Three Floyds Brewing Co – Zombie Dust

I’m beginning to become quite interested in doing beer exchanges through the mail.  This is mostly due to the crazy success I’m seeing my friend Gavin have with it.  Evidently he put up a little notification on the Beer Advocate message board that he was looking to make some trades, and he managed to get a ton of stuff that we can’t get in this area.  Thankfully, being a fellow beer lover, he gave me one of the beers from a six-pack of Zombie Dust he was sent in a recent trade.  I really need to start trying to find different beers from around the US that I haven’t had before.  Regardless of that, I’m glad that I can mooch off a friend for now.

I was extremely happy to get this beer from him about a week ago.  We made a second attempt to get out to see a UFC event in our area.  Ironically enough, we watched the Korean Zombie dominate in his fight to earn the right to fight for the belt in his weight class.  It was a great night of watching fights, but I think my greatest joy came when he gave me my first bottle of a beer brewed solely by Three Floyds.  This is yet another brewery I’ve never had the pleasure of enjoying.  I did happen to have one of their brews they did in collaboration with Mikkeller.  I’ve enjoyed a few different beers from Mikkeller, but I have never had the pleasure of cornering a bottle of Three Floyds.  Therefore, I was hopeful it would be a great first try.

Three Floyds is brewery out of Indiana, but it seems to be well-known all across the U.S. The first thing that is noticeable about this bottle is the crazy amazing artwork on the bottle.  Evidently Three Floyds wanted to create a label that would really jump out at the consumer, thus they got the comic book artist Tom Seeley to create a pretty impressive piece of artwork.  Floyds lists this beer as their undead pale ale.  I had to go check to make sure, but it is in fact an American Pale Ale and not an IPA.  However, it is quite a heavily hopped APA.  Looking it up on Beer Advocate, it received a 99, so I was even more excited about giving this beer a try.

This beer poured out a slightly golden color with some ample amount of orange and amber.  There is some moderate white head that develops on the pour; however, you really don’t get much of any lacing after giving the liquid a little twirl.  A little slight light sticky residue clings to the glass, but it really isn’t much to speak of.  There is definitely a slight hazy quality to the beer; however, you can see some of the faint carbonation in the glass despite the haziness.

The very floral and herbal aroma of the hops overwhelm the nose on the first smell.  There is a small amount of pine mixed in, but it seems as if the smell is mostly dominated by an extremely herbal quality.  The hops smell fresh.  Combining with the hops is a lot of citrusy grapefruit aromas.  While these are quite prevalent, they still manage to get dominated by the fresh hop aroma.  The herbal nature of this makes the beer very earthy as well.  Surprisingly there seems to not be an overwhelming amount of malt here to help balance the hops.  I was curious if it would be the same way on the taste.

I’m not sure if the malts are very light, or if they are simply overpowered by the hops, but they don’t seem to really be very obvious here.  The hops are certainly in the driver’s seat.  The paltry malt intro lasts a very short period of time before the hop kick comes in.  The hops start off rather herbal and floral with a very modest pine nature.  The really big citrusy grapefruit notes follow the hops; however the hops don’t disappear or dissipate.   They do manage to get a little tang towards the end of the flavor profile; however, they manage to stay quite herbal and floral throughout the majority of the tasting.  Overall this beer finishes quite fresh and earthy.  I feel like they took the hops right off the plant and dropped them in here.

The mouthfeel never once becomes syrupy at all which helps the beer to seem quite fresh throughout its entirety.  There is plenty of carbonation and tons of herbal hops that allow this beer to not become too heavy at all.  Interestingly, the only other noticeable quality to the mouthfeel is the fact that this beer has a somewhat dry finish.  I think it adds to the freshness.

While this was the first Three Floyds beer I’ve had, I’m really hopeful this won’t be the last one.  The only thing that annoyed me about this beer was that I only had one of them.  I have a new mission and that is to find more Zombie Dust.  If anyone out there wants to make a trade for something in the DC area, please let me know!  I need more Three Floyds!

Teacher Grade: A+

May 25, 2012
Categories: Libations . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Lyrics, Libations, and Life . Comments: 4 Comments

Jack White – Blunderbuss

I wrote a little synopsis a little while ago of people I thought were one day destined and guaranteed to be hall of fame inductees.  Jack White was right at the top of that list.  I certainly think he has to be considered one of those musical geniuses of our time period.  It’s strange looking at musicians who I have actually seen from their inception to current time becoming hall of famers.  These rock gods are supposed to be people that my parents listened to.  It’s almost like how I hate knowing that half of the best athletes out there now a days are younger than I am.  When did all the cool people stop being people I could also look up to as my senior.  Anyway, I’m amazed at the ability of Jack White to achieve greatness in so many different styles.  The White Stripes was his rock group, the Raconteurs are his folk group, and the Dead Weathers are his punk band.  With him finding so many different niches already, I was really excited for his solo release.  I was quite curious what style it would be in at least.

I was actually quite pleased with the result of this record.  I have picked up every album Jack White has made and, although I don’t really enjoy The Dead Weathers all that much, I would say I really enjoy his ability to create a unique sound with his different projects.  One song stands out as one that would have fit perfectly on this record for me.  The last song on The Raconteur’s album Consoler of the Lonely is called “Carolina Drama”.  It tells the story of some domestic violence, but it has a real folk country sound to it.  I think it’s probably the song that reminds me the most of the type of material White put together for this album.  Thankfully, “Carolina Drama” is a personal favorite of mine.

Back in January White gave his fans a little taste of his upcoming album with the song “Love Interruption”.  I was really interested to hear what his sound was like.  White Stripes had broken up and none of the other acts he has were really putting anything out.  I wasn’t really sure what his inspiration would be like for this album.  The song is probably one of the more quiet songs on the album.  In fact, it doesn’t seem to feature all that many instruments at all.  There is a guitar and organ for sure, but there really aren’t all that many other instruments to accompany it.  I was curious if the entire album was going to be this low key. Also the topic seemed to be really interesting as well.  He recently was divorced from his wife so, like many others, I was curious to know if this album was about the break up.  He didn’t seem all that broken up when they threw a party to celebrate the time they spent together.  I guess there’s nothing like a good divorce party.

Even though I think “Love Interruption” is a great song, I’m really happy that this album has some crazy amount of variety to it.  If you’ve read one of my music reviews before then you know I definitely appreciate an album that keeps me interested.  I can’t hear too much of the same thing over and over again.  Thankfully White’s voice alone keeps things extremely interesting.  ”Missing Pieces” is a great song to start the entire album off with.  Once again the music is somewhat subdued and plays second fiddle to White’s voice, but it complements it extremely well.  Jack’s twangy voice and ample story telling will really rope the listener in.  There is a quick little guitar solo in the middle that leads to a nice little musical breakdown; however, the rest of the song is heavy on organ, keyboard, and drums.  Once again it seems like White could be dealing with the break up as he sings about someone taking pieces of him and leaving.

There are plenty of other songs on the album I enjoy quite a bit as well.  ”Sixteen Saltines” follows the opening track and it has a much different feel to it.  It opens with a really loud and blaring guitar line.  White’s voice starts with a yelling quality, but he quickly transitions to a falsetto delivery halfway through.  I like how his voice even changes throughout the song.  The song “I’m Shakin’” has a very obvious bluesy quality to it for sure.  One might even refer to this one as his Black Keys song.  He has a very good twang to his voice that is really complemented by the soulful backup singers he uses on this song.  ”Take Me With You When You Go”, the final song on the album, may be one of my favorite songs.  It doesn’t have the same big flashy quality that some of the other songs do, but it features a little more of the instrumental aspects and good harmony.  An added bonus, and the real reason I enjoy the song, is the way in which it almost transitions to a completely different song about half way through.  There are some really fuzzy guitar, hefty drums, and very quickly sung lyrics by both White and the accompanying singer.  Before the end they manage to tie the first and second half of the song together to give is great continuity.

There are actually a couple of songs I’m not huge on but, unlike other albums from other artists, I don’t detest them enough to skip them.  ”Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy” is an incredibly catchy song that I think I would normally like.  It’s definitely a toe tapper for sure, but I find myself just getting a little annoyed with the song overall.  Plus I keep thinking he is singing Hippopotamus Poor Boy.  I know he was going for that, but I don’t quite get the same enjoyment out of it I’m sure he intended.  ”Blunderbuss”, the title song for the album, is another fairly good song, but it just doesn’t do a whole lot for me.  I almost feel like it’s missing something to keep me interested.  I have a feeling this is more of just a personal feeling on these songs after listening to the album a bunch of times.

Ultimately I really like this album, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up on my list of top albums of the year.  I’ll have to see if it has staying power for me.  There is already an album or two I think will make that eventual list.  There are a bunch of other great songs on the album I didn’t mention; therefore, you need to open up Spotify or go get the album and give it a listen.  If you’ve ever enjoyed something White has produced in the past, I think you’ll like this one too!

Teacher Grade: A

May 24, 2012
Categories: Lyrics . Tags: , , , , , , , , , . Author: Lyrics, Libations, and Life . Comments: 1 Comment

Brewing & Beer Literature

I had a few different ideas running around in my head for today.  I was considering throwing something up about music, but I ultimately decided that I didn’t want to do three music blogs in a row.  Yesterday’s was on Bamboozle and tomorrow’s will be a music review, so I thought it would be good to stick in a little blog on something I’ve been thinking about for a little while now.  Being an English teacher, I tend to really rely heavily on the written word for my main source of information on things.  I suppose that really isn’t all that strange.  I do also enjoy having conversations about different issues with informed and intelligent people, but if I find it in a book I’m far more likely to believe it.  A few days after receiving my homebrewing kit, I immediately went out and purchased a book on hombrewing and a clone book.  I figured I needed to get right into figuring out what I was doing, and the best way to do that was to research it.

This led me to wondering what literature my readers relied on when it comes to different beer related things.  Ultimately I’m really looking for good websites and magazines to look into.  I would definitely appreciate a good book, but I was considering getting a subscription to a magazine that would be informative on homebrewing and beer related issues in general.  I really can only compare what I’m looking for to what I currently receive for music.  The music magazine I receive is called “Under the Radar”.  I personally hate the name because it sounds ultra pretentious, but I think it has good information on music.  It tells me about what is up and coming, gives me articles and interviews on current popular artists, and it gives me a heavy volume of reviews on recently released albums.  I would like to find a magazine that does a similar thing for beer.  I want talk of up and coming beer releases or brewing styles, interviews with brewers and other beer related gurus, and I want reviews of current beers I could see in my store everyday.  Mixing in some homebrewing info would be great too.

In the end, this led me to thinking of sharing a few of the resources I’ve found to be helpful as I develop my interests and expertise on beers.  So, I guess this post is mostly a “I’ll show you mine if you show me your’s post”  (Gross I know)  Here are a few of the sites and resources I like to read, now you tell me what you like.

Books: I am starting with books because I really only have three, maybe two, books in my collection that could count as beer books.  The first book is the one that I probably read the least: The Craft of Stone Brewing Co.  This is interesting as a book about Stone, and it has recipes in it as well, but I really don’t think it gives me all that much information in general.  So, it kind of just sits there while the others get more use.  The next book that gets some use, but it isn’t as much as it could be, is The Complete Joy of Homebrewing edition 3.  I like this book to give me information on different homebrewing issues, but I haven’t really read it all the way through.  I end up using it as a quick reference if something pops up I don’t have an answer for; however, otherwise it just sits in a pile.  Finally I have Clone Brews.  Clone Brews really doesn’t have all that much information in it on homebrewing, but it does have a lot of info on different brews to create.  I’ve used it for brewing one beer, and I am planning on using it for more.

Magazines: Like I said earlier, I think I really want to hear most about good magazines out there.  I’ve looked at a few at the stores, but I have two in my possession that I think are pretty good.  ”Zymurgy” was the magazine that I was first given by a good friend who happened to receive two after moving.  I thought it was a pretty good magazine; however, I didn’t like that it seemed to cater more to all grain brewing.  I’m fine with it, but I don’t have the ability to do all-grain just yet, so I would like to find one that is a little more equal rights for extract brewers.  The other magazine I was given was “Brew Your Own”.  I liked this one for the homebrewing advice and recipes.  It doesn’t really seem to talk a whole lot about professional craft brews, but it does give you a lot of advice on brewing techniques.  I actually used the saison article to put my saison together.

Websites: These of course are the easiest research to find, and you can access them at any time.  I would like to think this site gives people a lot of info on good brews out there, but I don’t have a whole lot of advice on homebrewing just yet.  I have a pretty fair amount of other blogs I check out for info as well, but I have a couple of pro sites I use as well.  Beer Advocate and Ratebeer are two sites to check out for normal beer reviews.  I’m assuming everyone knows about them. I also like to check out Advocate for some basic information on beer types as well. Homebrewtalk is a site I’ve gone to for advice on different homebrewing issues, and I have looked at different recipes for it as well.  My friend John showed me a bunch of different resource sites for hombrewing as well, but I was bad and didn’t write them down.  If you have any other really helpful websites out there I’d love to take a look at them as well.  Like I said, these are quick and easy to check out, so I would love to do so.

So what beer resources do you head to for advice.  I would love to check them out!

May 23, 2012
Categories: Libations, Life . Tags: , , , , , , , , , . Author: Lyrics, Libations, and Life . Comments: 2 Comments

Bamboozle in Review

I’ve been a big fan of music for quite a while now.  That’s probably a silly statement to make, but I have really allowed it to play a major role in my life for years.  I set out trying find different styles and bands that I loved; however, as I’ve gotten older I’ve realized that I just don’t really enjoy some of this stuff the same way I used to.  Regardless of that, I decided that I wanted to head out to the second day of Bamboozle in Asbury Park NJ this past Saturday.  While there were 30 or so bands and groups I didn’t know performing, the headliners were the ones I was set on seeing.  I have managed to drag my wife into this love of music back when we were dating.  Ultimately, I got her super hooked on Jimmy Eat World.  We’ve seen them two or three times since getting married, but I saw they were playing this festival, so I knew we needed to go.  The other headliners that were playing were Foo Fighters, Blink 182, and All American Rejects.  Having never seen Blink I was really excited to see them, but they got sick so My Chemical Romance took over.  Definitely less excited about them, but I thought they’d put on a good show.

Living in DC, and not wanting to pay for a hotel, we set out for NJ around 10 AM Saturday morning.  I thought the set up of this show was rather interesting.  They didn’t have a band go on until 2:00, so we could kind of take our time getting up there for the show.  Even then, Foo Fighters were scheduled to end around 9:30, so we could drive the four hours back to our house in DC.  It seemed like the perfect way to make sure we had a fun filled Saturday and got to head home and save some money.  There was some traffic getting up there, but we managed to make it up there around 3 something.

They did have a fairly good set up on getting everyone to the show, of course, it seemed less perfect on the way home.  We parked about 20 minutes away at a local race track and caught a shuttle to the concert area.   It was one of the more interesting little set ups for a concert area I’ve seen in a while.  Evidently they had 7 different stages where you could go see bands play.  Also, they didn’t try to cater to a single music style.  There was rock, rap, metal, punk, ska, DJ’s, and even a comedian on Sunday night.  Truthfully we only saw about 4 of the stages.  I’m not sure where the others were hiding.  Ultimately we ended up staying at the main stage.

Yay $7 taste of the Rockies

We did have to purchase beer right away to set us apart from the masses of little children.  It was actually an interesting mix of kids and adults who needed to feel young again.  Anyway, we made it all the way down the boardwalk to the main stage just before All American Rejects went on.  We found a spot on the beach where we could sit.  We of course were a little ways away from the stage, but I’m fine with just sitting back and listening.  I prefer to not stand in a sweaty pit of people anymore.  I don’t want people crowd surfing on my head.  It was nice being able to sit on the beach, see the ocean, and enjoy the music.

I’ve never been a big fan of All American Rejects.  Their songs are catchy and all, but I was never really a big fan of them overall.  My wife, however, is a big fan of theirs, so we caught their whole set first.  They played a pretty good show, but I hate a band continuously cursing at me.  They were the least rock star band there, and yet, they wanted to act like big bad rock stars the whole time.  Thankfully, that was the last band that decided to be overly obnoxious on stage.  Jimmy Eat World took the stage next.  They are probably the least rock star band that played that night.  They make great music, and it doesn’t really seem to be about the image with them.  Thankfully they didn’t play anything off the new album because I really didn’t care for it.  They did however still play things all the way back to Clarity.  I like it when a band knows when to ignore a record.  They played a great set, and I know my wife was happy to see them again.

It was now that I set about going and getting some pizza.  Of course waiting in line, or mob, for food made me really annoyed; however, it wasn’t overly expensive.  Therefore, I was alright with the whole ordeal.  This did cause me to miss the beginning of My Chemical Romance.  I’ve never been a big fan of theirs.  I enjoy some of the radio hits they’ve had, but I don’t really know a lot of the songs.  The ones I did know were fun; however, I could tell they were a fan favorite there from all the people singing along.  While I wasn’t a big fan, I still did think they put on a good show.  I was also really happy to see they dropped the gothic stuff.

Finally it was time for Foo Fighters.  They were given two hours to play which was shorter than the last time I saw them, but I was happy they had them playing for a little while.  Surprisingly they also had to get up to NYC for playing with Mick Jagger that night.  They made sure to let us all know they would be taking a helicopter from Asbury to NYC so they could do both.  I think it’s pretty cool they played two hour and then went and did SNL.  Anyway, some of the stuff they did in their live show was similar to what I saw a few months ago here in DC.  They still played a great show.  I also wish I didn’t have 5 kids next to me trying to dig a whole in the sand and an older woman having fun with her light up hoola hoop behind me.  I feel like that was the antithesis of the old and the young crowd right there.

The worst part of the night was trying to get home.  We all rushed for the shuttles, and it took a while to get back to the parking area.  Thankfully we made it there and had no traffic getting home.  We finally got home around 2:30 in the morning.  It was a real long day, but it was a lot of fun for sure.  I’m not sure I’d do it again, but I suppose it would depend on the line-up.  I couldn’t pass up on Jimmy, Foo, and Blink.  Maybe next year they’ll really get Blink to play for sure.  I also would have liked to get to a few of the other bands playing on different stages.  Still, it was a good time and a nice way to get away for a day.  Even if I was exhausted when I got home.

May 22, 2012
Categories: Life, Lyrics . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Lyrics, Libations, and Life . Comments: 1 Comment

Brasserie Artisinale et Didactique du Flo – Cuvee du Flo Blonde

The title of this beer is a serious mouthful.  I’m not sure I’ve ever had the pleasure of drinking a beer that is titled something so long.  This is actually the final beer from my Rare Beer Club birthday present I got from my wife in February.  Evidently this beer is the definition of rare.   Brasserie Artisinale is a very small brewery out of eastern Wallonia, apparently about an hour from Brussels, that displays the owners love for both beer and teaching.  It seems like a rare beer a teacher like myself can get behind.  The owner, Didier Cornet, opens his brewery up to people who want to be taught about beer, and also, have the opportunity to brew their own under the supervision of a pro.  He will take them from the mashing all the way to the bottling.  I wish I could actually get to this brewery.

Interestingly any of the brews coming out of this brewery with the title “du Flo” on them are brewed specially by the creator of this unique brewery.  Surprisingly, based on the literature I received with the bottle, it sounds like some of the other bottles sold from this brewery are actually creations of the students.  Beer coming out of this brewery is typically only available in the local town and in a few place in Brussels.  They apparently only produce 125 barrels, or around 4,000 gallons, a year.  I know one homebrewer who might be trying to catch them.  Therefore, this is a pretty rare beer, and it makes me once again wonder if I should really re-up on my membership to this club.

This particular style of beer is a Blonde.  I have actually had very few Belgian blondes over the course of my beer research; however, I know I’ve had a few.  Looking into the style a little bit, it seems like it is essentially a beer that is known as a pale, fruity, clear, and crisp beer.  I can’t say I’ve never really jumped at the style.  There are many Belgian styles I’m a big fan of.  I like a good dubble, trippel, wit, or saison, but I can’t say I’ve sought out a lot of blonde ales.  I guess the name has been a slight turn off for me.  It’s probably why I’ve waited on this one.  Even though I’m not a huge fan of the style, I was still interested in trying this one after reading up on the brewery a little.

This one pours out a super golden yellow color, which I am typically quite scared of.  There is a ton of big white fluffy head that develops on top of the beer.  Thankfully while the color of the beer gets me nervous, it is the ample amount of head that makes me think it’ll all be okay in the end.  There is some light lacing, but you really don’t get any sticky leftover residue at all.  The beer is a little bit hazier than I was expecting, but you can see a lot of carbonation in the glass for sure.

The biggest smell I pull out of the aroma is the big hit of yeast.  The citrus is definitely there as well; however, it is isn’t powerful enough to outshine the ample yeast.  The yeast has some pretty big spicy clove to it.  The citrus is a lot of orange, but I am also getting some very pleasant lemony scents as well.  The beer has a very bready feel, and it seems to come across very earthy as well.

The beer intros with some light sweet malts.  This is met with a lot of light lemony citrus tastes.  The light and pleasant flavors are short lived because the big bold yeast comes in quickly.  The yeast has even more spice to it than I’m accustomed to.  There is some of that big spicy bold clove, but the spice seems to extend past the normal realms of what is normally brought on by clove solely.  It has a heavy bite to it.  The ample orangey citrus comes in following the yeast and transitions the beer towards its completion.  There is a lot of spice on the ending with some residual citrus and some very light hops.

The mouthfeel consists of carbonation throughout the entirety of the flavor development.  There is an ample amount of yeast and spice to interact with the carbonation to create a lot of activity on the mouth.  It has a very crisp and refreshing feel, but it is almost slightly thrown off by the inclusion of the ample spice.  I actually like how the spice manages to give it a little more complexity.

While I can almost guarantee you can’t find this beer, I would definitely encourage anyone to purchase it.  I thought it was a great beer that build a little more confidence for me in the style.  I would be interested to know if anyone else has had anything from this brewery.  I want to know if they are known for creating some pretty amazing beers.  I was pretty impressed with this first one for sure.

Teacher Grade: B+

May 21, 2012
Categories: Libations . Tags: , , , , , , , , . Author: Lyrics, Libations, and Life . Comments: 4 Comments

Founders Brewing Co – Old Curmudgeon Ale

Trying to figure out when to drink a beer can be really confusing.  I have somewhat bought into the notion that you drink certain beers in specific seasons.  I think it’s safe to say I didn’t have a single Hefe over the entire winter.  I had a ton of porters, stouts, and other dark beers during that time though.  I felt like you don’t drink light and refreshing beers.  I really turned into the bear who was going into hibernation for the winter.  Now that we are heading into summer I’ve kind of given up on the big rich dark beers.  It’s not that I don’t like them or anything, but I have felt a little like they wouldn’t feel as good drinking after a long hot day at school.  Therefore, I have kind of put off drinking this beer.  It isn’t a stout or anything so dark, but it is a pretty dark and boozie beer that I have kind of put in that winter category.

Old Curmudgeon is brewed in the style of an old ale.  Old ale is a style of beer I’m not really all that familiar with.  It’s one that I’ve had before, but it isn’t one that I set about to buy or drink very often.  Of course, when you hear Founders released something, you can’t help but jump at the opportunity to drink it.  Old ales, also known as stock ales, were transferred to vats back in the day for aging.  Hence the reason they were referred to as old ales.  They typically were quite old.  Founders states that their specific edition is brewed with molasses, a big malt profile, and aged in oak barrels.  As I said, it’s a beer that has some age behind it.

This one pours out a very orangey brown color with some slight hints of red in it.  There is some rather light head that develops on top of the beer; however, it dissipates rather quickly.  There is a lot of light lacing on the side of the glass; however, the sticky residue remnants are quite ample.  The beer is quite hazy; although you can definitely see through it some, and you can see some very light carbonation in the glass as well.

There are a few overwhelming aspects to the aroma of the beer.  I get a lot raisins, figs, and other rich dark fruit on the nose.  They have a sticky sweetness to them.  Another really apparent smell is the quite boozy scent that the beer gives off.  I can’t say I was entirely all that surprised by the very apparent aroma of alcohol.  One smell that I get, although I’m a little surprised by it, is a light aroma of cinnamon.  The finish is a very slight spicy aroma.

The most striking aspect of the taste is the very apparent boozy flavor.  It pretty much invades the entire palate.  The beer starts with some very sweet malts.  These malts have some really big fig and raisin flavors to them.  Surprisingly, the fig and raisin flavors really stick with the developments of the different tastes in the flavor profile.  I think this is also the nature of the molasses combined in there. The biggest hit of booze follows the fig; however, the booze is quickly met by some ample hops.  If you’re not looking for them, you may not notice the fact that there are so many hops here.  They blend quite well with the alcohol bite.  That light hit of cinnamon follows, which I’m still slightly confused by. I’m thinking it might be a little bit of that oaky flavor from the aging. I don’t know if I’m getting something that isn’t actually there.  The finish has a lot of the remaining raisin and booze with a lot of hops on the aftertaste.

There is some moderate carbonation at the start of the beer.  This is the met by some of the big booze.  The high amount of alcohol combines with a lot of the syrup on the ending to really give the beer a very rich and sweet quality.  I really like the fact that they didn’t back off on the hops on this one.  It really compliments the sweet and boozy nature of the way the beer starts off.  It is a quite nice blend of favor.

Founders makes a lot of great brews, but I’m not sure if this is my favorite brew of theirs; however, it is still a really good one.  I only bought a single of this, but I don’t think I would really want to have a bunch more of these.  I think it’s good, but it’s a style I would want to save for another time.  Of course, I would be interested to see what a little cellaring would do to this one.  I could put it right next to my Backwoods Bastard.

Teacher Grade: B

May 18, 2012
Categories: Libations . Tags: , , , , , , , , , . Author: Lyrics, Libations, and Life . Comments: Leave a Comment

Ninkasi Brewing Co – Total Domination

I have long since wanted to try a bottle specifically from Ninkasi.  I have realized lately that this may seem like a funny thing to some of you.  If you live in the area where they are brewed they may not be that big of a deal to you.  My friend Gavin recently started doing a lot of cross country beer trading and told me that Heavy Seas Loose Cannon is great trade bait for brews we can’t get in our area.  I realized that, while this seems somewhat strange to us who walk by it weekly without a second thought, others do the same thing with breweries we are seeking out elsewhere.  I really want to have beers from Russian River and Three Floyds at my disposal here, so I will end up trying to do some trading to get some of those, but other people probably walk past their stuff everyday without picking it up.  I guess it’s that you don’t know what you got till it’s gone (or never had it) mentality.

None-the-less, I’ve enjoyed a few things Ninkasi has been brewing, but I have never had a beer that is fully their own creation.  I have had their collaboration with Stone Brewing and 21st Amendment, but I have never been able to have one that they brewed.  A couple of weeks ago my brother visited from Astoria, Oregon.  While he wasn’t going to even check a bag for the three nights he would be here, I managed to convince him to check a bag to get my beer here.  Of course he gets to check bags for free anyway because he is “military”.  Funny enough, when he got here they called his name over the loud-speaker at the airport while he was waiting for his luggage.  He thought for sure the bottles had broken, and he would be taken into a room to get interrogated.  They had just managed to lose his bag.  Thankfully they delivered it to the house later that night.

Ninkasi is obviously a brewery out of Oregon who has a plethora of ample beers.  I feel like I’ve only just made a little ripple in the great pond that is their line-up. (Wow that was deep huh?) They were named after the Sumerian goddess of fermentation, which I happen to think is a pretty awesome way to name your brewery.  The particular beer my brother brought along was their Total Domination IPA.  This seems to be their standard IPA release.  It comes in at 65 IBUs with Summit, Amarillo, and Crystal hops.  Having consumed this as I was using Amarillo hops in my saison, I became slightly worried I made the wrong choice, but I stayed with it.  Thankfully, this was a really good beer to enjoy while I brewed as well.

This one pours out a rich red color with an ample amount of orange tinge to it.  There is moderate head development on top of the beer.  This also results in a very large amount of lacing and some nice sticky residue.  There is some pretty good clarity to this one.  I guess it’s a little hazy overall, but I expect that from an IPA.  Looking at my bottles of Pretentious Hopster, I can already tell that I am going to have terrible clarity to mine.  You can see a ton of carbonation in this glass with this beer as well.  Overall, it’s every visual thing I want from a beer.

The smell may be the most interesting of the four categories for rating.  You get a lot of citrusy lemon that combines with a lot of very herbal and floral hop aromas.   The citrus has a lot of grapefruit and tropical fruit qualities to it as well. I almost think it has a little bit too much of the herbal aroma to it.  I like a little bit more of the piney than the herbal floral in my beer.  The beer has a very earthy aroma to it.

The taste is overall really well-balanced, but I think I got more out of the nose than I did out of the flavor.  The beer has a really nice and moderate malt introduction.  Shortly thereafter, you get a very big hit of the hops.  The hops here are far more piney than I was getting off the smell.  The bitterness manages to really hit right in the back of the throat.  There is lots of citrus and grapefruit with some slight tropical fruits on the back half.  I would have liked to see these slightly intensified, but they are a nice addition to the concoction.  There is plenty of residual pine left on the aftertaste, but it gets a little more herbal as you let the beer warm up.  I do enjoy that the beer has some complexity to it as it warms.

The mouthfeel has a lot of carbonation on the front half of the beer, and it manages to get slightly more syrupy on the back half.  The hops seem to really kick up during the more syrupy aspect of the beer, which I think shows a really well constructed brew.  There are plenty of hops and pine throughout the tasting which is exactly what I’m looking for on a good IPA.  I do think the beer gets slightly lackluster in its finish, but I like the flavors and the balance overall.

This is the first real release I’ve had from Ninkasi, and I’m looking forward to a lot more of them.  Of course, I have to manage to find a few other bottles of their stuff somehow.  I would really like to try their Tricerahops, Believer Double Red Ale, or their Maiden the Shade.  I’m sure there are some other really good beers in their line up as well.  This is their standard IPA, and I may have allowed myself to hype this up slightly too much for myself; however, I’m really glad I got a hold of it.  I doubt you can find this unless you live on the west coast, and then I’m jealous of you.

Teacher Grade: B+

May 17, 2012
Categories: Libations . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Lyrics, Libations, and Life . Comments: 4 Comments

Something Completely Different

Last week I set about looking for some advice on my upcoming brew.  My imperial IPA, Pretentious Hopster, is busy getting a little age and carbonation in bottles, and I’ve started to think about what I want to brew next.  I told everyone last week I had fallen on a saison.  Lately I’ve been really into saisons, and I thought it could be fun to brew, plus I want to hopefully brew something my wife won’t absolutely hate.  I got a lot of great information about that brew last week; however, I felt like it also gave me a real perspective that I was a little ways off from a real recipe.  My friend Gavin pointed out that I didn’t need the oats in there at all, so I felt like maybe my recipe I found that was a backbone was somewhat flawed.  Then another friend, John, showed me a recipe for a saison he had in a magazine.  I thought it looked easy enough, and I just wanted something I could play with, so I decided to go with the magazine recipe.

Unfortunately I don’t have my notes or the magazine in my possession right now, so I’m kind of fudging the steeping grains right now.  However, I think I used Vienna Malt, Munich Malt type 2, and Caramunich Malt III.  Of course, I may get a hold of my notes at some point and realize I messed one of these up, but I think these were the three grains I ended up using for my steeping.  I got them in all equal parts.  Then I also got 6.66 lbs of Pilsner LME as well.  It seemed like a simple enough base for me to start off with to make sure I could really build off it.

The hops were where I started to try to have some fun with it.  I was originally told to put Willamette hops in it; however, I had no real desire to put those in there at all.  I really wanted to get a more Asian feel out of it.  It may not seem Asian at all in the end, but it at least is a direction I had.  I decided to with Sorachi Ace, which I put .75 oz in for 60 min and .25 in at the 5 min.  I wanted one other type of hop in there to complement it and give the beer a little more diversity.  I did a lot of research, and I ended up standing in front of the hop fridge at the store for a few minutes on my smartphone trying to make a decision, but I ultimately ended up on Amarillo.  It said that it has some spicy, citrusy, and tropical fruit qualities.  I’m not sure if they are going to be awesome together, or if it will be an epic fail, but I’m glad I’m branching out.  I got them in there at the 15 min mark.

The spices I wanted to get in it were another really big thing in my mind, but I think it kind of came apart and was secondary in the end.  I have stated I wanted to get some Asian flavors in there, but I don’t really know a lot of good Asian spices for beer.  Ultimately I knew I was going to be throwing some ginger in there; however, I was really bashing my head against the wall trying to think of other spices.  I ultimately kind of gave up and went with some standard stuff.  Therefore, in the last five minutes of the boil, I threw an ounce of coriander in there, and I zested fresh ginger and orange peel in there as well.  I have no idea if fresh was the way to go, but I thought it sounded good.

The yeast is the one part I forgot to talk about in my previous post.  I had some recommendations from some friends; however, I ended up using Wyeast Belgian Saison 3724.  I once again stood at the fridge looking at all of the yeast strains, but I landed on this one.  I liked that you could ferment at a higher temperature, and the write up made it sound like the premier yeast.  I’ll probably have someone get on here tell me the error of my ways, but I thought it seemed like a good idea.

I’m thinking of maybe slicing up some fresh ginger and orange peel for the saison to sit on in the secondary; however, I’m wondering what everyone thinks of that idea.  Can anyone give me a good reason not to try that?  I’m a little worried I got a little too experimental with a few things too fast, but I’m having fun, and I hope it turns out good.  I’ll keep everyone up to date on how it goes. I wanted to name it something that went a little closer to the brewery name: Vigilante.  Therefore, this will be Seppuku Saison.  Look it up if you don’t get the meaning.  It may be a little dark and scary for a saison, but I think that’s the fun of it.  Plus I’ll want to partake in the activity if the beer doesn’t work out.

May 15, 2012
Categories: Libations . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Lyrics, Libations, and Life . Comments: 3 Comments

Hitachino Nest Brewing Co – 3 Days

Sometimes it’s hard to think up a way to introduce a beer to everyone.  I think of what spin I can put on it to intro into reviewing a beer.  Other times, I really need to do very little to think up a way to introduce a great beer.  This beer pretty much writes itself.  There really is only one way to tell everyone the interesting story about this beer.  This beer was in the midst of its mashing process on March 11 when a massive 9.0 earthquake hit Japan.  Hitachino Nest, like everyone else in the area, had to flee for their lives.  They were unable to return to their brew for three whole days. When they returned they found that fermentation had already begun, and the tanks were tilted on their side.  They could have scratched it and started over, but they decided to bottle and sell the product none the less.  They were only able to produce 8,000 bottles from the earthquake tanks, but thankfully I was able to get a hold of a bottle myself.  It kind of felt like I was getting a bottle with a little historical significance to it.

It’s a little strange trying to figure out the style of this beer.  I don’t think it really follows any of the same processes for the normal production of any particular style of beer.  I guess an earthquake will do that, but they do label it as one particular style.  It is a Witbier.  Looking up the style of a witbier, you can clearly see that it doesn’t exactly follow the original concept of a witbier.  A witbier is supposed to be a pale and cloudy beer that is heavy on wheat and some oats.  Most of the flavors tend to be concerned with coriander, lemon and orange peel; however, as you’ll see with the review, a lot of these flavors got a little more rich and muddled as they continued to age.  Ultimately I’m not sure this a beer they could, or ever would, be able to produce again.  Regardless, it’s a little piece of a big historical event in the history of Japan.

Unlike what a normal witbier normally produces, this beer pours out a very dark amber and brownish color.  There is a light amount of head on the pour, but it does result in some light lacing and only a slight hint of sticky residue.  The beer is slightly hazy and you can view some very slight carbonation in the glass.  Ultimately it appears to be a much richer and heftier beer than the one the one they were intending to produce before a big old earthquake hit.

The sweet malts are the biggest aroma that I pull out of this particular smell profile.  They have a very fig and raisin aroma to them, and they also are resulting a very big booze smell as well.  There is some very slight orangey citrus aroma to the beer, and you get a huge clove smell to back up the orange as well.  The clove isn’t all that surprising as it is a Belgian beer; although, I think they didn’t use a specific yeast on this one.  I think the yeast was more spontaneous.  The yeast does have some big spice to it, but it does mix with some of that big dark fruit to balance it.

The beer intros in with a lot of really sweet malts.  These have some ample orangey citrus involved in the introduction as well.  This quickly gives way to some huge yeast with a lot of clove involved as well.  This blends well with the hefty amount of fig and raisin taste that comes in on the back half.  I’m surprised these come in so late on the brew, but they certainly come in for the finish.  There is a little bit of residual citrus on the back as well, and you get a lot of booze on the ending as well.  There is a little bit of long-lasting sweet malts that linger on the finish as well.

There is a ton of carbonation throughout most of the beer.  This disappears fairly quickly as you allow the beer to warm.  There is a lot of obvious sweetness and booziness to the entire brew that tries to break through the carbonation most of the time.  Overall, I think it may be slightly too sweet and figgy for me, but I do like it quite a bit.  It’s not really crisp and refreshing.  I guess it’s slightly more of a sipper.

They made 8,000 of these bottles, so I’m not sure how hard they are to find; however, if you do see it, you should definitely pick it up.  I’ve enjoyed most everything I’ve had out of Hitachino Nest, and I’m glad they were able to take a terrible thing and turn it into something they could actually use and sell.  It has a definite history to it, so I think it’s hard to pass up this bottle.  It’s good on top of that.

Teacher Grade: B

May 14, 2012
Categories: Libations . Tags: , , , , , , , , , . Author: Lyrics, Libations, and Life . Comments: 1 Comment

Dogfish Head / Stone / Victory – Saison du Buff

Perhaps you’ve figured it out already, but I am really focused on this next concoction I’ll be brewing.  Thus, I am drinking a lot of beers that will influence my thought process leading up to it.  I think I’m a little worried that I won’t want to drink a saison by the time mine is ready to drink, so I’ll have to break away from this trend after I finally brew mine.  I wouldn’t want to brew something I’m absolutely sick of.  Anyway, this is actually the second time I’ve had this brew.  The first time I got it was right at the start of this blog.  I never actually did a review of it, but I did buy it as a part of a selection of beers I was trying to develop my thoughts and feelings on.  Looking back on the first time I consumed it, I don’t think I actually remember what it tasted like at all.  There was really only one reason I purchased it, the three breweries involved in the collaboration.  How could I pass up on a beer involving three of the biggest craft breweries in North America today?  This time, however, I was drinking it with a purpose.

This particular bottle came out of Dogfish, but it is actually produced by all three breweries.  Dogfish’s website states that the name of the beer actually gives a hint to the origins as well.  Buff actually stands for brewers united for freedom of flavor.  It kind of seems like a really dorky club, but I would probably love to be a part of it.  Back in 2003 the three owners of these breweries got together to talk about creating a beer like this; however, it wasn’t until 2010 that it actually came to fruition.  They went out to Stone to work on the recipe, and they all took it back home with them where they produced it for each of their individual breweries.  Therefore, you can find this same beer with three different types of packaging.  This is the second time they have released it, and I must say, I found it at exactly the right time.

This beer is interesting because it seems to use every ingredient you will find in a standard spice cabinet.  This is a saison that has been spiced with parsley, thyme, rosemary, and sage.  Although I’ve had all of these ingredients, I don’t think I can individualize the flavors.  I use parsley and rosemary the most in my own kitchen, but I’m not sure how all three would combine.  Regardless, I’m quite happy these three breweries got together to brew this beer.

This one pours out a really pleasant golden yellowish color.  There is a ton of very fluffy white head that develops on top of the beer.  The head never really disappears throughout the whole consumption of the beer.  Even at the end you’re left with some ample head remnants.  While there is a ton of head, the lacing doesn’t really amount too much when you swirl the glass.  You get a little light lacing, but it isn’t much to speak of.  There is only a small amount of sticky residue left over on the side of the glass.  The beer is certainly a little hazy, but you see absolutely no carbonation in the glass at all.

The beer does have a very herbal aroma to it.  I suppose this is basically stating the obvious given the ingredient list.  I would say the parsley and maybe rosemary are the biggest contributors to the aroma, but those are the ones I’m most familiar with.  I may just be smelling what I know.  Anyway, there is definitely the big yeast aroma here.  It doesn’t smell too clove ridden.  I think I get a little more bread than spice.  There is definitely a bunch of citrus in here as well, and you get some very clear hops smell as well.

The taste is slightly different from the saisons I’ve been drinking as of late, but it is still really well-balanced and pleasant.  It starts with a lot of ample sweet malts.  The malts lead you into a really light citrus taste, which then transitions you into the big hit of yeast.  The yeast, once again, doesn’t feature that big clove flavor I’ve been having lately, but the clove is still there in the background of the flavor.  I think it’s probably good because it doesn’t compete with the herbal flavors that come in.  The herbs come in and bridge the game between yeast and hops.  The herb I pull out the most is the rosemary.  Following the herbs is a really ample amount of hops for the finish.  The hops aren’t too piney, which I appreciate for this style.  The ending is a pleasant mix of hops and herbs.

The beer starts out rather syrupy at the start of this tasting.  This makes it seem a little overly sweet at the start of the brew when the syrup combines with the sweet malts.  Thankfully the carbonation comes in quickly with the yeast as well.  The mouthfeel is really crisp on the end.  All of the flavors work really well together, which makes me really happy.  I wasn’t sure if one of the spices would be a little off, but they combine really well.

I have yet some more inspiration for my upcoming brew.  As I told you yesterday, I don’t really intend to get any of these particular flavors into my brew, but it is yet another fine example of a great beer to use as a good example.  I will definitely be looking for this one again, and you should too.  How can you pass up a collaboration between all of these breweries?

Teacher Grade: A

May 11, 2012
Categories: Libations . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Lyrics, Libations, and Life . Comments: 1 Comment

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