May 11th, 2010 beckel
Though this ale only showed up on our local shelves recently it was apparently the third release of New Belgium’s Lips Of Faith Series. This ale was the handy work of it’s namesake Eric Salazar who decided to play with their Belgian Style Blond Ale; aging it in Oak, adding peach juice & Brettanomyces yeast to create a unique sour ale. I was happy to find this bottle at The Four Firkins but it should be pretty widely available right now. Pours a completely translucent light copper hue that borders on peach with three fingers of clean white head that settles within less than a minute. Small bubbles continuously trickle from the bottom of the glass popping on the surface. Clean assertive tartness followed by gentle peach esters, very light malts and just a touch of alcohol. Smooth but potent sour esters remind me of cranberry & tangerine tannins and contrast with sweet peach, gentle malt esters, light bitterness and very subtle alcohol. Bright sour notes are very enjoyable and play very well with the sweet peach and smooth mouthfeel created by the oak aging. The 7% ABV of this beer is occasionally noticed but overall an after thought in this delicious brew. Body is on the light side of medium making this complex brew go down very easily. If you enjoy clean, full flavored sour ales this one is definitely worth your time. Additionally if you are new to the style this one isn’t a bad stepping stone as the fruit characteristics and oak aging make this ale very palatable for a tart brew. I would happily drink many more bottles of this brew, and might just have to. Give it a shot and ride your bike.
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October 5th, 2009 beckel
So September was a long month with few posts. Full of wonderful beer events such as ABR, Where the Wild Beers Are and the always enjoyable Surlyfest. This year the day of Surlyfest was wonderfully warm, hot even. With enough sun to make even the most cynical Minnesotan forget that winter is approaching. No rain was present which was a lovely change from last years event. This year everyone received five drink tokens to get their massive .5L + steins full of delicious Surly offerings including Furious, Bender, Cynic Ale, Coffee Bender, Hell, and of course Surlyfest. A good show indeed, can’t wait for Darkness Day. Where the Wild Beers Are was an experiment in sour yeast digestion. Though I have them written down I have no where near the patience to transcribe all of the wonderful beers I consumed that evening. All I can say is as if a keg of Cantillon Iris wasn’t enough the forty or more other sour beers available certainly were. Cheers to Jeff and Tim for organizing this again, I can’t wait for next year. ABR consisted of all kinds of wonderful brew as usual including some impressive offerings from many of our local brewers. But by now you’ve read everyone else’s ABR post so lets get to the beer at hand.
A Small Portion of the SurlyFest Crowd
Omar Cycling the Evening Away
Lining Up For Beer at Where The Wild Beers Are
De Proef Flemish Primitive Flight
A Small Sampling of the Wonderful Brews Consumed
Coors Light Can at ABR
Tyttebaer which translates to lingonberry (sometimes referred to as Scandinavian Cranberries) is a collaborative brew between Nogne O and Mikkeller both wonderful brewers of Scandinavian origin. When I first heard about this collaboration I was incredibly excited by the concept of a Wild Ale brewed with an interesting fruit such as lingonberries particularly as they are a fruit very commonly used in the regional cuisine of the brewers. Upon finding this beer at The Four Firkins Sean had nothing but good things to say making it even easier for me to shell out the hefty $15 dollars or so for this lovely green labeled .5L bottle. Pours a beautiful red hue that is similar to the color of a cranberry and very opaque. A solid four fingers of off white head with a slight pint tint is produced, consisting of large bubbles that dissipate quickly. Aroma is full of incredibly pungent fruit aroma of lingonberries that consists of both sweet and sour notes. Grains are difficult to detect but a bit of wheat smoothness is notable. Tastes largely of lingonberries with a deliciously mild tart note produced by a combination of the fruit itself in addition to Brettanomyces Yeast and Lactobacillus. A small amount of sweetness is present and the wheat dominate grain bill really allows the flavors to shine. Body is medium and the mouthfeel is rather dry which is quite nice. With a solid 8% ABV and delicious cranberry like flavor this ale is sure to satisfy even with its price tag and very limited availability. Probably not the beer for those who detest fruits being used in brews but a wonderful introduction into quality Lambic or Sour Ales that won’t burn your tounge off with over the top sweet or sour notes. Unquestionably a delicious beer that shows the skills of these wonderful brewers. Give it a shot and ride your bike.
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March 26th, 2009 beckel
I have here a very exciting brew that I found last weekend at The Four Firkins, beer number one in Avery’s new Barrel-Aged Series of experimental beers. Brabant is an dark unfiltered strong ale that was fermented with two strains of Brettanomyces yeast and aged in Zinfandel barrels for 8 months. This particular brew was bottled Feburary 10th 2009 and though the bottle isn’t numbered only 694 cases were produced so if this sounds like your kind of beer I would try to find some quickly. Pours pitch black with a slight red peaking out when brought to light though it is not translucent at all. Light brown head was about a finger and faded with in a couple of minutes. As soon as I opened this beer I noticed a somewhat sour fruit aroma and upon actually smelling this beer it is obvious that it was brewed with brettanomyces. The tart aromas are hard to get past but it is not as intense as many traditionally “sour beers”. Sweet malt and an almost smokey aroma are detectable beneath but hard to distinguish as is the small amount of alcohol present in the nose. This is an intensely flavored beer and probably not the best introduction into sour beers, but it is quite interesting. Initially I get tart flavors obviously imparted by the yeast but they are slowly mellowed by the large amount of sweet malted barley in this brew, imparting some cranberry hints as well as nice creamy flavors making the mouthfeel of this beer quite smooth and desirable. For a dark beer with a 8.65% ABVthe body is rather light. The tart flavors in this beer really make me feel like I’m drinking a berry infused beer but it simply isn’t that fruity. The solid malt profile of this beer was obviously up to the task of aging and has created some wonderful flavors while working with both the yeast and aging in zinfandel barrels. There are definitely some dark pitted fruit flavors present as well but they are easy to ignore due to the dominate sweet and sour contrast in this brew. This really is a good beer. Upon my first sip I was a bit startled and turned off in a way, but as soon as I swallowed I knew I needed to try more. A bit sharp initially but as soon as you take a few sips you will realize how amazingly well balanced this beer is particularly considering how nontraditional it is. Definitely not the beer for those afraid of adventurous and strange beers but a wonderful beer for someone who doesn’t mind some tart flavors and enjoys a malty well aged beer. I can only imagine what further aging might do to this tasty brew. I am sad I don’t have another bottle to enjoy, Avery definitely needs to keep on producing this beer and continue to experiment. Give it a shot and ride your bike.
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