I’ve been pretty wrapped up in everything except writing these days, including a recent obsession with Chess, trying to get back into gardening regularly, working, and playing music a few times a week. As usual I’ve had plenty of time to try lots of new beers, so instead of letting these new ones sit in the “queue” and eventually never get written up, I thought I’d highlight a few recent favorites in one blast.
Port Brewing is probably no stranger to anyone who reads this blog (don’t laugh, we have a few readers, even some who aren’t related to me), and their Hot Rocks Lager is one of the more interesting sounding of their seasonal, somewhat experimental beers. While most of the barrel-aged, soured, fruit adding beers are done over at Lost Abbey, there’s plenty of intriguing stuff coming out of Port to keep you busy for a while. When a recent stroke of luck saw a friend on his way back to NYC from PA with a detour programmed in for grabbing beers, I asked him to grab whatever Port stuff was around, as I usually do, and I was rewarded handsomely with this 22oz bottle. Hot Rocks Lager is a “Steinbier,” an obscure German Style beer where the wort is boiled by dropping super hot rocks into the kettle, causing a ton of caramelization along with the typical wort boiling. Actually it seems that Steinbiers could take different forms, therefore making it more of a process than a style, but you get the point. I’m not 100% sure how far Tomme and his collaborator went in creating this Steinbier, but I understand he presented on the subject at the National Homebrewer’s conference a few weeks back, so maybe an astute reader can comment. Hot Rocks turns out to be a very satisfying Lager, true to the Lager style with its lack of yeast aromas, and big on the malty, chocolatey aroma ostensibly caused by the Steinbier process. A smooth, very drinkable, ruby red lager with a crackling white head that hangs around, Hot Rocks is somewhere near a Bock in style, but not quite as fruity, if I’m keeping my styles straight. It’s a delicious beer with an interesting story, though, and it doesn’t take much more than that to get me on board.
Ballast Point is one of the San Diego area breweries that us New Yorkers have been waiting to get our hands on for quite a while. Despite the fact that their Yellowtail Kolsch is their flagship beer, they entered the NYC market with their Calico Amber and Big Eye IPA. Both are available in 12oz bottles now, so in the name of research, I grabbed one of each. Big Eye IPA is not quite the “classic” West Coast IPA you might expect upon picking it up, but it still proved to be quite delicious and very drinkable. It pours a deep orange color with a huge white head, just like you want an IPA to look. All of the right hop aromas are there, with a touch of caramel on top. There’s no realy bracing bitterness here, and in fact, this is more of a balanced IPA from the West Coast than any I’ve had in quite some time. In a lot of ways its closer to an East Coast style IPA, or maybe a West Coast style Pale Ale. A nice thin-medium body keeps it drinkable as well, and the moderate ABV could make this a killer session beer. I’d love to try this on tap, I think it would be very delicious. Not a mindblower, but I’ll definitely return to it. Likewise the Calico Amber is a very balanced, delicious, sessionable beer, although one with a lot more malt complexity and not as much hop aroma. There are sweeter smells on display here, with some toastiness to boot, and overall the Calico could be a great choice for someone looking to check out some West Coast styled beers without having to split their tongues for an entire night. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on some of Ballast Point’s bigger beers so I can see what they can do when they stretch their legs out a bit.
Contreras is one of the many obscure breweries brought in by the magnificent 12 percent importers, and their “Valeir” series of beers have been favorites of mine since they started coming in last year. Their newest, the “Extra,” is another excellent example of the Belgian response to American innovation, in the form of the “Belgian IPA.” If you’re not familiar with this style, I would almost describe it as a hoppier Saison with American Hops, and that’s exactly what you get here. A very dry beer in the tradition of Belgian “digestability” with the added benefit of the delicious citrus and bubblegum flavors we’ve come to love from American IPAs. Extra pours a beautiful golden orange with a classic Belgian styled rocky head which bursts massive aromas of hops and a slight bit of toasty malt. No extra sweetness, no extra body, just beautiful refreshing beer flavors and aromas through and through. The Belgian Yeast and American Hops compliment each other perfectly here, and unlike other Belgian hoppy beers in green bottles, there’s no oxidized skunk aromas or flavors. Another winner!
Bonus points: does anyone out there know why Belgian IPAs tend to carry the “Extra” appellation? This has been bugging me for a while now.
Reaching back a bit in my archive of notes to write up two beers in one of my all time favorite “non-styles,” the Saison. One is a very authentic modern take originating far from where the style was born, and another a kind of ancient take from right in the heart of the Senne valley.
Getting into beer and homebrewing has allowed me to meet some pretty interesting people — homebrewers in particular are relatively strange folk for the most part. Dedicated to their craft, they embody a lot of the principles and attitudes I admire in people in general, and I’ve seen evidence of excellent homebrewers who are also excellent welders, chefs, entrepeneurs, designers, gardeners, and…chemists.
3# Crystal Malt Mix (some English, Belgian, and American, mix of high and low, some red for flavor)
With their Red Chair IPA, Deschutes promises extreme hop presence without the bracing bitterness that sometimes precludes my enjoyment of otherwise hoptastic Imperial and Double IPAs. I snagged a few from Joey in our last 

