Post-xmas beer wrapup

Merry holidays and happy solstice. Bill O'Reilly can go fuck himself with the whole "war on christmas" crap.

Anyway, the advent beer calendar is over, and it was amazing.

The last few beers were:

Shmaltz brewing, He'brew, Jewbelation Twelve, twelfth anniversary holiday ale -- 22oz bottle, 12%abv. 12 malts, 12 hops, 12%abv. They probably should've put this in a 12 oz bottle, to be consistent, but the 22oz bottle was definitely pleasant. A very nice, strong ale. Almost too strong, but good flavor. The 12s could've been a bit much, it probably would've been just fine with four of everything, but it works.

Deschutes Brewing Company, The Abyss, 2007 release -- 22oz bottle, 11%abv. This is a just plain amazing beer. I've actually been saving one of these 2007 editions since last xmas, so I haven't opened this one yet. I'll probably wait for a special occasion, but now that I have two bottles, it's going to be harder to hold onto them both.

Mikkeller, Santa's Little Helper 2008 -- 750ml bottle, 11%abv. This was a pleasant surprise. For a young, strong beer, it was pleasantly crisp and dry, but with great flavor. Highly recommended.

Castle Brewery Eggenberg, Samichlaus Bier, 2007 bottling -- This is "the definitive" xmas beer. 14%abv, 11.2fl oz bottle. The strongest lager in the world. Aged 10+ months before it's bottled, it's still worth holding onto like you would a wine. I've had previous year's bottles, so I'll see if I can hang onto this one for a while to let it mature a bit. It can be a bit overwhelming when it's "young" but it's still good.

Oh, and my home brewed English brown ale (recipe several posts below) is in the keg, and some bottles have gone out to folks for the holidays. It turned out quite well, good malt flavor, dry and crisp, with just the right amount of hoppiness. I was a bit worried about the hops, since I'm using my homegrown hops that I don't know the exact acid content of, but they seem to be right where they should be for the somewhat-subtle style.

Overall the advent beer calendar was a great gift, and was hugely enjoyable. Thanks Trace!

Again, happy holidays, and may all your beers be yummy.

Mmmm, beer...

Yet another beer update.

Tuesday: Anchor Steam -- Old Foghorn, 12oz bottle, 8%abv. A very nice barleywine. Nothing extremely special, but quite pleasant and tasty.

Wednesday: Russian River Brewing Company -- Pliny the Elder double IPA, half-liter bottle, 8%abv. This was a pleasant surprise. "Pliny" the elder, according to the always historically authoritative beer label, was a Roman naturalist born in 23 A.D., who helped to name/identify hops, and also saved people from the eruption of Vesuvius. Regardless of what the man did or didn't do, the beer was good. Extremely hoppy, lots of good hop aroma and flavor, and assertive bitterness. Quite pleasant, if you're into hops (like me), and you'll feel smarter after reading the label.

Today's beer: Theakston -- Old Peculier, "traditionally brewed Yorkshire ale". I haven't opened this one yet, and have no idea what to expect. If it's anything like the rest of the beers in this calendar, it'll be good.

I'm giving up beer.

Hah, as if.

My liver and waistline will probably appreciate this month being over though.

Saturday's beer: Caldera Brewing Company, India Pale Ale (IPA), 12oz can, 6.1%abv. These Caldera beers are good, but it's just plain weird to pour a real beer out of a can.

Sunday's beer: BrewDog, Paradox Speyside, 11.2oz bottle, 10%abv. This was delightful. It's an imperial stout aged in Scotch whiskey barrels. Recommended to be served at room temperature, which was a good recommendation. It was very tasty, and I just wish the bottle was bigger.

Today's beer: Full Sail Brewing, 21st birthday Doppelbock, 22oz bottle, 8%abv. This is a special release for Full Sail's 21st anniversary. I've been really impressed with the Full Sail beers over the last several years, and this is no exception. I'm not normally a Bock or Doppelbock fan, but this one is great. Good malt profile, crisp, clean, rich, just overall very nice. Full Sail had a bad span of years a while back, but ever since they became employee owned, they've been producing good stuff. Glad to see their 21st birthday pass with a good brew to mark the occasion.

Yes, thank you, I will have another

Yay, more beer!

Yesterday's beer was: Alesmith, Yulesmith Holiday Ale, 8.5%abv, 22oz bottle. I like Alesmith's beers, and this was no exception, quite yummy.

Today's beer: Caldera Brewing Company, Pale Ale, 5.4%abv, 12oz can(!). Haven't had this one yet, and other than being one of the few "real" beers available in cans, and the little I've read about it at the linked site, I don't know much about it.

Oh, and I couldn't wait, I'm drinking the Double Bastard mentioned previously -- I'm pleasantly surprised with its quality. Very nice beer. I remember the previous one I'd had as being overly harsh, but this one is more subtle, if you can use "subtle" to describe a 10.5%abv beer.

Yes, more beer

Today's beer: Affligem Noel, Christmas ale brewed with spices. 750ml bottle. 9%abv.

A very tasty Belgian ale. Kind of in between a dubbel and a trippel. Very flavorful and just overall quite pleasant.

But then again I've imbibed almost the whole thing, so perhaps that's clouding my judgment.

Yet Another Holiday Beer Update

Today's beer: Unibroue, Don De Dieu (Gift of God), 9% abv, 750ml bottle (25.4 fl oz). This is a "triple wheat ale", and is quite nice. If all wheat beers were like this, I'd drink wheat beer.

Thankfully, the French Canadians produce something other than Celine Dion.

Monday Beer Update

Saturday's beer was: Avery Brewing Co., Anniversary Ale Fifteen, 22oz bottle, 7.68%abv. An "Ale brewed with spices, herbs, and figs" according to the label. Also from the label:

15 years of brewing! You know what's been the best part lately? Tons of experimentation! For the past couple of years, we've been working with several strains of brettanomyces (wild yeast). We found one and deemed it the best for it's [sic] tart flavor and funky, fruity aroma. Adding black mission figs for a subtle jammy aspect, hibiscus flowers for an herbal bouquet and hazy sunset hue, and white pepper for a bit of spicy twang, we've created FIFTEEN -- a unique drinking experience inspired by the wild farmhouse ales of Belgium. Though immensely complex today, more flavors will emerge with time, so throw a few bottles in your cellar for future celebrations. Thanks to all of you who have made our 15 year ride possible!
Peace to all and follow your dreams!
Brewed with Rocky Mountain water, malted barley, malted wheat, hops, black mission figs, hibiscus flowers, white pepper, and a very unique strain of brettanomyces yeast.

(Note that the misplaced apostrophe not only occurs on the label, but also is on the linked web page above. A nice touch of consistency, at least.)

The description's a bit over the top, but what can we expect from marketing people. I haven't opened it yet, we'll see what it's like later.

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Edited to add:

I'm drinking the "Fifteen" now. It's a very nice ale, but as over-the-top as the description is, the beer itself isn't all that crazy. The bret yeast is definitely noticeable, but as to the rest of it, it's just a very nice, clean, crisp ale. Yeah, it has a bit of fruit and funk, but if they hadn't told me it was brewed with white pepper, hibiscus flowers, and figs, I wouldn't know. Don't get me wrong, it's a very nice beer, it's just not really as crazy as I expected it to be, given its description. (note proper lack-of-apostrophe in that "its")

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Sunday's beer: O'Hanlon's Brewing Company, Ltd., Thomas Hardy's Ale, 8.5oz bottle, 11.7%abv. I've had a previous year's version of this one. This is the 2006 edition, and if the last one was a proper indication, I'll probably hang onto this one for a couple more years before I think it's ready. I can't find a home page (quickly) for the brewery, but you can see what The Independent says about the beer.

Today's beer: Lagunitas Brewing Company, Lumpy Gravy. I'm drinking this one right this second. It's a variety of brown ale, but otherwise is hard to describe. It's tasty though. Named after the Frank Zappa album, and I believe was released on the 40th anniversary of the release of that album. A great album, and a tasty beer.

Speaking of brown ale, I made one yesterday, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 9lbs 2-row pale malt
  
• 1 lb 80l crystal malt
  
• .5 lb chocolate malt
  
• 4 oz Goldings hops (home grown!)
  
• White Labs WLP002 English Ale Yeast
  

Process:

1. Steep grains at 154 degrees for one hour.
   
2. Mash out
   
3. Sparge, extracting approx 7.5 to 8 gallons of wort.
   
4. Bring to a hard rolling boil
   
5. Boil for 15 minutes
   
6. Add 2 oz Goldings (bittering)
   
7. Boil for 45 more minutes
   
8. Add 1.5 oz Goldings (flavor)
   
9. Boil for 15 more minutes (75 minutes total boil)
   
10. Start chilling and add final 0.5oz Goldings (aroma)
    
11. Transfer to fermenter, pitch yeast and aerate.
    

It was a good brewing session with no surprises. The wort tastes great, and the yeast is happily working away right now, so I'm hopeful it ends up tasty. Should be done in time for Xmas, especially since I force-carbonate.

Another beer update

Today's beer is: Fuller's -- Vintage Ale Limited Edition, 2006 release, half-liter (16.9oz) bottle.

As shown on the linked page, this is a fancy bottle, in its own little box. Since this is the 2006 release, this one is already properly aged so I'll probably go ahead and drink it shortly.

Since I haven't been drinking each beer on its own night, I'm ahead a couple of bottles. Tonight I opened the Ninkasi Total Domination IPA, which I've had before. Tasting it, the easiest way to describe it is by reference -- if you've had the much more common Bridgeport IPA, just imagine that, but the volume bumped up about 25%. The color, aroma, flavor, and bitterness are quite similar between the two, there's just much more of them in the Ninkasi beer. I like the Bridgeport, so the Ninkasi is quite nice.

Edited to add:

From the tasting notes at Fuller's site:

Vintage Ale 2006
This full-bodied vintage is brewed with Fuggles and Super Styrian hops that create a tapestry of rich, spicy flavours. Orange, citrus and fruitcake notes are all present, and are balanced well with the biscuity, creamy malt flavours leaving a soft and warming finish.

We'll see if that's true soon.

Holiday beer update

Last night I drank the Bridgeport Old Knucklehead barleywine mentioned in the post below, and it was grand. It was nice and dry, almost crisp. Very refreshing for such a big beer. A nice surprise.

Today's beer: Stone Brewing -- Double Bastard, 22oz bottle. Arrogant Bastard, but doubled. This is the new 2008 release. I've had a couple of the previous year's releases, so I think I'll try to save this one and give it some more age before I drink it.

Holiday Beer!

Although I'm a strict Atheist (I go to all the meetings), my wife and I do celebrate the holiday season. Evidently there's some religious thing called "Advent" that has something to do with something that happened a couple thousand years ago, or something. They probably stole it from the pagans.

Anyway, what really matters is that for this "Advent" thing evidently somebody sets you up with daily gifts. I vaguely remember one of my grandparents giving me some sort of calendar doohickey with doors that you opened each day during Advent to reveal a chunk of candy. Well, now that I'm all grown up, I get beer instead!

The local brew shop here created a small set of "Beer Advent Calendars" -- essentially a really fancy case of beer with each beer individually placed in a small box labelled with the date it's supposed to be opened. My wife was kind enough to buy one of these for me, and it's been great.

So far, the beers have been:

November 30: Mikkeller -- Holiday Ale (dark, strong Belgian ale with spices), 750ml bottle. I'm a huge fan of Mikkeller beer. Very cool setup where a couple of guys rent brewery space and make kick ass beer. I've had several of their beers, and have been consistently impressed.

December 1: Heater Allen -- "Hugo" bock. Nice beer, 22oz bottle, I normally don't like Bock, but this one was quite good. This is a fairly new local (McMinnville) brewery that's been pretty impressive with their lagers.

December 2: Bridgeport -- Old Knucklehead Barleywine, 22oz bottle. I haven't opened this one yet, maybe tonight. I've had previous releases of Old Knucklehead and have liked it, so I'm assuming that will continue. I don't drink much Bridgeport beer these days, but they are one of the "main" Oregon breweries that got the whole microbrew revolution going around here.

December 3: Ninkasi -- Total Domination IPA, 22 oz bottle. I've had this one before, and it's quite nice. I've been enjoying Ninkasi's beers a bit more recently. They're a relatively new local (Eugene) brewery that's only been around for a couple of years, and a couple of their early offerings weren't great. The stuff I've had recently has been good though.

I'll post more details as I open more of these up, it's going to be a good month...