Happy Birthday To Me!!

This a belated post from my awesome birthday last weekend.  Not only did my supercool and beautiful wife (pictured at right) get me a copy of Beer Wars, (Which I will post a review on later), but she took me to dinner at Haven Gastropub in Old town Orange. 

I had heard alot about Haven, from both food and beer angles, and had been wanting to go there for awhile.  The restaurant is a modern style english pub that pairs gourmet food with top-notch beers.  This isn't your basic fish and chips or bangers and mash.  I won't list the menu here, you can visit the site yourself in the link above to view the menu and see what beers they have on tap.  Suffice it to say, my steak with Mexican chocolate and cayenne pepper demi-glace was cooked perfect and tasted delicious.

But enough about the food, I was of course really there for the beer.  First selection of the night for me was a tulip of Saison Dupont by Brasserie Dupont, a farmhouse brewery in western Belgium.  I haven't had alot of experience with the Saison style, so it is hard for me to compare to very much else.  But I did really enjoy it.  It was blond in color with a nice foamy head and a bit of haze.  Smell was what you would expect a farmhouse to smell like- wet wood, bready, and yeasty.  The other Saisons I have had have been a little spicy if that's the right word, but this was not quite so.  Crisp and tart, but still smooth not overly sour which was good since this was my appetizer beer. All-in-all this is a style I could really get hooked on.

Next I tried the Mikkeller Centennial Single-Hop IPA.  (That's me with the IPA to the left) Mikkeller has had a great idea to do a series of IPA's all brewed the same except in each one they use only a single type of hop so you can really taste the hop.  I'm very surprised  that I didn't much care for it!  It's not that it was a bad beer by any means, in fact overall, this was a solid and well crafted IPA. I think the beauty of the single hop idea is that you can really tell which hop profiles you like and which you don't.  I think for me, the Centennial may be a bit too pungent and bitter for my taste to have as the aroma and flavor in a beer.  I actually use Centennial in my some of my own beers for bittering, but then choose something else for flavor and aroma profiles.  In any event, I hope to get a chance someday to try some of their other single hop IPA's such as the Amarillo, Simcoe, Cascade, and Nugget.  Actually not sure if any of those are still around anywhere.

Finishing off the night was Cuvée Des Jacobins Rouge by Brouwerij Bockor N.V. in Belgium.  It is listed as a Flanders Red Ale.  As you can see from the picture to the right, it's a dark red/mahogany color to it, with not a lot of head.  Smell is a bit of cherry or berry, I'm not sure.  At first taste I thought maybe I tasted fruity cherry or grape, maybe a little vinegar crept in, then BAM! the sour hit me! The more I drank and savored it, the more flavors and levels of sourness appeared.  Don't know if that makes any sense.  This was by far my favorite beer of the night and I hope to have it again sometime.

While I had grandiose plans to try the BrewDog Tokyo* and Cantillion 2007 Kriek, I had to call it a night as we still needed to go to my in-laws' for dessert and I wanted to still be able to stand.  Tokyo* at 18.2% would have floored me for the night. (I'm still a lightweight after all these years).  And I couldn't quite bring myself to fork over $55 for a 25oz bottle of Cantillion since I would just be drinking that myself.  Would rather have that one to share with someone, and my wife wasn't up for that one right then.

So, it was a very Happy Birthday for me. I'm a lucky man.

Tale of Two IPA's

We had a wonderful basil and pine nut pizza at Oggi's in Mission Viejo tonight. For those that aren't familiar with Oggi's they are a sports oriented pizza/brewpub that have several franchises in California and Arizona.  They have also started to bottle some of their brews under the label Left Coast Brewing. 

I started with one of their standards: Torrey Pines IPA.  It's a 7.6% ABV with five different hops.  This beer almost tastes like it was brewed in the middle of Torrey Pines.  It has a great woodsy/pine taste.  The hops really take all the glory with this beer, you don't taste too much else.  Which isn't bad at all.

Halfway through the pizza the waitress asked if I wanted another beer.  Silly question.  I asked if they had anything special on tap and to my great surprise she said they had Avery Dugana!!  I had heard alot about this beer but have never had it.  The stats are : OG: 1.076  ABV: 8.5%  IBUs: 93.  It's technically a double IPA, and though they say it's a brutally bitter, dank, piney and resinous ale, I found it to be quite balanced and had a bit of sweetness to it.  Hard for me to tell if that sweetness comes from the malt or maybe the huge amounts of hop oils trick your tongue into thinking sweet.  In either case, I really enjoyed this Dugana.

I'm a lightweight, those two beers were enough for me for the night.  Great way to end the week.  Pizza and IPA's with my two girls!!

Pacific Northwest Road Trip

Last week I took a flight from Socal up to Norcal for a road trip starting in Chico to Puget Sound area in order to help my Mom move.  Just our luck, it was in the middle of the worst storm to hit the west coast so far this year.  But despite the bad weather, I was determined to get some visits  to some breweries along the way.

So of course being in Chico I had to start at Sierra Nevada.  My friend Steve and I sat at the bar, and ordered lunch.  In case I haven't mentioned it before, they really have done a great job with the restaurant and taproom, and the food is as awesome as the beer.  Unfortunately, they were out of their Baltic Porter, which I think is about the best Baltic Porter I've ever had.  So instead I started with their new Glissade bock.  This is a real refreshing beer, with alot of subtleties in hop aroma and smooth malt flavor.  They are going to be bottling this beer soon, so look out for it. As we were enjoying our beers and sandwiches Ken Grossman walked by.  Pretty cool, but I didn't want be like a groupie so I didn't ask for an autograph. Next I tried the Juniper Black Ale.  Though overall a good beer, I can't see myself drinking this too often.  I can't remember what the ABV was, but it was maybe around 10%? I might be wrong on that.  Anyway, the juniper was a bit too much for my taste.  Think if you like that particular flavor, you'd like the beer.  Since I had a moving truck to pick up, I kept myself to those two half-pints of beer.  But I did pick up a couple Sierra Nevada tap handles for my new kegerator faucets I just installed.  I'll post more about that later.  Sadly this might be the last time in a long time that I'll get to visit the brewery, since I don't see any other reason I'll ever be in Chico again.

After a day of packing up the moving truck with my Mom's house and alot of old memories, we headed up 5 in the rain and snow for Washington.  The snow and rain takes a toll on you after so many hours, so we stopped in Salem Oregon for the night.  About 12 years back, I had been in Troutdale at McMenamins' Edgefield Hotel/Brewery/Winery.  My sister had her wedding there, and we all had a great time and I remembered what good beer it was.  Now they have expanded quite a bit and have a bunch of brewpubs and hotels, including a brewpub in Salem called Boon's Treasury.  I was excited to get to have their beer again. While waiting (and waiting, and waiting) for dinner I had the Hammerhead ale, which I guess is one of their standards.  It was a nice coppery colored malty ale with cascade hops, and was probably fairly good beer if it wasn't for the dishwatery smell and taste from the glass.  With dinner I had their IPA which unfortunately was very thin and watery, and I could barely even notice the hops.  Overall, I hate to say it was a huge disappointment.

We finally made it up to Washington, unloaded, and moved my Mom into her new place.  We finished quickly enough to leave a day open for hanging around downtown Seattle. I had heard the Elysian Brewery had some good beers, so I dragged my family over to the Elysian Fields brewpub over on 1st Street by the stadium.  We were about the only ones in the place, being that it was early Saturday and there were no games going on, but I'll bet this place really packs 'em in during Seahawks games.

 

Elysian Fields Brewpub

I've got to say, we had some great beers here.  I started with a Yerba Mate Tripel.  I had never had a beer brewed with tea before so wasn't sure what to expect, but it was awesome.  The tea really complemented the light hop tones very well.  I had a sip of the Saison my sister was drinking - you could really smell the spice on this one. 

Me, Sis, and brother-in-law

My mom ordered the Avatar Jasmine IPA, which while was a pretty good IPA by itself, I'm not sure the jasmine really did much for the beer - I would have preferred it just as a straight IPA.  My last beer was a cask conditioned Immortal IPA. I forget sometimes how great cask beers can be since I don't get them too often.  Without all the heavy carbonation, you really get to experience all the flavors and aromas that sometimes get lost in the fizziness of forced carbonation.

My Mom and I enjoying some IPA and Tripel.

After some awesome beers and appetizers at Elysian, we needed a walk, so we hiked up to Pike Place Market to walk around.  As it was just about lunch time, my sister suggested a Russian bakery called Piroshky Piroshky.  The word Piroshky comes from the word pir which means feast, and these delicacies are truly feasts that you eat with your hands.  If you've never had a piroshky, it is a warm bread filled and topped with sweet, savory, vegetable, or meat fillings.  It was the perfect meal to have in between brewpubs.  I had one with garlic, onion, and cheddar cheese.  It was one of the best things I have eaten in a long, long time.

 The Pike Brewery

Next on the list was The Pike Brewery right in the middle of Pike Marketplace.  I was hesitant at first to go here due to many reviews online that say it's too touristy.  Well, being that I am a tourist I figured why not?  Plus I really wanted to see their three-story brewing setup.

My sampler at Pike Brewery

For tasting I got a sampler of six of their beers:  Pale, Kilt Lifter, Naughty Nellie, Tandem, IPA, XXXX Stout.  These were all real solid traditional beers.  I couldn't really find fault with a single one.  Surprisingly I really liked the smokiness of the Kilt Lifter scotch ale, and I'm usually not a big scotch ale fan.  Also very good was the Stout.  I would definitely recommend stopping here to anyone visiting the marketplace.  Yes, it is touristy, but that's why you're there right?  There was plenty of room to sit and relax and enjoy some really good beer.  I'll go back next time I'm in Seattle for sure.

So that pretty much ended the day and the trip.  All that was left was a ferry ride back to Bainbridge Island.  The cool thing about the ferry is you can get beer on tap.  I relaxed and enjoyed a Red Hook ESB while admiring the Seattle skyline at night.  Cheers!

View of Seattle from Bainbridge Ferry

December 1st Beer Tastings: Sierra Nevada / Dogfish Head Life & Limb and Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA

Selma's, my local pizza place here in Rancho Santa Margarita just opened up a new Tap Room. While I liked the sushi place that was there before, I've got to say, Selma's beer list triumphs over a crunchy roll any day.

So tonight my wife, daughter, and I ventured over for some pizza and brew. I was on a mission, since I had seen the beer list online prior to their opening, and was excited to see that they had the Sierra Nevada / Dogfish Head Life & Limb on tap! I've been looking forward to this beer for awhile now and was very surprised to see that Selma's was able to get it. As you can tell from previous posts, I'm a huge fan of both Sierra Nevada and Dogfish. Both are unique brewers that consistently innovate while producing highest quality brews.

Anyway, as for the Life and Limb: It's a strong beer at 10% ABV. Thick, foamy, light brown head. The beer looks and smells like maple/molasses. They actually use maple syrup from Sam's family farm, and birch syrup from Alaska to naturally carbonate the beer. Mouthfeel is very smooth despite the high alcohol content. Almost like eating pancakes on Sunday morning. Hop character is not overly pronounced as far as I could tell - would have expected maybe a little more hops with the Sierra Nevada connection. Overall this was an excellent and well balanced beer. Though I would say I taste perhaps more Dogfish influence than Sierra. It actually reminded me a little of Dogfish's India Brown Ale which is a bit more hoppy but has the similar caramel/molasses taste.

After two pieces of pizza and a pint of the Life & Limb I ordered a pint of Firestone Walker's Union Jack IPA. At 7.5% they say it's an aggressive IPA, and they're right. But this is a bit different than alot of the IPA's out there that are overly bitter with poor malt/hop balance. The hops in this IPA hit you in the nose first, then right on the tip of your tongue. That's from being dry-hopped with Amarillo, Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, and Simcoe. The aroma and flavor of hops here are much more overt than the bittering hops (Warrior, Simcoe). I've got to say that even though I'm a big IPA fan, the initial hop burst seems to overpower the rest of the beer. It does finish fairly clean and I like the freshness of the dryhopping, but really didn't get much malt here. I'll have to revisit this at a later time and give it another try. As for now, the Firestone Walker Double Barrel Ale still gets higher marks.

On tap for me right now: I just kegged a California Common, have an Oaked Baltic Porter in Secondary, and will be brewing a Black IPA this coming weekend. Looking forward to the holidays! Sveiks!

Cuidado con el chupacabras!!!

Last night we had an excellent dinner. My all-time favorite mexican restaraunt (and the first mexican food I ever ate when I was a kid back in 1978 or so) opened a new restaurant in my city. They are called Carmelita's and I used to go to their original place in Roseville back in the day. What a coincendence that they open up a new place 500 miles away in my city. The food gods must have been smiling on me.

http://carmelitas.homestead.com/

Anyway, I ordered their Coloradito Burrito which is what I always had when I was a kid. It tasted exactly as I remembered it to be 20 years ago! Burrito Heaven! They slow cook the beef in chiles and onions and tomotaoes. I have never had a burrito that tasted like theirs. Very unique.

So when ordering our food, I was expecting the usual mexican beers to be on the list: Tecate, Corona, Negra Modelo, Bohemia. But there was a new one: Cucapas Chupacabras Pale Ale. It is brewed out of Mexicali, MX. I really wasn't expecting it to be very good, but I'm always up for something new so I gave it a go.

Upon pouring I was surprised to see that for a pale ale, it was actually very dark copper/amber color. Had a good foamy head, though not much aroma. Had some definite hop taste and was actually a bit more malty than I would expect from a pale as well. But overall it was a very good beer that actually tasted a bit like a homebrew rather than commercial brewery. It paired real well with my burrito and salsa roja. Find out more about the brewery here:

http://www.cucapa.com/eng/eng.html

¡salud!

New Wife Beers

I found a couple beers finally that my wife likes. Yay!!! The first being New Belgium's 1554 Enlightened Black Ale. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised she would like this given the chocolaty profile, but she usually isn't into the dark beers at all. The 1554 though dark and malty is actually very drinkable. Not heavy at all.

The second beer we discovered she likes is Sam Adams new Blackberry Witbier. It's a refreshing summer type beer that's a little tart. Very good. Even I can drink this.

Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest

With dinner tonight (Paired with turkeyburgers, baked potato, & salad). I had a new Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale. This is a new addition to their series of beers that they brew with fresh hops. I'm a big fan of the Chico Estate Harvest. While their other two Harvest beers are brewed with wet hops, the hops in this beer are picked in New Zealand, immediately dried, then flown to the brewery in less than a week. Hops used are fresh Pacific Hallertau, New Zealand Motueka and New Zealand Southern Cross hops.

Upon pouring the beer you are greeted with a pleasant citrus aroma, though not to strong. Thick yellowish foam, and a very nice caramel color. A real clear, colorful looking beer. At first taste you definitely taste sweet malt and can really taste the hops. Mouthfeel seemed a bit thin however, and the aftertaste I would say may be a bit astringent if not too bitter. Not too sure I like the hops used in this beer

All things considered, I think I'm maybe a bit disappointed with this one. Maybe I just got spoiled with the wet hops in the Chico Estate Harvest Ale which I'd say is one of my favorite beers. This one just really didn't seem to compare. I'm wondering if it should really be considered a fresh hop beer if the hops are dried and then flown around the world? Perhaps it's a function of the hop shortage? Find hops wherever you can - then use it as a marketing tool? Good idea probably - it got me to buy a couple bottles.

Dogfish Head is Finally Here

Since trying some Dogfish Head a couple years ago back east I've always kept my eye out for it out here on the west coast. And finally last week while at my local brewshop I finally found some. I picked up a 4-pack of their 90-minute Imperial IPA. A 90 minute means that hops are added throughout the 90 minute boil. It's a 9% beer, so it's big and they recommend drinking from a snifter. The beer has a somewhat fruity malt character that complements the hops very nicely and adds complexity so you don't just get smacked with the high alcohol content.

The website says the beer pairs well with pork chops, beef, fish, escargot. Since I wasn't about to go pick snails from the backyard, I figured a homemade pizza would be good instead. This is a great beer, and if 9% is too much for you, they also have a 60 -minute IPA and other varieties as well. Pick some up if you can - you won't be disappointed!!

Stone Brewing World Bistro - Revisit

My manager was in town last weekend from Texas for a conference this week, and since he happens to also be a homebrewer and beer lover, he wanted to go down to Stone Brewery. It just happened to be Mother's Day here in the States, but since Mexico celebrates Mother's Day on the 10th, and I had already had flowers delivered to my Mom in NorCal, I was off the hook for a trip down to Escondido.

Stone Bistro was fairly crowded for Mother's Day, but not so bad that we couldn't have got a table if we wanted. But we opted for the bar. Since it was lunch the menu was somewhat limited, but I had a great buffalo hamburger and fries. Now Stone has a huge bottled beer selection in addition to their brands they have on draught. To start I had a Levitation Ale with my meal, and then a Pale. Both of course were exceptional. Very clean and crisp with the hop character that makes Stone so special. I really wanted to have a Ruination Ale, but as I was the driver I figured I better stick with the lighter ales.

So while the Stone beers were great, the true highlight was a beer that my manager had us try. We bought a 750ml bottle of Cantillon Vigneronne It is similar to a Belgian lambic/gueuze in that is is spontaneously fermented and very sour, but is different in that instead of cherries or raspberries, the Vigneronne is made with white grapes added to the lambic. (I had tried some Kriek while in Belgium and liked it very much.) Before we were allowed to order, our well educated server Tegan made sure we knew what we were getting ourselves into. "Do you like sour beers?", "Have you ever had a Lambic?", "This will have more vinegar taste than a traditional Gueuze". She knew her stuff, and at $20 a bottle it's a good thing she asks, because most people would taste the Vigneronne and think it was bad. But all warnings aside, we got a bottle and I'm really glad we did. It was by far the most sour and vinegary beer I have had. But it was excellent. After a few sips, you really get past the initial sourness and can start to taste the different flavors from the grapes and wild bacteria.

After the Vigneronne we each had another beer out in the beer garden and then went through the gift shop before the trek back up to The OC. I have a new appreciation for sour beers now and look forward to trying some more.

Pinkberry

Now this has nothing at all to do with beer or brewing, but I'll blog about it anyway. Last night after the wife and I went out to a movie (saw "Juno" which was cute, though not Oscar worthy I think), we stopped by the new Pinkberry yogurt place at Irvine Spectrum. In case you haven't heard of Pinkberry, they are the newest craze in luxury ice cream/yogurt. The yogurt is very tart and sour, and besides the greentea/coffee flavor there is only the original flavor. Not really vanilla, but similar. Maybe a cross between a sour vanilla and buttermilk. Anyway, the draw to this place is you get this sour yogurt and top it with all kinds of good fresh fruits or cereals like Cap'n crunch. Also, the stores are ultra modern and fresh looking. You walk in and there's techno music playing, everyone looks young and hip. I was instantly happy and felt immensely cooler just standing there. I got a yogurt topped with fresh blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. Delicious and refreshing. I'm not one to get all crazy about the newest hype or trend - but I think they really nailed with this place. Great product, great shop that makes you feel good just being there. I'll definitely go back.

Wife Beer Update (Follow Directions!!!)

I have learned my lesson. If someone says peels from two lemons should be plenty to get good lemon flavor, then use two lemons - not three. Not being one with alot of patience, I opened a bottle of the Lemon Lingerie hefeweizen after only one week in the bottle. Though still young and needs a few more weeks to age, I thought it was awful. WAY too much lemon - very bitter and sour. Almost tastes like chemicals or artificial flavor. Erika seemed to like it so far though since she likes lemon so much. We'll see what she thinks after it ages a few more weeks. I know for sure I'll hate it. So if she can drink it that's great. Otherwise down the drain.

Time to go back to real beers! Once the weather cools a bit I'll start another batch of brown ale and maybe start thinking of a good Christmas beer recipe.

Stone Brewing World Bistro

This Saturday Erika and I drove down to Escondido after visiting the Carlsbad Outlet Mall. There is nothing much in Escondido I would ever go there for, except for the new Stone Brewing World Bistro. Stone Brewery just recently opened a new restaurant/brewery, and it was very impressive. http://www.stoneworldbistro.com/

The building architecture is a modern/industrial with lots of stone, iron, and rebar. The restaurant area has floor to cieling windows on one side that let you see the brewery operations. The other side is open out to the outdoors beer garden. You can lounge around outside in the garden and have a beer - very relaxing.

Dinner was excellent. I had the Super-Septuple Garlic Bomb Chicken with Stone IPA garlicky mashed potatoes which was awesome. Only bad thing was that it also came with Brussels sprouts which though they looked tasty, are my absolute most hated vegetable in the world. Erika had a Spicy Lime Almond Crusted Tilapia with toasted barley & quinoa tabouleh. Also was excellent, and the quinoa was especially good since we have been on a quinoa kick lately.

So now for the real important part - the beer! For starters I had the Stone Ruination IPA. Lately I've been a little tired of all the West Coast breweries and their IPA's and pale ale's. Everyone seems to be just hopping up like crazy and losing the taste of the beer. I'm no different - my recent pale is nice and hoppy but not alot of malt character. This Ruination IPA is very different though. Although highly hopped of course, and 7.7% alcohol, the taste is still very good and you can still taste the underlying characteristics of a very good beer. I think it was a perfect pairing with the garlic infused chicken.

Next I had the Stone Smoked Porter w/Chipotle Peppers. Now I am always a sucker for anything Chipotle so I couldn't pass this one up. At first taste you get the smoky porter you would expect and nice and dry. I didn't really notice the chipotle until after swallowing. Unfortunately that aftertaste wasn't very appealing to me. The chipotle bite at the back of my tongue didn't really leave me wanting more. Unfortunately I think it's one of the few beers I couldn't even finish. I don't think it's a bad tasting beer - just something about it wasn't quite right for me.

So I will definitely go back and do the tour one of these days, and also try some of the other Stone beers. I've always enjoyed their Arrogant Bastard Ale, and am looking forward to some of their others. Cheers!

Miss American Update

So the Miss American Pale has been bottled now for about three weeks. I'm a little unsure about this one. Definitely has the hop characteristics of a Sierra Nevada, though may be just a little too dry and/or astringent and lacking a bit of malt character. Perhaps this will smooth out with a little more age and be perfect by around July 4.

And there is a terrible chill haze, which I am attributing to my use of the dried seaweed instead of the Irish Moss. Theoretically it should work, but I think it didn't pull out the proteins that cause the chill haze. When warm, the beer is incredibly clear. So Back to Irish Moss for the next batch.

Speaking of the next batch! I started a yeast starter yesterday of Whitelabs Irish Ale yeast. Today the starter is very active and I should be brewing tomorrow. This batch will be my own recipe, which I will post later. It should be a darker version of an Irish red.