Canned Beer Tour: That's right. I said it.

It has been said that good beer doesn't come in cans.  It didn't come in cans, at least.  Things have changed a bit.
I've said before, I'm a fan of this and my conviction is only growing.  For the first time I've managed to assemble a few of the old 'oil can' in my Sanctuary (or where I get drunk in front of my computer) and sampled a few canned beers gathered from both hither and yon.

Ska Brewing, Mole Stout: Pretty much as advertised.  The aroma has a nice dark chocolate note to it with just a hint of pepper.  The flavor is just wonderful.  Sweet dark chocolate and coffee notes dominate with some woody, herbal flavors and just the slightest hint of black pepper.  This is one of those beers that just stands out.  Once you have this beer, I'm convinced that if I were handed this in some blind taste test some day, I'd be able to pick it out.

Sun King Brewing, Osirus:  The aroma on this pale ale is subtle, spicy, citrusy and kinda sweet.  The flavor has a lot of those same qualities flowing through it.  It's sweet, citrusy with a spice that kind of lingers with the bitterness into the aftertaste.

Sun King Brewing, Wee-Mac: Scottish style ale with a slight woody cherry aroma.  The beer has quite a bit of body with just flashes of flavor.  I pick up a hint of cherry a hint of wood and a hint of bitterness before they kind of fade into a light roasted flavor.  

 Santa Fe Brewing: Saison 88: I like the sweet, floral slightly citrus fruity aroma on this a lot.  The flavor is lighter, but not without a lot of nuances.  There's just a hint of sour along with the floral qualities.  That sort of melds into a nice malty, citrusy finish.  Light on the palate with a fizzy mouthfeel.  Nice session beer with a little extra kick.

The Drunkard'ss Walk Across The Country: Everywhere and Nowhere

The time has come for another one of these posts.  This is the time of the year where I am whipped around the country like I'm involved in the worlds biggest version of the ice-skating game where children hold hands and experiment with centripetal force.  Inevitably I feel a like the poor bastard at the end of the line; dizzy, a little ill and questioning the sanity of my actions.

The following beers were sampled at three different places.  The first place was the Heorot Pub in Muncie, Indiana.  The second at Golden Valley Brewing Company in Portland and the third was at some sports bar in Oklahoma city that's really not worth discussing in detail; they didn't have much of a beer selection nor was the place particularly interesting.  So here's the two:

The Heorot Pub: Fun fact: When I asked Siri about the Heorot Pub, her response was, "Sorry Jeremy, I cannot find places in Afghanistan.  Seemed a bit harsh.   Muncie isn't the nicest or most interesting city in the country but I don't think it's quite as bad as Afghanistan.  For example, there is one place in the city where a lost soul can stumble into for a decent beer.  It's a small, dark, wood paneled paradise where every square inch of wall space seems dedicated to some oddity and the weird and wild beers flow.  I can't imagine a more quality place to sit and sink pints for hours on end.  Among their many offerings, I had:

People's Brewing; Mound Builder: Since we are in Indiana, I was able to get my hands on a cask aged version of this beauty.  It has a sweet, raisin, brown sugar aroma that are complimented by dark fruit and malty flavors.  All of the above work together to stand up to an impressive spicy and floral hop bill and the result is a well-balanced but complex brew.


New Albion; Community Dark: Among those that have a bit of an obsession with microbrewing in the United Sates, the name 'New Albion' is said with a certain reverence.  It is generally agreed to be the first microbrewery in the United States, that is to say the first small-scale brewer since Prohibition and the industrialization of brewing.  Problem is that, like most new ideas, it needed some tweaking and New Albion closed it's door nearly twenty years ago.  Which made seeing it on the beer menu a little shocking.

Information is a little spotty, but it seems that someone in the wilds of Ohio has resurrected the brewery, if in name only, and has recently begun brewing under the name.

The dark beer they are brewing has a nice roasted coffee and chocolate aroma with some nutty sweet caramel flavors to go with it.

New Albion; Hoptimis: Since the resurrected brewery (dare I say zombie brewery?) required a little more investigation, I went with one more.  Their IPA had a light hoppy aroma that left me completely unprepared for the assault that was to follow directly.  This is all spicy, herbal hops with the subtlety of a baseball bat to the head.  Didn't have any of the balance a good IPA should have.

And then I was in Portland, Oregon.

It's a shame that, while nestled deep in the the beer-filled bosoms of Portland, I didn't have time for a proper motorboat.  But that is the way of things lately.  I did stop by a Golden Valley located in a massive freaking building in Beaverton.  Nice place but crowded as all hell which, given the size, is quite a feat.  Food was good, beer was good, but nothing special to say about it.... well apparently there is a company in Portland that makes it's own ketchup and mustard, but that was the only thing that really stuck with me.  Caring about whether or not one's condiments are locally produced seems to be a very Portlandian thing.

Golden Valley; Red Thistle: Light caramel aroma with a hint of citrus.  It's kind of a typical amber with a little extra.  It's got that slight roasted flavor with a spicy hop background that demonstrates the city's love for the little green flower.

Golden Valley; Dundee Porter: Slight coffee aroma with a fairly heavy bitter character in the flavor along with some coffee and woody roasted flavors.  P-town loves them some hops.

One last beer thrown in.. kinda just because.  It was in my notes waiting for one of these random posts to appear.  I was in an typical sports pub in Oklahoma when this little nugget floated to the top.

Left Hand Brewing; Stranger American Pale: This has a citrusy sweet orange aroma.  The flavor is lighter with a dose of malty sweetness that barely helps reign in the dry, citrus, pine hop character.

Back to business as usual next week where I actually find an interesting place for a beer in Oklahoma.  Yes, they exist.

One Hit Wonder: Dayton Ohio

Lock 27 is brand new on the Dayton Ohio scene.  As of this post it will have been open only a matter of months.

As such, this microbrewery has a lot of growing ahead of it.  I will say this for the place.  The owner was out tending bar and chatting up the customers and he is a man who truly loves beer in only the way only a long-time home brewer can.

It will be interesting to see how this joint evolves in the coming years.  It is a place that celebrates both good food and good beer.  That seems like a good start to me.

On my visit they only had one origional beer on tap.  They had a decent selection of good beers from out and around, but only one of their own at the moment.  So this is going to be a little different post as I will include a couple random beers they happened to have on tap... just to round things out a bit.

Kay?

Kay.

Beer?

Lock 27, Winston ESB: No aroma to speak of.  Nice, creamy mouthfeel.  A good deal of caramel malt sweetness balance a load of lemony, grassy hops.  Very nice, drinkable beer.

Southern Tier, Pumpking: Tis the season for those wonderful, spicy pumpkin ales.  This beer from upstate New York, was quite nice, with a sweet creamy quality to the normal bill of pumpkin spice.

Great Divide, Hoss: Rye lager from Denver Colorado.  This beer had a very light fruity aroma.  There was a sweeter, light berry flavor with a hint of pepper from the rye that gentelly turned to a floral hop back.

One last thing about Lock 27.  The curry is awesome.  That is all for this week.

Great Nebraska Beer Fest: Part 3

Well folks, it that's time of the day.  It's the time in which where, after a day full of heavy drinking, people start getting touchy feely.  It's the time of day where it is not unusual to see two men walking arm in arm from tent to tent.  In the distance you can hear slurs of, "I love you man..."  So let's get through this before things get awkward.

 Plowshare Brewing, Rumbleseat Rhubarb Beer:  The gentleman running the tap poured me a glass and said, "You'll like this.  It's got the same sweet tart qualities as rhubarb."  That was a really accurate description.  The rhubarb is the most prominent flavor, but it's given a little sweetness from the malt.

Beach Wood, Pale Ale: One more out of towner from California and, to be honest, kind of a so-so representative.  Citrus hops on the nose, light caramel flavor with citrus hops... pretty much the quintessential pale ale.  Not bad but nothing special.

Confluence Brewing Company, Farmer Jon Multi Grain Ale: A Des Moines brewer proving that multi-grain isn't just for bread that helps you poop.  This is an ale brewed with wheat, barley, rye and oats.  That being said, this is a lighter ale there's not a lot of added quality to it.  It's a refreshing light beer with a bit of extra body.

Funkwerks, Tropic King: Belgian ale from Fort Collins.  Tones of fruity esters, banana, tropical fruit and a hint of pepper spice.  Comes out with a banana nut aroma.

Nectar Ales, IPA: A kind of Belgian, IPA cross from California.  I picked up some citrus aroma combined with some of those fruity esters on the nose.  The fruity flavors are very pronounced but there is a very distinct hop bit that comes on slowly but really lingers.

Schlafly, Pumpkin Ale: I finished the festival with, appropriately enough given the current season, a pumpkin ale.  This St. Louis ale comes out with a nose-full of pumpkin spice.  This is one of those pumpkin pies in a glass that some people absolutely cannot stand.  I quite liked it, though... although by this time, I doubt there was much I wouldn't like.

And that's the Great Nebraska Beer Fest.  I hope you enjoyed this whirlwind tour of what the Midwest has to offer.  We're back to the cross-country bar hopping next week.

Cheers!

Great Nebraska Beer Fest: Part 2

Continuing dispatches from my hometown beer festival. Let's get to it, shall we?

The thing I always find slightly amusing about these beer festivals is the lack of interest in the big breweries.   Budweiser, Miller and the like didn't show their faces at this gathering, but a couple of the biggest microbrewers (if they can be called that) like Sam Adams and Goose Island did have a little booth with taps and a couple of forlorn looking people manning them.

Meanwhile breweries like CIB can't pour them fast enough.

Brand recognition means nothing in this place, if anything it's detrimental.  This is a place where the people flock towards something different.  It's a beautiful thing, really.  This is the playing field for the little guys.  The big boys are welcome to play, but they are about to know what it's like to be picked last for a change.


Empyrean Brewing, Domino Effect: Another home-state beer I am sorta familiar with.   I've had their Burning Skyes at any rate.  This is a lighter beer that "celebrates the changing of the seasons". It has a vaguely unpleasant skunky aroma though.  The flavor isn't bad; it's refreshing with light malt and a kind of earthiness.

Little Apple, Brewing: Blueberry Ale: From Manhattan Kansas, a town I assume to be the exact opposite of Manhattan, New York though I confess I've not been either place.  The fruit flavor is in the aroma and the flavor and in just the right amount.  Its just slightly sweet and imparts more of the fruit tartness that mixes with the crisp lager flavor.  It was quite refreshing, a quality I started valuing highly in the heat.

Little Apple Brewing, Malbok: Started off with light roasted grain with a hint of peach in the aroma.  I picked up sweet, light fruit flavors off the top along with some subtle hop bitterness in the back that really helps balance the sweetness.

Lone Tree, Hop Wrangler: This another selection from a brewery I featured just a couple months back.  The aroma had some banana, clove notes to it which left me completely unprepared for what was about to happen to my poor palate.  All I tasted was bitter.  Pure, astringent, back-of-the-throat bitterness.  Clearly that's where this beer got it's name.  For a brewery I really enjoyed, I was kinda disappointed here.

Thunder Head, Dark Wheat: A strange beer from Kearney Nebraska.  Overall the effect of a dark wheat beer was similar to a dark lager.  There was no aroma to speak of and the flavor was a simple, roasted grain experience.  I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it as much as I did, but it was very refreshing dark beer on a hot August day.

Blind Tiger Brewery, Java Porter: Back down in the wilds of Kansas where microbrewing has apparently taken off far more then I had ever expected.  Their coffee porter had the sweet mocha aroma but the flavor was more bitter with charcoal and roasted barley added to the sweet coffee.  Not bad but nothing special for a porter.

Infusions Brewing, Butcher Brown: The GMBF has a fair share of sneak previews.  I noted a couple I managed to stumble across already, but this is a bit different.  By the time I actually post this, Infusions will be open and, hopefully, slinging a lot of beer.  However, during the festival Infusions was still over a month away from opening.   Beer from a brewery that's not even open yet?  That's kinda cool.  This beer has the Belgian yeast aroma of clove, banana and esters.  A lot of browns want for flavor and this beer does not have that problem at all.  Not even in the slightest.  I picked up lots of black roasted grain with spicy, peppery hops bringing up the rear.  As I continued to enjoy this beer I began to suspect that the pepper was actually a product of actual pepper, but there was no one to confirm this.

Cathedral Square, Repent Rye: Interesting rye ale from St. Louis.  It started off with a dark port wine aroma.  It was more bitter then I would have predicted from the aroma; citrusy, spicy hops stand up very well against the light fruit flavors in the beer.

Iowa Brewers Union, Rye IPA: Okay, so not really a brewery in and of itself.  More like a really, really big homebrewers club from central Iowa.  But they came with beer, so they are awesome.  Their offering was a kind of mix of styles.  It started off with a wonderful spicy, dark fruit aroma.  I picked up lots of rich raisin, date and caramel flavors with just a hint of pepper from the rye.  Didn't get much in the way of hops though.  Good beer, but probably not a great representation of the two styles.

Chaser Bros, Raspberry Stout: If nothing else, I learned I need to get out of the house more.   Okay, let's refine that slightly... I need to get out of the house and then travel maybe... five miles as opposed to a thousand.  This is another brewery from a nearby Nebraska town that, sadly has escaped by notice until now.  Their stout had a wonderful dark chocolate berry aroma.  The flavor conveys pretty much the exact same idea, but with a little bit of coffee bitterness as well.

Goldenrod Brewing, Saison IPA: Another brewery coming soon to the Omaha area, but came to the festival with a preview of coming attractions.  This is a much better example of two styles making sweet love with each other.  The saison is well represented in the banana clove and fruity esters and which stand up to, and oddly compliment the citrus and pine in the hops.

One more marathon session before it's back to business as usual around here.

Bottle Beer Tour #5: The malted and the hoppy

 It's bottled beer tour time again... er because it's summer and I don't actually go that many places in the summer.  It's random sampling time so I present five beers that I drank.
...

...

That sounded more exiting in my head.  Anyway, here we are.

Shiner Brewery: Ruby Redbird: Summer beer featuring grapefruit.  Nice, citrusy aroma with a hint of herbs.  Light, refreshing taste like a light, sweet, carbonated orange juice.  I can see how this would be nice on a hot summer day, but not something I would make a habit of drinking a lot.  Pretty good though.

World Brews: Dieselpunk Porter: Okay, I confess, this is a beer I bought primarily for the label.  It's source is wierd.  The only indication of the brewery is a small note on the label indicating World Brews.  Trying to find any information on World Brews is a bit interesting.  I can't tell for sure, but they seem to be a brewery out of Rochester who's entire buisness centers around brewing microbrews for sale in grocery stores and similar markets.  However Beeradvocate.com has two different listings for this beer, one from California and one from Montana.  There are whispered words among the beer geeks of the Internets that this is actually one of the Evil Empires trying to stick a foot in the door of microbrewing.
There's probably a story in and of itself right there.
Anyway the aroma is very chocolatey.  The taste is has more bitterness with some sharp roasted flavors and coffee along with the chocolate.  The feel is smooth with a semi-sweet finish.  Not bad for a sweeter porter.  Overall, if this is Budwieser or Miller's attempt to try and run with the little guys... meh, okay.

Flying Dog Brewery: Gonzo Imperial Porter: Beer brewed in honor of the late, great Hunter S. Thompson who once said, "Good people drink good beer."  I don't often comment on the label, but this is my all time favorite because... well, Ralph Steadman is damn near the textbook definition of awesome.
Wonderful sweet nose with hints of cherry and rasberry against a kind of herbal backdrop.  The fruit flavors hit first, but softly meld into something more like caramel and chocolate which blends into one final layer of flavor that leaves a hint of liquorice, vanialla and earth notes.  It finishes dry for something that packs this kind of malt bill.

Now let's get the hell out of here.  This is bat country.

Blue Blood Bewery: 1327 Pod's ESB:  Running back to good 'ol Nebraska for the last two.   Blue blood is a beer I've seen pop up in the grocery store just recently.  It's one of the few (but increasing) microbrews that come in a can.  At first, I was skeptical of the can as a conveyer of microbrew, but I've got to say, I'm a heavy convert.  No skunky beer problems, it stays colder and there is a pretty high convenience factor.  I'm just saying...
Anyway the ESB has a piny grassy aroma.  The flavor is has some light malt with just the right amount of hops to add to a refeshing, flavor-filled beer.

834 Happy As Ale: Lighter beer with a grassy, lemony aroma.  It starts with a pretty massive hop bill with lots of grassy, pine and lemon flavors there.  On  the bitterness scale, it gets closer to an IPA then a pale.

The Random Acts of a Hopped up Drunk.

In my travels, I don't always end up in a microbrewery.  I mean I do.  I do a lot.  Just not all the time.  Sometimes I just find myself in some bar.  Sometimes that bar has a decent enough selection that I can find something interesting.  So, I write some notes and wait for a slow week to throw them all together in a erratic, random post.

So enjoy four random beers.

This is one of those.

Victory Brewery: Golden Monkey: A Belgian Tripple with the expected light bannana aroma.  Smooth, creamy, a little on the sweet side with a bannana nut flavor on the top.  Hops kick up in the back and leaves something woody and lightly floral.

Leinenkugles Brewery:  Leinies Honey Wiess:  Another lighter drinkable summer beer from The giant of Chippewa Falls Wisconsin.  It had a lemony aroma... but that was likely from the lemon wedge the bartender insisted on putting in.  The beer itself was lightly grassy, malty and... of course, lemony.  Very drinkable and it finished just slightly dry.  Not complex, it isn't suppose to be is it?

Wynkoop Brewery: Saision De Colfax: Found a beer from an old friend.  I visited Wynkoop brewery a couple years ago and was impressed overall.  What they failed to tell me when I first ordered this beer is that it's a little different from your normal saision.  For one, it's not usually as black as Guiness.   It had no aroma to speak of, but the flavor was rich with port wine, fruit and chocolate notes swirling around.  I'm not sure what this actually has in common with what is typcially a light, summer, farmhouse ale, but what the hell, I like it either way.

Dry Dock: Apricot Blonde: Another Colorado native.  The aproicot flavor is very pronounced.   It's quite sweet with lots of fruit.  Probably won't appeal to those who are dead set against fruit beers, but it was a nice refreshing drink either way.

Odell Breweries: Mycenary: Yet another from Colorado, guess what state I was in when I compiled this list,  It has lots of nice citrus hops in the aroma.  The army of bitterness is held at bay with a decent amount of malt.  The balance is very nice and it leaves the light, floral, citrus hop flavors in tact.

The Purists: Denver, CO

"You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline - it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer."

Frank Zappa

Posted on the Lone Tree Brewery Website.

There are places where people go to indulge in the art and the craft of drinking.  It is a place where everyone, and not just this lone lunatic, smells their beer before drinking.  It's a place where asking for a menu will get you a nod to the beer list scrawled on a black chalkboard above a row of pints.  It's a place that makes beer, and beer alone.  They will sell you beer, you will drink it and life is good.

Lone Tree brewing is a place like that.

'Tasting room' is the term often thrown around for a place like this, but I'm not much a fan of that term.   For one, it assumes you can't get a proper pint there.  This is not the case. You can.  You can get two or three if you like.  Five or six even.  Someone might start sizing you up for a flight out the front door much past that, but it's an option.

Second, there's a pretension attached.  Tasting room brings images of people in suits swirling wine around their mouths and spitting it into a bucket. (And they call themselves civilized.)  It's a pretension that might serve the wine world, but rarely serves beer.

 If anything, this is just a neighborhood bar.  It's a brewery that opens it's doors everyday so that people can stop by and enjoy a pint or two, just like any good neighbor should.  There's no kitchen for food, although I hear tell that it's a favorite destination for local food trucks.

It's a neighborhood bar for the beer geeks in the area.  Within minutes of sitting down and ordering a tasters flight I found myself engaged in conversation about the finer points of Lone Tree's beer selection.  The people I talked to knew just about every bar and restaurant that brews it's own beer  in the greater Denver area.  They gather here because, "The beer is good.  It's close.  It's quiet.  You just can't beat it."

Left to right: Helles, Blonde, Irish Red, Pale, IPA, Stout

Mountain Momma Hells:  Grassy pilsner aroma but with a flavor that blows pretty much any other light beer I've had in quite a while.  I picked up a good amount of light malt with a slight peach or light fruit flavor. There's a tiny bit of herbal hop character blended in there as well.  It became one of my favorite beers here and probably one of my favorite of all-time when it comes to the light styles.

Ariadne's Belgian Blonde: There was a very light woodsy aroma here.  The Belgian character took over in force in the flavor with lots of fruity esters lots of clove and cinnamon spice but not so much that the beer is undrinkable.  Overall pretty standard for the style.

Acres O Green Irish Red: No aroma to speak of.   Nice malty,woody, slightly smoky flavor right off the top.  The smoke quickly fades and some light spicy hop character takes over and it finishes just a little bit dry.

Toots Oatmeal Stout: This is a stout on the drier end of the flavor rainbow.  Chocolate aroma with a dry, roasted flavor.   Some woody, earthy flavors peak through with maybe a hint of leather as well.  

Outta Range Pale: Sweet orange citrus aroma which translate into the flavor profile as well.  I picked up some spiciness as I went on as well, but overall it was a nice, balance pale, although it might be flirting in IPA territory, methinks.  

Hoptree IIPA: This was a hop bomb that sort of crept up on me.  At first... the citrusy, floral hops were there and in force.  Their more astringent qualities were tempered by the malt so it was rather nice at first.   After a while... Maybe it was the fact that some of the medicinal flavors were starting to peek through or maybe the sheer amount of malt needed to tame this bastard was starting to get to me, but  after my 6oz sample I more or less had it with this.  It was pretty good, but the taster was about enough for me.

Pizza and Beer, Rocky Mountain High Edition: Denver, CO.

I'm sensing at pattern.

Pizza and beer are, of course, a match made in fat, happy, drunken heaven.  The two words flow together like poetry.  In fact, if I were to yell, "Who wants pizza and beer?" everyone would raise their hands with the possible exception of those who had recently had pizza or those who don't drink. (You're in the wrong bloody blog if you're in the latter category.  Seriously, how did you even get here?)

So it shouldn't be all that surprising that I am running into more and more pizzeria/ microbreweries scattered among the landscape.  For example there is Oggies, a chain I have been seeing with more and more frequency across this great land and I recently ran into Papago brewery in Arizona that doesn't specialize in pizza per se, but they have a certain mad scientist approach to the dish.


Dads and Bros. Breweria is one of those, a pizzeria and brewery shacking up together, splitting the bills and making sweet love.

"It's actually the smallest microbrewery in Colorado," said Paul as he was pouring me my taster's flight.  The first thing I liked about this place was the staff.  The good people slinging beer would stop and talk about their beer and the brewery.  The owner occasionally wandered by to glad-hand patrons, shoot the shit and ask the key question,

"So what do you think of the Basil Watermelon Wheat?"

More on that in a moment.

"It's kind of cool to operate on this scale, you know?  It allows us to kind of experiment."

The second thing I liked about this place is that they are a bit of a wild card when it comes to brewing.  They have some pretty standard brews, as you will see in a moment, but every once in a while, there's something quite a bit different.  A beer that makes you're eyes go wide and forces you to look down into your glass to see what they hell you just drank.  In a good way, mind.

Basil Watermelon Wheat: "Not our most popular beer," Paul said when I ordered a pint.  "People either really like it, like you.  Or people...don't."  In the middle of a hot summer day, I thought this was a nice beer to have.  It has a very, very light fruity aroma.  As far as the flavor goes, the name pretty much says it all.  Watermelon's flavor is so light it's amazing that it comes through at all and it's backed up with a sweet slightly minty herbal flavor.  Watermelon and basil.   I don't see myself filling the fridge with this beer, but for something refreshing and different, I'll give it a swig or two.

Fathom Amber: The aroma on this beer had a very nice sweet toffee, caramel character to it.  Unfortunately, this is one of those where the smelling the beer was better then actually drinking it.   The richness in the aroma was gone and the flavor was very light with herbal, woody flavors mixed in that clashed with the malt.  It wasn't bad, but not my favorite.

Toffee Porter: Mocha coffee aroma.  This is a coffee porter with a sweet chocolate character that makes for a much sweeter beer.  There was no bitterness that I could find, just a lot of creamy coffee mocha flavors.

Citrasmack: Okay now that we've finished with all that malt, it's time to temper that with a dose of hops.  Citrasmack had a nice spicy citrus aroma.  The flavors from the hops were a little strange.  I wouldn't say they clashed, but it was one of those times where couldn't quite decide whether I like the thing or not.  I picked up some pine and citrus throughout with a lemongrass finish.

Liquid Resume: Ah, if only every job application required one of these.  This pale ale was basically a lighter version of the Citrasmack.  I picked up more earthy flavors among the pine and citrus with just a little more spice.  I got most of the qualities from the IPA, but at a volume that was more palatable.

So it's like this.  The past week was spent in kind of a slow stagger down the rocky mountains.  I started in Denver, wandered into Santa Fe, passed out for a moment in Flagstaff and finished in Phoenix.  It all happened in the space of a week, but screw it, I'm reporting it over the course of the next month or so.

It's a lot of territory to cover, so grab a pint or two.
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.

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. 

Flailing About like a Drunken Monkey: Dayton OH

This week found me in the wilds of Ohio.  Not even a place particularly interesting in Ohio, just kind of... well in Ohio.  I was close to Dayton which basically means I wasn't even in Dayton, but farther in the endless suburbs to the South.  Pickens is slim. 
We did manage to find a pretty cool taproom by the name of Chappy's Tap Room.   

Overall, it's a place where there is good beer and good burgers to be had.  If that is your thing, and you find yourself in that part of Ohio, then you owe it to yourself, you might even owe it to America to go there.
The terrorist win otherwise.  At least that's what I've heard.

While I was there I had sips and pints of whatever happened to catch my fancy.  There was a lot to choose from here, so this is going to jump around a bit.  From brewery to brewery, state to state, this is a sampling of some of the goodness going on around the country.

First, from Denver Colorado is the Great Divide IPA.  It had a sweet citrus aroma.  The beer was well balanced overall.  The citrus hops were mixed with a bit of pine and medicinal flavors.  Overall a very good IPA for those that like the hops but also like enough malt to stand up to them in a fight.

Next, from Grand Rapids Michigan, is Founder Brewery's Dirty Bastard.  This runs screaming to the opposite side of the malt, hop spectrum.  The aroma is all chocolate and caramel.  It has a big creamy body with some sweet coffee and chocolate flavors with some subtle dark fruit flavors hidden somewhere in it's beefy folds.  It ends dry with a tiny hint of bitterness in the back of the throat.

From there it was a sample from an old friend in California.  Lagunitas brewing in Pentaluma is one of those breweries that has achieved almost legendary status from beer geeks.  At this taproom in Ohio they were still pouring their August seasonal beer, the Daytime IPA.  It's kind of billed as a low APV beer to drink during summer days without passing out in the bathtub before lunchtime.  It has a very lemony aroma almost to the point of being lemonade.  It doesn't pack that IPA punch to the palate that most do.  I suspect that it has enough hops to plant itself firmly in IPA territory, but the flavor is far from overpowering.  It is a very smooth, highly drinkable beer that seems perfect for it's intended purpose.  I could see myself drinking this all day although I couldn't because after a couple sips the guy across the table was already giving me that look that says, "Gimme my beer back you freak!"

Okay, it's back to Michigan, Kalamazoo (A city that exists purely so that people can say it's name.  Seriously that word is fun just to type) and Dark Horse brewing.  The word 'Dopplebock' evokes something primal in me.  There is something about that style that almost guarantees awesome is afoot.  When Dark Horse first made their dopplebock however, they weren't impressed.  It just seemed too... well... normal.

So they gave the middle finger to German Purity Laws and came up with the Perkulator Coffee Dopplebock.  The aroma and flavor are pretty self-explanatory, I feel.  It has a coffee with cream sensation all around with a slightly dry finish.

To finish up it's back Founders Brewing and their seasonal breakfast stout.  It's billed a the coffee lover's stout, but I didn't pick up the java bomb they were promising.  It might have been because of the Perkulator, I don't think mankind's palate is designed to handle that much bean after about 10am, but it just didn't have that big flavor.  It had the big body and a sharp roasted barley note with some bitter roasted coffee aromas, but it was basically just another stout.  A very, very good stout, but just a stout in the end.

That was all the flailing I am prepared to handle in one sitting.  Back to some more focused (or not) discussions later. 
Cheers!

Deciples of Papazian: Denver CO

Well my travels have taken me back to the city at the edge of the Rocky Mountains.  And once again I find myself wandering the streets around the LoDo district of Denver.  Last time I was here, I stopped by the Falling Rocks Tap room for a taste of what they available at the time.  It was tempting to go back, last time I was there around the holidays they had an amazing selection of dark winter beers, I decided it was time to venture onward.  On this day I stopped by Wynkoop brewing company.

I am pretty sure I have spoken before about this city's deep connection with the art of craft brewing.  I think I saw something along the lines of 4 or 5 different breweries in the LoDo district alone, and if you happen to find yourself on the outskirts of town, history has shown that new and creative brew can still be located and enjoyed.  Denver is a beer town, to put it mildly, and from what I heard from the bar staff, this bar is ground zero.  The head brewer, Russell Schehrer, brought the art of craft brewing to Colorado back in 1988.  His ideas and brews were so innovative that after his untimely death in 1996 the American Brewers Association awards those who make great strides in the art of brewing with an award that bears his name. 

Given the history of this bar, I suppose that it is no surprise in retrospect that one of the first things I noticed in the bar was a hand-painted wall decoration honoring the greats in the craft brew revolution and the resulting Great American Beer Festival that contributed to its rise.  It stands as an altar to the legends that revolutionized the art of brewing in America.  From the top and center, Charlie Papazian looks down over the bar reminding us to "Relax and have a home brew."

I started with Pattys Chile Beer, a light beer brewed with Anaheim peppers.  This is not the first beer that I have had that uses hot peppers and I quite like the spicy aroma that it produces.  The peppers add a good amount of flavor with heat that doesn't linger the way spicy food does.  This beer was all that and more. Along with the strong smells and flavor from the peppers there is a goodly amount of hops at the back that really complement the sweet and spice that first hits the palate.

Next was the St. Charles Extra Special Bitter.
I found that I made the mistake in ordering the gumbo. That isn't to say it wasn't good, it was absolutely delicious.  It was also very spicy; it's the sort of spice that makes me physically sweat when I eat it.  Suffice to say that when it came time to taste this beer, my sinuses were in a state of moderate distress. The brewery notes on the beer says it has, "an elegant hop aroma," and I am inclined to take their word for it.  Flavor wise, it has a wonderful smooth taste. A little on the sweet side with orange spices back with a healthy dose of hops that manages to come through without being overpowering.  The pint came out with a very thick snow-white head that looked as good as it tasted.  Overall I think this was my favorite of the beers that I sampled.

Sadly, my obligations to my employer forced me to cut it short on this night so that I could be in some sort of state to wake up very early the next morning.  I finished Wynkoop's flagship beer, the Railyard Ale.  The first thing that really made me arch my eyebrows in interest is the body of this beer.  It's brewed as a session beer, it has a very light aroma and the flavor has some light roasted malts with just a touch of hops in the back for balance.  The body on this beer is a different matter.  I reminded me of one of those guys on ESPN 5 who are about 4' 5" and can bench press a tractor trailer.   I'm still not sure what I think about this one.  As a session beer, it's really not my ideal, but I got to respect how different it is.  I don't think I would buy a lot to keep at my house, but I would buy a lot to bring to parties and force it upon my friends.

I got one more destination before we bid 2011 goodbye and move on to the bright and shiny new year.  I will be finishing my 2011 tour in Las Vegas, Nevada before heading home. 
Cheers!

Beware, Falling Rocks: Denver, CO

Up until now, this blog has mostly been an excuse for me to bounce around the wineries and breweries I come across.  Now it's going to be an excuse to go to the bar.   


The Falling Rock Tap Room is truly a beer lovers bar.  Their on tap selection is pretty massive (Over 70 if I remember correctly) with a selection of bottled beer to match.   This is one of those places that has beer on tap that you can't get at any other bar in this country.  In addition, they move enough beer though this bar that running into a keg that has been on tap since the last presidential election is extremely unlikely.  The beer menu even comes with a warning that it was accurate at the time of printing and could change at a moment's notice.  If you run into an old beer, it is there on purpose, but I touch on that little nugget later.  Then there is the staff...

While sitting at the bar enjoying one of their fine brews, I noticed a young man and woman approach the bar.  I can't be sure, but from the way they were acting and the way they were talking I think they were on a date; if not their first date, than a pretty early one in the relationship.  As the girl scanned the seemingly endless row of taps, she had a look on her face that suggested that, to put it mildly, she was not prepared to render a decision at this time.  The bartender came by and the man ordered a dark beer of some kind.  Then he turned to the woman who paused for a while and then said, "Do you have anything like bud light?"  Now, like I said before, this is a true beer bar.  It's one of a few places you will see a lot of patrons sniffing their drinks before they start drinking.  So when that poor girl uttered the words, 'Bud Light' you could actually feel the room get a bit colder.  The bartender, however, simply looked behind him for a moment, found the lightest thing they had on tap and poured a small taster glass for her to see if she enjoyed it.  She drank it, decided that it was not at all like Bud Light, but was worth ordering a glass of anyway.  My point is the staff is friendly and approachable, so it's a good place for those new to the craft beer world.

Their offerings include beers from all over the world and often include multiple vintages of beer.  I first found this place about six months ago around Christmas time.  Then they had three years of an Danish Strong Ale called 'Santa's Little Helper."

The beer menu: Changes frequently without warning

I stopped in and had a few random selections:

The Avery White Rascal:
Nice Belgian white ale out of Colorado.  They use that infernal Belgian wheat yeast, but it is really well balanced with bitter hops and citrus overtones.  More beer like this and I will be forced to re-evaluate my stance on this particular strain of yeast.

Sierra Nevada Southern Harvest Fresh IPA ale:
This is like the Sierra Nevada pale ale's big hoppy brother.  Light sweetness off the top that moves quickly into bitter citrus and floral hops that lingers long on the palate.

Finally they had an apricot mead on tap from another local brewery.  Very good, slightly sweet for my tastes, but lots of fruit and a heavy honey nose.

Well that's all for now.  Jones out.

A Bit of Britain in Denver, CO

This week we head back West to Denver, Colorado.  This city, located at the base of the Rocky Mountains, has had a long, proud history with fermentation.   Aside from the Coors brewing company, the Great American Beer Festival is held here every year, the American Homebrewers Association hold a national competition in nearby Boulder every year;  Basically I'm saying that there's a bit of history in and around Denver, and much of that history has to do with the brewing and the consumption of beer. 

My travels took me to the southern end of town and the Bull and Bush Brewpub.  The bar was modeled after the Bull and Bush located in England right down to the copper-topped bar.  It has a very authentic feel to it, but apparently it wasn't authentic enough for a British man I happened to meet while I was there.  He looked around and loudly announced that, "it wasn't a proper English pub.  The people here are happy and nobody's been stabbed yet."  He later went to the bathroom and announced when he came back that it wasn't a proper English pub because no one was doing coke in there.  Apparently, based on this information, England is a nation of depressed, violent sociopaths who's only joy in life is doing a bit of blow off the john. 
Although to be fair to the disaffected Brit, he came all the way to Denver to see a friend of his, and his friend took him to a British pub.  It's a bit like offering Gilligan a coconut if he ever got off the damn island. I would be slightly annoyed as well.

I enjoyed the place myself.  The staff was friendly, the food was good, it had a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere and, most importantly, it boasted some fantastic beers.  Keeping with the English theme, the bar specializes in English style ales and lagers.  Out of their core beers, the clear standouts were the ESB and the IPA.  The Tower ESB starts out quite sweet with a lot of caramel and roasted grain flavors and is well balanced with the bitter hops that linger a long time on the palate.  Strangely, their IPA, dubbed Man Beer, was an American-style IPA.  There was lots of citrus hops in the aroma and in the flavor balanced with a decent about of malt sweetness.  There may have been some English influence in this beer however, because it did finish with a lot of bitter floral hops.

The other point of interest about the Bush and Bull, aside from their amusing logo, is the fact that the brewer is obviously a man who, to put it mildly, is not at all afraid to try some weird things.  Among their seasonal offerings during my visit was the Turnip the Beets, a beer brewed with Turnips and Beets, fermented with champagne yeast, fermented in wine barrels and flavored with just a hint of wine.  The result was a cloudy, rose colored beer with a earthy, sour cherry nose.  The flavor had a lot of wine and berry flavors and a hint of something I couldn't identify.  I assumed it was the root vegetables.  I had a pint of it and I am still not sure whether or not I liked it, so I'm going to call it a win for novelty.
Also, among the seasonal offerings was the Captain Midnight.  This one, to me at least, smelled and tasted like black liquorice and band-aid.  Although I feel it's worth a mention because it was very unique and a lot of other people in the bar really liked this one.   One man went into quite a lot of detail about liquorice flavors mixed with peppercorn and other spices.  Me, I'm going to stick with liquorice and band-aid, but that's just me.

Finally, among the many highlights from this particular bar, was their Abt 12 quadruple.  It is not a real Abby-style ale because, as the waitress pointed out, there are no monks in the back working the fermenters, but it is still a fantastic beer.  It had a lot of malt, nut and banana in the aroma and the taste was similar with just an added hint of raisin.  By the end of the day, I think this was my favorite offering.

 That's all for this week.  I'll be staying in Denver for next week and talking about a beer bar in town that is truly worthy of a pilgrimage for all those who enjoy the art of fermentation.  Until then, cheers!