Bottle Beer Tour #6: It's Fuggin Cold, Drink Beer.

 It is Mid-February here in Nebraska and, right now, the weather is doing it's best to make the joint uninhabitable.  It's the time of the year when a dip above thirty-two degrees is cause for running outside naked in sheer celebration of the fact that your bits won't turn blue and fall off.   It is the time of the year to sit inside and drink beer until it becomes warm enough to... well... I guess go outside and drink beer.

 It's also been a slow travel season for me.  On the upside, no white-knuckling it over some God-forsaken mountain pass.  On the downside, no weird brews to talk about.   So it's time, once again, to break open the beer fridge and root around inside for some goodies.

 
Victory Brewery, Hop Wallop: This has an absolutely wonderful
 orange blossom honey aroma to it.  Those flavors translate slightly into the flavor profile.   It kind of sits in the background while a massive herbal hop bill takes center stage.  Nice blend of flavors.  Given the nice sweet orange honey flavor I could be persuaded that fewer hops could be better, but a nice beer all around.

 Choc Beer, Last Laugh:  American White ale from Oklahoma
light banana lemon aroma.  The fruity esters are more pronounced in the flavor with that lemony flavor lingering in the background.  Clean and refreshing beer.




 New Holland, The Poet:  Deep charcoal, woody aroma on this oatmeal stout.  The aroma suggest that it might be on the bitter side, but it really isn't.  Not quite sweet either, just a nice full-bodied mellow beer with woody coffee notes.  An excellent beer for the winter months.

Three Floyds, Gumball Head: There is a light fruity citrus aroma on this eccentric wheat beer.  The flavor is hoppy.... but it's not.  The first thing you get in the flavor is a flash of citrus, floral hops and, just as you are waiting for the dry, herbal bitterness that should probably follow... it just blends away into this nice, slightly sour, bread and rye malt flavor.  I imagine it as a really good beer to use as a practical joke for a die-hard IPA fan as their beloved bitter hops remain just barely out of reach.

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.

Okie Round-Up: Tulsa Oklahoma

If you're in Tulsa, Oklahoma and you're looking for a spot to grab a hold of some quality pints, there is really only one game in town, McNellies.

I talked about this beer bar way back in 2011 when I last visited this city.   On a side note, that post is still the most popular post on this whole blog by at least a factor of at least three.  I'm lead to believe that the title I selected, 'Bar Craw of Tulsa' has lead a few savage drunks astray.  Far from finding a guide to the local watering holes they came across my inane rantings... which is probably for the best.  At least they found out where the best beer was.

They actually have two locations in the city of Tulsa, and I highly recomend either.  Good food and, of course, good beer.

Since I am in Oklahoma, I focused on the far-flung local beers that, like many breweries in the southern part of the U.S. don't go in for all that brew-pub non-sense.

Mustang Brewing, Winter Lager: This has a sweet, fruity and caramelly aroma with warm toasty notes mixed in.  Mixes body with drinkability extreemly well.  Its malty with warm woody toasted flavors with just a hint of herbs to add to the complexity of this very nice winter beer.

Mustang Brewing, Mmmmhops: There is a slight hint of hops in a lightly sweet aroma.  The flavor is... well, different.  It's got a hefty malt bill that takes Northwest citrus hops and sweetens the citrus considerably.  Add a bit of light but dustinct flavor make this a sweet hoppy anomaly.

Mustang Brewing, 66: No real aroma in this light beer.  But for the style, it's actually quite nice.  The light malts support some peppery herbal hops.  It has some body to it and it's almost dangerously drinkable (who stole my pint?.... And where are my pants!)

Prairie Artisian Ales, Standard: A farmhouse ale with a heavy tropical fruit and clove aroma. Thankfully, the flavor doesn't sport quite the same punch.  It has this slightly sour homebrew flavor that's a little odd but not unpleasant. Finishes quite hoppy which arrive late as a bit of a surprise.  Overall a very nice rustic ale.

COOP Ale Works, Gran Sport Porter: I picked up some coffee and chocolate in the aroma.  It has a full-bodied and creamy flavor with some roasted coffee and unsweetened chocolate.  Standard porter qualities but still a nice cold weather beer.

COOP Ale Works, F5 IPA: This beer has an intense, citrusy herbal aroma.  There are some floral flavors in the flavor that almost go so far as to be soapy.  There is an intense bitterness that hits and sticks in the back of the throat.  Not the most pleasant IPA I've had recently.  

Dead Amradillo Brewing, Amber: Nice toasty creamy and caramelly aroma.  I picked up a toasted buttery biscuit flavor with peppery hops just peaking through. There may have been some light fruit sweetness in there as well.

Southern Belles: Oklahoma City, OK

It is my experience, and forgive me if I am mistaken, but Oklahoma strikes me as the last hold-out when it comes to the fine art of microbrewing.

Not totally, mind.  As I am about to illustrate there is good beer to be found.  But it takes quite a bit of looking.   According to both google and Beeradvocate, there are two brewpubs in the whole state of Oklahoma.  This point was emphasized when I saw the 'craft beer' section of one of the local stores that included two fruit beers from Shocktop and Sam Adams Boston Lager.

But it is there, and one place to find it is Bells Isle Brewing.

They have a respectable selection of beers, and many of them are different enough to be interesting.  Food is fairly typical bar fare.  It's nice but nothing that really stands out about it apart from it's location in a city where locally brewed beer is still a kind of oddity.

Belles Blonde: This has a light wheat lemongrass aroma.  The flavor is dry and moderately bitter with herbal lemony hops.  For a style that can often flirt uncomfortably close with tasteless and watery, this is a nice representation of what the style can be.

Wild Mary's Hefenviesn: No aroma really stands out.  Lemony hops clash with tropical fruit from the yeast in a way that's a little jarring at first.  I got used to it as I finished my taster, but it still wasn't anything I was terribly exited about.

Raspberry Wheat: Raspberry is the operative word here; lots and lots of sweet fruit dominate the flavor profile.  The flavor has a slight floral quality to it that adds a bit of character for a refreshing sweet lighter beer.

Flannigans Amber: Again, no real aroma.  The flavor has roasted flavors with a hint if sweet fruity malt and herbal hoppy finish.  Standard amber character here.

Irish Stout: No aroma.  It has a full bodied character with intense roasted coffee woody flavors that dominate and kind of spread through the palate.  It's one of the more complex beers that's tough to nail down.

Power Plant Porter: The flavor has the typical roasted grain flavors with a hint of dark fruit sweetness that kind of clash with the sharp roasted barley flavor.  Not bad, but not something I personally like in a porter.

IPA: There is a very light citrus aroma here.  Lots of heavy herbal pine hops with a hint of citrus.  Not very well balanced, though, the bitterness hits the back of the throat pretty hard.

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.

He's a Lumberjack and he's IPA: Flagstaff, Arizona

Sorry for the title.  I recently aquired "He's Not the Messiah, He's a Very Naughty Boy," and I'm afraid the image of an elderly Michael Palin performing the lumberjack song will both haunt  and amuse me for some time.

And it is related to this week's post.... because Flagstaff is a lumber town...  And there's kind of a lumber mill theme at Beaver Street Brewery... which I will be talking about soon...

Look I'm sorry about the pun, okay?  I just couldn't help myself.

Okay?

Okay.

Beer?

This is the last stop on the oddyessy that was my trip through the Southwest, and when it comes to the brewpub, we're getting back to basics.

Well, basics, but upped a notch all the way around.

The food is your basic pub fare... except well more so.  I went with their basic 'Beaver Street Burger' and I've got to say they push the limits of the awesome you can achieve with ground beef and a bun.
There was something, I dunno, quinteccential about their beer selection as well.  I can't pinpoint it and maybe it's a product of a mind that's spent entirely too much time watching little yellow dots go by, but they have two IPA, a couple wild cards and nothing even remotely resembling Budweiser.   That's a brewpub.  Or, at least, it's the kind of brewpub a city like Flagstaff should have.

Lumberyard Amber: This seasonal selection had a nice citrusy, earthy aroma to it.  The flavor packs a lot more hops then one traditionally finds in a amber but it's not right there in front ready to give you an alpha acid punch to the palate, it's sorta sneaks up on you.  It's like biting into a chile pepper.  There's a slow build-up of floral citrus hops until that's all you taste and you become afraid that it is all you will ever taste again.

Lumberjack Red: I didn't pick up an aroma on this beer as much.  The flavor was of light, roasted, earthy flavor.  It was very drinkable, but was flirting dangerously close to 'watery' in character.

Red Rock Rasberry: Some day I'm going to put all the rasberry beers I have tasted into two catagories.  One catagory for your typlical light, sweet, fruity, dare I say... 'chick' beers and another catagory for people who Don't Like Fruit Beers!  Then I will make those two groups fight.   Anyway this beer would be fighting for the latter group in this case.  The rasberry aroma is there and in force, but the melds into some dry grassy flavors.

Balgian Tripple: This Belgian comes with all the associated belgian flavors and aromas; clove trpolical fruit, bananna and the like.  They are not overpowering, as can so often happen when these kind of esters get heavily involved, and it remains highly drinkable.  One thing that I did notice was a dry, warm alcohol flavor dancing around in there informing the drinker of the punch that is hidden within the malt.  I think a few of these would put me on the floor before I knew what happened.

R&R Oatmeal Stout: Lost of rich coffee and mocha on the aroma with just a hint of either wood or leather... I couldn't really place it at the moment. The beer is very drinkable and contains dark chocolate and earthy notes and finishes just slightly dry.

Cascading IPA: This is an American-style IPA that gets close to 'hop bomb' territory.  The citrus, floral hops are intense at first, but they mellow considerably as it moves through the palate.  By the end, the hops linger just slightly and some light roasted malt peaks through.

Lumberjack IPA: This would be Cascading's smaller, quieter brother.  It shares a lot of the same qualities without the intense hop kick-to-the-teeth.

Old Santa Fe: New Mexico

I talked a little about Santa Fe in my last post, but it really is one of of the few truly unique places in America.  So one more stop before we venture farther down this Proud Highway.  This little microbrewery is located right smack dab in the middle of downtown, the Blue Corn Cafe and Brewery.  It's a cool place, tucked away into the Plaza Mercado building in the picture above. 

Honestly, I was more impressed with the food then the beer.  It wasn't bad, but no particular beer really had any terribly unique flavor.  They were all pretty standard; your standard wheat beer, standard blonde, standard brown, standard IPA... etc.   I guess what I am saying is that I'll remember the blue corn tacos (highly recommended, I might add) longer then I'll remember the Roadrunner IPA.   But, again, they weren't bad and this is a beer blog so here we go:

40K Wheat: I think this is what they give to those people who come in asking for a Budweiser.  It has that grassy, malty aroma.  It's a little sweeter, but it's a pretty basic light beer.

Atomic Blonde: I picked up some light fruit aroma here and it pretty much stayed in the flavor as well.  I picked up a hint of floral hops in the back, but very little else.

Czech your English: Similar to the blonde. A little darker and a little sweeter.  This one packs a bigger body and brings some caramel and strawberry sweetness to add to the flavor profile.

Atalaya Amber: I picked up a little citrus in the aroma.  The flavor is light, sweet and toasty with the same citrus floral hop character in the back.  It struck me as watery and a little bland.  I would have liked to see a little more  

End of the Trail Brown: Brown ales are almost terminally light and watery, in my experience.  They can be good, but there is something about the style that invites a kind of emptiness in the flavor profile.  This is a good example of that... well 'good' being a loosely used term there.  It had a nice chocolaty aroma.  The flavor was sweet at first with a little mocha character and it had a rather nice but surprising dry bitter finish.  Overall, though the flavors could have been ramped up quite a bit.

Gold Metal Stout: Light coffee aroma.  I picked up a lot of coffee, sharp roasted barley flavors and a hint of unsweetened chocolate.  It finished dry.

Oaked Swartzbier: The aroma and flavor were both very light.  I picked up the buttery oak flavor among the chocolate and caramel malty flavors that dominated this beer.  There were no detectable hops.

Roadrunner IPA: I picked up some citrus and floral qualities on the hops in the aroma, but those same characteristics were buried under an avalanche of alpha acids in the flavor.  In the great IPA battle that balances the delicate flavors of the hop with pure brutish bitterness... yeah flavor got it's ass kicked.

Blended Cultures and Blended Wine: Santa Fe, New Mexico

I don't understand Santa Fe, nor do I particularly want to. 

Before I arrived to kill a couple days, I had heard tell about this strange city in the mountains of New Mexico.  Okay, I heard it was a cool place to visit, but nobody ever really explained why.  It was always left rather vague.

Here is why Santa Fe is kind of a cool place: the culture.  Few cities in this country have a culture... or at least a culture that is anything other then American.  Most cities in this country look and act like every other city in this country, with a few exceptions:

New Orleans: .... trust me.  You know when you are in New Orleans.

Portland, Oregon: And you can smell when you're in Portland.

New York: ... Or so I am told.  Honestly I've not spent any time there.

I would add Santa Fe to this list.  There's something about this place.  It's not quite Mexican.  It's not quite Native American and it definitely isn't American.   .... It's just Santa Fe in all it's quiet glory.

 And that's the best way I can describe Estrella Del Notre Vineyard.  There is something at work here that couldn't really exist anywhere else.  And that is just kinda cool.

Vino De Manzanas:

A wine made from apples on the property.  This wine had a cidery taste that you would expect, but it was much cleaner and much drier.  It was fairly light, just a little sweet and quite refreshing.

Symphony:  So apparently, this is an actual varietal of grape.  Some mad scientist in California cross-bred a couple grape varietals over the course of a couple decades and finally came up with Symphony.  The result is a wine a that reminds me a little of muscat, but totally different.  It has the grapefruit and pear fruit inside, but there’s also a dry, floral quality to it especially at the end.  It’s a lighter refreshing wine that is truly awesome.

Pino Noir: When you drive up to the winery you see rows upon rows of grape vines.  These are the Pino grapes.  I picked up some black cherry, and some light floral qualities on the nose.  The palate contained some black cherry, and some raspberry.  It was light for a style, but nice.

Barbera: Another grape varietal that I had not heard of. This one apparently came with the first monks that established monasteries in the region almost 600 years ago.  Fun fact, New Mexico is actually the first American wine region.  It had a very light aroma, but it’s palate was earthy, woody with a generous helping of pepper spice and a slightly floral finish.

Rio Nambe: A blended wine.  The first thing I thought when I put my nose in was… it was hoppy.  I smelled northwest citrus hops.   It didn’t make sense, but there was a citrusy, floral quality about this wine.  The flavor had lots of floral earthy notes to it with just a hint of spice.

Tinto Del Soul: This was actually something they had from Santa Fe Vineyards, but what the hell.  This was noticeably sweeter then the previous wines I had up to that point.  I picked up some caramel and some raspberry among the pepper and spice that filled this one.

Holy Moly:  Here’s were, in my opinion, true Santa Fe culture begins to take hold.  It’s a zinfandel infused with chocolate, almonds and chili pepper.  The result is a wine that’s smokey and spicy on the nose.  The flavor has some chocolate covered cherry with a generous, but not overpowering spicy background that arrives and disappears like pepper in a beer.  

Pear Wine: We get a little into the desert category here, or as much as I am willing to go.  It was sweet just on the edge of being syrupy.  Pear and apple flavors were, of course, very very strong.  It was sweet but manageable and rather nice.

Tilting at Windmills: Los Alamos, New Mexico

There’s something kinda hidden about Los Alamos.  Over sixty years ago the greatest scientific minds were assembled here to work on the Manhattan project.  To this day Los Alamos has the National Lab and then there’s the Santa Fe Institute, a gathering of some of the greatest minds in the world that come together to try and figure out.. well..  everything.

What I am saying here is that there’s a lot of brain power in Northern New Mexico.  Sometimes, those great minds… they get bored.

The Ron is the head distiller for Don Quixote.  He first became interested in fermentation and distillation while a freshman in college.  He built his first still at the time which was quickly confiscated by campus police who didn’t believe his story that it was all for ‘reasearch purposes.’

On a trip to Ukraine, Ron met his wife, Olha.  She came from a proud distilling line.  Her father, a merchant marine couldn’t afford to pay his sailors so he offered them the best vodka and food as long as they sailed with him.

Ron’s engineering know how combined with Olha’s heritage and Don Quixote was born in the mountains of Northern New Mexico.

They have two locations in the area, one is Los Alamos and one outside Santa Fe. The downside is they only let you try five things at a time, which, given a really impressive selection is a bit torturous.  They had more then five… anything.  More then five red wines, more then five white wines and more then five liquors.  Hell, they have two grappas which I will get to later.  So I guess, what I am saying, there’s more to them then what I am about to say, but I really can’t say much.

Microdistillaries are a hard-to-find commodity in this world, so I stuck primarily with the spirits, although I did try a couple of the heavier reds.

Cabernet: The first thing I was told about their dry reds is that they were going to be sweeter then I was used to.  This was because the cuisine of the area tended on the spicy side.  Dry, peppery, oaky, these are great qualities in a red wine, but they just don’t go with the food in the area.  So, fair enough.

The cab had a port wine, raspberry and dark cherry aroma and I got a pretty much identical sensation in the flavor.  It was slightly sweeter then similar wines, but not overly so.  Dry red wines often leave a person wishing for a steak.  This is not the case here.  In a way the wine stands on its own.

Merlot: Very similar aroma to the cab.  I picked up a little more pepper on the palate and it was a little drier, but other then that I really couldn’t detect a huge difference between the two.

Okay enough with the wine.  It’s distillation time.

Bourbon: Made from blue corn and wheat.  Blue corn is used in a lot of cuisine here and has a slightly sweeter flavor.  I didn’t get that as much from the bourbon.  It was incredibly smooth, though.  There was some leathery, oaky notes.  It was slightly sweet but I don’t know if I could pick it out from any other high-quality bourbon.

Grappa: The story of grappa, as I was told, was that this was a peasant drink in old Italy.  As soon as the rich folk had used the grapes for their wines, the peasants would gather the rest, get what juice they could and distill it down.  They had two types at Don Quixote, aged and un-aged.  I went with the un-aged since I was told it wasn’t as sweet.  Light, semi neutral spirit.  I picked up some light port wine and cherry flavors along with a nice smooth character.

Gin: This was far and away my favorite.  Even those who consider gin, as one of my friends would put it, "pine trees and ass," would have to give this creation some props.  It’s made from blue corn again with New Mexico herbs and spices including juniper (of course) Pinon Chamisa Sage and lemons.  The result is this wonderful aroma like the desert after a rainstorm.  The astringent juniper berries are mellowed by the slightly spicy, slightly sweet concoction with just a hint of citrus in the back. Unlike the bourbon you can pick up quite a bit of the extra sweetness from the blue corn here.

A quick AZ moment.

So here's the thing.  The last week or so I've embarked on a pretty major tour through the West.  Specifically Denver, Santa Fe and Phoenix.  During that week there's been some minor sampling of beer.  And by minor, I mean I've been enough places I think I can keep this blog regularly updated during the off-season.

Trouble is, I'm still in the middle of it.  So just a quick entry today where I say high to and old friend.  

Four Peaks Brewing was featured in post número uno of this blog.  I stopped by there a couple years ago, drank some beer, and it felt like a good time to check up with them.

Short Hop Session IPA:  This was their seasonal beer this time around.    Light citrus hop aroma here.  Built as a lighter beer for summer with a little extra kick.  Lots of hop flavor here but it remains very drinkable.

Hefeweizen:  Very pale cloudy beer.  Slight lemon tropical fruit aroma.  The combination of tropical fruit and lemon is a bit odd, but not unpleasant.  The citrus adds a refreshing touch.

Kilt Lifter: Light aroma.  Heavy malty beer with burbon oak cherry flavors.  No hops to speak of.  A malt bomb, but pretty good, though I can't see myself having more then a few of these.

Like I said, lots to get through over the next few weeks.  Until then, cheers!

Short Hop IPA

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.

Southern Hospitality: Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas

This is a slightly different post to start off the new year. Still on the road for a two-week long jaunt, and finding time to hammer something out is a challenge. Still found enough beer to talk about here in New Orleans and I wanted to get something written.

There's a specific brewery Ill talk about next week. For now here is a Southern Sampler from Lager's Ale House in New Orleans:

Parish Brewing, Canebreak Wheat: Parish is a fairly new brewery out of Broussard, Louisiana with only two beers currently available, their Canebreak Wheat Ale and their Grand Reserve Barleywine. Their wheat ale has a malty caramel aroma. The flavor is clean and very drinkable. Its fairly malty with a light hint of citrus.

Lazy Magnolia, Southern Pecan: The next beer is from Kiln Mississippi. Thier website claims this as the firs beer to use pecans in the brewing process; a hell if a claim in the eccentric microbrew culture if the United States, but a valid one. The South, the love them some pecans. They do things different in the South, and this is a good example of that. It has a nice sweet earthy aroma. The flavor is very different, it has a slightly malty start with a bitter woody flavor that ends very dry. A great beer for those who like the novelty of strange brews.

Saint Arnold Brewery, Fancy Lawnmower Kolch: Lastly, from Houston, Texas, we have a light, German style summer beer. It starts with a very very light lemon aroma. The flavor contains light malt sweetness with just a hint of lemon grass for a citrusy herbal feel. It's a very simple, but nice refreshing lighter beer.

Cheers for now. Stay tuned for a couple more dispatches from the American South.

Bar Crawl of Tulsa, Oklahoma

Back down in the Southwest this week, this time in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  The list of breweries in this part of the country is short, but distinguished.  Oklahoma City has a respectable brewing community, but that will have to wait for another day.  Today, we're in Tulsa and there is only one game in town; Marshall Brewing Company.

Now, I am used to and dearly love the quintessential American brewpubs that have sprung up in every town in this country.  This is not one of those.  If you go to the brewery at about 9:00pm at night, like I did you are simply going to find yourself in an industrial section of Tulsa in the middle of the night sitting outside an empty brewery.  If you go there during the day, I'm not sure it will be any different.  I couldn't find any information about tours or anything like that, so I imagine they would give you a list of the fine establishments that carry their beer before politely telling you to take a hike.

So where do you find the beer here?  The simple answer is, nearly everywhere in Tulsa.  After I had hit a dead end at the brewery, I retreated to a nearby Irish pub to have a pint and plan my next move.

Killkennys Irish Pub

Basic Irish theme bar located in downtown Tulsa.  The atmosphere is nice and quiet and the staff is really friendly  It was pretty packed while I was there, but they took what time they could.  It struck me a little pricey, two beers ran almost $12.

They have a pretty good beer selection including, to my surprise, Marshall's Atlas IPA on tap. It was a little like being an explorer looking for the Lost City of Gold, sitting down for a rest in the jungle and then getting up only to find that I had just put my butt on a block of solid gold.

The Atlas IPA:
A fairly average IPA in my opinion.  It had a lighter flavor than I typically like in and IPA.  It had a light, roasted malt flavor right off the top, then smoothed into herbal and pine hop flavors.  It was drinkable, but nothing I would run back to have again.

So that was one down, but Marshall's still had three more beers out there somewhere.  It could be said, in a very overly-dramatic fashion, that I had a mission.  It was getting increasingly late, however, so I had to find a short-cut.  Violating the Code of the Man, I asked the bartender for the best place to find the other three beers.  I had to hand over my Man Card, but I did manage to find this bar.

James E. McNellie's Public House.
This was the type of place I was looking for.  It is truly a beer-lovers bar in a place not typically known for having a lot of beer-lovers.  The atmosphere was nice and laid back.  The staff were good although not exceptionally knowledgeable, but they were very friendly and kept the beer glasses full.

They had a lot of Oklahoma beers available here, including the rest of the beers from Marshalls.



 
McNellie's Pub Ale:
I didn't actually make a connection between the name of the bar and this beer until I sat down a couple days later to write this, so I feel like my perceptive qualities are very much in question at the moment.  That being said, this was an okay beer.  It can probably be classified as a pale ale given the hop content.   Pretty simple beer, but it has a lingering aftertaste of the hops that I really didn't like.  I think this is the one beer that I wouldn't order again.



Pavillion Pilsner:
Nice light pilsner.  It had slight lemon flavor in the aroma and the flavor.  Like the rest of their beers they used herbal hops for this beer, and I think they added just a touch too much for the style.  There just wasn't enough malt in this to balance out the hops.

 Sundown Wheat:
I think this was my favorite of their offerings.  Like the rest of the beers by this brewery, it's all about simplicity and it really works for this beer.  The beer is such a pale yellow color that it borders on just being the color of cloudy water.  The aroma and flavor is almost exclusively citrus and lemon flavors.  Adding a lemon wedge to this beer would be redundant.  On a blazing hot weekend in Oklahoma this beer was blessedly refreshing and highly drinkable.


As it stands, I'm heading off to Chicago next week, and then I'll be spending some time in St. Paul.  I'll catch you all up then.
Jones out.

Blood into Wine: Arizona Wine Country.

While driving into Phoenix, I got a chance to talk briefly over the phone with the head of the Arizona wine growers association.  She gave me a little lay of the land, where to go to find the wineries, information, etc.  Then she said, "Did you know, the lead singer of Tool has a winery out in Jerome?"  

I did not know that.  Then again, I haven't kept up with Tool for the last few years... or ever for that matter.  The woman continued:

"Oh yes.  He moved out here a few years ago and he's been doing a lot for Arizona wines!"

I've said it before and I will say it again, you find weird stuff in the desert.

Since I opened with Maynard James Kennan, I'm going to come right out and confess that I was not able to make it out to his winery in Jerome.   I'll have to save that for my next visit.  His partner in crime, Eric Glomski, is the wine maker out at Page Springs and I was able to stop there.  While I was working my way through their 'Big Red' wine list I happened to see the movie poster for  the documentary, Blood Into Wine.  The film stars Kennan and Glomski and talks about Arizona wines, the wine industry in general, Kennan's transition from a rock star to wine grower in the high desert and the rag-tag group's fight to prove they can produce wine that's just as good as that produced by the Evil Empire of Napa Valley, (Complete with evil music!)   I watched the film when I got back from Phoenix and it is pretty excellent.  It's available on Netflix and I found it on several Internet sites, and it's well worth checking out.   On a side note, if someone has access to a welder, they need to give me a call.  Apparently those brass knuckles / corkscrew that Kennan is wearing in that poster don't actually exist.  We could make a fortune. 

Page Springs Cellars

I think this was my favorite of the three wineries I made it out to.  That's saying something because Arizona's primary wine styles are all heavy, dry red wines.  Those that know me, will also know that I am a fan of the Merlots, Syrahs and similar styles.  At Page Springs, the clear stand out was a red table wine called Vino De La Familia.     It had some slight pepper flavor balanced with some dark fruit.     A close second was their Vino del Barrio which was a blend of... well everything as near as I can figure.   I also had the chance to taste one of Kennan's creations, the Cupacabra.  It's a blend of several different varieties like the Vino del Barrio.  It was good, but I didn't like it as much as the other two.

Oak Creek Winery

In stark contrast to their neighbor, Oak Creek does very little blending in their wines.  The only blend I tried was their 'Fire' and their other offerings were much better.  Their stand out was their Syrah, a full bodied wine with a slightly spicy, smoky flavor that made me want to go out and barbecue some ribs.   They also had a port that I really enjoyed.  It was lighter than most ports and didn't have that thick, syrupy consistency that many others have.   They have a cream sherry that I didn't get to try myself but another group that had come in before me were describing it as damn near a sexual experience, so it might be worth a taste next time.

Javelina Leap Winery

This was my final stop on my trip.   The flagship wine here was their zinfandel, a word that congers up images of a sweet, pink wine that is a favorite of my fiance mostly because of it's two primary characteristics, being both sweet and pink.  Here it's a completely different animal.  It was still fairly sweet to a point, but had a lot more body, a little spice and some dryness to help its balance.  They had a Merlot that was pretty good as well, but the zinfandel was a clear stand-out.

That's all from the state of Arizona for now.  But I would like to end today's post with a thought.  Most of you know when I lived in Idaho I was a fan of the local wineries.  But, much like the wineries in Arizona, they were known only by a select few.  But if Arizona taught me anything it's that they need to find an Idaho celebrity to start making wine.  Me, I vote for Bruce Willis.   For one, I don't think he is doing anything at the moment.  Secondly, seriously, who is going to turn their nose up at the Yipee ki-chardonnay (mother fucker)?  I'll leave you with that thought.  

Cheers!

 

A Few Beers in the Valley of the Sun

Hello and welcome all.  Pull up a bar stool and pour yourself a glass of fine brew.  We are hitting the road and finding the best craft beer, wine and spirits this country has to offer.  Feel free to add any comments, questions, etc.  
  For the first post, we are starting in the Southwest in Phoenix, AZ.... well not Phoenix exactly.  Just down a bit.... down a little more... okay now just a bit to your right... a bit more... there you are.
We start in Chandler and Tempe, AZ.

 One of the things I want to accomplish with this blog is to introduce friends to great craft beers in places that they never would imagine.  In that way it's somewhat fitting that I start this project in Phoenix, Arizona.   A year ago, I was looking for some craft beer in the area.  Long story short, after searching for quite a while, I ended with the address of a brewery that either never existed, or had closed down long ago.  Flash forward to today it took me a few minutes looking in the right place to discover that I had several microbreweries just a few blocks from where I was staying.  My point is, there are great beers out there.  It might take a little searching, but they are there.
I stopped by two breweries during my trip, SanTan in Chandler, AZ and Four Peaks in Tempe.

SanTan Brewing Co.

 SanTan Brewing is located in the restaurant and bar district of downtown Chandler, AZ.  Nice location if you happen to be in the Southeast Phoenix area near Tempe and Scottsdale.   If your more towards downtown Phoenix, than this is probably a bit of a drive to get to.   But if you do make it down, stop in.  There are some fine beers on tap at this location.

I stopped by during the last game of the NBA finals, and so had everyone else in the greater Phoenix area.  On a related note, it sounds like Dallas has a lot of supporters in the Phoenix area.  Either that, or Miami has some detractors here.  
It took a bit of effort to find myself a seat at the bar and a little bit of patience to finally get a beer.   Given the conditions, I probably can't fault them for taking a while.   When I finally did get the bartender's attention he was nice enough to spend a little time talking about the beers they had on tap, so they get points there.  Once the game was over and the place quieted down a little, it became a nice place to hang out.  They have a really nice outdoor seating area where you can still belly-up to the bar.  It's a nice place to sit on a warm evening in Southern Arizona with a cool pint.  This also strikes me as a place that takes the art of craft brew seriously.  All their beer comes in that rounded glass shape made famous by the Sam Adams brewery.  They also have three taps especially for their cask-aged beers.  If you haven't had a cask-aged beer, try them.   They are delicious.

They have a good selection of beers.  I had a taste of most of them.  Among them they have a niro-stout named the Gordo Stout.  It was good, like a Guiness with more roasted grain.  They also have a couple of Hefeweizen beers that they brew using that Belgian wheat beer yeast that brewers insist adds a 'bannana flavor' to the beer.  I have had a banana or two and I have had those beers.  I don't know what that flavor is, but it sure as hell ain't banana.  Some folks like it, I find it horrific.  It wasn't as bad at this particular brewery, but I still am not a fan, so I will leave that to those that enjoy it.   There were a couple of really good stand outs:

Epicenter Amber

This is SanTan's flagship American Amber ale.  It's available on tap at the brewery and also in cans around Arizona.  Sun Tan describes this beer thusly, "Deep garnet amber hue with a firm toasted malt character, lightly sweet with a crisp, dry finish."
 Fair enough, this beer is pretty much as advertised.  There are some light malts in the aroma.  The taste is slightly malty off the top and it ends with just a touch of bitterness.   All in all a nice, balanced amber ale.  




SanTan IWA and Hopshock IPA

 SanTan's seasonal addition during my visit was an Indian Wheat Ale.  I had their Hopshock IPA right after this beer and there wasn't a lot of difference.  The Hopshock had more malt flavor than this beer, but both were very approachable IPA style beers.  Perhaps I'm a bit spoiled on beers from the Pacific Northwest where the addition of Cascade hops is almost a competitive sport, but both of these surprised me.  Both had a lot of citrus hops in the aroma, but there was a lot of malt sweetness in the flavor.  If pressed, I am not sure I could tell the IWA and IPA apart, although I think the IWA had quite a bit less malt flavor.  Both good beers and very approachable.  Those who don't like those hop bombs that normally characterize an IPA may enjoy these.

 Sunspot Gold
On my trip, I spent some time listening to a podcast called 'Expert Drinking' with Steven and Dr. Bill.  One of them remarked that the skill of a brewer is not measured in their Imperial Stouts or Barleywines.  Instead  the mark of a great brewer lies in their ability to make a pilsner.  You can hide a lot of mistakes in the fullness of an imperial stout, but in a beer such as this you've got nowhere to hide.




Four Peaks Brewing Company

 Driving to the brewery I started looking suspiciously at my GPS device.  It apparently wanted me to turn off the main road and drive into, what looked like, a residential area.   Historically, my GPS has proven itself much smarter than myself so I heeded its advice.  Sure enough I soon found a line of parked cars by the side of the road that extended almost a quarter mile away from the brewery.
Again, the place was packed but it was a Saturday night afterall.  I found myself a spot to sit down and was greeted by Heather who was tending bar.  She immediately told me about their seasonal brew, a malt liquor.  In my mind the words 'malt liquor' are filed under the heading 'masochistic,' but we will get to that later.
The bar itself was pretty cool.  It was built into an old creamery at the edge of town, so they had plenty of space to work with.  The fermenters sit towards the back of the bar and apparently are subjected to the oppressive desert heat as the bar is temperature controlled with a swamp cooler alone.  I asked one of the other bartenders how hot it got in there and  if this had any effect on the beer in mid-summer.   He shrugged and said it gets in the upper 90's in the building, but as far as he knew, it didn't effect the beer at all.  
Nor did I taste any off flavors in the beer, so I figure we can go with that.  They had a good selection of some really wonderful beers, including the aforementioned malt liquor.  Most of the beers described to me as 'hoppy' really weren't.  Again this may be my experience with the hopheads in the Pacific Northwest.   Their flagship beer is a scottish ale they call the 'Kiltlifter.' It was a fantastic ale with hints of fruit and bourbon.  I didn't sit down and write a nice long review because I ended up talking to one of the locals sitting next to me.  But trust, me it's worth a taste.  Here are some other stand outs:
Four Peaks Malt Liquor

Like I said earlier, the term malt liquor usually reminds me of skunky tasting, urine colored swill that I ended up sucking down at college parties to stave of that retched, retched sobriety.   I also seem to recall a friend of mine at the University of Oregon claiming that he would rather be sodomized with a large, irregularly shaped vegetable than drink a 40 of Ol' English.  The Four Peaks Malt Liquor, on the other hand is surprisingly, even dangerously drinkable.  The aroma and taste are a nice combination of sweet malts and citrus hops.  The overall profile is very similar to an American pale ale.  Watch out, however; it does a good job of hiding it's 9% alcohol content and one could easily drink three or four of them before they realize that they have lost the ability to stand under their own power.

Raj IPA

This is a rare example of a true English style IPA.  I had a small taste of their Hop Knot American IPA right after this just to compare and contrast.  The difference is rather striking.  Whereas American IPAs are loaded down with citrus and floral hops for maximum hop flavor, this was much more subtle.   The English IPAs were brewed, not so much for the hop flavor, but to help the beer keep on the long trip to India.  It had a sweet, fruity nose of orange or maybe peach.  The taste had medium body with a mildly sweet start that finished with a dry bitterness you could feel in the back of your throat.  Probably not a beer for everyone, but I quite enjoyed it.



Sunbru Kolsch

  Traditional German style ale.  It's a very light ale with some light malty sweetness in the aroma.   It has a light body with mild carbonation.  The light malts and low hop bitterness make this an exceptionally drinkable beer.  Very refreshing in the desert heat.  




Well that's it for this week.  I'll try to get a post up once a week and see how it goes.  Next week I'll talk about my trip back through Arizona wine country.  This is the place to go if, like myself, you are a fan of dry red wines.  We will also talk about the lead singer of Tool, Maynard James Keenan and what, if anything, heavy metal alternative rock has to do with the art of wine making.


Cheers!