter than I anticipated. It resembled a straw colored Berliner Weisse with its high level of carbonation. The two-finger head was light and bubbly with little retention leaving wisps across the surface of the beer.
I found it difficult to detect a substantiative aroma, which is most likely due to a cold serving temperature (stupid fridge!). The components of the aroma that I was able to detect were a slight musty fruit (grape?) that provided a wine-like quality and very light tartness.

The taste profile was very unique. An earthy bitterness overwhelmed my palate during my initial sips. This bitterness conjectured up images of fungi and decaying leaves on the forest floor. As my palate adapted to very unique bitterness, I began to search for the gooseberry. Unfortunately, the gooseberry was not as dominating as I would have hoped leaving me searching for almost non-existent tartness. As the beer warmed, the taste changed dramatically from a weird over-powering bitterness to a crisp, refreshing ale with a hint of lemon tartness. Having never experienced a bitterness in a beer like the one present in this gruit, I decided to do some research. This distinctive bitterness was the result of Bog Myrtle a natural herb in northwest Europe. Although this herb is an unique beer ingredient with an interesting flavor profile, I think Bog Myrtle and beer is dysfunctional partnership.
This gruit had a very light body with  an ample level of carbonation. Without this carbonation level, my overall impression of the beer would have fallen slightly because as the beer warmed the carbonation allowed the gooseberry to enter into the taste. I recommend this beer for the hammock on a hot and humid summer day without any time in the fridge allowing its real ale roots to shine through.

Cheers,

PandaMack

Thornbridge Brewery - Jaipur IPA

Lately, I have been trying to buy and sample products that I would never have brought a year ago. This new found ambition to explore craft beer has a recurring theme, English Ales and breweries. After walking past Thornbridge Brewery's, Jaipur, countless times, the provocative statue finally won out and I picked up a bottle at Craft Beer Cellar.
The Jaipur IPA poured a rustic-straw color conjuring images of bucolic Prince Edward Island, Canada. The very light, airy head popped quickly leaving wisps across the surface of the beer. Before pouring, I assumed this beer would have a high level of clarity, however this IPA was more opaque than I anticipated.
The aroma was full of bright citrus notes. The dominating components that I detected were lemon zest and pineapple. Of the two, pineapple was the "class bully" overpowering the lemon zest, which I really enjoyed because pineapple is my favorite fruit. If I smelled this IPA blind, I am certain that I would not have chosen English as its origin, but rather a more well-known hop forward country like the United States or New Zealand.
The brewers at Thornbridge have created a very well crafted beer. The taste begins with punch of lemon zest that quickly flows into the succulent pineapple that was very apparent in the aroma. From here, the beer transitions into a vegetal, almost herbal bitterness, that coats the palate and lingers for an unexpected length of time.
At 5.9% ABV, Jaipur IPA is delicious and highly drinkable. The combination of light carbonation and body allow the flavor components to be savored because one doesn't feel a scrubbing sensation on the palate from the carbonation or feel a heaviness from the body. Although I haven't sampled as many cask ales as I would like, I feel that this IPA would a fantastic choice for "real ale". Its brightness and flavor profile would be enhanced from the residual sugars and fermentation in a firkin making it even more intoxicating. Hopefully, the transatlantic commute doesn't inhibit the brewers from sending cask ales, and maybe, just maybe, they could end up at my local pub.
One can wish....

Cheers,
PandaMack

Homemade "Randall"

While at work on Wednesday, I received a somewhat vague, but intriguing text from RandumInk. It read, "I have a great idea and I think we should try it out." That night he explained to me that he had read an article about the use of a french press as a homemade Randall for the possibility of enhancing hop aroma and flavor in IPAs.
This experiment was to enticing to pass up, but to make it a reality we needed fresh, whole-leaf hops. Luckily, our friends, Kate and Suzanne, just happen to grow their own hops, which they graciously donated for this experiment. The Cascade hops were picked from the vines during the morning hours on Thursday, August 29th, 2012 and collected up later in the day. The hops needed to be dry for use in the french press, so I placed in the oven at two-hundred and thirty five degrees for ten minutes then let them air dry for twenty four hours. The french press was disassembled into its various parts and cleaned three times with generic dishsoap, before getting a hot rinse in the dishwasher.
To perform the tasting experiment, we filled the french press about two-thirds with hops and poured in three-quarters of a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. We choose this beer because as the websites explains it is made with, "generous quantities of premium Cascade hops..." and is readily available. Before placing on the plunger and filtration device we allowed the hops to steep in the beer for ten minutes along periodically swirling the mixture with a knife to distribute the hop oils.
After the ten minutes had elapsed, RandumInk carefully inserted the plunger and began methodically pressing the filtration device pushing the hops to the bottom of the french press. Before we tasted this newly "hopped" up version of this classic American brew, we sampled the Pale Ale straight from the bottle. The hop character had a very pleasant, floral aroma. This pleasant aroma was complemented by a controlled bitterness with a hint of spice.
The french pressed pale ale had lost most of its carbonation causing the beer to become flat with hop "pollen" floating across the surface of the beer. The aroma of this version was bursting with hop character, almost to the point of excessiveness. The aroma of the beer was much better than the taste. The pleasant spiciness had been transformed into a vegetal quality that contained much less bitterness. We hypothesized many reasons why this transformation had taken place, but ultimately they only conclusion that we could agree upon was that the original Chico version was superior to our french pressed experiment.
Although this experiment didn't produced the results we had hoped, we did learn about the power of dry-hopping during secondary fermentation. I hope to use this newly acquired appreciation for dry-hopping by incorporating it into more of my homebrew recipes creating more aromatic products.  I enjoyed this experiment and hope to it again in the future was other pale ales or IPAs and different hop varietals.

Cheers,
PandaMack

Wormtown Brewing Company - Hopulence

In an earlier post, I stated my adoration for Wormtown Brewery's, Be Hoppy. At the time of the post, it ranked as my fourth favorite beer brewed in the Commonwealth, so when I saw, Hopulence, Wormtown's Double (Imperial) IPA, I quickly snatched it off the shelf.
This double IPA pours a pure copper color, without the luster. The body of the beer was somewhat cloudy allowing just enough light to penetrate the beer making my fingers visible through the glass. There was very little in the way for head retention or lacing* which is somewhat disappointing.
The aroma has an abundance of malt sweetness, which was unexpected. I anticipated a full bouquet of hop aromatics wafting endlessly, but this double IPA contains little hop aromatics. The hop presence that is detected is full of grapefruit character with undercurrents of floral earthiness. Also, there are hints of a warming sensation due to the high alcohol content of the beer.
The beginning of the taste is dominated by a malt sweetness. As this sweetness subsides, there is a sharp and aggressive bitterness the does not linger on the palate for very long. The bitterness is full of grapefruit that parallels the aroma, but I was hoping for some notes of other tropical fruits: pineapple or mango. As the beer warms, the hop bitterness becomes more dominate in the taste profile creating a balance of bitterness and sweetness.
The mouthfeel is medium-bodied. It is somewhat chewy and slick. At 8.5% ABV and 120 I.B.U's (is this possible?) this is a BIG beer, delicious, but not Be Hoppy. It is bordering a sweetness level that is a little cloying in a double IPA. The website boasts,

"Once we started hopping this beer stopping was impossible. Emphasizing Amarillo, Horizon, Summit, and Glacier hops with support from 5 other American varieties. Hops were added in every conceivable part of the brewing process. Whole leaf in the mash, hop forwarded (lautered through whole cones), hop backed, first wort hopped, kettle hopped with pellets and extract, and dry hopped in the fermenter and brite tanks." 

Even with the exuberant amount of hop additions, the hop aroma and flavor left me somewhat perplexed. Well, not really, I just wanted more hop character in this double IPA. I have great fondness of the Wormtown Brewery and products, but this beer left me longing for bolder, more flavorful interpretation of the style.

Cheers,
PandaMack

*Recently, I found a homebrewing podcast, Basic Brewing, where the host, James Spencer spoke with homebrew guru, John Palmer. They discuss how soapy glassware can disrupt head retention and cause other unwanted tastes in the beer.

Best Beer Night of my Life....Best Beer Night of my Life, so far....

I love to attend beer festivals. They provide an opportunity to try new or unique products or to give thanks to breweries that you have come to deeply appreciate. As fun as it is to spend time with fellow beer geeks, there are some disadvantages of the festival environment: long booth lines, extremely overpriced food, and the inevitably full men's room. To alleviate these obviously inconsequential disadvantages, my friends and I decided to throw a tasting party for visiting family members and ourselves. What started at as a conversation to hang out, listen to records and imbibe with craft beer turned into the greatest night of drinking since my transition into the craft beer environment.
The night begin with a growler of Cambridge Brewing Company's, Me, My Spelt, and Rye. How we obtained a growler of this draft only collaborative release is another story, but it was the perfect way to begin the evening. This collaborative effort brought Chad Yakobson of Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project, Yvan De Baets of Brasserie De La Senne, Luc LaFontaine of Dieu De Ciel and Will Meyers of Cambridge Brewing Company together to create, as Meyers states on the company's website, "an old-school saison." Normally, the fermentation with a saison yeast will create flavors that have been called: funky, farmy, horse blanket, earthy, etc. These same descriptors have also been used to articulate the flavor profile of the wild yeast, Brettanomyces. So naturally, these innovative brewers decided to ferment their newest creation with both a French saison yeast and multiple strains of Brettanomyces. The resulting product was a full-flavored beer with a distinctive cereal quality that flowed nicely into hints strawberry and raspberry while finishing very dry.
Next, before our palates were subdued, we decided to work through portfolio of the Saint Sixtus Abbey, better known as Westvleteren. Although these monks only brew three styles for purchasing, you must make the journey to the Abbey's doors to purchase these highly coveted ales. Since I have never been to Belgium, we will leave how we obtained these Belgian specialities for another day. We began our Westvleteren tasting with the monk's blond ale, Westvleteren 6. This creamy and hazy beer had an assertive brightness that contained hints of lemon and a subtle belgian yeast character. The complexity of this delicious blond ale made it harder to truly pull out any other distinct flavors. We discussed this beer thoroughly, dissecting it and trying to pull out other flavors, but eventually we decided that underneath its complexity, its most important and appreciated character was its drinkability. It was a truly great beer.
Following the six, we opened a bottle of Westvleteren 8. This Belgian Dubbel was a deep ruby color with a very bubbly-airy head. The taste contained a very pleasant light, candy sugar, not cloying at all. Dark fruit characters, predominantly a raisin quality, came second in the taste. The taste finished with subtle warming from the 8.0% ABV.
To complete our Westvleteren tour, we opened a Westvleteren 12. This Belgian Strong Dark Ale (Quad) was similar in color to the Eight, but upon further inspection, we decided that it was higher on the SRM scale (the higher the SRM number, the darker the beer). This beer may be the most complex ale I have ever tasted in my life. Instantly, dark, rich fruits: prunes, dates and figs coated the palate. In balance with these dark fruits were the grains creating hints of toffee and caramel. The mouthfeel was very creamy and contained an appropriate level of carbonation. At 10.2% ABV, this beer is unbelievably smooth. The alcohol content is so well hidden, you feel as though this dark ale is sessionable. As crazy as that sounds, its true.

After our Westvleteren tasting session, the night took a very different turn, a "sour" turn. The, Petite Sour, from Crooked Stave was the first of many sour ales. On the label of the beer, it classifies the Petite Sour as a table farmhouse, but the taste profile delineates from this categorization. The beer poured very cloudy, reminding me of a classic witbier. There is a wonderful, puckering sour that "attacks" the back portion of the palate. Lemon is the dominate flavor, but other fruits were detectable: sour apple and lime. I truly appreciated the  Brett control in this beer. The Brett is present, but doesn't take away from the other components of the beer. Chad Yakobson and his wild yeast strains have developed an almost cult following and I am sure that his beers will continue to gain in popularity while pushing the brewing process.
While Chad Yakobson has his Reserved Society and his many cult followers, Vinnie and Natalie Cilurzo have a nation of beer geeks longing for their extremely hoppy beers: Pliny the Elder and the very limited Pliny the Younger and their Sour ales Supplication, Consecration and Temptation, just to name a few. The first of three beers that we would sample from Russian River over the evening was Sanctification. This beer contained a very high level of carbonation with bubbles quickly penetrating through its golden color. There was a very dominant yeast character in the aroma (Later, I found out that primary fermentation is completely performed by Brett). There was a distinct sourness at the front of my palate that finished very dry creating a very crisp and refreshing golden ale. After the beer had time to warm, a biscuity, oaky quality developed during the finish.
Quickly finishing the 750mL bottle of Sanctification, there was a large, bright green bottle of Cantillon Gueuze and we couldn't resist. This "Classic", not "oude" gueuze, was a light copper color with a very airy head. There was a little sour that reminded me of weak vinegar. Also, there was a "diesel" quality that was strange, but digestable. Finally, as the beer warmed a tannic character begin to develop creating a very unique and distinct sour ale.
After taking some time to eat some delicious Cantillon Gueuze cheese and artisanal baguettes, we took a break from Russian River and opened Tart Lychee from New Belgium. Another sour ale, Tart Lychee is infused with cinnamon and pureed Lychee fruit. This beer is light gold with an aroma that displays the cinnamon nicely, but if I didn't know that lychee was used as a fruit adjunct, I probably would have guessed raspberries. During sampling, lychee is more prominent creating a slightly sweet taste character. Within the taste, cinnamon doesn't dominate as it did in the aroma; it was balanced with the fruit. The sourness of this ale was mildly acidic nothing remotely close to the puckering capability of the Petite Sour. As we were drinking this beer, a conversation started about a possibly forced complexity to attract buyers. Questions swirled about the addition of cinnamon to a sour ale to pushing brewing boundaries and ideas of what beer can be. Either way, the consensus was that this sour ale would be perfect for a lazy day of reading while lying in a shaded hammock.

The second Russian River beer we decided to try was Redemption. This barrel-aged blonde ale had a much lighter mouthfeel then its brethren, Sanctification. This lighter bodied ale was full of a very distinct belgian yeast character and a bready maltiness. The finish was short, but very dry creating very refreshing and drinkable beer.
Upon completing the Redemption bottle, we decided to uncap and uncork the most anticipated beer of the night, Fantome's Extra Sour. This beer had the most unique sourness of the night. It contained a spiciness and yeasty character normally associated with farmhouse ales or saisons. Along with these two characteristics, a very prickling acidity from an extreme level of carbonation added more depth and complexity to a very delicious beer. After the beer had time to warm, an earthy quality crept into the taste that reminded me of mint or wintergreen. At 10% ABV, the "ghost", Dany Prignon, has created a simply stunning sour ale with no hints of its alcohol content.
The final beer of the night was the third from Russian River, Damnation. There was a definite citrus and floral aroma. The taste was full of belgian character like Duvel or La Chouffe and incorporated a honey sweetness that balanced the beer beautifully. This beer had a ever-lasting finish that lingered on the palate. Full-bodied and silky, Damnation was an excellent way to finish our epic beer tasting.
The collection of beer that flowed during this night is probably the best I have ever seen in one place including beer bars and festivals. I know a night like this may never happen again, so I am grateful to the residents of 70 Park Ave for their generosity and impeccable tastes.

Cheers,
PandaMack  

New Belgium and Lost Abbey - Brett Beer

The exponential growth of craft beer has lead to many developments within the industry, most notably the teamwork of breweries to create and brew collaborative recipes. These partnerships have created a subtle division amongst craft beer enthusiasts, those who loathe the anticipation and hype of these collaboration beers, versus those who can't wait for their favorite two breweries to make their perfect beer. As for myself, I straddle this line because my exposure to these corporative efforts has been minimal. To gain exposure to these beers, I was very happy to indulge and pick up a bottle of, Brett Beer, which brings together the brewing minds of New Belgium and Lost Abbey.
After a very delicate pour, trying not to disturb the yeast settlement on the bottom of the bottle, the beer was  golden-straw colored, but still had many "floaties" creating a sense of murkiness. There was a very light and airy head that reached one-finger height. The height did not last long, quickly subsiding leaving a thin film of very small bubbles across the surface of the beer with no lacings.

The aroma of this beer was very difficult for me discern. After multiple sniffs and the assistance of my wife (yes, I really struggled with this beer and she has an excellent palate) we were able to delicate a slight spiciness along with an apple quality. We let the beer sit for a moment and then agitated it. This re-swirling allowed Emily to detect an earthy characteristic not present earlier in our review. I think the inoculation of Brettanomyces is responsible for this herbal component.
The taste profile of this beer mimicked the aroma. The apple entered the taste first followed immediately  by a quick and subtle earthiness. This beer is quite sweet, not cloying, but this sweetness was unexpected because I thought the Brettanomyces would create a dry, funky finish; it did neither. This beer lacked any true finish and Brett character. It is possible that this beer was sampled to young, not allowing the funkiness from the Brett to develop, maximizing its flavor.
The mouthfeel was very light. It was reminiscent of a very light Belgian Pale with little carbonation.
The collaborative efforts of New Belgium and Lost Abbey did not coalesce on this particular project. The name, Brett Beer, was alluring and I fell for the hype, however the hype was not matched by the quality of the beer. With that being said, I look forward to trying more collaborative beers as craft breweries continue to work together to spread the good word: NO CRAP BEER!

Cheers,
PandaMack

Boulevard Brewing Company - Unfiltered Wheat Beer

First, I apologize for the length delay between posts. My wife and I were on vacation in the Southeast United States visiting friends and family. I look forward to getting back into my writing and today I will commence my summer blogging with a review of Boulevard's Unfiltered Wheat.

While on vacation, Boulevard started sending parts of their portfolio outside of the Smokestack Series to Massachusetts. When I entered, Craft Beer Cellar in Belmont, MA, I was greeted with an expansive display of Unfiltered Wheat and Single Wide IPA. Since it was quite warm, I decided on the wheat because this style generally offers thirst quenching capability while be very refreshing.
This wheat beer pours a very hazy, golden-straw color. Atop this eye-appealing body, sits a light and airy one-finger head. This head did not linger, vanishing quickly into a thin, bubbly film across the surface of the beer. Even with murky quality, small carbonation bubbles are visible floating towards the head of the beer.
Unsuspectingly, the aroma was very faint and I found it difficult to discern its individual characteristics. After multiple sniffs, I was able to detect a weak scent of banana and virtual no spice that I am accustomed to when sampling wheat beers. A nice amount of grain that is detectable along with a mild-citrus sourness.      
The taste profile is quite short and mimics the qualities found in the aroma. It begins with the grain up front on the palate followed quickly by whispers of banana, finishing with a hint of citrus sourness. The only new characteristic that deviates from the aroma is a light hop bitterness just before the sourness invades.  
The mouthfeel is light to medium in body and the carbonation is quite nice. The level of carbonation just tingles the tongue creating a very crisp finish. 
At 4.4%ABV, Boulevard's Unfiltered Wheat is drinkable with an ability to be quite sessionable. This is an excellent beer to introduce friends and family into craft beer culture. However, the uneventful taste and weak aroma didn't endear itself to me. Although I am glad I tried this offering, there are many other  wheat beers on the market that I would reach for first. 


Cheers,
PandaMack