Tallgrass Brewing Company Buffalo Sweat
Brewery: Tallgrass Brewing Company
Beer: Buffalo Sweat, 1 pint can
Style: Stout
POP: Gift from Kate of The Can Van
Price: It was a present, duh.
This lovely can of stout (!) comes courtesy of my friend Kate, a beer pioneer of sorts as one of the founding members of the aforementioned Can Van. Kate – who lives in my former state of California – has been a great beer saint, even risking life and limb at the hands of the law to traffic beer across state lines to bring me a Pliny the Elder, as well as other delicious brews.
Like this one.
Maybe the novelty of stout in a can hasn’t worn off on me yet. Maybe it’s the fact that this beer pours like a Pepsi – dark brown with a bubbly tan head – that trips me out a bit. Regardless, the size of the can (a full pint – more than my “pint” glass) and the wonderful dark chocolate and toasted malt aroma brings me back into adulthood.
The taste is basic dry stout – no surprises or sweetness from caramel malts. Even as it warms, it’s a bit watery in the finish, but otherwise I can find no faults with this beer. Beautiful lacing down the glass as well as a thin layer of foam that sticks around until the very end showcases that this is a well brewed beer with the highest quality ingredients.
Manhattan, KS, is lucky to have this brewery. Combining my loves – college basketball and great beer – perhaps a road trip to the brewery and the Octagon of Doom is in order.
Micro and nano cans – they’re coming.
The craft can revolution is well underway. It’s been well documented. I’ve even written about it in a review. Simply put, modern cans are better packaging for finely crafted beers.
Perhaps you’re already indoctrinated into the canned beer community. You may have even attended Canfest in Reno recently. And if you did, you probably got to crack open some aluminum with some fine folks who are furthering matters in this world without being a commercial brewery. Enter The Can Van.
Here’s the shtick. There are breweries out there who bottle and keg exclusively. There are those than can and keg exclusively. We’re starting to see an uptick in breweries that do both. (The Beer Student’s favorite Chicago local Half Acre Beer comes to mind.) But for the most part, this packaging mix is being slowed by the two things facing almost every micro, nano, and craft brewery in the US: space and money. The Can Van’s idea is that not every brewery that wants to can needs to have a full-time canning line. As such, they’re investing in a canning line of their own and making it mobile by placing it inside a trailer and hauling it from brewery to brewery. Thus, a brewery with an output that doesn’t warrant the cost of an entire canning line can now jump in the pool and send cans to the masses.
Beer goes in. Canned beer comes out.
Look for this to really jumpstart the smallest of breweries. The number of craft beers available in cans is still relatively small, and as such, being one of the first players in this market will likely benefit for a much longer term than just the small influx of cash from the sale of a 4 or 6-pack.
I’d explain more about the process, but it would be better to let the experts take care of it. They’re crowdfunding the startup on perennial small business site IndieGoGo. Check out the video, read the story, invest. And get to drinkin’.
Half Acre SS Simon Short
Brewery: Half Acre Beer Company
Beer: SS Simon Short, growler
Style: Porter
POP: Half Acre brewery store, 4257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago
Price: $12
Is it January? Naw, man, it’s August! Er…December.
Damn, I’ve been out of it for a while, it would appear. Pair things like school being busy, work picking up, a crippling addiction to the far reaches of the internet, and a fear of publishing anything that hasn’t been meticulously and unnecessarily critiqued by yours truly, and that’s gonna happen.
Once again, the folks over at Half Acre hit it out of the park with a small batch brew. This past Friday was the annual release of the Big Hugs coffee imperial stout. Saturday, I showed up to get the Big Hugs and walked out with this. Let that sink in. Now, don’t get me wrong, I bought some bottles of Big Hugs and will try to snag a growler too if it holds on for a while. But after tasting it, I could not pass up this limited run.
But, before getting into the SS Simon Short, this begs the question (complete with poor grammar): How come nobody brews porters any more? Let me take a stab at this. It’s hard. That’s why. I’ve had a few porters that have been, well, pretty weak. Like, yeah, it’s dark and has a faintly earthy/nutty flavor and nose, but it’s not complex and there’s no body to it.
This photo brought to you by hipstergram. Oh, it's called instagr.am? Huh.
Now. Half Acre wouldn’t stand for this kind of porter. So they made a good one, perfect for this stupid cold weather. Straight out of the growler and into a pint glass, it’s deep brown but not black with an uneven, bubbly tan head. This smells perfect – roasted malts and a hint of sweetness, but not overpowering on the nuttiness. The taste is very much the same, with just the slightest hint of hops. The body is full, with a balanced, but not heavy, mouthfeel. Plus, at only 6% ABV, this is the perfect beer to pour a big pint, take a healthy swig, and be glad you’re inside where it’s warm.
And thus, my love affair with Half Acre beers continues. Carry on, fellas.
Goose Island Hex Nut Brown Ale
Brewery: Goose Island Beer Company
Beer: Hex Nut Brown Ale, Pint
Style: Brown Ale
POP: Goose Island Wrigleyville
Price: $5?
I live on the North side of Chicago. I don’t live in Wrigleyville proper, but I am walking distance from Wrigley Field. Though I’m mostly indifferent about baseball, I did grow up a White Sox fan. So…yeah. But all my friends are Cubs fans, so as such, I’ve been to way more Cubs games than Sox games.
Mikey likes it!
The beginning of August was no exception. My friend Mike, a teacher, had some time in between the end of his grad school classes and when he had to go back to teaching in Indianapolis. Dude headed up here to catch a weekday Cubs game, and I of course accompanied. Because my schedule is flexible like that, and it rules.
Seeing as how I’m pushing 30 and I prefer to drink flavorful beer out of clean glasses, most bars in Wrigleyville aren’t my favorite. But a saving grace for me every time some pregame beers need to be had is Goose Island’s Wrigleyville location. While not as robust of a tap selection as their main Clybourn location, this definitely does the trick.
This day I tried their Hex Nut Brown Ale, formerly just the Nut Brown Ale, and now only available on tap in brewpubs. (This article explains why – that basically everyone’s going gaga for Belgians and IPA’s right now, and since breweries have to keep the lights on, are brewing the more popular styles.) Goose Island’s brown ale comes in a pint, cold and with a foamy off-white head. The taste presents hints of chocolate and lots of malt flavor with a low carbonation, almost creamy feel. I do find it to be a little lacking in flavor though. I would describe it as watery, but that would take away from the excellent texture of this beer. Maybe I just wanted a fuller finish. A sessionable beer for sure, and now a rarity.
Revolution / 3 Floyds Collaboration: Sodom & Gomorrah
Brewery: Revolution Brewing Company / Three Floyds Brewing Company
Beer: Sodom (snifter) & Gomorrah (pint)
Style: Russian Imperial Stout, Small Stout
POP: Revolution Brewing Company, Chicago
Price: $9 snifter, $5 pint
Sometimes I struggle with whether or not to post about limited-run beers that I know are gone. Most of the time I spend so much time worrying and procrastinating (a debilitating vicious cycle, as Hyperbole and a Half demonstrates here and here) that by the time I reach ultimatum time, the release is so far past that it wouldn’t even matter.
But dammit, I’m gonna crank this one out while at least one of these beers is still on tap, and the other one is still alive in recent memory and not just my poorly typed iPhone notes and beer-stained thoughts.
The fine folks at Revolution Brewing Company here in Chicago and 3 Floyds Brewing Company met to do a collaboration on two half-batches of beer from the same full batch mash, a method called parti-gyle. The end result was Sodom and Gomorrah, a Russian Imperial Stout and a small stout, respectively. Hearing that the last keg of Sodom was on the ropes, I took a break from work (freelance FTW) and biked over to Rev for lunch.
Sodom
Sodom, the big Russian Imperial Stout, is an 11% monster poured into a snifter. Tastes just as bold as Revolution/3 Floyds described, but with the chalky feeling and hint of semi-sweet chocolate on the palate, which I did not expect. It works quite well for this beer. The medium sized brown head sticks around on top and on the sides of the glass throughout the whole beer, with an oily residue that stains the glass a pale copper. As it warms, the finish becomes nice and sticky-sweet. Phenomenal.
Gomorrah
Of course, I couldn’t leave without a pint of the Gomorrah small stout. Comparable to a dry stout, it’s poured straight up in a pint glass, a deep brown with an off-white head. Gomorrah is the Danny DeVito to Sodom’s Arnold Schwarzenegger. A bit watery, but purposefully thin, instead of savoring tiny sips of Sodom, Gomorrah begs you to take a big swig and peer out the window onto sunny, bustling Milwaukee Avenue. A perfect beer for a warm-but-starting-to-feel-like-fall day. The coffee notes come through more than the chocolate did in Sodom, and the hops are subtle and subdued more than I expected. While I like this as a cool concept beer, it might not stand on it’s own.
Overall, a cool collaboration. And hey, I even learned something about a brewing style I’d never heard of before.
*As of this posting, I’m sure Revolution is tapped out of Sodom. No idea about the 3 Floyds brewpub. Gomorrah is still available on tap.
Duvel Green
Brewery: Duvel
Beer: Duvel Green, on draft
Style: Belgian Pale
POP: Witts, Chicago, IL
Price: $7
Trivia! Wednesday night is pub trivia night at Witts, where a couple friends and I have been making occasional efforts in brain power. The regulars include a new beer student prodigy, who, I’m proud to say, has graduated from downing Bud Light to loving porters. Porters! Call me Obi Wan. The student has become the teacher. Or something.
I had seen Duvel Green a couple of places, but have initially been skeptical. I like Duvel, but sometimes I just have to be in the right mood for it. Our refreshingly knowledgeable server described it as “green…as in new or fresh”: fresh hopped and single-fermented, unlike the double-fermented bottle conditioned Duvel of old. Of course, a single-fermented and cold-filtered beer is going to be more clean and crisp than a normal bottle of Duvel. Considering it was a perfect summer evening and we were outside, this sounded like an absolute winner.
And my goodness it was. For as many “summer ales” or whatever that are out there, this one actually delivers. Poured into a specialty Duvel Green tulip glass, it presents a huge, frothy white head atop a transparent bright gold liquid, much like we’re used to with the original. The first smell and sip reminds you that this is very much a Duvel product – crisp, lively carbonation, distinguishable yeast flavor – but better. The dry finish makes Duvel Green stand out from the original. This beer only presents a minimal aftertaste of very mild hops that can kind of be described as “grassy,” sticking with the “green” concept. Plus, at 6.8% ABV, this makes for a very sessionable summer beer.
Duvel USA’s Sommelier gives an even better comparison here at GreatBrewers.com. But I do have to ask: When are they going to stop using “Sommelier” and pick up the properly named, beer-specific “Cicerone” title? This distinction needs to gain acceptance, and it needs to come from brewers like Duvel.
Two things regarding our server at Witts: First, dear server, your description was spot-on perfect and not full of useless adjectives (which us beer people, this writer included, are known to do). Second, thank you for pronouncing it “DOO-vull”, not “doo-VELL” like so many wannabes. I know Witts doesn’t get street cred for being a beer bar due to its limited number of taps and location nowhere near the über-hip Blue Line neighborhoods, but this spot is a gem for those of us in the neighborhood.
New Belgium Trippel
Brewery: New Belgium Brewing Company
Beer: New Belgium Trippel, 12 oz. bottle
Style: Belgian Trippel
POP: Whole Foods, Lakeview, Chicago
Price: $9.99, 6-pack
You may remember from a previous post that I was geeked up by the (apparent) arrival of New Belgium Trippel to the Chicago market. See, that post was in February, and I was supposed to see this beer hitting shelves sometime in April. Well hi there, it’s late July, and I finally picked up my first sixer of this bad boy last week. Although, it was the last one on the shelf at Whole Foods, so I’d say I might not have been the only person anxiously waiting its arrival.
Anyway. It’s here. And it’s in the new style packaging. As always, poured into my lovely Dogfish Head globe glass, this looks like everything that a nice trippel should be: golden-amber hued with a slowly rising and dissipating white head.
Coriander!
I don’t know that I’ve ever known what coriander tastes like before this, although I suppose I could say that it’s the magic ingredient in the New Belgium Trippel that makes it so wonderful. It’s got a bit of a crisp hop bite to it, but not a whole lot. But it’s an interesting bite – which, after raiding my spice rack for a sample, I can definitely say is coriander. The finish is crisp and clean, more so than a few other trippels that have a lingering yeasty flavor. This is a great beer for summer, and the fact that it comes in easily portable 12 oz. bottles encourages sipping this beer outside in the fading summer sun.
Final verdict: At $9 or $10 a six pack, I’d put this up against a lot of more expensive (and real) Belgian trippels. I’ll buy it whenever I see it, which hasn’t been a whole lot.
Cucapa Obscura
Brewery: Cucapa Brewing Company
Beer: Cucapa Obscura, 12 oz. bottle
Style: American Brown Ale
POP: Shipment from San Diego, CA
Price: Gift exchange!
The San Diego portion of the beer trade.
A while ago my buddy Kyle and I agreed to do a beer exchange, sending beer unavailable in our respective areas to each other. (I have yet to uphold my end of the bargain. I’m on it, Kyle, I swear.) Now, I really missed Alesmith Brewing out of San Diego, so I requested a couple bombers of their brew along with a Mexican craft beer that I’d been hearing a lot about called Cucapa Obscura. I honestly didn’t know a whole lot about this beer other recommendations from a few different people in San Diego. Some searching at a couple retailers confirmed that somehow Cucapa has been trickling into the Chicago area, but I have yet to see Obscura anywhere yet.
Cucapa Obscura, an American brown ale, pours dark with a bubbly head that dissipates immediately into a thin film. It smells rich like a brown ale should, and I’m pleasantly surprised at its opaqueness and color. Very little light is getting through, leading me to believe this will be a full-bodied brown ale – one of my favorite beers.
The first taste, I’m a bit unimpressed. Huge soda-like bubbles are a bit harsh up front, but I will say that the finish is nice. That’s really about it. Any forward flavors are lost on the ultra biting carbonation.
This ain't your typical Mexican beer, kid.
Apparently it’s available on tap, though limited. I really would like to try this out of a proper draft system, hopefully smoothing out some of the bite and maybe helping out with head retention. I really do like the rest of the beer though, and as it warms and loses a bit of the carbonation, I’m liking it more. The malts have a nice flavor to them that’s too often lost in some other brown ales, which makes it even more impressive that this comes from a Mexican brewery.
Final verdict: I will buy it if I see it on draft, or maybe if it’s on sale.
Goose Island Night Stalker
Brewery: Goose Island Beer Company
Beer: Night Stalker, 22 oz. bottle
Style: Imperial Stout
POP: Binny’s Beverage Depot, Lakeview
Price: $8.99 (?)
I’m typing this in Evernote, which is a neat piece of software that Billy Broas (of billybrew.com) has suggested. I’m using the desktop version on my laptop, but for a beer blogger on the go, the iPhone app synchs flawlessly with my account, allowing me to save photos and notes about beer all in one place. Thanks for the tip, dude!
I’ve made it known that I’m not overly impressed with most of Goose Island’s year-round offerings (save for their IPA or Sofie, which are both solid), but their special releases are second to none. Do yourself a favor and skip the 6-packs and spend your cash on a 22 of something unique from Chicago’s juggernaut of the craft beer world.
Night Stalker. Is this even a good name for a beer? I dunno, probably not.
Goose Island’s Night Stalker imperial stout is an oily jet black coming out of the bottle, with a head that gradually creeps up to a finger or so but dissipates quickly. Served cool but not cold, this beer has a THICK mouthfeel with minimal carbonation. This is like drinking mud, if mud was wonderful malty goodness that got you buzzed. Or perhaps it’s more akin to the overused euphemism “like motor oil.” Either way, it’s thickness is the most defining characteristic. The flavor presents a decent amount of hops with a bit of an alcohol finish. Going along with its syrupy texture (another overused euphemism), sweet malts with a bit of carmel or molasses really round out the flavor.
Hot damn. The alcohol is even more present as the beer warms. Know how when you have a sip of whiskey and you exhale the alcohol aromas after the sip? Yeah, it’s like that. 11.2% ABV really packs a punch, and the sweet malts favor this taste as opposed to masking it. The brewer’s notes suggest aging Night Stalker for up to 5 years; with as sweet and alcoholic as this tastes only a few weeks after bottling, I can only imagine how powerful this would be after a couple years in the cellar.
Final verdict: It’s not for everyone, but if you’re in the right mood for it, not bad at all. I’d buy it again especially if it’s on sale.
Guest Blog: Stone 13th Anniversary Ale
Nothing like a good guest blog to remind this beer writer that he’s been doing too much of the former and not enough of the latter in that self-appointed title. What can I say, things got busy in student land. Although that probably pales in comparison to full time working, school attending, father of two Shayne. Plus, since I first started writing, he’s been a champion of this blog on the ol’ interwebs. That considered, I’m honored Shayne took time out to write a guest blog for me.
This is also very timely in that Stone’s 14th Anniversary Ale debuted on shelves in San Diego on Monday, June 21st – the day Shayne sent me the review of the 13th Anniversary Ale. According to Stone Illinois’ Facebook page, the midwest should start seeing this in early July.
-bwm
Brewery: Stone Brewing Company
Beer: Stone 13th Anniversary Ale, 22 oz. bottle, aged one year
Style: American Strong Ale
POP: CityWide Liquors, downtown South Bend, IN
Price: $6.99
I’ve been friends with Brian for over 15 years, which not only makes me feel old, but also makes me feel happy to know that I’ve had the pleasure to have such a good guy in my life for such a long time. When he enthusiastically told me about his beer blog, being a beer nerd/snob myself, one of the first questions I asked him was if he would accept guest writers on his blog. He said in the Brian way we have all come to know and love, “Sure, why not.”
Being a writer and good beer enthusiast, I felt like I had to have something that would be “worthy” of talking about on a beer blog. I like good beer, and I have an interesting palate, so for me to be surprised you gotta go either big, or really strange. I feel that this is a mixture of both. I have a beer fridge down in my basement full of all kinds of great, wonderful, and wild flavors that would fulfill almost every palate. From stouts and porters, to lagers and pilsners, I have a beer for every mood, meal, or attitude. In addition to my own collection of tasty pleasures, I have friends that bring over carbonated bliss to challenge my extremely judgmental palate. This Stone 13th anniversary was one that a friend brought over that found its way into the beer fridge and somehow got hidden, tucked away, and forgotten about until almost exactly a year later. I’m sure in that year of patiently waiting it enjoyed great conversation with its American, German, and Hungarian counterparts. I’m sure it was wondering why so many had gone before it. It was hiding something fantastic for me and I’m so glad I found this one year later.
I usually don’t age many beers. I do have some New Holland Dragon’s Milk that will be a year old in August, and a couple Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA’s that I’m waiting for that special day to pop open. Other than that, it’s usually in the fridge for a pretty short time. Like I said previously, this double deuce of Stone 13th anniversary just stayed out of sight. Popping it open, I get the hoppy Stone trademark smell, with a fruity aroma. It pours as a deep amber color. The head is surprisingly thick at first, and licking like an ice cream cone I get the subtle tones of the greatness that is to come. Upon drinking cold, the hoppiness is the first taste that hits the palate. But it is quickly overtaken by a smoky fruit flavor that can best be described as smoked figs or dates. The aftertaste is the best part. The smoky fruitiness floats in your mouth as the bitter hop becomes nasal. It crescendos into a thin coating on the roof of your mouth and tongue with the flavor of what can best be described as thus: Imagine you ate a handful of slightly bitter raisins that have been grilled or smoked for a long time and set out to cool. Then imagine the juices that would explode in your mouth as you bit into them. Throw some slight carbonation in to add flare to the party, and this is the experience you get. It is wonderful. It gets even better as it warms when the smoky fruitiness takes over and you’re left smiling after every sip and savor.
I found it amusing that after I disposed of this fantastic flavor explosion, I scanned the bottle for the alcohol content, (It’s 9.5% ABV, probably more after a year in the fridge but hey…) and it said clearly on the bottle, DO NOT CELLAR, ENJOY IN 2009. I didn’t exactly cellar it, since it was in a cold fridge for over a year, but still funny. I raise my glass and toast. Here’s to not reading the sides of bottles and enjoying the happy surprises that are hidden and tucked away for occasions such as guest writers on a good friend’s blog. Cheers.
–Shayne Golden
