Beers ‘n Such

Brooklyn Bound

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:27:28 -0700

A month or so ago, my good buddy Jonathan went on a trip to New York. His wife is in the fashion industry and had to attend a trade show, so he decided to tag along. Naturally, as the true beer geek that he is, he decided to spend a considerable amount of time at the Brooklyn Brewery (I would have never let him hear the end of it if he hadn’t).
Jonathan was nice enough to give me an account of his experiences. The following is exactly that...

Thanks Jonno! (you better bring me along next time!!!)
_________________________________________________________________________
My wife and I headed to New York for her job. I had some time to burn, and figured I could use a week in the Big Apple to explore. The last time I was there, the Twin Towers stood and New Yorkers were a beautiful bunch of unpleasant sons of bitches, I loved it! Now, post 9-11 New Yorkers are some of the most beautiful people you could find - enough so, that they compliment the beauty of the city.
On the Saturday of our trip my wife was tied up all day and asked if I would be able to possibly find something to do for the day…….yeah baby, I’m off to the Brooklyn Brewery! I was on my way to Brooklyn, and after a slightly interesting subway ride, I found myself walking through Brooklyn. I found the brewery quickly, and after picking up a handful of tasting chips and making sure I was signed up for the tour I headed to the bar.
“What should I have?” I asked the bartender.
“I like the weisse as a morning beer.” keeping in mind that it was 11:45am.
Tart and fresh tasting with a nice hint of citrus this beer did not disappoint. While I’ve had fresh beer before, it is never a disappointment to enjoy a pint of beer brewed a handful of feet from where it was poured. After desperately trying to get a hold of someone to share this fantastic experience with, (and failing) I opted to talk up the bartenders. Chris, one of the two behind the bar, suggested that I try their IPA next. A quick taster was poured at the bar and I experienced a nicely hopped IPA, cresting nicely mid-palate and begging for a second taste. After the 2oz of IPA, Chris quickly poured me tasters of the Pilsner and the seasonal Pumpkin Ale. I passed on the transitional Brooklyn Lager, as I was familiar with it and didn’t want to stomp my palate flat.
As a word of bias I have to admit that I am a Wine Dork. I love wine and I love picking apart the subtle nuances that exist inside a glass of wine. I’m that asshole you hate in the restaurant who knows just enough to engage the waiter, thereby keeping you from making your pitiful wine pick, and empress my date (read: now Annoy my Wife). So for me beer is a new venture. I relayed this message to the boys at Brooklyn and they quickly steered me right.
Of all the beers I drank that visit, outside of the glorious Locals 1 and 2, the Brooklyn Brewery Manhattan Project stands out as the super star. A beer brewed to mimic a Manhattan cocktail, it is rye based and very slightly carbonated, coupled with bitter orange and cherry flavors. It’s a beautiful reminder of the shaken cocktail days. The moment that confirmed for me that this was the “cat’s pajamas” was when Chris, just before the tour, poured himself a glass.
So, in closing, if you ever find yourself in Brooklyn on a rainy day (and you’re not Shane MacGowan writing songs about a rainy day in Soho…) head to the brewery and ask the boys behind the bar to pour you a pint.

Monster - For Shame!

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:54:24 -0600

Recently, the big wigs at Monster Energy Drink have sent a cease and desist order to Vermont’s Rock Art Brewery, demanding that they change the name of one of their best selling beers - the Vermontster. Rock Art claims that they haven’t infringed on any trademark laws, as the name is definitely unrelated to the energy drink - but Monster Energy Drink is willing to use their millions of dollars of revenue to drag Rock Art Brewery through the court system. This is a true David and Goliath story that is unfortunately just another example of corporate America trying to beat up on the little guy.

Check out the video...

I’m going to go out to my local bottle shop and see if I can’t order some Rock Art beer. And I know that I won’t be drinking any Monster Energy drink any time soon. Good luck to you guys Rock Art!

Beer and Football Pt. 2

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:27:35 -0600

In this second installment of the football and beer tasting event, we concentrated fairly heavily on Rogue selections, but decided to finish it all off with a Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA (great stuff - but more on that one later).

After getting through the Hefeweizens (see my last posting - “Beer and Football - could it be better?”, we decided to get into the Rogues. Since dinner was ready at this time (we were having pork tenderloin) we decided to begin with the Dead Guy Ale. This is a decent example of a Maibock - or Strong German Lager - or even known as a Dark Munich Lager in some circles. I really liked it, though it is a bit hoppier than the style would normally be in Germany, though, as I am becoming ever more in love with hops, I really didn’t mind. It poured a nice 3/4 inch head that had real lasting power and a wonderful hoppy aroma. The flavour was malty and somewhat sweet - perhaps honey - with a dry hoppy finish. Very nice beer - and it went fantastically with the pork.

Next up was Rogue’s Hazelnut Brown Nectar. I figured that a brown ale would also go well with pork, and this was definitely the case - although, as a whole, we were not all to into this one. The nose was very sweet - apricot, or peach even, with a bit of nuttiness. The initial taste was a lot different than the smell - it was very nutty (they weren’t kidding with the hazelnut thing). Sweet caramel and hazelnuts were there throughout the taste, all the way to the finish, though at the end it was joined with some coffee as well (and maybe even a hint of chocolate). My criticism would be that I found the flavour to be too hazelnut - ie. it tasted sort of fake or at least a bit artificial. This, and the finish was very quick to dissipate. It was all show and no go for me - big upfront and weak in the back. I would rather go for a Mt. Begbie Tall Timber any day.

The next was another Rogue - the Mocha Porter. This one was strategically chosen to accompany some Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia ice cream (which worked extremely well!). The name says it all, really - mocha - chocolate! It poured a rich creamy head smelling of coffee and - surprise, chocolate. The flavour was very consistent with the initial smell - though the coffee came through more-so. It was hoppier than a standard porter, which gave it a nice brisk finish - which worked well with the hint of dark cherries that was there as well. All of these elements went fantastically with the chocolate cherry deliciousness of the Cherry Garcia which finished off a great meal!

The last beer that we tried was Dogfish Head’s 90 Minute IPA. This one was somewhat unrelated to the other beers of the evening and was not necessarily chosen to pair with dinner. I simply wanted to try it, as it is known to be one of the best IPA’s around (and I like me my IPA’s). This sounds like I am downplaying it, which I really don’t mean to. This is a fantastic beer! It is “continually hopped” for 90 minutes. What this means is that hops are literally, continually added slowly throughout the boil - for 90 minutes. Apparently, this was the first beer to be hopped in this way. It makes for a fairly hoppy beer (at 90 ibu) but not rip the enamel off your teeth hoppy. The hoppiness, combined with it’s sweet maltiness and higher alcohol content of 9% (it is considered an Imperial IPA), makes for a rather smooth and very refreshing beer - albeit very crisp. It has a somewhat fruity smell and flavour - probably coming through from the hops. A very interesting beer and very enjoyable as well!

So that was our evening. Admittedly, it was probably too many different styles of beer, so that by the time we got half way through the Rogues, our palates were quite fatigued - not to mention the fact that three of them were considered “Imperial” (high in alcohol content and rather strong). It’s a hard job, but somebody’s got to do it...

Cheers,
Kirk

Beer and Football - could it be better?

Sun, 4 Oct 2009 15:35:52 -0600

Seriously, what could be better than tasting a bunch of great beer, eating some good food, and watching some football (in this case my Saskatchewan Roughriders) it’s what weekends are made for, I’d say.

I headed over to my friends Jonathan and Sora’s place a couple of weekends ago (I’ve been slacking on the postings, I know - catch up time) for some pork tenderloin and very interesting, Korean inspired, zucchini pancakes (delish). The dinner was just the beginning - the precursor to the main event - the beer tasting. And we had a bunch of heavy hitters ready to go for the evening.

First up, the imperial hefeweizen pairing - Brooklyner-Schneider Hopfen Weisse and Pyramid’s Imperial Hefeweizen.

The Brooklyner-Schneider Hopfen Weisse is a very interesting collaboration between the Brooklyn Brewery from Brooklyn, USA, and Schneider Brewery (G. Schneider and Sohn) from Bavaria, Germany. It is one of two versions - this one brewed in the USA (Brooklyn Brewery’s version) - the other version (which I hope to try soon, if I can find it) is brewed in Germany by Schneider Brewery. Schneider is well known for their Schneider Weisse - in fact they are very well known for it. Some consider it to be a standard example of a Bavarian Hefeweizen (myself included). If that isn’t enough, they are also quite famous for their Aventinus Wheat Doppelbock which has been regarded by some as the finest Wheat Beer in the world. On the other hand, The Brooklyn Brewery is one of the leading American craft breweries with tons of awards and one of the highest regarded Brewmasters in the business - Garret Oliver.

This German/American collaboration is probably more reminiscent to the Wheat Doppelbock, Aventinus (though still quite different), rather than a standard Hefeweizen with it’s 8.5% alcohol level and generally stronger character, though it poured far lighter - to a beautiful amber, with a full head that sticks around for a while. It does have the classic Schneider yeast but this particular joint effort is full of American hops carefully added to Garret Oliver’s specifications. Rather than a hefeweizen, this beer is a Weissbock - and along with that is a rather strong flavour. It was somewhat reminiscent of a strong Belgian Wit in terms of flavour, as it wasn’t as full of banana and clove undertones as much as it had citrus and vanilla in the finish. It was somewhat sweet, but yet had a fairly big alcohol kick, though this was balanced quite well with the combination of Amarillo and Palisade hops. I wouldn’t call it a hoppy beer, but it definitely was hoppier than a German Hefeweizen. We enjoyed it, as it was fairly complex and flavourful, but it was quite bold.

The next one up was Pyramid Breweries’ Imperial Hefeweizen. The reason why brewery is pluralized in this case (ie. “breweries”) is because the company actually operates 5 restaurant/brewpubs where their beer is brewed. They are located in Seattle, Berkeley, Sacramento, Walnut Creek (a city just east of Oakland) and Portland. This beer was good but I wasn’t initially expecting it to be as strong - although the term “Imperial” should have given me an idea (imperial almost always infers a stronger beer with high alcohol - though my experience with imperials tended to be within the stout and porter genre). Again, this beer was far from a standard hefeweizen - strong in flavour and alcohol level. Pyramid’s Imperial Hefeweizen poured a similar colour to the last beer - if not more orangey, though the head had far less staying power. The aroma was quite yeasty. The flavour was fruity - Granny Smith apples and pears with perhaps even some grapes. It was far less hoppy than the German/American collaboration from earlier on, but it still had a fair bitter crispness in the finish. Another enjoyable beer, but maybe not quite as much so as the last one.

We also tasted a few other beer that evening - such as Rogue’s Dead Guy Ale, Hazelnut Brown Nectar, and Mocha Porter, as well as Dogfish Head’s 90 minute IPA. I’ll feature tasting notes of these beers in my next blog. Each one of these were nice beers - though none are exactly session beers - so needless to say by the end of the night we had had almost enough - (more in terms of stomach fullness rather than head dizziness, mind you). We even had a couple of beer that we didn’t get around to - we simply had to pull the plug.

The beer was great - as was the food, but my football team lost - ah, you can’t have everything I guess...

Cheers for now,

Kirk

Off to the Okanagan - BC Craft Beer and Wine Tour

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 22:29:32 -0600

I thought I would make an effort to have a last hurrah to the summer before I am faced with the responsibility of melding young impressionable minds once again come September (I’m a junior high social studies teacher if I haven’t mentioned that before). I was able to convince my buddy Gianni to join me on my journey - the idea of a road trip and the potential for great beer that we haven’t tried before tends to work on him, so I really didn’t have to convince him as such. The plan was a four day jaunt across the British Columbia interior, with the goal of hitting up as many breweries and brew pubs as we could find - and since we were going to end up in the Okanagan, we figured that we would throw in some wine tastings for good measure.

After stocking up on some necessities (ie. Ibuprofen and bottles of water), we hit the road - direction Rocky Mountains. Shortly after entering the Rockies, we came to our first stop - Canmore, Alberta and The Grizzly Paw Brewing Company. We stopped in for a bite to eat and to try a couple of their brews. I had tried some of their beers before, and had thoroughly enjoyed them - as well as their fantastic sodas, especially the root beer! This time around both Gianni and I decided on their Belgian Wit. It was a good example of the style, with orange and coriander notes, though I found it quite sweet, but very satisfying, and it went very well with my burger which was fantastic. As you can see in the photo of Gianni, it was an orangey-gold colour, lightly carbonated and unfiltered, again reminiscent of the style. Unfortunately, we still had a lot of driving to do, so we were really only able to stop for the one pint.

Three or Four hours later, we came to our second stop - Revelstoke, BC - the home of Mt. Begbie Brewing Co - one of my favorites. Revelstoke was also the place we were going to spend the night. We found a really cool hostel/boutique hotel (really, I’m serious) called Poppi’s (www.poppis.ca). Poppi’s is completely renovated and funky - and very not like a standard hostel - I highly recommend it, check out their website.

We had dinner and a few Mt Begbie pints at a place called the Village Idiot - a cool “locals” pub/restaurant featuring fresh local fare (try their perogies!), then we set out to find out what there was to do on a Thursday night. After walking up and down the local strip we decided to check out a newly renovated bowling alley/bar/snowboard shop called The Cabin. What a cool place this was! Nice comfortable leather couches and reclaimed wood tables, combined with a computerized bowling set-up - and not to forget bottles of Mt. Begbie High Country Kolsch and Tall Timber Ale as well - you really can’t go wrong. Tall Timber Ale is one of the few Mt. Begbie beers that you can regularly find in Calgary, so I tend to indulge from time to time. It is a top fermented English Brown Ale which uses East-Kent Goldings hops to give it a traditional English Brown Ale character. This one is dead on in terms of style authenticity - nice and malty with a light hoppy note. Very nice! We had a great time bowling (and drinking), even though the place was not busy at all (perhaps it was so fun because I gave Gianni the glow-in-the-dark spanking of a lifetime).

The next morning, we stopped by Mt. Begbie Brewing Co. to say hi and pick up some souvenirs and such, and we were soon off to Kelowna via Vernon, BC.

We stopped off at Okanagan Springs Brewery in Vernon on a whim to see if they held any tours during the day. Although not exactly an “independent craft brewery”, Okanagan Springs produces some tasty beers, and their 1516 Bavarian Lager in particular suits my fancy. 1516 is reference to the year of the Reinheitsgebot - or the Bavarian Purity law of 1516, which states that no other ingredients would be allowed in beer besides water, yeast, hops, and grain (although yeast was not added to this list officially until the late 1800’s after Louis Pasteur discovered the micro-organisms present in the fermentation process). Okanagan Springs’ 1516 Bavarian Lager is an ode to the the Golden Helles Lagers of Bavaria, and indeed tastes quite similar to them. Same smooth combination of sweet and bitter - though never as bitter as a Czech pilsner - and sticking to the same strict rules as the Purity Law of 1516 set out, and also staying unpasteurized and with no preservatives. Unfortunately, Okanagan Springs does not give any tours at all, which was a bit of a let down, but we stopped in for lunch at Earls and enjoyed a 1516 there anyway.

When we arrived in Kelowna, we did some re-adjustments to our accomodations (which turned out to be quite expensive, but far more comfortable, as we went from a hostel idea to a nice hotel in the middle of downtown - and close to the pubs). After we settled in, we were off to try more beers - and what better beers in Kelowna than the ones from Tree Brewing Co. Although every beer in Tree Brewing’s lineup is fantastic, my personal favorite is their Hefeweizen. Now, Hefeweizen is one of my favorite styles of beer, which likely stems from my three years living in Germany and my initial experiences in Bavaria. Hefeweizen refers to a style of wheat beer that is quite heavy and somewhat fruity in nature, and is always left unfiltered (a fltered version of Bavarian wheat beer is called Krystallweizen, which I enjoy far less). The majority of the “great” Hefeweizen comes from Bavaria (ie. Paulaner, Franziskaner, Schneider Weisse), though some other noteable examples can be found throughout Germany (ie. Kassel’s Schöfferhofer, and Düsseldorf’s Ueriges Weizen). Although it is very hard to compare North American Hefeweizen to the original German beauties, Tree Brewing’s Hefeweizen comes extremely close, and in fact, the closest that I have tasted here in Canada. Apparently, the judges at the Canadian Brewing Awards last year agree with me as well - they gave Tree Brewing’s Hefeweizen the gold medal for Wheat Beers at last years ceremony. Tree Brewing’s Hefeweizen is sweet and fruity, with banana and clove notes - reminiscent of the German originals. It pours a deep golden colour and is cloudy with yeasty goodness - georgeous!

The next couple of days were more or less spent touring the wine region of the Okanagan. Although I am a beer geek, I must admit that I have been stricken with the wine bug as well. The Okanagan Valley, from Kelowna to Osoyoos surprised me in a very positive way, actually. I was pleased to find that there are quite a few fantastic reds that are produced toward the southern end of the valley (there are also a lot of crap reds too, but not as many as I expected). I was formerly unconvinced that a good, full bodied red could be produced in Canada’s climate - but down by Osoyoos, it is nothing but HOT and the growing season is longer than some areas of Napa apparently - who knew? Of course, there are also a number of fabulous whites - especially the Gewürtztraminers (ask Gianni, he fell in love!). So needless to say, between Gianni and I, we filled the car with a few cases of wine.

Despite the lack of craft breweries in wine country, there are actually a few, and they are very good - the first, of course being the aforementioned Tree Brewing Co. in Kelowna, and another two being Cannery Brewing and Tin Whistle Brewing Company, both from Penticton.

We didn’t get to Cannery because we were told that they were closed on Saturdays, when in fact, they weren’t closed (stupid me for not checking for myself) but we did manage to sample some of their beer at a couple local watering holes. My favorite was the Naramata Nut Brown Ale, which is somewhat legendary in Penticton. Everyone I spoke to swore by this stuff. It has also won numerous awards, which is not surprising. It is true to it’s name being a dark brown ale with nutty malty notes and a nice crisp, yet smooth finish that sticks around for a while. Not really a session beer, but one to truly take some time to enjoy - very nice.

We did manage to hit up Tin Whistle, which was sort of by fluke, as the guys were just getting their stuff ready to head down to Yakima Washington later that day to get ready for the Hop and Brew School put on by Hop Union - the major supplier of hops to the craft beer community. Even though they were a bit busy, they were kind enough to give us a tasting of their wares. The two that stood out for me were Killer Bee Dark Honey Ale. A sweet (honey) dark ale that was one of the most unique flavours I had ever tasted in a honey beer - you could almost say that there was even more coffee or chocolate flavour than honey - at least in the finish. Much darker than a standard honey brown style ale. Nice stuff! The other beer that I enjoyed, though not typically a style that I would pick, was their Chocolate Cherry Porter. At first glance, it looked like any other porter, very dark with a creamy head, but the flavour was out of this world. Rich Belgian chocolate flavours, along with fresh cherries - the name says it all really. This, combined with nutty malt - truly unique and very good - though again, not a session beer - I don’t know how many of these I could have at one time as the flavours are very pronounced. It would go fantastically with chocolate desert, say Black Forest Cake - mmm!

We were ready to leave wine country, but we decided to spend one last night in BC. We had heard of an award winning brew pub in Salmon Arm, BC that was doing beers with complicated combinations of multiple malts and hops - this intrigued us, so we had to go. It is probably unnecessary to say that Salmon Arm is not a busy place on a Sunday night (although there were quite a few firefighters in town, due to a relatively close-by forest fire - just enough to raise the hotel room prices for us), so all we did was find the brewpub - The Barley Station - and were we glad we did. Gianni and I had fantastic meals (the best beef gravy I have ever tasted - and Gianni couldn’t stop making inappropriate noises of pleasure as he ate his delicious burger). The real winner here, though - even moreso than the food, was the beer. We ordered up a sample tray and went through the ranks. Every one was a winner, but I decided on their Sam McGuire’s Pale Ale, which was a light golden colour, somewhat malty and crisp with a lot of hops. It actually has 6 different malts, and 5 different hops which are introduced at 5 different stages of the boil, then it’s dry hopped as well - it sounds complicated, but it won them the Best Ale award at the Okanagan Fest-Of-Ale in 2008. It went absolutely perfectly with my chicken burger and fries (did I mention the gravy, mmm!).

The following morning, we woke up, ate a crappy breakfast at McDonalds, and left for our return trip to Calgary. We spent a lot of money, lost a few brain cells, and had a car loaded with tons of wine and beer - that’s usually a fair sign of a weekend well spent, I’d say!

Cheers,

Kirk

Indian Potluck and IPA Faceoff

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 17:31:08 -0600

Last Sunday night, I went over to my Chef friend Connie’s place for an Indian potluck dinner that she planned. What a good meal! That’s really all I can say about it. Anyone that knows me knows that I am a freak for Indian food – and the opportunity to cook something to add to a potluck featuring dishes by top Calgary, AB, chefs was quite amazing really.  I decided to cook my Beef Madras dish – which I test-drove a couple of days before to make sure that it was tweaked just right for this event. I must say that I nailed it (not to brag, but it was excellent!).  Along with my Beef Madras, I decided to bring along some Indian beer. I have always enjoyed a bottle of King Fisher with my Indian Food, so I thought this would make a good touch. But you know, I had a terrible time finding any Indian beers. I went to a couple of places and there was nothing - no King Fisher, no Raj, no Taj, no nothing. I almost went with some Tiger, but decided to alter my focus slightly. Instead of an imported beer from India, I decided to go with North American India Pale Ales - and I’m actually quite glad I did...

India Pale Ale - as a style - has somewhat of an interesting history. Although, India is featured prominently in the title, IPA’s history is definitely a British one, and a history that has to start with Pale ale, really. Pale ales date from the 17th century in Britain, and were quite common by the 18th century. What made the ales “pale” was basically due to the practice of coke-firing the malt which created a malt that was not smoky or overly roasted (coke is a fuel that produces little to no smoke) This simply made the malt lighter in colour, or “pale” compared to other ales and porters that were common at the time. Pale Ales became very popular with the British public, and especially made a strong standing among the elite, including many executives of shipping and trade companies.

It is important to understand that over the last 500 years or so, the most significant industries in the world were shipping and trading. Of course, oil and gas, or bio-chemistry are arguably larger industries today, but before the invention of the combustion engine or genetically modified canola, it was the shipping companies that ruled the world. In fact, it could be said that it was the desire to control shipping routes and resources that sparked Imperialism in the first place, which eventually led to the discovery of the New World. One Shipping company in particular - one of the most influential at the time, the British East India Company - held the Indian Sub-Continent under it’s strict control. This control eventually changed to direct control by the British Crown and India became a british territory.

Enough with the history lesson, what about the beer - I know, but this has everything to do with the beer, actually.
You see, it was the long voyage to India that influenced IPA most directly. British colonists were somewhat unsatisfied with the choice of drinks in India and craved their old English ales from back home. The demand began for British beer to be shipped from Britain to India - a feat that was not as simple as it seemed. By the time the beer got to India (a trip that often took months) the beer was usually spoiled. Some of the beer shipped to India was produced by a brewery called Bow Brewery - a brewery located in Burton upon Trent - which was owned by a man named George Hodgson. Due to Hodgson’s association with British East India execs, as well as his willingness to hold an extremely lax line of credit, his beer was among the early beers shipped to colonists in India. Although much of his beer spoiled like all of the rest, one particular beer - his October beer - was able to make the trip. This was due to it’s particularly high amount of hops. So IPA was born - it was discovered that hops had a preservative quality and thus heavily hopped versions of English Bitter or Pale Ale (the two are basically one in the same) began to arrive in India - and the rest is history.

So skip ahead a couple hundred years, and IPA is now a popular style that is enjoyed all over the world - and it just so happens that the strong hoppiness goes exceptionally well with the bold flavours and spiciness of Indian food (a fact that I’m sure George Hodgson didn’t really think about too much as he was adding extra hops while producing his first October ale back in the day - sometimes some things are just meant to happen, I guess). It was the food pairing idea that influenced my decision to go with some IPA’s for the Indian potluck, so as the true beer nerd that I am, I thought I would suggest a bit of a beer tasting to go along with our dinner. Luckily, the others didn’t mind too much.

The three beer I chose were: Wild Rose’s IPA (Calgary, AB, Canada), Paddock Wood’s 606 IPA (Saskatoon, SK, Canada), and Fish Brewing Co.’s Fish Tale Organic IPA (Olympia, WA, USA).

All three are very strong examples of the style, though Wild Rose’s IPA was probably the most accurate to tradition. It was by far the hoppiest. It is extremely hoppy, actually - which I don’t mind, though most of the others at the dinner had a hard time getting over this fact. It’s flavour was not overly malty or smoky, which is also true to tradition, and it was light amber in colour. The Paddock Wood and Fish Brewing IPA’s were much less bitter, though Paddock Wood’s 606 IPA was definitely more smokey and had a distinct roasted malt flavour, which is somewhat unlike a pale ale, but nonetheless I did enjoy it. It poured an incredibly rich head which stayed around for a while, though it was not overly carbonated. Fish Brewing’s Organic IPA was very fruit forward - even hinting towards pears or even peaches - which is also very unconventional, but very enjoyable. There was practically no head to speak of, though it was very crisp and fresh.

So the verdict - hard to say, actually. The general consensus was that Fish Tale Organic IPA by Fish Brewing Co. was the tastiest. I would probably agree as well, though I would definitely not say that it was the most accurate example of an IPA - though I don’t know if that was what we were judging anyway. It was very easy to drink, and although it was quite hoppy, it was not as bitter as the other two, and in fact was quite tasty due to it’s fruitiness. I would have to say that Wild Rose’s IPA was most accurately in fact an IPA. As somewhat who appreciates tradition and history, I definitely respect this - though tradition may not automatically equate to the most universally-enjoyable beer, I suppose. I highly recommend all three actually, and they did go well with the butter chicken!

FYI - other dishes at the potluck (besides my Beef Madras) included Saag Paneer, Dum Aloo, Butter Chicken (as previously mentioned), Beef Samosas, Papadums, Naan (butter, garlic, and onion varieties), tandoor kabobs, as well as salad, kheer, raita, and various pickles and chutneys. Sounds amazing, right? It definitely was.  We held the potluck and subsequent beer tasting outside in Connie’s backyard. The rain peeked out it’s ugly head for a short while, but not until after we were finished our meals, and it really didn’t stick around for too long.  Let’s just say that a good time was had by all, and I for one, definitely ate way more than I should have. Everyone was able to take home a platter of food (mine only lasted until the next morning). I also had a couple of bottles of each of the beer left over as well, which didn’t last too long either.

Cheers,

Kirk

Road Trip to Leuven, Belgium (With The Boys)

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:24:49 -0600

Living in Northrhein Westphalia had many advantages geographically, which I came to appreciate through my three years living in Düsseldorf. The area was quite populated (The Rhein/Ruhr regions together have over 10 million inhabitants), so there was never a lack of things going on. Also, since the Rhein is a major shipping route, living so close to major ports meant that prices were perhaps a bit lower for imported items (like the all important maple syrup from back home). But probably the most important aspect of living so centrally in Europe was the ease of travel. By car, I lived about 8 hours from Milan, 6 hours from Paris, 2 1/2 hours from Amsterdam, and about 1 1/2 hours from Brussels. Coming from Canada where you have to travel 8 hours to get to the next major city, this was really not such a big deal for me, so needless to say, I tried to get away to another destination as often as possible. Also needless to say, perhaps, is that since I lived a mere 45 minutes to both the Dutch and Belgian borders, many of my “get-aways” tended to centre around a sort of beer theme.

This posting is about one of my many beer-related adventures - in this case when myself and a few buddies went off to Leuven in April of 2007 in search of the best beer in the world...

In the spring of 2007, my buddy Mark came to Germany to visit. As an avid beer nerd much like myself, he made it a priority to make sure that I organized a beer trip to Belgium - a task that I took to with pleasure. In fact no time was wasted - with my good pals Colin and Tim in tow, we picked Mark up from the airport in Düsseldorf, threw his gear in the hatch, and set off for Belgium. It made for a long day of traveling for the poor guy (insert small fiddle here), but I don’t think he minded, we were off to taste the best of the best, and straight from the source.

I had been to Leuven, Belgium twice before this trip. Both trips were somewhat beer related, though I threw in a concert or two here and there as well. This didn’t make me any kind of an expert on the city, but it did help us get pointed in the right direction.

Leuven is a very old university town - the original university dating from the 15th century. The university is still a major aspect of the city, and as such, there is a lively feel around town. This is particularly evident toward the Ladeuzeplein, the square in the centre of the city which is surrounded by bars and restaurants, as well as several off shooting streets and lanes with more pubs and bars.

Besides being a university town, Leuven is a major brewing town. There has been a commercial brewery here since the 14th century and that brewery has evolved into what is now the largest Brewing company in the world: Anheuser Bush Inbev. In fact, Stella Artois, their flagship beer, is brewed right in Leuven. Stella is by no means the only beer in their portfolio, as some of the labels include (but are definitely not limited to: Budweiser, Becks, Hoegaarden, Spaten/Franziskaner, and even Labatt. Impressive stuff, really. Every market around the world is influenced by these guys to some extent.

As we had just travelled for two hours or so (Mark for much longer, of course) we decided to start off in our hotel lounge for our first round of beers. We settled with something familiar: Leffe Brown (Bruin). After insisting that we have some cheese and crackers to accompany our beer (it just simply wouldn’t be the same experience with out something to eat, he explained) our barman commented on our fair choice of beer, and quite proudly pointed out that Leffe is a locally brewed beer, brewed just across the street at the Stella Artois brewery - AB Inbev’s flagship brewing complex in Leuven. I knew that Leffe’s abbey brewing days were long over, but I didn’t realise that it was brewed along with Stella - though it was not overly surprising after seeing the massive brewery. The thing that did surprise me was that our bartender, although happy with Leffe despite being owned by the same corporate giant, went out of his way to tell us just how “crappy” Stella Artois was. He said that no Belgian that knows anything about beer (and believe me, all Belgians know a lot about beer) would drink Stella by choice. I’m pretty sure that he went as far as calling it piss at one point. Now, I’ve ordered my fair share of pints of Stella in my time, and I wouldn’t say that it has ever been my favorite beer, but I definitely don’t hate the stuff. This comment surprised me, but it wouldn’t be the last time I heard it in Leuven. In fact, I don’t think I actually ever saw very many people drinking Stella, and anyone that we asked about it basically had the same response as our first bartender.

After the first Leffe, we jumped into a cab and grabbed a bite to eat in the main square. We sat down for some relatively traditional Belgian fare, and accompanied it with various Belgian goodies - this time some palm and Westmalle Dubbel - a couple of classics. These were great, though after dinner we made a conscious decision to settle for nothing short of the best beer we could find. We asked our waiter where he thought we should head to next. He suggested a couple of places off the top of his head, though he didn’t seem overly excited about them. Then after sparking up some good conversation, we explained that we were here to taste the best of the best, at which point his eyes lit up. He explained that there was a small pub a couple of blocks away that had just what we were looking for. He named a couple of beers for us to try, but most importantly, he said if we wanted to have the absolute best, we needed to have a Westvleteren 12.

I had heard of this beer, but had never tried it. It was somewhat mysterious, due to the fact that it is extremely rare and hard to come by. This is because the Trappist monks at St. Sixtus Abbey in Westvleteren only produce enough of it for the basic sustenance of their Abbey - not quite 5000 hl per year (compare this to Stella Artois’ over 10000000 hl per year). Because of the extremely low production, the monks at St. Sixtus Abbey only allow you to purchase one case of 24 bottles per vehicle, and only at the Abbey (or the Abbey run shop across the street) per month and only after making a reservation my telephone. As well, due to this rarity, the beer is not exactly “legally” sold in pubs. The monks are actively trying to remove their beer from pubs, as they do not want it to be sold for commercial purposes in any way. Therefore any beer that is sold in a pub (or anywhere besides the Abbey) is considered “grey market”, and thus frowned upon, and technically illegal. This of course intrigued us to no end, we just simply had to have it! Although we considered extending our trip by a day or two and heading to the Abbey, we decided that it just wasn’t in the cards for this trip, so we needed to find this beer here in Leuven - the search was on.

We made our way across the square, determined to find a place that sold the mysterious Westvleteren beers. Although, we were on a mission of sorts, we did stop to take in a few other Belgian classics. Along the way we had a bit of everything - Jupiler (Stella’s sister beer - and the most drunken beer in Belgium, despite it’s also being owned by the corporate giant and tasting very similar to Stella), Hoegaarden (the classic Belgian Wit) and Hoegaarden Speciale (Hoegaarden’s slightly stronger brother, which I believe is a seasonal). At another pub we delved into some Duvel (the standard against which all Strong Golden Ales are measured) and Tripel Karmeliet (an interesting blend of barley, wheat, and oats).

We were enjoying ourselves immensely (too much probably), but, though somewhat elusive, Westvleteren was our goal and we were not going to be satisfied until we had one in our hands. Down a small lane we came across a tiny pub with a blue cat on the sign. We swore that the waiter from the restaurant earlier had said something about a blue cat - we were excited - could this be it?

We walked into the tiny place (which had one unisex bathroom - complete with a urinal - interesting) and walked up to the bar. It was somewhat intimidating, really. We didn’t know if you could just simply ask for the stuff, or if you had to know a secret handshake, or what. Finally, I believe it was Tim who simply asked the precious words, “Do you have any Westvleteren?”

After a couple of questions (clearly confirming that we were not undercover monks attempting to bust the pub - which I’m sure was hard to figure out due to our glassy eyed and somewhat obnoxious demeanor) and some general buttering up, he proceeded to tell us that he did, in fact, have the entire line of beer that the St. Sixtus monks produce. Hardly being able to hold our composure due to the anticipation and excitement, we eagerly ordered one of each - the blonde, the 8, and (sigh) the 12.

The bartender pulled out four bottles for us. I must admit that the bottles themselves were quite unassuming, as they did not have any labeling at all. The bottles are distinguished by the colour of their cap, and as such are sometimes referred to as green, blue, and yellow. We set it up like a standard beer tasting - generally going from lightest to strongest.

The first we tried was the blonde (green cap) - sort of akin to a Duvel, though not quite as strong (alcohol) tasting - as it is only 5.8%. It does have a spicy character to it, which is evident in the nose as well as the finish. A very good beer, but I wouldn’t consider it one of my all time faves. (I am of course going from memory and basic tasting notes here, unfortunately).

The 8 (blue cap) was much more unique. Very chocolatey and full bodied. Strong, yet very palatable for a beer sitting at 8%. It is a Dubbel, and as such is quite rich and malty, with sugary or caramel undertones - maybe even some dark fruity elements. A beautiful beer - a perfect example of the Trappist Dubbel style. I’m not sure if I liked it any more than say a Westmalle Dubbel, which I had enjoyed countless times before, but it was very good.

Now it was time for the main event. We all took a taste of the 12 (yellow cap). Maybe it was because of the fact that the beer was made by monks, but I swear there is a little piece of heaven in my Trappist chalice! Wow - what a flavour! Deep, chocolately and spicy. Extremely rich and as full bodied as the before pictures on the Biggest Loser. This is a very complex beer, with each sip giving way to new elements. Nutty, yet malty, with an ever present element of alcohol strength due to it’s 10 - 11%. We all just sort of sat there for a while silently sipping and contemplating our existence. What an experience.

Although this was the highlight of the night (highlight of my life even - probably not, but up there) we did manage to hit a couple more places, including a club where one of my favorite house Dj’s happened to be playing. A perfect way to end off a perfect evening of perfect beer. At the club, they were selling glasses of Stella for three Euro - a huge difference from the $8-$10 glasses back home - so of course we had to partake. I have to admit, though, after the (life changing?) experience that we had that evening, I was starting to agree with our initial bartender that Stella did have some rather insufficient qualities, at least in comparison to some of the amazing beers we had tasted that evening. Piss? - I probably wouldn’t go that far, but I definitely don’t order Stella very often any more.

Cheers,

Kirk

Wild Rose Brewery - Kölsch Seasonal Release - Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Sat, 8 Aug 2009 15:48:04 -0600

As I mentioned in my last blog, my favorite local Craft Brewery, Wild Rose, released their latest seasonal just around a couple of weeks to a month ago, and this time around it was a Kölsch. As a huge fan of this particular style, I was very eager to try it.

Wild Rose definitely did not disappoint! In fact, although I think their entire line of beer is fantastic, the Kölsch is currently my favorite. Although it is a slight departure from the Cologne original, Wild Rose’s version definitely nailed the fundamentals. Just like the original, it is almost reminiscent of a lager, but with distinct ale elements. It is top fermented at a fairly warm temperature and then lagered at a cool temperature for a time to smooth it out. It has a slightly hoppy, and distinct yet light malty flavour. I am willing to bet that there is a certain amount of wheat in there somewhere as well due to the fruity undertones, though I haven’t confirmed this as of yet. Adding a small amount of wheat is common even in Cologne, so this would not be surprising.

The day that Wild Rose released their Kölsch, I came down to their taproom for a couple of pints (the first time I ever actually had a “pint” of Kölsch, as it is always served in a small 200 ml glass in Cologne). Like many brew pubs and craft breweries, Wild Rose features cask conditioned beer every now and then (actually weekly, on Fridays). On this day, the cask was filled with unfiltered Kölsch. This stuff was quite good, but perhaps a bit unconventional, at least in terms of what I was used to. It was very fruity and had small chunks of hops still floating in it - definitely cool! I did like it a lot, but I think I prefer the regular stuff. They have since featured casks in which they tweaked the Kölsch by using varieties of hops such as Hallertau (which is the typical variety of hops used by those Bavarians in their Helles) as well as North American varieties like Cascade and Chinook - in fact these two are featured in a cask of Kölsch on Friday, August 14th, which I think I just may have to check out.

Another big thumbs up for the folks at Wild Rose - they never cease to amaze!

Cheers,

Kirk

Kölsch vs. Alt - The Battle Rages On

Fri, 7 Aug 2009 02:50:47 -0600

Around a month ago, the Calgary Beer Fest was held at the Stampede grounds here in Calgary, AB. As an avid beer drinker, I was asked to accompany some restauranteur friends to do some tastings. Upon exploring the exhibits, I came across a brewery that I was familiar with, but a particular beer of theirs that I hadn’t tasted before - a beer style that I hadn’t had from a Canadian brewery...

I was ecstatic when I saw the tap said Mt Begbie High Country Kölsch - what is this?! Kölsch?!?! - In Canada?!

Then...

A couple of weeks ago, Wild Rose Brewery (Calgary, AB, Canada) released their summer seasonal beer. This time around it was a Kölsch. Seriously, what’s going on here?!?

For those of you that know me, you know that I have recently lived in Germany for three years. So any time a craft brewery that I enjoy puts on a german style for their seasonal, I get quite excited. This time around, though, I have to admit that I was more or less out of control with anticipation for this beer. I’ll explain why...

In Germany, I lived in the city of Düsseldorf, which is in a very unique and very traditional region as far as beer goes. The local specialties of the region consist of two beers in particular: Alt, which is the traditional style of Düsseldorf, and Kölsch, which comes from Cologne. Probably the most important thing to realize about these two fantastic cities, which are merely 30-some odd kilometers away from each other, is that they have a very violent and disturbed past. Many of these problems stem from power struggles between the Archbishop of Cologne and the Count of Berg back in the middle ages - both wanted control of the cities due to their strategic locations along the Rhein river. In fact, the suburb of Düsseldorf that I lived in, Kaiserswerth, was once the stomping grounds and a heavily fortified customs outpost of Holy Roman Emperors. One of Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa’s palaces was a 10 minute walk away from my house - you just don’t find that kind of stuff in Calgary very often, unfortunately).

So what does this have to do with beer? I am getting to that, I promise...

These aspects of history play a large role in the modern day attitudes and deeply intrenched feelings that people from Cologne have about people from Düsseldorf (and vice versa). This was evident to me very early on - in fact the first day I arrived, my landlord took me out for a beer (which of course turned out to be an Alt), and he proceeded to passionately tell me how if I cared for my well being, I would never even consider purchasing a Kölsch, as they are little more than horse piss. I also heard many stories from other patrons about how Kölners (people from Cologne) are this, and that, and whatever else. I mean I grew up in Regina, Saskatchewan, and I was definitely aware of differences between Regina and Saskatoon, likewise the obvious tensions between Calgary and Edmonton during any “Battle of Alberta”, but this was on another level altogether.

We went to a brewery/pub called im Füchschen - which I later found out was one of the original producers of a very traditional top fermented ale known as “Alt”. This was one of the relatively few ales that was able to survive the onslaught of the Pilsners and Lagers that swept across Central and Northern Europe over the last couple hundred years - keeping hold of this traditional style of beer was a fact that the people of Düsseldorf were apparently very proud of. The pub itself seemed somewhat typically German - very jovial and social, though still different than the huge beer halls of Bavaria that I was formerly familiar with. This was much more intimate - even the glasses were more quaint. Rather than the huge 1 litre Maß that was so common in Munich and Bavaria, here I was drinking Alt from a tiny 200 ml glass. The beer was quite cold and very fresh, and I never ran out, as the server was constantly running around with a tray full of these glasses, and as soon as you were finished one glass, another one appeared almost magically. The taste was somewhat hoppy with distinct malty caramel overtones - much like an English ale, but a bit more upfront and crisp. This stuff was good! As we finished our beer, another was dropped in front of us like clockwork. I discovered that this would continue until you placed your coaster on top of your glass - a sign that you were ready to go. The server would then (rather rudely) add up all the little marks he made on your coaster - the way they kept track of the amount of glasses you had, and you would leave. It was amazing just how quickly and easily you could go through eight to ten glasses of Alt, but at 200 ml each, you could actually still walk.

I didn’t get a chance to get to Cologne until about a month or so into my stint in Germany. Were these Kölners as terrible as I had heard? I figured that the best place to find out would be in a traditional pub - after all, I had to try this terrible beverage known as Kölsch, at least just to say that I did.

Just across from what I believe to be the most fantastic cathedral in the world (Cologne’s Dom) lies one of the most fantastic beerhalls/breweries: Bräuhaus Früh. This place is huge - not quite to the scale of Munich’s Hofbräuhaus, but definitely comparable, but the comparisons really do stop with the size. Actually, the place really reminded me of Düsseldorf’s many beerhalls. The food being served was basically the same - very pork and potato influenced (perfect!), including the ever present pork knuckle or Scheinshaxe (which makes you think you are eating like Emperor Barbarossa in the middle ages), and of course countless varieties of sausage or Wurst, including blood, mett (raw pork), and liver. Even the size of the glasses of beer being served were similar - still of the small 200 ml variety, only now just a bit narrower and taller. The first notable difference was in the colour of the beer itself. It was a light golden colour - again reminiscent of the golden Helles beers of Bavaria (and much different than the amber colour of Düsseldorf’s Alts).

But what about the taste?

My first taste was cold, refreshing, and wonderful! It was light and extremely easy to drink - almost reminiscent of a lager, but with a definite malty, yet somewhat fruity flavour. It was a bit hoppy, but the hops were nowhere near as up front as with Alt. This was an ale that basically thought it was a lager (I really can’t think of another way to describe it). As I am a huge fan of both styles of beer, I instantly fell in love! Of course I wasn’t about to let any of my Düsseldorf buddies know about this - nor did I ever tell anyone at the pub in Cologne that I liked Alt as well. And by the way, the people of Cologne were not anywhere near as bad as my drinking buddies in Düsseldorf claimed them to be. In fact, I found them to be quite laid back and relaxed. Düsseldorf is actually filled with far more hoity toity “pretty” people, as it is the fashion capitol of Germany. It really didn’t take long for me to find a patron willing to share his Kölsch lore with me. It was through him that I discovered that Kölsch is also a top fermented ale, though perhaps one of the lightest ales brewed. He claimed that the flavour has a lot to do with the time that it is stored in a cooler temperature which he said smooths out the sharpness. He was sure to note that although this is quite similar to the “lagering” that pilsners and lagers go through, it simply wasn’t (I really didn’t see the difference but I didn’t argue with him).

So in the end, I came to appreciate both styles of beer, and both cities for that matter. As much as any Kölner or Düsseldorfer would probably kill me for saying it, both cities have very similar beer cultures. Even the beers are fundamentally similar, although there are some major differences, such as the clear differences between the malts - but both are top fermented and often cask conditioned. Both are served directly out of small kegs on the bar, and both are drunken from small 200 ml glasses.

So the battle rages on between the two cities of Cologne and Düsseldorf, though these days it is more a battle of pride that is usually fought peacefully one pint - I mean 200 ml glass at a time. I came to love both cities, but, even though I always considered myself a Düsseldorfer, I think in the end I would have to lean toward Kölsch as my preference - just please nobody tell my buddies from Düsseldorf!

Cheers,

Kirk

It All Begins Here...

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:23:48 -0600

So here it is, the first blog - exciting times!

Where to begin? That is the real issue right now. For the last four years or so, I have been meaning to do this - I really have no excuse as to why I haven’t started until now. Better late than never they say.

About 4 years ago, due to a combination of professional dissatisfaction and a desire to fulfill a lifelong dream of living in Europe, I accepted a position teaching Middle Years Humanities at the International School of Düsseldorf, in Düsseldorf, Germany.

As a teenager, I had spent a couple of summers with friends in Munich. I was very used to seeing old lederhosen clad Bavarian men drinking Münchner Helles out of a tradional Maß - the huge 1 litre dimpled glass commonly associated with Oktoberfest and Bavarian beer halls. When I moved to Düsseldorf, I learned to truly appreciate the diversity of German beer styles, as I was introduced to the complete polar opposite. In the cities along the Rhein, from Bonn, and Cologne and through Düsseldorf up to where the Ruhr meets the Rhein, north of Industrial Duisburg and on toward the Dutch border, the beer halls and pubs are full of people drinking top fermented ales out of tiny 200 ml glasses. A huge difference from the Biergartens of Bavaria, and likewise different from so many other areas of germany and the rest of central Europe. These styles (primarily Kölsch and Alt) inevitably became two of my favorite - though don’t tell my Alt drinking buddies from Düsseldorf that I also like Kölsch, which hails from Düsseldorf’s arch rival city, Cologne. Nobody from one city would be caught dead drinking the other city’s brew - wars between the two cities have literally been started over less than that in the past. Fascinating stuff, really!

During the time that I spent in Germany, I was fortunate enough to experience many beer halls in many different regions, and therefore many different styles of beer. Each style has its own history and culture associated with it, which, as a history teacher, I find to be incredibly fascinating.

Of course, living in Europe has other advantages as well, one of which is the ability to easily, and relatively inexpensively, travel throughout the continent. I have had the opportunity to travel all over Europe and many of my trips have, of course, been beer related. I plan to document many of these trips in this blog.

So that’s about it for now. That’s a brief background of me and my fascination for beer. I have tons of photos and some interesting stories to share (at least I think they are). I also have spent some time over the last year or so becoming very serious about the North American craft brewing scene. I have fallen in love with a handful of Western Canadian brews, which I will share with you, along with some tasting notes.

Ultimately, this blog is intended to document my experiences and love of beer and I plan to do just that. Enjoy...