Russian River Pliny The Elder

May 31, 2015 by Steve Leave a Comment

“…water or wine when a salamander has died in it is fatal, and so is even drinking from a vessel out of which one has drunk; and similarly with the kind of frog called a toad! so full of traps is life!” –Pliny the Elder, Natural History.

THE BEER

So full of traps, indeed. One of the most pernicious to the craft beer fan of course, is chasing the hype. Nearly every week groups and forums are awash in the talk of another brewery’s upcoming limited-release beers. The ‘pretrade’ offers go up often before people have even tasted the offerings. But within a short time the crowd moves on. Certain beers however, maintain their high demand and profile. Pliny is one such rare beer.

The basics are well know. Considered the original double IPA, Pliny the Elder began life being brewed by Vinnie Cilurzo as a special anniversary release back in 1994 while brewing for Blind Pig Brewing Company. It came back to life at Russian River as Pliny when they were asked to enter a double IPA festival.

It is now brewed in limited batches most of the year. Despite being brewed year round, their output was originally limited to 3000 barrels annually, increasing to 14,000 in 2008. Not nearly enough to satisfy the demand, Russian River actually pulled out of its already small distribution a few years back to better satisfy local customers. Still, you can usually find it on draft at the Russian River brewpub, and infrequently at better bars in California, Oregon, Colorado, and for some reason, Philadelphia.

The name comes from the legend that warrior/historian Gaius Plinius Secundus, known as Pliny the Elder, wrote and possibly named a variety of hops. As usual the perspicacious and scholarly Martyn Cornell gets into the weeds with primary sources over the truth about Pliny the Elder having been the first person we know of to mention hops in writing or not. By my reading it seems as likely as not, but there is significant doubt. Whatever the truth, the name and label have become a craft beer icon.

TASTING NOTES

Commercial description from Russian River’s website: “Pliny the Elder is brewed with Amarillo, Centennial, CTZ, and Simcoe hops…”.

From our less than two week old bottle, the pine and citrus nose comes rising up from the Darlington beer glass. Double IPAs often have a blast of malt in the nose, but it is barely present here. Honey colored beer is topped by a significant white head, fading quickly from the 8% ABV. The taste is a the same crushing piney/citrus hops with some potent bitterness. the malts should be double a traditional IPA, and the show up in a big way here, helping to dim the bitter notes from the hops. The finish is modestly sweet, with a lighter mouthfeel from the good carbonation.

CONCLUSION

What a joy it is, when the legend is real. Greatness is a big IPA can be a tough mix. Big hops brings equally big bitterness, all things being equal. And the malted grains, giving flavor and sweetness to an ale, can be a greater challenge. Cloying DIPAs, many of them Pliny knockoffs, are brewed throughout the world these days. The real deal manages the trick of balancing this duplication and more, making a bigger amazing beer.

Russian River’s Pliny the Elder has been named a best double IPA, even best beer in America many times over. While having sampled this beer many times over the years in bottles and on draft, we cannot disagree with the praise. The original is still the standard barer. If you can try it, you must.

9.0/10

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Night Shift Morph 4/23/15

May 25, 2015 by Steve Leave a Comment

Is a new recipe a new beer?

Stone recently made all sorts of Stone Marketing about how they were changing the recipe for Ruination, their DIPA. They state that new hops and hopping techniques are available, that were nonexistent ten years ago. They argue that to not change is impossible writing,”It takes a prohibitively massive ego, a stymied lack of vision, laziness, ignorance and/or delusion for one to create something and expect it to remain an exemplar until the end of time”. But does the software inspired name ‘Ruination 2.0’ really sound like brand that sells Arrogant Bastard and puts gargoyles on everything? As Lindsay on LoveBeerLoveFood.com points out, the original Ruination had a score of 100 on Beer Advocate, and still could not survive. But don’t brewers change recipes all the time? And what does it say about other era defining brews. I know a local bartender with a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale tattoo. A permanent icon to the label that opened her eyes to good beer. What if Sierra Nevada decided to rename the pale ale that made then? How quickly does an icon become a has-been?

THE BEER

Night Shift Morph 4/23/15 is a one off, an experiment whereby the taste testers do not get paid, but instead pay the company for the privilege. Morph is a chance to sample “delicious … always magical, always morphing India Pale Ales” that may be great, may be sub par, and may never be brewed again. A fun concept, unless you fall in love with a recipe. But is it a new beer each time they tweak the ingredient list? If so, why not give them each a new name? I’m guessing the ephemeral nature of Morph is the reason these different beers share a name.

TASTING NOTES

Night Shift Morph brewed on April 23rd of 2015 holds an aggressive white head over a pale copper body.

Steve: The nose announces a big IPA, with tropical and pine notes along with some distinctive malt. Taste is mostly grapefruit with a Ritz cracker note coming in from the grain bill that seems unique to this beer. Lots of bitterness as well with a dry finish.

Dave: Drinks clean. A nice, tasty IPA with some citrus and tropical fruit in there. Not very sweet. Good carbonation, finishing dry.

CONCLUSION

Night Shift Morph 4/23/15 is a hugely flavorful IPA with Citra and Amarillo hops combining for a pleasant dry hopping taste. I thought it was on the upper end of sweet for an IPA, but Dave thought it was right in step with the style. We both agreed that Morph 4/23/15 was a very nice IPA from Night Shift. Hopefully these experiments will continue to be as successful, and eventually result in a great new IPA with a name all its own.

8.0/10

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The Brew Kettle White Rajah

May 14, 2015 by Steve Leave a Comment

There is a condition worse than blindness, and that is, seeing something that isn’t there. –Thomas Hardy

THE BEER

The origins of The Barley Whine goes back to a prior craft beer boom. The 1990’s Sam Adams/Pete’s Wicked dominated microbrew explosion brought thousands of new beers to market, of varying quality. Being young and poor, we decided to see if any of the hype was worth our few dollars. Thus, we conceived the Tri-City Beer Club, a fraternal organization, founded on the principals of blind-tasting craft beer for the purpose of judging which brands were worth getting tippled on.

To this day we still prefer the blind taste test to any other method when comparing similar styles. Craft beer of the moment is an even more hyped up entity, with people selling bottles for extraordinary sums on the secondary market. While scarcity explains some of this inflation, there is no doubt a strong presumption that some beers are vastly superior to others, and worth great effort and expense to acquire. So when we heard that one of our local favorites, an IPA from the exceptional Brew Kettle, had won a blind taste test of top American IPAs in a field of over 100 participants, we could not of been more thrilled. Although we did mention White Rajah (“amazing”) in our recent review of its Cascadian Dark Ale cousin Black Rajah, it is far past time we gave this beer an entry all its own.

TASTING NOTES

Sharply resinous, fresh White Rajah wafts up aromas of grapefruit, mango, citrus and a fresh plant smell one may only experience after a satisfying lap flaying flora with the WeedWacker™. Click on the image of the beer, you will see it comes out copper colored with white foamy head that fades, leaving strong lacing. The taste is awash in passion fruit and oranges, with some sweetness though no distinctive malted grain to speak of. Carbonation is strong, which is critical as the mouthfeel is thicker than most IPAs. White Rajah finishes semi-sweet then hits a bitter note, continuing the citrus flavors throughout. Not quite as a dry a finish as say Heady Topper, Brew Kettle’s IPA does draw you back for more by not being cloying.

American IPAs vary from their British counterparts by being a vessel for fragrant, fresh hop flavors. Rather than employ hops bitter side as a balance to malts, as the original British styles do, American IPAs are dry hopped as well, producing brighter, often floral, flavors. One downside to the fragrant hops are their precipitous decline in short order. These are beers of the moment, that change radically after a few weeks. This leads us to our biggest criticism of White Rajah, and TBK bottling on the whole; they do not date their product.

Beer is a perishable product, not unlike milk or juice. To not place a date of bottling on beers, craft brewers to a disservice to their customers, and to themselves. A craft beer fan picking up a 4 month old IPA that has no date, might simply deduce that the brewery makes bad beer. Even a ‘best before’ date would be a welcome start for the Brew Kettle to give consumers no notion how long a beer has been sitting on shelves. Look at the success Stone has achieved with their Enjoy By IPA.

CONCLUSION

“Taming The Savage Hop” is the tag link of The Brew Kettle’s White Rajah, and while Kipling allusions are likely lost on most hop-heads, it certainly describes their approach to this west coast styled IPA. But a hop is only savage when fresh, so until the Brew Kettle can address dating the bottle, you won’t know if you are getting a world class IPA, or a faded shell of former imperial greatness. So a half point taken off for poor packaging. Beyond that however if you can get White Rajah fresh, it will be one of the best IPAs you are likely to taste. And for that, we thank Brew (Kettle).

9.0/10

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Prairie Apple Brandy Barrel Noir

March 27, 2015 by Steve Leave a Comment

Prairie Apple Brandy Barrel Noir: Something Sweeter

THE BEER

Prairie makes a few barrel aged stouts. Last year we loved the Bomb!, their spicy coffee stout. They also have a very nice bourbon barrel aged oatmeal stout, Prairie Noir, that comes in 16.9 oz bottles. Prairie Apple Brandy Barrel Noir on the other hand, comes in 12 oz bottles and apparently does not come from the same base beer as that Noir, as there is no mention of oatmeal here. Released for the first time this year, we believe ABB Noir saw a more limited release than the larger format Prairie Noir. Our local could only sell us one bottle, and there appeared to be some trade demand.

Often aged in a mix of old and new cognac barrels, made from Limousin oak, Apple brandy is a spirit distilled with apples as its sole ingredient. The French have long produced the best of the spirit, however newer American versions have recently appeared to compete as world class apple brandy.

TASTING NOTES

Pouring out viscous black, the carbonation shows itself in brown micro-bubbles that cling to the glass and linger a while. It smells potently of a sweet aperitif with maple syrup. The taste is a bold mix of vanilla and sugar, almost Coca-Cola with a slight hop kick in the finish, reflecting the 70 IBUs. The mouthfeel is oily, with the carbonation doing little, and a sweet, slightly burnt note in the finish. Not as thick as many modern American stouts.

CONCLUSION

Unlike bourbon or rum barrel aged beers, I and likely most craft beer drinkers, are less familiar with the flavor profile of apple brandy. That said, I have tasted some better French Calvados, although I could likely not identify the specific barrel type used to age this beer. The brandy notes simply are not that distinctive to me.

A spirit aged in cognac barrels, the barrels that aged apple brandy bring sweetness and vanilla in my experience, softening and refining a beer. Here, having not had the base beer, I am guessing those factors again came into play. Prairie Apple Brandy Barrel Noir is a sweet treat, however lacking a full body and the complex flavors of many other barrel aged stouts, keeps it from being a favorite.

7.0/10

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Best Coffee Beer: Part 4

March 25, 2015 by Steve Leave a Comment

Best of Series: What is the Best Coffee Beer: Part 4?

It seems each year more and more breweries decide to try their hand at pairing arabica beans with beer. Nearly always brewing a porter or stout, brewers blend the natural coffee/chocolate flavors of darker malts with bold roasts, often from their favorite local shops. The combination continues to prove popular with craft beer fans. For Part 4 in our series, we look at coffee beers from Avery, Hill Farmstead, Eclipse, and Jackie O’s.

THE BEERS:

From barrel aged bombs to subtle milk stouts, we cover some of the best new coffee beers.

AVERY TWEAK

Steve: I drank this from the bottle pictured above. Following the great success of Goose Island’s Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout and Founders KBS, Avery takes the barrel aging process to their coffee stout. The 17.81% ABV stout is aged 4 months in bourbon barrels after brewing with an organic espresso blend from Ozo Coffee Co. Potent bourbon, coffee and chocolate notes on the nose. Pours black, with an unexpected ruddy brown head. The taste is a perhaps the most potent coffee flavored stout around. Huge espresso blends with the vanilla and char from bourbon barrels, and waves of sweetness to balance this explosive espresso shot. The booze kicks in in the finish as the mild carbonation holds on to make this dangerously drinkable: Amazing beer.

Dave: … 5 oz pour in a large snifter at the new Avery tasting room in Boulder. Delivers on all the flavors promised and more – coffee, bourbon, oak, chocolate, molasses. Huge flavors blended well with no noticeable alcohol bite. Superlative.

New space Avery is terrific – a must stop when in CO.

9.5/10

JACKIE O’S DARK APPARITION VANILLA & COFFEE BEAN

A big Russian imperial stout brewed with brown sugar, Dark Apparition from Jackie O’s may be the most recognizable label from the Athens Ohio brewery. Tasted here is a newly bottled variant, brewed with vanilla and coffee. While the original has bold malts with some coffee notes, this beer smells distinctly of vanilla and coffee, with mild soy sauce and hops less pronounced. The carbonation is good for a 10.5% ABVer, helping making the thick body quafable. Finish is fading vanilla with the coffee showing itself in a bitter note. Overall, the taste is very close to the base beer, with modest vanilla notes, and a hint of coffee. If you like vanilla, and maybe don’t even like coffee, this beer is a fun twist on Dark App. If you are looking for a coffee forward beer that brings the java up front, this one might be a slight let down.

8.0/10

SIERRA NEVADA/NINKASI BEER CAMP DOUBLE LATTE

In the summer of 2014 Sierra Nevada released a 12-pack of collaboration bottles and cans, each a separate beer brewed in conjunction with “…coveted breweries, which were selected for their innovation and reputation for brewing world-class beers”. As you may recall, I visited Ninkasi and they certainly fit this description. So I was thrilled they were selected to team up on a coffee based milk stout. The Oregon brewer employed a cold pressed blend from the famous Stumptown Coffee Roasters to flavor Double Latte. And to great effect, this Beer Camp bottle pours a chocolate malt looking head that is frothy and long lasting, smelling of coffee, chocolate, and fruit. No soy sauce notes are present in the sweet coffee flavors that match the nose. The body is a glorious silky, creamy mouthfeel. There is just a hint of sweetness, along with mild acidity and a hop presence, all balancing each other. Dry finish with some lingering coffee and hops. One of my favorite beers from the 2014 Beer Camp collection.

9.0/10

HILL FARMSTEAD EARL

Note: Unfortunately, this beer will not be scored due to its age. Bottled in December of 2012, we didn’t sample it until February of 2014. Just like ground coffee in a can, the volatile oils from roasted beans fall off quickly in beer.

Aged or not, Earl opens with a crisp pop of the cap, pouring out a dense wet sand colored head with good retention. The aromas are sweet grains, and stone fruit. The flavors of this stout are roasted grain, oatmeal, semi-sweet chocolate, and fruit, with a hint of coffee building. The body is marvelous, with the oatmeal adding a creaminess to the thick stout. Finish on the palette is a transition to bitter coffee, that builds. A very nice beer, that is almost certainly even better with fresh coffee flavor.

CONCLUSION

For some, there is no such thing as bad pizza. Thick or thin crust, allowing for some standards such as fresh ingredients, the basic components are a time honored infatuation for millions of pizza lovers. It seems that with coffee beer too, we have come to a place where highly skilled brewers using high quality coffee, are hard pressed to brew a bad coffee beer. While some may prefer the vanilla in one recipe over the bourbon in another, none of these coffee based beers left us unhappy.