Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
If your love of craft beer extends to games / apps and you want to learn more about the science behind beer without cracking open a science textbook then Ziggy is the yeast for you. And it is available on both Android & iOS for 99 cents. Grab a beer and try it out!
The Ale Apothecary is not only a great name for a brewery but it is in the mega-beer town of Bend. (Now I really have to travel to Bend to drink).
But what caught my eye is that their flagship ale, Sahalie is a mixed fermentation ale. It is brewed by Paul Arney who was at Deschutes and is now working with the wild yeasts. They also brew a “version of Finnish Sahti brewed in a traditional kuuma and spiced with fresh spruce tips.” And most intriguing of all, a hopless beer aged in brandy barrels called El Cuatro.
Off to Belgium and the gnomes of Achouffe…
“The N’ICE CHOUFFE is a strong dark beer that will warm you up during the winter months. It is spiced (with thyme and curaçao) and a light hop taste, a well-balanced beer. The N’ICE CHOUFFE is unfiltered, and re-fermented in the bottle as well as in the keg.”
So many good beers lately that I totally forgot to do a post on the October allowance.
I will not dwell in the past and instead move on to the now. I spied an increase in Moa beers at the Arroyo-Pasadena Whole Foods so I picked up the Breakfast (“Moa Breakfast Beer is a blend of premium wheat malt, floral Nelson hops and cherries.”) and the Tripel (“Moa St Josephs is brewed in the traditional style of a classic Belgian Tripel. Strong spice and clove characters create complex flavours and aromas which are heightened by its extended bottle conditioning.”). Then I saw an unusual cider that was dry hopped. so I got that too!
From Belgium comes this news — “The Cloak of St. Martin is a limited-edition Barleywine-style Belgian ale, ready to warm the North American autumn and winter.
The Cloak is Brasserie Brunehaut’s first Abbaye ale brewed using doubled fermentation capacity gained via three new vats installed on Leap Day 2012. This increased capacity delivered enough vat time for the first batch of this labor-intensive 13%+ ABV quadruple.
The Cloak of St. Martin is a new Belgian Quadruple celebrating St. Martin’s famous charity of “sharing” his cloak with a beggar!
A very dark quad, The Cloak of St. Martin’s first fermentation, to 9% ABV, uses Brasserie Brunehaut’s signature, centuries-old yeast strain. Rare, exquisite champagne yeast boosts ABV from 9% to 13% during a six-week second fermentation. The Cloak is then cellared six more weeks before final fermentation yeast is added.”
I did not dawdle when it came to selecting my special September beer. I did take awhile to post here on the blog though.
You can tell by my happy face that I have grabbed another cellar beer to add to my collection…..
Here is what Deschutes has to say about this special anniversary beer…”XXIV. 24 years after Black Butte Porter’s debut, our potent, layered, imperial tribute returns. As usual, it’s a jazz riff, guided by the brewer’s muse and the lure of exotic ingredients. Artisanal dark chocolate nibs. Deglet dates. Mission figs. It may, possibly, hopefully, be the best edition yet. But, as it should be, you’ll be the judge of that.”
As great as the new tap room is at the Bruery’s brewery, I miss picking up beers at Provisions but now there is an excuse to return….
“SOUR WEEK!!!! Running from next Monday, August 13th and lasting until Sunday, August 19th, we will be featuring daily flights of very rare and delicious sour ales. Cantillon, Cascade, Lost Abbey and The Bruery, just to name a few of the amazing breweries that we have lined up. Be sure to follow us on facebook, twitter and instagram to find out what is being released each day!
Can’t wait? Come on in today and pick up a bottle of The Bruery’s Sans Pagaie, a sour blonde aged in wine barrels with cherries or Otiose, a sour brown ale aged on guava. Both are $20 for a 750ml bottle and will age gracefully for several years. We also have a selection of sour ales from Belgium, Switzerland, Norway and beyond, so get in the Olympic spirit and try them all!”
This will be an excellent chance to try those great Cascade beers and some classics from Cantillon and compare them to the Bruery offerings.
So this month, not that I was in dire need of beer. I just received the Stone 16th Anniversary IPA. But the $20 was burning a hole in my pocket and I had just learned via Beer of Tomorrow that a liquor store near me stocked craft beer so I headed to Bill’s Liquor in Atwater Village and took my $20 to spend.
And this is what I got….
Now, I wish to explain the reasoning behind this choice. I could have picked up the Ommegang Biere de Hougomont. (spell check that beer lovers) but that would have shot the wad on one bottle. They had Golden Road’s Wolf Among Weeds but I had already tried that. Some nice foreign beers as well but I decided to stay semi-local and try an offering from IE that I had at last year’s Brew at the Zoo and the anniversary ale from Bootleggers. Risky? Yes. But that is what this monthly allotment is for. To buy the beers that you have walked past before. Reviews will be up on both Untappd and Ratebeer when I decide to crack them open.
I still haven’t seen these in my local supermarket but it might make an instant pairing with some cheese and Guinness.
Or you could head over to Gilt Taste and order some even more gourmet beer bratwursts for your next BBQ.
Tell me that these two versions of LambicX do not sound good. I just wish I could have found one last year. But I will be on the hunt for these so you may see me prowling around the local beer shoppes.
“Aroma of white grapes, sweet apples, fruit, tobacco, honeysuckle and hay. Restrained tartness.Bright, but not acidic, round and soft body, some chardonnay butteriness. Fine astringent finish with hints of quinine. Slightest hint of carbonation. Not quite cask still, but almost!”
“Aroma of sweet grass, smoke, peaches, sour apples all spiked with a background barnyard funk. Big, round acidity in the mouth with notes of lemon, tangerine and grapefruit melting to a rich, sour-sweet finish, balanced by the full presence of tannic and wood notes. Slightest hint of carbonation. Again, not quite cask still, but almost!”