Grab Bag o' Tasting Notes

Had some good and not-so-good beers lately, and thought I'd put them all up together.

First, not-so-good: Samuel Adams Third Voyage double IPA (8.0%). Wanted to like this, had an interesting story about Captain Cook's 3rd Voyage (to New Zealand and the PacNW, where they got the hops for this twin-hemi hopped beer)...but while it had a spicy, fruity, piney nose, the beer itself was heavy, almost logy, and thick in the mouth. I know double IPAs are big, but the really good ones are much lighter on their feet than this.

Then, Samuel Adams turns around and delivers on the Belgian Session ale, at 4.3% (some details here), and it was wonderful. Skillful brewing got a lot of flavor out of the yeast, spices, and fruit peels in the beer, and that's what session beer brewing is all about. This one is a cross between a Belgian pale and a witbier, and it works quite well: the spicy notes mingled with light and creamy orange, and the whole thing finishes crisp and dry. This isn't me liking session beer, this is me liking a good beer.

I picked up two beers from Blatant Brewery in Massachusetts two weeks ago, and reviewed the Blatant Session here. I liked it, but I liked the Blatant IPA (6.5%) even more. The hops are firmly up-front, with an insistent pine-and-pith aroma and a captivating (and appetizing) bitterness on the tongue, and the whole of the beer trips lightly on the tongue, an agile dancer of an IPA that twirls and stamps. Delicious, and I wish I'd bought more.

I mentioned the newly reformulated Killian's Irish Red in my St. Patrick's Day post (you know, the one and only one), and it deserves further mention.I remember the way Coors originally did Killian's, back in the 1980s: a surprisingly estery ale, quite tasty, a beer I used to buy by the keg. Then they changed it...and it was bland, but still red, and propped up by plastic paddy marketing. This new beer is still a lager, I think, but the new Killian's is much more malty than the debased reddish-amber flab-bag it had become. It's slippery-smooth, with some juicy Vienna-like malt in the middle, and a good malt finish. Again, surprising. Definitely one I'd buy if I were out in a bar.

I also got a variety 12-pack of Genesee beers from my good friend Sam Komlenic for my birthday last month, and I cracked out two of them, too. 12 Horse Ale was an old fave, but...wow, not so much. Blunt, even coarse, to the point where I was thinking to myself, man, I hope this has changed, because I'd hate to think I once liked a beer like this. But the old reliable, Genesee Cream Ale, was a fun beer to drink! I wasn't expecting much after the 12 Horse wagon crash, but Genny Cream was sweet and light, showing the cream ale style that won multiple GABF gold medals (Genny Cream has more gold medals than almost any other beer; seven, I think). I'd happily order this again on a hot day in a shady bar.

Got some more, but I have to go sing. Maybe later.

BIPA: enough, already

Belgian IPA.

It wasn't until I got the Samuel Adams Longshot announcement today, where they listed the winners of this year's America's Got Homebrewing Talent competition (not their name, of course), that I realized how bloody tired I'm getting of seeing, hearing, and -- mostly -- tasting this classification of beer. (The winners, for the record, and congratulations to them: Richard Roper (Georgia), Friar Hop Ale (the probably just-fine BIPA that set me off), Rodney Kibzey (Illinois) Blackened Hops (a dark IPA...which I still like, for now), and Caitlin DeClerq, the Boston Beer Employee winner, with Honey Bee’s Lavender Wheat.)

It's just so freakin' American craft brewing. Take a familiar category of beer -- maibocks, brown ale, porter, or in this case, Belgian pale strong ales (a beautifully, broadly, Belgian category, admittedly, in which few are just like another) -- and hop the shit out of it, then proudly hold it up as A New Beer! Ta-daaaa! Never mind if it's freakishly sweet, or that the hop flavor clashes with the yeast character, or that every other brewer is going, 'Yeah, I gotta make me one of them' and the "style" becomes a glut (crap-ass sour beers, anyone?). Not to mention that American craft-brewing has become so influential -- a GREAT thing, overall, and very satisfying -- that Belgian brewers are doing it, with very varied results.

Yeah, I like some, like Poperings, De Ranke XX, The Bruery Mischief. Others -- like Green Flash Le Freak, Gouden Carolus Hopsinjoor, and the one-shot (thank you!) Duvel Tripel Hop -- really verge into that Frankenstein's monster territory for me. I understand that this is how we progress, that the good succeed and the bad simply suck, and that every beer is not meant for me, but...

The aspect that most bothers me, about BIPA and other herd beers, is just that: the herd. Someone does a new beer, a really new thing -- Vinnie Cilurzo does Blind Pig, for instance. A couple other brewers taste it -- at the brewery, at GABF -- get inspired, and they try it. Then one of them breaks big -- it happens faster these days, thanks to the beerwebs and the competitive "yeah, I've had that...a YEAR ago!" nature they've fostered -- and literally a hundred brewers make them, not so much inspired by the art as by the buck. I'm all for the buck, it keeps craft beer alive, but guys...have your own idea. It may or may not get you the attention. But you can't do this kind of thing, and still complain about Blue Moon and Shocktop, 'kay?

Example: Weyerbacher. I've been a fan from Day One, largely because of two things. First, Dan Weirback's a scrapper; he's hung in there when other people would have quit, and he keeps trying things. Second, he's been -- except for some exceptions -- a contrarian. When everyone else was making wheaty fruities, he made a beautiful raz imperial stout; when everyone else made sweet tripels, his was dry and spicy. The exception? Dan did some following in the years around 2000. It got a little boring. Then he found his way again (with the help of an excellent brewhouse crew, led by Chris Wilson; kind of like what's happening at Flying Fish with Casey Hughes), and Weyerbacher is not a follower any more. And we are the richer for it.

It's not really BIPA I'm tired of. I'm tired of seeing so many new ones. Either innovate, truly and wildly and brilliantly, or give me something beautiful and solid, like the gorgeously classic Saison Vautour from McKenzie Brewhouse, or the unimpeachable quality of Troegenator, or the simple lines of Geary's London Porter. Stop chasing flags (a little Dante reference for you there). Make beer. Find your heart first, and then follow it.

New Samuel Adams voting challenge

The new Samuel Adams Beer Lovers Choice contest beers are out there, where two proposed beers are sent out to be taste-tested across the country. I got mine yesterday, and they're in the fridge right now: American Rye Ale, and a Belgian-style IPA. After last year's voting propelled Noble Pils into the spring seasonal slot, I promise to never underestimate the American beer geek's palate again; that beer's brilliant. So bring it on; vote early, vote often!

Bits & Pieces

Still really busy writing PA Breweries 4th, but I wanted to tell you a few things I came across.

• Nodding Head has a 10th anniversary version of 3C out called 4C, because it adds Columbus hops to the Cascades, Chinook, and Centennial hops that are in 3C...and turns it up to 11...percent, that is, not as brewed by Nigel Tufnel. It tastes so damned fresh-hoppy that it's like licking the inside of a hops bale wrapper. "We're generally less bitter," says Gordon Grubb, "but we use more hops."
• Bube's Brewery has a pretty damned nice 6% Nut Brown Ale on right now, and one of their two brewers' names really is Bryan Teets, which I can only guess has earned him a couple rations of crap. 
•  Crabby Larry owner Larry Jones got bit by the brewing bug; found it so interesting that he's doing most of the brewing now, and has exchanged his oversized tanks for smaller ones: the beers are the better for it, fresher, less oxidized. His Irish stout's pretty nice right now, and the fish -- as always -- is worth the trip.
• Doug Marchakatus is tweaking and adding beers at Manayunk: "It's a constantly evolving brewery," he said. Manyunk's beer is like an archeological dig: you can still see evidence of each of the prior brewers, all the way back to Tom Cizauskas. Doug's St. Alpha Belgo-IPA has a beguiling aroma of apricots.
• I finally got to Shank's Tavern in Marietta, after trying to hit it when it's open for years (really. Years.), and it was worth the wait: neat old bar, good fresh beers (decent assortment of local crafts on tap and bottle) and an excellent bowl of chili that really hit the spot on a cold afternoon before the snow started falling. Walked down to McCleary's Pub, too, ridiculously close in this tiny town, and had one of the shortest, tastiest pub crawls I remember.
• Talked to Bill Moore at Lancaster Brewing and got the important nub of the recent management shift (Christian Heim and John Frantz were fired on Dec. 30): plans for a production facility are on hold, but "I wouldn't say it's completely off the table." With all their bottles currently being done at The Lion, and Bill working his long-time wholesaler connections to build sales, a production facility could fit in Lanc's future nicely...just sayin'.
• Paul Rutherford is doing some beastly good lagers at Iron Hill Lancaster; had his brand-new helles yesterday, and it was bread-fresh, spot-on accurate.
• Spring House's Planet Bean Coffee Stout has a huge amount of coffee flavor without the bottom-of-the-pot bean bitterness you get in some coffee beers. Nicely done.
• Swashbuckler brewer Mark Braunwirth has a hellish good kölsch on, and their pub (right beside the...pirate ship) is open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday through April. Good chance to try Mark's truly good beers without the whole RenFaire thing...
• Tom Baker at Earth, Bread + Brewery ("Please don't call it "Earth Bread"", said Peggy. "It sounds like bread made of dirt.") told me he'd made his 48th beer since opening, "and none of them were the same." So that's one plan that's working...
• Carol Stoudt told me the Stoudt's Gold has been picking up strongly in sales lately; anecdotal evidence of something I expect to see: people who don't normally drink "craft beer" discovering that "craft beer" doesn't necessarily mean "hoppy, strong, and dark."
• Kutztown Tavern is running 11 beers these days. "We've found our niche," said brewer Bob Sica (a NJ guy who thought he was going to be a musician and started brewing on the side...and now does an acoustic set at the brewery every Saturday night...he found his niche, too). "We hustled for outside accounts for a while, but I couldn't do 11 taps here if I still was." They've got a bottle shop out front with a good craft selection...and the biggest selection of cheap-ass beers and malt liquors I've ever seen. Hey, college town, right?
• The General Lafayette is still open, and Chris Leonard is getting by on what sounds like about 8 hours of sleep a week. He's finally given in, and is brewing a new line of beers: Copper Crow, starting with an IPA.
• Holy crap: the big Sam Adams brewery (I call it that because there's a big Sam Adams sign over the entrance) up outside of Allentown (you know; the former Schaeffer/Stroh/Pabst brewery/Diageo malt drink mixer-uppery) is rocking: 30,000 pounds of malt per batch, crazy amount of tank space, and all Boston Beer production now in-house. No longer a contract brewer. Wow. A seismic shift.
• Tried four beers at Dock Street, and they were uniformly excellent; Rosemarie poured me a glass of the Boho Pils that was simply beer porn, looked good enough to lick; I took a picture and posted it on Facebook.  

And a bunch of other stuff...but I gotta get back to writing. Cheers!

Sam Adams Barrel Room Collection Stony Brook Red

I got some more samples: the Samuel Adams Barrel Room Collection. I'm trying the Stony Brook Red, a barrel-aged 'red,' a Flanders red kind of beer, I guess, only the damned thing's 9%. Burgundian imperial? Anyway, it carries that 9% very well, and doesn't taste particularly boozy.

It's tart, not sour, and the nose is tart cherry, a bit of almond, some fizzy sweetness, and some wood. The taste is all that, dialed back a bit. In fact, it's gulpable. There's the tart, there's a bit of astringency -- not unpleasant -- and a thickness that doesn't get to be too much. This is a Flanders red smoothed and sanded to an easily grasped glass. Well. Relatively easily grasped. It's enjoyable, but for someone who's been drinking this kind of thing, good and bad, for years, it's kind of easily grasped.

I'm trying to think of a metaphor and none's coming. I mean, for the price -- $9 for a 750 ml bottle (and an odd-looking bottle, looks like a butter churn) -- it's pretty decent value. But what the hell is a 9% Flanders Red, and how much are you paying for the 9% part? I'm not clear on this one. I'll have to try the other two.

Samuel Adams Imperial Stout

I got an advance sample of the two new beers in the new Samuel Adams Imperial Series, an Imperial Stout and Imperial White. And in the midst of the Eagles' awesome comeback in today's NFC championship game (nervous, nervous), I'm trying the Imperial Stout.

It pours black, black as a strong cup of French roast. The beer's too cold at first, and I'm not getting much, so I let it warm up. Now I'm getting some coffee and graham off the top, some sweet, and a little bit of earthiness. The flavor's sweet with a stiff backing of bitterness, both hop and burnt grain. All the components are there, and this is good.

Is it awesome? Close. It's pretty good, but it's not making me see God. Those four incomplete passes that sealed the Eagles' fate, that is making me wish I could see God and ask him WHY?!, but the beer's not beefy enough. What body is there, is mostly just sweet; I'm looking for some more complexity, but I'm just getting volume. I want to like this beer, but that's about all I can say for it: I like it. Too sweet. Falling short. Like the Eagles today.

Longshot Double IPA

After the long wait from last year, we finally got Mike McDole's Double IPA in the Samuel Adams Longshot series, the beers Boston Beer brews and distributes nationally as the result of a country-wide homebrew competition. McDole's beer actually won last year, but because of the hops shortage, the decision was made to hold off production till this year.

I got two samples, and cracked one last night. Yow. This is one wicked bitter beer, slicingly hoppy, chockful of pine and citrus...but without much body under it, or at least, not enough, it seemed to me. I do love me a hoppy beer, but this one's missing the malt it needs to keep it upright. JMO, but after all, it's JMB, you know? Some of you will love this, as it feeds your needs. Me, I'm looking forward to trying the Traditional Bock that came with it in the Longshot sixpack.

While I have a moment...

My connecting flight to Chicago from Louisville got cancelled, and the Ryder Cup had all the other outbound flights jammed. Damn all golf, anyway. Everyone in front of me was screaming, and I just asked, "Is there any way to get to Philly today, or should I just rent a car?" And the woman asked me how flexible I was, and I said, try me.

She put me in a cab to Cincinnati, with a flight from there to O'Hare, and then to Philly. Had a real nice ride up with a talkative and fun cabbie, who told me he once took a V8 engine to Phoenix for the airlines, a $2700 fare. And I got in, and got checked in, and here I am with a tall, fresh glass of Sam Adams Oktoberfest. The day's getting better.

Hats off to American Airlines: not only did I catch my 35-minute connection at O'Hare, so did my luggage, and we landed 20 minutes early in Philly...with all the bourbon in my suitcase intact. Thanks, American!

Samuel Adams Patriot Homebrew IPA

You know Boston Beer does their big Longshot contest every year, giving a couple homebrewers the chance to put their beer in the Big Time and get it brewed, bottled, and distributed by Boston Beer. Pretty cool stuff, and just one more way Jim Koch proves that he really does Get It.

But didja know they also have a New England-only contest for homebrewers to win a chance to get their beer on draft at Gillette Stadium during the New England Patriots season? Now that is sweet, 18-1 or not.

Best of all, after the disappointment of not being able to make one of last year's Longshot winners, a double IPA that just couldn't be brewed because of hops shortages (not prices, we were told: the hops just couldn't be bought at all), this year's Patriot Homebrew, from Massachusetts resident Adam Walsh, is a by-God IPA. And Boston Beer sent me two bottles, so I'm going to taste them. Yes, it's only available at Gillette Stadium, on draft, but...I did make that promise...so here we go.

Wow, that pours pretty! Big head (and yeah, I know, the Sam Adams glass is for Boston Lager...big deal), and deep amber/copper body. There's a wicked sharp pine/pineapple aroma coming off it (with a sweet teasing hint of peach or nectarine) that promises hop!!! and man, it does deliver in the mouth. There's no compromise about this baby, you're getting a bitter shot to the chops that rocks you, and then lingers like feedback echo, with a little bit of alcohol heat underneath to keep things cooking and clean. But it's not whiprazor sharp hopjuice, there's plenty of ballast under there to keep it lined up and on-target.

I was just playing Burnout Revenge last night, see, and this beer drinks like the heavy van in the Crash game. You launch something like the 4X4 pickup or the custom crash vintagemobile, and you've got speed, zing, all that jazz -- but hit a ramp in the wind and you're screwed. Put the heavy van up the ramp and BOOM. It's going right where you want it, and where you want it is getting smashed. This is like that.

Only issue is a slightly green character to the hops. Normally I like that, it's fresh, it's cool, but this is more leafy than hoppy. Not great, but minor. It actually seems to be diminishing as the beer warms a bit.

Going to a Pats game? Brother, do they ever have your beer ready. Thanks, Adam; thanks, Jim.

First batch brewed at "new" Boston Beer brewery in Pennsylvania

I just got an e-mail from Boston Beer: there will be a media event this Friday at their new Pennsylvania facility, the former Pabst/former Stroh/former Schaeffer brewery outside of Allentown (the location was variously tagged as Fogelsville, Trexlertown, Allentown, and Lehigh Valley; Boston Beer is referring to it as "upper Macungie Township," a description which would have tickled my late friend and homebrewer extraordinaire, Mark Johnston, a Macungie boy). We're invited to meet with Jim Koch and sample the first batch of Samuel Adams brewed at the plant.

I've said that this is a great move for Boston Beer; it gets them out of the contract brewing business and puts them in control of their destiny. It's also a brewery that was practically designed with Sam Adams in mind -- except for the obvious issue of not being in Boston (which keeps the costs down considerably!), this place is great: equipped for traditional lager brewing with big horizontal lagering tanks, built for the tours a company like Sam Adams would love to do, a display brewery right on I-78 for a company that's proud of its beer, and -- did I mention the I-78 location? -- positioned on two major Interstates (it's about two miles from I-476) and a rail line.

Unfortunately, I can't make the event this Friday; we're going camping with the kids. But I can't tell you how stoked I am to see Boston Beer get a real brewery; to see Jim Koch's plans come together; and to see this great brewery making beer again. Cheers!

Me and Sam Adams: looking good

Thanks to Stan Hieronymus, who sent me this link to a Reuters report on how Boston Beer blew away analysts' predictions for profits last quarter.

He sent me the link because of this piece I wrote for Portfolio, in which I took a look at Boston Beer's prospects and concluded that "Boston Beer looks pretty good." The market, I said, had it all wrong. Today, looking at that Reuters story, I'm feeling pretty good. Validated. Probably not as good as Jim Koch feels, though.

Who's the Lucky Winner?

Just heard from a brewer about those hops Boston Beer released: they got so many responses -- so far, they've had requests that total 100,000 lbs., for 20,000 lbs. of hops -- that they've decided the only fair way to do it is by lottery. They'll be drawing the winners on March 23.

Samuel Adams Irish Red

The new Samuel Adams Irish Red, a beer chosen by vote (between this style and a dunkelweizen -- rigged, I say, rigged!) as the next addition to the long line of Boston Beer Co's offerings. Smells fresh, malty, and a bit fruity, and a hint of caramel...unless that's anticipation of what I'm sure is in there. Mmmm...good body on this one, and yeah, there's caramel flavors. This is not an overly hoppy beer, but the earthy, spicy notes of East Kent Goldings are welcome. It really woke up my mouth with the piece of room temp Primadonna cheese I grabbed on a whim, too.

This is not for everyone. Irish reds are generally approachable beers, but this is perhaps too much for some. I say that because Cathy didn't care for it. I thought at first that it was the caramel malt, but after hearing what she said -- it's got that English taste I don't like -- now I'm not sure if it's the malts -- I think English malts are distinctive -- or the EKGs, which I just love. Cathy likes PNW hopping, crisp, piney, citrus, and this isn't that, not at all. She also likes malty beers, but usually more on the lager side. This Irish Red has a fuller body than most others I've had, and I like that, kind of a bridge towards Fuller's ESB in a weird way. The caramel might be overdone, but that's a defining characteristic, so that's like saying hops are overdone in an IPA, and, well, you can't say that in this country, right?

But this isn't Cathy's blog! I like this one, and encourage you to try it. Should be a good food beer with pork, chicken, and lighter fish; cheddar/Lancashire cheese, and nuts; pears, too, probably.