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FFF "Pride and Joy" mild Ale with Turkey leftovers.
I opened a King Street Irish Stout this evening. Very nice dry stout. Lots of roasted flavors cut with some hop bitterness with very little sweetness in the foreground and a finish that's dry as a bone. I am now 10 beers away from my "Master" badge on "untappd.com" I started tracking all my beers at the beginning of the year. You can earn "badges" for various things. You get the "Newbie" badge as soon as you log in your first brew. Then it's "Apprentice" at 25 different beers (note the "different" beers not just "beers, "Journeyman" at 50 different beers, "Artisan" at 100 different beers, and "Master" at 200 different beers. I must say I'm somewhat proud of myself for drinking nearly 200 different beers since the start of the year. One of the good things is that earning these badges gives me an incentive to keep trying new things.
Short term goal: 17:59 5K
Mid term goal: 2:54:59 marathon
Long term goal: To say I've been a runner half my life. (I started running at age 45).
I believed the hype and bought two bottles of Goose Island Bourbon County Barleywine.
Curiosity got the best of me, so one got opened tonight; it lives up to the billing. While I'm not too excited about the "normal" GIBC, since everyone and their brother makes a big stout, this barleywine is excellent. English-style with restrained hops, a showcase of over-the-top malt and barrel aging. Sweet but not cloying, heavy on the tongue, a mandatory slow sipper.
Lots of vanilla upfront, some toffee, marshmallow, hints of leather, bourbon, roasted barley and maduro cigar . There's a touch of alcohol warmth in the finish, but it's well hidden. Much darker than I expected, an almost opaque garnet.
Stellar brew, probably one of the best I've had all year, right up there with Heady Topper, Ommegang Zuur, and Captain Lawrence Rosso E Marrone.
Kudos for a brewer putting out an old fashioned English Barleywine rather than the highly hopped American version. Unfortunately, too many folks think that a great beer has to be mouth puckeringly bitter yet even the bitterest DIPA's should have some offsetting malt backbone. I think of Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA which has an IBU of 90 yet there is an enormous amount of malt in the profile. It's in the aroma where the hops is the star of that beer.
We have a local microbrewer that just opened in WV (Charleston Brewing Company) and many of their beers are more in line with the European styles than the American counterparts. For example, their Belgian checks in at 4.5% a.b.v. which is the beer the monks actually drink as opposed to the much higher alcohol beer they export. One of their best sellers is the "Wobbly" which is an English Best Bitter and it's not even an Extra Special Bitter which is what you normally get from and American brewer experimenting with the English Bitter style. Not that there's anything "wrong" with the American styles but it's nice to see some American brewers putting out product that is pretty much spot on with what you'd actually get in Europe.
Chasing the bus
We celebrated my daughter being accepted to the school she was trying for last night by splitting a Deschutes Abyss barrel aged stout (She is 21). This was this years bottle. Really amazing beer. Aromas of fruit and bread and coffee, flavors of citrus, dried plums, coffee, grapefruit, licourice, bourbon. Very heavy, thick beer, but still had a great, pecan colored head even while being almost under carbonated. This beer would
cellar very well, and should be even more amazing after another year or two.
“You're either on the bus or off the bus.” ― Tom Wolfe, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
Dad on the run.
Picked up a case of Blue Moon Seasonal variety pack. I had the Gingerbread Spiced Ale and the Winter abbey ale lastnight I would do a Brad review but honestly I'm not a beer afficionado but I can say that while the Gingergread was good the Winter abbey IMO was mm mmm good.
Chasing the sub 20 5K.
All right. Just opened a Brouwerij Van Steenberge N.V. Piraat Belgian IPA. If you are used to American IPA's and the complete dominance of hops, this is a very different experience. Enormous white head that lingers forever and leaves tons of lacing. On the nose, the Belgian yeast dominates. Hints of fresh baked bread with a bunch of what I can only describe as funk. It's the Belgian yeast funk and it is marvelous. The flavor profile is wonderfully complex. Almost a honey sweetness is evident immediately followed by a breadiness and some citrus notes. The hops play a finishing role but then the alcohol makes itself felt 30 seconds after you swallow. I get some grassiness as the beer warms. Just another terrific Belgian offering.
So I followed the Belgian IPA with a beer that's nearly as opposite as it's possible to be but Holy Hell is it wonderful. North Coast Brewing Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout. This is everything you want an RIS to be.
Chasing Muses
This must be the most talked about beer in this thread :-) Might have to grab a pack for tonight.
Here's my brief FB review of the Old Rasputin.
This beer is black. Just black. Most beers that look black are really just dark, dark brown or red. Nope. This one is a black hole. Lots of roasted malt and dark chocolate aromas. The flavor is exactly what you'd expect from the nose but it is enormously complex and changes as it warms. There's a surprising amount of sweetness in the background if you look for it. This brew is one of the exemplars of the style and rightfully so.
Sitting here this evening with one of my favorite beers on the planet given that I'm such a malt freak - Ayinger Celebrator Dopplebock. Fuck the hops, this is all about malt. I'd love to give it my review but the guys on beeradvocate.com say it better than I can.
From Jason:
11.2 oz brown bottle with a plastic trinket goat tied around the neck. No freshness date, not to worry as this brew has a longer shelf life that normal beers. Appearance: Dark and intense looking of a mahogany colour, a big frothy tan head lays on top that literally sticks around as long as the beer is there. Smell: Whiffs of mild molasses and faint caramel entanlge with a dark bready aroma. Slight spicy alcohol, herbal hop and light toasted malt as well. Taste: Huge chewy malt of light molasses and toasted bread with a sharp twang of an even hop bitterness and spicy alcohol. Some dried fruit comes through as well as some hop leaf flavour. Does not dry much in the end ... lots of residual sugars, lingering dark sugars and fading grain in the end. Mouthfeel: Incredibly smooth and creamy the modest carbonation after a sturdy pouring struggles to break free from this thick bodied brew. Drinkability & Notes: This is the mother of all Doppelbocks ... nearly perfection in a bottle. Mellow yet towering, humbly complex and just a down right beautiful brew.
From Todd:
I am not at all religious, but I think I might have found religion in this bottle of Celebrator Doppelbock that I am drinking. Complex, delicious and worthy of its following.
Weyerbacher Tiny Belgian Imperial Stout. Tried to take a picture, but it's such a pain in the ass to post it here. Poured into a tulip. Deep Mahogany, almost black. Rich brown head, maybe a quarter of an inch. Cant quite place the nose, maybe Irish Coffee (the 11.8% ABV helps). Taste is like a mouthfull of sweet caramel. A little chocolate, but very much caramel. After a second, the alcohol kicks in and follows all the way down the gullet. Very warming, like a cognac. As it warms up toward room temperature, some of the caramel gives way to more chocolate, and a little bit of oak, although the caramel is still there. Overall, not bad. Would pair nicely with a rich cigar. I don't love Stouts, but when I have a craving I usually go for Old Rasputin. This would do the trick, in a pinch. But I wouldn't go out of my way for it except maybe to age a bottle.
I'm trying to imagine Belgian yeast in an imperial stout and I'm at a loss to do so.
I didn't really think that ayinger was all that. Could be I'm just a crass yank that doesn't appreciate subtlety. I'm the first to admit I like big flavors.
tonight I drank New Belgium / Cigar City Lips of Faith - Ale Brewed w/ Anaheim & Marash Chiles
Pours medium amber, big white head. Aromas of orange, cider, , caramel, raisin. Flavors apple, orange, lilikoi, grapefruit, light heat. Finish is bitter. Palate is smooth and thick, moderate carbonation.
all in all I liked it. It's a nice change from the big imperial stouts I usually favor. I did put that weyerbacher tiny on my wish list though...
Just opened a two year old bottle of Dogfish Head Immort Ale. There's almost a smoky character that has developed. When I drank it new, I didn't get that and the malttiness seemed to dominate. Now, there aren't just "notes" of maple and oak as indicated on the bottle - they are smack dab in the front. The 11% alcohol warms in the end. This is one of the first beers I bought to age. I bought a 4 pack and drank the first one immediately, the 2nd at a year, and the 3rd this year. I'm tempted to let the last one age about 3 more years to see what it's like with 5 years on it.