The Captain's Chair

As we cracked the growler of Russian River’s fabled Pliny the Younger, I looked out the window, anxiously awaiting celestial white angels riding majestic unicorns to descend from the skies, carrying lightning bolts of peace and healing designed to rid the world of all war and disease.

At least, that’s what you’d expect reading the gushing reviews on Beer Advocate, which were of course devoid of any hype or preconceived notions (as ALL the highly rare beers on BA’s top ranked list have surely been rated). I fully anticipated nothing short of a life altering experience as soon as the beer hit my lips…nay, as soon as I entered the room and came into the shimmering aura of said growler. This was Pliny the Younger, after all, the beer that within two weeks of its broad release straight from the brewery somehow magically overtook (albeit temporarily) the indominitable Westvleteren 12 as Beer Advocate’s number one beer on planet earth. The holiest of holies. And somehow, through mysterious methods of fermentation, Russian River had found a way to bottle miracles. Real miracles, people.

After disappointedly spotting only a few stray clouds streaking the winter sky, I turned my attention to my friend Ryan who had graciously invited me and several others to his home for a small tasting of the chimerical beer, procured during his trip to San Francisco Beer Week in February. 

Younger had clearly held up well in the growler, as my friend poured the first glass with a building head of carbonation that quickly dissipated. Very nice deep gold coloring, with some haze likely from the four dry hop additions the beer goes through. The aroma is full on hops, with notes of onion and…bear with me…a slight catty smell. One of the more unique aromas I’ve ever gotten from a beer in this style category. Taste is intensely bitter, likely off the IBU chart. Not too sweet, with a dry, highly attenuated finish. Very full, prickly mouthfeel. 

Does this beer live up to the hype? I suppose. It’s a wonderful DIPA. But I tend to prefer Pliny the Elder, and in fact, some folks at the table thought other beers like Bell’s Hopslam were more enjoyable.

Rating: A-

Where I Got It: Through a friend’s trade 
Availability: Limited Release
Price: No idea

The first ever Beer Blogger Brew-Off is in the books, and a good time was had by all.

The quality of the beers brewed by the participants was incredible. It was clear these guys have spent many years perfecting their craft, and it was equally impressive how distinctly unique each beer was considering everyone changed only one ingredient from the base recipe we all used. Here’s what everyone went with:

• Derek – Lutherhaus -> Molasses
• Erik – Topfermented -> Abbey Ale yeast
• Joseph – HopfenTreader -> Toasted Oats
• Nate – THFB_nate ->Maple Syrup
• Peter – SimplyBeer -> Bourbon Barrel

My secret ingredient, which I didn’t really keep a closely guarded secret, was lactose, making my beer a nice milk stout. You can check out the recipe and brewday here. After my beer fermented out, I kegged half the batch for a New Year’s party, and split the rest off into a carboy for bottling at a later date. The beer from the keg was fantastic — chocolatey, roasty, and milky sweet. I would have had more than two glasses of it, but my friends had other ideas and decided to drink it all too quickly.

Here’s where the story gets grim…after bottling and shipping my beers to the brew-off participants, we settled in for the sampling, and it quickly became clear something was a little off when everyone cracked my bottles. A mildly sour aroma crept up on us, not completely off-putting (and in fact some friends have said they enjoy it) but not exactly what I was aiming for, either. The likely culprit? Bacteria from sanitation issues during the bottling process.

I’m a meticulous sanitizer…in most cases I think I probably overdo it (if that’s even possible). And I know this kind of thing can happen occasionally to the best of us. But frankly, it was a little embarrassing.

After sampling everyone’s beers, we informally declared local beer blogger Derek the brew-off winner with his molasses stout, a fantastically rich, full-bodied beer. Very well done. And I’m happy to say he left me with a sixer for my longer term enjoyment.

If you’re interested in hearing the entire brew-off discussion recorded by Peter at Simply Beer,  listen to the podcast here. Already looking forward to the next brew-off!

Thanks to New Glarus for bringing back their Cherry Stout, a past gold medal winner in the Wood and Barrel Aged Beer category at GABF, and the first in this year’s Unplugged Series.

Appearance is decidedly unstout-like. Fairly reddish coloring, not black or opaque as one might expect. Huge head on the pour, loads of rocky bubbles. Aroma is nearly identical to their Wisconsin Belgian Red with a bushel of  sour cherries, backed with a faint note of dark chocolate, maybe even a syrupy Coca-Cola quality. Flavor is impressive, a beautiful blend of the sour cherry with a building flavor of roasted, chocolate malt. Mouthfeel is solid.

Overall impression, there’s a great deal going on here. If you’re looking for a traditional example of a stout, this ain’t it. It’s better. 

Rating: A

Where I Bought It: Casanova Liquors
Availability: Limited Release
Price: $9.99 per four pack

Every couple years or so, Bell’s comes out with a commemorative beer to mark another 1,000 batches under their belt. Similar to Batch 7000 that was released back in 2005, which I’ve heard from various folks is drinking REALLY well at the moment, their recently released Batch 9000 is a massive imperial stout coming in at 12.5% ABV.   

Poured into a snifter with a deep brown coloring and a thin head that builds with time. Aroma is soy sauce, anise, dark fruits, and mild alcohol. Maybe even a DFH 120 kind of rich caramel quality going on. Taste is very sweet, borderline cloying, more than just about any imperial stout I’ve ever tried. Bittersweet in the middle, likely from the molasses they brew with, with a fair amount of alcohol heat in the finish. Mouthfeel is relatively thin for the style, I need some viscosity here, not what I’d expect for such a huge beer.

Overall impression? I felt blitzed halfway through the snifter, and overwhelmed by sweet malt, which given my predilection for other sweet imperial stouts like Darkness 2008 was surprising to me. But this beer really needs to lay down for a year or two and mellow out before it gets pleasantly drinkable, which is exactly what I’m doing with the rest of my bottles.

Rating: B

Where I Bought It: Zipp’s Liquors
Availability: Limited Release
Price: $16.99 per six pack

This year’s Winterfest, hosted by the Minnesota Craft Brewer’s Guild at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul, was another success.

Thanks to lack of foresight and a busy work schedule at the time, I wasn’t able to score a ticket when they went on sale a few months ago. But thankfully my buddy Ryan had an extra to share, of which I was very appreciative. You inevitably bump into all kinds of familiar faces at these events, so it was also nice to chat with several of the brewers, Alvey from The Four Firkins, and fellow beer blogger friends like Shawn and Mike at The Beer Genome Project.

After learning that Flat Earth’s Grand Design Porter, a s’more-infused version of their Cygnus X-1, was the recipient of this year’s Snowshoe Award for best-in-show, I was pretty disappointed it wasn’t one of the beers I tried during the evening. But alas, despite my best efforts, it’s tough to sample them all.

My top beers from the evening:

Surly 1 – 4
Fine, call me a card-carrying Surly fanboy. Guilty as charged. I was at the front of the line at Darkness Day this year. I drove around town for hours trying to locate a four pack of their Hell when it was released in cans last summer. And I even clothe my three month old daughter in Surly onesies*. But objectively speaking, there’s no denying Surly’s line-up of anniversary beers were some of the most memorable of the night.

Surly Bourbon One was unreal, a bourbon barrel-aged doppelbock that was likely my favorite beer of the evening. Surly Two, an oak-aged cranberry stout, was tart and surprisingly refreshing. A version of Surly Three called Jesus Juice was a braggot aged in pinot noir barrels, as impressive as I remember from ABR. And the final beer, their soon-to-be-released Four, was a freeze distilled double espresso milk stout, predictably heavy on the coffee notes and pretty boozy.  

Schell’s Hopfenmalz
I really liked this beer, brewed to commemorate Schell’s 150th anniversary. Totally different than most of the complicated, fruit-infused stuff I was drinking at the event, but a very sessionable, hoppy amber lager that was a welcome change of pace. Thankfully, this is now readily available in bottles at your neighborhood craft beer store.

Minneapolis Town Hall Coconut Raspberry Festivus
This year’s Festivus, a mocha stout made with chocolate and coffee, is already an incredible beer. Add real coconut and raspberry, and you approach the divine. Sort of reminded me of their Three Hour Tour, a coconut milk stout, but the raspberry adds some nice fruity undertones. Very well done.

Fitger’s Blitzen Blueberry Chocolate Porter
Amazing offering. The Bayfield blueberries were incredibly pronounced, yet balanced with the rich chocolate notes of the beer. Like a dessert in a glass. 

And of course, the not so memorable:

Cold Spring John Henry 3 Lick Spiker Ale
Not sure if it was the fact this beer tasted more like a watery porter, or if the volunteers manning their table underwhelmed me with their clearly disinterested attitude. I guess I might be pissed too if someone woke me up. But either way, the beer was a pretty poor interpretation of a bourbon oak-aged imperial stout.

Lift Bridge Biscotti Float
Why mess with what’s already a really nice Belgian ale by adding a dollop of ice cream that had the consistency of pancake mix? Points for trying something a little different, but the flavors weren’t working for me. The ice cream seemed to somehow bring out the alcohol component a little too much, making it a boozy sundae.

*

The beginnings of the lambic I brewed about six months ago is starting to get footy as hell.

At the urging of Michael Agnew at A Perfect Pint, I’ve done my very best to just forget about the damn thing, leaving the microbial mish mash in the dark corner of my basement to slowly distort and turn into a cheesy, funky, and sour concoction.

A definite pellicle has formed on the surface of the beer, with some “ropiness” beginning to take effect, thin strands of bacteria colonies streaking their way through the beer likely from the pediococcus. A layer of dust coats the neck of the carboy, and a spider has also decided to form a nearby web, making this even more authentic based on my understanding that the cellaring rooms of traditional Belgian lambic brewers look something like the opening scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

I’m planning to make this a fruit lambic, and will give it until at least summer before I rack and spur on secondary fermentation. The fruit I’m leaning toward using is thimbleberry, a relatively little known (and not widely commercially available) fruit indigenous to Minnesota and parts of the upper Midwest, commonly found along the North Shore. I did locate someone in Michigan who sells the stuff in bulk, and may buy five or six pounds from her, if I’m not up for traipsing through the woods near Lake Superior in hopes of finding my own.

Thimbleberries are very similar to raspberries in shape and flavor, so I’m hoping the finished fruit lambic will come out tasting something like a framboise with some nice sour raspberry notes combined with the traditional lambic funkyness.

Once the beer is aging on fruit, it’ll likely be at least another year, if not longer, before I even consider bottling. Lambics are not for the impatient.