This is another review of a beer I used to drink long ago when I was first starting out on this journey of craft beer exploration. I remember many Rogue beers being easily accessible in the later 90's while I was attending Purdue University and that they really stood out in their 22oz screen printed bottles. I would reach for a different bottle every time just to see what goodness was hidden behind these unique labels. Then, similar to the Sierra Nevada story, Rogue just fell off my personal radar. It seems like the brand withdrew a bit from Indiana as it became much less noticeable during a beer run for quite a while in the early part of this decade. Of course during this time the craft beer industry was exploding and beer coolers were starting to really burst at the seams with the available choices. Maybe it was just a case of 'out with the old, in with the new' for a while. Anyway, after years of neglect I saw a bottle of Dead Guy Ale in the cooler and wanted to get re-acquainted. For one thing, I had recently read that it was a maibock, which thoroughly surprised me. When I was originally drinking it all those years ago I didn't know what a maibock was, and by last week I was under the assumption that Dead Guy was just a pale ale.
So with anticipation high, I poured the beer... into the wrong glass. Somewhere in my large pint glass collection is a true Rogue Dead Guy pint glass, which I didn't use. Anyway, even in the wrong glassware this beer pours a nice burnt orangey-copper color with a finger's worth of off-white head. That foam dissipated fairly quick but did leave some lacing on the way down. Looking through the beer, one will see solid streams of tiny bubbles blasting from the bottom of the glass up to the surface. That carbonation helps push a nice malty aroma that has just a fleeting sense of earthy hops. There is also an almost orange blossom scent, or maybe a touch of lemon, mingling in the bouquet.
Taking a drink I was hit by the big caramelized malt backbone before the hops start to kick in. Initially this beer is on the sweet side, with tons of raisin and a subtle Mandarin orange flavor lurking around. That transitions smoothly to a mellow bitterness and a semi-dry finish. I would actually say this was a bit chewy. Lots of flavors to enjoy here while either sipping it slowly or quaffing. I definitely plan to get Rogue Dead Guy Ale back into a much more normal rotation as I thoroughly enjoyed it. Once again I am left scratching my head as to how this beer fell off my radar so long. Maybe there is a legitimate argument that too many choices can be a bad thing?
This past Saturday was Beer School at the Map Room in Chicago and was originally going to be based on beers from Michigan breweries. My dad was planning on collecting cases of beer from a variety of Michigan breweries and wound up with 10 from Michigan Brewing Co. So for the first time ever, Beer School at the Map Room was dedicated to one single brewery. Most people are not going to be familiar with Michigan Brewing as they have a pretty limited distribution network currently for their own branded beers. But some of you may be at least familiar with the Celis line that I have reviewed earlier. Those at least are getting outside of Michigan to a few markets.
The event went off very nicely started with 3 beers from the Celis line-up and then moving to 7 of Michigan Brewing Co's own line. The Celis beers were probably the best received overall, but there were some notable beers from the standard line-up as well. To start their wheat beer was one of the very best American wheats I have ever had. I generally tend to be very critical on the American wheat style, finding it very bland and a pale mockery of the German hefeweizen it is trying to emulate. This beer though was very crisp and refreshing with a nice amount of citrus and some hints of spice similar to what you would expect in a Belgian wit. The India Pale Ale was also very well done. A very well crafted hop profile that was more citrusy paired a fairly sweet malt backbone made it a treat to sample.
Supposedly Michigan Brewing beers will be available at all Meijer stores in the near future, so hopefully if you live near a Meijer's you will have access to these beers soon. After Beer School we went to the Goose Island brewpub for a nightcap. I specifically wanted to get back as there is a good possibility that the brewpub will be closing at the end of the year. Apparently the lease is coming due and the owner has raised the rent drastically. So after 20 years this landmark brewpub may be closing it's doors for good. There is a glimmer of hope that a late deal can be struck and this whole mess can be avoided. So hopefully they work it out and the brewpub stays operational for many more years to come. Anyway, while there I tried their 20th Anniversary Ale, which I am told was an ESB. It was amazing to say the least. A ton of flavors and one I wish was readily available in bottle. They did bottle it as part of their 20th Anniversary Collection and I kind of want to kick myself for not trying to buy a bottle. I also tried their Harvest Ale which was very good and nicely hopped. And I got to take a sip of someone's Beerhunter Brown Porter (Dedicated to Michael Jackson R.I.P) which was outstanding. If it had been more in the fall or winter months I would have had a pint of it.
All in all, a very fun weekend spent up in Chitown.
This week couldn't have ended on a worse note for work. Major problems and in the end I wound up working late on Friday to make sure the higher-ups were taken care of. Well the weekend finally has arrived and there was only one way to kick it off that seemed right... 8-ball. O-E. a Forty. You get the idea. I had a similar day about a month ago and stopped and picked up 2 bottles of Olde English "800" Malt Liquor. It's cheap and get's the job done, and with one bottle left in the fridge, I am set.
The interesting thing with Olde English 800 is it actually tastes more like a standard beer, say a PBR or Old Style, then a regular malt liquor. Most have a definite booziness right up front to let the consumer taste the higher alcohol, where this actually tastes a little better prepared. It is by no means a great beer, but I enjoy it on rare occasions such as this. A subtle amount of hops and light mouthfeel.. ahh who the hell am I kidding.. I am not seriously going to write a review of this. It's time to drink it! Enjoy the weekend everyone, mine starts now.
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is most likely the beer you can point to as the start of my love affair with craft beers. When I was in school at Purdue it was readily available at most of the local bars and was probably the one standout American brewed beer at that time. I remember being enamored with the hoppy bitterness in those days and found it to be a great change of pace on a slower night at the bars with a few friends. Then for some reason it just fell off my radar for years. The last one I had was almost 3 years ago at a bar in Chicago. It was on draught and it was horrible, bland hops and just seemed weak. I basically wrote it off and honestly didn't think much of the Sierra Nevada name from that point forward. That is until my buddy Bill gave me a couple bottles of their Anniversary Ale 2007 last fall and brought over one of their Harvest Ales. I was admittedly blown away by those offerings but still skeptical that maybe it was just a couple of one time brews. Come to find out that there are quite a few seasonal offerings that got me interested in the Sierra Nevada name again, and I realized I owed it to the brewery to give the standard Pale Ale another shot after all these years.
I must say I am glad I did. The beer doesn't seem as hoppy any longer as it once did a decade or more ago, but then I factor in that I routinely drink beers in the 75+ IBU range. In fact I have homebrewed a beer that was close to 120 IBUs which will make the 37 IBUs of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale seem timid in comparison. That isn't a bad thing by any means, this is a pale ale and it fits in the style as it should. Pouring a clean golden color with a bright barely off-white head. That cap of foam is huge initially and slow to recede, but leaves some very nice lacing on the way down. Peering into those golden depths will reveal some active carbonation with steady streams of bubbles heading north.
The aroma is fairly subdued and a bit more malty then hoppy in my opinion. The flavor on the other hand does reveal some nice pine and grassy hops. A solid malt backbone evens things out and gives this a medium body. All in all a very refreshing and quaffable beer. One that I feel guilty for rushing to judgement in that Chicago bar as I realize now that I was served either the wrong beer or at best from a stale keg. Either way, the choice to write off this beer and by extension the brewery itself for a couple of years was not the proper course of action. I would definitely put this back into the list as one of the best pale ales out there. Certainly a few breweries have come along since and upped the bar in this style, but most of those aren't as suited to drinking for an entire evening as this one is.
I just got word from a buddy of mine that Brugge bottles are officially in the warehouse over at Monarch / World Class. I am not sure if they have been pushed out to retailers yet, but it looks like the long endless wait may finally be over! I am told there are cases of the White, Black and Tripel de Ripple as well as a variety case with 2 of each of those. I am really looking forward to picking up my first variety pack and enjoying some Brugge beers at home.
Stone is one of my favorite West coast breweries. I don't think I have ever had a beer brewed by them that I didn't thoroughly enjoy and Arrogant Bastard Ale is the beer that started this relationship. Stone Brewing is based in Escondido, CA which is a suburb of San Diego. They are known for brewing uncompromising beers with an attitude that defies criticism from the 'yellow beer drinkers'. One reading of the back of one of their 22oz bottles should be enough to rouse the passion in any fan of craft brewing. For example, this is what is printed on the back of an Arrogant Bastard bottle:
Arrogant Bastard Ale
ar-ro-gance (ar' o gans) n.
The act or quality of being arrogant; haughty; undue assumption; overbearing conceit.
Arrogant Bastard Ale: This is an aggressive beer. You probably won't like it. It is quite doubtful that you have the taste or sophistication to be able to appreciate an ale of this quality and depth. We would suggest that you stick to safer and more familiar territory --- maybe something with a multi-million dollar ad campaign aimed at convincing you it's made in a little brewery, or one that implies that their tasteless fizzy yellow beer will give you more sex appeal. Perhaps you think multi-million dollar ad campaigns make a beer taste better. Perhaps you're mouthing your words as you read this.
The Brewery: Located in North County San Diego, we are a small, honest, brewery with unrealistically high, yet cantankerously unwavering, standards. We concentrate on creating the most satisfying, big character ales imaginable, by using only the finest natural ingredients. And lots of 'em! It's an approach that leaves many bewildered, but it works for us Arrogant Bastards, and we're the only ones that are worth satisfying.
Ingredients: Nothing but the finest Barley, most aggressive Hops, clearest Water, our proprietary Yeast strain and abundant Arrogance.
Questions or comments? If you don't like this beer, keep it to yourself --- we don't want to hear from any sniveling yellow-beer-drinkin' wimps. 'cause this beer wasn't made for you.
Inspired yet? Arrogant Bastard is a 7.2% ABV hop lovers wet dream. It pours a dark brown, yet looks almost ruby red when held up to the light. Beautifully clear with a hue that I can't say for certain I have seen on any other beer and capped off by a huge pillowy tan head that sticks around forever. Lacing? Yeah, more lacing then your grandmothers doilies. The aroma on this is dominated by piney hops with just a hint of some citrus hops in there. I also detect an almost brown sugar sweetness wafting in the background and a little bit of roastiness.
The flavor is full of bitter hops and semi-sweet malt. A touch of caramel and roasted grains leads into a lingering pleasant bitterness. The hops really coat the mouth and stick with you for quite some time. Arrogant Bastard Ale is a full bodied beer that I think should be enjoyed at a warmer temperature to really let the flavors and aroma come out to play. I had this bottle in a wine fridge set to 55 degrees and it was great out of the fridge. I have since let some sit out for over an hour and at basically room temperature it is still phenomenal with an almost oaky bourbon barrel quality. Really a fantastic beer that earns the right to claim on the bottle "You're not worthy".
P.S. - That would be the Stone Ruination IPA pint glass my dad bought me when he visited the Stone Brewery based on my recommendation up there. ^_-
I picked up a case of the Sierra Nevada Summerfest for a cookout we had this past Saturday for my dad's birthday. I figured something we could drink throughout the day that was in the mid-ABV range as well as mellow enough to not wreck your palate was in order. So having never tried Summerfest, I rolled the dice when I realized this was not your normal summer beer that has to add lemon or some other fruit to be 'summery'. According to the Sierra Nevada website, Summerfest is brewed with Perle and Saaz hops and is only 5 IBUs less than their Pale Ale. I was sold.
When you pour this into a glass, something I didn't do until there was only 1 bottle left, you get a clear golden yellow beer with a fairly robust white head that drops quickly but leaves decent lacing. There is a steady stream of carbonation even 10 minutes after the pour inviting you to imbibe deeply. The aroma is somewhat malty with hints of grassy hops which make me think of rolling hills and big blue skies for some reason. I kind of like that to be honest. The flavor is full of those grassy and earthy hops with a good amount of malt there to balance things out. Their claim that that this is a crisp beer is not far from the truth either. While there are crisper pilsners out there, mainly the Czech pilsners, this beer does have a pleasant bite before fading to a semi-sweet finish.
To me this is what every macro brewery should be striving for when they brew their flagship brands. This is an extremely well done beer that has enough hops for you to know they are there and at the same time be easy drinking enough to get you through an entire day in front of a grill. Put simply, I was drinking this from Noon on Saturday until around 11PM and never once got tired of it nor felt the need to grab for a different brand. I also didn't get knocked off my gourd since Summerfest has just enough alcohol. I want to also reiterate that I absolutely commend Sierra Nevada for brewing a summer beer that was simply a beer that was a little bit lighter then their standard offerings. Unlike most other breweries that feel the need to make a beer and add lemon flavoring or a wheat / wit beer with (once again) lemon or orange flavoring, Sierra Nevada made a beer that will make your cooler proud to keep it chilled.
I have seen quite a bit of misinformation around the internets about who is the largest American owned brewery now that Anheuser Busch is going to be foreign owned. Mostly what I hear is the wrong assumption that Boston Beer Co is now the largest out there. Unfortunately those people are forgetting that the brewer with the iconic red white and blue can is still entirely American owned, even if they no longer own a brewery of their own. Yes, Pabst Brewing Co is the largest American brewer now. And if that isn't enough, under the Pabst umbrella of brands is a plethora of iconic names that have been around since the 1800's. Many of them may be macro swill in the minds of craft beer fans, yet almost every one I know has fond memories of these brands. The point being, if you want a cheap easy drinking beer and it has to be American, put your snobbery aside and grab for a PBR.
Pabst Brewing Co. doesn’t operate breweries anymore, but it wants to be the first choice for every red-blooded American beer drinker.
The company, which owns dozens of beer brands and contracts with MillerCoors LLC to create most of its brews, is staking its claim as the largest remaining American-owned beer maker.
Just days after industry giant Anheuser-Busch Cos. announced its sale to InBev, a European brewer, Pabst is conducting an online survey, asking customers about it.
“Did you know that after this sale is completed, Pabst Brewing Company will be the largest remaining American-owned brewery?” the survey asks. “How likely is this information to affect your decision to purchase beer? Would information about Pabst’s American ownership on packaging, like bottles or cans, impact your decision to purchase our products?”
Executives at Pabst, based in suburban Chicago, and spokesmen for St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday.
But a Pabst statement noted that it will be “the last of the famous iconic U.S. brewers to be fully independent and American-owned.”
“Most of our brands (Pabst, Schlitz, Stroh, Schaefer, Rainier, Olympia, and others) have been around since the 1800s,” the statement said.
It seems clear that Pabst is poised to snatch at the patriotic appeal long used by Anheuser-Busch.
That’s probably a smart strategy, given that some drinkers of Budweiser, the Anheuser-Busch brand that’s been sold with flag-waving ads, aren’t happy about the King of Beers being acquired by a company based in Belgium, said Mike McCarthy, an associate professor of marketing at Miami (Ohio) University.
“I do think Budweiser has cultivated a very, very strong patriotic, all-American beer image for many, many years,” McCarthy said. “I think there is a little bit of a sense that Bud is a quintessential all-American beer.”
However, with Budweiser and other Anheuser-Busch brands being owned by a European company, calling those brands all-American beers “will be a little hard to say with a straight face,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy said even if just 1% of Budweiser’s customers dropped the beer and switched to Pabst Blue Ribbon, that would bring a huge boost for the brand. Its Americana image was immortalized in the 1973 Johnny Russell song “Rednecks, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer,” and later in the 1992 Mary Chapin Carpenter song, “I Am a Town.”
Budweiser has seen declining sales for several years as beer drinkers turn to Bud Light and other low-calorie brews. But Budweiser in 2007 still posted sales volume of 24.6 million barrels, accounting for 11.3% of the U.S. market, according to trade publication Beer Marketer’s Insights.
Pabst Brewing, meanwhile, posted sales of 6.1 million barrels, or 2.8% market share, for all of its brands.
Anheuser-Busch’s 2007 market share was 48.2%, while Miller Brewing Co. and Coors Brewing Co., which have since combined to form MillerCoors, posted a 29.5% market share. MillerCoors is a 50-50 joint venture of London-based SABMiller PLC and Molson Coors Brewing Co., which is based in Denver and Montreal.
Pabst’s possible patriotic appeal could be seen as a bit ironic, given that its beers are made by MillerCoors, which is owned by one company based in Great Britain and another company that is co-based in Canada. Pabst, owned by the California-based Kalmanovitz Charitable Trust, closed its Milwaukee brewery in 1996 and shuttered its last remaining brewery in 2001 after hiring Miller to brew its brands. Pabst moved its offices from San Antonio, Texas, to Woodridge, Ill., in 2006.
Another irony: Anheuser-Busch in 2005 aired a TV spot that featured its employees talking about how they’re proud to serve “the only major American brewery that’s still American-owned,” profits from which stay in the United States.
The spot was a not-so-subtle dig at Coors, which earlier that year had merged with Canada’s Molson Inc., and Miller, which was sold in 2002 to South African Breweries PLC, which then changed its name to SABMiller.
In 2004, Anheuser-Busch put up posters in liquor stores and other retail outlets saying Miller is owned by “South African Breweries.” U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman ordered the posters be taken down, saying they were inaccurate because Miller was actually a subsidiary of SABMiller.
My buddy Bill wound up getting some beers from New Belgian, and being the nice guy that he is brought some over to share with me. This bottle of Mothership Wit from New Belgium has been hanging around in my fridge for a few weeks now waiting for me to review it. Originally when he brought it over we downed a vast array of craft beer and homebrew and this beer just got lost in the shuffle. In all honesty I didn't think too much of it and that is partially why it sat around for so long. Well the wait is over.
Mothership Wit is labeled as an organic wheat beer brewed with spices. It even has a USDA Organic logo on the bottle, which to be quite honest is not something I care one way or the other about. As long as the finished product tastes good I am impartial to what the brewer does to get there. Pouring this into a glass I found the beer to be a very pale and hazy yellow. Actually quite similar in many ways to fresh lemonade in appearance. Riding up top was a thin but bright white head that faded quickly in the middle with a slight ring at the edge of the glass.
When you raise the glass towards your face you will definitely catch the scent of citrus. More lemony then anything else as well as hints of the yeast in there. Being a wit beer there is really no sense of the hops. As with the aroma, the taste is also dominated initially by a citrus flavor. According to New Belgium's website they spice the beer with orange peel and coriander, both of which will give this a hearty citrus flavor. After the tart impression, the flavor gives way to a mild and dry finish. Mothership Wit has a pretty active amount of carbonation which keeps the beer feeling fairly light and refreshing.
Trying this beer by itself completely reversed my original opinion of it. I would absolutely by this in the summer months as a lighter thirst quenching beer. Unfortunately the closest place it is available is probably Chicago. I know New Belgium just recently began canning their Fat Tire beer, but I can't help but think Mothership Wit would be an amazing beer to pack a cooler with to take to the Indianapolis 500 if they put it in cans as well.
Today is my dad's birthday (Happy Birthday dad!!) and he is coming down to visit this weekend to celebrate. So I figured I should go snag some good beer that I have been wanting to introduce him to and ran over to Parti-Pak after work. Definitely not on my way home, but that place is as close to beer heaven as there is in Naptown. Anyway, I figured I would share what I picked up for those that are interested.
The Shiner Bock actually came from Marsh and originally there were 2 bottles of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, but one didn't quite make it to the photo shoot. Anyway from left to right we have:
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale 24oz
Jolly Pumpkin Ora de Calabaza
Grotten Brown Ale
Shiner Bock
Grotten Belgian Ale
Jolly Pumpkin La Roja
Sierra Nevada ESB (Early Spring Beer) ((Obviously out very early for next year, right? :-P))
One of these days I will take some photos of the beer posters I have hanging and share them. Closest in is a poster from the now defunct Indianapolis Brewing Co. Right above the Shiner sixer is a Ranier poster of 'The Barbeerian'. Hidden by the Grotten Brown is an old Lone Star Schooner in a Longneck poster with huge armadillos dragging Lone Star bottles with stage coaches inside. And way down at the end is the signed Yuengling poster I got on my birthday during our tour of Yuengling.
This is one of those beers that I can't really give an unbiased review for, because before even pouring it I considered it one of the best IPAs being brewed currently. Dark Horse Brewing has a gem of a beer with Crooked Tree IPA. When you pour this the first thing you will notice is the bright but very hazy orange color with a short off-white head. Then you realize that there is small clumps of yeast parading around the glass.
It's about this time that the huge citrusy hop aroma hits you full force. The scent is much more like sweet citrus, almost tangerine with some grapefruit mixed in. Hiding in the background is a bit of that malt, but it really plays second fiddle here. Taking that first swallow greets you with a refreshing hop bitterness that is dominated by the citrusy hops. This really isn't an overly bitter beer but it still has a huge hops presence. There is a nice malt backbone in this beer that helps even out the hops while still allowing them to really shine. Up front you get a good mix of malty sweetness and citrus hops bitterness that ends with a mild and dry lingering bitterness.
Crooked Tree IPA is a medium bodied beer. But all those hops almost make it seem syrupy as they stick to your tongue and really linger for a while. This is one beer that has enormous hops but is still gulpable, yet so flavorful you won't want to rush to the bottom of the glass unless you know you have another bottle. Truly only of my favorite beers in this style. I guess I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the bottle I tried is from the case I bought for my wife for her birthday.. Yeah that's right, it's the Womanizer's case.. I guess I'll keep her around. :-)
A couple months back my dad came down and brought a surprise for me. A still unopened bottle of Ballantine's India Pale Ale. Now an unopened bottle of beer wouldn't normally be a huge deal except in this case, Ballantine IPA hasn't be brewed in over a decade. And as far as I can tell, the brand dropped the 's from the name sometime around 1956-7, just judging by some old advertisements. So in other words, I was handed a bottle of beer that is a minimum of 50 years old and could in fact be decades older then that.
Now the question is what to do with it? My dad thinks it should be opened and sampled. I think that may not be such a good idea. For one thing, the cap has started rusting and holding this bottle up to light, the contents appear to be almost black. Not a good sign at all. The other drawback in my mind is this bottle loses it's mystique once you open it. Of course the opposite could be true, and the ultimate nectar of the gods could be down in my basement right now. Maybe it was cellared just right for all those years and has aged like a fine wine? As you can see on the back label, the ale 'continues to age and mellow' after bottling. I wonder if they had any idea someone would age it this long?
This past weekend (yes, I am late to post on this) was partially spent at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Thankfully I didn't go to the abomination that the Allstate 400 turned out to be, but I did go there on Saturday for qualifications. My buddy Bill hooked me up with a ticket to get in as well as a pass to the Miller Lite Party Pavilion. So what does one get in the Miller Lite Party Pavilion? Swill.
Once you were admitted in you were strapped with a bracelet that had 3 stubs for a free beer attached that you could redeem at one of the many beer stations. Your choices were Miller Lite or MGD. This was being held in the courtyard behind the Pagoda at the track and had a large outdoor area as well as a spacious indoor area. Indoors was where the options got a little better. First off there was decent food. Fried chicken, fired biscuits and apple butter, cole slaw and green beans, all very good. Around the room was a plethora of different beer that was being sampled. Miller Chill, MGD 64, Peroni, Leinenkugel's (more on that in a bit), Pilsner Urquel and Sparks Energy. You could pretty much drink as much of these beers as you wanted, just in small sample sizes. From my perspective most were not worth drinking at all. Chill tastes like what I remember Zima tasting like, MGD 64 is almost carbonated water and Peroni is just horrible. I didn't bother with the Sparks but did spend some time at the Leinenkugel booth.
Now I have been known to talk about how I think Leinenkugel makes a pretty respectable product given the price point they sell at. But I was somewhat dumbstruck by what I saw them doing at this event. They had 4 beers available to sample, Sunset Wheat, Berry Weisse, Honey Weisse and Summer Shandy. You can probably already see that the selection is very fruity.. something Miller had campaigned against not too long ago interestingly enough. But the insanity started when the girls working the booth started asking us if we had ever had a 'honey bear' or various other names.. basically made up drinks using different Leinies beers mixed together. Such as Honey Weisse and Berry Weisse together. I would say I was disappointed by this marketing tactic to say the least.
We went out later that night to the Staging Lanes bar in Clermont to see a band that Bill's friend was a drummer for. Staging Lanes is a total dive bar and I wound up drink Coors' Banquet all night for $2 a bottle. It's a bad sign when that was the best I could come up with to avoid drinking mixed drinks. We had fun at least and the band totally rocked with a great mix of cover songs.
Rodenbach Grand Cru is a Belgian sour ale brewed by Palm Brewery. It is a blend of an 18 month oak-aged Rodenbach (2/3) and a younger batch (1/3) that could be found in 750mL, 12oz and draft. Note the emphasis on 'could' back there. A few weeks ago Bob Mack from World Class Beverage explained that Rodenbach is currently no longer distributed in the US for at least the near future while responding to some comments about the beer at Hoosier Beer Geek. Here is what he had to say:
"The rumor about Robenbach is sort of true - Rodenbach has no more import arrangements for the US as a whole, so there is no way for World Class to order it until another import arrangement is made. Palm Breweries, owners of Rodenbach, have just recently terminated their import arrangement with Duvel USA who also controls Duvel and Maredsous import. At this time, there are no Rodenbach bottles at Duvel USA or at World Class Beverages in Indiana. We do have a few 30 liter kegs of Rodenbach left, but that is the last of them. Palm Breweries has a couple of friends who are former InBev execs who have started their own import company and I expect that this company will ultimately bring in Rodenbach to the US, but I have no idea how long it will take for that arrangement to be finalized. At the moment, there is no source of Rodenbach in the US for us to order from!"
Hopefully that situation will be resolved shortly, but until then I will just have to nurse the 1/2 case of 750's I purchased, starting with this bottle. Rodenbach Grand Cru pours a dark amber that in some light almost looks like a bourbon and in other light is too dark to be seen through. With a proper pour you will get a pretty robust lightly tan head that hangs around for a while before settling back into the beer. Very minimal lacing with this one, just a few ghost images spotting the glass.
The most noticeable quality of Rodenbach Grand Cru is the aroma. It makes it's presence known as soon as you start pouring with a sharp fruity acid scent. There is hints of dark cherry that quickly gives way to a dominant vinegar aroma. The scent alone can help clear out your sinuses and maybe curl a few nose hairs in the process. There is no hiding the fact that this is going to be a fairly sour beer while you are inhaling the goodness that is Rodenbach Grand Cru. That sourness definitely makes it's presence known immediately when you take a drink.
An interesting thing to do is swirl a mouthful around inside your mouth and feel how your tongue processes the flavors. I have always heard that different parts of your tongue process individual flavor types, and this beer can actually demonstrate this exceedingly well. Sour comes in loud and clear on the sides and a very subtle sweetness is there up front. A mildly oaked and tart finish leaves the palate feeling clean and refreshed... and ready for more. Another interesting thing to note is that the beer displays no real carbonation while sitting in the glass but there is a very distinct effervescence once it is on the tongue.
Rodenbach Grand Cru is not at all for everyone, and is probably about as sour of a beer as I would want to handle. It is only 6% ABV so if you can handle a tart beer, you can drink a few glasses without getting knocked down by excessive alcohol. I personally enjoy this tremendously and think there is a ton of possibilities if one were inclined to cook with it. I am certain one amazing vinaigrette could be made with this, but with the uncertainty of when it will be available again I am not offering any bottles for experimentation!
My dad came down for the Indiana Microbrew Festival and paid for use of the guest room with some beer from Fauerbach Brewing. I had never heard of this brewery before I was handed a bottle each of their Amber and Export beers. A quick look around their website indicates they have been brewing for 121 years now and are located in Madison, WI. But the bottle itself states that the beer is brewed and bottled by Gray's Brewing in Janesville, WI. Well I have had Gray's before at a Wisconsin microbrew festival held yearly in Chilton, WI, so I figured this was a good sign.
So I cracked the bottle of Fauerbach Amber tonight and it poured a fairly dark reddish brown with about a finger's worth of cream colored head. Within moments that head was dissipating quickly and there was really no lacing to be found on the glass. The aroma seemed just a bit musty and actually reminded me more of what I would expect from a canned beer then a bottle, but then a subtle nuttiness emerged. I am still fighting off the remnants of a summer cold, so I don't really trust my judgement on how the aroma of this beer really was.
Taste on the other hand has been working fine. And this beer definitely had some nut flavors mingling around with a mild bitterness from the hops. I actually got a fairly strong citrus presence towards the end of a swig, more like lemon then anything else. This gave the beer an overall dry and semi-bitter finish, but not at all unpleasant. For as dark as the beer was, this has a nice light body and is surprisingly refreshing.
All in all I enjoyed this beer, but I won't be making any special trips to Chicago to buy any, which is as close as it is distributed to Naptown. Depending on the cost of a sixer, this would make a pretty nice session beer.
Side note.. dig the old Indianapolis Brewing poster in the background. :-)
This is the first year I have been able to attend the Indiana Microbrewer's Festival, and I am kicking myself for having missed the previous 12. I had this grandiose idea of bringing a notebook and recording a list of everything I sampled with a simple thumbs up or down indicator next to each. But in the end I decided that I really didn't want to be burdened with keeping track of unlimited samples and fumbling around with a handful of stuff.
We arrived to the Opti-Park area closer to 3 then I originally wanted to, more like 2:45, and still hadn't parked. We got really fortunate though and parked along the street that would make up the back wall of the event and only had a short one block walk to get to the entrance. The line of people waiting to get in was enormous and having been to multiple beer festivals elsewhere, we were wondering why nobody was allowed in prior to 3. They could have easily gotten this massive amount of people off the street and onto the grounds, then at the appointed time signaled that beer could be poured and avoided some of the hassle. It's a minor complaint as that line was jet fast once it opened, but it could have been even smoother if they had opened the gates at say 2:30 and allowed people to at least enter the park.
The first beer the Womanizer and myself had when we walked in was Darkhorse Double Crooked Tree IPA, a 13.6% beast of a DIPA that goes for about $14 / 4 pack at the liquor store. To be honest I was utterly shocked to see something like that pouring and that is just a testament to how great the beer selection was. I would say I easily sampled over 75 beers and there was only two I didn't like. One of those I went so far as to actually dump out, I found it that horrible, but being from one of the smaller Indiana breweries I am going to leave them anonymous. The other beer I hated.. Three Floyd's Darklord.
I waited in line about half an hour with my dad and I had my wife's glass while she took a breather and sat for a bit. The anticipation was great knowing that we were going to be able to try this top rated beer for the first time. Then we got our samples. I waited to get back to my wife and we all took a drink and looked at each other with a somewhat pained look on our face. My wife's sample got added to my glass when I made a run to the restroom, so I had a double helping and was struggling with the decision of what to do with it. I was seriously about to dump a full glass of Darklord out when Matt from Hoosier Beer Geek walked over and I traded my glass for his Brooklyn Weisse. So thanks to Matt I avoided committing what would have probably been the ultimate beer sin to many of you.
All in all, there was just a fantastic variety of beer to sample and I will try to give a brief list of some of the highlights in my mind:
New Albanian Hoptimus as well as their Cherry Imperial Stout which was mind blowingly good even on a hot day.
Lafayette Brewing Co's Big Boris Barleywine from 1997 which was aged in wine casks was amazing. Again, not the ideal day for that style, but it was great. Kind of wish now that I had made it back to try the 1998 variety as well.
Brass Monkey in Kokomo made a believer out of me with their See No Evil Belgian IPA and the Green Tea Pale Ale.
Sierra Nevada brought a keg of their Anniversary Ale which is one of my very favorites now, and I am happy to hear that they brew this yearly as a seasonal, as I was under the impression that it was a one time thing originally.
The Womanizer was a big fan of the Darkhorse offerings, as was I. And you can never go wrong stopping at the Founder's or Stone booth either.
I got a call yesterday from my buddy Action Jackson asking what I had planned for the evening and being told that he had a surprise for me. So without further ado I agreed to meet over at his place with the idea that we would probably head out to MacNiven's as well. Only knowing that the surprise was some kind of beer, I set off after work to his place. And was greeted by a case of Three Floyd's Fantabulous Resplendence XI Anniversary Ale. I had no idea the Fantabulous Resplendence was going to become a yearly offering, but I can tell you, this is definitely worth seeking out. We both agreed that this is probably a different recipe then the X Anniversary Ale I reviewed a while back. We both drank a bomber of that and then he pulled out another surprise, a couple bottles of Bell's Batch 8000, an imperial wit beer. Somehow this beer had eluded me until last night and I was floored with how good it was. In fact the whole time I was drinking it I couldn't help but think of how much it reminded me of the many great beers I had drank in Belgium last year. Really really amazing with about a year of age on it.
After that, we set off for MacNiven's with the knowledge that they had Victory Prima Pils on tap and both of us wanted to try it. It was also rumored to have Oaken Barrel's Superfly IPA on draft and we were happy to see both of these fine beers listed on their chalk boards behind the bar when we walked in. Prima Pils is great from the bottle, and I would seriously say it could be in the running for one of the very best pilsners in the world. On draft, served in tall pilsner glasses adorned with the Victory Prima Pils logo, there isn't another pilsner served in Naptown that can touch it. After that we both had a pint of the Superfly IPA. At the Hops for Pops festival a few weeks ago I all but begged the Oaken Barrel guys to start bottling this. A very liberal amount of hops and rich mouthfeel make Superfly a total winner in my book.
Not content with the stupefying list of beers at MacNiven's, I suggested we head to J. Gumbo's to see what they had going on. And we were rewarded for the effort by getting to sample some 1999 and 2005 aged Gale's Prize Old Ale. That '99 was one of the most amazing beers I had ever tasted and did edge the '05. I think I am going to have to seek some of this beer out and cellar it myself. That was followed up by the last two bottles of 2005 Stone Double Arrogant Bastard they had. I had never been able to find the Double Arrogant Bastard, so getting an opportunity to try some that had been aged was too irresistible. We also got a nice opportunity to chat with Mike DeWeese, the owner of J. Gumbo's. Action Jackson also got a Three Floyd's Dreadnaught from the hand-pull that was nice to try side by side with the Stone. We finished the evening off with a run to the Waffle House for some late night grub. The only drawback of the evening.. staying out till 1am on a school night doesn't agree we me so much anymore. Was not enjoyable getting up this morning.
Tonight I tried the lone bottle of Celis Pale Bock that my dad brought down from Michigan for me. This is another beer from the Michigan Brewing Company in their Celis line-up. This beer is a fiery copper color when held up to a light and is very clear. A very solid stream of carbonation bubbles drifts to the top and there is a huge pillowy tan head that dissipates at a nice but not too fast pace.
The aroma was really difficult to nail down. Seems to have a really malty, almost sweet bread scent with a touch of maybe brown sugar and nutmeg. Really very unusual to get this type of aroma from a beer this color that didn't have 'Holiday' somewhere in the name. I am dealing with a touch of summer cold so I could be a bit off on this too.
Celis Pale Bock is a semi-sweet beer that has touches of maple syrup, raisin and maybe even the barest hint of cinnamon all floating around. There is a bit of lemon peel bitterness on the tail end of a swallow to round this out. I found it to be medium bodied with a somewhat dry finish. Interestingly enough, that steady stream of carbonation that you can see seems to disappear during a drink. This didn't feel flat, but it was fairly light on the carbonation which went against what the eyes tell you.
All in all, not a bad beer but it didn't do a whole lot for me. I personally think the other beers I have had in the Celis line-up are better then this one. Specifically the Celis Grand Cru and the Celis White. If I had another bottle I would actually like to compare this to the JW Dundee's Pale Bock that is routinely in the Dundee's Craft Pack sampler. I think they would probably be fairly close to each other.
The annual E3 conference is going on this week and is the source for some of the biggest news announcements in the tech, gaming and electronics industry. This annual event is usually dominated by the big 3 in the video game console market, namely Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, followed by the myriad of publishers and developers who make the games for all those systems. This year, Microsoft has some very exciting announcements for the future of the Xbox 360 console.
First off, for the gaming fans out there, the once exclusive to Playstation 3 game Final Fantasy XIII was revealed to be coming to the Xbox 360 afterall, much to the chagrin of the Sony fanboys. The undisputed king of the RPG genre is finally making it's way to Microsoft's console and that is very welcome news to me. On top of that, three other RPGs are set to be released by the same developer of the Final Fantasy series. In the last generation of consoles, the original Xbox was somewhat picked apart by the gaming enthusiast for it's distinct lack of traditional RPG games. That is no longer a case, and in some ways, there is almost too many. RPGs generally include 70-100+ hours of gameplay to get through the entire story. Start doing the math and you can see how that may be a problem if you are a fan of that genre.
Second off, and probably more exciting to the average electronics fan out there. Microsoft officially announced what had been rumored for at least a few months now.. that being a partnership with online video rental giant Netflix. What does this mean? Anyone with an active Xbox Live Gold membership (me) and an active Netflix account (me) will have instant access to stream over 10,000 movies to their Xbox 360 console. Even better then that, there will be an 'Instant Queue' that will show all the movies you have queued up that are available for immediate streaming. I know our queue is in the 80 movie range currently and the thought of being able to pick a movie to watch at any given time and not have to shell out money is just awesome.
Lastly, there are just a dumptruck full amount of amazing games set for release between now and early next year. Other enhancements to the Xbox 360 dashboard to further the online community feel are on the way soon as well. All in all, the future is beyond bright if you own or are planning to own an Xbox 360. I guess with that in mind, I should mention the price just dropped $50 for those still sitting on the fence. Anyway, for a more complete roundup of what was announced, you can check out this article from Gamespot and their live blogging of the Microsoft press conference.
Saturday the family and I went out for a bite to eat at the Broad Ripple Brewpub. This served two functions for me, one being a chance to pick up tickets to the Indiana Microbrewer's Festival and avoid 'convenience charges' from the online vendors, and two, drink some good beer. I started with their pilsner and the Womanizer tried the Replic-ale 80 Schilling Scottish. The boy decided that we had to sit outside, regardless of the fact that it was sweltering and muggy, so the pilsner really hit the spot. Nice and crisp with a pleasant amount of hop bitterness. Really a very refreshing beer and one that I personally think could / should replace the Lawnmower Pale Ale on the standard beer list. The 80 Schilling Scottish was also pretty tasty, although it was probably not the best beer to be sitting outside that day drinking. I followed the pilsner up with the Amarillo Lager which was on cask pull, and was warned that it would be a bit warmer. No matter, this beer was a nice coppery red and had a great citrusy, grapefruit hop flavor. Probably the hoppiest beer I have ever had at the Broad Ripple Brewpub. Highly recommended. A good time indeed and we now have our tickets for the festival this coming weekend.
Generik's TapPhotosProfileFriends
Tools 
Print
