Into the Underground: Columbia Missouri.

There's going to be a moment in this post that is not going to be pleasant for anyone.  I've run into a few brewpubs that just don't click with me.  It happens.

None of those brewpubs had anything as bad as the Wee Heavy.  But we will get to that.  First, a positive note:

Broadway Brewery is a basement bar located right on the main drag of Columbia.  There's kind of a relaxed, coffeehouse, art house vibe about this place.

I doubt there is a better place in town for a burger... especially if one chooses to get a little esoteric with the meat.  They do have a basic beef hamburger for the purists, but on top of that they have a buffalo burger, a pork, spinach and goat cheese burger.  Personally I rocked the lamb burger and I was extremely happy that I did.  It along with their signature potatoes was awesome.

So that's good.  The beer, on the other hand, had a bit to be desired.  The food was great... the beer, not so much.

The majority of their beers had one of two major problems with them.  They were either watery or they just had strange off-flavors.  One off-flavor I hope to never encounter again... but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Honey Wheat: Light floral aroma.  This one gets a pass because light flavor is kinda in the style.  It was just lightly sweet with a nice... well... honey and wheat flavor.  Pretty much as advertised.

Boone Dog Brown: There is something very sad about a watery brown ale and this is a good example of one of those.  Or a bad example as the case may be.  It had a slight coffee aroma but the flavor had a very light roasted flavor with a hint of coffee but, otherwise, was just fizzy and watery.

2011 Barley Wine: Okay this was one of the hits but, honestly, it's hard to miss with a nice barley wine.  This had a nice chocolate cherry aroma.  It had some big cherry and port wine flavors with some herbal bitterness in the back.

Blonde on Blonde: No aroma to speak of.  It had some light grassy flavors along with pretty intense herbal bitterness, but that's it.  It was watery, then very bitter.   Too bitter for the style.

American Pale Ale: This turned out to be the one I liked best (apart from the barley wine), although there was nothing all that special about it.  It featured a nice load of citrus hops that were flavorful without being overbearing, but it was pretty much exactly like most pale ales.

Cherry Saison: This one had a sour cherry aroma.  The sour flavors hit and clashed with the fruity clove and banana esters from the Belgian yeast.  It was really weird at first, but I have to admit that the combination kinda grew on me after a while.

Cream Ale: This seemed like a combination of styles more then anything else.  It started with a nice sweet caramel aroma but along with those sweet, creamy flavors there was some very intense woody, grassy hops.  It tasted like a cream IPA... and not in a terribly pleasant way.

Black IPA: The aroma and the flavor tell the same tale.  Bitter chocolate and coffee meet and make sweet love with bitter citrus hops.  Simple, but nice.  Neither flavor is overpowering and it makes for a nice dark beer.

Wee Heavy: I've run into precious few beers that I actively dislike.  There are many I thought could be better, but very few that I have a deep-seated loathing for.  I think that, in the history of this blog, this is the worst that I've tasted. The aroma was wonderful.  It had some light fruit and wood aroma that had all the promise of a good scotch ale.  The flavor... well... it had this leathery flavor.  It had a big leathery flavor.  It was like... and I apologize, this comparison is not going to be pleasant for anyone, including me... it was like licking a cowboy.

That is not a typo, I didn't mean to write liking, it wasn't like 'friending' a country singer on Facebook.  It was like giving a tongue bath to a professional bull rider. 

There are those who might enjoy licking a cowboy, but I do not.  The very fact that this beer made me think of that rather horrific idea is as good a reason as any to avoid it.

Lightning Hopkins: This in an ale brewed with sassafras.  I liked the idea, but the resulting sweet root beer flavor clashed heavily with the hops to the point that it just seemed out of place.

Bottom line.  Broadway Brewing, get the lamb burger.  Eat the living hell out of the lamb burger.  Enjoy a pale ale or maybe a cherry saison if it tickles your fancy.

Might keep a distance from the rest.

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.

The Great Nebraska Beer Fest: Part 1

It is my opinion that, cities like Milwaukee and Chicago notwithstanding, the Midwest was late to the microbrew revolution.

It's the fifth year of the Great Nebraska Beer Fest, my first year attending and proof that they are learning fast, boy.

The great thing about the Great Nebraska Beer Fest (hereafter known as the GNBF because I am freaking lazy, deal with it) is that they bring the Midwest beer out in force.  Besides the major cities in the area, the hinterlands of Kansas, Iowa, Wisconsin and Nebraska are well represented.  Some of big breweries from elsewhere have a presence as well, but they are a minority.

It is a celebration of Midwest Brewing.

The other cool thing was the size.  I've been to beer fests in  Idaho and Oregon and they very much bring the crowds.  This means, however that one gets a beer and immediately jumps into the line again for the next one.  By the time they get to the front of the line, it will be time for another beer.

Here, this is not the case.  It's a smaller event then I've been to in the past, but there are more then enough breweries bringing strange and unusual beers to make it interesting and there are rarely any lines whatsoever.

The location has something to be desired.  I have no knowledge of what went into the process of finding a venue for the GNBF, but a strip mall parking lot?  For one it was one of the hottest weekends of the year in Nebraska that weekend and there was probably three square feet of shade, each crowded with pale drunks trying to keep from catching on fire in the direct sunlight.  The blacktop doesn't help.

Anyway, on to the avalanche of beers.

Nebraska Brewing Company, Fathead: A new selection from a brewery I've covered in a previous post.  Very new, actually.  Truth be told, it's not even available for another month, but this is a special occasion.  It has a nutty, dark fruit and red wine aroma.  I picked up licorice, vanilla, roasted nut and a surprising dash of bitter hops.  It reminds me of a bitter scotch ale.  The flavor combination was interesting, but they clashed a bit.

Big Wood Brewing, Morning Wood: Coffee stout, a beer style for those mornings when a drunken haze is the best way to approach a day.  It has a heavy sweet mocha, espresso aroma, but those qualities diminish slightly in the flavor.  It was lighter and watery.  Good but lacking some of the body I was hoping for, I think.

Big Wood Brewing, Bark Bite IPA: This, appropriately, had a woody, pine aroma with a hint of honey.  It was quite sweet and malty at first, and it helped temper the herbal pine hops that followed soon after.

Blue Blood Brewing, Blue Blood IPA: This is a brewery that I just recently became aware of, I found a couple of their brews at the supermarket and included them in the last bottle beer tour.  The aroma carried the promise of citrusy hops.  A promise that was kept, although not to the intensity I expected.  Like the Morning Wood, the flavor just wasn't there, especially for an IPA.  In that heat, it was a welcome and refreshing beer, but lacked something for the style.

Free State Brewing, Ad Astra: Though I had never had a chance to sample their beer until now, I've always had a soft spot for Free State Brewing.  Kansas is a state that gave up prohibition very, very grudgingly... which is strange because you'd thing people would be in favor of anything that makes the state more livable.  Anyway, until 1989, brewing was still illegal in Kansas.  Just to emphasise what we are dealing with, there was a time that Kansas even outlawed any liquor on aircraft crossing Kansas' airspace.  (So next time your flying over Kansas, feel free to raise your drink and a middle finger) When the law was finally repealed, Free State became the first legal brewery in Kansas in over 100 years.

Anyway, history lesson over.  Beer!  The Ad Astra has a very light aroma.  The flavor is nutty, fruity and contains hints of red wine.  Very nice, sweet, malty amber ale.

Free State Brewing, Storm Chaser: Seasonal offering from Free State.  Citrus hop aroma that pretty much follows in it's entirety to the flavor.  The hops are enough to produce a back-of-the-throat bitterness, but there's enough flavor that I didn't find it overpowering.

CIB: Yola: Here's the best description I can offer for CIB Brewing.  Somebody has gone out and started doing legally what Grandpa had been doing in the barn for years.  CIB specializes in 'high alcohol farmhouse ales', specifically beers fermented with wild yeast and bacteria.  That makes CIB the place to go for sour beers, a style so obscure that only Portland or a pack of lunatics in the wilds of Iowa could possible pull it of.   The Yola Artisnal Ale starts off with a fruity honey aroma.  The first thing I noticed on the flavor was a very sour citrus that was followed by some nutty dark fruit notes.  It was one of those beers that took me quite a while to decide whether I liked it or not.

CIB: Cherry: There was some considerable plum and cherry sweetness on the aroma here.  The flavor had much more sour cherry along with some very complex earthy flavors.  It was quite nice, but I don't know if I would drink a lot of it although the complexity of the flavor would have me reaching for another glass.

Left Coast Brewing: Voodoo: One of the few breweries from outside the neighboring states.   This had a roasted coffee aroma.  The flavor has a lot of that coffee along with some dark roasted grain.  There was a heavy dose of herbal hops that showed up and kinda clashed with the rest of the flavor.  I kinda enjoyed this beer right up to that point.

That's the end of part one.  More goodness from the Midwest to follow in the coming weeks.  Cheers until then.

Yes, they even put it in the Beer: Louisville Kentucky

I am, of course talking about bourbon.  Kentucky is kinda known for it.  There's more brewing going on in Kentucky then I think anyone who lives outside the state was wont to expect.  Of course the most popular brew in the area is anything that spent some time in an old bourbon barrel.  But more on that in a minute.

This week, a quick trip to Louisville brought me to Bluegrass Brewing Company where they insist that beer is food.  At least, that's the phrase they put on the shirts here.  Overall not a bad place for a pint or two.  On beers that featured hops, I think they tended to overdo it a tad, but overall not bad.

Summer Wheat: Light on aroma but it hides quite a lot of flavor in there.  It's just a little sweet with a little roasted quality in there as well.  I picked up a hint of citrus and it had a creamy, smooth feel to it.  Interesting body to a lighter beer, but the overall effect was really good.

Alt Beer: Maybe it was a shock to the system after the much sweeter wheat beer earlier, but this one struck be as increadibly bitter.  It was heavy on the medicinal hop flavor to the point I couldn't pick out much else in the flavor profile.  The bitterness faded a little as I went on, but I started picking up a skunky flavor at that point.  Not the best beer I've had recently.

Nut Brown: This beer had a lovely nutty caramel aroma.  The flavor was lighter but it managed to avoid the watery taste of some brown ales.  It's sweet, roasted with some dry, woody flavors to for blalance.

American Pale Ale: Light, spicy citrus aroma.  The citrus flavors on the palate are rather more intense.  Some floral notes follow towards the end that linger and it finishes rather dry.

Dark Star Porter: There was a pretty standard light, roasted aroma on this beer and it pretty much stayed the same in the flavor, although I picked up the same skunky flavor on this beer as it warmed as well.

Bourbon Stout: The smell is pretty much all bourbon and the flavor is dominated with that particular spirit, but it helped with some sweet roasted malty flavors.   Very drinkable for a beer with this kind of body and this kind of alcohol content.

Homewreaker IPA: The aroma is light, but this beer is the definition of a hop bomb.  Its that kind of bitterness that hides any characteristic except for the fact that, 'this is freaking bitter'.   Like punch right to the back of the throat bitter.

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.

New Glarus: A tour in five bottles.

Last time I was in Wisconsin, I brought a few friends back with me.  I've been aware of New Glarus for a while now.  I previously talked about one of their beers that came back with me during the first of these bottle beer tours.  I had the opportunity to acquire a few more of it's cousins for an unofficial family reunion. 

Two Women: A lager brewed in honor of the women of brewing as done by two companies run by women, New Galrus and Weyerrmann malting.  It has a slightly grassy aroma.  I picked up notes of peach and nectarine along with some grassiness from the hops.  I think I detected a touch of vanilla in there as well. 

Totally Naked: This is a beer brewed just as the label suggests.  Malted barley, hops, water and yeast. It is simplistic and it's suppose to be.  It has a light, grassy aroma.  The flavor is slightly malty with almost no detectable hops.  For a beer brewed to be a simple refreshing drink on a hot summer day, it hits the mark pretty well.

Dancing Man: Belgian wheat beer.  It has a heavy clove aroma.  At first, the flavor was really, really intense.  The tropical fruit, peach, clove and spice was almost too much at first, but as the beer warmed and my palate adjusted, I found it to be pretty enjoyable.

IIPA: I had to laugh at the label description for this beer, "More the 85 provocative IBUs reverberate cleanly through this Double IPA.  Local Wisconsin hop saturation from kettle boil to dry hop cellaring dominates this elegant and lustful sensory enchantment.  You hold a deceptively seductive Original Gravity of 20.9 Plato, following the always 100% natural bottle fermentation.  Luscious English Maris Otter malt is the essential heart of this voluptuous Double IPA.  Surrender is inevitable, so enjoy now!

I don't want to alarm anyone, but I think my beer might be hitting on me.

Apparently this a beer where they turn their brewer loose on whatever idea might be floating around his little mind.   This particular idea had citrus and herbs and spice apparent on the nose.  It's smooth, although those hops come on in force.  There's a moment where the malt holds them back, but they are there and they hit the palate hard with a dry, herbal grassy flavor that affect the back of the throat more then anything.  The finish is remarkably clean for a beer like this... though I don't think it's quite the 'lustful sensory enchantment' they claim.   Come to think of it, I don't know what a lustful sensory enchantment is, but I'll have to ask my wife if she's willing to do that.

Berliner Weiss: This is the second example of one of New Glarus' experimental beers.  This is a obscure style that charmed the likes of Napoleon in centuries past.  This pours very pale and clear from the bottle.  Has that wheaty, carbonated aroma of a light pilsner beer.  And the flavor... was not at all what I was expecting.  It is extremely tart.  The light color hides a lot of body, but it's still has a fizzy mouthfeel.  The flavor is refreshingly lemony, like a carbonated light lemonade.  Not bad, but I don't think I'd drink a lot of this.