Full Sailing Away, ala Stix

Murky orange pour out of 2007 bomber

Smells like the holidays with a touch of pine

Muddled mix of sweetness, malt, orange, and pine needles

Watery mouthfeel with tastes clashing for my attention

Meh....I'd like to believe the passage of time has rendered this beer a shell of itself.

C +

Old beer

What's better than BORIS fresh? Old BORIS is the correct answer. This is the first one I've cracked since I brought home a case of bombers from Bloomington. How long ago was that? Anyway, this one is holding up quite well. I like being able to drink this at cellar temperature.

I hear rumors that a Barrel-aged BORIS is coming out soon. Eyes peeled, Chris and Pete.

Milestone Mystery

So, I'm drinking Scratch Beer # 18 from Troegs, via my Pete box.

I'm unaware if I've ever had a beer from this brewery before, and I enjoy the idea of trying to discern this beer before researching it.

Pours very much like apple juice in both color and consistency.

Not much on the smell; again, a bit of apple juice.

The most predominant tastes are yeast and flour, along with some baking soda and doughy bread. A faint note of Smarties candy sneaks in at the end.

Mouthfeel is a strong point, well carbonated.

I drank and rated this beer without any concept of what type of beer this actually was. I was way off, considering I believed, by taste, this was a Pale Belgian. I'm curious how much knowing the type affects how we rate beers, as I never would have placed this as a rye. Only now can I detect notes of rye, albeit mildly so.

B

Spaeth Slayer

Return of the Raspy.

Odd bubble gum sweetness, with a touch of toffee candy bars. I like it.

A -

Founders' Breakfast Stout

I had a Founders' Breakfast Stout tonight. Is that the same as KY Breakfast Stout?

It was good. Not great.

Grade: AB.

"Boulevard of un-broken dreams" or "Smokestack Lightnin'"

Boulevard Smokestack Series Double-Wide IPA. Picked this up down south, and it continues to reinforce my good feelings about Boulevard. This is a solid IIPA, that is reminiscent of a 90 min or something along those lines. Smooth, malty, hoppy, and chewy. I liked it. Grade: solid A

Post #200...now featuring more rat droppings

Thought I'd open up a fancy one for #200 (thanks to Barry for pointing out this important milestone... I like to think of myself as the Jo-Pa/Bobby Bowden of beer blogging).
This is the Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch. As far as I can tell, the big difference between this and the Beer Geek Breakfast is the type of coffee. This is brewed with Weasel coffee. Let me quote the description from the label:

"...made from the droppings of weasel-like civet cats. The fussy southeast asian animals eat only the best and ripest coffee berries. Enzymes in their digestive system help break down the bean, and workers collect the bean-containing droppings for civet or Weasel coffee. The exceedingly rare coffee has a strong taste and even stronger aroma."

This all seems somewhat hard to believe, but is apparently true if wikipedia is to be believed (which also says that the coffee is $600/lb and a cup of it costs between $33-100, which make me think this was a bargain at $10 for a bomber). It was pretty stellar. My overwhelming impression about it was that it was just amazingly flavorful. It was a complex taste that I don't know that I ever really got my finger on, but I think it kind of reminded me of a fancy chocolate withe some kind of berry flavor in it (like one of those endangered species ones, or chocolate from wherever it was Kathleen got those fancy pepper and Jamaican ones last time I was in Madison). No one would call this bland. I guess I wouldn't say it was the absolute best thing I've ever had, but its in the discussion of most flavorful and interesting, and I liked it a lot. I'll give it an A+.

Wha happened homebrew?

Strange looking beer - something must have gone wrong, but I don't know what that is. This is the Golden Promise IPA made in Virginia, driven back to PA. Tastes better than it looks. More of a Pale Ale I guess.

I think it needs a couple weeks in the fridge/cellar.

Pete's Box - Beer 1

Thanks to Pete for a box of beer! I really enjoy sending and receiving beer that's unavailable in our respective areas. I am VERY appreciative, despite the upcoming poor review.

Hoppy Trails IPA from Appalachian Brewing smells like a wet dog. Hops are spicy and vegetative, not my favorite profile. It's a ho-hum, run of the mill IPA. Nothing special here.

C+

You know you have a problem...

...when you walk into a beer bar with over 350 options, and can count on two hands the number you haven't tried, and on one hand the number you're interested in trying. Of the 35 craft beer IPA's, I'd had all but 2, and of the 25 stouts, I'd had them all. Same with the 25 Belgians. Does anyone else miss the halcyon days of beer discovery when we had no idea what was good? I definately do. I mean, I can usually go into a beer store and find at least one or two new things now, but it's getting pretty rare to go into a bar, even in a new city, and find something new. Sigh.

So, this all occured when I went to the Flying Saucer tonight, which was a cool place, obviously with a large, for most non-snobby people, selection. The food was good, the atmosphere was nice. Beer results were very meh. I got a Highland Kashmir IPA (from Ashville, NC) which was pretty average, although it had a bit of the strange peppery/garlic-y hop variety that the Yazoo from last night had. B- grade
I also got a Schlafly Dry Hopped Pale Ale, which I had tried from the bottle last week and liked, so thought I'd try it on tap. It as just ok. Another B-

They had world wide stout and 120 min on tap, but I had to drive home, so that seemed like a disaster waiting to happen. There wasn't even really anything else I was too tempted by, other than another local one that my "beer goddess" (their term for waitresses) advised me was awful. I think she was pretty exasperated with me because everything she suggested instead ("Have you tried...?") I had, in fact, tried and I think I got a bored look from her suggestions of such exotic brews as Dogfish 60min, Boulder Mojo, Stone, Flying dog, etc.

I stopped at the supposedly "best" local beer store on the way home, and ended up getting 5 things, 2 of which I'd had before but can't get in Indiana. Everything else was the ususal. One interesting (and annoying) local blue law is that the beer store and the liquor store have to be separate (there were 2 doors). This doesn't sound that bad, except that anything over 5% abv has to go on the liquor side. So, you have to check both stores if you want to see regular and high gravity beer offerings. Lame.

Sincerely,
Jaded Beer Snob

Long Road to Nashville...

I'm currently watching hoops in bed and making my way through a growler of Hop Project #12 from Yazoo Brewery (and yes, it was actually served by the guy in this picture who has an epic beard, although I didn't take the picture). It's pretty solid. It has an almost peppery-ness to it. It also has a cool growler top that forms a much better seal than other growlers I've gotten. I'll give the overall experience of the Yazoo tap room and Hop Project #12 an A

For the brewers in the house, here's the description:
"And the hops keep coming... for this rendition of our soon-to-be-world-famous Hop Project Ale, which will be number 12 in the series, we featured two relatively new varieties called Apollo and Bravo. Apollo, which we used in #3 (if I remember right), has a really pungent nose. almost garlicy. Bravo is much more mellow, kind of lemony. They are both bred from a Galena variety to be high-alpha (around 16%) but much more stable in storage. We bittered the beer with Apollo and Zeus in the first wort, then added some Galena, Goldings, and Bravo at 30 minutes, and Simcoe, Goldings, and Bravo at 5 minutes for aroma. Then we dryhopped it with some Goldings and Amarillo. The old calculations say it's over 100 IBUs, which makes us happy."


In other news, I played at least a quarter million dollars worth of guitars and amps today, and hope to surpass that tomorrow. Viva la Nashville.

The Elusive KBS

Founder's Kentucky Breakfast Stout is black, real black. Smells of wood, charred paper, and burnt coffee. Tastes reminiscent of Breakfast Stout, but with a boozy bourbon background and a dollop of vanilla. Burn evident as beer warms, but deiselness noticed more in the warmth that spreads throught he body than the actual taste. Complimentary bourbon is, indeed, less evident than the Goose's stout.

A.......... with perhaps more as warming continues


As an aside, I find it comical that a vast majority of the small amount imported into the west side of Madison was purchased by Duane and I.

Bourbon Barrel-Aged Jolly Roger Stout

This was on cask at Otto's today. It is the best beer I have tried for a long long time.

Like a Lisa Simpson quiz,

A+++.

Simcoe!

Appropriately enough, I picked this up today at "The Hop Shop" in Indy while on a whirlwind beer/guitar/chili spring break extravaganza. Mikkeller Simcoe Single Hop IPA. This is fabulous. I learned today that I really like Simcoe hops. Anyone know any other beers that use them? (Sposborth/Barryborth perhaps?) It's a veritable flavor explosion in my mouth.
Grade: A/A+

Official "who is going to Dark Lord Day" post

I'm in. Barry is not sure (he has to go to a White Sox game at 6pm).

Pete, Chris, what are you thinking? I have a hotel booked for the time period. Should be fun.

Ready for shipping

Ready for its fantastic voyage.

Step one cut a hole in the box...

Wonder what's in there?

My New Favorite Beer Name

Modus Hoperandi......discuss

Dry hop picture

I added cascade hop leaves to my mystery beer last night. I'm not sure why, but within about an hour the dried leaves had puffed themselves up. Now they look like fresh hops.

It's kinda cool.

Maybe it's the CO_2 produced by the yeast?

Ridiculous, but successful, marketing ploy of the month award...

Did I buy this beer because it had a plastic goat on a string attached to it? If you have to ask that question, we don't know each other as well as I'd assumed. What will I do with said goat? Ahhh... well, that's actually a good question that I'm just now realizing has no good answer. Oh well, on to the beer!

I think this is my favorite of the German styles. This particular one has some sweet and fruity dark Belgian qualities and also a very smokey aftertaste that compliments it well. This was also a good pairing with the RJ Rocker ... maybe this is the origin of the american strong style?

Verdict: A/A-

The pleasant surprise of the month award goes to...

I went in a vain search of some coffee Yeti or Kentucky Breakfast today hoping they'd hit the shelves here this week. But, a new line of stuff showed up at the store today: RJ Rockers Brewing company. With a name that lame, you know the beer must be good. This is the "Bell Ringer Ale" whose style was not described on the label, but I took the plunge on anyway because I saw the more important description of "8.5% abv". It also says "an ale worthy of your sturdiest goblet" which I thought was another argument in its favor.

Turns out, this is an american strong in the arrogant bastard/chainsaw type vein. I know I'm the only one who is a big fan of this style, but this is a very accessible take on it I think, which I would imagine everyone would like (although, it certainly is maltier rather than hoppier). I'm starting to think that either barleywines are failures in attempts to make american strongs, or american strongs are barleywines that turned out too good to be called barleywines. Anyway, this is very solid. A/A+

When Grapefruit Attacks

Lagunitas Hop Stoopid is the most grapefruit forward beer I have ever tasted. Period.

Hoppy Trails IPA

I really underestimated ABC, because of a so-so beer I had at the State College Beer Expo. Yesterday that changed. Their Brewpub is great and I didn't even venture into the Abbey Bar.

I'm going back the next chance I get. I would move in to this place if they let me.

The Hoppy Trails is the kind of IPA Chris and I like. Grapefruit, malt and rye.

Duane if I can convince you to come back for a Zeno's trip, then we can check out ABC/Troegs. The Troegs Brewery has a tasting room. It is very similar to Tyranena, but in the warehouse district of Harrisburg (And the beer is not quite as good).

By the way Harrisburg reminds me of Madison.

Trip to Harrisburg

Back from Harrisburg after visits to ABC and Troegs, which are about two blocks apart. Takes about 1:25 to get to there. The ABC Brewpub is outstanding. Obviously I picked up several hard-to-finds.

Question: If I send beer, should I let it reach room temp first, or keep cool from the fridge? Does it matter?

Goose Chase: Day 2

Sterkens Dubbel Ale is a step in the right direction but still not the flavor I'm looking for. A little too dark, and not all that much flavor. It isn't fruity like last night's, but also isn't creamy/buttery/sugary. It was nice and cheap, which was a plus, but not spectacular. The quest continues. Grade: B

Killer Coffee

Duane, I dig the pics. Keep em' comin' if you can.

Been on a recent coffee kick and this one's a winner. Central Water's Peruvian Morning is an awful lot like Devil Over a Barrel. It pours deep and dark and smells awesome. Bourbony goodness that accents that coffee flavors well. Not a nutsack-punch bourbon like Goose's stout, but real nice. Dangerously drinkable. A winner.

A

Wild Goose Chase: Day 1

So, over the next few weeks, or as long as it takes, I'm going to attempt to chronicle my quest to find a Goose Island Pere Jacques-like beer. That's not to say that I'm only going to have these types of beers until I find one, but I'm going to try a bunch and see what happens.

Today's candidate: St. Bernardus Prior 8

Verdict: It's a great beer, but fails in being Pere-like. The main difference is that it has more of the fruity, raison-y ness and less of the creamy sugary caramel taste. An A beer, but it misses the mark as a Pere clone. The quest continues.

Brewhouse Coffee Stout

Central Waters Stout, courtesy of Barry - thanks! Vanilla is the most prominent flavor. A wee bit watery. Sweet and dry. The aroma is not strong. To be honest, it is on par with the coffee stout I made in the fall. There is a coffee shop here which sells 'Donut Shop Blend' coffee and this reminds me of that. (What a sentence.)


The following bottle used to hold the gold standard among coffee stouts and none has compared so far. I don't know if I rated this last fall, but I held on to the bottle, simply because of its utter and complete awesome-ness. Someone (milwaukeeclassic) should attest to the quality of Speedway Stout.

Bend It Like Surly

Coffee Bender tastes like iced coffee. It's a bit thin in body with some chocolate and creamy sugaryness, and a mild, non-bitter finish.

Viva Surly.


A -

Haand Job

Camera's in a funk, so no pictures for you dirty minded beer punks.

Haandbryggeriet is a small four person brewery in Norway. This Belgian style IPA is more Belgian than IPA. Crazy Euros.

B

New label means...time to give the 'Naught another try

I was at the store today and saw the new batch of Floyd's Dreadnaught on the shelf with its spiffy new label and decided to give it one more go, now that my palate has been crushed by hops for a full year. You may recall that in the past this has been basically my least favorite of the Imperial IPA's - we'll see if time has healed old wounds.

I'm letting it warm up a touch at the moment... I can report that is smells damn good. Updates to follow.

Updates: Ok, either they changed the recipe, or I was grossly incorrect last time I had this. It tastes an awful lot like Hopslam to me now...the initial taste is sweet fruity (a unique fruit though...mango or something?) and honey-ish and it's only the finish where the hop crush is noticed, but it's a smooth hop assault with none of the bittery acidity that I remembered. It's like a beer that starts as a hopslam and finishes like a ruination. In short, pretty fabulous. I think I'm willing to go A+ on this one.

Brewing in Progress

Brewing complete.

Friday I'm heading down to Harrisburg for Troegs and Appalachian Brewery Comp.

Malt bill:

3 lbs 2-row pale
1 lb caramalt 20L
3 lbs crystal malt 40L

Single step mash at 153F for one hour

Sparge water at 168F for 35 minutes, 11 quarts into the brewpot

Hops:

Nugget 2 oz pellet (1 hour)
Amarillo 2 oz pellet (30 minutes, 8 minutes, 1 minute)
Cascade 1 oz (dry hop)

Yeast:

Safbrew T-58
(starter = 1 pint water, 3/4 cup DME)

O.G. 1.04

Mixed the boiled wort with 1 gallon water (boiled and cooled)

Notes:

The hops really sucked up a significant amount of wort. When I poured into the primary through a new funnel and strainer it clogged completely. The upside is that the initial beer is free of sediment. The downside is that the volume was decreased. I was very surprised by the original gravity. Maybe the mash was inefficient or I diluted with too much water, or didn't add enough post boil wort (at least the soupier stuff) to the primary fermenter. No biggie.

Now for some annotated pictures.

Here's the starter which I made yesterday. Godspeed ye noble yeast.



Here's the sparge.



The wort is boiling.



The wort boiling just after adding the hops. The hops form a heat barrier at the top of the kettle.



What the spent grains look like after the mash.

Oh Dear God...what have I done?

Bloomington, IN today: High of 75, mostly sunny

Menomonie, WI: High of 15, low of 0, wintery mix

Recommendations?

Hey...I need help. I recently found a dusty 4 pack of 2007 Pere Jacques hidden away in the back of a shelf at the store and was reminded how much I love it. Sadly, I'm drinking the last one right now. Anyone have any other similar (and readily available) Dubbel recommendations for me that might satisfy my thirst until the Goose puts out another batch of this?

Also, an entire weekend with no posting? Boo-urns HK Duffers

Pete, find me one of these please!

"(Harrisburg, PA) - Troegs Brewing will release in bombers by early April (if not sooner) a beer that could challenge Nugget Nectar as its most highly-touted seasonal. The brewery calls it, “

The Flying Mouflan

, this alluring ale is like ‘pushing Nugget Nectar off the side of a cliff,’ tastes like hops dipped in candied sugar and rolled in dark chocolate nibs. Patient beer lovers who cellar the Mouflan will be rewarded with mellow hops and luscious malt."

Nothing up my sleeve...Presto!

I had a duo of Magic Hat beers last night after their unexpected appearance at the store this week. Less magical than Bullwinkle J. Moose, they confirmed my dislike of all things magic hat.

First up: H.I.P.A. The extra H is apparently for horrible. I was not a fan. It had an almost skunky grossness of flavor and just didn't work. D-

Next up: Lucky Kat. This one was weird in that it had a strange fruityness to it, almost like someone had put a juicy slice of grapefruit in there. It was slightly better, but still not good. D

Warning: Non-beer related topic

I felt obligated to post this complete nutsacking dunk by Jeff Teague against Maryland the other day.

Tyranena ♥'s screwtops

Noticed that Tyranena avails the 'screw top' bottles. I am running short of bottles and planned to reuse them. Go figure.

The Devil Made Me Do It Imperial Oatmeal Coffee Porter is very good. I like the aroma a lot.

Don't know the difference between Porter and Stout technically, but I feel like it has to do with the overall sweetness. Stouts seem to have more, well, calories. Thoughts? Porters are sometimes dirty, as we have discussed.

Question of the Day

Beerfest this year.......

June 13 in Bloomington...(yes Chris I'm inviting all of us) as the LAST Beerfest in Indiana

or

early August in Wisconsin, perhaps two days prior to Madison Beertacular

Let the debate begin

Nugget Nectar vs. Hopslam

The hopslam has a more citrus hop note and drier finish whereas the Nugget Nectar has a grassier hop note and is sweeter. The Hopslam has a stronger alcohol aroma, which I like. Both great beers, but Hopslam wins.

No wait, I'm the winner.

You can find happiness in a bottle

Thanks Barry!

Ard Ri?

Anyone want me to pick some of these up to save for Beerfest '09? I don't think they've been bottled in the past, but I heard they're doing a limited run this year. I'm going to get some on tap at the brewery tomorrow and can pick up a 6-er also if anyone wants to try it. I think it was a big hit on RateBeer last year.

Catchin' the Red Eye

Tonight's beverage: Two Brother's Red Eye Coffee Porter. This brings up a question that has been growing in my mind lately that I'm hoping some of the brewmiesters here can enlighten me on (although I suppose a wikipedia search would also probably tell me). What is the difference between porters and stouts? I used to think I understood the difference, but lately I've been having a lot of "stouts" that seem to taste a lot like this "porter." Hmmm.

Anyway, back to the beer: This is a tasty example of a coffee beer. It reminds me quite a bit of the best version of Sposborth coffee that I sampled (whichever that was?). It has a distinct coffee flavor, but has no corresponding acidity. It isn't really sweet like some of the breakfast stouts though and has that noticible baltic/russian -ness to it. It seems to taste kind of like a slightly weaker imperial russian but with more coffee hints. Overall, pretty rock solid. One of the better Two Brothers offerings so far I think. A-

17...like the number of wins my fantasy team will have next year

... or maybe the number of putts I'll have next time we play.

Unibroue 17. This was actually a pretty big disappointment for me. I absolutely loved 15, but this isn't anything like it. It was basically like drinking a glass full of partially dissolved yeast. Just on the north side of gross. I won't get this again. Grade: D-

IPA for Change

Just got some newish Flossmoor Station beers in Madison. This one is another great IPA. All hops, no malt. Tasty.

*Pete - I'm moving your comment to the front page*

Very good. My palette is not as detailed as yours, but I would put it in the category of 90 minute, Hopslam, Nugget Nectar and Double Dog.

Very sweet and hoppy.

Who's meeting me at Dexter's in Madison on Thursday?

They are tapping a keg of 120 Minute IPA on Thursday, March 5th. Even though I found it revolting the first time, I'm willing to give it a second go. Who's with me?

Saturday night's alright for Gargoyling

I gave in and decided to give barleywines one more try. Picked up a bomber of the new 09 Stone Gaurdian. It was probably my favorite barleywine so far. Pretty aggressively hopped as you might imagine from Stone, but also very malty like a barleywine. It actually tasted pretty close to an east coast double IPA like a 90min. I'm still not sure I'm sold on them, but I'd give it another try sometime. Grade: incomplete but leaning towards a B

Slammin' Sammy

Had a new imp stout the other night from a somewhat unlikely source: Sam Adams. It was actually a little ballsier than I expected and pretty good. I doesn't measure up to the best of the best that we've had, but was right there with the Founder's and the Two Brothers that I've had lately, and I think actually was a little better than either. It's a little on the safe side, but has more flavor than you might think for a more mainstream (is it?) beer. I liked it. Not sure I'd go out of my way to buy it again, but would happily drink one if it fell in my lap. Solid B

ps... they also had a new Imperial White. Anyone had that? It doesn't really sound too appealing to me, but I may get one just to try at some point. I can probably pawn it off on Katie who likes whites.