Category Archive

What has pork salivary glands, lymph nodes and fat (cheeks and tongues), chili pepper, vinegar, pork, salt, spices, flavorings and sodium nitrate? Why, it’s chorizo!! One of my comfort foods that I rarely get to eat.

Carmelita Pork Chorizo

Add some eggs, scramble, melted grated cheese

This is good stuff

12/15/2008 The December meeting of The Society for the Pursuit of Hoppiness will be a Hoppy Holiday Party at the Avery Tap Room

The Hoppy Holiday Party will be a chance for Society members to celebrate the holiday season with some custom Avery brews (exclusive to the Society of course) and reconnect with like-minded individuals.

I was very impressed with what the Guy’s at Avery did for this ostentatious occassion – the Society Meetings are always a blast, this time it was a hosted party! On tap was the Brett IPA, Night Walker (Redstone Ale with Farmhouse Yeast), Dry Hopped Ale to the Chief and Cask Conditioned Hog Heaven (first time ever).

The food was really good, an unexpected treat! There were hot trays with Chicken breasts, meatballs in a really good brown mushroom gravy, egg plant parmesan, pork tenderloins in sauce, salmon, salad and desserts!

We were also treated to a presentation by Scott Kerkmanns, Chief Beer Officer, Four Points Sheraton (if you missed that appointment, you are truly out of touch!) The presentation was titled “Certified Cicerone Program” and covered the different levels of certification available: Beer Server, Cicerone, and Master Cicerone.

Well done!

So where were the kool-kids on Friday, November 14? We were at the KROCvemberfest at Helga’s! Okay, it was a little late for an Oktoberfest, but October was a busy KROC month and who needs the crowds? Four club members showed up – Jim Fixari, Mick Burgeson, Rich Krahl and Rick Hagerbaumer. Two significant others joined us – Tina and Carol. Helga’s has a seating policy that requires all members of the party be there, so we had a chance to belly up to the bar and sample some really great German biers on tap – Ayinger, Spaten, Franziskaner, Warsteiner, Paulaner, etc. High alcohol, high malt biers that are sure to give you a nice gemutlikeit feeling – if only for the night. The Octoberfest was the beer I settled on for the evening although the Bock was exceptional as well (yes – I’m being intentionally vague because I forgot to take notes.)

Once we were seated, we found our party next to another group at a long table. I was glad I wasn’t trapped in the corner – something to think about when you are strategically choosing your chair! The food menu was extensive. We shared the Bratwurst Sampler as an appetizer which featured several types of bratwurst, German mustard and for a dollar extra – a big pretzel. For the main course, Carol and I shared the Beef Sauerbraten which is marinated beef roast served in a sweet & sour brown sauce. Recommended sides, kroketten & red cabbage. The red cabbage was exceptional!

Jim picked this specific Friday because there was live music. Rich Krahl accepted a challenge and showed us his trumpet skills by actually making the alpenhorn make sound. Think of the massive long horns on the Ricola cough drop commercials. The female performer was truly talented with that horn! There were several Bavarian dancers there in full outfits – lederhosen, knee socks, suspenders and hats. The women dancers were decked out in their long dresses. Rick was pulled out on the dance floor by a very pretty, albeit very young Fräulein. One man had business cards proclaiming himself Prinz Alex, T.E.V. Edelweiss Fasching Prinz. He had a hat and cape I wouldn’t be caught dead in, but hey, he was working it! They were preparing for their Fasching Opening the following night. Please visit http://www.tevedelweiss.org for more details.

It was a very fun evening. I hope more KROC heads go next year. The GABF is in September, so perhaps we can go in October!

Please visit Helga’s German Restaurant and Deli website at http://www.helgasdeli.com/

Prost!

I was recently fortunate enough to be at the Avery “A Decade of Hog Heaven Barleywine Style Ale: 1998 to 2008“. Adam Avery was hosting the evening and the cellared beer came from his personal supplies. We wiped out his 1999 inventory. It was a remarkable beer tasting – not many US craft breweries can offer a 10 year vertical of their product.

The evening started with an open bar. I didn’t take detailed notes on these, but the special taps I remember included a brett IPA, an oaked Samael, and a dry hopped Ale to the Chief (out of this world good!) The food was exceptional. Heavy hors d’oeuvres – olives, many hard and soft cheeses, caprese salad, salami, roast beef, a cheese sauce drizzle on fresh veggies, crackers, etc. It was a very nice spread.

The Avery staff were hustling! I felt like offering to help – Adam, CV, Peter, Ted and Clarice were busy setting up the flights. CV provided us with a really nifty hand out “What happened to my bottle of Hog?”. It goes into depth regarding the science of what happens as beer ages… heat/alcohol decreasing due to ethanol conversion to acetaldehyde, hop aroma and bitterness decreasing, sweetness and toffee flavors increasing.

The flights, with my tasting notes, is as follows:
August 2008 – Dank, Herbal. A real hop bomb. 122 IBU, fresh hop aroma. All columbus hops – bittering, midboil, finish and dry hopping. 1.082 OG, 1.016 FG.
January 2007 – Bottled with new bottling line, reducing oxygen levels. Still very hoppy. Malts more prevalent. Starting to develop dried fruit character.
March 2006 – Hops starting to fade. Smoother, not as aggressive.
June 2005 – Sweetness starting to develop. Some oxidation characteristics noted (low levels of cardboard.)
June 2004 – Approaching english style barleywine. I noticed more heat, or a higher alcohol presence. Creamy mouthfeel. Smooth character.
March 2003 – Caramel flavors approaching molasses. This was a favorite for some at our table. Less nose then previous, increasing creaminess in the mouthfeel. Increasing oxidation characteristics.
June 2002 – “real sweet”. Okay, my notes are starting to fall off here.
February 2001 – Fruit prevalent. Some smokiness coming through. Darkest in color of all the samples. Hoppier then ’02.
June 2000 – Soft. Sweet. Oxidation increasing – noticeable cardboard. Malt forward. Fruitiness including plum and raisin.
November 1999 – “Dry” according to my notes, but it had a higher finishing gravity then todays standards (1.098 OG, 1.030 FG.) Sherry taste prevalent.

My favorite of the evening was the fresh hog – I love the hop bombs and Adam admitted that if they were naming the beer now, they would call it an Imperial IPA. Ten years ago that wasn’t a common beer style though.

There was some news regarding Avery’s release of Brubant – this is a Baltic Porter that has Orval Brett and the house Brett (same as was used in the 15th Anniversary Ale) which is aged in Norman Vineyard Zinfandel barrels. 600 cases will be released in January or February.

Avery brews 17,000 BBLs annually. They make 8000 cases of Hog which is brewed every 3 months. To quote Adam “without hog, we’re out of business.”

Wow, I haven’t updated the local scene since September!?  Bad me.  I was crazy busy the entire month of October with friends in town for the GABF (Dick and Mike from BigFoamyHead.com), then back in town for the Gorilla Run (Dick and his wife Christy). 

Boulder Beer Company is off of summer “vaykay” and have restarted the Beer School.  Novembers curriculum included a presentation by Brewmaster David Zuckerman and “Sales Tool” Dan Weitz.  We dove into a few Winter Seasonals including Sam Adams Winter Seasonal, Sierra Nevada’s Celebration Ale 2008, Full Sail Wassail, ODell’s Extra Special Red and the perennial favorites Never Summer and Killer Penguin from BBC.  It was mostly a light hearted evening the day before the Presidential election.  Thankfully no politics were brought up, except for the politics of beer!  I might be alone on this, but I really like spiced beers during the winter months.  None of these beers had much by wayof spices, although I did get a little bit of cinnamon in one beer (it turned out it wasn’t an additive).

Upcoming Posts: my brewery upgrade over the summer.

Upcoming Events: Avery’s 10 years of Hog Heaven party.

For the first time I racked beer from a 6.5g carboy to a keg using a ss racking cane, a carboy cap, a beer ball lock disconnect, a bleeder valve and a CO2 cylinder.  I’ll post pics soon.  Pretty cool!!  The target keg was sanitized, CO2 purged and partially pressurized so the beer should not have been exposed to any air at all.   The rubber cap popped off once with a fairly large bang.  After giving myself a precordial thump to restart my heart, I put the cap back on and everything went fine. 

In the past I’ve been purging the keg with CO2 and using an autosiphon.  I’m pretty sure there was some amount of aeration going on.

I have to give props to Rick Bobbitt for getting me off my duff and doing this.  Thanks Rick!

June 11th, 2008

This evening was hosted by C.V. Howe, and brewers Andy Parker and Fred Rizzo.

Avery brewing company uses 6 different yeast strains and cover a broad spectrum of beer styles and flavors.  The tasting emphasized the flavor profiles and characteristics of each strain.  We were also given samples of filtered and unfiltered beer to allow us to taste the yeast cells themselves.  Deviation was not available.  Also, Avery’s lager, Kaiser, was not available as it had just been brewed.

Flight 1: Milder European Ales and Lager

1. 14er ESB – filtered. (Avery house English ale yeast.)  Clear in color.  More hop aroma.

Beer Style: Extra Special Bitter
Hop Variety: Bullion, Fuggle
Malt Variety: Two-row barley, caramel 120L
OG: 1.048 Alcohol By Volume: 5.0% IBU’s: 37
Color: Copper

2. 14er ESB – unfiltered. (Avery house English ale yeast.) Cloudy.  Muted aromas.

3. Trumer Pils – Berkeley CA.  (Unknown lager strain.) Mystery beer! Brewed in Berkeley. Packaged in green bottles. It’s hard to make a good pils because they are delicate – it’s easy to hose them up.  Tasting notes: solid white head, very clear. Sweet up front, dry finish.  Sulfur/mineral nose.

Flight 2: Milder Belgian Ales

1. Karma Ale – Filtered. (Rochefort Belgian Strain.)  Light, crisp, filtered. Copper in color. Low phenolic bite hinting at medicinal spiciness.  Fermented warm at 75°F.  Karma is lightly malted, lightly hopped and very yeast forward.

Beer Style: Belgian Ale
Hop Variety: Sterling
Malt Variety: Two-row barley, Belgian special B, cara 45, aromatic
OG: 1.048 Alcohol By Volume: 5.2% IBU’s: 10
Color: Amber

2. Karma Ale – Unfiltered. (Rochefort Belgian Strain.) Cloudy.  Sharp flavors. Almost orange in color.

3. White Rascal Belgian Wheat Ale (Belgian Wit Strain) – yellow in color.  Very fine white bubbles.  Fruit esters. Banannas, coriander and bitter orange peel and citrusy hops.  The yeast is the same strain as is used in Hoegaarden.

Beer Style: Belgian White Ale
Hop Variety: Czech Saaz
Malt Variety: Two-row barley, Belgian wheat
OG: 1.050   Alcohol By Volume: 5.6%   IBU’s: 10
Color: White

Flight 3: English vs Belgian

1. Old Jubilation – (Avery house English Ale yeast.)  Roasted malt.  Aromatics include toffee and mocha.  Dark mahogany in color.

Beer Style: English Strong Ale
Hop Variety: Bullion
Malt Variety: Two-row barley, special roast, black, chocolate, victory
OG: 1.074   Alcohol By Volume: 8.0%   IBU’s: 30
Color: Mahogany

2. Oude Deux (Rochefort Belgian) – SAME WORT, different yeast!  Oude = Old, Deux = Second.  Medicinal alcohol bite.  Finished higher (1.016) so the ABV is lower then the Old Jubilation, but it seemed “hot”.

Flight 4: Bigger Belgian Ales

1. Salvation Belgian Golden Ale (Avery house Belgian Abbey yeast) Amber, phenolic, spicy, peppery.

Beer Style: Belgian Strong Golden Ale
Hop Variety: Styrian Goldings
Malt Variety: Two-row barley, cara 8, cara 20
OG: 1.080   Alcohol By Volume: 9.0%   IBU’s: 25
Color: Golden

2. Collaboration, Not Litigation Ale (Abbey yeasts from Avery and Russian River) Copper, hazy, fruity.  Large amount of yeast in finished product.

Beer Style: Blended Belgian-style Strong Ale
OG: 1.079   Alcohol By Volume: 8.72%
Color: Cloudy Dark Amber

Flight 5: Yeast on the edge

1. Fifteen Anniversary Ale (unclassified brettanomyces strain) Pale with shades of pink.  Light in color.  Very dry.  This beer is a pure brett beer, which is very rare.

Beer Style: Brewed beyond any known category
Hop Variety: Sterling
Malt Variety: Two-row barley, Belgian wheat
OG: 1.064   Alcohol By Volume: 7.68   IBU’s: 19.2
Color: Hazy Sunset
2. Samael’s Oak Aged Ale (Avery house English ale yeast) Same yeast as the 14′er, which is a mild ale. Samael’s is a huge intense beer.  No information on whether they had to do anything special to the beer, although they did share that it was a MASSIVE pitch.

Beer Style: Oak Aged English Strong Ale
Hop Variety: Columbus, Fuggels
Malt Variety: Two-row barley, caramel 150L
OG: 1.140   Alcohol By Volume: 14.5   IBU’s: 41
Color: Copper

3. De Vogelbekdieren (Rochefort, Belgian Abbey, brettanomyces, unidentified bugs) Dutch for Platypus.  Dark bronze in color, dry, “horse blanket” with strong acetic acid character.

Our treat for the day was a chance to go into the back room and look at the Barrels that Avery has beer aging in.  The beer is 15 + oude deux + some other stuff.  The barrels are giving the beer an oak vanilla character with a sweet after taste.  This is probably going to be released as Brubant if I remember correctly… my notes are unclear at this point – guess that happens after 5 flights of beer!

I finally won a chance to buy tickets to the Great Taste of the Midwest!!  This is an annual charitable event held in Madison, WI by the Madison Homebrewers and Tasters Guild.  Tickets are insanely hard to get – you have to mail for them on a specific date (May 1st) with a self addressed stamped envelope and a check.  If they aren’t post-marked that day, you don’t get into the drawing.  3000 tickets are sold in person around Madison.  2000 are drawn from the qualifying envelopes.  I’ve tried several years in a row to get these and finally made it!  I’m smiling like a fool.

On Monday April 14th, 2008 we had the last Boulder Beer “Beer Appreciation Class” until the fall.  Boohoo!  Their calendars are packed, no doubt because we’re in Beer Festival season, which pretty much runs spring, summer and fall. 

The last class was very interesting – Professional Beer Tasting!  Every week the brewers get together and have a professional tasting panel for the beers they will be distributing in the upcoming week.  The beers are always tasted unfiltered as this will show the flaws most profoundly.  Because the beers are unfiltered, there are still options for correcting any flaws that are found, even if it means slowly blending the batch into many following batches.

Each brewer fills out a sheet with the following categories:

Brand, Brew Number, Fermenter, Comments.

Aroma – Fruity, Solvent, Citrus, Banana, Hop, Spicey, Yeasty, Malty, Roasted, Oxidized.

Flavor – Bitternes, Astringency, Sweetness, Malty, Roasted, Fruity, Citrus, Hop, Grainy, Worty, Alcoholic, Mouthfeel.

Clarity – (rate on a scale of 1 – 10)

Off Flavors & Aromas – DMS, Sulfur, Cardboard, Musty Cellar, Diacetyl, Acidic/Tart, Metallic, Acetaldehyde, other

DMS – sulfur, eggs.  Sulfur – matches.  Card board – like chewing paper.  Diacetyl – Popcorn butter, butterscotch, corn, vegetal.  Acetaldehyde – Green apples, wet grass, hay.

We got to try rating beers based on a 10 point scale, then compare them to the professional brewers ratings.  “Expired” Hazed and Infused – high oxidation characteristics.  Rolling Rock – very strong DMS.  Heineken – again, strong oxidation.  Porter – high roasted malt character.  Buffalo Gold and SingleTrack were just to train us how to do a tasting and to callibrate our taste buds!  We were also able to compare and contrast Unfiltered Hazed with “Clean” Hazed from the bright tank.  Yum!

I found my numbers were consistently lower then the brewers.  I should have been a little more assertive with what I was tasting.  It was a fun night!  Can’t wait for the classes to start up again.

The 6th Annual Boulder Strong Ale Fest was held on April 11th and 12th at Harpos on Arapahoe.  I attended the Friday session from 4:00pm till 10:00pm.

This event celebrates the some of the biggest and boldest American strong ales.  Donations benefitted the Humane Society and the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless.  Peter Archer of Avery Brewing Company did a great job getting many new breweries involved.  There were many offerings I never tried or even heard of before.

The requirements were: 8% ABV or higher, diversity of styles and most importantly, it had to be something very special and from the heart of the brewery.  Some brewers actually crafted ales specifically for this event!

The beers were very STRONG, some having 4 times the alcohol content of piss beer. There was a great food menu that I really wish I would have taken advantage of.  Thank goodness I had a designated driver for this one.  I definitely needed a ride afterwards.

Okay, on to the brews!
- I planned to try it, but didn’t
= I tried it.
+ I liked it.
^ I really liked it.

Allagash Brewing, Porland, ME
 Curieux – bourbon barrel aged triple 11.0%
 Musette – dry hopped Belgian Ale aged in bourbon oak 9.0%

Avery Brewing, Boulder, CO
- “Bad” Sally – belgian golden ale with bretts in cab sav barrel 9.0%
 Beast’04 – belgian strong ale brewed with 6 sugars 18.1%
 Deviation – strong hoppy lager 9.0%
 Fourteen – hoppy dark belgian ale 9.5%
 Mephistopheles’07 – belgian imperial stout 15.1%
 Maharaja – double IPA 10.5%
 Oak Aged Reverend – belgian quad aged in opus one oak 10.0%
 Samaels’08 – oak aged english strong ale 15.5%

Ballast Point, San Diego, CA
- Victory at Sea – imperial porter 10.0%
 
Bear Republic, Healdsburg, CA
 Batch 1092 – bourbon aged barleywine 9.5%
 Olde Scout – barleywine style ale 10.0%

BJ’s Brewery, Boulder, CO
 Trippel – with sweet orange peel and coriander 12.0%

Boston Brewing, Boston, MA
 Imperial Pilsner – pilsner on steroids 8.6%

Boulder Beer, Boulder, CO
+ Killer Penguin – american style barleywine 10.0%

Boulevard Brewing, Kansas, MO
 Doublewide on Bretts – double ipa with bretts 8.5%
 Long Strange Tripel – belgian style tripel 9.5%
 Quadrupple ale – bourbon barrel aged 11.5%

Bull & Bush, Denver, CO
^+ Legend of the Liquid Brain – imperial stout aged in bourbon oak 12.0%

Cambridge Brewing, Cambridge, MA
++ OM – belgian golden aged in chardonnay barrels 9.4%

Deschutes, Bend, OR
 Double Black – imperial porter infused with coffee 10.3%

Dogfish Head, Rehoboth Beach, DE
 120 Minute IPA – super huge double IPA 18.0%

Elysian Brewing, Seattle, WA
 Old One Eye Cyclops Barleywine – barleywine 9.9%

Firestone Walker, Paso Robles, CA
^+ Parabola – barrel aged imperial stout 13.0%

Flying Dog, Denver, CO
 Double Dog Double Pale – dry hopped with cascade and columbus 11.5%

Full Sail Brewing, Hood River, OR
 Imperial Stout – yep, imperial stout 8.5%

Golden City Brewing, Golden, CO
 Stand Up Double – 150 ibu imperial ipa 9.3%

Gordon Biersch, Broomfield CO
 Maibock – strong lager 8.2%

Great Divide Brewing, Denver, CO
 Hercules Double IPA – huge hops start to finish 9.1%
 Oak Aged Yeti – imperial stout aged on oak 9.5%

Green Flash Brewing, Vista, CA
 Grand Cru – belgian strong ale with two yeast strains 8.7%
 Le Freak – trippel meets imperial ipa 9.0%

Ironworks Brewing, Lakewood, CO
 Misfit – sardonically irreverent wit 9.0%

Lagunitas Brewing, Cameron Park, CA
^++ Hop Stoopid – 101 ibu ipa 8.3%

Left Hand Brewing, Longmont, CO
 Imperial Stout – barrel aged in french oak 10.4%
 Oak Aged Widdershins – barleywine 8.8%

Mountain Sun Brewery, Boulder, CO
+ Miscreant – oak aged belgian ale 10.1%
 XXX Pale – extra dry hopped XXX Pale 8.5%

Moylans, Novato, CA
= Moylander Double IPA – silver medal GABF 2007 8.0%
 Ryan Sullivans Imperial Stout – bronze medal GABF 1997 10.0%

New Belgium Brewing, Fort Collins, CO
 CoJohnny’s Voodoo Ale – yerba matte grand cru trippel 8.6%

New Holland, Holland, MI
= Night Tripper – imperial stout 10.8%

Odell Brewing, Fort Collins, CO
 The Hammer – english old ale on steroids 12.0%

Oskar Blues, Lyons, CO
^ Bourbon Old Chub – scotch ale aged in whiskey barrels 8.0%
= Ten Fidy – stranahans whiskey barrel aged imperial stout – 9.5%

Pizza Port, Carlsbad, CA
 547 Haight – imperial red ale 9.4%
 Black Lie – san diego style ipa 8.0%
 None the Weisser – weizenbock 8.0%
 Ruby Black – baltic porter 9.5%
 Sticky Stout – american stout 8.0%
^- Wipeout IPA – huge west coast ipa 8.0%

Pizza Port, San Clemente, CA
 Barbarian Barleywine – american barleywine 9.3%

Pizza Port, Solana Beach, CA
 The Guru – double ipa 9.5%

Pumphouse, Longmont, CA
^+ Oak Aged Imperial Stout – yep, like it says.  8.6%

Redstone Meadery, Boulder, CO
 Black Rascal – blend of blackberry mead and WR wit 8.0%
- Hops on Mead – yep, like it says. 8.0%

Shorts Brewing, Bellaire, MI
^+ ICE – rye steam ipa frozen, removed from ice, then dry hopped 10.0%

Ska Brewing, Durango, CO
 Dragon Ass Dopplebock- licorice and caramel 9.1%

Smuttynose Brewing, Portsmouth, NH
= Wheatwine – american style wheat wine 11.0%

Stone Brewing, Escondido, CA
 Russian Imperial Stout – yep, thats what it is. 10.8%

Trinidad Brewing, Trinidad, CO
= Wee Heavy Lassie – whiskey barrel strong scottish ale 10.5%

Twisted Pine Brewing, Boulder, CO
 The North Star Porter – imperial porter 9.0%

Victory Brewing, Downingtown, PA
 Golden Monkey – belgian golden 9.5%
 Old Horizontal – american barleywine 11.0%

Wild Mountain, Nederland, CO
^ Cliffords Big Red Ale – big hoppy red ale 9.3%

Wyncoop Brewing, Denver, CO
^+ Double Barrel Barleywine – aged on american oak 10.8%
 Rosslying Mead – braggot aged in brandy barrels