Great lineup this week, as we bid adieu to Justin and welcome Melissa:
• Burning River Pale Ale (Great Lakes Brewing Company)
• Celebrator Doppelbock (Brauerei Aying)
• Golden Monkey (Victory Brewing Company)
• Hop Head Red Ale (Green Flash Brewing Company)
• Red's Rye P.A. (Founders Brewing Company)
• Shock Top Belgian White (Anheuser-Busch, Inc.)
This was Justin's final contribution to the TNJ Beer Club before he went off to work at the increasingly legendary Dogfish Head Craft Brewery. As I've said before, I consider starting this biweekly beer exchange one of the best ideas devised by anybody at any time.
The Facebook page for Dale's Pale Ale touts it as "America's first hand-canned craft beer." I've roamed the far corners of this big, scary Internet and I can't find any other brewery contesting the claim. So, what Oskar Blues started (some say as a lark) almost ten years ago has ultimately blossomed into a industry-wide trend with potentially significant environmental benefits. I never would have predicted it, but I guess that's why I'm the amateur blogger and Justin works for Sam Calagione.
I poured this beer into my trusty pint tumbler. It appears a chill-hazed amber, and enthusiastically lofts up three inches of pillowy pumpkin-tinged suds. When cold, the aroma is of pungent citrus hops with cake underneath, becoming more sour and grassy as it warms. There is extensive lacing as the glass is drained.
When sipped, low-key carbonation allows the beer to flow quite smoothly in the mouth. There is a puckering bitterness up front, but after that arrive nice fruity hibiscus and sweet malt flavors before the taste returns to a slightly sticky bitterness in the long finish. Although designated simply as a "pale ale," you could stick the label "India pale ale" or "amber ale" on this and no one would bat an eye.
This is officially the best beer I've had from a can -- and I don't mean that as the faint praise it may sound like. It is not crazy with complexity, but it has full flavor and a nice contour. Recommended for packing to the beach or any other glass-prohibited venue, and even for drinking at home.
Featured beer:
Dale's Pale Ale
And now for a highly annotated introduction: I was at State Line Liquors purchasing my biweekly contribution to Beer Club, when my buddy Justin (a.k.a. "luckiest dude currently drawing breath") pointed out that August 4 is International #IPADay. He grabbed a 750ML Punk IPA off the shelf, and on an impulse I grabbed one too.
As I observed in my review of Railbender Ale, "Scotland" and "beer" are hardly synonymous. The pointedly iconoclastic founders of BrewDog would love to change that. They are hitting the market with tons of attitude, an interesting lineup of brews (and I even exclude from that statement their "shock value" alcohol bombs of 32% and 41% ABV), and videos of them heartily demolishing bottles of Budweiser, Becks, Carlsberg, and Stella Artois. They describe Punk IPA as a "post modern classic pale ale." Let's try to figure out what in the world they might mean by that.
The pour raises several inches of fluffy and sturdy off-white foam. The beer is yellow gold with a warm orange aura, and it is quite hazy. Large sheets of lacing lined my glass when I was done.
At close range, the enticing nose is of fresh citrus, earthy hops, and butter. Knowing how heavily they've laid on the hops in this recipe, I am surprised that the aroma does not project further.
The first taste is tremendously bitter -- BUT... then comes a surprising wave of fresh malt flavor. (I wonder whether a dimension of that fresh green taste may actually be the hops flowers themselves, rather than their aromatic oils? A non-brewing amateur beer lover speculates.) It is a delicious scarcely-roasted barley taste. So, maybe a "post modern" IPA is one that treats malt as a co-star rather than a mere delivery platform for hops characteristics?
I don't detect a lot of what I think of as fruit flavors in the body, which is a distinction from most of the bigged-up American IPAs. It is a nice difference, actually. After the barley, I taste a trailing note of lilac perfume. Punk's mouthfeel is not particularly heavy for the amount of flavor delivered, and its carbonation is adequate but quite soft feeling on the tongue.
This is an intensely flavorful but hardly outlandish IPA. It is obviously influenced more by the American (and particularly West Coast) style trend than by the English tradition from which it arises, yet it is not likely to be mistaken for an American IPA. I really enjoyed drinking this one, and if price and availability were not major factors I would love to have it on a regular basis. For now it will remain for rare occasions like International #IPADay.
From the bottle's label:
BrewDog: Beer for Punks
Beer was never meant to be bland, tasteless and apathetic.
At BrewDog we are setting the record straight.
We are committed to making the highest quality beers with the finest fresh natural ingredients.
Our beers are in no way commercial or mainstream.
We do not merely aspire to the proclaimed heady heights of conformity through neutrality and blandness.
We are unique and individual.
A beacon of non-conformity in a increasingly monotonous corporate desert.
We are proud to be an intrepid David in a desperate ocean of insipid Goliaths.
We are proud to be an alternative.
Some friends and I recently checked out a new drinking and dining establishment in Newark, Two Stones Pub. It holds potential as a beer-lovers' mecca not requiring a drive to Philadelphia or Baltimore. The owner and staff are knowledgeable and passionate about beer, and they seem to get the concept of "hospitality." There are 24 craft brews flowing on tap, and a tantalizing menu of "vintage/reserve/large format" bottles. Definitely a positive development for the local beer scene.
You can read a qualified professional's profile of Two Stones here. Below is a humble amateur's rundown of the beers we sampled -- the ones I can remember, anyway.
North Coast Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout
I ordered this on draft, and it was served in a snifter. Even held up to a light, the brew is an utterly opaque black. Mine exhibited minimal head, however I did not see it drawn from the tap, so can't account for the technique used. This is a deliciously dense and complex brew -- right up my alley! Sweet up front, evolving into dimensions of espresso, roasted barley, and chocolate. One of this stout's finest features is its incredibly creamy mouthfeel. The flavor is in no hurry to fade away, either. Right up there with Bell's Expedition Stout as a go-to beer for a massive taste experience.
Ommegang Three Philosophers Belgian Style Blend
I ordered this from the bottle, and it arrived in a goblet. In the glass it has the appearance of a brown ale, tending toward a ruby color. I passed it around and we all remarked at how subdued aroma its aroma was. A little sweet, maybe raisin? Being a quadrupel (!) fermented ale blended with a cherry lambic (!), it delivers bold malt, sweet fruit, and effervescent carbonation in abundance. The predominant flavor to me is the cherry/raisin/caramel sweetness, although within its many dimensions there is also plenty of malt to contemplate. The carbonation and heavy alcohol punch keep things quite exuberant. Lovers of ale in the Belgian spectrum are urged not to miss this one.
Victory Storm King Stout
My taste for Russian imperial stouts was whetted this evening, so my next order was Storm King on draft. Again, the beer was served in a snifter. It displays opaque black with a nice rim of brown espresso foam. This one has an enticing aroma that telegraphs the whole flavor profile and spurs you along to that first sip. Rich, sweet, and dense like Old Rasputin, but with a different character in the aftertaste. I'm not sure what the correct term for it is, but it's something I call "green barley" flavor? Another gem in Victory's brilliant product line.
Evolution Lot #6
Justin and Sara ordered this double IPA on draft through Randall the Enamel Animal packed with grapefruit and mint. It sounded a bit gimmicky, but, man, did that turn out to be a great idea! It was like an ultra magnified IPA, with the additives in Randall picking up and amplifying existing hops characteristics. I've never had Lot #6 "straight," so I don't have a baseline to compare with, and I can only guess about subtleties of the foundation beneath what I was drinking, but I doubt I will ever forget this flavor explosion. (Our server said they had previously offered Dogfish Head's Palo Santo Marron through Randall the Enamel Animal packed with chocolate and chili peppers. I imagine that was pretty intense.)
Dogfish Head Black & Red
This is a limited-availability, draft-only release from Dogfish Head, so I was honored to sample it. Served in a small snifter, the beer was black with a bit of espresso foam around the edge. I got mainly peppermint in the nose. The taste was a desserty swirl of raspberry, chocolate, espresso, and mint. I didn't run this perception past my colleagues, but to me these flavors had sneaky tendency to synergize into something reminiscent of latex paint. As long as I concentrated on the separate components it was enjoyable, but if I just let the flavor happen, I got that disconcerting twang. Strange.
RJ Rockers Son of a Peach
Patty ordered this on draft, and I only got a quick sample. Very fruity, for sure. I believe she said this is the one Two Stones mixes with champagne to concoct a bellini variant, the "beerlini." I confess to having no previous knowledge of this Spartanburg, SC brewery. Their Bell Ringer strong ale was also being served on draft that night.
Allegash White
Justin ordered this on tap and I just got a few quick sips. In all fairness, after a couple of heavy stouts and a quadruple ale, my senses were not calibrated to judge the nuances of this much lighter style. It seemed to conform to the witbier profile, but I can't say much more than that. Must return again to give it a fair shake.
Dogfish Head Poppa Skull
Justin and Sara ordered this elaborately wood-aged ale. I don't think I commandeered a sip, regrettably. Some other time.
Featured beers:
• Old Rasputin
• Three Philosophers
• Storm King
• Lot #6
• Allagash White
• Son of a Peach
• Black & Red
• Poppa Skull
Honorable mentions:
• Expedition Stout
• Palo Santo Marron
• Bell Ringer Ale
This Beer Club entry was contributed by Justin Williams -- bless him. The only beer I have previously had from Stoudt's was their Double IPA, which I found to be big-bodied and multi-dimensional, so I am looking forward to this.
I did a little research to make sure I understood the distinction between a beer classified as "Munich-style helles lager" (such as Victory's Victory Lager, and the present Stoudt's Gold Lager) and one classified as "helles bock" (such as Victory's St. Boisterous, which I tasted the other night). Bock is, after all, a subtype of lager. It more or less boils down to this: the helles lager is a malted down version of the bitter hopped pilsner style, and the helles bock is a hopped up version of the malty bock style. The gloriously nuanced spectrum of beer!
On a superficial note before I get down to tasting, I'm not crazy about the Gold Lager label design. To me it looks kind of amateurish, and misses the opportunity to convey the impression of a German-style beer with full-pedigree European ingredients. But will matter much less if the beer tastes good.
This poured a rich yellow-gold, with half an inch of white foam. There was the slightest trace of haze, which surprised me. It's possible the glass was just fogged? The aroma was clean and subdued, but slightly grainy with a trace of citrus.
Sipping, you get a bite of good ol' hop bitterness, then a sting of carbonation, then a fade into delightful flowery fruitiness. There is an expertly struck balance between the floral contribution of the hops and the sweet malt body -- the result of good ingredients, masterfully blended. That taste is definitely worth the price of admission. The main body ends fairly quickly into a not entirely dry finish where the fruitiness lingers pleasantly.
In summary, definitely more flavorful than your average pilsner, but with some of the same crispness and appeal. In this helles from Stoudt's I've found one of the few American-made lagers that I would consider adding to my rotation.
Featured beer:
Honorable mentions:
In what is arguably the best idea to come out of the News Journal's Local Information Center since the inception of the Quad-screen Dumbotron™, Justin Williams (professional daredevil, content whiz, and beer lover) has assembled a group of hardy fellows to partake in the sharing of beers and beer-tasting opinions.
The blog is still ramping up, but someday you may be able to follow the action and meet the personalities here: Brewsroom (That's an example of Jeffrey Gentry's wordplay. I guess if all our opinions agree it will be the Bros Room, and if we disagree violently it could become the Bruise Room...)
The first round of brews being consumed:
• Anchor Steam (Anchor Brewing)
• Chang (Thai Beverage)
• Hop Hazard (River Horse Brewing Company)
• Hoss Rye Lager (Great Divide Brewing)
• Mojo IPA (Boulder Beer Company)
• Yakima Glory (Victory Brewing Company)
Featured beer:
Damnation Ale
