Archives : 2009 : May

Received: Redhook Tripel

May 28th, 2009

Almost no sooner did I write about Redhook’s new Tripel limited release than I receive the bottle I mentioned. It came yesterday, and included a nice bit of glassware.

The box came wrapped with gold-embossed red ribbon proclaiming “Redhook Limited Release 2009.”

And of course, what’s inside is what counts. The goblet’s great, and I really like the design of the labeling on the bottle; it’s simple though expressive. I’ll do a closer picture when I review the beer.

Pilsner/Tripel

May 26th, 2009

Updating the Press Releases this evening, an a couple of items caught my interest.

First, the long-awaited (by me, at least) #3 in the “LTD” series from Full Sail: a Pilsner. I was beginning to wonder since they released 01 and 02 several times. It’ll be available this summer from June to September.

(The “LTD” series is Full Sail’s “small batch lager” beer series; each batch number is theoretically only going to be brewed once.)

Next, Redhook is releasing a Belgian-style Tripel. This is a bold move for Redhook, who have otherwise settled in to safe (though competent) beers with no real surprises; with this Tripel, they’re releasing a 10.2% alcohol ale brewed with lots of Belgian candi sugar and a “secret monastery yeast strain.” I’m likely receiving a sample bottle, so I’m very interested to try it and report on the results.

Gluten-Free Week: Deschutes Gluten-Free ESB

May 23rd, 2009

Unfortunately, this isn’t a review, but like yesterday I wanted to highlight another gluten-free beer offering, this one from Deschutes Brewery: their Gluten-Free ESB.

It’s available on tap at both their Bend and Portland pubs, and though the website currently lists “Gluten-Free Golden Ale”, it is in fact an ESB (Extra Special Bitter) right now. They make their gluten-free beers with sorghum as the base (of course), and the Golden Ale also included brown rice and roasted chestnuts. The ESB is the fourth version of a gluten-free beer they’ve offered.

The good news with this beer is that it (or something similar) will always be on tap at both pubs, year-round. The bad news is that there are no plans in the immediate future to bottle it.

More good news? It received a really good review (the Portland version) from the “Gluten-Free Gourmand” blog earlier this month:

I took one sip of the beer and thought, “Oh, no! She gave me the wrong beer!” This beer did not taste gluten-free. It only took a few seconds for me to realize that the mistake was mine. I had the right beer, but this new gluten-free beer was even better than the previous one, and by a long shot. It’s a new brew called the Gluten-free Golden ESB, and it may be my new favorite gluten-free beer. It is a bit darker gold in color than their previous GF Golden Ale. It was somewhat less bitter, and also managed to avoid the harsh chemical overtones that sorghum usually lends to a beer. They don’t have it posted on their website yet, but the recipe involved sorghum, molasses and brewer’s gold hops, among other ingredients.

I do have to confess, while I’ve been unable to make it down to the Pub this week to review the beer, I did get a small sampler awhile back out of curiosity. I think it may have been the end of the keg, I don’t remember; but what I do remember is that it was very light, with that sorghum-sweet character I’ve noted this week, and there was a strong plastic aroma to it—not quite solventy, not quite band-aid, but… plastic.

I really need to get back in there and try a proper glass, and with the good review above, I’m looking forward to it.

Gluten-Free Week: Others beers to look for

May 22nd, 2009

Even though I was able to acquire a few gluten-free beers to review this week, there are others that I would have really liked to sample also. Here are a few of those—and if you can find them where you live, go give them a try.

Lakefront New Grist

Lakefront Brewery’s sorghum-based beer is fairly widely-available and they claim it is the “first of its kind” which conflicts a bit with the claim made by Bard’s Tale Brewing. Of New Grist, Lakefront says:

New Grist is brewed from sorghum, hops, water, rice and gluten-free yeast grown on molasses. These ingredients are carefully combined to form a crisp, refreshing “session ale” brewed for those with Celiac Disease and anyone with an appreciation for great tasting, handmade beer.

New Grist is the first beer brewed without malted barley or gluten-containing products to be authorized by the U.S. Government. Each batch brewed at Lakefront’s Milwaukee headquarters is tested for gluten prior to fermentation, before being bottled and shipped. New Grist is currently available nationwide in six packs of 12-ounce bottles.

New Grist is 5% alcohol by volume. BeerAdvocate gives it a C-. RateBeer gives it a 2.06 out of 5, 7th percentile.

Sprecher Mbege and Shakparo

Sprecher Brewery produces two beers that are gluten-free: the banana-brewed Mbege and the sorghum-and-millet-brewed Shakparo, both African-inspired brews:

Originally conceived of in an effort to provide a traditional African style beer for Milwaukee’s African World Festival, our Mbege and Shakparo have won the hearts of people here at the brewery and have been promoted to year round beer status.

Because barley and wheat are not grown in large quantities in sub-Saharan Africa, traditional Mbeges and Shakparos are brewed with sorghum and millet and are therefore able to be brewed gluten-free since neither sorghum nor millet contain gluten.

(I almost had the opportunity to review these; Randall Sprecher very generously offered to get some bottles to me but unfortunately the logistics didn’t work out from my end.)

Mbege is 5.2% alcohol by volume. BeerAdvocate gives it a C- (and it’s marked as retired). RateBeer gives it a 2.56 out of 5, 18th percentile.

Shakparo is 5.7% alcohol by volume. BeerAdvocate gives it a C+. RateBeer gives it a 2.7 out of 5, 23rd percentile.

Ramapo Valley Honey Beer

Ramapo Valley’s gluten-free offering actually sounds more like a mead than a beer:

This innovative brew is made with neither barley, nor wheat. The main fermentable is amber honey. Molasses is used for flavor, nutrients and color. Bright golden in color, the taste naturally has notes of honey and hop. Noble hops add a touch of bitterness to balance the honey sweetness.

I inquired with the brewery about sampling their beer, and their response was, unfortunately, that the beer was not yet ready for sale: they are waiting for ATF approval to upgrade their status to full brewery and cannot ship beer.

Honey Beer is 5.2% alcohol by volume. BeerAdvocate gives it a C-. RateBeer gives it 2.3 out of 5, 12th percentile.

Gluten-Free Week: Redbridge

May 21st, 2009

Redbridge is Anheuser-Busch‘s gluten-free beer offering, and, because it’s A-B, is the one that is most widely available. This is an all-sorghum malt beer brewed to the style of an American Amber Lager, and is 4.8% alcohol by volume.

Redbridge was introduced in 2006 and for the past two years brought home the gold at the Great American Beer Festival in the relatively new Gluten-Free category.

Now, I know there will automatically be detractors because this is an Anheuser-Busch product—that sort of thing goes with the “beer geek” territory, after all—but this is definitely a case where you need to forget the company and focus on the beer. A-B has managed something remarkable here: they’ve made a sorghum beer taste almost completely like a barley beer.

No small feat, as I can attest to this week.

Appearance: Honey-brown in color and very clear; thin off-white head fizzed out quickly.

Smell: Very “beer”-y with a sweet note; husky grains and a touch of grass.

Taste: The most mainstream “beer” flavor of all I’ve thus far tried; grainy malt and slightly spicy, mild hops. There’s an undercurrent of cloying, frosting sweetness, similar to the Bard’s Gold—must be an inherent character of sorghum (but there’s no solventy stuff going on here).

Mouthfeel: Crisp, slightly gassy, medium-light bodied. Minerally and a clean finish.

Overall: Very well done in that it’s very close to a barley beer, and quite drinkable.

Would someone with Celiac disease like it? Yes, and the availability and the very good “beer” character will make this a preferred brand.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of C+. On RateBeer, it scores 2.26 out of 5 and is in their 10th percentile. In my opinion, this is a better beer than those scores would indicate.

Gluten-Free Week: Bard’s Gold

May 20th, 2009

I’ve actually reviewed Bard’s Gold before, back when it was called Dragon’s Gold. At the time, I was suitably unimpressed that I wrote, “I think Bard’s Tale needs to work on this beer a bit more.”

Fortunately, it’s come a long way since then. More on that in a bit. Some notes on their marketing first.

Why the change from “Dragon’s Gold” to “Bard’s Gold”? I’d have to say to avoid confusion and to lock in their identity as “the original” sorghum beer—their overall packaging is much more professional and consistent and frankly, naming your company after a computer fantasy game of the 80′s and your beer something else entirely was simply too confusing.

But enough of that. Bard’s is 4.6% alcohol by volume and follows a recipe akin to a Reinheitsgebot of gluten-free beer, containing only sorghum, hops, water, and yeast.

Appearance: Clear, orange-brown with very minimal head. Looks like an ESB or something similar.

Smell: Very light, with something like roasted fruit, syrupy sweet, present. Frosting?

Taste: Better and more like “beer” than I remember, though there’s a twang of cake-frosting-sweet running through it. A light fruity note, and light and earthy hops, but it’s not overly bitter. Quite like an English Bitter in malt profile, I think.

Mouthfeel: Prickly and clean; almost medium-bodied but it washes down before you can quite get a handle on it. A bit of a bite and sweet-ish coating aftertaste.

Overall: Much better than before, Bard’s has really dialed in their recipe. A tad sweet for my tastes, but drinkable an I’d be perfectly content with it again.

Would someone with Celiac disease like it? Yes, readily. Very “beer.”

On BeerAdvocate, in 6 reviews it scores an overall grade of B-. On RateBeer, they haven’t updated their database and still point to the (defunct?) Dragon’s Gold; it’s garnered a score of 2.32 out of 5 and is in their 11th percentile.

Bards Tale Gluten Free Gold

Gluten-Free Week: Green’s Quest

May 19th, 2009

Green’s Quest is the other gluten-free beer from them available to me here in Central Oregon; as I mention in my review of Endeavour, this (and all of their beers) are brewed to a secret recipe though there are a few clues as to their makeup.

I forgot to mention in that previous review that on the bottle they proclaim millet, rice, buckwheat, and sorghum as the ingredients. Given that Quest is brewed to the style of a Belgian Tripel, then there is likely to be a large portion of the recipe consisting of a (nearly) pure sugar source—common in the style to boost the alcohol strength (8.5% in the case of Quest) without adding color or body to the beer.

With Quest I’m fairly positive this sugar source is honey, which will become apparent as you read my review notes.

Appearance: Clear honey-gold with a choppy, large-bubbled head.

Smell: Mild profile, with hints of sweet honey and floral notes. Fairly clean.

Taste: Right off reminds me of a mead—wildflower honey with hints of summer fruit and the wine-y character present in most meads I’ve had. Actually quite pleasant—I wonder if they used a lot of honey for the sugar-boosting part of the Tripel style…

Mouthfeel: Sparkling, light of medium, with a puckery-wine mead-like finish—dry and clean.

Overall: Quite good—a bit different than I was expecting but enjoyable nevertheless. Makes for a nice (though strong) warm weather ale.

Would someone with Celiac disease like it? Yes.

However, on BeerAdvocate, there’s no love for this beer: overall grade of C-. It fares similarly on RateBeer, scores 2.18 out of 5 and only in their 9th percentile. It’s looking like gluten-free beers just won’t get a good mention from the rating sites; sad, but such is life.

Gluten-Free Week: Ingredients

May 19th, 2009

The grains that contain gluten that Celiacs must avoid are:

• Wheat
• Barley
• Rye
• Triticale

Oats are also on the possibly-exclude list; studies on them as a gluten source are incomplete, but better safe than sorry.

Beer, of course, is primarily made with barley (and often wheat), so brewers of gluten-free beer need to resort to other gluten-free grains as their main source of fermentables. The primary ones are:

• Sorghum
• Buckwheat
• Maize (corn)
• Rice
• Millet

Most of the gluten-free beers I’ve seen use sorghum as their base grain source, and are often supplemented with buckwheat and rice. Deschutes Brewery, for instance, brews their Gluten-Free Golden Ale with sorghum, brown rice, and roasted chestnuts (more on that one later in the week).

Honey, fruits, and nuts are also all gluten-free, of course.

In addition to the list above, there are many other ingredients (sources of starches/fermentables, basically) available that could be very interesting when used in a beer:

• Quinoa
• Amaranth
• Chickpeas
• Tapioca
• Arrowroot
• Yam/sweet potato
• Lupine (domesticated)
• Montina (milled Indian rice grass)

Whether any of these “secondary” ingredients make it into a commercial beer remains to be seen. (If you’re homebrewing your own gluten-free beer, then the sky’s the limit, of course; for the most part, you will need to be set up for all-grain brewing to mash the grains yourself—although lately I have seen sorghum extract syrup available to extract brewers at my local homebrew shop.)

Good further sources:

• Wikipedia
• Celiac.com
• The Vegetarian Society

Gluten-Free Week: Green’s Endeavour

May 18th, 2009

Green’s Gluten Free Beers is (according to BeerAdvocate) a Beer Marketing Company based in England that offers only gluten-free beers in its available line-up. The beers themselves are brewed in Belgium (it says as much on the label) to a “closely guarded secret recipe.”

They offer three distinct beers for their North American market, imported by Merchant du Vin: Discovery, Endeavour, and Quest—an Amber, a Dubbel, and a Tripel, respectively. Tonight I tried the Endeavour and am reviewing it with my “How to review?” post in mind.

Endeavour, as I mentioned, is brewed to the style of a Belgian Dubbel, and is 7% alcohol by volume. My review is below, but it may not be the full story (read on).

Appearance: Cola-brown with a similar-looking head of foam. Deep ruby-brown when held to the light.

Smell: Bready and slightly lactic note of dark fruits—raisins, figs, black currants.

Taste: Very fruity right up front—same dark fruits as in the nose with a pleasant sour-ish puckery quality. Very light with no hint of alcohol strength; there’s also a slightly off-note of nail polish remover (ethyl acetate)—what’s weird is that it’s not bad and actually kind of complements the fruit.

Mouthfeel: Light-bodied with an almost carbonated fruit juice feel on the tongue; you can tell it’s not traditional beer from the feel.

Overall: The more I sip the more I think “sparkling pomegranate juice”. It’s different, but drinkable, and I’m not sure you’d identify it as gluten-free in a blind tasting. (Or not?) Should appeal to craft beer lovers.

Would someone with Celiac disease like it? Tough call, it’s definitely not “traditional” for beer; if they like craft brews, then definitely yes.

The full story? Interestingly, Draft Magazine ran tasting notes from just earlier this month on Endeavour; they note caramel aromas and “[t]he flavor begins chocolaty, followed by undertones of caramel; though mildly peppery, the hops are insignificant”. That’s markedly different from my experience—which makes me wonder if the bottle I had was infected? Stored improperly? The weird thing is that I thought my experience actually worked, but this sounds like two different beers.

No love lost on BeerAdvocate for this beer either; it scores an overall grade of C-, and a cursory look at the reviews seem to indicate an experience similar to mine. RateBeer has a similar outlook, with a score of 2.56 out of 5 and only landing in their 18th percentile.

I’m going to email Merchant du Vin and see if I can get to the bottom of the discrepancies.

Gluten-Free Week: How to review?

May 18th, 2009

How does one review a gluten-free beer?

This might seem like an odd question; anyone who’s poked around my site for a little while knows that in my reviews, I favor the tasting-notes approach, and try to go for an overall impression of the beer.

The heart of any beer review comes down, essentially, to one thing: did I like it?

But with gluten-free beers, I think there’s another question to answer: would someone who has Celiac disease like it?

That’s a pretty loaded question, no doubt. How about: If they want to drink “beer”, would they be satisfied with it?

So for these gluten-free reviews, in addition to the “beer review”, I’ll venture an opinion on how well it hits the mark for “beer” from that perspective (and try not to sound arrogant while doing so).

Gluten-Free Week

May 18th, 2009

Some 1% of the population suffers from Celiac disease—an autoimmune disorder caused by a reaction to the protein gluten found in wheat, barley, and rye (as well as some other grains). The disorder affects the small intestine, leading to a variety of gastrointestinal issues up to and including serious nutrient deficiencies.

Doesn’t sound very pleasant, does it? Celiacs have to avoid foods with gluten in them, and unfortunately that includes beer. Up until recently, there weren’t (for all intents and purposes) any gluten-free commercial beers available; if you were a Celiac sufferer, then you either had to brew your own or seek out very limited craft beers.

But that’s changing. Mid-2005 is when gluten-free beer first caught my attention—at least, as it pertains to Celiac sufferers; I’ve long been interested in beers brewed with grains other than barley or wheat from a homebrewing perspective, but never connected the two until about that time.

Gluten-free beers are a growing niche, but still a small one, and one that deserves highlighting—so all this week I’ll be exploring gluten-free beers, with some reviews, commentary, and pointers to availability, and hopefully building out a nice resource for gluten-free beer while doing so.

Next week is Theme Week

May 14th, 2009

Hard to believe it’s nearly the third week of May already, but Monday the 18th kicks it off and as usual here at The Brew Site, it also kicks off Theme Week.

This month’s theme is Gluten-Free Beer. For awhile now I’ve been predicting that gluten-free is a trend to watch in the beer world, and though it’s been a slower starter than I would have figured, it’s picking up steam. It was time to devote a Theme Week to it.

Stick around!

Jamaica Stout

May 12th, 2009

Jamaica Stout is a strong Foreign-Style Stout brewed in Kingston, Jamaica (naturally enough) by Big City Brewing, though you won’t find it on their current site—either it’s too new or it’s brewed for exclusive export to the U.S. (It came in my Beer of the Month package several months back.)

The bottle says it’s 7.6% alcohol by volume, but the beer review sites both say 8%.

Appearance: Brown-black with cola highlights. Tan head that broke down quick.

Smell: Sweet and roasty, kind of a coffee thing going on. A hint of astringnent bitter, maybe leather.

Taste: Big roasted malt component at first, followed by a sweet and thick note kind of like molasses. There’s a dry, almost charcoal character that almost tastes like it’s been on wood.

Mouthfeel: Medium-to-not-quite-full-bodied. Dry finish, and a touch of a pucker from astringency.

Overall: Enjoyable stout, the best Jamaican beer I’ve had. (Which of course is irony.)

On BeerAdvocate, of 8 reviews is scores an overall grade of B+. On RateBeer, it scores 3.23 out of 5 and is in their 61st percentile.

Hot Rocks Lager and Rocksy (Bend Brewing Company)

May 11th, 2009

This weekend I had a chance to try the two steinbiers (“stone beers”) that were on tap at Bend Brewing Company—these were collaborative beers co-brewed by Tonya Cornett of BBC and  Tomme Arthur of Lost Abbey. They brewed the first beer, Hot Rocks Lager, down at the San Marcos location of Lost Abbey, and the other, Rocksy, here in Bend. Since hearing about the collaboration, I’ve been dying to try the beers.

The gist of a “steinbier” is the brewing method: instead of bringing the wort (unfermented beer) to a boil by placing the kettle over a heat source (such as a flame), it is instead boiled by placing glowing-hot rocks directly into the wort. The super-heated rocks bring the wort to boil in a great sputtering, roiling, smoky spectacle that caramelizes the sugars and lends a unique smoky-like character to the finished beer. I’ve only tried a handful of stone-brewed beers, but I’ve really liked those that I’ve tried.

(My Beer Pix has a small photo-documentary of the making of the first of these beers down at The Lost Abbey.)

I started with samples of the two beers at BBC, then selected a pint of one of them. The Hot Rocks Lager is 7.1% alcohol by volume (if I remember right) and the darker, maltier of the two. It’s full of rich toffee flavors and dark and almost-smoky caramelized sugars; sweet rich and heavy in the mouth, the hops take a backseat.

Rocksy, on the other hand, is lighter and hoppier. 6.8% alcohol by volume, it has a nice malty-sweet flavor but the profile is definitely towards the hops—it reminded me of Bend Brewing’s HopHead Imperial IPA in hop character. Not to say that it’s as hoppy as HopHead—rather, it seemed to me that it was the same variety of hop (bright and crisp).

I ultimately chose the Hot Rocks Lager for my follow-up pint, but both are really good (I would have had a pint of each if I had been able to get away with it!). Worth seeking out (if you live in Central Oregon or Southern California).

Weeks of Beer

May 7th, 2009

A couple of notables “Beer Weeks” are in the news right now:

Seattle Beer Week officially started today, and lasts through the 17th. SBW features a week and a half of fantastic events all over the city, making me totally envious (and thinking there should be a “Bend Beer Week”). The Washington Beer Blog (fittingly enough) is already posting some good coverage.

Pike Brewing was asked to brew the inaugural beer for Seattle Beer Week, and they brewed their first ever Double IPA for it—which is pretty notable in that Pike has been around for 20 years, and in this day and age you can’t swing a dead cat without knocking over someone’s glass of DIPA. Hopefully they’ll bottle it and I can get my hands on some.

American Craft Beer Week kicks off on Monday the 11th and lasts all next week (also through the 17th).

America’s small and independent craft brewers are making special plans for the annual American Craft Beer Week (May 11-17), a national celebration highlighting the culture and contributions of craft beer. These brewers want the week to inspire beer enthusiasts to declare their independence by supporting breweries that produce fewer than 2 million barrels of beer a year and are independently owned. In the works are special brewery tours, beer and food pairing events, special release craft beers and festivals all across the U.S.

Apparently there is also a Declaration of Beer Independence to go along with this year’s ACBW. More importantly, though, is the directory of brewery events wherein you can find out if any of your local breweries is doing anything special for the Week.