Review: Harpoon 100 Barrel Series - Pott's Landbier & Oak Aged Dunkel

Time for a quick double-review of a couple of limited series beers from the Harpoon Brewery (@harpoon_brewery) out of Boston, MA.  These are both part of this 100 Barrel Series brews... the Pott's Landbier and Oak Aged Dunkel!  These are numbers 32 and 34 in the Harpoon 100 Barrel Series, and as far as I know they aren't avialable in Louisiana.  I've seen other Harpoon products in town, especially the popular IPA and UFO Hefeweizen, but never any of this series.  I picked up these two at Spec's in Houston... so on to the reviews:

Up first is the Pott's Landbier... a Vienna Lager styled beer that I poured from a bomber into a pint glass.  It's a deep orange color, clear with lots of bubbles and two fingers worth of frothy white head. Good retention and lacing.

It smells crisp, with just a hint of malt and hops but nothing too dominant. Kinda faint, really and unimpressive.  The flavor is better, hops are most dominant and it's a little bitter due to a lack of balance. It could really use some more malt flavor to me.

The mouthfeel is fine other than the awkward bitter aftertaste. It has great body for such a low alcohol beer.  Unfortunately the weird bitter taste keeps me from really wanting another, but it's not going to keep me from finishing this bomber easily!  A slightly above average beer, but nothing worth seeking out again before they are all gone.

 

My Rating: C+

BeerAdvocate: B

 

Lager

 

The second in line is the Oak Barrel Aged Dunkel, another European styled lager, but this one is taken the extra step of aging time in American oak barrels.   Just like the Pott's Landbier, I poured the dunkel from a bomber into a pint glass.  It's a deep red color with an off-white head, about two fingers worth.  Just like the one above this one is a good looker.

Like the Landbier, the aroma is pretty weak. I like what I'm picking up, rich dark malts, but it's just not very powerful.

The taste is far better... sweet rich malts, chocolate and toffee flavors. There was a flash of an off-metallic taste but then it was gone. Tasty, I like this one a lot... not really picking up much of the oak aging, but it's a solid dunkel.

It has a really nice mouthfeel full despite the low abv, creamy even.  Easy to drink, this one is a winner.  Clearly the better choice of the two 100 Barrel Series brews I've tried, and I think I'd pick up a few more if I saw them on the shelves.

My Rating: B+

BeerAdvocate: B

Dunkel Lager

Top Of The Hops 2011 - Cajundome, Lafayette

Whew... Top Of The Hops... see, what had happened was, I had been drinking.  A lot.  31 new beers in fact at this past festival.  Yeah, that puts a large dent in the 365 in 2011 goal, with a month's worth of new beers in one afternoon.

You would think I wouldn't remember them all at that point, but you're wrong!  Apparently my memory for beers is a well oiled machine.  Anyway, a couple of Saturdays ago I took off with Mandi, Jay, and Jeremy and we headed down to the Cajundome to do some beer tasting.

The first thing I did after we got in was head to the Parish Brewing table.  Andrew has been a friend of the BR Beer Scene since the beginning and I knew he had a black IPA to try, and it did not disappoint!  Rich roasted malts with a bitter hop bite, I thought it was very well done and a great start to the day.  Andrew also had a hop infusion machine, pumping his Biere Amber through fresh hops and into your glass... and interesting contraption that created a sort of beer/hop tea.  It was tasty, and quite different than anything else on the day.

Andrew and Eric at the Parish Brewing booth.

Some other highlights of the new ones to me included the Brouwerij Het Anker offerings, several beers from the Sherwood Forest Brewery, several new offerings from Shmaltz Brewing, and I was able to finally try the NOLA 7th Street Wheat and Flambeau Red Ale!  The brews from Zea also made an appearance with their full lineup... I knew Zea was doing their own beer (although I believe contract brewed by Covington) but had never tried them before.  

Zea brews on display.

The NOLA tap handle.

After hitting up all the new ones I could find, it was time for some old favorites like Chimay, Stone, Unibroue, Affligem, and more...

That's a lot of empty Affligem bottles!

You can never go wrong with Unibroue.

All in all, a fantastic afternoon, capped off by a nice meal at Jolie's after the drinking was over.  I'll definitely be back next year!

Cheers!

Beer Links Time!

Maybe I should make this an every Monday thing... but here are a few local beer links I wanted to share with everyone!

An article on Parish Brewing!  As any loyal readers know, I've been a fan of Parish brewing from the beginning, having made several trips to check out Andrew's progress.  It seems a lot of people are taking notice these days!  Congrats to Andrew and Parish Brewing for all the success.

Samuel Smith beer dinner - tonight at The Londoner.  I'll be there to check out the British-styled beer & food pairings.  Samuel Smith's is a fantastic British brewery readily available in Baton Rouge... I've even done a three-part series on their beers a while back.  (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3)  They will also have the royal wedding on TV live for anyone who wants to check that out.

Pub Crawl BR will be having another charity pub crawl this Friday in Downtown Baton Rouge... check out their website or facebook page for more info!

Abita has a beer dinner coming up at Galatoire's on May 6th which will feature 5 courses paired with an Abita beer.  Abita also has a Pub Crawl lined up for May 13th, also in downtown Baton Rouge.  This pub crawl will feature the Abita Wheat beer.

Cheers!

Review: The Londoner

Ever since this Londoner place opened up I've been wanting to check it out, but it's on the other side of town so it took a little while... fortunately, thanks to a half-off $40 gift certificate from 225 Best Eats I went out there with my friend Carlye a couple of weeks ago. 

The beer selection is pretty decent but also pretty typical... a lot of the beers you would expect at a British pub, but they did have a few interesting bottles that I'd never tried.  More on that later... as I perused the draft list there was one new one, so that's what I started with, as we ordered a chips & curry appetizer, which turned out to be pretty interesting and tasty.

The first beer was the Moylan's Kilt-Lifter Scotch Ale, not to be confused with the Pike Brewing Company Kilt-Lifter Scotch Ale!   The beer came out in a pint glass... not much head but that's to be expected from a bar pour. It's a reddish brown color, not bad.

The aroma is malty with hints of dark fruit and vanilla, very nice.  The taste is about as expected... very malty with caramel and coffee notes to it, not a lot of 'scotch' flavor but still a damn fine beer and one I'd order again.  Overall this is probably the best beer on tap at The Londoner, so I'd definitely have more of it if I went back.

My Rating: B+

BeerAdvocate: B+

Scotch Ale

Moylan's Kilt-Lifter Scotch Ale

After that I went to the bottle list and found the Black Art Gold, by Braustolz GmbH.  And if that name sound familiar to you, then A) you read my blog too much, and B) it should, as I tried the Black Art Black Premium Beer by the same brewery a couple of months ago!  That one pleasantly surprised me, this one... um... not so much.  It came in a clear bottle, and poured a lifeless golden color.  It tasted grassy and funky, a lot like a Heineken, in my opinion.  Definitely a beer I'd like to forget and one I don't think I'll ever be ordering again.

My Rating: D+

BeerAdvocate: C+

Black Art Gold

Following that I went for the other new beer on the bottle list, the Old Speckled Hen English Pale Ale from Greene King / Morland Brewery.  I've had another beer from these guys, but you'd have to go WAY back to my first ever beer post, about the Wexford Irish Style Creme Ale from October of 2009.  This one also came out in a clear-glass bottle, not exactly a good sign as clear glass lets in the MOST light and can lead to a skunky beer the fastest.  Unlike the Black Art Gold, though, I really enjoyed this one.  It's an English Pale Ale, so it was a lot more hoppy and less malty than the American counterparts.  There was a little bit of toasted biscuit flavors in there but overall it was mostly hoppy, but not overwhelming at all.  A decent beer and one I certainly wouldn't turn down if offered!

My Rating: B-

BeerAdvocate: B-

"Old Speckled Hen"

As for a little food, the fish & chips were pretty good, but nothing that blew me away. I think the "chips" were more above par than the fish. I doubt I'll be back too often for just a happy hour trip because I live on the other side of town, but it was definitely worth a visit.  I could see some return trips for special British-themed events for sure.

 

Beer Travels: The Flying Saucer - Houston, TX

As I'm sure is obvious for anyone who knows me, or follows my blog, my twitter (@BRBeerScene) or is friends with me on facebook, I've been spending a lot more time in Houston lately.  An added bonus to this, of course, is that I've had the chance to check out a few cool places to get some beers in Houston and try a lot of their local beers that are only on draft.  A couple of weeks ago I was in town, and it happened to coincide with the Final Four being played in Houston... Mandi and I decided to go check out The Flying Saucer downtown to drink some beers, grab a little food, and watch the games!

We had been told parking downtown was a nightmare, but we ended up getting a spot on the street just a few blocks away from the bar.  Score!  The "parking" inside the bar was a different story, though.  It was packed!  And we thought we were getting there early at around 4:15 in the afternoon... lesson learned.  The place has plenty of seating inside, outside, and upstairs, all just seat yourself.  There wasn't an empty spot to be found so we ordered up a couple of beers, and found a good spot to stand, watch the pre-game, and watch for empty seats.  I started out with a Phoenixxx ESB from Real Ale Brewing in the Texas hill country, and Mandi went with a Boulevard Wheat to lighten it up a bit.

Phoenixxx ESB and Boulevard Wheat

Before we had to wait TOO long a couple of seats opened up at the bar... and from there the drinking was on.  They really had an impressive selection of local brews, and to me that's the true sign of a good beer bar. Anyone can get all sorts of popular imports on tap, or the bigger micro-brews from around the states, but the Flying Saucer in Houston had an impressive lineup of local breweries. I saw Saint Arnold, 512, Ranger Creek, Real Ale, Jester King, Live Oak, and Southern Star for sure which are all Texas breweries.  And only a few Saint Arnold and Southern Star releases are available in Baton Rouge, so that's where we started.

Ranger Creek's Mesquite Smoked Porter and Oatmeal Pale Ale

 The next six selections were all Texas beers... the 512 Black IPA, Ranger Creek La Bestia Aimable Belgian Ale, Ranger Creek Mesquite Smoked Porter, Ranger Creek Oatmeal Pale Ale, Southern Star Buried Hatchet Stout, and the Southern Star Bombshell Blonde Ale.  And I'm not going to lie, every one of these hit the mark for the styles.  Black IPAs are all the rage right now, Abita did one as a select, I tried one from the Freetail brewery in San Antonio not long ago, and even tried one from Parish Brewing at the Top Of The Hops beer festival in Lafayette.  (Blog post to come...)  The 512 (@512brewing) was up there with any of them, roasted malts and strong hops.  Ranger Creek is another one that impressed... the mesquite smoked porter was like drinking BBQ, and the other two offerings were tasty as well.  Southern Star is available in some fashion in Baton Rouge, and I can see them doing very well. 

Southern Star Buried Hatchet Stout

After that we went for two non-local brews that I'd never seen before.  The Great Divide Belgica IPA and the Stone Highway 78 Scotch Ale.  The Belgica is a Belgian-style IPA from Great Divide, currently one of my favorite breweries.  The Highway 78 Scotch Ale is a collaboration brew between Stone (@stonebrewingco), Green Flash (@greenflashbeer), and Pizza Port... all of course located on Highway 78 in California.  At 8.8% abv it was pretty strong for a Scotch Ale, but taste nonetheless. 

Great Divide Belgica and Stone Highway 78 Scotch Ale

In addition to all that beer, we tried were some cheese fries while watching the Final Four, and they were plenty tasty enough.  I'm definitely looking forward to another trip to The Flying Saucer in the future.  There were a few local breweries I didn't even get to, like Jester King, Saint Arnold, and Live Oak, and it seemed like they did a really good job of rotating new beers in as much as possible.  Kudos to them for keeping a large local tap list, I'm a fan!

New Belgium - Lips Of Faith Series

Time for a couple more standard reviews... this time from the "Lips Of Faith" series from New Belgium Brewing (@newbelgium) out of Fort Collins, Colorado.  I'm not sure how long they've been doing this series but each one seems to be inspired by a different old-world style and have some pretty crazy flavors!  I picked up the Sahti and Vrienden from Spec's in Houston a little while back, and I have a few more waiting for future tastings.

First, the Sahti... this is a take on a Finnish style of beer traditionally flavored with Juniper berries, and it's my first go at this style...  I poured it into a goblet... wasn't sure what would be best and I see that BA recommends a pint glass. Whoops... hopefully a goblet will do just fine though.

It's a deep golden color, not hazy like the style says it should be, with a really small head. Nothing too impressive here, but it's not like it looks bad.

The smell is very biscuity, with a warm maltiness to it and then just a hint of floral note at the end. It's interesting for sure and makes me want to dive in.

The flavor is very similar to the smell... malty up front but there are definite woody bitter notes at the end. This one tastes more like a Belgian ale than I was expecting with floral undertones to it.  It's got a nice body to it... very very drinkable. This one could be trouble at 7.2% abv if I had more of it or was sitting at a bar.

My Rating: B+

BeerAdvocate: B-

Sahti

Up next, the Vrienden, which is apparently Flemish for friends.  There, don't ever say my blog didn't educate you about something other than beer!  This one is a pretty potent 8.5% abv American Wild Ale, brewed with hibiscus and brettanomyces.  For those unfamiliar, brettanomyces (or just brett) is a yeast strain used in many Belgian wild ales and sours, along with lambics and guezes... it tends to impart a bit of a sour flavor to beers, sometimes desirable, sometimes not!  This beer was served in a 22 oz. bottle, poured into a Corsendonk goblet.

It's a reddish-amber color, with a small white head.  You can definitely smell the floral notes... the dominant flavor is definitely the hibiscus with a hint of hops.  The hibiscus is even more present on the tongue, with those sour brett flavors coming through too. A good blend of floral and sour notes, pretty delicious really, and not what I was expecting.

The mouthfeel is good... not too thin, very carbonated, pleasant.  I don't know how many of these I could drink... the sour notes make it tough to really down it. Plus it's pretty strong despite not tasting too boozy. Overall, I enjoyed this one a good bit, and it was certainly nice to try something new!

My Rating: A-

BeerAdvocate: B

Obviously I liked these two a little more than the masses, so I look forward to trying some more of the series!

Drinking At The Hammond Smokin' Blues & BBQ Challenge - Part 2

Alright, after checking out that delicious BBQ, it's time for the beers!  Thanks again to Calandro's for sponsoring our BBQ team, including a handful of beers to drink as we let the meat smoke all night.  (I actually reviewed these properly a few days later... but here are the action pics...)

 

The first beer I tried was the He'Brew Genesis Ale from Schmaltz Brewing, which is originally out of California but also contract brews out of New York.  It was an overly hoppy beer for an Amber Ale, but still not bad.   There is definitely a malt warmth to it but the hops dominate the aroma and the taste.  

After that it was on to the Bald Eagle Brown Ale from RJ Rockers out of South Carolina.  I'd never heard of RJ Rockers before spotting a few of their beers at Calandro's but hey, anything is worth trying once.  (When it comes to beer at least...)  I thought it was a very tasty beer, but a bit of a one-trick pony.  It's all malts, all the time.  The flavor is great but I wanted a little something extra in there to mix things up.  This is definitely one I'd share a pitcher with amongst friends though, and one of the more pleasant surprises of the night.

The next two beers I tried both hailed from the Boulder Beer Company (@boulderbeerco
) out of... you guessed it... Boulder, Colorado.  The first one was the Mojo IPA, a good crisp piney IPA that really worked well.  A great flavor to it but some of the ancillary factors (appearance, aroma) were a little lacking.  The second was the Kinda Blue Blueberry Wheat Beer, which was unfortunately a little disappointing as far as blueberry beers go.  It has a wheat-heavy earthy flavor but not a whole lot of blueberry taste to it.  Oh well... still glad I gave it at try!

Finally I broke out another beer from the Schmaltz Brewing Company... this time the He'Brew Bittersweet Lenny's Rye India Pale Ale.  Damn, that's a lot of name, and fortunately this one was a lot of beer.  It was a 10% abv imperial IPA brewed with rye malts.  It had more of a barleywine aroma to it than an IIPA, with a strong balance of malt and hops and a sweet molasses feel.  The taste was more of the same... a fantastic beer and certainly a highlight of the contest as far as the beers went!

 

Thanks again to Sammy at Calandro's for helping us out and providing these taste beers to drink while we cooked!  It was a great time with great people.