Oktoberfest Brewing/Pilsner Drinking

       

     It is time if not past time to start brewing those Oktoberfest Ales/Lagers.  If you start a batch now it will finish up just in time to crack one open at the end of September (if you just do an German Ale version).  This year I chose to brew a Imperial Oktoberfest with basic Munich malts and Hallertau hops.  It should clock in around 8.5 percent while still going down nice a smooth.  While I am waiting slightly less than patiently for this beer to finish I have been drinking a whole slew of pilsners.  Last night I had a can to can comparison of the Avery's Joe's Pilsner and Sante Fe's Freestyle Pilsner, and was pleasantly surprised with both.  Saying this next sentence is painful for me... But I think that the Freestyle Pilsner was slightly better. I cant put a finger on why I enjoyed it more, maybe it was because it was a more recent purchase and hadnt been sitting in the back of my fridge for a month or more as Averys was.  But I think that the freestyle should really be given some credit for being a wonderful Pilsner.




      On anther note, I recently had a bottle of the Chatoe Rogue Good Chit Pilsner (also yesterday) and found it pleasantly delicious.  This beer has a very interesting upbringing.  The good people at Rogue who brewed it added there own malted barely to the beer.  Yeah you heard me right they actually malted their own type of barely in order to create a beer that has more character and work behind it than most beers today.  The malting process is the process of taking the barely and germinating it (letting it start to grow) in order for the most possible sugars to be formed within each barely kernel.  The barely is then kilned and dried usually to less than 4% water.  This process can take days to complete and involves either large machines or hard labor (work for your beer!).  This beer is awesome because of the dedication to brewing and inspiration to create something more and more uniquely exciting.

Cheers! 

May the blog posts continue in a more frequent fashion soon!

Total Beverage Beer of the Month (May)

      Today I picked up my Total Beverage Beer of the Month mix six pack, which was free... best gift from my mom ever.  Total Beverage has an awesome program where they select 6 beers that relate to the month and give you tasting notes on each beer.  This month the beers included: Blanche De Bruxelles Wit Beer (Belgium), Karma (Avery), Somersault (New Belgium Brewing), Mexican Logger (Ska Brewing), Saison (Tommy Knocker), and last but not least TBA (Bear Rupublic/Fat Heads/Stone).  I was so excited for this last one that I opened it the second I got home and it was fantastic (check out my review).  I would highly recommend the Beer of the Month program to anyone who is starting to explore more beer but doesn't always know what to pick out in the liquor store.  The beers are picked by what is apparent to be "beer geeks" having something that everyone can appreciate in each six pack.  The awesome beer selection over the past few months makes it clear that they KNOW their beer and want you to know it too.  

Prost!

Bear Republic/ Fat Head's/Stone TBA Collaboration Brew

Background: The TBA Collaboration Ale is and ale created by 3 awesome west coast breweries including probably the most popular Stone Brewing Co.  These breweries have successfully crafted a wonderful brown ale infused with molasses and brown sugar.  This beer clocks in at 7.1% alcohol.



Appearance:  Rich amber/brown color, great head retention and color (light brown)

Aroma:  malty, molasses, slight hops and earthy smells

Taste:  pine, rich brown sugar/molasses flavors are very prominent and mix wonderfully with the pine/earthy notes hidden within the hops and exudes an almost floral after taste.

Mouthfeel:  great head retention provides a wonderful burst of CO2 with every sip, smooth and slightly dry.

Overall:  This is a good solid beer that resonates well on a hot day.  The balance of hops and malt is almost prefect allowing the drinker to enjoy wonderful dark malts/molasses and pine ridden hops.  This beer is prefect for a mellow summer day.  I will most defiantly be buying this beer again!

Ratebeer: 96
Beer Advocate: 85
My Rating: 85

Pond Hopper Collaboration Brew

This beer accents what I believe to be one of the most attractive parts of working in the brewing industry.  Not only is this a collaboration brew between two breweries but the breweries are actually located in two different countries. Thornbridge brewing is located in the UK and Odell brewing is located in good old Colorado.  Pond Hopper, which clocks in around 9%, is double pale ale using ingredients from the UK (malt) and the US (hops) and even some galaxy hops grown in Australia (to honor production manager and head brewer Caolan Vaughan of Thornbridge Brewery).  This beer will be landing in June and is bound to make a respectable splash.

Click Here to listen to Doug Odell and Caolan Vaughan talk about this brew.

Cheers!

Big Choice Brewing

GRAND OPENING MAY 4, 5, and 6

Broomfield brewery opens this weekend!!  For information the many festivties they have in store check out there facebook event at Big Choice Brewing Opening Weekend! I know next to no one reads this blog but I still wanted to give a shout out to Big Choice Brewery.  Good luck on your opening weekend and I will hopefully see you there.  Best of luck!

And many cheers!

Overdue Blog Update!

Recently I have been so busy I have felt like I have had no time at all to post or review any beers!  So here is a quick update:  

A.   I got a free 6 month subscription to Total Beverages "Beer of the Month Club" where every month I get a six pack of beers that represent the season and they even give you tasting notes on the beers. (I still look the beers up on rate beer and beer advocate though... I just cant help it, its habit)  

B. I tasted new beer...                          

Crab Tree Eclipse Black IPA

Ratebeer: 57

Beer Advocate: N/A

My rating: 72

    

Odell Shenanigan's

Ratebeer: 56

Beer Advocate: 86

My rating: 86

Dry Dock Seasonal Tripel

Ratebeer: not listed

Beer Advocate: N/A

My rating: 83

C.  Made a grapefruit pale ale which in the car boy looks remarkably similar to a raw meat.  However, I am confident it will taste great when all is said and done.  I used a recipe from Colin Wescott of Equinox Brewing called Citra Pale Ale and added grapefruit and of course lots of love.  I will let you know how this beer turns out... Now here is a disturbingly wonderful picture.

D.  Last and defiantly not last.  I would like to send a shout out to RedHook who recently lost an employee due to injuries from a exploding keg.  Our thoughts, prayers, and condolences are with you.

Cheers and may we all appreciate the time (and beer) we have, while we still have it.  

The Cheeky Monk

     On my way to the Cheeky Monk in Westminster Colorado I could not stopping thinking about the wonders of being a monk that brews beer.  And while I will never be one, I can enjoy a brewing style that was passed down for generations and are some of the oldest styles of beer that exist today.  The Cheeky Monk had everything from bottle to draft, offering a wide selection of authentic Belgian ales. With so many great beers to choose from I left the decision of what beer I should try to a friend who is a Cheeky Monk regular.  She quickly recommended the Kasteel Rouge and I was pleasantly surprised.  The beer had a wonderful dark cherry and oak flavors that made your mouth almost pucker while at the same time exerting a sweet flavor onto your tongue.  This style of beer went great with the Reuben I ordered and I would recommend with almost any food (like a savory steak!). 

     The glass had a tiny castle on the bottom of the stem that started me thinking about the origins of the beer.  So when I got home I did some research and found out that the Kasteel brewery has a very cool history.  It started as a castle that was built on a burned down monastery in around 1075 and since then the castle has been used as a everything from military stronghold to luxury residency and most recently a brewery that the current owners started in 1900.  

     The awesome history that is behind some of these Belgian breweries and beers adds a depth that is almost impossible to find in the current US beer scene.  Their have been some attempts at it such as MillerCoors release of Batch 19 that was an old recipe brewed in the original Coors plant pre-prohibition, however, I feel the history in Belgian beers is unrivaled. All in all, I would highly recommend the Cheeky Monk to anyone who is looking for good food and a great selection of Belgian beers.  

Cheers!

Denver Beer Company

      What a wonderful day for a beer.  As we sat outside the one of Denver's new breweries we were surrounded by a large assortment of people and of dogs.   Everything from little "yippy" dogs to large drooling St Bernard's.  There had been a pretty consistent wind all day but that was far from affecting Denver Beer Co, they were still packed inside and out.  Sure enough, the beer spoke for the crowd,  there was everything from Hefeweizen to a Graham Cracker Porter and all the beers were wonderful.  My favorite was the Hefewiezen it had an amazing balance of clove and banana flavors with a slight overall background fruitiness that gave this beer a "bubblegum",  yes bubblegum type flavor.  I know that may sound like an unusual flavor but it did an amazing job in complementing the beers style.
      Not only does this brewery make great beer but it has only ever repeated a few of its recipes so you are almost always guaranteed to find something new on tap that has never been released before and might never be released again.  I wholeheartedly agree with this philosophy and think that it is a great way to keep things new and interesting.  Denver Beer Co also (as many small breweries do now) have weekly concerts, food carts, and many other awesome events.  For instance coming up the brewery will be supporting a Denver Bike Day by having bikers who stop by the brewery actually grind the grain for their brew using a bike powered mill!  Super awesome... Anyway, this brewery was fun, upbeat, and wholly delicious.

Odell - Red Ale (Seasonal)

      Odell's Red Ale is the perfect beer for any spring day and is an ale that lands close to my heart.  This is one of my favorite of the Odell Ales and is one that causes me to constantly harass my less beer inclined friends to buy it.  

      Review: This Red Ale offers a wonderful nose full of smells like lemon zest, earthy pine notes, and hints of banana and citrus.  The smell alone is enough reason to purchase this wonderful brew.  It has tastes similar to the smell but with the powerful backbone of earthy and malty flavors and a wonderful array of hop character.  This red ale sits on your tongue with a smooth and well balanced feel that keeps your mouth waiting for that next sip.  This is one of my favorites and is a beer that seems to make the moments I am drinking it memorable.  Odell's Red Ale is a beer that can bring beer enthusiasts and the average beer drinker that much closer and for that I salute Odell Brewing on this great brew.  Thanks and I cannot wait for the release of the Double Pilsner!

Cheers!

Rate Beer: 96
Beer Advocate: 90
My Rating: 98

Samuel Smith - Oatmeal Stout

Description/Background: Although this is not a Colorado brew I decided to pick it up anyway because I had been hearing more and more hype about it.  This is a brew out of Tadcaster, NorthYorkshire in England a brewery that was opened in 1758.  To this day the brewery still uses the same well water adding a distinct flavor and mouthfeel to all their beers.

Oatmeal Stout - In Review
Appearance: deep black with a almost reddish-plum hue.  The head on this beer was almost creamy and a great dark tan color.

Aroma: swwwweeeet, roasted, nutty, chocolate

Taste: smooth combination of roasted malts and oatmeal with hints of coffee and chocolate

Mouthfeel: smooth, creamy, an "easy to drink" feel of well balanced carbonation and sweetness

Overall: This beer is the easiest to drink stout I have had in a long time.  In the last month I have been drinking beers like Dogfish Head World Wide Stout and Avery's Mephistopheles which are two my personal favorites but also just happen to be some of the most intense stouts available.  While I still thoroughly enjoyed this Oatmeal Stout I was not as overly impressed and was surprised that it was rated so well by rate beer and beer advocate.  It is a very possible that from tasting so many intense stouts this one was just slightly overshadowed.

Rate Beer: 99
Beer Advocate: 94
My Rating: 90

On a side note: Happy belated vernal equinox.  Time to start drinking some spring time brews.  In the not to distant future I will be giving Fort Collins Brewery another try and hopefully review their sought after Maibock.

Cheers!

Dogfish Head World Wide Stout Review

Dogfish Head World Wide Stout - Description on bottle says "A very dark beer brewed with a ridiculous amount of barely." and you can taste the barely in every sip for this a beer you almost have to chew on.  This beer also clocks in at surprising 18% abv.


Appearance:  Black with a slight brown tint

Aroma: malt, alcohol, lots of coffee/roasted malts, licorice

Taste: roasted roasted roasted with a surprising amount of alcohol, sweet almost vanilla and dark fruit (such as plum) aftertaste

Mouthfeel: rich n' think, alcohol tingly, slight numbing of tongue

Overall: When drinking this beer I can only think one word and that is Wonderful.  Every sip earns a "yumm..." and some even earn a "sigh...".  This beer is simply something to behold, its tastes light up your mouth with so many flavors that every sip is a different experience.  The high alcohol content gives you a feeling of drinking scotch where each sip must be regulated because if you take a sip that is too large the alcohol content will take over a drown most of the other flavors.  While this beer is not for the light hearted or for the cheap ($10 for a 12 ounce bottle) it is well worth going out of your way just to experience the complex and magnificent flavor!

Rate Beer: 100
Beer Advocate: 91
My rating: 98

Similar color, drastically different flavor.

Belgian Yeti Great Divide Brewing

The Belgian Style Yeti from Great Divide gives insight into the use of alternative yeasts for a beer and how these yeasts create wonderful new flavors. When drinking this beer it leads one to experience classic Imperial Stout flavors such as rich, dry, and roasty flavors with a wonderful hint of spicy and fruit-like flavors that are imparted by the Belgian yeast. It poured a wonderful jet black almost brown color and produces long lasting head.  This beer should be tried by all beer lovers and easily makes it into my top 20 beers this year.  It is simply a great                    Great Divide brew.

Incredible Hop Black IPA

The Incredible Hop American Black IPA poured an amazing black color that was almost see through.  It initially had a great tan/brown head that unfortunately quickly faded and left something to be desired while drinking it.  The smell was fantastic having that great hop to malt balance that you want with any black IPA.  After seeing and  smelling it I could not wait to give it a taste... I however was greatly disappointed this beer has all the makings of a wonderful beer but the overpowering flavor was purely hop (cascade or a similar variety).  There were however some small hints of roasted chocolate with a slight fruity (orange) flavor. Overall this beer is drinkable but is not a beer that I would go out of my way to purchase unless I was in the mood for some cascade hops.  Even though I didn't enjoy this beer I am determined to find a Fort Collins Brewery beer that  I just can't stop drinking.