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Craft Beer (rating, drinking, etc.) and other Musings (13 items)

June 24, 2008
11:23
I guess this is where I reminisce ...
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I guess this is where I reminisce about beery Belgium. First of all, it was amazing, amazingly amazing. I made a list of beers to find and I found almost all of them, particularly the sour ones. Everyone was extremely nice, almost every beer place we visited and started a conversation we were blown away by generosity. But here is the million dollar question, what was best. Was it the metropolitan Brussels, or the touristy Brugge, or maybe Antwerpen with its famous Kulminator. Well, if I could only visit one region on a follow up trip it would be the countryside between Brussels and Brugge, or better known as the Lambic region/Pattojenland. The flat meadows, small two way roads, and the out of the way places are amazing. We drove by the now defunct Eylenbosch brewery which was so cool. And the one place that blew my mind above all was De Heeren van Liedekercke and here is a nice write up by John White.

Here are some pictures that say a 1000 words.
May 24, 2008
8:40
So I ...
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So I just got back from my beer pilgrimage to Belgium, 8 days and 7 nights. It was wonderful in many respects, particularly the beer part. At the moment I want to cover some of my non-beer observations.

I visited Brussels, then drove through the Pajottenland (lambic region) to Brugge and finally one day in Antwerpen. Was supposed to visit Ghent but we were just to tired and loved Brugge to much to leave. There are some very stark differences between these places.

Brussels seems to be what we normally consider a capital city. The weekdays are packed with traffic and suits. On the weekend the whole thing just shuts down. I am a bit biased because I stayed in the European Quarters, the area where the NATO, European Union, and such things are placed. However, I got this impression from the whole city. While there is obviously a large tourist faction of the city its contained within a very small area. The rest is like walking through an empty old city. So basically, what I mean to say is Brussels is a large business city that happens to get tourists.

On the other hand, Brugge is a small city that gets all its business from tourists. I got the impression that Brugge is there for tourists only (and I do not mean to at all take away from the rich history and people of Brugge). It is understandably so, I read something close to 100,000 thousand people live in Brugge while the city sees over 2 million tourists a year, a tradition that started a long time ago when the Brits would come over all the time. This is still evident, I am pretty sure I saw more Brits than natives. These differences are most evident when entering any bar, restaurant, or store. In Brussels, everyone would always assume you speak French and engage you in that tongue. In Brugge, you are always engaged in either 2 languages at once or just straight English. I was amazed and of course being an American this made me feel much more comfortable. The city is built to maintain the "old" feel, almost akin to Disney Land, and of course as any tourist I really loved it. And while Belgium has its share of antiquity it does not seem like its forced upon the people. In Brussels there is a hustle and bustle of everyday life, in Brugge its just for a hustle to do all the touristy stuff.

Now the most dazzling places I saw were on my drives through the lambic region. To see this beautiful green fields with cows everywhere, I mean everywhere, while you are drive down a road that barely fits your car. Driving through these little, clean, beautiful full of farmer workers and townspeople, I could see myself living there. Just opening up a little bar, open 5 random hours during the week, that I could see for myself, something I did not want from either Brugge or Brussels.

Antwerpen, well, it felt like a smaller version of Brussels, like LA to NYC, one might say.
April 28, 2008
0:37
I am moving to Kansas soon so ...
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I am moving to Kansas soon so my beer adventure will take on a whole new direction. Recently been brewing with my friend Boris Zee on his set up.

Been drinking a lot and got more new nips, will try to keep this updated.
October 24, 2007
7:31
Finally got around to bottling my cranberry ...
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Finally got around to bottling my cranberry cider a few nights ago, it only took me almost 2 months to do so. But it seems to be coming together very nicely. The O.G was 1066 and the FG was straight 1000, so that was nice. For those that do not want to do the math that means a abv of about 8.7%, very nice. I used a Trappist Ale yeast, which really did a number on the cider. It's really not sweet and became nutty but the cranberries were wunderbar. Very acidic and tart, no alcohol presence at all. I ended up with 3 gallons of straight cider and I bottled half still and primed the other half with more cider.

I also did a little experiment I burrowed from someone on the ratebeer website. Got half a gallon of unpasteurized cider from a local orchard and added the dregs (the settled yeast) of a nicely sour beer (Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza). It took a bit of time for activation to start but then it EXPLODED with fermentation. Depending on how this works out I have a few possible routes to take:
A) take what happens and drink it
B) add more sour yeast, particularly from a geuze
C) and possibly if it is going well get a whole 3-5 gallons of unpasteurized cider and use this as a starter
October 05, 2007
12:29
The great ...
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The great thing about beer hunting is visiting breweries in small cities and Keegan Ales happens to be one of this small cities. Located in Kingston, NY it is over two hours north of New York City and about an hour south of Albany, pretty much making it in the middle of no man's land. I finally decided to drive out there because of some special treats the brewery's restaurant had on tap, but I will get to that later.

Keegan Ales shares a lot of history with Long Island, particularly the name of a beer. Keegan Ales makes an American style IPA called Hurricane Kitty, which also happens to be the name of an IPA made at the BrickHouse Brewery, a small brewpub in Patchogue, NY. A little more than a year ago I stopped by there and ordered the Kitty and as I did a man next to me said "nice choice." Long story short, I was sitting next to Tom Keegan, the son of Hurricane Kitty, the craziest driver in Patchogue. Also, his son Tommy was the Keegan of Keegan Ales.

Now back to the point, I made a slight trek to Kingston to visit a recently opened restaurant and bar at the Keegan brewery, but more importantly they had 2 beers on tap that are not easy to come by. First and most important was the Super Kitty, a supped up version of the regular Kitty that weights in at 12% abv, is hand bottled, and released in a super small quantity during the holiday season. I got to try a draft version and, as a nice bonus, a brand new beer, a White Ale, the first Belgian style beer from this brewery.

The experience was a ball and I fully enjoyed both beers, reviews can be found here. The bar is beautiful decorated to fit the old town and the youthful brewery. The free peanuts were a kick. Outside of the house beers there were also 2-3 guest taps. The restaurant is original, not really a sit down order kind of place but more like order at the counter and the lady will bring it over to your picnic table or couch. But the food was great actually. Live music on the Saturday I was there, think hippie (the name of the band is IS, yeah, I know). Definitely recommended for anyone in the area.
September 04, 2007
7:01
I recently ...
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I recently held a small impromptu blind Flanders Red tasting for a few people. If you ask, what is a "blind" tasting, well its when individuals sample beer without knowing what brand/brewery it is (and in this case also rate it). What is Flanders Red? Well the BJCP has it's own way of describing it but basically I will say its a Belgian red ale that is barrel aged with bacteria for a long period to provide sourness and acidity and is often blended with an older beer to cut down the sour aspects. The most famous and widely available example of this beer is Rodenbach Grand Cru. This also happens to be one of my most favorite styles of beer. So, I decided we needed to have a blind tasting to see what people really think is the best, unfortunately I played host and poured all the beers but the other four people had no idea. I was also able to acquire various Flanders Red from America and Europe, in all i believe I was able to serve a nice array of takes on the style. Actually, I serves 10 different beers (3 of which were provided by another person) . The list:

American:
New Holland Moxie - New Holland Brewing Company, Holland, Michigan
New Glarus Unplugged Enigma - New Glarus Brewing Company, New Glarus, Wisconsin
New Belgium La Folie - New Belgium Brewing Company, Fort Collins, Colorado
Russian River Supplication - Russian River Brewing, Santa Rosa, California
Jolly Pumpkin La Roja Grand Reserve - Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, Dexter, Michigan

Belgian:
Rodenbach Grand Cru - Brouwerij Rodenbach (Palm), Roeselare
Bios Vlaamse Bourgogne (labeled as Monk's) - Brouwerij Van Steenberge, Ertvelde
Zoetzuur Flemish Reserve Ale - De Proefbrouwerij, Lochristi

Other:
Mestreechs Aajt (5% ABV, unsweetened) - Gulpener Bierbrouwerij, Gulpen, Netherlands
Friend's homebrewed, 5 year old, straight from the barrel, uncarbonated, Flanders Red

All 10 were served blind in a random order, 1 person knew of 3 of the beers otherwise no one even knew what beers are being served, the results were interesting.

The Rundown
4 Blind raters + me
La Folie 3.98 RR Supplication batch 2 3.92 Rodenbach GC 3.82 Zoetzuur 3.76 homebrew 3.625 La Roja GR 3.56 Moxie 3.4 Monks 3.32 Mestreechts Aajt 3.22 Enigma 3.2
Minus 1 "against the grain" raterLa Folie 4.15 homebrew 4.03 Rodenbach GC 3.975 RR Supplication batch 2 3.925 Zoetzuur 3.725 Moxie 3.35 Monks 3.325 Enigma 3.125 Mestreechts Aajt 3.1 OVERALL: Either way you cut it La Folie scored best, it was also the one most recognized. No other beers were recognized except one person narrowed down the Rodenbach to 3 choices. The homebrew was spectacular outside of the one rater who hated it extremely (the HBers ratings were never used to calculate these numbers). The Enigma consistently scored badly, the La Roga was consistently just average and the Zoetzuur was consistently above average. All in all the RR was most globally liked.
August 30, 2007
11:09
A truely sad day for all beer ...
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A truely sad day for all beer lovers, one of the first and greatest beer pioneers has passed today.
[www.bellaonline.com]

Some kind words from another beer writer.
[lewbryson.blogspot.com]

Michael Jackson's last article
[www.allaboutbeer.com]
July 15, 2007
18:31
Really Really Old Beer. Have you had ...
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Really Really Old Beer. Have you had some? The oldest beer I have tried (before this weekend) was around 15 or 16 years old and I have a bottle of something that is 18 right now (but I am waiting for its 20th anniversary). Not all beer is of course going to last decades and be anything close to drinkable, really only two kinds; an over the top, super strong barleywine or a sour, yeast beasties, who will consume ever last bit of sugar, beer. However, either way I never fathomed in my wildest dreams I would get to try something this old. I have heard others tell of similar experiences with really old beer, but I never, even for a second, thought I could at some time drink a similarly old beer. However, this weekend I was treated by a very generous beer lover (BTW, biggest thanks in the world for opening this up) to a... guess... a beer that is... over 100 years old!!!! To be precise it was brewed in 1869, it is 138 years old. Can you believe it? It was a big deal actually, a stash was found hidden in a brewery in England. Here is a nice article on the beer.

So not to burst anyone's bubble but it actually did not taste like anything. The aroma was decent enough, some cider aspects, very faint malt. Taste was completely water (pool water, as one person described it). So, I wont expect much from 100 year old beer but it was cool in itself.
July 09, 2007
20:12
Its been too long, lots of things ...
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Its been too long, lots of things to report.

Homebrewing:
Made a stout with my buddy Boris, was bottled on 5/25/07. Had it 4 weeks later and was really disappointed but had some more yesterday and it was really good, maybe the best I have made so far.
Borris has gone on to make his first batch without me, a Double/Imperial Pale Ale, can't wait to try it, when its Boris... its got to be adventurous.
Planning on making a hard cider with cranberries (and possibly honey) next, just need to find some free time.
Also want to experiment with carob molasses, grape molasses, and figs in the future.

Beer loving:
Had a gathering to welcome a fellow Ratebeerian to the area recently PICURES HERE

Belgium Comes to Copperstown is happening in less than two weeks, if you don't know you better ask somebody
[www.ommegang.com]

Drinking a Black Jack Porter right now. One of the many really nice breweries in Colorado. This is one of their regular offerings. A very cice beer, seems like they added chocolate and the hops are jus a bit stronger than I like in my porters. But overall great cocoa sweetness and a slight tea aspect, very quaffable.
April 23, 2007
20:09
Just some words on what is probably ...
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Just some words on what is probably the best beer bar in NYC right now. Blind Tiger Ale House took some time to re-open (liquor license problems) but it finally did. The selection is very nice, as well as the service. Beautiful place in an easy to get spot (for me at least). Good food and some things seem a bit pricey its well worth it. Check it out.

I have my next homebrew in the primary right now. Its a stout with a bit of a twist, some spices, and a bit more hops.
March 06, 2007
6:57
Dictionary.com defines ...
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Dictionary.com defines nip as "a small bit or quantity of anything." So in the beer world nips are small bottles of beer usually 7 ounces or less, a not too common occurrence in craft beer. Only a handful of breweries make any more nips. The most famous nip would probably be the Anchor Old Foghorn. One of the first American-style Barleywines produced was always sold only in 7 oz nips until 2004 (now boring old 12 oz bottles). Nips are usually saved for very strong beers, allowing the drinker to enjoy a high alcohol beer in moderation, not to mention save the cost of producing these beers. Possibly, the most sought after nip nowadays is the Raspberry Eisbock, produced by Kuhnhenn Brewing, a small family operation in Warren Michigan. One of the hardest to come by nips is made in Southampton, NY, the Double Icebock packs a punch at around 18%. The Southampton Publick House (Publick.com) produced less than 100 nips a year (and rumors are this year it wont even be released). Drakes Brewing Company in San Leandro, CA probably produces the most nips of any craft brewery (that does not mean a lot). These are their high octane beers that all weight in double digit abv (i.e. 15th Anniversary Bourbon Barrel Aged Lager). Not to be fooled, not all nips are created equal. Lakefront Brewery produced their own Barleywine in a nip, unfortunately some may consider that a waste of space (even if its just a nip of space).I love nips for a few reasons:A) Usually these are special beers that are hard to come by, so when I do I really appreciate it.B) Sometimes you drink a big beer for the kick and sometimes you really just want to enjoy it and I am always forced to just enjoy these brews.C) My enormous love for craft beer is offset by my small living space, a dichotomy I think is well represented in a nip (that's enough for humor).D) I would have no where to store dishes if I saved all the cool bottles of beer that I have come across but nips are easy to save and display in a small area.Some noteworthy nip-esque bottles:A) Sam Adams Triple Bock is a beautiful dark cobalt blue, corked with rubber cover 8.45 ounce bottle containing an 18% beer. The beer is borderline nip for me, some say yes and some say no.B) Thomas Hardy's, a British staple Barleywine come in 33cl (or 8.5 oz) bottles. Another big beer in a small bottle.C) Rogue XS series was a lineup of 3 beers (Barleywine, Imperial Stout, and Scotch Ale) that at one time were sold in nips. They no longer are, the Barleywine and Imperial Stout are now produced in 750ml ceramic swing top bottles and the weakest of the series, the Scotch Ale, is no longer brewed.
February 14, 2007
5:56
So I reached a monumental rating on ...
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So I reached a monumental rating on the beer site by rating my 500th beer. Its a cool achievement for a beer geek like myself, but more importantly I wanted to do something special for the rating. I drank a Westvleteren 8, a beer that is rather difficult to come by. Why you ask, well let me give a little background:

The Westvleteren beers are brewed by the Abbey of Saint Sixtus in the Westvleteren region of Belgium. The Abbey makes Trappist beers or those made by Trappist monks. Of the world's 171 Trappist monasteries, seven produce beer (six in Belgium and one in The Netherlands). These seven breweries are authorized to label their beers with the Authentic Trappist Product logo that indicates a compliance to various rules edicted by the International Trappist Association (mainly that the beer be brewed within the walls of a Trappist monastry and the profits go toward assistance and not economic gain).

Of all the Trappist breweries, St. Sixtus produces the smallest amount and also produces by some to be the worldest best beers. These beers are not supposed to be sold outside of the Abbey, but I obviuosly did not travel to Belgium to pick up this bottle. I came across this bottle through some fun beer hunting.

Now back to the point, this bottle, with which I celebrated my 500th rating was about 5.5 years old. As expected it aged wonderfully, but if you want to see exactly what I thought you are going to have to go read the rating.
February 04, 2007
6:36
I think this is a good time ...
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I think this is a good time to discuss Samuel Adams, not the patriot but the beer company (actually its the Boston Beer Company that makes the Samuel Adams line of beers, as well as a few other labels). Nice little story of the brewery, started by Jim Koch (pronounced Cook, don't know why, damn crazy New Englanders). The story goes that in 1984 Jim Koch brewed the first Samuel Adams Boston Lager in his kitchen using his grandfathers recipe and to sell it bar to bar. Just some cynicism here, first of the beer is a lager meaning that it uses bottom fermenting yeast, which almost always requires cold fermention. It also means this type of beer almost always needs to be cold conditioned. Basically, this means that to make a beer like the Sam Adams Boston Lager would require more time and resources than most small start up breweries can afford. But whatever, its just a story now, similar to the Clydesdales of Budweiser, a bit of truth mixed with a lot of commercialism. But in general the Boston Beer Company produces different styles of beer, promotes beer knowledge, and supports the beer movement. While most of their product is underwhelming, they have produced some very interesting and innovative beers that no other company of their size can boast. For example, they have made the one of the strongest beers in the world, Utopias, an uncarbonated, 25% alcohol beast that runs well over $100 a bottle. I compared it to cheap cognac but it is still a very nice accomplishment. Outside of that, they recently held a nationwide homebrew competition of which the winners' recipes were reproduced by Sam Adams and released in special six packs. Two national winner and one comanpy winner each made a beer. This really is a cool thing for a company to do. So if you want to see my opinion on the beers, you got to check out my ratings.