Krausen Rising

We went to Triple Rock last Wednesday to see Brian Yaeger talk about and read from his book, Red, White, and Brew. There, I first discovered that I’m suddenly really into Triple Rock’s Stonehenge Stout, an export stout at about 7% ABV. I left behind stouts (other than massive Imperial Stouts, the siren call of which sometimes lure me away from the safe seas of Reason onto the dehydrated rocks of Massive Headache) a while ago, on to hoppier or belgianier beers, but lately I’ve found a couple great ones. Firestone Walker’s is the other, in case you’re curious. So, yeah, I had that, and Jen grabbed herself a Kolsch. Jen was on camera duty, and is not a shirker. Here are our beers:
   

Yaeger was there with representatives from one of the P* bookstores (Pegasus or Pendragon, I forget which). It was a good talk. I’d heard a bit about his book at the Beer Chef’s Schooners dinner, and I’d thought his choice of breweries to check out was strange - mostly not the big and/or weirdstuff popular with us kids (Russian River, Port, Bear Republic, and Allagash, to name a few). After hearing him speak for a few minutes about his choices, the book started sounding more interesting (and nerdy). I didn’t take any notes, so anything I say here is hazed up from the stout and over a week spent fermenting in my brain, so take it with a grain of salt, but it seems to me Yaeger is documenting the rise of… real? craft? beer in the US as it grew up in the wastelands created by Prohibition. Some are small breweries that toughed out Prohibition making soda or even opening creameries on the side, and some are breweries that sprang up in the aftermath of Carter’s legalization of homebrewing. And of course there’s Anchor. This is the kind of history it’s good to have on the books, a reminder of the grim days of the light beer wars to keep us humble and stoked to be living in times of plenty.

He read from the book, a chapter about a brewer in Bisbee, a strategic chapter to read for sales - it’s got coccaine, federal prison, drunk driving, corrupt cops… with a murder and John Goodman, it’d be a decent Coen Brothers movie.

So, Yaeger talked for a while, there was the dreaded post-reading Q&A, I bought a book, and Jen, being a good fangirl from way back when, got the book signed for me. Now I have to get going to The Trappist to try some Guido (a tribute to New Jersey?), about which I will hopefully post within the week.

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Brewery: Fantome
Type: Noel
ABV: 10%
Quaff date: 3/31/2009
Poured at: Casa Muerte
Drunk from: Tulip Glass

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Another special beer, but for some reason, I left out the special lighting this time. Who knows, we’re still way back in March, over a month ago. This beer was purchased for me by Jen as a Solstice gift. I waited and waited for an appropriately special moment to open the beer, then one day, I could just feel it - the special moment had arrived.

I’ve heard rumors of Fantome having problems with bottle consistency - low carbonation or weird flavors (which may or may not be due to whatever whim struck the brewer on brew-day). This opened with a distinct, relieving “pop!” Rather than a lack of carbonation, this one gushed a big. I started pouring quickly but gently, so as to retain as much of this most special of beers as possible. It poured a cloudy brown, with the head dissipating quickly, but a steady stream of bubbles continuing to rise from the glass. It smelled salty. Is that possible? Must be. Also, tamari (a flavor D-Mo first pointed out to me in dark beers). Also some cloves. I don’t usually notice cloves, so I got to mark that one off, my version of birding. My first impression upon finally getting a good guzzle in was black pepper. Spicy (I added in my notes, parenthetically, “seriously spicy”). Also dry and figgy. Figs I’m used to from all the strong, dark Belgian beers I love drinking. But now I”m looking back at my notes wondering, where did that clove go?

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Brewery: Jolly Pumpkin
Type: Whit
ABV: 4.8%
Quaff date: 3/28/2009
Poured at: Casa Muerte
Drunk from:

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Okay, now here’s a special beer. And I futzed with the lighting and everything, too, just to highlight how special this beer is. This blog is turning deluxe rather quickly.

Straw yellow, a bit cloudy, with a tight, white head. The aroma is citric and tart, with a small but obvious amount of brett (the horsey type - sorry for the half-assed link) tossed in. I expected more wildness from the smell, but this beer is dry, lemony, and refreshing, with a hint of brett always there to remind you of the barrel aging, and a subtle spiciness from noble hops (or some close relative of hop nobility). I love this beer.

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Brewery: Brouwerij Van Steenberge N.V (says BA)
Type: Flemish Sour Ale
ABV: 5.5% (again, according to BA)
Quaff date: 3/27/2009
Poured at: Casa Muerte
Drunk from: n/a

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Poured a deep ruby red; big head with loose bubbles. Smells of sugar and sour cherries - reminds me of cherry lifesavers (to be trashy about it). Sweet, a little tart - refreshing, maybe too much so - it goes down awful quick and then there’s no more. Not the most complex sour beer I’ve ever had, definitely good for someone who hasn’t tried a sour before.

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Brewery: Moylan’s
Type: Spiced Winter Lager
ABV: 6.0%
Quaff date: 3/23/2009
Poured at: Casa Muerte
Drunk from: Pint Glass

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Slightly cloudy, golden/wheat color with a tight, white head. The nose is chock full of orange, to the exclusion of all else. Same goes for flavor - loads of orange, with some wheat tang and a little yeast spiciness (or maybe just plain spiciness) - black pepper. The spices make themselves known as a tannic bite at the back of the palate. Or maybe that’s tannins from the grain. Seemed like spice to me at the time.

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Brewery: Lagunitas
Type: Pale Ale
ABV: 6.4% (according to BA
Quaff date: 03/15/09
Poured at: Casa Muerte
Drunk from: Pint Glass

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Here’s one from mid-March. Half a season ago. Is it irresponsible to post a review from a beer drunk so long ago? I’ve had a few more since then, even. My take on reviewing from month-and-a-half old notes: this past Tuesday I was at The Trappist, to noone’s surprise. They had a bottle special - Kapittel ABT - that intrigued me. I thought, Hmm, I bet that’s a nice dark one, like St. Bernardus 12. I asked Ray about it - if he’d had it, how the bottles were. He looked at me sort of sideways, like something wasn’t right. Turns out, he was pretty sure he’d had it once before, shared from a bottle I bought. Hmm… didn’t sound right. I had no memory of the whole thing. So I bought one, Ray poured it. Whoah - looks like a strong blonde. “I didn’t think it would be so light,” I said. “That’s exactly what you said last time.” So that was probably me, happily tasting a brand new beer then promptly forgetting about it. It’s the drinking - every time I’m trying something new at The Trappist, I’m drinking. And that makes it all blur together. So I’m trying to keep track of what I’ve had, what I’ve thought of it, and then how my preference/taste has changed since the first time. Very narcissistic.

Lagunitas Pale, I used to think, was pretty boring. Loved the IPA (my intro to super hopped beer), but I remember the pale being… shit, I don’t really remember it. Then Lagunitas changed the recipe a year or two back, and suddenly it’s a great pale, with enough hop bitterness to delight, but bordering on great with the delicious hop flavor and aroma. So here are my notes on it:

Pours golden with a thick, white, quickly dissipating head (they all dissipate quickly in my glassware, it seems). A sweet malt and hop aroma. Bitter, delicious hop flavor, seems like Centennial or Columbus to me (those hops that make Pliny taste a little earthy and basil-ish). The malt’s a bit subdued behind the hops at first, but comes out as the beer warms, a nice cereal/grain flavor. Jen would say it’s a session beer for alcoholics.

I missed the previous Session, which was about smoked beers. I love smoked beers, but just didn’t feel the need to write about them last month. This time I’ll give it a go. Today’s session is kindly hosted by Beer at Joe’s.

I don’t care much for the original beer cocktails I had - black and tan, snakebite…. I think that’s it. Admittedly, I was fascinated for a while by the separation between stout and (lighter colored ale) in a black and tan, but then I found out people get all edgy about it if you order it in the wrong place, and anyway I don’t drink Guiness or Bass much nowadays. I also feel a beer cocktail should be more than two beers mixed together (or a beer and a cider). That’s a blend of two beers, not a beer cocktail. I once tried blending a Young’s Double Chocolate Stout and a Lindeman’s Framboise (being easily influenced and highly malleable, I’d read about that combination on a beer blog and it intrigued me). It was a syrupy mess that may have been awesome on top of some ice cream. I still drank the contents of both bottles, but I had to down a bit of water to get through them. Another of those drinks for 10 year olds.

I’ve always been an extremely half-assed purist about things I like. I enjoy pure, traditional versions of food, entertainment, drinks, and all that, except when I find something non-traditional that I like. Maybe it’s the raised-amongst-puritans thing that makes me want to adamantly condemn what I haven’t experienced. Then I guess it’s whatever got me out of Puritania that makes me try it anyway.

I don’t know how long radlers have existed - they could be an ancient tradition for all I know. Oh wait, now that I’ve read the content at the other end of that link, it looks like they’ve been around since the 1920s. Quite a bit older than me. But is that long enough for the purist? I have no idea. Speisekammer in Alameda has them. Jen tried one once, back before The Trappist had turned her on to wit beers and eventually corrupted her to the point where she can enjoy pilseners, the occasional blonde, and at least appreciate tripels. The radler at Speisekammer is made with some lemony soda, and is delicious, light and refreshing, if you drink it quick. The malt and lemon blend together perfectly until it cools off, then the sugary soda pop is more obvious, and even though the malt is, as well, it doesn’t quite work warmed up.

My other favorite beer cocktail is the michelada. That one is my favorite, actually. The radler is just something I like the idea of, but I almost always prefer a straight beer. Sometimes, though, you’ve got a case or so of light lager, preferably Mexican lager like Pacifico or Modelo Especial (both a half step above US macrobrews). And with me, if that’s the case, I’m usually in a situation where I’m hungover, if not at the beginning of my Pacifico drinking, then within 12 hours or so of the session’s beginning. At that point, half a (fresh, squeezed) lime per beer, with a couple splashes of hot sauce (I recommend Valentina) and a bit of salt around the rim makes for a passable hangover cure, or at least a slow rise back up into buzz-dom and away from headaches. Though not absolutely essential, a nice-sized serving of ceviche with some tostadas, some more limes, and a fresh avocado or two, can’t hurt. If you’re in Oakland, try Mariscos La Costa. Hell yeah.

Epistemological Despondency

My manic depressive posting tendencies are showing up again. I start a-bloggin’, then next thing I know I’m asking myself “why?” And I stop. Then I want to post again. So I’ll post…

Lagunitas Tour

We did a 3/5 Beercraft Lagunitas Brewery tour yesterday. Somehow it seemed appropriate to be touring Lagunitas on 4/20. It was a very fun tour. Last time I was at the brewery, The Bavarians were there, installing the new system. They were testing the centrifuge. If something had gone wrong, and the centrifuge had blown up, we could have died. Generally, though, if something goes wrong, and something blows up, that’s a risk, so it was worth it, and besides, now we’re heroes, grimly staring death in the eyes and asking where he got that cool robe and if it was as expensive as it looks. This time, all the new stuff was up and running. Brewing was happening. Bottling, too. The smell of malt was in the air. I saw boxes of hop pellets (Cascade, which I’ve heard is popular amongst California breweries).

We were watching a machine autoload pallets of empty bottles into the bottling line, when Matt (of the Smoketown Gamblers) motioned us over. He showed us the bottles filling (one of my 5 gallon batches could be filled and capped in just a little under two seconds). Then he told us to come check out the coolest thing we’d see on the tour. It was a gate kind of thing straddling the conveyor belt with all the bottles coming through it. Bottles are filled to the point that foam is coming out the top (to push out the oxygen), then capped, then they go through a washing doohickey, then they get to that gate. The gate has a laser. If the laser doesn’t like what it sees (a half-empty bottle), as the bottles are moving along at a nice clip, there’s another little gadget a couple feet down the line that literally punches the bottle off the line into a little naughty bottle penalty box, where it is ignored. It’s the kind of thing that fascinates three year olds and me (and all my friends, it seems).

I also noticed, the second time passing them, a bunch of barrels lined up against a wall. They said things like “bourbon” and “saison mutant” and “brown shugg” and “pinot” and other such mouthwatering things. Jen and I plotted, but couldn’t figure out a way to roll one of those “saison mutant” barrels out of the brewery without being noticed, 4:20 or no. Sigh.

I highly recommend the Lagunitas tour. Aside from the essential creepiness of touring a working brewery (how would you like it if a bunch of drunk strangers came up and gawked at you while you were working? I know I wouldn’t react well), it’s a lot of fun. It’s a small brewery, but the equipment, to these naive eyes at least, is top of the line. And there were, what, five beers on tap? And more in the fridge.

Which reminds me, we tried the next seasonal - the 2009 Correction Ale (which includes a sad-but-funny-but-really-mostly-funny rant about the current economic “correction” we’re in). It’s similar to the new, improved pale ale, but different hops - tastes like Simcoe, Centennial, Columbus to me. By which I mean it has that chewy, thick hop flavor of a Pliny or something similar. I look forward to seeing that one in stores.

I saw this yesterday, the 2nd. I swear it didn’t have a date of April 1st when I read it:

I have been procrastinating this blog all day in the spirit of Vinnie’s newest creation, which we FINALLY released at our pub today! Yes, Procrastination, a Belgian-style Herbed beer, was tapped just in time for our 5th Anniversary this weekend, and will only be available on draft at our pub! We have all been waiting patiently for years, watching it on the “Coming Soon” section of the chalkboard, wondering when and what Procrastination will be, and, voila! The wait is finally over! This Belgian-style beer is made with fresh, locally grown Sonoma County herbs. It weighs in at a whopping 9.3% ABV and 72 BU’s… clearly not for the average beer drinker!

Jen and I have been going to the RRBC for the last three years or so. On their chalkboard is a list of available beers, and usually a list of upcoming beers. Procrastination has been “coming soon” since we started going there. I always assumed it was a joke. That assumption has been reaffirmed.

I take a half day at work on Thursdays, so I convinced Jen to take off work early, and we drove up to RRBC around 1:45. Got there just before 3:00. Ordered a Procrastination. Was told it was an April Fools joke. Ordered a Blind Pig and a pizza. Jen had a Little White Lie and the rest of the pizza. Came out ahead in the end. We’ve decided impromptu half day hikes might be the wave of the future for us.

I need to make an Oskar Blues Dinner with the Brewmaster Local Brewery Representative, but here’s something quick and easy in the meantime.

New and/or interesting on tap at The Trappist:

Uncommon Brewers - Baltic Porter
This beer has liquorice and anise in it, I believe. Lots of strong, roasty flavors, big body. At first, I didn’t notice the anise/liquorice all that much. My palate’s not given to subtleties, but then other people at the bar thought the spices were overbearing. Once it warmed up, the anise took over, leaving a kind of medicinal glow in my mouth that I didn’t much like. I ended up ordering my next round with about 1/4 of the glass left. At home I have a chicory stout from Dogfish Head. Hopefully I won’t be pouring 1/4 bottle of that expensive stuff down the drain.

Moonlight Brewing - Uncle Fudd’s Rye
I had a taste of this again, and I guess the novelty wore off, because it didn’t really appeal to me this time. Big diacetyl vs. cedar oils controversy there.

Dupont - Foret
Love it love it love it! Hopped to hell saison from my favorite brewers of that style. Noble hops like a royal orgy in your mouth.

De Koninck - Winter
Had a taste of this. Spicy, sweet, darkish. Not for me last night.

Drake’s - Denogginizer
A DIPA. I remember having this years ago at Jupiter and then not having any more for a long time. I think at one point I liked it, because it was strong. This is a very nice DIPA, well made, but I hate it. Obviously, someone who loves West Coast IPAs can’t hate grapefruity hops, and I don’t, but there’s something too sharp about the grapefruity hops in this one. I brewed a DIPA and an IPA that tasted like this, and I hated them. I got an incredulous look and a disapproving glare from behind the bar for not digging this one, but I can’t help it. It’s not the Denogginizer, it’s me.

Cascade - Blackberry Ale
I was lucky enough to get a glass of this, thanks to wine geek Alex, who is quick to acknowledge that he’s a wine guy, and doesn’t really know much about beer. A few minutes of chatting with him suggests he’s either modest or playing some murky game and hiding his cards waiting for the opportune moment to reveal his true beer nerdery, and he always chooses well when he gets a big bottle of something. Cascade’s Blackberry Ale describes itself as a “Belgian Flanders Style Ale”. It’s slightly tart, very dry, effervescent, with a red tint. It’s a good idea to let this one sit for a moment, warming up and getting a little air.