May Beer Dinner = Wheat Beers

There are many different styles of wheat beers and wheat beer was very popular in the U.S. before “the great experiment” of prohibition.  I recall sampling American Hefeweizens while I lived in the Pacific NW and these were; and still are, a very popular summertime beverage.  The primary wheat styles that I have tried are Hefeweizen and Belgian Wit.  A classic Hefeweizen has hints of clove and banana due to the yeast and a Belgian Wit usually contains spices (coriander) and fruit (curacao orange rind) that coupled with the Belgian yeast, provide a distinct taste.

Tibor and Nicole prepared excellent food selections of watermelon and deviled eggs for appetizers and dinner of brats steamed in beer, corn on the cob, asparagus, and pretzel rolls.  Dennis brought over a turtle cake and I brought over baked beans.  Everything was very tasty and it was an excellent meal with friends.  The brats were Johnsonville brats and the steeping in Twisted Pine’s Ghost Face Killah (a chili beer) transformed them to another level.  Tibor also grilled some buffalo jalapeno cheddar brats from Continental Sausage located here in Denver and they were fantastic. The pretzel rolls were a recent addition to the Costco lineup and these were very tasty.  Again, everything served was very good.

The beer lineup is as follows:

1)     Horton’s Homebrew – After Midnight Porter (not a wheat beer - covered in a previous  post)

2)     Twisted Pine – Ghost Face Killah (not a wheat beer – a chili beer)

3)     Odell – Easy Street Wheat

4)     Dry Dock – Hefeweizen (a favorite and a previous medal winner)

5)     Tommyknocker – Jack Whacker (fermented with lemongrass)

6)     Sam Adams – Cherry Wheat

7)     Shock Top – Pumpkin Wheat

8)     Shock Top – Lemon Shandy

9)     Shock Top – Belgian White

10)   Avery – White Rascal

11)  Widmer Brothers – Hefeweizen

12)  Boulder Beer – Sweaty Betty

Probably needless to say, but we did not drink full pours of these beers as we wanted to be able to do things the next day.  The other helpful factor is these wheat beers are typically lower in ABV than many other beer styles.  The take away is there are a number of really good wheat beers.  None of these were bad and there were a wide variety of flavors – everyone had ones they liked.  On a side conversation with Tibor, we agreed that the Dry Dock Hefeweizen was our favorite – it is just a fantastic beer and brewed to style perfection.  I can understand why they have won awards for this beer. 

Next month we focus on Amber Ales.

Beer Pairings – Seasonal Beers and Mexican Cuisine

Tibor, Chris and I gathered at Dennis’s house for the next beer tasting and Gayle picked up some tasty tamales, green chili, queso, tacos, salsa, chips, veggie tray and some cupcakes.  The tamales and green chili were a highlight – they were excellent.  For the beer, we started off with Rockyard’s Plymouth Rock Pumpkin Ale (5.8% ABV) is a pumpkin beer and classified as a Fruit / Vegetable Beer.  It has an aroma of pumpkin and cinnamon and was a tasty beer. 

Milk Stout Nitro (6.0% ABV and 25 IBU).  I reviewed this beer earlier – (last month).  It is just an excellent stout and if you get a chance to try it after it is distributed beyond Colorado, pick it up.  This was everyone’s favorite of the evening.

New Belgium’s Snow Day (6.2% ABV & 55 IBU) is a winter seasonal ale that has a nice malt sweetness on the start and a hop bitter finish.  It reminded me of Deschutes Jubelale and I liked it.

Next up was a big one Twisted Pine’s 16 Anniversary Bough Breaker Barley wine (9.1% ABV and 120 IBU).  I think this is the bitterest beer I have ever had in terms of IBU and it was OK.  No one liked this beer and some just did not like it at all.  The only hop used in this beer is Amarillo and they use a lot of it.

Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale (8% ABV & 38 IBU) is from Boulevard Brewing Co. and it is a Saison / Farmhouse Ale.  This is a style that I really appreciate and it was one of my favorites of the evening.  Very effervescent and was just a pleasant drinking saison that one could easily discern the Belgian yeast influence.

Breckenridge Oatmeal Stout (4.95% ABV and 31 IBU) is an oatmeal stout and a really good one.  This has some coffee-like tastes and paired beautifully with the chocolate cupcakes.  Tibor picked two nice stouts for the evening.

Avery The Kaiser Imperial Oktoberfest (9.3% ABV and 24 IBU) is one of my favorites from Avery and my wife really enjoys it too.  I think everyone liked this one for it’s clean malt sweetness and light bittering.  The Kaiser is a very nice Oktoberfest and it is brewed once a year in limited quantities.

Avery Mephistopheles’ Stout (15.83% ABV and 107 IBU) is one big stout that is brewed once a year and is only available in 12 oz. bottles.  This was a 2009 vintage and proves you can easily cellar beer given the right style, ABV, and conditions.  This beer was almost 2 years old and I bet you could easily cellar it for 10.  It is as dark as night and had an intense molasses aroma.  It is a sipper and I think everyone enjoyed it.  We split it four ways, so only 3 oz. pours – very nice way to end the evening. 

What I Like and What I Don't

The two beers listed below were sampled on different evenings.  I cannot imagine having them in succession or during the same evening because of the differences between the styles.  Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout (5% ABV) is produced in the U.K. and available in the U.S. with many of the other offerings from Samuel Smith’s.  I have had a few of the offerings and they are all good.  The Yorkshire Stingo was awarded a rare 100 rating by Draft Magazine.  Oatmeal Stout pours dark with a large head – be careful pouring.  Good malty aroma and nice mouth feel.  This is just a nice drinking stout, creamy, slightly sweet, hints of coffee and a nice bittersweet finish.

What I don’t like – Raspberry Beers.  I have only had a couple and I was not particularly fond of either.  I do not think it is an issue with the Brewer, I think it is my palate.  Twisted Pine’s Raspberry Wheat (5% ABV and 10 IBU) pours cloudy yellow with a small head and has a hint of raspberry on the nose.  The beer doesn’t taste bad, I just do not like the raspberry taste associated with it.  Per the website, it is a popular beer.  I think it would be my last choice at Twisted Pine.  I have enjoyed all of their offerings that I have sampled from Twisted Pine.  I think I would even pick Ghost Killa [in ya] Face – a chili beer made with the world’s hottest - Ghost peppers, that would wreck my palate before Raspberry Wheat. 

Twisted Pine - Billy's Chilies

Twisted Pine offers a Chili Beer named Billy’s Chilies (5% ABV and 10 IBU).  Billy’s Chilies pours cloudy yellow with a small head that quick recedes.  Carbonation is good as Billy’s Chilies keeps bubbling in the glass.  The aroma of chilies is amazing and you can easily smell the pepper influence on this beer.  I was really impressed with the taste too; there is a nice wheat beer taste with the peppers in the background.  The heat is not too hot; it is present, but not overwhelming.  I paired this beer with some chicken nachos and it was a very nice pairing.  Twisted Pine’s website description of Billy’s Chilies is spot on and I was surprised to see that 5 different peppers are used in brewing this beer, “This light-bodied ale has an amazing chili aroma that jumps out at you.  We infuse wheat beer with fresh Serrano, Habenero, Jalapeno, Anaheim, and Fresno chili peppers.  Surprisingly, the chili flavor is strong but not overpowering and comes through without lending too much heat.  Billy’s Chilies is a very drinkable beer and pairs especially well with food.  It finishes dry with a spiciness that will leave you thirsty for more.”  I was almost afraid to taste Billy’s Chilies because I thought my mouth might be set afire – this was not the case – Billy’s Chilies was my first Chili Beer and it was a great experience. 

100th Post - A Black Ale and a Blonde Ale

Last evening I tried the final style in Sierra Nevada’s Best of Beer Camp offering, #16 Juniper Black Ale (8% ABV).  #16 pours black with a two-finger head, and you need to take care pouring as this can easily foam up.  This has a very thick head that you could pick up with a fork and it takes a bit of time to recede.  #6 has an aroma of malt, hops and pine / juniper.  Taste is very good, I expected more juniper, and was actually somewhat surprised by the balance.  My palate picked up the juniper as closer to bitterness from hops.  I thought this was a tasty beer too and the Best of Beer Camp by Sierra Nevada is worth picking up to try some different and tasty beers.  These all seem to pair well with the dishes I selected for them.  I paired #16 with a cheeseburger on French bread with melted provolone and sautéed Vidalia onion and mushrooms. 

Chris stopped by and he was wanting a lighter beer so I opened a couple of Twisted Pine Blonde Ales (5% ABV and 24 IBU) that is classified as a Kolsch / German Pale Ale.  Blonde Ale pours cloudy yellow with great carbonation and a two-finger head.  Blonde Ale has a floral / fruity aroma and is easy to drink.  The taste has a nice malt / grain start with a slightly hop / bitter finish.  Another nice offering from Twisted Pine.

Light and Dark

Sierra Nevada’s Best of Beer Camp #8 is a California Common (6.5% ABV).  Beer Advocate describes the California Common or Steam Beer style as, “is a unique 100% American style lager. It's usually brewed with a special strain of lager yeast that works better at warmer temperatures. This method dates back to the late 1800's in California when refrigeration was a great luxury. The brewers back then had to improvise to cool the beer down, so shallow fermenters were used. So in a way the lager yeast was trained to ferment quicker at warmer temperatures. Today's examples are light amber to tawny in color, medium bodied with a malty character. Mildly fruity with an assertive hop bitterness.”  #8 pours a straw orange with a nice two finger head.  There is very good carbonation with #8 and a pleasant aroma of malt, grain and fruit.  Taste is nicely balanced between the malt sweetness and hop bitterness – very drinkable.  I need to do a side-by-side comparison with Anchor Steam.

Twisted Pine’s Pearl Street Porter (6.7% ABV and 23 IBU) is a Winter Seasonal offering.  Beer Advocate describes Porter as, “Inspired from the now wavering English Porter, the American Porter is the ingenuous creation from that. Thankfully with lots of innovation and originality American brewers have taken this style to a new level. Whether it is highly hopping the brew, using smoked malts, or adding coffee or chocolate to complement the burnt flavor associated with this style. Some are even barrel aged in Bourbon or whiskey barrels. The hop bitterness range is quite wide but most are balanced. Many are just easy drinking session porters as well.”  Pearl Street pours very dark with a small head that quickly dissipates. The nose has malt and slight chocolate hints.  Twisted Pine brewed this beer for the 150^th anniversary of Boulder, CO.  This is a very nice beer with a classic porter taste and chocolate / mocha hints.  Pearl Street Porter would be a great beer to introduce someone to dark beers.  

Two very tasty Amber Ales

Full Sail’s Amber Ale (5.5% ABV and 31IBU) has been around since 1989, and it is the flagship beer for Full Sail and has won 14 medals over the years.  Amber pours amber with a two-finger head.  Full Sail describes Amber as, “a sweet, malty, medium-bodied ale with a spicy, floral hop finish.  It’s brewed with 2-row Pale, Crystal and Chocolate malts.  And we hop it with Mt. Hoods and Cascades.”  Full Sail’s Amber is very tasty and this is a well-balanced ale with just the right amounts of sweet malt and spicy, floral Northwest hops. 

Next up was Twisted Pine’s American Amber Ale (5.5% ABV and 55 IBU) is a little more bitter than Full Sail’s Amber.  This is another good beer and it pours amber with a frothy head – I had to let is settle a bit before I could empty the bottle.  Twisted Pine describes Ambers as, “medium bodied beer with good hop character.  The aroma is slightly hoppy, malty, and lightly yeasty.  The beer’s texture starts off crisp and effervescent, and becomes a little thicker toward the finish.”  This is another very good Amber Ale and Cascade hops are used along with Northern Brewer.  You cannot go wrong with either of these selections.  I paired these with a dinner of roasted chicken, rice, sauteed Vidalia onions and mushrooms (with some Amber Ale) and sauteed garlic green beans.  Very tasty pairing too.

Upslope - Pale Ale and Twisted Pine - Hoppy Boy

Upslope – Pale Ale

Upslope is a start-up brewery based in Boulder and I have tried their IPA and brown ale.  Currently, one more is available in cans and that is the Pale Ale (5.8% ABV).  Upslope’s Pale Ale pours orange / gold with a lacey head that quickly recedes.  I am not sure of the IBUs on this pale ale, but I do not think they are very high.  Upslope has brewed a well-balanced pale ale and the upstart can compete with some of the seasoned veterans.  I still want to do some side-by-sides with Sierra Nevada and Oskar Blues.  I look forward to more offerings from Upslope as they grow.

Twisted Pine – Hoppy Boy

Twisted Pine is another Boulder-based brewer and Hoppy Boy (6.2% ABV and 65 IBU) is their IPA offering.  Hoppy Boy is the “flagship” beer for Twisted Pine and it is very good.  Hoppy Boy pours almost the same exact color as Upslope’s Pale ale – orangey gold with a lacey two-finger head.  This IPA is very well balanced and I really liked it.  Twisted Pine describes Hoppy Boy as “It pours a hazy pale orange and has a dry, tart taste with an earthy bitterness.   Pleasant grapefruit and citrus notes are provided by the addition of Cascade hops.  This classic American IPA is brewed with medium caramel malts that play.”  I have tried, and liked, their Big Shot Espresso Stout.  I will try more from Twisted Pine and they may be the next Colorado brewer that I focus on sampling. 

Beers Before the Blog

2010 – Beers before the blog – Before I started this blog I had tried a number of other beers and they are listed below.  I thought I would do this to keep everything recorded and current.  The list below is listed in alphabetical order by Brewer.

Alaskan Brewing Company is a great regional craft brewer that I very much enjoy as I toured the brewery during a vacation in Juneau.  They are known for the Smoke Porter and the Amber and these are very good.  I recently tried the Barley Wine and it may now be my favorite from Alaskan.

-       Amber is an Alt-Style Ale with an ABV of 5.3% and an IBU of 18

-       White is a Wheat Ale with an ABV of 5.3% and an IBU of 15

-       Summer is Kolsch-Style Ale with an ABV of 5.3% and an IBU of 18

Avery is my favorite craft brewer and is based in Boulder, Co.  I have sampled the lineup that is available and I have enjoyed all of them.  I plan to visit the brewery / tap room early this year.  Ellie’s Brown Ale, the Maharaja, 17, White Rascal, Salvation and the Reverend are my favorites.  Avery is known for higher ABVs and the use of hops.

-       Hog Heaven is a Barley Wine with an ABV of 9.2% and an IBU of 104

-       The Reverend is a Belgian Quadrupel Ale with an ABV of 10% and an IBU of 10

-       Salvation is a Belgian-Style Golden Ale with an ABV of 9% and an IBU of 25

-       The Maharaja is an Imperial IPA with an ABV of 10.24% and an IBU of 102

-       The Kaiser is an Imperial Oktoberfest Lager with an ABV of 9.3% and an IBU of 24

-       Collaboration, not Litigation Ale with an ABV of 8.91%

Blue Moon is owned by Coors and I really like their Pumpkin Ale.

-       Harvest Moon is a Pumpkin Ale with an ABV of 5.7%

Boston Beer Company is a huge craft brewer famous for Sam Adams and has been instrumental in carrying the craft brew flag.

-       Honey Porter with and ABV of 5.5%

Breckenridge Brewery is a local craft brewery in Breckenridge Colorado and makes a number of styles and the 471 series is a small batch series with some interesting beers.  I purchased a 12 pack with 4 different styles and my favorite was Vanilla Porter.

-       Vanilla Porter with an ABV of 4.7% and an IBU of 16

-       Avalanche Ale is an American Amber Ale with an ABV of 5.3% and an IBU of 19

-       Summer Bright is an American Wheat Ale with Fruit with an ABV of 4.5% and an IBU of 15

-       Lucky U IPA with an ABV of 6.2% and an IBU of 68

Ft. Collins Brewery is a local craft brewer and I wanted to try the Chocolate Stout that took gold at this year’s GABF.

-       Chocolate Stout with an ABV of 4.8% and an IBU of 33

Grand Lake is a local craft brewery in Grand Lake Colorado and I purchased a six-pack with six different styles.  My favorite was Plaid Bastard.

-       Hoppy’s One Ton Pale Ale with an ABV of 5%

-       Wooley Booger Nut Brown Ale with an ABV of 5%

-       Plaid Bastard is a Strong Scotch Ale with an ABV of 8%

-       Stump Jumper IPA with an ABV of 5%

-       Rocky Mt. Red is an Amber Ale with an ABV of 5%

-       Shadow Mt. Stout with an ABV of 5%

Great Divide is a large craft brewer based in downtown Denver.  I have only tried a few beers from Great Divide and my plan is to sample their line through 2011.  

-       Titan is an IPA with an ABV of 7.1% and an IBU of 65.

Left Hand Brewing is a local craft brewer in Boulder, CO with a large number of styles.  I really like Milk Stout and the 2010 Fade to Black Series 2 Smoked Baltic Porter.

-       Polestar Pilsner with an ABV of 5.5% and an IBU of 33

-       Sawtooth is an American-Style ESB with an ABV of 5.3% and an IBU of 27

New Belgium Brewing Company is a very large craft brewer in Ft. Collins, Colorado that is best known for Fat Tire Amber Ale.  There are a number of offerings from New Belgium and their release of Ranger IPA was a big hit in 2010.  I really like Fat Tire (who doesn’t?), 1554, Abbey, and Ranger.  I recently tried Blue Paddle, Pilsener Lager, and it is another nice beer from New Belgium.

-       Fat Tire is an Amber Ale with an ABV of 5.2% and an IBU of 18.5

-       1554 is a Black Ale with an ABV of 5.6% and an IBU of 21

-       Abbey is a Belgian-Style Ale with an ABV of 7.0% and an IBU of 20

-       Ranger IPA with an ABV of 6.5% and an IBU of 70

-       Trippel is a Belgian-Style Ale of with an ABV of 7.8% and an IBU of 25

Red Hook is a regional craft brewer in Seattle best known for Red Hook ESB.  This was my go-to beer when I lived in Seattle and when I first moved to Denver, I kept asking for Red Hook and everyone always asked do you mean Fat Tire?  It will be interesting the next time I am in Seattle if I asked for a Fat Tire.

-       ESB is an Extra Special Bitter Ale with an ABV of 5.5% and an IBU of 13

Sierra Nevada is a large and excellent California craft brewer that makes a wide variety of styles.  They were one of the big stories in 2010 with the 30^th Anniversary series.  Tumbler is a very good brown ale.

-       Tumbler  is a seasonal Autumn Brown Ale with an ABV of 5.5% and an IBU of 37

-       Porter with an ABV of 5.6% and an IBU of 32

-       Stout with an ABV of 5.8% and an IBU of 50

Ska is a Durango, Colorado based craft brewer. I have only tried a few different styles from Ska and I need to try more.  I really liked Buster Nut Brown Ale.

-       Buster Nut Brown Ale with an ABV of 5.15% and an IBU of 29

Stone is a very good brewer based in Escondido, CA that is known for the Arrogant Bastard line of ales and for the use of copious amounts of hops.  I have not tried a beer from Stone that I have not enjoyed.  Your palate is in for a kick and these are great beers.

-       Arrogant Bastard with an ABV of 7.2% and an IBU of ??

-       Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale with an ABV of 8.7% and an IBU of 90

Twisted Pine is a local craft brewer that took home a silver medal in this year’s GABF with Big Shot Espresso Stout. This was a nice beer and had good coffee overtones and I thought would be actually great with breakfast.