Honeymoon at Home: Omaha, Nebraska

I live in the town of Bellevue, Nebraska.  It's a bedroom community for the city of Omaha and home to Offutt Airforce Base.  Other then that it's just like any of the thousands of tiny hamlets that dot the landscape in and around this country. 

Except that it has a meadery.  I'm not talking about a winery that happens to do a mead or two, but a full-on-we-put-honey-in-water-and-ferment-the-hell-out-of-it-goddamnit- meadery.  Just a couple miles from my house, no less. 

Moonstruck Meadery is a father-son project that opened just a little over a year ago in this little town.  Distribution is still really small, you can only find it in the state of Nebraska and even then it's a bit of a challenge.   But with plans to buy a new building just to build enough fermenters to keep up with demand, it's growing.

This is the first time I've covered mead to any real degree in this blog, so a quick introduction in case there are people who have no idea what I'm talking about.

Mead is basically fermented honey.  It's about as simple as it gets.  You take honey, you put it in water and wait until it becomes awesome.  Of course, simple is boring and most mead makers start adding all sorts of weirdness.

Fruit mead (melomel) is pretty standard.

Mead brewed with herbs (metheglin) are less common but open a lot of doors to weird and wild flavors. 

Really, mead has been made with all sorts of combinations which makes it a unique medium for experimentation.  Pure mead has very little flavor outside a light sweetness or dry champagne flavor. It's an extremely versatile beverage which is probably why it exists in this weird grey area between wine making and beer brewing.  The process for making mead shares more with beer brewing, but it can and does age like wine. 

So what does Moonstruck have to offer?  The tasting room is open every day except for Monday.  For five dollars they allow you to sample five different meads.  So I went with two melomel, a metheglin, a pure mead and something called a capsumel which will be explained in a moment.

Show Mead: The pure mead, made from local honey.  It's on the dry side of the spectrum.  I picked up some very light herbal and grassy flavors off of it.

Cherry Melomel: Made with tart cherries that makes it taste just like cherry pie.  Really, it's pretty fantastic.  It's sweet with that nice tartness in the background.

Plum Melomel: By far the sweetest mead I tasted while I was there.  It had a thicker, syrupy quality to it.  Not really my thing, but for someone like my wife who likes drinks as sweet as they will come, it's just about perfect.

Hoppy: Where beer and mead really come together is the tendency to spice mead with hops.  This one has a combination of cascade and hallertau hops.  Think mild IPA with everything beer-like removed.  Take away the malt flavors and you have this.  It really features the hops which are citrusy floral and slightly spicy without a huge bitter flavor.

Capsumel:  Pepper mead.  This one is flavored with Anaheim, Serrano and Jalapeno chilies.  It has the aroma of fresh chopped peppers.   Flavor has spice, it's spicy but not to any unpleasant degree.  I wasn't looking longingly at the water faucet at any rate.  It's also packed with nice vegetable flavors.

That's all for now, but they have enough variety for at least one more visit some time.  So I'll return with that report another time.

Cheers!

The Figid Northlands: Minneapolis

Another quick entry this week.  I would have had more time, but weather in this country seemed to forget that it is MID FREAKING APRIL.

It wasn't just Minneapolis-St. Paul where I found myself this week.   Here, cold, snowy weather is more common then sunny, warm weather.  It was all through the Great Plains.. so yeah fun times.  Bad situation if you have places to go.  Good situation if you can hide in a bar drinking beer until the damn thing blows over.  So let's do that.

Barley Johns Brewpub in Minneapolis this week for a couple of pints.  The brewpub itself is kind of cool.  It's a small, quiet place on the outskirts of the city that dedicates itself to good food an a brewing style that, while not exactly redefining what crazy shit you can put in a pot and ferment, is different enough to cock an eyebrow or two at.

Wild brunette: The flagship beer of Barley Johns brewed with wild Minnesota rice.  It has a sweet caramel aroma with some fruity wine notes.  Sweet fruity flavor right off the top.  Charcoal flavor and herbal bitterness hits really fast after that and finishes dry.

Oyster Stout: At this point in time half the people reading this blog are absolutely disgusted and the other half are intregued.  The wierd part is that when I asked my server about it, he gave me the impression that they didn't use actual oysters, just the shells.  Their website, however, says that yes, there are real whole oysters in the brew, so take from that what you will.

It really doesn't matter either way because there was nothing, for lack of a better word, oystery about it.  There's no aroma to speak of.  I picked up lots of charcoal and roasted barley with a hint of fruity sweetness although it finished fairly bitter and herbal.  Apparently the perfect beer to pair with oysters, but that is an experiment for another day.

Barley Johns actually has a fairly exstensive menu of beer brewed on site, but like I said, I could only pop in for a pint or two.  Until next week where I'll hopefully have more time to sit down to a proper tasting.

Cheers!

Mountain Time: Colorado

Quick one this week. A solid work schedual has made it tough to sit down to a quality pint.

But I did grab a couple as I hurried through Idaho Springs, a small ski row just up.the mountain from Denver.

Tommyknocker Brewing has a number of things going for it. Number one, I think they were running one of the brew kettles at the time because the area around it smelled wonderful. It's got a groovy rustic mining town atmosphere. Best of all, lots of good beer.

I had to rush through, so I could only sample two of the ten or so beers they had on tap. It was a good sample, but there so much more awesomeness still waiting therein.

Rye Porter: it came out black with a sweet ,caramel, woody aroma. Sweet woody flavors with roasted barley and a slight peppery flavor. Not terribly different from a typical Porter, but enough to be interesting.

Oatmeal Stout: Getting my dark beer fix out if my system before warm weather has me reaching for lighter beer. Very light sweet aroma here. Slightly fruity, almost wine flavor right on top. Caramel and roasted flavors bring up the rear and leave a kind of lingering burnt wood flavor.

The antithesis: Phoenix, AZ

I want to talk this week about what makes a good brewery... or at least what I think makes a good brewery.  See, a couple weeks ago I stumbled in to Los Gatos in San Jose and... well I think I made it kinda clear that I just wasn't a fan.  It wasn't a terrible place by any means, but it was just lacking.  Small selection of rather ordinary beer, a sterile upscale atmosphere and all for a lot more then some much better places charge.

This week I'm talking about a place that is almost the opposite of that.  Papago Brewing in the suburbs of Phoenix might be a little hard to find.  It's nesled into a strip mall a few miles from Sky Harbor airport.  But find the address, plug it into a GPS and find your way there, because it's worth a visit.
First of all, I just dug the atmosphere.  Nothing special, per se, just a nice relaxed nieghborhood bar feel.  The kind of place that just puts one at ease immediately.  Besides a fine selection of their own beers, they actually have a fairly large amount of beers on tap from all sorts of breweries.  While I was there, they actually had four years of Stone's Vertical Epics on tap.  I think they were left over from a tasting earlier that week, but still.

This is a place to relax and have a beer.

The other cool thing is that the food is good and swings from 'fairly normal pub fare' to 'okay that's different...'
I had a Belgian pizza which is pizza with carmelized onions, ham, sour cream and swiss cheese.  I'll give you a moment to react to that combination in your own way.

 It was one of those things that had to be really, really good because otherwise a combination like that just means someone's drunk in the kitchen again.  And it was really good.  Unusual, but good.

So let's talk beer.

Orange Blossom:  I think this is the only time the lightest beer in the bar became my favorite, but I enjoyed the hell out of this.   The aroma... well the only thing I can describe it as is, it has a creamcicle aroma.  The texture is very smooth and creamy.  It's on the sweeter side as far as flavor goes, but it has some citrus a flavor more like a light lager. 

Oude Zuipers: A belgian strong ale with a very light bannana aroma.  The flavor is much, much stronger and pretty simplistic.  It's basically just a burst of esters.  There is a little bitterness in the back, but otherwise those that are not fans of that fruity Belgian yeast are not going to find anything redemeable in this beer.

Elsie's Stout: One of the two coffee stouts available.  Not just two stouts, but two coffee stouts.  That's commitment to a flavor profile, that is.  This one has a coffee and cream aroma.  After a taste, I tried to tell the difference between this beer an a cup of coffee.  1. Temperature.  2. Type of serving vessel.  3. My coffee is never carbonated and fairly rarely alcoholic.  That's about it.

Coconut Joe: The other coffee stout.  This one falls on the bitter side of the equasion, but otherwise it's exactly the same.

El Robusto: A dark lager.  Also has kind of a chocolate coffee aroma.  Thankfully this isn't the coffee in a pint glass from earlier.  The flavor is smoother, sweeter with some caramel and chocolate sweetness and a lighter flavor.

Stories Told: Ariziona Wine Country

I'm kind of retracing some old steps this week.  The second post in this blog featured a trip to Arizona wine country.  Since I happened to be in the area, I thought I would take a minute to restock my dwindling wine cellar and add another location to the list.

Well, it was meant to be a quick trip.  It turned out to be a lot more fun then I had planned.  I pulled up to the winery just as the owner, Barbara Predmore just happened to be walking by.  She greeted me enthusiastically and showed me to the tasting room where three other women were have a glass or two themselves.

It's always fun when the vintner happens to be available to talk wine during the tasting.  For obvious reasons the tend to be very passionate about their trade and their business.  I've learned so much about wine from these sessions it's one of the main reasons that going out to the wineries for a taste is such a worthwhile endeavour.

This was different.  Barb sat behind the counter and held court about any number of subjects.  Everything from caesar salad dressing to supermarkets, the State of Arizona and, of course her winery.  "This is my Shangri-la.  We work very hard, but it's our dream and we're living it."

Alcantara winery is the largest winery in the Northern Arizona wine region.  That being said, in terms of output, Alcantara is still a small, intimate operation, a fact that Barb almost relishes.  "It's still a small winery.  It might be the only thing about me that is small."  Then she laughed.  Barb has a laugh makes it almost physically impossible not to laugh along with her.

So the four of us sat down and laughed as wine was poured and Barb talked about the finer points of the wine world like how the movie Sideways boosted the quality of Two-buck Chuck Merlot, the difference between red and white wine as far as image and the evils of the supermarket wine rack.

(Sideways caused people to gravitate to pinot noir grapes leaving high-quality merlot on the vine; apparently people perceive red wine as a more sophisticated drink; the harsh lights of supermarkets degrades the quality of wine.)

So let's talk wine.  Of the sixteen wines they had available, I was able to sample seven.  It should also be noted that, with the exception of the Sangiovese, all of the grapes for these wines were grown at the winery itself.  Also, it should be noted that, yes, I focused on the reds.  It's a matter of personal preference, although they had a fairly large selection of lighter whites as well.

Mesa Blanca: This was the one white I had during my visit because I'm much more a dry red fan and Arizona wine country is the Mecca of dry reds.  This was kind of a nice blend with a pear, peach aroma.  It was fairly tart with grapefruit and pear flavors.

Syrah: I picked up some raspberry and strawberry on the nose.  The flavor was peppery and fruity and quite tart, but it was mentioned that this wine was a little young.

Confluence IV: This blend turned out to be my favorite.  It has a very subtle berry and pepper aroma.  The flavor was exceptionally smooth with raspberry, cherry and peppery notes.  It finishes just slightly dry.

Merlot: Aroma is earthy and peppery with a little dark fruit.  The fruit is more pronounced in the flavor with some added leather flavor and finishes very dry.

NV Grand Rouge- Zabibu A Amani: Another quality blend of six grape varietals.  I picked up some plum and a little pepper on the aroma.  It was a very smooth wine with cherry, leather and pepper flavors coming and going through the palate.  Very good, complex wine.

Zinfandel: I'd like to stress, not a white zinfandel.  As Barb said, "friends don't let friends drink white zin."  Here a zinfandel pours dark red with a light pepper aroma.  It's just slightly dry with some dark cherry, leather, and floral flavors.

Sangiovese: The aroma had some cherry and some vanilla flavors as well as lots of peppery notes.  The flavor is a wonderful mixture of cherry, leather and vanilla.

Bottle Beer Tour 3: The Fermented Menace.

Okay, taking a short break from the road to empty out the beer fridge a little, (And yes, I have a refrigerator just for beer.  That's not weird, is it?)  Today is the day daylight savings time hits and to commemorate that fact we got about six inches of snow.  In typical midwest fashion, winter is going keep an icy hold as long as possible.

Tis the season of indecision, so we've got some winter beers, some summer beers and some nasty weather to drink away.

Abita Brewery, Marti Gras Bock:  Seasonal selection available only January through about mid February or something.   Pours clear and copper colored, with a very light herbal aroma.  Has a bit of a spicy, herbal bite to it.  Lots of caramel malts there as well, with a nice full body. 

Choc Brewery, Winter Stout: A winter stout with a wonderful chocolate, raisin coffee aroma.  The flavor has a lot of bitter coffee with some unsweetened chocolate. I also get just a hint of fruit somewhere in there, but I can't quite place it. 

 



Breckenridge Brewery, Agave Wheat:
Something a little different from a brewery halfway up a mountain.  This beer pours a cloudy golden color.  Slightly lemony and herbal. It has a kind of sour-sweet flavor.  Not like the sour of an infected beer, but more like green apple.  It has some slight herbal qualities on the back.  Lighter body, smooth mouthfeel.  Nothing all that astounding, but a nice summer beer anyway.

Huisbrouwerij Klein Duimpje, Erik De Noorman Dutch Barley Wine:  Okay stepping a little out of the United States a bit for the first time.  Pours cloudy and copper colored.  It has a raisin and plum aroma.  Full bodied with a slightly fizzy mouthfeel.  Sweet and malty with dark fruit flavors off the top with a slight bitter back and a dry finish.




This last one... I don't know if it even still qualifies as a microbrew.  I guess it is in the sense that Sam Adams is considered a micro brew by some.  Still, because I happen to have a bottle here, here's a midwest staple: Leinenkugles, Berry Wiess:  And it's pretty much as advertised.  Strong, fruity nose.  Very sweet raspberry flavor to the point of being a sparkling cider. 

Tengo Gatos in Mis Pantalones: San Jose, California

There was absolutely no reason for that title at all... I mean none.  I mean, other then the fact that the brewery I am talking about this week is called Los Gatos, but even that isn't an excuse.  A very real part of me that never matured past the age of about six demanded I commit that phrase to print.

Anyway, yes, this week it's Los Gatos Brewing Company in San Jose.

I wanted to talk about this place last week, but on the day I went to slip inside for a pint or two I found out that the bar was closed due to a company party... the entire bar.  That was probably a bad sign.

When I stopped by again, I was rather disappointed by their selection.  They only had four beers on tap, and I only had the urge to try three of them.  What can I say?  I doubt that this brewery, of all breweries is going to redefine the pilsner style for me.

Also there was the price.  This bar, she be pricy.  That, in and of itself is not unusual in the world of craft brewing; you get what you pay for after-all.  The beer here was good, but not that special and the food was sub-par for the price.

All in all, this is a place where people with big-important downtown jobs go after work to talk about how important their jobs are.  Not really my environ.

DunkleWeisen

Cats Meow Continental Ale: The term 'continental ale' was new to me as well.  The bartender gave me a long description of the style that basically boiled down to this:  The brewer got tired of calling it an octoberfest, so he calls it a 'continental ale.'
Okay to be fair, it's kind of an amber crossed with a pale.  The aroma was grassy and the flavor was dominated by a grassy, pine hop profile.  The beer finished very bitter.

DunkleWeisen:  I have notice that I have a love-hate relationship with this style.  Well, maybe not love-hate, per se.  It's more like a love-...meh, relationship. The aroma was wonderful, like a chocolate covered bananna.  The flavor is a bit of a let down as it lacks some of the intensity of the aroma.  But it does have a nice malty taste with just a hint of clove spice.

Wild Bay

Wild Bay Mild Ale:  This beer was available on tap or cask-conditioned, so I went with the latter.  It came out with a toasted, caramel aroma.  It was malty off the top with some woody oak or hickory flavors combined with a bit of leather.  It finished with a bite of bitter hops.






So, meh not really my top ten.  But lest this post come across as overly negative; one thing I did like was the men's bathroom door.  So... you know.  That's something.  Cheers!