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)

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.

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.



Gone To The Dark Side

Greetings, fellow beer lovers! It's Friday! All this week we have talked about two of the most popular Fall Seasonals, the Pumpkin Ale and of course the Ocktoberfest. Today I want to walk a different trail. I am going to be going up to Michigan and checking out some awesome beers from some amazing breweries over the weekend so I wanted to cover something a little off the beaten path to kickstart my weekend. A style that is sort of new to the official vernacular of beer geeks. Cascadian Dark Ale/Black India Pale Ale.

Black India Pale Ale? What is that? And what the hell is Casacadian Dark Ale? And how are these related? 
First thing's first.
 India Pale Ale or IPA  was first made in England in the 1700's. IPA's are a heavily hopped, high abv. variant of Pale Ale. The big hop profile(hops are a natural preservative) worked in concert with the higher alcohol content to preserve the ales for shipment to English soldiers stationed in India at that time. India Pale Ale. Got it? Good.
Cascadian Dark Ale is named after the Cascade Hop. An American hop named after the Cascade Mountain Range where they are grown in the Pacific Northwest. Cascade hops have a very citrus/pine scent and taste that was used in the development of the Cascadian Dark Ale/Black IPA . The black part of Black IPA comes from the large amount of malt and grain used to give the beer a very nearly or completely black appearance.

Brewery:

Stone Brewing Company

Escondido, California

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

Name/Style:

Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale/Cascadian Dark Ale/Black IPA

ABV(alcohol by content):

8.7%

Alright, now that we have gotten all the background info out of the way let's get to the goods. Stone Brewing Company is known for their unwaivering dedication to bitterness. All their beers brandish verbose labels that give the brewers a pat on the back all while conveying that you are"unworthy". Their words, not mine. Arrogance as an art is their style. In  fact one of their most popular ales is called Arrogant Bastard. 'Nuff said, right? But Stone Brewing is the real deal. And this bomber full of contradiction is, too.


Pours black with just the slightest hint of merlot on the bottom edge of my goblet. A thick milky mocha head settles to a lace that covers the entire surface of the beer all while sticking to the side in a film. Mostly hops in the nose, but chocolate malt fills in the rest.
This one is smooooth. Doesn't carry the IBU's(international bitterness unit) that I've come to expect from Stone, but not in a disappointing way. Hops are forefront on the tongue, but the chocolate malt really blends and mellows things down. Not really even getting much alcohol spice. It does warm the tummy, though. As the beer shifts towards the aftertaste an interesting back and forth between the hop bitterness and the malt bitterness takes place. Very unique. Very interesting. Good full mouth-feel to make this one hell of a beer. Sublime.


Musical Pairings:

Artist:

Kanye West

Song:
Run Away

Kanye West, love him or hate him, is a superstar of epic proportions. He exudes an arrogance and absolute self-righteousness that has never been wielded on such a grand scale and with such success before in human history. What more can I say. Let's have a toast for the douche bags.