Big Easy Brew: New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans has been on my top ten list of cities to visit for a while.  Whereas elsewhere in the country cities seem to be slowly blending together, the Crescent City stands out with a drink in hand and a defiant middle finger raised.

Jackson Square, New Orleans

 The microbrew revolution has been slow spreading to the south as I have said before.  The idea of the brewpub, a staple among the Pacific Northwest is a rarity here.  Southern microbreweries tend to focus their efforts entirely on brewing and use local bars and ale houses to get their product to consumers.

Such is the case for NOLA (New Orleans Lager and Ale) Brewing.  It is possible to go to the brewery and check out the events that they host or tour the facilities, but to actually sit  and down a few pints you have to venture out and find them hidden among the tap handles in the bars and taverns that keep this city good and liquored up.

For this I found Lagers Ale House.  As beer bars go it has a fairly decent selection.  Not the best I have ever seen, not by a long shot, but something on par with the Old Chicago franchises peppered around the cities.  It has kind of an English pub ambiance and some pretty good Cajun fare.  All in all, it was a pretty nice place to hang out.  And here's what I found about NOLA.

NOLA Blonde: This is NOLA's flagship beer and the first beer they introduced when they started their business.  It's a pretty standard light ale, no aroma to speak of off the top.  The flavor is light with slightly more herbal bitterness then expected. Nothing all that exiting, but a pretty good, drinkable session beer.

Forground: NOLA Hopitoulus, Background: Hopzilla

NOLA Brown:  I liked this one because this brewery managed to pump quite a bit of flavor into a style that is unfortunately known for a lot of light, watery beers.  Chocolate, caramel and berry dominate the aroma. The flavor is very Malty with hints of chocolate, raspberry and a little roasted barley bite on the back and a creamy texture all the way down.   All in all a nice darkish beer.

NOLA Hopitoulus: We're getting into IPA territory now.  The Hopitoulus has a light citrus  hop aroma.  The flavor starts malty combined with a little citrus.  Pine and herbal hops eventually dominate and finish off the flavor profile.  Overall I like the balance on this beer, or at least I liked the balance a hell of a lot more then it's big brother...

NOLA Hopzilla: The aroma is slightly fruity aroma with hop overtones.  The flavor presents just lightly sweet off the top but, well... ever bite into a hot pepper?  You know that delay that happens where you take a bite and declare, "See?  It's not that hot!"?  You know, right before you frantically search for bread and milk?  This beer is like that with IBU's instead of capsaicin oil.  This beer is a  hop nuclear bomb.  By the end the flavor is nothing but intense spicy, herbal hop flavors that last almost until morning.  Approach with caution.

Next week I hop over to Florida for a few pints, it is my hope that I will have the taste of hops out of my mouth by then.  Seriously, it's freaking bitter, people.

Cheers!

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.

Twelve, Twelve, Twelve: Indianapolis, IN

It's 12/12/12 today, s let us take a moment for the sake of all humanity to sit and marvel that we are living through the LAST TIME IN OUR LIVES that the date will consist of the same three numbers repeated.
...
...
...
Screw it, I can write three twelve's in a row anytime I jolly will please, let's drink beer.

In honor of the last of the numerically interesting dates, I had a few beers at Thr3e Wise Men breweries at Indianapolis, Indiana.

See it's in honor of 12/12/12 because the brewery is called Thr3e Wise Men and there's three twelve's in a row....clever huh?... Fine, you try and come up with these clever little introductions week after week.

They're brewpub is located in the Broad Ripple neighborhood, which... was clear on the other side of the town from where I was at the time.  It's a cool neighborhood, I highly recommend it.  I always have fun when I'm there, but anyone familiar with the eccentricities of Indianapolis traffic will forgive my laziness.  Seriously, what did they do?  Rip up every damn road at the SAME TIME?!

Sorry.

Thr3e Wise Men is somehow mysteriously affiliated with a chain called, Scotty's Brewhouse.  I suspect that they own it, but I'm not sure.  They have several restaurants around the Indianapolis area, and it seemed like a reasonable compromise.  Along with a complete collection of Thr3e Wise Men offerings, they have a decent assortment of other Midwest microbrews, so it's a decent place to go and try a few different beers.... kinda.    If you order a sampler flight of beer, they will ask you to choose three you would like to taste.  Three.

I counted thirteen interesting beers from Indiana and the surrounding area on tap and you can taste three at a time.

*Puts soap box on the ground*  Dear, brewpub owners:  As much as I would like to have a pint of each and every one of your beers, prudence dictate that I not drink all the beer and wind up passed out in the fountains of the Indianapolis Civil War Memorial.  Why?  Because it's December and it's cold outside.  And also other reasons, but that's the main one right now.

Ideally there should be a sample of each one of the featured beers.  In times when sheer selection make that impossible due to financial reasons or laws against public drunkenness, a decent cross-section will suffice.  Like say 60-80 percent.

But three?  Come on guys, you're better then that.

So this is three of the beers from Thr3e Wise Men, plus and extra pint because I'm a nice freaking guy.

Hubbard and Craven's Porter:  Pretty standard coffee caramel aroma.  Flavor has the sharp flavor of roasted barley along with sweet chocolate and coffee.  It's smooth and creamy with just a little bitterness in the back.  Overall a good, but pretty standard porter.

@Brewhouse Brown  #Awesomsauce: A tribute to tweeters everywhere, or a just a stupid name?  We report, you decide and drink it anyway because... it's actually pretty good.  The aroma has chocolate and caramel with just a slight hint of cherry there as well.  The light fruit aroma carries over to the flavor where it adds a little tartness to the bit malt flavors.  

Golden Zoe IPA: I have to say this is one of the best IPA's that I've had in a long time.  It contains in a dark-copper colored brew everything I like about the style.  The aroma is sweet, floral and citrusy.  It has a lot of hop flavors, but it doesn't smash you in the face with bitterness.  Instead it blends tons of floral and citrus flavors against just enough malt to make a very balanced, drinkable hoppy beer. 

Cenntenial Martyr Double IPA: Zoe's bigger badder brother.  The aroma is similar with a little added caramel.  This beer packs a much bigger body along with a hops profile that will knock you back a bit.  The herbal, citrus hops are still backed up with a large malt bill, but it still hits pretty hard.

And... that's it for 2012.

A short bit of down-time exists for the holidays, and I'm going to take the time to relax a bit.  I might have enough pints floating around for a third bottle beer tour... we'll see.

Thank you everyone who's dropped by to have beers with me over the past year and a half or so.  It's been fun for me to have something to search for while out on that Proud Highway.

I'll be back in three weeks at most with the first post of 2013, assuming that the Mayans were wrong and we aren't all dead or something.  Although even if some magical calendar actually ushers in an end to civilization, I encourage you all to try and find this blog because I'll still know where the good beer is.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year.  Cheers!

Pizza and Beer: Los Angeles, California

Pizza and Beer.

I'll say it again, Pizza and Beer.

If those words don't give you a slight tingly feeling, you might be reading the wrong blog.  It is the essence of food pairing.  Not only does one compliment the other, but they work together to create something that neither can accomplish together.

Oggies Special with a Scottish Ale.  Awesomeness achieved!

This place is a little different, the local chain Oggies is primarily known for their pizza, and rightly so.  It's pretty awesome.  But, with the rise of the microbrew revolution, they hit upon a way to separate themselves from other pizza chains in the area.  Most microbreweries focus on their beer and create a menu to compliment.

Oggies kind of flips that around.  The beer stands on it's own, don't get me wrong.  Although it's a pretty standard set of offerings.  There's an hefenweisen, a stout, an amber and, of course, two different IPAs.  I mean you gots to have IPA's especially on this coast.  Each is kind of what you would expect from the style, with one or two slight exceptions, so you're not going to run into a mind-blowing hops and barley related experience.

But remember food pairing.  It's a team effort here and the combined effort is pretty awesome.

California Gold Blonde  Starts with a light, lemony aroma.  Hint of citrusy hops off the top.  It's not the big floral, grapefruit flavor of cascade hops but something lighter with a stronger bitter flavor.  It finishes smooth and is a pretty good light session beer.

Duck Dive Hef:  See above with a fuller, creamier mouthfeel along with a slightly sweeter, spicy taste mixed in.  It really is eerily similar to the point of being almost interchangeable.

Paradise Pale Ale: As expected, it has a Northwest citrus hop aroma.  Cascade hops dominate the flavor profile, without being overpowering.  There are some malty flavors mixed in, but it's a pretty typical pale.

Oggies Tasters Flight

Torry Pines: The aroma is very light, slightly floral, but the flavor is totally different.  It starts out with some port wine and raisin flavors dancing in front of a massive pine and herbal hop background.  It pushes some serious IBU's and if not for the complexity up front, would be enough to knock you off the barstool. Even with the malty sweetness to balance it out, this is a big beer.  

Double Up IPA: This also presents with a very light hop aroma, but it's hiding something under there.  Did I say the other was a bit heavy?  Yeah, this is an atomic hop bomb.  The flavor hits the palate with the subtly and grace of a ballet-dancing elephant.  The flavor is nothing but an explosion of flowery, medicinal hops that run strait to the back of the throat.  As a fan of balanced IPAs, I'm going to pass on this one as it bears too much resemblance to chewing hops resin out of the brewpot.

Sunset Amber: A quick tip for fledgling beer tasters out there; save those massive IPA's for the end of the tasting.  On of those with a high hop bill will carpet bomb your pallet.  Seriously, I think I was still tasting hops when I left the bar.  That being said, I should follow my own advice sometime.  This amber starts with a light fruit aroma. The flavor is warm, hazelnut and malty.   There's decent hop bill with some significant bitterness in the back, but I'm not 100% sure that it wasn't partly because of the previous beer.

McGarveys Scottish Ale: Starts with a caramel and raisin aroma.  It's appropriately malty for the style with lots of caramel and roasted barley flavors with just a little bit of red wine in the back for added complexity.  

Black Magic Stout: This has a nice roasted aroma.  As a dry stout, it lacks the creamy, chocolate flavors of most stouts.  Instead it has lots of black liquorish, herbs medicinal flavors with a bone dry finish.  I'll give it points for it boldness and unique qualities, but its too bitter face inducing for a stout in my opinion.  Those that expect a creamy, sweet stout should probably avoid this one all together.

I've got one, maybe two more stops before the New Year.  Next week, I find myself in the hub city of Indianapolis once again.  Until then, cheers!

Bottle Beer Tour 2: The Rebottling

It's Thanksgiving this week, so I have a little bit of time to settle in at home, eat the hell out of some food and crack open a few beers that I've collected from around the country.    So to that end, I present the Bottle Beer Tour, part 2.


Dogfish Head Brewery
Midas' Touch:  Ancient Ale made after anyallisis of clay pots in Midas' temple.  Sweet and white wine aroma.  Has more in common with a mead then a beer.  It's slightly sweet with a honey, citrus sour fruity taste.







Great Lakes Brewing
Elliot Ness:  Pours copper-colored and transparant.  Aroma has some caramel and dark fruit notes along with honey malt.  Smooth mouthfeel with a bit body.  Very malty with some slight herbal bitterness at the back.

New Planet Brewery
 Off the Grid Pale Ale  (Gluten Free):  Gluten Free beers have always concerned me on a very primal level.  It's the idea that someone is making beer without something that should be in the beer, something that might make it extra special tasty.  That being said, I am almost certain that I have had gluten free beers before without knowing it, and may not have even sensed a difference.
This beer pours transparent copper and has a floral pine hop aroma.  It starts off hoppy and bitter with hints of citrus and pine.  After that... well it get's more bitter.  The citrus and floral hops fade away leaving a deep medicinal bitterness.


Lucky Bucket Brewing
Snowsuit Belgian Ale

A seasonal beer from my local brewery.  It has a spicy, clove and citrus nose to it.  Flavor is just slightly spicy with hints of  caramel and dark fruits.  It finishes just slightly dry and kind of light.  Very drinkable for a winter beer, but this is one where I like the aroma more then the flavor.  The aroma reminds me of a spiced winter ale featured in the Joy of Homebrewing, but the flavor doesn't come through as much.


Cheers

Survivor: Harrisburg Pennsylvania

This weeks selection is an American classic, a remnant from a time when every town and city would have a couple local breweries.  Of course, from the records put forth in this blog, one could argue that time has come again.  Whatever, that was then, this is now and now we are talking about Lancaster Brewery.

The current brewery takes its cues from a brewing tradition that comes from the  backrooms and cellars of inns and taverns as far back as the 1700s.  German immigrants flooded the county with old world beer styles and built a brewing tradition that became famous in it's own right.   A columnist for the Daily Intelligencer in 1868 said, "Lancaster in America occupies the same position that Munich does in Germany in regards to the brewing industry.
 
 Prohibition and the rise of commercial breweries largely wiped out the brewing industry in Lancaster county until the microbrew revolution provided a good enough excuse to dip into old brewing traditions.

That being said... I didn't get to see the brewery itself what with being forced to actually work while travelling.   Stupid job.  Just because they pay all the expenses and give me a paycheck, they think they can monopolize my time with work.  

Whatever. 

I was lucky enough to have a brewpub next to my hotel in Harrisburg, so... you know, close enough.

Celtic Rose:  Very drinkable Irish red ale.  It has a slight berry citrus aroma.  It starts off sweet with notes of berry citrus and caramel.  Pine hops come in later providing a hint of bitterness.

Fest Beer:  There is still time to catch the last of the octoberfest beers before they disappear for another year.  This beer has a very light spicy aroma.  I taste the spice along with the malt.  It moves to herbal hops and finishes quite dry.   

Lancaster Lager: A amber lager reminiscent of Sam Adams Boston Lager.  It has a light sweet caramel aroma and a lot of roasted flavors.  It ends with very light hops in back.

Gold Star Pilsner: If you are one of those people who walk into a microbrewery looking for something like a Budwieser... well first, what the Holy Hell is wrong with you?  Second, you're probably not going to like this.  No aroma really. There's a flash of fruit sweetness detectable right off the top before its engulfed in a mass of pine flavored hops.  The bitterness is pretty big.  Not overpowering, but more than I would expect. 

Amish 4 Grain: You've had a wheat beer, right?  Sure you have.  An oatmeal stout?  Perfect winter beer.  Rye beer?  It's a slowly emerging style, but gaining some rapid ground.  Have you had all of them at the same time?  [Pauses while your mind blows]  The result of four adjunct grains learning to play nice is rather unique.  There is no aroma to speak of.   The flavor has  some fruity strawberry peach sweetness.  That flavor rises and falls quickly leaving pine herbal hops.  

Strawberry Wheat:  One of the things they pride themselves for, as I mentioned earlier, was an adherence to old world traditions including the Reinheitsgebot, a German purity law that states only malt, hops, yeast and water can be used to make beer.  Note that strawberries are not on this list.  It would been a good question to ask while I was at the brewery, but I was busy drinking.  Besides, it I probably wouldn't have gotten an answer and pissed off the bartender in the process, so we'll just leave this as a mystery for now.  This beer had the same caramel sweet aroma I got on the lager.  Sweet, fizzy mouthfeel. Lots of strawberry and floral flavors. 

Country Cream Ale:  I would like to note that lactose, a crucial ingredient for a cream ale is not on the Reinheitsgebot list either.  It has a sweet aroma that made me think of peaches and cream.

The flavor is very bitter with caramel notes and complete with a creamy mouthfeel.  I pick up some floral hops in the back.   It starts off really light and slightly sweet.  

Winter Warmer: A seasonal old ale offering from the brewery.  I don't mention color much, but this beer's transparent dark ruby color is beautiful.  It has no aroma to speak of, but lots of berry chocolate some pine and herbs in the hops.  

Milk Stout: I'm starting to really question their supposed commitment to German purity laws.  Still, this beer has a wonderful coffee toffee aroma, though honestly I like the aroma more than the flavor.  There just isn't a lot there.  Some coffee, roasted barley and a very bitter aftertaste.  For the style.

Hop Hog: The obligatory IPA from Lancaster.  It has a citrus floral aroma with just a hint of caramel.  Amazingly drinkable for a beer containing as many hops as this claims to.  The northwest floral hops are well balanced with the malt and produce something very nice.

I finally get a chance to rest, relax and remain in the same time zone for more then a couple days.  Next week, barring something unexpected I'll be dipping into my bottled beer collection

Until then, Cheers!

Back for More: Detroit, Michigan

Well..., I'm back in the motor city again.  The good news is that fact that I find a new place to get a couple beers every time I come here.  So this week it's Fort Street Brewing.

Fort Street is actually a short drive south from Detroit proper in the town of Lincoln Park.  Last week we talked about Dhestil, a microbrewery with really good food and beer complete with an almost pretentious aura about themselves as evidence by their maverick spelling of a word that has nothing to do with what happens at the brewery.

This place is the opposite of that.

This place is more neighborhood bar and grill.  More relaxing, more kick back and throw back several beers with friends.  For example, I tend to gloss over the brewery descriptions of their beers.  It can be valuable information for more eccentric beers, but often it's just what the brewer wants be to think of his beers, and I may respectfully disagree.

Here, they are worth a look for the entertainment value alone.  For example:

"Supermassive Black Hole of Deliciousness (The name of the beer alone is pretty awesome): A rye stout made with Michigan tart cherries.  Now before you go go off and say, "I'm a man!  I don't drink fruit beer;" shush!  Don't speak!  Not all fruit beers are sweet.  This beer starts chocolaty, with just a hint of tartness in the finish.  So man up!"

They didn't actually have this one on tap when I was there, which is kind of a shame.  I really wanted to try it.

The downside... okay the beers aren't as good.  They are not bad.  One bordered on undrinkable, for me at least, but not bad.  The food is really good, fairly inexpensive and interesting. I had Pierogies & Bratwurst which, if you've never had pierogies before are like little cheesy potato dumplings.  Pretty awesome.  On to the beer:

American Style Lager:  It has a slight lemon aroma and a little more hoppiness throughout, but basically a Budweiser clone.

Doug's Turbo Sarsaparilla:  This is a root beer flavored beer.  I think someone once asked me if something like this is possible.  Well, now I have proof.  The aroma is pure root beer.  The flavor is not as good as I thought it would be.  Root beer flavor starts off strong with a fizzy mouthfeel but the it just vanishes.  I'm sitting there almost thinking, "Hey!  I wasn't done with that!"  Not a bad beer, just.... Meh.

Burning Leaf:  This is the breweries obligatory octoberfest beer.  No aroma to speak of, very bitter for the style.  There are some malts at the beginning, but it finishes very dry and bitter.  Slight herbal hops flavor but mostly just bitter.  No flavor just that heavy, back-of-the-throat feel.

Downriver:  Again, no aroma to speak of.  It starts off big and malty and then it just deflates.  Just like the root beer beer, the flavor hits and runs leaving a slight dry herbals bitter flavor in its wake.

Up North Rye Pilsner:  Toasted caramel aroma here.  For a pilsner, this beer is loaded with flavors.  I imagine that pilsner purist would probably scream and yell, but you can't argue with the results.   There is berry fruit flavors on top, then it slides in to caramel.  Ends with medicinal hop flavors.

Chocolate porter: Slight coffee aroma.  Smooth mouthfeel with lots of chocolate.  It was like a glass of hot cocoa... except not hot.  And some very slight roasted notes and hop flavors, but mostly like cocoa.

SIPA:  Starts with a very very light hop aroma. Remember the beer I said was near, undrinkable... here it is. Not a hop bomb as much as a hop flood.  Piney at times but is mostly strait up bitter.  A spoon full of alpha acids.   The flavor rises and rises, like biting into a hot pepper.   It's good at first, then it starts getting a little too bitter, you make a face and finally you swear never to drink this beer again.

Count Chocula : Very light chocolate in the aroma. In the flavor the chocolate malts mixes with some pretty powerful herbal and pine hops.  Different from most chocolate porters, but the flavors clash more then they compliment.

Backyard IPA:  This one was by far my favorite.  It has a very light wine aroma.  The flavor is like slightly sweet hoppy wine.  Piney, herbal hops kind of mix and enhance the citrusy sweet flavors present in the beer.  Apparently the flavor comes from a hop I must find.