December 2016 Archives

Alright folks, you know the drill: Blah blah blah, blended, barrel-aged, Voltron-esque super beer. Blah blah blah, collaboration with local wineries. Blah blah blah, delicious. We've covered each edition of this beer since XV, so while there's lots to be said about the process here, I've pretty much already wonked out on everything worth wonking out over.

Each installment in this series of Anniversary blends varies considerably. Some veer towards the Barleywine components, like XV and XVII, others hew closer to the dark side, like XVIII and XIX. XVI went for more balance between those two poles (as a result, it might be my least favorite, actually). So what does the XX blend look like?

• 40% Parabola (13% ABV) Russian Imperial Oatmeal Stout. Aged in New Oak and Bourbon Barrels.
• 20% Stickee Monkee (12.3% ABV) English Barley Wine. Aged in Bourbon and Brandy barrels.
• 17.5% Velvet Merkin (8.5% ABV) Traditional Oatmeal Stout. Aged in Bourbon barrels.
• 12.5% Bravo (12.9% ABV) Imperial Brown Ale. Aged in Bourbon Barrels.
• 10% Helldorado (13.5% ABV) Blonde Barley Wine. Aged in Bourbon Barrels.

So this is one of the more stout-like blends out there, with 70% hitting the dark side of the force. In any case, any blend consisting of 40% Parabola has to be pretty good, right? Let's take a closer look:

Firestone Walker XX Anniversary Ale - Pours a very dark brown color with half a finger of light tan head. Smells beautiful, rich caramel, vanilla, oak, boozy bourbon, hints of roast and chocolate. Taste hits those rich caramelized malt notes hard, hints of roast, plenty of bourbon, oak, and vanilla. Mouthfeel is full bodied but nimble, not a beast like most imperial stouts of this ABV, well carbonated, a little pleasant booze in the finish. It feels like the barleywineish components of this blend have lightened the body and hidden the booze a little more than normal for a beer this big, a neat little trick. Overall, yes, it's another winner for the Anniversary blends! A

Beer Nerd Details: 13% ABV bottled (22 ounce bomber). Drank out of a tulip glass on 12/20/16.

There's just no stopping Firestone Walker's barrel program. I look forward to this release every year, and it has never disappointed. Indeed, pretty much any of their barrel-aged, boxed beers are fabulous and I'm always on the lookout. Lately, more of their wild ales have been showing up in the Philly area, like Agrestic and Lil Opal, so here's to hoping for more of that in the future too.

One of Oskar Blues' claims to fame is their popularization of using cans to package their beer. So I guess their pioneering status makes it ok that they started packaging beer in bizarrely proportioned "Stovepipe" (aka "Royal Pint", 19.2 ounces) cans. Not quite the innovation that I've speculated about in the past, but I'll take it. Especially when the can contains a bourbon barrel-aged version of their 10.5% ABV imperial stout, Ten-Fidy. Even if the beer's name now makes no sense - maybe this should be called "Twelve-Niner" or something (get it? It's 12.9% ABV people, keep up). Aged "through four seasons", it only survived about a week in my fridge:

Blues Barrel-Aged Ten Fidy - Pours dark as night with a pretty finger of brown head. Smells fabulous, rich caramel, oak, and vanilla, boozy bourbon, a little roast and dark chocolate. Taste follows the nose, sweet caramel, oak and vanilla up front, some roast kicking in towards the middle, maybe some chocolate, finishing with a balancing bitter hop bite and some boozy bourbon. Mouthfeel is rich and full bodied, tightly carbonated, just a little boozy heat. Overall, yes, this is really great. A high A-

Beer Nerd Details: 12.9% ABV canned (19.2 ounce stovepipe can). Drank out of a snifter on 12/9/16.

It's been a while since I got to try a new Oskar Blues beer, so it's nice to see they've still got the touch. There are some other variants of Ten-Fidy, but they seem to be brewery-only releases, so I'm not holding my breath. Then again, I'm pretty sure BBA Ten-Fidy wasn't distributed far and wide until this year, so maybe I should. I can hold my breath for a year or so, right?

Brasserie Dunham is located southeast of Montreal, near the Vermont border. You know how dorks like me make the pilgrimage to Vermont to get good beer? Well, I have some Vermont friends who've raved about making the pilgrimage to Dunham. This certainly speaks volumes. As such, when I saw their beers showing up on shelves in the US, I pounced.

This beer is first in a series of blends (it's an assemblage or "assembly", eh). This entry is composed of a 50/50 blend of Propolis (a saison made with wheat, honey, and citrus peels) and an American-style pale ale; the blend is then spiked with Brett and aged in Zinfandel barrels. My kinda rustic, lets dive in:

Brasserie Dunham Assemblage Numero 1 - Not a gusher, but it started foaming a bit and would have overflowed if I wasn't careful. Pours a murky golden orange color with a finger or two of white, fluffy head, good retention, a bit of lacing. Smells great, earthy funk, Belgian yeast spice (cloves, coriander), a little vinous fruit. Taste is sweet and spicy, funky earthiness kicking in during the middle, finishing with a bit of a dry, bitter bite. Mouthfeel is highly carbonated and effervescent, medium bodied and dry. Overall, the pale ale adds perhaps a bit too much bitterness, but this is really quite nice nonetheless! B+ or A-

Beer Nerd Details: 5.5% ABV bottled (750 ml). Drank out of a charente glass on 12/10/16.

Definitely a brewery to watch out for, and I'm certain I'll be seeking out more of their stuff soon enough. It's been a while since a Canadian beer has made it to the blog. I'm glad these folks helped me remedy that, and let's hope I can keep it up...

I have this thing where I rarely rate something the highest (or lowest) rating. For once, I am not the worst. I simply have standards, people. Way back when, I wrote about Kaedrin's Grading System, I felt that reaching the highest grade would require a few things. Obviously, it has to be a great beer (that goes without saying even though I'm saying it). Next, it has to be something I have had more than once (a non-trivial challenge, as many top tier beers are one offs or exceedingly rare). Finally, there's that X-factor. Perhaps something personal or a particular experience that simply elevates this beer above its peers. There's a push and pull in the criteria, hopefully leading to some idiosyncratic choices. Maybe you think these are too pedestrian, or maybe you think they're unobtainable, but that's the fun part. Life would be boring if we all loved the exact same things.

Thus far, only 4 beers have earned the coveted A+. Only one doesn't quite meet the conditions (because it was reviewed before the criteria were established). Two are straight up Belgian styles that are both exceptional, but my tastes have evolved a bit since then. The most recent would almost certainly retain its A+ status, but it only kinda sorta lives on (it's part of a solera series, so current bottlings technically have some of that one left in it). Basically, I'm long overdue for some A+ picks. These are three of my favorite beers, which I've sought out and drank (a few times, even) over the last year.

I've reviewed all of these before so I won't bore you with tasting notes, but I will give some quick thoughts on each and why I think they deserve to be elevated to A+ status.

Russian River Supplication - The prototypical dark American Wild Ale, all oak and cherries, sour fruit and vinegar, it's a beautiful beer that's surprisingly versatile. Works in any weather. Pairs amazingly well with BBQ and dark chocolate, and it's obviously delicious on its own too. There are more complex or intense beers out there, but few reach this level of balance and just as importantly, this is something that is regularly available. Original rating was only an A-. It graduated to an A one time at a share where we were eating BBQ (and it paired exceptionally well), and that's when I first realized this was an A+ candidate. Of course, that was 4 years ago. Maybe I am the worst? No, I'm just thorough. I've had this many times since my original ratings, and it's definitely graduated to the coveted A+

Firestone Walker Parabola - Platonic ideal of bourbon barrel stouts, tons of boozy bourbon, oak, rich caramel, and vanilla. It's a big, intense, complex beer, a bruiser, a character that initially held me back a bit when I first tried this. Funnily enough, Parabola was my backup order at a Philly Beer Week event where I got shut out of Velvet Merkin, which at the time was not being bottled and was exceedingly rare (and which, once I happened upon it, turned out to be mildly disappointing). Upon subsequent tastings, I realized my horrible mistake. Again, part of the appeal is that this is something that is regularly available. I would gladly also induct Pappy Black Magick into the A+ realm, but I'm not even sure if it'll ever be made again, let alone acquired and tasted again. I've built a history with Parabola, a great beer that has only gotten better with each additional tasting. This is not a common trajectory and truly a thing of beauty. A+

The Alchemist Heady Topper - These beers are all relatively well known, but this may be the most hyped beer I've ever rated. Under such circumstances, it's tempting to play the contrarian, and yet, it lives up to the hype and remains the standard against which all Northeast IPAs are compared. Have I had better NEIPAs? Maybe! I can think of one or two Tired Hands beers I'd put up against Heady... but as with most TH beers, they were one offs. Even for repeated TH beers, it's worth noting their lack of consistency. Not so with The Alchemist. I manage to snag cans of this every year, sometimes multiple times, and yet they're always consistently great. This might be the first beer I truly traveled a great distance to obtain (along with other VT goodies), and I'm so glad that I did. Juicy, balanced, delicious. I think I'll drink one tomorrow. A+

So there, I've nearly doubled the number of A+ ratings on the site. I hope you're happy now. Hopefully I'll be able to do this a little more often than once every three years. In fact, I'd like to find a way to put a saison in here someday. Until then...

Tröegs has a series of experimental Scratch beers that are always interesting, sometimes confounding, and occasionally fantastic. Rare offerings have graduated into the standard lineup, like Flying Mouflan. Some have come and gone, and still others have made repeat appearances, but only in the limited Scratch series batches.

¿Impending Descent? was first made back in 2012 in honor of (or perhaps to spite) the (long since lapsed) Mayan apocalypse, and I absolutely loved that initial offering. Each subsequent year (on Black Friday), they've released another Scratch beer called Impending Descent, though each appears to have been a tweaked recipe. Last year's version, for instance, only clocked in at 9.3% ABV (while the original was 11.9%). Regardless, in accordance with my insatiable desire for local Bourbon Barrel Aged stouts, I've been pining after a BA version of this beer ever since that first taste. With the expansion of Tröegs' Splinter program, I've finally gotten my wish.

So we've got the standard Impending Descent base (which I'm assuming was the same batch as the 2015 Scratch release) with vanilla bean and cocoa added and then aged in Bourbon Barrels for a year. I didn't take notes, but I happened to have one of the regular 2015 Scratch beers on hand, so I tried that earlier in the week. It's held up well, with the major change being that the hops have gone piney and resinous, as they tend to do with age. This follows through on the barrel aged version, which is quite nice, but let's take a closer look, as this descent has been impending for quite some time:

Tröegs Bourbon Barrel Aged Impending Descent - Pours a very dark brown color, almost black, with a finger of light brown head. Smells quite nice, barrel aging apparent, plenty of bourbon, oak, and vanilla, some caramel, some roast, and some piney, resinous hops (which is definitely a result of aging - Impending Descent doesn't have that note when fresh). Taste hits some rich caramel notes, lots of roast and chocolate, with the barrel lending the typical boozy bourbon, oak, and vanilla character, and again you get those aged, piney, resinous bittering hops. Mouthfeel is full bodied, rich, well but appropriately carbonated, a good amount of booze. Overall yep, it's really good! Maybe tone down the hops a bit, but I like it a lot as is... Not going to be a BCBS killer, but would be curious to see how it develops. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 12% ABV bottled (375 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a snifter on 11/25/16.

Glad I made the trip out to Hershey to grab this stuff, though I'm pretty sure it will hit distribution. Worth seeking out, and the price is certainly right (especially compared to that other Black Friday release everyone goes bonkers over, even if I don't think this one quite defeats BCBS). Certainly looking forward to future iterations on this, and the continuing expansion of the Splinter series. Nothing on the immediate horizon, but I'm sure it won't be long before we're reviewing more Tröegs...