Suprise Find at Spuyten

So I stopped into Spuyten Duyvil today because it had been awhile. I generally veer off of this place because of their high prices and sometimes very limited selection. It's ok, it just doesn't seem like the whole package to me, but this place does have it's moments. I wrote about the strong ale fest awhile back, and they will have some definite obscure choices here and there. This time was one of those times. If you are in the area and a fan like me, they have a couple Nogne-O beers on tap! The imperial stout was excellent and the vanilla porter de framboise very interesting as well. A definite most have for those sour beer fans out there. Check it.

Get some Dark Lord?

In case you didn't know Dark Lord day just happened this past Saturday. This ridiculous accolade monster imperial stout is probably the best of the style I've ever had, and the event surrounding the day makes it even that much more exciting. Also released at the event was the premiere of the Dogfish Head/Three Floyds collaboration: Popskull - not really sure what this beer is. Anyways, the point of the post is to say if you really want to try this beer, trade for it. It really works; for the additional cost of shipping it may not be worth it to some people, but if you really want it, then you want it...and I want it. To those other peeps in NYC wanting, trade it up.

Slow Beer Week

Well it's been kind of a slow week after a pretty eventful last two weeks. I noticed Blind Tiger has Bear Republic Racer X on tap - an excellent and very hard to find IPA. This weekend is Dark Lord Day at Three Floyds...wish I was going, but obviously it is ridiculously far away. I'm still hoping on trying two Ballast Point beers that were supposedly amazing, and available in the PA area. Sea Monster Imperial Porter and Dorado Double IPA. Check these out if you get a chance, I've been very impressed with Ballast Point in the past. Also for those in PA, you'll also note the arrival of Duck Rabbit, a company I'm not very familiar with at all. It's funny, but PA is just such a better state for distribution brands than NY is. Not only does PA have Founder's and Bell's: two huge players in the craft beer scene, but other brands like Lost Abbey and Ballast Point are not here either. I'll trade a sixpoint crap for Bell's any day, and you can have Chelsea for free. I just don't understand what's holding NY back other than its antiquated pre-prohibition laws...oh wait.

Thoughts on Sours/Belgians

I've been thinking a lot this week about the tasting, and the wild ales that were tasted. It's almost like there is two schools of thought on this. It's weird, I love beer, like obviously, but some of the most highly regarded and most creative concoctions I just can't get a taste for. As I sip a Hopslam, I wonder more about what distinguishes it to people that love it, and to people that hate it. No one at the tasting enjoyed the wild ales, particularly not the Juliet, but everyone loved the hoppy beers. What am I missing on this? I love the flavors of dark malts, the subtle flavors of amazing hops. I can appreciate a good barrel-aged ale not like the next guy, but I just don't get the sourness. Belgian beer in particular is pretty popular. And one thing I notice about Belgian beers is well, they all have a similar taste...a similar taste in a way that across a style, tastes will be similar. Maybe it's that familiarity, maybe it's that consistency, or maybe it's the flavor. I've never really appreciated the Belgians as much as I did American craft brew, even American-made Belgian styles.On a general basis, I've always attributed Americans love for imports on upward-branding and an impossible-to-break hegemonic belief that American beers are mass-produced, mass-consumed swilly swill swill. And that is pretty much the truth on the matter, conspiracy theory or not, it's impossible to escape that image of American beer, and beer like most alcoholic products is an image product. When you take a step back from the internet-savvy beer geek, well its pretty much everyone else out there and some of them actually want good beer. It's up to us people to show them, and hey if you like sour ales, I really want to know why.

Barrel Tasting Last Night

Ah the smell of stale beer in the morning. Last night I had another tasting, this time with a focus on barrels. Many of the entrants were previously discussed, but there were some last minute scores. The tasting was large and there were a wide range of different styled tasters each preferring certain beers over others. There was much consensus though and despite some premium examples of the style, American Wild Ale did not go over well, even for me. Not every beer ended up being barrel aged, but they were all unique and uniquely rare in that as well. Let's get to some tasting notes shall we (in order of appearance):

1.Captain Lawrence Smoke from the Oak (wine barrel)
This beer could have been added the Wild Ale list with its distinct brett like character and sour fruit notes. But I found the flavors to be quite tame and still chocolate. Chocolate-covered sour cherries was used a couple of times, and everyone thought drinkability was excellent especially with some food.

2. Harviestoun Ola Dubha - 12 yr
Really enjoyed this smoky masterpiece with its oil coating mouth feel and distinct scotch like flavors. It was peaty and smoky with delicious earthy and salty seaside flavors, an excellent collaboration between two of Scotland's finest. Malty smokey.

3. Alaskan Smoked Porter
Speaking of smokey, this beer rules supreme. This beer was brought back to me by a friend visiting AZ. Unavailable pretty much anywhere east of the west coast, I've heard much about this standard in the style and it's many beer medals. A little too smokey for most, like "liquid smoke" or a "day-old" campfire this beer was not well liked, but unique nonetheless.

4. Russian River Consecration
Onto the big boys with the full tasting panel there, and opened up this much hyped up American Wild Ale. It took a lot to get this beer, with a huge price tag and a lot of driving it was had, but I must say I've never been a Wild Ale fan. Too sour for my likings, too cellar-like in flavor. This one had to be the one to change me over and it would be the beer to get me into sours, but nah. It was unique, very great mouthfeel and interesting flavors, but it was just too sour, puckering, too bold, too hard to drink. Many used inedible fruits to describe the flavors, others metal and chemicals. It did not go over well, a lot of people just picked the word "no" for drinkability. It was unique nonetheless, but really not enjoyed and left me even doubting my other Wild Ale choices for the evening.

5. Lost Abbey Angel's Share
Yes. Bubbles! It had a lot more carbonation than the one I had previously opened. I mean a lot more, actually leaving a lacing this time, and covering up the alcohol much better. I was so psyched about that, so happy about that. But this beer was a huge hit, candidate for best beer of the night and enjoyed by everyone. "Like opening a fresh pack of fig newtons" was agreed as the descriptor of the beer with caramel and oaky notes following that up. Everyone really liked this one saying they would love to drink it anytime despite it's incredibly thickness and smacker of an alcohol content.

6. Goose Island Juliet
This one got a beating. A thrashing, with a board-room like atmosphere ensuing. "Who greenlighted this purchase?" "It was him, no her, well the guy at the store said it was good." Yea, urine was the most common descriptor on this Wild Ale. Too sour with those same chemical descriptors as last time. It garnered some of the lowest ratings of the night and basically lead to me leaving the Avery Brabant from the tasting.

7. Three Floyds/Mikkeller Oatgoop.
Runner-up for beer of the evening. Everyone really liked this beer. It was like a crisp IPA up front with a beautiful building intensity and thickness in mouthfeel and flavor. Definitely a style of beer I had never had and would now like to have more of. Words like perfect got tossed around, delicious honey and golden grahams were also used.

A few other beers may have been had, but either notes weren't taken or the tasting panel had fallen apart otherwise or I just can't remember. But I don't think I'll be spending any more money on sour ales in the near future. They were expensive, and hearing everybody (including myself) bag on them, left well a sour taste in my mouth. Hops on the other hand, well, always well liked.

Can Night @ Barcade: Thursday

Here is an interesting upcoming event. Barcade doesn't normally have any package beer, only draught. This event will see Barcade turning off it's taps to serve, yes people, canned beer. But Only craft beer in cans. Canning beer actually makes more sense -- it keeps in the carbonation better, provides a completely opaque container and is even smaller for packaging. There are some good brands that package in cans: Most notably Oskar Blues. But it says in the event detail that these cans are coming from near and far, so in my fantasy world they will have Surly cans. You know that great brewery from Minnesota that you can't get anywhere near here. I know Sly Fox can's alot of their beers (eh...). So we will see what Barcade pulls out for this event. As always I expect nothing but the best from Barcade, let's see what happens.

Upcoming Barrel Aged Tasting

I've been noticing a big trend in barrel-aging programs among breweries. Something that really hadn't been done that much some years ago is now being done all the time. And the huge new interest and responding brewery demand in wild-ales helps this trend a lot. Personally the huge imperial stout aged in bourbon barrel is an obvious choice, the perfect combination. Aging some of these wild ales in various wine barrels really expands and changes the definition of what beer can be. Either way, I'm a big fan of aging in barrels. It expands the flavors and adds its own unique level of flavor complexity. So this tasting will feature various barrel-aged beers (no oak chips or "beechwood aging" or anything like that). The front runners include: Russian River Consecration, Angel's Share, Goose Island Juliet, and Brewdog Paradox Smokehead (and perhaps another Paradox). We will see what other Imperial Stouts get thrown in here, it'd be nice to have a Barleywine or IIPA to throw in there too, but i'm looking for the appropriate selection for both. I guess DFH Burton Baton will suffice, and I'm thinking about adding Southern Tier Cuvee #2 although im not a 100% sure of it's barrel-aged authenticity. Hopefully I'll have that final lineup soon. Does anyone know about the Cuvee or any other recommendations?

Magic Hat Tonight at Blind Tiger

Tonight at Blind Tiger they are having an April Fool's party with Magic Hat. There looks to be some pretty interesting stuff going on tonight and it's been awhile since I've been to the Tiger. They seem to be on a little Vermont kick recently.

In other news I had an Angel's Share last night and my worst fears were realized. It was pretty damn flat. But the flavors were amazing and there were signs of hope: towards the bottom of the bottle the beer was alittle more carbonated, so here's hoping time pays off. Anybody else have any experiences with this year's Angel's Share?