Troegs Brewing Co – Dead Reckoning Porter

As it is Black Beer Friday, I had to make sure I reviewed something nice and dark for today.  Perhaps tomorrow I’ll manage to get out a post that has something to do with what I drink on the actual day, but for now you can read about a good choice for your black beer decision.  I actually tasted this beer a few weeks ago, and I’ve been holding onto the notes until I was ready to post about it.  Well black friday seemed like the perfect day to post about a beer called Dead Reckoning.  It’s black for the day, but it also seemed like an appropriate name for the meaning.  Dead reckoning is a term used by sailors when they could only rely on pure skill to get from their starting point to their destination.  Kind of sounds like what some shoppers are doing.

Troegs gets a lot of recognition for some brews, but others seem to get a little overlooked.  We have just entered perhaps their biggest recognition period.  Mad Elf is perhaps the most popular brew they make.  I’ve heard of some people who stockpile it to have all throughout the Christmas and winter season.  Their other popular beers seem to deal mostly with hops.  Their Hopback Amber and Perpetual IPA were also quite popular in my area, so much so, that my shop had to put a limit on the number they were allowing their customers to purchase.  There are a few others in their line up that people enjoy, but you don’t see them going crazy for them.

This is the second year in a row where I’ve noticed this beer on the shelf.  It’s one of those beers where I continually think it could be a good one, but I never pick it up.  And, since no one is scrambling to get it, I’ve felt no rush to pick it up.  This year I lucked out and saw it as a single at my local store.  Sometimes it’s just hard to grab a six pack of something you don’t know you’ll want to drink over and over again.  Troeg’s describes this porter as “an unfiltered and aggressively hopped porter. Dead Reckoning’s flavor originates in the chocolate and roasted malts, then follows through with sharp, earthy bitterness and a rich, smooth cocoa mouthfeel.”  I’m not sure any of these sound like flavors that are “out there” or unexpected, but they sound like just the flavors I seek out in the winter.

This one pours a very dark black coffee color.  There is a very light tan head that develops on top of the glass, and you have some very good lacing.  The lacing also results in some great sticky residue as well.  There are some very light bubbles left over on top.  The beer is, once again, far too dark to get a sense of clarity; however, there does seem to be some light activity in the glass despite the fact that you can’t see any real carbonation.

The aroma is fairly well balanced overall.  There are some light coffee smells that combine with some pleasant and light roasted notes.  The chocolate notes seem to be quite a bit bigger than the coffee or roasted aromas.  There is an interesting mild citrus aroma that I would blame on the hops, especially since you get some of that earthy hopiness on the nose as well.  There is a little light licorice to round out the aroma.

While the nose seems really well balanced, I wouldn’t say the flavor profile is the same way. The roasted flavors kick up right away and hang around for the entire tasting.  They start light at the beginning of the brew, but they are still quite obviously there.  These light roasted notes combine with some sweet chocolate malts.  Some light citrus notes lead into some very apparent hops near the middle of the brew.  The roasted flavors really kick up in the second half of the beer with some very bold coffee flavors as well.  More of the citrus and hop flavors mix in on the back half following up the big coffee and roasted flavors.  The beer has a slightly off flavor as the hops and roasted notes mix in for the finish.

The beer starts with some pretty big carbonation; however, it turns into a much more syrupy beer when the big roasted notes come in.  The hops are certainly a little strong for such bold roasted flavors.  I don’t mind an aggressive use of hops in a porter, but I like them to back down a little bit on the roasted flavors.  Check out my review on Ska Brewing – Ten Pin Porter for what I mean.  I do like the way the big roasted notes finish the beer.

As I said earlier, I’ve seen this brew on the shelves a lot.  I’m glad I got around to trying it, but it won’t make my list of top porters out there.  While I do love hops, I think they need to back off a little more for this brew.  Either that or, tone it down on the roasted flavors so the flavors can meld together slightly better.  It’s not bad, but it didn’t really give me what I want.  If you want hops in a porter, go check out the one from Ska instead.  You’ll be happy you did.

Teacher Grade: C

November 23, 2012
Categories: Libations . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Lyrics, Libations, and Life . Comments: Leave a Comment

Ska Brewing Co – Ten Pin Porter

One of the most important times of my life for self and music discovery came at the end of middle school and the beginning of high school.  I look back at that time period as being a really fun time in my life.  Shows or concerts were some of the most important things to me at that time.  Since I was without a car or license at that time, I had to hitch a ride to any event I wanted to get to.  While this made things difficult, it also helped me really look into every form of music I could find, so I would know to look for both big and local shows that were taking place.  One of the most important types of much in that development was the big resurgence of ska that was taking place at that time.  One of the most prolific ska shows at that time was the all day festival, Ska Against Racism, that came through the local college.  It featured some of the biggest ska bands at that time, and it was an all day fest in the rain.  While it somewhat sounds miserable, to a teenager, it was one of the best memories I have from high school.

Years later I saw that there was a brewing company that took me back to that memory; however, I couldn’t seem to get them in my area. Then, about two weeks ago, I got an email from an online beer distributer that told me they were offering three different beers from Ska brewing as a six-pack and it had free shipping.  I’m sure I overpaid some for these six beers, but I’m a sucker, so I immediately jumped on it.  The six beers that were included in this offer were their Ten Pin Porter, Pinstripe Red Ale, and Modus Hoperandi.  Although I wasn’t sure which of the beers I wanted to consume first, I decided to go with the Ten Pin.  There are a few different reasons I landed on the porter.  First of all it’s a porter.  I wanted to have something a little darker and maltier, plus I brewed a stout recently and brewing always puts me in the mood to drink beers of a similar nature.  Secondly, it was the one rated highest on Beer Advocate.  The Bros actually gave it a 100, so I felt that meant I had to go for it first.

Ska Brewing seems to have an interesting beginning.  Back in 1995 the two owners loved beer and ska, but they weren’t old enough to buy beer, so they decided to start making it.  Drawing inspiration from their favorite form of music, Ska Brewing Co was born.  Ten Pin is described as a beer brewed with six different malts and Perle and Willamette Hops.  The most intriguing note seems to be that they describe the taste as chocolate milk and not chocolate.  Hopefully chocolate milk beer is real good!

This one pours out a dark black oil color, but it has more of the consistency of coffee than oil.  There is a light tan head that develops on top of the beer.  Some great lacing and tons of really sticky residue develop on the side of the glass.  The beer is clearly too dark for any visible carbonation, but you can see some visible activity in the glass when you agitate the contents.

The aroma is fairly straight forward for a porter; however, this is the first sign that you’re dealing with a standard porter and not a robust porter.  There are some big sweet malts that pretty much dominate the nose.  There are certainly quite a bit of roasted notes here as well as some clear coffee scents.  The chocolate is dominate as well; however, despite all of the big rich scents, the beer is still quite crisp.  There seems to be some light citrus and hop aroma here as well.  I was interested to see how the citrus played into the flavor profile.

The flavors start with some big sweet malts.  This transitions into some well-balanced, although not overwhelming, roasted notes. The surprise comes right in the middle of the beer.  It starts as a standard porter, but it comes in with some pretty significant citrus flavors as well.  This helps the beer come across as much lighter right in the middle of a beer typically considered fairly heavy.  The roasted notes do come back, and you get a kick up of some nicely balanced chocolate flavors.  Some light piney tartness comes in, which I would attribute to some of the hops.  There is a little bit of oak and residual roasted notes on the finish.

The mouthfeel is quite interesting.  It is not as big and robust as most porters I’ve had in the past, but it is quite a refreshing take on a dark beer.  It’s a really good blend of chocolate, roasted notes, and citrus.  The moderate to high carbonation also helps keep the beer feeling rather fresh.

I don’t think I would call this beer chocolate milk, but I think it’s a great refreshing taste on a dark beer.  There are certain people out there who judge beers by their color.  This beer, however, helps to show that a dark beer doesn’t have to be big and thick.  If you see this beer around it’s a really great beer to have as a transition from fall into winter flavors.  I just don’t promise you can find it.

Teacher Grade: A

October 29, 2012
Categories: Libations . Tags: , , , , , , , , , . Author: Lyrics, Libations, and Life . Comments: 1 Comment

Boomstick “Porter”

A while ago, I blogged looking for advice on a new idea for a beer I wanted to create.  Ultimately, there were two ingredients I was looking to get into a porter that would be the main inspiration of the beer: Honey and Chipotles.  Well that beer has been brewed, fermented, and bottled.  For better or worse, we’ll see in a few weeks if I’ve created something inspirational or something destined for the sink.

The idea for this brew came out pretty organically.  I wanted to delve into a darker beer, and I wanted to use a pound of honey I received from a fellow teacher.  That was then changed into a chipotle porter when my wife suggested the idea for getting some spice in there.  I thought it was a great idea and I hit the blog hopping to get a little more insight into how I might go about creating a beer that utilized both honey and chipotle.  Being a lover of all big beers, I was immediately swayed to take the route of a friend who posted his advice on my Facebook.  He suggested soaking the chipotles and some oak chips in bourbon for a few days.  That would sanitize the peppers, and it would add to the flavor profile of the beer.  Needless to say, I jumped right on it.

The brew for the porter went pretty well; however, I realized at the end of the boil, that I may not have actually gone dark and heavy enough to call this beer a porter.  If you look at the quotation marks above, I’m calling it a “porter” because I have a feeling the actual porter qualities are a little lacking.  I was concerned that with having so many other flavors in there, I would overwhelm the palate if I added in a ton of coffee flavor.  So, I basically eliminated it.  I also didn’t really get enough chocolate in there either.  Although I wanted to wait for the bottle aging and carbonation development, I think I may have focused too much on the additives to the brew and not enough to the base.  You live and you learn.

Anyway, I think I may have made a second error when I decided to soak the oak chips and chipotles in the bourbon for near a week.   I decided to go with one of my favorite bourbons at the moment for the bourbon component: Bulleit.  I poured 14oz of the bourbon

My inspiration for the name

into a clean and sanitized jar.  From there, I added the oak chips and dried chipotles.  As you can see from the picture, it’s a very enticing concoction.  We went on vacation for a few days, and when I returned I took a straw full of the infusion to see how it was going.  The pepper was intense.  Despite this, I strained the solids out and added the liquid to the secondary.  There it sat for two weeks.

This past Friday I decided to bottle.  Once again I took a little sip of the uncarbonated brew hoping the peppers had managed to mellow out a little while blending together with the beer.  Although not quite as hot, the pepper was still quite ferocious.  I bottled it up none-the-less, and we’ll see in a few weeks if I have a winner or a loser.  Ultimately I decided to name this one Boomstick after the famous line from Army of Darkness.  I thought this one seemed like a double barrel shotgun with all the different huge flavors I decided to throw into it.  I have a feeling it may be a cult classic as well.

Although I may not have produced exactly what I set out to do, it was a great learning experience.  I’ve learned a lot in just the 5 different creations I’ve tried to brew since February.  I had a batch of DIPA that never carbonated, a pretty good saison that was overcarbonated, and a beer that may be too spicy.  Ironically, I produced a pretty good beer between each one.  The Yippie-Ki-Yay Hazelnut Brown Ale is a great beer, and I’m really happy with it.  So I guess I need to be a little less adventurous on my next brew.

 

Yippie-Ki-Yay Brown

 

August 27, 2012
Categories: Libations, Life . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Lyrics, Libations, and Life . Comments: Leave a Comment

DC Beer Week

This week is beer week here in Washington DC.  Although it certainly isn’t surprising to have a week dedicated to beer in a
major city, I would like to think that DC has been improving by leaps and bounds when it comes to craft beer in the past few years.  It wasn’t long ago that Port City, the first craft brewer outside the city limits, opened up.  Then, not long after that, the first brewery inside the DC limits opened as well: DC Brau.  There are now multiple brewers you can find both inside and outside of the city limits.  Chocolate City has been slowly building steam, Lost Rhino can be found not too far into VA, and both 3 Stars and Bluejacket premiered this week.  With quite a few different pretty good beer bars in the city now, I think it’s safe to say DC is becoming a beer destination.  Maybe we aren’t a Portland, Oregon, but we are doing alright for ourselves over here.

Of course I had to hit up an event or two for DC Beer Week.  How could I stay home when this is the very topic I love to discuss?  The unfortunate part to all of this is trying to fit these events in with a busy schedule.  I started back to school this week, so I have some responsibilities arising again.  Additionally, I’m at my own restaurant three times a week, so I can’t skip work to try the rare and special brews offered at more beer-centric establishments.  Finally, we are also buying a house, so we had to do some house hunting and paperwork for an offer as well.  It’s quite possibly the worst week for it to be beer week for me.  Thankfully, I did manage to get over to Smith Commons Wednesday night to enjoy a few beers from some breweries that are a little harder to find in our area.

Smith Commons isn’t necessarily my number one choice when it comes to seeking out craft beer in the district.  Don’t get me wrong, they have a great space on H Street.  It’s clean, good-looking, and slightly expensive.  Yeah you picked up on that last note right?  Anyway, like in years past, they broke up their week into areas of the country for their tastings.  Wednesday night they tapped some beers from the West Coast.  There are many different breweries from the West Coast I would have loved to see there, but the three-tiered distribution problem must prevent them from getting Russian River stuff.  While a little disappointed that a few breweries weren’t represented, I was quite pleased to see a few that are just slightly more infrequent.  The breweries they were featuring on this particular night were Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Stone Brewing Co., Epic Brewing Company, Black Diamond Brewing Company, Anchor Brewing, Lagunitas Brewing Company, Maui Brewing Co., Anderson Valley Brewing Company, and The Bruery. It’s quite a lot of different options, and I actually enjoy all of these.  Getting over there around 8 pm, I quickly got to the bar to examine the options I had from each of these breweries.

This was the first of a few little let downs.  During beer week, I’m hopeful to find beers I can’t normally find.  This however seemed to be an opportunity for many of those who have yet to delve into the craft beer scene to try some of the most prominent products from these companies.   For instance, I would have liked to see Stone 16 year Anniversary IPA on tap.  Instead my choices were Arrogant Bastard ale and Ruination.  They are both great beers, but I’ve had them many times before.  This was pretty much the case for most of these, and although I can blame some of it on having a little more experience than your typical DC resident, I went there really excited that there would be something there I hadn’t had before.  The other disappointment was that there wasn’t actually anything from The Bruery there.  I have had one or two things from them, but they are a company I simply haven’t fully explored as of yet.

I managed to pull together two beers to taste.  The first beer I tackled was Black Diamond’s Brandy Barrel Grand Cru.  I’ve had one beer out of Black Diamond before, Peak XV, and I remember not being overly impressed with the offering.  However, after viewing the fairly disappointing list, this one stood out as sounding somewhat unique.  I wouldn’t say it was perfect for a warm summer night, but it was certainly a good beer.  I’ve had many different beers that have been aged in many different devices, but I don’t think I’ve ever had this particular combo before.  It was certainly a Belgian beer, but the brandy barrels added a lot of taste and booze.  My wife complained she could smell it across the table.  The second, and last, beer I went with was Maui Brewing Co’s Coconut Porter.  This is a beer that I can certainly get in the area, but I’ve delayed quite a bit in picking it up, so I was happy to get a chance to give it a try.  I really enjoyed the use of coconut in this brew.  I’m a very big coconut fan, but it was once again a little heavy for a night on the pack porch in August.

There were a few other bottles I would have picked up, but I was ready to head home at this point.  I thought about grabbing one of the ones I’d had before ( Lagunitas – Lil Sumpin Wild, Sierra Nevada – Bigfoot, Sierra Nevada – Hoptimum, or Firestone-Walker -15th Anniversary), but I was done for the night.  It was a great line up of beers, but I was a little upset I couldn’t find more I had never had before.  At $5 a draught, it was certainly a good deal, but I may have to head back down tonight for Northeast night or tomorrow for Mid-Atlantic Brewers.  Either way, I would like to get to one more event before I have to wait till next year.

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

Stone Brewing Co – Smoked Porter w/ Chipotle Peppers

Having taken yet another week off from blogging, I thought I had better start this week with a little something good.  Although I felt like I needed to relax a bit on the everyday posting, I also realized I need to post a few times a week to keep my readers interested.  Don’t worry, I have a few post ideas ready to go this week.  Last week I was also gone most of the time on a little vacation to Rehoboth beach right before we head back for another school year.

Anyway, as I love to do, I’m reviewing a beer that has a close relation to the beer I’m currently brewing.  If you missed my update a few weeks ago, I’m currently brewing a honey chipotle porter.  Having never used honey or peppers in my brewing before, I decided to confront my readers with some questions about what I should do in undertaking this beer.  Ultimately the biggest quantity of ideas were supplied on my Facebook.  I’ll end up sharing how those suggestions altered my original idea as the beer gets closer to ready; however, I was really happy to see Stone put out this smoked porter using chipotle peppers right at the same time I’m using the peppers.

Stone may be the most reviewed brewery on this site, but it’s because they are always doing something interesting.  I still haven’t even reviewed every special release I’ve gotten from them over the past year.  I didn’t review their TBA, More Brown than Black IPA, and La Citrueille Celeste.  I don’t want this site to become all about Stone brewery; although, I have a feeling it wouldn’t be too hard.  Anyway, Stone already makes a really good smoked porter.  Having produced the porter for years now, why not make some alterations to it to produce a beer that would get everyone interested.  Here Stone used their original porter recipe and produced both a chipotle and vanilla batch.  We’ll see if I review the vanilla version, since I do have it; however, I popped this chipotle version right into the fridge for immediate review.

The beer isn’t all that surprising on the pour.  It’s a porter and pours and appears just like a porter should appear.  The beer is a super dark black color that resembles black coffee or even oil.  There is a nice rich tan head that develops on top of the glass as well.  The lacing is fairly hefty; however, you really don’t get a whole lot of sticky residue to go along with that.  The beer is obviously too dark to give you a good idea of the clarity or carbonation; however, you can see a lot of activity around the edges of the beer when you agitate it in the glass.

The smell was where I thought the beer would first start to separate itself out from their typical porter, which it does; however, it really isn’t by much.  You get a lot of the sweet malts that create the backbone for the brew.  Combining with the sweetness is a significant amount of both coffee and chocolate aromas.  Of course, the name suggests that there has to be a smokey aspect to this beer, which you get in combination with the dominant coffee aromas.  The beer also carries a type of oaky woody smell too.  The peppers are probably the least dominant thing in the aroma.  Of course, this may not be a terrible thing, but I certainly thought I would get a lot more of the spice on the nose than I did.  Although I didn’t want the beer to be overwhelmed by the spice, I was really hopping I would get a little more of it on the taste than I did on the scent.

The beer, once again, isn’t all that surprising when it comes to the big porter taste.  It’s pretty  much what you would expect in many ways from a big bold smoked porter. It kicks off with the nice sweet malts.  These are very helpful for the foundation on which the rest of the beer is built.  From there, the beer moves into some sweet chocolate flavors that transition from the sweetness to the big roasted flavors of the coffee notes.  The coffee notes give a certain bitter quality that leads to a nice hit of the 53 IBUs the hops are hiding in here.  Ultimately, it is the hops that then help the beer transition from the sweet and roasted flavors to the subtle spice flavors.  The chipotle peppers are still really mild and only hint at the hidden spice they add to the beer; however, they add a nice bit of light burn to the end of an already great beer.  The flavors all seem to build on top of each other, which I would say shows a ton of skill that I’m sure I will be lacking in my beer.  One can dream though!

The mouthfeel shows a perfect balance between the syrup, the carbonation, the hops, and the pepper burn.  The beer starts with a little light syrup; however, the carbonation is ample enough to keep it drinkable.  As the carbonation diminishes, the hops and peppers come in to give the beer that still fresh feel.  Once again, it shows the skill I’m sure I’ll be lacking.  Interestingly, the burn from the peppers only becomes more noticeable as you continue to drink.  Skill that is once again to be envied!

If you couldn’t tell from some of my comments, I’m becoming a little concerned that my beer will be a little unbalanced by the chipotle peppers.  I have a few different reasons for believing this, but I’ll save those thoughts for another post.  In the meantime, you can enjoy one of the better examples of a beer that uses chipotles if you can find this one from Stone.  It’s a limited edition, so it may already be gone, but it’s a great beer you should pick up if you can find it.

Teacher Grade: A

August 13, 2012
Categories: Libations . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Lyrics, Libations, and Life . Comments: 2 Comments

A Little Sweet with a Touch of Heat

 

I know it’s been a little while since I wrote on here, and I was planning on talking about my latest brown I have in bottles; however, instead I’ve decided to seek out a little advice on my next brew.  As with other homebrewers I know, the second you get your beer brewed you start thinking of what you want to produce next.  For weeks now I’ve been thinking about getting an IPA going.  I may have been a little overzealous attempting to produce a double IPA before ever producing a regular IPA.  Therefore, I was thinking I need to make a good regular hoppy beer.  Then my wife through an idea into the mix that really threw me for a mental loop.

 

 

I was looking around for recipes that I could use a pound of honey a fellow teacher gave me.  I was thinking I should use it in the IPA I had in mind.  Of course the big honey IPA that comes to mind is Hopslam.  I love Hopslam, but I wasn’t really looking to create a clone of it.  Then my wife said “Why don’t you make a honey chipotle beer?”  That really set the wheels turning.  It sounded like the perfect blend of sweet and spice.  Why not produce something like that?  I started looking for recipes I could use to produce it.  I’m not sure that I’ve ever heard of a beer that combines both of these ingredients, but I know of ones that have the individual flavors in them.  I started to try to focus mostly on the Chipotle aspect.  Rogue’s chipotle uses and amber base, and Stone just added chipotle to their smoked porter.  Using both of those beers as inspiration, I’ve decided to try to produce a honey chipotle porter.  This of course only brings a whole multitude of questions.  Hence, I have taken to the blog to find out what my readers think I should do to produce this next brew.

 

On to the questions!  The first questions deal with the chipotle peppers.  What would be the best way to get a nice medium to light burn on my beer?  I want it to be a little sweet and a little heat, so I really don’t want to overpower too much with one of those aspects.  From what I’ve read, you can add a pepper per gallon to the brew.  I’ve read about some people who add the peppers in the last 20 minutes of the boil, and I’ve read about others who have added them to the secondary.  So where would you put the peppers?  The final question involving the peppers deals with how I “sanitize them”.  I read about some who allowed them to soak in vodka for days and then added the entire solution to the brew.  I’ve also read about others who roasted them and deseeded them before hand.  Is there a particular method you would take to prepare the peppers?

 

I also have questions on the honey.  I’ve never used honey in my brew, and I want to make sure you can taste a little bit of sweetness to counterbalance the slight burn of the chipotle.  Of course I don’t think I would add the honey at the start of the boil, but I’m not sure if I wait to the last 5 minutes or put it in earlier?  I also believe I can add it straight to the brew without making a solution, but I’m not entirely sure about that.  Could I infect my beer if I don’t create a solution out of the honey?  Do I make a solution in order to add it in?

As always, I’m getting pretty psyched for this beer, but I want to make sure to produce a good beer and not something that goes down the drain like my imperial IPA.  So I come to you, my faithful and helpful readers.  Help me plan and plot how to best produce my first ever porter!

 

 

 

 

 

July 31, 2012
Categories: Libations, Life . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Lyrics, Libations, and Life . Comments: 13 Comments

Beer Memories

I have never  really heard of a beer geek or connoisseur who hopped right into drinking craft beer with their first beer ever.  Or at least, they didn’t do it on purpose.  Even those of us who appreciate a well crafted beer started out thinking of alcohol in a pretty similar way.  I, of course, can’t really talk about a lot of other people’s experiences, but I do know how my experience began.  My first beer ever was enjoyed at a new years eve party for Eyeball Records with a couple of friends and a bunch of pretentious hipster types.  I ended up there because I wanted something fun to do that night, but I pretty much ended up feeling like I didn’t belong.  One of the guys I came with brought me over a can of beer, which I promptly popped open and drank because I was looking for someway to fit in with a crowd I felt I didn’t belong with.  That first can wasn’t an immediate jump into the world of craft beer, but it was a catalyst for kick starting my interests in beer.   That can led me to an interest in trying a lot of new different types of beer.  Of course I drank my fair amount of Rolling Rock, Coors, and MGD along the way, but I eventually found these things called hops that really started to take me in a brand new direction.

Each beer I drank formed a new little beer memory.  I can remember my first IPA, my first porter, and my first barleywine.  Some of these I have gone back to simply to see if it is the same, and some of these I love to go back to because I will always love them, but I will always remember the first time I tried each one of these beers.  They made an impression on me, and I’ll remember them for what they tasted like the first time, even though they may never taste that same way again. Here are a few of those beers!

Yuengling:  I think it’s crazy that this is the second time I’ve posted about America’s oldest brewery over the last two weeks.  I have to throw them up here because it is the can of beer I referred to in the little story from above.  It’s funny what you can remember from different things in your life.  I’m told that My Chemical Romance was at that Eyeball Records new years eve party, but I can only remember seeing that geeky bass player.  Instead, I do remember my friend telling me to try this can of beer.  He told me it was the oldest brewery in America.  I figured it had to be good.  I really can’t go into the taste profile, mouthfeel, or color that won me over, but it was the entire experience that hooked me into this interesting beverage I had never had before.  Unlike where I grew up, Yuengling doesn’t rule the world down here in Washington DC, so I love to go back to it now and then when it is available.  Trust me I do pass it up a ton still too, but it’s like visiting an old pal.

IPAs: Did anyone actually drink an IPA the first time and think it was the greatest thing they
have ever tasted?  I had multiple experiences with IPAs that are vivid memories.  Most of them tended to really not be great experiences.  The very first IPA I can remember having was a Sierra Nevada Celebration ale.  My girlfriend (now wife) and I were out for dinner while in college.  I was interested in trying new things, so I went for this one, and I felt like I had to choke down all the hops.  Looking back at it, there are 65 IBUs in there, so I guess it was kind of strong for my first IPA.  The next one I remember having was after college.   We were out in Georgetown, and I tried another beer I had never seen before.  I’m fairly certain it was Redhook Long Hammer.  I had a similar experience where it took me a real long time to get it down.  Eventually I managed to find a love for IPAs, and I decided I wanted to test the boundaries of hops; therefore, I had to test out the Dogfish Head 120.  I was completely blown away by the flavors I experienced coming out of that bottle.  I had never experienced anything like that before.  Going back years later, I realized it wasn’t the craziest IPA I have ever had anymore, but I think that ultimately took me to a place I had never been to before with beer.

Porter: Darker beers were something I wasn’t really all that interested in right away.  I remember drinking a lot of Lagers, Ales, and Hefes, but I don’t remember going dark all that quickly.  When I was first starting to think about craft beer, I went to the store up the street and found a beer called Old Engine Oil from Harviestoun Brewery.  Looking back at that experience, I realize I had never really had a beer containing big coffee, roasts, and malts.  This beer blew me away the first time I had it.  It was definitely the first step in learning to love dark beers.  I know I had enjoyed a Guinness at this point in my drinking experience, but that didn’t even come close to the flavors I experienced in Old Engine Oil.

There are a few other beers I could talk about experiencing for the first time.  I remember drinking my first real Hefe and Barleywine, but I don’t want to ramble on and on.  I’m sure I’m not the only one who vividly remembers tasting some of these beer style for the first time.  Some of these I love to go back to because they take me right back to that first time, while other have been a slight disappointment going back to.  It’s weird when you realize it doesn’t pack the same punch it did the first time.  Regardless, it’s these experiences that shaped my love of beer today, and I’ll definitely keep some of these beers close to my heart.

March 22, 2012
Categories: Libations, Life . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Lyrics, Libations, and Life . Comments: 4 Comments

Atwater Block Brewery – Vanilla Java Porter

As I said a couple of weeks ago, I took a little trip to Pittsburgh where I managed to stop in at D’s SixPax & Dogz.  As I have already made known, they have my favorite option for getting together a bunch of different beers for tasting: create your own six-pack.  Now I will admit to having my wife take two slots of that six-pack for a few pumpkin beers she wanted; however, I made sure to use my remaining four slots wisely. I previously mentioned that I had an ipa while I was in Pitt that I got from here.  This is the second one out of that pack.

There were a few different things that attracted me to picking up this bottle.  First of all, it is from a brewery I have never heard of or seen before.  Atwater Block may be available in this area; however, if it is, I have never seen it before.  Secondly, it says that is a vanilla java porter.  Having recently picked up both the breakfast stout and Canadian breakfast stout, I was really interested in having something else that a brewery may be claiming is close to a similar concept.  The bottle even says on it, “Wake up and smell the beer!”.  So, I was at least a little confident I would like this.  Finally, I love porters!  Why wouldn’t I buy a style of beer I already love?

Looking into the brewery, I found that these guys are located in Detroit’s Rivertown district.  I actually found this a little disconcerting.  I don’t know what the water quality is like there, but I have my doubts.  Another interesting bit of info was that all of their brewing equipment was brought in from Germany.  These guys even make their service calls to the Germans.  Additionally, they get all of their hops and malts imported from Germany as well.  I suppose it is pretty clear where they draw their inspiration from.

The pour on this one came out a very dark brownish/black.  It wasn’t exactly completely black because you can pick up some different haziness through it, but ultimately it’s very dark.  There is some really nice thick head development that builds on top of the beer with the pour.  It has a nice brownish tint to that as well.  I always love to see this color in the head of beer.  Nothing says dark rich flavor like brown head.  There is some moderate lacing that manages to last for an extended period of time.  Finally, you can definitely see the carbonation that is present here.

The smell that really hits you when you take your first sniff is huge vanilla scents.  The vanilla has a strange almost candle like quality to it.  I kind of just want to find the wick and light this one up.  Despite the strength of the vanilla scent, it has an almost fresh quality to the scent.  Other than the very obvious vanilla scent, there is also some chocolate that obviously backs up the fresh vanilla.  Finally, the coffee scent is rather obvious as well.  I find it interesting that they managed to have the vanilla overpower the coffee so much.

The taste starts the same way the smell does: lots of vanilla.  The overall sweetness of this porter is slightly strange; although, I wouldn’t say it’s complete gross.  I think it’s simply different.  Looking at the label, it says that it has been brewed with vanilla extract.  Not having a strong brewing background, I’m unsure if most people would use actual vanilla for brewing, or if they would typically stick to just extract.  I have a feeling it is the use of extract that causes the sweetness here.  The vanilla then gives way to the influx of some moderate chocolate tastes.  They definitely play second fiddle to the vanilla.  The sweetness begins to mellow at the end as the coffee comes into play.  The coffee is a little mild for a porter, but it may actually help the entire blend work well.

The carbonation on the mouthfeel is slightly high; however, I think it is necessary to create a beer that blends well with the sweetness of the vanilla.  I think if they could manage to dial back the carbonation slightly it would only make the beer better.  Overall the flavors all blend very nicely.  Each one is very easily distinguished, but also blends well to create a unified product.  I think I would have appreciated slightly more java in here, but I love coffee, so maybe I’m just biased.

I would definitely pick this one up again, but I don’t think I would power through a complete six-pack very quickly.  However, if I manage to see anything else from this brewery in the future, I’ll definitely be checking it out.  This was my first experience with an Atwater Block product, but I doubt it will be my last.

Teacher Grade: B

November 4, 2011
Categories: Libations . Tags: , , , , . Author: Lyrics, Libations, and Life . Comments: 1 Comment

Smuttynose – Robust Porter

There is one thing that makes me very happy when I go looking for new beer: create your own six pack.  I always really want to try new things, but it’s hard when a lot of the good stuff comes in a 750 ml bottle.  They take up room, and I need to sit down and polish of a larger bottle when maybe I’d rather only drink 12oz.  So, finding a place with a good selection where you can create your own six pack is great.  Thanks to a little earthquake the other week, I managed to end up down in the Annapolis harbor at Mill’s Fine Wine & Spirits on a random day off.  Now they don’t have a massive selection for create your own, but they do have a descent good selection of different beers to experiment with.  While there I picked up three oktoberfests I have never had, a brown, a dark beer from Brazil, and this porter from Smuttynose.  Not a terrible haul for $11, which would be another benefit of the create your own feature.

Being in a dark beer phase right now, I was really interested in this one.  True my last consumption of a Smuttynose product wasn’t my favorite, but I have really loved porters as of late.  Plus, the label is great.  As of a year ago, I would say I had never really consumed too many porters.  I had one every once in a while, but now I really search them out.  Looking into the history of porters a little bit, I found it interesting, and not all that surprising, that porters and stouts are not all that far apart.  Porters really birthed the stout.  Stouts really only came about because people kept brewing darker and heavier porters.  So, like when someone calls an IPA a double IPA or extra IPA, they would brew these beers that they would call extra porter, double porter, or stout porter.  Eventually, people just dropped the porter and the term stout was born.

This one pours out a very dark brown color.  I think you can see enough of the hue difference between it being dark brown and black to not call it black.  There is a small half inch brownish chocolate head that develops on top of the beer.  Swirling the glass brings about some really nice lacing and brings back the light head on top.  It looks like there is a nice rich quality to this one based on the color and creamy head.

There is a really nice rich smell smell to this beer.  You can really pull out the nice earthy malt scent.  It is definitely the backbone to this beer.  You can really pull out the coffee and chocolate notes that are present.  They don’t seem to overwhelm too much which is a little surprising on a porter.  Most that I have had of late have a very overwhelming smell of these two.  Coffee normally overpowers.  There really are no hops present at all in the nose.  I know some brewers like to throw some light hops in there for some depth to the taste, but the nose doesn’t give any of this away.

The taste is really surprising.  It is very clean at the onset.  I always expect more of an initial kick of coffee to jump start a porter, but this one has more of a clean malt flavor.  There is a mix of a mellow chocolate flavor that blend well with the malts.  A very smooth transition from the chocolate flavors into a nice expresso flavor seems to create a really nice balance.   The expresso coffee flavor really isn’t too overwhelming.  I doubt non-coffee drinkers would really like the strength of the coffee flavor, but I think most people who enjoy coffee flavors would like the nice clean coffee flavor here.  The expresso flavor has a very nice woody taste mixed in there as well.  The chocolate and coffee flavors hold into the aftertaste.  The aftertaste is really mellow and not overwhelming.  I think this has to be one of the most well balanced porters I’ve had.

The mouthfeel is really clean on this one.  There is a really pleasant amount of carbonation.  The carbonation helps to mellow the coffee tones that tend to overpower a lot of the other porters.  I tend to enjoy a heft amount of coffee tastes that a lot of porters have, but this one is a nice porter for everyone.  All of the flavors involved in this one really sync up very well together.

If you haven’t ventured into the porters as of yet, I would definitely recommend picking this bottle up yet.  Porters have very quickly become one of my favorite beers, and this one is definitely one of the better ones I’ve had.  Some porters can really overwhelm the palate, which I think can be great in some instances.  Smuttynose has instead created one of the more drinkable porters.  I wish I had another one in my fridge.  Guess I won’t be picking this one up in a create your own six pack next time.  Next time I buy a whole six pack.

Teacher Grade: A+

September 9, 2011
Categories: Libations . Tags: , , , , . Author: Lyrics, Libations, and Life . Comments: 2 Comments

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