founder's cherise

OK so in addition to a beer rating I am going to plug the restaurant that I had the beer at because, this is a seasonal beer that has little time left until next summer. So go find it is what I'm saying and to start you off you can get it at uncommon ground in rogers park.

First the beer; Cherise is a cherry ale, now it is not a lambic. However, it has more cherry than most beers can pull off. The thing that makes it work is it's absolute dedication to cherry. Fresh Michigan cherries are added to the brew at five separate stages. Every angle of this beer is loaded with cherry. Now some of you are already running away. Understand, this tastes of cherry, not of Cherry syrup, or extract, likes fresh Michigan cherries. They are tart cherries so the beer has a very crisp tang to it, it is rather dry no sugary flavors at all. It is somewhat lacking (not a detriment just a fact) in malt character, and a classic beerness if I may. Low in hops low in malt although enough malt to give good feel, but the real flavor is cherry. It does have a very dry cider type quality to it, although unquestionably beer not cider. Mild carbonation not fizzy like soda, but effervescent due to it's general lightness. Which reminds me the color is gorgeous, a beautiful strawberry blond, a great golden base with bright pink hues, and a nice white foamy head.

This is a summer beer it will only be available during this month before it is packed up until may next year. So rush out to find it. This beer makes me want to sit in a hammock. I think it is really special due to it's dry flavor and potent tart cherry it serves well very cold. Most beer really need some time out of the fridge to get to about 50 to serve, this beer can come straight from the ice bath to your mouth at 38 and be great. That is what I want in a summer beer something I can drink to cool off. Another nice thing about this beer is the clean flavor allows you to keep drinking them. You don't get burnt out by a sweetened cherry sauce thing. Makes me want to lay in a field with a picnic lunch a beautiful girl, and a cold sixer of cherise. (which is sold in four packs)

Finally kudos to Founders for using cherries from Michigan where they are. Support local agriculture support local economies and reduce carbon foot print with local produce shipping. Sustainability delivered in delicious delicious beer form. I give this beer a 8.5 acres out of ten. And as I said before it can be found at a local restaurant here in Chicago called uncommon ground which always a small but well thought out beer list and lots of good foods often featuring local meat and produce, or flowers from the edible flower garden on the roof. How cool! Also they have some great cocktails I loved my david cassidy coffee after dinner.mmmm So there is a real brief about the local joint you can find cherise at, and I recommend you do asap.

Goodnight mon cherie
Mr. President

Mikkeller Beer Geek breakfast

MIkkeller beer geek breakfast has the ability to go on the other side of the green glass door which is cool to start with. aside from it's repeated repeating letters. It is a really nice stout that strays far from the "darkest meanest bad assiest stout around syndrome." It remains a super complex stout. Oh yeah it is a rich dark full stout. It isn't a raspberry stout that gets all fruity, but in addition to dark roast malt there is so much well thought out flavor profile in this. Also, Norway is the country of origin which is pretty cool, (sidebar: I've seen a bunch of Norwegian beers popping up lately has some law changed to facilitate this? is microbrewing exploding in Norway? any answers would be great.) also there is a picture on the side of the bottle that looks like Alfred Jarry and that makes me happy since besides saison yeast, and fries jarry is the only thing i like about France.

Ok, this beer has to start with how pretty it looks and smells. the head on this black beer is a great dark Carmel color with phenomenal retention.(pour carefully even a dedicated head fan like me got pretty tall foam on this and had to take it easy.) it looks so warm and cozy you relax just getting ready to quaff. and the aroma is like a diner, not just coffee a whole diner coffee, toast a waitress named francine who is pretty heavy and yet you still have a crush on her. That is all in this scent it is pretty cool. the thing i found amazing was how sweet it smelled prior to drinking and oddly when i drank some the smell seemed to be disticntly more coffee-y and less malty.

Enough preliminaries let's drink it. For the smell it is surprisingly low on sweetness. mildly bitter but very easy to handle in that respect, somewhat dry but not astringent or with out malty sweetness. the oatmeal of course rounds out the mouth feel, which is slightly betrayed by the high carbonation levels. The carbonation is something i would change, but it is neither unusually high levels, just high for a stout, nor is it a detriment beyond repair, I just disagree with it. I really enjoyed the seemingly large divide among flavors, both very bright bitter notes, and very earthy and full notes, with little in between it makes for a striking flavor that is truly balanced. a rather spectacular beer all in all.

the biggest problem, is the price, it is an eleven dollar pint at my local shop. is it worth is yes, but can you find equally or nearly as good for half or less in price? yes, yes you can. the Norwegian beers all seem to have a high price. I Wonder if there is some atf law that taxes the Norwegian product higher, or what. but , it seems to be the way things work. So, "economic times being what they are" if you don't want to cough eleven up for anything short of amazing I'd stay away, but if you got a twelve dollar bill burning a whole in your pocket and want a new and complex stout try beer geek breakfast it is a reasonable price considering the truly high quality stout being offered.

beer for breakfast once again,

\Mr, President.

mamma mia pizza beer

The lowest common denominator.

Ok, who likes pizza raise your hands. Alright, who likes beer put the other hand up. Anyone who doesn't have two hands raised is most likely dead or unable to digest enjoyable foodstuffs. beer is great we all know that, it is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy (B. Franklin)

And pizza is the universal food. If you intend to feed twelve people you know little about you order pizza, when you reward children you throw a pizza party. Pizza and beer are both almost without exception enjoyed by all people. Tom Seefurth has as such provided us the next logical conclusion pizza beer. That's right it is beer that is seasoned like a hot slice of 'za.

This is my least favorite of culinary inspiration plans. This thing is pretty good, this other thing is pretty good too. How's about I stick um together. Don't do it! I love peanut butter, and I really like a good cup of coffee, I'll never mix them. But, based on the soaring sales of Reese's peanut butter cup (which i love) people have been mixing favorites for centuries in an attempt to find the next big winner. A couple summers ago I saw a "grapple", that is an apple flavored like a grape in case you were unclear. Why is this necessary? What situation can you conceivably find yourself in and think good i want a grape and an apple. but i just don't have time to eat both. It is just a grossly unneeded product. What about Goober Grape???? whose plan was that monstrosity. Or and I know I'm gonna piss some people off here black and tans. I like Guinness, I like Harp, but i can order one drink it and still have room for a second. Irish men slaved over hot kettles to make these beers let's just enjoy them not, muck about because we know more about them. Excuse my digression. Which begs the question. why not eat a slice and order a beer?

To be fair mamma mia is not a bad beer on a strictly run scale. medium bodied, nice golden color, and a nice middle ground on hops, not gonna catch the eye of a stranger but a solid beer to keep in the fridge. Until you realize that after beer you taste oregano, basil, garlic, and smell without question tomato. It honestly left me feeling annoyed i wasn't chewing. the tomato is the most present flavor followed by oregano then malt. This beer really tastes like you just dropped a hunk of pizza in it by accident, threw the bit on the floor and drank down the brew anyway. Which is exactly what i would do. But to make that item on purpose baffles me. Really that is the crux of the problem. The beer is ok as a beer and tastes like they make a decent pizza. but why make this at all. And i mean go ahead and make it once, but base a company on it? it is not as though these beers are an experiment by a big company, they are the only beer produced by the pizza beer company. I just don't understand. I imagine the invention came when an individual was lying on a carpet in his BVD's too high to walk for more food. He then in a moment of desperation found a slice of four day old pizza under the couch. when finding the pizza too hard to eat he dunked it in some flat Heineken just to eat it easier, after a few nights of this. while sobriety still fumbles but the brain has turned back on. this fat and drunk man thinks yes I'll make "pizza flavored beer" and it will be great.

hardly worth rating because this beer is about drinking something not available elsewhere. not making a good beer. Pushed to it I'll give it a 4 out of ten mario carts. I know your going to buy it now out of curiosity for the product. but, I warn you, have pizza nearby since more than anything else you'll wish you were eating pizza.

cowabunga dudes,

Mr. President

Unibroue Blanche De Chambly

The sublime from the ridiculous.

I once made a friend who had consumed several of the beers we made back at my old arts studio, try a Unibroue "la fin du monde" to which he said "this tastes like a house of payne beer" (that's my old studio in case you ain't figured it out.) Ever since the unibroue team has had a special place in my heart. In addition they appreciate head as much as me. they have a lovely little blurb on their site about the need to pour out some froth. In addition, they seem to me more like the best home brew team ever as opposed to a craft brewery. they seem to crank out these insane high booze beers just to do it, they know beer and make good stuff but don't take it too seriously, and don't make a joke out of it to seem like they don't take it too seriously. these guys are in my top three faves. (dogfish head and bell's are the other two, but the list is dynamic)

Blanche De Chambly, is a very grown up beer for this company, and done beautifully. Everyone does a white beer, everyone makes it way to wheaty, or far to sweet or worst of all way to Orange. (when i made my first we called it the Orange monster, so I'm sympathetic.) It almost seems like these guys who make beer with no particular styles in mind decided to show off their abilities just where so many were struggling. this white is a great balance not too fruity a bit yeasty, and lovely champagne texture to the mouthfeel.

White beer is a Belgian tradition that uses orange peel and coriander in the brew. it produces a light beer usually, with a fruity nose and fruit flavors, but balanced with a spicy malt character so as not to be to sweet. (god the Belgian's rule don't they.) Finally to be more traditional many modern brewers use bottle fermentation on their white beers. It is a summer beer because of the peel. which is why the unmalted wheat often is part of the grain bouquet, and why it is often likened to or commingled (in a way i disapprove of) with American wheats.

Blanche De Chambly does a lovely job of bringing out the orange flavor in the nose and finish but keeping the spicy flavors and summer wheats up front in the beer. It has a very fine yeast silt to it providing a nice cloud and a mouthfeel. The feel is also complimented by the somewhat high carbonation, giving it a very light and refreshing feel like a fine mist on a hot day.

Unibroue has many enjoyable beers, but none so well planned and fine as this, in the world of north american white beers, (the beer style i think we really fail at as well) this is really a great beer. very stylistically true, very enjoyable, and very well balanced.

white is the new beer

dan

sour gum?

look a little like college to anyone else?

A friend recently sent me a message about a sorghum based beer. If you have one of a small number of diseases, or just prefer then gluten is a dietary no no. as such beer can be real trouble. (terrible I know but keep reading there is hope.) wheat, malt, and barley all have gluten. (actually so does sorghum, but a different kind. think the difference between herpes most of us have that cause canker sores if you get symptoms. or herpes for real open wounds on special parts). Anyways, there are several beers out right now that are made with sorghum to cater to the glutenless crowd. this is actually a tradition not a new fad. sorghum is used as a filler, but is a real crop just like wheat and is popular Africa. so there are some traditional African beer recipes that use only sorghum. sprechter has made a beer that is sorghum based and is marketed as a traditional African fire brewed style. lakefront, old st Peter's, and green(which has three) all have some gluten free sorghum recipes available. There are many others but these are all beers i know available in Chicago. also, red bridge is out there, but it's made by busch sooooo. i hope to do a sampling of a few soon and post some results. thanks a lot to my former stage manager for pointing out the need for review of this product.

Bear Republic Big Bear Black Stout

Now all I need is a bottle of golidlocks!

Bears have always seemed to me like they might make good pets. Am I alone on this. I know what your thinking they can eat you whole. Sure, sure, but a cat can eat a mouse whole too and i no plenty of well fed cats that do no mouse hunting. Besides that my huskies could have killed me and they didn't. Bears are so playful and expressive I bet they could be domesticated in three generations. What are we here for again? oh right beer.

Ok, here's the deal with stout. I love stout, I have made stout and been drinking stout my entire drinking career. I drink stout all year round, and nothing is a better beer on a rainy day. But, the craft brewing world has gone down a road with stout that has been detrimental to the progress of stouts. Everyone wants to be the darkest, driest, most robust manliest stout around. this has yielded a number of really yummy beers but, the variety can get a bit weak. and don't get me started on how to counter act it there is the rush to throw fruit in the stout. I think Bear Republic fell into this pit. "Big Bear Black" OK, we get it, it's tough. It's a big rough and tumble man's bear and you can't handle it if you like high heels. (I own two pairs). do we need to call a stout black. Is anyone making an amber stout or a blue stout?? Enough Beating them up many of the craft brewers out there and all the home brewers (myself included) think the can reinvent the wheel by loading the black patent malt on. A stout that really mixes it up by the way is left hand's milk stout. I think the milk is about a lactic fermentation, which Guinness also does.

to give them there due this is a fine choice for the ultra dark stout. If it was local to me I would drink it with regularity. it is of course black and completely opaque. a bit low on head but a nice Carmel color. This probably results from a low carbonation, which works for the dryness of the beer. Pretty high in the hop register, which compliments the bitter of the burnt grain character but to me it seems like another attempt to be the toughest beer around which doesn't impress. it does have a really nice tingle on the tongue. It just breaks the magic 8% booze level, which is part of the tingle and general warmness of the beer. But, since it just beats it at 8.1 % it is not a booze flavored beer like the super high content stouts (dogfish head world wide... ahem) It has a sweetness in the fore front, but it gets wiped out by the bitter notes. The finish is so dark malt it remains with you for several seconds potently.

In truth it is a fine beer but, there are plenty similar beers available, so when you want the darkest stout around grad the one made locally and be good to the earth. but, if you live near healdsburg cloverdale California. go nuts for the big bear.

say it once say it loud my beers black and I'm proud.

Dan

lagunitas 2009 correction ale.

"We're all bozos on this bus!" exclaims the bottle in reference to the economic downturn that inspired this brew. How true, how true, preach it brothers of the alter of brewery in Petaluma, California. It's 2009, yes the country is in collective financial funk the likes we haven't seen since before disco was a new idea, yes we are fighting at least two wars with less money to fight them, yes we successfully pissed off most of the world over the last eight years, and yes the motorcycle I bought recently thinking I made a killer shrewd purchase won't actually move anymore. We all played apart in the above. Bozos indeed! But there is hope, Obama baby, plus NPR stories keep convincing me we as a people are still everybody's pal they just don't like our recent political decisions, (me neither and I like us a lot) lagunitas gave us 2009 correction ale to weather the rest of the storm, and we have sour cherry pie (at least I do thanks to our good friends over at Museumist.com).

This beer is conceptually a cure for the hangover from the gravy train party of economic irresponsibility that was the past decade. I'll give it high marks for the attempt. A working mans beer, this brew makes aims at truly lavish flavors or textures but still delivers a well thought out and enjoyable range of sensory stimulus. The color of this beer is a robust honey, slightly red, and high in clarity. That is worth noting since it is such a juxtaposition to the hops that are not just present but, brimming from the glass. I forgot to wash my glass and in the morning hops were growing out of it kind of hops. The hops are greatly present in taste and odor, but they also carry a very fresh flavor to them keeping the bitterness more complex then overpowering. As far as curing a hangover i always recommend a beer with a high hop it makes you feel cleaner, I don't know if it applies financial hangovers too, but I'll give these guys credit after two I felt much better about my portfolio.

Beyond the hops there is a subtle sweetness. The mild carbonation brings out the sweet flavors very subtle vanilla and melon flavors. They come together as a balance to the hops more than anything this beer is not in any way fruity nor is it for the sweet beer lover. But, if you like a hoppy beer and want some true high hop flavors but want to avoid the medicinal grapefruit rind flavor some true IPAs get 2009 is an excellent choice. Sold in the big bottle at 6.33 % booze it is a nice respectable amount of drunkability, but won't leave you questioning the name of the girl your talking to at the bar. And the blurb on the bottle about this beer is rather enjoyable. it also reminded me to buy toothpaste which is cool. all in all I don't think that it can bring on economic recovery for the world at large but, while waiting for the government bail out of part time beer bloggers I'll feel better with one in my hand. I'm not sure if Lagunitas is publicly traded or not but, I'm going to invest by simply buying a crate of their beer!

Never invest while drinking cheap beer,

Dan

Brabant barrel aged wild ale.

here's a pic of a brabant horse to get you finding your own back story. Also try Belgium government or counties, this beer is too special for that discussion here.

ok here's the deal you don't need an filler about the brewery or the concept here this beer is amazing, and you'll find nothing like it ever. first it is barrel aged which lends street cred but doesn't mean it's special. then it is made with wild yeast. which means they made a batch they can't reproduce. after that it is a sour ale which is a rarity. And finally, it's a dark beer, and a dark sour ale is unheard of.

They apparently brewed only 694 cases of the stuff. so if you are lucky enough to have access go buy some. I am keeping this short because I want to enjoy a second selfishly and not worry about writing, but it has a slightly vinegar nose which is not the most pleasant, like a great cheese, smells bad tastes great. Mouthfeel is medium not huge but substantial. and most importantly the taste a deep malt hidden beneath a bright Sour flavor. The oak Zinfandel barrels provide unquestionable character which are only tolerable due to the dark sweet malt balancing them out. truly a special beer. get it now

flabbergasted,

dan

St Pete's old style porter

It is important to start this by discussing the origin of a porter beer. Porter has come to mean lower gravity than the stout, but still black beer. Porter came in to existence named after the English river porter a working man who wanted a fine beer. there is debate and compromise as to it's beginning as "threethreads" or a few beers mixed in a single pint. Or the fact that beer companies used to leave aging to bar keeps sending out boozed beer with no secondary fermentation and letting bars decide how long to sit on a keg. At some point it became popular to send an already aged beer from the brewery named porter, it was darker and stronger since it satisfied the drinkers who wouldn't go home when told the beer left was unaged and not ready. If this is the origin of the Porter it would undoubtedly become likely that the practice of cutting the aged beer with the new beer to meet demands was popular. No matter what porter is dark and like a Stout in some ways., but should have young unfinished beer flavours available which stout never should.
St. Peter's hits it directly, I think they in fact do mix old dark beer fully aged and ready to drink with a beer that is fresh and a bit "green" still. I can't prove that, but I believe i read that once. It is a truly wonderful beer even if that is bollucks. It's sweet after drinking but nice and dry in the mouth. There are these great carmel notes in the nose that fall away to the darker and harsher dry bark flavour, but it leaves again after the swallow yielding a mild sugar not quite vanilla but a tiny amount of rock candy just loosely cleaning up the mouth.
Also and not importantly but, this beer comes in this way cool old medicine bottle looking thing. it's a full pint bottle with this great old wide shape and rings on the bottom. The epitome of porter in my opinion. The other beers from st. Peter's are fine, but porter defines them as great and defines porter outright.

over the lips and past the gums
dan

first Oberon

Not a full post here just wanted to share my first Oberon of the season, the quintessential summer brew was so yeast clouded the bartender thought he ought dump it, but to me it was like somehow getting close to that beer in a normally unavailable way. check out the opaqueness of it!!

1554 from New Belgium

New Belgium's old Recipe enlightens us all.

New Belgium proprietors of Fat Tire make several other less known and less widely available beers. You can find them they aren't particularly elusive and I encourage you to do so no matter how you feel about fat tire. I for one am not a fan of the flagship they have chosen, but have yet to dislike any of the other beers they make.

My favorite is probably the 1554 enlightened black ale. I am downright smitten with this beer when i first discovered it i was almost as taken as when i first had bell's Oberon (i know a place where the wild thyme grows). For starters it's a dark beer i tend to swing that way. But, it throws the whole concept of dark beer on it's head. 1554 isn't a stout or a porter it's a crisp dry ale. Wait I'm getting ahead of myself the beer stats are worth reading but, check out the story.

This beer started from a recipe found in a library, but a flood in Fort Collins destroyed it. So the researchers at New Belgium, (think there is a college program for beer research, and if so do they the best parties or the worst i could see it working either way.) took off to find a recipe in Belgium and found some recipe written in ancient druidic language or something and dechipered it. can you imagine not only translating the words and sentence structure, but the wacky measurements. "16 ramms penises of hops must be thrown into the wert after two crows lengths and a flaggonsnarf of time after the greater bubbling begins". anyways after much trial and error, with I'm sure many tasty but incorrect batches that need drinking, were made

we come to 1554 huzzah! now imagine a pro beer researcher and a brew master are making incorrect trial batches that they share with the Belgian's in town. best party or worst party?

Ok back to the specialness of this beer. It is made with a light lager yeast that imparts a crisp dry even refreshing quality. But, it is also made with dark malts black patent is where i would start homebrewers. It has a delightful chocolate tone to it's flavor. Really clean finish that is actually sweet, not the sweet and syrupy taste but just aftertaste like you had a desert a minute ago and no it lingers. oh man i get chills. It has a fairly present hop character for such a dark beer, but subtle and understated. as for the color it isn't quite black a dark mahogany tone with a Carmel head that doesn't stay long. the smell of Carmel and taste in the foreground of vanilla start this beer of gently. It's wonderfully complex, ultimately drinkable and unquestionably delicious. This falls into the small category of beers my sister probably likes, and even smaller category that we both like it!

they just don't write em like that anymore

dan

***special announcement***

goose island bourboun county stout was due up a few days ago. I've not forgotten friends but, In doing my research it was noted the beer should only be availible in november. I had had the beer last fall at GI brewpub on clybourn and enjoyed it throughly and was less impressed by my bottle purchase from a liquor store of decent reputation. until i can get a draft, some garunteed fresh beer bottles, or to the bottom of this mystery i will not be posting this review. we now return you to your regulary scheduled toutyourstout already in progress.

Rogue chipotle ale

I am going to reserve the right to revisit this beer at anytime and change my review. Now, I don't need to even say that it's my blog I can change anything i want anytime I want I suppose. But, as the poor shot to the right is to be entered as evidence item A. it is a bit fuzzy and my background is slipping of the rail. That's because this was beer six of the may 16th beer-a-thon and I was starting to to get a bit wrecked.

So the thing about Rogue that makes me always give them the benefit of the doubt is Dead Guy is really good. Many of the craft and micro brewed beers have an easy drinking boring beer up front. New Belgium for example has half a dozen somewhat available beers that are rather good to great, but the number one that every bar carries and even jewel and Dominick's (supplant big chain grocery here depending on region) always carry is fat tire which is mediocre at best. Rogue goes the other way dead guy has a great rye character and complex aroma, it is not for the masses. So I gave rogue's chipotle a shot even though hot pepper beer is something i have yet to be really excited about. I love spicy food, seriously love it. I had a local Indian restaurant remember me by name since i told them the vindaloo was not hot enough. The cook tells the waitress oh no that man does not get the white man spicy he has the tongue oh a Indian for sure. But, i don't understand the want for hot and spicy beer, I keep the beer there for when the spicy gets to me that's is how they go together, when the beer is the spicy i enter the vicious cycle of burn, sip, relieve, burn worse, sip. A real joker of a friend ordered me some very spicy habanero beer one night with out mentioning what it was after I was largely into some fairly spicy Texas chili. so i thought "this chili's got some kick to it great, a sip of beer will cool me for a second." and the vicious cycle begins with me confused as to how the second half of my chili is so much freaking hotter than the first. I may look smart kids but don't be fooled there is a pic of my face next to gullible in the dictionary.

The problem with any pepper beer and chipotle is no exception is the pepper can't really exist in the beer in your mouth. you don't get the salty tang a pepper provides, malt and alcohol the acid in hops all neutralize the heats qualities. But capsaicin hangs out in the mouth way better than those things. so what the beer doesn't beat is left to heat you up. to me this is like a parlor trick "here cool refreshing beer yay! what's that feel like you've been eating Mexican food? haha that's because there is magic spice in them thar beers!" OK so I've made my point time to stop beating the horse he's dead, simply the flavors don't play with each other the exist only in opposing forces like Hatfield's and McCoys. Beer is about Harmony and balance not competition. Rogue chipotle has a medium mouth feel, fairly malty but not so much as to be sweet, and pretty low in hops. a fine beer if nothing special, classic and enjoyable. but of course the aftertaste is dominated by this uninvited heat from out of the blue. In Rogues defense they tried to bring the heat down to a pretty reasonable level making it a interesting additional flavor not a searing heat that overpowers the whole experience. I recognize the attempt and think they succeeded, but it still doesn't work for me the flavor doesn't make much sense. It's like this I love Italian beef sandwiches. (those of you who live far enough from Chicago you don't know what this is you're missing out for real! and it is nothing like a Philly I don't care what people say) and there is no better drink to go with one, and I'm aware I'm departing from what I generally think to be the best drink, than lemonade. But if anyone ever starts making a beef and garlic flavored lemonade I'm not interested.

Now in there attempt to dial it down they also lost the one thing that attracts me to spicy pepper beers, the burn. I have yet to find one I like, but I find them intriguing and continue to try them because I'm a spice lover. My face hurts from the heat that's what I'm talking about! but chipotle ale doesn't get anywhere near it it's hot like medium buffalo wings or Tabasco on eggs, yeah heat but nothing powerful. Then why do such a wacky thing and not really go on a limb? I think a good choice for a pepper beer would be a sweet dark stout with real chocolaty finish, like Mexican hot cocoa. Now that is a beer I'll be excited to try.

All in all Rogue took a shot at something it wasn't a big success, but it doesn't suck. It is still clearly a quality beer brewed by knowledgeable and skilled people, but they failed this time. That said you may have noticed some red text, it is my visual review, this like pepper in the beer is the part that really doesn't belong in the beer review. so I'll finish up completely of topic and just let everyone know this past week i got stock on a motorcycle that i was trying to drive through a doorway. My small person on a giant bike stuck face and fairing in the door but and taillights on the sidewalk, legs pinned to the engine and nobody around to help me. I was quite a laugh for passers by. For your info I am safe as is the bike not so much the door. so feel free to laugh at the mental image as much as you like.

and for my next trick a beer that tastes like pickles

dan

Midas Touch Handcrafted Ancient Ale

This isn't your momma's beer, it's your great great great great great great great.............. grandma's beer.

First if you don't know the story of dogfish head go to their website and read they are the little engine that could. they were brewing like 20 batches a week in kegs on burners in the beginning and that was supporting a brewpub not a small bottle operation. So for dedication to the sport alone I always enjoy their antics. Furthermore, they brew the wackiest stuff available from malt and hops. One of the new ventures is a "sah'tea" beer which borrows from a wild Finnish (that's the country not a typo) beer style with a huge array of grain and juniper berries heavily involved, and they are utilizing a technique the fins share with German rauchbier wherein hot rocks import heat to the wort. These cats are just beer crazy.

Midas touch is no exception, it is apparently the recipe of the oldest known fermented beverage, some 2700 years old; PhD's, carbon dating and spectrum analysis were involved in the production of this recipe. (for serious kids.) As such this beer is about the journey not the bottle. There have been several reviews of this beer that just tear it down. This beer is worth praise for it's ingenuity alone. First It's barely a beer at all really, somewhere between barley wine and mead, made with raisins, honey and saffron it can't be judged by normal beer standards. That said it has unquestionably won awards in beer competitions.

So, how should we rate it. First plan to rate it after you've parked for the evening, it's 9% booze and really i think it hits a little harder than that. I'm aware of the physics that an ounce of ethanol is and ounce of ethanol. But i know gin makes me angry and bourbon makes me wanna hug people. So, Midas touch makes me drunker than 9%. Light in color and just a wee bit cloudy, it serves very well in a goblet or bowl vessel. This is too sweet to delicate for a pint glass or a stein. It's head is very light so pour with vigor and get some aroma going. It is however rather carbonated. Not scary soda (coke for the southerners) carbonated but more so than most craft brews of high caliber. It works out here since it is a fairly sticky and sweet beer. the bubbles keep it clean enough to enjoy. Most beers ought warm up for ten minutes from the fridge. This one go for, not because you'll want it cold to stamp down on it, but you'll need time to handle this one. If you haven't the time to sip and pay attention walk away.

This beer is high in the fruit notes area, most notably grape of course, but also something Bing cherry and cantaloupe. There is an earthy quality to it, not so much like dirt or clay but just a weight that keeps it from being a series of high notes with a sweet dreggy bottom it owns and earns it's bottom end. The saffron is to be honest lost on me for such an expensive priced ingredient it ought be there. That said i haven't a clue how to make such a low key spice show up in beer my self. there is also this somewhere between wonderful and terrifying thing at the back of the palette on the finish it is like flaming sugar right as you swallow, it's brief. if it lasted I'd describe it as toxic, and if it were shorter I'd be annoyed by it's missing the mark, but it is a lovely fiery and sweet finish that makes more of such a sweet beer necessary

All in all, this beer is not for casual drinking don't pack a cooler full for the fishing trip. Sit back pay attention and you might find some amazing stuff in here but you have to be ready to work at it, this beer is a prima donna. A prima donna who I will dutifully sing the praises of, but recognize she is a Prima donna.

Gilgamesh was here

dan

Wacko summer seasonal from magic hat

Magic Hat turning things on their side.



Ok, it's summer, well more accurately it promises to be summer here in Chicago. And since my entire life June is when the days so hot I want to shave my head start, it's also summer seasonal beer time. crisp citrusy and hoppy beers beers that taste clean and cool; kolschs, I.P.A.s oddly unbelgian whites, honey wheat, berry beers, and those German rattlers. All very well and good, but they tend to leave me either; A. wondering why my beer needs less flavor in the summer, or B. wondering why my beer has been mango infused and ought have a lime in it. My dad told me when i was a young man lime in your beer is for sissies. I listened pop, (note he said nothing about oranges and probably had no idea what a white beer even was.) Summer beers are supposed to be, cool and refreshing sure I'm for that but it still needs to be a flavorful and complex beer.



I'm ranting, I know trust me I just erased the second half of that you will never be subjected to, I can get a bit judgmental. Now on to the matter at hand. Magic hats Wacko says right on the label "a beer with beet juice color". I didn't get it, I didn't believe I don't know, but when the bright pink beer foamed in my glass I almost dropped it. I still didn't believe the label "a beer with beet juice color", after i saw it i thought oh crap it's gonna be raspberry flavored. But, lo and behold it tastes like beer! A clean beer a crisp beer but beer and not a water tiny beer!! Now i will say it took me the entire first beer to stop expecting it to taste like a raspberry. And most of the second beer to stop calling friends and saying you gotta look at this it's amazing.



Down to the nitty gritty. This beer is absolutely a summer brew, slightly fruity notes but nothing overt, no specific fruit. also there is something almost minty about it that really makes it easy to drink more of, really very clean after taste. There is also something very earthy about this beer that neatly balances that fruitiness. This beer balances high and low notes the way do wop does simple the part harmony clean yet subtle, full of surprises. It could easily be consumed all afternoon long while playing baseball and paying way more attention to the cute girl on third than your beers taste. But, when you are sitting with friends around the fire and have mental space for "how does this beer taste" it will be right there waiting a complex ballad of summertime flavors. Fresh fruit, fresh herbs and fresh beets from the backyard.



Oh yeah and it is bright pink. which to me is a boon all around. First, it reminds me of my pal Jon who has painted the handles of all his tools bright pink. He's a tough guy from the "old neighborhood." When he goes on a job he never worries anyone else is gonna steal his tools, who else is gonna want to be rodding a sink with a bright pink snake. Also, as soon as I sent an old friend of mine a picture of it she said "I want a pink beer." (and trust me guys this lady you'd want to share your beer with) So, ladies if you know where toutyourstout headquarters is ring the bell i have a "beer with beet juice color" waiting for you.

Magic hat is a fine company, I'm glad to see no. nine being so widely available. They have always felt like a local beer to me even though they aren't local to me. I have a toutyourstout on the scenes reporter trying to assess their brewery tour. (as long as she stays sober enough to remember it) I am really happy to see the summer seasonal which can be such a stumbling block for so many good companies pass my test with flying colors.

beer ball sun at 230 whose in?
dan

Camo Black Ice xxXxx

Holy crap is this beer bad! I know that simply by examining the name we can tell it's going to be bad. Any beer containing the word ice in the title is probably on the bottom end of the spectrum. That said , this can of vile liquid truly takes the cake. I have unquestionably become a bit of a beer snob. But, as a young lad I had plenty of crappy beers (including lots of stroh's on ice since mike's mother let us drink beer but not keep it in the fridge) and still often find the high life in my hand, it is the champagne of beers after all. So i feel i have had enough garbage beer to say hands down this is the worst beer ever made.

It has two things going for it in theory.

One is the promise of camouflage. I figure a can that is camouflage could come in handy if you are hiding from the police in a wooded area and still need to drink so it might be a boon. But this sewer water can't even pull this off. The "camo" print that runs around the can is just a cell phone picture of shrubs growing outside the chemical plant that makes this stuff from it's byproducts.

Two is the ABV. and on that they actually deliver. That is what this beer is about. A 24 oz. can cost me under two bucks. With a whopping 10.5% booze that is about four and a half beers drunk for a buck seventy five. But, in the world of drinking cheap you'll always win with absolute bottom of the shelf vodka at 11 dollars for the 1.75 liter you can drink till you pass out twice for ten bucks.

What this beer has going against it is everything else. It has a distinct three part harmony of dissonant taste. It hits the tongue like aluminium. that terrible "wait how long ago did you buy this can of soup?" taste. Which is what I blame the instant headache on, although my drinking buddy from the night before suggests the empty bottles of Czech beer on his coffee table might be the culprit. Shortly after that taste fades and yields a standard garbage beer taste. Lots of corn sweetness, no hops and unnecessarily carbonated. But, then it finishes up with the real kicker. After choking it down and before the vomit comes, if you intend to drink much because it seems inevitable, there is dial soap. Not a tinge of dial the "oh i got some tingle on my tongue from washing my face." but, the "keep this in you mouth for till I get back ralphy" dial taste.

This at the seventeen year old who is going to join the army on his eighteenth birthday, the street drunk, and the alcoholic whose taste buds have been burned away by a terrible goldschlager fire blowing incident. if your in that category go nuts! you'll love this beer and you'll be blasted under six dollars into your night! If you're anybody else drinking this is to be reserved for the to be reserved for penance. Bless me father for i have sinned.... say two our fathers and drink two camo black ice. I know for many of us myself included when someone says things like " oh wow! that is so awful!" we are going to run out and find it just to say "oh yeah man that is totally shitty." Please for your own sakes trust me this time don't do it let me be the sacrifice I have ventured into the darkness and come back to tell of the horrors. please don't follow my path. I am gonna go drink some carburetor cleaner now just to remove this from my palette.

smell y'all on the flip side,

Dan

Sam Adams Chocolate Bock

Let's skip the ice cream and drink our dessert!!

Anyone who knows me knows I live my ice cream almost as much as i love beer. But push come to shove beer can warm a cold night if it has a high enough gravity and beer causes inebreation. If you really try to get drunk off ice cream you just end up bloated and sickly (trust me i've tried). and as much as i like them both there are very few beer and ice cream combos that go together. Ice cream and whiskey that works or beer and pie mmmmmmmmm.

Now that I'm done craving pie I can talk about the beer I'll be reviewing today. If you've been following my beer ramblings for a while you've undoubtedly heard me talk about the sam adams conundrum. Jim Koch the man behind Sam Adam's is a total beer nut, he really knows beer, yet sam adams regular beer (the one tv tells us is ok to drink with your boss at business lunch.) is exceedingly boring. However it turns out if you pay attention to beers other than the regular the company makes some really interesting beers. Today we talk about Chocolate Bock.

Bock is a strong lager which has its origins in the Hanseatic town of Einbeck, Germany. The name is a corruption of the medieval German brewing town of Einbeck, but
also means male deer or goat in German; the word is a cognate of the English
"buck". The original Bocks were dark
beers, brewed from high-colored malts. Modern Bocks can be dark,
amber or pale in color. Bock was traditionally brewed for special occasions,
often religious festivals such as Christmas, Easter or Lent.

The above is stolen from wikipedia and therefore infallible. Bock is a fairly loose genre of beer, in truth this chocolate beer isn't a bock at all it is a specialty beer by international judging standards. Whatever catergory it is, it is delicious. This beer has a wonderful velvety texture that lingers on the pallette. I expected this to be either too sugary, or mostly a stout with some serious chocolate notes. I was suprised by the warmth of this beer it has a nice malt tone without being sweet, like a strong scotch ale. But even more so, the cocoa flavor is full and rich, like a dark belgian chocolate. It has a very chocolatey scent but the flavor does miatain an amount of hops, very backgound, but any more would be just one too many things in the glass.

This beer is so luxurious, the texture really stands out, and the deep chocolate flavor is so rich it seems almost sinful. This beer is really sexy, the warmth the texture, the completley black color and the CHOCOLATE, it just makes you feel like calling someone over and lighting some candles. The want to pair this beer with something drew a blank for me. It is robust enough to stand up to a rich meal, but the flavor is so classic dessert. Fruit would be fine with the chocolate, but wouldn't jive with the equally present full bodied lager. after thinking lond and hard and drinking long and hard I came to the conclusion that the right pairing for this is a cigar. Now if you don't smoke this beer is fine on it's own, but that seems to me the only god pairing.

To find the details of how this beer is made you can go to sam adams top drawer website linked below the bock is listed as an extreme beer. The thing to know if you don't make it to the site is the beer is let rest on wild cocoa nibs from northern olivian rainforest. I know that sounds like I made it up, but it's true the nibs are provided by Felchin a swiss chocaliteir. this use of actual chocalate late in the process is how such a potent chocolate flavor exists without diminishing the classic malty beer. It is a limited edition beer availible in 750 ml bottles. but they've been making it off and on since 2003 in the spring so if you missed 2009 it is hopfully coming back in 2010. I give this a 5.5 out of 6 scoops. an excellent beer for a spring night after a meal or instead of one. And like most chocolate it seems to be an aphrodisiac, so enjoy it with someone pretty you might find yourself taking of more than the beer top.

happy hunting kids

dan



http://www.samueladams.com/world_of_beer.aspx

golden stone amber ale

Ok cats and kitties time to enjoy more beer with me your self appointed beer expert.

A lot of the beer that I'll be reviewing on the blog can be seen live on two guys and a guest, the online show featuring me and Martin Jon of Chicago arts. But right now and with great excitement (note the exclamation mark at the end of this sentence) we will be sampling golden stone amber from Metolius brewing co.! I picked this up on a whim at the store tonight when I Was grabbing a sam adams chocolate bock to review in another post, I realized only after picking it up it was metolius and not metropolian brewery. But, accidentally purchased suprise beer is even more exciting than carefully planned beer. So back to golden stone amber.

Upon cracking this bottle open the hops was pretty noticeable. That faded quickly. The hop nose is present but nothing extraordinary. The beer has a very pleasant color to it. It's a delightful red amber color. A clear beer with a very light foamed head. Nice as the color is this is the rare beer that really seems to be better out of a bottle than a glass. The head as noted is weak, and there is a flatness to it, a low carbonation that might be aided by the bottle. The smell of it also just kind of falls away nothing of the scent stands out as noticeable.

Ok so let's get on with the taste right? The taste much like the scent has no stand out elements. Golden stone amber has a slightly astringent flavor, a over boiled malt husk kind of thing. It is similar to a rye character that i have begun to love in rogue's dead guy all, but the sweeter malt here just doesn't jive. Other than that though it is a simple beer, slightly sweet but not overtly, mildly hoppy but not substantially, and no particular outside the box flavoring. It does have a much better body and malt flavor than say Miller Lite, but is just as drinkable. It would easily go down on a hot day or while eating a burger.

The neck of the bottle has a slightly confusing bit of text that describes the beer as the perfect fishing beer. I'll agree a cooler full of this and a canoe full of bugs on hooks, could be a great afternoon. Of course it won't have the nostalgia of the cans of stroh's that we drank in junior high at the creek fishing but it will taste way better. I give this beer two and a half out of five glasses. It ain't anything to seek out, but if it's in your hand it ain't bad.

Metolius is located in Portland, Or. and a five minute google search gives me no link to send you to it.

drink hearty lads,
dan

Half Acre Over Ale: a chicago beer for chicago folks.

Half Acre Over Ale is what we call an American Style Bitter. This deep brown
beer is brewed with six varieties of malted barley and balanced with three
generous hop additions. You’ll find a mild malt body with bitter bones. Enjoy
this beer.

Above is the half acre websites description of "Half Acre Over Ale," it was reviewed live on two guys and a guest on April 11 2009. that show is unfortunately not available on archive due to current technical difficulties but, if you are so inclined find our wide fan base on line and see if anyone recorded it to their machine and will send you a copy. due to our giant and enthusiastic fan base it shouldn't be hard to do ;).

On with the written review. I apologize now for what may be a gushing review of both a company and beer. tune in next week for a Sam Adams chocolate bock review that promises to be more critical. That said half acre over ale is a delightful product. It is a rather clear and fairly dark red brew. It maintains a light head due in part to it's rather low carbonation levels. the low carbonation seems to provide a really honest characteristic. it makes the beer feel like a beer and not some oat based soda the way many domestic garbage beers do. even with the low carbonation the large malt character provides a full and very enjoyable mouthfeel. every sip has a big warm feeling that satisfies. you don't need to drink four of these beers to have an experience of beer.

As for the taste it is a very classic beer. this is what i really love about half acre and am glad it is the first review to be posted on the blog. ( i hope to get some of the past reviews from two guys and a guest written up here as well as all future reviews from the show. if for no other reason than it gives me one more reason to drink beer that i can call necessary and not drunkenness. yay!!) but, as i said i am glad this is a first written up review since half acre is so true to their home. Chicago is a functional city we are not fashionable, we really believe in that "Midwestern work ethic." not that we have no style far from it but, our style results from function in la you can spend more money on fancy clothes because you don't need for separate wardrobes. Half Acre beers fit right in, they are simple honest beers. over ale tastes like beer there is nothing fancy about it or exotic, but it is really good. warm and malty but not sweet. the aroma has a high hop content, but the taste loses a lot of the floral notes such a hoppy beer often possesses it is not in anyway perfumey. the hops (and that should be HOPS) provide a lot of bitter flavor that check the malt but with such a malty and low carbonation beer the hops lose their herbal quality and again become a function. like a cog in a clock. on it's own a beautifully machined shiny brass instrument. but, in the clock just one part doing it's job. balancing such high hop and high malt is a delicate thing and half acre has done an excellent job.

this is a full bodied beer it is for cool nights or rich meals. on its own it would be great because it encourages slow and thoughtful consumption. if you want to have one with dinner get a steak in Burgundy sauce or a rare burger with a1 and steak cut fries. or as we said on the show chicken and waffles. this beer will beat the crap out of a delicate meal.

Finally a quick note about half acre. They recently opened a new brewery in Chicago which is still under construction and only open to brewing, but a tasting room is on the way look for it in may, and expect to see me there at this fine brewing location. my hats off to you half acre. you do the city i love a service by being here. please never leave us like those turn coat retirees who moved to Florida , malort. Below is a link to the half acre website please check them out and buy their beer that way they will stay in business and i will get to drink it.

http://www.halfacrebeer.com/home.php

sincerely,

one guy and no guest

dan