Une Année Xellensis

Brewed By: Une Année Brewery in Chicago, Illinois  

Purchased: 750ml (1 Pint 9.4 FL OZ) bottle bought at Bottles & Cans in Chicago, IL; 2015 (Batch #X151)

Style/ABV: American Wild Ale/Belgian Inspired Blond Ale, 8.8%

Reported IBUs: ?

More Midwest shelf turds. About Une Année:

Une Année Xellensis - unsexy photo FTW

Une Année is a brewery based out of Chicago, Illinois located near the intersection of Grand and Ashland in the Kinzie Industrial Corridor (three blocks from the Goose Island Fulton St. production brewery). The brewery was founded in early 2012 by Jerry Nelson, who is "an Architect, Marine, Siebel Institute Graduate, and Chicago native who started homebrewing in 1995 while stationed in California." Currently, Jerry is the head brewer along with Dustin Zimmerman, who also attended the Siebel Institute, and previously brewed at Hamburger Mary’s Andersonville and worked at Nøgne Ø. The name "Une Année" means "one year" in French, and was chosen to reinforce the two main ideas behind the brewery: a focus on Belgian and French style beer, and an emphasis on seasonal beers. For more info, check out the brewery's website.

The Xellensis is a Belgian Inspired Blond Ale brewed with Brett. The bottle reads, "A not sweet blond, brewed exclusively with brettanomyces bruxellensis. This ale will go the distance-provoking your senses and only growing tougher over time. Are you up for the challenge?"

This pours into a blonde-orange body, kicking up a lot of thick, foamy, white head. There is a storm of carbonation in my glass, like Duvel. Head retention is good.

The aroma here is funky, chalky, uniquely Belgian, and Brett. I'm getting a lot of apples and wheat, big yeast esters, pineapple, leather, some earthy funk, must/chalk, and some fruity and spicy phenol notes. Peaches.

Oh wow...this is really nice. I wasn't expecting this. This is a lot thicker than I was expecting. I'm also not getting as much Brett as I thought I would. The Brett comes out as mild and fruity, with apples and pineapple. This has tons of tropical fruit notes, with pineapple, peaches, pear, and apples. There's a bitter kiss of Brett at the back end, with some wheat. This is rich with tons of clove. It kind of reminds me of Pipework's Pineapple Bling. This takes the Belgian thing to an extreme, and reminds me of Duvel and various other Belgian beers. 

 Better photo...

I'm digging this. This is one of the better Une Année beers I have had to date. I don't know if it as good as their Tripel or Quad, but it is pretty close. It also hides the 8.8% very well. This is creamy, full-bodied, and moderately complex. While the complexity could ratchet up, the rest of the beer holds up for the style. I'm wondering if throwing this in your cellar for a year or two would result in some additional Brett complexity. That's my one caveat with many of Une Année's offerings...they all seem like they could benefit from aging a bit longer.

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Decent Above-Average on this. This is a solid beer, I'd love to revisit it with some age on it. Really, the base beer is a fantastic Belgian Strong Ale. It's approaching that top-shelf echelon. If the Brett was dialed up a bit, this would be an easy 4.5/5.0. 

Random Thought: I'm really looking forward to Une Année's sour program.

Destihl Strawberry Blonde

Brewed By: Destihl Restaurant and Brew Works in Normal/Bloomington, Illinois   

Purchased: 12oz CAN from a 6-pack bought at Binny's in Naperville, IL; 2014

Style/ABV: Fruit Beer, 5.2%
Reported IBUs: 15

Mmmm...strawberry beers. About Destihl: 

Destihl is a brewery (Bloomington) and brewpub (Normal, IL & Champaign, IL) based out of the Midwest. Specifically, the middle of Illinois in the middle of the United States. Daaaa midwest. The brewery was founded by CEO & Brewmaster, Matt Potts, in 2007. Like many brewery founders, Potts started out as a homebrewer, and would eventually trade his law school education and law practice for those sweet barley suds. Destihl currently brews a myriad of regular and barrel-aged beers, including an increasing portfolio of tasty sour brews. For more info, check out their website. 

The Destihl Strawberry Blonde is an, "American-Style Blonde Ale with whole strawberries added." This one won the bronze medal at the 2012 World Beer Championships, and a bronze at the Great American Beer Festival in the fruit beer category.

Destihl Strawberry Blonde

Much like the Abita Harvest Strawberry, this beer pours into a hazy, orange body. This one is slightly darker than the Abita, and slightly less hazy too. I kicked up a couple of fingers of golden-tinged head, and the head retention is nice. The head looks to be creamy, and sustaining nicely. There is also some lacing.

The aroma here is much more nuanced than the Abita Harvest Strawberry...I'm getting strawberry jam, strawberry preserves, honey, and some bready biscuit notes. As I dig a little further, I'm getting some strawberry pie filling notes. It's very nice...simple, elegant.

This tastes very nice, and it does live up to its name. You get bready, honey-cereal, honey-biscuit, honey-cracker malt notes, with nice layers of strawberry jam, strawberry preserves, and slightly tart strawberry astringency (similar to what you might find in pie filling that isn't overly sweet). There also appears to be a pretty big hop note in here, with some floral hops showing up in the aroma and on the taste. I'm getting some pretty strong floral bitterness that almost veers into citrus.

This is pretty nice...albeit simple, much like the Abita Harvest Strawberry. This is light to medium-light bodied, with good palate depth and low complexity. At 5.2%, this is still crushable in the 6-pack format. Up front: hops, strawberry juice, strawberry jam, preserves, bready malts with honey; that rolls into more jam, slight hop bitterness, some fruity strawberry notes, strawberry fruit roll-ups, honey; the back end trails with malts, grain, cereal, lingering bitterness, and lingering strawberry candy.

Rating: Above-Average (3.5/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Light Above-Average on this...I guess we will call it a tie with the Abita Harvest Strawberry. Although, this one is a bit more full in terms of the malt presence, which adds much-needed body. I guess what I'm trying to say is: I like it, and you should pair it with warm weather, any dessert that has strawberries in it, or a nice fruit salad. 

Random Thought: TGIF...I'm ready to sleep of the last parts of this cold I have this weekend.

Finch's Golden Wing Blonde Ale

Brewed By: Finch's Beer Company in Chicago, Illinois 

Purchased: 16oz CAN from a 4-pack bought at Binny's in Naperville, IL; 2014 

Style/ABV: American Blonde Ale, 5.0%

Reported IBUs: ?

I'm still not sold on Finch's, but they are local so there's that. And I'm not if anything but a nice guy. Har. About Finch's:

The Finch's Beer Company is a brewery based out of Chicago, Illinois. These guys really want you to take their brewery tour. Finch's was founded back in 2009 by Benjamin Finch, Paul Finch, and Richard Grant. And that's about all the information you are going to glean off their crappy website. For a brewery about advertising, their website is a bit bare bones. 

The Golden Wing Blonde Ale comes in a can, and while I wish it was unassuming, I am getting rapey vibes from the bird artwork on the can. Yeesh. 

Finch's Golden Wing Blonde Ale

For a blonde, this one pours out into a hazy, honey-yellow body, kicking up a finger and a half of wispy, clingy, white head. The head retention is fantastic, leaving webs of lacing as it drops off. In bright light, the beer is almost yellow-gold, with orange tones, and a glazed honey appearance. There's nice carbonation, but I attribute a lot of that to the teku.

The aroma is malty and sweet, and surprisingly so. I'm also getting some faded hops...that could be on me or the age of the can...with some tea, herbal hops, hemp, pine, pine sap, and aged American Barleywine notes. It's actually a really nice, melded aroma, if you're into that sort of thing. And I am. I love those piney and forest-like hops. It reminds me of crushed leaves and camping trips.

The taste mirrors the nose...you get bready and honey malts as the backbone with big iced tea and aged American Barleywine hops on the forefront. I'm getting pine, crushed leaves, forest, pine sap, maple syrup, hemp, tobacco, and resin. This is fairly simple, and has nice bitterness. I enjoy the hop profile here, I just wonder if it is past the expiration date. 

This is medium-bodied, well-carbonated, crisp, and clean. As it warms up a bit, a drying, cracker-like character emerges. Palate depth is good for the style, but this is simple in terms of complexity. More or less, you get iced tea and pine-like hops up front; that rolls into some of the bread and honey body, with more iced tea and crushed leaves; the back end lingers with forest-like hops, and you get some drying cracker notes on the back end. It's hard to say if this would be more vibrant fresh, since it has a similar character to the Threadless IPA. 

Rating: Average (3.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Average on this. This isn't bad, it isn't good...it actually has a nice resin character that sort of reminds me of Sixpoint's Resin. Only that beer was way better. You could pair this with a leafy burger, chicken, or even some heavier meats...maybe a gyro even. This has some malt heft, and it fills out nicely for a 5.0% beer. I will have to revisit this one, but I just can't see myself picking this up regularly. 

Random Thought: I should stop busting Finch's balls...they seem alright. 

Uinta Sum'r Summer Ale

Brewed By: Uinta Brewing Company in Salt Lake City, Utah  

Purchased: 12oz CAN from a 12-pack bought at Binny's in Naperville, Illinois; 2014

Style/ABV: American Blond Ale, 4.0%

Reported IBUs: 17

The Uinta Sum'r/Wyld 12-pack is an awesome little bundle. I picked this one up to crush while moving this weekend. How did these two 4.0% session beers hold up? Well, pretty good, actually. About Uinta: 

Uinta Brewing Company has been around since 1993. The brewery started out in a small, renovated mechanic's garage, in Salt Lake City, Utah. The brewery began to build reputation by distributing beer to bars, restaurants, and liquor stores. By 1996, the brewery installed a bottling line. In 2001, the brewery outgrew its original building, and Uinta relocated to a 26,000-square-foot facility. The Uinta name comes from an east-west mountain range located in northeastern Utah. The brewery names many of its beers after Utah's landscape, including their Cutthroat Pale Ale (after the state fish) and their King's Peak Porter (after Utah's highest peak). An additional note: since 2001, Uinta has been 100% wind-powered, and in 2011, the brewery installed solar-electric paneling. Uinta continues to grow, and continue to produce some stellar, award-winning beer. For more info, click HERE.

The Sum'r Summer Ale is brewed with Sorachi Ace hops and light malts. This one punches in at 4.0% and 17 IBUs, and is available between May and July.

Uinta Sum'r Summer Ale

This one pours into a hazy, yellow-straw-urine body -- cloudy like Gatorade and golden showers -- kicking up two fingers of fluffy, white head. The head is sustaining nicely (suck it, adjunct lagers), and the beer has mean streaks of carbonation. Clingy lacing webs the glass and this is inviting from the get go.

Initially, you might think the aroma is a simple blast of crackers, light grains, and cereal malts. But the aforementioned characters are amplified by the Sorachi Ace. There's some synergy here between the hops and malts. There's a nice lime note on the aroma, floral hops, mild dill, and a really nicely defined biscuit and cracker note. The light grains and cereal malts round out the aroma, which is otherwise clean and simple.

This is super simple in execution, with cracker and biscuit malts providing a lot of the flavor, backed by zesty floral-lemon hops. The hops are peppery and clean, hinting at lime, lemon, and that dill character. The water has a slight mineral edge, which reminds me of a good Pilsner or ESB. 

At 4.0%, this is not only incredibly crushable, but it is incredibly flavorful as well. This is truly a session beer, but does not compromise in terms of flavor. Palate depth is good, with a substantial light-full to medium-light mouthfeel. The cracker/biscuit malts provide substantial weight to the backbone, but the lemon-lime hops cut through the fat making this incredibly boofable and quaffable. This is not a complex beer, but it's not supposed to be. Up front: refreshing malt sweetness, cracker, biscuit; the mids roll into peppery hops and huge lime, lemon, and dill; the back end trails off with lingering floral hops, lingering lime and dill, minerality, and Pilsner-esque biscuit malts. This is a well-crafted beer. 

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Decent Above-Average here. Yeah, I'm serious. This is a simple beer, but FOR THE STYLE, and FOR THE ABV, this is a banger. How they managed to pack so much flavor and malt balance into a 4.0% ABV beer is beyond me. This beer is super drinkable, and that's about all you need to know. If you must pair this with food, pair it with lightly grilled chicken, fish, mashed potatoes, and anything that benefits from mild dill and lime character.

Random Thought: Fuck the Session IPA trend...but cheers to Uinta. Uinta flies under the radar, and that's a shame.

New Glarus Spotted Cow

Brewed By: New Glarus Brewing Company in New Glarus, Wisconsin

Purchased: 12oz bottle bought at Woodman's in Kenosha, WI; 2013

Style/ABV: Cream Ale, 5.1% 

Reported IBUs: ?

Ah, the bottomless mixer of New Glarus beers...here we go. About New Glarus:

New Glarus is the rare, gorgeous "Midwest" brewery, founded in 1993 by Deborah Carey, the first woman to found and operate a brewery in the United States. She raised the capital for the start-up as a gift to her husband, Dan Carey, who is New Glarus' brewmaster and co-owner. Dan Carey has a long history working in the brewing industry, including an apprenticeship at a brewery near Munich, Germany and a job as the Production Supervisor for Anheuser-Busch. The brewery began as an abandoned warehouse using old brewpub equipment. In 1997, Dan Carey purchased coper kettles from a brewery in Germany. In May 2006, New Glarus opened their new (current) facility on a hilltop in the village of New Glarus. The facility looks like a Bavarian village, and is gorgeous. The expansion has allowed the brewery to continue to increase their production, and expand their operations. For more information, check out their brewery page or Wikipedia. 

The Spotted Cow is brewed with flaked barley, "Wisconsin malts," and a hint of corn. Inspired by cask conditioned ales, this beer is bottle conditioned. The BJCP, Ratebeer, and BeerAdvocate are all calling this a Cream Ale, which is a light, crisp, clean, and flavorful American "lawnmower" beer. Let's get this into a glass and see what's up.

New Glarus Spotted Cow

The beer pours into a hazy, straw-colored body, and kicks up two to three fingers of fluffy white head. The head retention on this is nice, and as the head drops off there is some lacing. In bright light, the beer is a radiant yellow color, and there is a ton of mid-sized carbonation rising upwards in the glass. Bright light confirms the fluffy, barley-fueled, white head.

The aroma on here is good stuff....you get tons of flaked barley and malt density, almost like a wheat beer. There's some cereal grain as well, and lots of hints of apples, pears, grapes, and some subtle clove/banana. There's also noticeable funk on the aroma, with big grass, hay, and wheat notes.

This is such a simple, drinkable beer...this is what a session beer is supposed to be. The taste is light, with fruity apples and pears, hints of champagne-like grain and corn, and a good amount of wheat, grass, and hay. The flavors stay clean and fruity, and never become vegetal or off-putting. There's also a sweet hint of malt: honey or sweet biscuit. Really nice.

I love this beer, and this would be one of my go-to session beers if I lived in Wisconsin. This is one of the best Cream Ales out there, and this beer has surprising complexity for the style, and great palate depth. You can drink this beer by the 6-pack, and while the flaked barley beefs up the mouthfeel, the carbonation and high attenuation keeps the mouthfeel in that perfect light-full to medium-light range. And that complexity. This beer has some mild hay funk, flaked barley density, fruity flavors, and mild floral hops. You get fruity sweetness up front with apple/pear/grape, and some sweet biscuit; that rolls into the flaked barley, grain, hints of corn; the back end dials up the champagne-like attenuation, and you get floral hops, straw, hay, and grass. The finish is clean and dry, and refreshing.

Rating: Divine Brew (4.5/5.0 Untappd)

This is a solid Decent Divine Brew. Really, just a simple but elegant beer...the kind of beer you buy by the case. I can strongly recommend this as a session beer to pair with American-style bar food, sports, hot summer days, and whenever. This beer is cheap, available, and makes big macro beers look bad.

Random Thought: And now for...more New Glarus. 

Two Brothers Pāhoehoe (15 Years With 15 Beers Series)

Brewed By: Two Brothers Brewing Company in Warrenville, Illinois

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

Style/ABV: Golden Ale/Blond Ale, 7.1%

In celebration of 15 years of brewing (Two Brothers opened in 1996), Two Brothers has been rolling out 14 of their past artisan beers as part of a limited series. The 15th release in this limited series is going to be a new artisan beer. A bit about Two Brothers:

Two Brothers are based out of Warrenville, Illinois, a town not far from Chicago. Two brothers was founded in 1996 by brother Jason and Jim Ebel. Their brewery and Tap House Restaurant are both located in Warrenville. Their distribution and production seems to be increasing with each year, and along with their beer you can buy home brewing equipment and supplies at the Tap House Restaurant.  

The Pāhoehoe is release number 10 of 15. The bottle states: 

Pahoehoe was originally inspired by a trip to Hawaii to participate in the 2011 Kona Beer Festival on the Big Island. This beer is named after a type of lava flow found at the Kilauea Volcano. This light colored ale uses coconut water and coconut milk in the brewing process and fresh toasted coconut meat in the fermenter. It was produced one time and has been requested regularly ever since then. 

My understanding is that this beer has been available on tap from time to time, but was hard to find in bottles. Ratebeer and BeerAdvocate also peg this beer at 5.0% ABV, which may have been indicative of the original release back in 2011 or whenever it came out. The bottle states that this beer packs 16.1 IBUs, and the addition of coconut water, coconut milk, and coconut meat should give this beer some interesting flavors and aromas.

Since this is such a limited release, this is more like a cheers to Two Brothers. And cheers, indeed. I'm happy to have Two Brothers in my backyard, and look forward to whatever they are doing in the future.

Two Brothers Pāhoehoe

The pour yields a hazy, orange/straw colored beer, with 2-fingers of white head. The head is made up of finely packed bubbles, and maybe has a slight straw tint to it. At 7.1%, you can see a little alcohol on the side of the glass. The head did dissolve fairly quick, but a nice, foamy, centimeter coating is sticking around. There is some lacing. When held to a bright light, this is a hazy, golden beer, with moderate to high carbonation in the form of small bubbles rising upwards. It actually looks fairly effervescent.

The aroma on this reminds me of a Pils or a Kölsch. I'd have a hard time pulling coconut out of this aroma in a blind taste test. But you do get a sweet, fruity, mellow aroma on the nose. I'm pulling out a sweet Kölsch fruit/floral note, some pineapple, and coconut water. There is maybe a bit of grain on the nose as well. It smells very light, and refreshing.

The taste is effervescent, tingly, and refreshing. I'm getting some grains in the back end, and a little bit of alcohol heat in this. The coconut does come through in the taste a little more than the nose, and I'm pulling out the coconut in two or three ways. I definitely get a grainy/heated alcohol-coconut note that reminds me of coconut rum. When I swish the beer on my tongue, the creamy carbonation plays off the coconut and I get hints of coconut milk. And you do get some hints of coconut pulp in here. But all of these coconut flavors are pretty subtle. It's not like drinking an Almond Joy or whatever. I'm tasting grain, alcohol, various coconut flavors, some fruity notes....ethanol and fusel alcohols are in this.

I sort of wonder what it would be like to age this beer. It's a bit hot right now, and I wonder if this would mellow out at all over time. You get a nice lingering pineapple/bread taste on the back palate, which is nice. This is carbonated and effervescent, which makes it drinkable despite the 7.1% ABV and the slight heat. Palate depth is full, complexity is low, and the mouthfeel is somewhere around medium-light. Up front you get carbonation, grain, and burgeoning coconut water; the middle is coconut water, alcohol; the back end is coconut, grain, heat, and some warming. It's smooth, and it does have a slightly creamy profile if you let it sit on your tongue.

Rating: Average 

 

I'm feeling a light Average on this. It's interesting, but I wish the coconut was a little more prominent, and the heat a little bit less. I wish I had a second bottle to throw into the cellar for a year, because I bet that would be interesting. I'd totally drink this on an island though, and I bet this would pair nicely with some coconut infused shrimp or food. I bet you could also pair this with some coconut curry, or anything Asian. I'd love to see Two Brothers brew this again, perhaps with a greater emphasis on the coconut. Seriously, Two Brothers...brew this again. And cheers to 15 years!