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

Pumpkin Smashings: Part Two

Hello, again. Welcome to another dose of BrewSounds. Yesterday we looked at a monstrous Imperial Oktoberfest called The Kaiser. Today in our third segment of Autumn Ears & Beers, where I review Fall Seasonals, I want to bring us back to another Pumpkin Ale.

In Part One of Autumn Ears & Beers we looked at Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale. This beer was good stuff. Incredibly drinkable with a classy understated taste and great mouth-feel. But today I don't want understated. I want something bigger. I want to take what Imperial tends to impart upon beer(darker hues, heavier mouth-feel, higher abv., bigger malt characteristics) and  combine that with the deliciousness that is Pumpkin Ale.

Brewery:

Weyerbacher Brewing Company

Easton, Pennsylvania

http://www.weyerbacher.com/

Name/Style:

Imperial Pumpkin Ale/Pumpkin Ale

ABV(alcohol by volume):

8%

 I talked about "Big Beers" a little yesterday and how some breweries, like Avery Brewing Company, focus on making them more than others. Weyerbacher is most definitely one of these breweries. The vast majority of their beers are over 8% abv. In fact less than 1/3 of the beers they currently make are under 8% abv. These guys like their beers big and they show it. As far as Pumpkin Ale goes this is about as big as they get. Only a handful have 8% abv. or higher. Weyerbacher really is setting the bar with this one. 

Pours a rich orange/amber. It looks like there may be some sediment floating around, but mainly crystal clear. An oatmeal tinged head about 3/4 of an inch in height is quite creamy. Settles to a lace that doesn't even cover the whole top of the beer, though. Thickens towards the edge of the goblet.

Wow! What a bouquet! It smells of pumpkin pie even from several feet away. The scent does diffuse considerably as the head breaks down. Much more subtle, but with all the usual suspects showing up for the party. Cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, ginger. Also carries a biscuit or pie crust quality.

Now, this being an Imperial version of the Pumpkin Ale it brings a big malt character to the table. Not dark and bitter, but slightly sweet and richer than the traditional. A touch of rye is present as the flavor shifts towards the spices. Cinnamon and nutmeg with a touch of alcohol and pumpkin. Weyerbacher does use real pumpkin in the process of brewing, choosing to opt of the "Pumpkin Flavoring". A very nice bready/biscuity aftertaste mingles with the spices and a touch of alcohol. 

:

Musical Pairings:

Artist:

Harvestman

Album: 
Lashing The Rye

Steve Von Till of Neurosis plays haunting experimental folk incorporating elements of ambient and drone on this, his first album under the name Harvestman.

Artist:
Steven Von Till
Album:
If I Should Fall To The Field


Steven Von Till's second solo album. Released in 2002.

Oktober

Hello and thank you for joining me again here at Brewsounds. This is part two of Autumn Ears & Beers. Here will be reviewing Fall Seasonal brews and pairings with some great tunes to match. 

In the previous segment we looked at a rock solid example of the Pumkin Ale style from Smuttynose Brewing Co. Today in part two we will look at the Oktoberfest style. 

Oktoberfest is a style of German beer known as Märzen. Or more specifically Märzenbier. Now what is Märzen?  You see, back in the Old Country long before there was refrigeration beer could only be made in the cooler months because the summer was too hot for brewing. The beer was more likely to get infected from bacteria. So most beer was made in March. Hence, Märzen. Much of the beer made early in the year was cellared to allow fermentation and to avoid high temperatures. Some were also brewed at a higher gravity (i.e. higher alcohol content) to help better preserve the beer through the summer. Once fall arrived these beers were busted out to enjoy. Especially once Oktoberfest was established, which dates back to 1810. Märzen and Oktoberfest are essentially the same brews, but the Oktoberfest is typically slightly darker, more full bodied than the Märzen and with a slightly higher hops profile. Also the typical Märzen is between 4% and 6% abv. while the typical Oktoberfest is between 5% and 7% abv.

Brewery:

Avery Brewing Company

Brewery Website: http://www.averybrewing.com/

Name/Style: 

The Kaiser/Märzenbier/Oktoberfest

ABV(alcohol by volume):

10.03%

Now forget everything you just learned about Märzen. This is an Imperial Oktoberfest... Avery style. Avery is an American brewery out of the beer mecca that is Boulder, Colorado. They are one of the breweries leading the "Big Beer" craze we have in the states and have taken up the banner and never looked back.  By "Big Beer" I mean high abv. brews, hop bombs(brews with incredibly strong hop presence), malt bombs(very rich darker beers) and crazy strong stouts(one at 16% abv. which I will be going over as we near Halloween).  The Kaiser is everything I would expect from these guys and a little more.

This copper colored beauty come is a 22oz bottle known as a "Bomber". They brew and bottle this stuff in one vintage on August 1st every year so this is truly seasonal in every sense. Pours out a deep rich copper with an average head for a beer with this much alcohol content. Minimal carbonation. The lacing on this one is thick and sticky! The scent is big caramel maltiness, a little alcohol esters, too. Slightly bread-like in a small way. Not much in the way of a hop profile, but it is there. Just a bit fruity. 

The taste is even bigger than the smell. Huge malt character. Remember me mentioning malt bombs? Well this is a prime example. Imperial usually implies a large increase in the amount of malt used in the brewing process and this is IMPERIAL. But there is more there than malt. You get a warm spiciness from the alcohol as it makes its way to your tummy. Nice. And the hops sort of round out the end of the taste experience with some fruit flavors and tiny bit of bitterness. Starts sweet and ends sweet, but not too intense. This is one bomber that could really get you bombed in no time. Take this one on as a sipper.

:
Musical Pairings


Now I intend to expand the music we cover more over the next few weeks. More information as to why the beer pairs well with the music. More recommendations and bringing in a local music/local brew aspect here and there. I hope to even get some interviews with some of the Tampa Bays best bands to talk music and a little beer.
But today I have only one pairing for The Kaiser.
Behold.
Richard Wagner-Ride Of The Valkyries, from Die Walküre

                        

Pumpkin Smashings

Welcome to the first installment of BeerSounds Autumn Ears & Beers. In this segment we will cover some great seasonal brews and some great seasonal sounds.


 Here in the Tampa Bay area we have been enjoying a first hint of cooler weather to come while much else of the country is well in the swing of Autumn. While the days are getting shorter and shorter and the nights getting colder and longer many turn their thoughts towards Thanksgiving and Halloween. The latter ushering in ghouls and goblins seeking candy at the front door and toilet paper flying through the trees. The former brings me memories of holiday get togethers with friends and  family. Tables full of food and plates overflowing with the gargantuan portions they strain to contain. All the good stuff we shouldn't eat is stacked high. Cranberry jams, turkey drenched in brown gravy,  three kinds of stuffing, home-made mashed potatoes whipped with cream not milk, pumpkin pie and if you look in the right places before you head to the party, pumpkin ale.

Brewery:
Smuttynose Brewing Company
Brewery website:  http://www.smuttynose.com/
Name/Stlye:
Pumkpin Ale/Pumpkin Ale
ABV(alcohol by volume):
6%

This is Smuttynose Brewing Company's seasonal Pumpkin Ale. Brewed in a style true to its colonial roots this pumpkin ale uses real pumpkin puree in the mash, instead of adding mystery "pumpkin flavor" that you will see on some other craft style ales, along with traditional spices. Those spices are what dominate the nose as the beer is poured into a my goblet. Nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger are right up front while the pumpkin, though it hides behind the spices, is present. A touch of malt is there, too. Very pleasant. Copper/Amber in the heart while turning to a more golden hue at the edge of the glass. Slight haze. All this capped by a creamy head made of tight white bubbles.