Hibernation Ale - Great Divide Brewing

Hibernation Ale
Old Ale
Great Divide Brewing
Denver, CO

Today is a thrilling day of firsts! This is my first beer I've reviewed by Great Divide Brewing Co.* and it's the first blog that comes directly from a referral!

My friend Matt took a fantastic voyage to Colorado a while back and made a trip around what might be one of the greatest "beer-zones" in the world. He brought back stories about the incredible views, the nice people, and the excellent beer he had while there. It was Matt who brought Hibernation Ale to my attention.

And for that, I can not thank him enough.

But before I start raving about the beer, let's give credit where credit's due. Great Divide Brewing has got a lot to brag about. There beers have won all sorts of awards, and as far as I know, awards for beer can be hard to come by (notable exception: Blue Ribbons). I've had their Yeti Imperial Stout before (again, thanks to Matt) and I'm glad to have that bottle in my collection, as these guys not only make good beer, they also have awesome art work. Sometimes finding good beer from craft-breweries from far away lands can be a little tough. Today after work, I had to call 6 places until I found one that Hibernation Ale on the shelves... and it sounds like if I didn't act fast they'd be gone. Hibernation Ale is only available from early November to mid-December.

Hibernation Ale is an English-Style Old Ale. Old ale's are sort of a colloquial name given to beers that are stored for longer periods of time, typically in wood barrels (Old Ale, like Old Milk, but not really...). This means there is a longer fermentation period for the beer, which creates the robust tastes of Old Ales. If you plan on keeping it fermenting, you'll need to put in lots of sugars so the yeast have something to work with.

Also, back in the days when sanitation was a luxury and not a rule, storing opened your brew to all sorts of variables. The type of barrel you used would affect the flavor and transitioning from pot to barrel could lead to wild yeasts getting in and causing flavor-mayhem. Today, more and more brewers are using barrels that were once used for bourbons, wines, and other adult beverages in a more controlled way to accentuate the flavor of their beers.

True to the breed, Great Divide starts making this winter beer as early as July, and stores it for up to 3 months in barrels. The result is one of the most flavorful beers I think I've ever had.

And flavorful is a good thing. When I poured it out, I thought it smelled more like a fruit juice (grape or prune, probably) rather than any "ale" smell that I've ever encountered. The first taste took me off guard and betrayed the nose a bit. It's a sweet tasting beer, all dark chocolate, with some brown-sugary and caramel-y flavors, and maybe just a bit of cinnamon. I was surprised at how fast it fills your head up with flavor. It tickled my nose hair, like a strong mint or a careless booger. The after it's gone, it's got a nice hoppy flavor that you can breathe out for a bit, and leaves a trace of booziness. At over 8% ABV, you can understand how the alcohol would linger a bit.

Hibernation is a fitting name for this. Even though the beer takes it's "hibernating" period from July-October, after a few sips, you'll find yourself loosening your collar and getting ready to bunker down for a period of prolonged rest... and this time of year, that's a good thing.

Grab it while you can, you've got a month left!

* I'm sure the name comes from the geological division which passes through Colorado, I'd like to think it comes from The Band.

Brekle's Brown - Anchor Brewing Company

Brekle's Brown
American Brown Ale
Anchor Brewing Company
San Francisco, CA

I like the feeling of walking into a beer store with no shopping list, and finding something new and unusual... and it's extra nice when its from a brewery I like. That's what prompted me to snatch up Brekle's Brown when I saw it on the shelf.

Anchor in a big bottle!? I did a double take when I first saw it. I haven't noticed too many 22oz bombers from Anchor - either I'm not looking hard enough, they don't make enough or they do and it doesn't make its way to Jersey. It was like the first time you played World 4 on Super Mario Brothers 3 on NES - where the turtle shells are huge, the pipes are huge, and the blocks are so gigantic, they break into 4 normal sized blocks when you smash them!

...also, I know this bottle will look sharp in my ever growing collection of empty bottles.

Apparently Gottlieb Brekle, the first brew master of what would become Anchor in the late 1800's, was pretty into malts. For this recipe Anchor's put an emphasis on malt as a tribute to Gottlieb, a man who most likely was a prospector and found his gold in beer instead of in dirt. With one foot in the past, Anchor also plants a foot firmly in the future of American Brewing. This beer spotlights Citra, a new hybrid of hops that started popping up in beer in the last few years.

Citra isn't just a clever name. This stuff is potent.

When I poured it, the burnt color sort of sets off a Pavlovian response, and I thought I knew what I was in for. I really enjoy brown ales, and I have had enough to think I know what brown ale should taste like. Anchor proved me wrong.

The beer has an intense and super complex flavor. The malt character is strong - and with a lot of cinnamon and brown sugar in the front end. But the flavor of the citra hop defies what I'd expect to follow, making the beer bitter but tasting really citrus-y. It reminds me of orange flavored chocolate - something we had in my house as a kid around the holidays. I know that "orange flavored chocolate" might be one of those nuggets that end up being thrown out with the heart-shaped box they came in, but in this beer, it works really well.

If you like Brown Ales, this is worth checking out. It takes a couple sips to let the beer break you in, but when it gets you there, it's a great place to be. Gottlieb's legacy has left us with a beer thats worth thinking about, and a beer company worth drinking to.

--Joe

Research:

anchorbrewing.com
http://www.brew-dudes.com/citra-hops/557

Old Engine Oil - Harviestoun (Special Guest Post!)

Old Engine Oil
Black Ale
Harviestoun
Alva, United Kingdom (Scotland)

Hello BBBB visitors. I am honored to have been awarded the prestige of being the first guest blogger on Joe's beer blog. I'm Emily, his girlfriend, and I'm pretty new to the wide world of beer. I guess after trying fizzy yellow beers I thought I could safely say beer just isn't for me. But when Joe started getting interested in craft brews, I kinda tagged along, and I've discovered that I love stouts and brown ales - thick, chocolaty beers.

I've been wanting to Old Engine Oil since we saw it on the Menu at Beneluxx, a Belgian beer/snack restaurant in Old City Philadelphia. They ran out, but we spotted it today at a liquor store outside Ewing, NJ. I'm very glad we did!

This is a very dark beer - holding it up to a light doesn't change the color whatsoever. Harviestoun really nailed the name for this guy. It's got an excellent taste - roasted carmel - maybe sweet enough to be a dessert beer. I'd love to have this in the winter with a warm brownie topped with melty vanilla ice cream. Mmmmmmmm....

Even though it's sweet, it's still a little bitter. Think of a very dark chocolate - great flavor but nowhere near being overly saccharine.

I only found this as a single bottle, and it was about $4. It's nice to see this is a 12 oz rather than a $8 22 oz. I think this a perfect serving. I'd absolutely pick this up again, probably in the colder months, and I'm excited to try it with some warmed baked goods!

-Emily

Epic Vertical Ale 09-09-09 - Stone Brewing Co

Epic Vertical Ale 09-09-09
Dark Ale/Belgian
Stone Brewing Company
Escondido, CA

In my younger and more vulnerable years, I collected action figures. It started with Ninja Turtles... I had all the green guys, a few Foot Soldiers, but needed an April O'Neil. My (thankfully) enthusiastic mother and I discovered the mysterious underground world of collecting. I remember spending countless hours searching through racks at a ton of toy stores. We'd ask the stock clerks when they received their shipments and then show up at around 6 or 7 AM, stand by the loading bay to find out if they had an April O'Neil! And when we finally found one... WOW! What a rush!

Now I collect bottles. I still remember that thrill of finding something rare when you least expected it. And tonight I had that same thrill.

Starting on Feb. 2, 2002, Stone Brewing was going to release one beer a year on "same number days". Each beer would come out one year and one day apart from the previous edition. For instance, this particular beer was released on September 9, 2009 (09-09-09). The idea is that you could hang on to all of these to age until 2012, when you could have a "vertical" tasting. The different brews would act like puzzle pieces - different flavors that stretch over a decade. They are all a limited release, and while I gave up hope on having a "10 Beer Party" in December of 2012, I never thought I'd find ONE. Tonight, I did.

I've been very aware of what Stone Brewing Company has going on for itself. No company brewing beer carries the same determination, vigilance and abrasiveness as Stone. They are to beer what Fugazi was to everything else. As a matter of fact, there is a "Lost Post" I started writing about Double Arrogant Bastard Ale that I had to scrap a few weeks back - it was so intense a drink, I got too self-conscious (re: hammered) to actually write anything! The 09-09-09 Vertical Series in particular exemplifies what Stone does best.

This is one of the most complex beers I've tasted. It combines two worlds - a dark stout and a flavorful Belgian. I think I've done a good job of sharing my thoughts on both these styles of beer in previous posts, but instead of being a happy-medium for both styles, this brew acts as a duet.

The first taste is chocolate and vanilla, the kind of stuff I love in a beer. But after that the bold fruity taste of a Belgian stomps in, raisins, cherries and oranges. The aftertaste has enjoyably hoppy. Stone managaes to accentuate the characteristics of that you enjoy most from two styles of beer and fit it in one bottle.

Weird right?

This isn't my favorite beer I've had by Stone, but it's up there. It's definitely one of the more interesting beers I've ever had. An unique choice to brew as part of a series. After drinking it, I feel like I kind of missed the point of the beer, by not having it with the other 9 "Vertical" beers. But even if this is just a fraction of an idea, its a fantastic fraction.

--Joe

Philadelphia Beer Week 1

Philadelphia Beer Week is going on right now, and it is very, very awesome. I had heard about it coming, but didn't do the research to find out exactly what a "Beer Week" entailed. It wasn't until Thursday of last week, a mere 24 hours before the kick off, that I got a drift of things going down - about 1,000 beer events in 7 days dedicated to unique breweries from all over.

Thats why I - a beer bloggist - am blogging about the event half-way through it. Sorry.

I had 9 beers for relatively few dollars at a slew of neat bars I wouldn't have known about without Beer Week. There is a really helpful iPhone app that lists all the where's and when's of the event you can find on their site which I recommend.

Here's a list of the beers I tried out, and a brief bit of what I thought:

@ Rembrant's

1- Stone - Smoked Porter
2- Furthermore - Knot Stock

@ Kite and Key

3- Oskar Blue - Mamas Little Yella Pils
4- Sly Fox - Royal Weisse Ale
5- Troegs - Pale Ale
6- Sly Fox - O'Reilly's Stout
7- Stone - Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale

@ Cherry Street Tavern

8 - Flying Fish - Farmhouse Ale

@ Good Dog

9- Flying Dog - Snakedog IPA (Firkin)

@ Fado Irish Pub

10- Philadelphia Brewing Company - Kenzinger



Wow! What a day! This list reflects beers that I tasted, I didn't necessarily drink each one, so as to not get too useless. The Kenzinger was a mistake. I ordered a Harpoon IPA, and the waitress gave me what my buddy ordered... a small bummer, but it didn't dampen my mood.

The beer that blew me away was Stone's Sublimely Self Righteous. It was a dark American Ale that kicked so much ass. Kite and Key had a wonderful selection and was a good place to camp out for a while to get out of the heat.

Furthermore's Knot Stock was a surprise too. It had a very familiar taste that I couldn't place my finger on. When we looked it up later, we found it was actually Black Pepper. The taste made the beer really stand out from what I had tasted the rest of the day.

The Snakedog IPA was also notable - my first experience with a firkin.

I'll be stopping back for more this week. Thursday has some rare Dogfish Head 75 minute IPA bidness going down that I want to be a part of.

I'll hopefully get to writing reviews of each of these beers individually, but right now its too daunting of a task.

Farmhouse Summer Ale - Flying Fish Brewing Co.

Farmhouse Summer Ale
Farmhouse Ale
Flying Fish Brewing Company
Cherry Hill, NJ

I'm hard at work finding a few seasonal beers I can hang my hat on. So far, I've been pretty successful. The few summer ales I've picked out have impressed me and I might be coming around to the idea of a lighter, crisper, beer than the brown-brews I usually stick with. Not sold yet, but still trying! Today, I'm checking out a really unique "antique beer" that's becoming popular again - the Farmhouse Ale.

I recently took a trip down the street to Cherry Hill, NJ and got a tour of the Flying Fish outfit. Largest of the handful of NJ breweries, Flying Fish is responsible for some really curious beers. Their currently releasing limited run beers for each exit on the New Jersey Turnpike - a novel idea that has yielded a few awesome beers already (I purchased exit 1 and 16 while there, expect them up here someday). These range from an Oyster Stout to a Wild Rice IPA!

Farmhouse Ale fits the bill of "Curious beers" to a T. This style was first brewed in Belgian and French Farmhouses by farmers for sustenance and durability. The history of the drink follows the history of the farmers that made them - too busy to make fancy beers, they made a drink with purpose, and it wasn't a distraction to their daily life or toil, dirt, and manual boring labor! It follows that there isn't a whole lot recorded about these beers. The flavors likely ranged depending on who was brewing it. For years it was considered an endangered beer, but now it is to beer enthusiasts what Leadbelly was to Nirvana fans in '93. It is reborn!

And for good reason. It tastes earthy, a little tart and hops on the way down. It's not as wheat-y to me as the Anchor Steam, but also left out the fruity flavors characteristic of summer brews I can't get on board with. It goes down quick and doesn't fill you up. Summer Ales, I'm realizing, are all about subtlety but this beer has enough of a kick to it make it notable and enjoyable. I'm sure the photo up there doesn't do it justice, but its got a real nice thick wheat-head to it too!

There is what appears to be a really in-depth book about this style of beer available. I read the first few pages, and I think it'll probably end up on my book shelf soon. What a neat history!

--Joe

Work Cited:
flyingfish.com
realbeer.com
http://www.amazon.com/Farmhouse-Ales-Culture-Craftsmanship-Tradition/dp/0937381845#reader_0937381845

Gonzo Imperial Porter - Flying Dog Brewery

Gonzo Imperial Porter
Imperial Porter
Flying Dog Brewery Company
Frederick, Maryland

A quick break from my Summer-ale sessions to tackle a horse of a completely different color. I got a random pack from a liquor store by my house, and I'll be knocking them out over the next few days. Good news for you!

Ah Porters, the dessert of the beer world. Chocolately, heavy, and high in alcohol content, this is a real treat after you've finished whatever you've been doing. Porter was believed to have first been just a combination of the three types of ales served in pubs - pale ale, brown ale, and "stale" ale. Today's Porters are a bit more complex than that, thankfully! It tops my list in beer-types, but I don't think I've ever had more than two in one sitting - these are big flavorful drinks that are not session brews.

Flying Dog is a brewery that closely alligns itself with this beer's namesake - Hunter S. Thompson. The art of their bottles is created by Gonzo artist Ralph Steadman and is definitely a unique part of this brewery's line. Available in 45 states, Flying Dog is likely available wherever you are - and with a bunch of awards under there belt, probably a good pick up!

This beer has a lot of taste and is bold character. It tastes rich - like a chocolate layer cake with raisins, and topped with gooey caramel served in a room full of hop-aroma. It's a great example of how well great Hops can work along with great Malts... this beer has the best of both worlds. With 7.8 ABV, alcohol is a flavor, but it fits in with everything else going on. I couldn't bang these out - I don't know if I'd be able to handle a second after the first, but that's fine by me!

Gonzo Imperial Porter makes me wish it was colder out - I could use a drink like this when there is snow on the ground and no place to go. I don't know much about Hunter S. Thompson or else I'd write about how this beer is just like him, but if it truly does reflect his personality ... that guy was tasty!

--Joe

Work Cited:

http://www.flyingdogales.com/Beer-Specialty-Gonzo.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porter_%28beer%29
http://www.camra.org.uk/page.aspx?o=180680