Caged Radler



Hoppin' Frog Turbo Shandy

I'm just going to say it. I like shandys, radlers, cyclists, whatever you want to call them. On top of that I like most fruit beers in general. I know that bugs a few guys (read as, macro swilling neanderthals) who find it emasculating to drink fruit beers, but nobody gives two shits about what they think, nor should you. Besides I, like many of you, tend to not eat as much fruits from the food pyramid, or whatever they are calling it these days as we should, so to prevent scurvy I think of these beers as beneficial to my health. For the most part these are refreshing, light, low alcohol beers that deserve as much respect as some of those big boozy dark malty winter brews or over the top imperial IPA's out on the market.

The turbo shandy by Hoppin' Frog piqued my interest, sitting at a hefty 7% ABV certainly separates it from the pack. I was a bit concerned that a juiced up version might be overly boozy and take away from the taste that makes a shandy so refreshing and thirst quenching but I was willing to sacrifice my taste buds for scientific purposes. I must say i was pleasantly surprised.

I always enjoy a 22oz bomber of beer, and a shandy to boot, nice touch. Kind of a goofy graphic with a frog wearing sunglasses, and whats up with that sunny lemon slice. It looks like its bursting from the frogs crotch, I'm not sure i want to know how that lemon got squeezed for this beer. All jokes aside, it  pours a hazy golden yellow with a very thin head with next to no retention. The nose was pleasant with hints of wheat that is transformed into generous helpings of tart lemons with just a touch of booze. The taste has a slight backbone of wheat with some yeasty characteristics that quickly gets over shadowed by the sugary but slightly tart lemon flavors. For such a high level of alcohol it really doesn't play out on the palette and the beer is refreshing but a bit cloying in a lemon soda way. Certainly would be something to enjoy in the summer months but unlike a traditional shandy a couple is going to do the trick. A nice beer that is well worth seeking out and trying.


Where do we go now?



Fulton Sweet Child of Vine

With a name hinting at a popular song from my teenage years I couldn't just kick it down the line.
This is another local MN product I snatched while on my fast trip to the Nations northland. By the way, if your ever in Rochester MN, stop at the Cap and Cork, a good selection of craft beers and a really nice owner.

Bottle and label nothing to really talk about, kind of an interesting brewery symbol but would have been something I passed over if not for the name of the beer. Pours a deep coppery red with a nice fluffy beige head. The aroma was mild with sweet caramel malt under whiffs of citrus and herbal hops. Taste was a nice but slightly tilted towards bready grains and sweet toffee with a delicate hop punch of piney resin and grapefruit/citrus. Nice mediumish body with a high level of carbonation that ends slightly bitter with an earthy dryness. Overall a tasty beer that seems to fall somewhere along the lines of an English ipa malt bill and a American ipa hop profile. If I had to put a voice to it, I'd say more Sheryl Crow than Axl Rose.

Sipping Wheat, Spitting Seeds

21st Amendment Hell or High Watermelon

I have to admit, I'm not very keen on watermelon. I like the occasional late summer, ice cold slice of watermelon drenched in a patina of salt, but any type of candy flavored with watermelon, I'll gladly pass on. So the idea of a wheat beer with watermelon slightly appealed to me and at the same time gave me the willies. A wheat beer, done right with a touch of watermelon that didn't taste artificial might just be delectable. So on a quick trip to MN I bought a six pack of 21 Amendment cans and returned home to KC and waited for the proper day to try. Which was the next day, with temps in the 100s already in late June, it was a perfect time to try as I sat comfortably inside my air conditioned home.

Awesome can, I suppose anytime you can get Lady Liberty lounging around, snagging a watermelon from a trash barge, you outta. Pours a hazy golden yellow with a thin head that quickly subsides. The aroma was of wheat and yeast with subtle hints of tart watermelon. The flavor was actually quite nice and surprisingly refreshing. A very nice wheat character that set the table for the gentle waves of watermelon that followed. The watermelon taste was light but clean and crisp, not at all artificial or sweet syrupy which isn't something I ever want in a fruit laced beer. So natural it wouldn't have surprised me to have to spit a seed out while drinking it. While not something I would drink a lot of on a consistent basis, its certainly a interesting beer, and one worth trying, especially on a hot summer day.

Tales from the Darkside

I've been looking forward to this one for quite sometime. Deschutes calls it a Cascadian Dark Ale, but essentially its a black IPA. Interesting label with the moon and a sign that makes you think your in the middle of nowhere but leading you to somewhere you wont forget. Pours a very dark almost black color with a thick bubbly tan head. Very dark and inviting. The nose lends itself to dark malts with hints of chocolate, and grapefruit hop notes from the Cascade hops. Just a really great taste. Rich malt base with coffee/dark chocolate flavors that doesn't over power like you would think from such a dark beer but accents the floral and grapefruit notes that rounds into a nice bittering finish. A nice upper medium body with a moderate carbonation really makes the beer shine.

For me Deschutes is becoming one of those brands that just can't seem to make a bad beer. This beer may perhaps be the pinnacle of all their beers I've tried. For purely greedy reasons, I hope they can exceed that expectation.

Hop Yeasty Freak Out



Green Flash Le Freak

Having tried Green Flash's excellent Palette Wrecker and Rayon Vert, it was logical to want to try their Le Freak. Really who could resist something that they noted as a meeting of Belgian Trippel and a American Imperial IPA. American Hops explosion +  fruity/spicy Belgian yeast esters has to = tasty brew town.

No idea how it pours since I winoed it out of the bottle. Some days it just fills good to have a big ole bomber in the hand to sip on. We were outside preparing to erect the hop poles and what better way to prepare climbing up a shaky 20 ft ladder than with the help of a little liquid courage. The nose, was a bit subdued but that's mostly from trying to cram my snooze over the tiny opening, but I got some hints of fruity esters, some sweet malts, along with some hints of cloves. The hop aroma rounded it out with a citrus note. The taste followed the nose. Fruity esters give way to bready yeasty malt that are back ended with a hop blast of citrus and pine resins. A nice bit of carbonation adds a refreshing crispness to the beer. Overall a very nice beer that takes some of the best characteristics of both styles and nicely melds them into a smooth, easy to drink but complex brew.

Badgering the Witness



Grand Teton Snarling Badger


Since I brewed my first Berliner Weisse a few weeks back, I figured it was about time to actually try a one. I suppose I should have done this first but I'm not usually one to follow the rules. Having bought it a few months back my first impression was to cellar it for a year or two and then try it. My curiosity got the better of me and I drank it instead.

Great looking bottle with a well done label. Nice touch with the shiny metallic looking paper that is sure to attract magpie like beer drinkers. With a bonus note attached to the bottle to boot, this really draws the eye to it on those crowded beer bottle lined shelfs. Pours a cloudy golden orange hue with a quickly dissapating head. The brew is super bubbly on the palette, to the point of almost champagne standards. The nose is light but one can pick up a slight tartness along more pronounced wheat, banana profile, and a touch of cloves. The taste is follows the nose, with notes of fruits such as banana and peach melded pinch of cloves and a slight touch of souring tartness at the end. An interesting brew, granted this isn't a true representation of a Berliner Weisse, having tripled the ABV to a whopping 7.5% and using a Bavarian hefeweizen yeast, it was tasty nontheless. The bright level of carbonation and lightness of the beer made this an easy sipper on a hot day. I would very much like to purchase another one and cellar it for future tasting as the brewers suggest.  Now I just need to find something more true to style to compare to my own creation. Any suggestions?

Tornado Proof Hop Poles



Rise Above Us Noble Hops



Finally got those blasted poles up for the hops. Poles were constructed as a T style so that next year we can add another run of hops on the other side to double our capacity. We hope to have roughly 10 rhizomes going next year. Used two 10 foot posted we spliced and bolted together. Dug a 4 foot hole and raised them using a tractor and a giant phone line wooden spool as a fulcrum. In hindsight we should have rigged up all the lines before the poles were 18ft in the air, going up and down a shaky ladder on a lightly breezy day isn't something I'm accustomed too, nor something i want to do again. After running guide wires to support make the poles and wires taunt the job was completed. Swinging the sledge hammer was fun but I can see why John Henry got replaced. As the case working with my Dad on a project, these are the Fort Knox of hop poles. If a tornado was coming my way and i was stranded in this field I would feel as comfortable as one could in such a scenario to whip my belt off and Bill Paxton twister myself to one of these poles.


Of the original seven hops I received only four have managed to grow. Willamette, Columbus, and two Nuggets. Farewell dear Cascade, Centennial, and Chinook, maybe next years replacements will fare better. Got to love our throw away society mentality. Plant growth is minimam compared to other peoples pictures, but being year one I'm not expecting much of anything. I believe hop production is suppose to be roughly 40% of potential max production. In the next week or so I'll be begin train the hop bines to go skyward. Really need to water them more consistently. This heat wave isn't helping matters.

Brew Day Review - Berliner Weisse 6/10/12

Name: B-town Weisse

Style: Berliner Weisse

Gallons: 5 split

Yeast: Wyeast German Ale Yeast 1007 & White Labs Lactobacillus Delbrueckii 677

Grain Bill: Pilsner, Wheat, Unmalted Wheat

Hops: Hallertau Mittelfruh

The Plan

After having read Stan Hieronymus' Brewing with Wheat it became increasingly (ir)rational that I needed to brew a Berliner Weisse. Granted, I've never actually had a BW, and have no idea if I would even like one, but I wasn't going to let these small details curtail my adventures. The allure of pilsner, wheat, no boil, 10 minute boil, yeast, and bacteria was just something I couldn't let go of. Mysterious and alluring and against everything I've ever read from hombrew books. Certainly it appealed to my anarchist side. After some more reading I came up with a recipe and plan. I used the information from the Berlinder Kindl Weisse recipe to formulate my plan of action. I really liked the idea of taking half the wort before its been boiled with hops and pitching it with Lacto and then boiling the other half for 10 minutes with the hops and pitching with a German Ale yeast. Let them ferment out and then blend to desired taste, which i have no idea what that should be.
The Good 

Mashing was a simple two part protein and sacc rest. Everything went smoothly and all temps were hit and managed. Sparging was not difficult and the desired amount was obtained. Bleed half of the wort into two 1 gallon glass jug and one 1/2 gallon jug and cooled to 90 degrees and pitched with lacto. Boiled other half with hops for 10 minutes, cooled, and pitched with yeast. The brew day totaled a mere 4 hours, which was great and reminded me of those first few years brewing on the stove with extracts.

The Bad
I didn't have the luxury of cooling down the non-boiled wort with my cooler because that would involve cooling all 5 gallons, separating, and then bring the rest to a boil. So I added the non-boiled wort to jugs and placed them into a bath of ice water to drop the temp. This took quite a bit longer than what the cooler would have done and working with a wort that was not boiled makes me skeptical of what other beasties are currently swirling around. The 25 gallon propan 25 gallon tank looks to be almost gone, the flame strength was not very consistent but for such a short boil time it finished the job. I'm no yeast cultivator, so I eyeballed the splitting of the lacto into the three containers. The only carboy I had available was a 6.5 gallon, which is a lot of empty air space for the 3 gallons of German ale yeast wort.


The Ugly
I really should have tried a BW first to see if I even like it. I did manage to find a BW by Grand Teton called Snarling Badger, which I haven't read too many glowing reviews about, most of which is that its not sour enough. The gas regulator decided to spring a leak, which cost me an hour and half driving around the city looking for a replacement. Of course home depot didn't carry it to makes matters simpler. Looks like its been slightly leaking the whole time but managed to fully spew on this day. Lost a fair amount of propane as well. My normal homebrew shop apparently doesn't carry lacto all the time and treats this as a special order. I learned this after i already had the grains milled. So i had to wait a few days to get it. I really should get my own mill and buy grains in bulk.

Overall
Like any brew day, its about as enjoyable day as one can have. Lacto has taken off. One of three lacto jugs has really lighten in color very quickly but after another day the others have followed suit. The air locks have a nice clean sour smell to them with a fluffy krausen quality to it. After three days the German yeast has pretty much stopped bubbling. There is a slight bubbling to the Lacto and interesting enough the colors of two of the lactos are different. After a couple more days they both cleared to a similiar color.

 

You Scream I Scream, We All Should Scream For Beer Ice Cream

So I found this article on how to make ice cream using beer. It sounded tasty

http://www.theawl.com/2012/06/how-to-make-beer-ice-cream



A Taste Sensation

 Having bought my wife an ice cream maker a few years back and the lack of use from it, I decided to send her the link. Besides, during the summer months she is always mentioning how she would like to make more ice cream and with fathers day coming up it seemed like a good idea hint, hint. She agreed after having received the email and link to set out to make it. She let me pick the beer and after an intense inner debate, I decided it was easiest to use the beer recommended in the article, The Southern Tier Creme Brulee Stout. I almost went for the Boulevard Dark Truth Stout but the sweetness of the Southern Tier seemed logical.

A sweet beer for a sweet father? To be debated.

This is definitely a sweet beer. You can smell the vanilla and sweetness the moment the top pops off. Taste wise its heavy on both aspects with a dark roasted coffee background. It's tasty, but not something I can drink a lot of, so using 8oz for the ice cream was much appreciated.

The Ice cream was very flavorful, hints of vanilla and coffee dominated the dessert that had an almost maple syrup sugary taste to it. Overall I really enjoyed it and hope in the future to try some other beer ice creams. Perhaps a O'fallon wheach, Left Hand Milk Stout, or even something like Boulevard Zon made like a sherbet.

Open Gullet, Drop Anchor

Anchor Portor
Intoxicating like Grace Jones in Conan the Destroyer

Brewery: Anchor Steam Brewery
Location: San Francisco, CA

Beer Name: Anchor Portor

ABV: 5.6%

Brewery Info
With deep black color, a thick, creamy head, rich chocolate, toffee and coffee flavors, and full-bodied smoothness, Anchor Porter® is the epitome of a handcrafted dark beer.
A blend of specially roasted pale, caramel, chocolate, and black malts, along with our top-fermenting yeast, creates complexity without bitterness. The brew is hopped at a high rate, and naturally carbonated. The result is dark in the glass, but surprisingly light on the palate.
Anchor Porter® became the first modern American porter when it was introduced in 1972. As we celebrate its 40th anniversary, our porter continues to reward those who look beyond its intimidating appearance to discover its smooth, full-bodied drinkability. Anchor Porter® is the definitive American Porter.

The Review

Bottle/Label (8/10)
I love the Anchor bottles. Short and squat, they feel like they fit perfectly into your hand and visually they are ascetically pleasing. If i was a doomsday prepper I'd have a couple of empty cases of these bottles on hand. They would make the perfect small Molotov cocktail. Lord knows when you're getting raided by a band of Mad Max type Humungus' or perhaps today's verison of Mel Gibson, you want a weapon that not only is efficient but is comfortable in the hand and looks good. From a homebrewers standpoint, hand cappers tend to not crimp the edges down tight enough around the bottle. Like most of Anchor's label's the leaf doesn't fall very far from the Christmas tree. Anchor, barley, and hops in some combination, well thought up description on neck label. However there is a quiant, old timey classiness in their look. Really like the Anchor typeface and color on this particular bottle.

Aroma (6/10)
There's big helpings of roasted malts in the aroma with sweeter toffee undertones rounding the edges. I get faint hints of some raisins and plums. Some dark roasted coffee/chocolate peek through with a touch of earthy hops. Not overwhelming by any means but enough to tantalize.

Appearance (7/10)
This is one dark portor, stretching into the abyss of the beer color scheme. Subtle ruby edges nip around the darkness when backlit. The beer is inviting with its thick tan head with moderate retention. Lacing along the glass is sticky but patchy.

Flavor (26/30)
The beer really shines in the flavor department. A nice sweet toffee flavor sets the table that with a little warming adds a layer of roasted barley/coffee notes. This taste clearly defines this porter making it complex, yet smooth and approachable. It finishes with a nice amount of earthy bitterness from the hops, that compliments the sweet, roasted goodiness of the malts. Towards the last third of the brew I perceived more dark chocolate notes than coffee, which i found really enjoyable. A taste sensation.

Mouthfeel (7/10)
The body is on the higher end of the medium side with a very lively, high level of carbonation. Smooth on the palette with a bubbly bombardment to interest the senses. A very crisp, refreshing take on a porter.

Overall (27/30)
I was amazed this beer has been around since 1972, making it a few years older than myself, which is remarkable for a craft beer. Even more remarkable was that it has taken me this long to try one. While I'll leave the adjectives like epitome and definitive to the brewery's bio, this was a very well crafted, complex but smooth brew. A very tasty beer that really shines with some warmth. The high carbonation made this an easy to drink porter and one I'd steer people towards that were on the fence with darker beers. While not something I would sit down and drink a six pack in one sitting, a couple a night would not be out of the question.

Total (81/100)

Day of Reckoning Scale
0-9 Hobo Piss
10-19 Better than tainted water
20-29 Terrible, but something to add to your beer bucket list
30-29 Below average Swill
40-49 Copacetic, but you could do better (gentle pat on your back)
50-59 Good, but you're not going to take it home to meet your parents
60-69 A very good beer, that's going to have a solid triple A career
70-79 A Exceptional beer, but just cant seem take that next big step
80-89 All-Star worthy, well worth the fanfare
90-100 Hall of Fame, let the accolades rain down