Now this a smooth beer. Since my 3 week detox the only beer I’ve been drinking are hop bombs. Probably because those are the beers I gravitate towards the most but I’m always pleasantly surprised by the more tame beers. Makes me wonder when I’ll switch styles. Hop bombs, though tasty, are growing old. This Conway Irish has a very nice and welcoming malt finish. The nose is subtle and the mouth is clean. The ABV is 6.5 so it’s no slouch yet it’s still very refreshing. Go for it.
This is fresh, really fresh. The hops are really strong with the barley wine characteristics coming up after the hop burn subsides. Sierra Nevada’s Bigfoot is a national treasure. When I went into the liquor store I had no idea this was in. I’m sure everyone has their “no duh” beers. When you are out picking up beer these are the one’s that make your beer shopping quick. You see it, you buy it, you stop looking for other beers. Mission accomplished. I saw Bigfoot and I was on my home. It’s Bigfoot, duh. So here it is again, pretty much the same as last year but I’m not very good at remembering what I drank a year ago. I believe it’s a bit more hoppy but I could be wrong. So I don’t need to really say anything more. You know what this is.
What can I say about the beer that introduced me to “the limit.” I was well into craft beer before I first had this but for some reason this was different. And even 4 years later it’s still special. Every year I still buy too much of it, regret when I drink too much of it and always come back for more. And truth be told, I still don’t see anything too unique about it. It’s a double IPA. Brewed with honey of course which does add to it’s flavor but as I have told countless people, Laguanitas Hop Stoopid is the poor man’s Hop Slam. But still this is an excellent beer. It does the job and then some. Let’s just say this beer works overtime whether you like it or not.
When we went on our vacation to Door County (post about that coming soon) we spent a night in Eau Claire, Wisconsin just to break up the drive. We ate dinner that night at a small chain called the Milwaukee Burger Company. And my god was the food good. Cheese curd cheese burger? How the hell can you go wrong with that. And most burgers there were just as decedent. The beer list however was thin. But what caught my eye was Schlitz. Yeah, it’s a regular lager and what not but this was the Milwaukee Burger Company so I figured to keep it all “local.” And I have to say it was probably the most refreshing beer I had in quite some time. No complexities, it was a beer from what I always remembered as a straight up beer. Having that beer with that burger was a high light on my vacation. It was one of those simple things that make you content if only for that small window in life. And in hindsight I think this was the moment that the windows were thrown open about my feeling towards my beer habits. So last night when I stopped at the local liquor store and I saw a six pack of tall boys for 5.99 I had to see if the magic was still there. And though it may not have been just like that night it was still very tasty. So what will become of this? Will I turn into my father and most other men and develop a sole beer? Of course not. But I do like a lot of things about this one. Well, not a lot but at least one important thing, it tasted great.
Here is a great story on the revival of Schlitz.
A quick note on my hops. Here they are as of July 7, 2010. As you can see the one on the far left is awesome. In fact it is so awesome that the strings that go left and right along the roof line hold the same bine. The bine that is next to the far left one is from the same rhizome but is slowly growing so I am contemplating cutting it down. The one on the right is from a its own rhizome but that is slowly growing as well but gaining some height so I will let that go. I also have three more that I just planted this fall and they are really slow. One is looking OK another is long but very frail and one is just starting to sprout. Either way I really have no intent of using these hops I just like the looks of them but I’ll probably use some for a brew next fall when they should be set for use.
Well, after about 3 months since I started this I decided that it is ready to be indulged. Why have I waited so long? Carbonation. It never really happened and I am not sure why. I could have not done the priming sugar part right. Maybe when I transferred from primary to secondary and then to the bottles it was too clean (not enough yeast transfer). I am really not too sure. But, it aint bad. A little sweet and after the second bottle it kinda gets old instead of growing on you in a good way and I think that has to do with carbonation which to me is the big problem. I wont call it a success and I wont call it a failure. It is still drinkable and I will drink it and share it but it could have gone better.
Up next is the Surly Furious clone. I started it last weekend and will probably move it to the secondary this weekend, probably Friday so that will make it 1 week and 5 days in the primary, it is still bubbling at a rate of about 2 blurps per minute. This time I am not going to be so “clean” about it, I will sanitize obviously but I wont be so concerned about keeping the yeast at the bottom of the carboys.
And of course I would love to hear your suggestions.
Stuart’s EPA kit from Norther Brewer
D+
Man do I hate being sick. Mainly because for one I am essential to my shop and second because I abstain from beer when I am sick. I’m a printer at the U of M and not to brag but I do an excellent job and I know a lot about design programs and the machines to print them with. Granted I have a great staff of student workers to cover when I am gone I still get that feeling that without me they are screwed but that never happens. But what also grinds my gears when I am sick is that I never drink beer, or any alcohol for that matter, it slows down the immune system and it takes longer to get better. I think it shuts down your body for the moment and though you feel better because of the booze you sleep like crap and you wake up none the better. At least that is what it is like for me. So when I stay home I do not drink and that usually gets me back into work the next day. Unless it is this week where though I really don’t feel too bad I got the pink eye and that sidelined me for another day. But I’ll be back tomorrow to catch up on everything I missed. Yay!
The last beer I got to enjoy was Widmer Brothers Deadlift Imperial IPA. And yummy. It runs along the lines of most IIPA’s, citrusy, floral and downright fun to drink. I got this from a friend for doing some work for him and I guess the price is nice so that’s great to know. Too often the best beers break your wallet so I welcome any beer that has good flavor yet is affordable. It poured with a beautiful frothy head with great lacing. The aroma was nothing unordinary and neither was the taste but that is OK. Sometimes drinking something you love is just as good as trying something new. This beer made my whole face smile, it brightened the evening and it was perfect for my last beer in 3 days, I just might pick up a 4 pack to go forward to where I left off.
Widmer Brothers Deadlife Imperial IPA
Just a quick review. Dave’s Brew Farm is a new brewery in Wisconsin that has one thing that separates it from the rest, *it grows all of its ingredients on the farm. And though they really haven’t produced much from there they churned out this gem. The Matacabras is a Belgian dark ale that is brewed with rye. It’s got that Belgian aroma with a hint of hops and an even hintier aroma of rye. It’s got a nice light mouthfeel to it but with those strong Belgian yeasts shining through with the rye and hop bitterness in the back of the mouth. Not sure how long this will be out, if it is a seasonal or what not but I have to say that if you get a change pick up a six pack of this. I guess the version brewed on the farm and not the contractor is a bit higher in the ABV so I definitely want to stop by Cassanova’s and try it out just to see how much the contractor version is different.
Dave’s Brew Farm Matacabras
*See correction in the comments section
So let me see here. I’ve been into the craft beer thing for a good 5 years now, at least really into it, and I have yet to do any cellaring. I did have a bottle of Dark Lord on hand for about 6 months but other than that I have put away nothing. I really have no reason why I never cellared anything, I guess for one I don’t buy as much beer as others so what I have I basically have till I get more. Second I never really bought into the whole aging of beer process. Sure it changes flavors but I always felt that it didn’t change for the better. I came to this conclusion early on when I got from a trade a new bottle of Stone’s barely wine and a year old bottle of the same and I felt the new one tasted much better being that the hops were still very prominent. But that was then and this is now. Now I’ve grown to respect the melding of flavors and some of the aged beer’s I’ve had I really came to enjoy. It took some encouraging from some friends and a little bit of patience and education on my part. Just last December Fitgers had 2 year old barley wine on tap and I recall the ’09 version so I was pleasantly surprised that all I needed was a bit of focus and I felt and tasted the difference and really enjoyed it.
So just yesterday I was the liquor store planning on getting just a simple bottle of Hop Stoopid when I saw this gem eyeing me up. Founder’s Nemesis (yes, another Founder’s beer, sorry). A wheat wine aged in the maple bourbon barrels they used to age their Canadian breakfast stout with generous helping of hops that pushed it up to 70 IBU’s. From everyone I have talked to this is the beer to age. But before I aged it I had to have one and I have to say this is probably one of my top beers of all time. The wheat and the maple and the hops and the bourbon all came together beautifully. The aroma was just as complex and appealing as the flavor, you just knew that this was going to be a hit. So now comes the aging. I threw two in the fridge and the other two in my crawl space with is a good 65-75 degrees all year round. I figure I would drink one in a year and the other in the second year but if it is as good as I anticipate I may just drink the both in year 1. There is a few more 4 packs at my local store and the way things go there they might still be there for a few more day so maybe I’ll get another or at least a bottle. This is my first aging beer, along with Bell’s Batch 9000, so my patience will now be put to the test. I am hoping to forget about it and one day I will be surprised but we shall see. I am noticing that the older I get the more patient I am, heck I still have 2 bottles of Bigfoot in my fridge from 2 weeks ago, hmmm, I think I’ll throw those in the cellar as well.
Founder’s Nemesis
Ever to go to a friends house to watch a game and you bring a few beers thinking that would just be enough to make it to the end but then it doesn’t? I do, all the time. Luckily my good friends always have an extra for me. Last week for the Vikings game, ugh, I ran out of Hop Slam and they offered me one of theirs. Simpler Times Lager from Trader Joe’s. This packs on a 6.2 ABV and you really can taste the adjuncts in it. It’s super cheap, I guess 4 dollars a six pack and you can tell. I know they are saving for a house and everything but my god, I couldn’t do it. Cheap beer is OK for what it is but this goes too low. I would just pony up another 4 bucks and get some Summit and at least enjoy it. Sorry Andi and Luke, it’s horrible. This Saturday I got some nice Summits for ya.
Simpler Times Lager
Loving the new camera. For Christmas this year my wife and I requested gift cards so we can purchase a new camera. And not just any camera but a fancy DSLR one. There a many options out there and believe me none of them are cheap. So we went for one of the lower priced ones but still a good camera in it’s own right. A Sony DSLR A230. When I used my old point and shoot camera I rarely changed the settings, it was usually always on the “auto” setting and most of the time when I tried to change things they never really worked out so well. But if you are like me you learn to work with what you got so I always tried to make my pictures as best as possible and used locations that would work well with my camera. With this one however I hope that I will be able to take the shots I want to take. We’ve only had it for a week now and I’ve just been shooting inside because outside it’s been below zero the whole damn time so I’m running out of test locations and objects and people, so far Delia has taken up most smart disk space on the camera. But I did get a chance to try out some beer shots and picked the two best ones for each of these beers, though I think the Imperial Stout one didn’t look as good as it did on the camera when I got it onto my computer but I already finished what I had. But I was quite happy with the Backwoods Bastard. So I look forward to taking more shots and hopefully be able to share them with you via this blog or my Flicker page which you can find on the right hand side of this blog.
So now the reviews. These two beers are from one of everyone’s favorite new brewery that hit Minnesota recently, Founders. I can’t hype these guys enough. Not only have the specialty series they release been phenomenal their standards are top of the pops as well. This time around I’ve been eyeing up the Backwoods Bastard but as I’ve said before that barrel aged beers are really not my thing so I always skipped it. This time the Backwoods Bastard was in luck. I was at my local store in Mounds View when the store manager and I were chatting when he said he has something for me. He came out from the back with two bottles of Founders Imperial Stout. This one slipped by me unnoticed but then he said he only got in two cases and they were gone within a week but two four packs got damaged and all that was left was a few singles in which he gave two to me, it’s good to know these guys that’s for sure. So I figured that being I am not a Imperial Stout fan very much either that I might as well make it an interesting night and get the Backwoods and just see if I can’t be convinced. Well, I can’t, but I was however happy with my selection. I found both of them to be worthy of their styles.
The Imperial was a straight up Imperial Stout. It poured very thick with a dark frothy head with an aroma reminiscent of most Imperial Stouts. The smell was addicting and the taste was huge, very dark, think of all the dark malts in the world and throw in heap of hops and this is what you get. I have to say I am starting to get back onto the Imperial Stout bandwagon. Granted I may not be able to enjoy it like I do an IPA but my appreciation for them is coming back. Maybe I was just in a funk.
Next was the Backwoods Bastard. Basically this is their Dirty Bastard aged in oak bourbon barrels. It was lighter than I expected but it was still rather boozy. It had a nice tan color to it and the smell was right up there with most oak aged beers. The flavor had a sweetness to it with the bourbon hitting you in the back of the mouth, it was a decent combo. And like the Stout I found myself liking this more than I thought I would have. Maybe I turned a corner. Stay tuned. Maybe I should try drinking scotch again…. or not.
Founders Imperial Stout
Founders Backwoods Bastard
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