Ace In The Hole

Brewery:

Brooklyn Brewing

Brooklyn, New York

www.brooklynbrewery.com/

Name/Style:

Sorachi Ace/Saison/Farmhouse Ale

ABV(alcohol by volume):

7.6%

Sorachi Ace is unique(from here on Sorachi Ace will refer to the hop). This Saison is named after and brewed with a rare hop varietel known as Sorachi Ace. Developed by Japan's Sappro Breweries in 1988 it is known for its lemon zest/lemon grass quality in taste and smell. It certainly imparts those qualities into Brooklyn's one-off Saison. After being brewed with an initial dose of Sorachi Ace it is then put through a secondary fermantation where the ale is dry hopped with even more Sorachi Ace. Another unique aspect of the ale is the champagne yeast used. A unique Belgian strain that is light in flavor and blends easily with the other characteristics of the ale to the point of almost being unnoticable but for the large egg-white colored head and high level of carbonation. There really isn't a lot to say about the taste. As unique as this ale is it isn't very complex. Yet, it's simplicity gives it an aire of elegance and class. Delicate lemon grass mixed with a light malt and a touch of alcohol. Finishes dry, but because of the lemon it is also incredibly refreshing. The aroma is very much like the taste profile. Sunny lemon with a yeast that is clearly Belgian. Delicate and understated. 

I love this saison from Brooklyn Brewing. It is one of my two favorite Brooklyn has produced to date. I hope they reconsider only brewing this once and at least make this fine brew a seasonal.

Musical Pairings:

Christie Lenee writes and performs a genuine, soulful variety of acoustic music. Her tunes are many and can be soft and subtle or dynamic and dramatic. Rockin' or slightly ambient or mesmerizing and enchanting with technical finger-style wizardry. A few things are always certain about Christie Lenee, though. 

She is passionate. She can sing. 

And she can play the hell out of an acoustic guitar.

Artist:

Christie Lenee

Song:

Evolution

Artist:

Christie Lenee

Song:

She's Fine(Live at Skipper's Smokehouse Tampa, FL)

Introducing BrewSounds Recipes!

This is the Happy Birthday To Me addition of BrewSounds. To celebrate I decide to share a little mixed drink recipe I made up with everyone. It's cheap, sweet, and deliciously simple.

Many craft beer fans, including myself, preach "quality not quantity" and I couldn't agree more with that statement. It is also commonly said that nothing should ever have to be added to a beer to make it better. I also totally agree with that. You won't find any oranges on the rim of my Belgian beer anytime, anywhere. That doesn't mean we can't add anything to a good brew.

I can hear the "purists" tisking already.

My reason today for sharing my recipe is because birthdays are days to party and sometimes you need to jump into party-mode with both feet.

I'm talking about tearing it up, folks.

Introducing:

'Nanastephaner

(Name By Amber Landes)

Buy one bottle of Wiehenstephaner Vitus.

It is 17oz so you will be able to make three drinks from this.

Buy one half pint of Bananas Brand Schnapps.

Pour 3/4oz Schnapps into glass of your choice.

Pour 51/2oz of the Vitus into the glass with the Schnapps.

That's it!

Vitus is already a flavorful brew that holds its own with a 7.7% abv. The addition of Bananas Brand Schnapps kicks the banana flavor that is already prevalent in Vitus up a notch and boosts the buzz factor enormously. This will definitely get the party started right!

Now, do you have a favorite beer mixing recipe or beer concoction that you came up with yourself?

If so, share you recipe(s) and every week I will pick a favorite.

The winning recipe each week will be published in BrewSounds with full credit going to it's creator.

Only one rule.

One of the ingredients must be craft beer

You can submit entries by emailing me at brewsounds@gmail.com

Can't wait to see what you have come up with.

Cheers!

Did You Save Room For Dessert?

Welcome back for another dose of BrewSounds! I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving this year. I know I had a great one. 

Now that Turkeyday is out of the way we can start to think about Hanukkah, National Pearl Harbor Rememberance Day, Winter officially beginning, Christmas, Boxing Day(for our friends to the north), Kwanzaa and The New Year. That's a lot of opportunities to have some great meals and finish them with a great dessert. Some like ice cream or pie or cake or some combination of the three.

And some like Crème Brûlée.

Brewery:
Southern Tier Brewing Company
Lakewood, New York
www.southerntierbrewing.com


Name/Style:
Crème Brûlée Imperial Milk Stout/Milk Stout/Imperial Stout


ABV(alcohol by volume):
9.6% 

Milk Stouts are delicious, but not for everyone. They don't actually have milk in them, but during the brewing process extra unfermentable sugars are added, like lactose, to give the Stout its creamy mouth-feel and sweet taste. So watch out if you are lactose intolerant or have a milk allergy. This beer would ruin your night.

For the rest of us Milk Stouts are a creamy, sweet, tasty alternative to the dry Irish/English Stout or the sometimes brutal and bitter Russian/American Imperial or American Double Stout. 

 To start, Crème Brûlée is one of the most aromatic brews I have ever encountered. As soon as the cap is off the whole room fills with the smell of rich vanilla. Once poured into my goblet the vanilla makes room for malt and the heavy presence of alcohol. This stuff smells amazing and like a headache waiting to happen at the same time.

The bottle recommends serving at 42 °F which is much colder than what I or most anyone would recommend serving a Stout, but I will oblige. 

At it's coldest Crème Brûlée tastes of strong vanilla bean with caramel malt, but an overpowering amount of alcohol and a bitterness that doesn't seem to fit in. I don't know why anyone, especially the brewery, would recommend serving this so chilled. I have noticed that all Southern Tier brews in bombers have that recommendation. As it warms Crème Brûlée goes from an unpleasant mess to a much more pleasing drink. The alcohol slips back considerably. The vanilla, bordering on disgusting when super chilled, is smoother and the bitterness, though still present, as it should be, is more at home because the 2-row and caramel malts make themselves more obvious. The body is middle of the road. Not thick, not thin. Overall this is one ultra flavorful and unique brew. 

By no means is this a balanced beer. Some love it. Some hate it. I am ambivalent. I enjoyed trying it. I will try it again and see if I feel the same, but I will certainly recommend you try it. Bring it to your next social gathering for the holidays and let everyone sample a little. I'm sure it will be a hit. 

Musical Pairings:

Artist:

Keelhaul

Songs:

LWM

360

Album:

II

Keelhaul are an amazingly talented and shockingly unknown band from Cleveland, Ohio. They play a mostly instrumental mix of rock-your-ass-off post-hardcore, good ol' rock, beer, math-rock, chicken, fart jokes and emotive slow jams. I am putting these two songs from their out of this world awesome second album II in the order that I felt my Crème Brûlée experience went. Shocking, jilting, out of wackness that changed to a more orderly form and finally ends in a smooth, comforting way. By the way, everything from these fellas is beer fueled. They love beer. And they put out nothing but incredible albums... Even if they do make us wait 5 years for one here and there. 

Gold Dragons Are The Best Dragons

Today in BrewSounds I want to talk about our first foreign beer. It's dark. It's big. And it's from Belgium. 

It's a Belgian Strong Dark Ale.

Belgian beers and breweries are know to be some of the best in the world. Besides being home to six of the seven Trappist monasteries that brew beer, Belgium has the largest collection of breweries in Europe outside of The U.K., France and Germany with around 125.
Belgium's long history with brewing has created some of the most refined beer and styles on the planet including Lambic, Saison, Dubbel, Tripple, Quadruple, Blonde, Wheat, Belgian Pale Strong and todays style of choice, Belgian Strong Dark Ale.
Belgian Strong Dark Ale is a most closely related to the Belgian Dark Ale, obviously. Richer malt, higher abv, ect. Bigger in every department.

Brewery:
Brouwerij Van Steenberge N.V.
Lindenlaan 25 - B-9940 Ertvelde, Belgium
http://www.vansteenberge.com/

Name/Style:
Gulden Draak Dark Triple/Belgian Strong Dark Ale

ABV(alcohol by volume)

10%

Now, right off the bat some of you might have said to yourself, "It says Dark Triple in name. Why is this guy calling Gulden Draak a Belgian Strong Dark Ale?" The reason is simply that it does not technically fit the description of a Triple. They range from pale yellow to a sort of burnt orange. They tend to be sweet, but also have a lighter body all while keeping a high alcohol content. Belgian Strong Dark Ales tend to be sweet, have a thicker body and are dark with high alcohol content. Just like Gulden Draak. Hence, I am calling Gulden Draak a Belgian Strong Dark Ale.

The brewery website also calls Gulden Draak a "Barley Wine". But enough nit picking about styles. Let's talk presentation! 

Gulden Draak is a beauty of a beer. When poured into a tulip is produces a thick, chewy dome of head the color of butter pecan ice cream. The beer itself is a hazy dark brown bordering on raisin. The aroma is uncomplicated. Big on the alcohol, sweet malt and red grape. 

For an ale that has such a simple aroma Gulden Draak has quite a complex taste. The Spice and sweet malts blaze up front along with the grape presence. Grape is not too common a quality in brew, but it is delicious in this one. Toffee and yeast notes make themselves known along with a menagerie of subtleties that are hard to describe. There is a lot going on in here. I know there is a lot of alcohol, but other than a faint peppery spice it makes its appearance only in the warming sensation it gives me. Rich, smooth mouth-feel. Thick and almost slimy, but not going to far with it. Looooooong finish that is a pleasantly sweet and a touch herb-like. 

Musical Pairing:

Artist:

Gojira

Song:

Where Dragons Dwell

Album:

From Mars to Sirius


Gojira are a (believe it or not) totally awesome French metal band. I know, I know. A good French metal band?! These dudes write some seriously thick, heavy tunes, though. Some of the mid and late 2000's best metal riffs came off their albums From Mars to Sirius and The Way of All Flesh.

Cigar City Needs Our Help

Hello BrewSounders,

This post today might be old news already to some beer advocates, but Florida's best brewery Cigar City Brewing is facing a serious problem from the City of Tampa Council. In a recent vote that would have cinched up CCB's wet-zoning permanently, which gives the brewery the right to serve alcohol, host special tasting events and sell their own beer at the brewery, the city council voted 3-3. That means the vote did not pass, which means that Cigar City must now have a majority vote on the next two votes for the wet-zoning to become permanent. If they do not get these votes the brewery will have to close down their tasting room by December 16th. One member of the council failed to show for the vote, potentially causing the 3-3 tie.

Below I have linked the contact info for each of the council members. Please take the time to write the council members who voted in favor of the wet-zoning becoming permanent and thank them for their understanding of the importance of this tasting room to this local business.

Also, please write the members who voted against the wet-zoning. Plea to them to please understand that to continue to vote against this zoning will cost people their jobs, cause the brewery to lose the valuable ability to sell their own product on location, and will be a loss for the city of Tampa. 

And most importantly please write the council member who was absent for the vote. Help him understand the importance of his vote in this matter.

Do be respectful. Do be sincere. Please don't write to them with some rant because that will accomplish nothing.

Thank you all for reading BrewSounds and thanks to all who take the time to write or call the Tampa City council members.

Council Members Against Passing Wet-Zoning

Gwen Miller

Thomas Scott

Curtis Stokes

Council Members For Passing Wet-Zoning

Mary Mulhern

Yvonne Yolie Capin

Joseph Caetano

Council Member Absent For Vote

Charlie Miranda

Some points to make in your statements to the council

• Never have their been  police called to the brewery for any reason. This is not a bar. This is a tasting room of which its clientele are people who are passionate about craft beer and are not there to party. It is not a bar. It is a tasting room.
• CCB has never had a violation of any kind since its inception over two years ago.
• In that two years CCB has gone from 2 employees to 22 employees. In a time of economic crisis that is no small contribution to the Tampa community.
• CCB has put Florida on the map as a beer lovers destination. Any who are craft beer lovers who read blogs or follow beer websites know that people travel from all over the country to visit CCB's tasting room for one-off brews and to tour the facility. 
• Besides the totally screwed up laws on distribution in Florida which take a heavy toll on all Florida breweries, taking away CCB's ability to sell their liquid awesomeness on site and host totally awesome events that are often involving other breweries and people from other parts of the country would be devastating to the viability of CCB. 

Bad Business 101

Today in BrewSounds I want to talk about honesty.

Honesty is of utmost importance in any relationship. It's the glue that keeps us together. It's transparency allows us to see each other for who we really are. 

What we like and don't like. What we loathe and what we love.  

 This applies whether we are talking about work or family. 

Friends or a mere acquittance. For some this takes longer to learn than others. I, for one, have been on both sides of dishonesty and can tell you, truthfully, both sides suck. It is the side that creates the dishonesty, though, that does the damage. Ruins marriages, breaks up families, tarnishes reputations and puts the "bad" in "bad business" like no other.

But, it's not just about being honest to others.

We must be honest with ourselves. We need to have a realistic and honest knowledge of our strengths.

And of our weaknesses.

Knowledge of ones own weaknesses can be used towards bettering oneself. Or it can be used to create a mask. To create a false impression. To make oneself appear bigger and better.

We all must avoid this for it is a trap. 
Each time we lie a bar is created. And with enough lies and enough time we are surely and inevitably surrounded by these bars. Trapped within them, sometimes to never escape.

Be honest with yourself. Be honest with the ones you love. Be honest with the ones you work with and for. And if you are a brewery don't ever, ever, ever be dishonest with craft brew people. We will see through your mask. We will know you for what you are. And we will talk about you, in a very honest fashion, with our friends and our family.

Brewery:

Fort Collins Brewery

Fort Collins, Colorado

www.fortcollinsbrewery.com/

Name/Style:

Double Chocolate Stout/American Double/Imperial Stout

ABV(alcohol by volume):

8.1%

This was my first Fort Collins Brewing beer I've ever tried and as I told the woman at the store, I was excited to try it. I love a good Stout as much as the next guy, but I am crazy for a good American Double Stout. The usual characteristics of an American Double Stout are similar to a Russian Imperial Stout, but taken to the typical American craft beer extreme. Big roasted malt profile, many brewed with chocolate or coffee, high alcohol content, large hop bite, full bodied with rich textures and a sweetness that remains as an aftertaste. Some are also aged in whiskey or bourbon barrels to make them even smoother.

FCB's Double Chocolate Stout states on the label, "Roasted malt, rich chocolate overtones, coffee undertones and impeccable balance."

Not quite.

I believe what they meant to say was huge coffee overtones with a hint of chocolate that actually mostly serves to make the bitterness from the hops, roasted malt and coffee even stronger. This bitterness goes looooong into the finish, which ends up dry. The body is too thin for the style, partly due to overcarbonation. The only part of this beer that really is characteristic of the American Double Stout style is the appearance. Opaque, dark brown with 1 finger of light tan colored head. Remember what I said earlier about masks and appearance? This is, to me, an example of a brewery trying to make their product look bigger and better than it truly is. FCB calls this one time release their "Most decadent creation." 

"Decadent" is a bit of a stretch. "Deceitful" is more like it.

Now, please understand that after all this ranting this beer is not a bad beer. It is a decent bitter Stout with emphasis on the coffee, but to call this a Double Chocolate Stout is just ridiculous. Anyone who likes and knows anything about a big, thick, awesome American Double would agree. Stout, yes. Coffee Stout, sure. American Double Stout with chocolate overtones and impeccable balance, no way.

I will be trying FCB's other beers in the future, but I will certainly hesitate to purchase next I see a Fort Collins brew. 

Musical Pairings:

What more is their to say.

Artist:

Queen

Song:

Liar

Album:

Queen

Artist:
Bikini Kill
Song:
Liar
Album:
CD Version Of The First Two Records

Guavaween

Yeah, it's the Friday before Halloween. Yeah, Halloween is on Sunday this year, but we all know all the parties are still happening tonight or tomorrow. Yeah, we are to old to maybe care as much as some of us do about this pagan holiday gone all Hallmark. Here in Tampa, though, we have the adult answer to the kiddies Halloween.

Guavaween.

Started in 1985, Guavaween serves as the main fundraiser for the historic city of Ybor's Chamber of Commerce. A family oriented affair in the daylight hours, it turns to the dark side after the sun goes down. It is not uncommon for people to be arrested for nudity, peeing, having sex, property damage and any other indecencies an alcohol fueled mob of 50,000 to 120,000 people in costume may be capable of.

In honor of the fruit that is so popular in the Southern U.S., Central and South America and  for Guavaween the fantastic collective brewing genius that is Cigar City Brewing whipped up a unique Fall Seasonal in the Saison Style.

 Saison (aka Farmhouse Ale) is a unique style of ale. Until recent years the Saison was falling of the beer lovers radar. It was thought of as "endangered", but that is no longer the case.

Saison tends to be fruity, but not really sweet, tart to sour, good strong yeast profile that is a little musty at times with a good spiciness. Typical abv. ranges from 5%-8%.

Brewery:

Cigar City Brewing

Tampa, Florida

http://www.cigarcitybrewing.com/

Name/Style:

Guava Grove/Saison

ABV(alcohol by volume):

8%

 Cigar City often brews beer that are tributes to some element of Tampa and its history. Their Jai Alai IPA is in memory of the long gone fronton where the sport was once played, Maduro Brown Ale is for the long history of cigar manufacturing in Ybor, ect. Guava Grove is for the love of Cuban cuisine and Guavaween.
To get the guava into their Saison, Cigar City does a secondary fermentation on real guava.
The aroma when you open the bottle is great. It gets even better when poured into a glass. As the cloudy, golden tangerine colored brew fills my glass the guava is light, but present with hints of flowers, citrus zest and a little funk from the yeast. The fact that this is going to be a tart beer is evident before it gets anywhere near my lips.
 Tartness runs throughout the entire taste experience. What I believe are pale malts are barely perceptible giving freedom for the fruit characteristics to take over. Lemon, guava, and maybe a little pineapple. Just a touch of sweetness. A little peppery.  They mention banana being present, but not really picking up on that to much. Nice earthy, funky yeast pairs wonderfully with the tart. There in a medium body to the mouth-feel. Finishes very dry and yet very refreshing. I could drink this all day.

Musical Pairing:

Artist:

Buena Vista Social Club

Song:

Chan Chan

Album:

Buena Vista Social Club

One of the great Cuban bands to reach the ears of the world. At the time of the recording of their self-titled album some of the members were as old as 90. Beautiful, soulful music to accompany a beautiful, soulful beer.



Pumpkin Smashings: Part Three

Wow! It is the end of October already! This year is sure is flying by. That means I need to really get cracking on more BrewSound posts because I'm going for 500 "Likes" on FaceBook by years end. And you folks aren't going to be sharing this if I don't keep it flush with new material. Thanks to everyone who has already "Liked"(125 at time of posting) and shared this blog with their friends or follows via a feed. And thanks to the few that have made some comments and given suggestions for future ideas for BrewSounds. You all are the people that will help make BrewSounds more enjoyable for everyone and more popular with everybody. And don't forget I am on Twitter, too. Tweet up a storm.

Alright. As promised I am doing another segment of Autumn Ears & Beers today. We have covered one Oktoberfest and two Pumpkin Ales. I'm going to make it three Pumpkin Ales today because, well, I love Pumpkin Ale and I'm really starting to get jazzed for Halloween.

Brewery:

Dogfish Head Craft Brewing

Milton, Delaware

www.dogfish.com

Name/Style:

Punkin/Pumpkin Ale

ABV(alcohol by volume):

7%

Dogfish Head is one of the most well respected breweries in the United States for a reason. They make a huge variety of craft brew using a seemingly endless list of ingredients that most people would not even consider putting into beer. From adding tea, to mixing in juices, to aging beer in wine barrels, Dogfish are always pushing the limits of what breweries do with beer recipes.

With their their Fall Seasonal brew, Punkin, they put themselves right at the top for Pumpkin Ales. Not as high in alcohol as the Weyerbacher Imperial pumpkin, but holding it's own at 7% it is still not a beer to mess around with. Appears a crystal clear honey orange when viewed with sunlight behind it. Changes to a more brown-orange in not so direct light. There isn't any haze to the body, but you can see some tiny particulation floating in the middle of the glass. Spice remnants most likely. 

The aroma is a little more subdued than other Pumpkin Ales, but it is still very pleasing. Bready pie crust with nutmeg, allspice, brown sugar, pumpkin and malt. Alcohol esters comes through all the spices, too. 

I think for me what sets this Pumpkin Ale apart from others is this one seems to have the most pumpkin flavor to it. Other beers tend to be spice-centric, which this one doesn't fall short on by any means, but I can really taste the pumpkin. It carries all the other flavors instead of relying on the spices to convey the pie characteristics. Pumpkin up front followed by a yeasty breadiness and nutmeg and allspice. The malt melds beautifully with the spice and alcohol.  Mouth-feel is a little creamy. Fishes with a  slight sweetness. The pumpkin flavor remains in the aftertaste. This is the ale by which I measure all Pumpkin Ales. A masterpiece.

Musical Pairing:

Artist:

The White Stripes

Song:

We're Going To Be Friends

Album:

White Blood Cells

The Whites Stripes of Detroit, Michigan are one of the most innovative rockers in the last decade, although the more you know about The White Stripes the more you know Jack White is really just trying to create the emotion of old delta blues in a modern drum and guitar style."We're Going To Be Friends" might be most recognizable as the song used during the intro to the film Napoleon Dynamite. I think we can all agree that Dogfish Punkin and whoever tries it are going to be friends.

Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground

My Kind Of Bastard

Happy Tuesday, BrewSounders. (That's what I'm calling you now)

Today I'll be talking more beer from my Michigan trip.

The style is one of my favorites. The brewery is one of the best in the U.S., in my opinion. And the beer itself is one of my all-time favorite beers. Ever.
Seriously.

Let's talk Scotch Ale.

Scottish Style Ale is a variant of Strong Pale Ale believed to be developed in Edinburgh, Scotland in the late 18th or early 19th century. The traditional characteristics of Scottish Ale are a deep red/copper color that can vary to a dark brown, sweet flavors from malts and unfermented sugars also imparting a rich mouth-feel and a low hop profile with an abv. around 5-7% . The color and much of the sweet flavor comes from a long boil of the wort, resulting a caramelization. Wort (pronounced wert ) is kind of like tea. Grain and malt are boiled in water with hops being added at different points along the boil to impart different characteristics (taste, color, smell). It is then fermented to produce alcohol and carbonation.

Scotch Ale is a stronger version of the Scottish Ale. Deeper in color, higher alcohol content, sweeter caramel malt and roasted characters.

Wee Heavy is Scotch Ale, also. Used in place of and/or used to represent the strongest of the Scotch Ale Style.

Brewery:

Founders Brewing Company

Grand Rapids, Michigan

http://www.foundersbrewing.com/

Name/Style:

Dirty Bastard/Scotch Ale/Wee Heavy

ABV(alcohol by volume):

8.5%

Founders Brewing likes to think of themselves as brewers who brew beer not for the masses, but for beer people. I can't disagree. Though, this tasty gem is very accessible for a Founders brew. I even shared a few with my mother over some pleasant conversation. 

Pours a stunning deep mahogany that is a little hazy with a topping of big almond toned head that lingers the whole session. This is one of the most beautiful beers you will ever see. No lie, I'm actually salivating a little as I type just thinking about it...Anyway. 

The aroma from Dirty Bastard is rich caramel,  brown sugar, toffee, dark fruits(date like, maybe), with a touch of roasted malt and alcohol. Doesn't have the smokiness that often accompanies Scotch Ale. 

The taste is INCREDIBLE. Everything present in the nose is there on the tongue. Creamy caramel, toffee, the fruitiness, all mingle with a sweet malt backbone and a spice from the alcohol. There is also higher than normal hop bitterness. Some peat flavor comes through, but it is mostly on the end of the taste experience. For the uninitiated, when I say peat, yes I mean the stuff used in gardening. It is burned to dry and roast barley. This barley then imparts the peat characteristics to the ale. Often coming through as smoky, here in Dirty Bastard it is more earthy. Might sound strange, but it is delicious. 

Smooth as velvet is how I would describe the mouth-feel. Finishes dry enough to keep the sweetness from being overbearing or cloying. If ever you see this mouthwatering malt bomb do not hesitate to buy it and then send me one. (No distribution in Florida)

Musical Pairings:

Artist:

Skids

Song:

The Saints Are Coming

Album:

Wide Open EP

Formed in the late 1970's, Skids (often referred to as The Skids) were one of the only new-wave-punk outfits out of Scotland to make it on the international music scene. There biggest hit being "Into The Valley".