Blind Tasting Reveal Time!

For the last five Fridays I've been featuring unnamed blind taste tested session beers, and now it's time to reveal which one was which. Did I guess any correct? And more importantly, which one did I and the rest of the group think was the best?

Beer #1 - We all enjoyed this one, it had a good grapefruit note to it and a solid amount of bitterness. I scored it a 71, compared to the group score of 67.25, and I took a guess, based on the grapefruity profile and high IBU level that this was the Stone Go-To IPA... it turns out that beer #1 was... the Founders All Day IPA! I'm 0/1 so far, but I've been drinking a lot of All Day IPA this football season, so I'm glad to know I scored it well even drinking blind.

Beer #2 - Another good one, but we all scored this one a little lower than Beer #1. I had it at a 67, compared to the group score of 64.5. My guess for this one was the Terrapin RecreationAle, being the only "pale ale" in the group of IPAs... and I was right! That makes 1/2 so far, but three more to go.

Beer #3 - This was the first of two that we didn't enjoy much, with a pungent and funky flavor that didn't hold up to the hops in the first two brews.  I scored it a 50, and it had a group average of 53.75.  I guessed at the Southern Tier Farmer's Tan, mostly because it was one that I didn't know much about and hadn't tried before. Beer #3 actually was... the Sierra Nevada Nooner. This was a bit of a surprise, I really expected better from the good people at Sierra Nevada.

Beer #4 - This is the one we all agreed was the best of the 5, with powerful grapefruit hop bitterness throughout. I scored it a 77, and it had a group average of 71.25. My guess was that this was the Founders All Day IPA, but we now know that that beer was #1, so I'm down to 1/4, and Beer #4, the winner of the day, was actually the Stone Go-To IPA. So, congrats to Stone Brewing! 

Beer #5 - And that leaves Beer #5, one that I thought was a little on the sweet side and a little boring.  It scored a 55 on my sheet, and a 57.5 with the group.  Process of elimination leads to the Southern Tier Farmer's Tan, but I had incorrectly guessed that this was the Sierra Nevada, leaving me 1/5 on the day.  

Most important though, our blind taste test ranks:

1. Stone Go-To IPA (71.25)

2. Founders All Day IPA (67.25)

3. Terrapin RecreationAle (64.5) 

4. Southern Tier Farmer's Tan (57.5)

5. Sierra Nevada Nooner (53.75) 

I'm not surprised that we picked Stone #1, but I am a little surprised at Sierra Nevada bringing up the rear. That's why we tasted them blind though, to eliminate that prejudice and judge solely on the beer. 

Beer Bloggers Conference 2013 - The Awards Show! (Part 2)

Okay... time for the second installment of the Beer Bloggers Conference 2013 Awards Show!  We left off in the first installment as we arrived in Boston for the official start of the conference.  Traffic sucked, we were late, and the trade show had already begun when we arrived.  That brings us to the first award of part 2...

Best Check-In Decision Of BBC13: Myself! When a busload of people arrive simultaneously, the lines can get rather long to get checked in... so I headed straight for the desk and left Jay and Dustin to grab my bad.  Mission accomplished, we were checked in, up to the room to drop off bags and back down to the trade show in no time. 

Best Beer From The Trade Show: Sierra Nevada Hoptimum! This isn't anything new, but we STILL don't have it on the shelves here in Baton Rouge, so it was good to try some of the 2013 version finally.  Other good options included the Ovila Saison from Sierra Nevada, the 80-Acre Wheat from Boulevard, the Robust Porter from Smuttynose, and a Woodchuck Farmhouse Cider.  There were several other beers, but I had left my phone in the room to charge and didn't get a good record... it happens.  Keeping a phone charged is a real challenge at this conference.

Most Interesting News From The Trade Show: Woodchuck! I was talking to the guys from Woodchuck (yeah, it's a cider, and yeah this is a beer bloggers conference... but whatever, I like cider.) and they have plans to do some dry-hopped ciders in the near future.  I know Woodchuck isn't "craft" since they are owned by C&C Group out of Ireland, and I don't really care for their typical ciders, but the thought of a dry-hopped cider certainly has me intrigued.

Most Ghetto Location For A World Famous Brewery: Boston Beer Company! Okay, so maybe the neighborhood wasn't really as bad as it seemed, and their full production brewery is elsewhere, but the original Samuel Adams facility is in one sketchy location.  Founder Jim Koch even alluded to this in his keynote speech, apparently they would give the local riff raff beer to act as a sort of security.  Plus I bet the rent was cheap... really fairly ingenious when you think about it.

Best Intro Speech: Julie Herz! Julia (with Craftbeer.com) was back to officially open up the conference. She's a great speaker, and she knows the industry better than just about anyone. And she really respects the bloggers' role in the industry... gotta love that.


Best Reason To Give People Free Beer: Jim Koch! It turns out he doesn't like speaking to a sober audience, so there was a can of Boston Lager on everyone's chair.  Joke's on him though, we had already been drinking for hours!  Which in no way stopped everyone from enjoying a Boston Lager.

Coolest Moment Of The Conference: Utopias with Jim Koch! After the keynote speech there was food and a lot more beer... and in smaller groups we were able to go into the barrel aging room and try some of the 2012 Utopias with Boston Beer Company founder Jim Koch.  The beer was amazing, far better than I expected and a lot more smooth than I would have ever guessed.  It was rich, boozy but not overpowering, and extremely complex.  Really the only thing bad about it was the two douchebags in the corner who felt like their personal conversation was more important than the rest of us listening to Jim.  I won't name names, but if you ever find yourself in a similar situation, don't be that douchebag, and show some respect to everyone around you.  That said, it was still a pretty awesome moment.

Best Cheese - Day 2 Edition: Boston Beer Company! Seriously, we had cheese with every meal I think.  It should have been called the Beer & Cheese Conference.  

Best Sam Adams Beer Not Named Utopias: Sam Adams American Kriek!  I love a good sour and this one was really well done.  I wish I could find it locally, but so far I've struck out.

Most Beer Bloggers Crammed Into Too Small Of A Space: Stoddard's Fine Food & Ale! This place seemed really cool, had great decor, had a great vibe, and they had an array of Heavy Seas Beer on tap, but it just wasn't close to a big enough space for everyone at the conference.  If I'm ever back in Boston I'll do my best to make a return trip here for some pints and grub, but this time, we made a pretty quick exit after a few beers to make our way back to the hotel and call it a night.  It had been a long day!

Best Reason To Drink Before Noon: Because you can! Seriously, once the sessions started there was beer everywhere... people were passing bottles around the room, leaving them at the front table for whomever wanted a pour, etc.  The beer was flowing, it was 9:30 AM, and life was good.  

Most Entertaining Speaker At The Conference: Franck Evers! He's the "Global Draught Master" from Heineken, and he came to a beer bloggers conference.  Yeah, we thought that was a little weird, he thought it was a little weird, but he still is a really entertaining guy.  Just don't call him German, he doesn't appreciate that. And be sure to skim the head off of your beer, that's where hangovers come from.

Most Likely To Speak Fluent Russian, In French: Troika Brodsky! 

Best Beer At The Beer Pairing Lunch: Allagash Black! This one was paired extremely well with a Boston creme pie dessert.  The entire beer pairing lunch was excellent, thanks to the National Beer Wholesalers Association for putting it on!  

Best Beer At The Live Blogging Session: Night Shift Ever Weisse!  Wow, this is what a sour should taste like.  I had never heard of Night Shift Brewing before the conference, they are a small nanobrewery out of Everett, MA putting out some really awesome beers.  They have traditional styles, but also a sour series and even a barrel aging program.  It's really amazing what a little brewery can do in an area that's thirsty for great craft beer.

Honorable Mentions At The Live Blogging Session: Idle Hands Pandora, Thomas Hooker Old Marley Barleywine, and Rising Tide Daymark.  All of the breweries had some impressive beers with them, but these stood out the most.  

Best Red Carpet Rollout: Harpoon Brewery!  They really treated us right... a special Imperial White IPA created just for us, a tour held by one of the founders, and then a beer dinner in a private section of the massive tasting room.  They had all their taps opened up, and just kept bringing us more food.  And more food.  And then some more food.  Seriously, it was an insane amount of grub, plus all the beer we could drink.  I even snagged a nice Harpoon glass, but it broke on the trip home.  :-(

Best Cheese - Day 3 Edition: Harpoon Brewery! Seriously, it should have been called the beer & cheese conference.  

Best Beer Of The Beer Social: Goose Island Rare Bourbon County Stout! It was really a treat to learn that they were going to break this one out for us, and it did not disappoint.  Fantastic beer, excellent whiskey notes, and still among the best bourbon barrel stouts in existence.

Louisiana Breweries Represented At The Beer Social After-Party: Parish Brewing and Tin Roof Brewing! Thanks again for the guys at Parish and Tin Roof for donating some beer to bring and share.  All were a huge hit, especially the Parish Grand Reserve Barleywine.  It was highly anticipated and received rave reviews from the bloggers lucky enough to try some.  

Best Beer At The Beer Social After-Party: See, what had happened was, I had been drinking! I can't say for sure, I had been drinking all day and there was a lot of beer flowing. Untappd is telling me that I drank beers such as the Allagash Coolship Balaton, Wigglesworth Lord Falconer, Allagash FV13, Riverwalk Gnomad, Epic Ales Barrel Aged Huckleberry Sour, Rising Tide Polaris, Backlash Declaration, and Anchorage Arctic Saison, plus many more than didn't make it to Untappd.  It was an epic night for sure, plus I checked in to some Parish Grand Reserve... you think I would bring it all the way to Boston and not drink a little?  Ha!

Most Amazing Feat At The Entire Conference: I made it to every session!  This did not happen last year in Indianapolis, but I pulled it off this year.  Go me!  even after being up WAY past my bedtime at the after-party the night before I was up and ready to go for the 9:30 Sunday session.

Most Generous Beer Bloggers: 2BeerGuys! Sean and Ryan, two Boston area bloggers who run 2BeerGuys.com were hooking us up all conference with some awesome local brews.  They really treated us southern folk right, even giving us some Heady Topper to bring home!   If they had a good beer out at their table, all it took was a tweet to find some showing up at ours.  If the Beer Blogger Conference is ever down here, we'll have to repay the hospitality.  

Best Beer Of The Final Day Of The Beer Bloggers Conference: Cigar City Hunahpu's Imperial Stout! Gerard of Beer In Florida brought this one to share, and after his report on the state of craft beer in Florida he broke it out and poured some.  So good, if this weren't so hard to find I'd have Cigar City a lot higher on my breweries wishlist.

Crazy Stat Of The Day:  Florida has almost 100 breweries! I could only name about 5, but apparently I'm a little low.  Puts Louisiana to shame, even on a per capita basis.

Best Reason To Not Have Died From Alcohol Poisoning: More beer!  Seriously, it never stopped... there was so much beer flowing, and it was still before noon.  Somehow we all survived the conference, but Dustin, Jay, and I didn't fly out until the next morning, so we still had some time to kill in Boston.

Best Place To Watch USA Soccer In Boston: The Banshee! The beer selection wasn't impressive, but they had some awesome burgers and they had USA soccer on every screen.  We watched the Gold Cup final there and then headed back to the hotel to crash.  It had been a long fun trip and we had an early flight to catch.

Best Fiance' Ever: Mandi!  For watching the house and the dogs while I was gone, love you baby!

Thanks again to everyone who helped put the Beer Blogger Conference together!  It was a fantastic time, expertly run as always, and a great learning experience as well.  Until next time... cheers! 

Beer Review: Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest 2013

Sierra Nevada's Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale - 2013 edition - is back on shelves in Baton Rouge, so get it while it lasts!  I picked up a bottle at Cuban Liquor not too long ago with the thought of using it as a Feature Beer Friday! review, but my co-reviewers for that session were done and I drank this one with Mandi, so here's a bonus review for everyone.  This should be available at all the local beer stores, and while it's limited, it won't be impossible to find.

This beer is the counterpart to the Northern Hemisphere Harvest Ale, using fresh-picked New Zealand hops shipped directly to Sierra Nevada.  It uses Southern Cross, Pacifica, and Motueka hops which tend to give a more herbal and floral character than North American hops. 

The beer pours caramel to deep red in color, with a nice frothy head and great retention.  There's a sweet malt base with a good hop aroma but more spicy than floral in my opinion.

The taste is hoppy as well, but I think the biscuit-ness of malt muddles the flavor a bit.  The hops are mostly present on the back end and especially on the finish.  

Yet another solid offering from Sierra Nevada.  I know sometimes people look to the new breweries in the state or the fancy new offerings, but try not to overlook Sierra Nevada.  They're big, they've been here a while, but they still put out some of the best beers and some of the best beer values around.  

Feature Beer Friday! - Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale 2012

Up now is one of the classic holiday beers from Sierra Nevada, the 2012 Celebration Ale.  This beer comes out every year and it's a much anticipated release for many beer nerds out there.  The main difference between the Celebration Ale and traditional holiday beers, is that Celebration is a fresh hop IPA, and it's not shy about it.  It marks the beginning of the hop harvesting season, and is brewed with fresh hops typically less than a week from picking.

Reviewers: Eric Ducote (BR Beer Scene), Jay Ducote (Bite And Booze), Jeremy Spikes  and James Lawson (Whiskeybomb.com). 

Serving: 12 oz. glass bottle. 

Appearance: Red-orange color, small head.  Jay said it was "cloudy with a chance of ale."  Ha. 

Aroma: Hoppy, Jay described it as evergreen sap, I picked up some spices, but I think that's my mind playing tricks on me. 

Taste: Very piney flavor to the hops in this one... I still think I'm getting some holiday spice feel from the placebo effect, but it's a tasty beer.  As expected, Jeremy didn't care for the taste too much... we'll convert him to an IPA drinker one day. 

Mouthfeel: Very bitter, a "hop sting" as Jeremy said. 

Overall: This one split our panel, with Jay and I liking the beer and scoring it in the 70s, while Jeremy and James weren't big fans and both scored it in the low 60s.  It's not my favorite IPA, probably not my favorite holiday beer, but I do enjoy it.   

Overall Rating: 67.25

My Rating:76

Feature Beer Friday! - Sierra Nevada / Russian River Brux

This weeks feature beer comes to us from a couple of highly regarded California breweries, Sierra Nevada and Russian River.  Sierra Nevada is one of the nation's largest craft breweries but still puts out excellent beers on a regular basis and some really fantastic seasonal and special release beers.  Russian River is unfortunately not available in Louisiana but they are best know for their Pliny IPAs and a remarkable lineup of sours.  

 

For this beer, the two breweries collaborated on their domesticated wild ale, using Belgian yeast strains for primary fermentation, but putting some brett years (gives off a characteristic sour flavor) into the bottles for secondary bottle fermentation.  There are still some of these available around BR, and after this review I think it ages well, so go get one!

 

Reviewers: Eric Ducote (BR Beer Scene), Jay Ducote (Bite And Booze), Jeremy Spikes  and James Lawson (Whiskeybomb.com), and Brenton Day (TheAleRunner.com)

Serving: 750ml bottle, corked & caged.

Appearance: "Deep gold, hazy, white head." "Pale & foggy," was Jay's comment.  No bad scores, but nothing amazing either.

Aroma: Spicy but still sour... it really reminded me of a fireball candy wrapped in a sour skittle.

Taste: This really smoothed out the aroma, blending the flavors nicely into an easy drinking but still sour package.  Jay picked up notes of clove and allspice, while Brenton also found some banana.  

Mouthfeel: A very flavorful finish, and I loved the funk.

Overall: This one scored very well, James said that he would highly recommend it and I agree.  This is a really pleasing sour that aged very well and should continue to do so.  

Overall Rating: 84

My Rating: 88

My First Official Beer Tasting! - July 26th

Alright, big news folks, I'll be running my first ever beer tasting in a couple of weeks, July 26th, at Roux Wine & Spirits in Prairieville!  The tasting will kick off at 7 PM, at a cost of $20 per person for most people, or $15 if you are a member of the Roux Wine & Spirits VIP Club.  I'll be talking everyone through an 8-beer tasting of Summer brews, including some variants that I think would make for nice Summer drinking.  

The full list includes:

• Brooklyn Summer Ale
• Harpoon Summer Ale
• Sam Adams Summer Ale
• Sierra Nevada Summerfest
• Magic Hat #9
• Full Sail LTD. 04
• NOLA Blonde
• Coney Island Albino Python

As you can see there will be four Summer seasonals from some of the big names of craft beer, plus a few that should work very well with the hot weather we've had down here so far.  I made sure to include NOLA Blonde to feature a local beer, plus the opportunity to talk about canned craft beer.  I'm excited about this tasting, and I hope many of my friends out there can come out and support me and also Roux Wine & Spirits.

Cheers!

Review: Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye IPA

I'm sure many of you have seen the Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye IPA (@sierranevada)
around the stores locally, but it's time for a quick review in case anyone out there is debating buying a 6-pack.  Or just wants to know what I think.

I actually picked these up while at Spec's in Houston but it's all over Baton Rouge as well.  I've seen it recently at Calandro's and Matherne's and I have no doubt that other go-to beer places (or even the bigger grocery stores) will also have some 6-packs on the shelf.  This is one of Sierra Nevada's four seasonal ales to go with the Summerfest, Tumbler, and Celebration Ale.  It's a bit early for a Spring beer, but as they say, it's meant to "create a complex ale for the tumultuous transition to spring."  And so far in 2011-12 we have barely had a winter anyway!

 

Back to the beer... I poured into a Karbach Brewing pint glass, it's a dark amber color, clear with a white head. Not bad looking, but nothing absolutely amazing.

The aroma is really strong with rye and not surprising from Sierra Nevada a good many hops. There is a faint caramel malt balance underneath as well.  The flavor profile is quite similar to the aroma except the hops are more pronounced while the malts fade. The rye adds a nice spice to the beer similar to a rye whiskey.

The mouthfeel is very medium bodied beer with a strong rye aftertaste.  Another good beer from Sierra Nevada.  Obviously if you aren't a hops fan this is one to avoid, but if you like the hops this one is worth buying a 6-pack or sharing with some friends.

Photographing Beer, A Few Quick Pics...

As I'm sure you know by now, I photograph just about every beer I drink.  Lately almost all those pictures come straight from my iPhone4, but every now and then at an event or tasting I'll have my better cameras handy.  For the iPhone, I find that lighting is the key.  Really this is the key for most photography... but especially for the phone because the flash is pretty weak.  The 3G I had before though... well it had no flash and was a lot smaller picture size, so at least it has that going for it.  

I had a few pictures of some beers that I drank in Houston to demonstrate... first up is the Lagunitas Imperial Stout... this beer should appear extremely dark with an off-white head... here's the picture with no flash.

Without the flash it's a little blurry, but you can see the actual colors of the beer.  Here's is a Bridgeport Scotch Ale with the flash, the beer should be a reddish-brown color.

For some reason with the flash on, the iPhone4 gets a little better focus with cleaner lines, but it fades the color.  It's hard to even see the red hints in the beer with the flash on.  Now two pictures of the Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Fresh Hop Ale... one with the flash, and one without.

As you can tell, the flash really enhanced the contrast, to the point where the lighter beer was totally lost.  The non-flash picture come a lot closer to capturing the true color of the beer... so let this be a tip to all of you.  Flash = bad!  That being said, if I'm in a dark bar or dimly lit restaurant, I'd still rather use the flash and get a picture than forget all about that tasty brew.

Reviews: Sierra Nevada 2011 Beer Camp

Okay, time for some beer than you can find in Baton Rouge!  This is the "Beer Camp" series from Sierra Nevada that features the best of the beers created at their Beer Camp.  The Beer Camp is a special treat for contest winners where beer campers get the VIP treatment at Sierra Nevada complete with creating some beers for commercial production.  Sounds pretty awesome if you ask me!  Some of the best ones are bottled and sent out commercially in mixed 12-packs.  I found some at Calandro's and they can probably still be found at a few places around town.  I also some at Spec's in Houston this past weekend, so they are still out there!

Jay actually picked this pack up and shared with me, so I got two beers each from the 4 Beer Camp releases in the pack.  The one I had featured a Weizenbock, California Common, Juniper Black Ale, and Double IPA.  I was probably least excited about California Common and most excited about the Juniper Black Ale going into this... but hey, sometimes things don't turn out the way you think they will!

The first one I tried was the Weizenbock, a beer style that is intended to be an even stronger version of the dunkel weizen with more bold and complex malt flavors and a noticeably stronger alcohol presence. 

 

The first thing I noticed, of course, is that is was one great looking beer! It's an orange cloudy beer with a large white frothy head. Good retention and good lacing and everything you would want from the visual appeal of a beer.

The aroma was bready with a large helping of citrus and banana.  It definitely had a lot of the hefeweizen characters while still being a stronger beer at 6.8% abv.  The taste is a lot of the same flavor, banana is pretty dominant again. I like this one a good bit overall, and it's a pleasant surprise from one of the beer camp beers that I wasn't as enthused about.

An easy drinker, very refreshing and delicious, highly recommended unless you don't like wheat beers!

My Rating:  A-

BeerAdvocate: A-

Up next... the Sierra Nevada Beer Camp California Common.  This is a traditional Californian style using a lager strain of yeast that ferments at warmer temperatures.

 

Poured from a 12 oz. bottle into an imperial pint glass, the beer is a clear deep gold with a couple inches of bubbly white head.  Nothing too special to look at, but appearance isn't everything.

It has a floral and honey aroma, a lot like a Belgian golden ale which is a pleasant surprise. There are also more hops than I was betting on, and an aroma that jumps more than the beer looks like it would.  

The taste is more of the same on this one, very crisp and delicious with an abundance if spicy hop notes.  Well done, these really are the best of the best and it shows.  This California Common was my least anticipated of the bunch but it surprised me.

 

My Rating: B+

BeerAdvocate: B+ (Hey, two in a row right on the popular opinion...)

Beer Camp #3, the one I was looking forward to the most, was the Juniper Black Ale.  I made sure I had things straight this time and this is indeed a Black IPA or Dark IPA or Cascadian Dark Ale or whatever you want to call this relatively new style of roasted but super hoppy IPA.  Recently I tried the New Belgium 1554 Enlightened Black Ale, but it's actually a Belgian Dark Ale!  This confusion will not stand, man. 

 

Anyway, getting the style right this time, I poured into an appropriate imperial pint glass. The beer is a dark brown color, clear around the edges with an inch-plus of creamy off-white head. Definitely a good looking beer!

The aroma is a lot of roasted chocolate with just a hint of juniper and a slight hop spice. If I didn't know to look for the juniper I'd probably miss it. The flavor is a lot of the same but the juniper is there a little more and the hops are a little less. It's definitely more roasted than expected.

It's a little thin too, the 8% abv is very well hidden but there is an awkward roasted bitter aftertaste.  I was expecting more, and I think this is lower on my list from the Beer Camp series.

 

My Rating: B-

BeerAdvocate: B+

And finally, the Double IPA.  This isn't really a new crazy style, so I wasn't as excited, but I do almost always like double IPAs.  Just like the Juniper Black Ale, I poured from a 12 oz. bottle into an imperial pint glass. It's a deep gold color with a large white bubbly head. decent look to it, great retention and lacing.

The aroma is strong with hops, piney, a little citrus and even a hint of caramel in the malt base. The flavor is fantastic, a little sweet malt at the front them big bold piney hops. It has a great blend and really well done.

It's a little bitter in the aftertaste but a good full body.  This is a really nice DIPA and my favorite among the Beer Camp brews.  Definitely a winner.

My Rating: A

BeerAdvocate: B+

In summary, four good beers, a definite winner of a 12-pack and one I'll be on the lookout in the future for their other Beer Camp brews!  Well done, Sierra Nevada, well done.

Build Your Own 6-Packs At Albertsons

I was in the College Drive Albertsons yesterday buying some groceries when I noticed that they had re-done their main store beer section... okay, I'll check it out.  The first thing I noticed was a respectable selection of bombers and 6-packs. 

The problem is, they only carry 3 or 4 beers from each brewery.  If they even have that many... there's a Brooklyn Local 1, but no other bombers from them.  And Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye, but no Racer 5?  For shame!  They have 4 or 5 different Stone beers but there are so many more good ones they are missing.  They also had a handful of Belgian ales down on the end, most noticeably the Chimay line.  Like I said, it's a respectable lineup... if I was stopping here to grab some food to cook for dinner and wanted a few beers to quench my thirst while I cooked, I'd easily be able to find something good.  Just not necessarily something new and exciting.

Then I noticed the "Build Your Own Mix & Match 6-Pack Display" and had to check it out.  The custom 6-pack is a pretty standard concept but I haven't seen it too often around Baton Rouge.  Most places are either 6-packs only, or price everything by the single like Calandro's does.  Anyway, it's a cool idea and I'm really glad Albertsons is giving it a try... here's the lineup as best as I could photograph in the store at least.

Like the rest of the selection, it's respectable but nothing special.  The highlight (for me at least) is probably the Stone Levitation Ale up on the top shelf... the Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams, and Boulder Beer offerings aren't bad either.  This idea would really be cool for someone trying to sample some of the Louisiana brews, with Bayou Teche, Heinerbrau / Covington, and Abita all represented.

Hey, it's not the Baton Rouge beer revolution quite yet, but it's still a step in the right direction.

A Shout-out To Slinky's!

Just a quick post to mention one of my favorite Baton Rouge hole-in-the-wall beer bars, Slinky's on Chimes St.  Located just down the street from The Chimes past Highland Coffees, don't expect to see a sign on the front advertising the name of the bar, but when you see the neon beer signs and the front porch, you're at the right place.  

Pam does a great job of keeping the place stocked with two coolers full of interesting beers, and on the second Tuesday of every month, starting at 9, they do a tasting of 6 different beers for $12.  A good price and you get to keep the glass!  A good many of the more strange and unusual beer glasses in my cabinet have come to me via a Slinky's tasting, and I plan on that trend continuing.  I even wrote about one tasting a good while ago... and have made two trips to Slinky's for some drinks since then.

A few months ago I found my way there for a few beers after happy hour at Fleming's (never a bad idea) and the beer drinking commenced.  It was a rare occasion for me, my phone died after taking one picture of beer I had been drinking... but I do remember a little about the 4 new beers I tried.  One was the "Before - After" triple bock from the Rinkuskiu Alaus Darykla brewery in Lithuania... gotta say this is probably my first ever Lithuanian beer and I didn't think it was too bad.  It was a super boozy 12% alcohol triple bock, so even maltier and stronger than a doppelbock.  I also tried the RJ Rockers (@rjrockers) Patriot Pale Ale, the Lobster Lovers Beer also from Rinkuskiu Alaus Darykla and a Rosee' D'Hibiscus from the fantastic Canadian brewery Dieu Du Ciel.  

More recently I found myself back at Slinky's for a beer tasting of Bavarian selections thanks to Clark Diehl at Uplifters Spirits.  Uplifters is a distributor out of California specializing in Bavarian breweries, and Clark is their local representative.  This tasting features two of the best sellers from three of their breweries, Hopf, Schönramer, and Reutberger.  While waiting on the tasting to start I tried an Old Jock scotch ale from Broughton Ales in England, and an Aecht Schlenkerla Eiche Doppelbock, a famous smoked beer from Germany. 

Then the tasting started... the Hopf Brewery calls themselves a weissbierbrauerie and they mean it, the only styles they offer are hefeweizens, dunkelweizens, and weizenbocks! This tasting feature their Dunkle Weisse, and their Helle Weisse beers, and as to be expected, they were both very thick with a wheat base.  The Dunkle was naturally a darker and maltier beer but both were very smooth and easy to drink. The two Reutberger offereing were the Export Hell and the Export Dunkel.  As opposed to Hopf, both of these beers were lagers, with the Dunkel of course being the darker and maltier beer, and the Hell being lighter and easier to drink.  Third up was the Schönramer brewery, with a Pils and Gold offering.  The Pils of course was a German-style pilsner, but the Gold was actually a malty Oktoberfest offering and maybe the best beer of the tasting.  Well, until Clark brought out a few specialty beers.  First up was one from Reutberger called the Josefi Bock, a malty beer with a good clean hop taste on the end as well.  Finally, the Schönramer Saphir, a bizarre beer that's labeled as a doppelbock, but pours like an adjunct lager.  Seriously, it was damn near clear, but the taste was anything but boring.  It was bold, fruity, spicy, and all around delicious.  Definitely the winner of the night.

After the tasting was over I saw one more new beer, the Sierra Nevada (@sierranevada) Tumbler Autumn Brown Ale, so I gave that a try and then it was on to Louie's for a big cheesy Lou and some pancakes! 

Cheers everyone, and don't forget about Slinky's when you feel like finding a new beer.  And for the tastings on the second Tuesday of every month.

The 50 Best Beers In America!

Just thought I'd share a link with everyone... the American Homebrewer's Association asked their readers (sure to be big time beer lovers, right?) to rank their 20 best beers, and put together all the results to declare their 50 best beers in America!  The full article and list is here... and the winner for the third time in a row was Pliny The Elder by Russian River.  I tried it at a beer tasting at The Avenue Pub a while back and it is most certainly a tasty brew.

Amazingly I've tried 39 out of these 52 (yeah, there were ties at the end) beers.  Honestly I'm pretty proud of that considering our limited selection in Louisiana.  As far as I can tell, only 14 of these 52 beers are distributed to Louisiana, and that is mostly the Stone and Sierra Nevada selections that really scored high. 

The same poll was also used to determine the 25 best breweries in America, with Dogfish Head coming out on top.  Again Sierra Nevada and Stone placed high (both in the top 5) and they are the main ones that we can get here in Louisiana.  

Anyway... what do you think about the list?  How many of the top 50... er... 52 have you tried?  And more importantly, do you think you could hook me up with any of the ones I'm missing out on?

Cheers everyone!

*Image credit: American Homebrewers Association

Review: Sierra Nevada Ovila Dubbel

Time for another beer review... this time the Sierra Nevada Ovila Dubbel.  I picked up a few of these from Marcello's in BR when it was first released.  It's a bit weird to see a brewery like Sierra Nevada (@sierranevada), known for West Coast hoppy beers, to go after a Belgian style.  I know it's not their first Belgian-style ale, but it's close to it, and it's the first one I've ever tried.  Knowing Sierra Nevada, it's going to be a little more hoppy than a typical dubbel, but there's not necessarily anything wrong with that! 

 

Now... on to the beer!  It has a nice pop to the cork, and it pours a murky deep orange color with a couple fingers of off-white head. It dissipated pretty quick but left some nice creamy pooling.

The smell is a little weird to me. The first thing I noticed is a little malt sweetness then a bit of floral hops. Definitely a little more hoppy than a typical dubbel, as expected. The taste is a lot like the aroma except the malt is more forward than the hops. The alcohol content is noticeable and the floral hops are still there in the background.

I think this one will really age well, so I'll be sure to cellar a bottle and re-visit later.  Overall I'm impressed. This is a pretty fine effort from Sierra Nevada.

 

I know there are still a few cases of this beer at Calandro's... so it's not too late if you want to grab a few.  Try one now, and let the other one sit a few months and see how it ages.

My Rating: B+

BeerAdvocate: B+

 

 Belgian Dubbel

Review: Sierra Nevada 2011 Bigfoot Barleywine

Okay, time for a quick review of the 2011 Bigfoot Barleywine from one of the craft brewing standard-bearers, Sierra Nevada.  Established in 1980, Sierra Nevada (@sierranevada) is one of the oldest and now largest craft breweries in the United States.  They typically brew very hop-forward beers which is typical of a California brewery.  I've mentioned them several times on here, including reviews of their 30th Anniversary Grand Cru and 30th Anniversary Barleywine. I picked up a 6-pack of these guys from Cuban Liquor on Perkins, but any good beer store should have it if it's still in stock.

For this review, I have the 2011 version of their Bigfoot Barleywine, poured from a 12 oz. bottle into a Homer Brewing goblet.  It's a reddish orange color, like a bright sunset with a small white head. Good retention and creamy pooling on top of the beer.

The aroma is pretty weak though, mostly faint hops with a little spice to it.  The taste is mostly hoppy, befitting a Sierra Nevada brew. It's primarily piney but there is a subtle sweet floral hint to it. The malts are pretty faint but there. Barely.

The mouthfeel is about as expected, with a bitter hoppy aftertaste. I like it, but it's too hoppy for my kind of barleywine. I'm excited to save a few for aging and see how the hop-forward brew ages.  I expect it to mellow out a good bit and only get better.

My Rating: B-

BeerAdvocate: A-

Barleywine

Super Bowl Beer #2 - Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Barleywine

Now we're talking!  I picked up this one at Martin Wine Cellar a few days back when I went hunting for the BrewDog Tokyo*.

This 10.2% abv dark barleywine is a boozy malt-bomb of delicious beer. Definitely heavy on the toffee and caramel malt flavors, but yet again, Sierra Nevada nails it with their 30th Anniversary series. I've tried 3 of the 4 30th Anniversary beers so far, and all were superb, as most of Sierra Nevada's beers tend to be.


My Rating: A
BeerAdvocate: A-


Barleywine

Review: Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Grand Cru

I mentioned a week or so ago that the Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Ale was available at Bet-R for relatively cheap.  Sure, I did that mostly to try out some mobile blogging, but today it was finally time to break it out and give it a try.  I was excited for this one after really enjoying a previous 30th Anniversary brew... the Imperial Stout.

I poured it into a Chimay goblet... it's darker than expected from a "Grand Cru" with a deep red hue and creamy tan head with great retention.  The smell is hoppier than expected, but I guess I should know better for a Sierra Nevada offering! The hops come on strong but there are some dark fruits in there as well.

The taste is more Belgian... it's still hoppy like the aroma but the spices come through better and compliment the hops very well. There are still slightly bitter hints of dark fruits in there as well.  It's not a terribly complex beer, but I think it feels great on the mouth. Highly carbonated, a good enough blend of flavors to really get all the taste buds going, and just a slightly bitter hoppy aftertaste. The high ABV is hard to pick up as well.

A very good beer... these 30th Anniversary Ales have not disappointed. If I see any more around I'll have to pick some up!

Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Ale!

The Grand Cru version is available for a special price of $8.99 per 750ml bottle at Bet-R.  I haven't tried it yet but the previous 30th Anniversary ales have been awesome!