The Captain's Chair

So here’s the deal with my barleywine. It’s beyond massive.

Like the hops somehow crept up on the intense grain bill, overpowered it, threw it to the ground and started beating it in the face with a sappy pine cone soaked in grapefruit. I’m not counting this as my formal review, but after only two weeks in the bottle this 11.5% ABV barleywine is about as intense as it gets. Probably more because it’s such a young, “green” beer at this point as opposed to a refined, well-matured cellared ale. I can only imagine what this will be like a year or two from now once it has a chance to settle down and blend together.

Poured with a beautiful billowing head, and a nice chestnut coloring in a snifter. The alcohol is potent as can be, interlaced with the huge hop aroma that hits you right from the get-go. There are some beers that give you a big hoppy nose, then peter out in the taste. But this follows up with an even more intense hoppy bitterness that I’ve rarely experienced. Half an hour after enjoying it I kept burping up whole hop leafs. The malty sweetness has a tough time competing, but it’s there. And after only half a glass of this stuff, I was definitely feeling it.

I am very impressed with how well, and quickly, this one conditioned in the bottle, a testament I’m sure to the 200 ml of yeast starter I added to the bottling bucket before I capped them off. The second yeast addition really did its work well in the face of such strong odds. How I haven’t had bottle bombs I’ll never know.

I’m going to do my best to keep the rest of these safely tucked in the dark corner of my cellar where they belong for at least another year. Like Sauron’s ring…lost and forgotten. Left unattended and readily available out in the open, my barleywine could do some unsuspecting beer drinker some serious harm.

Of course I can’t directly get any of these living in Minnesota (yet), but for those lucky folks that can, here’s a schedule of Dogfish Head’s 2009 releases. Of the lot, I’ve only had a few offerings, including their 60 Minute, 90 Minute and 120 Minute IPAs, as well as Theobroma. All fantastic and innovative in their own unique ways, especially 120. I have Midas Touch sitting in the beer fridge waiting for me.

I’ve never heard of their Chateau Jiahu, but it sounds like the same concept as Theobroma and Midas Touch, except from China. I’d also kill to get my hands on some Olde School Barleywine. And I’m not going to even waste my time wagering a guess at what the hell Brand X might be. Kind of like predicting which masterpiece would flow from the brush of Michelangelo.

Click on the image to head to their Web site for more info.

Better late than never.

Over the Christmas holiday, I sampled several unique craft beers, including Dogfish Head Theobroma, Sam Adams Chocolate Bock and Alpine Boris Imperial Stout. All very different in their own ways, but all respectable in quality and flavor. I figured I’d pull the reviews together in one round-up to help with my backlog of posts I need to get out on stuff I’ve been enjoying recently.

First up is DFH Theobroma. For those that aren’t already aware of the backstory on this one (Discovery Channel recently chronicled DFH Theobroma on their “How It’s Made” show focusing on beer), here’s what the DFH website has to say: 

“This beer is based on chemical analysis of pottery fragments found in Honduras which revealed the earliest known alcoholic chocolate drink used by early civilizations to toast special occasions.  The discovery of this beverage pushed back the earliest use of cocoa for human consumption more than 500 years to 1200 BC.  As per the analysis, Dogfish Head’s Theobroma (translated into ‘food of the gods’) is brewed with Aztec cocoa powder and cocoa nibs (from our friends at Askinosie Chocolate), honey, chilies, and annatto (fragrant tree seeds).”

Beer Advocate classifies this as a chile beer, although there’s a hell of a lot more than just chile going on here. Knowing this is a cocoa-based beverage, I expected it to be chocolatey and creamy, but this wasn’t at all the case. Initial aroma was something like grape soda. Very strange. The longer you lingered on the aroma, you eventually picked up some of the cocoa qualities, but it’s pretty faint. Coloring was something like an IPA, again not at all what I expected. The taste was relatively sweet, and the chile did come through in the finish, giving the back of your throat a hot sensation. Then again, that could be from the 10% ABV. Very heavy mouthfeel with lots of prickly carbonation, reminiscent of a strong, hefty lager, even though this is an ale. Overall impression…a very innovative beer with an interesting story, but not something I’d enjoy drinking all the time.

Rating: B   

Next up is this year’s iteration of Sam Adam’s Chocolate Bock. First off, very cool bottle. Helps set up the expectation that what you’ll be drinking is on the high end of the Sam Adams artisan spectrum. And while Theobroma is representative of an ancient culture’s use of cocoa, this one is much more what today’s palette would expect with a chocolate-infused fermented beverage.

Poured with a nice fluffy head, giving way to a toasty, caramel malt aroma. Somehow the hops found a way to break through the malty clutter, coming through just a bit in the nose as well. Very dark coloring, like a heavy stout. But looks are deceiving. The mouthfeel is actually light and smooth, with pleasant notes of chocolate malt, caramel and butterscotch throughout the taste.

At 5.6% ABV, Sam Adams Chocolate Bock 2008 turned out to be a nice, refreshing lager.

Rating: B+ 

And finally, Alpine Boris. I picked this one up from South Bay Drugs in San Diego, hearing decent things about this Imperial Stout that’s been barrel-aged and infused with coffee.

Poured with a small head that quickly dissipated. Very dark and opaque. Definitely picked up the barrel-aged qualities in the nose. Hints of bourbon or whiskey, mixed with dark fruit maltiness. Maybe vanilla.

Unlike some other Imperial Stouts I’ve enjoyed (like Surly Darkness or Oskar Blues Ten Fidy), there was a distinct astringent quality to this one. Pretty bitter, but I think by design. Could be from the coffee, I suppose. That aside, some nice dark fruits and roasted malts permeate the taste, masking the 10% ABV. Overall, a pretty decent Imperial Stout, but certainly not world-class.

Rating: B+

Happy New Years everyone.

To get the year started off on the right foot, I finally got around to converting my beer fridge into a genuine beer dispensing mechanism. Also known as a kegerator. The whole process was surprisingly simple and easy. Drill hole, insert tap, insulate, cinch up nut, attach keg hose, secure hose clamp, and voila. You’ve got beer. Main consideration through the process was ensuring that I wasn’t drilling the hole through a refrigerant line (which would be bad). I knew the door didn’t contain anything other than insulation, so it was the obvious choice.

Once the tap was installed, what I didn’t count on was the half hour of monkeying with the regulator to get the pressure in the line right, as my first official pour was nothing but foam and burps of CO2. A large amount of gas was backing up in the hose for some reason, creating little CO2 bubbles that were pooling up behind the faucet. I spent a little time online reading up on how line length impacts gas pressure and beer flow, made a couple calculations, and readjusted my setup. I’m sitting at about 12 PSI on the tank, and things seem to be working just fine now. Now all I have to do is design and make my own unique beer handle. That’ll be my next project.

I only have about a gallon left on my Belgian saison and I’m sure it’ll go quickly, so I’ll likely keg at least part of my presently fermenting Belgian dubbel when it’s ready to go.