Rogue Northwestern Ale

Trace brought this back from her trip to the Oregon coast today.  It's a nice tasty pale ale with pleasant hops and mild malt.  Quite enjoyable, and a good brew for fans of "The Deadliest Catch" on Discovery Channel.

The End Of The World

As the Canadians brew it...

La fin du monde
Unibroue, Quebec, Canada, eh.
12oz bottle, 9%abv

Pours straw colored and a bit cloudy, with a white head that dissipates fairly quickly.

Aroma is bubblegum and light malt, with some wheat graininess.

Flavor is less gummy with more malt and a hint of warmth. Little to no hops.

Mouthfeel is smooth and creamy, with a slightly sweet finish.

Tasty.

Corvallis bike night

Beautiful evening, good turnout.

Canadians...

...make good beer.

La Maudite (the damned)
Unibroue, Chamblay, Quebec, Canada, eh?
12oz bottle, 8%.abv

This is a really nice super malty beer from up North.

Pours dark amber with a fluffy white head that lasts well.

Aroma is almost entirely malt. There are some subtle fruit candy notes -- like a freshly opened lollipop.

Flavor is also all about malt, with some nice fruity hints (like most fruity Canadians, they're a bit restrained, perhaps with straps).

Finish is balanced toward sweet.

Pretty yummy, and vastly superior to Molson's.

Wilco Tango Foxtrot

"A malty, robust, jobless recovery ale"
Lagunitas Brewing, Petaluma, CA
22oz. Bottle, 7.8%abv

I'm drinking this "WTF" ale in honor of the beautiful summer day that today started as, and the wet crappy day it turned into that I got to ride my bike home in.

The beer pours moderately dark, with a thick white head that lingers forever.

Aroma is malt with balanced hops. Nothing crazy, just good.

Flavor is malt with some nice fruitiness and medium hops.

Mouthfeel is fairly big without being too sweet.

Finish is balanced a bit toward sweet, bit not overly so.

Another yummeh beer from those crazy Californians.

Lucky 13 Anniversary Release

22oz bottle, 8.9%abv
Lagunitas Brewing
Petaluma, CA

This year's Lucky 13 has a bit different label and, if I'm remembering correctly, a bit bolder flavor.

Pours quite clear with a nice white head. Color is dark gold to light amber -- it's quite pretty.

Aroma is nicely hoppy, but with a big malt undertone with nice caramel too.

Flavor is similar with robust hops and matching malt. Very tasty but also noticeably big with a good bit of alcohol warmth.

Finish is a bit on the sweet side, but not overly so. This is strong enough that it would probably age nicely and dry out a bit.

Pretty darn tasty.

(Posted from my new phone -- hopefully the pictures will be better than my old Blackberry)

For Chris

Look what was parked next to my building at work today!

Great Weekend

What did you do this weekend?

I got to pretend to be a rock star for a couple of days.

It was awesome!

Happy hops

After a cold, wet start to the season, a week of dry weather has really perked up the hops. The tops of the posts where the cable attaches is 14 feet. Wish it was a little taller, but WTF.

Hugo Bock

Heater Allen Brewing, McMinnville, Oregon
22oz bottle, 6.2oz bottle

I'm normally not a Bock fan. This one is pretty good. Being from the Northwest land of hops, it's weird to have a beer with essentially no hop character though.

Color is dark reddish brown, with a light head that dissipates quickly.

Aroma is nonexistent. Really, it's like smelling distilled water.

Flavor is all about the malt. It's quite nice -- a great nutty and roast flavor, with light sweetness.

Finish is clean and crisp, with just enough bitterness to perfectly balance the light sweetness in the flavor.

A really nice beer. If all bocks I had were like this, I'd drink more bocks.

Homebrew CDA

I've been enjoying a variety of the Cascadian Dark Ales that have been available recently. We decided to brew our own, and it turned out great. I figured I'd share the recipe:

5 gallons:
9 lbs 2-row malt
6 pounds pilsner malt
1 pound Carrafa II malt
1 pound 60L crystal malt

Hops:
Bittering: 1.5oz Amarillo for 60 minutes
Bitter/Flavor: 1 oz Mt. Hood (homegrown) for 45 minutes
Flavor: 1 oz Cascade for 15 minutes
Aroma: 1 oz Cascade for 5 minutes
Aroma: 0.5 oz Amarillo for 5 minutes
Aroma: 2 ounces Cascade dry hop in secondary

1 hour mash @ 150 degrees. Standard sparge and boil.

White Labs WLP001 California Ale Yeast

Original Gravity: 1.079
Final Gravity: 1.015

Alcohol By Volume: 8.5%

---

This turned out really well for our first attempt at a CDA, other than being a bit strong. The real secret is the Carrafa malt -- it's a de-husked roasted barley. Any other roasted malt would turn this into a hoppy stout, but the Carrafa lends the dark color without a ton of the flavor.

Appearance is black, but with good clarity.

Due to the dry hopping, the aroma is great. Tons of traditional Cascade hop aroma, that lasts surprisingly well.

Flavor is solidly hoppy, with a bit of malt sweetness to balance it out. A hint of roast, but just enough.

Mouthfeel is surprisingly light, especially for the strength. It's almost too easy to drink. Finish is also a surprise -- the balance turned out great. It has enough bitterness to be clean, but enough sweetness to balance it out.

Overall, I'm very pleased with this beer. It was really fun to come up with a recipe for a new style and have it come out halfway decent.

2011 Mac Ale

IPA
Oregon Trail Brewing, Corvallis, Oregon
22oz bottle, 6.3%abv

This is a "meh" IPA that still tastes good because it's only given to those folks that ran the Mac Forest 50k. Funny how limited access "improves" a thing.

Ignoring the "special" nature of the beer, here are the details:

Aroma is a bit stale, with oxidized notes. Hops and malt are there, but don't dominate.

Flavor is better, with a bit less oxidation and better malt and hops.

Finish is initially smooth and lightly sweet, but transitions to a solid, lingering bitterness.

Not horrible, not great, but I'm still going to enjoy it, 'cause only a couple hundred other people on the planet have access to this beer.

What do you get...

For running 31.4 miles and 6700 feet of elevation on muddy trails?

Beer, of course! With a matching pilsner glass

Oh, and a nice long sleeve t-shirt (not pictured).

And sore muscles (also not pictured).

Yesterday I ran the 2011 McDonald Forest 50k trail run. It's Oregon's largest Ultramarathon event, and one of the tougher ones around due to the difficult terrain and crazy elevation gain/loss of the course.

Up to this point, I'd never run an official event longer than a half marathon, but I decided to go right past a "normal" marathon distance and go right for an ultra. Since I live here in Corvallis I got to train on the actual trails the event is on, so I knew what to expect from the event. It went well, I actually had fun -- yes, running for 6 hours and 49 minutes can be fun, if you're crazy enough -- and I beat my goal time of 7 hours. That was my secondary goal after just finishing the damn thing -- plenty of the entrants don't manage to finish.

I had lots of help -- Tracie was patient with my long hours of training, and she and the fam were a great support crew during the race. My brother-in-law Stafford was a great training partner, and it was great to see him kicking ass out on the course.

This is what exhaustion, endorphins and relief look like:

Will I do it again next year? If you'd asked me before yesterday, I'd have said, "No, once will be enough" but today...? Today my answer would be more of a "hmm, maybe..."

I should probably write up a more detailed account of the nearly-seven-hours of running for posterity while the memories are still fresh. Maybe tomorrow...

Southern Tier 2XIPA

Is yummy. That is all.

Russian River Sanctification

"Blonde" ale

This is an interesting one -- they call it a blonde, but it's super sour. Sour nose, with a bit mellower sour flavor, that mellows to malt and a clean finish.

Yet another Russian River beer I like. I'm going to have to make a trip down there some time...

Ninkasi tasting

Photo: double-dry-hopped Tricerahops Double IPA, and Unconventionale Imperial Stout.

Th Tricerahops is a great big IPA, and this extra hoppy version is an improvement on the original.

The Unconventionale is an interesting one -- it's brewed with heather, lavender, and tarragon. Normally I'm not a huge fan of spiced beers, but this is really well done. The spices are very subtle, lending a pleasant "foodness" to the beer -- almost like a middle-eastern dish. It is also very drinkable, for its 10%abv.

Nice to try some Ninkasi beers I hadn't had before -- very enjoyable way to spend the afternoon.

Laurelwood Workhorse Limited Edition Double IPA

There's a free Laurelwood tasting near campus. This is their 10%abv double IPA. I like the standard version, and this one is great too. Definitely doesn't seem like it's 10% -- it's a good thing they're only selling it in 10 oz glasses...

Hooligan Brown Ale

Laurelwood Brewing
Portland, Oregon
22oz bottle, 5.3%abv

Pours dark amber, with a substantial head.

Aroma is light malt with a hint of toast and subtle hop that dissipates fairly quickly.

Flavor is similarly lightly malty with little hops.

Finishes clean and crisp with a relatively big hit of bitterness that comes very late.

Overall a decent beer. I'd like a bit more malt -- it seems more like an amber than a brown.

Dark Hops

Hoppy Black Ale
Beerhere brewery, Someplace Unpronounceable, Norway
16.9oz bottle, 8.5%abv

Pours black and opaque with a tan head than sticks around a while.

Aroma is citrus and pine hops, with some roast malt in the background, and a good bit of alcohol. The piney-ness with the alcohol borders on too much -- it's almost Pine-Sol-esque.

Flavor is similarly hoppy, but with more malt to back it up and no floor cleaner.

Finish is clean and well balanced.

I would probably like this a bunch if not for the slightly off-putting aroma.

Serious Madness

Black Ale
Mad River Brewing, Blue Lake, CA

Another good beer similar to what we've been brewing. Too busy to say more.

Swordfish DCDA

Reel Ales
"Double" Cascadian Dark Ale
Fish Brewing, Olympia, WA
22oz bottle, 7.5%abv

Since we're also brewing a CDA, we figured we'd try a new CDA we hadn't had yet. They call it a double, but it's not really strong enough. Still tasty though.

Nice citrus hop aroma.

Good hop flavor, with very subtle roast malt.

Robust bitter finish.

A nice beer from a brewery I'd never heard of.

Kulmbacher Monchshof Schwarz

German Black Lager
"The Original Black"
Kulmbacher Braurerei, Kulmbach, Bavaria, Germany
16.9oz bottle, alcohol not specified

Since we're making one of these, we figured we should drink one.

It's all about the malt. No hop aroma, nice pilsner malt instead. Flavor is also malt, with a tiny hint of hops. Finishes dry and clean with a solid bitterness.

A really good beer -- hopefully ours will turn out something like it.

Shiny

We were losing a lot of heat while steeping grain, so we got smart and made a simple insulating blanket for the mash tun. Seems to be working well and was easy to do.

Making a double batch right now -- German Black Lager and Cascadian Dark Ale. Both have the same basic mash, but we'll be splitting the wort into two boils and hopping them very differently. We'll also steep some additional grain in the lager, and obviously use different yeast.

Old Man

No, not me...

Winter Ale
Southern Tier Brewing, Lakewood NY
12oz bottle, alcohol not specified

It's a bit late for a Winter ale, but with the weather around here today, it's appropriate.

Pours amber and clear, with a light head that doesn't last very long.

Aroma is light malt, toast, and subtle caramel.

Flavor is also lightly malty, with a bit of peat and little-to-no hops.

Mouthfeel is fairly light, with a nice creaminess.

Finishes initially with some warmth, then with a lingering bitterness.

The bottle was a bit cold, so some more complexity may come out as it warms. I'll add a note if it's significant.

A good winter ale for a cold, wet spring day.

Half'weizen

Block 15 brewery
Corvallis, Oregon

Tracie and I have the day off, so decided to head down to the pub and turn in our coupons for our celebratory Half-marathon beers. Block 15 was a sponsor of the event.

Oh, and we both got new PRs too.

Ace of Spades

Imperial IPA
Hopworks Urban Brewery, Portland, Oregon
22oz bottle, 9.5%abv
Gold Medal: 2009 GABF

Pours clear amber with a fluffy white head that dissipates fairly quickly.

Aroma is huge citrus hops -- really nice.

Flavor is nicely balanced -- overall quite hoppy, but balanced with good malt.

Mouthfeel is surprisingly light and crisp for as strong as it is. It's almost too drinkable.

Finish is strongly bitter. No surprise there.

This is a really good IIPA -- highly recommended. I've been enjoying a bunch of the HUB beers, I need to get up to the brewery one of these days...

Jabberwocky Ale

English Style Ale
22oz bottle, 7%abv
Walkabout Brewing Co., Central Point, Oregon

This is a nice mellow beer. Nice reddish-amber color. Big malt nose, balanced flavor with a solid bitter hit way at the end. A pleasant surprise from a new brewery I'd never heard of.

Chris, you'll need to check this place out next time you're in the area, if you haven't already...

Rogue Yellow Snow IPA

Took the day off to head over to the coast with Tracie and the fam. First stop was the Rogue brewery, conveniently located near the Aquarium in Newport.

The chowder was great, and the beer is good too. Started with a dry hopped red, which was tasty. Couldn't resist also trying the Yellow Snow IPA. Good floral hop nose, solid bitterness, and light malt. Tasty. Seems like beer always tastes better at the brewery...

Lagunitas Imperial Stout

Lagunitas Brewing Co., Petaluma, CA. 10.14%abv, 22oz bottle

Appearance is black, with a thick tan head that lingers.

Aroma is licorice, figs and toast.

Flavor is very slightly sweet, with lots of roast and a hint of sourness.

Finish is balanced fairly well, perhaps a bit toward sweet but nice, especially considering the strength.

Overall a nice big stout from the empire of Lagunitas.

Beautiful day in DC

Yesterday it poured, but today it's cold and sunny, yay!

Goose Island IPA

Pleasantly surprised by the DC beer options. The Goose Island IPA reminds me of a mellow English IPA with a bit more hop nose. Mild but quite drinkable.

At the mall

The National Mall that is. Enjoying a nice visit so far!

Ninkasi Beer Dinner

Tonight was a beer dinner at a local restaurant featuring some fun food pairings with Ninkasi beers.

Menu:

First course: "Pizza and Tater Tots" paired with Renewale Irish-style Red ale

The "Pizza" was flatbread with tuna and dungeness crab and a bunch of other yumminess. The "Tater Tots" were white truffle potato croquettes. Both quite good, but the tots were amazing.

Renewale is a good Irish Red, I'm just not a big fan of the style. It was a good pairing with the food though.

Second course: "Lobster Dog & Slaw" paired with Spring Reign seasonal ale

This was a lobster and smoked scallop sausage with passionfruit slaw. The new Spring Reign seasonal pale ale was released today, and it's yummy. Very light and refreshing, and another great food pairing.

(Sorry about the blue tint -- my phone's camera sucks)

Third course: "Pancakes & Eggs" paired with Believer Double Red ale

Maple cured duck confit in cornmeal crepes with chipotle cider reduction and quail egg. I thought this one would be my least favorite based on the description, but it may have been the best. It had a great "breakfast" sweetness to it, but was rich and filling too. The richness and sweetness both went well with the maltiness of the Believer.

Dessert: "Ice Cream Sandwich" paired with Vanilla Oatis oatmeal stout

This was great, mocha ganache, hazelnut ice cream. Normal Oatis is a great oatmeal stout, and I had never had the vanilla version. I was pleasantly surprised, the vanilla is really subtle, showing mostly in the nose. It be great to try it side-by-side with the normal one. Unfortunately, the vanilla version is only available on draft and not in bottles.

Overall, a really enjoyable meal and a great way to spend the evening. It was nice to be able to chat with a couple of the Ninkasi employees too -- nice folks. I need to get down to the brewery for a tour soon.

HaandBryggeriet Norse Porter

Norwegian Dark Porter
HaandBryggeriet, Drammen, Norway
25oz bottle, 6.5%abv

Appearance is black with a thick lingering brown head.

Aroma is roast malt, licorice and cola.

Flavor is similar to the aroma, but with a bit of sourness. Almost as if it had a bit of soured Guinness Stout added.

Finish is lightly sweet with a fairly clean overall profile.

A really nice beer. Evidently the Norwegians make a good porter!

Imperial Stout side-by-side tasting

Old Growth, Caldera Brewing, Ashland, Oregon
22oz bottle, 8.8%abv

Vs.

The Dogfather, Laughing Dog Brewing, Ponderay, Idaho
22oz bottle, 10.85%abv

Appearance: both are appropriately black. Old Growth has much better head.

Aroma: Old Growth has a great roast and coffee nose. Dogfather is lacking aroma wise, with perhaps a subtle hint of vanilla, but otherwise not much.

Flavor: again, Old Growth comes out on top here, with good balance, nice roast malt, and chocolate. Reminiscent of a chocolate-covered espresso beans. Dogfather is not as well balanced, and is a bit harsh.

Mouthfeel and finish: Old Growth is a bit smoother and balanced overall, but is a bit sharp with astringency. Dogfather has a more bitter finish. The beers are more closely matched here.

Overall, the Old Growth is a much nicer beer. The Dogfather is ok though, and may get better with age.

Friday Mixed Six

Thanks to Trace, my Friday just got way better -- she picked me up this great mixed six. I'll blogityblog about each of them as usual.

Avery Mephistopheles

Stout, Avery Brewing Co, Boulder Colorado
November 2008 bottling
15%abv, 12oz bottle

Calling this simply "Stout" is like calling the ocean "a bit moist" -- this beer is huge.

Appearance is solid black with a pleasant thick brown head that lingers nicely.

Aroma is alcohol, vanilla and toffee.

Flavor is sweet, but not overly so. Big alcohol flavors with lots of roast malt and pleasant toffee and coffee notes.

Mouthfeel is very thick. The finish is neither dry nor sweet, it's mostly alcohol heat.

Normally these over-the-top beers aren't my favorite, but this one is actually quite enjoyable.

Stout!

Today's batch is 10 gallons of a dry stout. It looks pretty, and the wort tastes good. We'll see how it ends up.

Edit: Figured I might as well throw the recipe up here, for posterity and such:

10 gallon dry stout:

Malt:

• 20 lbs 2-row Pale Malt
  
• 1 lb 60l Crystal Malt
  
• 1 lb 400l (I think) Chocolate Malt
  
• 1 lb 500l Roasted Barley
  

Hops:

• 4 oz homegrown Mt. Hood (bittering -- 60 minutes)
  
• 2.5 oz homegrown Goldings (flavor -- 15 minutes)
  
• No aroma hops were used.
  

Yeast:

• White Labs WLP001 California Ale Yeast
  
• White Labs WLP007 Dry English Ale Yeast
  
• (batch was split into two 5-gallon carboys each with a different yeast)
  

Mashing and sparging were fairly typical, but we've been messing with some new equipment so ran into a few snags along the way. They didn't end up really being an issue though, as the brew session took the same amount of time it always does, and we ended up with a good starting gravity of 1.059. That should put our final ABV about 5.5% or so, about perfect for a nice dry stout. I guess we'll find out in a few weeks.

HUB Secession CDA

Organic Cascadian Dark Ale
Hopworks Urban Brewery, Portland, OR
22oz bottle, 6.5%abv.

Cascadian Dark Ale, a.k.a. "Black IPA" is a recent style to come out of the Northwest, and has been a great style for Northwest breweries to play with over the last year or so. HUB's new organic version is a great example.

Appearance is dark brown to reddish black with a decent head.

Aroma is initially delightfully hoppy, with big dankness. As the beer warms and the hop volatiles dissipate, a nice note of roast malt appears in the nose.

Flavor leans dry and hoppy, with good roast malt and plenty of hop flavor and little sweetness.

Finish is solidly bitter and crisp.

This may be my favorite CDA yet -- very tasty and highly recommended.

Follow up: Southern tier Oat

I had this beer two months ago, but had another one left to drink. Figured I'd add an update with this bottle. Basically it's the same as I described before, except I notice a distinct but subtle black licorice aroma and flavor now. Not sure why I missed it before, but whatevs.

Le Pelican Brun

Belgian style brown ale
Pelican Pub & Brewery, Pacific City, Oregon
25.4oz bottle, alcohol not specified.

Color is dark reddish brown with a moderate white head that lingers.

Aroma is mild malt with some subtle notes of chocolate and maybe even a hint of coffee.

Flavor is solid malt with a pleasant mild fruitiness.

Body is medium with a very slightly sweet finish.

Overall a really nice mellow, tasty and drinkable beer from one of the most picturesque breweries on the Oregon Coast. Highly recommended.

Rodenbach 2007 Vintage

This is one of my many leftover advent beers.

Flemish red/brown sour ale. Limited edition, oak aged barrel number 230
750ml bottle, 7%abv
Palm Breweries, Steenhuffel, Belgium

This is a super-tasty sour ale that isn't as ridiculously sour as the Kriek posted below. This one is considerably more subtle, with some good sweetness to balance out the still potent sourness. The oak aging lends a mellow hint of vanilla that adds a really nice complexity.

I like this a bunch.

Oude Kriek

Lambic
Hanssens Artisanaal, Dworp, Belgium
375ml bottle, alcohol not specified.

This is a great sour Belgian ale.

Color is dark red to brown.

Delightful sour notes dominate the aroma and flavor.

Finish is similarly crisp and sour.

If you like sour, you'll like this. If not, avoid it at all costs, this is really amazingly sour. In a very good way...

Dogfish Head Worldwide Stout

Another leftover advent beer...

Ridiculously strong stout
12oz bottle, abv not specified
Dogfish Head Brewing, Milton Delaware

This is a bit over-the-top. Huge alcohol nose, with a hint of roast malt.

Flavor is also dominated by alcohol, with a strong sweetness too.

Finish is also mostly sweet.

Not really one of my favorites.