Great Lakes Christmas Ale

Brewed By: Great Lakes Brewing Company in Cleveland, Ohio 
Purchased: Single 12oz bottle bought at Evolution Wine & Spirits in Chicago, Illinois; 2012

Style/ABV: Christmas/Winter Spiced Beer, 7.5%

Reported IBUs: 30

I love great Great Lakes Brewing, and I probably should drink more of their beer. I have yet to be let down by a Great Lakes beer, and I'm pretty excited to sit here and dissect their coveted Christmas Ale. About Great Lakes Brewing:

Great Lakes Brewing Company was founded on September 6th, 1988, brothers Patrick Daniel and Conway Daniel. It became the first microbrewery in the state of Ohio. The brewery expanded both in 1992 and 1998, and in 2010 and 2011 the brewery spent over 7 million dollars to improve their brewery and brewery equipment. The brewery produces over 100,000 barrels annuals, and serves 13 states and Washington D.C.. According to the Brewers Association "top 50 breweries list" from 2010, Great Lakes Brewing Company is ranked #22 for beer sales as a craft brewer, and #31 for beer sales in general (in America). You can take a stroll to the Great Lakes Brewing history page to get the full story about the brewery.

While enjoying a lovely Friday out, I had the opportunity to try the Great Lakes Christmas Ale on tap. It was served a bit too cold, and I was really hungry; so I wasn't as on my game as I should have been. But the beer was still delicious. If you check out the Christmas Ale page on Great Lakes' website, you can get all the information you need about this beer. This is a winter seasonal (November through December) that is brewed with honey, and then spiced with fresh ginger and cinnamon. Great Lakes always gives a .PDF worth of info for their beer, and you should definitely check it out. I love their little history blurbs! They state that holiday brews have origins in the Middle Ages, when spices were used instead of hops to flavor the beer. Spiced beers re-emerged in the early 1900s in Western Europe when brewers began making holiday beer for their patrons. Today's beer is brewed with Harrington 2-Row, Crystal, Wheat, Special Roast, and Roasted Barley malts; it uses Hallertau and Cascade hops. Clocking in at 7.5% ABV, and packing 30 IBUs, this is a big beer...but not quite the "tour de alcohol" as something like a heavy Stout or Belgian Ale. Let's glass this up and see what's up.

Great Lakes Christmas Ale

I remember toy trains, and I have great memories of putting up ornaments with my family. This beer's artwork really gets me in my feels. The nostalgia...it's so hard. The beer pours a clear, clean, orange/amber color that is on the darker side of orange and the brighter side of amber in low light. The pour yielded one to two fingers of amber-tinted head. When held to a bright light, this beer is still amber/orange, transparent, and very filtered. I wonder how aging this would go. There's a lot of visible carbonation in this, with medium bubbles rising up. As a result, there's nice head retention; there's some lacing; and the head is whiter in bright light. YOOOO.

As far as the aroma goes, lots of honey, sweet malts, a hint of pleasant/mild hops, maybe a dash of lemon, and just a hint of ginger spice (but more fresh ginger, not the spice).

This is quite carbonated, and lively on your tongue. I'm getting a lot of honey, ginger, gingerbread (lots of gingerbread), hints of orange, pleasant/mild orange peel, mild "Noble" hop characters, and bread. Maybe some fruitcake? NO! No maybe...there's definitely a fruitcake thing going on with this beer. There's also a pleasant "kick" to this...it has a nice bitter balance, and it's quite complex and full, with elusive booze that never manifests as alcohol. 

This is surprisingly complex, and like most of Great Lakes' beers: very balanced. You can tell that they didn't just brew this beer, they obviously put a lot of thought into it. This is also a beer that completely masks its alcohol. This beer has "DANGER! HANGOVER!" written all over it. At 7.5%, two or three of these will get you tipsy. But this is incredibly drinkable, and goes down with ease (that's what she said). Palate depth is great, complexity is high, and this has a full-bodied mouthfeel. This beer has everything! It's creamy, smooth, carbonated, spicy, malty, hoppy, and it finishes pleasant but dry. Up front you get honey, ginger, gingerbread, cinnamon; this rolls into ginger, mild hops, some bitterness; the finish dries out, and then you get lingering malt. There's some bready, fruitcake throughout...very nice.

Rating: Above-Average

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this beer. It's complex, balanced, and bold. The spices (ginger, gingerbread, maybe some cinnamon) might get taxing on your palate after a while, but one or two glasses of this would be great. There's depth to this beer, and the boozy backdrop makes this a great candidate to warm you up on a cold night. Food pairings: fruit cake! You could also eat this with ham, turkey, stuffing, potatoes, duck -- any holiday fixings, really. This beer has great honey and gingerbread characters, so get creative with those meals! I do recommend this.

Random Thought: One of my best memories was getting the Christmas decorations out, and helping put up the tree and the lights. This meant that winter break was coming, and Christmas. I remember pulling the boxes out of storage, getting the lights out, unpacking all the decorations...that's why we have traditions.

St. Bernardus Christmas Ale

Brewed By: St. Bernard Brouwerij in Watou, Belgium  

Purchased: Jolly 750ml bottle bought at Evolution Wine & Spirits in Chicago, Illinois; 2012

Style/ABV: Quadrupel/Winter Warmer, 10.0%

Reported IBUs: ?

After yesterday's disappointing winter seasonal from Rogue, I feel obligated to dial things up to "11" and drink some kick-ass winter beer. I haven't actually had today's beer before, but I love me some St. Bernardus 12, and I love giant Quadrupels. About St. Bernardus: 

St. Bernadus is a brewery based out of Watou, Belgium. The brewery has a rich history that began at the Catsberg Abbey. The Catsberg Abbey moved from Northern France to Watou, Belgium due to anti-clericism in France at the time. Once in Belgium, the Catsberg Abbey became known as the "Refuge Notre Dame de St. Bernard." The Abbey funded itself by producing and selling cheese. In 1934, France dropped its anti-clerical policies, and the Abbey community moved back to France, leaving behind an empty factory. Evarist Deconinck took over the factory, and commercialized and developed his own cheese. He built a new factory for the cheese at the Trappistenweg in Watou, and the original building was transformed into a private facility. 

After the end of World War II, the Trappist Monastery St. Sixtus stopped commercializing their beer; they decided to only brew their beer for their own consumption, for sales at the gates of the Monastary, and for a handful of taverns associated with the monastery. However, they agreed to lease out their beers for 30 years to Evarist Deconick who could commercialize and sell the beer. A new brewery was thrown up next to the cheese factory, and Deconinck began brewing Sixtus beers with the help of the Masterbrewer of Westvleteren. 

In 1992 the 30-year agreement between St. Sixtus and Deconinck came to an end. Due to changes in the law, Deconinck would be unable to continue brewing beer branded Sixtus. However, he could continue to use the same recipe and brew the beer under a different name. Hence, the beers brewed at Trappistenweg in Watou are now branded "St. Bernardus," because authentic Trappist beers MUST be brewed inside the walls of a Trappist Monastery. And that is that folks. For more history, roll over to the history page HERE. 

Tonight's beer is a BIG Belgian Ale that is brewed as a winter seasonal. If you check out the St. Bernardus Christmas Ale page, you can get some info about this beer. This beer uses the St. Bernardus house yeast strain (which has been fermenting beer since 1946), and is comparable to the St. Bernardus Abt 12. This beer is described as spicy, with hints of mint, warming alcohol, molasses, apricots, licorice, and marzipan. Let's glass this up and see what's up.

St. Bernardus Christmas Ale

I'm very happy to report that this beer did not gush. I was greeted with a lot of smoke upon popping off the cork, however. This beer poured all foam, and that's probably my fault; I stirred up the yeast inside the bottle about an hour earlier. The beer pours with 3 fingers of dense, foamy, tan/sandy head. In low light the beer has a dark brown/purple color. When held to bright light, this beer is MURKY AS HIZZY. This is some swampy stuff, and has an orange-brown color. There's a lot of active, visible, streaming carbonation; this is an effervescent beer (as per the style). Head retention is great, with a thumb's worth hanging out. I'm sure there will be some lacing.

The aroma on this reminds me of the Trader Joe's Anniversary Ale. Which is a good thing, because Unibroue has that sexy yeast strain. I'm getting a lot of clove, nutmeg, spruce, white sugar, sugar/candy perfume, slight fruity banana, Juicy Fruit (the gum), spicy yeast phenols, and just hints of fruit (cherry?). Overall, pretty spicy and yeasty, with a big hint of spruce. 

Unlike the Trader Joe's Anniversary Ale, this tastes like you are being punched in the mouth by a Belgian Monk wearing a Santa's hat. Holy shit, this is huge on the palate (much like the Abt 12). I'm getting big clove, yeast spice, candied sugars, dark fruits (plums, cherries, figs, apricots), a hint of dusty/oxidized dark fruits, and just a HUGE backing booze character that fills out this beer. Each sip expands on your palate, and you get impressive alcohol warming on the back end without any abrasive alcohol. There's a hint of bitterness in the taste, with some pine and spruce. Overall though, lots of big yeast spices, and tons of sugary fruits. 

Ladies and gentleman, this right here is a proper winter warmer. At 10.0% ABV, this drinks a bit too smooth. But make no mistake, this beer is warming on the back end, and will quickly get you drunk. This beer is smooth, creamy, carbonated, and just a touch dusty; but it has a medium-full to full-bodied mouthfeel. Really nice stuff here, especially in terms of the style. Palate depth is off the charts, and complexity is moderate for the style. Up front is big spice, clove, sugar; this rolls into fruits, spruce, more spice; the back end is creamy, with lingering spice and spruce. The finish is dry, but creamy, and you get impressive warming on the back.

Rating: Above-Average

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this beer. This reminds me of the Abt 12, with a little spruce and bitterness thrown into the mix. This is really nice stuff, and this has phenomenal palate depth and mouthfeel. I don't know if it's quite as complex as you can get, but this is an easy recommendation for a winter warmer. Yeah...this beer is a bit pricey at $10-15 dollars per bomber, but it's a big beer that can easily do you in for the night. Food pairings: pizza, meat and cheese plate, any winter stew, a hearty creamy soup, honey ham, duck, turkey, and many desserts...a 10oz pour of this with some bread pudding? Oh lawdy! 

Random Thought: It's supposed to warm up to 60 and rain this weekend. I'm not complaining! I swear! I enjoy the warm weather, especially in late November and early December. But I'm also okay with snow...especially if I'm not driving anywhere, and I have a few bombers in my fridge.

Rogue Santa's Private Reserve Ale

Brewed By: Rogue Ales in Newport, Oregon  

Purchased: 650ml (1 pint, 6oz) bomber bought at Friar Tucks in Urbana, IL; 2012 

Style/ABV: Amber Ale/Red Ale, 6.0%

Reported IBUs: 65

Nothing says Christmas like a hoppy Amber Ale! Right!? Actually, if Sierra Nevada's Celebration Ale has taught us anything, it's that you can have a piney/hoppy beer that totally works for the winter season. But this is "Santa's Private Reserve." Do you think the fat man reaches for an Amber, or some sort of Quadrupel with candy canes melted in it? Actually, Rogue is hipster-douche-nozzle enough to probably attempt a candy cane Quad. On Rogue (and dasher, and dancer, and sweater beard):

Rogue has been around forever, and if their beer was more widely available, and not so damn expensive, I'd probably drink more of it. The brewery was founded in 1988 in Ashland, Oregon by Jack Joyce, Bob Woodell, Rob Strasser, and home brewer Jeff Schultz. Due to increasing space and distribution limitations, Jack Joyce went searching in Newport for a location for the new Rogue pub. It was at this time that he met Mohave Niem, founder of Mo's Clam Chowder. She offered Jack space to brew in her building, and in 1989 the Bay Front Brew Pub was built. Rogue's headquarters currently reside in Newport to this day. In May 1989, current head brewmaster, John Maier, joined Rogue after a brief sting brewing with Alask Brewing. John was a former Senior Technician with Hughes Aircraft Co, and a graduate of the Seibel Institute. To learn more about Rogue, check out their website HERE.

The bottle features the fat man himself, holding a mug and raising a fist. "White power! Ho Ho!" He means snow power...and the bottle says "snowflakes glisten." If you check out Rogue's Santa's Private Reserve page, you can get all the important information about this beer, except the ABV. I don't know why Rogue doesn't want me to know how drunk I'm going to get. Sure, they include all that fancy homebrewing shit, like 13 Plato. Speaking of, this beer is brewed with 10 Ingredients (9 according to the website). This beer uses Carastan, Crystal, and proprietary Rogue malts. This also uses Chinook hops, along with some proprietary Rogue hops. This beer is brewed with Rogue's proprietary Pacman Yeast, and "Free Range Coastal Water." This beer has won some awards, and is regarded as being pretty great. So let's put this in a glass and stuff it down my chimney. Ho ho ho!

Santa's Private Reserve Ale

This beer fucking hates me! Karma is evil! I talk a little crap about how Rogue are the hipsters of brewing, and I get a gusher. I popped the cap off and this beer gushed everywhere. The elusive, 6.0%, American Amber Ale gusher....fuck! I guess this is bottle conditioned. The beer pours a lovely dark red/orange/amber color, with two fingers of caramel/red-tinted head. When held to bright light, the beer is a hazy, orange-amber color, and about a finger's worth of caramel head is hanging around. There is some lacing, and a reasonable amount of carbonation in the form of tiny bubbles. This beer is hazy, yeasty, and liable to gush. 

The aroma on this beer is really nice. You get sweet caramel, and nice pine and grass hop notes. You get a hint of candy-citrus-sweetness, and there's some bread in the mix. There's some nice hop spice, which almost lends to a Cinnabun/cinnamon/French Toast thing. It's a brilliant marriage of winter-hops with nice malt sweetness.

Interestingly enough, I'm reminded of an ESB/Bitter type beer. This has "harsh" or hard bitterness that isn't overly bitter...but has a big impact. I get bread crust, caramel, toffee, pine/grass, floral, pale ale hoppy-ness, pretty prominent soapiness, and a hint of earthy hop spice. This is fairly attenuated, I think, which lends to a dry and thin-feeling finish.

There's a slight disconnect between the aroma and the taste. For 6.0%, this drinks pretty easily. There is noticeable bitterness, but it's a "hard," Pale Ale-bitterness. The beer finishes dry, and has a slight "thinness." Thus, I'm inclined to call this medium-light, with just okay palate depth, and low complexity. Up front is some bread, biscuit, and burgeoning pine; the middle rolls into biscuit, grass, pine; the back end is dry, soapy, earthy, hint of spice in the mix; finish is dry, lingering, soapy hops.

Rating: Average 

I'm feeling a Light Average on this. I'm not going to lie, this is disappointing for two reasons. One: if you put Santa on your bottle of beer, it better remind me of Christmas, and not an English Pale Ale. Two: the taste is a bit disconnected from the aroma. Having said that, this is a solid "Amber Ale / Red Ale." It's not bad, and there are hints of pine/spruce, spice, and even some french toast. It's alright. Food pairings: duck, beef roast, a burger, anything you'd pair with a Pale Ale. If you do pick this beer up, grab a 6-pack instead of the bomber. It works better in that format, in my opinion.

Random Thought: If you put Santa on the bottle, you come to play hard. The glass is fucking awesome, however. And while I love busting Rogue's balls, I actually enjoy a lot of what they brew. They are a good brewer, and their Mocha Porter is FANTASTIC.

Port Brewing Santa's Little Helper

Brewed By: Port Brewing/Pizza Port/Lost Abbey in San Marcos, California  

Purchased: 22oz bomber bought at Evolution Wine & Spirits in Chicago, Illinois; 2012

Style/ABV: Russian Imperial Stout, 10.0%

Reported IBUs: ?

Nothing compliments a cold evening and some football like a Russian Imperial Stout. Thankfully, Port Brewing has a seasonal Impy to scratch that itch.

Port Brewing are the other half of Lost Abbey. Port Brewing began inside Pizza Port back in 1992, when brother and sister Vince and Gina Marsaglia opened up a seven barrel brewery. Pizza Port became known for their beer, and two more Pizza Port locations opened up in Carlsbad and San Clemente. In 2006, Vince and Gina (along with Tomme Arthur and Jim Comstock) founded the Port Brewing Company in Stone Brewing's old facility in San Marcos. Port Brewing opened on May 5th, 2006, and Tomme went on to produce beers for the Lost Abbey. Since then, the Port Brewing Company has won a number of awards, and has been celebrated for being one of the top breweries in the United States. For more info, check out Port Brewing's website here. 

Tonight's beer is a big, bad, seasonal Imperial Stout. This beer is brewed once a year, and has been brewed since 1997, when it was originally brewed at Pizza Port in Solana Beach. This beer is brewed with a grocery list of malts and hops, including Two Row, Wheat, Domestic and English Crystal, Roasted, Black and Chocolate Malts; and Phoenix, Challenger and East Kent Goldings hops. This is a huge beer at 10.0% ABV, and is available in early winter. Let's glass this up, and see how it stacks up.

Port Brewing Santa's Little Helper

The beer pours a dark, inky, pitch black color, with 4 fingers of thick brown-colored head. The head is coffee brown, and thick, and leaving nice lacing on the glass. You can see carbonation on the sides of this glass, but when held to bright light, this is still an inky-black beer.

The aroma on this beer is big roast, huge chocolate, some wood, a hint of smoke/meat, velvety smooth wood/roast, a hint of burnt sugars, and maybe a touch of coffee. There's a touch of floral hops on the nose as well. Pretty typical, bold, Imperial Stout aromas.

The taste is big, bold, dense, slightly oily, and quite nice. I'm getting a lot of roast, coffee, chocolate, wood, campfire, more roast, some molasses/burnt sugar, and nice floral hops providing support. There's a boozy complexity to this, with hints of alcohol, raisins, and elusive dark fruits.

This is boozy at 10%, but the booze is balanced nicely by roast, sweetness, and some hop bitterness. This is full-bodied in terms of mouthfeel, slightly chewy, and drags a bit with some thickness about it. The carbonation is lighter and thin, which I sort of prefer for this style. Palate depth is okay for the style, but complexity is high. Up front is chocolate, sweet sugars, malt, and then a flash of hops; this rolls into roast, bitter chocolate, bitterness; the back end is roast, wood, campfire, burnt sugar; elusive dark fruits and booze run throughout. Stickiness builds on your lips, and the duration on your palate is okay.

Rating: Above-Average

I'm feeling a Decent Above-Average on this beer. This is really nice, and the second half of this bottle is going to pair wonderfully with the Giants vs. Packers game, and some pizza. Food pairings are your typical Imperial Stout pairings: pizza, steak with mushrooms, a burger with mushrooms, chocolate cake, a cigar, etc. What elevates this beer into something Above-Average is the balance of roast and sweetness, nice boozy complexity, and big chocolate and roast notes. This is a great beer (especially for what I paid, which was like 7 or 8 bucks), and definitely something that will warm you up on a cold winter night. I would recommend this.

Random Thought: Even though this is a winter seasonal, I don't think this is really a "Christmas beer." It's a damn good RIS, but yeah. I mentioned some food pairings....I bet this would be lovely if you dropped a scoop of mint ice cream into it. Imperial Stout + Mint Ice Cream = mmmmm?

Goose Island Christmas Ale 2012

Brewed By: Goose Island Beer Company (owned by AB InBev) in Chicago, Illinois

Purchased: 12oz bottle bought at Evolution Wine & Spirits in Chicago, Illinois; 2012

Style/ABV: American Brown Ale, 7.3%

Reported IBUs: ?

Last year I reviewed the 2011 Goose Island Christmas Ale, and it was lovely. So I figure I'll give my thoughts on this year's Christmas Ale...plus, I need to clean my palate from that nasty Blue Lady. 

Goose Island is a Chicago-based brewery that began as a brewpub on Clybourn, which opened on May 1988. The actual brewery opened on 1995, and is located on the Southwest side of Chicago. The second brewpub, located in Wrigleyville by the Chicago Cubs, was opened in 1999. On March 28, 2011, Goose Island sold 58% of the brewery to Anheuser-Busch. The remaining 42% of the brewery is supposed to be acquired by A-B InBev in the future, and there has been much discussion about the brewery's takeover. On November 16th, founder and CEO, John Hall, announced he would be leaving Goose Island. On January 1st, 2012, Anheuser-Busch "veteran" Andy Goeler will take over Goose Island. At this point, it's hard to even call Goose Island "craft beer," let alone Chicago's local beer treasure. It's a damn shame, but what can you do? Oh yeah, you can drink Half Acre, Pipeworks, Revolution, and Two Brothers.

This year's Christmas Ale is slightly different than last year's. For starters, the alcohol has increased from 6.2% to 7.3%. This beer is brewed with Pale, Munich, and Caramel malts, and the hops "change from year to year," and are not listed. As the hops are not listed, the IBUs are missing as well. The website says you can cellar this beer for 180 days (shenanigans?), and this is a winter seasonal available between November and December. With that said, let's glass this up and see how it holds up.

AB-InBev Christmas Ale 2012

This beer pours a dark brown/purple color, with a finger of brown, bready head. When held to bright light, the beer has a reddish/brown color, is murky, possibly unfiltered, and you cannot see through it. There is some lacing from where the head pulled away, and there is some head hanging around. Not bad.

The aroma on this is really nice, with big raisins, bready malts, some rum, some figs....this is more malty than I remember it being. Last year's beer had more pine and pine nut, this year's beer is really big on the malts. I'm getting a Doppelbock-esque Twizzler/plum note, and maybe a hint of smoke/meat. 

You do get some really nice pine, pine nut, and hop kick in the taste. I'm not sure why I wasn't pulling out the hops on the nose. There's also some thickness about this beer, and it's quite malty with big bready malts, figs/raisins, cake, and rum-soaked bread, and a toasty thing going on. Big pine nuts and walnuts in the taste here; maybe a hint of maple syrup; elusive spices. The taste is a bit different than the nose.

This beer feels thicker than last year's, but it still rocks that big nutty taste profile, balanced by some nice piney hops. This is complex but balanced for the style, has good palate depth, and good drinkability for 7.3% ABV. This is approaching "winter warmer," or "sipping" beer. Mouthfeel is medium-full to full. Up front are some big sweet malts, nuttiness, sugars; this rolls into pine, pine nuts, hops; the back end is lingering pine nuts and pine, and a slightly dry finish. There's some maple, bread, rum, and toast that come and go. There's also some elusive spices; maybe brown sugar? 

Rating: Above-Average

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this beer. I called the 2011 a light Divine Brew; I think I really liked the prominent pine nut thing going on in the 2011 version. This year's beer is a little maltier, heavier, and it sort of reminds me of a Barleywine lite. There's a nice maple syrup thing in here, along with a sutble rum/brown sugar spice. And like last year's, there are some nice pine nuts and walnut flavors in this. I would pair this with honey ham, turkey, pecan pie, or even candied yams. As usual...this is solid stuff, and the 2012 version is just a bit warmer, so you can drink this on a cold night.

Pipeworks Blue Lady (Batch #31)

Brewed By: Pipeworks Brewing in Chicago, IL  

Purchased: 750ml bottle bought at Capone's Liquor in Chicago, IL; 2012 

Style/ABV: Berliner Weisse, 4.0%
Reported IBUs: ?

It's been a long time since I've been scared of a beer. Tonight's beer is 750ml of sour beer aged on blueberries. Why am I so fucking scared? The reviews. And the fact that my bottle is Batch #31...which has been recalled. It's unclear if this batch was infected, or if they just messed something up during the brewing process...but reading reviews, this beer is described as "blue cheese," "vomit," and other lovely descriptions that suggest drain pour. I'm terrified, and kind of excited anyway. I also like blue cheese.

Pipeworks Brewing Co.

Pipeworks has humble roots. The brewery was founded in Chicago in 2011 by Beejay Oslon and Gerrit Lewis. The duo were both homebrewers that met while while working at West Lakeview Liquors. In 2011, they began to raise money for their brewery using the online Internet site, Kickstarter. Olson and Lewis were both educated at De Struise Brewery in Oostvleteren, Belgium. With that knowledge, and the money from their kickstarter, Olson and Lewis created a unique brewery that is smaller in size, and intended to brew smaller batches of beer. The company's motto is "small batches, big beers." And indeed, since the brewery has been around, they've been releasing a lot of one-offs and small batch releases. At one point - and maybe still - the goal was the release a new beer every week. You can read more about the brewery at their website HERE.

I don't have hard feelings about bad batches and all that jazz. It is what it is, and it's the nature of the game. Plus, you can learn a lot about beer by investigating bad batches. Did I mention I'm terrified? Let's crack this open and see how bad Batch #31 is.

Blue Lady Cheese

This beer is fucking gorgeous on the pour. It's a damn shame about the aroma...which I peaked at before pouring the beer. Blegh. The beer pours a sexy purple-red color, with one finger of purple head. The beer crackles on the pour, like soda, and has a lot of carbonation. When held to bright light, the beer is a murky reddish-purple-pink color, and there's a lot of visible carbonation in the beer in the form of tiny bubbles. It's just bright and effervescent. It's a gorgeous looking beer...

..and then you smell it. This is some messed up stuff. Again: I'm not sure if this is an infection, or what, but this is the type of yeast infection you go to the doctor for. You get Greek yogurt, stomach acid, blue cheese, baby diaper...and then you get a blast of refreshing, tart blueberry. Yeah, there are some lovely tart blueberry notes on the nose that are REALLY inviting. Unfortunately, it's after you get a whiff of "baby diaper" and "Greek yogurt." 

I'm pretty fucking stupid and brazen, and even I'm debating taking a taste of this. The taste is a lot better than the aroma, sort of. You are assaulted with acid overkill up front, with blasts of blueberry vinegar  And then, the yeasty finish hits you, and you get blue cheese, and stomach acid. This is so fucking acidic. Tart blueberry up front; followed by drying cheese in the middle; the finish is trailing acidity, stomach acid, and unpleasant dryness with cheesy finish.

I have nothing to say about complexity or palate depth...or drinkability. Drain-ability is really high though, as this pours at a solid rate down the sink.

Rating: Sewage (WTF did I just drink?) 

I'm feeling a very strong Sewage rating on this. I understand that this is a fucked up batch, and this is NOT a slight against Pipeworks or their Blue Lady. I'm looking forward to trying to hunt down an okay bottle of this stuff from a different batch. Here's a reminder that brewing beer with wild yeast is difficult. Add fruit into the mix and it gets even harder. If you see this beer, definitely try it, UNLESS IT IS BATCH #31. Then you should avoid, like the blue cheese diaper plague this batch is.

Trader Joe's Vintage Ale 2012

Brewed By: Unibroue (Sapporo) in Chambly, Canada  
Purchased: 1 pint 9.4oz (750ml) bomber bought at Trader Joe's in IL; 2012
Style/ABV: Belgian Dark Strong Ale, 9.0%
Reported IBUs: ?

It's hard to believe that it has been over a year since I've been circlejerking with my Ego in blogspace. Way back in December of 2011, I did a shit ass review of the 2011 Trader Joe's Vintage Ale. Awesome-sauce. Or Winter-win. Or whatever; fuck.

Anyway, I always look forward to Trader Joe's Anniversary and Vintage Ales. For those who don't know, Trader Joe's is a chain of convenience stores that sell organic and gourmet foods. It's a grassroots type store, and you can find some cool stuff there that you won't find at your local Jewel or whatever. A few years ago, Trader Joe's made the news with their two buck chuck -- super cheap wine that tastes OKAY. Trader Joe's has also made a bit of a name for themselves by selling beer under the "Trader Joe's" label that is contract brewed by titans like Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Unibroue (Sapporo), and the Gordon Biersch Brewing Company. 

Tonight's beer, the "Trader Joe's 2012 Vintage Ale," is contract brewed by the sexy Canadians at Unibroue. A word on Unibroue:  

Unibroue is a brewery out of Chambly that specializes in Belgian beers. The brewery was founded in 1990 by André Dion and Serge Racine. The duo invested in the failing brewery, La Brasserie Massawippi, and became majority shareholders. In 1991, they finalized the takeover of La Brasserie Massawippi, and completely merged with their company, Unibroue, in 1992. Dion became the President and CEO, and Racine becamse the board of directors. In 1992, the brewery released their first beer, Blanche de Chambly, and decided to specialize in Belgian brews. In 1993, the brewery moved to their cutting-edge microbrewery in Chambly, Quebec, and by 1994 the brewery was exporting beer to the U.S. and Europe. In 1991, Brewmaster Paul Arnott joined the company; trained in traditional, monastic Belgian brewing, he helped release new beers including the Éphémère series of beers. 

In 2004, the Sleeman Brewery purchased Unibroue, and in 2006, Japan's oldest commercial brewer, Sapporo International, purchased Sleeman. Since then, Unibroue has been regarded as a global treasure, as they export their beer everywhere. They produce some of the best, high-quality beer in the world. These guys are one of my favorite breweries, and it's always a treat to drink their beer.

Tonight's beer is a big ass Belgian Dark Strong Ale, clocking in at 9.0% ABV. This beer is bottle-conditioned, and will develop in the bottle until "07-06-2015." That's around two or three years, which is probably fair for this beer. There's a little blurb about this beer on Trader Joe's website; they give a brief description, and state the price. At $4.99, this shit is truly a steal. 

The back of the bottle has a little more information than the website. It states: "Brewed with a delicate balance of noble hops, roasted malts and spices, this is a remarkably smooth ale with a wonderfully complex finish." This beer is brewed once a year by Unibroue, and has limited availability. Let's glass this up.

Trader Joe's Vintage Ale 2012

First off, the cork used for this bottle is well hung, and penetrates deep into this beer's soul. You really have to pry that cork out...which yields nice smoke, and a beer that doesn't gush. Hooray! This beer pours a cola-black color, with 3 finger's worth of root-beer-float-looking head. The head has a beige/tan/cola color to it. When held to a bright light, the beer catches some ruby red and cola brown colors on the sides of the glass. I can also see quite a bit of carbonation. The head on this beer is a champ. It's been more than 5 minutes since I poured this, and a centimeter of head refuses to budge. Overall, this looks great.

The aroma on this is fucking crazy. Or maybe I'm crazy? There's huge perfume, and fruity yeast phenols coming off of this. I'm getting pineapple, pina coolada, banana, and more mother fucking pineapples? Actually, if you shove your nose into this, you get clove, sugar, vanilla, banana, and a shitload of nutmeg. There's maybe a hint of pine or noble hops in the aroma. This beer leans on the trademark Unibroue yeast, based on the aroma.

The taste is quite heavy, and spicy  There's a lot of spice in this. I'm getting big nutmeg, clove, some pine/spruce, and some peppery spice playing off the booze. There's a big, boozy, Quad-typical, alcohol thing going on here. Up front I'm getting a lot of that banana, clove, and sugar; the middle rolls into spices gone wild, and the back end is lingering spice and Quad-like heaviness. I'm picking up some of the roasted malt in the taste, and there are some hints of dark fruits in this.

Aside from being assertively spicy...this is somewhat complex. I have the same gripe I had last year, which is: more dark fruits, please. You do pick up on some overripe banana, and hints of cherry or plum. Palate depth is good, complexity is moderate, and this is medium-full to full bodied. Up front is carbonation, spruce, nutmeg, and banana-vanilla-clove; the middle rolls into spices; the back is booze. Other flavors pop in and out. This is highly carbonated, and leaves some nice warming in your belly on the back. The 9.0% ABV doesn't hinder drinkability...the assertive spiciness does.

Rating: Average 

This is crazy spicy...and the huge nutmeg thing starts to weigh on your palate, and muddle the complexity. As such, I'm feeling a Decent Average on this. At $4.99, you can't complain about about. And I picked up four bottles. I plan to finish this one off now, share one over the Bears game, and cellar the other two. I'm hoping that the spice will drop out a bit over time, and maybe this beer will turn into something more enjoyable. Because beneath the spice are some really nice nuances. The bottle suggests pairing this with salmon steaks or things with curry...I'm inclined to agree. Some coconut curry soup, or curry anything, would really go well with this beer. You could also pair this with some peppered turkey, or any gamey meat that is spiced. I can easily recommend this beer at 4.99...but this isn't Chimay Blue or St. Bernardus 12.

Random Thought: Is Thursday Night Football not the most anti-climatic and dumb thing ever? 

Ayinger Oktober Fest-Märzen

Brewed By: Brauerei Aying in Aying, Bavaria (Germany)

Purchased: 500ml/16.9oz bottle bought at Trader Joe's in IL; 2012

Style/ABV: Oktoberfest/Märzen, 5.8%
Reported IBUs: 21

October is over, Oktoberfest is over...it's okay though, you can put the gun down. It turns out that you can still buy authentic, German-brewed Oktoberfest beers in November! Yay!

Do I love Ayinger or what? Ayinger is a German brewery that has been around since 1877 and is located a couple miles away from Munich. Their website can be found here. I'm a big fan of the Ayinger Bräu-Weisse Hefeweizen, but today I am drinking their Oktoberfest.

If you check out the US version of Merchant Du Vin, the exporters of this beer to the US, you can get some additional info on tonight's beer. The Oktober Fest-Märzen clocks in at 5.8% ABV, and packs 21 IBUs. The beer is described as sweet, malty, and dry. Suggested food pairings are boiled beef, pretzels, radishes, goulash, clam chowder, bock-wurst, weiner schnitzel, roasted chicken, pork, and sauerkraut. Let's get this beer into a mug, and see how it stacks up.

Ayinger Oktober Fest-Märzen

The beer pours a lovely dark orange color, with 2 to 3 fingers of lovely, off-white/eggnog-colored head. The head is thick and foamy, and looks like porridge. When held to bright light, the body takes on a golden-orange color. This is a clear, transparent beer, with a lot of carbonation in the form of large bubbles. There's some nice head retention for a Lager, with a thin coating remaining atop the beer. Overall, the orange color certainly gets you in that Oktoberfest mood. The bottle cap is really cool on this.

The aroma on this is crisp and clean. I get a grain/wheat Munich malt thing, some sweet malts, and some fruity esters like apple or pear, or even some grass/wheat. There's a mild hop thing going on.

I really like the way this beer tastes. You are greeted with malts up front: some hint of toast, big Munich malts, malt sweetness. There's some grass and mild hops in the back balancing things out mid-to-back palate. I get a pretzel-like biscuit/bread note in here, and I have a feeling this beer would pair fantastically with a sandwich on a pretzel bun, or a brautwurst. 

At 5.8% ABV, this is a drinking beer. That is to say, you could probably drink a whole liter of this stuff, and then a whole liter more. That's the point. Palate depth is great for the style, and this has a wonderful malt complexity about it. This is medium-bodied, slightly creamy, and well-carbonated. It does drag on the tongue nicely, and terminates with a nice dry finish. You get sweet malts up front; that rolls into more sweet malts, some hops; the back end is hops, sweet malts, drying malt finish. Nice.

Rating: Above-Average

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this beer. This isn't a beer that's going to blow you away. Well...maybe. This is really good shit, and it's an authentic German take on the style. This beer absolutely rocks the Munich malt complexity out of the park, and this beer has a GREAT body that is creamy, dense, and smooth. Food pairings: pretzels, pretzel buns and stuff you put on things with pretzel buns, sauerkraut, clam chowder, chicken, pork, sausage, and even a good ol', sacrilegious, American burger. 

Random Thought: Beer mugs are fucking awesome. They have handles, they are sturdy, and you feel like a badass holding them. There's something...primal...about holding a beer mug. You feel like a viking, or some sort of medieval person. It's a damn shame that all those fancy tulip glasses and snifters detract from what is, largely, a super cool drinking vessel. 

Southern Tier Creme Brulee Stout

Brewed By: Southern Tier Brewing Company in Lakewood, New York  

Purchased: 22oz Bomber bought at Binny's in IL; 2012

Style/ABV: Imperial Stout/Milk Stout, 9.6%
Reported IBUs: N/A

Every now and then you want a nice beer to sip on. And sometimes, you want dessert too. It's a good bet that if Southern Tier is putting something into a 22oz bomber, it is going to be big, bold, and intense. About Southern Tier:

Southern Tier Brewing Company is based out of Lakewood, New York. The brewery was founded in 2002 by Phineas DeMink and Allen "Skip" Yahn. Using equipment purchased from the old Saddleback Brewing Co., the company began production with the vision of reviving traditional small batch brewing to the region. By 2003, the brewery was distributing their small batch ales, and by 2005 their sales covered New York and Pennsylvania. Before the brewery had any seasonal beers, it produced a Pilsner, Mild Ale, and IPA. Due to popularity, in 2009 a 20,000 square foot facility was built to allow for the brewing of large-scale beers. Since then, Southern Tier has continued to expand, and continued to invest in better equipment to keep up with the increasing demand for their beer. You can read more about Southern Tier's history on their history page.

Tonight's beer is big, bold, and robust. If you roll over to Southern Tier's Creme Brulee page, you can get the breakdown on this beer. This beer is part of Southern Tier's Blackwater Series, and is released every year in June. This beer is described as an "Imperial Milk Stout," and is brewed with pale and caramel malt; vanilla bean; lactose sugar; and columbus (kettle) and horizon (aroma) hops. The nose is described as featuring vanilla, custard, and brown sugar; the flavor is described as caramelized sugar, vanilla, custard, sweet, and milky. 

The bottle states: "By comprehending the labyrinthine movement of time, one would not think it strange to trace the errant path of an ordinary object such as a cream dessert only to discover that it has been the cause of cultural disputes since the middle ages. The British founders of burnt cream and from Spain, crema catalana, both stand by their creative originality and we respect that, but it was the French crème brûlée, amid the strife of contention, that survived to represent our deliciously creamy brew." Let's glass this up, and see what's up!

Southern Tier Creme Brulee Stout

The beer pours a pitch-black color, with a pinky's worth of tan head that quickly dissolves into a nice cauldron effect. Swirling the beer kicks up some head, and you get some nice lacing on the glass. At 9.6% ABV, this beer has some nice alcohol legs. In bright light, the head has a creamy/tan color. This beer is still dark as night. I love the cows on the bottle, the bottle art on this is great.

If you're new to craft beer, I highly recommend seeking a bottle of this stuff out. The aroma on this beer is FUCKING AMAZING. You get walloped with huge butterscotch. This aroma is straight up butterscotch, ready to be poured all up on your ice cream. This is the type of beer you scoop some vanilla ice cream into. You get huge butterscotch, vanilla, a hint of roast, brown sugar and burn sugars (caramel), lactose, vanilla ice cream, and some hints of booze. There's some Stout-like booze in the aroma, and once you get past the giant butterscotch, you pick up some of the other stuff.

The taste is sooooo smooth, rich, and mellow. In a lot of ways, this beer reminds me of Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout, without the bourbon. That's a huge compliment to this beer. This has long-lasting palate duration, which is great. Up front is a blast of bitter roast, some dark fruits, and then the profile opens up with butterscotch, vanilla, coconut, burnt sugars and caramel, and bitter dark chocolate. There's some bitterness in here, and I'm even getting hints of citrus on the back end. This is warming me up, just from a few sips, but the alcohol is masked incredibly well. There is some Imperial Stout-like booziness showing up in the taste profile. 

This is an evil beer. At 9.6% ABV, this lives up to its ABV in terms of sweetness and body. This is a thick, sticky beer, with a full-bodied mouthfeel. Despite being smooth, this is a sipper. This beer is crazy sweet, too. Palate depth is excellent, and complexity is moderate. Up front is some some roast, fruit; mid palate blasts vanilla, coconut, butterscotch, and then some hops; the finish is trailing hops, roast, bitter, dark chocolate. The finish is sticky, sweet, slightly dry, slightly bitter. There's warming and Imperial Stout-booziness in the back.

Rating: Divine Brew

I'm feeling a very Light Divine Brew on this. This is not a beer I want often, but when I want it, it delivers. This beer lays the butterscotch on thick, and also happens to be incredibly sweet and dense. Honestly, what you really need to do with this beer is split the bottle amongst friends. 10oz of this stuff is enough for one person, easy. Food pairings: make a beer float with this. Drop some vanilla ice cream into this. Otherwise, drink this by itself. It's thick and heavy.

Random Thought: Southern Tier has some awesome stuff in their 22oz bombers. 

Wells Banana Bread Beer

Brewed By: Wells and Young's Brewing Company in Bedford, England
Purchased: 11.2oz bottle from a 4-pack purchased at Friar Tucks in Urbana, IL; 2012
Style/ABV: Fruit Beer, 5.2%
Reported IBUs: ?

Have you ever had déjà vu? I have, because I could have swore I had reviewed Wells and Young's Banana Bread Beer before.

Well's and Youngs began began in Bedford, England, back in 1875, when Charles Wells returned from 20 years in the Merchant Navy. Charles Wells settled down with his soon-to-be-wife, Josephine Grimbley, and bought a brewery and thirty-two pubs in an auction. By 1890, Charles Wells owned 80 pubs, and was brewing over 12,000 barrels of beer annually. Charles Wells died on April 18, 1914, and was succeeded by his wife Josephine and five sons. In 1976, the decision to build a new brewery was made, and a new brewery was constructed in Havelock Street, Bedford. And in 2006, Charles Wells merged with Young and Co (of Wandsworth, London) to form Wells and Young's. 

Today's beer, the Wells Banana Bread Beer, is an ale that features "banoffee aromas tempered by a grassy, lemony nose all leading to a finely balanced, fresh, delicate flavour of peppery hops with a lingering dry finish." Let's get this into a glass, and see how it stacks up.

Wells Banana Bread Beer

The beer pours an amber/copper color, with 3-fingers of thin, foamy, off-white head. When held to bright light, this beer is totally transparent, looks to be filtered, and has A TON of carbonation rising upwards in the form of mid-sized bubbles. In bright light this beer has a sort of amber/gold color, leaning almost towards pale. The head is still slightly off-white in bright light, and a centimeter is sustaining nicely; there is some lacing.

This bottle is slighlty past-expired, but this beer has been sitting in a COLD fridge since I picked it up. I had a bottle of this beer the other night, and it was about the same as I remember it fresh. The nose on this is banana bread, banana, bread, some grass and earthy hop aromas, and a hint of sugars and toffee.

The taste is about the same...really nice banana, banana bread, toffee, slight sugar, and a grassy hop thing that is pervasive throughout. You do get a slight watery/astringent edge to this beer, which contributes just a slightly burnt or artifical complexity to the flavor. I've heard this beer described as being "burnt rubber," but I call shennanigans. This beer tastes a lot like banana bread; don't believe me, go make some yourself.

At 5.2% ABV, this drinks incredibly easy. This is light to medium-light in terms of body, has moderate plate depth, and not a whole lot of complexity. Up front you get smoothness, water, and then banana bread; this rolls into banana bread, burnt banana bread, and some hint of hop spice and grass; the finish is crisp with grass, and light hops, hint of spice, lingering banana bread, and a finish that isn't all that dry. It's light, refreshing, and accomplishes what it set out to accomplish.

Rating: Above-Average

I'm feeling a Light Above-Average on this. It's pretty hard to rate this beer in terms of any style guidelines, so I'll just say that this beer has a wonderful and lovely banana bread flavor, but isn't overly complex, and has a slight burnt/metallic astringency throughout. On the other hand, this is surprisingly clean, refreshing, and has some nice light, grassy hops providing some much needed balance. I'd pair this beer with Chinese food (take out? mmm), dried cake, banana bread, birthday cake, ice cream (I wonder how this would taste as a float), or even as a foil to some tamales or something.

Random Thought: It's easy to fixate on the gimmicky nature of a banana bread beer, but this shit is probably hard to brew consistently. What goes into making a beer like this? And does it really count as beer if it has banana in it? People, I think I just found an excuse to drink 20 "banana beverages" on a weekday afternoon. 

Founders Frangelic Mountain Brown

Brewed By: Founders Brewing Company in Grand Rapids, Michigan
Purchased: Giant 750ml bomber from Friar Tucks in Urbana, IL; 2012
Style/ABV: American Brown Ale/Strong Ale, 9.0%
Reported IBUs: ?

I was browsing for some beer while visiting my girlfriend's family in Urbana, and I happened across one of the always sexy, 750ml Founders bottles. The bottle calls this a "Brown Ale brewed with Hazelnut Coffee." How could I say no? About Founders:

Founders is the holy grail of Michigan brewing. Based out of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Founders was founded in 1997 and produce some of the best beer in the world.

This beer is, I believe, a one-off, much like their CBS. Founders doesn't have any information about this beer on their main site, but they did talk about it in this blog post and this blog post. This beer uses hazelnut coffee in the brewing process, and is described as being "sweet and nutty." This beer was available on draft at Founders' Grand Rapids taproom, and is part of the brewery's "Backstage Series."

 Founders Frangelic Mountain Brown 

The beer pours a lovely dark brown color, with 2 fingers of thick head. The head is made up of super densely packed bubbles, and has a real thickness; the head has a nice tan/sandy-beach color to it. When held to a bright light, this beer takes on a murky brown/orange color on the edges. You cannot see through this murky beer, but you can see quite a bit of carbonation (in the form of tiny bubbles) rising upwards. The head is hanging around, leaving some nice lacing, and there are some legs.

Wow! The aroma on this...this reminds me of Founders' Breakfast Stout, only with a kick of hazelnut goodness. I'm getting big coffee on this: spent coffee in the filter, ground coffee. And the coffee has a distinct hazelnut profile. I'm also getting huge nutty aromas on this, as well as big earthy profiles from the coffee and nut. There's some sweetness in the nose as well, and maybe a hint of booze? Overall: big sweet malts, HUGE hazelnut coffee, and a touch of alcohol.

Do you like coffee? Do you like hazelnut? Do you like hazelnut coffee? If you answered yes to any of the above, then odds are you will enjoy this beer. This beer just wallops the palate with huge coffee notes. I'm getting giant hazelnut coffee, sweet caramel, sugars, nuttiness, slight coffee-bitterness, and some really nice alcohol complexity on the back end. You pick up the booze as a lovely character in the palate, and it almost drops a raisin-caramel-sugar thing in the back-palate. 

I'm a coffee whore, and a hazelnut coffee whore too. So, consider that my bias...Having said that, this is delicios-o. This beer accomplishes exactly what it set out to accomplish, which is to fuse coffee into a Brown Ale. This is a medium-full to full-bodied beer, with a slightly oily mouthfeel, that drinks incredibly smooth thanks to gentle carbonation. Palate depth is superb, and complexity is moderate. Up front are sweet malts that give way to big nuttiness, hazelnut, and then hazelnut coffee; mid-palate is more hazelnut coffee, along with some coffee bitterness; back palate is lingering coffee, along with a hint of complex booze (raisin/caramel). 

Rating: Above-Average

I'm feeling a Decent to Strong Above-Average on this. This isn't exactly blowing me away in terms of complexity, much like Bell's Java Stout, for example. But, for what this beer is...it's really fucking good. Like, better than any of the competition. In some ways, I'd prefer this to Founders' Breakfast Stout. It's sort of a shame that this is a one-off. Food pairings? Breakfast, any type of chocolate, cream, or coconut pie, pork chops, country fried steak, or even fried chicken. This is just a really fun beer, and something you should pick up if you enjoy breakfast beers. Recommended....even at the steep price of 14 bucks a 750ml bottle. 

Random Thought: I don't understand how Founders' distribution works in Illinois. I can't find their beer anywhere in the Chicago-land area, but when I travel 100 miles south to Urbana, I can find their rare beer. What is up with that?