Author: brewster

Again at one of my favorite places doing one of my favorite things.  Brewforia in Meridian, ID trying a couple beers that I have never had before.  It’s the day before Thanksgiving and I got a growler filed with some Scuttlebutt Brewing 10 deg Below Zero porter.  At least I think it’s a porter. I had it 4 years ago at the brewpub and it was not classified there or on Ratebeer.com the beer rating site I hang out at.  I think that its full bodied and roasty flavor will go well with the feast that is online for tomorrow.

On tap here at Brewforia is Brewdog Hardcore IPA.  It is a “double” which basically means it is a ramped up IPA.  Meaning more barley was used as compared to a “regular” IPA/  More barley means more sugars in the wort which means more alcohol in the finished beer. It also usually means a bigger malt body and feel as the finished product usually has more residual sugars after the yeast has consumed as much as it can.  whereas a regular IPA may finish at a final gravity of 1.015 or so, a “double” may finish at 1.020 pr 1.025.  the result is a beer that just feels heavier and a little sweeter and has a “wet” or full mouth feel.

In general brewers aim to have as much of the sugars in a wort ferment out or “attenuate” and this is express as a percentage.  70 or 80 percent attenuation, for example is how this is expressed. It goes without saying (but i will say it now) that if 70% of the sugars are fermented, then a double IPA will have a lot more sugars left over that a regular IPA will.  But since a lot more was in the unfermented beer to begin with, you also get a higher alcohol component as well.   All things being equal.

So this is a double.  The Brewdog “Hardcore” IPA is in fact “HardCore”.  Served in a tulip glass and having a very big up-front hop aroma, it is easily identified as a Double IPA.  Moderate malt flavors and plenty of residual sugars making for a full bodies almost slightly sweet beer.  Big hoppy bitterness that is more grassy and piney than the grapefruit and tangerine that is more prevelent in “smaller” single IPAs sometimes, but big and bold.   Nice.

The second was a Lagunitas “Fusion IV”  Listed as an American Strong Ale it has a definite Belgian character.  The yeasty fruity spiciness betrays this. The “Strong” part, yes!  It is 9% and has a kick.  I am surprised in fact that they served it to me in a pint glass.   Rather pale yellow, and lots of active effervescence with a nice thin but thin off-white head makes for an attractive glass.  The ABV is evident, even if it takes 20 min to feel it…  It is like a fuller bodied Belgian Strong.  I am curious what yest was used to make this and the yest is often the distinguishing characteristic of Belgians.   Stl pretty good even if it is one of the beers that tends to straddle styles.

Time to head home.  Cheers !

Let me start out by saying, I don’t quite get Saisons.  They are pale, spicy, sometimes floral and busy and after Belgians, in general, they seem to be the snob appeal of beer geeks.  Kind of like Linux is to computer nerds.  Perception is reality so do not try to out argue me in this.

I stopped by Brewforia, my oft mentioned favorite local beer retailer,  after watching the Boise State vs. University of Idaho game at a friend’s, for a pint and the see what interesting items were in the cooler, since I hadn’t been in for a few days at least and I hate when I find out that something rare or exceptional came and went w/o me even knowing about it.

I spotted this Saison and looked it up on RateBeer, saw that it was in the 99th percentile rating for the style and decided I had to take it home.   At 6.5% it is a little on the strong side as far as my rather limited experience would tell me, for this style.  Further research tells me that Saisons are/were traditionally brewed in farmhouses in the French-speaking region of Belgium and timed to be ready to refresh farm worked in the harvest time of the year.   Men’s Journal magazine reportedly called out this beer as the “….best beer in the world..” in its July 2005 issue.   Typically made with pale and/or pilsner malts the color is usually light golden and cloudy although some darker and more amber examples exist.

The caged and corked packaging was a good start in my cross-over closer to beer snobbery and I quickly succumbed to the condescending prejudices against common twist off or even typically capped bottles.  I was well on my way, into the fray that is this little known style to us Americans.

The cork popped with a loud report and had I not held onto it, it would have likely put a dent in the ceiling and possibly woke up some of the people sleeping upstairs.   Although I poured it as gently as I could, the first ounce or two created solid white head from bottom to top of the 8 oz glass I had ready.   Literally nothing but white foam.  Letting that calm down a bit I tried to sneak a few more ounces in the glass.  I was still presented by a huge white puffy head that when it slowly reseeded it left oddly shaped formations of stiff meringue like clumps as the bobble s dissipated unevenly.  Like some kind of rock formation weathered by the random effects of weather and time.

This remarkable snowy white head was maintained but the very active and persistent effervescent activity that its carbonation level betrayed.  I would guess over 3.5 volumes or so.  The pale hazy light straw colored beer seemed a bit dingy to my taste that is accustomed to clear and often filtered beers.

The aroma was quite mild and lightly fruity.  The specific Saison yeast and the Goldings hops used are mainly responsible for the notes of lemon peel and light spice and some hints of dust and fresh baked bread.  Very light pale malt flavors and some more of that light lemon zest, and mild spiciness with a little musty barnyard character thrown in.  It has a pale pilsnerish almost watery background to it and the late trailer is surprisingly bitter for how the initial flavor would lead you to expect.

It is a light, somewhat busy, lightly spicy beer that it refreshing but distracting if you are not into the complexities and subtleties of a Saison.  I must confess, I don’t think I am,  but this is eye-opening and I need to have a few more good examples of the style to round out my experience with it.

+++ Every Autumn I feel like I am paying my own little homage to Charles Schultz when I crack open the first of what is usually a series of a half-dozen or so fall seasonals from various craft brewers around the country.  This time of year it is the Pumpkin Ale.  Some of the “heavys” in this genre are Elysian’s “Night Owl”, DogFish Head’s “Punkin'” and Buffalo Bills Pumpkin Ale.

+++ Today I am trying a new one from a (somewhat) local brewer.  Beer Valley Brewing is located in Ontario, OR, about 40 miles from me here in Boise and since they opened a few years ago have done pretty well, going outside of the typical 6 or 7 basic safe beers that lots of brewers stick to.  Their “Leafer Madness” double IPA and the “Black Flag” Imperial Stout are decent.

+++ This is the Jackalope Imperial Pumpkin Porter.  At first glance it is clearly an Imperial Porter, big very dark pour and a dense creamy mocha colored head.  Very attractive. Big roasted sweet campfire aromas with a  little licorice and bakers chocolate.  A touch of seasonal spice but it you hadn’t told me this was a pumpkin ale I might have missed it so far.  It tastes also like an Imperial Porter.  A good one.  Big full bold roasted flavors with plenty of that tang that is a bit astringent and tart.  This character is what I think is one of the main differences that distinguish the imperials, Porter and Stout.  The very modest pumpkin flavors here are pushed back and are more like roasted pumpkin seeds and definitely far from its style brethren that flaunt and showcase the good gourd.  this is NOT a pumpkin pie in a glass.  It is an Imperial Porter with a dash of Pumpkin thrown in.

+++ It is said that Winston Churchill once said that the perfect martini was pouring a glass of gin and “LOOKING” at a bottle of vermouth.  This is a Porter first and looking across at a can of pumpkin pie filling would give me about the same amount of flavor.

+++ Still, a fine beer and I glad to see something seasonal, unique, local and this good on tap at my favorite beer place, though I do feel a little like Clara Peller,when I sip it.

The Weisenbock I made a few months ago is not quite what I had hoped.  I’ll have some more tasting notes posted later and will likely bring a bottle or  two to this months meeting of the local Home-brewing club, and get some other opinions and feedback.  A strange sourness and poor head retention leads me to suspect an infection of some kind.  Also too, the effect seems to slowly be getting worse over the last few weeks.

This move is also to make room in the keggorator for  my  IronBrewer entry, the homebrew contest I entered a couple months ago.   It is a Baltic Porter made with licorice and has been in secondary for a few weeks now.  Pretty sure I have enough time to keg and carbonate, before I have to bottle some and ship out to the other participants.  The fact that the tasting date has been pushed back a week to Oct 12th, will make this easier.

I have found that it is well worth while to stop by my favorite beer bar/retailer on a regular basis as the tap selection, modest though it is at the moment, rotates frequently. One of there 4 taps changes nearly every day. Usually regional micros, sometimes an import or east coast gem, but always an I treating selection of styles. A little birdie told me that the number of taps may well double soon. So I got that going for me….which is nice.
Today’s new arrival is an Eisbock made by Redhook Brewing. Now in my experience Redhook is what I call a “safe” micro-brewer. Meaning that other than their standard run a d a few seasonals, which are decent, they do not experiment much. Economically this can be risky, but in the craft beer business, you will have trouble  developing the kind of loyalty among beer nerds if you don’t wow them occasionally with some unique offerings occasionally.
I considers RedHook to be in the category…but maybe nit anymore. Or maybe I just wasn’t paying attention. In the fairly recent past, brews such as Trebblehook, Big Ballard IPA and Expedition 8-4-1 have been released to compliment their standard lineup.
Today I stumble led upon their most recent, Eisbock 28.
Eisbocks are a curious style. They start out as a malty, slightly sweet lager, sometimes a little dark. After its slow cool fermentation is finished, the beer is chilled to the point where it starts to freeze. The alcohol and remaining sugars freeze at a lower temp than the water that makes up 93-95% of the beer so when the remaining solution is drained and some of the now frozen water is left behind, what you are left with is a sweeter, richer, higher alcohol beverage that is very tasty. Essentially it is a form of distillation and Eisbocks typically are atoms 10-12%ABV but can be much higher.
This one is 10% and it will be my “dessert” after the flatbread and pale ale I had for dinner.
A clear deep reddish amber and a dense light tan head with lots of sweet Carmel and brown sugar in the aroma. Softly carbonated the smooth rich feel just slides down leaving a little alcohol burn in the after taste. I would almost call the flavors sugary and barring some of the back-sweetened fruit “lambics” I’ve had, this might be the closest to beer candy of any I’ve tasted.  Malty and sweet, with some holiday spices.  Cinnamon, nutmeg maybe and gingerbread. If anything, I’d trade a little residual sugars for another ABV point but all in all this is a tasty sipper that fit the bill for my dessert while watching game 5 of the ALDS.