Archive for April, 2008
Let’s get hopped!
Friday, April 25th, 2008 | Tasting Reviews | 3 Comments
A glimpse into Andrew's beer cellar
What can I say about Wednesday’s beertasting. Andrew did an incredible job with excellent food, we had a great turnout, and tasted assortment of beers that left nothing to be desired — both in quantity and quality.
Full turnout, and Todd more than makes up for missing recent tastings with some fantastic bonus beers. Andrew also pitched in with a few selections from his cellar, and I counted 5 top 100 beers total this month, plus two excellent home brewed selections (one of which is being entered in Sam Adams Long Shot competition — Go Mike!)
- Andrew W (host) — Stone Old Guardian Barleywine, Allagash 4, Sammy’s Smiths Winter Welcome (1998), Joe W’s home-brewed hopfen tuefel zwei
- Todd — Two hearted Ale (mini-keg), Lagunitas IPA, Stone Ruination IPA, Alaska Brewing Smoked Porter
- Pete — Great Divide Titan IPA
- Steve — Victory Hop Devil
- Zombie — Bear Republic Hot Rod Rye
- Dave S. — Anderson Valley Hop Ottin IPA
- Andrew S. — Bell’s Pale Ale
- Jay — Stoudt’s Smooth Hoperator
- Steve B — Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA
- Joe B. — Stoudts Double IPA
- Mike — Weyerbacher Hops Infusion, Sam Adams Longshot entry “Dark Chocolate Expresso Stoudt”
- Luke — Mad River Steelhead Double IPA
- Chuck — Three Floyd’s Dreadnaught IPA
With such a large selection, my only (minor) complaint was that some of the IPA’s and high hopped beers tended to merge together after a few tastings and my taste buds at that point weren’t worthy to give them their due. I made a lot of notes, but I’ll spare you as most say “nice fruity aroma, excellent citrusy hops flavor”, etc. I don’t think I tasted one beer that I was disappointed with.
However, I do want to touch upon some of the highlights. I thought the Bell’s Two Hearted Ale was an excellent balance of hops and very refreshing. The Bear Republic Hot Rod Rye was darker in color with more maltier balance than the high hopped beers. The Three Floyd’s Dreadnaught had a much more earthy, pine flavor with a hint of spice. And I also noted the Great Divide Titan IPA had a very bitter hoppy flavor that lingered nicely on the back of my tongue. The double IPA’s (Stoudt’s and Mad River Steelhead) had a more pronounced alcohol bite to them, and of course the 90 minute IPA is known for it’s intense hop flavor.
Aside from the hoppy beers, there were also some additional bonus beers that did not exactly fit the theme, but were noteworthy in their own right. Old Guardian had a big bold flavor with a nice balance of malt and hop flavors. The Allagash Four (with 4 types of hops, 4 malts, 4 sugars and fermented 4 times with 4 different yeasts) didn’t quite fit into this tasting although I highly recommend it with a sweet Belgium yeasty flavor. My personal favorite beer of the night was the Alaskan Smoked Porter with a smokey, dry finish that complimented the beer without overwhelming it. And the vintage Sammy Smith — aged for nearly 10 years now – had a scotch & alcohol aroma to it, but was surprisingly very smooth with a bit of a sweetness to it. An excellent sipping beer to end the night with.
And I would be amiss if I didn’t mention the two home brewed beer selections. One was a Joe Waizmaan specialty beer which he called hpofen tuefel zwei — I noted it had a sherry flavored alcohol taste to it and very drinkable. Mike was nice enough to include his entry into the Sam Adams Long Shot competition. I noted his Dark Chocolate Expresso Stout had a sweet aroma, small head, smooth initial taste with a big coffee flavored aftertaste with subtle chocolate flavors. A very complex and interesting beer to taste. Good luck Mike in the competition and please remember us little guys if you win!
I counted five beers total in the top 100, including Dreadnaught IPA (#13), Two-Hearted Ale (#54), Hop Rod Rye (#56), Stone Ruination (#64), 90 minute IPA (#92). All together, we had 13 beers with a rating of 90. I reluctantly included the Winter Welcome Ale for reference only, as they were obviously not rating the 10 year aged vintage beer that we were drinking.
- Bell’s Two Hearted Ale BA A RB 99
- Great Divide Titan IPA BA A- RB 96
- Victory HopDevil Ale BA A- RB 98
- Lagunitas IPA BA B+ RB 86
- Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye BA A RB 99
- Anderson Valley Hop Ottin’ IPA BA A- RB 94
- Bell’s Pale Ale BA B RB 72
- Stoudts Smooth Hoperator BA A- RB 91
- Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA BA A RB 99
- Stoudt’s Double IPA BA B+ RB 96
- Weyerbacher Hops Infusion BA B RB 83
- Mad River Steelhead Double IPA BA B+ RB 87
- Hopfen Tuefel Zwei Not Rated
- Three Floyd’s Dreadnaught IPA BA A RB 100
- Stone Ruination IPA BA A RB 99
- Stone Old Guardian BarleyWine Style Ale BA A- RB 97
- Allagash Four BA A- RB 97
- Dark Chocolate Expresso Stoudt Not Rated
- Alaskan Brewing Smoked Porter BA A- RB 98
- 1999 Vintage Samuel Smiths Winter Welcome BA B RB 66
MVP POINTS TOTAL
First, a small change in the scoring system. I want to give more flexibility in giving bonus points when bringing rare, hard to find more expensive beers, so I am increasing the potential bonus points total to 20. And going back to re-evaluate the scoring, I’m giving Mike the full 20 point maximum for sharing his Utopia back in February.
Lots of bonus points to be doled out this month. Steve gets 5 extra points for a top 100 plus 2 blog contribution points, and maintains his overall lead. But Todd and Andrew make a big move this month. Todd brings 4 beers total (12 points) plus 2 top 100’s (10 points), and I gave him 8 bonus points for sharing the very difficult to find Alaskan Brewing Smoked Porter for 30 points all together. Andrew gets credit for 4 beers (12 points), being an excellent host (15 points) and 5 + 3 bonus points for sharing the unusual and unique beers (1999 Vintage Winter Welcome + hopfen tuefel zwei home brew). Mike also gets 3 bonus points for his unique home brewed beer, and I gave myself 2 bonus points for finding the Dreadnaught (they’ve temporarily stopped distributing in Ohio and I went to 4 stores before finding this. Big Kudos to Centerville take out store next to Sweeney’s Restaurant for helping me find this), plus 5 for it being a top 100. Zombie also gets bonus points for his Hop Rod Rye (5 for top 100 plus 2 for unique and hard to find plus 1 Blog Participation point).
Remember, an easy way to pick up points is to add any relevant content to the blog such as a review of a beer tasted, notification of an upcoming event, or anything beer related.
Prev Total April Score New Total
- Steve B 44 10 52
- Andrew S. 42 3 45
- Mike 28 9 37
- Todd 6 30 36
- Andrew W 0 35 35
- Dave S 22 3 25
- Chuck 14 10 24
- Luke 16 3 19
- Jay 15 3 18
- Zombie 6 11 17
- Steve V. 6 3 9
- Pete 6 3 9
- Dave H 3 0 3
- Joe 1 3 4
Cave Aged Ommegang!
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 | Announcements, Beer News, Tasting Reviews | 4 Comments
Cave Aged Ommegang was the highlight of March Testing
Sorry this is so late getting out — busy month. First a couple of announcements…
April beertasting is at Andrew W. house. The theme will be hoppy beers — in honor of the humulus lupulus plant that is used to flavor many of our finer beers. In the midst of the current (hopefully short-lived) hop shortage, we will be drinking our favorite beers with a predominant hop quality — while they are still available. Excellent suggestion Pete!
Also, for anyone interested, Lee Hill of Sierra Nevada will be at Dorothy Lane in Oakwood Wednesday, April 16 (tonight if you read this immediately), I tried to research who Lee Hill is, but couldn’t find anything on the guy, but I’m sure it will be interesting. Also, Friday night, April 18 is a Belgium beer tasting event at “A Taste of Wine” in Miamisburg. I’ve not been to a tasting event here, but it’s a quaint little wine/beer store with a built in tasting bar that looks like it has lots of atmosphere. Sally and I may attend if we can get a babysitter.
I’ve been exchanging emails with a New Jersey Beertasting club has seen our website. They’ve expressed interest in a joint beertasting event sometime in the near future where perhaps we set up a simulcast and co-ordinate the beer list so that we each have the same selections. I’m not sure how this would work exactly or if it would be worth the trouble, but I thought I’d open it up for thoughts, ideas, comments?
March brought on March Madness. And although we had a lot of people out this month, Dave still hosted an excellent event as we all cheered on Belmont as they nearly sent Duke packing in the first round. Here’s the notes I took on some of our selections.
- Dave S. (host) - Pyramid Hefeweizen, Barrel house Cumberland Pale Ale
- Steve — Stone Russian Imperial, Cave Aged Three Philosophers
- Andrew – Anchor Porter (?)
- Chuck — New Holland Red Tulip
- Jay — Wooden Shoe Bock + Ommegang Abbey Ale (?)
Steve wins some major bonus points this month. The Stone Russian Imperial is number 12 on the top 100 list, the highest rated beer we’ve had this year. And I thought it lived up to its rating — with a smooth sweet chocolate malt taste - a very heavy, complex and filling beer. In addition, Steve brought the Ommegang special edition Cave Aged Three Philosophers. From my notes, I recall a bold hoppy start, with a alcohol finish and a characteristic Belgium yeast flavor.
The Cave-Aged label got me curious to see what was special about aging beer in caves, and here is what I found on theOmmegang website…
“We set out to replicate as closely as possible the conditions that produce extraordinary champagnes,” explained Randy Thiel. “The virtues of cave-aging are well understood by champagne producers. There is no doubt that these dark, silent, subterranean “cathedrals” are the ideal surroundings for secondary fermentation and maturation of wines (and beers). It is further known that cold constant temperature between 50 and 55 degrees leads to great complexity, and that the colder the storage, the slower the maturation.”
Another beer that got my attention was the Barrel House Cumberland Pale Ale, with a very sweet hops! We also tasted Ommegang Abbey Ale (I think Jay brought this as a bonus), which I noted had a unique licorice flavor to it. Finally, the Anchor Porter scored high marks for its drinkability and roasted malt flavors.
Here’s the lineup (the rating for Three Philosphers is the regular Three Philosophers, not enough reviews for the Cave Aged beer to be ranked).
- Pyramid Hefeweizen BA C+ RB 32
- Wooden Shoe Bock BA B+ RB 35
- Stone Russian Imperial Stout (#12) BA A RB 100
- New Holland Red Tulip Ale BA B RB 60
- Ommegang Cave Aged Three Philosophers * BA A- RB 97
- Ommegang Abbey Ale BA A- RB 97
- Barrel House Cumberland Pale Ale BA B RB 68
- Anchor Porter BA A- RB 98
MVP POINTS TOTAL
Steve definitely gets some bonus points for his two selections and surpasses Andrew for first place (unless Andrew had a bonus beer that I didn’t give him credit). The Stone Russian Imperial Stout is in the top 100 (#12). The Cave Aged Three Philosophers was not in the top 100, but I gave him 3 extra points for originality and uniqueness, plus the points for bringing a bonus beer. Dave moves up the list for hosting and bringing a bonus as well. We had one more bonus beer, which I believe was Jay’s. Let me know if I’ve made any mistakes….
Prev Total March Score New Total
- Steve B 30 14 44
- Andrew S. 39 3 42
- Dave S 6 16 22
- Mike 18 0 18
- Luke 16 0 16
- Jay 9 6 15
- Chuck 11 3 14
- Steve V. 6 0 6
- Zombie 6 0 6
- Todd 6 0 6
- Pete 6 0 6
- Dave H 3 0 3
- Joe 1 0 1