Dark Horse IPA Variety 12-Pack

I remember the first time I participated in a horizontal wine tasting.  I was at a winery in Santa Barbara, CA (Zaca Mesa) and we tasted a chardonnay of a certain vintage.  One of the wines was aged in oak while the other was aged in stainless steel, this being the only difference between the two wines.  I was amazed at the difference in the two flavors and this was when I first understood the specific flavor imparted by the oak barrels. 

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We now have a unique opportunity to conduct a horizontal tasting of India Pale Ales made with different hops courtesy of Dark Horse Brewing Company in Marshall, MI.  A few weeks ago, this brewery released its IPA variety 12 pack (costs about $24). The 12 pack contains three sets of four IPAs.  Three of the IPAs are new single-hopped Dark Horse beers and are curiously named Edacsac Dekorcc EERT (Cascade Hops), FF Dekorcc EERT (Falconer’s Flight-a proprietary blend of several types of hops in pellet form), and Artic Dekorcc EERT (Citra® Hops).  The final beer in the set is the much beloved Crooked Tree IPA (Cascade, Centennial, and Columbus hops; AKA the three-Cs of American hops).  The labels are a bit funky, but that keeps in line with Dark Horse Brewing Company’s brand and the artwork of W. Ralph Walters (http://ralphwalters.wix.com/gallery).

As far as I can tell, all of these IPAs are brewed that same way (ABV 6.5%) except for the hops.  Hops Fans—here is your opportunity to see what each of these hop varieties/blends taste like in a quality IPA.  You can purchase a 12 pack and conduct your own horizontal hop tasting.  I did and here is what I discovered.

Artic Dekorcc:  Average bitterness and a distinct grapefruit taste.

FF Dekorcc: Nice citrus and strong floral notes with moderately high bitterness.

Edacsac Dekorcc: Mild floral and hop taste (I can see why this hop variety has been popular for so many years).

Crooked Tree:  Great floral taste with a mild grapefruit and bitter finish.

All four are excellent IPAs!

Cheers,

Zymus

Kuhnhenn Brewing Company: New Bottled Beers

It is always fun to see a new beer on the market and it is doubly fun when it is from a brewery that I really like.  I have been a fan of Kuhnhenn Brewing Company ever since I visited the brewpub a few years ago.  The Kuhnhenn family makes a variety of beer styles (and also mead) and most of these beers are top-notch.  The only problem is that Warren, MI is too far for me to visit this brewery on a regular basis and I can rarely find Kuhnhenn beer in bottles at my local beer store.  So, I was quite pleased to find two beers recently at my favorite beer store in Ann Arbor, MI—the Wine Seller.  (I know the name is ironic, but they have a great selection of beer and very knowledgeable and pleasant owners and staff.) 

One of the beers was called: A Few Shillings Too Many Ale.  This is an excellent, and slightly boozy (11.0% abv) Scotch Ale. I had tried this beer at the Warren taproom and was pleased to now have a label that identified the beer (although the label is a bit boring).  The beer was worth every shilling I spent on it. 

The second beer was called Alderbaron Ale, a Belgian IPA (9.25% abv).  This hoppy, high gravity beer was a pleasure to taste and I don’t remember ever having seen it at the taproom.  The name is Arabic and translates as “the follower.”  More on the name’s celestial meaning can be found on the label.  Cool name and a pleasurable beer.

I hope that this brewery continues to get some of their beers out in bottles for all of us who cannot frequent the taproom but still want to enjoy some of the best craft beer that Michigan has to offer.

Cheers,

Zymus

Iron Throne Blonde Ale: Brewery Ommegang

Even though winter is over A Game of Thrones starts a new season on HBO.  I’m still a little surprised that such an imaginative and complex story as the Song of Ice and Fire was so successfully transformed into a television series.  Other similarly complex stories, such as Frank Herbert’s Dune, have generally failed to translate well onto the big or small screen.  I’m pleased to see the Game of Thrones become part of popular culture and George R.R. Martin getting some well-deserved attention.  The epitome of this pop culture is the production of a beer made especially for the HBO series.

The beer, called Iron Throne Blonde Ale, is brewed by Brewery Ommegang and is the first in a series.  The brewery has come up with some loose justification for the beer style and its tie-in to the story—something about the Lannisters being blonde and having control over the Iron Throne.  More likely, they made a blonde ale because this beer style is what Brewery Ommegang does best.  Indeed, it tasted to me like other white ales (witte) produced by this brewery.  Brewery Ommegang makes great beer, but I was really hoping to see something a little more interesting for Iron Throne.  Hopefully, Brewery Ommegang will get a little more creative on the next three beers in the series. I wonder what the names will be?  Here are some suggestions:

Hodor Hefe Weisen—It seems like the big guy would enjoy a hearty wheat beer.

Littlefinger Lite—The perfect beer for Lord Baelish’s continual scheming.

Night’s Watch Imperial Stout—Dark, brooding, and keeps you warm on the wall.

The Imp IPA—Bitter and humorous, dwarfing other IPAs.

Winterfell Holiday Ale—the name just sounded good to me.

Baratheon Barleywine—Tastes great by the fire after a day of boar hunting; I’ll take a horn full.

I think that is more than enough.

Cheers,

Zymus

Tart Side of the Moon: Brewery Vivant

Two of my favorite things are progressive rock music and craft beer.  I was delighted to see Brewery Vivant’s tribute to one of the best progressive rock albums of all time, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.  Tart Side of the Moon, a dark farmhouse ale, was brilliantly planned (I’m sure) to be released to coincide with the 40^th anniversary of the album.  Well done Brewery Vivant!

The label artwork is fantastic, using the instantly recognizable prism imagery developed by Hipgnosis with a beer-related twist—the prism is substituted for a chalice-style beer glass. The chalice is divided into four parts, with each part showing what appears to be the four ingredients of the beer: Hops, barley, water, and yeast.  The label also has a description of the beer and a listing of complimentary foods.  I was really hoping for a listing of complimentary progressive rock albums other than Dark Side of the Moon, but alas we will all have to come up with our own list.  Here’s a partial list of mine:  The Yes Album (Yes), 2112 (Rush), Leftoverture (Kansas), Seconds Out (Genesis), Brain Salad Surgery (Emerson, Lake, & Palmer), and I Robot (Alan Parsons Project).

In wonderful Brewery Vivant fashion, Tart Side of the Moon is full of flavor and has a distinct sour/tartness.  The beer is high in alcohol and pours a perfect dark color.  This craft beer is a delight to all of the senses.  I'm told it is available only in limited quantities, so if you are lucky enough to live in Michigan be sure to grab a 4-pack if you can.

Cheers,
Zymus

Archea Brewery: Florence Italy

Later in my trip to Florence, Italy, we tried to find the Archea Brewery.  My phone was not working properly (I burned out the charger and was having trouble with the touchscreen) so I was having difficulty looking up the location on Google Maps.  After two trips to the wrong places, we finally found the Archea Brewery on Via De'Serragli 44r (there’s no website, but they have a facebook page).  Again, being Americans, were showed up right after they opened at 6:00 pm and were the only patrons in the place.  Fortunately, that allowed us to chat up the bartender, who was quite familiar with the Archea brewery and craft beer in general.  

The establishment is not technically a brewpub as they brew their beer south of Rome, but they did sell two of their own beers on tap, alongside several others and they had an incredible selection of bottled beer.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that they sold Bam Noire from Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales.  We told the bartender that the Jolly Pumpkin  brewery was only about 10 miles from our house in Michigan.  He did not seem too impressed—perhaps we should have used kilometers instead of miles.  Nevertheless, the beer selection was impressive.  

I had a pint of the Archea Bock beer.  It was a nice, strong bock (8% ABV) with the right amount of malt and bitterness.  My wife wanted the Rogue Hazelnut Stout, but they were out of that excellent Portland, Oregon beer.  Instead she settled for one of the bottled stouts (Old Engine Oil Stout I think it was called).  We sipped and chatted with the bartended as he open up a bag of potato chips for us.  We learned from him that there were over 500 breweries in Italy and that the enjoyment of craft beers and home brewing was on the rise in his country.  He told us of the difficulties he had importing American beers and was impressed with the variety of craft breweries appearing across the US.  He told us about Archea Brewery and their plans to expand the number of selections and to start bottling the beer. 

After all this chatting we were ready for some more beer (OK, I was).  I asked for a pint of the Archea Pils.  Instead, the bartender poured me tasters of the Archea Pils, the Jackie Brown, and the Take my Adweiss.  The Pils was thin and slightly lacking, but the Mikkeller Jackie Brown was divine.  I had a pint of that.  As we finished our beers, more people began to show up and the bartender seemed to know them all.  The Archea brewery taproom in Florence, Italy is a fun beer oasis among the land of the Italian Renaissance and Chianti. I highly recommend it to any craft beer lover.

Cheers,

Zymus      

Beer House Club in Florence Italy

There is a quiet craft beer revolution taking place in Italy.  Yes, Italy, the land of wonderful wines such as Chianti Classico, Malvasia,  and Vernaccia di San Gimignano. I did not know this until right before a recent trip to Florence, Italy.  Knowing of my love of craft beer, my wife did a search on Florence brewpubs and to our surprise lots of information came up, including several “brewpubs” and places that sold craft beer. During our Wintertime trip to Florence we visited some of these places.  Several  establishments stood out to me. 

 

One was a place called the Beer House Club, located near Santa Croce at Corso dei Tintori, 34/r (note that a “r” means red or rosso which indicates the address for a business.  Residences are a different color and follow a different numbering scheme).  Here’s the website: http://www.beerhouseclub.it/.

The Beer House Club was an ode to craft beer.  We stopped by early in the evening, with jetlagged bodies, to have a beer while we waited for restaurants to open back up.  Because of the time of day, the place was not busy and we were afraid that it was not open.  We asked and the guy at the bar welcomed us in.  The beers on tap were written on a chalkboard, and the bartender eagerly gave us a description of each beer in English, since we don’t speak much Italian.  There were several locally brewed beers on tap including one from the Florentine MOA Brewery (My Own Ale):  http://www.moabirra.it/.   They also had a great selection of craft beers from around the world—many of which I had never tried.

I selected to try the 12 MAO while my wife had a Winterlude from the Italian Ducato Brewery (http://www.birrificiodelducato.net/).  Both were very good.  While we were sipping these brews I had a chance to look around.  The decoration for the entire place was beer-related.  The ceiling and walls had a collection of six-pack carriers and case boxes from craft breweries around the world.  The back wall had shelves with about 100 beers bottles (I think these were the selections that were, or had been, available for purchase).  There was even a sign that said “Keep Calm and Have a Beer”, which may have been a nod to the phrase coined by Charlie Papazian in his famous book on brewing homemade beer: Relax, don’t worry, have a homebrew.

We also chatted with the bartender, who was also the owner and a craft beer fan.  Hearing that we were from the US, he told us about the difficulties he had getting beer from the US.  Despite this, the Beer House Club served bottled beer from Sierra Nevada Brewing, Flying Dog Brewing, Breckenridge Brewing, and Lagunitas Brewing.  None were from Michigan, but a great sample of brewers from the US.

After our second pint, the jetlag was calling.  It was time for a quick dinner and long night sleep.

Cheers,

Zymus