My friend Shannon had scored some Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat and earmarked a bottle for me. So it's probably not a stretch to figure out what I was drinking this evening. :)

I wondered briefly whether Shannon would be offended if I didn't like the beer, but as it turns out that wasn't an issue: it's a pretty good brew. My notes:

Appearance: Very pale yellow, slightly hazy. Thick white head.

Smell: Yeasty, clean grain remniscent of a light (American) lager.

Taste: Light, crisp wheat with low bitterness, though there is a slightly detectable hop presence. A bit yeasty. Very slight sourness (citrusy), but it's more of the "classic" American wheat style than the traditional weiss (no real esters, bananas, cloves). This would be a very good lawnmower beer.

Mouthfeel: Light and refreshing. Thin-bodied, you don't really notice the "unfiltered" part here.

The BeerAdvocate folks are on the fence, scoring it 80 out of 100, with a 78% approval. On RateBeer it's solidly average, 3.06 out of 5.

I'm a bit more generous than those reviewers. I could easily see keeping a six-pack of this handy during the summer months, if I lived in the Midwest...

Via BeerAdvocate: the latest seasonal from Anheuser-Busch is out: Spring Heat Spiced Wheat. Sounds interesting.

Spring Heat Spiced Wheat is an unfiltered Belgian-style wheat ale, which is naturally cloudy. Brewed with orange, lemon and lime peels; the spice of coriander; two-row barley and wheat malts; as well as a blend of domestic Cascade and Willamette hops and imported Hallertau hops, this beer is memorably aromatic and has a smooth, complex taste....

Spring Heat Spiced Wheat is best enjoyed when served in a tall glass with a wide opening, allowing the beer’s aroma to funnel straight to the nose. This golden wheat ale is also a great accompaniment to casual and fine dining.

See also: A-B's pumpkin beer, A-B's Winter's Bourbon Cask Ale.

Caught this article on CNN about the Brewmaster's Castle in danger of being sold. The mansion was built in 1894 by Christian Heurich, the premier Washington, D.C. brewery at the turn of the 20th century, and today is a public museum. There's another article about it here at Bella Online.

As interesting as the mansion itself is, I did a search for more information about Heurich and his brewery. Found an interesting page on the history of the Heurich Brewing Company that covers it really well.

Not only was Heurich beer consumed by presidents, the brewery was also one of the few to survive Prohibition. Heurich himself died at age 102 in 1945, running the business himself up until about a week before he died!

During Prohibition, which lasted until 1933, the brewery stayed in business producing ice and for many years won the contract to supply the US Congress and the US Supreme Court with their ice.

In March 1933 the Volstead Act was replaced and it became legal to make and sell 3.2% beer. In December 1933 the 21st amendment to the Constitution repealed the 18th Amendment and it became legal to make and sell higher alcohol beverages again. Heurich originally planned not to return to the beer business but the tremendous demand for beer —even though the only legal kind had only 3.2 percent alcohol —convinced him otherwise. There had been five breweries operating in Washington when Prohibition began, but only Christian Heurich and the Abner-Drury Brewery reopened and the latter only lasted two years. Apparently the Abner-Drury brewery rushed their beer to market and sold it while it was still "green" and so quickly gained a reputation for selling bad beer!

Incidentally, his grandson is also brewing, under the Foggy Bottom label. This is the same grandson who is trying to save the Brewmaster's Castle—so you see, it all comes back full circle...

Hair of the Dog, located in Portland, Oregon, is an interesting brewery. They produce unusual beers, often very strong and very hoppy, and quite frankly they're not everyone's cup of tea; they are more of an acquired taste.

(Quick segue: My brother is not a big fan of their beer. One year we were at the Oregon Brewers Festival and Hair of the Dog had their beer Fred on tap, but because it's a strong ale, it required two tokens for the taster rather than the usual one. My brother, noticing them, commented that he hardly ever drank their beer so he got a taster. He came back, took a drink of the beer, made a face, and said, "Now I remember why I don't drink their beer!" and promptly handed me the mug.)

Tonight I had a bottle of Ruth that a co-worker gave me. I'm on the fence when it comes to Hair of the Dog, so I tried it. Overall, it's not bad, but it does have that unique HotD character that's present in all their beers that I've had; I think perhaps it's the hops, but a good part of of it comes from the strength of the alcohol. Ruth is only 5.6% alcohol by volume, but it still had that strong alcohol character.

Appearance: Poured cloudy, the color of golden straw with a white head that quickly dissipated. The cloudiness comes from the yeast present in the bottle (all their beers are bottle conditioned).

Smell: Floral, earthy and hops.

Taste: Malty and has that distinctive HotD hop bitterness. Seems to me there's lots of hops in this beer, all earthy and spicy and bitter. And there's that stronger alcohol character; I wonder if it's the yeast?

Mouthfeel: On the thinner side, complemented by the carbonation—it wasn't heavy, but is on the sparkling side.

Over on BeerAdvocate they score it 82 out of 100 ("worth a try"), with only 85% approval. RateBeer is similar, scoring 3.42 out of 5, putting it into their 77th percentile. A quick scan of the reviews on both sites shows that people are in the same boat here: they either like it or don't quite know what to do with it. I like it well enough, but it's not a beer I would buy regularly.

Since I missed blogging anything for President's Day (anyone know of any good President-themed beers), I thought I'd point to this post on the Brookston Beer Blog to honor George Washington's actual birthday, which is today.

It's a nice writeup and some links. Apparently Washington made a decent pumpkin porter. Which of course gets me to thinking about that extra pumpkin in the freezer...

Tonight's beer was Deschutes Brewery's newest limited edition, Hop Henge. It's a powerfully hopped India pale ale—and I do mean powerfully hopped—that weighs in at 7.5% alcohol by volume. It's quite a good beer, but you have to be a bit of a hophead to truly enjoy it.

No joke. The website describes the beer as "boasting 3.5 pounds of Centennial, Cascade and Northern Brewer hops per barrel with a heavy dry-hop presence to top it off." I would have guess Chinook hops were in there too, but my hops-tasting ability isn't that refined. Anyway, prepare to be bowled over; this is one of the hoppiest beers I can remember having.

Appearance: Mostly clear orange amber, the color of honey now that I think about it. Generous, rich head, off-white and creamy.

Smell: Hops. They dominate the nose. Slightly spicy, resiny, that distinct floral hop character.

Taste: Huge clean crisp hop bitterness overlaying and nicely complementing a rich malt character. The hops here aren't the grassy freshness of their Hop Trip, but a strong, mature, slightly spicy and crisp (yes, I said "crisp" already), and right up front. And they stay with you. The malt, when you notice it, is on the sweeter side, and biscuity. A nice complement.

Mouthfeel: Creamy and rich. Nice for an IPA, thick without being chewy.

The reviewers on BeerAdvocate agree, ranking it 88 with all 16 (so far) approving. It's a very good beer—just make sure you like hops!

I'd seen these figures making the rounds on the beer blogs lately, but hadn't commented on them yet. Interestingly, the email I got with the press release included these stats just for Oregon:

It is anticipated that Oregon Brewers will have produced 10-12% more barrels of beer in 2005 versus 2004. Overall, the beer market in Oregon grew 0.5% in 2005, up from 2,570,611 barrels to 2,585,528 barrels.

Volume Up 9 Percent in 2005 Says Brewers Association

America’s craft brewers sold 9.0 percent more barrels of beer in 2005 versus 2004 making craft beer the fastest growing segment of the US beverage alcohol industry for the second consecutive year, according to the Brewers Association, the Boulder, CO-based trade association for US craft brewers.

“Craft beer volume growth far exceeded that of large brewers, wine and spirits in 2005,” said Paul Gatza, Director of the Brewers Association. “And even though imported beer grew nicely in 2005, craft beer grew at a faster rate.”

The Brewers Association estimates 2005 sales by craft brewers at 7,112,886 31-gallon barrels up from an adjusted total of 6,526,809 barrels in 2004, an increase of 586,077 barrels or 8.1 million case-equivalents.

Compared to craft beer volume growth of 9.0 percent, spirits volume increased at 3.3 percent in 2005 and wine volume was up 2.9 percent. The import segment of the beer industry rose 7.2 percent in 2005 while non-craft domestic beer volume declined slightly for the year. This establishes craft beer as the fastest growing segment of the US beverage alcohol business for the second year in a row.

“Consumer enjoyment of the flavor and diversity of craft beer continues to fuel healthy, steady growth in this segment,” said Ray Daniels, Director of Craft Beer Marketing for the Brewers Association. “Small brewers lead the entire industry by offering flavorful, interesting beers.”

The craft beer segment includes more than 1300 small, traditional and independent breweries which produce primarily all-malt beers. It includes both brewpubs which sell beer primarily at their own pub or restaurant and packaging breweries that distribute beer in kegs, cans and bottles to a wide range of retail outlets. The Brewers Association has tabulated industry growth data for these breweries annually since 1985.

One year ago, the Brewers Association reported craft segment growth of 7.2 percent for 2004, a year in which wine (2.7%), spirits (3.1%), imported beer (1.4%) and non-craft domestic beer (0.5%) all reported substantially smaller growth rates.

“The strong growth by craft beer in 2005 is especially impressive because it comes on top of strong performance in 2004,” said Gatza. For each of the last two years, craft beer growth has been stronger than in any year since 1996. He also noted that 2005 is the third year craft beer growth rates were stronger than those for imports. “Craft beer clearly leads the beer industry in consumer appeal.”

I've blogged about the Beer Mapping Project before, but I thought it deserved an in-depth look and would make an ideal topic for this Beer Hacker column.

For the uninitiated, the Beer Mapping Project is a great resource that combines the power of Google Maps with one of the most complete listings of breweries, brewpubs, beer bars and even beer stores that I've ever seen. They have larger-scale US Brewery Maps, organized by region, that show brewpubs and breweries; and a growing selection of city beer maps that include the beer bars and stores, focusing on much more detail for that particular city.

More...

I tried the bottle of Siletz Winter Warmer Ale this evening, and frankly it turned out just like the fiasco with their Cholocate Porter: sour and astringent. Really disappointing.

At this point I'm pretty sure there must have been some sort of storage issue with the bottles I had: they were too old, or stored warm, or something. I'm willing to give Siletz Brewing the benefit of the doubt and should I get the chance, I'll visit the brewery and try their beers on tap (and presumably fresh and problem free!).

Too bad, though. Even though there are only four reviews of this one so far on BeerAdvocate, they're all positive. Same deal on RateBeer (scored in the 89th percentile). Jeez, I'm starting to feel ripped!

Happy Valentine's Day! Not surprisingly, I've been getting a lot of hits for searches for "valentines ideas" coming to my post last year for Valentine's Day. (It's #10 on Google for that search.) I just re-read that post, it's pretty good, so check it out if you want to make a beery V-day.

Some other beer-related pointers for today:

• Lew Bryson has an article about women and beer and Valentine's Day.
• A World of Beer article from 2000: Valentine's Day Beer & Chocolate Companion.
• A site called "Beer on the Wall" purports to offer up unique Valentines gifts for men (beer-themed, of course).
• Here's a "For Him on Valentines" gift basket.

Enjoy the day!

I bottled up my batch of pumpkin ale this weekend, I should be able to try one in a few weeks. I ended up with 44 bottles (43.5, more accurately). Not bad.

Astute readers will recall that I measured an abnormally high original gravity for this beer—1.080. The final gravity measured out at 1.018, so that means—if my readings were accurate, which I have trouble believing (at least for the original gravity)—that the percentage of alcohol by volume is a whopping 8.14%! It's not impossible, of course, but it's definitely surprising. I should know more when I open a bottle.

Incidentally, the formula for calculating percentage of alcohol is this:

(OG - FG) x 105 = % alcohol by weight
%ABW x 1.25 = % alcohol by volume

...where "OG" = original gravity and "FG" = final gravity.

Stampede Brewing Company down in Texas has released a beer that is enhanced with vitamins. (Seems like a perfect spot to insert a "vitamin B" joke here.) The Brookston Beer Blog wastes no time in debunking it:

It seems to play on the perception that most people hold, which is that beer is unhealthful. While it may be that the product churned out by the big breweries — which is loaded with many of the several dozen chemicals approved by the FDA for use in beer production — is not as healthy as beer ought to be, most craft beer is made using all-natural ingredients and in very few, if any, chemical additives. Beer made in this traditional way returns beer to a time when it was considered "liquid bread" and preferable to water, since it had more nutritional value and avoided any problems with sanitation that were common in centuries past. But the perception of beer as unhealthy is a very recent phenomenon, fueled by prohibitionists, neo-prohibitionists like MADD and others, and ironically by the big breweries themselves with their questionable propaganda techniques that show their type of beer in a less than flattering light.

Ironically though, the guy can't list the vitamins on the label because the federal government told him "it would be an implied health claim." I suppose that doesn't matter so much when us bloggers spread the news for him. :)

Slashfood correctly points out that beer already has vitamins A, B, D and E, and niacin, without any supplementing. So, take your Stampede Beer with a grain of salt.

At the risk of using an inflammatory headline, "cheap beers" seemed easier to convey than what I really mean: American macrobrewed light lagers. Yes, the Millers, the Buds, the Coors... if you have to drink them (say you find yourself at a party with only the cheap stuff), which one(s) should you choose?

I thought this would be an amusing topic to write about for my first "Beer Hacker" column, though I kind of wish I'd written it to be timely with the Super Bowl. Ah, well, better late than never.

More...

No, "The Beer Hacker" doesn't refer to a new blog or site (that I know of), but rather the name of a new "column" I'll be writing here semi-regularly (once a week or so). They will be longer articles covering all sorts of beer-related topics, with (I'm thinking) the underlying theme of getting the most out of beer in various ways (homebrewing, relating to the internet, etc.).

Why am I doing this? I think it'll be a fun addition to the site; it forces me into a more regular writing schedule (I keep telling myself I want to be a writer); I'm inspired in part by sites like Lifehacker and it would be fun to do a beer version.

And yes, "The Beer Hacker" is a riff on "The Beer Hunter", which is the nom-de-plume of beer writer Michael Jackson. You can't take yourself too seriously. :)

So keep an eye out. First one should be up today or tomorrow.

I finally got around to drinking Widmer's Snowplow Milk Stout and taking notes so I could write up a real review. It's a good example of the sweet stout style of beer, though the "milk" part of it comes from milk sugar (lactose). Lactose is actually unfermentable; instead it adds body and sweetness to the beer.

I quite like it. Of course, I'm hard-pressed to find any beer from Widmer that I don't like, but for my money they've put out a really good stout here. (Of course, a friend gave me the Snowplow, so technically it isn't my money on the line...)

Appearance: Inky black in color, motor oil black. Low carbonation resulting in a minimal dark tan head that fell quickly.

Smell: Roast malt. Hints of dark coffee.

Taste: It's a creamy black stout (that is, malty with strong tones of roast malt and black patent) with a strong residual milk sweetness, quite good. Hop character sits nicely in the background without overpowering, leaving the malts and sugars free to do their thing. Hints of blackstrap (molasses). There could be coffee in there, too.

Mouthfeel: Creamy, thick, full. Very smooth. Complements the flavors—and the style—well.

BeerAdvocate's score: 84 out of 100, with 91% approval. Not as high as I would expect, but not terrible, either. We'll go with it.

An offbeat post this evening. If you were stranded on a desert isle, and for some gonzo reason you could have a large supply ("large" is open to interpretation) of any three beers, which beers would you choose, and why?

Here are mine:

• Pabst Blue Ribbon. It's the better of the cheap beers out there, and you'll never know when you need a cheap beer in a pinch—for cleaning something, cooking, or as a weapon. Plus, those empty aluminum cans sure could be useful somehow.
• Shakespeare Stout. You gotta have a stout, they're almost a meal in themselves and are therefore oh-so-useful when stranded. Plus they go well with food—oysters especially, shellfish in general, which you'll likely find in abundance on your island. Rogue's version is one of the best around, plus they come in handy 22-ounce bottles.
• Third choice is tough. I think I'd want to go with an amber ale or a pale ale style, like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale or perhaps Fat Tire Amber Ale. Something with substance and flavor to it, but not overly strong.

So, let's hear 'em! What three beers would you choose? Leave a comment here or post on your blogs.

I thought the Trappistes Rochefort I tried last week, at 11.3% alcohol, was a big beer, but tonight I drank a bottle of North Coast Brewing's Old Stock Ale (2004 vintage)—slightly higher, at 11.4%. And believe me, you can taste that extra tenth of a percent; my overall impression is the strong alcohol bite.

Here are my notes:

Appearance: Poured with nearly no head, very little carbonation. Murky deep-red brown in color, applebutter perhaps.

Smell: Alcohol, grain (the malt).

Taste: Barleywine alcohol bite! It's very malty, and with the alcohol reminds me of a scotch or a whiskey. It's almost a little raw... perhaps aging a few more years would mellow it more.

Mouthfeel: Has a nice full thick profile, but the (can we say it again?) alcohol is distracting.

I didn't love it, though the BeerAdvocate folks did: 89/100, 99% thumbs up. Maybe I'll pick up another bottle or two to let age, though—I'd be willing to bet it mellows...

Sorry I fell off the radar for a few days there, I was feeling a bit under the weather and just had a busy weekend catching up. But, on Saturday we went to the Deschutes Brewery and I finally got to drink a pint of their Poor Richard's Ale.

We were visiting out-of-town friends, so no tasting notes or anything like that. However, I liked it quite a bit, and better than Bend Brewing's version. The main difference in the versions that stands out is Deschutes' isn't nearly as bitter, and the hops that are there blend in nicely with the brew.

In fact, it's a smoother, creamier beer overall—sorry Bend Brewing. It was the color of a copper penny, not as dark as the other. It had a nice sweet balanced malt profile, you could detect the corn and the molasses sweetness I think, but not the typical molasses dark flavor. "Gingerbread" comes to mind after the fact.

Very nice. Maybe I should pick up a growler (from both breweries...) before it goes away.

Kind of a whimsical post to commemorate Groundhog Day today. The groundhog saw his shadow, so six more weeks of winter. Bust out the barleywines and winter warmers!

Or, check out Carolina Brewing Company: they brew a different seasonal Groundhog Day beer each year. From their brews page:

Since our Anniversary is in the middle of the Summer, we decided it would be nice pick a time during the colder months to brew something different. So, we now celebrate the arrival of the small, furry fella with a small batch of something special. Past beers have included a Dry Irish Stout and a German Dunkel Bock.

This year's beer seems to be a Doppelbock, based on BeerAdvocate (which is how I found it in the first place). Last year's appears to be a stout, based on RateBeer.

That's about all I can find online right now about Groundhog Day beers. Does anyone know of any others to share? Or homebrew recipes perhaps?

Tonight's beer was a Belgian ale—a "Quadrupel", specifically, which is like a Dubbel or a Tripel, only stronger: Trappistes Rochefort 10 (no particular site that I can find, sorry). The Quadrupel tag is well-earned: this beer is an amazing 11.3% alcohol by volume!

It's quite good, too. It's this type of beer that makes me want to make a pilgrimage to Belgium just for the beer tasting... can you tell I liked it? :)

Appearance: I poured it into a Pilsner glass (only one I had that seemed appropriate) and it was very carbonated—most of the initial pour was foam. Thick, creamy tan head that never truly dissipated. It was a darker ale than I was expecting: murky brown, cola or molasses colored.

Smell: Sweet malt, strong alcohol. A fruit candy/dried fruit character.

Taste: It's full of the dried fruit and sweet maltiness that is characteristic of Belgian ales. Strong alcohol that also manages to be low-key. Dark, but not in a roasted/burnt way; more like a molasses dark, or a thick fruit pudding (or fruitcake) dark. Hops are there, in the back, mild and possibly a bit musty-ish. Very much like an old ale.

Mouthfeel: Rich and full-bodied. For the high amount of alcohol, you wouldn't notice it if you didn't already know what it was.

Very good. It scored one of the highest BeerAdvocate scores I've yet seen since I've been reviewing: 93, with 99% approval.