Black Swan Theory: Indianapolis, Indiana

Out in Indianapolis this week and the Black Swan Brewpub.
Besides being a rather creepy movie about a ballet dancer, (and really, are there any other kind?) the black swan refers to a theory that basically says that if something is surprising, than it has more psychological impact.  While it was pretty surprising to find a brewpub of this quality in the wilds of Indiana... well it's as good of a introduction as any, deal with it.

The Black Swan brewpub is located in a suburb on the southwest corner of Indianapolis, about 15 miles from the speedway.  It's a bit of a drive if you find yourself in the middle of the city, but it is very much worth the drive if you have an interest in good beer and good food.  The Black Swan is one of those breweries put as much effort, care and innovation in their food menu as they do in their beer menu.   Aside from the normal pub fare the menu features such dishes as sweet potato gnocchi with braised duck or beef carbonnade.  I really can't speak to any of these as I am pretty constrained by a budget and was quite happy with their Italian sausage sandwich with fries.   Pretty simple, pretty good and yet they still manage to add a little something extra.  French fries are about as simple as it gets most places.  You take potatoes, deep fry them, salt them and serve them with pretty much everything.  At the Black Swan you get your choice of five or six different seasonings and dipping sauces for your fries.  

The result: If you are there with a group, like I was, you are going to be trying each other's fries and sauces.  It's best to just embrace the experience.  But now on to the beer:

Tafel beer:  I had never heard of this style, if it is a style.  Typing the words 'Tafel beer' into the Google only lead to a series of references to an obscure beer in Namibia.  I don't know what if anything this has to do with this beer in Indianapolis, but an interesting side note.  This is basically Black Swan's version of a pilsner. It pours golden yellow with no detectable aroma. Taste is clean and refreshing with just the slightest hint of hops in the back.  Basically this is what people drink when the don't find Budweiser on the menu.  Not bad, but nothing interesting.

Fuggles Mild Ale:
This beer is named after a type of English hop and the name pretty much says it all.  Very bitter with lots of pine, grassy and floral flavors.  Not a whole lot of malt to back this one up, so the hop character really stands out here.  A bit much for a mild ale, but not bad.

EKG Pale Ale:
Strange color for a pale ale.  Usually a style served clear and yellow to amber in color, this one was cloudy and light brown.  Flavor and aroma were very light, I picked up some wood, pine and some maple flavors.  Finishes clean with very little hop profile.

Black Swan Tripple:
As a rule I don't tend to favor the overly malty beers, although I tend to prefer that then a hop bomb.  This is on the far end of the malt spectrum, but it is fantastically complex and wonderful.  The aroma is very, very light but slightly fruity.  The flavor is full-bodied and has lots of wine flavors mixed with berry, apple, pear and just a hint of alcohol.  No hops to speak of, but this is fantastic without them.  With the body, and the high alcohol content, I probably couldn't have more than about one of these in a sitting, but I would be willing to try.

Irish Red:
Also a sweeter beer.  I picked up a lot of malt, some light strawberry and citrus flavors that gave way to floral hops on the back side.  Not a whole lot to say here.  It's pretty good, but it was probably a mistake to try this one immediately after the Tripple.

Scottish Ale:
Nice caramel and light berry aroma.  Also on the malt end of the spectrum, but I tend to save the hoppy beers for last.  Still a lot of malt in this beer and, like the Tripple, is done very well.  A little apple dark cherry with a strange, but pleasurable wood finish.  I'm not sure how to describe it, but I want to say it's like hickory flavor.  This one ended up a little sweet for my palate, but I still really enjoyed this beer.

Crispin Cider:
Although this is not made by Black Swan, it was still a part of the taster platter that I enjoyed.  This is actually a product from a company by the same name in Michigan.  The apple flavor here is prominent, but I also picked up hits of spices that made me think of apple pie.  Those who stay away from cider saying that it is too sweet, might enjoy this.  It is a lot drier than I was expecting.

Cream Stout:
This one had most of the normal flavors one would associate with a cream stout, lots of roasted barley, and charcoal with a lot of body to go with it.  This particular stout had some smoke, and was unusually heavy on floral, pine hops and finished drier than expected. 

ESB:
This one came out light brown and slightly cloudy.  The aroma was filled with citrus and floral hops.  The flavor was just slightly tart with citrus and lemongrass notes.  It finishes with bitter English floral hops.

IPA:


That's all for this week.  Next week I'll have finished this particular cross-country run and finish in South Carolina.

The Pilgrimage: Portland, Oregon

All stories have a beginning.  For all intents and purposes, this blog began in Arizona, but it really started in the state of Oregon.  I went to school at the University of Oregon and I quickly hooked up with a group of self-described beer snobs.  Up until then my view of beer was similar to that of most Americans, beer was a fizzy yellow beverage designed to be drunk in massive quanities.  It was there that I was introduced to the world of microbrewing.  This is no accident, the beer culture in Oregon is something that I can't quite describe in words.  It's something that has to be experienced first hand.  And the center of that culture... Portland.

Basically what I am saying, if you like beer and you have not been to Portland, get off your ass.

You could create an entire blog around Portland brewing alone, and a few people have.  I had but a weekend to spend, so I just picked one.  I picked this one using the highly scientific method of typing the word, 'Brewery' into my phone and going to the dot closest to my position.  So we are off to Colombia River Brewing.

In the city of Portland where brewing is a cultural phenominon all its own, this is a fairly new brewery.  It opened in 2010 in the site of the Laurelwood Brewing Company in the Hollywood district.  

Rose City Raspberry Wheat: It has a sour fruit aroma.  The flavor is very sweet off the top that hits hard and fast leaving a slightly dry finish with a light malty finish.

Stumbles Stout: Chocolate coffee aroma.  The flavor is similar with a leathery taste added.  Finishes with herbal hops that really linger for an oatmeal stout.  Pretty good, but lacks the body of most oatmeal stouts.

Double Vision Belgian Double: This one had a very light aroma; I picked up just a hint of lemongrass, but the flavor was something else.  It was very surprising, but I was an instant fan.  There was a lot of pineapple, and citrus and white wine flavors and finished just slightly dry.  This one became quickly became a favorite of mine, for about a minute before...

Wee Heavy: Scotch style ale.  I ended up ordering a pint of this beer after I finished the tasting flight and they brought it out in the rose glass as picture on the left.  The glassware is almost enough of a reason to order this beer, but the beer itself is a thing of beauty.  I has a very light, sweet, fruity aroma that made me think of strawberry.  The flavor starts with this light fruit sweetness and moves to a woody oak flavor.  The high alcohol content of this beast makes itself known adding just a hint of fusil flavor. This massive combination of flavor hits and then is gone leaving almost no aftertaste.  

Brown Ale: This one starts with a slightly sweet, fruity aroma.  It has a creamy mouthfeel and a very light flavor profile.  There is some berry and light fruit sweetness combined with a woody flavor and something else that I could never really identify. 

ESB: Slight citrus aroma with a even lighter initial flavor.  Northwest citrus hops kind of creep up on you and leave an aftertaste that makes me think of an English IPA.

CRB Pale Ale: Slightly cloudy in appearance.  Hoppy aroma with a bit of citrus.  This one is just about a perfect balance of malt and citrus and grapefruit hops.

Hop Heaven: This is Columbia River's IPA offering.  As expected the aroma is filled with Northwest citrus hops.  The flavor is slightly sweet off the top and is only there for a split second before the hops really hit.  I noted some floral notes as the flavor moved through the palate and the profile ends with more herbal hop bitterness.

War Elephant: As I understand it, this is a limited time offering from the brewery, and that is a bit of a shame when considering the unique nature of this beer.  I could never get this confirmed but I think the beer was named after the very nature of it's flavor profile.  It starts off with a lot of sweet malt flavor with a warming sensation from the alcohol and a lot of English herbal hops in the back of the throat.  As the flavor continued I could almost feel the bitter hops moving from the back of the throat across the tongue.  An interesting beer for this fact alone.

That's all from Portland for now.  Next dispatch comes from Indianapolis, Indiana. 

Cheers!

"What Made Milwaukee Famous...:" Milwaukee Wisconsin

Another dispatch from Milwaukee.  It's been a bit hard to keep updated as of late.  The good news is it's because I've found myself on the road a lot lately.  The bad news... well I've been needing to play catch-up.  As I write this, I am actually miles away from the state of Wisconsin, though I won't say exactly where.

German influence on American beer cannot be understated in the least.  You need only look at the quintessential American beer, the pilsner to truly understand the role German brewing has in the American drinking culture.  The epicenter of that movement?  Milwaukee.  Years later German styles still influence the craft brewing culture in this state.  By way of example: Water Street Brewing Company.

Milwaukee Waterfront District

This brewpub is located on the waterfront district of Milwaukee.  As the new microbrew culture started up in this country, Waterstreet Brewing led the way for Wisconsin becoming it's first brewpub back in 1987. The downtown location itself has the look and feel of an old-world or early American bar. In addition, it is a strange museum dedicated to the art and craft of brewing in Milwaukee.  Thousands of old beer cans line the walls, there are cases of old tap handles and neon and porcelain signs line just about every wall in the bar.   It's almost worth a visit just to browse the walls and cases looking at the moments from the long brewing history of this city.

They have a pretty extensive beer list at any given time.  I sat down and got started with a flight of samplers.  There is quite a lot of them, so I'm going to do my best to keep this brief.

Imperial Stout: This wasn't actually part of the sampler, but I had it as a pint with dinner.  Full bodied, but not as compared with many other beers of this style.  Lots of roasted barley, coffee and chocolate flavors and aromas. There is also a hint of cherry or raspberry flavor peeking out.

Tasters Flight:  First row from left to right: Honey Lager Light,
Mimic Lager, BavarianWiess, Raspberry Wiess.  Back row:
Amber Ale, Pale Ale, Octoberfest and Westphalia Braun.

Honey Lager Light: Okay now on to the taster tray. This is their version of the American light lager and I have to say that it's pretty good for the style.  Light grassy aroma with a refreshing flavor that contains just a hint of fruit sweetness that made me think of honeydew.  Still not a huge fan light lagers but I have to say that I could drink a lot of this and be quite happy.

Mimic Lager: No detectable aroma that I could detect.  And the flavor... well... the best way I could think of describing the flavor is that it tastes like a brewery smells... but in a good way.  Lots of grassy yeasty flavor.  I quite enjoyed this beer.

Bavarian Wiess: This is a traditional German wheat beer.  Has a spicy banana and tropical fruit aroma.  Very creamy mouthfeel with clove and citrus.  Pretty typical for the style.

Rasberry Wiess: This one has a sour raspberry aroma.  Pretty simple flavor profile.  Lots of sour berry flavor.  Those that don't typically like fruit beers might like this one as it edges closer to the drier side of the style.

Pale Ale: This one doesn't have quite the bitterness of other pale ales.  There is a lot of malt flavor off the top with a hint of citrus that usually comes from sweet orange peels.  It ends just slightly bitter.  Not really my favorite, but only because I prefer pale ales that pack a bit more hops in, those that like big malty beers would  [probably like this one a lot.

Amber Ale: This beer reminded me of a brown ale rather than an amber ale.  It has a slight fruity aroma.  It was sweet, malty and fruity off the top of the flavor and ends with some raisin flavor and is very smooth.

Octoberfest: By the time I got to this beer on the tasters flight I started to notice a constant theme: none of their beers really have much an aroma at all.  This one is no different.  Some toasted grains and ends with just a hint of bitterness.

Westphalia Braun: This was a creation from the brewery's apprentice brewer.  It's not bad; a heavy dark beer with a espresso aroma.  The flavor has lots of coffee and chocolate notes with a hint of caramel.

Mead: This also wasn't on the tasters flight, but I couldn't resist a glass.  A good mead is hard to find.  More and more breweries and wineries are experimenting with this ancient elixir more and more, but it's still kind of a rare find.  It's about as simple as booze gets; put honey in water and add yeast.  This one was on the sweeter side of the spectrum.
That's all from Milwaukee.  From here it's up to the fertile brewing fields of Portland, Oregon.  Although it's almost laughable to pick one brewery in that city and write a single blog about it.... well that's what I am going to do.  So laugh away.
Cheers!

The reemergence: Milwaukee Wisconsin

"This is a still found in one local gentelmans basement here in Milwaukee," said the tour guide, holding up a rusted metal pot with a funnel and pipe welded to the top, "this lovely bucket is a condenser," he said holding up a dirty bucket with a rusted metal coil, "This is all you need to make your own vodka. And that is a felony."
Proving my status as a sub-par journalizer, I don't remember the name of the tour guide at Great Lakes Distillary. If and when you go, ask his name. I've been there twice and it's the same guy.   Anyway this was how our introduction to the world of micro-distilling started.
Most days of the week, they have at least two tours though the distillery. They have a bar and a shop open at regular hours, but it's worth the tour if only for the tasting session afterward.

We started with the Rayherst Vodka. Obviously a neutral spirit. It was just slightly sweet with just a hint of almond flavor.

Lemon Honey Rayherst: Pretty much self explanatory. Lots of lemon, slightly sweet honey flavor. They use real lemon peels and honey and it really shows here. If you enjoy the flavored vodkas that have have come out over the past few years, seek this out.

Rayherst Gin: A very complex gin including juniper, sweet basil and ginseng. The aroma is pine and citrus. The flavor starts with orange and sweet herbal flavors. Juniper and other medicinal herbs follow. This has a different enough flavor that even those who don't like the 'pine tree' taste of gin might like this.

Roaring Dans Maple Rum: Named after a famous local pirate. Type the name 'Roaring Dan' into Google for a complete profile, but I will summarize here by saying that he made life interesting for anyone who used the Great Lakes to make a living. His namesake rum is made with real Wisconsen maple syrup. The aroma is sweet and woody, obviously from the maple. The flavor is mostly the same, although at 90 proof, there is a lot of alcohol flavor. This is best cut with an ice cube, but is very good either way.

Pumpkin Seasonal: It's rare to come across a liquor that is truly unique, but this is it. This is a batch of pumpkin ale brewed by the nearby Lakefront Brewing Company that was put through the still. The result is weird and wonderful. The aroma is fruity and sweet with cinnamon and clove. The flavor is heavy on pumpkin spices; cinnamon clove and coriander. It's slightly sweet and has a woody character about it as well.

Amerique 1912: There is probably no liquor in the world with more lore and mystery attached to it than Absinthe. In college parties all throughout this great nation of ours there are tales of wild trips to Eastern Europe and bouts with the Green Fairie that lead to vivid hallucinations and uninhibited debauchery that can only be experienced by drinking 'real absinthe'. It was those kind of stories that kept absinthe illegal in this country until 2006 when a group of people finally convinced the legislature of something that we all kind of knew. Those guys in college were full of shit and the great authors of the roaring 20's drank it because it was delicious, not because it is liquified peyote. Great Lakes Amerique is an American reproduction of an old European recipe that blends fennel, anise and wormwood. The aroma and flavor is all black licorice. It's slightly sweet with a creamy mouthfeel. Strait out of the bottle it's abou 120 proof as is meant to be cut with about a 2:1 ratio of ice water that creates a beautiful cloudy green appearance that makes you realize why this drink is the stuff of legend.

Always in the Last Place You Look: Tacoma, Washington

The first thing you need to know when you visit Trade Routes Brewery is, you are not lost.  You have the right address.  This is where the brewpub is located.
I drove past it several times, pulled over, checked the address, drove past a few more times and repeated this process more times than I care to admit publicly before I realized the truth.  The Trade Routes tap room is located right in the warehouse where they brew their beer.  I have to admit, I thought it was really cool.  It felt like I had stumbled upon a secret party that only certain local people know about.  

The name, Trade Routes, kind of defines their style.  They take ingredients that classically make up the idea of 'trade goods' and mix them with common beer styles.  The results are simplistic, I think that was a comment I made after every beer, but all of them were very drinkable and delicious.

Hoppy Bitch

Hoppy Bitch IPA:  I think I have stated before that adding hops to an IPA is almost a competitive sport in the Pacific Northwest.  Brewers here push the IBU's up to the point that you wonder if it wouldn't be better and more cost efficient to graze on a handful of hops.   I guess that's why this one surprised me.  Don't get me wrong, the hops are there.  There is a decent dose of citrus and pine hops, but they are not overpowering and make for a very drinkable beer. 

Mango Weizen: Fans of sweet, fruity beers will immediately  order a pitcher of this one for themselves alone.  It has a light peach or pear aroma.  It has a nice creamy mouthfeel with a medium body and lots of peach pear and tropical fruit flavors.  I thought it was too sweet and simplistic, but I doubt I was the target audience for this creation. This is the perfect beer for someone who always says that they don't like the taste of beer.

Ginger Pale

Ginger Pale: The aroma of this beer is absolutely stunning.  I was immediately hit with ginger, clove, coriander and citrus notes.  The flavor was much lighter.  It kept the same spicy profile as in the aroma, but it was muted somehow.  This is a sweeter ale with hops that add more to the spice profile then to the bitterness.

Sumatra Coffee Stout: As a rule, I find coffee stouts to be pretty easy to describe.  Take a cup of espresso, chill and pour into a pint glass.  This stout is right in line with that style, it smells like a coffee shop at 6:00am and tastes like a carbonated cup of joe.  It has a medium body and finishes slightly dry, but is pretty much all coffee flavors and aroma.

That's it for this week.  I'm back in the Midwest next week and exploring the budding world of micro-distilling.  It is a part of the craft spirits culture that I have yet to include in this blog, mostly because they are so hard to find.  They are slowly but surely emerging, but we'll get into that proper then.
Cheers.

Institutional Weirdness: Chicago, Illinois

One of the great joys I have in my travels is seeking out obscure breweries in the hinterlands of this country. This isn't one of them. This is about as big as they get.
Goose Island is a Chicago institution. President Obama had a bottle during the 'beer summit' during the Henry Louis Gates debacle and of the 312 with Prime Minister Gordon Brown in exchange for a bottle of Wytchcraft during the USA v. UK game in the 2010 World Cup. Having tried both beers, I believe the President was gypped.  The location I wandered into sits in the shadow of Wrigley Stadium, and a signed picture of Connan O'Brian sits above the bar.
For friends that live in the Pacific Northwest, Goose Island is the Midwest equivalent of a Widmere Bros or a Pyramid.  That's kind of the level we are talking about.  Their 312 and the Green Line ale is available at almost every bar in Chicago and at a few places beyond.

Inspiration Stout: Seemed to be a good choice for a first beer considering the driving snow and frigid temperature of a Midwest winter.  This was a pretty standard stout, it had a coffee, chocolate aroma with just a hint of liquorice.  The flavor profile was pretty much the same with some slightly spicy hop flavors.  Full bodied and enjoyable beer, especially this time of year. The description provided by the brewery also claimed pineapple and grapefruit in the aroma, but I didn't pick that up at all.

Mild Winter: A lighter winter seasonal beer.  This one is pretty readily available throughout the Midwest during this time of year.  It has a sweet caramel aroma and color.  The flavor has some pear or raisin and some cinnamon spiciness.  Not hugely complex, but a nice medium bodied beer for the winter months.

Double B: Goose Island does a couple of things well.  First they have a good selection of nice, drinkable session beers that are more geared toward mass consumption.  Most of these can be found at the local supermarket.  Second, they have a selection of more complex and unique beers that are a little bit harder to find.  This is one of those.
Goose Island likes to play with different flavor combinations.  Their food menu is a good example of this, they have an array of strange pairings including a pear, brie burger that is absolutely fantastic.
The aroma has a lot of tropical fruit, passion fruit and some floral characters.  The Belgian yeast really comes out in the flavor adding lots of banana, pineapple and some berry off the top.  The floral flavors from the hops almost make me think of rose water.  I think this was my favorite beer from sheer complexity alone.

Fleur: This is a Belgian style ale that is blended with hibiscus and tea. As the name suggests, this one has a lot of floral qualities in the aroma, I was thinking lavender.  There was also some light berry aroma in there as well.  This was a sweeter beer that finishes just a little tart.  I picked up some sour cherry and some cider flavors along with the berry and lavender.

That's all for this post.  I'm off to Tacoma, Washington next.  Cheers!

Bending Tradition part 2: Baltimore Maryland.

I broke this piece up into two parts for a couple reasons. First, I really did spend an unusual amount of time at Pratt St. and it just seemed that one post would be too long. Second, my next stop was Palm Springs California. This is where old millionaires go to die. There is nothing in the way of craft booze. There's nothing in the way of craft anything. The whole place is filled with just enough entertainment to distract their elderly patrons from the grim reality of their own mortality. So... back to Baltimore.

3 Spires Ale: I very rarely find a beer that just doesn't click with me. This is one if them. The aroma was nice, it was sweet smelling with a fruity cider aroma. I went to take a drink, made a face and wondered aloud if they meant to do that. It was like a hoppy apple cider. In my mind the English herbal hops they used just didn't go with the slightly sour taste that comes from the malt. I am assuming here that they didn't have an infection in the keg.

Ironman Pale Ale
Time to go back to basics, and thus is about as strait forward as they come. Except for a slight citrus flavor at the top this is about as classic an English pale as exists. Clean with herbal, grassy hops. Fairly dry. Nothing special but good for a pale session beer.

Coventry Cream Ale: I think the best part of this beer was watching them pour it. It came out an opaque straw color with a rich foamy head that resembled a nitrous stout. It had a very light fruity aroma, but was way hoppier than I could have imagined. There was some slight sweetness that was quickly taken down by a whole lot of herbal hops.

Cask Aged Vanilla Oatmeal Stout: Pratt street offers selection of rotating cask aged ales. This was one of thier selections. It has a very strong chocolate and coffee aroma. The vanilla really comes out in the flavor to the point that it overpowers the rest of the beer. True to the nature of Oliver Brewing, it ended with a generous amount of English hops. It wasn't overpowering, but it did seem out of place.

Back to the Midwest next week. Cheers!