As you may have guest, Jim and I have decided the show has run its course. When we get time we’ll record a fairwell.
Episode 115: Abita Satsuma Harvest Wit – First from the Big Easy
We begin a series on Abita beers with Satsuma Harvest Wit. We’ll be doing four Abita beers over the next four weeks.
News
This is an update from a story we brought you several weeks ago about a beer from Michigan. Drinks Americas Holdings, Ltd announced that on July 4th it started brewing and filling kegs for the launch of Kid Rock’s “AMERICAN BADASS BEER COMPANY”. Kid Rock plans to launch kegs of his new AMERICAN BADASS BEER American Style Lager at Detroit’s Comerica Park in time for concert dates July 17th and 18th. AMERICAN BADASS BEER will be available at kiosks within the park during the concerts.
After these shows, a newly formed sales team will begin meeting with and selecting distributors and filling orders in the Michigan market. J. Patrick Kenny, CEO of Drinks Americas, said, “ We will launch AMERICAN BADASS BEER in Michigan starting with Comerica Park and then rolling out to the balance of the Michigan market.
Satsuma Harvest Wit
- Abita is located north of New Orleans, in the town of Abita Springs, Louisanna.
- Abitia first began brewing beer in 1986. That year, the company produced 1,500 barrels of beer. Today, they brew over 80,000 barrels of beer annually and 5,000 barrels of root beer annually, which puts that in the larger craft beer area.
- In fact, they are the 31st largest brewery in the country right now and the 17th largest craft brewer.
- We are going to get into more of the history over the next few weeks, but let’s talk about this weeks beer first.
- It weighs in at 5.1% abv and is made with the satsuma fruit.
- The satsuma fruit is a citrus fruit, something along the line of an organe or a tangerine.
- Pour – Almost Coors lite in color. A little bit of haze, but really not much to speak of. The head is a crisp white, that does seem to stick around for at least a few seconds.
- Smell – Citrusy, but not bitter citrusy, almost organe or tangerine. That would be the Satsuma fruit I suppose. Some spices, corriander, but very light.
- Taste – First taste I get is of bitter orange rind. A little bit of the lighter wheat comes through as well. Mouthfeel is medium with a tone of carbonation.
- Overall, it is an intersting beer. I can see this being a very good quenching beer, and after tasting this I would like to actually like to try the Satsuma fruit.
Next Week
OK, next week will be another Abita, although to be honest I am not sure which one.
Posted in Abita, Hefeweizen
Episode 114: Unibroue La Fin Du Monde – End of the world, or just end of the series?
Did you hear Jake mention he has a Tour de France podcast? Want to hear more audio gold from the co-creator of Your Next Beer, check out the Tour de France for Beginners podcast.
News
This weeks news is really less news and more of a shameless plug for a Chicago related beer event.The third annual AleFest Chicag will be held on Saturday. More than 150 craft brews from some 50 domestic and foreign breweries will be poured at Soldier Field’s Stadium Green which is the grassy plaza outside the lake side of the stadium. Represented will be such Chicago-area breweries and brewpubs as Flossmoor Station, Goose Island, Metropolitan, Piece, Three Floyds and Two Brothers. Attendees will be able to taste brews and quiz brewers or brewery reps about how their favorite beers are made.
Unibroue La Fin Du Monde
- This weeks beer, La Fin Du Monde, weighs in at 9.0% abv and is classified as a Belgian Trippel.
- For those of you who don’t remember, we did talk about trippels in our Belgian series. However, as a brief refresher:
- The name “Tripel” actually stems from part of the brewing process, in which brewers use up to three times the amount of malt than a standard Trappist “Simple.”
- Traditionally, Tripels are bright yellow to gold in color, the head should be big, dense and creamy. Aroma and flavor runs along complex, spicy phenolic, powdery yeast, fruity/estery with a sweet finish.
- Sweetness comes from both the pale malts and the higher alcohol. Bitterness is up there for a beer with such a light body for its strength, but at times is barely perceived amongst the even balance of malts and hops. The lighter body comes from the use of Belgian candy sugar (up to 25% sucrose), which not only lightens the body, but also adds complex alcoholic aromas and flavors. Small amounts of spices are sometimes added as well.
- La Fin Du Monde roughly translates to the end of the world, and was brewed to honor the great explorers, who believed they had reached the end of the world when they discovered America.
- First brewed in February of 1994 after 18 months of research, the website describes it as having champagne-like effervescence, it has a vigorous presence in the mouth, which accentuates its strong personality. Slightly tart, with the balanced flavors of wild spices, malt and hops, it belongs to the class of great Trappist beers and, in this regard, is a North American first. At meals, it can replace white or red wines and enhances the flavor of most dishes.
Next Week
Well that’s all for the Unibroue beers. Next week I think we are going to start another series based on a brewery, but I am not sure which one yet, so tune in a find out.
Episode 113: Unibroue Maudite – Wasn’t this the show with Bee Arthur?
News
In order to promote responsible drinking this July 4th, we bring a story of true drunken stupidity to you this week so you can know what not to do. According to the Associated Press, a South Milwaukee man was accused of driving drunk last week after trying to use a golf cart to drive home nearly 40 miles away from the golf course where he had been drinking beer. The man told police that his relatives had left him behind at the golf club. I have wanted to leave drunk people at the golf course from time to time. So he got in a golf cart and headed home down Highway 167. When the sheriff caught up with him, the man said he had drunk about 10 beers, but did not consider himself intoxicated. I think that if you think for some reason that driving a golf cart home, clearly, you are either retarded or drunk…or both. So don’t do that this weekend.
In a side note a recommendation from a listener, Tasting Beer: An Insider’s Guide to the World’s Greatest Drink a book by Randy Mosher
Unibroue Maudite
- Back this week to Unibroue. We are halfway through the series and to be bevery honest, there isn’t alot more that we can say about the brewery.
- As a brief review, Unibroue is a Candaian brewery located in Quebec, Canada. The brewry is currently owned by Sapporo a Japanesse company.
- In November 1992 Maudite which is translated to “the damned one, was the first strong beer to be distributed in Quebec grocery stores.
- It weighs in at 8% abv and is classifed on the website as a Strong Red Ale, refermented in the bottle, which probably just means bottle conditioned.
- Because of the high alcohol content on this one, it can be cellared and the website says that it has a 5 year life span or more.
- Maudite has a typically Quebecois name that is reminiscent of the legend of the Chasse-Galerie (the legend of the Flying Canoe). Legend has it that a group of lumberjacks struck a deal with the devil to fly home in their canoes, guided by Satan himself, to make it home in time for Christmas. This is the scene that is depicted on the label as well.
Next Week
One more week, and one more Unibroue beer. We are going to be looking at La Fin Du Monde, which I believes translates into the end of the world. So tune in and enjoy.
Posted in Unibroue
Episode 112: Unibroue Chambly Noire – Does anybody actually know what that means?
News
Well, for the second week in a row we have a Pennsylvannia story. This one is from my home town of Pittsburgh, where the Pittsburgh Brewery will no longer be producing Iron City. All production will be moved to the old Latrobe brewery, owned by City Brewing. The brewery will go dark on June 22nd for the first time in 150 years. The brewery president said that the old Pittsburgh brewery cost too much to upgrade and and was not sustainable in the current economic climate.
Unibroue Chambly Noire
- Alright, well we are back for a second week at Unibroue, which we found out last week was a Canadian brewer that makes some rather potent beer.
- We talked a little bit about the brewery last week, but let’s go back into the background some more.
- In 1990, the founders of Unibroue, André Dion and Serge Racine obtained 75% interest in La Brasserie Massawippi Inc., a struggling brewery in Lennoxville, Quebec.
- At the end of 1991 the remaining shares of Massawippi were acquired and transferred to Unibroue Inc. Massawippi changed its name to Brasserie Broubec Inc. and amalgamated with Unibroue in 1993 to form the corporation that was around before it was bought by Sleeman.
- In spring 1992, Blanche de Chambly was unveiled after consultation with a Belgian brewer. La Maudite debuted in November of the same year, and Unibroue began to invade the palates of Quebecers. It would be another 18 months of research until their next beer, La Fin du Monde was ready for the market in February 1994.
- Another year passed, and Raftman debuted in March of 1995, followed by La Gaillarde in August. By now Unibroue was gaining respect and was exporting: even slow learning LCBO permanently stocked Maudite and Blanche de Chambly in the fall of 1995. Unibroue’s first seasonal, Quelque Chose, was unveiled in January 1996, and L’Eau Bénite debuted in June 1996.
- More on the history next week, but as for now, how about the beer for this week, Unibroue Chambly Noire.
- Chambly Noire weighs in at 6.2% abv, which is a step above last week, and is classified as a Belgian Dark Ale.
- Belgian Dark Ale’s are traditionally all over the board, but are darker in color and can contain some spiceness, as you can expect with some typical Belgians.
Posted in Unibroue
Episode 111: Unibroue Ephemere – So starts the series with difficult pronunciations.
As promised our Unibroue series begins with a small little thing Ephemere.
News
This weeks story comes from Harrisburg, the state capital, where the Pennsylvania Supreme Court says stores and restaurants with licenses allowing beer to be consumed on the premises cannot limit sales to take out. The court ruled 5-1 Monday against a Sheetz convenience store in Altoona, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported. Louis Sheetz, the chain’s executive vice president for marketing, said he was surprised by the ruling and does not understand the court’s reasoning. “We are certainly not the first, and we certainly won’t be the last restaurant to sell six-packs,” he said. “The only possible difference is that they serve beer on the premises, and we do not.” Giant Eagle, a chain that has cafe areas inside its stores, has applied for beer licenses for seven stores in western Pennsylvania. Dick Roberts, Giant Eagle spokesman, said the chain is studying the court ruling, because it had planned to sell beer only for off-premises drinking.
Unibroue Ephemere Ale
- Well finally, no more Irish beers for a while. This week we turn our sites on a Canadian beer company, Unibroue, and the first in a series of beer that we are going to cover from that brewery.
- This was actually a listener suggested series from Ben in Chicago, so thanks Ben for the idea and feel free to keep them coming to everyone else as well.
- Unibroue is a brewery located in Chambly, Quebec and was founded by Quebec native Andre Dion in 1993.
- As with most breweries these days, it has been bought several times, first by Sleeman Brothers, Ltd in 2004 and then later by the Japaneses brewer Sapporo in 2006.
- Now I don’t want to cover too much of this company in the first week because quite frankly I am already a little worried about running out of material in the coming weeks, so lets focus some on the beer for the evening.
- Tonight’s beer, Ephemere, weighs in at 5.5% abv, and I believe is the lowest alcohol beer that Unibroue makes. There are a lot of high octane products from the brewery.
- It has been brewed since 2002 and is described as a while ale brewed with apple must on the website and ale brewed with apple juice, coriander, and curacao on the label.
- I had this one out of a 750 ml bottle that was corked and capped. The bottle claims that it is a bottle conditioned beer, and with the cork popping, that would seem to be true.
- The pour was light in color, very much like a wheat beer and very hazy, again like a wheat beer. It also had a nice big white fluffy head that seemed to go away rather quickly.
- The smell on this one was green apple, almost like a jolly rancher green apple it was that potent. It got me wondering if this was going to taste artificial.
- The flavor is not as potent as the smell may suggest, with a bit of bitterness up front and the apple aftertaste.
- There was a little bit of sourness here, but really not too much. Overall it was a pretty good beer for summertime. It really wasn’t too heavy and the apple gave it just enough to make it taste different than a wheat beer.
Next Week
Next week we are going to continue our Unibroue series with Chambly Noire, a dark Belgian beer.
Posted in Unibroue
Episode 110: Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale – Too many Southpark jokes here to mention.
The second, and last, beer in our Irish Beer in Ireland series we look at Kilkeny Irish Cream Ale. Sorry about my audio quality, I forgot to turn my actual microphone.
News
Well talk about topical, we not only have a news story for you tonight, but it is a news story about Ireland. The oldest brewery in Ireland closed on May 30th. The Beamish and Crawford brewery was opened in Cork, a southern county in Ireland, around 1792. Production of Beamish is being transferred to the Heineken Lady’s Well brewery in Cork following a decision made last year. This means that Beamish and Murphy’s, once bitter rivals, will now be housed under the same roof. Heineken Ireland meanwhile has presented the Beamish archives – probably one of the most complete brewing archives in Ireland or Britain – to the Cork city archives. Beamish, as you may remember, was an Irish Stout that we covered back in our first Irish series and I actually like it better than Guiness.
Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale
- Tonights beer is Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale, named after a town located in the middle of the country, Kilkenny.
- A little bit about the background of this beer. Well, guess what, it is made by Diageo, the giant beverage company that also makes Guiness, Harp, and Smithwicks.
- We have talked long and hard about Diageo, so I am not really going to say much about the company.
- The beer is actually produced in Kilkenny in the same brewery that produces Smithwicks.
- The St. Francis Abbey Brewery occupies over 25 acres in the heart of Kilkenny City. The brewery has been part of local life for over 290 years and it is here that Smithwick’s Ale was first brewed in 1710.
- To give you a feeling of the size of the brewery, Budwieser is also produced there for the Irish domestic market.
- Tonights beer weighs in at 4.3% abv and is not available in the US. It is available over most of Europe and even Canada, but not here. Also, there are some rumors that the beer may start to be imported here in the future, so just keep your eyes open.
- Kilkenny is first a formost a nitro beer, alot like Guiness. This gives it a nice creamy mouthfeel and large head.
- The taste is rather well balanced, with some nice malty flavor and just a bit of bitterness from the hops. This is really kind of like Smithwicks, just a little bit better mouthfeel.
- Overall, I would give this one a try if you can get it.
Next Week
Well, that is just about it for the Irish beers, being that this is the second Irish beer series that we have done within the last 4 months. Next week a new series, one completely focused on Unibroue. So tune in.
Posted in Irish Beers
Episode 109: Guinness –You can wash your car with the American stuff
Jim’s back from Ireland and we begin to take on some of the beers he sampled over there, starting with Guinness.
News
A press release from MillerCoors today is announcing that they are recalling one of their products. MillerCoors has recalled a batch of Coors Light in the Southeastern United States after taste tests at the company’s Georgia brewery found the beer to be subpar. Yeah, go ahead, make your jokes here about Coors Light not really having any taste anyway. MillerCoors began pulling the beer from its distribution system and from retailers. “We sampled it and realized it wasn’t up to standards,” said Pete Marino, a spokesman for MillerCoors. He didn’t immediately know how much beer was recalled, or if the recall had been completed. But the batch involved only Coors Light brewed at the firm’s Albany, Ga., brewery.
St. James Gate Brewery, Dublin
- Before we go into Guinness, let me tell you a little bit about the experience that was the St. James Gate Brewery.
- While the old brewery building is no longer actually used as a production brewery, Diageo Guinness’s parent company, has done a fantastic job turning it into a self guided museum.
- One of the first things that you see when you walk in is the famous 9,000 year lease that Arthur Guinness signed in 1759 for 45 lbs per year. The lease is situated at the base of what is supposed to be a giant pint glass of Guiness, and by giant I mean 5 or 6 stories high.
- The museum takes you through the production of Guinness, and beer in general in a rather detailed and interactive experience.
- Once you get through the production levels, there are several exhibits that show you about Guinness advertising over the years and even a place where you can pour your own. Because pouring Guinness correctly is half of a good Guinness.
- At the top of the tour, and top of the building, is the Gravity Bar, where your ticket can be redeemed for one free pint of Guinness.
- Now, I am a little fuzzy on the vital stats of Guinness overseas, so I will say that is weighs in at 5.0% abv which may be a little lower than the US version.
- This beer in Ireland I thought was actually much better than Guinness in the US, and I enjoy a good Guinness in the US. It seemed to be a little bit more full bodied, almost a little bit thicker than its US cousin. It also had a slightly more bitter flavor from what I would guess is the increase in roasted malt.
- One thing that may be influence the taste is the water. Yes, brewers all run their water through filtration systems, but you can’t always get everything out.
- As our cab drive said while we were there, “You could wash your car with the stuff in America, the Guiness in Ireland is much better” and I kind of half to agree.
Next Week
Next week we will be keeping with the Ireland theme and talking about Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale, yet another beer that I had a chance to have in Ireland.
Posted in Stout
Episode 108: PENNdemonium – This beer may cause Pandemonium…get it…because the beers name is Penndemonium.
Another bit of “filler” this week, but tastey, tastey filler. This week we look PENNdemonium.
News
Another in a long line of stupid beer related crimes tonight’s. Authorities are investigating a chainsaw attack. Leflore County Sheriff Bruce Curnutt says a group of men walked to a house in Monroe and said their car was out of gas. The residents drove them to their car but say they noticed a pack of beer was missing from the good Samaritan’s vehicle. A fight broke out and the officials say a man with the group that ran out of gas grabbed a chainsaw and cut another man’s arm.
PENNdemonium
- Penn Brewery was founded in 1986 by Tom and Marybeth Pastorius, however they had to contract out their brewing at first because of a PA law that stated that you weren’t allowed to be a microbrewery or brew-pub.
- Tom Pastorius, with technical and financial assistance from the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, began restoring the former Eberhardt and Ober Brewery located at 800 Vinial Street in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Three of the original E & O brewery buildings remain, the stock house (c. 1880-84), and office building standing on a side cut into the rock of Troy Hill. Pastorius hired German Brew-master Alex Deml, who oversaw construction of the 20,000 barrel-a-year capacity brewing facility, which included custom built and authentic German imported micro-brewery equipment.
- The brewery and restaurant was scheduled to go out of business as of Feb 2009, but at the last minute a 5 year lease was signed, so I guess they are still there.
- Tonight’s beer, Penndemonium is a maibock beer, a springtime beer that appears to be a lighter bock beer but is pretty strong with the alcohol content. This one weighs in at 10% abv.
- This beer poured a lighter color than other maibocks, but the lack of head is in keeping with the style.
- This beer is unfiltered which means some yeasty goodness in the bottom of you’re glass
- Taste is a bit thin, almost light lager like, which is not good for this style.
- A bit malty but hardly any hops which is wrong for this style. Generally Maibocks are hopper than other bocks.
- The beer hides the alcohol taste very well, but that’s about the only thing it does well
Next Week
Next week we are going to go back to Ireland for beer, but with a little twist. Jim is actually going to Ireland and is going to taste some beers that are actually in Ireland.
Posted in Maibock
Episode 107: Hofbrauhaus Pittsburgh – More than just a beer
Another departure for YNB, this week we look at a Brew Pub Hofbrauhaus Pittsburgh. Jim and I are both traveling a lot so we are doing things a bit differently this week.
News
Well, this past weekend, for those of you who didn’t know, was the second race of the triple crown, the Preakness. This years attendance at the Preakness, which was won by a filly Rachel Alexandra, was down dramatically due to a ban on outside beer. The reason for the ban was because, shocklingly, drunk people can be rowdy and they decided that was enough of that. Just another reason to drink in moderation, just don’t give people a reason to take the beer away.
Hofbrauhaus Pittsburgh
- There are three Hofbrauhauses in the United States, one in Pittsburgh, one in Las Vegas, and one in Cincinnatti.
- Hofbrauhaus was founded in Germany and the first brewery was created in 1591.
- In 1828 a restaurant was added, so that the patrons could have both beer and food in one place.
- The Pittsburgh location is modeled after the old world style of the German locations, with four distinct areas. There is a open hall inside that is made up of benchs and a polka band, a quiet dinning room, an outdoor veranda, and an outdoor beer garden. The design includes lots of exposed wood beams and general German looks.
- The food is distinctly German, including various sausages and wursts, saukrauts, and schnitzels. I had a wurst platter that included three different types of wurst.
- Now, how about the beer. Well, they have four standards and one seasonal. The standards are all brewed on premise, while the seasonal may be brought in from Germany. The standards are a light lager, a standard lager, a Weizen, and a dunkel. The seasonals rotate by month.
- I had the dunkel beer, which is a dark lager and weighs in at 5.5% abv.
- The taste was distinctly maltly, with just a little bit of bitterness but a very easy drinker. And that is a good thing because the beers come in two sizes, half liter or liter. With those sizes, you really can’t have too heavy of a beer.
- Overall, I really enjoyed the experience. Not only was the beer and food excellent, but the atmosphere was fantastic as well. I strongly suggest going to one of them in the US if you are around one.
Next Week
Next week we will be doing a beer that both Jake and Jim have tried, it is Penndimonium from Penn Brewing Company in Pittsburgh.
Posted in General
Episode 106: Duck-Rabbit Bewery
Another week with a non-standard show.
We didn’t get a show together this week before Jake heads off to Seattle, so you get to sit in on a little conversation about Duck-Rabbit Brewery.
Next week, a new show … I promise 🙂
Posted in General
Episode 105: Clip Show
We are taking a break after our listener supported series for a clip show.
These shows are rated “R” so be aware if you listen in the car with your kids or if you are related to Jim or I.
We’ll be back next week with a whole new show!
Posted in General
Episode 104: Goose Island Bourbon County Stout – Sweet Home Chicago
For our two year anniversary we take a look at our last in the listener supported series, Goose Island Bourbon County Stout
News
AB Inbev has stopped using the “Born On” date on labels on some of its beer brands. They stated that improvements in brewing and packaging reduces the amount of oxygen introduced into the beers and shelf life can be extended up to 180 days. Bud Ice, Michelob Porter, Honey Lager, and Pale Ale will all drop the date while some of the bigger ones such as Bud and Bud Light will keep them. It is interesting here because Bud made such a big deal of this for such a long time, and this change is probably only the first step.
Goose Island Bourbon County Stout
- These weeks beer comes from Chicago’s own Goose Island Brewing Company, which is another one of those companies that we have talked about quite a bit on the show, not only because they have a great distribution system, but because they tend to make solid beers.
- Founded in 1988 by John Hall, and has two brewpub locations in the city of Chicago and one production brewery as well.
- This is a family affair, with John Hall being the president, and his son Greg Hall the head brewmaster at Goose Island.
- Tonights beer, the Bourbon County Stout, weighs in at 13% abv, and is a stout that has been aged in oak bourbon barrels.
- According to the website, it was brewed in honor of the 1000th batch at the original Clybourn brewpub. They go on to describe it as a liquid as dark and dense as a black hole with thick foam the color of a bourbon barrel. The nose is an intense mix of charred oak, chocolate, vanilla, caramel and smoke. One sip has more flavor than your average case of beer. A great cigar beer.
- Pouring this beer I would tend to agree that it is just about as dark as a black hole. Pouring it in front of my girlfriend, she thought I was pouring motor oil from the bottle.
- The head didn’t really come through for me, there is come around the edges of the glass but thats it.
- The smell is sweet vanilla at first, which comes from the barrels, and some light chocolate and sweet bourbon aromas come through too. This is one of the more complex beers that I have smelled.
- The tastes is more of that same complexity. There is the sweet vanilla and bourbon, a little alcohol heat, some chocolate and burnt toffee on the aftertaste. This is a beer that is meant to be savored and explored as opposed to just tossed back like a cheap Coors like.
- Really this is an outstanding beer. However, it is not a cheap beer. The four back cost me around $24.
Next Week
next week I think we are going to do a clip show, because well it has been a while since we have done a clip show and we need to kind of reset our minds and pallet’s. The next series however will begin in two weeks, and we aren’t really sure what that will be at this point, so tune in and find out.
Posted in Stout
Episode 103: Great Lakes Burning River Pale Ale – How does that even happen?
Second to last Episode in our listener supported series. This week we go back to the well and look at Burning River Pale Ale.
News
Boston will be the middle of the craft brewing world for the next few days. Starting on April 21st and going until April 24th, the Brewer’s Association has it’s annual Craft Brewers Conference. This conference happens every year and just about everyone in the craft brewing world is there in attendance. The speaker list reads like a rock star list of brewers and beer industry insiders.
Great Lakes Burning River Pale Ale
- Tonight’s beer comes from the Great Lakes Brewing Company, located in Cleveland, Ohio. We have talked about Great Lakes a few times, because it is one of my favorite breweries, they make reliably good beer, and both Jake and I can get it.
- Great Lakes has been in operations 1988, established by the Conway brothers first as a brewpub, the first brewpub in the state of Ohio in fact.
- As a result of that last expansion, you should be able to get their beers in most of the Midwest, including Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Wisconsin. I also think that they are now in Virgina as well, but I could be wrong about that last one.
- Tonight’s beer, Burning River Pale Ale, weighs in at 6.0% abv, and has won a ton of awards including Gold Medals in the 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 1996, 1995, and 1994 World Beer Championships, and Silver Medals in 2002, 2001, at the there as well.
- The name comes from one of the most infamous events in the history of Cleveland, where in 1969 the Cuyahoga River caught on fire because it was one of the most polluted rivers in the world. In fact, it caught on fire several times.
- The pour of this one is a light amber, a bit darker then a regular budwieser, but is around the color we see here. The head was small, but it did stick around for most of the glass.
- The smell if mildly to medium hoppy, with some citrusyness there. A little bit of sweet malt aroma goes to balance it out.
- The taste is much the same. This is not an IPA, so the hops aren’t overly aggressive. They are there and are stronger than the malt but don’t overpower the beer.
Next Week
Alright, one more week of you listener picks, and next week we will be looking at one from sweet home Chicago, Goose Island Bourbon County Stout.
Posted in American Pale Ale
Episode 102: Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout
We continue our listener supporter series looking at Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout.
News
Anheuser-Busch InBev is considering selling its Rolling Rock brand, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. For those of you who may not remember, InBev sold Anheuser-Busch the iconic Rolling Rock brand for $82 million in May 2006 and reacquired it when it bought Anheuser-Busch for about $52 billion last year. The paper said the brewer remains interested in selling Rolling Rock. Now the real question is where will the brand be brewed if and when it is sold. The Latrobe Brewery is either currently empty or owned by City Brewery which uses it to brew other companies beers.
Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout
- Well as by popular request we are going to re-examine a beer this week from last March, Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout.
- For those of you who don’t know, Brooklyn Brewery is one of my favorite brewery’s, not only due the fact that they make good beers, but also we use their brewmasters book, the “Brewmasters Table” as one of the major references for YNB.
- The brewing history is not unlike brewing history in many major US cities. Where once their was a vast network of breweries, prohibition took them down in numbers. Only recently have more and more small breweries, like Brooklyn, been sprouting up again.
- One interesting thing about Brooklyn is that they are a well published brewery, something you don’t often say. In addition to the Brewmasters Table, the owners have also written a book called Beer School, which details how they set up the brewery.
- Tonight’s beer, Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, weighs in at 10.6% and is classified as a Russian Imperial Stout.
- This beer is a winter seasonal beer, and is one of my favorites. Tonights version is a 08-09 vintage.
- The pour is motor oil black. There were some highlights in the pour but really they went away in the glass. It has a thick chocolate colored head.
- The smell is chocolatly, a little alcohol there. It just smells wonderful.
- The taste is a little of dark chocolate, a little alcohol hotness, and a little coffee flavor there as well, but something along the lines of a esspresso flavor.
- This is a great sipping beer, one that goes great with desserts and other sweeter flavors. Think of this like a coffee to go with your rich chocolately dessert. It can both balance out and compliment the sweetness.
Next Week
One more beer left in you pick-em series. So, you need to tell us what that beer is going to be, or I am going to pick one in my fridge.
Episode 101: Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock – On the way to 200.
Continuing our listener supported series we look at Celebrator Doppelbock.
News
MillerCoors LLC has launched a partnership with Sara Lee Corp. to produce a co-branded bratwurst that will debut this spring. The partnership will blend MillerCoors. Now I will say this about High Life, about the one thing that it is good for is cooking brats.
Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock
- The brewery is located in Aying, Germany, and is a pretty small area with a population of just under 4,500.
- The brewery founded in 1878 by the Inselkammer family, is award heavy, winning Small Brewery of the Year in 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997 as well as winning the top prize for every beer they submitted to the World Beer Championships in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006.
- Tonight’s beer, the Celebrator Doppelbock falls into a category of beers that we haven’t really touched much on in this show, bocks.
- This beer is a doppelbock is a relatively strong German lagers. Typically stronger than regular bocks.
- Generally they have a very full-bodied flavor and are rather dark with a higher level of alcohol, usually from 6.5-9% abv.
- Tonight’s beer weighs in at 6.7% abv and typically comes in a four pack as opposed to a more traditional six back. Mind you it still costs as much as the normal six pack.
- The pour is a dark brown to light black, if that is even possible, with some nice mahogany highlights around the edges.
- You get a nice sweet smell, a little bready, a little burnt and toffee like at places.
- The tastes is wonderful, I always forget how much I love this beer. It’s chocolaty and nutty, with some bitterness there as well. It isn’t too alcoholic on the tongue which is nice as well.
- Overall, a great beer but one that may be a special occasion beer. Not an everyday drinker unless you need another meal!
Next Week
Alright, next week, another listener request Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout
Posted in Bocks
Episode 100: Gulden Draak – Is 100 the Golden Anniversary?
In honor of our 100th show we start a listener request series with Gulden Draak.
News
I know that YNB tends to stay away from politics with the occasional commentary, however I think I actually found a story that blends beer and policitcs quite nicely. The Aurora Womens Republican party talked to brewmaster Mike Rybinski of Walter Paytons Roundhose and pared down a list of 26 potential beer characteristics to the most important three. Using these three characteristics, Rybinski’s job will brew a “Republican Ale” come September as part of a party fundraiser. Two lucky Republicans will even get to help brew the beer if their raffle ticket is pulled
Gulden Draak
- Gulden Draak comes from Belgium and the Brouwerij Van Steenberge N.V..
- The brewery is located in Ertvelde, East Flanders. This is the last brewery located in East Flanders.
- Gulden Draak, or if Golden Dragon if I am guessing the label correctly, weighs in at 10.5% ABV and is classified as a Triple.
- The Golden Dragon is actually a replica of a golden dragon on the top of the Belfry of Ghent and is said to be the protector of the treasures of the city. It has been there since 1382, and before that it was stolen back and forth between Ghent and Brugge.
- This beer pours a dark brown. You can sort of see through it but it rather hazy, which means it is probably unfiltered.
- The smell has a hint of alcohol but mostly smells of fresh fruits.
- Tastes sweet, very malt forward a very little bit of bitterness, maybe more from alcohol than hops.
- Very complex so much so that it left Jim speechless.
Next Week
Well we start the journey to 200 next week with another listener suggested beer, Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock. We also still need a couple more suggestions, so send in those ideas.
Episode 99: Harp Lager – Let’s Stop Harping on Irish Beer
We finish our Irish Beer series looking at Harp Lager
News
The Royal Brunei Marine Police Force (RBMPF) thwarted an alleged alcohol smuggling attempt into the Sultanate by a 37-year-old Bruneian man. Based on RBMPF’s initial investigations, the suspect, believed to be a mule, was provided with a van to transport the contraband to the distributor in the country. The suspect was also found carrying cash amounting to $952.
Harp Lager
- When most people think of Irish beer they think of stouts, they would be wrong. Like America, Lager’s are now king on the Isle, with around 63 percent of the beer sold there being lagers, about 32 percent being stouts, and the remaining 5 percent being general ales.
- Tonights beer is a basic lager, brewed by the same company that owns Guinness, Diageo.
- Now the dirty little secret about this beer is that the American version may or may not be brewed in Ireland. They also brew this in Canada at the Labatt’s brewery.
- This is not an old beer by Eurpean standards, being first brewed in 1960 in Dundalk Ireland at the Great Northern Brewery.
- The current version of Harp weighs in at 5.0% abv and I sampled it at a bar, on draft, so my review may be a little off due to the fact that they have dim lights.
- The color is light to medium golden in color, but it is filtered so it is pretty clear and crisp looking.
- There really wasn’t much to the smell, maybe a little hoppyness.
- There is a little bittnerness in the tastes, with some carbonation there to wipe it away as good lagers should have.
- Overall it isn’t too bad, but pretty basic to say the least. I would say this may be a good gateway beer, but probably only because it has a forgein name that may attract some people.
Next Week
Well next week is our 100th show, and we will be doing a listener recommended beer, Gulden Draak. So tune in and make sure to give us an idea of what to drink after that
Posted in Irish Beers
Episode 98: Smithwicks Ale – Thats “Smitticks” not not Smithwicks
Our second on our Irish Beer sereies, we turn our attention to Smithwicks.
News
In Lansing, Michigan, it was announced that a local craft brewer will make a beer with Kid Rocks name on it. The Michigan Brewing Co. plans to invest $7 million in the new product line. The village of Webberville also is considering a tax abatement. Michigan Brewing Co. was started in 1995 and sells nearly 20 kinds of craft beer in Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, New York, Texas, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Indiana, and Minnesota. It also has begun distilling vodka and other spirits.
Smithwicks Ale
- The beer is an Irish Red Ale, and is advertised as the oldest brewed ale in Ireland.
- Brewed in Kilkenny Ireland, it was originally brewed at a brewery called St. Francis Abbey Brewery, by Franciscan abbey monks.
- The recipe went commercial in 1710 when John Smithwick founded a brewery in Kilkeny.
- Smithwicks is also the largest selling beer in Ireland.
- Smithwicks weighs in at 4.8% abv, and once again I had this one on draft this past weekend.
- The pour was a mahogany with some amber in there as well. The head doesn’t last as long as the Beamish from last week, but that isn’t shocking because it isn’t a nitro pour.
- The smell was kind of subtle, with a little malt and a little hops.
- The taste is a bit more malty than hoppy, which is something that you should expect because this is an overseas beer.
Next Week
Next week we are going to talk about one more Irish beer, Harp Lager.
Posted in Irish Beers
Episode 97: Beamish Irish Stout – The other Irish Stout
For March we are talking about Irish Beers, you know cause of St. Patrick’s Day. This week we look at Beamish Irish Stout.
News
In San Diego, and around the country for that matter, a different kind of bar crawl is occurring. The Snuggie bar crawl. For those of you who are not familiar with the Snuggie, it is a blanket with arms. Bars are starting to take advantage of this, especially in the colder cities, and starting Snuggie Bar Crawls. There is on in San Diego on March 13th, and one here in Chicago around the 18ths of April.
Beamish Irish Stout
- Beamish Irish Stout is made at the Beamish and Crawford Plc Brewery located in Cork, Ireland.
- William Beamish and William Crawford founded the Cork Porter Brewery in 1792, by 1805 it had become the largest brewery in Ireland, producing over 100,000 barrels a year.
- Like many foriegn breweries, it has gone through quite a bit of change over the years in ownership, being bought in 1962, by the Canadian brewing firm Carling-O’Keefe Ltd. In 1987, Elders IXL purchased Canadian Breweries (incorporating Carling-O’Keefe). In 1995, Elders sold the brewery to Scottish and Newcastle.
- In 2008, Scottish Newcastle was bought by Heineken International, and as of this month, they are actually closing the original brewery and will be brewing the product at a Heineken brewery.
- Weighing in at 4.1 percent abv, it is actually right for an Irish Stout. Most people think that the dark beer is a heavy and high in alcohol. While they are all designed to be lighter beers, meant for long nights of drinking at the local pub.
- I had this beer a few nights ago on tap, and it was a nitrogen pour, which is the same as Guinness.
- The pour is dark ebony, with a nice creamy head that really didn’t go away throughout the entire beer.
- The smell is a little chocolaty, and a little bit of hops.
- The taste is a little chocolaty, but really dry as opposed to sweet. There is also some light roastyness there, think of some very light burnt flavor, but in a good way.
Next Week
Next week we will be talking about another Irish beer, and it is one that is much more available, Smithwicks.
Posted in Irish Beers
Episode 96: Abita Amber – A little taste of Louisiana.
This week, we finish up our Amber series with Abita Amber Ale
News
A Manatee County, Florida man is in jail after deputies say he stabbed his three roommates late Friday night. A witness told deputies that the offender and the victims were drinking beer when he left to go to the bathroom. When he returned, he saw the stabbing. The offender fled the scene on foot, but he was found about 500 yards away passed out. Apparently he was upset with the brand of beer two of the victims bought. Luckily, all three victims had non-life threatening injuries. What I really want to know is what beer were they arguing over.
Abita Brewing Amber
- Tonight’s beer comes from a brewery that we haven’t really had a chance to talk to much about, and that is Abita Brewing Company, from Abita Springs, Louisiana, 30 miles north of New Orleans.
- The first began brewing in 1986 and is the oldest crafter brewery in the south east. It today produce over 80,000 barrels a year.
- They use spring water from the Abita springs to brew there beer.
- As I step into the beer geek in me with this next comment, Abita was one of the first breweries in the country to use a Merlin system for brewing which is a more energy efficient way to boil the wort.
- Their flagship beer, either the Purple Haze or the Turbo Dog, are both pretty widely available, and if I am counting right are available in 35 states.
- Tonights beer, the Amber, is actually not an amber ale at all, it is instead a munich style lager. It was the first beer sold by the brewery in 1986.
- Weighing in at 4.5% ABV, it is a rather straight forward beer in alochol content, one you would typically expect to be a session style beer.
- The pour is a light amber with a big creamy head that sticks around for a few minutes.
- The smell is a sharper hop smell, and it looks like it is going to have good carbonation as well.
- The taste is slightly sweet, slightly sour, and subtle hoppy. I guess I would compare this beer more to a malty pilsner.
Next Week
Who knows whats next. I am thinking that we may do a few shows on porters or stouts, maybe specifically Irish beers.
Posted in Amber Ale
Episode 95: Tröegs Nugget Nectar – This beer is a true gold nugget
Getting back to our Amber series we look at a very regional brewery and Tröegs Nugget Nectar
News
Tonight’s news comes from the state of Oregon, where if a group of state lawmakers gets its way, the tax on beer might go up 1,800 percent. Five legislators have introduced Oregon House Bill 2461, which would impose a $49.61 tax on each barrel of beer produced by Oregon brewers. The aim is to increase revenue for the state; specifically, says the bill, to fund prevention, treatment and recovery programs for those addicted to alcohol and other substances.
The last malt beverage tax increase in the state was 32 years ago, and it currently ranks next to last among states in such taxation rates. Opponents of the bill say the low tax rate is one of the major factors in making Oregon an attractive place for brewers.
They say passage of the increase would raise the price of beer, probably cost jobs, and result in lowered revenues for the state in the long run. This also could be the story across the nation, with more and more states considering raising the taxes. Look for higher prices in the future.
Tröegs Nuggest Nectar
- Tonight’s beer comes from Tröegs Brewing Company, a brewery that we may not have talked about for a while if at all.
- Tröegs is located in Harrisburg, PA and is not widely distributed. In fact, I am not sure if you can get this outside of the Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia.
- The name Tröegs is actually a combination of the name of the founders, John and Chris Trogner, and the Dutch word for pub, kröeg.
- Established in 1997, Tröegs was founded in Harrisburg because John and Chris wanted to start a brewery in Colorado, but it had to much competition. It was a simple case of supply and demand, there was demand in PA, and not much supply.
- Tonight’s beer, Nugget Necatar weighs in at 7.5% abv and is advertised as one of the hoppiest ambers out there. Made with Nugget, Warrior and Tomahawk Hops, it has an IBU of 93. They say this beer is their Hopback beer just turned up a few notches.
- We haven’t talked about IBU’s much on this show, but they stand for international bitterness units and is generally a way to tell about how bitter the beer is. The higher the number, the more bitter the beer. So 93, is pretty bitter.
- The beer pours a light amber with a nice white head that sticks around a while.
- The smell very hoppy. This is one of the most hop forward smells we have talked about in a long time. There may be a little malt back bone in this beer, but really it is very low.
- The beer is hoppy, but almost a slightly sweet hoppy. Some beers that are this hoppy can be almost undrinkable in my opinion, just overpowering, but this one is actually just about perfect, just up to the level. It is very drinkable and smooth.
Next Week
Alright, next week we have one beer left in the amber series, Abita’s Amber Ale.
Posted in Amber Ale
Episode 94: Rogue American Amber Ale – Salute the bottle
After a one week break to celebrate Pittsburgh we are back to our Amber series. This week its Rouge American Amber.
News
A 22-year-old man ran out of a Silver Springs Citgo gas station with two cases of Bud Light Sunday night, pulling a knife on a customer who tried to stop him. James Steven Buckman had little time to enjoy the beer, as Marion County sheriff’s deputies soon arrested him at his Econo Lodge motel room across the street. Thats right, he was camped out right across the street!
Rogue’s American Amber Ale
- Tonight’s beer is from the West Coast and is rather widely available.
- We have talked about Rogue in the past, but just to refresh some memories, they are located in Newport, Oregon.
- They are one of the bigger craft brewers in the country, and have a variety of beers out on the market, although as we have talked about on this show before, some of the beers are just re branded versions of the same beer.
- Tonight’s beer weighs in at 5.6% abv, and is made up of four types of malt, two types of hops, and their proprietary Pacman yeast. It won a gold medal in the 2006 World Beer Championship.
- The beer pours amber, again not a huge shock here considering the name of the series and all, with a nice creamy head on top.
- The aroma has some citrusy and hoppiness notes there, but there is some malt backbone there to give the beer some body.
- The taste is more of that same balance, just enough hops to give it a little bite and just enough malt to make the beer stick around in your mouth and want the hops to be there.
- This really is a very well balanced beer. I would say this is a great session beer, one that you an have several of and not be too overwhelmed. It is moderate in alcohol so you won’t get too drunk of several of them as well.
Next Week
Well next week we will be heading back to Pennsylvania and Tröegs Nugget Nectar, a beer that I don’t have but Jake does.
Posted in Amber Ale
Episode 93: Pittsburgh Beer Part 2 – Because we have some extra and we can
Another week focusing on Pittsburgh. We had some more beer lying around so we recorded another show.
News
This weeks news story comes from Spirit Airlines and some angry flight attendants. It appears that the new aprons that they have to wear have a Bud Light logo on them. The group of angry flight attendants says that the ads are not only “demeaning” but raise safety concerns, as flight attendants are obligated to enforce federal regulations regarding intoxicated passengers. Spirit says that the new aprons are the latest revenue-generating tactic in its onboard advertising initiative, called Mile High Media, launched in September. Spirit has introduced introduced Hertz ads on ticket jackets and cups, ads on napkins. I think they should start turning the planes into NASCAR style planes with tones of ads on them as well.
Pittsburgh Beers Part 2
- Alright, since we have some time and two more beers left from the beers that we bought earlier, we figured we would do a few more Pittsburgh beers tonight.
- These are two more beers from two of the breweries that we talked about last week, Penn Brewery and Church Brewworks.
- We will start with the Church Brewworks this week and their Celestial Gold, a German style pilsner weighing in at 4.1% abv. As we mentioned last week, Church is actually a brewpub in an old Church, with the brew kettle on the altar. Possibly a little sacrilegious, but hey, it is good beer. In addition, this is going to be a tough beer to get outside of the Pittsburgh area, but if you are in the area you can stop by and either get bottles or pick up a growler of the stuff on premise.
- The second brewery this week is the Penn Brewery and their Penn Wiezen, a Hefewiezen weighing in at 5.0% abv.
Next Week
Well next week it is back to our amber series. We will be looking at a beer from Rogue Ales Brewery and American Amber Ale. So tune in and listen.
Posted in Hefeweizen, Pilsner
Episode 92: Pittsburgh Beers – Here we Go Steelers!
A departure from the Amber series in this post Super Bowl 43 world, we talk about Pittsburgh beers.
Pittsburgh Beers
- At first I was hoping to do a comparison show between Arizona beers and Pittsburgh beers, but the only beer that I could find from Arizona was Dave’s Crazy Chili beer, and I refuse to try that.
- We are going to be tasting three beers, from three different breweries tonight, including Penn Brewery’s Penn Dark, the Church Brew Works Pious Monk Dunkle and of course, the old standard, Iron City Light.
- IC Light. is the big time Super Bowl beer for me. Made by Iron City Brewery it weighs in at 4.15%.
- On to Church Brew Works, which is located directly across from the Iron City brewery. Since they are a brewpub and you really can’t get this stuff anywhere outside of the Pittsburgh area.
- Finally lets end with the Penn Brewery’s Dark Pennis actually no longer making their beer in Pittsburgh. They have recently closed their brewery in Pittsburgh nd have been brewing all of their beer at the Lion Brewery up in Wilks-Barre. The Penn Dark weighs in at 5.0% abv.
Next Week
Another Pittsburgh Beer show. We revisit Church Brew Works and Penn to tackle two more of their beers and continue the celebration of all things Pittsburgh and beer.
Posted in American Lager
Episode 91: Fat Tire Amber Ale – Peddling it way into our hearts.
We start a new series talkin’ bout Amber Ales. We start off with one of our favorite beers, Fat Tire Amber Ale. Ambers are a good bit lighter and hoppier than barleywines. A nice departure.
News
Police have arrested a Greenfield, California man for allegedly arranging to sell his 14-year-old daughter into marriage in exchange for $16,000, 100 cases of beer and several cases of meat. Police said they only learned of the deal after the 36-year-old man went to them to get his daughter back because payment wasn’t made as promised. The man was arrested Sunday on suspicion of human trafficking. Officers also arrested an 18-year-old man on suspicion of statutory rape. Investigators believe the girl went willingly with the man, but she’s under California’s legal age of consent and can’t legally marry.
Amber Ales
- We will be talking about Amber Ales for the next couple weeks, which I will admit is a bit of a catch all category. It is also one that many brewers produce and I would wager to guess nearly all brewpubs make.
- An amber ale tends to focus more on maltly flavors, but there can be some hoppyness depending on the brewer and the beer. The color is going to be, shockingly, amber.
- Expect to see ABV’s in the range of 4-7% for these beers.
Fat Tire Amber Ale
- Fat Tire is brewed by New Belgium Brewing Company located in Fort Collins, Colorado.
- Founded in 1991 by Jeff Lebesch, a home-brewer and electrical engineer, and Kim Lebesch a social worker and first sales person for New Belgium, the first two beers were the Fat Tire and a brown dubbel.
- Fat Tire was actually named for the owners bike trip through Belgium. The label of this beer features a big and employees receive a replica of this bike on their one year anniversary.
- Fat tire weighs in at 5.2% abv and is available is in quite a few states.
- The pour is amber in color with a nice little head that provides some nice lacing as you drink the beer.
- The smell is light and malty, although there is some nice citrus smell from the hops.
- The taste is balanced to malty in flavor, however there is some nice hoppyness there at times as well.
- This is a great beer to introduce people to good beer with. It isn’t too overwhelming, and it is a great session beer. I will admit, this is my favorite beer to drink with a nice slice of deep dish pizza.
Next Week
Another amber, which one we do not know, so stay tuned.
Posted in Amber Ale
Here we go Steelers
As regular listeners will know we are Steelers fans.
And Flying Dog has given us another reason to root for the Black and Gold.
As if we needed one.
Posted in General
Episode 86: Winter Sampler – Happy Holidays!
A departure from our Barley Wine series as we often do around the Holidays.
We take a look back at four Winter Beers we covered last year.
I pulled out just the tasting notes for:
- Rouge – Santa’s Private Reserve
- Great Lakes – Christmas Ale
- Sierra Nevada – Celebration Ale
- Troegs – Mad Elf
Consider it a sampler pack of just the tasting notes on those beers. If you want to see the original posts, just click on Winter Beers here, above or in the sidebar.
Next Week
We’ll be back at it with a LIVE tasting show. That is Jim and I will be in the same room huddled around a microphone enjoying a beer. And who knows some friends of the show may be around too, so it could be a good time.
For the inquiring minds, I didn’t include the Winter Lager/Winter Moon show because the sound quality was crap.
Posted in Winter Beers
Episode 84: Hop Rod Rye – This beer can motor.
Our last in the Rye series is Hop Rod Rye. The edit might be a bit rough, because well I didn’t listen to it. Erin and I are traveling sans computer so I had to wing it.
News
Authorities in southwest Florida say an drunk man had his 9-year-old son take him on a beer run. Cape Coral police arrested the 27-year-old man last week, after seeing a pickup truck drive onto a median. When officers stopped the truck, the man told them he was teaching his son to drive. Officers say the father’s speech was slurred, his breath smelled of alcohol and he unable to stand without swaying. The man was charged with cruelty toward a child and allowing an unlicensed minor to drive.
Hop Rod Rye
- Bear Republic is located in Healdsburg, California which is located in Sonoma County, home of some great wine.
- One of the owners is also the brewmasters here, Richard G. Norgrove. The other owner is Richard R. Norgrove. I am guessing they may be related too.
- I will be honest, I could not turn up a lot on this brewery, although they do make a few tasty beers such as Racer 5 IPA, Big Bear Stout Ale, and tonight’s beer, Hop Rod Rye.
- The distribution for this beer is actually not although if you live in the north middle and south east of the country you could be in trouble. They distribute to Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, So. Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin.
- Tonight’s beer weighs in at around 8.00% ABV, so it has a little kick to it, and is probably close to an IPA or APA style.
- The bottle tells me that it is, “a high performance, turbo charged, alcohol burnin’ monster ale with dual overhead hop injection, made with 18% rye.”
- The beer is an unfiltered beer, so it may have some sediment in the bottom so watch when you pour. Mine poured a dark brown, although not like a porter or stout brown, but the color of the bottle. The head is a little off white and sticks around for a second or two.
- The smell right away is hops, shocking from the name and all, but then comes the slight sweetness in the aroma that seems to grow a little bit with each sniff. Think along the lines of sweet citrus here.
- The taste follows through with the hops on the front and back but there is that subtle taste of malt and rye as well. The malt gives it the sweetness, the rye kind of lends a little twang to it.
Next Week
Next week we will start the month of Jim getting drunk, or in other words, we will be starting our barley wine series.
Posted in Rye
Episode 83: Terrapin Rye Pale Ale – Turtle Power
After a week wishing you Happy Thanksgiving, we are back to our series on Rye beers. Jake was actually able to find Terrapin Rye Ale, so that’s what we look at this week.
News
A Japanese company, Bandai, has come out with a new beer shampoo. The beer foams up and overflows like a shaken up bottle of beer when water is added. Bandai has given Beer Shampoo a fruity citrus scent just in case those who have already imbibed a few REAL beers don’t down the wrong suds. The bottle is convincingly beer-like and the shampoo itself contains hops. The product is released on December 1st in Japan, although Bandai has no plans to export Beer Shampoo to the U.S.
Terrapin Rye Pale Ale
- Rye, like barley, is a grass cearal grain. It is mainly grown in eastern, central, and northen Europe. Typically you are going to see rye used in breads like pumpernickel. The beer with have some of that same earthy flavors to it, a little more sharp than the typical barly malt.
- So tonights beer comes from Terrapin Brewing Company, which is located in Athens, Georgia.
- Terrapin was founded by Brian “Spike” Buckowski and John Cochran and was named after the Greatful Dead album Terrapin Station. Mr. Buckowski is a bit of a Deadhead it seems.
- There first release for the brewery was this Ryle Ale was in 2002.
- The Rye Pale Ale won a Gold Medal at the GABF for American Pale Ale in 2002, and weighs in at 5.3% ABV and is brewed with 10% rye malt.
- So the name should give this away, but this is a pale ale, that means that you shouldn’t expect a big rye taste.
- Pours a copper, little darker than a pale with a little white head that goes away after a few sips except around the edge of the glass
- Nose is very pale ale no real rye.
- Taste starts the same way but in the mid-pallet you get a different kind of malt taste, that’s the rye. Best way to describe it is a bit more bitter and grassy than your normal malt taste
- Finish is what you expect from an APA nice grapefruity hops
Next Week
One more week of rye beer, and this one is going to come from California and Hop Rod Rye and Bear Republic. This is going to be the last of the Rye Beers that we cover.
Posted in Rye
Episode 82: Happy Thanksgiving – Who needs wine?
Back to our normal show, Jim’s internet is limping along. We give you our Thanksgiving Show. We talk about 10 or 15 beers so get your pen and paper ready.
News
The AB/Inbev deal that we talked about on several shows is finally a done deal. Most of what had to happen was formality, there was rumors in recent weeks of some doubt that the deal could get done due to the current economic climate. The 52 billion dollar deal did close however, and the new company will be called Anheuser Busch InBev.
Thanksgiving Beer
- I am just guessing here, but most people probably have some sort of wine with the big turkey dinner. I know my family enjoys a few bottles of Asti every year. Well, believe it or not, you can substitute beer in there and it can work just as well if not better.
- The trick with Thanksgiving though is that there are lots of different situations to work with. You have the before dinner drink, the dinner drink which has to pair well with a variety of flavors, and then the dessert drink which is a completely different creature.
- The great thing about beer is that you can have bottles for each part of the meal and not only will it cost you less then the wine, but for the most part you will probably be less intoxicated as well, if you were to drink the same amounts of wine vs beer.
- Lets first deal with the pre-meal drink. Now traditionally, I do actually drink beer here, although it is usually what my family has around which is a light beer of some sort. Recently we have actually have some decent lagers around, which aren’t bad ideas. You don’t want that is really powerful or overwhelming here, because it could taint the rest of the night. Think something crisp like a pilsner or a basic lager.
- Now the meal itself is kind of difficult, so I am going to speak to my personal tastes here. Generally, the dinner is going to be a little on the saltier side, with the stuffing, mashed potatoes, turkey, and vegetables. I like to balance that out with a sweeter beer, maybe a belgian of some type like a saison. Actually the Hennipen here from Ommegang would be pretty good because the high carbonation would also help to push flavors off your tongue so that each bite is a new flavor.
- Now what about desserts? Generally, I drink coffee or some more wine with a slice of pie or two. What you are looking for then with a beer is something with a roasty, chocolaty, coffee like finish. Look for some nice porters, stouts, or even imperial stouts here.
Next Week
Alright, next week I promise we will go back to rye beer. We’ll be talking about Terrapin Rye Pale Ale and Jake will be doing the tasting for a change.
Posted in General
Episode 81 – Jim’s Got No Internets
Posted in General
Episode 80: Founders Red’s Rye Ale – A little Rye in your Eye.
A new series with a kind of beer we’ve never talked about, Rye. We start this week with Founders Red’s Rye
News
This weeks news story comes from Rice University where scientists have said that they have created a beer that can help save your life. BioBeer, as it’s called, has three genes spliced into special brewer’s yeast that produce resveratrol, the chemical in red wine that is thought to protect against diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s and other age-related conditions. Don’t expect this product to hit the shelves any time soon.
Founders Red’s Rye Ale
- The rye beer style can vary, and is generally defined as any beer that has rye in it. How is that for vague.
- The style probably originated in Germany and was called Roggenbier there. These beers typically had a very high rye content, as opposed to the modern US versions that can vary greatly.
- Typical American Rye beers are going to to have moderate bitterness in order to allow the often spicy and sour-like rye characteristics to pull through.
- This weeks beer comes from Founders Brewing Company in Grand Rapid, Michigain. Founders Brewing Company was started by Mike Stevens and Dave Engbers in November of 1997. These two were home brewers, as were many people who start breweries.
- Today, Founders small facility of 10,000 square feet that houses all its manufacturing needs. Current capacity allows for approximately four thousand barrels (31 gallons) per year.
- Tonight’s beer, Founders Reds Rye, weighs in at 6.8% ABV, so it is a little on the higher side. This is a smaller brewery, so there is a good chance you won’t be able to find it out there.
- This beer pours dark copper in color, not quite red like the name suggests, but still a very nice hazy color. This beer also appears to be unfiltered to some degree. The head is a nice tan and sticks around for a few seconds.
- The smell is very strong on the hop character. Think along the lines of a big IPA. You get a little rye on the nose, but not a lot. The hops overpower that one to some degree.
- That taste you can get a bit more rye, a little bit spicey, a little bit bready. The hops for this one are still up front, but they move towards the back a little with more and more of the malt and rye coming forward.
Next Week
In the next two weeks we will be doing Hop Rod Rye from Bear Republic. We’re looking for another beer for next week, but if we can’t find anything we’ll go right to the Hop Rod.
Posted in Rye
Episode 79: Happy Halloween – Bring out your dead
A departure from Pumpkin beers, because all the good ones are sold out in Chicago. This week we look at a “scary” beer, Rogue Dead Guy Ale.
News
Tonight story is a little bit of a warning to all you home brewers out there. Don’t try to brew with drugs. A 28 year old graduate student in organic chemistry used poppy pods to brew beer. The only problem is that he apparently used a chemical procedure first to extract the opium from the pods which was then placed in the beer to give it a little extra kick. Well the law didn’t like that idea, and they went after him, but not too hard. His punishment for this fancy homebrew is that he has to have the soil in his back yard tested where he dumped the spent grain to make sure there is no contamination, go to drug classes, and stay clean for the next 18 months. Not too harsh, but still, don’t try to brew with drugs. That is just a bad idea!
Dead Guy Ale
- Now there are surprisingly lots of beers out there with Halloween sounding names, such as Lucifer, Red Devil, Hop Goblin, or the Hopness Monster, however after looking over the shelf I could come up with no better choice than Rogues Dead Guy Ale.
- We have talked about Rogue a few times on the show, but for those of you who are new, Rogue Brewing Company is based in Newport, Oregon and was founded in 1988 and is run by Jack Joyce.
- One thing that most all of their beers have in common is that they use a proprietary strain of yeast they call Pac-Man yeast, which will give the beers a flavor that you can’t find in other ones.
- Tonight’s beer, Dead Guy Ale, is their flagship beer and weighs in at 6.5% abv. This beer is classified as a Maibock beer, which is tends to be a lighter colored bock beer that is generally brewed in the spring around May.
- Before we get into the beer itself, Dead Guy has a very distinctive bottle and tap handle, both showing a skeleton sitting on a barrel of beer. This is probably my favorite tap handle out there.
- The beer is made with four types of malts and two types of hops, and as always it has a suggestion of food on the side which is for pork or hot and spicy food.
- The beer pours a lighter color, maybe a light gold, with a nice pillowy orange white head that sticks around for a bit.
- The aroma here is mainly malt but even that is sort of subdued to some degree. Rather sweet smell with just the vaguest hint of hops in the aroma here.
- The taste is a bitter malt taste at first which is something that you aren’t expecting when you smell the beer. The hops are there, but they aren’t overpowering. However, that is only with the first sip. After I had a few sips, the malt sweetness seems to come forward in this beer and the hops tend to move to the back. There is a little alcohol hotness as well in the aftertaste, but nothing to bad. This is only a 6.5% beer after all.
- I would call this a good session beer, but it is still a little high in abv for me in that regards. I would say that it would make a good Halloween night beer however, so enjoy!
Next Week
Well enough of this Halloween themed stuff, we are jumping back into a normal series again next week, this time it is going to be Rye beers. Which Rye is yet to be seen. This is one of Jake’s favorite styles.
Posted in General
Episode 78: Post Road Pumpkin Ale – So where is Post Road anyway?
This week we look at another Pumpkin Beer, Post Road Pumpkin Ale a Brooklyn Beer in disguise.
News
It seems that the maker of the iBeer application, an iPhone application simulates a beer pouring when you tilt the iPhone back, the beer appears to be drank, is suing Molson Coors. The applications creator is claiming loses of $12.5 million in damages because Molson Coors are using their knock-off to advertise their Carling Black label brand of beer. The breweries version, names i-Pint is free, which the iBeer application costs $2.99.
Post Road Pumpkin Ale
- So another week, another beer, and this week we will be going to Post Road Brewery…wait, there is no Post Road Brewery. This weeks beer is just really a Brooklyn Brewery beer in disguise!
- Brooklyn Brewery, a favorite of YNB, is located in, you guessed it, Brooklyn, New York. Once again, this beer is one brewed by Garret Oliver, the brewmaster that we may refer to quite a bit on this show.
- Post Road Pumpkin Ale weighs in at 5.0% abv is about a pretty average abv for this style.
- The story behind this beer, or at least so says the six pack holder, is that in the 18th Century, colonial Americans brewed wonderful and interesting ales using local ingredients. Although barley was the main ingredient, pumpkin was also often used. They were used for the spicy flavor, and spices.
- The beer is brewed with four types of malt, 2 types of hops, and apparently hundreds of pounds of pumpkin. I will be honest, it really didn’t taste like hundreds of pounds of pumpkins.
- This beer pours a medium orange, with a slightly off white head that tends to stick around for a couple seconds but not too long.
- The minute that you pour this beer you can smell it. The aroma is spicy to some degree, maybe some cinnamon and nutmeg, think about a slight pumpkin pie aroma. You really can’t smell any hops or citrus here at all.
- The taste is not as sweet as some of the other pumpkin ales that I have had, however you can tell that the spiciness is there. It is pretty balanced overall, with some bitterness on the end but there is some spiciness and not a ton of sweetness. I will say though that it doesn’t have a lot of mouth feel, however there is some pumpkin on the end with the aftertaste.
Next Week
So next week, if I can find it, will be Pump King from Southern Tier. I looked for it this week but could not seem to find any, but I do have one more place to look, so we will see!
Posted in Pumpkin Beer
Episode 77: Jack’s Pumpkin Spice Ale – Yep, another Budweiser product
We start a new series with another AB product Jack’s Pumpkin Spice Ale. A good place to start with Pumpkin, we’ll be stepping up from here.
News
Another year, another list of winners from the Great American Beer Festival. Some stats from this years festival, a total of 432 breweries attended, 2902 beers were in competition, and 225 medals awarded.
Jack’s Pumpkin Spice Ale
- Of course, one of Jim’s favorite things about Halloween and the fall in general is all the fun and exciting beers that come out.
- Not only do you have beers like Octoberfest beers, which has basically already come out, you have pumpkin beers, that generally come out around now, and then in the coming weeks, just before winter starts, you have some of the barelywines, winter warmers, and porters and stouts. Beers that are great for the winter weather.
- A pumpkin beers can vary quite a bit. Some brewers will add the pumpkin to mash, some will add it to the boil, and some will just put them in as flavoring, either real or artifical. If some of those words don’t make sense, listen to our brewing basics show. The beers also tend to have a lot of the “fall” seasonings as well, such as cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
- Generally speaking, these are not going to be bitter beers. They will be much more mild, or even sweet. There really isn’t going to be a lot of hop character to these beers.
- Jack’s weighs in at 5.5% ABV and is brewed under the Michelob label.
- This beer first came out a few years ago, and according the the website is made with all malt, pumpkins, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, and clove.
- The beer poured amber, almost an orange in color, and has a little bit of that pumpkin pie aroma on the nose, but that tends to dissapate quickly.
- The taste of pumpkin is there, however it is not overpowering by any means. There is a little bit of bitterness with this beer, but the sweetness of the malt is really the main chord here.
- Overall, this isn’t a bad beer, but it isn’t a great beer either. I would have to call this somewhere middle of the road. If its there, give it a try, but if not, you haven’t missed much.
Next Week
Well, if I can find one that I like, we are going to do another pumpkin beer. Possibly one from Southern Tier, possibly one from Brooklyn. It all depends on if the beer Gods are with Jim.
Posted in Pumpkin Beer
Episode 76: Budweiser American Ale – About Time!
We’ve been teasing this for weeks and we finally get to pay off and talk about Budweiser American Ale.
News
This weeks news story comes from Denver Colorado and it all about the Great American Beer Festival, starting this week. The 27th annual GABF kicks off this week on 9th and runs through the 11th. If you are in Denver, I highly suggest you stop by, because you will have the chance to sample from 400 brewers a total of 1,900 different beers. Although the event is now sold out, so if you don’t already have a ticket, you won’t be going this year. This is part one of the story, with part two coming next week which will be the announcement of the winners. So make sure to tune in to find out if your favorite beer won.
Budweiser American Ale
- The beer has been on the way for a while now, I think that we have been hearing about it for about 4 to 5 months in the open market but it has been a open secret in the industry for much longer.
- Part of the reason, if not all of the reason that this was rolled out is AB needs to gain a foot hold in the craft beer market.
- Interestingly, AB has also revamped their ad campaign with Bud Lager recently, advertisting it as the Great American Lager.
- The beer weighs in at 5.10%, which is just .1% higher the Bud Lager, but .9% higher than Bud Light.
- This beer pours a a nice little head, a little off white and a amber color. An interesting thing to note here is that the beer did not have a twist off cap.
- The taste is I must say a lot better than Jim would expect from a Bud product. I know, that may seem bias, but so sue him.
- The flavor is a bit malty and sweet, but not over powering. There is a little bit of a caramel malt flavor, but it is very mild. There is also some bitterness here as well, nice little citrusy zest to it, but nothing overpowering like an IPA.
- Overall, I will say that this isn’t a bad beer. It isn’t terribly complex, but it is a pretty refreshing drinker, that if it was at a bar, I would probably get one. I suggest that you give it a try too.
Next Week
We will be getting back to a series next week, and I think it will be something seasonal, maybe some pumpkin beers.
Posted in General
Episode 75: Refrigerator Roulette Part Three – The return of the Fridge.
Perhaps our last in this non-series series. Jim once more dives into the unknown realms of his fridge. This week it’s Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale.
News
Believe it or not, one of the hottest items out there right now for theives are metal kegs. With the price of some metals skyrocketing, the kegs are often worth more than the deposit that is put down on them. A pair of sheriff’s deputies in El Paso, TX were eating breakfast when they saw two men, one chasing after the other, running across a parking lot. The police followed and found out that the man being chased had just robbed a beer delivery truck for the empty kegs.
Refrigerator Roulette – Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale
- Well here we are at week three of Refrigerator Roulette. For those of you who don’t know what is going on, well the basic gist of it is that Jim reaches in the fridge and grab a beer. Usually Jim’s fridge has at least 10 different types of beer in there, so it can be fun.
- This week, we are going to be doing one that we actually did before, we just didn’t record it correctly. But hey, that happens. It is Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale from Stone Brewing Company in Escondido, California.
- Part of the reason that we don’t review too many of these beers is that I can’t get them in Chicago. That being said, you can get these beers from coast to coast these days and they are coming to more and more markets.
- Arrogant Bastard Ale is probably considered their flagship beer, with its slogan being “Your not worthy”. The generally are seem as some of the bad boys in the brewing industry, brewing things that they like and not necessary things that have mass appeal, however they do sell very well.
- Tonight’s beer, Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale, is the regular AB just shoved in an oak barrel for a while. It weighs in at 7.2% which is the same as the regular AB.
- It pours a reddish color with a creamy white head, with the aroma of citrusy and sweet all at the same time. The taste is rather aggressively hoppy, however the oak does come through with a little bit of a vannila taste.
- I will say this beer is not for the beginner and only give it a shot if you are up to it.
Next Week
Who knows, hopefully we will be doing the American Ale that we have been talking about, but if not we may talk about Momma Mia Pizza Beer.
Posted in General
Episode 74: Refrigerator Roulette Part Two – The revenge of the refrigerator!
So not a real series, but sort of a series. Jim reaches into his refrigerator again and pulls out an Imperial Dortmunder from Great Lakes Brewing Company.
News
A German man has been sentenced to three years in prison for selling his partner as a sex slave to his neighbor for a crate of beer (wonder what kind of beer it was). The bizarre deal between the 39-year-old man from Hersfeld-Rotenburg and his 60-year-old neighbour was revealed after a 32-year-old woman told police about her ordeal. The court in Fulda established that the woman was forced by her alcoholic partner to have sex with the elderly neighbor for several weeks. The neighbor paid with a crate of beer for every visit. The neighbor was sentenced to a two-year suspended jail sentence and a single payment of $3463 to the victim.
Refrigerator Roulette – Great Lakes Imperial Dortmunder
- This week I reached in and pulled out a bit of a special beer, Imperial Dortmunder from Great Lakes Brewing Company, out of Cleveland Ohio.
- Why is this so special you may ask? Well, Great Lakes just celebrated their 20th birthday, and in honor of that, they brewed this beer.
- Their regular Dortmunder is probably considered their flagship beer, and is far and away I would think their most popular beer.
- A regular dortmunder can be described as something close to a pilsner, however the beer was made popular in Dortmunder, Germany as opposed to Pilsen.
- Now the original Dortmunder from Great Lakes weighs in at 5.8% abv, however because the word is Imperial is thrown in front of this one, it is actually a bit stronger at 7.3% ABV.
- This one poured dark gold with a thick white head. You could tell right away that this was a little bit different than the regular Dortmunder.
- The smell is of hops with just a little bit of sweetness. The taste is more of that sweetness, with a little bit of alcohol taste, which may acutally be contributing to the sweetness. There is a little bit of sweetness at the end, however it is not nearly as bitter as the smell.
- All in all, I think that I probably didn’t like this as much as the regular Dortmunder, and I probably wouldn’t get it again, however I think it is only a one time brew so it really doesn’t matter too much!
Next Week
OK, one more Roulette show next week, and it is actually going to be a beer that we looked at about a year ago, but just never really recorded it correctly. It is Oak Age Double Bastard Ale from Stone, so tune in.
Posted in General
Episode 73: Refrigerator Roulette
We couldn’t get Budweiser American Ale so Jim just reached into his fridge and pulled out Brooklyn Pennant Ale, that’s what we talk about this week.
News
We have been talking so much about the one big brewer, Anheuser Busch, that I feel that we are leaving out the other big brewer in the market, MillerCoors. MillerCoors is being sued by a group in regards to their Sparks brand energy beer (products that we have not nor never will cover on YNB). The group, Center for Science in the Public Interest, states that the ingreidents in Sparks, including Caffeine, Taurine, and Guarana should not only not be used in alchohol, but in addition they feel that this product is being marketed to kids. Now, this same group threatened to sue AB if they didn’t take their energy drinks off the market earlier this year, and AB caved in. Analysts are saying that MillerCoors will end up fighting this one tooth and nail however, so stay tuned for the blood bath.
Refrigerator Roulette – Brooklyn Pennant Ale
- Alright, so we admit that we haven’t come up with a new series yet. We are just not sure what style we want to take on next. On top of that, we had planned to do a show on the American Ale from Budweiser tonight, but I could still not get a hold of it. I am being told that hopefully next week I should be able to get some, but untill that time, we have Refrigerator Roulette.
- So the rules of the game (which I just made up) are simple. Go into my refrigerator, grab a beer, and that will be the one that we talk about tonight. Now first let me say that my frige is no ordinary frige, I have a bit of selection present, I think 14 different beers in there at last check.
- The beer that was pulled for the evening is Brooklyns Pennant Ale, out of Brooklyn Brewery, in, you guessed it, Brooklyn, New York.
- Established in 1987 by Tom Potter and Steve Hindy, this brewery was founded to extend the pairs fascination with home brewing.
- This weeks beer, Brooklyn Pennant Ale, is named after the 1945 World Champion Brooklyn Dodgers. It is described on the website as a honey colored pale ale, close to an traditional english style pale ale.
- It weighs in at about 5.0% ABV and is made with 3 types of malts and 4 types of hops.
- One of the great things about Brooklyns website is that they suggest food pairings with the beer. For this one they suggest roasted and grilled meats, robust fish, crab cakes, and spicy food.
- It pours a nice little bit darker than described, I would go maybe a shade darker than honey, with a slight colored head which seems to disappear in a hurry as well.
- The smell is more on the sweeter side, some carmel notes there, and just a little bit of bitterness from the hops in the aroma.
- The taste is a little bit different than the softer smell, with almost a slightly acidic taste, almost crisp apples in the fall. This is a good thing though. There is a little hop bitterness but that really isn’t too strong.
- This is a really good example of an English Pale Ale, not too strong, not over powering with the hops, and rather well balanced.
Next Week
Another week where we aren’t exactly sure what we are going to do. Another attempt at Budweiser’s new American Ale, but if we can’t get that, it may be back into Jim’s fridge.
Posted in General
Episode 72: Three Flyod’s Gumballhead – Wait, didn’t we do this one already?
A repeat already, after only seventy-two episodes? Well yes because this is a good beer. We finish up our second wheat beer series the same way we finished up our first, with Gumballhead.
News
Recently 100 college presidents got together and said that the legal drinking age should be lowered to 18. Their argument is that by making drinking legal it would take away some of the appeal and would then in turn curb binge drinking. Now of course this has caused a very large debate.
At Your Next Beer we’ve always been clear, don’t enjoy the beers we talk about and drive, ever. Similarly, if you aren’t twenty-one don’t drink at all.
Three Flyod’s Gumballhead
- So now wait a minute, didn’t we do this beer already, about a year ago? Actually it was a little more than a year ago, on Episode 12.
- This beer is only distributed in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia , Wisconsin. To you all, I say make some friends in those states.
- Three Floyds is located in Munster, Indiana and has been open since 1996.
- One of the things that has changed about this beer in the last year is it now comes in 12 ounce bottles as opposed to a single 22 ounce bottle. I am a big fan of this change because a 12 ounce bottle is a lot easier to finish for one person.
- The beer weighs in at 4.8% which makes it a good middle of the road beer. A little stronger than your light beers but not as potent as your barley wines.
- The pour is a hazy gold, maybe a little like straw in color for all you farmers out there. It has a light white head that leaves in a hurry as well.
- You smell hops right away with this beer, but once you get your nose in there you smell some biscuits as well.
- The taste is much like the smell, with the hops up front but balanced well by the biscuity wheat and malt.
- Overall, I think this is too hoppy to be a good wheat beer, but if you’re looking for not a wheat beer, you are in for a treat. If you taste this for what it is, a good lighter drinking beer, with some wheat characteristics, then you should enjoy it.
Next Week
Not sure on direction for next week, if we can get a hold of it, we will be tasting the new American Ale from Budweiser, however if we can’t, who knows!
Posted in Hefeweizen
Episode 71: Bell’s Oberon – More than just a character in a Shakespeare play
Another American Wheat beer, this week we roll up the coast of Lake Michigan and look at Bell’s Oberon.
News
Ames, Iowa is installing a rubber sidewalk at a spot near the Iowa State University campus. This spot is where beer distributors unload hundreds of kegs for bars in the area. When these loaded kegs hit the ground, they have been damaging the concrete and the keg. City officials have decided to install sidewalk pavers that a California company makes using shredded recycled tires instead of concrete. Because we hear at YNB always are on the leading edge of green technology, the sidewalk is using up about 675 tires that otherwise would end up in a landfill.
Bells Oberon
- Bell’s Brewery, located in Kalamazoo, Michigain, was originally founded as Kalamazoo Brewing Company in 1983 as a home brewing supply shop by owner Larry Bell.
- In 1985 they made the jump from store to actual brewery, and today have two facilities, one located at the site of the original store and another a short distance away which is aimed at more heavy production.
- One of the things about Bell’s, and the major reason we haven’t talked much about it for that matter, is that it isn’t easy to get a hold of. You can only get it in Michigain, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Carolina, North Dakota, Florida, Virgina, Iowa, and now once again, Illinois. If you aren’t in one of those states…make friends with someone who is!
- Tonight’s beer, Oberon, is probably one of Bell’s most popular beers, although it is a seasonal beer and typically only available from March thru October
- Weighing in at around 5.8 percent ABV, this is on the high end of the alcohol scale for an American Wheat.
- This beer pours with a very nice white head that takes a while to disapate, and while it does it allows some of the aromas out.
- You have a sweetness from the wheat malt with just a little bit of citrus, sort of orange in aroma, from the hops and a nice yeasty presence as well.
- The flavor is more of the malt flavor but although the hop presence wasn’t strong in the aroma, it is here in the taste.
Next Week
Next week we are going to be doing a YNB first, we are going to revisit a beer and take another look at it. The lucky beer, Three Flyods Brewing Companies Gumballhead.
Posted in Hefeweizen
Episode 70: Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat – I gotz beers in different area codes!
Another week another American Wheat Beer. This week it is 312 Urban Wheat from Goose Island Beer Company.
News
Pabst Brewing is bring back the one, the only, Schlitz. It is coming back with the original formula, after introducing a new formula several years ago and getting a “New Coke” kind of reaction. There is a waiting list in some Wisconsin area stores, and they are only allowing set amounts per person. Basically, they are trying to take advantage of the nostalgic beer market that the younger generation is getting into. Well at any rate, look for it in your local stores and bars soon.
American Wheat
When American brewers started to brew these beers, they were worried about the possibility of yeast contamination, so they didn’t like to have more than one strain in the brewery. The German Hefe’s however required that unique strain of yeast that gave the beer its bubblegum, banana, and clove taste.
So American brewers balanced out the lack of taste from the yeast by including more hops and acutally bittering the beer a little bit more, although it still remained a fairly light product.
312 Urban Wheat
- We have talked more than our fair share about this company on Your Next Beer, so I am not going to go into the history too much. Just remember that it was founded by John Hall in 1988 and has been a big guy on the Chicago brewing scene just about ever since.
- This weeks beer, the 312 Urban Wheat, is actually named after the 312 area code, which is in the Chicago area. It has one of the more interesting tap handles that I have seen, an old telephone receiver.
- Weighing in at 4.2% ABV, this beer used to be a seasonal release but has gained so much popularity that it is now a year round release.
- It pours cloudy and and pale gold, which is what you expect from an unfiltered wheat ale.
- The aroma is along the lines of a light bready smell, with a little bit of citrus and just a little bit of banana as well.
- The drinkability of this beer is really high, it has a really light taste that has a little bit of a citrus taste, with a little bit of malt as well. Like I said though, overall, pretty light stuff. Great for a hot summer day.
Next Week
Well next week, if I can get it, we are going to be talking about a wonderful Bell’s Beer, Oberon. As you may remember from last week, this beer is just coming back to the Chicago market, so hopefully Jim will get to taste it again.
Posted in Hefeweizen
Episode 69: Widmer Hefeweizen – Tilting at Widmers
A new series this week. We’re looking at American Hefeweizens. We looked at Hefeweizens before, but this time we are focusing on American versions. Specifically this show is about Widmer Hefeweizen.
News
Well I must admit that this weeks news story is a bit of a local one for those in Chicago. Bell’s Brewery, out of Kalamazoo, Michigan is coming back to the Chicago market after a two year absence. The rights to distribute Bells was held by one company who sold those rights to a different company. Bells didn’t like that other company, claiming they didn’t do anything to help their beer brand, but could not get out of the sold contract. So, instead they just left town, even though it accounted for 10 percent of their business.
American Wheat
- Typically speaking, these beers will be a rather pale or light gold in color with a longer than normal lasting head.
- These will be a lowly hopped beer for the most part and there may be some different malt character from the higher content of wheat present.
- These beers, following their German cousins are unfiltered for the most part which will give them a nice hazy appearance.
Widmer Hefeweizen
- This weeks beer comes from a brewery that I don’t think that we have mentioned much on this show, and that is Widmer Brothers out of Portland Oregon.
- Founded in 1985 by Kurt and Rob Widmer they are considered one of the pioneers in the craft world in the Pacific Northwest.
- Jim was actually lucky enough just a few months ago to visit the Widmer facility in Oregon and I have to say it is a very nice facility. Not only is it rather new but they are also expanding with new fermentation tanks to increase their output.
- Tonight’s beer, Widmer Hefeweizen, weighs in at 4.7% ABV, but is not, as the name suggests, a hefeweizen, lacking the yeasty quality’s of true German versions.
- I beleive that the this beer acutally accounts for around 70 percent of the product sold by Widmer, and is far and away considered their flagship beer.
- The pour is an orange color, that is quite hazy as well.
- This beer reminds you it is from the West Coast with it’s hop presence. Although it isn’t there at first, you can taste it on the finish and the bittering stays around for a while.
- If you are expecting the clove and banana with this, you will be disappointed because it isn’t there.
Next Week
Next week we head to Chicago for one of my favorite lighter beers, 312 Urban Wheat from Goose Island.
Posted in Hefeweizen
Episode 68: Local Beer 101 – Drinkem if you gottem!
So a different kind of show this week. Instead of talking about a specific beer, we are going to talk a bit about why you should try to find a Kölsch at your local brewery or brew pub.
News
Well for the first time in a while we have a bit of an uplifting news story from the beer world. It comes out of the United Kingdom and the Brysons of Lancaster. Brysons have launched a new beer called ‘Lifesaver’ and for every pint sold, they will make a donation to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. The beer at this time is only on sale locally. So, if you are listening to this in the UK, you can go out and have a good beer and feel good about yourself at the same time!
Local Beer
- Generally speaking, you can find a decent Kölsch at most brewpubs this time of year for several reasons. First off, it is a good refreshing style to make for the summer. It is crisp, but not as harsh as a pilsner can be, and goes well with a lot of summery food.
- Second, it is an ale, which means that its fermentation time is a lot less than a pilsner. And of course, lower fermentation time means it is out the door quicker and a little cheaper to produce.
- Now a lot of times this beer may be called something other than a Kölsch, such as a “summertime” beer or even lumped in just a light beer on the menu.
- I am lucky enough to be able to go to Goose Island and have that as one of my local brewpubs, which is the beer that talked about first in the Kölsch series, summertime ale I think. But there are also a lot of other ones out there, such as Rock Bottom, Ram Brewing Company, Gordon Biersch, and any of a number of local ones.
- In addition to the local brewpubs, there are also a ton of local breweries that you may be able to get but other people may not be able to. A great website you can use is Beer Mapping. Just enter your region and you are good to go.
- So all that being said, look for the following things when you are at a local brewery or brewpub in regards to a Kölsch.
- Look for an Ale, it should be moderate in alcohol, around 4-5% abv, and it should be rather light in color. In addition, it shouldn’t be too hoppy or bitter, instead almost like a light beer but with some flavor. So good hunting, and enjoy it when you find it, and post some comments on your local brew pubs.
Next Week
Next week we move onto another American Wheat beers. Right now we have Widmer Hefeweizen slated, which is widely distributed so you should be able to find it.
Posted in Kölsh
Episode 67: Flying Dog Tire Bite Golden Ale – Time to give a dog a bone
We’re back, sorry about the technical hiccup last week. Squirrels attached Jim’s internet. This week we continue on the Kölsch train with Tire Bite Golden Ale.
News
News this week from the criminally stupid. A Van Buren, Michigan Sheriff said a homeowner on Cedar Lake called after two teen boys paddled their kayaks across the lake and broke into his tiki bar on the beach. They swiped several cases of beer and a case of the energy drink before paddling back, and police found the empties leading from the beach back to their house. The suspected beverage thieves were arrested for theft, and five other teens were busted for being a minor in possession of alcohol.
Kölsch
- The Kölsch style was developed in Cologne as a top fermenting ale. Now the real interesting thing is that another popular style of the northern area was the pilsner style, which is a bottom fermenting lager.
- Between WW1 and WW2, the pilsner style tried to invade the Cologne area, but the locals fought it off and stuck with the more traditional style of the Kölsch.
- In it’s home town, the style is typically served in tale cylindrical six ounce glasses, which often times leaves you needing a second one right about the time you get your first.
Tire Bite Golden Ale
- This weeks beer comes from our friends at Flying Dog Brewing Company and the beer Tire Bite Golden Ale.
- For those of you who don’t remember Flying Dog, they used to be based in Colorado but recently moved to Maryland for their brewing operations.
- Founded in 1990, it was the first brewpub in the Rocky Mountain region and has since gone on to become a fully functioning and rather widely available brewery.
- Tire Bite, weighing in at 5.12% ABV, is about the right strength for a Kölsch style. Maybe even a little on the heavy side, but again it is an American version so you may expect that.
- It pours a rather pale yellow, maybe even a light gold if you will. The head is rather white but that tends to dissapate rather quickly.
- The first whiff of this comes through with a light malt smell, no real hops to talk about in the aroma. There may be some fruitness here as well, but again that is pretty light.
- The taste is pretty basic here, nothing too complicated. I have always kind of considered this one of the micro versions of a lite beer. The flavors tend to disappear in a hurry after you take a sip.
- I would say that this is one of those summer drinkers that you may want to get as a step up from a macro light beer, but if that is what you are wanting to drink, you may want to look at the price and make your own call on that.
Next Week
Alright, I think we will have one more week of Kölschs and then on to another style, so tune in next week and see what we got.
Posted in Kölsh
Filler
So someone unplugged Jim’s cable so no show tonight. Stay tuned tomorrow night for all new episode.
Posted in General
Episode 66: Goose Island Summertime – Just like drinking sunshine!
News
Well once in a while we can bring you a story of not just beer and not just food, but a combination of the two. This week I found an article about a brand new food product that combines the lovely goodness that is beer with the salty joy that are chips in, you guessed it, beer flavored chips.
Also in breaking news, as of yesterday. InBev bought AB.
Kölsch
- The style originated in Köln, Germany, however it has increasingly become a popular style in the US, often times showing up at brewpubs. Technically however, any beer brewed in Köln can be called a Kölsch.
- This type of beer is a top fermented ale and generally pours a very pale color, almost with a light beer appearance. Generally it is about a medium on the bitterness scale, although some versions can be more bitter. This style generally weighs in at between 4-6% ABV.
- Some of the beers we are going to be talking about over the next couple weeks may not be the easiest to find. A lot of this style is made at the local level and at brewpubs, so if you are in there ask for a Köslch.
Summertime (Goose Island)
- Tonight’s beer comes from sweet home Chicago and Goose Island Brewery. We have talked a bit about Goose Island, mainly because it’s based in Chicago were I am and because I can get the beers rather easily, however their distribution is picking up and you should be able to get these beers rather widely throughout the country at this point.
- Just for quick background, Goose Island was founded in 1988 by John Hall, it currently has three locations, two brewpubs in Chicago and a production brewery where it bottles.
- Summertime weighs in at 5.00% ABV and is generally available from April until September.
- It pours a lighter golden color and has a subtle hop aroma, nothing too strong. There is a little bit of a citrusy smell here as well, but nothing too strong.
- The beer is a lighter beer in flavor, but still gives a little crispness that is not as strong as a pilsner. This is a great thirst quenching beer that I enjoy having around on hot summer days.
Next Week
Who knows what we are going to do next week. The only thing that I can promise you is that it will be another Kölsch, and we’ll be going over some of unique history of this beer so tune in!
Posted in Kölsh
Episode 65: Clip Show
Erin and Jacob are closing on a house today, so welcome to our third clip show.
Posted in General
Episode 64: Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale – Over the Chunnel and through the woods
We finish up our brown ale series with Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown.
News
The news story this week comes from the Lehigh Valley, one of the many places Jim has lived courtesy of Sam Adams. The have recently opened the Sam Adams PA brewery, located right outside Allentown, PA. The brewery has had several different owners over the years including Strohs, Pabst, and most recently Diageo, who SA bought it from for $55 million.
Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale
- Brewed at the Samuel Smith Old Brewery in Tadcaster, England, the beer is one of the best, if not the best, brown ale on the market.
- The Old Brewery at Tadcaster was founded in 1758 and is both the oldest brewery in Yorkshire and the only surviving independent brewery in Tadcaster.
- The beer has a minerally essence that can be detected due to the use of local water in brewing. Brewing water for ales and stouts is still drawn from the original 85 foot well.
- The beer itself weighs in at 5% ABV, so a pretty good evening drinker, and comes in a brown bottle with a gold foil cap.
- The pour is dark brown with a white head with some brown highlights around the edge.
- The smell is a lot of malt; think of caramel, and maybe some butterscotch there as well.
- When you taste this one it is mainly malt with only a little bit of hops. Think of a nice biscuity flavor, a little bit of a buttery flavor too boot.
Next Week
That is it for the brown ale series. And to be perfectly honest, I am not sure what we are going to talk about next week. It may be an amber series, it may be an IPA series, who knows. It will be something summery though, so tune in.
Posted in Brown Ale
Episode 63: Brooklyn Brown Ale – Back to the Big Apple
Another week another Brown Ale. This week we look at one that is widely considered the best domestic offerings, Brooklyn Brown Ale. Sorry that Jim cuts out in the intro, don’t worry we haven’t changed it on you.
News
Anheuser Busch (AB) has bought shares in Crown Beer International…in fact it bought all of the shares that International. Crown Beer International has been doing very well in India lately and the company is responsible for 60% of the beer in India. The question is, will this effect the Inbev/AB deal that could or could not go through in the future?
Brooklyn Brown Ale
- For those of you who don’t remember, Brooklyn Brewing Company is located in, you guessed it, Brooklyn, New York and was opened in 1987 by Tom Potter and Steve Hindy.
- A lot of what I have learned about beer has to be looked at through the lens of Brooklyn and their current brewmaster, Garret Oliver. His book, the Brewmasters Table, was one of the first beer books that I ever read and probably the most influential.
- This beer was also originally dry hopped, which we haven’t really talked about much on this show. Dry hopping is the process of throwing hops in the fermentor with beer and letting the flavor come out through fermentation.
- Weighing in at 5.5% ABV, Brooklyn Brown is described as having a blend of 6 malts.
- The beer pours a dark brown with a small head.
- The aroma is chocolaty and malty, with a lot of roast notes here. Not as strong as a porter or stout, but just shy of it.
- The flavor is what you would expect from the smell, malty and roasty, however there is also a hop presence here that makes itself known.
Next Week
Next week we wrap up the brown ale series with a trip over the pond to a British brewer and Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale.
Episode 62: Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale – Another beer from the beach.
Beer number two in our brown ale series is Indian Brown Ale.
News
Well there is big news in the beer world this week. InBev, the worlds second largest brewer, made a bid of $65 a share for a total of $46.3 billion dollars to buy Anheuser Busch. This is a deal that we have talked about before on YNB, but up until last week, it was all speculation. If the deal would go through, it would be the 3rd biggest purchase of an American corporation by a foreign corporation. Initial reports suggest that either this may be blocked by politicians, InBev may have to raise their offer to $70 a share, or AB may try to buy another corporation to make itself less appealing to InBev. We will keep you up to date when things happen.
Indian Brown Ale
- Opening in 1995, Dogfish Head, whith a slogan is Off Centered Beer for Off Centered People, has been a rockstar in the brewing world since.
- Owner Sam Caligone is also involved in a hip hop group called The Pain Relievaz.
- Dogfish head is available in most states, however some in the Middle of the country may be tough to find. For most of our listeners though I think that you should be able to get a hold of these products.
- This weeks product, the Indian Brown Ale, weighs in at a heavy 7.20% ABV, which is a little bit heavier than most Brown ales, but that isn’t too shocking coming from Dogfish Head.
- The beer pours a dark reddish brown, with a decent size head that has ok head retintion.
- The aroma on this one is a sweet one, think of things like caramel. It almost smells a little too malty and sweet for a brown ale, but just appreciate that for what it is.
- The taste is almost like that of a porter or a stout, almost kind of chocolately. There is also some sharp hoppyness to this beer.
- This is a great beer for spicey foods and BBQ alike. For the spicey foods, it can almost wipe away the spiceness, and with BBQ it melds very nicely with the other flavors.
Next Week
Alright, next week we are going to move just a little bit up up the coast and head to Brooklyn and look at, Brooklyn Brown Ale.
Posted in Brown Ale
Episode 61: Newcastle Brown Ale – Not where Jake lives, the real Newcastle.
We start a new series this week with Newcastle Brown Ale. As with our other series we start with a widely available easy to drink beer. For the record this podcast was edited on a ferry traveling between Bainbridge Island and Seattle, WA.
News
The news this week is not good for a craft brewer in upstate New York. F.X. Matt Brewing, who contract brews Saranac, and Brooklyn beer among others, had a fire that caused 10 million dollars worth of damage. The fire was started by some careless welders who lit a plastic conveyor belt on fire. No one was injured during the fire that took 15 hours to get under control. Amazingly, brewing commenced just five days later, although the canning operations were destroyed and the bottle operations damaged.
Brown Ale
- The brown ale has been around for quite a while, in fact up until the late 1600’s, just about all beers were brown. In the late 1700’s however, newer malts became available and the pale ale became all the rage.
- As the pale ale became popular with the middle class in England, the Brown Ale became strong with the working class, who saw the more expensive pale ales as a “yuppie” beer if you will.
- Brown Ales tend to be maltier and sweeter than other beers, with the color ranging from reddish brown to dark brown.
- Some beers will have a slight fruity taste, while others tend to be drier with nutty characters.
- All have a low hop aroma and bitterness.
- Generally speaking, these weigh in at around 4-7% ABV
Newcastle Brown Ale
- First brewed in 1927 by Colonel Jim Porter in Newcastle, England, it is considered a northern England version of the beer, which tends to be a little lighter than the Southern style.
- This beer is actually a blend of two beers, a lighter amber ale and a stronger brown ale, something that is a sort of throwback technique in regards to brewing.
- Weighing in at 4.7% abv, this is just about the same as an average light beer in strength.
- This beer is not too complex in regards to its flavor. It is a very lightly sweet beer with solid carbonation and some subtle bitterness.
- Also this beer tends to be better on draft, since the bottle is clear.
Next Week
Next week we will continue in the Brown Ale series and will talk about, Dogfish Head and Indian Brown Ale.
Posted in Brown Ale
Episode 60: The Mystery Show – Because you don’t always have to drink good beer.
Well for the last couple months we have looked at some serious beers. We have talked about Dubbels, Trippels, and Quadrupels. Beers that were deep, complex, full of flavor and generally high in both alcohol and body. Well, we are taking a break from that tonight and looking at Miller Chill and Bud Light Lime. Call it a bit of a pallete cleaning show.
News
A Japanesse brewer may soon have your brew. Sapporro Breweries is going to brew a pilot batch. about 100 bottles of beer, made from barley that is grown from seeds that spent five months on the international space station in 2006. The brewers say that they are really looking forward to seeing what the beer tastes like. Our guess, it that it will taste EXACTLY like normal beer. But hey, who knows, maybe space does strange things to barley and whoever drinks this will end up being 37 feet tall.
Miller Chill and Bud Light Lime
- Miller, based in Millwaukke Wisconsin, best known for Miller Lite and of course the ever popular Miller High Life.
- Anheuser-Busch (AB) on the other hand is best known for Bud Light and the ever popular Budweiser.
- So what about the beer. First up, Miller Chill. It weighs in at 4.10% ABV, and comes in a green bottle. It is billed as Light beer brewed with a hint of salt and lime. So, in other words, if you want to make this beer at home, grab a Miller Lite, through in a lime and a pound of salt.
- When I had this beer I couldn’t believe the salty taste. I really didn’t expect that from a beer, however, I guess it did say that on the label and all.
- Bud Light lime, which weighs in at 4.2% ABV, is a newer product. In fact, I just tried it tonight for the first time.
- The taste isn’t nearly as bad as Miller Chill. It is described as Light beer with Lime flavor, and that pretty much hits it on the head.
- This tastes a lot like a lazy mans Cornoa, the lime being pretty prevelant but not too over powering. I can see this being a decent beer on a hot afternoon, although you can’t really drink more than a couple.
Next Week
Alright, next week we will be back to our good beer, starting our brown ale series. Not really sure what beer we will start with, but it will be a brown ale.
Posted in General
Episode 59: Victory V-12 – Like a finely tuned sports car
Episode 59: Victory V-12 – Like a finely tuned sports car
We are about twelve hours late on this one, which happens to be a number in our beer this week, Victory V-12. This is the last of our belgians, so if you are ready to be done with them, we are too.
News
Well here is something new and different, how to share a beer with mans best friend. A company in Australia decided to brew a beer that would be safe for dogs to drink, in other words non-alcoholic and without hops. The beer has a beef flavor and a beer smell and is apparently quite popular with the creators dogs. Jim will try to get a hold of some of this beer whenever it comes over…and when he gets a dog.
Victory V-12
- For those of you who may have just tuned in for the first time, Victory is based in Downingtown, PA and puts out many great beers, including Golden Monkey, Hop Devil, and Prima Pils, all beers that we have talked about of this show in the past
- One of the things about Belgian beers in the US is that there are only a few really good companies that make them, including Victory. If you have enjoyed this series of beers, you may want to give Ommegang Brewery, New Belgium Brewery, and Weyerbacher Brewing Company.
- Victory’s Website describes this beer as heady with a aromatic fruity start and taste, this amber ale features hints of pear and apricot in its well-nuanced flavor.
- The beer weighs in at 12% ABV and is the strongest beer that we have talked about in the Belgian series.
- This one pours a deep copper with a nice size head at first but that quickly disappears.
- This beer has a sweet smell to it, think of a malty sweet though, with a hint of some citrus and fruityness there as well.
- The taste is a rich malty sweetness that is balanced not as much by hops but by the yeast in this one. Of course you can tell the alcohol is there as well, but it is hidden rather well
Next Week
We are going to have a quick break in the action with a pallete cleanser show of sort, so tune in a find out what we will be talking about.
Posted in Belgian
Episode 58: St. Bernardus Abt 12 – This beer is no dog
We get back into the belgian series with St Bernadus Abt 12. Pay no attention to the fact that I call it Episode 57 in the open, we got screwed up because of the brewing show.
News
Well the news this week is more an alert to a new market trend in the craft brewing industry, cans. For a long time, there has been a stigma against cans in the craft brewing industry, many people just viewed them as a way to serve the masses with bad beer. Part of that may be due to the fact that usually that was all that was in cans; bad beer. The trend may be changing in the market however with several craft brewers adapting new cans, including New Belgium Brewing Company, 21st Amendment Brewing Company, and one that has been canning for a while, Oskars Blues Brewing Company.
St. Bernardus Abt 12
- A quadruple, or quad for short, is the strongest of the beers styles that we have covered.
- These beers are usually very malty and rather complex. It is best to think of this as a kind of wine, although don’t necessarily expect those types of flavors.
- The style itself is more of an “inspired by Belgian” kind of thing as opposed to a traditional Belgian kind of thing.
- Tonights beer, Bernardus Abt 12 comes from the St. Bernardus Brewery located in the village of Watou in West Flanders, Belgian.
- Tonights beer, the Abt 12, weighs in a 10.5% and carries it weight rather well.
- This beer pours like it has a ton of great darker ruby malt, with a nice of white head that actually stuck around for a few minutes on mine at least.
- The smell is all over the board with this one, coco, anise, dark cherries, a very complex smell to say the least.
- The taste seems just as busy and complex as the smell, although not overwhelming. This is a balanced beer on the surface that gets deeper with all sorts of flavors.
- A quick word about the alcohol on this one, it is there, but not nearly as recognizable as past weeks. Just be aware however, it will jump up and bite you!
Next Week
Well next week we come to the end of our Belgian Block. I refuse to call it a series any more because it is just been so damn long! We will be doing one more Victory beer, V-Twelve, and then we will be DONE with them. So tune in and enjoy!
Posted in Belgian
Episode 57: Brewing Basics
A bit of a departure this week, and a little longer show. We’re looking at brewing basics this week. If you’ve ever wondered how beer is made this is your show.
Ingriedents
- Beer is made essentially of four ingredients: Malt, Hops, Water, and Yeast.
- When we refer to malt, we generally are referring to malted barley. Malted barley is a process where by the barley is made to germinate, or grow, and then the growth is halted by hitting it with heat.
- Malted barley can come in all types, from Crystal Malt, which can give beer a lighter flavor; chocolate malt which is a darker more roasted flavor, caramel malt which actually has a bit of sweet flavor.
- Hops are what give the beer their bitter flavor and aroma. We have talked quite a bit about hops in this show. The hop is actually a flower, and is a very distant relative of marijuana.
- One of the biggest hop production sections of the US is the Pacific Northwest and have a distinct difference in flavor from English hops.
- Water is the fourth major ingredient and make a tremendous impact on beer. Depending on where the water comes from, it could have various minerals that effect the flavor.
- Today in the US, most of the water used to brew beer is filtered at the brewery in order to give it a consistent flavor that most consumers will expect.
- Finally, there is the yeast, the living part of the beer.
- The way yeast works is that is eats all of the sugars in the wort (we will cover what wort is later). Once the sugars are eaten, they become alcohol and produce CO2.
- Now different yeasts also produce slightly different flavors. For example, yeasts used in wheat beers tend to produce a clover and banana flavor.
Brewing
- First, the grains to be used in the beer have to be weighed and measured out. This is really where the beer is created. You can think about this step as getting the ingredients together, a little of this, a little of that, all used to balance the flavor.
- Once we have the grain, it must be milled. Milling will crack the malted grain to expose the starches inside. The starches, or sugars, are what the yeast are going to later eat and turn into alcohol.
- After the grain is cracked, it is loaded into a large vat called a mash tun, and mixed with hot water for form what is called the mash.
- The mashing processes helps to break down those starches into more simple sugars so that they can be digested by the yeast. This process can take an hour or so.
- After the mash is cooked it is pumped into a lauter tun, or a giant strainer of sorts, and the sweet syrupy goodness, or wort, is drained off. Once that wort is drained off and into the brew kettle, the grain is typically sprayed further to collect more of the sugar if possible, a process called sparging.
- Now that the wort is in the brew kettle, it is brought to a boil and the hops are added. Now depending on when in the boil you add the hops, they will do different things to the product, such as add aroma and add bitterness. Ones added to the beginning of the boil are typically for bitterness while ones added at the end are for aroma.
- Once the wort is has boiled according to the recipe, it is strained and cooled down and sent to a fermentation vessel. Here yeast is added, and depended on the yeast and the temperature that it is fermented, you will have a lager or an ale.
- Well that is brewing in a nutshell. There is much, MUCH more that you can learn about brewing, and if you think you may enjoy giving it a shot yourself, try the Basic Brewing Radio and Video podcast, one of the best ones out there for home brewing.
Next Week
Next week we are done with the brewing and back to the beer, so make sure to tune in try to remember all that you learned today. We’ll continue our Belgian series with either St. Bernardus Abt 12 or Victory Twelve.
Posted in General
Episode 56: Golden Monkey – As opposed to the evil monkey in my closet
In the excitement of recording another YNB, I forgot to turn on my nice microphone, so not so great audio quality from me, sorry. This week Victory Golden Monkey is on tap as we continue to talk about the Belgians.
News
Have you ever heard of a Magic Pyramid? Well, you soon may, and not the ones in Egypt. Last week, Magic Hat Brewing Company and Pyramid Brewing Company, two moderately sized craft brewers merged to become one decent size craft brewery. Pyramid is based on the west coast while Magic Hat is based on the East coast, so there could be some interesting hybrid brews that come out of this deal. Who knows, just keep it tuned here and we will let you know when we know.
Victory Golden Monkey
- Much like last weeks beer, this week we are going to be talking about another Tripel. However, unlike last weeks beer, this weeks is made here in the States, in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia.
- Victory was opened in 1996 by Ron Barchet and Bill Covaleski in an old Pepperidge Farm factory.
- One reason that we keep talking about Victory, besides the fact that they are from PA and we are from PA is that we can keep talking about them. In other words they have a lot of good beers! And they are always coming out with more!
- his weeks beer is one of my favorites from Victory, Golden Monkey. Classified as a Tripel and weighing in at 9.5% ABV, this is a beer that should not be taken lightly.
- Although you can get this in 12 ounce bottles, the most common bottle I have found it in has been the 750 ml bottle.
- The beer pours amberish and golden with a rather small white head, so some of the same things that we saw last week with the Chimay.
- The smell is going to be a little frutiy and yeasty, maybe able to sense a little citrus in there from the hops as well.
- The taste however is going to start off sweet, and this comes mainly from the malt and yeast, however you can also taste a little of the alcohol in this one as well.
Next Week
We’re not 100 percent sure. We may be doing a show about brewing or we may continue our Belgian series with either St. Bernardus Abt 12 or Victory Twelve. So next Monday it will be a surprise, but I’m sure it will be great – tune in and enjoy.
Posted in Belgian
Episode 55: Chimay Tripel – Three times the beer.
We continue our Beligian series with Chimay Triple. This is the one
News
Today’s news story actually comes from a big name news paper, which for us is kind of shocking, the Wall Street Journal. They reported today about a blog called Brew Blog, which is funded by Miller Brewing Company as sort of an indirect way to beat Anheuser Busch to the punch on some advertising issues. As I read this article, I couldn’t help but think that AB may be being a little hypocritical here, being that they sponsor a news site as well that tends to only speak good of them.
Chimay Tripel (White Label)
- The name “Tripel” actually stems from part of the brewing process, in which brewers use up to three times the amount of malt than a standard Trappist “Simple.”
- A tripel is generally defined as having a bright yellow to gold in color, and appear generally rather tame but can back a strong alcoholic punch, ranging from 7.5 to 9.5% abv, which for a beer is getting in the strong range.
- It is also not uncommon to at least taste some spices in these beers in addition to some fruity taste, which you will get at least a little of this week.
- Speaking of this week, we are headed back to the Scourmont Abbey where Chimay Ales are brewed and tasting Chimay Tripel, or Chimay White as it is commonly called.
- The beer it self weighs in at 8.0% ABV and pours a nice dark gold with a huge white head that stayed around for a while and didn’t just dissipate.
- The smell was of granny smith apples, or at least that what I was smelling, and a little bit of alcohol, but not a lot.
- The taste to me was not nearly as complex as some of the previous weeks. I found some sweetness in it, but there was some alcohol/hop bitterness there as well to balance it out. There was some alcohol warming on the end as well.
- All in all, not a bad beer, but I think there are better tripels out there and if you are going to have a beer that is 8% ABV, get one that has a little more complexity to it in the flavor.
Next Week
Next week we will be continuing with the Tripels and heading back to the States to take a look at Victory’s Golden Monkey.
Posted in Belgian
Episode 54: Ommegang Abbey Ale – A Hall of Fame Beer!
We’re back to our regular show format this week, some will cheer some will boo. This week we look at our domestic Dubble, Ommegang Abbey Ale
News
Every week we seem to have another story about idiot robbers and beer. These weeks story comes from Thurston County in Washington State. Burglars broke into a quick stop type store and stole two cases of Keystone Beer, worth about $20. Later the same night, the same burglars broke into another store and stole a 12 pack of Miller light and two 24 packs of Milwaukee’s Best. They took the beer, bad beer at that, and left the money.
Ommegang Abbey Ale
- This week we head back to Cooperstown New York and the little white farmhouse known as Ommegang Brewing Company.
- Ommegang, built by Don Fienberg, began brewing in 1997. Mr. Fienberg loved Belgian beers, much like myself, and decided that he wanted to brew his own.
- Ommegang is a rather widely distributed product, available in 45 states and even is exported to some foreign countries.
- These beers are also built to be cellared. Belgian beers are great cellared, especially if they are bottle conditioned.
- The Abbey Ale, which weighs in at around 8.5% ABV, a little on the high side for a Dubbel, but remember this is an American Belgian beer, so it may be a little bit higher.
- This beer pours dark walnut with a size able head that tended to dissipate rather quickly for me.
- The smell is of alcohol at first with a bit of malt but no real hops to speak of.
- The taste is slightly sour and vinous and alcoholic at first, but then the grains open up. Then of bread, but not wonder bread, like a darker rye bread, bakery fresh.
Next Week
Next week we will be stepping up the Belgian ladder and heading to Tripel town with the Chimay Triple. This is the Chimay with the white label.
Posted in Belgian
Episode 53: Beer and Food Part Two – And now the beer
Our second food and beer show, Kurt is back as a special guess and this is our “real” so enjoy and extra long (20 minute +) show.
Let’s Review
Last week we looked at beer and food generally. If you are looking for a primer on food and beer, check out last week shows with the link at the top of this page.
This week we’re looking at specific beer styles and food so you can get some mouth watering ideas of beer meals to make.
IPAs
The hop flavor will cut through just about any food, espcially spicier ones. For example Hops and Coriander are great cutters for Habenero/Jalepeno/Chilis in general. Smokiness of Habenero/earthy citrus of certain hop varietals as well as the Chili’s very good flavor companion: coriander.
In addition to spicy foods, IPA’s are great with sweet Savory foods. Not desserts, although I think there could be a pairing made for a coriander/orange peel IPA with orange or citrus sorbet!
Brown Ales
Brown ales, I have always found, go great with BBQ. I tried really hard to find some other foods these guys liked with Brown Ales, but we kept coming back to the BBQ.
Fruit Beers
Blueberry/Apple, etc beers are great with Venison (earthy to earthy flavors match well). Ever heard of Raspberry Vinegarette Dressing? How ‘bout Rasperry Wheat Vinegarette? Mix beer with vinegar and some thyme. Whisk, and there you have it.
Belgians
As we have discussed, Monks brewed them to be a hearty addition to a meal of very heavy bread. Good with Hearty meals. Pot Pie/Thanksgiving and Christmas Dinner, think stuffing.
Porters/Stouts
These beers tend to go well with beef/veal/venison/rosemary/mushrooms The dark roasted (malt) flavors of dark beers go well with earthy flavors such as Rosemary/Sage/Mushrooms, etc.
In addition, these work great with desert. For example Ice Cream (Guiness Flavored) and floats. Guiness instead of root beer for a float. The bourbon/vanilla flavors of stouts will go well with ice cream. And of course, anything Chocolate goes well with the roasty and chocolatly flavor of the stouts.
Next Week
Well we hope you enjoyed the food shows, and once again thanks Kurt! We will be back to our normal format next week when we talk about Ommegang Abbey Ale, the second dubbel as we continue our Belgian series.
Posted in Food and Beer
Episode 52: Beer and Food Part One – Basic training, without getting your head shaved
The long awaited Food and Beer show has arrived! This is also our one year anniversary show, so we went a bit long this week than we usually do. Hopefully ya’ll won’t mind.
A New Voice
Our friend Kurt joins us on this show. If you’ve listened to the show you know a bit about who Kurt is. He’s a friend of Jake’s and has worked in a kitchen for a bunch of years. Listen to the show if you want to hear why that means you don’t call him a chef. He is also responsible for the theme music for the show.
An Introduction
This week we are looking at food and beer generally. So this show is by way of introduction. It’s a little tough to actually write show notes for this kind of show. But, we touch on a number of food/beer topics.
- Can you pair beer and food?
- What are the different schools of thought with pairing?
- What is a food flavor memory (patent pending)?
- Just what does coriander taste like?
Next Week
If you’re a nerd like me you will have realized, that since there is no show 0, next week is actually our one year anniversary. I would say welcome to the light nerd brethren and sistren. The good news for everyone is we have Kurt back next week to talk about some more specific food and beer topics. Just a tip, don’t come to that show hungry.
Posted in Food and Beer
Episode 51: Chimay Red – Dubbel your pleasure Dubbel your fun
Our second show in the Belgian beer series we look at the comparatively widely available Chimay Red. Don’t be fooled by the little bottle, it’s a big beer.
News
We try to stay out of the political fray, but this news story is relevant to the show. Sixpoint Brewery out of Brooklyn, New York brewed a special batch of Hop Obama beer, a beer named after the Presidential candidate. Some of the highlights of the beer, it is made from five different malts, apparently representing the Senators diversity and up bringing. The beer is already sold out, so don’t look for it in your local store. I am sure that someone will brew up a Hillary beer and a McCain Ale in the future as well. I mean Billy Beer did so well, why not try them all.
Dubbels
- Generally speaking a Dubbel is a rich malty beer with some spicy and mild alcoholic characteristics.
- Mild bitterness from the hops may be present, but no real hop after taste is around.
- These beers tend to be full bodied and can have different degrees of carbonation.
- Generally speaking, they will be between 6-9% ABV.
- What does the dubbel mean though? Well, the origins are a little unclear, but one likely answer may be that originally wood casks were marked with a center number of X’s to show there strength. Two X’s, it became a dubbel.
Chimay Red
- Chimay is rather popular and pretty widely available, both in the bigger 750 ml bottles and the 11.2 oz bottles.
- The beer is actually named after the small town near the French border in Belgium.
- Established in 1850 and brewing commercially as of 1862, demand has grown steadily in recent years.
- Chimay has three major beers, the Chimay Red, Chimay White, and Chimay Blue.
- Weighing in at 7.00% ABV, Chimay Red most certainly is a little stronger than some of the beers that we have been tasting, but right in there for a Dubbel.
- This one pours a medium brown, maybe even a little bit of copper. Remember this is a bottle conditioned beer, so it may have some yeast still in there.
- The taste is kind of basic for a good Belgian. You taste sweeter malt in this one, again very little to no hop presence. If you want a hoppy beer, don’t get a dubbel.
- A lot of people have said that the older versions of this beer are much better, more complex, so keep that in mind if you find an older bottle.
Next Week
Is our one year anniversary show. It is the long awaited food and beer show, with special guest Kurt. Kurt is a great friend of the show, chef and home brewer – a perfect combination for the show.
In two weeks will be the second of the dubbel beers, and this one domestic. We will be taking a look at Ommegang Abbey Ale from Ommegang Brewing Company in Cooperstown New York.
Episode 50: Trappist Beer – These Monks can brew!
This week we start look Belgian Beers. Its a rather big style, so we broke it up a bit differently that previous series. This week we talk about Westmalle.
News
During this Easter, lets talk about Easter Beer. It seems like those crazy Belgians have come up with a beer that is all for Easter called Bos Keun, and the label shows Easter Bunny holding a glass of beer. Good like getting that in the US, the regulators don’t like people selling beers to kids.
Trappist Beer
- It would be wrong to say that the Trappist Beer is a specific style, instead, think of it as a family of beers, all from a close knit set of brewers. In order to be called a Trappist beer, a Trappist monastery has to make it.
- There are five Trappist breweries left in the world, all of them located in Belgium. Chimay, the most widely available and one that we will be discussing in the coming weeks; Westmalle, Orval, Rochefort, and Westvleteren.
- There are some things that all Trappists tend to have in common. First off, they are all ales, by that they are all top fermented. Also, they are all bottle conditioned, which means that they have yeast still in the bottle.
- You may have some trouble getting these beers in the US, with the Westvleteren and Rochefort beers very difficult to obtain. Generally Orval, Chimay, and Westmalle are easier to obtain, but may still require a little bit of hunting.
- Westmalle brewery, located just northeast of Antwerp in the town of Westmalle, was founded in 1794. Brewing began in 1836 but was only for those lucky monks that inhabited the monastery. In 1920 they began to brew for commercial purposes.
- Westmalle Dubbel, which weighs in at 7% ABV, is widely considered the defintion of the Dubbel style.
- The beer pours dark amber with a high head (although to be fair Jim was tasting this in a hotel room out of a hotel glasa).
- The aroma is of malt with hints of fruit, think pears, some over ripe apples, that kind of thing.
- The taste has some of the roasty flavors that we have been talking about in the past, but also a slightly sharper, fruiter taste.
Next Week
Next week we will be on to the first set of beers from Belgian, the Dubbel. In particular, we are going to be talking about Chimay Red, a beer that we talked about tonight, so tune in and enjoy.
Posted in Belgian
Episode 49: Stone Russian Imperial Stout – There’s no Putin this beer down
We’ve reached the end of our stout series as we look Stone Russian Imperial Stout. Jim and I both love this beer and the brewery. We are happy to call ourselves fan boys.
News
A beer with your haircut was the idea that a Michigan barber had until local authorities told him that idea wouldn’t cut it. Mr. Tom Martin, owner of Jude’s Barbershop in Grand Rapids, Michigan was giving out one beer per customer when the local officials came in and put it to stop. He notes that the beer, PBR, is for the customers only, and that the barbers don’t drink on the job.
Stone Russian Imperial Stout
- Stone brewing company is located in Escondido, California, just north of San Diego.
- Founded in 1996 by Steve Wagner and Greg Koch, they quickly became known in the industry for their big, bold, well hopped beers, and their gargoyle logo.
- The brewery produces about 70,000 barrels per year, although are expanding rapidly and will be close to 250,000 barrels per year capacity shortly.
- Tonights beer is also a seasonal release, the Russian Imperial Stout. Typically this beer style is released in the colder winter months, but Stone bucks that trend and releases it in early summer.
- Weighing in at 10.8%, this beer has a fair amount of alcohol bite to it. In addition to the ABV, it also only comes in a 22 ounce bottle, so if you get one, share it with a friend.
- I have had this beer several times, and let me tell you it does change a little with age. The younger verison of the beer has a distinct hop bite, however that mellows over time.
- To say this beer pours dark an understatement. It also pours rather thick, giving that nice thick mouthfeel.
- The smell is going to be of the coffee and roasted dark chocolate that we have talked about in the past, with just a little hint of hoppyness. You can bet that you smell the alcohol on this one as well.
- The taste is very smooth, not as hoppy as you may expect from a West Coast beer. The malt and roasty flavor really take over the beer. Which, for a stout is a good thing. This is a rich beer to say the least, so people have also described this as overpowering in sweetness, but Jim and Jake don’t see that.
- If you can find one of these, go grab it. In fact, grab a couple, drink one now, then store the second one for a year from now.
Next Week
We will be moving on from Stouts, and it’s a good thing because it is starting to get nice outside. Our next series will be on Belgian beers. We’re not sure which beer yet, so stay tuned next week.
Posted in Stout
Your Next Beer Episode 48: Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout – Melts in your mouth not in your hand
Back to a regular show this week we talk about Brooklyn’s Black Chocolate Stout. If you love hearing Jim gush over a beer and a brewery this shows for you.
News
I am sure that you never want to pour out a beer, but if you have to, there is now a good reason. You can use them in the garden. If you bury some jars with just a little beer in the bottom and the tops off, slugs – which can cause lots of damage to gardens – will crawl over to the edge to drink the beer, fall in, and drown. I wonder if slugs prefer one style over another?
Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout
- Tonights brewery is one of Jim’s favorites, Brooklyn Brewery in, yep you guessed it, Brooklyn, New York.
- Founded in 1987 by Steve Hindy and Tom Potter, Brooklyn has steadily grown to become one of the more popular breweries in the country.
- Originally, all of their beer was contract brewed by a company called Matt Brewing.
- Since 1994, Garret Oliver has been the brewmaster at Brooklyn. A fair amount of the research for this show comes from his book, The Brewmasters Table.
- This beer weighs in at 10.6% ABV, and is classified as a Russian Imperial Stout.
- This beer pours dark black, a lot like last weeks, but not too thick and oil like. The head again is nearly as dark as the beer itself and helps to release a nice chocolately aroma, but we are talking roasty chocolate, not sweet milk chocolate. There is also a little bit of an alcohol smell with this as well, what with it being as strong as it is, that isn’t too shocking.
- The taste is more of the same with the chocolate, roasty, but a little richer this week than last. This one is much more chocolate as opposed to esspro bitterness.
- The mouthfeel on this one, although poured thin, tastes just about right for this beer.
- Overall, this is one of my favorite imperial stouts. Because of it’s high alcohol, it is also a good beer to cellar.
Next Week
One more show left in the stout series, and we would be letting everyone down if we didn’t do the next beer, Russian Imperial Stout from Stone, so tune in and find out about one of Jim and Jake’s favorite beers.
Posted in Stout
Episode 47: Clip Show #3
Tonight, we have our third clip show. We do this from time when one of us isn’t really available to record.
I don’t really do notes for these, needless to say, we’re all over the place.
One important note, normally we keep it PG or PG-13, clip shows are definitely rated R.
Posted in General
Episode 46: Rogue Shakespeare Stout – Fine literature and fine beer
Back atcha with another in our stout series. This week it is out to the west coat again to talk about Rogue’s Shakespear Stout. The pre-show to this went longer than the real show, so stay hungry for another clip show.
News
A new study out of the Czech Republic suggests that countries with higher beer consumption are generally less creative. The study looked at the academic paper output of the Czech Republic which is the highest drinking country per capita in the world. The basic gist of the study is that the scientists who are out at the bar drinking are less creative and put for fewer ideas for new studies. I guess that is why this show is dull sometimes, but I have to say, I generally have some of my most creative thoughts after a few beers!
Rogue Shakespeare Stout
- Rogue Brewing Company, for those of you who don’t recall the previous show, is based out of Newport Oregon.
- One of the most widely available craft brewers, you can get it in nearly every state.
- Rogues Shakespeare Stout weighs in tonight at 6% ABV, is a straight forward stout, as opposed to the previous weeks oatmeal and chocolate stouts.
- This one pours a bit like 10W-30 after it has been in an engine for 30,000 miles. It is absolutely black, and the head is nearly as dark as the beer.
- I am not shocked by smelling hops in this beer. There is also the same chocolate and espresso smells that you should be expecting.
- The taste, in my opinion, is more like a cross between a stout and an IPA. Maybe a subtle IPA, but an IPA none the less. There hop bitterness and some of the citrus flavors that we talked about in our IPA series, like orange and grapefruit are present in this beer. As the beer warmed up some it did start to come through with more of an espresso flavor and that type of bitterness as opposed to the hoppy bitterness, so temperature may be something to pay attention to with this one.
- The mouthfeel, one of my big things with stouts, isn’t bad but it seems a little thin.
- The bottle, as with all Rogue bottles is a cool looking bottle with a painted on label, I suppose we can assume the figure on it is Shakespeare with his fist in the air and a pint in the other hand.
Next Week
Next week we are headed to Brooklyn and a Garret Oliver beer, Brooklyn’s Black Chocolate Stout, which is classified as a Russian Imperial Stout.
Posted in Stout
Episode 45: Goose Island Oatmeal Stout – Not Wilford Brimleys oatmeal
We continue on our stout odyssey with Goose Island Oatmeal Stout. Another week without a food show, but don’t worry it’s on its way.
News
This story is an update from one we brought you earlier about beersicles in Virgina. There is a bill in the Virginia General Assembly is considering a bill that will allow bars to serve beer popsicles and similar alcohol-spiked foods. The bill states that the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) cannot prohibit the sale of food products containing alcohol, as long as those products are being sold to persons over the age of 21 The issue surrounding the bill originated after the ABC tried to prohibit the sale of beer popsicles at a Northern Virginia restaurant. The hop-sicles, as some called them, generated widespread discussion, prompting Internet videos showing how to make the beer pops. The ABC attempted to prohibit the sale of alcoholic foods because it violated current law stating that alcohol must be served in its original container, or be poured from a tap.
Goose Island Oatmeal Stout
- Tonight we have our first American stout tonight with Goose Island Oatmeal Stout.
- Goose Island is a Chicago brewery opened in 1988 by John Hall and it continued to grow over the years, today shipping to 15 states.
- One of the interesting things about this brewery is that they have two brew pubs, but neither one of them actually do any bottling. Instead, they have a third brewery that is a complete production facility located in the city.
- Goose Island Oatmeal Stout. It weighs in at 5.00% ABV, and is classified as an oatmeal stout. An Oatmeal stout is typically much smoother than regular stouts due to the addition of the oats to the beer. Also, there is a bit more sweetness typically hanging around in Oatmeal Stouts.
- This beer is not quite as black as ones in the past couple weeks, but it most certainly was still very dark. It had a really smooth mouth feel to it, although I thought it may have been a little light in that area, or in other words it felt more like water than like whole milk.
- The taste had no hops to it what so ever in my mind but did have the chocolate and roasted malts present here again, but not over powering. There is most certainly some bitterness here, but it is more an espresso type of bittnerness as opposed to a hoppy bitterness.
- Overall, its not a bad stout, and most certainly a good one if you are going to have more than a couple in a night.
Next Week
Next week we head to the West Coast and look at Rogue’s Shakespeare Stout from Rogue Brewing Company.
Posted in Stout
Your Next Beer Episode 44: Young’s Double Chocolate Stout–Better than a box of chocolates!
We’re with another Stout, but not the one we were planning on. In a stout, Valentine’s Day collision we look at Young’s Double Chocolate Stout
News
This weeks story comes from Fox News. Two men attempting to hijack a beer truck in London ended up crashing the vehicle only a few hundred yards away, spilling beer canisters into the street and drenching the road with alcohol. “Everything just poured out of it,” said Jags Khokhar, 27, who works at a nearby car garage. “All the cans came out of the top half of the lorry (truck), and there was spillage everywhere.”
Young’s Double Chocolate Stout
- Young’s Brewery is one of the two independently owned breweries in London, the other being Fullers.
- The brewery itself is a blend of old and new, parts have old copper equipment while others have the newest of the new modern items.
- The beer for the night is classified as a sweet or milk stout. There are lots of different stouts sub-classes out there; milk stouts, sweet stouts, imperial stouts, oatmeal stouts, cream stouts. We are not going to cover them all, but we will jump back and forth a bit between them.
- The sweet/milk stout is just that, a bit sweeter than the normal stout, which of course makes it a perfect topic this week because of Valentine’s Day.
- The Double Chocolate weighs in at around 5.2% and pours that nice dark black with an incredibly milk chocolate looking head.
- The smell is what you would expect, chocolate. Now I have said that beers in the past have had a slight chocolate aroma or taste, but this one blows those all away. This one tastes like chocolate. Now there is some roasty flavor, but you really get a nice semi-sweet dark chocolate flavor. This is most certainly a beer that is a desert beer.
Next Week
Well, who knows what we are going to be doing next week. Life has been busy here lately and with a little slow down this week I should be able to plan some more, so it could be the food show, or it could be another stout, who knows, but tune in!
Posted in Stout
Episode 43: Guinness Stout – Brilliant!
We’re skipping the food show for now – we’ve had a busy week. So we are starting up our Stout series. This week it is the ubiquitous Guinness Stout
News
This story comes out of Dublin Ireland and just so happens to have something to do with Guiness. A thief got away with hundreds of beer kegs at the landmark Guinness Brewery in Dublin, Ireland, last month. The fiend drove a truck into the brewery, hitched up a trailer with 450 kegs and drove straight out of the security gate and into rush-hour traffic. As for all that beer—police say they’ve recovered an unspecified amount from an undisclosed location northwest of Dublin. My question is, what were they really planning on doing with all of that beer!
Stouts
- As with Porters, the history of stouts begins in England.
- Stouts are a direct descendant of porters. It all started when brewers began brewing heavier, roastyer versions of porters, called stout porters.
- With the invention of Daniel Wheeler’s roasting machine in 1817, darker, more flavorful malts were able to be obtained more constantly, and more flavorful beers were developed.
- English Stouts tend to be a bit on the sweet side, and have generally low alcohol content.
Guinness Stout
- In the book, the “Brew Masters Table” Garret Oliver states that “no other beer is as married to one brewery as stout is to Guinness.
- In 1759 a 34 year old name Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease on a brewery at St. James Gate, Dublin.
- Today, owned by a company called Diageo, Guinness brews 19 versions of the stout in more than forty countries and sells it in 135 countries. Currently, much of the Guinness Irish Stout consumed in the US is actually made in Canada!
- The serving type is important to note hear, because there are many different types. First, there is the rocket widget, a plastic device designed to release nitrogen into the beer when you open and pour it to give it that creamy head. Second, there is the nitrogen draught, which is generally how I drink my Guiness at the bar, which uses Nitrogen instead of CO2 in the tap line to give it that creamy goodness. Finally, there is a new creation on the market called the surger. This sends an ultrasonic pulse through the beer and creates that same pillowy head on the beer.
- The beer itself weighs in at 6.0% ABV which is a light beer in comparison to some of the other ones we have had in the past, but a little high for a stout. Oh yeah, this is the Guiness Extra Stout, there is also the Guiness Draught Stout which is 4.2%.
- The taste is very basic and bottom of the ladder for a stout. You are looking at coffee flavor here that for me at least tends to go away in a hurry. A good beer that although looks intimidating because of the color, really isn’t.
Next Week
Well, really who knows what we are going to do next week, it may be a food and beer show, it may be a special valentines day show, or it may be another stout, tune in to find out. If it’s a stout show we’ll be talking about Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout.
Posted in Stout
Episode 42: Gonzo Imperial Porter
Finally back to our normal NPR audio quality. If you like asides you’ll like this episode. We talk about Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter.
News
So how much would you pay for a beer, $3, $10, $60? Carlesberg is putting a beer called Vintage No. 1 on the market for $396.47. It will be sold three Copenhagen restaurants. Now the catch is that there are only 600 bottles of the beer, and from what I can tell it is only being sold in Europe. It is a 10.5 proof beer, which could mean 10.5 percent ABV or 5.25 percent ABV. Either way, we’re looking for samples.
Gonzo Imperial Porter
- This week we head to the Rockies and Flying Dog Brewery.
- The first brew pub opened in 1990, it was the first brewery in Aspen in over 100 years, and one of the first brewpubs in the Rocky Mountain region.
- In 1994 Flying Dog opened a 50-barrel main brewery in Denver, Colorado from which its ales are distributed to more than 45 states of the United States.
- One of the interesting things about Flying Dog Brewery is art of Ralph Steadman, best known as the illustrator of the works of Hunter S. Thompson, on its labels.
- In 2005, the brewery created a new beer in the lateThompson’s honor, Gonzo Imperial Porter.
- Initially in limited-release in 750mL bottles, the Gonzo Imperial Porter is now one of the regular offerings of the brewery.
- The beer weighs in at 9.2% ABV and is actually classified as a Baltic or Imperial Porter.
- This beer most certain pours dark, I would say probably the darkest of the beers that we have had. The taste is most certainly of roasty coffee and chocolate, but not sweet, rather dry. There is a little hop compliment at the end, but overall, the malt is what is coming through here on this one.
Next Week
That’s the end of the porter series. Next week we are going to be taking a slight diversion from our normal show and bring to you a beer and food show, and we may even have a special guest, so make sure to listen!
Posted in Porter
Episode 41: Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter – This beer is no wreck!
Back again a day late, sorry. My audio quality isn’t great, because I was dumb again and forgot to turn on my real mic. However, another good show on Edmund Fitzgerald Porter.
News
Is beer healthy? Well, a new study out of Germany is thinking that maybe, just maybe it is. Preliminary studies indicate xanthohumol, a compound found in hops, inhibits a family of enzymes which trigger cancer, as well as help the body detoxify carcinogens. Researchers warn that it would take 60 regular beers to equal the amount of xanthohumol they were able to brew in one beer. Scientists are now working on ways to give all beers higher levels of xanthohumol, and even find ways to add it to other foods, like chocolate. Mmmmm, beer flavored chocolate!
Edmund Fitzgerald Porter
- Well, here we are once again in the land of Great Lakes Brewing Company. We have talked about these guys in the past with their Christmas Ale.
- But for those of you who are just tuning into the show for the first time, for shame, for shame, here is a little background on the brewery. Founded in 1988 by Patrick and Daniel Conway in Cleveland Ohio, the originals brewery location was chosen because it had originally been home to many breweries which had gone by the wayside over the years
- The brewery tends to have a more regional distribution, so for those fans in Florida and California, you may not be able to get a hold of this beer.
- The beer weighs in at around 5.8% ABV. It is named after the ship that frequently docked in Cleveland and made shipping runs in the great lakes that tragically sunk on November 10, 1975 with all 29 crew members perishing.
- This beer has also won a butt load of awards including:
Silver Medal, 2007 Great American Beer Festival
Gold Medal, 2006 World Beer Championships
Bronze Medal, 2004 Great American Beer Festival
Gold Medal, 2003 World Beer Championships
Gold Medal, 2002 Great American Beer Festival
Gold Medal, 2002 World Beer Championships
World Champion, Gold Medal, 2001 World Beer Championships
Gold Medal, 1998 World Beer Championships
Silver Medal, 1997 World Beer Championships
Gold Medal, 1996 World Beer Championships
Bronze Medal, 1996 World Beer Cup, Colorado
World Champion, Platinum Medal, 1994 World Beer Championships
Gold Medal, 1993 Great American Beer Festival
Gold Medal, 1991 Great American Beer Festival
So yeah, generally speaking, it is a well respected beer. - It pours a very dark brown with just a little hint of red in the highlights, this is not a lightly colored beer. There is a lot of nice roasty chocolate aroma here, and just a little bit of citrusy hops in there as well.
Next Week
One more porter week ahead to wrap up this series – not sure which one tune in and find out – and then we are going to have a one show break from the series format with a cooking and beer show, and then on to stouts.
Posted in Porter
Episode 40: Sierra Nevada Porter– Same Company, New Beer
We couldn’t go two weeks and have a normal show. This week I’m in Seattle, but the show goes on with Sierra Nevada Porter. It felt fitting with me on the west coast.
News
Here is a story out of the great state of North Carolina that shows the dangers of over consumption. The story goes that two men were arguing at a backyard BBQ because one man would not give the other man a beer. The dude who was not getting served decided it would be a good idea to fight the man with the beer. In the fight the man who wanted the beer bit the other guys ear off.
Porters Part 2: American Roots
- Last week we talked a bit about the British roots of the Porter style, but what about those American roots that have helped develop the style into what it is today.
- Thomas Jefferson actually brewed and sold porter, as was the custom at the time. A Mr. Robert Hare of Philadelphia opened a porter brewery in 1776 and although he was driven out for a few years by the British was back at it in 1778 and supplied Hare’s Porter to the Presidential Mansion at the request of President Washington.
- The porter got a little more of an American taste when the German lager craze came through in the mid 1800’s. Many brewers would still brew porters but they would use the lager yeast instead, giving a slightly different flavor.
Sierra Nevada Porter
- I have to say though, not a lot more can be said about Sierra Nevada that we haven’t already said. For a quick refresher, they are a craft/regional brewery located in Chico, California.
- Their rockstar beer is the Pale Ale, which comes in a green labeled bottle, but they have a long line of other fabulous beers as well.
- The Porter, comes in a bottle with a blue label and weighs in at 5.6% ABV.
- It pours a dark brown, but I can still manage to see through it, so not as heavy as a stout. The smell is decidedly on the malty side but there is a hop aroma here as well, just more subtle.
- The taste is sort of lightly like an espresso. What I get more of in this beer, which is really no surprise from sierra Nevada is a hope presence, sort of lightly citrusy.
Next Week
Well next week we will be doing another fan favorite, and by fan I mean me, in Great Lakes’ Edmund Fitzgerald Porter. As with other Great Lakes beers we have talked about this one can be a bit hard to get, so be on the lookout.
Posted in Porter
Your Next Beer Episode 39: Fuller’s London Porter – From savage baggage handlers with love
Back to our normal audio quality! A new show in a new series. This week we look at Fuller’s London Porter. You may not have heard of the Porter style if you’re new to beer, but it is one my favorites, so I’m excited to be exploring it.
News
The Beer Pong World Series took place this last week and the top prize was $50,000. Now I will admit, I have played a game or two in my life. Alright, I have played a hell of a lot more than a game or two, and I am not sure that I could make it to the end of a major tournament and stand up to accept the check! Check out the website for more information.
Porters
- So what exactly is a porter? Well to really understand this still, we are going to need a quick lesson in British history.
- In the early 1700’s in England, blending beers was pretty common.
- In 1722 a brewer named Ralph Harwood in London came up with a single beer that mimicked the flavor of one of the most popular blends, called “three threads.
- One group of customers, London’s porters, really liked this beer, and it got its name from the people who drank it.
- The Porter trend grew in London and quickly became one of the best selling styles. A fact that some out of towners soon picked up on.
Fullers London Porter
- Well I know we usually start with a cheap American beer for a series, but I decided to buck that trend and go with one of the originals.
- Fuller, Smith, and Turner PLC have been brewing beer in England since 1845 in Chiswick, West London. They brew at the history Griffin Brewery which has actually been brewing beer since the 1600’s.
- The distribution for this product is pretty good. The bottle I bought I got in Pittsburgh, but I am sure that I have seen it here in Chicago as well and just about everywhere.
- It weighs in at 5.4% ABV which is right in the middle of what we said for this style.
- This is a dark beer, but don’t be scared. I can’t tell you how many times people have said to me that, oh, well I don’t like those dark beers, not knowing that dark beers can taste very different. This one is actually surprisingly mild and mellow.
- The first thing you taste with this one is the malt, a nice roasty and chocolatly flavor, but not overwhelming by any means.
- All in all, this is a great first step beer for those of you who haven’t tried a darker beer. Further more, this is a great beer to introduce people to if they are not sure if they like this style.
Next Week
Next week we will be coming back to America and talking about Sierra Nevada Porter, another widely available beer from a company we have talked quite a bit about.
Episode 38: Miller High Life…No, not really!
This week we’re bringing you a special New Years Eve show about the champaign of beers, sort of. The audio quality is a bit off, I won’t bore you with why, but safe to say this show almost didn’t happen. Better a bit bad sounding YNB than none at all I always say.
We also skipped the news this New Years Eve, and as a special present we are releasing this early, so you can go out and snag our featured beer, Hennepin.
Hennepin
Well, it sounds this week like we have taken a step back down the ladder of good beer, doesn’t it, with Miller High Life as the topic of discussion. Through clever marketing, Miller High Life has gotten itself the label, Champagne of Beers, and being that tonight is New Years Eve, we figured it would be a great time to talk about it.
However, we aren’t really going to suggest that you go out and get a Miller and tell all of your friends that this is the pinnacle of the beer world in comparison to Champagne.
Instead, we are going to talk about a beer that both Jake and I feel have a lot of the same characteristics of a good glass of grape bubbly, Ommegangs Hennipin.
- This is the first Ommegang beer that we have done so lets go over the brewery a little bit. Ommegang brewery is located in Cooperstown, New York.
- The brewery is generally known for there line of belgian beers, including Three Philosophers, Abbey Ale, and Rare Vos, a dark belgian ale.
- This is a rather wide spread beer, and you should be able to get it in most states, at least 45 of them at last check.
- The vitals on this beer first. It weighs in at about 7.7% ABV, which is rather on the mark for a Belgian beer. The beer is generally classified as a farmhouse of Saison ale, one of the many styles that come from belgian.
- The taste is something that you would not expect from a typical American beer. The beer smells a fair amount like a wheat beer, and has that same general haze. This is due to the fact that this is a bottle conditioned beer and the yeast is still in the beer.
- Different than a wheat beer though, there is a hop bight that some through in a citrus and almost vineous flavor.
- So, why are we doing this as the Champagne of beers? Well, in our mind it shares some of the same characteristics of Champagne.
Next Week
We will begin our porter series next week, and right now I am not sure which beer we are going to start with, but I promise it will be a great show, so make a new years resloution to tune in and tell as many people as you can to listen!
Posted in General
Episode 37: Troegs Mad Elf – Merry Christmas!
We finish up our Holiday beer series with Troegs Mad Elf. Troegs doesn’t have the biggest distribution, but we figured talking about this beer was worth it.
News
Miller Brewing Company is going to test out a light craft beer line. They plan on calling it the Miller Lite Brewers Collection and will feature craft style beers that are lower in calories and carbs. The collection will feather a Blonde Ale, an Amber Ale, and a Wheat. What is so interesting about this is that most craft brewers do not have a light beer on the menu, so this may actually fill a niche that is in the market.
Troegs Mad Elf
- Well today we visit a hometown favorite, or at least a brewery in Jake’s hometown…or at least close to it, Troegs Brewing Company in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
- The brewery was founded in 1997 by John and Chris Trogner and the name comes from their last name and the Flemish word for pub, Kroeg, mashed together.
- This beer is only distributed to five states and I couldn’t get it in Chigago if I begged and pleaded. I actually had to bring this one from Pittsburgh.
- Tonight we are talking about their Christmas offering, “Mad Elf”. The beer weighs in heavy tonight at whopping 11% ABV. So kids, don’t drink more than one of these at a time.
- This beer pours a red color, almost like pouring cherry juice and really has no head to speak of.
- You can really smell cherries here with this beer, but when you taste it I think you taste a little more of the honey. Overall however, you taste alcohol. As the beer warms up however this is less harsh. There is very little hop to speak of in this one, instead it is really the honey, fruityness, and alcohol that you taste.
Next Week
Thats all for these series. Next week we will be doing a special New Years Eve show and talking about the Champagne of Beers. You will have to listen to figure out what we think that is!
Posted in Winter Beers
Episode 36: Sierra Nevada Celebration – No we aren’t Kool and the Gang
Our second to last beer in the Winter Beer series, we are looking at Sierra Nevada Celebration. Before you run out and buy it make sure to listen to the podcast.
News
It seems like all we have been talking about here lately is big business and mergers, this week we are back at it, with Groslch, the familiar beer in a green swing top bottle. Grolsh is being bought by SABMiller. Now the really interesting thing about this story is that Groslch currently has a distribution contract with AB (Anheuser Bush ) in the US, so it very well may end up with one major US company marketing and distributing another major US companies beer.
Sierra Nevada Celebration
- Sierra Nevada is not a new company to us. You all may remember when we talked about Pale Ales and we said that they make one of the best examples of a Pale Ale out there available on a large scale basis.
- Located in Chico, California and founded in 1979 by Ken Grossman, this company is one of those smaller craft brewers that hit it big and became a bigger brewer. The thing is, they kept there dedication to making good beer even though they got big.
- This beer company, like many, started as an experiment in home brewing. We don’t talk much about homebrewing on the show, but if you want to know more, give Basic Brewing Radio a try
- One of the great thing about this company is that the owner is still very much involved with the recipes and contributes to every step of the process…or so says the website.
- Well what about the beer. Well this one weighs in at 6.8% ABV, now were talking, and it is classified as an American IPA.
- This beer pours copper in color and has a nice tan head. The smell is exactly what you are going to expect from an IPA, hope, hops, and more hops. The taste is the same thing, 100% hops. It is much more bitter than there pale ale, which again you would expect. There is a little bit of the alcohol heat as you swallow but what really comes through is some of the pithyness of the citrus.
- While we are here I want to make a quick note about cellaring. Come beers, believe it or not, hold up pretty well over time. This is one of them.
Next Week
Well next week we will be wrapping up our Christmas shows with a hometown favorite, Mad Elf from Troegs brewing company in Harrisburg.
Posted in Winter Beers
Episode 35: Great Lakes Christmas Ale – It goes great with the Roast Beast!
We’re back with another regular episode in our Christmas beer series. This week we look at Great Lakes Christmas Ale. This is one of Jim’s favorite beers, so make sure to listen up.
News
It seems like every year around this time there is a new controversy involving beer labels and Santa. This year a product called Santa’s Butt Winter Porter (which we will not be reviewing on the show) has been denied a label approval by the State of Maine due to the fact that Santa may appeal to children and then the beer may appeal to children. The importer of the product, the Shelton Brothers, have filed a motion in court saying that they are having their first amendment rights violated.
Great Lakes Christmas Ale
- Great Lakes Brewing Company is located in Cleveland and was established in 1988 by Patrick and Daniel Conway and was actually the first microbrewery in the state of Ohio.
- The company originally started off as just a brewpub but has expanded over the years and now operates a full scale production brewery right next store to the brewpub
- So what are the vitals on this beer. Well, it weighs in at 7.5% ABV which is a little higher than the previous beers that we have tasted so far, and is classified as a Winter Warmer.
- The base of this beer is going to be the malt coming through. If you want a hoppy beer, this is not the one for you. You can taste subtle hints of cinnamon, ginger, and most certainly the honey that just comes along on the back end of the beer.
- Oh, and even though this is 7.5% abv, you most certainly can not taste the alcohol in this one. It tastes like one you could drink all night long in front of a roaring fire.
Next Week
Next week we will be heading back West to California and Sierra Nevada for the Celebration Ale.
Posted in Winter Beers
Episode 34.5: Remember Remember the 5th of December
In a special Wednesday Episode, Jim and I celebrate the anniversary of the ratification of the 21st Amendment.
We talk about the history around Prohibition and a bit about the beer industry then and since. So it’s 1/2 history lesson 1/2 social commentary and 3/4 of the greatness you expect from YNB.
Posted in General
Episode 34: Rogue Santa’s Private Reserve Ale – Milk is so 2006
I think we’ve solved Jim’s audio issue, so we finally have an episode that sounds decent. This week we talk about Santa’s Private Reserve from Route Brewing Company.
News
In an effort to “go green” we are bringing you a news story about conservation. The news this week is out of Canada where a new study found that one of the biggest wastes of electricity in our neighbor to the north is a second, older beer fridge located in many peoples basements. The study found that the fridges cost an average of $150 a year to run and suck down as much as 1,116 million killowhat hours a year. So, the moral of the story here is keep your beer in the primary fridge and just keep less food on hand.
Santa’s Private Reserve Ale
- Today’s offering comes from the West Coast and Rogue Brewing Company in Oregon.
- We talked about this brewery once before in regards to Morimoto Imperial Pilsner if I recall correctly, but just to refresh your memory, Rogue was founded in 1988 in Ashland Oregon.
- One of the most distinctive things about Rogue products is the packaging. They are all based on the same similar design, a person on the front of the label holding a beer.
- This company is often criticized by some saying that some times they will simply change the packaging but not the beer. For instance, a beer could be called the same thing different years in a row, but in reality it is the same beer.
- So how about some vitals for the Santa’s Private Reserve Ale. The beer weighs in at 6.00% ABV and is classified as a American Amber or Red Ale.
- Generally speaking, just like all of the other beers in this series, you can get it around the winter. However, I have also seen older bottles of this in the summer, just depending on the beer store. I would generally recommend avoiding this beer though if you see it in August some where.
- The taste really comes through as a nice roasty flavor, kind of like chestnut roasting on an open fire some may say. It pours a deep copper color, with even the head on it not looking white but just a lighter shade of copper. The hops and bitterness are there in this beer, but they are much lower than I was expecting.
Next Week
Next week we will be going to the Mistake by Lake, Cleveland that is, and enjoying Great Lakes Brewing Companies Christmas Ale.
Posted in Winter Beers
Episode 33: Sam Adam’s Winter Lager and Blue Moon Full Moon Winter Ale – Lager your full moon already
So we are almost back to our normal show. Jim recorded this show from Pittsburgh, so it wasn’t on his computer and it shows. You’ll notice he’s a bit fuzzy and every once in a while you’ll miss a piece of a word. Don’t worry you can still understand what he’s saying. We decided to give you a double shot of YNB this week with two beers to start our Winter Beer Series.
News
There is another merger in the beer world in the past couple weeks. As we heard about several weeks ago, Coors and Miller are coming together for a joint venture in the US to market and distribute their beer, and now it is happening in the craft industry as well. Widmer Brothers and Redhook Brewery’s have agreed to come together and form the Craft Brewing Alliance Company.
Winter Beers
- Now this is a tricky category to wrap your arms around because it can really cover several different beer styles. We have decided to put it all together in one series because once again we are talking about some seasonal beers that aren’t around all year and we need to fit in as many as possible.
- Some of the specific styles we will be talking about include the Winter Warmer which are a little higher in alcohol and sweeter and malty, Belgian Strong Ale, which can be fruity and strong, or even something like a Barelywine, which is sweeter and much higher in alcohol as well.
- In general though, you can expect a Winter Seasonal to be a little bit higher in alcohol to keep you warm on those cold winter nights, a little spicey with possibly some flavors of nutmeg or cinnamon, and further on the malty and sweet side as opposed to the hoppy and bitter side.
Sam Adams Winter Lager and Blue Moon Full Moon
- Well it seems that almost every series that we have we tend to start with Sam Adam’s or Blue Moon and this series is no difference.
- Now we have talked a lot about both breweries but just in case you don’t remember the Blue Moon Brewing Company is actually the Coors Brewing Company and was first started at The Sandlot, the brewpub at Coors Field in Colorado. Some of their products that we have talked about in the past include the Octoberfest and the Belgian White ale.
- Boston Beer Company, also known as Sam Adam’s is based in Boston and makes a hell of a lot of products.
- You should be able to get these products just about everywhere, unless you live
- The Full Moon Winter Ale is a Winter Warmer and weighs in at about 5.6% ABV.
- The Sam Adams Winter Lager is a Bock beer, which is a German lager that is darker in color, typcially an amber color and more malty than hoppy. The ABV on this one is around 5.8% abv which is actually on the low side of things with this one.
- The taste of the Full Moon is pretty straight forward. It has some malty sweetness and a very light bitterness afterwards. I almost want to say that this compares very well with a basic lager. One thing that sticks out about this one though is that there seems to be a little more taste of alcohol in this one.
Next Week
We continue down this Winter Beer path and look at Rouge’s Santa’s Private Reserve. It’s a West Coast beer so you might have to look a little harder to find one.
Posted in Winter Beers
Episode 32: A Clip show – of sorts
This should be Oaked Arrogant Bastard, but our technician (me) deleted the show. So I threw together a clip-show.
If you’ve just started listening to the podcast, sorry for the past few weeks. Things have been a bit all over the place. If you are a loyal listener thanks for sticking with us through a bumpy bit. But never fear fair listener, next week the YNB you love and expect comes back when Jim and I start our Holiday beer series.
Have a happy Thanksgiving, and if you are in the Central PA area go see Spotus for the last time ever at ABC Harrisburg.
And if you are wondering where the intro and outro come from you don’t know your Askewniverse very well.
Posted in General
Episode 31: Stone XI Anniversary Ale – Ours goes to 11
This week we look at Stone XI Anniversary Ale. Each year Stone brews an anniversary ale and this years offering is a Black IPA or a BPA? By the way this is another show that we recorded on location in Chicago. Oh I know I say Episode 30 at the top of the show, trust me it’s Episode 31.
News
It appears there is a new Beer ad war brewing – pun intended. Miller fired the first salvo by having the Anheuser-Busch dalmatian jump into a Miller Light truck. How much money will these multi-national corporations dump in this ad campaign, who knows.
Stone XI Anniversary Ale
- Stone Brewing Company is located in the recently scorched Escondido California. According to Jim they brew “beers that they like, whether you like them or not.”
- The co-founders of Stone were both there when Jim and I were out on the brewery tour. If you can get out to San Diego its a great tour to take.
- They are well known for their special releases, that’s what we are talking about tonight their annual anniversary ale.
- This beer is 8.7 percent alcohol by volume, it was brewed once and only once in late summer 2007, if you can still get it, buy it, even if you buy it by the case.
- It’s an IPA made with chocolate malt, where most IPAs are made with crystal or carmel malt, producing an IPA that you can’t see through.
- Just like other stone beers, it not only tastes great, but has a great smell, or nose if you are being snooty.
- A lot of coffee flavors at first, then followed by a dry very hoppy finish.
Next Week
We are looking at another beer by Stone, their Oaked Arrogant Bastard.
Posted in General
Episode 30: Q & A
We take a slight departure from our normal show, we are going to answer some listener questions. If you have questions make sure to leave them in the comments.
Tailgating Beers
In warmer weather Jim is looking for a nice pilsner, in the colder months he’s thinking about a porter or a barley wine.
From Jake’s point of view tailgating is a time limited experience. So to avoid the high prices inside the stadium you need a beer you can drink a number of quickly. So in that vein a Yuengling or Rolling Rock, might be a good choice.
Also you have to think about what you are eating to pick an appropriate beer.
Wedding Beers
Jim responsibly suggests a beer with lower alcohol content since people tend to drink to excess at these types of events. But whatever you do keep it simple.
Jacob suggests if you can bring in your own beer do a nice sampler. Buy a case apiece of some random beers. If you can’t then Sam Adams Boston Lager is a good choice.
Trading Beer
Short version, you can’t put beer in the mail. Longer version their are a number of beer trading websites out there that you can find people in your area that you could trade with in person. It’s a great way to discover new beers, but again you can’t ship beer without a license.
Next Week
We a take a detour and talk about Stone’s 11th Anniversary Ale. We are filling some time before we do holiday beers in December.
Posted in General
Episode 29: Dogfish Head Punk—Don’t be scared
Our first in person recording. If it sounds like we are sitting in a room with nothing on the walls and hardwood floors it is because we are. We are looking at aDogfish Head Punk, their fall seasonal.
News
The Boston Brewing company is suing an Oregon man named Sam Adams who is running for mayor of Portland. Apparently Sam Adams is claiming they own the trademark on the name “Sam Adams.” Word is they are suing the national archives because their trademark is on the Declaration of Independence.
Dogfish Head Punk
- This beer is brewed by Dogfish Head in Delaware. We’ve covered Dogfish Head before and there isn’t much more to say except they make great beer.
- This beer is no exception, it weighs in at 7 percent alcohol by volume and is advertised as a brown ale
- That description is accurate as the beer pours a nice redish brown that isn’t too dark you can’t see through it.
- The taste of pumpkin comes through a lot more in this beer than in the Blue Moon we talked about last week.
- The taste is not too hoppy or malty it is a different tasting beer.
- This beer is a bit harder to get, so this might be a good preview for next year.
Next Week
We are taking a bit of break with the series. We are going to be doing a questions and answers show next week where we answers some questions we’ve already gotten so stay tuned for some beer wisdom.
Posted in Pumpkin Beer
Episode 28: Blue Moon Harvest Moon – Do I see the great pumpkin around?
This week we start our mini-series on Pumpkin beers with Blue Moon’s Harvest Moon. So get ready for Halloween with us.
News
The raw goods needed to make beer, including the barley and hops are going up in price. I have read that this may increase prices as much as 25 percent on a six pack. Now the trick here is that some of the beers that we talk about use more hops that some of the lighter beers, and may actually go up even more in cost. Just something to really keep your eye on over the next couple months.
Great American Beer Festival
Once a year most of the brewing world in America stops and goes to the Great American Beer Festival in Colorado to have their beers judged and sampled by one and all. This year, there were 450 brewers pouring various beers of all kinds of styles there. Some of the noted winners include Victory Prima Pils which one a silver medal in German style Pilsnener, 312 Urban Wheat Ale from Goose Island Beer Company, and Troegenator from Troegs brewing company in Harrisburg, PA one a gold for Bock style.
Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale
- This weeks beer comes from Coors Brewing Company, perhaps you’ve heard of them.
- The Blue Moon brand came about in the Sandlot Brewery, which is the brewery at Coors Field, home of the hottest team in MLB right now.
- You may recall, or want to go back and download our previous show on just regular old Blue Moon, which we covered several months ago in our Hefeweizen series.
- The distribution for this beer is pretty damned fantastic. It is one of those beers that if you can’t get it, then you must live in the middle of no where and just can’t get any beer.
- Now, lets talk about this little beer here. It weighs in at around 5.6% abv, and is generally released in the fall, so you should be able to get it say from September to November.
- The taste is kind of malty with a spiciness to it that you would kind of expect from the season; cloves, nutmeg, allspice, and pumpkins.
Next Week
Well, next week we will be doing a semi-live show. Jake is coming out to Chicago and we will be recording a show or two while we are actually both in the same state, yeah its a novel idea we know. We will be covering our last pumpkin beer next week, Dogfish Heads Punk.
Posted in Pumpkin Beer
Episode 27: Mendocino Oktoberfest Lager– Bicostal not bipolar
We finish up our Oktoberfest series with Mendocino Octoberfest. This is a West Coast beer, so all of those who may complain that we are too East Coast focus can shut yo mouth.
News
Huge news in the beer industry this past week, so huge that it actually made all of the big news websites not just the beer related ones. SAB Miller and Molson Coors are going to combine US operations to compete with Anheuser Busch. Miller will hold the majority share of the new business with 58% share and Coors will have 42% share. All in all, this follows the trend in the industry of consolidation, and I would not be shocked to hear of another major deal between AB and InBev in the future.
Oktoberfest Lager
- So last week I said that we are going to be doing a beer from a West Coast brewery, Mendocino Brewing Company.
- Starting as the first brewpub in California since prohibition under the name Hopland Brewery in 1984, growing every year and starting to distribute 12 ounce bottles in 1989.
- In 1997 capacity at the brewpub (yeah, they were still bottling there) was more than at it’s peak and they invested in a state of the art brewery in nearby Ukiah.
- Now comes the two coast thing. In 1997, to give the beer national recognition, they started to brew in a brewery in New York, Olde Saratoga Brewing Company.
- There products are available in 35 states, so this is a rather widely distributed product, and you should be able to get it just about anywhere.
- The official name is Oktoberfest Lager, and it weighs in at around 6.1% ABV.
- The taste has a bit more hop bite than the one we looked at last week, Spaten, did. That being said, there are still lots of the sweet bready flavors from the caramel malts used to make it.
- As we wrap up this series, I want to ask for other suggestions for next year. I know that this is one of the types of beer that I know a little bit less about, and with such the short time that they are out on the market, I don’t always get a chance to try them all. Let us know what we may have missed.
Next Week
Well, next week we move on to pumpkin style beers in honor of Halloween. We will be doing two beers, one next week which you can find everywhere, Blue Moons Harvest Ale, and one that may be a bit more difficult to locate, Dogfish Heads Punk.
Posted in Oktoberfest
Episode 26: Spaten Oktoberfest – Back to ye olde country
How do you like the old timey speak? Nice eh? Another jump across the pond to look at Spaten Oktoberfest, and of course ramble a bit.
News
As Jim mentioned in passing last week, the Pittsburgh Brewing Company has been sold to an investors group and is now going to be called Iron City Brewing Company, for their namesake beer. Pittsburgh Brewing Company has been bankrupt for several years now and the sale is a welcome site for Pittsburgh. The brewery is currently making millions of dollars worth of renovations and are not shipping any beer, at least not to Chicago, for the meantime.
Spaten Oktoberfest
- Well I promised that we would get to it, Spaten Oktoberfestbier, from no other than Munich Germany. Truly the grandfather of all Oktoberfest beers, the website claims that this beer was first brewed in 1872 and is the first Oktoberfest beer.
- Spaten is not a young brewery it was first registered in 1397.
- Spaten was actually one of the first good beers Jim ever had. A good friend and listener Scott introduced me to Spaten several years ago and well it all kind of snowballed from there.
- This beer in particular weighs in at around 5.9% alcohol by volume and is a traditional Marzen Style lager.
- The color is a deep amber, with very little head but lots of carbonation. This is a really clear beer, as opposed to the hefeweisens and some of the ales that we have tried here. Again, this is due to the lagering and filtering process.
- The flavor is a light bready taste, with just the hint of bitterness. This beer really doesn’t have the depth of flavor that we have seen in the past, but it is still a good beer to introduce people too.
Next Week
Well, we originally planned to do Brooklyn Brewing Companies Oktoberfest beer, but I can’t find it, so instead we are moving away from our East Coast bias and we are going to Mendicino Brewing Companies Oktoberfest.
Posted in Oktoberfest
Episode 25: Penn Oktoberfest – It’s a polka night in Pittburgh
Ok I know we said we would cover Spaten Oktoberfest, but neither Jim nor I could get it, so we took a bit of a detour talking about Penn Oktoberfest and a bit more of the history of Oktoberfest.
News
September 30th was the national toast to Mr. Michael Jackson. All around the country last night at pubs, bars, restaurants, and beer joints, glasses were raised to honor the legendary beer writer. It was said that Duvel, a belgian beer which we have not yet covered but will when we get to that series, was his favorite beer. I know that I am going to be raising my glass later this week to him, because its is better late than never.
Oktoberfests both Gross and Specific
- The actual Oktoberfest heald in Munich Germany each year is made up of 14 tents that each serves a separate purpose, from Schottenhamel which is considered the most important tent because it is where the festival starts, to the Augustiner-Festhalle tent which features the local beer Augustiner.
- Penn Brewery throws their own Oktoberfest in Pittsburg, PA. The brewery is located in an area of town that is within view of the old Hienz Plant and looks very much like an old bavarian brewery.
- The Penn Oktoberfest and the Penn Dark beers. The Penn Oktoberfest beer had a distinctive bready taste, while still have some light hop character. The Dark, a german dunkel by contrast had a bit more roasty flavor, but still some of the same smoothness that you would expect from a german lager beer.
- In addition to Penn Brewery, I visited Church Brew Works. There over a dinner of Sauerbraten and peppercorn spaetzel, I enjoyed their version of the Oktoberfest, which was much more hoppy than the Penn Brewerys verison.
- While we are talking about Oktoberfests, we thought it would be great to mention one that Jake and I have worked the past two years but are unable to this year, Capital City Brewing Company and Shirlingtons Oktoberfest. This is a great fest that has a great variety of beers from a variety of brewers. And of course, it had a pretty good selection of german food and a great umpa band.
Next Week
So next week, I promise we will be talking about Spaten Oktoberfest. No, really, I swear we are going to. Finally, its about time we go with a real German beer.
Posted in Oktoberfest
Episode 24: Sam Adams Octoberfest – Roll out the barrel
We start a new series this week with Sam Adams Octoberfest. You might notice a slight echo when I’m talking. Jim’s speaker/microphone setup needs some fixing, so bear with us for a bit.
News
This is actually an update from a previous story in regards to Pizza Beer. Thats right, we liked the story so much we decided to take another look at it. It seems that a Wisconsin brewery, which one I do not know, is going to start to make pizza beer for sale at local stores here in Chicago. Yeah, you heard me right, Pizza Beer for sale in local stores. The question really is, when are we going to do a show on Pizza Beer.
Sam Adams Octoberfest
- Oktoberfest is a two week long festival held in Munich Germany every year.
- It originated in 1810 over the celebration of the marriage of the Crown Prince Ludwig and the Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghhasen.
- It has grown in popularity in the US in recent years with the resurgence of craft brewing and the craft beer culture.
- Before refrigeration, it was nearly impossible to brew beer in the summer due to the hot weather and bacterial infections. Brewing ended with the coming of spring, and began again in the fall. Most were brewed in March (Märzen).
- You are generally going to get some spicy flavor out of this one, but by spicy I mean spice and herbs not spicy like chili spicy.
- As for this weeks beer, it is Sam Adams Octoberfest, which weighs in at 5.7% ABV. This is also one of those beers that may change from year to year in subtle ways, so this years beer may not taste like last years beer.
- This years version is, frankly, a bit ordinary. It’s a good märzen, but nothing special.
- So if you like yourself a good lager with a bit more malt and hops you should pick this one up.
Next Week
We go back to the roots of look at Spaten Oktoberfest.
Posted in Oktoberfest
Episode 23: 120 Minute IPA – The Holly Grail for Hop Heads
Finally we reach the top of our IPA ladder, with the often imitated but never duplicated 120 Minute IPA.
News
Tonight’s news is yet another in a line of beer safety tips for the drinkers out there in the crowd. A New Hampshire woman will spend the next 15 to 30 years behind bars because she killed another woman over an argument about beer. Mind you both of the women were very intoxicated, but I am sure that the argument was worth the prison sentence.
120 Minute IPA
- Well here it is, 120 Minute IPA from Dogfish Head Brewery in Delaware.
- As a quick recap though, Dogfish Head Brewery is one of the big players in the craft brewing industry, known very much for their extreme beers.
- Jim promised he would talk a little more about Randal The Enamel Animal, which is how true hop heads seem to like this beer, and we do on the podacst. You see, this contraption is hooked up to a draft or keg line and the beer runs through and over and around fresh dry hops, which apparently add even more hop flavor and taste.
- The vitals for this beer, well it weighs in at a whopping 21% ABV.
- Now as promised, I am going to be tasting this one live here, or well live as in recorded live. So for this one you’ll have to listen to get the tasting notes.
Next Week
Well that ends the IPA series for now. You never know, we may revisit this style later on, but as for now, we are moving on to the Octoberfest and fall seasonal beers. We have a pretty good lineup coming for the next several weeks, and even a little something special for Halloween at the end of October. Make sure to tune in next week when we talk about our favorite first step brewery, Sam Adams and its take on the style.
Posted in Indian Pale Ale
Episode 22: Victory Hop Devil Ale – Well I’ll be damned
This week we look at Victory Hop Devil Ale. A more balanced, but just as good.
News
Why beer festivals should not be held at Zoos. In Serbia a man was found dead and naked in a bear cage following a beer festival at the Zoo. Nuff said.
If you want to go to a more tame festival, Jake will be at the Maryland Microbrewery festival on September 29th. If you’re going to be there let us know in the comments.
Hop Devil Ale
- Tonights offering to the beer Gods comes from Victory Brewing Company in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, which is a little bit west of Philadelphia.
- The brewery is actually a rather new brewery, just passing the ten year old mark last year. So if you can do the math, that means it opened in 1996. The building actually used to be an old Peppridge Farm Factory.
- You can get this beer on both coasts and a fair number of states in the middle of country as well. Yeah, I am just too lazy to read all of the states. In addition, if you go to the Victory website, there is a place where you can buy it online.
- Hop Devil Ale weighs in at around 6.70% ABV, which although it isn’t as strong as last weeks beer, it is still pretty powerful.
- One of the first things you notice about this beer is the label. What Victory has done is taken a hop, which is a pine cone like object, and strapped devils horns, chin, and other devil like features on it.
- The taste is actually pretty balanced in my opinion. Now don’t get me wrong, you most certainly know that this beer has hops in it, with that bitterness, but there isn’t nearly as much citrus flavor coming through.
- I think that this is a great IPA to introduce people too. Not only does it have many of the strong characteristics of a good IPA, but it also has a little bit of malt sweetness that may help get new craft beer drinkers to come to the table.
Our Next Show
Next weeks show is going to be the peak of the IPA style series, with a ridiculously hoppy beer, Dogfish Head 120 Minute. Jim plans on actually tasting this on air.
Posted in Indian Pale Ale
Episode 21: Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA – This one’s just right
After a week off, this week we look at 90 Minute, what many consider to be the best IPA in the country.
News
A few pieces of sad news this week from the beer world. Steve Harrison, the Vice President of Sierra Nevada died in an apparent boating accident between. And just last Thursday, on August 30th, Michael Jackson, the Beer Hunter, passed away from a heart attack. Jackson was widely considered the best beer mind in the world. He has published several books, had a TV show at one point. So we raise our glass to them this week.
90 Minute IPA
- Dogfish Head Brewing, is one of the most widely distributed craft breweries in the country. Located in Milton Delaware and owned by Sam Caligone, considered to be one of the rockstars of the brewing industry.
- Dogfish Head, which is named after a small shark (which is on the bottle and the logo of the company) is known for making experimental and extreme beers. The brewers are always trying something different, be it using tons of raspberries in their beer, brewing from ancient recipes, or using tons of hops.
- Tonight’s beer, 90 Minute IPA, is the middle beer of the IPA beers that they put out, and let me explain what I mean by middle beer. There is also a 60 Minute, and a 120 Minute (which we will talk about in two weeks).
- The 90 Minute, weighs in at around 9% ABV, which is pretty strong for a beer. In fact this is a beer that you may have two but probably not too many more in a night. If you want to drink more of them, give the 60 Minute a shot.
- The 90 however comes forward with hops, hops, and hops. You are going to get all kinds of piney, citrusy, flavors out of this one. And this is going to be a lot more bitter than most people are used to, so take that as a warning.
- The balance here is ok, but I think the hops do over power the malt and sweetness. That being said, this is one of my favorite IPA’s. If you get a chance to get one, but feel kind of intimated at first, try the 60 and then move up. If you feel like going for it, enjoy!
Next Week
We look at Victory Brewing Company’s Hop Devil Alewe get even hoppier, so hop heads rejoice!
Posted in Indian Pale Ale
Episode 20: Jake’s in Maine
Well I’m no vacation, so you get a clips show.
We record a pre-show before each show to get warmed up. Sometimes we say even more interesting things as hard as that is to believe.
Next week we are back with “real shows.”
Posted in General
Episode 19: Samuel Smith India Ale – A spot of beer
We continue on to the second beer in our IPA series. We head back to the roots of the style and merry old England with Samuel Smith’s India Ale.
News
This isn’t really news that deals with beer they way that most of our news deals with beer, but it is still an amusing story none the less. It appears that a beer can found at a buglary scene two years ago has enough DNA on it to charge someone with robbing the place for $30,000 worth of stuff. So, be careful where you throw your empties…and oh yeah, don’t steal.
Samuel Smith India Ale
- Samuel Smiths is brewed in the town of Tadcaster, which is a small Yorkshire town located between Leeds and York.
- The brewery was founded in 1758 and bought in 1847 by the Smiths (no not related to the cohost). Apparently there has been some sibling rivalry over the years, some Smith brothers opened up rival breweries. I have read from varying sources that it is either now owned by Coors, or is still independent. If anyone can shed some light on that, we always welcome the knowledge in the comments.
- A little side note about this beer the material that the fermentors is made from is not the typical copper, stainless steel or even oak. It’s Welsh Slate.
- Samuel Smith’s India Ale weighs in at 5.0%. I didn’t really have a tough time finding this one, and have seen various Samuel Smith products around, but I am not sure of the distribution.
- When you pour this it looks a little bit darker than you would think an IPA should look. But don’t worry, it isn’t a Guiness. The head is actually has a bit of a copper color.
- The first thing you notice is the smell, it is nothing like what we talked about last week, instead it is a much more bready aroma. The taste is different as well. You can tell there are hops in it, but the malt is much stronger.
Next Week
Well we are done with England and are going to be heading back to the America’s next week, and in particular we are heading back to Delaware and the first Dogfish head of the series, 90 minute IPA.
Posted in Indian Pale Ale
Episode 18: Pyramid Thunderhead IPA – Walk like an Egyptian
This week we start our India Pale Ale or IPA series with Thunderhead IPA from Pyramid Brewing Company.
News
A little labeling news this week. Apparently, the TTB, which is the Federal agency that regulates alcohol products, is proposing some new labeling requirements for said alcoholic beverages. The new rules will require alcohol to be labeled with nutritional analysis and things like serving facts labels, like you would typically see on the back of a Pepsi. Now the rub here is, this has kind of been in the rule making process for a couple years, so who knows how long it will take to become a regulation or if it ever actually does, but who know you could soon see that familiar little square on your beer as well as your bag of Fritos.
IPA – What do those letter means?
- When we talk about IPA’s we are talking about India Pale Ales. But, Jim, you may ask, these beers aren’t from India, why are you calling them India Pale Ales? Good question thoughtful listener, good question. You see, IPA’s originally came from Great Britain, like a lot of other Ale style beers.
- You see, around the 1790’s, Great Britain was pretty much ran India and longed for the great taste of a British beer to go along with their domination. However, brewing in India was tough because it was too hot, the water supplies sucked, and basic ingredients were not available. Oh what is an Englishman to do.
- They couldn’t ship the beer because the trip would take 4 months and before refrigeration and modern techniques, it was tough to keep the beer fresh. And by tough I mean impossible. It ended up tasting like crap when it got there.
- So, what could they do. Well they just added more hops. See, hops work as a preservative, and the beer when it got to India tasted fairly normal because of the large amounts of hops added.
Pyramid Thunderhead IPA
- Pyramid Brewing Company, which you may remember us mention briefly from one of the hefewiezen shows, is based out of Seatle Washington, and has fairly good distribution, so you should be able to get this stuff pretty much anywhere. Founded in 1984 as Hart Brewing Company in Kalama, Washington, the company has gone through several changes since that time, including buying Thomas Kemper Brewing of Poulsbo in 1992 and changing its name to Pyramid in 1996.
- The brewery makes a bunch of good beers including a hefewiezen as mentioned and an apricot beer which actually isn’t too bad either.
- This beer however is a little bit different from an apricot beer. Thunderhead IPA weighs in at 6.7% abv and is a fairly hoppy IPA.
- This guy pours a copper color and doesn’t really have too much of a head, or at least not when I poured it. You can’t really smell hops like you could in some of the APA’s the last few weeks, its actually a pretty mild aroma.
- The taste however is not a mild APA taste. You get hit with that bitter and hops pretty quickly. Now this is not the hoppiest beer out there, but it is most certainly something that may take a little getting used to. The malt does add a little sweetness if you roll it around in your mouth like you do a good wine (yes you can do that with beer too) but the hops are really what brings this beer to life.
Our next show
Next weeks show we will be hopping the pond again to England and the origin of the IPA with Fullers IPA. This will be the next step up the ladder as we take a deeper look at the origin of the species.
Posted in Indian Pale Ale
Episode 17: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale – Not Stifler’s Pale Ale
This week we finish up American Pale Ales with Sierra Neveda Pale Ale. This one is a pinnacle beer you can get just about anywhere.
News
Some YNB news this week. We are are moving the site from Blogspot to WordPress.com. I’ve used Blogger a bunch for personal blogs and we use WordPress at work. I decided to try out WordPress.com and I think it has much better features than Blogspot. More than anything it makes it easier to create the posts and saves me time. If your subscribed on iTunes you won’t have to change anything.
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
- Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, based out of Chico California. We are talking about the beer in the familiar bottle that most people have seen either in real life or on the silver screen, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.
- The brewery, established in 1979 by a pair of homebrewers who wanted to get into the industry.
- Interesting note about the brewery, it’s a green facility, powered by a fuel cell that makes both heat for brewing and electricity I think. There was a fancy diagram on the website and I think thats what it said at least.
- As for the beer, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, it weighs in at 5.6% abv and is generally considered one of the best examples of an American Pale Ale.
- There is that citrusy taste at first however, which does fade pretty quickly and then has a little sweet aftertaste which fades as well.
Our next show
Well thats it for the APA series, so what logically comes next are IPA’s, or India Pale Ales. This is going to be a bit longer series, and we are going to talk some about the origins of the series and what to expect on next weeks show, which will be Pyramid Thunderhead IPA.
Posted in American Pale Ale
Episode 16: Doggie Style Pale Ale – What’s my mutha*** name
In this episode Jim and look at Doggie Style Pale Ale from Flying Dog and Burning River Pale Ale. Two great microbrews. We also flirt with the explicit tag.
News
So this week we have a half beer story, half water story. It seems that Anheuser Busch is jumping into the bottled water market, They will be distributing Icelandic Glacial spring water. Now of course the joke here is, how really would you tell the difference between that and the beer. In all seriousness though, it seems like AB continues to expand in the market place, moving at first to liquor, now with non-alcohol products, and who knows what’s next.
Doggie Style Ale
- First up, Flying Dog Brewing Company out of Denver Colorado and their Doggie Style Classic Pale Ale.
- This is definitely a company who likes to come up with interesting labels. The label art is all done by Ralph Stedman, who used to do illustrations for Rolling Stone magazine and the late Hunter S. Thompson.
- Doggie Style is rather widely distributed, in fact you should be able to get this product just about anywhere.
- Doggie Style comes in at around 5.32% alcohol by volume and is another year round offering.
- The taste of this one is going to be hoppy or bitter. There is no getting around it, this brewery tends to like to make some strongly hopped beers.
Burning River Pale Ale
- Great Lakes Brewing Company is based out of Cleveland Ohio and makes a lot of great beers, however you can’t really get them outside of the Midwest.
- The name of this beer cames from an event that most Pittsburghers like to make fun of Cleveland for, the night they set their river on fire.
- The vitals for this beer include a 6% abv and I believe year round production, if you can find it that is.
- The beer is much more balanced than the anchor last week, actually allowing some of the roast flavor to come through as opposed to the heavy hop flavor.
Our next show
Well, we have one more show in our pale ale series next week and we will be doing another moderately big guy in the industry, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, which is widely considered one of the best versions of a pale ale on the market.
Posted in American Pale Ale
Episode 15: Liberty Ale – An offer you can’t refuse
Beer number two of our Pale Ale series is Anchor’s Liberty Ale. We reference the Godfather because this brewery has been around a long time.
News
Well there seems to be a fight a brewing (pardon the pun) over what is America’s #1 beer. Apparently, Anheuser Busch is in a bit of a fight with Capital Brewing Company out of Wisconsin in regards to who actually has America’s #1 beer. Capital touts itself as the #1 craft brewery in the country and wants to trademark that, but AB is having some trouble there.
Anchor Liberty Ale
- This week we are continuing on with our Pale Ale series with a beer from the Godfather of American Craft Brewing, Liberty Ale from Anchor Brewing Company in San Fransisco, CA.
- Why is this brewery the Godfather of the craft industry you ask? Well, founded way back in 1896, the brewery moved along until it started to have some finical trouble in the 1960’s Then in 1965 the brewery was bought by Fritz Maytag, who started several years later to bottle what is called California Common beer, or Steam Beer, which we may talk about in a later show.
- But enough of the history lesson, on to the beer. Weighing in at about 6% ABV, this is a little bit stronger than last weeks initial offering. It was first brewed and bottled in 1975 and is available year round.
- The color is a nice golden color, looks a little bit darker than your typical light beer, which is what it should look like. It pours with a nice pillowy head, and has a distinctive hop aroma.
- The though is much more balanced that you would expect from the smell. Yeah, there is that hop presence, but it doesn’t bowl you over like some beers.
- This is a beer that would be a good introduction to hops.
Our next show
We will be continuing on with the saga that is pale ale next week when we talk about some smaller craft breweries, Flying Dog and Doggie Style Pale Ale and Great Lakes Brewing Company and Burning River Pale Ale.
Posted in American Pale Ale
Episode 14: Sam Adams Boston Ale – Back to Boston
Its been a few since we’ve posted a new show, but we are back with a vengeance this week with the start of our American Pale Ale (APA) series and Sam Adams Boston Ale. A widely distributed beer that everyone should be able to get, Sam Adams is a great first step in the series.
News
A news story from the great state of Wisconsin this week where breweries decided to reenact the Boston Tea Party by dumping a keg of their beer into the Milwaukee to protest new legislation regarding small brewers. I will be honest, I didn’t really read what the legislation was about, I was too upset over all the spilled beer.
A Little History Lesson…
- American pale ales come from British origins and its cousin the English pale ale.
- In general, this style is going to be a very balanced style, resulting in a not to hoppy, but not to malty taste.
- This in large part is a function of the ingredients
- When craft brewing started to gain some ground on the west coast, brewers wanted to give the public something that they enjoyed
- They decided to turn to British Ales, but could not afford to ship the ingredients from Britain
Sam Adams Boston Ale
- Weighing in at 4.94% ABV, this beer is very easy to find. In fact if you can’t find this beer, shame on you for six weeks
- More copper in color than the beers we looked at previously
- A balance taste, but much more pronounced hop or bitter flavor
- You can tell it is different than the lagers we have talked about, it’s a bit heavier and has a definite aftertaste
Next week
Next week we will be talking about the Godfather of the craft brewing industry, Fritz Maytag and Anchor Brewing Company and his Liberty Ale. So be sure to tune in next week!
Posted in American Pale Ale
Episode 13: Unlucky
Well Jim was traveling this past week so we didn’t record a show, so here is a non-show.
We’ll be back next week with the start of our pale ale series. Take this time to catch up on the archives over in the sidebar, or even leave a comment and tell us your favorite Pale Ale so we can include it in our next series.
Posted in General
Episode 12: Gumballhead – I sat in gum
In this episode we look at our pinnacle Hefeweizen Gumballhead. It’s brewed by Three Floyds and if you can get it buy it immediately.
Also, Kurt, the lead singer of Spotus left us a mesage asking us to cover Dreamweaver Wheat from Troegs in PA, however since it isn’t widely distributed, we are going to skip that for now. However, we do want your suggestions on what Pale Ales to cover. Be a helpful hand and make our lives easy so we don’t have to come up with ideas. Just leave a comment to this post
News
Just in time for summer, the often mention Rustico has gotten in a little hot water with the state of Virgina for making beer Popsicles. Apparently you have to serve the beer as soon as it is poured in the state of VA, which makes freezing it on a stick kind of tough.
Gumballhead
- Made at Three Flyods Brewing Company in Munster, Indiana which is a rather small but well thought of brewery. It opened in 1996 in Hammond Indiana, but made the move to the new place in 2000 to increase capacity for their tasty beers.
- Distribution is small, only ten states; Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia , Wisconsin
- As for the beer, it is classified as an American Pale Wheat Ale, which is a little off from the hefeweizen class that we have been looking at, but we will call it close enough. It’s only about 4.8% abv and is not available year round.
- The taste, well is a little bit different than the past few that we have had here. It is a lot more hoppy, or bitter, in my opinion, which is something that you usually do not get in a wheat beer. However that being said, you also still have the banana aroma and some of the spice characteristics that we have seen the last few weeks.
Next Week
Well that wraps up our wheat series, although we may revisit it at some point in the future. Next week we are moving on to American Pale Ales, which is going to be a few more shows that normal. We will be starting with Michelob Pale Ale and working our way up from there. Or as Jim goes cross country to impress a girl, we may have to take the week off. Stay tuned.
Posted in Hefeweizen
Episode 11: Hoegaarden- Oh I’ve got Hoes
This week we look at Hoegaarden a beer from Germany, that you can get anywhere.
News
Well for those of you who don’t know what Guinness is, for shame I say. However for those of you who do know that it is a Irish Stout brewed in Ireland, you may be interested to know that it may no longer be brewed in the historic brewery, where it has been been brewed since 1759.
Hoegaarden
- Hoegaarden Brewery founded in 1966 in Hoegaarden, which is in Flanders Belgium, by Pierre Celis, so it is a relatively new brewery to the region, being that most of the breweries there are from the 1500’s.
- Currently it is owned by InBev, the biggest brewing company in the world!
- In other words, you can get this just about anywhere.
- The beer itself, Hoegaarden Original White Ale, is typically the beer that you can find on tap at most decent beer bars, with a blue handle and a yellow and white top.
- The vitals on this beer are 4.9% ABV, which is a little lower than last weeks beer.
- This is a very cloudy, white beer. In fact it almost looks like a Coors light would look like if they left the yeast in it.
- The taste however is not the taste of Coors light. It has a much more carbonated than last weeks beer, although not as much as the Pilsner Urquell that we talked about before. Again though you should taste some citrus and spices in this beer, although nothing overwhelming.
Next week
We have come to the end of a series after the next show. For the pinnacle here we are going to be talking about Gumballhead Beer from Three Flyods Brewing Company.
Posted in Hefeweizen
Episode 10: Shiner Hefe-Weizen – Don’t Mess with Texas
This week we look at the beer I think of when I think of Texas, Shiner Hefe-Weizen.
News
More of a general story today, something that I have been hearing a lot in the past couple weeks, and that is that because of the rise in ethanol use for fuel, the cost of beer may be going up. This is due to the fact that they use some of the same ingredients, such as corn…thats all really, discuss amongst yourselves.
Shiner Hefe-Weizen
- The beer we are talking about today is Shiner Hefe-Weizen, produced by Spoetzl Brewing Company in Shiner, Texas. This is also the oldest independent brewery in Texas, having been incorporated in 1909.
- You can find it in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin
- The vitals: 5.6% ABV, brewed year round.
- The look: hazy, which is exactly how it should look.
- The taste: Actually I find it rather citrusy, a lot of orange seems to come through.
- This beer is not pasteurized, which means it is not heated up right after bottling, so the yeast should be alive in the bottle.
- The label on this one is also pretty cool, it has a character on it named Flip, which at first is a little trippy because he looks like a guy with to head attached at the top of the head.
Next Week
Our next show, we will be hopping across the pond again to look at some imported version of hefeweizens, in particular Hogarden, a beer that most people should be able to get on tap at some of the nicer bars. We will also briefly talk about some other imports such as Franziskaner and Paulener Hefewies beer.
Posted in Hefeweizen
Episode 9: Blue Moon – You saw me standing alone
Back to the macro brews with Blue Moon and Wheat beers. This series should put you in the summertime mood.
News
Two of our listeners got engaged a few weeks ago, so George and Jerry, congrats. We will be working on a “Your Next Beer: Extreme Wedding Edition” for you.
And in other wedding news, Jake’s sister and Podcast listener Rachel got married to Shawn on Saturday, June 2.
Hefeweizen/Wheat Beers
- Wheat beers are traditionally brewed with, you guessed it, wheat.
- The term hefeweizen actually comes from the German words “hefe” meaning yeast and “weizen” meaning wheat.
- Often times you may see these beers with a slice of lemon or an orange. Some people will tell you that is blasphemy, some will be accepting.
- Another note on pouring, these are unfiltered which means they are cloudy. Good hefewizens will tell you on the bottle to pour about half of it, then to swirl the bottle to “rouse the yeast” and then pour the rest.
Blue Moon
- Blue Moon, made officially by, get this, Blue Moon Brewing Company. Translated from marketing speak to normal speak, that means Moslon-Coors of Canada.
- Being that this is a Coors product, you can get this anywhere. In fact if you can’t get this product I would be amazed.
- This beer was actually first made at the Sandlot, the brewery located at Coors Field in Colorado. It has won a few awards, including a Gold Medal at the 1995 World Beer Championship and two silver medals one at 1996 and one at 1997 World Beer Championships, all in the White Beer Category.
- The vital statistics here, about 5.4% abv, brewed from barley, white wheat, and oats. Kind of orangy and hazy in color.
- As for the taste, well Jim has always thought this to be a little soapy in flavor really. There is a sweetness to this beer though that is much different than the past couple weeks, definitely an orangy flavor, but also a bit spicy, like coriander or clove.
Next Week
We will be looking at American craft Hefeweizen. Depending on where you are, look to pick up Pyramid Brewing Company, Shiner or Sam Adams.
Posted in Hefeweizen
Episode 8: Morimoto Imperial Pilsner – Domo Arigato
In this episode we hit the top of our Pilsner series with Morimoto Imperial Pilsner. Another chance for me to try describe the taste of a beer, since Jim can’t get it in Chicago all of a sudden.
News
Pizza, get your pizza beer here. A Chicago brewpub is making a beer out of pizza. From what the news story says, they are making a beer with real pizza in it. I guess pizza and beer are good together, but this is ridiculous.
Morimoto Imperial Pilsner
- Rogue Brewing Company is based out of Newport, Oregon and opened in 1988 making it a pioneer in craft brewing. They are known for their penchant for more experimental beer styles.
- Rogue is available in most places including: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin. Yeah, thats a lot of states.
- Weighs in at an impressive 8.8% abv, which for a Pilsner is very strong. Which also means think before you try to operate your car after downing one of these.
- It’s made from four ingredients: water, yeast, French Pilsner Malt, and Sterling hops.
- As for the taste…think kind of citrus, but not like chewing on an orange, more like a mild grapefruit. You may also taste some more sweetness here that we haven’t found in other Pilsners.
- Also, a quick note about the bottle, its a cool 750 ml cermanic bottle with a swing top.
- Now if you can’t get this beer, there are several other Double/Imperial Pilsners out there including Golden Shower from Dogfish Head, or you may want to go into your local micro brewery like Rock Bottom, sometimes if they have an adventurous brewer they may try something like this.
Next Week
We are moving on to a new style, Hefeweizen this style is great for the summer, and if your listening to us in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s summer. We’ll start our journey in this style with Blue Moon from Coors Brewing Company. You should be able to get this beer just about anywhere.
Posted in Pilsner
Episode 7: Victory Prima Pils – It’s Gold Jerry
Time for my favorite beer, Victory Prima Pils. Plus in this episode we talk about glassware. Yes we are kind of metrosexual that way.
The Pilsner Glass
What do you drink Plisners out of? A Pilsner Glass you say, no! Check out the ever present Wikipedia, which has an article. These are typically tall, skinny tapered 12-ounce glasses. Think about a champagne flute but without the stem and for beer. The tall glass helps to show off the bubbles and the head of the beer.
Target has a bunch, my favorite is the Luigi Bormioli doesn’t that just sound cool?
Prima Pils
- From Victory Brewing Company in Downingtown, PA, a town between Harrisburgh and Philly.
- You can get Victory products in; Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Texas, Colorado, California, Washington, and Oregon. In other words, it has pretty wide distribution.
- Prima Pils is one of the companies flagship beers. It is around 5.3% ABV and is brewed year round. This is even an award winning beer, or so Victory’s Website would have us believe. It is on Details Magazine top ten best summer beer list last year, Mens Journals Top Lager Worldwide in 2005
- Again, we are climbing up the hop ladder here again, and you could probably tell that by looking at the bottle. Remember, hops tend to mean bitter.
- The crispness of this beer really make it a great summer beer, one that tastes great after mowing the lawn or just sitting outside on a hot summer evening.
Next Week
We will be closing out this series with an Imperial or Double Pilsner. We will be talking primarily about Morimoto Imperial Pilsner from Rouge Brewing Company. You can get it on tap in the Washington, D.C. area at Rustico.
Posted in Pilsner
Episode 6: Pilsner Urquell – Czech Baby Czech Baby 1-2-3
We take a step backward in this episode to look a the origin of the species: Pilsner Urquell. Hear Jim and I butcher Czech names all through the episode.
News
VEGITARIAN ALERT – Guiness is not a vegitarian beer. Or so says the Vegitarian Society that recently released a list of food that was not considered vegitarian safe.
Pislner Urquell
- Pilsner Urquell, the first Pilsner beer, sitting at around 4.40% ABV. Comes in a green bottle with a nice foil label. Have been using the same reciepe since 1842, developed by Josef Groll. Yes, this is the night we butcher Czech names.
- The name “Urquell” even means “Original Source”
- Pretty straight foward ingredient list.
- Taste – Very carbonated, and a little more bitter than you may be used to if you are drinking light beers.
- This is a nationally distributed beer, so you should be able to
- Other imports that are simlar to this one include Spaten Pilsner from Germany and Budvar/Czechvar from the Czech Republic.
get it anywhere.
Our next show
- Up the ladder a rung to micro brews – Victory Prima Pils.
- If you can’t get Victory, you may also want to look for Goose Island Pislner, Sierra Nevada Summerfest, or Brooklyn Pilsner. If you can’t find one of those, try your local microbrew and see if they have a pilsner.
Posted in Pilsner
Episode 5: Budwiser – It’s good to be the king
This episode looks at an old favorite, Pilsners. If you have drank a beer in your life you probably have had a pilsner. Hopefully this show will take you from a light pilsner to a regular good old pilsner.
A quick shout to Lance Meyers who is listening to the show from Iraq. Jim was so excited to hear we have a listener over-there he called me at work. Thanks for listening and more importantly thanks for serving.
Also want to thank Spotus for the intro music.
News
- This week, May 13th thru the 20th, is American Craft Beer week
- Beer is a big industry in the U.S. The industry employes over 1.7 million people, paying over 55 billion in wages and benefits and over 5.2 billion in taxes. More stats over at Beer Servers America
Pilsner Background
- Lager beer, brewed first in the town of Pilsen which is in current day Czech Republic, or whatever they are calling it these days.
- Smooth beer, often times with a much more hoppy (bitter) flavor. A
sharp yellow or golden color, very clear. A highly carbonated beer. Generally about 5% ABV. - First true pilsner brewed was Pilsner Urquell, which we will be talking about on a later show.
Budweiser
Once again the theme of the show is what your next beer should be, and we are starting with the premise that most people drink the light versions of the big three, not the regular old Pilsner version.
- Some examples, MGD, Coors Orignal, and Budwesier. Oh yeah, and Iron City Beer as well.
- While Budlight is the Number 1 selling beer in the US, Budwesier is #2.
- With Bud, you should be finding a little bit of sweetness from the malt that goes away in a hurry.
- Important thing to note of about some of the mass produced beer, it may have corn or rice in it instead of or in addition to barley. This is done to save money and to give the beer a little more crisp flavor and much less bitterness.
- Note about beechwood aging. Imagine through beer on Popsicle sticks.
- These don’t really have to much of a bitter flavor or taste for the matter, HOWEVER they are more bitter than the light versions of the beer and do have a little bit of taste to them.
Next Show
Up the ladder a rung to the originals of the styles, Pilsner Urquell, Spaten, and Budvar/Czechvar.
Posted in Pilsner
Episode 4: Boston Lager – This is the beer
In episode four we talk about Sam Adams Boston Lager. No matter where you fall on the map this week, you should be able to get this beer. We rambled on a bit, but we hear people like that hopefully almost 16 minutes isn’t to long.
News
First off, we want to remind everyone that May 13th thru the 20th is
American Craft Beer week. Go find a brewery and have a beer!
Second, Miller is rolling out a Mexican Style Beer called Miller Chill. This beer contains a “hint of salt and lime.” So far, reviews say that it tastes very artificial. However, if you want a cocktail with lime and salt try a Michelada
Boston Lager
- This weeks offering comes from Boston Brewing Company (Sam Adams) the fifth largest brewery in the country this year, moving up two spots from last year.
- You may recognize the goofy looking guy Jim Koch in the commercials.
- Again, it’s an American Lager, which means it is going to have a pretty good balance of malt and hops, but still be rather crisp.
- This most certainly tastes different between bottle and draft. The draft is a bit more hoppy.
Our next show
We will be moving to something completely different with the next show. We will be starting the Pilsner series, which still falls under the lager category but is a little more specific. We will be starting with Budweiser/Miller/Coors versions of Pilsners, and working our way up from there in the following weeks.
Posted in American Lager
Episode 3: Yuengling, the beer that’s fun to spell
In episode three we talk about Yuengling. It’s sort of hometown beer for all of PA where we are from. We know we are breaking the rules a bit by talking about a beer without nationwide distribution, but hey it’s our show
News
Slow week for news, however coming up on the horizon is the
American Craft Beer Week May 13th-20th. Good excuse to go have a
beer.
Yuengling Lager
- Means “Young Man” in German
- From Pottsville, PA and available in Alabama, Delware, Florida,
- If you don’t see it now, you may in the future because this is the
- Great first step beer, it actaully has some taste, but isn’t too
- A beer we grew up with: If you are in PA you just order a “Lager”
Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, PA, South
Carolina, Virginia, and DC.
6th biggest brewery in the country, right behind Boston Beer
Company. Known as America’s Oldest Brewery.
impossing, not huge on bitterness or on sweetness (hoppyness of
maltyness).
Next Show
We stay on the east coast for our next show and talk about Sam Adam’s Boston Lager, we promise this time.
Posted in American Lager
Episode 2: Two Beers to Rule them All
In Episode two Jim educates us on the two main categories of beer: ales and lagers.
We talk about the difference between the two styles from production to taste. Since most Ales are alike and most Lagers are alike if you know you like one type more than another you can quickly eliminate 1/2 of the beers on a big beer menu.
The Next Show
Next time we start into “real” shows we will be looking at beer one in the American Lager series.
For the next three or four weeks we will be talking about American Lagers and hopefully introducing you to some great new beers.
We are on iTunes
So now we are famous we are on iTunes. You can subscribe directly with iTunes, but if it’s all the same to you, please use the link on the right – it helps us keep track of subscribers.
One thing you can do on iTunes is tell a friend about the podcast. We all know people who like beer and have about 10 minutes to spare, so let’s let them know!
Also don’t be shy, post your comments (good or bad) for each show. We are interested to hear your feedback.
Posted in General
Episode 1: The Rules
In our first episode Jim and I talked a bit about what we are trying to do with this podcast. We didn’t get it all done in 10 minutes, but we were close!
We highlighted what makes Your Next Beer different from other beer podcasts:
- 10 minutes once per week, because we don’t have enough time to record hours at a time, we have lives.
- No “on air” tasting, how does that help you?
- Beers you can get where you are
The plan is to look at a particular beer style and then move towards bigger beers. When you hear bigger beer thing hoppier (more bitter) and maltier (more bread taste).
We are looking forward to hearing from all of you! If you have questions you can email yournextbeer@yahoo.com. You can also comment right here on this very blog.
The Next Show
The next show is a bit of background about the two general kinds of beers: ales and lagers.
Posted in General
Your Next Beer 
