Dayton Beertasting Association

He beat him like a rented mule!

Monday, June 2nd, 2008 | Tasting Reviews

 

When looking for a host for May, we were looking for something new and different.  Steve V. stepped up to the plate, and not only delivered a hit, but a game-winning walk-off grand slam to boot!  A fantastic night of beer-tasting — Steve delivers with good food, great beer,  a basement that would fit into any Homearama house, and the Penguins on a 92 inch projector-type screen for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

OK, so Detroit would make a series of it and eventually win the Stanley Cup in Game 6.  But not before the Penguins turned it around in Game 3 and made a series of it   In the exciting game 3, the Pens go up 2-0 and then hold off the Red Wings to win Game 3 by the score of 3-2. It would have been an exciting game to watch on my 21 inch screen, but it was truly a breathtaking experience watching the Pens win covering the entire wall of Steve’s media room.

We had a great turn-out, and once again, a lot of quality beer to drink.  I counted 16 beers for the night.  Here’s the line-up (please post any corrections and I can fix them) from my notes….

 

• Steve V (host) — Dogfish Head Burton Baton, Ommegang Rare Vos
• Mike — Goose Island Summertime Kolsch
• Joe — Great Lakes Holy Moses, Harpoon 100 barrel series Fifth of Forth (bonus)
• Craig (new guy) — Great Lakes Elliot Ness Lager
• Todd/Jay (tag team) — Celis Grand Cru, Fuller’s London Pride, Stone Pale Ale, Bell’s Double Cream Stout, Left Hand Milk Stout
• Chuck — Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Fresh Hop Harvest Ale
• Zombie — Orval
• Steve B. — Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter
• Dave S. — Rogue Mom Hefeweizen
• Pete –  Goose Island India Pale Ale

The theme this month was beers related to the Top 125 Places to Have a Beer list, courtesy of All About Beer Magazine.  I was quite intrigued by this list, and a little upset that I personally had only visited 1 of the top 125 places (A recent weekend trip to Cleveland and the Great Lakes Brewery would soon double my participation to two).  The list on this webpage has some additional information and some of my thoughts — look for a separate upcoming blog entry with some of my analysis. We had 3 beers from the Great Lakes Brewing Company (#35 on the list) and two beers from Goose Island (#84).   In addition, we had 1 beer each from Dogfish Head (#91), Sierra Nevada (#60), Rogue (#32),  Ommegong (#86).  We also had Orval from the famed Abbaye de Notre-Dame d’Orval (#7) along with 5 recent winners from the Great American Beer Festival (#1),  Great British Beer Festival (#4), and the World Beer Festival (#25).

While visiting Cleveland the weekend before the tasting, I managed to make it to the Great Lakes Brewery.  I planned to bring home a growler or two for this tasting, but the only problem was that I waited till Sunday to purchase my growler, only to find the brew pub closed.  So I didn’t bring back any beer - but posted a couple of pictures in this month’s photo section

I was so enthralled by the Penquins game, I didn’t take a lot of notes for this tasting.  But I do recall we had some absolutely excellent selections — both in quantity and quality.  Although the Edmund Fitzgerald Porter was the only beer we had in the official top 100 list, I felt we had a lot of memorable selections.  

I was very intrigued by the Fifth Forth of Ale selection from Harpoon’s 100 barrel series.  I’ve been reluctant to buy Harpoon as I’ve had mixed experiences with them, but this one was indeed a winner. From their website, the 100 barrel series is a “one-of-a-kind limited batch creations fashioned by a Harpoon brewer.  Every couple of months a different Harpoon brewer will choose a style, develop a recipe, and brew the g=beer - form selecting the ingredients to the final filtrations.”  I thought this Scottish Ale had a lot of flavor and Scottish malt backing, which normally I don’t find appealing, but in this case was exceptional.  The Fifth of Forth was session #22 in the series, and session #23 is currently available (Old Rusty’s Red Rye Ale).  But this is the first of seen of this series in Dayton -  I wonder what happened to the first 21 sessions?

I also thought the Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Fresh Hop Harvest Ale was interesting.  According to the Sierra Nevada website, this is the first time that an American brewer has put out a beer with fresh-picked hops from the Southern Hemisphere.  I don’t know if this is significant, but it sounds interesting.  Although the beer was quite enjoyable with a hoppy bitter taste, I’m not sure if it was that significantly different than the normal high hopped beers we tasted last month.

The Burton Baton is a mix of the 90 minute IPA aged in oak barrels.  The oak aging adds a wonderful woody, vanilla flavor to the beer, and there’s a bit of an alcohol aftertaste (alcohol content 10%+).  This would make a fine sipping beer to end the night with with very similar characteristics of a fine barley wine.  I would be curious to see if and how this beer ages.

Of the three beers that I would consider summer beers, the Summertime Kolsch, Holy Moses, and MoM Hefeweizen, I enjoyed the Goose Island Summertime Kolsch the best for a beer to have on a summer day.   Although the Holy Moses had a bit more flavor and spice to it.

The Edmund Fitzgerald is one of my favorites and the Double Cream Stout, Left Hand Milk Stout also received high marks.  They each deserve a separate tasting when they have my undivided attention (and my taste buds not so spent).

 

• Great Lakes Elliot Ness                                BA A-    RB 90
• Dogfish Head Burton Baton                         BA A-    RB 94
• Goose Island Summertime Kolsch               BA B      RB 55
• Great Lakes Holy Moses  White Ale          BA B+    RB 70
• Michigan Brewing Celis Grand Cru             BA B      RB 58
• Fuller’s London Pride                                    BA B+     RB 81
• Stone Pale Ale                                                BA B+     RB 92
• Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere           BA A-     RB 94
•   Harvest Fresh Hop Ale (2008)
• Rogue MoM Hefeweizen                              BA B       RB 63
• Ommegang Rare Vos Belgium Style Ale      BA A-     RB 88
• Harpoon Firth of Forth Ale                          BA B       RB 66
•   (100 Barrel Series)                      
• Orval Trappist Ale                                         BA A-     RB 98
• Bell’s Special Double Cream Stout               BA A-     RB 97
• Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter       BA A      RB 98
• Goose Island India Pale Ale                          BA B+    RB 90
• Left Hand Brewing Company Milk Stout    BA B+    RB 87

MVP POINTS TOTAL

Steve grows his lead with another 5 extra points for a top 100 (Edmund Fitzgerald #52).  Todd and Jay combine with 3 bonus beers, and Joe gets extra points for bringing his Harpoon 100 barrel series.   In addition to his hosting and bonus beer points, I’m giving Steve V. and extra 5 points for having the best basement and another 5 points for putting the hockey game on the big screen. And Zombie gets an extra point for bringing Belgium trappist beer as well as for his original post for the Top 125 list.

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          May Score       New Total

 

• Steve B                                                            52                       9                       61
• Andrew S.                                                       45                       0                       45
• Todd                                                               36                       8                        44
• Mike                                                               37                        3                        40
• Steve V.                                                            9                      31                       40 
• Andrew W                                                     35                       0                        35
• Dave S                                                             25                       3                        28
• Chuck                                                             24                       3                        27
• Jay                                                                    18                      9                        27
• Zombie                                                            17                      6                        23
• Luke                                                                19                       0                       19
• Joe                                                                    4                       9                        13
• Pete                                                                  9                      3                          12
• Dave H                                                             3                       0                         3

Tags: May, Tasting, Top 125

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