Odell Brewing – Saboteur Brett Barrel Brown Ale

sab•o•tage
[sab-uh-tahzh, sab-uh-tahzh] verb, noun
1.any underhand interference with production, work, etc., in a plant, factory, etc., as by enemy agents during wartime or by employees during a trade dispute.

Odell attempted something unique with Saboteur: to turn the earthy, malty brown ale into something sour and funky using Brettanomyces. Firmly planting this ale in the same category some of their other single-serve sours, they used a proprietary yeast strand extracted from the air around the brewery.

Brettanomyces, according to Odell, is wine’s worst enemy. Souring, producing a sensory experience that is unwelcomed – or at least used to be – and has over the past few years, become quite fashionable. It’s a yeasty fungus from the skins of fruits, berries and vegetables that.. yup, sabotages flavors.

Saboteur: A Brett Barrel Brown Ale is an accomplishment, in the least.

“Our brewer’s created an unpretentious, yet sophisticated brown ale. Then they plotted, and dosed this full-bodied ale with brettanomyces, the ultimate adversary of wineries. Embracing this vintner’s nemesis resulted in a complex and wonderfully drinkable beer. Intense earthy undertones, and notes of vanilla and pineapple come together with a sour silhouette. Aged in American oak barrels.”

Chilled and purchased from Lukas Liquor in Overland Park, Kansas.
Vintage – 2012
10% alcohol

Aged in oak barrels for several months (and I would know, obsessively following Odell across the vast world of social media) and 100 percent bottle conditioned, there’s a lot of work that went into this libation.

Going with a different format here, here’s a run down of why Saboteur is damn delicious.

• Pouring a dark, dark unrelenting brown there was maybe 20 percent visibility through the glass.

• Tan, it was a tan head! Incredibly foamy, thick and creamy.

• Warm, funky and full of caramely notes, the smell was filled with traces of vanilla, oak and call me stupid, but citrus fruit – maybe an apple too.

• As always, it’s the flavor. It was an imperial-style ale that made me grow warmer as it got warmer. The flavors midway through the sip (the front was full of tartness and sour) were phenomenal. All of the malty flavors complimented the inherent oak and darkened the fruity flavors.

Boom. Saboteur is excellent, but not in any normal sense of the term. Cheers to Odell for another brilliant beer.

CraftBeer.com | Happy Brew Year’s Eve—Celebrating Since 1933

“America’s craft brewers and beer lovers across the country will be celebrating Brew Year’s Eve with a craft beer in hand on April 7.

Brew Year’s Eve celebrates the eve of the modification of the Volstead Act, which raised the legal alcohol percentage of beverages from .05 percent to 3.2 percent, allowing some beers to be legal once again on April 7, 1933. Over 1.5 million barrels of beer were consumed during the first 24-hours after the modification of the act!”

CraftBeer.com | Happy Brew Year’s Eve—Celebrating Since 1933.

Sixpoints Brewery: Resin [via craftbeer.com]

The Jesus and Mary Chain to Headline Paste’s Official SXSW Showcase [via pastemagazine.com]

“We are proud to announce our official South By Southwest showcase, which will feature special headliner The Jesus and Mary Chain. The 90-minute performance from The Jesus and Mary Chain will be the band’s sole performance during SXSW. The band’s recently announced, limited U.S. dates are their first North American appearances since 2008.

The event will take place on March 15 from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. at the recently refurbished Belmont on 305 W. 6th Street in Austin. New Jersey’s Titus Andronicus is also set to perform at the showcase, which comes after last week’s teaser for a new album. Canadian rockers Arkells, Seattle’s Night Beats and Los Angeles’ Cold Showers will also perform at the showcase. The event will be open to attendees with SXSW wristbands and laminates only.”

So. Epic.

For the rest of the article, follow THIS link. Not THIS one, that one isn’t even a link.

Video Spam!

Punch Brothers – Rye Whiskey

__________

Joy Kills Sorrow – One More Nights

Joy Kills Sorrow – One More Night from Live & Breathing on Vimeo.

__________

The Lumineers – Ho Hey

__________

The Head and the Heart – Rivers and Roads

CraftBeer.com | Spring Has Sprung! Craft Brewers Share their Spring Seasonals

It’s time for some spring seasonals, son – and tis the season for collaborations to start rolling out.

Craftbeer.com released an interesting article earlier this week full of such delicious details.

Spring Has Sprung! Craft Brewers Share their Spring Seasonals

by Meghan Storey (via Craftbeer.com)

It’s impossible to overlook the countless spring seasonals being released from America’s craft brewers this year—they’re literally popping up like daisies. All puns aside, there are quite a few specific styles associated with spring.

Learn more about craft beer styles using the Style Finder.

Common Spring Beer Styles

• Maibock: This German-style Lager that is said to have been consumed by fasting monks during the season of Lent. Malty and satisfying, but not too heavy, this is a perfect beer to help ring in the spring.
• Red Ale: This style is characterized by a light-to-medium caramel malt sweetness. American-brewed versions often use the beer’s malty base to support aggressive hop aromas, flavors and bitterness.
• Irish Stout: Also known as a Dry Stout, this roasty, dark ale is perfect for cool, rainy spring days or for celebrating your Irish heritage on March 17.
• Biere de Mars: A malty version of the Biere de Garde, Biere de Mars is often partially fermented with a wild yeast strain such as Brettanomyces.
• Wheat Beers: These refreshing beers are brewed with 30-60 percent wheat malt. During the spring and summer months, you will often find versions of these beers brewed with regional fruits.

To read the rest, follow THIS LINK NOW!

New Belgium Brewing – Dig Pale Ale

Spring seasonals, not always my favorite.

And what spring seasonal am I about to ramble on about? New Belgium’s Dig Pale Ale.

As one of them Colorado craft breweries, Fort Collins’ New Belgium is favoring a hop-forward approach to a huge chunk of their beer..

And it is glorious.

Doing away with Mighty Arrow, their new spring seasonal is taking the reins for the spring months and giving 2012 a fresh start, because a lot of us need a fresh start for this young year. Like 2Below and Skinny Dip, Mighty Arrow has taken a hiatus – this isn’t to say the aforementioned beers will never return, according to New Belgium Brewing, but for the next couple rotations, we’ll sip on Dig during the blossoming season as we run around like a rabid 10-year-old climbing trees, playing tag.

The Color, Aroma and Pour
Dig is quite the beer. Of course, it’s a pale ale, but it’s a pale ale that leans more towards this complicated ingredient structure: Lots of hops.

“With Dig our brewers utilized a couple new (to us) hop varietals with Nelson Sauvin and Sorachi Ace and the interplay between the two in this beer is fantastic. The Nelson Sauvin hops bring a huge (like super huge) soft fruit kind of punch, I’m talking mango and guava, (ever had a guava? they’re fantastic), and the Sorachi Ace carries a citrus zing more of the lemon-type-pucker in nature. A lot of American hops have a citrus punch, it’s one of the best reasons to use American hops, but the citrus profile of an American hop is more likely in the grapefruit vein of the citrus system (think the Cascade hops of Ranger IPA). The Sorachi Ace is a Japanese hop, and this tart lemon hue is completely new to me and quite awesome in Dig. The lemon of the Sorachi Ace in tandem with the super fruitiness of the Nelson Sauvin create a hop profile to beat the band in Dig (like literally (with a short-ish section of rubber hose)).”

The beer pours clear and amber with tons of lemon zest in the nose. I don’t quite pick up the guava mentioned in NBB’s description of the hops variations, but I’m also not so familiar with it that I could pick the scent out of the air. The lacing of this pale ale doesn’t hang out much, but foams roughly to a finger-width.

The Taste
Always the most important aspect, the flavor is immensely satisfying for a pale ale. There’s bready malts, zesty citrus fruits (mainly lemon and a touch of grapefruit) and ending with a spicy earthiness. It’s a combination of flavor that I don’t experience often.

Overall
This is one of the strongest pale ale’s I’ve tasted as far as interesting flavor. Yes, there is always a good pale around, but not one like this.

..since Christmas

There’s an obvious chronological gap since my last post on Christmas Day.

My bad.

In the next few days I’ll begin working on a new batch of posts relating to all sorts of stuff (mainly music and my deep appreciation for beer). Until then, Cheers.

Merry Christmas! Boulevard Brewing Co. – Nutcracker Ale

Boulevard Brewing Co. – Nutcracker Ale
Kansas City, Mo.

“Nutcracker Ale is Boulevard’s holiday gift for real beer lovers. This hearty, warming brew is a classic winter ale, deep amber in color, with hints of molasses balanced by the “spiciness” of freshly harvested Chinook hops.”

Bitterness (IBUs) – 38
Original Gravity (Plato) – 16
Terminal Gravity (Plato) – 3.8
Alcohol (ABV) – 5.8%

“It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good-humour.”

Charles Dickens scribbled these words in A Christmas Carol, sometime around late autumn in 1843. Since reading this Victorian verbiage in late 2004, I’ve loved every utterance of it.

One personal, and arbitrary, aspect we forget about the holiday is its familial, secular purpose. We possibly can blame Dickens for essentially twisting Christmas into the monster we know today;  from the shameful, Victorian era soberness, to the lavish and joyous celebration it is now, but we often forget the spirit of the holiday – the good spirit invoked by the occasion.

I hear a lot of the ACLU vs. Atheism argument and I honestly don’t care anymore. Why does this argument exist anyway, guys? Both sides unofficially conclude Jesus wasn’t born on December 25, so.. this means a religious vs. non-religious aspect is somewhat pointless. The religious argument? Jesus was born *insert date.* And the anti-religious? You have no reason to argue, you’re just being jerks.

This leaves December 25th open for something else and I really dig Christmas.

All this leaves is a celebration of good spirit and philanthropy.

Late last night St. Nick made his way across the world, distributing gifts to children and adults alike – hopefully spreading happiness to everyone. (Sarah, le girlfriend, left a Lump of Coal Stout in her dad’s stocking.)

Now, it’s time for Christmas dinner.

My job this year involved bearing beverages for Christmas dinner consumption. Guess what I did? I’m pairing beer with dinner and this is something I’ve never done.

One of the warmers I considered?

Boulevard’s Nutcracker Ale.

Bad picture, I know.

The Color, Aroma and Pour
Nutcracker Ale lives up to its namesake. The foamy, dark copper ale aerates the air around the glass with a malty, nuttiness with a piney, spice aroma intertwined in the smell. It’s one of those delights in a beer that makes this one of the most sessionable winter seasonals.

Taste
It’s a medium-bodied beer with a taste that is indicative of its scent, although reversed. I picked up the floral hoppyness before the sweet, bready malts tinker on the mid-to-late flavors. Initially, the beer felt too simple (and I enjoy simple), but I was unimpressed. It was at my friend’s impromptu bachelor party that I felt the greatness of the Nutcracker Ale. It’s one of those simple beers that become more and more complex as you let it linger. The vanilla and caramel compliment the gripping bitterness.

Overall
It’s a damn good winter warmer, but not my personal favorite of Boulevard’s beers. I do plan on keeping at least six of these in my fridge at all times though.

Nutcracker didn’t make it to dinner, but it has its place around the dinner table.

Merry Christmas and here’s to a Happy New Year! Cheers.

It’s beginning to look like Christmas.. booze.

I was asked to provide beverages for dinner tomorrow.

Bad idea? or Excellent idea?

Southern Tier - Backburner, New Belgium - Snow Day, Odell - Mountain Standard, Grand Teton - Coming Home Holiday Ale 2011, Great Divide - Oak Aged Yeti

 

 

Lagunitas – Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale

Lagunitas Brewing Co. – Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale
Petaluma, Ca.

I never tried Lagunitas’ BrownShugga’ Ale, but thanks to some planning mishap, they switched it this year to Lagunita’s Sucks Holiday Ale in order to keep up with the overall production of their beer.

Here’s a quick description, I know everyone is busy with their last minute shopping.

“This sad holiday season we didn’t have the brewing capacity to make our favorite seasonal brew, the widely feard BrownShugga’ Ale So this substitute beer is a ‘Cereal Medley’ of Barley, Rye, Wheat, and Oats…. Full of complexishness from the 4 grains, and weighing in at 7.6% abv, Then joyously dry-hopped for that big aroma and resinous hop flavor.”

ABV – 7.85%

The Color, Pour and Aroma
This heavily carbonated beer poured a brilliant midas gold and orange and the piney, citrus of the aggressively hopped beer cut through the nostrils when I first smelled this libation. The lacing was foamy, initially. After a few moments the head vanished and the lacing rolled gently down the side.

The Taste
Lagunitas Sucks (not always true) Holiday Ale reminded me a spicy Freestate Winter Fest. It’s a well hopped beer with brown sugar and caramel sweetness. The swirling IPA flavor was always dancing on the front of the taste with the backend left for the malt. Strangely, this IPA was medium bodied, creamy and maybe a bit oily. I like it.

Overall
I don’t drink Lagunitas often. I’m not sure why because every time I do, I like it. This is a contender for a rotating drink, but not necessarily a holiday beer and definitely not a winter warmer. Still, I recommend this to my IPA fiends (I avoid the term hop-head, it’s dumb.)

Odell Brewing Co. – Isolation Ale

Odell Brewing Co. – Isolation Ale
Fort Collins, Co.

It’s two days before Christmas and still no snow accumulation.

Unfortunately, I forgot all about this here winter warmer series last week, but the good news is I plan on keeping this up through the winter – there’s way too many to stop now.

“A funny thing happens here around summer’s end – our eyes start searching the skies for those first fall flakes. As we welcome autumn’s first snow, we celebrate the return of Isolation Ale. A sweet caramel malty ale that is balanced by a subtle crisp hop finish. Whether you ski, shred, or shoe, Isolation Ale will inspire you to make first tracks.”

6.0% Alc. by Vol.
29 IBUs

Isolation Ale is a beer engineered to get us through those chilly, frozen nights as the lingering desire to be snowed in taps in the back of your mind. It’s a simple, warming beer for the winter season.

Sorry for the lack of photo - I drank it all.

I have a tendency to compare breweries in Colorado; mainly out of mutual adoration for the bulk of them. I drank Great Divide’s Hibernation Ale and moved onto Isolation, this was a mistake. They’re two entirely different winter beers.

I first had Isolation Ale last Christmas when I was, essentially, the only beer guy in the room (I’ve since turned a few more away from light lagers) and I remember liking this beer quite a bit. There were toasty, nutty flavors I wasn’t necessarily used to in a winter seasonal (now I know them specifically by their malt qualities) and the slight hop character is what attracted me to this beer.

The Color, Aroma and Pour
Isolation pours a lucid, dark brown with red highlights as light passes through, I guess we’ll call this amber? The lacing is thin and the head is as well, but the color alone is fantastic. Although, the color has nothing on the scent of earthy nuttiness with delicate hints of hops.

Taste
Tasting Isolation Ale is basically sipping on what a winter warmer was intended to taste like – spicy, nutty, smooth and perfect for drinking. There is no struggle here sipping on Odell’s seasonal. It starts off with a intermediate dose of hops, finishing with a crisp hoppyness.

Overall
I’m so looking forward to the first snow of the season.