Denver Follow Up

Round 2 of the Falling Rock happened Friday night, but before hitting the bar, I hooked up with my cousin and her husband in a suburb of Denver. Mike, my cousin's husband is a fellow homebrewer, who's Belgian Dubbel I learned took 1st at the Iowa State Fair last year. Mike had emailed me to see if I wanted to brew the night I planned to hang out. We decided to brew a saison, and I was excited since it was my first all grain experience. We brewed and sampled some of Mike's great beers as well as some New Belgium Abbey and Pilsner. As Mike was taking me back to the city, he asked if I wanted to be dropped off at Falling Rock...well...I guess I did have quite a few beers left to try there... So, we drank a special New Belgium release that was tapped that night, called Mike's Golden Ale. It was an excellent golden ale brewed with grains of paradise. As I mentioned before, I sadly forgot my beer geek moleskin for notes, so I don't have any details, and Friday's were fuzzy anyway. I followed Mike's Golden Ale, with another wonderful Belgian Golden Ale, this time from Russian River, their Damnation. Damn! Another phenomenal beer from this brewery...so worth the hype. An excellent Belgian strong ale, crisp and fruity and smooth. This was followed by Russian River's Pliny the Younger, a triple IPA that was a fantastic hop bomb and worth the hefty price. There were a few more samples that night and an Alaskan Smoked Porter to cap it off, which was a shame because I've had the beer before, but it was too smokey and roasty following all of the Belgian sweetness I'd had leading up to it. Even though I have somewhere around 60 beers or so left to get through at the Falling Rock, it'll sadly have to wait until another visit. A great bar, with great service who were nice enough to feed me samples as I poured over which beers to pick from. Again...if headed to Denver, hit up the Falling Rock.

Back in the Minneapple, I have spring break next week and plan on brewing at least one if not two beers. I also will get to my reviews of my final version!! of the El Muerto. Finally I'm satisfied with that recipe. Also will be getting around to my double IPA reviews and probably some other thoughts as well.
Stay tuned...
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Heaven? No Just Falling Rock

I'm in Denver for a conference, and being that I'm in one of the beer meccas of the US, I knew that I had to get away from the conference to enjoy the beer culture of Denver. I had been told that Falling Rock Tap House was the place to go. Falling Rock is considered one of the best beer bars in the country with over 70 beers on tap. As you can see from my grainy cell phone picture, the tap lineup is something to behold, one on top of the other, with an impressive array of beers from around the world. They stay true to their motto, "No Crap on Tap." I think Guinness is the only macro brew on tap.
I regrettably forgot my beer notebook, so I didn't take any notes on the brews I drank. But I stuck to beers I've never been able to drink, starting with the infamous Pliny the Elder from Russian River. This was a great Double IPA, and lived up to the hype. I followed that with another California IPA, Green Flash IPA. This too was fantastic, a great piney smell to it, and wonderful hoppy sweetness. I could have put down several of these. I followed that with Dale's Pale Ale from Oskar Blues Brewing Company. This too, was a great beer that lived up to all the hype I've heard about it. Very sweet and had a strong caramel presence to it for a pale ale. A unique taste for a pale ale, but outstanding. I could have stayed at Falling Rock for quite some time, days actually. Hands down the best beer bar I've been to, good food, great ambiance, and an amazing selection of beers.
More to come...
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Dark Horse Stout Reviews

Recently Dark Horse Brewing Company has had a few of their line become available around the cities. I've had their Crooked Tree IPA and put it up there with some of the best I've had. So impressed with this perfect IPA, I was excited to come across their stout series. They have released a series of seasonal stouts, each one a little different. Last year I had "Four" which was a smoked stout. I actually thought it was very bad, and was hesitant to try this series again. But I came across a bottle of "Tres" their blueberry stout, and was too curious to pass it up. I'm certainly glad I did. Then on a trip to a liquor store I don't go to often, I found single bottles of the first two in the series, "One" Oatmeal Stout, and "Too" Cream Stout. All very impressive. I'll go in numerical order.

"One" Oatmeal Stout- This pours motor oil black with a thin, khaki head. It has wonderful roasty, caramely aromas, as well as some slight biscuit. Right away you notice the perfect mouthfeel for an oatmeal stout, slick and smooth with a chocolate milk consistency. Wonderful chocolate flavors at first, followed by some nice bitterness and roastiness, with a nice lingering dry finish. The most drinkable of the three, a spot on oatmeal stout. A perfect balance of roasty flavors and sweetness. Perfect.

"Too" Cream Stout- This pours thick and motor oil black as well, with a thin khaki head. Wonderful roasty, and chocolatey aromas in this one as well, with some toffee and espresso as well. Smooth and flavorful right away with some great sweet chocolate flavors and some bitterness in the finish. It has a lingering bitter chocolate finish and a little bit of dryness, but not as much as the oatmeal stout. Just an outstanding stout! Creamy, chocolatey, smooth and extremely drinkable. Hard to determine which one is better, if you're in the mood for a sweeter stout, this is the way to go.

"Tres" Blueberry Stout- Definitely the most intriguing of the bunch. I was curious to see how they balance the blueberry. The answer...perfectly. This too pours jet black with a thin tan head, but lighter than the other two and a slight blue tint to it. Wonderful roasty aromas at first with some blueberry aromas as well. Nothing overwhelming in the blueberry aroma, just faint enough to know it's there. Great smooth, creamy mouthfeel like the others. A very roasty backbone, with less chocolate than the others, and more chalkiness that is present right before the blueberry comes through. Nice winey-blueberry sweetness that works perfectly on top of the roasty flavors. It's sweet, but not overwhelming at all, a perfect balance between a typical stout and some fruitness. I think it's really easy to overdo or under shoot fruit beers, and this one doesn't come close to either. It's so well balanced that it enhances the beer without overwhelming the flavors. It also is present enough to make you know it's there without having to look at the label and say "oh...blueberry, is that the weird flavor I'm picking up?" For someone who likes to experiment with traditional beers and add interesting twists, this beer is a great bar to aim for. Exceptional.

I need to try the other Dark Horse beers that become available, because including the Crooked Tree and these three, they set the bar high!

I plan on doing a trio of Double IPA reviews soon, as well as an update on Irie 2.1, a review of my most recent El Muerto and some other thoughts.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Irie Stout 2.1

Last night I brewed the Irie Stout for the third time. The first time I brewed this beer I was really pleased with the turn out, but it still was lacking in some roastiness.The second time I brewed it, I changed the recipe a little to be compliant with the National Organic Homebrew Competition, making it 100% organic. I was happy with the turn out, but it still was a bit too sweet and lacked some body. The reviews came back from the contest decent, but it needed some tweaks.
This time around I wanted to use more roasted malts and some more spices and additions to give it a bit more complexity. Both Ted @ tedbrews and the judges mentioned the lack of body, so in addition to adding some carapils, I also added some wheat malt to the boil. I also bought the Wyeast Imperial Stout yeast, which is only available for a short time, which is unfortunate if it gives the Irie the push it needs.
I also used a product for the first time in this beer, but thought it would give it some nice flavors and complexity, as well as boost the gravity. I used Lyle's Black Treacle. This is a refined sugar similar to molasses that imparts a strong molasses flavor as well as some licorice flavors. I used .5 lbs, about half the can. The flavor is really tasty, and it seems like it will fit the beer perfectly. I also used 2 grams of paradise seeds because I think there was some spiciness missing the last time around. This beer was really good the first two times, and the reviews from friends were overwhelmingly positive, so I don't want to tweak it too much, but the anal brewer in me knows it could be more and hopefully these changes will work. The OG last night was 1.092, which is a nice start, the combo of the roasted malts and the treacle made it very black. Another change is that I'm going to add rinds from a Clementine in the secondary, as opposed to the orange marmalade I used in the boil last time around. I really want the orange to come through, and didn't feel like it did as much as I wanted with the marmalade. Stay tuned.

This week I want to review some Double IPAs, Hopslam among them, and also a trio of stouts from Dark Horse Brewing Company I was able to pick up.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Beer Reviews- Surly, Rush River, Flat Earth

It's been a little while since I posted and with very little happening in the Bearded Brewery, I thought I'd review some local beers. Before I get to the reviews, a quick update: time has treated the Oso well and the reviews from friends have been positive. While stated last week that it was a bit thin and lacked some character, I think that it's improved with time (even though that's only been a couple of weeks). It does lack something, hops and/or honey, but it definitely is a nice session beer with some nice drinkability and some malty-biscuit going on.
After close to two weeks of very active fermentation, I transfered the Gringo into the secondary and added 12oz of Agave Nectar. It had some great citrusy/hoppy flavors before I threw it into the fridge to lager for a couple weeks. I'm eager to see how this turns out.

Onto the reviews: Surly Coffee Bender
I thought I'd review some local beers, and I'll go in order from my favorite to least favorite of the bunch. First up is Surly's Coffee Bender. This beer won the best coffee beer at the GABF last year, and I was excited to see this in cans and become their winter seasonal. While I'm not a fan of the Furious, over time Bender from Surly has become one of my favorite beers. Adding organic coffee to the mix made it even better. When I first had it a bar, it came in a Surly Coffee Mug...which I thought was really creative.
This beer pours a dark chocolate brown with a two finger tan head. Those wonderful Bender aromas of roasty, toffee, chocolate, and biscuit but with an intense espresso/coffee aroma over top of it. A really enticing smell. Right away there's an intense coffee flavor. In fact most of the coffee stouts I've drank offer this much coffee flavor. The mouthfeel is smooth and soft, and the coffee gives way to a creamy/caramely body with roasty and chocoalte flavors throughout. A lingering bitterness and some coffee in the finish make this one of the better beers I've had in some time and hands down the best coffee beer I've ever had.

Rush River Lost Arrow Porter: Rush River is a brewery that has been around for a couple years, first south of St. Paul near Red Wing, Minnesota, and more recently across the river in River Falls, Wisconsin. With a bigger brewery to operate out of, Rush River started bottling and putting out more beers in the their line. I've always been a huge fan of their Unforgiven Amber Ale, and also really enjoy their Bubble Jack IPA. I was excited to try this because porters are one of my favorite styles of beer. Lost Arrow pours dark chocolate brown with a thin khaki head. Wonderful aromas of toffee, caramel, and roastiness. Smooth and sweet at first with a nice creamy mouthfeel. There are some nice chocolate and caramel flavors with some nice roastiness and a slight bitterness in the finish. Hardly any hop presence, this is a very silky, well balanced beer. Not as good as Summit's Great Northern Porter, but a close second and a damn good porter.

Flat Earth Cygnus 1 Porter
Flat Earth Brewing Company has been in St. Paul for a couple of years and has been steadily growing their roster. I'd had this beer on tap before, but never picked up a bottle. They call this beer a Canadian Porter, it is brewed with rye and Canadian 2-Row. It pours a dark brown, almost black with a ruby hues and a thin off white head. Wonderful toasty/biscuit aromas, with a lot of roastiness and chocolate as well. Very smooth, slick mouthfeel with a lot of roasitness and chocolate notes. It's quite biscuity as well, with a lingering bitterness/sourness that I wouldn't normally expect in a porter. I'm assuming that can be attributed to the rye malt. There's a little bit of smoke in the finish as well and some more toast. Overall, not bad, but not great either.

I plan to have some more reviews coming up and also the much anticipated swap of the Bi-Partisan Porter.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

El Oso Brown Ale Review

I've been waiting to review this beer because I wanted to give it some time to mature. I'm fairly happy with this beer, but feel like it definitely could be better. There are some nice flavors, but overall I think it's fairly thin and lacking some character. The beer was kind of a kitchen sink concoction, I threw in some ingredients I had lying around and made a beer using some grains that I had picked up on accident. You can read the story of it here. Regardless, that isn't an excuse, and this beer isn't bad by any means. I had resisted the urge to add some honey, and I think I shouldn't have ignored that instinct. There's some nice biscuity-malty flavors in it, and some honey in the secondary would have given it a nice finishing touch. I digress, onto the reivew:
It pours a nice mahogany brown, with ruby red highlights and a tan head. There's some nice aromas at first of toast, biscuit and malt with a faint nuttiness. It's fairly light, with a bit of a thin mouthfeel, it only clocks in at 4% abv and I think that is noticeable. Some caramel flavors going on, as well as a lot of biscuit. I had wanted it to be fairly biscuity, and I think that was achieved. There isn't as much caramel sweetness I would have wanted, and it lacks some nuttiness as well. Very easy drinking, and it leaves some lingering malty-toasty notes in the finish. Reading through the BJCP guidelines, I think the beer hits some of the marks, such as "A light-flavored, malt-accented beer that is readily suited to drinking in quantity." Where this beer lacks however is in the flavorful category. I think it's very easy drinking, but lacks some umph. I think I have a good base, but next time around I want to add some more late addition hops, perhaps that honey, and maybe something to give it a bit more body. It's almost closer to a Mild than a Brown Ale.
For a throw together beer, not a bad start, but I generally like my Bearded Brews to be a bit more memorable.
Here's the recipe:
2 lbs org 2-Row
1 lb org Crystal 60
.5 lbs org chocolate malt
2 oz org caramunich
6 oz org Vienna
* Mash @ 152 for 1 hr
4 lbs Light Org DME (1 lb @ 60, 3 lbs @ 20)
1 oz Org Perle Hops @ 60
.60 oz Org EKG @ 15
.40 oz Org Admiral Whole Hops@ 5
1056 American Ale Yeast

I will post some reviews of some local beers coming up, as well as an update on the Gringo, which is still fermenting almost 10 days in.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer