May 2013 Archives

Rodenbach Grand Cru has very quickly established itself as a go-to Flanders Red (especially when I want to introduce someone to the rough and tumble, gum-rubbing world of sour beers). Widely available, affordable, and absolutely delicious. It's hard to believe that my first was less than a year ago, but here we are today, taking on next-level Rodenbach world beaters like Caractère Rouge. Life is good.

Made from the same base as Grand Cru, this sucker is 100% aged in oak foeders for 2 years, then steeped in macerated cherries, cranberries and raspberries for an additional six months. The result manages to retain that distinct Rodenbach character, even while it's softened by candy-like fruit notes. It's a worthy variation on Rodenbach's theme...

Rodenbach Caractère Rouge - Pours a deep, bright, darkish red color, serious robey tones, with a finger of light, almost pink head. Smell is pure fruit, rasberries, cherry, maybe even strawberry, sugary candy treats, fruit rollups, jolly ranchers, that sort of thing, with some nice funky twang. Taste is very sweet, again with the cherry, raspberries, and strawberry followed by a funky, assertive, sour kick in the middle, that fruit rollup character hitting in the middle too, finishing with an acetic sour note. As it warms, a subtle oak element emerges and livens things up, adding complexity and richness to the party. Mouthfeel is very well carbonated, medium bodied, bright, sticky sweet in the finish, though once it warms, that stickiness seems to yield to the oak, making it seem a little drier and actually, more palatable too (not that this was ever hard to drink). Easy going beer, complex, but accessible. Overall, it's a fruity delight. I'm perhaps more taken with the more oaky Rodenbach expressions, but this is still delicious and complex stuff. And as fruit beers go, it blows something like Serendipity out of the water. It keeps getting better as I drink, too, which is just another element of it's complexity that I really appreciate. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 7% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a Tired Hands glass on 5/24/13.

The bottle had no markings on it at all (totally badass), but it does have that little label thingy attached by string. No real batch identification, but I'm guessing this was the 2012 batch. No other Rodenwales are incoming at this time, but I'm obviously going to be keeping an eye out for any new releases from these fellas. In the meantime, I'll have to settle for some Loonz, Ghosts, and the like. I'll be ok. For now.

Well, what have we here? Yep, it's a saison, complete with baffling inclusions like trendy Galaxy hops and dark malts, brewed with Brett. Plus, it's got a label featuring constellations in the form of... the Harlem Globe Trotters? Also depicted: two disembodied blue hands pointing towards a galactic core consisting of a giant hot dog. And when I say "giant", well, if this is drawn to scale, let's call it about 1,000 light years long (and a diameter of about 200 light years). That's a big hot dog. Fortunately, no hot dogs were used in the making of this beer. Unfortunately, I'm not sure all the disparate components came together as well as Prairie hoped.

Served in appropriate glassware, of course:

Prairie Funky Galaxy - Pours a dark brown color with lots of bubbly, khaki colored head. Smells of pure, juicy Galaxy hops mixed with bready, spicy Belgian yeast. Not a lot of funk in the nose though. Taste has a nice saison yeast character mixed with some roasted malt and those juicy hop flavors. Some light, earthy funk emerging towards the finish. Mouthfeeel is highly carbonated, dry, and surprisingly crisp. Medium bodied, but easy to drink. Overall, I find myself wishing this didn't have those roasted notes, but it's still quite good. B

Beer Nerd Details: 8% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of whatever you call that Star Wars glass on 5/26/13.

Man, this lack of harmony seems to be the theme of last weekend, but fret not, for tomorrow we'll be talking about a spectacular beer that has harmony out the ying yang. Or something. Stay tuned.

Eric at Focus on Beer recently posted an excellent rambling exploration of the utility and prevalence of beer reviews in blogs and whatnot. It seems to have inspired a lot of responses, so I figured that I'd throw my had in the ring... but then I read Ed's reasoning, which absolutely nails it:

...a lot of that focus is turned to you as a reader and why in general, beer reviews probably aren't truly useful to you. But I'd like to take a moment and focus on someone that I think beer reviews are greatly useful to, and that's us bloggers ourselves.

Of course, I didn't want this blog to be purely reviews, but it sorta evolved into that. I try to spice things up with notes about the brewery, pedantic style debates, historical digressions, and even more off the wall stuff like Screenplays or Choose Your Own Adventure Beer Reviews. I'll be the first to admit that my tasting notes are a little on the dry side, but it's the stuff surrounding them that's most important. I'd hope that I'm somewhat successful on that score, though I have noticed recently that it's getting a little harder. I've already written about a lot of interesting breweries and styles, and I don't want to keep repeating myself, so I have to come up with something else.

As for whether or not reviews can be useful, I think they can, but it still requires you to have a fair amount of baseline knowledge. It's funny, but I find reviews much more useful now than I did when I first started trolling BeerAdvocate and RateBeer. Part of that is that my BS meter has been calibrated to tune out blowhards who use absurd descriptors and whatnot, and part of it is that I've learned enough about my tastes to pick up on certain aspects of a beer that I know will turn me on/off (whether it's a highly rated review or not).

Ultimately, it's all a bit of a wank. Everyone is different, and while my approach is to compulsively write about what I'm drinking, it's not like you have to do anything special to enjoy beer. You don't need any specialized knowledge, you just need to drink it, which is good enough for me.

Anywho, here's a beer from a brewery I really like that I found a bit disappointing. I actually think these tasting notes might even be useful if this is a beer you're thinking of purchasing, because it's a really weird beer. Not Calagione-level weird, but still. Might be worth knowing what you're in for with this one...

Telegraph Obscura Cacao - Pours a pale golden brown color, not what you'd expect from something brewed with chocolate, with a finger of bubbly off white head. Smells of spicy, musty Belgian yeast. As it warms, that cacao comes through loud and clear. Taste also features that spicy Belgian yeast character, with chocolate flavors coming through strong late in the taste and lingering into the finish. As it warms, the cacao becomes even more pronounced. There's a dry bitterness in the finish as well. Unfortunately, these flavor elements don't really come together in a completely harmonious way. It's like the cacao is fighting the Belgian yeast instead of meshing. It's not horrible, but it was a little disappointing. Mouthfeel is highly carbonated and spicy, medium bodied, but easy enough to drink. Overall, this isn't a spectacular beer, a little muddled and unfocused, but it's not the abomination that the ratings seem to indicate either. Spicy Belgian style with some chocolate notes that aren't particularly well matched. Not bad, but again, it's not a harmonious combo. B-

Beer Nerd Details: 7.3% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a goblet on 5/25/13. Batch No. 99.

I still want to explore more of Telegraph's offerings, particularly Gypsy ale, and I'm sure you'll be seeing more of them on the blog at some point.

Though this Texas brewery has only been open since 2004, it has roots dating back to 1847. William Rahr was one of many German immigrants who brought their love of beer to the new world. After he, uh, fell into a brew kettle and died, his sons carried on the tradition for a while, renaming the brewery William Rahr's Sons Co. I'm not really sure what happened to that brewery (to hazard a guess: prohibition), but Rahr's malt business has continuously operated since 1847 and supplies a large portion of the brewing industry. I don't think that has anything to do with the new Texas operation, but it's always neat to find old-school U.S. brewing institutions.

Anywho, this is a Winter Warmer style beer aged in bourbon barrels for 10 weeks. A short stay, to be sure, but then, Winter Warmers probably can't stand up to super-long durations like a gigantic stout or barleywine, so maybe that's for the best. Let's find out, shall we?

Rahr & Sons Bourbon Barrel Aged Winter Warmer - Pours a very dark brown color with off white head. Smells of chalky malts, not quite roasty, but dark malts, along with some spice, as befits the Winter Warmer style. Not really detecting much in the way of Bourbon Barrel action in the nose though. Taste is sweet with lots of common winter mulling spices, ginger, cinnamon, and the like. The bourbon comes out in the taste, a little boozy, with those roasted malts coming through in the finish. Not quite as harmonious as I'd like, but it's decent. Mouthfeel is well carbonated, spicy, a little chalky, medium bodied. Overall, a solid brew, not mindblowing and it could use a little more balance, but I'm glad I got to try some. B

Beer Nerd Details: 8.5% ABV bottled (22 oz. bomber). Drank out of a snifter on 5/24/13. Bottled Winter 2012.

I've got another big Rahr & Sons brew in the cellar right now, though I'm not sure when I'll break that sucker out... perhaps the next beer club!

The last time I had Eclipse, I was wondering if it was really possible to pick out different makes of Bourbon by drinking the beer aged in said Bourbon's barrels. Fifty Fifty Brewing's Eclipse series is ideal for that sort of experiment, but I think my methodology is off - I'm drinking this three months after I drank my last one (which was aged in Elijah Craig 12 barrels). I suppose I could throw on some Journey and do a comparative tasting of 5 different variants... Total eclipse of the hangover. Just in time for summer!

Rittenhouse Rye was originally distilled just a hop and a skip away in Linfield, PA (It's now made in Kentucky, along with Heaven Hill's other brands), which is why I recognized the name. Rittenhouse Square and Rittenhouse Hotel are Philadelphia institutions, named after local Age of Enlightenment man David Rittenhouse, a noted astronomer and clockmaker who went on to become the first director of the United States Mint (a seemingly strange shift in priorities, but then, Isaac Newton had the same basic trajectory, though he was obviously more well regarded.) Anywho, the most common Rittenhouse Rye expression is a 100 proof whisky, which is slightly stronger than the Elijah Craig 12 (47% ABV). Too small to notice? Well, I had found this one to be more whisky forward than the EC 12. Is that a function of age (only three months?), or did these two different barrels produce genuinely different beers? I may have to risk the hangover to find out sometime.

Imperial Eclipse Stout - Heaven Hill Rittenhouse Rye - Pours a dark brown, almost black color with a finger of light brown head that actually leaves a little lacing. Smells deeply of that barrel aged character, lots of whisky, oak, vanilla, a little bit of caramel, and the faintest whisper of roast. Taste is full of rich caramel, whisky, oak, and vanilla, with the roast again taking a back seat (definitely not as roasty as that Elijah Craig 12). Mouthfeel is full bodied (but not quite the monster that a lot of BA stouts can be), smooth, well carbonated, lots of richness. Overall, this is more whisky forward than the EC 12, but the balance that marks Eclipse is still in place and kicking. This is a superb beer. A

Beer Nerd Details: 9.5% ABV bottled (22 oz. waxed bomber). Drank out of a snifter on 5/18/13. Bottle No. BR 2. 2012 Vintage.

I have a couple bottles of Eclipse variants in my cellar, and one of my local beermongers still has some on the shelf too. You'll definitely be seeing more of this stuff on the blog at some point.

I covered the philosophy behind Firestone Walker's barrel program in wonky, exhaustive detail when I wrote about Firestone Walker's last Anniversary Ale, but for the uninitiated, Firestone Walker is a brewery that likes to ferment and age beers in barrels and their Anniversary Ale represents an annual tradition whereupon they invite their neighboring winemakers to the brewery to get sloshed and devise a blend of several component beers (each of which was specifically made to be blended, though FW has taken to releasing the components on their own, to much fanfare).

The XV blend heavily favored Barley Wines, and most of the component beers were aged in bourbon and/or brandy barrels. The breakdown was 76% Barley Wine style beers, 19% Stout and 5% Imperial IPA. It had a nice deep, dark amber color to it - gorgeous, delicious beer. This most recent offering's components skew a little darker:

• 23% Velvet Merkin (8.7% ABV) Traditional Oatmeal Stout. Aged in Bourbon barrels.
• 22.5% Stickee Monkee (12.5% ABV) English Barley Wine. Aged in Bourbon and Brandy barrels.
• 20.3% Double Double Barrel Ale (14.2% ABV) Double Strength English Pale Ale. Aged 100% in Firestone Union Barrels.
• 10.8% Parabola (13% ABV) Russian Imperial Oatmeal Stout. Aged in Bourbon Barrels.
• 8.1% PNC (13.0% ABV) American Strong Buckwheat Stout. Aged in Tequila barrels.
• 5.4% Helldorado (11.5% ABV) Blonde Barley Wine. Aged in Bourbon and Brandy Barrels.
• 5.4% Bravo (13.4% ABV) Imperial Brown Ale. Aged in Bourbon and Brandy Barrels.
• 4.5% Wookey Jack (8.3% ABV)- Black Rye India Pale Ale. 100% Fresh, Dank & Hoppy 100% Stainless Steel

Definitely more equitable distribution here: 53.6% Barley Wine style beers, 41.9% Stout, and 4.5% Black IPA. Even amongst the Barley Wines, the lighter colored Helldorado accounts for less. Plus, instead of Double Jack (a DIPA), we get Wookey Jack (a Black IPA - basically a hoppy stout). Also new this year is a brew aged in Tequila barrels, which is a nice twist. Alrighty then, enough nerding out on statistics, let's get down to brass tacks:

Firestone Walker XVI - Pours a very dark brown color, almost black, with a finger of tan head that leaves a little lacing as I drink. Smells of boozy bourbon, oak, vanilla, and caramel. Some char, not quite roast, is also present. A little fruitiness and dank, piney hops emerge as it warms too. Taste starts sweet with bourbon, oak, dark fruit and huge caramel notes (reminiscent of crème brulee) like a BA barleywine, with some piney, resinous hops emerging in the middle and a hint of chocolate and roast peeking in towards the boozy oak and vanilla finish. Super complex, evolves quite well as it warms. Mouthfeel is not quite as thick and chewy as expected, medium to full body, well carbonated, a hint of sweet, boozy stickiness, but still well balanced. Overall, this is fantastic beer. I'm not quite as breathless as I was when I tried XV, but this works incredibly well in its own right. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 12.5% ABV bottled (22 oz. bomber). Drank out of a snifter on 5/17/13. Bottled November 2012.

Superb stuff, like all of Firestone Walker's barrel aged beers. I've managed to snag another one of these anniversary bottles (along with some Sucaba), and I'm keeping my eyes peeled for Parabola whenever it shows up in the area (hope I didn't miss it, actually). Rumor has it that Velvet Merkin will be bottled later this year as well, which I'd really be curious to try... Firestone Walker is also upping their game, increasing their barrel capacity and even playing with wild yeasts and bacterias, etc... in their new barrel room. Will be very curious to see if next year's anniversary blend incorporates sours...

Houston's Saint Arnold brewery has been on my radar for a while, but I missed out on them during my last trip to Texas. Fortunately, that BIF brought me a couple of their brews, including this one. Once an entry in Saint Arnold's Divine Reserve series (limited one-offs released once or twice a year), it was so popular they turned it into a year round brew.

Saint Arnold himself is the patron saint of brewers, famous for a story similar to the Marriage at Cana where Jesus turned water into wine, except Arnold took trace amounts of beer and multiplied it for starving parishioners who were running low on supplies. No one describes what that beer tasted like, but let's pretend it was a DIPA like this one:

Saint Arnold Endeavour IPA - Pours a dark golden orange color with a finger of white head that leaves some lacing as I drink. Smells a little on the dank side, lots of pine and resin, but a nice juicy citrus component hanging around too. Taste has slightly more citrus, an almost peach note, but is still very focused on pine and resin (not that that is a bad thing!) Sweet up front, some creamy crystal malt here, with the hop bitterness kicking in towards the finish and lasting through the aftertaste. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, very smooth, almost creamy, tight carbonation, sweet and a little sticky, but not cloying. Overall, above average DIPA, just barely missing the world-beater level. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 8.9% ABV bottled (22 oz. bomber). Drank out of a tulip glass on 5/17/13. Bottled 2/13/13.

I've also got me some Saint Arnold Divine Reserve 13, a quadrupel that I'm quite looking forward to. In the meantime, I've got some reviews of a couple barrel aged brews coming up. Stay tuned.

I've mentioned this beer a few times since I brewed it, but haven't really done a proper recap. Oh sure, this bottle I'm reviewing was the last bottle in existence (supr .rar 24 bottle release guize), so it's not like you'll get to try it, but as per usual, I have some minor learnings. I think. I mean, I'm no master brewer, but then, that's the point. In W3C markup validation parlance, I get 1 error, 1 warning on this batch. Fortunately, beer fails gracefully, and drinkers are like browsers in that they tend to be forgiving of minor faults. Ok, I'll stop torturing this metaphor now.

First, the error, which was that I overcarbonated the beer. Normally, with a 5 gallon batch, you just pick up a 5 ounce packet of corn sugar and go to town, but I was making a small batch here, so I had to break out the measuring cups and figure out proportions. I clearly erred on the side of too much priming sugar here. Fortunately, all that means is a wicked big head that takes forever to go away. No gushers or anything that annoying, and if you pour carefully, it actually works well enough. Plus, this should be easy to correct in future batches.

Second, the warning, which is that I should probably be more careful about sourcing my hops. In particular, I'm going to be more wary of "loose" hops. This batch came out super piney and resinous, very dank stuff. Now, I enjoy that component of Simcoe and the like, but I also tend to associate that with hops that are less fresh. For my first batch of Simcoe IPA, I had the vacuum sealed HopUnion packets, and when I cracked open my first bottle of that stuff, it had this beautiful, massive grapefruit character. As time went on, that pine character emerged more and more, eventually fading back into the malts the way unfresh IPAs do.

I don't mean to say that the hop character was poor or that this beer was an immediate malt bomb (the way unfresh hoppy beers are), but I never got that big juicy citrus component that I was shooting for. Now, I did switch up the hop schedule, adding some Falconer's Flight and Citra into the mix (with Simcoe remaining on bittering and dry hopping duty), but FF and Citra are also known for their citrus components, so I was still hoping for more there. All my hops for this batch were just in loose baggies, not vacuum sealed or anything (like you'd get from Northern Brewer or HopUnion). Also, I was definitely buying the last of the FF, and there was only a little Simcoe left (in other words, those hops had probably been in the hop fridge for a while). Again, this wasn't a disaster or anything, but it's something I'm going to keep an eye out for in the future.

In general, though, the beer seemed to go over well. It was brewed for a specific event (the eponymous Fat Weekend), and we got through the full half case (which is all I brought) pretty quickly (and I only had one). But enough rambling, let's take a closer look:

Kaedrin Fat Weekend IPA - Pours a dark orange color with a big three finger fluffy, bubbly head. Smells super dank, resinous, piney, a little citrus too. Taste follows the nose, crystal malt with lots of dank, resinous, piney hop flavor, some citrus peaking out too. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, super carbonated, perhaps over-carbonated, but still very crisp and refreshing. Overall, it's a solid IPA, a little overcarbonated, and I'm getting the impression that the hops I used were not quite as fresh as I'd like, but it's still quite solid. Not quite as good as my first batch of IPA, but still a nice B level beer (borderline B+, and could have easily gone that way if I did the carbonation right)

Beer Nerd Details: 7.5% ABV bottled (12 oz). Drank out of a tulip glass on 5/11/13. Hops: Simcoe, Citra, Falconer's Flight. Bottled 2/18/13.

This, of course, reminds me that I should probably get off my arse and fire up my next batch. Planning on a saison at this point - a little scared to introduce Brett into my homebrew setup, but then Beerbecue suggested I name it Kaedrôme Saison and how can I really resist that? Can I do that without wild yeast? Maybe I can just find some strange farmhouse yeast instead of the typical 3711 or 3724 stuff...

Is drinking a beer out of the same brewery's glassware kinda like wearing a band's t-shirt to their concert? Enquiring minds want to know. Or not, because I did it anyway. This is another Texas beer from that BIF trade, and my sender kindly included some fancy schmancy glassware too. It's an imperial milk stout brewed with vanilla:

Lakewood The Temptress - Pours a very dark brown color with a finger of khaki head. Smells sweet, plenty of caramel and lots of vanilla. Taste follows the nose, lots of sweetness, caramelized sugar, and that vanilla coming through loud and clear. Just a hint of toasted malt. Lots of flavor, but not a lot of roast, and very little bitterness. Mouthfeel is full bodied, rich, creamy, and chewy. It has that creamy milk stout feel from the lactose. Well carbonated. Overall, could perhaps use a little more balance (it's very sweet), but on the other hand, this is my kinda stout and a great dessert beer. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 9.1% ABV bottled (12 oz.) Drank out of a tulip glass on 5/11/13.

More BIF goodies to come, though alas, no more Lakewood. Naturally, they make a bourbon barrel aged version of this, and I'd be curious to see if that sweetness dominates or if the rich oak character would tone it down some. Could go either way. Of course, I'll most likely never see that beer, but still, would be interesting.

So far, most of my beer trades (which I can count on one hand) have been with people I already "knew" in some way, mostly from interacting on each others blogs. But if you head over to Beer Advocate or Rate Beer and hit up their trading forums, you'll see a veritable cornucopia of stranger-on-stranger trading. This is a realm I've not really gotten into too much, and it's probably not something I'll pursue heavily, but there is a variant of the typical 1 on 1 trade called a "BIF".

BIF stands for Beer It Forward, and it's kinda like a secret santa, but with beer and without the holidays. Basically, you sign up for a BIF, get assigned a target, then send them a box full of beer. There's always a set of minimum requirements or a theme that you have to meet, and the general idea is that everyone ships (and probably receives) their boxes around the same time (there are several variants of this process - what I've described here is called a "shotgun BIF"). Everyone knows who they are sending their beer to, but no one knows who is sending them beer. There's a thread where people drop hints and try to guess who their sender is, and eventually everyone posts their hauls their too.

My target was in Chicago and we've already talked about future trades so that I can get my grubby hands on more Three Floyds awesomeness. My sender was from Texas, so I got me a cache of Texas (and other local environs) beers. The highlights, to my mind, were a few Saint Arnold beers, and three Prairie sour farmhouse ales (my sender correctly deduced that I was a saison/sour fan), the first of which I opened this past weekend. Prairie seems to be making the rounds of late, and I get the impression that these sours aren't distributed as far and wide as their regular stuff. This one is a sour farmhouse ale and a collaboration with Saint Somewhere. Check it:

Prairie Somewhere - Pours a cloudy golden color with a couple fingers of bubbly head. Smells of musty Belgian yeast, sweet and spicy, and just a little farmhouse funk. Taste starts sweet and very spicy, a light sourness pervading the taste throughout, finishing with a tart lemony kick. Mouthfeel is highly carbonated, spicy, crisp, refreshing, relatively dry. Overall, rock solid sour farmhouse beer here. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 7% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a goblet on 5/11/13.

A decent first impression from Prairie, and I've got two more of their sours that will probably be popped open in the coming weeks. Expect some Texas locals to start showing up on the blog as well, including one tomorrow and probably some of that Saint Arnold stuff next week.

So this wound up being another infected beer that I'm going to dump on, not quite as bad as the Tot Taint, but still not very good. And yes, I suppose that's ironic considering I just praised an intentionally infected beer, but those Cantillon folks know what their doing. These Santa Fe guys must have done a little too much meth and let their bourbon barrel barleywine get infected. I'm sure there'd probably be a way to salvage this beer (perhaps involving further barrel aging and additional wild beasty doses), but it seems that they left that task up to us, which leads to glorious nonsense like DDB's solution to the problem:

Man, that looked super chunky and gross... but I'm not sure it would be that much worse than the infected beer itself. The worst part is that if it weren't infected, I'd probably love this beer. As it is, I had a rough time getting through my first glass and didn't even bother with the rest of the bottle.

Santa Fe Kickin' Chicken Bourbon Barrel Barley Wine - Pours a turgid, murky brown color with half a finger of light tan head. Smells of caramel, toffee, dark fruits, not a lot of that barrel in the nose, but nothing that screams infection either. Taste starts off with a rich caramel sweetness that gradually gives way to a slight vinegary sourness and wild tang which lasts through the finish. Yep, this is definitely infected. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, thin in the way some sours are thin, acidic, unpleasantly abrasive. The richness yields to the infection and the sourness lingers through the aftertaste. Overall, it's not very good! D

Beer Nerd Details: 10% ABV bottled (22 oz waxed bomber). Drank out of a snifter on 5/10/13. Bottled 3/8/13.

This beer actually came to me via Texas in a trade I should really explain more about (will probably do so tomorrow), so it's unlikely that I'll see these Santa Fe folks again. That being said, I'd love to try an uninfected version of this beer, as it seemed to tick the right checkboxes.

What a good way to start the weekend. After a long week at work, coming home to a bottle of Cantillon makes me want to pump my fist triumphantly like Judd Nelson. Don't you forget about me.

What? Oh yeah, beer. So this is Cantillon's straight up organic Gueuze. You know the drill: a blend of various ages of oak barrel conditioned lambic (usually involving 1, 2, and 3 year old spontaneously fermented beer). Cantillon sez this beer represents half of the production of the brewery and that when cellared properly (i.e. not how I do it!) it will still have "an exceptional taste and flavour after 20 years." Hard to believe that anyone can hold on to a bottle for that long, as this is classic stuff:

Cantillon Gueuze 100% Lambic Bio - Pours a cloudy golden yellow color with a finger of tight white head and good retention. Smells of musty funk, yeast, a little oak, that twang that indicates sourness. Taste starts sweet, with some yeasty funk and spice hitting in the middle, followed by oak and a nice tart sourness intensifying through the finish. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, smooth, some pleasant acidity that intensifies through the finish. Plenty of carbonation, a little more than 3F, but not as much as Tilquin. Overall, a fantastic, well balanced beer, not quite the revelation that the kriek was, but definitely on par with the best Gueuzes I've had. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 5% ABV bottled (375 ml capped and corked). Drank out of an entirely too big Tired Hands glass on 5/10/13. Label sez: Bottled 3 December 2012.

I have a 750 of this in my cellar, but I can guarantee it won't last 20 years. Probably not even within an order of magnitude. Glad I'm starting with the simple stuff though. Not sure how much of a difference there is between this "Bio" stuff and the regular Classic Gueuze, but it's still damn good. Anywho, I get the feeling minds will be blown as I start to branch out into their fancier offerings. Stay tuned.

The name "Nielsbohrium" was suggested not once, but twice for newly discovered elements. Both times: rejected! The name comes from theoretical physicist Niels Bohr, and one of the rejected elements did end up being named after him (just Bohrium, sans the Niels). Well, 14 years later, the name Nielsbohrium finally found a home in, quite frankly, a much awesomer substance.

This beer is the third collaboration between Mikkeller and Cigar City, though technically it's a blend of their two previous creations: Dirac and Bohr, both imperial sweet stouts brewed with raisins and spices (apparently cinnamon). The blend was then aged in rum barrels and dubbed Nielsbohrium. I can't help but think that Paul Dirac (a theoretical physicist who actually collaborated with Bohr) is getting the short end of the stick in the naming department, but then the beer is awesome and I'm betting that Dirac and Bohr high-fived each other up in heaven when this beer was released in 2011. Huge thanks go to Dave for slinging this bottle my way, as it's a spectacular beer, even after 2 years:

Cigar City and Mikkeller Nielsbohrium - Pours a deep, dark, pitch black color with the faintest cap of brown head that quickly resolves into just a ring at the edge of the glass. Smells utterly fantastic, lots of oak and vanilla, some caramel, and a little of that boozy rum. Taste starts with rich caramel, very sweet, but then you get a hint of bitter roast, some spiciness, oak and vanilla, maybe some port-like notes (or dark fruit, presumably from the raisins), and that boozy rum hitting towards the finish. That rum barrel character is distinct, but still very close to a good bourbon barrel treatment, making for an interesting experience. Extremely complex, evolves well as it warms. Mouthfeel is very thick and heavy, viscous, full bodied, and chewy, with that richness that comes with proper barrel aging. An intense beer, I took my time with this one, and loved every second of it. Overall, this is a superb barrel aged beer. A

Beer Nerd Details: 10% ABV bottled (750 ml capped). Drank out of a Voodoo snifter on 5/4/13.

Well, that certainly went a lot better than my last Rum Barrel Aged beer! Cigar City continues to impress. I was a little worried about how old this one was, but I suspect it has held up remarkably well (I never had it fresh, but in my experience, sweet stouts age well).

When I started this blog, I was generally looking to write about every new beer I tried. I learned a lot, which was the point, but I'm also sure it was boring. Being the 3583756th blog to review Sierra Nevada Pale Ale isn't particularly constructive or, frankly, all that interesting. I don't want to read that, let alone write it and inflict it upon you. So what I'm getting at here is that I might not review every beer I try anymore, and I might do more posts like this, with just a few quick hits on mildly interesting beers I've had lately. In fact, this has been happening for a while now, and it's part of the reason I feel like everything I review is really good - I'm not putting much energy into those bad beers. Anyways, I'm sure you're devastated by all this, but I'll try to make up for it by drinking and reviewing interesting beer and maybe even writing things that aren't just reviews. So for now, let's just look at a few beers I've had over the past couple months, but which haven't inspired posts of their own:

21st Amendment Marooned On Hog Island - Jay loved this and I always fall in love with 21st Amendment's artwork, but then, I'm not a particularly big fan of oyster stouts either. Something about the salinity that most of them have just doesn't work that great for me, though it can make for an interesting change of pace. This one pours a black color with a finger of tan head. Smells of sweet roasted malts along with something I can't quite place (brininess? Presumably the oysters...) Taste is straight on stout, sweet with plenty of roasted malt and that briny oyster character coming through towards the finish, which retains a bitter roast too. Mouthfeel is very nice, well carbonated, lighter bodied than I'd expect, but still substantial. Overall, it's a solid beer, but it didn't hit me in the gut like I wanted. B

Beer Nerd Details: 7.9% ABV canned (12 oz). Drank out of a tulip glass.

Duck-Rabbit Wee Heavy Scotch Style Ale - Man, Duck-Rabbit sounds like it'd be right up my alley - a brewery specializing in dark ales? Sign me up! And yet I'm almost invariably disappointed by their wares. Granted, I haven't had anything other than their regular lineup, but still. I like Scotch ales, but this one doesn't feel like the style at all. It pours a deep, dark brown, maybe copper color with a finger or two of fluffy light tan head. Smells rather odd, kinda like a soda. Caramel and fruit are there, but perhaps a uncommon yeast character is showing up as well. Taste is similar, plenty of caramel, some fruit, and that soda-like character from the nose. Mouthfeel is more carbonated than expected, and I'm guessing this has a higher attenuation than your typical scotch ale. I mean, it's not dry, but it's nowhere near what a Scotch ale is supposed to be either. Feels a little unbalanced, sloppy, though it's not at all unpleasant. Overall, I guess I'm just not feeling this one. Certainly not a bad beer, but a little disappointing and not really on-style. B-

Beer Nerd Details: 8% ABV bottled (12 oz). Drank out of a tulip glass.

Milwaukee Brewing Louie's Resurrection - I got a pair of these beers in that trade that brought me a bunch of Three Floyds, and I had one right away that was pretty darn good. Not mind-blowing, but a really nice bourbon character mixed with a typical malty red ale. Solid stuff, but then I think I let the other one sit around for a bit too long. It pours a brownish amber color with a finger of off white head. Smells of toffee, caramel, light bourbon. Taste hits with that toffee and caramel right away, very sweet start, rich flavors, mild bourbon character, some euro hop flavor. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, well carbonated, very easy drinking. Overall, a very nice beer. Not going to expand consciousness or anything, but good. B+ (fresh) or B (not so fresh)

Beer Nerd Details: 7.5% ABV bottled (12 oz). Drank out of a snifter.

Green Flash West Coast IPA - This one would probably qualify as a boring review of a regular beer, but it happens to be my first Green Flash beer ever, which is surprising given their wide availability in the area. Will have to seek out more from them. This one pours a deep orange color with a finger of white head, plenty of lacing. Smells like an IPA! Lots of citrus and pine hops. Taste follows the nose, a little more crystal malt character than I was expecting from a "West Coast" IPA, but as an east coaster, this does not bother me at all. Again with the citrus and pine, maybe some herbal spice too, nice bitter finish. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, crisp, easy drinking stuff. Overall, solid beer! B+

Beer Nerd Details: 7.3% ABV bottled (12 oz). Drank out of a tulip glass.

Deschutes Obsidian Stout - This one came to be via my first BIF trade (which is something I'll explain in a later post). Pours a very dark brown color with a couple fingers of fluffy, light brown head. Smells like a sweet stout, caramel malts and some roast apparent, but also maybe some floral, citrusy hops. Taste starts sweet, with a light roastiness emerging quickly and lasting through the finish. Some floral and citrus hops make themselves know, but they're not aggressive, just adding a nice complexity and balancing bitterness to the brew. Mouthfeel is well carbonated, with a slightly yet pleasant astringent character, medium bodied. Overall, it's an above average stout, more along the lines of what I look for in a stout. It didn't blow my mind, but it's a worthy brew. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 6.4% ABV bottled (12 oz). Drank out of a tulip glass.

So there you have it. Tomorrow, we return to the realm of amazing barrel aged monsters, so grab your broad sword and strap on a shield, things are going to get elemental up in here.

Last week, I got an email from some guy named Dany. Oh, it's the brewer from Fantôme, and he ran across my recent review of Fantôme Saison, a beer that has been inconsistent, but great (he said it's not always perfect, but he doesn't want to do the "same basic commercial work, like ... too much belgian brews"). We exchanged a few emails, and Dany recommended that I try out Brise-BonBons, which he said "USA amateurs" seemed to enjoy because it's more hoppy than your typical Belgian stuff. Fortunately, I just happened to get my hands on a bottle of this stuff, so I cracked one open this weekend, and yep, this one is competing for the very best Fantôme I've ever had. As the bottle sez:

With joy and a little bit of mischief, Fantôme brewer Dany Prignon dedicates this very bitter beer to all of the many varieties of brise-bonbons - literally, ball-breakers - in the world. Specifically, this beer is meant for wise-guys, braggarts, pains-in-the-ass, muck-rakers, troublemakers, know-it-alls, stuffed-shirts, blow-hards and bores, as well as nut-cracking, wind-bag, prattling-on, self-appointed experts on everything, and nose-in-the-air snobs, convinced they can do anything better than you. Dany intended to make a beer too bitter for a normal person to enjoy. The problem is, everyone loves it! Guess we're all just a bunch of brise-bonbons sometimes...

Fantôme Brise-BonBons! - Pours a cloudy yellow gold color with a couple fingers of fluffy white head. Smells deeply of funky Brettanomyces, lots of earthy aromas, a little yeasty spice, but also a sorta brightness to it. A kinda lemony bubblegum aspect, but, uh, better than that probably sounds. Perhaps even some hops up in the mix. Really nice nose, actually. Taste starts off sweet and spicy, like a Dupont-style saison, but then that funky Brett moves in, bring that earthiness and maybe some bright lemony tartness too. It finishes with a really well matched dry bitterness, presumably from the hops. Mouthfeel is perfectly carbonated (effervescent might be an overstatement, but it's got a high carbonation), crisp on the palate, refreshing, and dry. Overall, this is right up there with my favorite Fantôme experiences, fantastic beer. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 8% ABV bottled (750 ml capped and corked). Drank out of a tulip glass on 5/3/13.

If I may name-drop Dany again, he also recommended I try some Magic Ghost, that saison brewed with green tea that looks like straight-up ecto-cooler. I just happen to have recently acquired a bottle of that stuff as well, so keep an eye out for a review in a few weeks.

I was mightily impressed by Williamsburg's bourbon forward barrel aged porter, and this Coffeehouse Stout, while perhaps not as storied, was a nice change of pace considering that I've been hitting up big, burly Imperial Stouts and Barleywines a little too consistently lately.

As I've mentioned many times before, I'm not a big coffee drinker, but I'm starting to get a taste for the stuff when it's included in beer. In this case, it's a milk stout brewed with coffee, and as Rich commented, it really does kinda lend the impression of coffee with sugar and cream (I mean, it's still clearly a beer, but this mixture of roasty beer, lactose, and coffee really seems to mix together well...) Thanks to Dave for hooking this one up for me... Check it:

Williamsburg AleWerks Coffeehouse Stout - Pours a very dark brown color with half a finger of tan head. Smells of... yes, coffee. A little roast and a little sweetness too. Taste is full of roast, with coffee quickly showing up and doing its thing through to the finish. In fact, I feel like that coffee sorta softens the intensity of the roast, which is actually nice. There's also a character I associate with milk stouts (ah, yes, this actually is a milk stout, so that makes sense). Not a lot of bitterness here, but it's not cloying either - well balanced stuff. Mouthfeel is where this really shines - it's very smooth, velvety, creamy, again with the balance here. Overall, this is a really good coffee stout. Not being a big coffee guy, I can appreciate it, but if you're a coffee fan, you might think of this as being spectacular. Me, I'll give it a B+.

Beer Nerd Details: 5.4% ABV bottled (12 oz.) Drank out of a snifter on 4/27/13.

I'm now keeping an eye out for Café Royale, which is a souped up and barrel aged version of the Coffeehouse Stout, which I think would actually really work well.

According to Wikipedia, the Basque Government promotes jai alai as "the fastest sport in the world because of the balls". Insert innuendo joke here. Good, glad we got that out of the way. I'm a little surprised that I haven't had this yet; I've had ample opportunities, just never pulled the trigger... which is weird, because Cigar City is one of those brewers I'm always keeping an eye out for. Well, I finally got me a can of this stuff, so lets chug a beer and ball really hard (if you're so inclined, feel free to insert whatever innuendo you want here).

Cigar City Jai Alai - Pours a deep, dark golden color with visible sediment and a finger of white head with decent retention. Smells fantastic, bright citrus, juicy pineapple, a little additional piney resin. Taste starts sweet, with some crystal malt, that citrus hop character quickly emerging and morphing into resin and pine. There's a balanced bite of bitterness in the finish and aftertaste. Mouthfeel is on the lower end of medium bodied, tightly carbonated, almost creamy but also juicy. Overall, this is one really well crafted IPA, but I feel like the bar's been set pretty high on that front. As shelf beers go, it's great, but it can't quite compete with the likes of Tired Hands or Hill Farmstead. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 7.5% ABV canned (12 oz.) Drank out of a tulip glass on 4/12/13. Canned on 15 JAN 2013.

I mentioned Tired Hands and Hill Farmstead, and I realized a while ago that part of the reason their hoppy beers are so spectacular is that I always have them when they are super fresh. The same goes for a bunch of other hop bombs, like Pliny the Younger or Hopslam. I'm not going to claim I have a great palate, but it's tough for a 3 month old can to compete with that sort of thing. I guess what I'm saying here is that I need to down a six pack of Jai Alai. You know, just to make sure. In the meantime, I've got an interesting looking Cigar City beer aged in rum barrels burning a whole in my fridge. Look for a review next week.

A few months ago, Michigan's Arcadia Ales put out a couple of big beers aged for 22 months in bourbon barrels. Rumor has it that they were Pappy Van Winkle barrels, which apparently imbues it with mystical healing powers. Or something. They had me at bourbon, but I'm easy. And to cement the deal, they waxed the bottle. Industrial grade stuff too. Had to break out the chisel and hammer, but I got there*:

Arcadia Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout - Pours a very dark brown, almost black color with a cap of bubbly tan head that resolves into a ring that hangs around for a while. Smells strongly of bourbon, vanilla, caramel, oak. Given the nose, I'm surprised at how well the taste retains its roasty character, a little char, and don't get me wrong, lots of bourbon and booze here too. Mouthfeel has more carbonation than expected, not overcarbonated or anything, but its got a bite to it. Or maybe that's the booze, which is certainly present and potent. Overall, a very nice bourbon barrel stout. I may have rated this higher if I hadn't had that amazing barrel aged 2 Live Gran Cru beer earlier in the day. But B+ is nothing to sneeze at either, and that's where I landed on this.

Beer Nerd Details: 12% ABV bottled (12 oz. waxed). Drank out of a snifter on 4/27/13.

So I've also got a bottle of Barrel Aged Cereal Killer, a barleywine that is supposedly even better than this sucker. Review is coming soon. I just have to, you know, drink it first.

* Note to self: Don't wear an orange t-shirt whilst taking pictures of beer. Jeeze, look at that reflection.