Heady Topper - The Taste of Hops

My good friend, Jeff, recently presented me with an awesome treat - a can of Heady Topper.  Heady Topper is a Double IPA that is brewed by The Alchemist Brewery, located in Vermont.  Its intense flavors and limited distribution have resulted in a cult-like status surrounding the beer.  Heady Topper has earned top marks on beer rating sites like ratebeer and beeradvocate.  The Alchemist was featured in the March/April 2013 issue of Brew Your Own (BYO) magazine, which provided interesting back story on the brewery and beer, some fun anecdotes of people trying to get cans of Heady Topper, and a clone recipe.

The beer pours a very hazy clover honey color with a thick white head that thinned relatively quickly.  My wife's glass had chunks at the bottom, which the can label identifies as hop resins.  The aroma features a huge burst of grapefruit, lemon zest, and pine tree resin.

The flavor of Heady Topper is as intense as its aroma.  It begins with a burst of citrus fruit character that slaps your taste buds around.  The middle of the flavor features a strong pine resin character, along with a hint of sweetness.  It also features a substantial mouth feel, including the prickly sensation of carbonation.  The beer has a long finish, with a bracing bitterness and alcohol warmth in the back of the throat.  The finish lasts for at least 30 seconds or more, but is not cloying in any way.

Heady Topper is certainly an intense tasting experience, but certainly not something I would have as an every day beer (my wife likely differs with me here).  I found the beer changed flavors as it warmed, featuring more citrus qualities over pine resin and more sweetness over the length of the tasting.

The labeling recommends that you drink it directly from the can to help reserved the intense hop aromas and present them directly to your palate.  An interesting thought, but I think I would rather see the beer in a glass than drink it from the can.

What a fantastic beer.  Given our enjoyment of Heady Topper, and my wife's love of hops, I think I may have to try the BYO clone recipe sometime in the future.  If you have already done so, please leave a comment to this post, as I would love to hear about it further.

Thanks again to Jeff for his incredibly generous gift.

Cheers,

TW

Vaderdag '12 Lambic Tasting

In preparation for a homebrew club meeting (the first I’ve been to in a long time), I figured I would pull a sample from the Lambic that was brewed 8-9 months ago to see how it is progressing. In addition to filling a bottle to take with me to the meeting, I pulled my own tasting sample and took some notes.  I wanted to post the notes here to easily keep track of the beers progress and how the flavor develops.

Aroma: What first hit me was a distinct cidery note coupled with a bit of a fruit ester and a hint at acidity. The cidery note was very reminiscent of a naturally fermented cider I did back in 2010, which leads me to wonder if the bret is kicking off an aroma that I'm mentally linking to that cider (and hence the cider association).

Appearance: Sharply clear, almost as if it had been filtered. Medium copper-gold in color with some orange highlights in the depths of the glass. No head or carbonation.

Flavor: The aroma contradicts the flavor as there is an initial sweetness that quickly fades to mild acidity/sourness. The acidity yields to a fruit punch-like ester in the mid to late palate. The end has a hint of bitterness or astringency that finishes with slight acidity in the back of the mouth. I was hoping the beer would have attained a bit more sourness, but I’ll just have to give it more time.

Mouthfeel: Hard to judge as I'm used to evaluating beers with carbonation. Medium body with the slight acidity that impresses a smooth feel on the tounge.

Overall: It is still a little too early for the beer. The sourness is not there yet and the beer still has some residual sweetness that I'm hoping the microbes will continue to pull down. The cidery nose threw me for a loop, but as mentioned, this might be just a connection in my mind between a prior brett fermented cider.

Date of Sampling: February 27, 2013
Sample’s Gravity: 1.011

Slainte!

-JW


“Patience is power.”
-Fulton J. Sheen

Tripel Overhead Belgian-Style Tripel Ale

In a recent post, I mentioned that we stopped by Mother Earth Brewing on a trip to the Outer Banks.  The brewery features a number of regular rotation brews and we tried most during the visit to the tap room.  Mother Earth also has several special releases that they package in cork-and-caged large format bottles.  One of these is Tripel Overhead, a bourbon-barrel aged Belgian tripel.  We picked up a bottle of the 9.5% ABV tripel on recommendation from a friend with an excellent palate and decided to save it for tasting later.

The Tripel Overhead label read: 

The flavor of our Belgian-style tripel keep rollin' in: filling your mouth with perfect peeling waves of unexpected pleasure.  Respectfully aged in seasoned bourbon barrels, this beer offers you an amazing zest, balanced with flavors of warming oak.  The result?  A complex sipping beer that finishes smooth and sweet, giving you a glide you won't soon forget.

Tripel Overhead was a highly carbonated ale that made mountains of pillowy white head, with course bubbles against the glass.  The beer itself was a cloudy amber color, approximately like that of light maple syrup.  The head slowly faded through the tasting session and left a nice lacing on the glass.

The aroma coming from the tripel had distinct bourbon and oak characters.  The alcohol was very present in significant amounts, which was not surprising given the beer's strength.  The aroma was also musty, with light hints of spice - perhaps pepper or all-spice.  Tripel Overhead tasted complex and smooth at the same time.  Our initial impression was sweet and smooth, moving to a distinct caramel flavor.  The flavor finished with a little alcohol burn, but it was very subdued, especially given its presence in the aroma.  Flavor features vanilla in the aftertaste.  The beer presented a mouthfeel larger than expected for its dry finish, owing perhaps to the carbonation level and possibly from the oak tannin.

Overall, we found the beer complex and balanced.  My wife described the complexity as "5 beers in one glass" and I agreed with her.  The bourbon flavor was balanced and did not dominate, as seems to happen too often in bourbon-barrel beers.  My only complaint, however, was that I would not guess the base beer was a tripel except that I read it on the label.  The beer did not contain the subtle spicy flavor, layered sugar character, or other elements found in great tripels.  While I found the beer very interesting and balanced in its own way, I would hope for more tripel character if that label is used in its name.

If you are driving through North Carolina, I would recommend visiting Mother Earth Brewing, as the beer is worth the stop.

Cheers,

TW

Ovila Dubbel

I first heard about the Ovila range of beers on Craft Beer Radio, as part of their coverage of SAVOR 2011.  In one of the private tasting salons, Ken Grossman of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company and Father Thomas of the Abbey of New Clairvaux discussed their release of the Ovila beer series.  The Ovila project is a collaboration between the brewery and the Abbey, which is located in Vina, California.  The project's goal is to develop a series of beers that follow the traditions established by centuries of monastic brewing.  Many monasteries traditionally brewed beer, both a a mechanism of self-sustainment and to allow them to trade or earn money for other supplies.  These traditions exist today, most notably in the Trappist breweries of Belgium, which we briefly discussed in a previous post.

In addition, the proceeds of the Ovila project will benefit the Abbey's attempts to rebuild the 12th century Spanish medieval Santa Maria de Ovila chapter house.  The chapter house was built in 1190 was originally located in Spain, near the village of Trillo.  In 1931, a wealthy California newspaper owner named William Randolph Hearst found the chapter house in disarray and purchased it for transport to the United States, stone by stone.  It was never reassembled and was eventually given to the city of San Francisco, where the pieces were subjected to vandalism and fire.  In 1994, the Abbey of New Clairvaux gained possession of what was left and began restoring the chapter house.

The Ovila series of beers include a dubbel, saison, and quad.  The tasting notes for the dubbel, which I managed to obtain, include:

"Clear and deep copper in color, this Abbey Dubbel has a complex and rich malty sweetness with hints of caramelized sugar.  The aroma is a heady and layered mix of fruit and spice with hints of clove, raisin, and black pepper from the user of an abbey-style yeast."

For my tasting of the beer, I found it to pour a rich amber, almost garnet color.  The beer was topped by a thick layer of course bubbles that almost exploded into the glass with carbonation.  The head quickly faded, but left a nice Belgian lace down the glass through the tasting.  The dubbel has a rich aroma, loaded with dark caramel, figs and spices.  The complexity of aroma is consistent with some other dubbels I have tasted and is one of the elements I like best about the style.

The first impressions of flavor I experienced were mostly around mouthfeel.  The beer has a thick and rich texture that is counterbalanced nicely with its carbonation.  The mid-palate has a significant caramel character, along with some hints of black pepper that come through more in the finish.  The pepper is  character is subdued, though, and does not approach levels that throw me off of some other Belgian beers.  The finish has a nice alcohol warming (7.5% ABV), but finishes surprisingly dry for the rich flavor characteristics.

I was very pleased with the beer, both because of its flavor and its backstory.  In fact, I would argue that the backstory, the very uniqueness of the beer's origin, increased my enjoyment of the beer.  The visceral act of tasting food and beverages is such a subjective experience, that the environment and setting in which it is done plays a big part of the overall effect.  Identifying with the product being tasted plays a significant role, which is perhaps why I seem to enjoy beer from breweries I know more than those that I do not.

Cheers,

TW

Westmalle Trappist Dubbel

I am extremely fortunate to have kind co-workers who travel to far away places and bring me back beer and beer-related items.  One of them recently returned from a trip to Belgium and left a bottle of Westmalle Trappist Dubbel on my desk.

Westmalle is one of six Trappist monasteries that still brew beer in Belgium.  The others include Achel, Chimay, Orval, Rochefort, and Westvleteren.  Westmalle is located in the central Northern part of Belgium and started brewing in 1836.  According to Hieronymus' Brew Like a Monk, Westmalle was founded by monks who fled France in 1802.  The brewery has expanded several times since 1836, mostly to finance different Trappist ventures.  However, unlike older days, Westmalle monks no longer actively participate in daily brewing, which is done by lay employees.  The monks do sit on the brewery's board and set the rules for its output, capped at 120,000 hetoliters annually, and its recipes, which remain unchanged over the years.  The brewery produces a dubbel and a tripel and is the only Trappist brewery to label its beers with those traditional names.

The following statistics on the Westmalle dubbel come from Brew Like a Monk:

• Original Gravity: 1.063
• ABV: 7.3%
• Apparent Degree of Attenuation: 87%
• IBU: 24
• Malts: Pilsner, caramel, and dark malt
• Adjuncts: Dark candi sugar
• Hops: Tettnang, Styrian Goldings, Saaz
• Yeast: Westmalle, which is also used for bottle conditioning (commercially, WLP 530 Abbey Ale or Wyeast 3787 Trappist High Gravity)

The beer pours a deep amber red color with high amount of carbonation and makes a distinctive hiss as it hits the bottom of the glass.  The carbonation supports a off-white colored head with coarse bubbles that fade after two or three minutes.  The foam does leave a nice Belgian lacing as the beer moves down the glass.  The dubbel's aroma has hints of dark fruit, perhaps raisin or prunes.  It also smells of dark caramel sweetness, with a slight herbal/basil note.

The first taste of the dubbel reveals the prickle of carbonation evident during the pour.  This subsides into dark caramel flavors, but without the sweetness.  The mid-palate includes evidence of the dark fruit flavors hinted at in the aroma, but again without any sweetness.  The flavors finish very dry and almost evaporate off the tongue within seconds.  The 7 percent ABV is completely hidden in the beer, without any burning or harsh characteristics.

I brought a lot of expectations to this tasting, based on my experiences with other, mainly American, dubbels.  I anticipated a beer with large flavor components, featuring layered sugar and caramel characteristics.  I certainly expected some degree of sweetness and a lingering palate that encouraged slow sipping.  What I experienced, instead, was a very dry beer with subdued flavors that appeared almost flat compared with my expectations.  Even after knocking out a good amount of the carbonation, I still did not find more complex flavors.

In an ideal dubbel, I would like something between my expectations and what I tasted in the Westmalle dubbel. The beer I tasted was very well brewed, without any apparent faults or mishandling, but I would like some more robust and interesting flavors.  On the other hand, I found the Westmalle example more drinkable than many American dubbels, which often end sweet and are too big to truly want more than one glass.

Thanks to my co-worker, John, for bringing me a Trappist beer direct from Belgian.  I truly appreciate his generosity.

Cheers,

TW

Monticello Reserve Ale

While perusing the beer section of a local supermarket, I stumbled upon a bottle of Starr Hill's Monticello Reserve Ale.  The label displays an image of Monticello's famous facade, which was once the home of Thomas Jefferson and is a popular local historical attraction.  The label also proclaims the Reserve Ale is the "Official Beer of Monticello."  Intrigued, I purchased the bottle, intent on doing some research and posting tasting notes.

From the bottle label: "Beer produced on the Monticello plantation was served during dinner, with wine served after the meal.  From her first arrival at Monticello in 1772, Jefferson's wife Martha oversaw the periodic brewing operations, producing fifteen gallon casks of small beer - beer with low alcohol content - about every two weeks."

"Larger scale brewing began with the appearance of a British brewer detained in Albemarle County during the War of 1812.  Captain Joseph Miller improved upon the equality and quantity of Monticello beer, introducing ale, stronger beer better suited to storage.  Joseph Miller trained the enslaved Peter Hemings in the arts of malting and brewing.  Hemings - a brother of Sally - carried on the brewing operations, making one hundred gallons of ale every spring and fall."

Starr Hill's site lists Monticello Reserve Ale as an unfiltered American wheat beer, made solely with wheat and corn.  It is moderately hopped with East Kent Goldings (27 IBUs) and weighs in at 5.5% ABV.  It also won a silver medal at the 2011 Great American Beer Festival, in the Indigenous Beer category.  According to a blog post by Levi, one of the Starr Hill brewers, the beer was 8 years in the making, as Monticello and Starr Hill worked out the legal and other details of brewing an official Monticello beer.  Levi collaborated with the Monticello staff and utilized a historical text to come up with the final recipe, including the exclusion of malted barley, which was not grown at the plantation.

The beer poured an incredibly light straw color, almost as light as a cider.  The pour left very little head in the glass, which is surprising given the large wheat component in the malt bill.  The carbonation of the beer appears fairly light, given the low levels of foaming and bubble formation during the pour.  The beer had an extremely mild aroma, though my perceptions were dulled by the end of a head cold.  I did detect a mild floral smell, perhaps similar to jasmine or honeysuckle, along with a slight herbal character along the lines of fresh mint.

The initial flavor of the Reserve Ale was strongly floral and slightly harsh.  Honeysuckle and chamomile explode on the palate in an interesting manner.  If I had not read information on the beer ahead of time, I might have thought it a gruit flavored with flowers.  Some bitterness appeared mid-palate, but it was fairly subdued.  The flavor finished fairly dry, though the floral character of the beer lingered for almost a minute afterward.  I also detected a slight corn flavor at the end of the taste, which was interesting, but slightly distracting.

Overall, the beer was enjoyable and different than anything I had tasted from Starr Hill before.  However, the lingering floral character continued to build throughout the pint, and it was slightly off-putting.  While interesting, I do not think I would order another pint in the same sitting.

Thanks to Starr Hill for undertaking a historical beer of this nature and making it available in quantities that the local general public could taste.  Have any of you had the opportunity to taste a historically-based beer?  Leave a comment and let us know about your experiences.

Cheers,

TW

Tasting Notes: Pannepot Clone by The Mad Fermentationist

Tasting notes always seem like the easiest thing to write down, but for some reason, I find them peculiarly difficult to wrap up into a blog post. Choosing the appropriate words is not the hurdle – its just breaking down my own inertial propensity for “I’ll just do it tomorrow” and getting it done.

Back in May, Mike over at the Mad Fermentationist and I exchanged a few homebrewed beers, including his 5-6 month old Pannepot Clone. This particular beer was most interesting to us, as it was the recipe that Tom and I decided to brew together while he and his family visited us in Rhode Island. During some downtime while brewing our own version of the recipe, Tom and I were able to sit down and taste Mike’s Pannepot Clone. Given below are the tasting notes we took during that sitting. Coincidentally, the tasting [7/11/10] took place 6 months to the day from when Mike brewed it [1/11/10].

(It should be noted that I was suffering from an unseasonable cold during this particular weekend, so the majority of the aroma notes come from Tom’s perceptions, given my disabled nose).

* * *

Appearance: The beer appeared a deep ruby brown color with an off-white / tan head that dissipated fairly quickly after the pour. The beer was slightly cloudy or hazy in appearance, which is most likely some form of chill haze, as it went away as the glass warmed.

Aroma: Dark caramel sugar, assertive alcohol, and dark fruit (plums and raisons) dominated the nose. A hint of banana was detected just after the pour, but was not noticeable later on. Additionally, a small amount of spice (perhaps clove?) and a little vanilla was detected.

Flavor: A warming, sweet alcohol is the initial impression that presents itself upon tasting. Not harsh or solventy, the flavor is assertive with similarities to a good bourbon. Behind the alcohol, dark caramel and Belgian candi sugar (dark fruit, sweetness) is also present along the mid-palate. A hint of spicy hop character is also detectable. The beer ends on the sweet side, not overly sweet, but it does not wash away completely and leaves a residual on the tongue.

Mouthfeel: The beer is full-bodied, thick, and residual with a warming sensation from the alcohol. Carbonation was medium and appropriate.

Overall: This beer certainly has a broad range of different flavors in one glass. It is certainly interesting to the taste buds and is more of a sipper than a quaffable beer – the alcohol is detectable and stands at the forefront of the flavor, which reinforces it as a slow-drinker. Overall it is very enjoyable and complex.

* * *

After our tasting, Tom and I were very pleased with what the recipe produced. The only ‘on-the-fly’ change we made after experiencing Mike’s beer was to keep the fermentation temperatures cool for a little bit longer period (48 hours vs. 24 hours) before ramping it up. We hope this change can help tuck away some of the alcohol’s assertiveness. Time will tell…

Thanks Mike!

Slainte!

-JW


"The sum of the matter is, the people drink because they wish to drink."
- Rudolph Brand

Tasting Notes: Bourbon Barrel Wee Heavy by The Mad Fermentationist

In addition to the Pannepot Clone sent to us by Mike over at the Mad Fermentationist as part of our homebrewed beer exchange, we also received a bottle of Mike’s Bourbon Barrel Wee Heavy. With Tom being in town, we got the opportunity to taste the beer together (during a brew session) and below are the notes we took during the tasting.

(It should be noted that I was suffering from an unseasonable cold during this particular weekend, so the majority of the aroma notes come from Tom’s perception, given my disabled nose).

* * *

Appearance: Upon pouring, the beer presents a nice deep amber-red hue and is very clear without any detectable haze. It possesses a small off-white head of tiny bubbles, which dissipated relatively quickly.

Aroma: The initial waft is dominated by bourbon and vanilla, which was as expected. Tucked in behind is a bit of caramel and brown sugar sweetness that can be picked out periodically. There is no clue detectible sour aroma at all.

Flavor: The first taste provides a rising acidity / sourness, similar to perhaps fresh lemon juice.  This sour flavor initially blankets all of the other flavors. In the mid palate, the sourness subsides and reveals a mild malt flavor with a slight hint of caramel. The beer has no bourbon or vanilla flavors that are detected and has no residual sweetness. Additionally, the aftertaste is very clean with as the acidity seems to clear the tongue nicely.

Mouthfeel: We were pleasantly surprised that the beer maintained a medium body that was not as thin as would be expected from the sour character. Carbonation seemed appropriate and the beer finishes nice and dry.

Overall: What an interesting beer! The taste (sour with no bourbon/vanilla) is almost completely disconnected from the aroma (bourbon/ vanilla with no hint of sour). The beer itself was such a pleasant enigma and it provided great conversation as we drank it. The acidity and sourness kept cleansing the tongue after each sip, which prevented palate fatigue.

* * *

What Tom and I both appreciated about this beer, other than the aroma/flavor disconnect described above, is the serendipitous path that created this soured Wee Heavy. It is a great example of adapting to uncontrollable changes, letting things run their course, and keeping an open mind with regards to the results. While a clean version of a Wee Heavy was the initial intent of this brew, bugs from a neighboring barrel quickly set the beer down a different path. It created something unplanned for, but in hindsight, something certainly worth appreciating.

Cheers to the unintended! And thanks again Mike!

Slainte!

-JW


"What contemptible scoundrel has stolen the cork to my lunch?”
- W. C. Fields

The Session #41: Craft Beer Inspired by Homebrewing with White Birch Brewing Co.

Welcome to The Session – a collaboration of bloggers writing on a common beer-related topic. For July, we at Lug Wrench Brewing Co. had the opportunity to choose the topic: Craft Beer Inspired by Homebrewing as the collective topic for everyone to explore. You can read more about Beer Blogging Friday (“The Session”) over at the Brookston Beer Bulletin.

This month’s topic was the perfect opportunity to collaborate with one of the many small regional breweries in the New England area. During a recent trip up to New Hampshire, I nabbed a few bottles from White Birch Brewing Co.  Driving back to Rhode Island, the lightbulb went off in my head as I contemplated topics for this month.  What better way to talk about commercial beers influenced by home brewing than to talk with Bill Herlicka, owner and brewer of White Birch.  Bill, who has been a prior guest on this blog for our Nanobrewery Interview series, was a long time homebrewer before taking the plunge last year and founded White Birch.

The beer that I was most interested in talking with Bill about what his Berliner Weisse - an unique German sour wheat ale that is perfect for summer.  And also one that is not commonly found on most shelves.  Bill graciously agreed to talking about the beer and its influences, the summary of which is provided below.

Lug Wrench (LW): In general, how does what you learned as a homebrewer helped you as a commercial brewer?

Bill Herlicka (BH): I have only homebrewed prior to opening White Birch so I guess you can say it is a major influence as a commercial brewer. For example, I make the beer the way I want regardless of materials cost or time to age. It’s how I approached my homebrews and I have no interest in changing. The thought of trying to shave costs by shorting grain or hops in the hopes that the consumer won’t notice to me makes no sense.

My beers are hand made, hand bottled, hand labeled and a bit esoteric. I like that and find going into the shop fun every day. I contrast this to a conversation I had with another brewer who had to justify any new beer and some continuation of popular new beers with a cost benefit analysis. He says his brewery owners were more interested in profits than a new beer that was proving popular with local drinkers (it cost more and took longer to make). Brewing is a business and an art. We all have to live with our choices and for me I want to make what I enjoy, not what a "bean counter" would enjoy.

LW: Where did the recipe for the Berliner Weisse come from?

BH: It’s my take on the style. I researched as many examples of the style as I could find, the history of the beer, and what recipes were out there online. From my research and tasting I found that the basics of this beer were a light wheat based beer and that it was made with either a sour mash or through the use of lacto bacillus. From my tasting notes I found I prefer the softer body of a lacto based Berliner over a (sour) mash. Sour mashes seem to have a sharper range of tart and additional flavors that either work or in some examples are a bit more than what I’d expect in the style.

LW: Is there anything from your homebrewing days that influenced the Berliner Weisse recipe?

BH: Yes, I’ve always brewed bigger beers. Making something this small took so little grain that I found myself pushing the grain bill up so it “looked” right. My hope is that people enjoy the beer and style purists let the higher ABV slide.

* * *

White Birch Brewing's Berliner Weisse

Brewed: June 2, 2010

Batch: 1; Bottle: 786 of 1458

After chatting with Bill about the beer, my taste buds were primed and ready to crack open bottle I had in possession. With the recent heatwave we've been experiencing the past few days, this was a great complement to relaxing on the back porch enjoying the thermometer returning to more tolerable levels. 

The beer pours a faint straw color, but remains cloudy with a haze.  It produces a billowing white head which dissipates quickly down to the bubbling gold liquid.  A lactic burst is the first thing that hits the nose followed by a subtle wheat/malt undertone.  Hidden amongst the lactic is a faint wheat twang as well as a minor notes fruitiness and a slight hint of shellfish.

The taste reveals a citrus-like acidity and tartness with an underlying wheat and malt flavor.  A clean sourness, but not pungent, with no funk detected.  The wheat/malt resides until the mid-palate where it falls off leaving a pleasant tartness that slowly evaporates away.  The beer finishes very clean with a dryness and a lingering hint of citrus and lemon. 

Overall, the beer is a very refreshing, light, sour ale with enough tartness and clean sourness to cleanse the palate without fatiguing it.  Dry and clean, it leaves little behind other than a pleasurable essence of lemon sourness.  One sip just asks for another.

If you happen to be homebrewers like us, Bill offered these tips and tricks for those interested in trying their own interpretation of a Berliner Weisse:

I’d suggest 60% wheat malt, 40% pilsner, a very light hand with the hops and lacto. Don’t be afraid to step into the real wild bacteria. If you can make more than one style of beer at a time with different yeasts you can use wild “critters”.

I do recommend dedicated plastic for bottling and stronger bottles than standard 12 or 22oz bottles too.. Heck, if you think about it, wild yeasts are in the air and on everything. If basic sanitation lets us brew a beer without an infection then why not use a cultured “critter”.

I would certainly recommend anyone who find the beer to pick it up and try it.  If you've been fortunate to have any of White Birch's beers, let us know what you thought.

Slainte!

-The Wallace Brothers


“Don’t try to create someone else’s vision … do what you love and do it with passion. You’ll find your audience.”
-Bill Herlicka

Tasting The Foreign Export Stout

With the Memorial Day weekend upon us, Tom and I had the opportunity to get the families together for a family function in Upstate New York. It was unfortunate that the ‘gathering’ did not take place at either of our homes (else this post would be describing a collaborative brewing session instead), but it was a perfect time to crack open a couple of bottles we’ve previously brewed and talk about them – even if our wives rolled their eyes at the notion.

The Mad Fermentationist’s Foreign Export Stout that was brewed back in April was certainly on the top of the tasting list. Inspired by Mike’s very positive review last week, there was quite a bit of anticipation for the beer. Joined by Tom’s brother-in-law Jonathan, a fledgling mead-maker, the three of us poured the 12 oz brown long neck bottle into snifter glasses to see what the jet-black liquid held in store.

Aroma: A mild, smooth nose of coffee and dark chocolate revealed itself right off the get-go. A slight hint of English yeast ester was braided in with it and maybe some hints of fig or dark fruit.

Appearance: A midnight black beer that completely blocks out all light trying to pass through it. It possesses a thin, deep-tan head of tiny bubbles, which sparsely layered the surface of the beer and the sides of the glass.

Flavor: A balanced, yet strong black coffee flavor combined with roast character comes though initially at the first taste. Dark chocolate (similar to unsweetened dark cocoa) begins to mix in with the coffee. The mid-palate reveals a berry esters hidden in the dark with a slight underlying minerality. A subdued, sweet, pleasing alcohol presence is barely noticable at the end of the mid-palate and continues to provide warmth into the aftertaste. The beer finishes very smooth with the impression of being dry. A lingering roast and dark chocolate character remains in the aftertaste.

Mouthfeel: A smooth, creamy, moderate to moderate-full mouthfeel. A pleasing low carbonation level supports the character of the beer without getting in the way.

Overall Impression: A very smooth, easily drinkable, full bodied, dry stout with a blended flavor or coffee and dark chocolate that hides its alcohol well – even being as young as it is (only 1 month in the bottle), the beer is one of the smoother stouts we've tasted. Everything seems melted together into a unified flavor as opposed to a collection of several individual components.

Slainte!

-JW


“There is nothing in the world like the first taste of beer.”
-John Steinbeck

Tasting Notes: Brother Barleywine - a Lug Wrench Collaborative Beer

Similar to the prior set of tasting notes, theses notes have been sitting idel in my notebook for longer than they should.  So, while several months have past since we tasted it in May, I wanted to get them up on the blog for archival purposes.

During Thanksgiving 2009, Tom and I were able to brew an English Barleywine together when we travelled down to Virginia to visit Tom for the holiday.  The beer, which was named 'Brother Barleywine', was a big beer (10+% ABV) so we knew it would need some age before it hit its prime.  Below are the notes we tasted the beer when it was 6 months old.

*  *  *

Aroma: The aroma reveals the beers boozy nature with plenty of alcohol in the nose.  A hint of moderate caramel was also detected.

Appearance: The beer posesses a ruby-red, dark honey color that was very plesant.  Super clear.  There is only a slight head upon pouring or swirling the beer, but it never lasts long and quickly disappears.

Flavor: Complex caramel notes with a hint of a cider character, which is followed up by smooth alcohol and a boozy presence.  The beer has a little noticable English hop bitterness and has a drier finish than we had expected.  It is balanced for what it is with a lingering hop bitterness in the aftertaste.

Mouthfeel: The beer is a lot thinner than we had planned, without much structure to it.  A little disappointing.

Overall: The alcohol is present, but not assertive.  Good sipping beer.  The dryness lets the beer keep is drinability without being cloying.  There is a residual build-up of flavor/richness with the beer, almost to the point of palate fatique.

*  *  *

While the beer took a turn from what we had expected it to be, we are both very curious to see how it will be in 6-12 months from now when it reaches maturity.

Slainte!

-JW


"It was as natural as eating and to me as necessary, and I would not have thought of eating a meal without drinking beer."
-Ernest Hemingway

Tasting Notes: Dragon's Breath - a Lug Wrench Collaborative Beer

These notes have been sitting in my notebook for a month or two and I finally got up the energy to type them up so they can be archived on the blog with the rest of the Collaborative Beer information. 

Back in the summer of 2009, Tom and I brewed a clone of New Holland's Dragon's Milk, which we named 'Dragon's Breath'.  During a family function in May 2010, T and I were able to open a bottle together and note down our thoughts on how the beer has held up.  Below are the notes we took from that tasting.

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Aroma: Sweet character with a hint of bourbon, vanilla, cinnamon, and a slight toasted nut aroma.  In addition, we were able to detect light toasted coconut (most likely from the oak character).

Appearance: The beer is dark, almost to the point of being black with garnet highlights when held up to the light.  Once pourred, the a light tan head of tight bubbles presents itself.

Flavor: Initially, the beer gives a complex brown/sugar/dark surgar/molassas flavor without the sweetness.  Vanilla and bourbon flavor follow behind with some sweet alcohol riding along with it.  There is a roast character that rounds out the flavor.  A maple flavor is detected in the aftertaste.

Mouthfeel:  Moderate to full bodies, robust with a fair amount of structural tanins.  There is a warming alcohol, but it is tucked into the beer well.

Overall:  So far the bbeer has aged very well, blending the flavors together.  No oxidation noted.  With the full body and warming alcohol, the beer is probably best as a cold weather sipper.  There is residual sweetness/flavor in the aftertast, but it has enough dryness to prevent any cloying.

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The beer turned out a lot better than we had hoped and many of the more harsh notes we detected during the early tastings have fallen away.  Can't wait to try this beer in several months as it continues to develop.

Slainte!

-JW


"Many battles have been fought and won by soldiers nourished on beer."

-Frederick the Great