Category: Beer Tasting Events


2011 Stone Sour Fest

Filed Under: Beer Reviews, Beer Scores, Beer Tasting Events
Jul.16, 2011

Get on the bus! At 8:30am on a Sunday, the only bus I would ever get on would be to take me to the Stone Sour Fest…which thankfully, that is where our driver ended up taking us. Nothing like starting off your day at 10am with over 72 different sour beer choices! It gets even better being at Stone, which is in sunny San Diego with a huge outdoor space, lots of grass, lots of tables and decent grub. $45 pass got you 15 tickets for 3 oz pours of fabulous sour beer. Tums anyone????

Being that our group is very friendly and likes to share, we got to try many more than 15 different beers. Out of 73, I tried too many too count and too many to write about plus a few bottles that people also brought to share. Out of their Bottle List I tried:

3 Fonteinen Oude Kriek – One of the best! Sour cherries, funk, barnyard and more funky back of your throat sour pucker.

3 Fonteinen Schaerbeekse Kriek- (2 tickets). Lots of cherries, huge cherry pit flavors, sour funk and more juicy sour cherries. One of my favorite bottles and at $40 a pop, it’s not cheap but well worth every penny.

The Bruery Sour Stout- Super sour, funk, barnyard.

Cantillion Cuvee des Champions- Only 3 bottles at the event. Our group made a beeline for this bottle and killed it within 10 minutes of the event opening. It was super sour, funky with some musty notes and very tart.

De Proef Zoetzuur Special Reserve Flemish Ale- Raisins, dates, sweet caramel, Belgian Quad.

Hanssens Lambic Experimental Raspberry- I do love this beer. It is also my favorite color I have ever seen in a beer, almost an electric glowing coral- just gorgeous! And it tastes good too, with tons of super tart raspberries. Very cheek puckering sour. Lightyears ahead of their Cassis and about as tart as their Strawberry.

The Lost Abbey Cuvee de Tomme- Sweet cola, raisins and more dates.

New Belgium Le Terrior. New Belgium really brought it with this beer. A hoppy sour! Pine, hops, pineapple mixed with sour, tart funk- delish!

Our of their Draft List I tried:

Bear republic Barrel Aged Nectarine Grizz- Cherry cola, sour, tart malt.

Bear Republic Prickly Pear Grizz- Pear, malt, burnt espresso, sour. Interesting.

Cascade Nightfall Blackberry- Slight diacetyl in the nose, slight berry juice, tart.

Cascade Port Reserve- Nail polish remover, miso nose, sour malt.

Cascade The Vine- sour muscat grapes, funk, more sour grapes. Mmmm.

Green Flash Grand Mantis 2009- Way too much oak, malt, sour tongue and more oak.

Craftsman Extreme Braggot- Bourbon nose, French oak.

Craftsman Sour Lavender 2010- Loss of lavender, not as good as the 2011.

Craftsman Sour Lavender 2011- Well-balanced for a floral beer with a light lavender sour tart flavor. The nose has much more lavender in it but it is much more toned down and well balanced in flavor.

Grand Teton Sourgrass- Light sour mixed with hoppy goodness.

The Lost Abbey Framboise de Amorosa- Fruity, lots of raspberry, tart.

The Lost Abbey Sinners Blend 2010- Sour malt, raisins, dates.

Cantillion Lou Pepe Kriek- A fantastic classic sour but much more rare on draft anywhere in the USA. LOTS of fruity sour cherries. Mmmmm sour cherries.

John Martin Bourgogne des Flanders- Watered down mash. Gross.

The Bruery/Cigar City Brewing Marron Acidifie- Sour tart goodness.

The Bruery/Beer City Store The Wanderer- Sour malt, tart funk.

The Bruery Kriek- (2 tickets) Amazing sour, sour and more sour with a touch of sour fruit. It reminds me of Hanseens. The best new sour beer I have not tried before today. They added this one to the list late in the day and I was very satisfied to have gotten some!

Off the list I tried:

Two Brothers Askew- Sour, tart, funk, barnyard.

Freetail Woodicus- Gingerbread, extremely dry and oaky.

Boulevard Smokestack Series Imperial Stout #00022 of 11960. Mmmm  malty, smoky but well balanced.

Barfly Smoked Imperial Stout- Smoked maltiness. Not my thing.

Alpine Millenium IPA- hopped pale. Pretty much sums it up. Nice to get a break and drink some hops with all of those sours.

Lou Pepe Kriek 2004- Sour cherry amazingness.

Worst in show: Ballast Point Sour Wench Blackberry Ale- It literally smelled like vomit. I have never even smelled anything remotely close to how disgusting this beer smelled.

Best in Show- That is always quite difficult with some many amazing classic sour beers. My favorite of the day would have to have been The Bruery Kriek for a new amazing sour. I also love New Belgium Le Terroir, such a great beer as well as anything from 3 Fonteinen and Cantillon. But then again, I am a sour whore for Cantillon and 3 Fonteinen.

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3rd Annual Stone Sourfest Weekend Friday Barrel-Aged Beer Tasting

Filed Under: Beer Reviews, Beer Scores, Beer Tasting Events
Jul.04, 2011

Dave and I were invited to go down to San Diego for the Stone Sourfest by our good friend  and fellow craft beer geek, Jason Henry. Every year he coordinates an amazing weekend in his parent’s lovely abode overlooking the hills in sunny San Diego. The first night, Jason and his friend Chris Madore (aka Cloudskipper) put together an absolutely incredible barrel-aged beer tasting. Be fore warned: reading the rest of this posting will make you drool and extremely jealous.

We tried a ton of different incredibly rare beers (not in this order):
1-Three Floyds Pappy Van Winkle Dark Lord. 15% abv. Only 484 bottles produced. Imperial stout aged in 23 year old Pappy barrel. This tatsed like sweet caramel, vanilla syrup, sticky buns and a bit of a hot burn. It was a lot sweeter than the Goose Island Bourbon County Rare.

2-Three Floyds Brandy Barrel Aged Dark Lord with vanilla beans. 15% abv. Only 433 bottles produced. Imperial stout aged in brandy barrels. This tasted like sweet raisins, vanilla, chewy fig newtons and apples.

3- Hair of the Dog Matt Bottleworks X. 12.5% abv. Bottleworks 10th Anniversary beer. Bourbon and apple eau de vie barrel strong ale with smoked malt and candi sugar. This tasted like vanilla, cola, peat and candied malt with a slight touch of band aid.

4-Cisco Dark Woods. 7.7% abv. Syrah and rum barrel sour ale with cranberries. This tasted like sour red wine, cranberries, bark and a super dry finnish.

5- Bullfrog Beekeeper. 7% abv. Cabernet barrel aged sour saison. Sour, tart, slight berry, pomegranate and tons of funk. This was one of my top favorites of the evening.

6- Goose Island Bourbon County Rare. 13% abv. Imperial stout in 23 year Papy Van Winkle barrels. Vanilla, bourbon, vanilla, smooth chocolate. Excellent.

7-Captain Lawrence Chardonnay Barrel Tripel. 10% abv. Belgian tripel. Two cases produced for employees only. Muscat, black tea, Chardonnay, sour tea and funk.

8- Russian River Toronado 20th. 10.4% abv. Blended sour. Barnyard, slight lemon, sour tart funk.

9- Oakshire Hellshire I. 10% abv. Bourbon barrel barleywine. Juniper berries, overly bitter and not drinkable.

10- Southampton Vic. 7.2% abv. Only 240 bottles produced. Red wine barrel porter with brett.

11- Southampton Hommage. Only 240 bottles produced. Red wine barrel aged Belgian ale with brett. Tart, brett, oak, barnyard funk and grapes.

12- Flossmoor Station Wooden Hell. 9.5% abv. Bourbon barrel barleywine. Bourbon, vanilla, soda-like. You can smell the alcohol. It smells like headache.

13- Kuhnhenn Bourbon Barrel 4th Dementia. 11% abv. Old ale. Bourbon, hops, caramel and raisins. Smooth.

14- Russian River Framboise for a Cure. 5.9% abv. 100% proceeds to breast cancer research. Spontaneously fermented sour ale with raspberries. Sour frozen raspberries, tart funk and more sour.

15- New Belgium Twisted Spoke 15th Anniversary. 7% abv. Sour blend aged in apple whiskey barrels. Sour apple, tart and funky. It seems like a lighter body version of La Folie.

16- Cambridge Brewing Double Happiness. 10.4% abv. Sour lychee beer aged in Chardonnay barrels. Smells like fun dip! Sweet tart, oak, sweet, leaves a bad aftertaste. The nose is much better than the taste.

17- Nebraska Brewing Melange a Trois. 10.2% abv. 2010 GABF Bronze, wood and barrel-aged category. Chardonnay barrel Belgian strong.

18- Midnight Sun Open Container. 6% abv. Brewed for City Beer’s 5th Anniversary project. Chardonnay barrel aged spontaneously fermented sour ale. Fabulous nose. Apricots, peaches, Chardonnay. It tastes like Haribo Gummy Peaches!

19- Smuttynose Ry(e)An Ale. 8% abv. Brewed exclusively for Julio’s Liquors. Rye and bourbon barrel aged strong ale (Sazerac, Buffalo Trace, Four Roses). Bourbon, vanilla, slightly sweet with a touch of hops. A little light ending but pretty fantastic.

20- Cantillon Blabaer 2007. 5% abv. Lambic with blueberries. Sour, tart blueberries, funk barnyard. Delish.

21- Jackie O’s Bourbon Barrel Dark Apparition. 12% abv. Woodford Reserve barrel Imperial stout. Bourbon, vanilla, roasted malt, touch of espresso.

22- Drie Fonteinen Oude Gueuze Selectie C (vintage 2000). 6% abv. Japan-only blend from Armand’s ‘most sour’ barrels back to 1997. AMAZING. Tart, lemon, barnyard funk and more sour tart.

23- Russian River Oaked Damnation Batch 23. 11% abv. Oak chipped tripel. Oak, caramel, stewed raisins and barnyard funk.

24- Fifty Fifty Rouge Baril Baltique. 6.8% abv. Brewed for City Beer’s 5th Anniversary project. French oak cabernet sauvignon barrel aged Baltic porter. Cola, bitter chocolate, touch of spicy hops, bitter espresso and burnt malt.

25-Eden Ice Cider Northern Spy. 10% abv. French oak barrel aged single varietal ice cider. Apple cider, apple sauce, minerals.

26- Bruery Bottleworks XII. 8% abv. Bottleworks 12th Anniversary beer. Sour mash imperial witbier aged in red wine barrels with raspberries. Sour funk mixed with Belgian banana, tart barnyard, funky-cold-madina.

27-McKenzie Saison Vautour du Bois (sour version). 6.5% abv. Only 372 bottles produced. Sour, bitter hops in the back of your throat, bark and more dry bitter hops.

28-Upright Sole Composition Special Herbs. 6% abv. Only 166 bottles produced. Gruit aged in Old Tom gin barrels. Sour green apples, tart, touch of Juniper berries on the finnish and sharp bitterness.

29- Hangar 24 Barrel Roll Series Immelmann BA Porter. 10.6% abv. Bourbon barrel imperial porter with cocoa nibs and vanilla bean. Vanilla, cocoa nibs, a little light and then a touch of bourbon.

30- Russian River Craft Brewer’s Conference Symposium Sour Brown. 6.2% abv. Fermented with Sierra Nevada Kellerweiss yeast and aged in Fritz Maytag’s red wine barrels. Sour,a  touch flat, a touch raisins. Not great.

31- Nebraska Brewing Reserve Barrel Aged Hop God. 10.1% abv. Chardonnay barrel aged Belgian IPA. Chardonnay, sweet grapes, touch of pine hops. Not too smooth and incredibly bitter.

32- De La Senne Wadesda #1. 8.5% abv. Jambe de Boise triple blended with Cantillon lambic. Sour lambic, touch of lemon, grapes. VERY TASTY.

33- Jolly Pumpkin Bambic. 5.3% abv. Only 180 of the 750ml bottles produced. Blend of Bam Biere and lambicus. Sour, lemon tart, barnyard funk and creamy.

34- Bruery 100% barrel aged batch 1 Levud’s. 11% abv. First beer brewed by the Bruery. Bourbon barrel aged Belgian Golden. Bourbon, pear, slight starfruit, creamy sweet banana, caramel mixed with banana flambe.

35- Cascade Vlad the Imperial Ale. 10.6^ Ale aged in wine and bourbon oak barrels. Tart funk, grape, oak.

36- Paul Sangster‘s IPA Some like it very Hoppy. 380 IBU’s. Sweet hops, mango, pine, dry goodness very sweet.

37- Eric‘s Flander’s Red aged in Cabernet barrels. 6.5% abv. Sour, tart, red wine, slight funk.

 

 

 

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A birthday bash for Jason at Mission Gastro Club

Filed Under: Beer Pairings, Beer Reviews, Beer Tasting Events
Jun.18, 2011

May 19, 2011. Our friend Jason Henry’s birthday was held at Eric and Neil’s lovely abode Mission Gastroclub style. It was amazing as to be expected. The food was amazing, the beer was great and of course, in true beer geek style a bottleshare ensued.

Eric started us off with a beer from Lagunitas: New Dogtown. Neil paired it with: salted cod fritters, pickled enoki and pickled cauliflower, sour dough bread from Mission Pie and pickled garlic. Pickled, sourness and bite from the sharp mustard balances out with the touch of hops from New Dogtown.

We then were given a glass of Upright Four and Four Play. Four Play uses the same base beer but is aged in wine barrels with cherries and sour bacteria. It pours a beautiful cloudy strawberry peach. It had notes of sour cherries, oak, tart and light wine. Four was paired with burrata doughnut, arugula pistou, mâché, pearl inion, tomato marmalade, candied walnuts. A little bit of funk from the beer complimented the fried creamy, sweet, nuttiness. Amazing!

Then we were lucky enough to try a taste of Drie Founteinen Tuverbol. It smells like sour green apples. Tastes like sweet, cider-y than apple sourness.

Another bottle shared: Our Barrel Ale by Anchor Brewing. It pours a red teak. It smells like vanilla, sweet maple sugar and stewed raisins. Tastes is not so sweet. More chewy raisins and sweet prunes. Really nice flavor.

For the next dish we were given a Double Wit. A beer brewed by Eric and paired with pan roasted sablefish, arctic char sashimi, English peas and potato millefeuille. The  double wit is beautiful with chewy and sticky banana. The savory, butter, meaty flavors gets vamped up a bit with the banana funk of the wit.

Jesse Friedman and Damian Fagan, co-owners of Almanac Beer Company, brought along a Turkish Apricot. From Jesse. Sweet apricots, more apricots and then some more apricots.

Captain Lawrence Brewing Co- flaming fury – aged in apple brandy barrels. Pours a golden cloudiness. Smells of slight brandy and slightly sour oak. It tastes a touch sweet and sour with a nice apple brandiness. Delish.

Stone: 10th Anniversary IPA paired with strawberry margarita sorbet, cookie crumble
and nastirsium flowers 4 1/2 years old but you still get the hops in this beer. The IPA overpowers the fruit on this dessert a bit. A delicious beer that has aged nicely.

Bourbon barrel aged Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout. Smells like bourbon, vanilla and dark chocolate. Tastes like chocolate and bourbon.

Chocolate pot de creme, spring cherries and Cuvee de birthday (a blend of all of the flat lost abbey barrel aged beers from the last few years including santas little helper, angels share and older viscosity dumped into a 5 gallon soda keg and force carbonated). Seems like there’s no head in the beer, but it could use some ham cream. It smells like raisins and stewed prunes. It tastes like vanilla, bourbon, stewed raisins and prunes and sweet caramel. The sweet deep chocolate followed by the crunchy cocoa nips with the richness of the borbon and chocolate stout= heaven.

Captain Lawrence Rosso. Sour tart oak much oak. Tart and more oak. Not a bad way to end a great evening. Happy Birthday Jason!

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The Trappist had Cantillon on tap during CBC

Filed Under: Beer Reviews, Beer Scores, Beer Tasting Events
Mar.30, 2011

Are they going to still have it on tap? What time will they pour? We have to get out there as soon as you are done with work! These were the common comments heard when discussing The Trappist last Friday. Dave and I made it out there by 5:45 to find that yes, Cantillon was already flowing and had been flowing since they opened. We even managed to get a table. We had friends there who were there since 3 pm just enjoying sour beer after sour beer…lucky bastards!

First up: Lou Pepe Kriek by Cantillon $10 for a 25cl pour. Mmm sour cherries! I am happy now :)

St Lamvinous- made with red wine grapes by Cantillon for $10. A bit more tannin that tart. The Lou Pepe is much more tart. A definite black tea-like character. It is a beautiful deep plum color. Nothing wrong with double fisting Cantillon. Nothing wrong at all.

Boon Lambic Foeder #10. Single vintage 3 year aged Lambic. Only 100 kegs produced. 10% abv. This pours a cloudy hay-amber. It smells like sour wheat, fruity peach and sourness. It tastes a touch spicy, a touch lactic and a bit like a flat soda. Huge oak. Very complex. Slightly more sweet as you sip it.

Revelation Cat Pineau DES Charentes Lambik. 2 year old unblended lambic aged in fortified wine barrels. This is from the only keg in the US. 7.5% abv. This pours a orange amber. It smells like sweet fruit with a touch of sour strawberry. It tastes like sour barnyard funk, a touch of chewy leather and a bit of apricot. I like it better that the Boone but it doesn’t compare to any of the Cantillons.

Cantillon Fou Foune. Going from a Boone to this, really makes the apricot jump out. Hugely delicious fresh apricot fruit. Amazing. This was WAY better than the 2009 Fou Foune on draft at Monk’s Kettle. This beer was not meant to be aged!

We lingered as long as we could, had a few more rounds of Cantillon, an awesome cheese plate (for only $12) and some pickled veggies…we then left to check out what Rosemunde’s had left in the Mission…

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SF Beer Week: Day 8 + 9: Barley Wine Festival + Rosemunde’s

Filed Under: Beer Reviews, Beer Scores, Beer Tasting Events, SF Beer Week 2011, Uncategorized
Feb.21, 2011

SF Beer Week: Day 8: Toronado Barley Wine Festival 2011. The rain could not stop my husband Dave from standing outside in line for hours waiting patiently, as every Toronado patron must, for their doors to finally open. This will just be a list of ones that were tried:

Lost Abbey Angels Share Grand Cru-10% abv: Bourbon, vanilla, rich molasses, chocolate, and more bourbon.

Anderson Valley- Horn-Aged in Brandy barrels: Caramel, sticky sugar, apple brandy.

Glacier Brewhouse- Big Woody: Bourbon, oak, vanilla and caramel.

Fifty Fifty Brewing- BART-9% abv: Hazelnuts, molasses, honey, and coffee.

Hebrew- Vertical Jewbelation-11.5%abv: Grapes, huge oak, slight cola, molasses.

Green Flash- Barleywine 2009-10.8% abv. Aged in brandy barrels: Juicy hops, grapefruit, pine, oak, touch of brandy.

Ballast Point- Three Sheets-9% abv. Brandy barrel Aged: Huge fruit,  acidic, smells like Chinese White Alcohol, tart, more acidicy…Interesting.

Ninkasi- Critical Hit- 10% abv: Hops, bitter, pine, touch of caramel, and an extra bitter pine.

Mill Valley Beerworks- Barleywine. Aged in Pinot Noir barrels: Huge grape nose, wine, oak, touch of sweet caramel, touch of hops, odd rosemary spiciness.

Kona- Old Blowhole-12.5% abv: Sweet caramel, honey, oak, touch of piney hops, bitter ending.

Mad River- John Barleycorn 2009-11% abv. Aged in bourbon barrels: bourbon, vanilla, alcohol, oak, tart oak. Too much oak for me.

Jackie O- Wood Ya Honey: Sweet stewed cherries, caramel, alcohol, honey, pecan pie.

Lagunitas- Gnarleywine 2008: Bourbon, vanilla, oak, slight caramel and  a kiss of hops.

Seabright- Old Okole: Hoppy, grapefruit skin, honey, sweet caramel, slight currant.

TripleRock-John Barelycorn 2009 11% abv. Brandy barrel aged: Raisin, prunes, vanilla, brandy, slight green apple and a lot of slcohol.

Triple rock- Bunny’s Toes: Hops, grapefruit skin, mango, tropical fruit, piney, slight caramel, touch of coffee.

Firestone Walker- Abacus: bourbon, vanilla, toffee, more bourbon, caramel, touch of hops and then more bourbon on the finish.

Midnight Sun- Artic Devil: Sweet bourbon, sweet catamel, the sweetest of all beers, touch of spice, cinammon, almost like a holiday barelywine. Is there some mint in there?

Epic- Batelywine: 10.1% abv: Hops, grapefruit, mango, pine, hops, slight caramel and more hops. The hoppiest of the day.

Ale Industries- Fysus: Bourbon, huge vanilla, touch of hops, caramel  and more bourbon.

Iron Springs- The Menace- 11% abv: sweet, spur, tart cherries, caramel, vanilla, oak.

Favorite Barley wines of the day were:

Firestone Walker :Abacus

Jackie O: Wood ya Honey

Lost Abbey:Angels Share Grand Cru

Fifty Fifty:BART

Marin: Old Dipsea 2008

Speakeasy: Old Godfather

Glacier Brewhouse: Big Woody

Hebrew: Vertical Jewbelation

SF Beer Week Day 9, Last Day: Rosemunde’s. It was not a bad way to end such a great week than with 2 very hoppy beers at Rosemunde’s in the Mission.

Starting off with: Bear Republic- Racer 15- 8.5% abv: Grapefruit, resin, hoppy, piney and more grapefruit pilth. Racer 15 is much better than Racer 10. I might even like it better than Pliny the Younger, those be fighting words, I know…

Then finishing off with: Sierra Nevada Hoptimum: Huge pine forward flavor, incredibly bitter, grapefruit juice and more pine. Not too resin-y or sticky, just pure hops.

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SF Beer Week: Day 3: Sour Beer Sunday

Filed Under: Beer Reviews, Beer Scores, Beer Tasting Events, SF Beer Week 2011, Uncategorized
Feb.17, 2011

SF Beer Week: Day 3: Sour Beer. We ended up going to the Sour Beer Festival at Triple Rock and the Sour Beer Tasting at the Jug Shop…not a bad way to spend a Sunday.

Dave and I headed over to Triple Rock and got there at around noon. There was still a line about a block long to get in. We waited about 20 minutes before we were in and handed a glass and 5 tasting tickets for $20 (additional tastes were $5 each!).

We immediately ran upstairs to get the last pour of Vertitas 08. Ah, the sweet taste of sour victory!

Then I managed to find Hanssens’ Experimental Raspberry. This was listed on the tasting notes as ‘on tap’ but it was actually out of the bottle. There were actually a lot of mistakes on the tasting notes including a category of RARE that basically meant if it wasn’t SOUR or BARREL AGED, then they just put it in the RARE category (since when is Saison Dupont a rare beer???) Hanssens’ Experimental Raspberry pours a beautiful orange florescent pink. Absolutely beautiful. Tastes like incredibly sour raspberries. I immediately went to savor every drop.

Hanssens Kriek: This beer is not that rare but I have actually never had it before. It pours a dark cherry red. It tastes a bit like sour pit stewed cherries. It is not as cherry forward as Cantillon or 3 Fonteinen but definately a contender.

Hanssens Strawberry: Super sour, incredibly fruity nose. It is incredibly sour, the most tart of all three. The only real hint of fruit is in the beautiful nose. I have had this beer many times and will hopefully continue to do so.

Thirsty Bear Sour Starve: This beer is a lot better than I would have expected from Thirsty Bear. It is fruity with a touch of barnyard funk and nice and tart.

After we were there for 4 hours and they kept telling us every 1/2 hour that they were going to put the keg of Cantillon on (and not doing so), we finally had to leave to get to the Jug Shop’s Sour Beer Tasting. $30 for 17 pours of awesome sour beer. That price seems a lot better than what you got at Triple Rock. Eric Cripe always gets his tastings right!

We tried: Lipseger’s Gose to start (which was special and very  rare). Then we tried a few that we have had before: Rodebach’s Grand Cru: a good go-to sour beer. We had Oud Beersel’s Geuze (which is another super tart geuze and reasonably priced at $13.99/750ml), Lindeman’s Cuvee Renee, Russian River’s Sanctification (which if you don’t have any bottles of yet, you should get some before they run out), Temptation, Supplication, Oud Beersel’s Kriek, Cascade Kriek Ale, and one of my absolute favorites: Hanssens’ Oudbeitje Lambic (ale brewed with strawberries that I also just had at Triple Rock).

And the beers I have not tasted before:

Liefman’s Goudenband- 8% abv: Slightly wheat-y, acidic, lots of oak, not too sour.

Bidre Trois Dames’ Grand Dame Oud Bruin- 7.2% abv: Raisins, dates, cereal, caramel, leather, barnyard funk.

Fantome’s Pissenlet by Dany (the offbeat brewer at fantome) – 8% abv: Pissenlit is the French word for dandelion and literally means “pee in bed”. Floral, herbal, grass, wheat, lemons, touch of hops  not too sour, but oh so rare! Made with dandelions that grow in the fields around the farmhouse brewery.

Fantome de Noel- 10% abv: Raisins, touch of spice, touch of roasted malt, dry, touch of honey and not too sour. Not a bad holiday beer at all.

L’Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien- 11% abv: Oak, spicy red wine, sour oak and tart. This beer is named and brewed in honor of the former brewery cat that disappeared.

Haandbryggeriet’s Haandbakk- 8.5% abv. This is a sour beer that uses Norwegian wild yeast and lactic bacteria for the first time in over a hundred years. This beer is also aged in Burgundy barrels. It tastes like sour oak, vanilla, tart and a large burgundy red wine character.

Oud Beersel Geuze Ale- 6% abv: Incredibly tart, funky, touch of fruit and super sour. Tart tart tart. This beer is a great go-to sour for the price of only $14. They claim it is the white sparkling wine of the ale world. This beer we have had before, but it is so good, I wanted to let you know about it.

Drie Fonteinen Oude Geuze- 6.5% abv: sour lemon complexity mixed with oak and more sour. Drie Fonteinen is the only remaining traditional geuze blender in Belgium, using only 100% spontaneously fermented lambic beer, aged in oak casks, with no artificial sweeteners or other additives.

The only bad thing about the tastings at the Jug Shop, is that they have to end.

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SF Beer Week: Day 2: Beer Revolution

Filed Under: Beer Reviews, Beer Scores, Beer Tasting Events, SF Beer Week 2011
Feb.16, 2011

Sf beer week Day 2: Beer Revolution
Another beautiful SF day, another trip to Oakland to Beer Revolution for their Bruery event. They have 11 taps on from The Bruery. While everyone was busy drinking double IPA’s at the DIPA festival, we headed there to drink up all of the Oude Tart.We got there just in time to have a glass before it was tapped out.

The Bruery: Oude Tart with cherries. Pours a muddy mahogony. Smells like victory: we got there before it tapped out. It smells like lightly stewed cherries. It tastes like sour malt, sour cherries, and
tart. Mmmm good. My favorite Bruery beer.


The Bruery’s Berlinerweisse- 3.5% abv. Wake up your tastesbuds with a nice light, sour lightly funky wheaty beer. Lemon tart delish.

The Bruery’s Barleywine- 9% abv. Hoppy, citrusy, piney, touch of malt. Great California barelywine.

Stone Lucky Bastard IPA- 8.5% abv. Caramel, hoppy, piney, resiny, sticky grapefruit skin goodness.

The Bruery’s Dark Agave Quad- 10.5% abv. This pours a pitch black. It tastes like malty, hops, caramel, bitterness and a touch  honey-like.

Ale industries Uncle Jesse- hoppy, piney, lightly bitter, grapefruit skin.

Our friend Chris bought a bottle of the Noel de Calbaza by Jolly Pumpkin. Ale aged in oak barrels. It is a nice sour malty, pumpkin-y with a hint of spice to it.
Dave then bought a bottle of 3 Fonteiben’s  Schaerbeekse Kriek. This pours a bright cherry. It smells like sour stewed cherries. It tastes like super sour Wisconsin cherries and overall sour cherry pit tart yumminess.  Mmmm.

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Sf Beer Week: Day 1: Opening Gala at Yuerba Buena

Filed Under: Beer Scores, Beer Tasting Events, Uncategorized
Feb.15, 2011

Sf Beer Week: Day 1: Opening Gala at Yuerba Buena. The organizers were kind enough to give me a VIP ticket. This meant going and drinking amazing beer at 3:30 in the afternoon on Friday. It is amazing that this would be my first SF Beer week Opening Gala: we shall see if it’s worth the $85.

What did I start with? How about Russian River’s Pliny the Younger. Not a bad way to start SF Beer Week! Mmm 2011 Younger.

What to try next? How about the much anticipated: Almanac Beer Co Farm to Barrel’s Summer 2010 Blackberry brew? A Belgian style golden ale brewed with Sebastopol blackberries aged in wine barrels (Zin and Merlot). Not only did it taste great with flavors of wood, oak, wine and berries, but drinking this beer also supports Northern California sustainable farms. Cheers to Jesse and Damian, the masterminds behind this brewery.
Highlight of the night!

Next up: Drakes Hopocalypse - 9.3% abv. Smells amazing; lots of grapefruit, mango, pine and resin.

Brewers Guild’s Imperial Common- 8.5% . Apparently this beer is the official beer of SF Beer Week 2011 (although I think Younger is always the unofficial beer of any SF Beer week!). A little sour in the nose, a touch malty with hints of cereal.

Anderson Valley’s  Sour Stout. A bit buttery but a decent sour stout. Cherry, lots of cherry.. Sour malt with a bit of dryness on the end. Tart. Nice.

We made sure to time our watches not to miss the 6pm pouring of Russian River’s Supplication 6L. Vinnie faced a mad rush of people after he opened this bottle.  Sour oak sour mmm.

Drake’s Hopsalad. 9% abv. Interesting name. Fruity but more piney and resiny than the
others. Grapefruit resin bitter goodness and the most bitter so far..

Marin Brewing’s 21 yr Old Ale- A port barrel aged old ale with brett.  Asour malty beast that is semi sweet with a touch of oak.Mmm more sour beer. Nice.

After all of this beer, we had to set outside to try some of the food stands. I was under the impression that there would be oysters somewhere, but we never found them. Apparently last year, they didn’t even offer a vegetarian option. I made my way to Tacolicious and had a  spicy peppery vegetarian sandwich. Spicy yet amazing. Then onto more tasting:

High Water Brewing Co’s Single IPA- It is chock full of pine, apricots, grapefruit skin and pine resin. It had a huge flavor and a huge nose for a single IPA. It tastes like a double IPA.

Overall, it was a great first opening gala.The space was smaller than I had anticipated with fewer breweries than I thought, but I never had to wait very long to try a beer. The only off-putting thing was what the guys at Voodoo Brewery did to advertise: girls in tight skimpy dresses handing out flyers for their beer a la Las Vegas Car Show style….It was completely degrading, sexist and all they did was alienate 1/2 of their market. Not only did I not try their beer, but now I won’t. News Flash Voodoo people: Women like beer.

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Mission Gastroclub meets femALEist and Women who like Beer

Filed Under: Beer Meetup Events, Beer Reviews, Beer Scores, Beer Tasting Events, Women who like Beer Meetup Events, women would enjoy this beer
Jan.23, 2011

Being a vegetarian, it is always hard to go to beer pairing dinners. I can not justify spending $80 and up for a great beer dinner, but not being able to eat half of it or having my ‘vegetarian’ option be some sort of pasta. That just doesn’t cut it for me. It is hard to understand living in San Francisco where vegetarian beer connoisseurs get the short end of the stick the majority of the time.

The last time I spoke with Eric and Neil from Mission Gastroclub, we talked about my frustrations and joining forces to offer a vegetarian craft beer dinner for the Women who like Beer meetup group. Even though on their website  it states: We are omnivores: the menu will rarely be vegetarian/vegan friendly. Emphasis is placed on in-season and sustainably produced foods whenever possible. I appreciate their willingness to venture out into vegetarian territory…even though they did have a pig breakdown on Saturday (in which my husband was a happy participant).

The menu was a 4 course meal paired with 2 of Eric’s homebrews and 2 were commercial craft beers.

1st Course: Maldon faltbread, red beets and olivade pairied with Eric’s Belgian Single. This beer is 4.7% abv, 32 IBU’s and is done as a second runnings beer (partigyle) from when Eric brewed a triple IPA. The sweetness from the beets, accompanied by the creaminess of the olivade and the crunchiness/saltiness of the flatbread worked well with the light, hoppiness of the Belgian Single.

2nd Course: Vaquero heirloom beans, cold smoked cauliflower, crispy garbanzos paired with Drake’s Rey Eye Ale (6.5% abv). The starchiness of the beans, crispiness of the lightly fried chickpeas and the chilled smokiness of the cauliflower helped to compliment the hoppy and caramel balance from the Red Eye Ale.

3rd Course: Braised leeks, king oyster mushrooms, barley, beer blanc served with Anchor’s Bock (5.5% abv). The beer blanc really helped to pull this dish together. The butteriness and the nuttiness of the barley, the umaminess of the flash fried mushrooms and the semi-sweet and savory beer blanc helped to compliment the flavors of the Bock: sweetness, caramel, cereal, stewed fruit and  touch of hops.

4th Course: Beer poached Asian pears, macaroons paired with Eric’s Tripel (8.9% abv, 25 IBU’s). The caramel, slight funk, cereal and carmelized banana flavors out of Eric’s Tripel really emphasized the slightly sweet caramel of the poached pears and the nuttiness of the coconut.

I always ask the ladies to write their top 3 favorite beers and favorite pairings at each event…and the results are in:

Favorite Beer: 1-Eric’s Triple 2- Drake’s Red Eye 3-Eric’s Belgian Single

The top 3 favorite pairings were:
1- Beer poached Asian pears, Macaroons with Eric’s Tripel
2- Braised leeks, oyster mushrooms, barley, beer blanc with Anchor’s Bock
3-Vaquero beans, smoked cauliflower, crispy garbanzos and Drake’s Red Eye

Kass said: This was a very enjoyable event. A special treat to sample the interesting and tasty small dishes and beers presented by the guys at Gastroclub. Kudos for lining up a vegetarian pairing. Tiila, you do a good job organizing events like this. Thanks to all!

Rebecca said: Loved everything about this meetup – great food, great beers (including a really awesome home brewed triple from our hosts)! Thanks Tiila for another great event.

Thanks again Eric and Neil! You guys rock…

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Older Viscosity Vertical and some other tasty beers…

Filed Under: Beer Reviews, Beer Scores, Beer Tasting Events
Dec.23, 2010

The holidays are all about sharing, so why not get some friends together and share some tasty, rare beer? Why not have a vertical of 07, 08, 09 and 10 of Port Brewing’s Older Viscosity? Perhaps add an Old Viscocity, Sexual Chocolate, Popskull and an 09 Weyerbacher Riserva? It is the holidays after all…

Port brewing- Older Viscocity-12% abv
2007-This smells like roasted figs, chestnuts, oak, vanilla and bourbon. It tastes like it has a little oxidation, a bit lighter than others. A hint past it’s prime.

2008-This has less nose but tastes like roasted malt, espresso, vanilla, oak, alcohol and a bit of cherry coke. Vanilla, rich chocolate, oak and whiskey tones, some hops for bitterness, sweet chocolate and roasty malt notes and just the right amount of warmth. Mmm my favorite of the 4.

2009- This smells like raisins, vanilla and dried figs. This tastes more raisin brand-y then the rest. Almost raisin brand toast, vanilla and light bourbon. Super creamy and thick dark malts with a nice strong coffee and chocolate flavor up front but after it goes down your throat with oak and bourbon with a nice sting of alcohol on the tongue.

2010-This one has the only subtle difference in color- it is a bit more red. It smells like vanilla, raisins and figs.It tastes like malt, chocolate, wood and coffee. It has a very pleasant roasted flavor. Lighter than the rest, but quite tasty.

Port Brewing’s Old Viscocity- This is a bit more dried stewed fruit, more plum and raisins. More cola. Hard to compare after you just had a vertical of the above.

Foothills Brewing Co’s Sexual Chocolate- 9.75% abv-This pours a semi-dark dark chocolate. This pours a semi-dark dark chocolate. It tastes like vanilla, smoke, hint of scotch, bourbon, oak, chocolate, malt, charred espresso and vanilla.

Three Floyds Brewing Co’s Popskull- 10% abv. This is a Dogfish Head and 3 Floyds collaboration. This pours a semi-translucent mahogony. It smells like honey, grapes and raisins. It tastes like sweet raisins, molasses and a bit of roasted and caramel malt, along with a bunch of dark fruit.

Weyerbacher- Riserva 2009- 11.4% abv. This pours a beautiful clear rosewood. It smells like raspberry, oak and sour. It tastes like a sweet and tart beer that is full of raspberry flavor. VERY sour raspberries, but this is certainly the beer I’ve always imagined when trying any sour/wild ales. Funky, tart, sweet and musty.

Not a bad evening taste-a-thon! Did I mention that Dave and I are going to Belgium for the holidays?

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