Hey,
As I receive more and more Fall-themed beers (Octoberfests, Pumpkin Ales and Autumn Ales), I find I have no room on the Saturday tastings for them. So, every Friday night throughout August, I’ll be tasting the lastest arrivals from 5-8PM. This week:
Hofbrau Oktoberfest
Spaten Oktoberfest
Clipper City Balto Marzhon
Lancaster Octoberfest
Expecting Brooklyn Octoberfest and Post Road Pumpkin next week. We’ll see what else happens…
Beermonger
Someone I knew had a copy of this years ago. God bless YouTube. Here’s Aussie Beatles tribute the Beatnix, performing Stairway if the early Beatles had written it…
AleSmith 2007 Decadence Imperial Porter
I recently had to say goodbye to a friend of mine. My best friend (’Mother’) moved his narrow ass back to L.A. (again). Before he left, the two of us got together at Our Cute Friend’s place for a night of beer, Guitar Hero, more beer, loud music, more Guitar Hero and a ton of great beer. I took the opportunity to bring a few beers out that otherwise I probably wouldn’t crack open for myself. We drank a 2006 bottle of Dogfish Head Fort (a favorite of My Cute Friend). We drank a bottle of Avery Maharaja (one of the Holy Trinity of Weed-Smelling and Tasting Beers). We drank one of my last bottles of Stone 11th Anniversary (the instant classic; they need to bring this beer into regular production now). We pounded beers like Dale’s Pale Ale and Loose Cannon in between. We even cracked some Miller Lite for the hell of it. Thankfully we avoided the 2002 Dogfish Head Worldwide Stout I’d brought, otherwise someone may have been injured.
While we were at it I figured I’d break out a super-special Scooby Snack: A bottle of AleSmith Decadence 2007 Imperial Porter (with great thanks to Alpha-level Beer Minion Doug, who was kind enough to bring it back from one of his San Diego excursions).
We can’t get the AleSmith beers out here in VA, so don’t even ask. I’ve had their Speedway Stout before and enjoyed it immensely before realizing I was at the bottom of the (12% ABV 750mL) bottle and completely hammered, causing me to rant and rave about how amazing the beer was to my fiance who just shook her head and informed me that she indeed knew that I was drunk. As if I didn’t know.
Anyhoo, I had this bottle of Decadence and thought this would be a good time to crack it. Not only could I try out the beer, but I could get opinions of friends who aren’t in ‘the business’. Mother and My Cute Friend are into beers, so they know a thing or two about a thing or two. The ‘07 Decadence is a 10% Imperial Porter, rich and malty, pouring a dark reddish-brown. Smells roasty to me at first with hints of dark fruit (very subtle, that) and the expected notes of chocolate and caramel. Expected doesn’t mean boring, though. I could’ve smelled the beer all night. That would’ve been boring. I moved on and started to drink the beer.
What an experience. Not unlike the Speedway (Imperial) Stout, the Decadence is very drinkable for its alcohol level (10% ABV). Blind, I might have never guessed that it was as strong as it was. The malts were front and center—sweet, cocoa, caramel, more of those dark fruits I’d noticed on the nose (less subtle on the palate, surprisingly) and slightly smoky. My Cute Friend was impressed, which caught me a little off-guard since he’s a die-hard HopHead usually. I guess that’s by choice, though; I’ve seen him enjoy many types of beers but I think he just gravitates to the hoppy stuff. We all came away wishing we could get more of this good stuff.
That always kills me, knowing I can’t get certain beers. That will always bother me. If there was only one great brewery out there that I couldn’t get, even if I had all others, it would still piss me off. I’d be bothering every distributor in the area to sign them up. I guess that’s what keeps me in a job. I’m off on a tangent, aren’t I? Sorry.
In the end, boys and girls, I think it comes down to this: This all happened about 6 weeks ago. This was one more night with ‘the boys’; a send-off to a guy who’s like a brother to me. Good friends hanging out like stupid kids all night—like none of us had a care. Among all of the memories of that night (admittedly there aren’t that many), the AleSmith Decadence stands out.
Forgive me if this isn’t much of a review. If you’re reading this, you’re likely into beer and you have a fairly good idea of how this beer is—it’s a fantastic, outstanding example of a type of beer that we don’t see too much of. It’s powerful, richly flavored but perfectly drinkable. The point I think I’m trying to get to is that every now and then, it’s not about the greatness of the beer. It’s about the moment and the friends you share that beer with.
I give it a 10.
Beermonger
The Beermonger: Mahalo, M&*%#*f*$&@^!!!
So it’s August and yet again I think about the beach. I think about vacations and relaxing and all those things that other people do. August is my most cynical month of the year: It’s been seven years since my last legitimate vacation. Seven years of hauling ass to try to pass for ‘getting by’ in Dick Cheney’s America. August is when I feel it the most. August is the last chance for escape. But with a full schedule of events and beers, there’s no hope for me yet again this year. From September on I won’t really have time to think too much about being tired or wanting a break as it’s practically a dead sprint through the holidays for those of us in retail. It’ll be one arrival or festival or tasting after another until one day I’ll wake up and it’s January 1st and I have inventory to count while massively hungover. Amid all of this daydreaming and envy comes the recent arrival of beers from Hawaii’s Kona Brewing Company.
Hawaii. Land of Spam and honey. A wild Technicolor-shirted endless summer surf dream where it’s sunny and beautiful everyday. Poi. Polynesian/Asian/American foods smashing into each other creating fascinating new flavors and dishes not to be found anywhere else in nature. Slack Key lap steel laid back wonder. Hawaiian chicks…
"Aloha" means "I'm single"...
So yeah, I’m stuck in the middle of the swamp that is the Mid-Atlantic wishing against wishes that I could get away and what shows up? Hawaiian beer. Someone up there is pissing on me. I figured I should try the beers, at least. Glad I did.
Kona was founded on the big island in 1994 by the father and son team of Cameron Healy and Spoon Khalsa. Their beers reflect where they’re from. They’re easy yet complex, expressing that aura of beach life that is the rush of everything important and massive in the universe being condensed into the simple chant of tides and the breeze.
Longboard Lager is smooth and refreshing—great for us as we enter the dog days of summer. It has a nice hoppiness that gives it a crispy edge. Longboard is a great beer for hanging outside or for a lawn work break. I could see it on a newspaper-covered table as my family works its way through a bushel of crabs or three. If every lager were as fine and round and clean as this one, what a world this would be. Think of all the clean feel of an Oberon or Hop Sun with the flavor of the freshest Lager you ever pulled from your dad’s cooler when he wasn’t looking.
Fire Rock Pale Ale is a “Hawaiian-style” Pale Ale that has a slightly copper color as a result of its malt addition. On top of that it has a forward but balanced hop character that satisfies the hophead without being too much for the average drinker. I’d rate the hoppiness somewhere between Sierra Nevada Pale and the new recipe Lagunitas Dogtown. In the same way that Clipper City’s Loose Cannon is a perfectly balanced IPA (even though it’s not called an IPA), Fire Rock is a perfectly balanced Pale Ale.
The beer I’ve found most interesting so far is Wailua Wheat Ale. Named for a waterfall on Maui, Wailua is a bright wheat beer that is brewed with passion fruit, giving it a slightly bitter but sweet flavor that is absolutely perfect for the summer. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Wailua Wheat; I’m pretty familiar with passion fruit and know that it’s an intense flavor that can easily be overwhelming. But the wheat seems to round out the passion fruit without the brewers having to add a cloying amount of sugar to make it work. This is the more obvious comparison to beers like Oberon, but the fruit takes it someplace else. It’s very clever and very well done.
Redhook Brewery representative Stacey Huffman will be joining me at Rick’s Wine & Gourmet this Saturday, August 9th from 12-5PM to help me introduce the Kona beers and show off Redhook’s Sunrye summer seasonal (which I haven’t tried yet but I’m a sucker for rye beers, so…). Then again, maybe you’re out of town, enjoying the summer, pool or beachside sucking down some kind of iced cocktail without a care in the world. In which case, go fuck yourself. I kid, I kid—enjoy. really.
If you’re in town, however, swing by and try some of these great Hawaiian brews with me. We’ll bitch and gripe and moan about how we all deserve a month-long vacation every year and rail against the upper class for the sport of it. Then again, I work about 10 minutes from Old Town, so maybe I’ll put a cork in the workers’ revolution. Either way, come by and check these beers out—it won’t be white sands and blue waters, but it’ll be fun anyway. Until next time.
Beermonger
p.s. This is very much the ‘Director’s Cut’ version of the column I’d originally written. This would never get published on Local Kicks. I have to admit, I had a lot more fun with this.
My column will be up later today on Local Kicks. This week’s is about Kona Brewing Co., whose beers I’ll be tasting this Saturday afternoon.
There may also be a Friday night tasting this week. Keep your eyes open.
Beermonger
Currently drinking: Since I’m on the job, I’m enjoying a Dominion Root Beer. Not as mind-shatteringly good as the Abita, but it’ll do for the moment.
So, Just got word the other day that Green Flash prices are jumping as of August 1st. Currently, my stock of West Coast IPA is priced at $10.99/6pack and $42.99/case. My next shipment will go up to $11.99/6pack and $46.99/case. I have about 7 cases of West Coast in stock, so if you want to stock up do it now.
Also, the bombers are going up as well, but that shouldn’t be as severe. I’m expecting a jump of $.50 to a dollar per bottle. I’ve stocked up on everything.
The beer tasting for Saturday, August 2nd will include:
-Flying Dog Dogtoberfest
-Castelain St. Amand Biere de Garde
-Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale
-Sam Smith’s The Famous Taddy Porter
The Taddy Porter makes me especially happy. Back when I was working in McLean I used to sell a ton of this stuff, and I often kept it in my fridge. One day, I went to place an order and was told that the distributor wasn’t carrying it anymore. So just having it available again makes my week.
I don’t have anything to add to the Manny trade except–really? Just put up with the guy. I’m not even a baseball fan and I know if you have a clutch Hall of Fame bat in your lineup just let him be an annoying pain in the ass and let him keep winning for you. I haven’t seen any signs of him breaking down, so I really don’t get it. Then again, football is right around the corner, F1 is in full swing and the next UFC card is never far away, so I should be fine until the WWE *cough* I mean NBA comes back.
Ok, enough wasting time at work. Late.
Beermonger
Stone 12th pushed back one day. Will be in Wednesday morning.
Beermonger
Yeah, so that whole ‘I’m going to catch up on writing’ thing? Not so much, I know.
Anyhoo, I wanted to lay down some thoughts on the Savor event now that any and all relevance they might have had is gone and give a brief report on this past weekend’s Summer Brewfest.
Overall, I was very impressed by Savor. The setting was great and the collection of brewers and breweries was outstanding. I’m not sure how I feel about the layout though. The semi-circles of tables that lined the outside of the room caused a lot of traffic jams and made the food impossible to get to at times. Not good for an event that is supposedly about the pairing of craft beer and food. I was at the Friday night session, and I’ve heard some things said about the crowd that night. Yes, there did seem to be an inordinate amount of Hill staffers there as well as beer industry folks (myself included). But I can’t tell you how many customers of mine I ran into, and I think there were a fair amount of true Beer Geeks. The only problems I had with the crowd was:
1. The Hill people seemed to sweep in a poach all the food, and
2. The whole “Dress to Impress” idea kinda got blown up when I saw my first fanny pack of the evening. I sweated it out in my sport coat and Jo said she felt a little silly and overdressed (even though she looked fantastic). Fucking tourists. Sorry, that’s the native DC/Metro in me, but still…
Really, in the end I thought Savor was a success in showing off the creativity of craft brewers. The tickets were pricey, but I think the collection of that many great brewers in one room made it all worth it. Highlights:
-Russan River, especially Supplication. Easily the beer of the show for me.
-Avery15 and Maharaja. Great beers, and meeting Adam Avery during the week leading up to Savor was very cool. He couldn’t have been cooler to me.
-Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron. Every time I have this beer it stuns me, and not just because of the ABV. I read an interview in Draft this month with Jim Koch from Boston Brewing where he said that Palo is an example of “fearless brewing” and I couldn’t put it any better.
-Clipper City Loose Cannon. The only beer they brought and they paired it with three different foods. Ballsy. Worked. This is a beer that I just can’t seem to order enough of for stock and every time I try it I see why.
-Flying Dog Kerberos. The new Tripel. These guys seem to get better and better all the time.
-Meeting Garrett Oliver, Charlie Papazian, the guys from Draft, All About Beer, etc. Really, that was friggin’ cool. I’m still relatively new to the beer business, so there’s a lot of folks I haven’t met yet. It was nice to meet some of these guys that I’ve heard and read about.
This past Sunday I went to the NoVA Summer Brewfest. I’ve heard a lot about the Old Dominion Fests, and how this may be the event to replace it. I never made it to the Dominion Fest but I really had a good time at Brewfest. There were some excellent beers out for tasting, the one cover band I heard was awesome (they had a female singer that Jo and I were both really impressed with, and that’s saying something) and plenty of volunteers. I didn’t see one unmanned booth. Admittedly, there weren’t a ton of new beers out, and many brewery reps that folks might have been expecting weren’t there, but to be fair there were about 3 or 4 other fests happening up and down the coast this weekend, so guys were kinda spread out. Devon from Dogfish had a great selection of beers, though, as did Tomfrom Clipper City with the new Oxford Organic Raspberry Wheat as well as the Oxford Organic Amber out of a firkin (which was all kinds of kickass). Worth the drive, worth the ticket price; can’t really ask for more.
And with that, I’m out. I’ll try to catch up some more later. ‘Til then.
Beermonger
It’s been a while. I’ve been a little busy and since it’s Monday (my day off) I’m not gonna do much about that. Sorry. Coming soon:
-Thought on the Savor experience
-New beer reviews
-Getting arrested for flicking a cigarette butt
-Memorial Day madness
In the meantime, much love and get well soon to Dick Dale. Dick is one of my all-time favorite guitar players and from every report I’ve heard an all-around amazing guy. The one-and-only King of the Surf Guitar, Dick Dale is also a licensed exotic animal handler and pyrotechnic whiz. Beat that. Recently he announced that he was battling a remission of rectal cancer, the cancer that doctors told him 40 years ago he wouldn’t be able to beat. Dale inspired Hendrix to write Third Stone From the Sun. He’s done more than 100 men’s job as far as keeping rock n’ roll alive. He sounds like no one else. Here’s to the man.
Also, we lost one of the giants, Bo Diddley. Bo passed on this morning at the age of 79. One of the first, the pioneers. A true icon, not like some who get that word thrown at them today. Bo earned his legend with is signature rhythm. I mean, do you know how badass you are when a friggin beat is named for you? The thing about Bo that always got to me was his tone. This clip says it all really: what appears to be 4 Bassman half-stacks cranked with Bo using two and “The Duchess” Norma-Jean Wofford on the other. Raw, clean but hairy. Bo’s sound had it all. Not to mention being the king of the third-person. The two songs in the vid here are “Hey, Bo Diddley” and “Bo Diddley”. He was Doug Williams before Doug Williams was Doug Williams.
Ok, that’s enough for today. Promise I’ll keep a better schedule this week.
Beermonger
So, in the interests of housekeeping…
-The Local Kicks Column is up here. This week it’s all about Summer Beers. I mentioned some very popular ones, but as this is my blog it’s all about me here. Sunday or Monday I’ll be putting up my personal list of favorites. Think about yours; I want to start a conversation here.
-Shout Out to fellow blogger and Beer Minion Kendle over at My Husband Cooks. Great resource for ideas, fantastic food porn and he even links to your humble Beermonger. Thanks again, dude.
-This Saturdays’ tasting at Rick’s will feature: Brooklyn Summer Ale, Flying Dog Kerberos Tripel, Brooklyn/Schneider Hopfenweisse and Green Flash Hop Head Red.
See you Saturday at Rick’s, or if you’re at Savor Friday night I’ll be out and about.
Cheers!
the Beermonger
