Archive for the ‘Strong Ale’ Category
Great Divide Brewing Company Hibernation Ale
Posted by Shea in American Beer, Seasonal Beer, Strong Ale, Very Good on December 20th, 2009
On my recent trip down to Seattle I picked up a bunch of winter and Christmas beers from some of the very excellent U.S. microbrews available south of the border. Here we have a very interesting hybrid style ale from Great Divide of Denver, Colorado, a great brewing city and state.
This is an awesome winter ale. I would describe its flavours like a hybrid between an imperial stout and a barley wine, but dialed back a notch. In other words, the alcohol is lower (8.7%), the texture less viscous – but, the flavours are all still really intense and warming. I loved the notes of caramel, smoke, cigar, bitter chocolate and spices. I also love how Great Divide takes pairing beer and food so seriously that they print suggestions on the side of their bottle, such as: romano, aged hard Dutch cow’s milk cheese (gouda), grilled beef tenderloin, and apple crisp with ginger ice cream. Yum? Yum.
You can get this in six packs down in the U.S. for a very reasonable price and it kicks the ass out of any of the B.C. brewed winter beers that are actually bottled up here. And, that’s the sad thing about living in B.C. for a beer lover. But you cannot blame the brewers entirely. When I was at the recent Dix winter Caskival (an awesome event) I tasted several excellent B.C. brewed winter beers, and one absolutely outstanding one (The Christmas Cake Ale from Taylor’s Crossing). This was bittersweet, though, because none of the really good beers are bottled.
I’m trying to figure out the reasons for this right now and maybe some CAMRA members or brewers could leave a comment if they read this. But, from what I can tell there are two main factors. 1. The expense of bottling, particularly when the brewers work at Mark Anthony Brew Pubs with no bottling facilities; and 2. the perception that B.C. lacks beer culture and beer understanding and so would not buy these beers. Sure, B.C. is still miles behind the great U.S. beer states like California and Washington where it is not frowned upon to be a beer snob and a food snob all in one (oh and wine snobs are allowed to join in the beer snob fun too). BUT, given the recent evidence of a growing CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) movement in the province and the efforts of great beer stores like Brewery Creek, Firefly and Viti, there is certainly a market for better B.C. brewed beer (made with care and dedication), and there is no reason why B.C. could not eventually take on Quebec for the title to best Canadian Beer Province. Why do the French have to have all the fun? Let alone those pesky Americans! A request to B.C. brewers: please, please, start bottling your special one-off beers. Doing so will completely change the face of the B.C. beer scene.
Very Good+ to Excellent
$2 / bottle in Seattle (i.e. $12/6 pack) – try and get that price in B.C. for a great beer (thanks insane 117% BCLDB markup)
De Proef Signature Ale with Port Brewing
Posted by Shea in $20 and under, American Beer, Excellent, Strong Ale, Wild Ale on December 9th, 2009
A beer from the brewmaster’s collaboration series, this ale was a joint effort between Dirk Naudis of De Proef and Tomme Arthur from Lost Abbey/Port Brewing. Both of these guys are lauded in the craft beer community, and the idea of a collaboration between them on a crazy hybrid Belgian and American wild ale is pretty exciting. I’ve had and written up the second beer in this series made by De Proef and Jason Perkins of Allagash. It was awesome. This confirms the trend.
This is a one off brew, and a great hybrid style with a nose of banana, malts, and nice sugar and fruit esters. The palate was fantastic with banana, some floral notes, slight hops, and underlying herbs. This is very Belgian like in some ways, but has a fresh hops characteristic that is unlike most Belgians. This is totally different from the Allagash version, and had nice earthy funky notes underlying the palate that come from the wild brettanomyces yeast. But, don’t let the hint of funk scare you off – this is very balanced and not as volatile as some of the crazier wild ales. Big and flavourful, and yet very unique. 8.5% ABV. This is a great brew, and I’m greatly looking forward to the next offering, a collaboration between De Proef and Bell’s brewing.
Excellent
$15 USD at Healthy Spirits
Brasserie d’Ecaussinnes La Penneffoise
Posted by Shea in $20 and under, Belgian Beer, Excellent, Highly Recommended Values, Strong Ale on October 19th, 2009
British Columbia has recently begun to improve its selection of craft beers, which is nice to see. However, most of them are merely solid but not overly exciting examples of a particular style. Perhaps I was spoiled by spending 5 months embroiled in California’s thriving micro-brew culture, but my exposure to fine beers in the U.S. changed my perception of what is truly great.
This is all the more reason why I think this Belgian ‘prune’ beer is super. It has a level of complexity and experimentation that you rarely find in the BC market, and, well, it’s just really darn tasty. Being a fruit beer, some might expect this to be based on a weisse style or on the lambic style. It’s not really either of those – instead being a hybrid between a belgian strong ale and a wild ale. The nose on this is fantastic: similar to a geueze lambic or a beer made with brettanomyces yeast, this also has a nice wet forest/cellar smell while pushing subtle belgian fruit esters forward. The prune aroma is subtle but present.
Best of all, this beer is not made with added sugar or in a sickly fruity sweet style. You can still taste the prune and the fruit, but the beer actually finishes dry and wonderful. There is a degree of complex malting going on here that is similar to what Allagash or Lost Abbey do with their beers and something you don’t taste very much in BC. This is very full and robust while being light and creamy in the mouth. The 8% ABV is completely unnoticeable. I’m sipping on this right now and thinking “I love this beer”. If you want to taste a real beer in Vancouver, do not pass this by.
Excellent and Highly Recommended Value
$15 / 750ml at Viti
Dogfish Head Raison D’Etre
Posted by Shea in American Beer, Strong Ale, Very Good on July 16th, 2009
Having tried and very much enjoyed the super version of this beer (Raison D’Extra) I was looking forward to seeing how the regular version faired. Happily I can say it did quite well in both drinkability and pairability, two essential categories for a great beer.
This poured a cloudy raisin brown with a fairly small head. While the aromas were subdued I did get soft malts and sweet sugar on the nose. Made with beet sugar and raisins, this beer is really quite unique flavour wise with cigar, tobacco, malts, and touches of raisin and beet on the finish. This was a smooth and full ale with some interesting components that actually came together quite well. Further, this was a great treat with cod, and complimented the fish’s richness well. A true food ale.
Very Good+
$5/333ml at Brewery Creek (and other private stores)
Dogfish Head India Brown Ale
Posted by Shea in American Beer, Strong Ale, Very Good on June 10th, 2009
Dogfish Head are surprisingly consistent in quality across their huge selection of microbrewed beer. The India Brown Ale is somewhat of a hybrid between a creamy English style ale and a malty strong ale. Brewed with brown sugar, this has a significant texture that is smooth and viscous.
On the palate, the caramel and brown sugar flavours from the malts develop into a smoky and slightly bitter herbal finish. This is quite a robust beer at 7.2% ABV, but is balanced enough to go with many foods. I could see this with a pot pie or some sort of stew. And, a few days after drinking this I find myself repeatedly craving more. Always a good sign.
Very Good+
$5/375ml at Brewery Creek
A Vertical mini Epic with Stone
Posted by Shea in American Beer, Excellent, Stouts, Strong Ale, Very Good on May 10th, 2009
A couple weeks ago I found two vintage bottles of Stone’s Vertical Epic, a beer with a different recipe each year and designed to be age. They started this series in the early 2000’s and mean it to develop up to 2012. I also got my hands on a Stone 12th anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout. Stone is a nice older brewery from Southern California that I think has done a lot for the craft beer movement.
Stone Vertical Epic 07
Pouring with a moderate head, the colour on this beer is a cloudy molten yellow. Made in a belgian strong ale style. With a lot of spice, citrus, pineapple, banana and other tropical fruit on the nose, this smells fantastic and is amazingly layered. The palate was full bodied (I think about 9% abv), and yet smooth and creamy. I tasted the same flavours as on the nose, but think it is worth noting the very long lingering finish. Also, the flavour layering on the palate is really subtley integrated and the beer is exceptionally easy to drink. A fantastic effort.
Excellent
$7/22oz at Ledger’s Liquors
Stone Vertical Epic 08
Perhaps needing more age, this was made in a hoppier more American style than the 07. THe colour is straw-like and much lighter than the 07. The nose has a pleasant combination of floral and herbal hops and Belgian yeast aromas. The palate was quite a bit heftier than the 07, despite the colour difference, but it was also less complex and layered and the finish not as long (but I find this comes with age). While enjoyable, this just lacked the elegance of the 07, although in a year I bet this will be a very different beer.
Very Good to Very Good+
$6.50/22oz at Ledger’s Liquors
Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Oatmeal Stout
With the hops shortage in 2008, Stone was forced to innovate to provide bitterness to its beers. They did that here by adding a lot of bitter chocolate, which as any beer afficionado knows, is the perfect pairing for stout.
The colour on this very high alcohol oatmeal stout (9% again) was very dark brown and pretty much opaque. The nose had plenty of chocolate, with some cherry, fig and coffee as well. There was a detectable note of alcohol lingering behind all those aromas. The palate was creamy and highly roasted. I suspect a lot of chocolate malts were used in this beast. With lots of mocha flavours, this beer does not taste overly alcoholic, despite noticeable traces. Essentially this is a very flavourful beer that does not yet have a lot of complexity but is certainly great for the price. Not to mention that paired with dark chocolate, this is just hedonistically loveable.
Very Good (will improve with age)
$6/22oz at Ledger’s Liquors
