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. 

Sierra Nevada's Beer Camp 2014: Yvan The Great Belgian-Style Blonde (brewed with Russian River Brewing Company in Santa Rosa, California)

Brewed By: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, California 
Purchased: Single 12oz bottle from the 2014 Beer Camp bought at Jewel-Osco in Chicago, IL; 2014 (PKG 06/02/14)
Style/ABV: Belgian-Style Blonde Ale, 6.3%

Reported IBUs: 50

What is Beer Camp? It is Sierra Nevada's celebration of craft beer and the numerous breweries across America that make that craft beer. For 2014, Sierra Nevada collaborated with 12 different breweries to make 12 different beers. They also have a Beer Camp Across America Beer Festival, which will stop at seven different cities and feature many different breweries and beers.

About Sierra Nevada:

Sierra Nevada are one of the big players in craft brewing, and one of the first craft breweries to arrive on the craft beer scene. If you check out their history page, you will see that founder Ken Grossman began his quest to build a brewery in 1976. In 1980, Ken Grossman and co-founder Paul Camusi brewed their first batch of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. According to Wikipedia, Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale is the second best selling craft beer behind Boston Lager. Sierra Nevada is the sixth largest brewing company in the United States as well, cranking out over 750,000 barrels in 2010. For more info, check out their website.

The Yvan The Great Belgian-Style Pale Ale is a collaboration with the brown bears that hunt salmon in the great Russian River. Of all the beers in this mix-pack, this was by far the one I was the most excited about. The bottle reads: "As longtime friends, Russian River brewmaster Vinnie Cilurzo and our own Brian Grossman are no strangers to brewing experiments. For this collaboration, they honored their friend and renowned Belgian brewer Yvan De Baets. This Belgian-American mash-up harmoniously blends Yvan's penchant for yeast with Vinnie and Brian's affinity for hops."

Yvan The Great Belgian-Style Blonde

This one is easy to describe in appearance: it pours out a hazy lemon-yellow color, with a juicy and hazy body. My pour yielded one finger of white, Saison-esque head that gently faded into a nice sea foam/cauldron effect. Small, modest streams of carbonation pepper the glass.

The aroma here features big Belgian yeast. This is big, earthy, and super raw, with lots of Belgian yeast, raw dough, barnyard, wheat, lemons, white sugar, green bananas, and big black pepper. The Belgian yeast and doughy notes stand out. This smells pretty damn good for a Belgian Blonde. 

I'd say this is somewhere between a wheat beer and a Saison and a Belgian Pale Ale....I'm getting cracker notes, biscuit, wheat, bubblegum, black pepper, coriander/lemon, clove, and earthy straw, grass, and wheat. There's nice bitterness at work here as well, with earthy Belgian yeast.

This is medium-bodied, if not light-full. Palate depth is refined and good....complexity is lacking. This is refreshing and drinkable. It's hard to rate as a one-off, especially in this compilation package. What do I compare this to? As this warms up, some candi sugar notes emerge. Up front: candy sugars, wheat, lemon, Belgian funk; that rolls into bubblegum, wheat, hop balance; the back end is clove, black pepper, biscuit, bread. This finishes with wheat....it's alright. 

Rating: Above-Average (3.5/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a super, super Light Above-Average on this beer. The execution pushes it over-the-top, especially for a boring-ass Belgian Blonde/Pale Ale. Despite my favorable rating for the style, I found this beer and Three Floyd's Chico King to be generally disappointing in the 2014 Beer Camp. There's just so much potential here...ah well. This is solid, and would pair well with pizza or white pasta or something of that ilk. I'm a fan, but it's hard to justify this beer when you have nearby (to the Midwest) breweries like Solemn Oath, Penrose, and even Goose Island.

Random Thought: All the Beer Camp 2014 needed was a single sour. In addition to Russian River's clout as a world class brewer, the description on the bottle of this beer summons the phrase, "brewing experiments." For future reference, please do not use that term unless you brew something that is a brewing experiment. 

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.