Dogfish Head Punkin Ale

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Published September 13th, 2008 in Beer Reviews | No Comments »

While browsing through the cooler at the local beer store last night, I happened upon a new Dogfish Head brew with “Punk” on the neck. According to the label, this Punkin Ale is a brown ale brewed with pumpkin, brown sugar, allspice, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Having recently tried this year’s Shipyard Pumpkin Head and Samuel Adam’s Octoberfest, I figured this one might be fun to try. I’ve never had a bad Dogfish Head beer before, so I was expecting good things from this one.

A four pack of this 7% a.b.v. ale goes for about $9, which is in line with many of their other beers. The first one I poured had about an inch of tan head on it and was more amber in color than brown. There was some brown sugar and cinnamon in the nose, but I didn’t really smell any pumpkin. After letting the head settle a little (it didn’t take long), my first sip was of a very light brown ale. There was just a hint of spice in it, but again no pumpkin. I think the cooler at the beer store was way too cold, as the flavor in this beer seemed trapped. After waiting a few minutes for it to warm up, the nutmeg came through a little and so did the pumpkin. It’s very subtle, unlike the pumpkin pie sweetness of Shipyard’s seasonal. A light finish without much hopping and a crisp mouthfeel make for a very drinkable, if unremarkable, beer. I like how understated the added flavors are here, but Dogfish Head has better beers.

My Verdict: Worth Trying. This one is a nice seasonal, but it just doesn’t have the character of some of DFH’s other offerings. After the in-your-face flavors of their Palo Santo Marron and 90 Minute IPA, Punkin Ale is very unassuming. A nice way to warm up after a long walk in the cool autumn air for sure; I’m sure this will go well with an afternoon of football tomorrow too.

Novare Res Presents Rogue

Published August 16th, 2008 in Beer Events, Beer Reviews, Maine, Watering Holes | 2 Comments »

So, I did make it down to Novare Res last night for some of the Rogue goodness. I waited for my wife to get home from work, so we didn’t end up getting downtown until almost 9:00 PM. I’m not sure how busy it was earlier in the evening, or if anyone from Rogue gave any remarks or anything, but by the time we arrived, the crowd had thinned to the point where a beer could be had in just a couple minutes. Much better than the 5-10 minute fight to get to the bar in the early part of the Dogfish Head event. On the flip side, though, I did not get a tee shirt this time; I had to “make due” with a couple cool Rogue pint glasses.

As mentioned in the update to my earlier post, the tap list is available online and is very impressive. All told there are 27 Rogue brews on offer; I managed to sample just over half that many before I called it a night. Only one (the Double Dead Guy) was a full pour (half pint, in the case of the D2). The rest were done as racks of 4 oz tasters—a very cool way to sample a bunch of beers without getting so full and so inebriated that you can’t tell the difference anymore. For me the two highlights were the Imperial IPA (I2PA) and the Chocolate Stout, though the Imperial Red Ale was excellent as well. Here is my breakdown, following my new “rating” system:

Don’t Miss These

Chocolate Stout—A wonderful nose and taste of bittersweet chocolate; this one is like drinking dessert
Imperial India Pale Ale—Slightly less hoppy and intense than Dogfish Head’s offerings, this one is very well balanced and has a nice, dry finish
Imperial Red Ale—Probably the best red ale I’ve ever had; some brown sugar and raisins in the aroma and taste and a very nice dry finish as well
Double Dead Guy—Dead Guy is one of Rogue’s most famous brews; its little brother has a deeper color and some more toffee notes in the taste

Worth Trying

Anniversary Brewer—A winter ale with some nice hopping and a finish that sticks with you
Chipotle Ale—Wow, this one is different; I’m not sure I’d drink a full pint of this, and it’s certainly no session ale, but it’s a taste experience that you really should try at least once
Menage a Frog—A very nice Belgian tripel, this one isn’t quite as good as Allagash or something from a monastery, but it’s got some nice yeasty flavors and a pleasant aroma
Mocha Porter—This fairly mild porter has some nice roasted malt character and is well balanced; I was hoping for a little more of a coffee taste here though
Morimoto Imperial Pilsner—I’m not usually a big pilsner guy, but this one is pretty good; a nice full mouthfeel and some pleasant hop aromas make this one worth a taster at least
Old Crustacean—A very well rounded barley wine, this one has some great grain flavors to it and a smooth finish
Russian Imperial Stout—A good RIS that was overshadowed by the Chocolate Stout; this one doesn’t have the nuance of the Kate the Great I had last month, but I wouldn’t say no if someone offered me one (or two)
Imperial YSB—A stronger version of Rogue’s well-known Younger’s Special Bitter, this one takes the malts and hops from the YSB and kicks them up a notch

Don’t Go Out of Your Way

Juniper Ale—I’m a gin drinker when I’m not drinking beer, so this Juniper finished pale ale caught my eye; I’m not sure if it was because I got it with my last rack of beers or if there really wasn’t much here, but this one was kind of lackluster; not bad, but nothing really notable and no real hint of gin
Honey Orange Wheat—A pleasant wheat beer with some fruit notes, this one would have rated a little better if I hadn’t had so many beers that simply outshone it; it was a little less cloudy than I like (American vs. German), this one would benefit from a tangier citrus presence

Again, as a reminder, the beers that I rate “Don’t Go Out of Your Way” are not bad beers by any stretch. They are good, but nothing out of the ordinary that merits special consideration such as making dinner reservations specifically to get it on tap or changing the bar you planned to go to for an evening just to try it.

I had considered going again tonight, but after 40 miles of biking today, some of through a pretty nasty storm, I think I may just take it easy tonight. The Sea Dogs have a 1:00 PM start tomorrow, and there are usually a few good beers to be had behind first base.

Stone Coast 1260 Triple India Pale Ale

Published August 15th, 2008 in Beer Reviews | 1 Comment »

I came across this beer a week or so ago at RSVP. 10% abv, 67 ibu. This could be a fitting memorial to the recently lamented Stone Coast Brewing. I bought one to try, one to keep. Grab some if you see it, this is a keeper.

This beer has a lovely malty nose, and the mouth-filling sweet malty taste of a powerhouse brew. The hops surely are there, but buried right now. They made 8.5 bbl of this stuff.

I’m looking for more. Race you to Forest Ave.

A Pair of Allagash Treats

Published August 3rd, 2008 in Beer Reviews, Breweries | 2 Comments »

As announced the other day, Great Lost Bear now features “Allagash Alley,” a new tap tower with five rare-on-tap brews from Portland’s own Belgian brewer. Amber and I stopped in for a late lunch on Saturday and I got to try two of them. I’ll be back on Friday as part of Beer, Maine & Me’s Bike to the Breweries (more on this in a later post) and plan to sample at least one more.

Fluxus ‘08 - a double white beer brewed with spices and fresh grated ginger. This one is reminiscent of their flagship White, but with a more pronounced citrus note. It’s a good deal more cloudy as well. The ginger is quite apparent in the nose here, and it yields a refreshing zing when you sip. My preference is toward darker Belgian ales, but this one blows its little brother (the White) out of the water. I paired it with GLB’s Thai Chili Chicken sandwich for a great lunch. Don’t Miss This One.

Musette - Rob and co.’s interpretation of a Belgian-brewed Scotch ale. This highly alcoholic beer (10% ABV) recalls the Scotch ales brought to Belgium during WWI. While they’ve lost popularity in Scotland, they are apparently still popular in Belgium (Jan or Marcus, can you confirm this for someone who hasn’t been to Belgium yet?). Dark fruits and some peat smoke are apparent in the nose and the taste. I really think this could be an excellent beer, but it didn’t go that well with the Fluxus that preceded it. I’ll try this one again. Perhaps we can get some from the barrel on Friday when we stop at Allagash for our tour? For now, I can only conclude this one is Worth Trying, but I may have to revise that after further “research.”

What Happened to the Reviews?

Published July 30th, 2008 in Beer Reviews, General | No Comments »

Loyal readers may have noticed a complete lack of beer reviews here lately. There’s a reason for it (well, two actually—one is that I’ve been busy doing summer stuff and recruiting new authors). I’ve decided I don’t like my “mug count” review system anymore. As I’ve had more (and more interesting) beers of late, I’ve decided that it’s not really fair to give a numeric rating to a beer. It’s way too subjective and can be influenced by things like food pairing, the previous beer you had, and general mood.

Therefore, I’m unveiling today a new review system. Instead of a numeric rating of zero to five mugs, I will be using one of the following three “ratings” for the beers I sample:

Don’t Miss This One — Seek this beer out. It’s a great or unusual brew that should not be missed.
Worth Trying — This is a beer that you should definitely try. I wouldn’t necessarily drive out of my way to find it, or pick a restaurant solely because it has this on tap, but if you see it on the menu, give it a try.
Don’t Go Out of Your Way — This beer is not a standout in its style. It may still be a good beer, and shouldn’t necessarily be avoided, but it’s also not a “special” beer worthy of a long drive or change of restaurant plans just to have.

So there you go, my new “rating” system. After trying over a hundred different beers in the last 18 months or so, I’ve really gained a new appreciation for the nuance of different styles and the care that goes into brewing them. Therefore I really can’t justify saying that something is only worthy of one mug out of five just because I didn’t personally love it. Even something like one of the (no longer) American macro lagers does have some redeeming qualities. The A-B brewers love their craft and work hard to produce a consistent product in extremely high volume. There’s something to be said for that.

Oh, and keep an eye out for some new reviews to be posted with this new system. They’ll probably be a little shorter than reviews past, but hopefully with the new rating system they won’t be as few and far between.

Letters from Europe

Published July 28th, 2008 in Beer Reviews, General | No Comments »

Greetings from Europe, a long time transatlantic friend suggested to me that I should part with some of my beery experiences here in Europe, why not I thought.

To give you a glimpse of my background, I have now been based in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg for just about 9 years, after moving from London UK.

During my formative years in London I became a life member of the Campain for Real Ale. A few years later I was offered the post of membership secretary for West London CAMRA, which I occupied until moving to the European continental mainland. For a short while during 1999, a really busy year, both in business, travel and beer, I also became the liason officer between CAMRA and Fuller Smith & Turner, a West London based Brewer of mark! The end of the year approached, circumstances changed and I moved to Luxembourg relinquishing all for a life in the ‘beer desert’ as I now figuratively call it. Since then, I have endeavoured to search, research and discover good beer in Europe, on the way making friends and nurturing aquaintances who also are of a like mind as myself. This research is always ongoing……

So, next time I’ll talk about my recent visit to Hotton, and Chris Bauweraerts of Brasserie LaChouffe, in the province of Luxembourg, Belgium.

Not Just Any Old Beer

Published July 27th, 2008 in Beer Events, Beer Reviews | 1 Comment »

A group of friends recently got together to taste beer, so we seized the opportunity to taste a few older beers that had been sleeping peacefully in the cellar.

The first we tried was a vertical of Chimay Blue (Grande Reserve), in this case the 1994, 1995, 2001, and 2007. In spite of the fact that the brewers have changed the recipe in recent years, this is still a serious beer, well worth observing as it ages. The old ones were in their glory, flaunting the malty complexity this brew achieves when aged properly. The 2001 was an adolescent, just showing hints of what was to come. The 2007 suffered the fate of the foil in a tasting like this. Tasted alone it would be a star; next to its older siblings it was a bit player.

Another flight paired a Thomas Hardy’s English barley wine from 1994 with Swiss brewed Samichlaus from 1994 and 1995. Samichlaus once claimed to be the world’s strongest beer. How the world has moved on! The Samichlaus was soft and smooth, very big in the mouth. In contrast the Hardy’s was far more lean, more comlex and sophisticated, much easier to drink.

When first released the Sam Adams Triple Boch struck me as virtually undrinkable. Remember the little blue bottles with corks? We tried the 1994 next to the 1995. While perhaps not drinkable, they were eminently sippable. The aromas were amazing as we pulled the corks. This beer is soft and smooth, but all power in terms of resolved malt and molasses flavors.

Finally, we recently enjoyed the Kulmbacher Reichelbrau Eisboch from 1996 paired with a 2007 bottle. On tasting the 1996 we commented on how delicious it was, how well it had aged, didn’t taste like an old beer at all. Tasting the 2007 highlighted how much depth and complexity the beer developed in 11 years.

So, how does one cellar beer? First, keep it cool and dark, just like wine. Any cellar with a constant temperature will do, 55 degrees is probably ideal. Second, leave it alone. If you drink it young you can’t drink it old. Finally, have a plan. I have several beers I collect. Each year, usually in December, I buy 3 to 6 bottles of each beer and put them away. One hint: write the year of purchase on the label or cork. It’s really pretty simple.

Not every beer is made to age. The high alcohol beers are the best candidates; English Barley Wines, Belgian Triples and Quadrupels, and of course American beers made in those styles. I have some older Stone beers I’ve not yet tried, looking forward to that. Anchor Christmas Ale has a reputation for aging well. Collecting Allagash beers could be a lot of fun…

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