Thread O' Beer!

[Morris Schæffer]

That time of year again eh? I'll be reading.

[bac0n]

Actually, I was thinking of The 25 beers of Christmas over the weekend, and thought of a potentially fun idea if anyone is interested -

Anyone wanna do a beer exchange ahead of it, so people could try some stuff they wouldn't normally be able to get their hands on? I'm not talking sending all 25 beers; more like a half dozen or so.

[bac0n]

Okay, the 25 Beers of Christmas starts this Friday! Who's in and who sucks?

I just picked up my first six beers, so I'm ready to go!

[Ezee E]

Okay, the 25 Beers of Christmas starts this Friday! Who's in and who sucks?

I just picked up my first six beers, so I'm ready to go!

Ha. I travel most of this month. I'm out!

[bac0n]

I was in Austin the year before last, and that didn't stop me. But then again, Austin is a GREAT craft beer town.

[Stay Puft]

I started prepping for this a couple weeks ago. Got some bottles set aside, just picked up something new today to add to the list, and there's a few more things that should be arriving at my store over the next couple weeks to help round this out to 24 (assuming I keep pace this year, but I fully intend to, as I'm not working nights anymore).

I've got a lot of cool stuff this year, I think. Looking forward to it.

[Gizmo]

I'm in. Got 16 for here. Then 4 or 5 in Ohio need to be acquired, before finishing off in Texas. May have to do a 2-a-day thanks to the travel, but hope I can manage to get something each day.

[Gizmo]

Let's do it! I guess I'll kick us off, being over here in Central Europe.

1. Black Sheep (Foroya Bjor)


I went to get an image file, and naturally started off in the general google search. There, I saw the rating on ratebeer was a 1 star out of 5. Now while it's not a strong beer by any stretch, it's tasty. It fits my style, since it's smooth and malty, with just a slight bitter finish. It's not "dark" for being a dark lager, but more of a brown amber. Aroma is almost non-existant, and head died fast, so from a beer rating standpoint, sure low marks. But for an easy drinking malty beer, it's pretty good. And that's all I ask.

23 beers until Christmas.

EDIT: This also may be the most isolated beer i've ever tried, now that I look up where Klaksvik is.

[bac0n]

1. боль в заднице Stout
bac0n's Brewery & Grill, Minneapolis, MN
Russian Imperial Stout



боль в заднице (pronounced BOHL v'ZADneetzye) is Russian for pain in the ass, and I could think of no better a name for this beer than that. Why, you ask? Because my buddy and I practically killed ourselves making this fucking thing.

For the sordid tale, lets turn back the clock to Black Friday. Not this one, but the last one - 2016. It's a standing tradition for me, probably 6-7 years running by now, to stay at home and brew a batch of beer on Black Friday instead of battling shoppers at the store. Typically the type of beer I brew is something I'd have a craving for late December/early January, because that's when the beers usually are ready for consumption. However, this time I was thinking it would be fun to whip up a beer that you have to sit on for a year, and drink that beer on Black Friday 2017 while we are brewing the beer we will be drinking come Black Friday 2018. Fucking genius, amirite?

Well, I won't lie to you, brewday turned out to be a BATTLE. First off, the grain bill for this was off the charts. Typically for a 5 gallon batch of beer that's gonna wind up being in the 5-6 ABV range, you're looking at 9-11 pounds of grain. This fucker called for a whopping 26 pounds of grain. The grain alone filled up most of my 12 gallon kettle, so I needed a second kettle so I could add water to it, and wound up having to mash two kettles on two stove tops simultaneously. Then when it was time to lauter out the liquid, the weight of the grains and the water collapsed the false bottom on my lautering tun, so we had to get a little creative. In the end, brew day took about 12 hours.

Oh, and it fermented so aggressively it exploded all over the inside of my fermenting fridge. That was a pretty nice mess. If I didn't know it was beer, it woulda been pretty disgusting.

So, anyway, it sat for a year, and a couple of days before thanksgiving, I tried kegging it. That turned out to be a pain in the ass. Then on black friday, I tried tapping it. That turned out to be a pain in the ass because the CO2 wasn't working. FINALLY, just an hour ago, I was able to tap it and pour it into the glass, and to be honest, I'm surprised as hell that, after all this, it did actually pour, as I was resigned to just pour it all out and be done with it.

But here it is, in a glass. Can't quite get my head around it, but hey, might as well give it a try. I must say it's.... rather... wow, it actually turned out pretty well!

It pours black as goth poetry, with a very rich and creamy head. Its pervasive characteristic is its very heavy mouthfeel, appropo for the style, I must say. On the nose, it's very coffee and plum forward, boozy too, but the booziness doesn't come through in the flavor, thank fucking god. Now, the flavor cashes the check that the nose wrote, and in addition, damned if I'm not picking up a bit of vanilla to go with that coffee and chocolate. I... holy shit, I rather like this. I'd give it a solid 3 out of 5.

At any rate, in the end it was... not worth it at all. One of my better efforts, if you don't mind my saying, but I do NOT want to go through that again. Next time, if there is one, I'm gonna cut the batch in half, at least. In the mean time, 5 gallons of Imperial Stout is more than even I can handle, so if you want me to send you over a bottle or two, hit me up!

23 beers until Christmas!

[Stay Puft]

That's great, bacon. I'd love to try a bottle but I don't think shipping to Canada (especially Ontario, and its draconian alcohol laws) would fly.

Here's my first:

1. Cranberry Derby (Fruit/Vegetable Beer)
Beau's All Natural Brewing Company (Ontario, Canada)



I've talked about Beau's, and dipped into their seasonal mix packs for this occasion, in previous years, so I decided to kick things off this year with yet another beer from yet another seasonal pack. Cranberry Derby is described as a pale ale infused with organic cranberries, cranberry juice, and flaked oats. It's featured in Beau's 2017 fall mix pack, and clocks in around 6% ABV. I love Beau's for their dedication to local and organic ingredients, but will admit that their beers are often hit or miss. Their hits are always great, and the other beers in the fall mix pack were pretty good, but Cranberry Derby is not so much a hit or a miss as just an average, okay beer.

It pours a reddish-orange color, with a decent white foam head that disappated rather quickly. There's a lot of malt and oat on the nose, mostly sweet malt, with only the most subtle hints of cranberry. There's a lot more noticeable fruit on the palate, but it's far from overwhelming. The sweet malt flavor reigns, and the combination of oats, malts and cranberry flavors are actually well integrated and created a nice musty, earthy profile. It actually makes me think of Thanksgiving dinner, and would probably be a perfect beer for that occasion (alas, I missed the boat on that one). The mouthfeel trips me up, though. It's got a bit of a chewiness from the oats, but also a slick oiliness, which isn't terribly pleasant. It feels a little weird overall and my palate never really adjusted to it. The aftertaste is also a little too sharp. The flavors are fine, but the structure of the beer definitely holds it back.

Rating: 3/5

[Gizmo]

Dang, bac0n, sounds like a hell of a beer, I'd love a good imperial stout, surprised you approached that if you didn't have the setup for it. If you are serious, I wouldn't mind having a bottle awaiting me in Ohio.

I agree, cutting the batch in half is probably a great plan going forward. I always make the smaller 2.3-2.5 gallon batches, though I've upgraded most of my equipment to the point where I could make 5 gallons now. I just don't want to bottle that many, I like variety! Nor do I want to risk making 5 gallons of trash, which is pretty much what my Marzen turned out to be. I'm using those bottles soley as "beer" in certain recipes (i.e. beer bread, beer batter...). Currently, my beer on fermenter has been a struggle as well, as I'm tackling a quad. First, I couldn't get candi sugar at my usual beer supply delivery (no local homebrew shops, gotta order online and took me forever to find one with reasonable delivery cost, which is a german one). Then trying to order ingredients from amazon is a crapshoot, as a lot of those suppliers don't deliver to APO. Finally got candi sugar on the way, as well as the other ingredients, but half didn't arrive until after my planned brew day! Luckily what did arrive were the hops and yeast.... Or some hops and yeast, I apparently clicked the wrong hops! I hustled to order the correct hops, and reset my brew day, which now puts me really tight on getting these bottled before flying out for the holidays.

Luckily everything arrived by the 2nd planned brew day, so I can ferment up until the day before we go to the airport, and bottle as a final thing to do here for the year. Brew day went mostly well, however the candi sugar did not give the expected color, so I have a blonde quad, not the brown color that a quad is! I have done a late addition of caramel 120 and chocolate malt to, hopefully, A) work with the coloring and B) give the yeast some more sugar to work with during secondary fermentation. Hopefully I didn't screw things up too bad. Won't find out for a while, as I plan on letting this age into next fall.

[Gizmo]

1. Cranberry Derby (Fruit/Vegetable Beer)
Beau's All Natural Brewing Company (Ontario, Canada)

Yeech, cranberry is one of those flavors that's always off-putting to me, would be steering away from this one normally, but Thanksgiving might be a time to take a sip to say I tried it.

[bac0n]

Fer sher, Gizmo, I can set aside a bomber for you. If it's one thing about Imperial Russian Stouts, it's that they keep real well.

[Gizmo]

2. Baltic Dubbel (Insel-Brauerei)

A nice dubbel greets me tonight, and this one meets the "specs" for a beer of decent quality. It's head stuck for a while, and has laced the top half of my glass quite nicely. The first few sips were a bit harsh, sharp, and uneventful other than a nice warming from the alcohol. However, as it's warmed, it's starting to take on a nice fruitiness and the mouthfeel has mellowed, while the warming has stayed. I still think I prefered the more malty flavor of last night's offering, but this is a solid beer that fits the bill as a dubbel.

BONUS Beer!

Weihnachtsbier (Heidelberger)

We went to the Heidelberg Christmas Market today, and saw that they had a local winter beer offered at a few booths. I grabbed one, and it was cold in the cold. That and it was pretty average at best. Nothing special about it at all. I finished it quickly and went back to the mulled wine.

22 beers to go.

[bac0n]

2. your phone number
_______ (blank) brewing, Boston MA
Style: India Pale Ale



I had a product launch I was assisting with for three and a half hours this morning, followed by another hour on the roof installing heat tape (if you know what that is, you just might be a northerner), so I could have just about any sort of beer right now and enjoy it. So bonus that it's an IPA, which is far and a way the style of beer I gravitate towards above all others.

It's a sort of odd can, this blank brewing can. It's as if they slapped some cheap sticker on a blank silver can. The sticker doesn't wrap all the way around, and is about 2mm longer than the can is, so it sticks out on the bottom a little bit. A little amateurish, but I have a feeling this is by design. Reading the side of the can, squinting as hard as I can, it says that the beer is inspired by "sugary, fruity breakfast cereals with iconic cartoon characters on the box" - Fruity Pebbles, maybe? Disappointingly, looking into the empty can, I can't see any toy surprise. Skunked again!

Anyway, it pours a light amber, very cloudy, with sediment floating around in it, lots of it. Very homebrew-looking, but again, maybe it is by design, but then again, they look to be contract brewing out of another brewery (which a lot of fledgling breweries that don't yet have the funds for their own facility often do), so maybe clearing the beer up is one thing they're still trying to figure out. But, really, who cares. I'd rather have a sketchy looking beer that tastes good than the other way around. But obviously, these guys care, because according to the can, they added artificial colors to the beer - yellow #5, blue #1 & 2, and tumeric - which is just... why?

Speaking of taste - holy grapefruit, batman. It is dominant both on the nose and on the palate, right down to a pronounced acidity. I can't pick much else up apart from the standard issue bitterness one would expect of an IPA. There may be other stuff there, but the grapefruit pushes it out, it's that strong. A bit of added lactose adds a bit of mouthfeel, but there isn't much more to be had than that. A pretty one-dimensional beer, which is fine if you like your IPAs over the top citrusy like they do on the west coast, but me, I like my IPAs with a bit more complexity, so I think I will give this one a pass the next time I see it in the bottle shop.

I'm gonna give this one a 2.5 / 5 - below average. TL;DR - one dimensional, and knocking it for adding artificial colors via chemicals instead of doing it naturally with their malts, which to me seems lazy.

22 Beers To Go, Dammit!

[Dukefrukem]

That seems like such a hipster Boston beer it hurts me.

[Stay Puft]

2. Gravity Well (Flanders Red Ale)
Halcyon Barrel House (Ontario, Canada)



Halcyon brewmaster Bryce McBain has worked at Beau's (responsible for last night's beer) since 2011, and this year, opened up his own space (functionally it's an off-shoot of Beau's) to experiment with mixed and wild fermentation, and sour beers. Halcyon's debut, Infinity Mirror, was a Brett IPA and one of the single best beers I have consumed this year. It's a total 5/5. So, I was pretty excited to see their first sour, Gravity Well, pop up in stores recently. It's humbly labeled as a Sour Ale, but is very much pursuing the tradition of a Flanders Red Ale, and that's far from humble. Many local, Ontario craft breweries have attempted such a style recently, and they've all pretty much fallen flat on their faces. Gravity Well fares much better, but still falters a bit to my taste.

It pours a deep, super dark red, with a thin, off-white head. My first hint that this wouldn't quite stack up hit me right way on the nose, as there was an overwhelming, almost one-dimensional note of vinegar. The first sip is similarly very acidic and vinegary. It hits far too close to wine for me. It's strange, but it does improve as it warms. Fruit notes become more noticeable, with some tart cherry and even figs on the palate, and a bit of a stewed fruit note on the nose. The presence of oak is incredibly subtle. The beer isn't terribly sour, but it really comes through on the finish. Overall, the body of this beer is really good. It's round and full, warming and pleasing, and as I said, there's a lingering sourness that sits nicely on the finish, and it's a long, satisfying finish at that. It is perhaps deceptively simple, a beer that is nevertheless well structured and unfolds nicely on the palate. It's good. But it's certainly missing that special something from a traditional Flanders Red Ale (accept no substitutes, I guess), the complexity here just not measuring up to the real deal. I've been drinking Duchesse de Bourgogne all year, and I'm still sitting on bottles of Rodenback Vintage (all hail the king) from previous years, so I know I'm spoiled. As good an attempt as Gravity Well is (and it beats its Ontario peers), it can't compete with the bursting fruit tartness and carbonation of the Duchesse, or that beautiful Belgian funk and dank oaky flavors of a Rodenbach.

Rating: 3.5/5

[Gizmo]

3. Uncle Jims Stout (McGargles)

I'm always in the market for a solid stout, and coming out of the bottle, this one was a beaut. A strong coffee/chocolate aroma, with some slight fruity undertones. It also poured a nice dark, but translucent, color. Taste is strong coffee bitterness, again with some fruity undertones and a hint of chocolate. This thing is dry and a bit harsh on the palate because of it. It also is on the weak side as far as alcohol content goes. Overall, it's pretty good, but would prefer a bit more creaminess on the palate, and perhaps a little more alcohol for warmth.

21 beers until Christmas.

[bac0n]

3. Standard Lager
Fulton Brewing, Minneapolis
American Style Lager



Fulton Brewing is pretty much a case of right place right time. They opened up on the eve of the local craft beer explosion. It was pretty much Surly, then Fulton, then Steel Toe (still the champs), then the avalanche. Even better for them, they nabbed probably the best possible taproom location for a brewery, two blocks from the new Twins stadium, opening up about a month before the Twins threw their first pitch in Target field. As a result, they've managed to thrive despite putting out what I consider a mediocre product at best.

Now, this Standard Lager, this is a different story. I saw it come out, my first thought was to pass it off as an attempt from a third tier brewery to try and appeal to the bud light crowd, so I pretty much passed it up in favor of my standard go-to brews. Oh how stupid I was.

In short, Standard Lager is a porch-pounder done right. Makes me want to buy a fucking rider lawn mower, despite the fact that I can spit across the entire length and breadth of my mowable lawn. It's light, easy drinking, tastes great ice cold, puts on no airs. Pours a clear light amber, only slightly cloudy, low on the bitterness, picking up a bit of bread on the nose, which I welcome. Spreading across the palate, I'm picking up apple, the sweet slightly starchy kind, red delicious. Only slightly bitter, finishes with just the faintest hint of tart. Finishes juicy, mouthfeel is optimized for drinking lots on a hot summer day with something grilling nearby and nothing on calendar.

Could Fulton finally be getting their asses in gear? I dunno, but I predict myself revisiting this beer come summer. A lot. I'm gonna give this a good 4.25 out of 5. Excellent, almost awesome. Ask me again in July and my score might be even higher.

21 beers until Christmas!

[Stay Puft]

3. Halia (Saison / Farmhouse Ale)
Goose Island Beer Co. (Illinois, USA)



Halia is one of the "sour sisters" released by Goose Island, and made its way here by random luck. Gillian, a sour saison with strawberries and honey, was officially released in Canada earlier this year during a promotional event (Goose Island is owned by InBev now and has slowly been pushing into our market). It's an incredible beer. I had my last bottle last week, and it was still drinking beautifully, bright and effervescent and peppery with a lush fruit tartness and subtle, sweet honey note. It was exactly what the bottle said it would be and it was impressively structured, delicious all around. An easy 4.5/5 for that. Halia, however, was never officially released here. Instead, somebody accidentally sent a case from Chicago to Canada when preparing a shipment of Sofie (which we stock regularly up here). Nobody noticed the error, not in Chicago, not in customs, not in our warehouses in Ontario... at no point in the chain did somebody realize they were handling the wrong product. And as luck would have it, that stray, wayward case of Halia wound up at my store during an expected delivery of Sofie just a few weeks back.

Halia is described as a sour peach ale, but unlike Gillian, this sister sorta missed the mark. Light, effervescent and aged in white wine barrels, this thing just doesn't pack the punch of flavor or tartness or complexity I had hoped for (especially after Gillian set the bar so impressively). Halia pours a straw yellow color with a thin white head that disappears basically instantly. It's super clear, and bubbles race up the side of the glass like champagne. It's a very wine-like beer all around, and it just didn't work for me. The aromas are incredibly subtle, with hints of hay, peach, and wine and grape notes. It's almost more grape than peach, which is disappointing. On the palate, it's super light and spritzy (really feels like champagne in the mouth), with strong hits from the white wine barrels. Lots of grape and stone fruit, with only slight traces of peach, and an incredibly mild tartness. I would hesitate to even call this a sour beer. It's not terrible, but it just feels so light and insubstantial, and the peaches really don't shine like they should. I have another bottle that I'll sit on for a bit, see if a bit more bottle aging does something (or maybe this bottle just wasn't from a great batch), but for now, yeah, this is sorely lacking.

Rating: 2.5/5

[MadMan]

I love IPAs.

[Gizmo]

4. Honey Beer (Strubbes)

Sometimes I grab things just because they stand out for one reason or another. I like honey. I like beer. This is Honey Beer. It's barely either. I think I was expecting a mead type drink. What I've got is dry, beer flavored water, with a bit of honey afterburn. It's not undrinkable, but this will be the only time I drink this, unless I forget I've had it somewhere down the road, and the honey picture catches my eye again. Don't let me forget I've already fallen for this.

20 beers to go.

[bac0n]

4. Bomb!
Prairie Artisan Ales, Tulsa OK
Imperial Russian Stout Aged on Cocoa Nibs, Vanilla Beans & Chili Peppers


So, I pretty much grabbed this out of the cellar and popped it into the fridge without looking too closely at it. Then I popped it out of the fridge and poured it into a snifter, again without looking at it. Then it started pouring oh so thick, and yeah, this being Monday, I probably shouldn't be drinking a full 12 oz glass of 13% ABV beer all by myself. Good thing my wife likes this sorta stuff too.

Anywho, we were pretty excited to get Prairie Artisan Ales up here a year or two ago, cuz they do some really knocked out stuff, especially when it comes to sours, tho i tend to save them for more special occasions, cuz you can expect to pay 10-12 bucks for a four pack of the stuff, not exactly impulse buy territory. But, hey, it's the 25 beers of Christmas, and ya know I could use a sour to round out the repertoire, and I haven't tried this Bomb! offering of theirs, so I grabbed it to add to the collection of beers to bring home, not bothering to read the label.

So, as a sour, this beer absolutely blows. Not even a hint of funk, no acidity, pours black as the underside of your fingernails after a day working in the garden, so yeah, those buying this expecting a sour are gonna be sorely disappointed. And morons.

If, on the other hand, you actually decided to read the label like I should have done, and thus knew that you were gonna be pouring an Imperial Russian Stout into your glass, well, good for you, cuz as an Imperial Stout, this is very well executed. The use of chili is restrained - I can pick them up but they don't take over like I've seen happen so many times in other beers that play with peppers only to get burned. Also, the coffee is just right, and not stale-tasting, as is too often the case with beer fermented on coffee. I am very particular about my coffee, so I am easily off-put if the coffee is not just right.

Mouthfeel wise, it's thick as one would expect of an imperial stout, slightly thicker than normal, but I would say not as thick as my PITA stout I reviewed last Friday. Also, it hides its 13% ABV very well. Perhaps TOO well. I'm guessing those chilies are doing a good job throwing some misdirection from the warmth provided by the alcohol.

All in all, this is a winner. Reading up on the beer, it's easy to see why this beer racks up so many awards. I'm gonna give this a 4.5 out of 5. Awesome, among the very best this style has to offer. I think the next time I am road tripping through Oklahoma, I may need to take a detour and check this brewery out.

20 beers until Christmas!

[Stay Puft]

4. Black Ball (American Porter)
To Øl (Denmark)



To Øl is a nomadic brewery founded in 2010, and has been making quite a name for itself in a just a short period of time (it landed in the Top 10 breweries for the year of 2014 over at RateBeer). This is the first time I can recall seeing one of their beers pop up at our shops, so I was intrigued to see what Black Ball (their take on an American style porter) had in store. There's a little paragraph on the back claiming that the beer contains cassonade sugars and a "proper dose of American hops" while boasting flavors of chocolate and caramel. I didn't really find any caramel notes here on the nose or palate, but it does indeed have a proper dose of hops. And at 8% ABV, it also packs a proper punch.

Black Ball pours pitch black, with a thick, foamy tan-colored head. The head retains well and leaves incredibly thick lacing. It's a mean looking beer. On the nose, lots of hops. There's an earthy bitterness, with chocolate notes that actually make me think milk chocolate more than anything. A bit of coffee and roasted malt, but the hops really dominate. On the palate, more of the same. Much more roasted malt, but still a ton of hop bitterness, very earthy and with strong, dark chocolate notes. It seems a tad one dimensional at first, but develops more as it warms, delivering more smoky and tobacco notes. The body is super thick, super creamy, and really coats the mouth. This is where I find my major criticism with the beer. It's too creamy, too chewy. It feels weird, and the lingering stickiness in the mouth is sort of unpleasant. The finish isn't too bad, appropriately dry with a mild lingering bitterness and smokiness (it's really not sweet at all, and I wouldn't have guessed there was added sugar in the ingredients if I didn't know). The alcohol is also well hidden. But it's hidden behind a frothy, creamy chewiness that is just way too over the top for me. The flavors are fine, if not outstanding, but I would have liked the beer a lot more if it wasn't so frothy.

Rating: 3/5

[Winston*]

Drink some New Zealand beers so I can weigh in.