brew dog blog

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.

Brew Dog Blog officially declares this The Summer Of The Can (TSOTC).  TSOTC has begun a bit early this year, jumping summer’s official date by a full few weeks.  Partially responsible for this amazing situation is the timely introduction of the beers of the 21st Amendment Brewery from San Francisco to the New York City market.  Also not lending much credence to the whole idea of an official date for the beginning of summer is Oskar Blues’s Pilsner, Mama’s Little Yella Pils.

21st Amendment’s beers have been on my radar for a while, and I’m happy to finally get a chance to really sit down and enjoy their two current offerings available here in cans, Hell or High Watermelon, which is a Wheat Beer made with fresh pressed fruit, and Brew Free or Die, a west coast style IPA.  Hell or High Watermelon doesn’t really sound like a beer I’d be into, and at first, honestly, it wasn’t a beer I enjoyed.  That only lasted about three sips, though, and as I proceeded, I became very convinced that I could quite happily consume a large quantity of this beer, and be very proud of the fact that I was drinking a watermelon beer.  I have been drinking these more out of the can then in the glass, but when I did pour it, I was surprised at just how pale it is.  It pours a light yellow color with a quick, fizzy head, and coms out with a big kicking aroma of watermelons.  The fruit flavor isn’t up front when you sip right away, but as you drink it, it comes out more and more.  If this beer warms up a bit too much, it gets a little off and cloying tasting, but honestly, there’s no real danger of that happening.  You will chug this beer, I promise.  Brew Free or Die is a very tasty, highly drinkable IPA that finishes nice and dry like a West Coast IPA should.  A little maltier than the typical offering, and almost bordering on the Pale Ale in terms of its lack of bracing bitterness, this is a very successful, deep, golden IPA with nice aromas of Pine and Citrus.  Very well balanced, not too sweet and not too bitter, another insanely drinkable win from 21st Amendment.  What will they do next?

Oskar Blues has already been well established as an excellent purveyor of canned goods, and should be considered one of the forefathers of TSOTC.  Their latest contribution, a very delicious canned Pilsner, pours a beautifully clear golden color, with a touch of sulphur and a good amount of hops on the nose.  A bit hoppier than most Pilsners, and hence a lot tastier to this here tongue, Mama’s Little Yella Pils is a fantastic Colorado take on an all-time beer classic. Very drinkable with no hot alcohols or yeast aromas, this Pilsner is pure drinkability, in the right kind of package for almost any situation.

With all of these offerings and a lot more coming down the pipeline, the bottle may very well be on its way out — so embrace the can, my friends, The Summer is upon us!

Since I was running late from the Upper West Side to band practice last night, I asked T-Bone to pick up the brews for practice.  He lives right near a very competent deli that in the past has supplied us with more than enough good jamming fodder — Lagunitas Hop Stoopid, Stone Ruination, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, etc.  Since we had been discussing it, and since supplies were looking dismal, Todd decided to also bring a Budweiser American Ale, the “great savior” of Budweiser’s Light Lager empire, their attempt at crossing over into the realm of people who have actual taste in beer.  Since the beer is certainly cheap enough, and I wanted to remind myself just how good the beer I drink on a regular basis actually is, I decided to start the night off with it, pouring some for myself and some for my bandmates.  Budweiser’s American Ale pours a darker almost brown color, with an overwhelming sweet smell, with no hops or yeast smells apparent at all.  When I tell you that this beer is actually worse than Budweiser’s “standard” Lager Beer, it might not surprise you.  However if I were to tell you that this is by far the worst, least successful beer I’ve tried in a very long time, perhaps ever, wait, you probably still wouldn’t be surprised.  To say that Budweiser should “stick to what they know” is a gross understatement.  They should send me a check refunding my cash, donate 1/10 of their proceeds to Sixpoint and Captain Lawrence, and just call it a day.  An apt description I came up with was that American Ale tastes like base Budweiser which has had cornflakes steeped in it and then had a few drops of weak brown food coloring added.  It’s truly better to drink almost anything, including nothing, instead of drinking this swill.  Do not come close, do not say I didn’t warn you, and don’t even pity me for trying it.  Just let it leave your mind.